#I would make it if A. I had the audio file on my computer

[exist101]

Has anybody in this fandom considered making this song into a gmv/animatic of this song with the poptropica villains?

I'm just saying the setup could be Raven inviting the other villains to some kind of gathering or meeting.

[lepetitfruit]

Hello tumblr have ~3 secs of my cat purring <3

[echoekhi]

I’m Declaring War Against “What If” Videos: Project Copy-Knight

What Are “What If” Videos?

These videos follow a common recipe: A narrator, given a fandom (usually anime ones like My Hero Academia and Naruto), explores an alternative timeline where something is different. Maybe the main character has extra powers, maybe a key plot point goes differently. They then go on and make up a whole new story, detailing the conflicts and romance between characters, much like an ordinary fanfic.

Except, they are fanfics. Actual fanfics, pulled off AO3, FFN and Wattpad, given a different title, with random thumbnail and background images added to them, narrated by computer text-to-speech synthesizers.

They are very easy to make: pick a fanfic, copy all the text into a text-to-speech generator, mix the resulting audio file with some generic art from the fandom as the background, give it a snappy title like “What if Deku had the Power of Ten Rings”, photoshop an attention-grabbing thumbnail, dump it onto YouTube and get thousands of views.

In fact, the process is so straightforward and requires so little effort, it’s pretty clear some of these channels have automated pipelines to pump these out en-masse. They don’t bother with asking the fic authors for permission. Sometimes they don’t even bother with putting the fic’s link in the description or crediting the author. These content-farms then monetise these videos, so they get a cut from YouTube’s ads.

In short, an industry has emerged from the systematic copyright theft of fanfiction, for profit.

Project Copy-Knight

Since the adversaries almost certainly have automated systems set up for this, the only realistic countermeasure is with another automated system. Identifying fanfics manually by listening to the videos and searching them up with tags is just too slow and impractical.

And so, I came up with a simple automated pipeline to identify the original authors of “What If” videos.

It would go download these videos, run speech recognition on it, search the text through a database full of AO3 fics, and identify which work it came from. After manual confirmation, the original authors will be notified that their works have been subject to copyright theft, and instructions provided on how to DMCA-strike the channel out of existence.

I built a prototype over the weekend, and it works surprisingly well:

On a randomly-selected YouTube channel (in this case Infinite Paradox Fanfic), the toolchain was able to identify the origin of half of the content. The raw output, after manual verification, turned out to be extremely accurate. The time taken to identify the source of a video was about 5 minutes, most of those were spent running Whisper, and the actual full-text-search query and Levenshtein analysis was less than 5 seconds.

The other videos probably came from fanfiction websites other than AO3, like fanfiction.net or Wattpad. As I do not have access to archives of those websites, I cannot identify the other ones, but they are almost certainly not original.

Armed with this fantastic proof-of-concept, I’m officially declaring war against “What If” videos. The mission statement of Project Copy-Knight will be the elimination of “What If” videos based on the theft of AO3 content on YouTube.

I Need Your Help

I am acutely aware that I cannot accomplish this on my own. There are many moving parts in this system that simply cannot be completely automated – like the selection of YouTube channels to feed into the toolchain, the manual verification step to prevent false-positives being sent to authors, the reaching-out to authors who have comments disabled, etc, etc.

So, if you are interested in helping to defend fanworks, or just want to have a chat or ask about the technical details of the toolchain, please consider joining my Discord server. I could really use your help.

------

See full blog article and acknowledgements here: https://echoekhi.com/2023/11/25/project-copy-knight/

[laufire]

I listened to "Batman: The Lazarus Syndrome" for the second time; it's an audio drama from 1989 and here are some Jason mentions in it that make me want to chew glass:

Barbara: I could try to tap into his computer... it may still have my voice print on file, unless he trashed it when the Joker put me in this chair Gordon: Now Batman may seem a cold-hearted son of a gun, but I don't think he'd ever erase Batgirl from his files. Barbara (whispering): Yeah, I wonder... he's tried hard enough to forget Jason.

//

Dick: Jason's left him a hell of a legacy. First he throws himself into his work with a suicidal intensity, and now he's- he's planning to quit? Alfred: Um, Master Dick... Nobody knows that anything has happened to Robin. You know- I often think back to the sight of you both leaving to go on patrol- Dick: No! Never again! Alfred: He always seemed happier with you... Dick: Things are different now. I can't make this a fairy tale with a happy ending. Even if I came back, would that wipe away the pain of what happened to Jason? I can't change what's happened, and now that I've got my independence, I'm not sure I want to.

//

Bruce: Happiness isn't what I seek. Gotham city is where I belong! Where I'm needed! Maybe Jason was the only one who really understood that. Talia: Jason? The other boy who worked with you? The second Robin? Bruce: He knew Gotham city the way I do. He was a petty thief; he used to hang around here stealing the wheels off cars. On the day I met him, he was trying to boost the tires of mine. He'd been orphaned, like me. But whereas my parents' money shielded me from starvation, he had to live by his wits. I knew if I left him here I'd find myself running him in later on for something more serious... so I took him back with me, gave him a home, trained him the way I trained Dick Grayson... seemed logical. Nobody had guessed the original Batman-Robin team split up. Once Dick left to go to college, we drifted apart. Then Jason came along. He was young, fit, eager to learn... and apt student. For a while it was as if I'd never been without a Robin. But there were undercurrents; he had a dangerous amount of aggression to work off, he became moody, resentful, reckless! I began to realize I'd made a mistake. (flashback) Alfred: I've noticed some disquieting things about Master Jason myself. The lad never mentions his parents, yet I've come across him crying over his old photographs. Being your partner is hardly the best situation for a teenager still adjusting to such a loss. Bruce: Then I must try and rectify the situation. Jason's going off active duty immediately. Jason: And I don't have a word to say about it, huh? Bruce: How long have you been hiding there, Jason? Jason: You can't be serious about this! Bruce: I am. You've got a lot of anger and pain inside of you. Jason: I can handle it. Bruce: We can work this out. Jason: You want to talk? Talk to Alfred. (end flashback) Talia: The poor child... and both parents long dead... Bruce: So I thought. But then Jason discovered that his late father had remarried. His real mother was still alive. He used the computer to track her down, and set off after her, alone. He never thought she might be involved with the Joker; never guessed it might be a trap. By the time I got to him, I'd lost him. He was beaten half to death and then blown up trying to save his mother's life. Talia: You mustn't blame yourself. Bruce: He'd still be alive to day if I'd left him where I found him! In Crime Alley... Talia: How can you say that? You saved his life, my love. You delivered him. Bruce: I delivered him- right into the hands of the Joker. I've got to pay for that.

enjoy :)))

[callmearcturus]

@vmprsm replied to your post “Raw MKV rip of Mission Impossible: Fallout:...”:

Theoretically, if one wanted their own copies of the MI movies safely on a hard drive....where would one go?

​I mean, there is a site where you can acquire a lot of movies via torrent. I tend to use (rot13) 1337k.gb and I got a heavily discounted Windscribe VPN subscription that I use on almost all of my devices.

But my thing is that... I want commentary reels and special features, and sometimes you'll download a movie but the fucking subtitles are either bad or they become desynced over time and I haaaaate it.

So I've been gathering bits and pieces over the past year to get a Plex system going in my house and it works like a fucking DREAM. But it requires some investment. If you just want to have a few local copies of your favorite movies, this is way overkill. But me, I am canceling all of my family's streaming services and pivoting to our Plex.

So what I have for actually getting the files:

I don't have this model but it's similar to this, a Pioneer External Blu-ray Reader. It sits on a little shelf and is connected to my PC by a USB cable. (I think I got mine for around 68 bucks so you can wait for a sale.)

