#ITS HARD TO HEAR AND IT'S LIKE 3 NOTES BUT ITS. SPOOKY

[ntls-24722]

another weird and stupid thought, very biased, but there is somethin in my heart that says that DJMM is in one way or another, full of life, and i wanna watch my words bc djmm is not humanlike or lifelike. he is stiff in the face and he is not expressive nor lively even though his actions are smooth for his size.

But it's the way he sleeps - even though his eyes are wide open and so is his mouth, what weirds me out is that he doesn't snore, instead you hear him breathing, the floorboards creaking around him and the quiet droning melody emanating from him.

If the fog were any closer I swear on my life you'd see his breath cut through it.

also, some yearning for the yearning website. as a treat.

[apothe-roses]

I Wanna Ride

Modern Aemond Targaryen x Reader

Part 3

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Summary: the deal is struck between you and Aemond

Warnings: none, really

A/N: Sorry this took so long! I’ve been really busy with work, and this part was kinda hard to write. That’s also why this is shorter

Word Count: 1.6k

“And he didn’t tell you what he wanted?” Aly looks over at you while adding a slice of turkey to the sandwich she’s making? You shake your head. It had been a few days since everything went down, yet you were still trying to wrap your head around it all. The fact that Aemond would consider helping you at all—foreboding debt aside—just didn’t make sense to you.

“Why does he have to be so cryptic and spooky,” Aly asks, adding a generous amount of mayo to the sandwich.

“Beats me,” you reply. A shout startles you both out of your conversation. You and Aly turn your heads to the living room area. Benji Blackwood and his two friends Kermit and Oscar Tully—“the muppets” as Aly likes to call them—are sprawled across Aly’s couch, cursing at a video game they’re thoroughly engrossed in.

“Oi! You tryin’ to wake your dad up?” Aly calls to them. Currently, Aly’s brother Sam was down the hall, trying to sleep off a migraine. The boys cringe slightly.

“Sorry,” one of the Tully boys stage whispers back to Aly. She sighs. “Anyways, lunch is ready.” In a flash, the boys were on their feet, making their way to the kitchen. Aly pushes the sandwich with the mayo mountain towards Benji.

“Would you like some sandwich with your mayo?” She teases. Benji scowls back, but his expression quickly morphs into a grin. The boys make their way back to the couch. Aly turns to you.

“Listen, if he tries to pull anything with you, just say the word and I’ll kick his ass. Then I’ll call Cregan and he’ll also kick his ass.” You laugh in response. “What’s his deal with them anyways? Are they friends?”

“Acquaintances is more like it. They get along well enough, but Creg’s friendship with Jace sorta puts him on thin ice.”

“…Yeah, I still don’t get it.”

“Look, rich people friendships are weird, okay?” Aly explains. “Sometimes it’s better if you don’t ask questions and just go with it. I find the truth usually comes out on its own time.” She starts resealing containers and putting them in the fridge. You follow suit, deciding to take her advice. You two clean in silence for a couple minutes, until your phone buzzes. You look at the name on the screen, suddenly feeling very nervous.

You show the conversation to Aly. Her eyebrows raise, and she notes the tense expression on your face. “You know you don’t have to do this right? I’m sure I could find some time to give you lessons.”

You think about it for a moment. Aly would certainly be a nicer teacher than Aemond. But her Raven is much different than your Meraxes. Plus, you’d be lying if you said you weren’t looking for an excuse to learn more about the enigmatic, handsome Targaryen.

“I don’t want to cut into your time with your family. I know how important it is to you,” you tell her. “Besides, we’re all adults. I can handle a little tough love.”

“Alright then. Lemme know if you change your mind,” Aly relents, leaving the kitchen. You turn back to your phone to text Aemond.

Saturday morning comes far too soon, and you find yourself heading back to Aemond and Aegon’s shop in the passenger seat of Aly’s truck. One of the doors is rolle up, and you can see Aemond working on a bike. He lifts his head when he hears the engine.

“Well,” you breathe, “here goes nothing.”

“Remember, I’m only a text away,” Aly reassures you. You grin then exit out the passenger side door. Before you turn away, you see Aly glare at Aemond, pointing at her eyes then at him before making a u-turn and driving off. You take a deep breath, then walk over to Aemond. By now, he’s standing and wiping his hands with a cloth. He’s wearing the same outfit as when you two first met, only this time the coveralls are unzipped with the sleeves tied around his waist. The white singlet he’s wearing does nothing to hide the definition of his chest or arms. A few streaks of grime decorate his body, along with a few tattoos. He’s not overtly bulky, but he’s definitely in shape. His biceps flex slightly as he cleans his hands; you try not to bite your lip.

You both stand in awkward silence, waiting for someone to break it. You decide to bite the bullet yourself.

“Where’s Aegon,” you ask, peering into the garage, but there’s no sign of Aemond’s brother.

“He doesn’t typically come in on weekends,” Aemond answers. “Prefers to sleep in.”

“Oh.” You’d hoped he’d be here; his easygoing nature could’ve served as a good mediator.

“So I take it you’re interested?” It takes a moment for you to realize he meant the training.

“Oh I’m yeah. But I want to know what exactly you’re hoping to get out of this,” you reply quickly. Get your shit together you mentally chastise yourself. He’s not worth it.

“Hmm, yes. I’ve been going back and forth on what I want from you,” he starts, setting the rag on a nearby workbench. He turns his back on you.

“And you’ve decided on…” you prompt. He drums his fingers on the table, silent. Then…

“The Conqueror’s Gala. I need someone to go with me,” he states. That’s it? He needs a date to some fancy event? You thought you’d have to do something like clean his house or shine his bike for a month. Not this.

“If you want me to pretend to be your girlfriend, Targaryen-“

“No. Gods no. Nothing like that.” Aemond hastily replies. “My mother is always on my as about bringing a date. Normally, I’d just go with Helaena, but this year she’s decided to side with mum. They want me to prove that I’m capable of spending time with people I’m not directly related to.” His mouth presses into a thin line, and he averts his gaze. He starts drumming his fingers again. It looks like that’s something he does when he’s agitated. You let the silence simmer, silently enjoying the way his jaw clenched.

“Hmmm. I suppose I could spare one evening to get all dressed up and rub elbows with the Westerosi elite,” you sigh in pretend annoyance. He gives you a disgruntled look. “Trust me. It’s not the fun time you think,” he says sharply. Of course a cryptic like him wouldn’t enjoy social events. You try not to laugh at the thought.

“Well, fun or not, I’ll take it,” you tell him. His shoulders relax a little.

“Good,” he says stiffly. “Shall we?” he gestures his hand towards the bike. You realize it’s his own, the bronze coloring of the Vaghar catching the late morning light. You make your way over and take your seat. The bike has the same controls as your Meraxes, but his has extra side mirrors affixed.

Aemond leans over you, one hand on the handlebar and the other on the seat behind you. It takes all your willpower not to gawk at his arm.

“Alright,” Aemond says softly. “Now I want you to start the engine.”

You turn and look at him, incredulous. “You think I don’t know how to start a bike?”

Aemond levels a flare at you. “I’m just being thorough.” You scoff and roll your eyes, but you do as he says.

“Good,” he muses. He’s inches from your ear. The soft timbre of his voice sends a shudder through you. “Now what?” You choke out. You hate the effect he has on you.