I use MakeMKV which will rip the big honking raw files from a Blu-ray and leave them as matroshka (.mkv) files.

Because these raw files are ENORMOUS, I compress them in Handbrake. Handbrake is wildly powerful, can convert file formats and make them super small. I have my Handbrake set up special to dump all the non-English language subtitles and audio tracks to save space.

(SUPER BONUS TIP FOR HANDBRAKE: If you have a dedicated GPU, you can give Handbrake permission to use it, and it'll compress shit literally 10x faster, love it.)

At the moment, I am using a Western Digital portable 5TB external harddrive because it was one sale and I couldn't beat the price. Eventually, I want to upgrade to two 10TB HDDs so I can keep a full backup of everything I'm ripping. Because this is a bit of a time and energy commitment and I don't wanna lose all my progress here!

At first I was running Plex off my desktop PC and that worked totally fine, but my family hates having to touch my desktop to wake it up every time, so I very recently grabbed one of these guys:

This is a Beelink Mini PC S12 Pro. It is small enough to fit in my hand but it is a speedy little demon that runs Windows 11. (And eventually I am gonna use it to firewall out ads from our entire home network, I'm pumped for that project but ANYWAY.)

The upside of these mini boys is that instead of being a hefty workhorse like my main computer, this is small and has a low-power draw.

So I moved my Plex Media Server to the mini PC, plugged in my 5TB drive of movies, and now everyone in the house can easily stream anything I have added to the library.

This is what it looks like, if you're curious. Any device in the house that runs Plex and is signed in can select any movie or TV show I have and just watch it like it was Netflix or something.

A month ago, I has like.... 65 movies? Now I'm ripping a few and we're gonna break 100 soon.

"But Arc, where do you get so many blurays!"

My local library.

When I lived in Broward County, FL, I had an extravagantly wonderful library system. Tax dollars at fucking WORK, y'all. Now I live in Georgia and the library system is not nearly as good, but I have still gotten my hands on a frankly ridiculous amount of blurays. Every week I'm picking up 3 to 10 movies or shows, taking them home, making good copies, and returning them.

All of this is an investment and it is work. But as someone who built my computer, built my keyboard, cracked my 3DS and PS Vita-- this is fun to me! This is what I love to do. And through doing it, I've seen more movies in the past year than the last ten years put together.

So yeah, I can't recommend this to everyone, but if you wanna get out of your subscriptions and to just have high quality shit on demand, this is what I'm doing.

Cannot stress this enough tho, if this seems interesting to you: wait for sales. All the components here go on steep sale if you wait patiently. Take your time assembling the parts and keep in mind that shit is modular, you can upgrade parts later.

[insane-control-room]

Some things are meant to be remembered; for the right reasons.

i've posted this review on steam, but i think that i want to say it here, too.

Here is my review of the 'promotional' material (according to steam) Secrets of the Machine

What I liked: the art appeared to be a true return to form; the style had its original charm with updated lighting techniques and slightly better optimization than previous games in the Bendy series. The audio design was also nice, with good ambiance and nice composition.

And now, the jank.

The game handles reasonably well; but it is clearly slapdashed together and is missing important components. There is no starting menu. There are no loading screens; and it is very jarring. There are no options in the game menu - you cannot minimize the game, you cannot brighten the game, you cannot make the game run any better on your computer, and it is incredibly laggy. If you have a potato laptop? Nah, get out. No game for you. There are no subtitles that you can enable, and voices are very muffled. Additionally, the game is very dark, and as mentioned, you cannot adjust that in the settings of the game, nor in steam settings. You have to do so from your computer.

Controls are extremely janky, as you cannot run, you cannot jump, and there is no indication for interaction with any objects. There are no control settings for remapping, and you cannot even see which keys do what.

Puzzles are boring and confusing; with no guidance. There were no hints, no rhyme or reason. There was more puzzle in the BATIM chapter 1 demo release. This thing is very confusing, especially when you cannot see anything at all. You will spend a long time walking back and forth between two rooms, wondering how you can progress, because you've done everything you could: you smashed cutouts; you hit targets; you opened and closed hands; you found posters for future games, but nothing that could move forward the one you were playing at the time. If you look at the community page, you will see that most people simply spent their time clicking on the soup can dispenser to see how many cans they could get.

If you have epilepsy, nah get out. Oh? I didn't mention the flashing lights? Well the developers did not either. Not only did they not mention the flashing lights, not in the game nor in steam, but they included TWO car crashes without warning - one audio based, and another that was directed at players. This is not only rude, but it is dangerous. Warnings exist so that people can make educated choices whether or not to interact with content that may be sensitive to them. Warn people appropriately. This 'game' did not take any measure to protect its players. There are many instances of sudden loud noises, flashing lights, and jarring location switches (not to mention the car crashes).

The story was lacking, and has nothing to do with the puzzles that a player is faced with. It feels like three disjointed tracks, and none of them align, all of them crashing together in a discordant, unsatisfying, confusing mess. It brought in more new characters that had nothing to do with the original story nor interested players, and had content that went against previously established material. It was (as you can tell, from a writer's perspective) a bad story.

It was less of a demo, less of a playable trailer, more like a tech demo with a few morsels for fans to pick apart and wish there was more of, wish there was more effort put into, wish there was more love and care for them, the players who arguably were the foundation of this game. There were teasers for games that, honestly, lacked the soul that the very first game had, and here's a point to prove it: there was an easter egg that if you clicked something 414 times (very funny.) it would rise in the air and then fall down without further ado. In the game files, the name for that sound effect? Sting. Yeah. It did. Games are a collaborative work; between the creators and the players. Blatant disregard and flippancy towards half of the collaboration is not acceptable behavior. This is a development team that mocks those who once loved them most, those who poured over their coding and carefully crafted world to marvel at what they had made, and coaxed in others with the rich promise of a delightful story that anyone could engage with on any level. The spite the creators have shown for the individuals who, essentially, had given rise to their stature in the first place, is painful.

Finally, by the time that I got a chance to sit down and actually play the game- I personally could not. The developers, by constantly updating a clearly unfinished game, had made their final update - that of a wood board blocking the actual place where gameplay takes place. You cannot go to any of the places shown in the screenshots, because the game is locked on the opening area. I've seen many people complaining of it; hoping that they can play the game.

Now, in the fashion we've seen common of JDS, they have rescinded their terrible design choice - but without notifying players that it is now possible to play the game; without telling players that this was purposeful; without telling players anything aside from a big old screw you. It is entirely possible that the only reason they put the game back into a playable state was the torrent of negative reviews that spawned after their. interesting. choice. regardless, those who care about their playerbase would have informed those who complained that it was a temporary gesture for storytelling reasons. They, however, did not, and there are a multitude of reviews marking the game as unplayable.

No matter what, the bottom line is this: This is not okay.

I'm not sure how much more eloquently I can put the fact that I'm heartbroken. This game, unlike any other, shows how much scorn that a developer can have for their own fans and playerbase. I am glad that there are people who enjoyed it, but I wonder - what did you really like about it?

Is it the memories?

[ilovetheriddler]

Hi, I hope you’re having a lovely day! I was curious if maybe you’d be willing to write Arkham Eddie who is conflicted with his feelings about the reader? Perhaps the reader is a villain/anti-hero/hero, and they’re working together briefly, and maybe after an argument he finds himself aroused and… takes care of himself?

Oh! An Arkham Eddie Request! How delightful! I hope that you're having a wonderful day as well. This was quite exciting to write, so I hope you enjoy this!

Insatiable Need.

(Arkham Games) Edward Nigma x F!Reader.

Word Count: 1,023.

Contents: 🔞🔞🔞 NSFW 18+! Conflict, Arguing, Fantasizing, Masturbation.

Edward couldn't say that he was in any way pleased to have to work with some so-called hero. In fact, it infuriated him. Someone of his brilliance having to agree to assisting someone? It was appalling to think about. However.... you were at least different enough from that pesky bat to a point where it was at minimum better than working alongside him!

You seemingly enjoyed his riddles and actually would attempt to answer them to the best of your abilities. And it made him... feel something, he wasn't sure what it was exactly, but it was definitely something.

Of course, the two of you only needed to work together briefly on stopping someone else's big scheme. Eddie couldn't help how smug it made him feel to know that someone finally acknowledged how his genius was absolutely needed to stop this. It's not like batman would ever be willing to work with him, yet here you were, standing next to him as he worked away on the device you needed to shut down this new scheme. It was... a pleasant experience having someone actually be there nearby while he worked, much to his surprise.

He had a wide grin on his face as he handed you the finished device, expecting your praise and endless thankfulness to him. Instead, you criticized him for taking too long and putting lives at risk. The grin immediately fell from his face.

"Oh, excuse me! I can't rush my brilliance. It takes time!"

"Well, we don't have time. Lives are at stake here! Ever second counts....!"

"Is this the fucking thanks I get for so graciously offering to help you?! Unbelievable!"

You let out a surprised yelp as he grabbed ahold of your shirt and pulled you closer to him, the irritation evident on his face.

"I pour my time and effort into this for you! And I get your criticism instead of your admiration?! I'm I just a fucking means to an end to you?! Huh?! Is that-"

He was cut off by a sharp stinging sensation, and after a few seconds, he realized what had just happened. You slapped him.

"D-did, you just slap me...?"

"Listen, Eddie, I'm sorry, but you were getting a bit-"

"Take the dame device and get out of my lair...."

You stood there silently for a moment before doing as he suggested, leaving his lair with the device in hand. Meanwhile, Eddie sat slumped in his chair. He was furious, enraged, irritated, and worse of all extremely turned on, damn it!

He stood up and frustratedly made his way into his room, slamming the door behind him. He couldn't stand this. He couldn't stand that a filthy hero was making him feel such things! He glanced down, the evidence of his growing arousal already slightly noticeable against the front of his pants. He just couldn't ignore this, not when he was this worked up.

He quickly pulled up an audio file he had put together on his computer, one good thing about always recording every conversation he had with someone else in case he ever needed to use it against them, is that he had your voice recorded as well, more importantly saying his name. Not exactly in the breathless and needy tone he'd prefer to hear it said in, but it would still do just fine for assisting in his fantasies.

He quickly fumbled around, attempting to unbuckle his numerous belts, and once he had, he tugged both his pants along with his underwear down, His already semi erect cock springing free. He reached down and took hold of it, moving his thumb to smear some of the precum already leaking out of the tip around, pulling his foreskin back just slightly as he groaned wantonly. He spat in his hand after a bit, using that along with the precum to lubricate his cock somewhat.

He grasped his harding cock firmly, closing his first around it and slowly starting to pump it steadily. A moan slipped past his lips as his head fell back slightly. He progressively increased his pace as he continued, his mind filling with the filthy fantasies he had about you. About you lying on his bed, whining and begging for him to fuck you, admitting that you were wrong to not offer him the praise he so rightfully deserved, admitting that he was better than all those heros, that he was better than that Bat! That you loved him, needed him, couldn't handle not having him inside of you. That's what he wanted.

"I-I'm so much better t-than... A..ah! ...him... aren't i?! Mm... F-fuck! ...I make y-you... feel so good, don't i?! Ah..."

He tried to imagine that it was you that he was fucking as he thrust his cock into his hand, repeated gasps and groans escaping him. You'd be absolutely perfect for him. He'd make you feel like you were on cloud nine if you'd just give him the chance! He couldn't help but wonder what your skin would feel like against him, how the sound of skin slapping against skin would sound like music to his ears if it was only yours, how that sweet voice of yours would sound screaming his name over and over again all night long, how it would feel to fuck you senseless until he was satisfied.

His body tensed up, and a broken moan got caught in his throat as his hips jerked slightly, Spurts of his warm cum spilling into the already filthy floor. He stood perfectly still for a few seconds, catching his breath. Once it had stopped, he carefully tucked his now flaccid cock back into his underwear, pulling up that along with his pants back up.

He knew one thing for certain, sooner or later, he was going to have you in his bed. No matter what he had to do to get you there. Perhaps batman could be preoccupied with his other rogues for a while? Eddie liked the idea of devoting his schemes and plans for you to handle instead, at least until he got what he wanted, that is...

[rotisseries]

WHAT WAS THAT THING YOU EXPLAINED TO ME AGES AGO FOR WAITING ROOM ABOUT HOW TO LISTEN TO SONGS THAT ARENT ON SPOTIFY ??? I NEED RED FLANNEL GEORGIA AND I NEED IT NOW

AKAJDFJSKFKS OK THIS IS MY FAVORITE SPOTIFY FEATURE YAY!! relying on people to have uploaded things as a podcast sucks so bad because they get taken down a lot and also it breaks up the vibe because the title and artist are always something random and the little picture is just a sunset or whatever idk IT BREAKS UP THE VIBE

so you can do this from any device, (i prefer to do it from my computer though for reasons that'll be explained later) and if you have spotify premium you'll also be able to listen to it on all devices, but first thing you're going to do is go into your account settings and turn on the local files option

once you do that, it'll access any downloaded audio files you have, and you can listen to them on that device. they'll be stored in a spotify playlist named local files, similar to the liked songs one. (i would also recommend making a separate folder for the songs you want downloaded on spotify, at least on the computer, i know you can change which folder it takes from there. otherwise you might end up with random audio you downloaded for something specific in your spotify library.)

if you have premium, you can also turn on spotify on other devices, and add the song you downloaded to an actual playlist

and it'll sync up on all your devices and you can download the playlist on every device. if you don't have premium though you'll either have to download it on every device or you can only listen to it on the first one you downloaded it on.

now for actually getting the song. this is really simple I tend to go straight to youtube and it's usually pretty easy to find the song I want, and then I just put the link into a youtube to mp3 converter (dodging the hot moms in my area. maybe next time ladies) and then I download it. make sure it's in the right folder and boom! I now have mitski's cover of let's get married to cry to on demand! soundcloud also works though obviously because any audio file will do, and a lot of unreleased songs get uploaded to soundcloud, and there’s a handy little download button right there and you don't need an account! great if you run into a song that isn't on youtube. totally unrelated but I have phoebe bridger's cover of iris downloaded

now. reasons I tend to do it from my computer specifically.

1. most shady websites are just easier to navigate lol. it's twice as hard to deal with pop ups when things are also rotating your phone screen around. so yeah i'd prefer to hit up the mp3 converter from my laptop

2. if you have any songs where the only video for it has an annoying intro or outro, it can be easier to edit it out. like lil nas x's cover of jolene was from the youtube channel for some fucking radio station or whatever so I had to edit that out. and my laptop's native audio file player has a trimming option, so I didn't have to download extra software like I would on my phone

3. and most importantly to me, you can make it aesthetically pleasing. when you just download the audio file it won't have an album picture and it won't have an artist name it'll only have whatever the file name is as a title, which you can change obviously but it doesn't fix the rest of it. on the computer it is so easy to download a metadata editor, and you can edit the file's metadata however you want and it'll have the little artist line and the album if you want and you can put whatever picture goes with the song but this is of course not required it just matters a lot to me personally

anyway have fun!

[philaet0s]

Celebrity/Social Media AU - Part 8

Previous Part: Part 7

Next Part: Part 9

More written POVs! There will be one more and then back to the fake twitter updates aha

‼️ mature content ‼️

Simon

Baz said he had a “surprise for me for my birthday.” I would say that the presents –plural–, lunch in my favourite restaurant in the city, afternoon tea at the Ritz –I don’t like when Baz makes me spend the night here, but god, do I love the food and tea–, and the two hours we spent wrapped around each other on the couch during which he read to me were already more than enough, but it seems he has something else in mind. And it’s something we’re doing outside the house!