“I want you to shift to first gear,” he instructs. All you can do is obey blindly.

“Good. Good,” he praises. He has you go through all the gears and how to break, giving a little praise each time you do something correct. It’s all painfully easy, and you should be insulted he’s making you prove such basic knowledge. Instead, you silently relish the rush of warmth you get with each praise. Hell, you’re almost tempted to get something wrong on purpose just to see how he’ll react? Would he gently explain the correction, or would he go back to being rude and insult you?

“Well then,” Aemond says, pushing off his bike. You mourn the loss of his warmth on your shoulder. “It seems you really do know the basics.” He drawls the last part. Oh yeah, that’s what it’s like when he insults you. You get off the bike, and he starts to wheel it into the garage. “But the Dragon Rally isn’t for the feint of heart. You’ll need to be able to ride long distances in potentially rough weather. You need to be adaptable, ready to make a decision at a moment’s notice. And that’s not even including the Rally itself.”

“What happens at the Rally?” you ask.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Aemond replies, turning his back on you. You scoff. “Yes. I would. That’s why I asked”

He smirks. “All you need to know is that you need to build up your endurance. I’d like to take you on a ride through the Kingswood when you’re next available. Once you’re comfortable, we’ll take more challenging treks. Sound good?”

You nod your head. At least you won’t have to have weird conversations with him when riding.

“Good. Check your schedule, and give me your next available date,” he says before pulling the garage door closed in your face.

You stand there in stunned silence. What the fuck is up with this guy?

You text Aly, and a few minutes later her truck pulls up to the sidewalk.

“Well that was quick,” she observes as you put on your seatbelt.

“You’re telling me,” you reply, looking back at the garage as Aly pulls away.

You were confused. You were intrigued. Something told you this was only the tip of the iceberg that was Aemond Targaryen.

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Taglist: @valeskafics @carriellie @let-love-bleeds-red @wintrr13 @queenofshinigamis @seabasscevans @fangirlninja67 @toodlesxcuddles @almostpurplelady @goldenpanda16 @aemonds-fire @yentroucnagol @tssf-imagines @n4tforlife @mooncalvin @julczimozart @kezibear

Bold means I couldn’t tag you

[its-in-the-woods]

The Woman Who Couldn’t Die Part 6

master list

Part 1 , Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5,

Pairing: The Ghoul/Cooper Howard x Original Character 

Alternative Universe where I make things up cause I can only research so much

Synopsis: There is something in the woods, and our brave travelers are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

MINOR GET OUT. Rating/Warning: This is based on fallout except typical: Drug use, blo0d/g0re, animal death, alien critters, angst, lots of hurt no comfort, Canon divergence, hints of SH/SA/NONCON, Slow Burn,

Note: that I will not be spoiling any of the reading. I will keep my tags relevant without spoiling what is happening in the story.

Enjoy the show kiddlets.

Night seems to come faster here, the tall imposing trees shrinking the daylight away. They had walked until Jade couldn’t see and almost fell again. The Ghoul had thankfully caught her before she had hit the ground, his lightning fast reflexes snatching her as she tripped over the uneven road. Carefully right her, and making sure he didn’t pull on the stitches Jade still had in her arm. 

“Careful there, ya got to tell me when yah can’t see,” The Ghoul said firmly. He had been weirdly quiet, usually there was a story or two they’d share between them. But today he had asked for silence, his head tipping this way and back listening to every small sound. Lucy had heard almost nothing, the silence was eerie. 

“I can’t see in the dark,” Jade said huffing, dropping her bag on the ground and stretching her back. She groans, the stitches in her back aching as she moves trying to pop bones back into place. The long walk always left her feeling stiff and tense, the added hush of the forest making her extra tense. 

“Exactly,” The Ghoul says, also dropping his saddle bag. “I can, so you gotta tell me when yah can’t see.” She wishes she could make out more than his shadowed outline, she was used to the dark, but this felt different. 

Jade flops herself down on the ground, digging around in her bag for water. “Guessing fire is out for the evening?” A fire here was a deathwish, she’d only be able to see just beyond its light, setting them up for an easy ambush.  

“Not sorry. Somethin’ is very off about this place,” The Ghoul states, she could hear him take a hit of the inhaler. Had he been taking it more often? She pushed the thought out of her mind, she needed food and maybe to try and sleep. The last thing she should be worrying about was if the Ghoul was going feral, they had a dozen plus vials on them. Right now making it to the next morning was more pressing. 

“I don’t like it,” Jade finally says, she didn’t, the whole place felt spooky. No noise. How was there no noise? “It’s too quiet, can hear you think.”

She could almost see the Ghoul’s eyes light up at her, “Don’t think you’d wanna know my thoughts now, Tiny.”

Jade huffs cracking open a can of food, she couldn’t tell what it was. Maybe she didn’t want to know, maybe she did. Jade knew somewhere down inside she wanted to know, to understand him more. Why? There wasn’t much of a reason besides connection. Something that was far too difficult to find in this husk of a world they lived in. Maybe she could pry something out of him tonight. She looks up at the stars, even though they weren’t enough to give light to this wretched place. “What if I did want to know?”

Silence for a moment, but then she hears him sit down, almost beside her. But always an arm's length away, why he couldn’t just sit beside her she didn’t know.  She remembers the heat of his hand wrapped around her body, how his hand had been inches from her face. Pushing that away she continues to eat the mystery meat in front of her. 

“I’ve been around for a long time. Too long if you ask anyone who knows me.” The Ghoul said out into the dark, his voice low enough that it didn’t echo. “Nothing good in between the holes I call ears.” 

Jade mulls that over, it was the most he had said all day. Hoping she could convince him to tell her more she asks, “How long?”

She could hear his boots slide on the dirt as he stretched out, “Long before you’re born, or your mother, or your mother’s mother.”

“You talkin' pre-bomb?” Jade pushed, she was walking a tight line here. He told stories, but never anything truely personal. Jade wanted more, she needed to understand what drove him to stay alive this long. 

“Depends on which bombs you are talking about.” He says she could tell that he had opened a can of something. At least he was eating, he hadn’t touched a thing all day besides the chems and a small amount of water. 

“I am talking about the bombs that end everything,” Jade states, she wasn’t terribly well versed in history, it wasn't like there was anyone teaching her. That said, she knew that there had been a single large event that had happened. That had flattened the entire country with nuclear bombs. This didn't cover the bombs that had been dropped between warring factions, or some such horseshit like that. 

“Yeah, a little older than those bombs,” He says it like a joke, like the fact he was over two hundred years old was nothing. How the hell had he stayed alive that long?

Jade finishes her can and drops it beside her with a clang. Every noise echoes around here, making her skin crawl like something was watching her. She rubs her hand nervously over the stitches that she could feel poking at her clothes. 

“Don’t think I’ve met anyone from before.” She adds, not entirely sure where to take the conversation. “I knew Ghouls could live for a long time. But I didn't think it was that long.”

The Ghoul huffs, dropping his own can beside them. “If you keep yourself fed, and watered pretty much immortal. Comes in handy I’uppose.”

“Have you thought about-” Jade stops herself, who was she to ask if he had thought about ending his life? She’d been here for a short time and the thought had crossed her mind more times than she could count on both hands. 