It’s actually kind of rare for us to do that. Leave our place. We go to the restaurant once in a while, but that’s all. It gets messy, Baz gets recognised, and we both prefer staying inside anyway. I only like being outside if I can run around in a large field like an overexcited puppy, and that’s hard to do in central London.

We go to his recording studio. Uh?

I follow him, my mind reeling with ideas. It’s rare for him to take me here. It’s only happened a handful of times since we’ve been together. That’s his workplace; I don’t make a habit of taking him to the kitchen of my bakery either.

I don’t even question the fact that it’s 1 in the morning and the studio has been closed for hours. I suppose when your family owns it, you can come whenever, though I already know he’s going to get a text from Fiona in the morning when she finds out the alarm was deactivated in the middle of the night.

He sits in the chair in front of the computer and searches for a specific file. He hasn’t told me what I should be doing, but I suppose if we’re here, we’re going to be listening to music, so I come and stand behind him. The sound is better here than when you’re sitting on the couches by the wall, or so Baz said last time we came. (His musicians were there too last time, though. It was a proper album listening party. We had food and drinks, it was great.)

“There you go,” he says, as he clicks on an audio file. He pauses it before I can hear the first note. “I wrote this for you. I recorded it before I went on tour. I’m… very excited for you to hear it.”

My face splits in a grin. Oh, how much I love the songs he writes for me…

I lean down and kiss his cheek, which is a little pink. He’s so cute.

He pushes the chair away from the table, forcing me to step aside. Then, he pats his thigh. “C’mere, will you.”

Gladly.

I sit on his lap, and he closes his arms around my waist. He has to fully extend his arm to be able to click play.

Music immediately fills the room. It’s not the gentle kind of production I was expecting. Baz’s songs for me –the ones he makes just for me, not all the songs he writes about me– are often ballads. He’s romantic like that.

Not this one.

That’s something that could be played at a club. Or one of his concerts. It’s unusual, but I like it.

The lyrics are less surprising than the production. They’re brilliant, his lyrics are always brilliant, and convey a perfect blend of love and lust, though the rasp in his voice definitely emphasises the lust part.

So does his hand on my thigh. He’s tapping the rhythm of the song. It’s a very innocent touch. It’s driving me insane.

When the music stops, I clear my throat and try to collect myself. (It’s hard. I’m sitting on him for fuck’s sake.)

“It was very good.”

“Very good? That’s all?”

His finger is doing a lot more than just tapping my thigh. He slid his hand down, his entire palm cupping the inside of my thigh. He moves it up and down absentmindedly.

His index finger is now dangerously close to my crotch. Not close enough.

I swallow. I feel like a teenager, but can I really be blamed? It’s been a while. And he’s so… And the song was…

“I… I liked the… lyrics.”

“Yes? Anything else?”

He slides his hand up. He’s properly touching me now. I don’t even have enough clarity to be embarrassed that I’m already rock hard. “The chorus. It’s… memorable.”

He unbuttons my jeans. His lips are on my neck. “Y– Your voice. I like how… how much deeper it… fuck…” His hand is cold. “...sounds. During the chorus.”

He hums, and that could honestly finish me off.

“You like my voice deeper?” he asks. In that deeper voice. As he strokes my cock.

Goddammit.

He nips at my neck. “I have an idea. Come with me.”

And just like that, he takes his hand out of my pants. I might just explode.

“Baz.”

I see him press a few buttons before he takes my hand.

“Come with me,” he repeats.

He’s walking up to the door that leads to the other side of the studio, behind the glass panel.

I have no clue what he has in mind, but what choice do I have but to follow him?

He promptly presses me against that stupid glass panel and crashes his lips against mine. That’s better.

—————————

You guessed it, the next part will be smut

I’m posting it later today!

[muffinrecord]

I just need to record Hitagi, Fate, and Nanoha stuff for the battle animation videos. Then I'll be done.

We have three left already made-- Chisato, Haruka, and Tsubaki.

(I won't be doing the Monogatari girls besides Hitagi, sorry. Well... Maybe, but probably not. I don't know how I'd do the initial poke animation either).

This project took almost a full year to post... But it took like two years on and off of recording. Not like consecutively, it's more that I recorded everything two times and then one final time before I actually started to put all the video together. I have a bad habit of deleting things important to me when I'm depressed, and this project got hit with that twice >.>'

But it's weird to think about! I had a spreadsheet and I would spend my time watching youtube videos while recording everything. I'd spend like 2-4 hours a night working on this, collecting everything, uploading the raw files to google drive and to my backup. I'd have to re-record things sometimes because the audio wouldn't sync right, or the raw had a glitch I didn't notice at first. I'd wait sometimes for double sp/half ap because it was SUPER expensive on the AP bottles (and I spend those a lot because I like to play just for the fun of it).

I'm not going to say my project was perfect, but I'm glad it's done.

I'm glad that I started this a while ago. NA EOS made me more paranoid and interesting archiving other stuff. It would have been straight up bananas if I was doing this last minute right now

Like mentioned before, I still have all the raw unedited footage incase anything happens to the youtube videos-- like if the music copyright becomes more strict. What a relief! And I've made backups in a few different places, so even if my computer dies/gets some evil virus, everything is still safe. Even if the google drive goes down, I have two physical backups (one stored at home, one at my sister's place) so all this stuff is good to go. And from what I understand, some friends are making backups of the google drive themselves!

It makes me kinda emotional! The google drive might be run by me, but really it's a big group effort of people who all love this game. It makes me feel pretty happy and a little teary eyed to think I got to help with it, you know?

I found this fellow on twitter who is also archiving battle animation stuff! If you dislike my videos, perhaps check out theirs? I've thought about offering to help assist them but I don't speak Japanese and am unsure if that's too forward... I dunno! :')

(Oh, looks like they don't accept random messages. ahh well, smart of them tbh)

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Hey everyone, look what I made. It took me a completely normal amount of time and I definitely did not spent all weekend on it. All weekend just transcribing and collating. Not counting the time across the last couple of years I spent finding all this stuff. I wouldn't do that.

But if I had done that, it would have started as an Excel file, but some of the transcripts were too long to fit into even the maximum sizes of a cell. Exporting it as a PDF has page breaks and won't let it take up the whole screen, and turning it into an image destroyed the links.

So I ended up going back to the HTML that I learned at computer camp when I was 13 and then used to make Harry Potter websites when I was 14 and have hardly ever used since. Had to Google a bunch of stuff to remember how to do it, but I managed to rewrite the entire table in HTML code in Notepad, and then I found a website that let me upload it in exchange for that annoying little purple thing at the bottom. I would not like to admit how long I spent trying to work out how to just upload one HTML page without having to sign up for building an entire website. Because it was too long. There had to be an easier way to do this. But I don't know what it is.

Anyway, I made this:

So... does anyone want that? It's a spreadsheet where I've collected everything I've found that seems like it could be a direct reference to the Chocolate Milk Gang. It's got transcriptions of the relevant bits of video and audio, and links to PDFs of the text or mp3s or mp4s of the video and audio files, and overall, I spent way too much time on it.

I may have gone slightly Beautiful Mind about it this weekend, pinning links up to my metaphorical cork board, connecting them with bits of red string, and frantically declaring, "It doesn't add up! What, exactly, did Andrew Maxwell call them in 2002? Because I'm getting conflicting stories here!"

At least I now have an easy thing to link to when I want to tell people what the Chocolate Milk Gang is. I realize I throw that term around a lot on this blog, and I stop to explain it every few months or, but I'm also aware that sometimes people come across these posts without all that context and it's confusing. So there you go, if anyone's ever confused by what I mean when I say "Chocolate Milk Gang". It's that, the stuff at that link. It's all those things. It's an international crime syndicate that sometimes organizes soccer matches.

I realize there are a bunch of different sources at that link, making it look like information is easy to find about it. So for some further context, those 16 spreadsheet entries are the only references to it that I've been able to find, across many many hours of searching, across the last couple of years. If you're confused about what the Chocolate Milk Gang is and you want to know the real answer, it's that a few years ago I happened to hear one particular Daniel Kitson show too soon after I'd resigned as board president of my wrestling team, and I got a bit overly attached to the idea of simpler times when people were still building their dream, before it all got out of hand. So I decided to obsessively research this term that appeared on John Oliver's Wikipedia page. It made sense at the time.

Having one link I can point to and say "the stuff we know about the what the Chocolate Milk Gang was - it's all in there" is a nice bonus for that spreadsheet, but it wasn't the original point of it. I mainly wanted to make that spreadsheet so I could get some clear data on 1) its membership list, and 2) its actual name. Hence the spreadsheet columns for both those things.

I’d consider most name that appear in my column for the membership list to be a significant Chocolate Milk Gang member. Though one membership list included Jimmy Carr, as part of the “gang” of comedians who hung out with Demetri Martin in Edinburgh. I’ve already addressed that in another post, but the upshot is that obviously Jimmy Carr’s not in the Chocolate Milk Gang. He's just a guy Demetri Martin probably hung out with in Edinburgh once, so that article grouped him in with the others.

Oh, and there’s the Russell Howard documentary that describes his "golden generation" of comedians, which included some key CMG people, but then moved on to his other comedy friends, like his roommates from the famous Bristol house, and Wil Hodgson. I don’t think the other Bristol guys (Richardson, Robins, Olver) count as CMG, since they were younger and weren't doing comedy during those earlier days when the CMG was formed. But Wil Hodgson performed in Edinburgh in 2004.

This of course gets complicated, because if we’re being very literal about defining the CMG as “people who got milkshakes at the restaurant called Favorit after late-night shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2002” – which was the original meaning of the name – then we’re leaving out some important people who turn up on most CMG membership lists, like Josie Long and Alun Cochrane. So I tend to use the term more broadly than that, to mean “people who were making a certain type of comedy in the 00s, a type that at the time was considered alternative because it was more gentle and indie-like than their more glamorous showbiz predecessors, and they crossed over with each other a lot, personally and professionally.” But that definition can make it difficult to get a clear list, as it basically boils down to: anyone who, while performing comedy from about 2002 to 2007, ever wore a t-shirt on stage, made a vaguely nerdy joke, and hung out with Daniel Kitson. And that can include quite a lot of people. It may well include Wil Hodgson. It could arguably include some of those Bristol guys (although I think “not being an alcoholic” was a fairly big part of the CMG ethos, which rules out Richardson and Robins). Pappy's Fun Club? Lots of people were around at the time.

I think of a few people as being CMG even if they’re mentioned in that spreadsheet list at all. I count Gavin Osborn as a bona fide central CMG member, even though he sure didn't perform in Edinburgh in 2002. He’s been involved in so many collaborations with other central CMG figures, and his work so embodies their ethos, that it doesn’t matter that he didn’t do all that stuff in Edinburgh. He was in the National Youth Theatre with John Oliver; his CMG connections pre-date Edinburgh 2002.

I think I’d count Isy Suttie as CMG, too. She was performing during prime CMG years, and doing that type of comedy that characterized the CMG (gentle, indie-like). She’s also collaborated with CMG people quite a bit. So she didn’t have to be literally drinking milkshakes with them in Edinburgh 2002 to count on their membership list (though it’s possible that she could have been drinking milkshakes with them in 2002, as she was definitely spending lots of time with at least one CMG member at the time, but I’m pretty sure she wasn’t in Edinburgh that year).

So I would say, probably, the main list of Chocolate Milk Gang members is: Daniel Kitson, David O'Doherty, John Oliver, Andy Zaltzman, Russell Howard, Josie Long, Gavin Osborn, Isy Suttie, Alun Cochrane, Bret McKenzie, Jermaine Clement, Demetri Martin. Maybe Taika Waititi? He got mentioned a couple of times but I'm not sure he did any actual CMG stuff, I think he was just a guy David O'Doherty liked.

So that's the membership list. Now I'd like to address the title, and issue with which is what prompted me to start on this spreadsheet in the first place. That issue being: Why has everyone let me spend nearly 2.5 years posting constantly about a British group called the Chocolate Milk Gang, without informing me that the term "chocolate milk" isn't used in Britain like it is in North America? That is an important piece of information for my research, which someone gave me for the first time last week, and it made me decide I should probably do a full-scale study into what this means.

I had wondered, before, why they got named after chocolate milk, when they were apparently drinking milkshakes. I assumed it was just other comedians making fun of them for immaturely not drinking alcohol, implying that they weren't just drinking milkshakes, they were drinking chocolate milk, the way children do.

Nope. It turns out that in Britain, when they say "chocolate milk", they're referring to a chocolate milkshake. When they say "chocolate milkshake", they are also referring to a chocolate milkshake. How do they refer to chocolate milk? Most of the time they don't, apparently it's not as common there. I think. Someone in England told me this, and I've tried looking it up further, but it's confusing. Chocolate milk definitely does exist over there, it just apparently isn't served in nearly every restaurant, the way I'm used to in Canada. So I guess they weren't using that term for the milk and started just using it to mean milkshakes? I don't know, Britain is a confusing place. They also refer to juices as smoothies.

That certainly explains why some comedians got named after chocolate milk, when they were drinking milkshakes. It also explains a bit of the occasional variation in the group's name - Russell Howard recently called them "The Milkshake Brigade", and in an interview in 2006, David O'Doherty said they were "The Milkshake Kids". If "chocolate milk" and "chocolate milkshakes" are interchangeable terms over there, then I guess they can be interchangeable in the gang's name, too.

But it's definitely supposed to be a gang. I don't know where this "brigade" stuff is coming from. David McSavage called them the "Chocolate Milk Brigade", as well. And, again, David O'Doherty once called them kids. What is that? I am not going to change my blog's tagline to saying I am preserving the legacy of the "Chocolate Milk Kids".

And then we have the differing stories about the name's origins. David O'Doherty claims that Glenn Wool coined the term "Chocolate Milk Gang". David McSavage claims that Andrew Maxwell coined it (though he also claims that the coined term is "Chocolate Milk Brigade). David O'Doherty does tell stories of Andrew Maxwell being one of those people who made fun of them for the general nerdiness that got them the CMG nickname, but in his story, Andrew Maxwell was mainly making fun of their bags, rather than their drinking habits.

The interesting thing about the above paragraph is that no one in it is British. I've tried to look up whether chocolate milk was a thing in Ireland in 2002, and whether Irish people said "chocolate milk" to mean "chocolate milkshake" like British people did. I can barely find information about British people doing it, so of course there wasn't anything on Irish differences. But they share a whole lot of cultural colloquialisms, so I'm going to assume it was probably similar.

Glenn Wool, however, is Canadian. And Canadians definitely do not conflate chocolate milk with chocolate milkshakes, even in 2002. So it's odd if he coined that term, calling them the Chocolate Milk Gang because they drank milkshakes. So maybe it did, in fact, originally come from Andrew Maxwell. I assume they both used that term, making it not too difficult to reconcile O'Doherty and McSavage's differing claims about whose term it was.