“Maybe one day,” The Ghoul hummed, she guessed he had laid down as his voice was lower to the ground. “For now, just gonna take it as it comes.”

***

The forest was eerily quiet, no buzzing insects, or scurry of birds, just the sound of her boots and the Ghoul’s spurs hitting the ground. Jade feels tight, her whole body coiling readying for something to jump out of the forest. If last night was bad today was somehow worse; she could feel that both of them were waiting on the edge of a knife for something to jump out.  There were a few dilapidated signs, a handful of empty tins, and other trash. But other than that no other signs of anyone. No fresh tracks, or small fire pits, it was as if no one had been here in years. The Ghoul was on alert, checking behind them regularly. The Ghoul being on edge only heightened her fear.

“Have you gone this way before?” Jade asks, talking helps ease the anxiety, even if her voice echoes around the place. 

“Not in a long time,” The Ghoul said, he stopped abruptly, head tilting as he listened. He held up one gloved hand to silence her.

Jade stops, trying to force herself to listen harder. The squeak of her leather holster and the rustle of the Ghoul’s jacket seem to reverberate around them.  As she stood with her head tipped the same way as his, a twig snaps. 

“Something is coming our way,” The Ghoul said, the shotgun he wore on his back now in his hands, he loaded it swiftly and started moving backward down the road. 

Jade grabbed her pistol checking rounds as she took up the same backward walk as the Ghoul did. She could now hear more limbs breaking off trees as they started to move back at a fast pace. Looking up at the tops of the trees she could see them moving; the trees parting in horrid cracks and snaps. 

“Fuck, fuck,” Jade stammers out starting to turn, pistol still in hand as she looks towards the Ghoul, an unreadable expression across his face. 

“RUN.” The Ghoul yells as he starts to move, turning the same as Jade. They both run in the opposite direction of the horrid noise. 

The beast crashes through the trees onto the roadway with enough force to topple trees onto the road. It was an unimaginably massive hulking thing, bear-like legs thick as tree stumps; each foot lined with dozens of claw-like talons, black matted fur that faded up into scale covered skin. The creature was nearly as tall as the trees, the head a mangled twist of flesh that looked like the burnt carcass of a deer. Its eyes flaming red, mouth open in terror inducing scream. The monster charged towards them as they ran, the haunting call shaking the ground beneath their feet. The screech was loud enough to momentarily deafen them. 

The Ghoul stops, sliding into a half kneeling position and firing a shot at its head. Jade took up the same crouched stance, steadying herself as she fired at the beast's underbelly. Black ichor oozed from its flesh but the beast didn’t slow down. Jade moves lower aiming for a leg, she watches as chunks of flesh go flying out of the thing. 

“Take out its legs” Jade calls, watching the Ghoul load in different ammo, before leveling his weapon back at the thing.

The creature came up on them fast and hard, the ground around them shaking. A loud pop erupts and one of the creature's front paws explodes into gore. The creature fumbles but continues forward on three legs. Barely slowed down by the missing appendage. 

“Fuck,” The Ghoul roared as he reloaded and went to aim, a chuck coming free from the blast. It wasn’t enough, the thing was going to be on top of them in moments. 

Any rational thought went out of Jade’s mind, her pack slipping off her back, they were going to die, and the beast was going to be on top of them in moments. Dropping her pistol, which had been nearly useless up to this point; she grabs the machete from her back and runs towards the thing. She could hear the Ghoul calling out her name as she ran straight at the beast. The thing's head coming down, mouth opening, decaying teeth, and spit drooling out.  Wild eyes burning against hers as she dove towards it. Jade could see right down the beast’s throat, as she crashes into its mouth, her makeshift sword straight ahead of her. The feeling of hot humid stink coming out as she turns to swing in an arch around the inside of the monster's throat. A wrecked scream shook her as she felt black blood splash around her. Her ears going deaf from the intense noise ringing around her. The space got smaller as she slashed and swung wildly, chunks of its flesh flying as she lodged herself in its throat. She could feel it trying to swallow, her machete lodged firmly in the roof of the creature's throat. Reaching for her waist Jade grabbed her hunting knife sticking it down into the soft tissue. The thing is trying to scream as she cuts and hacks, trying to remove herself from inside its maw. 

She felt another impact rattle the creature’s body, the beast tossing it’s head back and forth. Jade holding on for dear life and as she tries to cut and saw through whatever she could. Reaching up she grabs the machete slamming it in between her feet as she slides towards the monster’s guts. The soft flexible flesh below her opens up as she slides down the horrors esophagus. She dug her boots in as she felt it start to fall, her body tensing bracing for impact. Her world goes dark as she watches the ground come flying up as the creature collapses. 

The Ghoul felt fear wash over him as he saw Jade leap into the gaping maw of the thing. He calls out her name several times hoping it would somehow stop her. The creature stopping and shook its massive head back and forth trying to cough her up. He could see blood oozing as his companion struggles inside. He reloads the explosive round back into his shotgun. The beast pausing long enough for him to aim for the other front leg. The rounds punching through and shattering the beast's foot. It rose on its back to feet, front stumps trying to grab at the horror's throat. He could see the machete blade poke out and start to slide down opening up the beast’s throat. He reloads and aims for center mass,firing. The Ghoul hoping to the stars that he would miss where Jade was. A head sized hole went through the beast's chest, it sways back and forth before falling forward.

“Fuck,” The Ghoul shouts, running toward the beast, its fiery eyes dimmed, black ichor covering the ground, guts, and bones scattered in a circle of gore. 

He got to the beast trying to move it, which was a near Herculaneum feat. He managed to roll it enough too see where Jade had hacked underneath its giant jaw. The slit she had made that ran down the monster’s neck, gaped open. Following it down he used his blade to start opening it up more, going down to where Jade’s hands were gripping the machete. Two of her fingers on her left hand were gone, as he peels back the meat to reveal more of her arms.

“Jade, Jade,” Ghoul shouts, fingers slipping on all the black blood, he grabs at her hands and tries to pull. The right one felt wrong, looking into the hole it is clear that her arm is probably dislocated. Cussing some more, he cut and cut. Thankfully his knife was sharp. He found her head and her eyes rolling back as he tips her face up to him.

“You better not be fuckin’ dead,” He shouts, slapping her face trying to get her attention. “Come on girly, come on.”

He held her up and cut low enough he could grab under her left arm and pull. Hoping that he didn't tear her stitches as he yanked. Part of her popped out, her hips still stuck. Growling he rips at the flesh tearing it apart with his gloved hands and yanking her out. Her body flops on the ground covered in black goo. Scrambling over to her, he flips her over clearing her mouth and nose of any goop. The stuff was everywhere. He shook her, calling her name several more times, but she lay limp in his arms. Pulling one of his gloves off he searched for a pulse, his hands were too thick and gnarled from radiation to feel much. He lays her gently, taking his hat off he unzips her jacket and pulls her shirt up placing his ear on her chest. 

The soft steady beat of heart and lungs working was like a shot of chem. He leans back covering her skin gently, wincing at the number of fresh bruises blooming across her abdomen. Looking around he spots her bag, getting up he walks over and opens it up, grabbing a stimpak. He walks back and injects one into Jade’s neck. She doesn't move. 