...I am tired. I think I probably have more to say about that spreadsheet, but I need to go to bed. I could save this as a draft and add more to it tomorrow, but I genuinely think I'll sleep better if I hit "post" on this now and feel like I've got something to share from an entire weekend spent on such a pointless project. I'll just make a new post later if I have more to say. It's all right. So that's what I've been up to. How's everyone else doing?

[scifigeneration]

ChatGPT and the movie ‘Her’ are just the latest example of the ‘sci-fi feedback loop’

by Rizwan Virk, Faculty Associate and PhD Candidate in Human and Social Dimensions of Science and Technology at Arizona State University

In May 2024, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sparked a firestorm by referencing the 2013 movie “Her” to highlight the novelty of the latest iteration of ChatGPT.

Within days, actor Scarlett Johansson, who played the voice of Samantha, the AI girlfriend of the protagonist in the movie “Her,” accused the company of improperly using her voice after she had spurned their offer to make her the voice of ChatGPT’s new virtual assistant. Johansson ended up suing OpenAI and has been invited to testify before Congress.

This tiff highlights a broader interchange between Hollywood and Silicon Valley that’s called the “sci-fi feedback loop.” The subject of my doctoral research, the sci-fi feedback loop explores how science fiction and technological innovation feed off each other. This dynamic is bidirectional and can sometimes play out over many decades, resulting in an ongoing loop.

Fiction sparks dreams of Moon travel

One of the most famous examples of this loop is Moon travel.

Jules Verne’s 1865 novel “From the Earth to the Moon” and the fiction of H.G. Wells inspired one of the first films to visualize such a journey, 1902’s “A Trip to the Moon.”

The fiction of Verne and Wells also influenced future rocket scientists such as Robert Goddard, Hermann Oberth and Oberth’s better-known protégé, Wernher von Braun. The innovations of these men – including the V-2 rocket built by von Braun during World War II – inspired works of science fiction, such as the 1950 film “Destination Moon,” which included a rocket that looked just like the V-2.

Films like “Destination Moon” would then go on to bolster public support for lavish government spending on the space program.

Creative symbiosis

The sci-fi feedback loop generally follows the same cycle.

First, the technological climate of a given era will shape that period’s science fiction. For example, the personal computing revolution of the 1970s and 1980s directly inspired the works of cyberpunk writers Neal Stephenson and William Gibson.

Then the sci-fi that emerges will go on to inspire real-world technological innovation. In his 1992 classic “Snow Crash,” Stephenson coined the term “metaverse” to describe a 3-D, video game-like world accessed through virtual reality goggles.

Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and innovators have been trying to build a version of this metaverse ever since. The virtual world of the video game Second Life, released in 2003, took a stab at this: Players lived in virtual homes, went to virtual dance clubs and virtual concerts with virtual girlfriends and boyfriends, and were even paid virtual dollars for showing up at virtual jobs.

This technology seeded yet more fiction; in my research, I discovered that sci-fi novelist Ernest Cline had spent a lot of time playing Second Life, and it inspired the metaverse of his bestselling novel “Ready Player One.”

The cycle continued: Employees of Oculus VR – now known as Meta Reality Labs – were given copies of “Ready Player One” to read as they developed the company’s virtual reality headsets. When Facebook changed its name to Meta in 2021, it did so in the hopes of being at the forefront of building the metaverse, though the company’s grand ambitions have tempered somewhat.

Another sci-fi franchise that has its fingerprints all over this loop is “Star Trek,” which first aired in 1966, right in the middle of the space race.

Steve Perlman, the inventor of Apple’s QuickTime media format and player, said he was inspired by an episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” in which Lt. Commander Data, an android, sifts through multiple streams of audio and video files. And Rob Haitani, the designer of the Palm Pilot’s operating system, has said that the bridge on the Enterprise influenced its interface.

In my research, I also discovered that the show’s Holodeck – a room that could simulate any environment – influenced both the name and the development of Microsoft’s HoloLens augmented reality glasses.

From ALICE to ‘Her’

Which brings us back to OpenAI and “Her.”

In the movie, the protagonist, Theodore, played by Joaquin Phoenix, acquires an AI assistant, “Samantha,” voiced by Johansson. He begins to develop feelings for Samantha – so much so that he starts to consider her his girlfriend.

ChatGPT-4o, the latest version of the generative AI software, seems to be able to cultivate a similar relationship between user and machine. Not only can ChatGPT-4o speak to you and “understand” you, but it can also do so sympathetically, as a romantic partner would.

There’s little doubt that the depiction of AI in “Her” influenced OpenAI’s developers. In addition to Altman’s tweet, the company’s promotional videos for ChatGPT-4o feature a chatbot speaking with a job candidate before his interview, propping him up and encouraging him – as, well, an AI girlfriend would. The AI featured in the clips, Ars Technica observed, was “disarmingly lifelike,” and willing “to laugh at your jokes and your dumb hat.”

But you might be surprised to learn that a previous generation of chatbots inspired Spike Jonze, the director and screenwriter of “Her,” to write the screenplay in the first place. Nearly a decade before the film’s release, Jonze had interacted with a version of the ALICE chatbot, which was one of the first chatbots to have a defined personality – in ALICE’s case, that of a young woman.

The ALICE chatbot won the Loebner Prize three times, which was awarded annually until 2019 to the AI software that came closest to passing the Turing Test, long seen as a threshold for determining whether artificial intelligence has become indistinguishable from human intelligence.

The sci-fi feedback loop has no expiration date. AI’s ability to form relationships with humans is a theme that continues to be explored in fiction and real life.

A few years after “Her,” “Blade Runner 2049” featured a virtual girlfriend, Joi, with a holographic body. Well before the latest drama with OpenAI, companies had started developing and pitching virtual girlfriends, a process that will no doubt continue. As science fiction writer and social media critic Cory Doctorow wrote in 2017, “Science fiction does something better than predict the future: It influences it.”

[d-raewrites]

Kinktober Volume 1: New Tracks

Word Count 1271

Rated M🔞

Comment for tags

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Synopsis: Pick your player x reader, SMUT! Minors stay out of this portion of the library. Office setting, audio erotica, over the desk, cock warming, recording without knowledge

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Good night. Have a great weekend!,” I call out as the door shuts and the last of my coworkers leave for the day. 5:45. I glance at the stack of paperwork on the corner of my desk and slide my earbuds in place. I will not be leaving anytime soon, that’s for sure. 

3 hours later, I can feel my focus waning. Just 9 more client records and I can go home. The ending of this hell week is on the horizon.  Pulling the next folder off the stack, I give it a once over. Typical information to input in the system. Nothing special, but still my brain won’t wrap around it. I shift my hips, trying to get comfortable. It’s always been this way. When I get bored, I don’t necessarily feel fidgety. No. I feel horny. Like I need something to fill me up to keep me still, to keep me focused. 

I fidget for what feels like the tenth time this minute alone and contemplate heading to the bathroom. This is not a singular event, and more often than not the easiest way to get my head back into focus is to insert my trusty vibrator, turn on some sexual audio and continue on about my day. Most times the vibrator doesn’t even need to be on, just nestled inside of me to help keep my brain focused on the task at hand as the sounds serve as a reminder that once everything is completed I will reward myself with a sweet, powerful orgasm. 

Looking over the file again, I try to focus on the writings on the page. Switching my music off and turning to some spicy ASMR to help, I grab my phone and make the switch. Low moans, skin hitting skin and whiny groans fill my ears as I relax a bit. Finally, the record in front of me makes sense and I get the information quickly into the computer. 8 more to go. 

3 more folders completed, and the audio file has ended. Causing the fidgets to come back 10-fold as I quickly try to find a new audio track to listen to, I do not want to be here all night. 

Two hands run up my shoulders, causing me to jump and scream. 

“Relax, baby, it’s me.” My boyfriend’s warm, honey brown eyes stare into mine as he turns my chair to face him. 

“What the hell are you doing here this late?” I ask, glancing at the clock reading 10:10. 

“Well, I figured you hadn't eaten yet and would probably be hungry. I also figured that judging by the time and how much work you said you had, you’d also be quite….fidgety.” He says, raising his eyebrows suggestively, before grabbing my phone. “Based on your searching, I can see I’m correct.” 

One thing of the many that I love about my boyfriend is that he knows my concentration techniques and does nothing to chastise me for them. Hell, he willingly helps in any way he can. Today was no different.

“Get up,” he says, pulling my chair farther from my desk and lifting my arm, helping me rise out of it. Once I’m standing, he takes my spot and slides his sweats down to release his already hard member. 

“Been thinking about something on the way here?” I ask with a sly smile.

“Why don’t you sit and find out?” Pulling my skirt over his lap, I lower myself onto him, hissing as the familiar stretch fills me. This is exactly what I needed. 

“Shit baby, no panties again? I have half a mind to bend you over this desk for parading around like that all day.” His voice is strained and breathy as I find a comfortable spot for both of us to situate in. 

“3 files,” I moan once my chair is pulled back to my desk in an easy set up. “3 files, then you can.” Already my brain fog is clearing, reading the waves my pussy is sending to focus, so it can get fucked properly. 

“Wait,” He says, taking my earbuds out and placing one of his in my left ear. “Now focus so we can both enjoy it soon.” He hits play and a familiar moan filters through my ear. 

“Did you record yourself?” I ask, feeling my walls throb.

“Yeap and us. I’ve been recording us for a little while” He says, just as my voice lets out a soft whimper in my ear. “Figured having a library of sounds made would help you find something faster. From the feel of you pulsing and getting wetter, I’d dare say it’s working. You’re not mad, are you?”

“Mad? Mad I didn’t think of it before, it’s definitely working. Thank you baby.” I say honestly as I turn to kiss him. The movement causes both of us to moan softly. 

“Work, please, then we can make a new track.”

Turning back to my computer, I pull up the files I need and get typing. My brain now laser focused as the sounds of our very own sexual experiences take over. The remaining files are done a mere 30 minutes later, making this a new record for me. 

“Done.” I say, closing the desktop and moving my files to the side. “Shit, you have no idea how much that helped. Thank you for being here, baby, and thank you for the audio files. What do you say we create another track?” I ask, leaning back and softly rocking on his lap, his cock still hard and nicely tucked inside of me. 

“Yes please.” He says, switching his phone to voice notes. “I’m so fucking hard from sitting here, I’m not gonna last long, baby.”

Opening my desk drawer, I pull out my makeup bag with my mini vibrator inside. Turning it on, I place it in his hand and guide him under my long skirt. 

“Let’s make it fast then.” He glides the vibrator to my clit as we both stand, staying connected. As promised, I lean over my desk and spread my legs. Pressing the vibrator down, his hips began to snap against mine at a quick and harsh speed. Slamming my hips back into his, I feel every ridge of his dick sliding in and out of me. The moans leaving his mouth are going to make a great track. I lift my leg, allowing him more access once the knot begins to build in my stomach. “I’m close, s-o so fucking close.” I whimper as he grabs my leg, using it as leverage to move faster and deeper. 

“C-um, cum baby c-um with me. L-let me hear those sounds that drive us fuck-fucking crazy.” He presses the vibrator against my clit, rubbing it in small circles. Causing the knot to tighten and break apart in a knee buckling orgasm. My sounds muted because of our setting, but definitely doing the trick for this next track. His grunts and high-pitched moans follow as I feel him release inside of me. Rocking into me a few more thrusts, we ride out our orgasms before he collapses on the chair again, completely out of breath. Reaching forward, he takes the vibrator and pushes it inside me, another moan leaving my lips. 

“Keep that in until we get home. I want the next track to sound extra juicy.” He says, kissing my hip before pulling my skirt down and situating his sweats back in place. Grabbing his hand, I follow him out of the building on shaky legs. This next track is going to sound amazing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kinktober Complete Collection

🧋Kofi

[hopeofhouse]

i finally finished dos2.... thoughts ft. drawings + choice playthrough phone notes (spoilers obv)

my godwoken was an elf witch named allegory. he ended up as a necromancer/hydrosophist combo. blood damage + healing was a fun mix! odd contrasts <3

his backstory, 2 me, is that he was lost in a marshland as a little kid, and tir-cendelius saw the chance to keep him isolated (seeing off any potential rescuers, magically expanding the marshes every time he tried to trek out and leading him in circles) + raise the perfect tiny loyal godwoken for when The Time was Right. he let him out when he was an elf teen. t-c should have kept him longer because if anything it just made him weirder when he got reintegrated into society a couple decades later. F

what if your god grew you in a petri dish to [major game spoilers, redacted]. but you were a capricious little know it all with a jester's soul. what then

gorry took sebille, fane and ifan with him because i thought he would assemble a team of hot emos if given chance. this paid off + i love them all dearly

i wasn't expecting the origin characters i didn't take with me after act 1 to UP AND DIE. but it actually added a really good set of stakes. responsibility for ur actions. lohse yelled at me for leaving her to her fate and i felt SO bad. sorry miss thing

LOVED the worldbuilding....i was super familiar with 5e before i played bg3 so i sort of knew what was coming most of the time but for divinity i had to LEARN. super fun. 100% recommend

also i thought bg3 went in on the body horror but divinity was Something Else.

^ and then larian said okay that was fun what if we do it again. and made bg3. anyway

i was hideously bad at combat for ages until i listened to all the people on reddit chanting 'put points in warfare' and then it was much much much more doable lol

ngl i actually very much prefer dos2 to bg3. i loved loved loved bg3 but after like 4 playthroughs during various patch stages it was such a relief to play a game that's actually completed and won't eat my laptop for breakfast!!! first two bg3 files i had i couldn't make it to the lower city because the optimization on mac was so diabolical that it wouldn't actually play until after patch 5. dos2 lets me also have photoshop on my computer. and files that aren't bg related. miraculous

but even ignoring technical issues: from a story and world standpoint dos2 felt way more expansive and inventive. campy but also harrowing in a way that bg3 just didn't hit for me. i also genuinely enjoy being given a zillion pieces of almost overwhelming info and then sorting it out so i am biased. may expand on this at a later point and not under a mile long read more. moving on

romanced fane bc i loved his voice acting and i thought the culturally cannibalistic elf/the one guy with no flesh to eat bit was funny. jokes on me i fell in DEEP. u canonically have disappointing sex because hes simply made of bones without nerves and afterwards he takes notes. he calls u dear heart offhandedly in act 1 like it's nothing then goes right back to being aloof. how many more times does he have to tell you? he has business in the blackpits. he spends the whole game having an increasingly worse time. he's a loser. it's all his fault. he got me. he got me good. god damn

my game glitched (?) and even tho he rejected sebille (sorry baby) her and allegory still made out right before the big final choice. no option not to. then he had the expected epilogue with fane. poly ending canon enough for me!

also the music was bonkers good and the audio direction in that one battle in the final act? mwah. and dallis' va knocked it out of the entire park.

last thing here's a gorry i drew when i was still back in act 1. 180 hours ago. titled on my phone as 'praying at every altar so i always come out on top'

anyway if u made it this far: thank u. go get divinity: original sin 2 when it's next on sale. wise wise wise choice of £6.99 <3

[livingproofoftbd]

butterflies

900 words | george listening to spotlight for the first time rated T

----

“Did you like it though?” Dream breathes.

“I loved it, you idiot,” George says, smiling happily. “You’re such a simp,.”

----

George blinks, breathing heavily, butterflies flicking around in his stomach. It’s not even, the way his chest rises and falls, but truly, what else could he do but stand there and struggle to breathe? Anyone would. If anything, he’s underreacting. 