He wasn’t sure the extent of the damage, she was missing two fingers which could be stitched closed and bandaged, her right shoulder was dislocated, another easily fixed thing. The bruising was worrisome, looking down he could see her feet weren’t sitting properly. Moving down he moved her pant legs up some, the coloring was purple at the top of her socks.

“Goddamnit,” The Ghoul hushes, he’d need to get her boots off. He untied them, opening them up some more, her feet were so swollen they didn’t want to come off. 

“You’re gonna hate me, but these got to come off,” Sighing, he cut the boots off. His hands might have lost a lot of feeling but it didn’t feel like her bones were broken. Carefully he grabbed her heel pulling it towards him and twisting. A satisfying pop echos, the Ghoul letting out a breath, before moving on to the next one. He rests her feet down on the ground, checking over the rest of her, he was shocked there wasn’t more damage. Next, he grabs her right arm feeling up to the shoulder and rotating it into place. The girl didn’t even move, he wonders if he should be grateful or worried. Leaning down he could still hear her breathing, looking over her face he couldn’t see any bruising but that didn’t mean there weren't issues. He grabbed his hat and slipped it back on, staring at her. 

As the Ghoul ponders what to do next with his companion, his eyes catch the black slim moving. Standing he watches as it starts to slither back towards the body. Looking around he could see bone had started to grow out of the stumps of the blown off paws. Turning he saw the slit at the thing's throat begin to mend. The black ooze moving on its own back to the mangled body.

“What the fuck,” Ghoul mutters as he watches the things start to piece it’s self together. It wasn’t instant but it wasn’t slow either. In a matter of hours, most of the gore would be gone and the creature repaired.

The Ghoul turning back to his unconscious companion, his mind running. Some part of him wanted to leave her there, take off, as she probably won’t make it anyway. Las thing he needed dead weight and all that. His eyes looking over his companion, she looked so different compared to the day he found her. Her skin wasn’t pale anymore, now a deep sandy color, the stitches on her arm poking out. 

Jade may have looked like a frightened young woman when he met her, but she was anything but. She was a survivor, a fighter, and had had his back on more than one occasion. The stupid girl had jumped down the throat of this beast without thinking.

“FUCK,” The Ghoul shouts, kicking at the dead carcass as he stomps over to the treeline. 

Snapping several smaller branches he walked back over to Jade, digging around he found a length of rope. He used it to make a makeshift sled. He wasn’t going to be able to carry her all the way out, but dragging her might give them enough to get away from whatever the fuck that was. He shed his duster laying it down on the makeshift sled, before moving his companion onto it, Placing the bags on either side of her bare feet to try and keep her steady. Grabbing the rope he started to move away from the dead beast. Looking over his shoulder he saw the blackness still seeping back into the dead body. He wished he had a bomb, so he could blow the thing up enough that it would take weeks to piece itself back together not hours.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

seven

*likes, reblogs, and comments are greatly appreciated

*we got a lot of hurt, and very little comfort, it's gonna be tense for a while friends.

@pixelatedprofilepic @hiddlebatchedloki @toogaytofunctiondangit

[sunny6677]

Spooky Personality Swap!

Summary:

Literally just a fanfic where different characters in Spooky Month Swap personalities for a day. I don't take requests, but I will try to do at least every character I promise. /lh

Chapter 3: Skid & Roy. (Part 2)

————

"Moooom?"

Rang out Reynolds voice from another room, or.. well, rather from behind Carmen as she stood within the confines of her luxurious kitchen. She felt her hair slightly brush against her back as she turned her head, and let her half-lidded gaze wonder over her son who poked his head out from the entrance.

"What is it, Reynold?" Asked Carmen with a sigh, already slightly irritated from how long of a day it had been. Having to deal with all sorts of.. plebians. Ugh.

Her sons expression appeared somewhat.. off. Maybe it was just because she was tired, but the smile he wore on his crooked lips seemed just a bit to big. And his round eyes.. it.. it was hard to even describe the expression in his eyes, had he had one at all.

"Can I go play with my friends?"

..play?

Well, then again, he could have meant video games. But she was somewhat disgusted at the idea of who he could have meant by 'friends'.

"Reynold, it's late. And why would you want to hang with those plebians anyway?"

"Plebian?"

"Yes—you're of a far better status than they are. Why would you wanna hang with them?"

"Uh.. I dunno! Cuz it's fun!"

Carmen arched a brow. "..fun..?"

He still stared at her, a crooked smile on his lips still. After a bit of staring, she felt something within her begin to soften. Well, he.. was a child. He still deserved to have a little bit of fun and all. And it wasn't often she got to see him this happy.

She sighed. "Fine. But be back before midnight."

"Yay!" He cheered, throwing his fists in the air and giving a slight jump. Almost instantly, he turned, and practically zoomed in the direction of the mansions entrance. His feet racing behind him as he quickly vanished. She just.. stared, her mouth slightly turned into a confused snarl.

Still, she shook her head. From the entrance, she saw a familiar slim face peek out with a cigarette hanging from its lips. Her brown-haired, glasses-wearing husband—Richard.

Richard glanced in the direction Reynold went, and looked back at Carmen. Carmen remained silent, and simply gave a shrug while rolling her eyes.

————

Robert was simply walking through the small confines of his house, letting his arms remain fully tossed over the other while his hair bounced with each movement he made. It was a late night. A night beneath the usual chill that wasn't at all present in the day. He could hear his little sister giggling from in the living room, watching something on the bedroom TV they owned. His mother was asleep, and.. well, Radford had gone out to hang with his friend. So the house was a little less louder than usual.

He smelt the scent of the leftover dinner his mother had made for them tonight from in the kitchen. Chicken, to be exact. Robert thought about maybe going in there just to maybe clean up (since his sister most likely forgot again), and he even began to turn in its direction.

But then—he heard the sound of something ringing. A telephone to be exact, coming from in the direction of the living room.

He blinked—curious. Usually, whenever he got calls this late at night, it was from Ross or Roy—asking if he could hang out. And.. well, the idea of that sounded nice. He didn't really have much to do tonight anyway.

Noting that he'd clean the leftover dinner after he answered the call, he paced in the direction of the barely lit up living room. The only sight of light was the TV—which practically blinded him while he walked in.

He glanced around the narrow but messy confines of the living room. He saw his little sisters silhouette sitting down from in the corner of his eye. But he quickly looked in the direction of the yellow telephone in the corner of the room, and began to walk toward it.

Once he stopped in front of it, he took the phone—pressing the green button. Pressing it to his ear, he spoke into the speaker.

"Uh.. hey! Who's calling?"

Almost immediately, he found himself practically deafened by the sound of a voice screeching into the phone back at him. A familiar but scrawny one in fact. It was.. Roy.

"Ayyyye!"

He blinked in confusion. And did so for a few more seconds.

"Uh.. hi?" Robert muttered. "Did you—did you need something, dude?"

"Wanna go play with me and Ross?!"

"...uh.."

He.. sounded a bit childish. Robert could practically hear him giggling like a maniac over the phone. Maybe it was another one of his jokes or something. Or—well, he could have been asking if he wanted to go play video games.

"Sure, dude!" Robert shrugged.

"Yayyyy! Hahaha—! I'll see you later!"

The phone gave a click before Robert could even reply, and just like that, his normally angry friend was gone.

He stood silently, before simply putting the phone down and turning around so he could inform his family of where he'd probably be going. Ross tended to have video games, so he assumed they'd probably be going there.

————

"I'll see you later!"

Robert had walked out of his house—letting the door behind him give a small click as it shut. He was about to turn his head with a smile. But his smile faltered, and his body slightly flinched as a voice rang out from in front of him.

"Ayeeeee!"

"A—Ah! Oh.."

He stopped. It was just.. Roy. Standing there rather eagerly with his hands all balled up. But he didn't appear to be wearing his usual clothes. In fact, he wore plastic fangs in his mouth seemingly, his hat now gone as he wore a cape over his back. And—

"Uh.. why are you dressed up like that?"

"Cuz it's spooky month!"

..was he doing this as some way to joke around? A slight wave of disappointment washed over Robert. Even when those kids weren't around, he'd still make fun of them.

"..dude, come on."

"What?"

"Stop.. whatever this is! You can't just keep making fun of those kids."

"Kids?"

Roy blinked, and exclaimed suddenly, "Oh! Them! Yeah—they're really spooky, and I wanted to look spooky too! So I put this on!"

"..what?"

"Let's go get Ross!"

With a sudden turn, Roy swiftly spun around, hopping off of the doorstep. He began to practically glide across the path that led to the doorstep. As Robert watched, he shook his head, forcing his legs to move as he followed him.

"Wh—hey! Roy! Stop!"

Yet, Roy didn't, and Robert was forced to run after him.

————

The moment a soft knock had sounded against the door, Ross slowly let his hand press up against the doorknob, and push it open. He already knew who to expect. Since he had received a bit of a.. strange call from Roy earlier that involved him mocking the kids over the phone. Or maybe he wasn't? He seemed so genuine and never even broke character once.

Still.. it was weird. That call had been merely fifteen minutes ago. How would Roy get here so fast?

As he pushed open the door though, Ross stepped out, and gave a slight flinch as a scrawny voice cried out at him. A smaller figure with brown curly short hair, a round face.

"Ayyeeeee!" The voice cried. Well—as a matter of fact, Roy's voice cried as he practically materialized right in front of him.

Ross was quiet. Just staring. He let his dark eyes wondered over the smaller boys form. Roy was just standing there with his hands clenched, a grin spread over his face and his teeth sharp—wait, why was he wearing a vampire costume?

"..hey." Ross replied softly. "Why—why are you wearing that?"

Roy opened his mouth to answer as Ross heard the sound of someone from behind him approaching. A taller figure with poify blonde hair, eyebags, a blue cap—Robert.

"Cuz it's spooky month!" Roy answered gleefully.

Ross looked down at him, confused. "..what?"

"Dude—" Robert breathed rather heavily, as if he had been running. "Can you tell him to stop?"

"Stop what?" Asked Ross.

"Thi—this! He's just been doing this the whole time we've been coming here!"

Ross furrowed his brows, his lips curling into a frown. He let his eyes practically glare into Roy's own, beginning to feel irritation within his head. Why was he doing this when those kids weren't here? Hell, why did he even bully those kids in the first place?

"What are you talking about, Robert?" Roy asked. "I don't know what you're—"

"Dude, just sto—"

"Oh!"

Roy jumped up as Ross (with a hand barely lifted) was about to speak. "Let's go to the candy store! Heeheheheee—"

Within an instant, Roy had completely vanished from their sight, now running away from the house. His footsteps were so loud it practically made crashing sounds everywhere he went. Where was he even—? What made him think?

The two just looked at eachother for a moment, before turning, and racing after him once Ross shut the door.

————

Well, he.. certainly did a lot more than go to the candy store alright.

Roy had gone to the candy store, and they followed. But when they ran in after he practically busted into the doors despite literally being banned from the store entirely. They hadn't seen the whole interaction between him and.. Kevin, the friend of Robert's brother who happened to work there. Roy practically screamed at Kevin to give him candy cans while they both just watched. Maybe not screamed, but cheered over and over again to be given those items. Kevin had just.. looked at him with slight shock, which replaced his irritation upon seeing the kid. And with slight reluctance, he simply handed the kid a candy can.

Of course, Roy ran out the moment he was handed that, and continued to practically run all over the town as his friends just rushed after him. He rushed into the movie theater. They lost him for a few minutes before finding him in the room of a horror movie. But rather instantly once it ended, he ran out once more.

Roy went basically everywhere. It—it was hard to say what all he did in those places with how hard it was to keep up with them. He went to the hospital. The graveyard. Just.. any place you could think of in the town.

And as of now, Roy was running ahead of them—with the two starting to lose energy after trying to keep up with him for so long.

"Dude—where are you going?!" Ross cried with a cough.

"Stop!" Robert tried to yell, but Roy didn't hear.

What was he doing? It was getting clear that maybe this wasn't actually a joke. It was a bit concerning in fact, seeing him suddenly act this way.

Ross shook his head. He tried to quicken his pace despite his growing exhaustion, lifting his head. He squinted his eyes.

In the distance though, there were two small figures. One wearing a bright pumpkin mask, and one not wearing anything at all.

And then, Roy cried out to them, "Hiiiii!"

[a-mag-a-day]

MAG 53 - baking something with all those apples I cut in the kitchen

Love that a lot of the episode titles have two meaning or are outright puns. Crusader here referring to the tank and the knight corpse.

Another I had a bit of a hard time following. I think the voice acting is really fitting here, but the frantic tone messes with my ability to process what's told.

Gloucestershire… British pls… why? Just… why??? T_T (Knowing that this is a trick pronunciation I would just say "Gloshshshshsh")

"I was the gunner. I’ve always had good eyes, you see, and you really need that for the gun." - Good eyes you say…?

3:29 " The Italians had unsurprisingly taken a page out of Rommel’s handbook", right at "page", someone turns a page! The VA actually turning the page of the script or intentional soundscaping (since there is more paper rustling to come)?

"Then I saw it: a flash of light, a twinkling glint of sun from the enemy tank. In the back of my mind, I knew what it meant: the sun reflecting off their own binoculars" - music is playing at this part and I don't understand why? xD Usually music accompanies something spooky happening. While this is a scary situation especially hearing someone burning to death without any way to help them, I don't know if it's mean to be supernatural spooky stuff? I mean it's an Eye statement, binoculars would fit that bill, but otherwise?

Very soft at 5:33, very briefly at 6:58, 7:49 - scraping sounds (at 7:00 with a knock, like making a period with a pencil) and paper shuffling like someone's taking notes? Gertrude perhaps? I think this is indeed intentional soundscaping.

10:10 also shuffling can be heard. All throughout the statement there's a bit of shuffling here and there, I think it fits very well.

"but instead there came the scent of something else. All that, at that point I had no idea what it was but I would have described it as not unlike wood." - Paper and Papyrus is made of plant fibers ¯_(ツ)_/¯

"It should have been pitch dark. Though there was no light at all filtering through into those underground caverns, but it still – I could see everything. " Good eyes indeed.

"At the same time I suddenly got the most intense feeling of being watched, like a thousand eyes turned to me at once." <.<

"From within its huge, flowing hood I could see nothing except a single lidless eye." - I think that one is the inspiration for the Eye of the Entity Tarot designs which are in the Rusty Quill merch shops.