“Do you like it?” Dream asks, voice gentle and soft-spoken, like he’s scared. 

God, does he ever. 

It’s a bit of a fever dream. It’s January now, nearly one month since alcohol made their tongues loose and confessions slipped past their lips one after the other. It’s been wonderful, of course, but now George is shaking. 

I wanna put you in the spotlight

Turn off the cameras, now you're all mine

All mine.

All… mine. Mine.

“George?”

“Fuck,” George breathes. 

Three miserable years he spent stuck in an unrequited love, but then he landed in Florida, suddenly wrapped in an immeasurable amount of love for the first time in the seven years he and Dream have been friends. 

And now his head is spinning. He’s shaking and sweating and holy shit Dream loves him. 

He doesn’t even need to say the three little words, because George knows. It goes without saying. But not without singing, because those lyrics say more than Dream ever has face-to-face.

“You hate it,” Dream says, face falling.

“Wh-” George starts, cutting himself off as his gaze turns from the audio file on the computer screen to Dream’s sad golden eyes, staring up at him. “No,” he says, but not even he believes himself. 

He blinks and sighs and reaches up, gently cupping Dream’s jaw. Dream shifts his chair to face George completely as George steps closer, brushing his thumbs across Dream’s cheekbones. 

“Am I the first one to hear this?” George murmurs. 

“Besides the producers,” Dream says, “yeah. I wanted you to hear it before the others.”

Butterflies swarm in George’s gut. Blue morpho butterflies with shades that match the hues that stained George’s heart while he was stuck in London. Clouded yellow butterflies that compliment Dream’s eyes in the same color George is restricted to seeing. 

George smiles, tilting his head. “Is it about me?” he teases gently, running one hand through Dream’s hair. 

“Well, who else would it be about, idiot?” Dream asks, grinning widely. One finger taps against George’s lower thigh before Dream’s hand encases George’s hip. 

George’s fingers card through Dream’s hair, untangling small knots. Dream watches him carefully, gold watching brown, until they meet, and they both smile. 

“Did you mean it?” George whispers. 

Dream doesn’t blink. “Of course I did,” he says. “I’d never lie to you, George.”

Oh, look in your eyes like woah, they always shine bright, I see the limelight, I can't describe that glow

Make you a superstar in my mind, my mind

I'll follow, anywhere you go

Watch the door when you get home, yelling, "No paparazzi"

A superstar in my bed

“You’re so obsessed with me,” George says, cracking a small smile.

Dream only stares up at me with eyes full of genuine love, blinking slowly like cats do to say they love you. The butterflies flick in George’s gut, and his gaze flicks down to Dream’s lips. 

“Why’d you say it?” he asks. 

“Because,” Dream says. “I want you to feel as special with me as when I’m in front of the camera. Only, it’s just as and we’re alone.”

George smirks. “And in your bed, apparently.”

Dream scoffs. “I had to.”

“Are you going to release it?” George asks.

Dream hums, gently taking the hand against his jaw in his own. He presses a kiss to the skin, looking up at George as he does. “Probably,” he mutters. “Unless you don’t want me to.”

“I think you should,” George says gently. 

Dream grins. “I’m not sure when I will.”

George brushes his hair from his eyes before leaning down to kiss between his eyes. “That’s okay,” he says. “We’ll keep it to ourselves for now.” He smiles, and Dream looks like he melts. 

There are no words exchanged, but they both move towards each other, and their lips meet eagerly. Prior to this, the two had only shared a few kisses, quick and little ones. This is real. 

Dream stands, gently cradling George’s jaw as hands slide down to rest on his waist. They push closer to each other despite having no room to do so, hands moving to touch and touch and touch. George’s hands slide under Dream’s sweater while Dream’s get lost in George’s hair, kissing him harder.

“Did you like it though?” Dream breathes as they pull apart, foreheads resting together.

“I loved it, you idiot,” George says, smiling happily. “You’re such a simp.”

Dream huffs. “You should hear some of my other songs.”

George doesn’t give him anymore time to talk, quickly pressing their lips together again. “I love you too,” he whispers between kisses. Dream smiles against his lips.

The way Dream spoke about him in the song was like nothing he’d ever heard the blond say before that moment. He sang about George as if he was a Greek god, worthy of devotion and adoration. As if he hung the moon, or–better yet–was the moon. The duration of the song had George feeling woozy and sick with butterflies. No one had ever, in his 26 years of existence, loved George in the way Dream does, let alone love him enough to write a song for him. A song like that, too. George is so, so in love.

And the painted lady butterflies knew it too.

----

ty for reading, this song makes me insane

[edogawa-division]

It was getting late in the day when the doorbell to the Kuromiya residence rung out. Answering the door, as she figured it was for her since it was her birthday, Kanra looked outside to see a medium-sized box and was not disappointed to see it was addressed to her. Bringing the box inside, she opened it to find several things inside.

The first gift was obvious, as it was a cake with red and black frosting on it, as well as some edible raspberries and blackberries that made Kanra's mouth water, making her hardly wait to bite into it. Pulling it out, she came across her second gift, which was a plain silver necklace that had her name at the end of it, written in cursive. 'Oohing' at it, she unclipped the end before putting it around her neck, liking how it felt.

The last gift was... it was a CD. ...Seriously? Who even uses CDs anymore? Not to mention aside from the words, 'For Kanra' written on it, the thing was just blank. Putting it to the side, she looked deeper in the box, and found a letter at the bottom. Pulling it out, it read:

"Happy birthday to you, Kanra-chan. I'm really sorry about delivering these gifts late! They would have been sent early, but Yorii spent the better part of the day making the song on the CD for you and he didn't want us sending our gifts before him. Again, I'm really sorry about that. The cake is from me, the necklace is from Mina-onee-san (she says 'hi', by the way), and the cd/song is from Yorii-kun. I hope you enjoy them all. Again, I wish you a happy birthday. Sorry we couldn't see you, but I hope it is going well!

With love, Elliot, Mina, and Yorii of Setagaya."

P.S. Please give that song a listen to when you can. Yorii really worked on it.

Reading the letter, Kanra took another look at the blank CD. Picking it up, she rushed to the basement where her sister, Kaoru, was located. After begging her to play the CD on her computer, the older sister relented and popped the CD into her computer. After a few seconds, a window popped up, showing a music file. Clicking on it, a song started playing throughout the audio of the computer...

The moment the song ended, Kaoru turned off the screen with a scowl on her face.

“Little brat.” She mumbled.

“It was nice of Yorii-kun to write a song for my birthday.”

“A little too nice if you ask me. I should hack his damn PROFILE for this.”

“Yorii-kun is just trying to be nice, Kaoru.”

“For Athena’s sake, Kanra, are you that blind?” Kaoru questioned, wondering how her little sister didn't know that Yorii had a major crush on her.

“What do you even mean by that?” Kanra huffed the beginning of her infamous temper already starting to show.

Not bothering to respond, Kaoru stood up from her computer chair and walked over to a certain area of one of her lab's walls.

“Kaoru?”

Continuing to ignore Kanra, Kaoru pushed a certain part of the wall, watching as it moved backward and to the side, revealing a secret compartment. Inside was filled with all sorts of dangerous weapons. From what Kanra could see, there were guns, grenades, rocket launchers, and there were even vials filled with all sorts of poisons and horrific concoctions. Reaching inside, Kaoru grabbed something, and much to Kanra’s dismay, the mad genius had pulled out her electric sledgehammer. The last time Kaoru had used that, she had shattered both of some idiot's kneecaps before shocking them unconscious.

“Kaoru you better not do what I think you're about to do.”

“I think I'm going to go have a little chat with a certain siren right now.”

“KAORU YOU LEAVE YORII-KUN ALONE!”