GERTRUDE "The bronze grate over the entrance to the archive." <.<

WALTER "I have just now. That funny turn I took on the way down the stairs, I felt it again. All those eyes watching me." - <.< (I absolutely love this Archive lore in this episode.)

"There’s even one unnamed contemporary historian that describes the mob attacking the Serapeum not as Christians, but using a phrase which roughly translates as “those who sing the night”." - Worshippers of the Dark attacking the Archive? It would make sense, they are complementary. Things unseen and things seen.

"What was it? A guardian of some sort? Or perhaps… perhaps… it too was once an archivist." - Ok, so on my first listen I already had a suspicion that Archivists are not just people in an archiving job. Jane called Jon "Archivist". Also before I reached this episode my sister once called me "Archivist" and I was already like "Why would she do that if there wasn't a deeper meaning?". Hearing Gertrude contemplating, if this creature was once an Archivist, confirmed my suspicions.

Martin being a blessing once again! <3

"I just worry. You needed five stitches after you “accidentally” stabbed yourself with the bread knife." - My sister visited me just two days ago and she managed to stab herself with the bread knife XD Nothing severely, but it made me laugh. Also, Martin totally doesn't believe Jon here…

Ok ok, Martin asks Jon, if he wants a sandwich! I understood this like "Should I get a sandwich for you while you stay here and I go alone". And then Jon says he's coming with Martin! He totally didn't have to do that? Does he think Martin would poison the sandwich? I mean, Martin could poison every cup of tea he makes, so don't think Jon's thinking of that. Keeping an extra eye on Martin? Personally, that's my headcanon: This is where Jon starts going on lunch breaks with Martin. At first under the pretense of more surveillance and trying to find out more about him. But eventually he starts to just enjoy it and keeps doing it, especially after he finds out what that letter to his mum was about (in like 3 episodes). I mean, it would make sense, right? Why would someone think of the two of them "being close" otherwise?

"It reports an explosion in Alexandria which destroyed several buildings in the vicinity of Pompey’s Pillar and killed 17 people. Official investigation determined it to be a gas mains explosion" - THAT FUCKING FORESHADOWING!!!!! Biggest weakness of an Archive - gas mains.

Those damn gas mains are always full of spiders

[forlorn-crows]

anyone asked abt spirit yet? 👀

THANK. YOU. why did it take SO LONG TO GET HERE GUYS??

spirit. my one true love. right next to [redacted]. they used to open with this song and GODDAMN what i wouldn't give to see that.

how do i even begin? well, theremin. obviously. the THEREMIN. so spooky, how it jumps a fifth?? also the little plink of the xylophone in the background, almost covered up by the choir??

and then the theremin fades to the guitar w/ the hi-hat (can you tell i like hi-hats) and then.

THE FUCKING REST OF DRUMS ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? how it LOOPS and the rhythm becomes slightly different each time. it drives the entire start of the song. i drum in on my steering wheel every time im driving.

that little major lift on possibilities and back to the minor. the harmonies in this song are so gOOD.

AAAH AHHH AHHH SPIRIT AAHH AHHH AHH ABSINTHE you cant tell me that doesnt SLAP SO HARD. with the DUN DUN. DUN DUN. of all the instruments. if you listen to the intro of shipping up to boston by dropkick murphys its that same DUN DUN.

and that little break after the last absinthe of the chorus with--you guessed it-- the hi-hat. how the fucking hi-hat keeps time throughout the entire song. i love it.

devilish creatures / trumpets the end of time / cloven hooves / anti saint wormwoooood

the GUITAR SOLO?? so fucking good. and it brings the synth in at the end, mirroring the notes. the buiLD at 3:40.

into the march at 3:50. how the drums sort of fade in volume in the background, if you can hear that. mainly the snare

there's no return (the FUCKING GUITAR SHRED fuck OFF)

AND NONE ON THIS EARTH INHERIT / THIS VISION OF MY SPIIRRRIITTTT are you KIDDIN GMEEE???? the way it keeps accenting those beats until the end of the song

im deceased.

[onewingedsparrow]

8, 10, 12, 17, and 19 for the ask game!

(They’re all amazing; it was hard to narrow it down. 😂)

Thanks for the ask, Nova! <3 Lol yeah I loved all the questions too :D

From this ask game!

8. Which tf character has the most different personality from you? Uhhhhh that’s a good question. Maybe RiD’15 Drift? He’s very rigid and not likely to have fun for the sake of having fun. Also most iterations of Shockwave are far more logical than I like to be. Sure, logic is important, but Shockwave seems to go overboard in my book. 10. Which tf character do you think you’d get along with really badly? Probably Starscream, any continuity. He's such a backstabber and I value loyalty; he's super narcissistic and people like that are quite annoying to me. Plus he's generally not very fond of humans and talks down to them, and I'm very feisty so our interactions would probably go much like Miko's and his in TFP. Many insults, mutual disgust. I can appreciate his character in a show but I know I could not stand him in real life haha. 12. List a piece of art not from transformers that you think fits a tf character! Hmm this took me a bit of digging...there wasn't one that came to mind instantly, but it was interesting to consider! Reposting is BAD kids(TM) so here's direct links to artists’ works instead! ;)

First off: this beautiful ocean art by Kazami is really inspiring to me. Most people probably don’t think of the ocean when they think Transformers, but...put simply, it reminds me of the ’Waves ;) I have AU versions of Shockwave and Soundwave occupying my mind, their designs inspired by the sea. And the depth in this particular piece is absolutely gorgeous. The brighter colors are reminiscent of neon, which also makes me think Wavebros, and the darker colors add to the ominous, frightening feel of the deep ocean, ever fitting for those two Decepticons.  Oh! You’d probably like this as well! There’s a Fire Emblem character whose design I am absolutely in love with. He’s so spooky!!! His name is Líf and I haven’t reached his chapter in the story yet, but I’m so looking forward to that day because his design alone intrigues me. 💜 What does this have to do with Transformers? Well, he reminds me of Soundwave the most, but his “lightning antennae,” lol, remind me of both Soundwave and Optimus, which is a very interesting combination. Líf’s design gets me thinking about the uncanny ways Soundwave and Optimus are similar, something I hadn’t really considered in depth before. It’s quite fun. Here are some cool Líf fanarts so you can see his vibe! - By Lynarc (my absolute favorite that I’ve found so far) - By Bhai Kun - By Kalkkopf - Screenshots from a trailer (?)

- Bonus: Official art from the wiki because they’re all just so cool

I really like this dude in case it wasn’t obvious by how many of these I’m sharing 17. Which piece of music from a tf media is your favorite? I'm so glad you asked this question!!! I was hoping someone would 😊 This would have to be, hands down, "Did You Forget Who I Am" from The Last Knight. The Bayverse is full of terrible, terrible elements, but Steve Jablonsky’s score is not one of those. All the soundtracks are incredible. And this scene from TLK is so iconic that, every time I listen to the music, I can hear Optimus' voice fill in that beat of silence with the mighty, chilling line that Peter Cullen delivered so well. 💙 It also has a special place in my heart because...I can’t help but see a connection to my faith :) This scene and therefore this song are good reminders for me when I’m having a bad day. Side note: The fact that this song surpassed the TFP theme to become my favorite Transformers piece of music really says a lot about its impact. 19. Which depiction of cybertron in a tf media do you most want to live in? Does the answer vary depending on if you’re human or cybertronian? Lol okay so gut reaction would say "G1 Cybertron" because 1) humans can apparently breathe up there without issue (and not be harmed by acid rain, so that's a huge plus), and 2) while the Autobots and Decepticons were bickering on earth I could just go hang out with Shockwave, who's all alone just chilling 😂 But if oxygen wasn't an issue? Definitely post-Predacons-Rising Cybertron. I would love to rebuild the planet along with Team Prime and listen to their stories as they began to heal emotionally from the long conflict. I would also love to see what elements of the planet they repaired true to the original design, and which elements they rebuilt completely to start off on a blank slate, and the implications of each decision. It would be cool to live in a revitalized Cybertron and watch refugees return and new sparks be forged gradually over time until the planet was bustling again. And if I could show up a bit earlier and be present for Bumblebee's Warrior knighting ceremony that would be pretty cool too. 💛

[nomairuins]

CONNOR ON REPEAT REVIEW AND COMMENTARY

1. it boy - bbno$

Its a good song 👍 this one has been on repeat the past couple of days. very catchy and such

2. What I Want - Gregor Mcmurray

this one hit the connor charts like idk May. i say idk. i checked lastfm to be sure. i wouldnt want to spread misinformation 2 my friends in neighbors. this one hit connorworld at the same time as satisfaction which probably is somewhere else on this list. GOOD SONG ! i try not to play it around my little brother bc while hes pretty good abt please and thank you i dont want him to learn a bad lesson. which is a stupid thing 2 think JDBDJFNFN

3. Tell Me - Wonder Girls

this one has been on my list for ages like basically since march or april (it ws around the first time i got back bc lamp did a big songs haul 4 me 💚💚) but idk it came on shuffle the other day and now ive had it on loop. Mainly while i was looking at the deathnote wiki (i do this often i just look t random wikis ive doen this to 5 wikis in the past like. week. have not seen death note) so whenever i hear it i picture misa. sooo yeah

4. Lust for a Vampyr

HUGEEEEE in the connor billboard hot 100 like last month or june . somewhere in there. this one i had going with WHERE ARE THEY NOW. i surposeni was feeling vaguely spooky... great somg 👍 it makes me think abt aus for my fuckass ocs. throwing them at a wall

5. Keep Up - Karma Carr

thank you dunmeshi fandom for making me find out abt this song i love this song. GREAT SONG ! as a great scholar once said i need you working harder baby done with all the yes no maybe.

6. Lay All Your Love On Me

i think somebody annoying did a cover or something or it was a different abba song but it made me mad so i went to go listen to more abba and i got a bit crazy abt this song. GREATTT SOMG i think went crazy roughly the same time as where are they now and lust for a vampyr. smile. or im mixing it up. GREAT SONG! and also. sorry. it makes me think of aus for my fuckass ocs. UGHHH (not talking abt them bc im bad abt them (got frustrated bc my brain doesnt work) but it makes me think of cadaver sooooo hard its crazy. but its also a great song if u arent thinking about a feak. obviously.)

7. She Keeps Me Up - Nickelback

one dont mock me im a beautiful woman. okay. i was having a nostalgic phase ans while neither this song or the song i was looping it concurrently with r songs i specifically knew as a kid they did remind me of something i could imagine like. my dad listening to (possibly while hanging out with my papaw). or that i could imagine hearing one of my uncles play at a cookout. and i had just gotten back from the fourth of july. and also like funky little monkey shes a twisted trickster is a fun line SRY. me and lamp got this in a discover weekly ages back and it just stuck in my head... catchy song . sry.

8. Bad Girlfriend - Theory of a Deadman

if you listen to this song and the previous song back 2 back you will understand why i was looping them concurrently. very similar vibes. they also make me conjure a woman in my brain and i think that woman is hot. so yeah.. lets move on.

9. I Was Made For Lovin' You Baby - KISS

i kept hearing the chorus to i was made for lovin you baby in my dreams but it was a beautiful haunted woman singing it. and so basically i started lisrening to the somg a lot but pretending it was the beautiful haunted woman. COME TO FIND OUT 1 i have afalsetto now yeahhh yeahhhh lets go testosterone yeahhhh slayage. 2. the beautiful haunted woman i imagined was my own falsetto. HUGE day for connor. me and lamp looped this skng os much bc it became one of our copycat things. where we often just sit together sying the same like 8 sentences or lyrics over and over. and this entire sogn went platinum in connor and lamp world. and . sry. if i squint my eyes a LOT it can be abt my ocs. I DONT THINK ABT THEM THAT MUCH I DONTT I DONT <- liar.

10. Butcher Vanity - Vane Lily, Jamie Paige, ricedeity

i think everybody this side of tumblr is awarenof Butcher Vanity so i dknt need to explain. this and keep up i believe were huge at around the same time... Good Song !!!! it was on the top for like. a month. insane. ty to my mutual who mentioned it in a lyric game lifechanging stuff.

11. Call Me - Blondie

i did make a post abt the mishap but basically me and my mom n lamp and maybe pheebs n maybe anna were driving back from somethingorother recently. idr details. i thot 4th but my dad wasnt there so... but anyways we were talking abt one hit wonders and blondie came up so we xhecked and they actually have a couple including call me but we didnt know if the call me on blondies page was the one that goes CALL ME ! (it is) so i ws like ill put it in the queue and after this song we r listening to it will play the blondie song call me . entirely forgetting i already had stuff in my queue. so we keep being Like om time for the blondie song bc we had been anticipating it and then fucking WOOWA comes on . Not a blondie song if u didnt know. i was mocked viciously by my wicked family members... Anyways and then i listened to this song a lot after that. so yeah. Good song. CALL ME!

12. Only - Nine Inch Nails

im half convinced this will be on my on repeat until the day i die. This song is sooo me 👍 i dont need 2 get into it bc it was here In my last on repeat commentary so you know. Good song though there is no you therenis only me there is no you there is only me there is no fucking you there is only me there is no fucking you there is only me ^_^ only ^_^ only ^_^ only ^_^ . etc. stream

13. WHAT YOU WANT! - asteria

this was huge around the same time as what i want and satisfaction. and also any way u want. lamp made fun of me for listening to so many wantinf songs at the same time.. SORRY! its a good song it xactually came before what i want and satisfaction in connor timeline. probably found it in a lampstie discover weekly. YAY!

14. Breakthrough - Twice

i had a rather brief but very strong kpop moment. specifically twice but also a few other songs. like i have a couple kpop songs i like normally but idk i just got rly crazy into like. 3 twice songs and 1 billlie song. and i listened to them exclusively nonstop for a couple days. dont know what it was abt. great song though like i like it... i think its bc i fell into a trap of watching fancams and those like MOST POPULAR MVS EVERY MONTH FOR EVERY YEAR videos. and i was like writing down notes. mostly twice notes evidently.

15. Does Your Mother Know - ABBA

the lyrics in this song honestly have not aged the best not that theyre Awful idt but yk . itis still a rly catchy song . i also might be overreacting bc i get kind of panicky abt stuff like this JDNDJFN but i do like the song

16. The Hand That Feeds - Nine Inch Nails

this was on my last discover weekly so im taking this time to say its crazy im down to only 2 nin songs on my on repeat. for a while it was 4+ DJDNFJNFJF ever since i did my big (re)listen (my parents have always been into nin and they were my favorite band as a kid (i had a nin baby onesie) but i didnt like. know titles or All the songs and stuff) but now its only 2... i did the other day listen to umm the downward spiral and with teeth on loop a couple of times. but since i listened to judt like. both albums twice that was only 2 listens for each song DJNDJFNF. so sad...

17. Virtual Insanity - Jamiroquai

wasss this on my last one idr. i think i started listening to this one pretty early post me moving back (i probably had heard it b4 idr DNDNJFNF) but its good. YAY! not much 2 say. good song and stuff

18. GingaMingaYo - Billlie

ya i saw the one fancam. you know and then i listened to the full song and then i just Keptt doing that. LOL. very catchy song i like it 👍👍 i also thought the mv was fun

19. BANG BANG - K'NAAN, Adam Levine

catchy. which im realizing is the main thing abt songs isnt it.. this ones platinum ATM its been this and tell me on repeat 4 a while. good song guys. she shot me she shot me bang bang she shot me. YAY

20. Not Like Us - Kendrick Lamar

you dont need me to tell you this but its good DJRNFKNFJF the mv came out and i just kept looping it 👍👍

21. WHERE ARE THEY NOW??? - emily jeffri

ok actuallt terrifying bc i am listening to my on repeat on shuffle rn and ull never guess what song started right when i wrote the number. Umm hey we were just talking abt you all nice things all nice things... ANYWAYS as i mentioned this one was looping w lust 4 a vampyr Different sort of vibes but theyre both kind of creepyesque. IDK theyre good. it also. sigh. worlds heaviest sigh. Yeahhh i fucking think abt the freaks with this one too. UGH

22. Head Over Heels - Tears for Fears

yet another thats probably never going to leave my on repeat... this song had a big moment 4 me a while ago and like. its goid 2 play in the car with the family bc everybody likes it. everybody always likes my music bc im a princess and im beloved but this and everybody wants to rule the world r like basically the safest songs ever LMAO and also its good and so fun to sing bc its like. well iw as gonna say in my vocal range. i think i usually have to sing an octave down JDNDJFN but that makes me super euphoric SO ya.

23. Let It Rock - Kevin Rudolf, Lil Wayne

all music is on here either bc its catchy or bc im nostalgic this song is both. its like CONCENTRATED nostalgia idk why its like. One of those songs where like i listened to it a Ton during some undefined period in my childhood and then Didnt hear for a while so its like opening up an old box and findjng like. a toy you forgot abt. as opposed to other childhood nostlgia somgs that arent the same bc ive Been lidtening to them since like any aqua song LOL. thats more like my super worn out toy ive had since i was In utero. yk...

24. Not Ur Dream Girl - Precious

i have like 3 or 4 precious songs on my playlist i want more i like them ^_^ i need to lidten to more of her.. aside from this i have any way u want (first one i heard) sugar n spice and tell me tell me. YAY. i think not ur dream girl is my fav rn its so good

25. The Rest For The Wiked - Sohodolls

last vestige of my rly strong sohodolls moment. where i listened to Ribbed Music For The Numb Generation on loop. good album idt this is my favorite from it i think it might be my vampire... but its CLOSE i like this one and the others as well. this one was huge at the same way as any way u want which is a kind of funny comtrast but also i get it

26. Supermassive Blackhole - Muse

another probably permaresident... And another rly easy auxcord one. Ive talked abt it so u get it. good song its jumpscared me in 3 different pieces of media when i just wasnt rly prepared for it. even tho u think i would be. bc they were all from aroundish the same time period too... so ig it was just big then... But i didnt find it from any of those 3 media so it scare me everytime.

27. Everybody Wants To Rule The World - Tears for Fears

see basically everything i said abt head over heels LMAO its good 💚💚 i like singing it and stuff

28. Any Way U Want - Precious

ok actually this might still be #1 Precious song it came on shuffle while i was writing the past couple. GOOD SONG 👍👍👍 her voice is so pretty 2 me. yay

29. My Type - Saint Motel

the nostalgia it got me again... it was in a miniplaylist/challenge me and lamp made abt songs where theyre talking abt a woman where theyre like This woman sucks kind of but god i wont her. this one is a very loose fit but i wanted to include the tidbit.

30. Superbeast - Rob Zombie

this is vrazy bc it just msde me realize living dead girl is off of my on repeat. WERE LOSING BRAND RECOGNITION!!!! <- not even part of my brand anywhere (i also dont have a brand im just a crazy girl )i just rly like that song. i like sueprbeast tho. nostalgia won but its also a good song

[the-other-slytherin]

I posted 434 times in 2022

That's 36 more posts than 2021!

10 posts created (2%)

424 posts reblogged (98%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@wheredidhiseyebrowsgo

@rockboci

@a-cumberbatch-of-cookies

@avelera

@therulerofallpotatos

I tagged 12 of my posts in 2022

#fan life - 4 posts

#ao3 - 4 posts

#fan fiction is cathartic - 3 posts

#the umbrella academy - 2 posts

#teen wolf - 2 posts

#a03 fanfic - 2 posts

#fangirl - 2 posts

#ao3fic - 2 posts

#our flags mean death - 2 posts

#chris rock - 2 posts

Longest Tag: 131 characters

#everyone always talks about respecting the source material but the writers said nah were going to improve it and respect our actors

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Opens Tumblr app settling into bed: All right let’s see what new fictional characters my mutuals are hyper fixated on today…..hmmm Sandman and a manga series from the 1997-1999 run of Shojen Jump and ooh! an essay about hyper masculinity in the Top Gun franchise vs healthy relationships in the Cornetto Trilogy. Well who needs sleep?

5 notes - Posted August 28, 2022

#4

TUA SEASON FOUR PREDICTIONS

Nothing, this was a hell scape going in and it will be one going out. I’ve got till it comes out to emotionally fortify myself before I mainline this and honestly: hands sweaty moms spaghetti

Banging Soundtrack

6 notes - Posted September 6, 2022

#3

I Dammed Well Called It!

Since the hellaciously baffling thing know as live action Riverdale has come into being and it’s “we know we’re camp so let’s turn into it” counterpart Sabrina has come into play, I’ve come to the horrific realization that no comic is safe

So, it’s been brewing in my little fangirl head about what over the top supernatural twist that they’d throw out there for fans to mainline and it it me, it hit me hard:: Casper the Friendly Ghost

Hear me out:

They’d set it before Casper was born and focus on his dad and his uncles in the late Victorian/early Edwardian times ( based on the 95 movie )

Since around that time period there was a huge following about occultism, that’s a total factor on Casper’s parents living in that huge Victorian while Casper’s dad is inventing a was to bring spirits to life again

The Uncles are all kind of bastards but they stick around in ghost form around home so it’s probably penance and we get to see what that was

Cause you know there is going to be drama and with the last name of McFadden it’s Irish brogue’s and Catholic guilt for everyone!

Since it in America they can totally show the horrible attitudes taken against the Irish back then.

I kinda think the uncles are like boot leggers, or some sort of shady enterprisers that just interrupt Dad McFaddens occult inventing party and set the towns tongues a wagging

Lots of spooky and period costumes and 25-35 year old actually playing there age so it doesn’t feel creepy watching them flirt

And if Harvey comics agrees to this then they’ll totally cross over Wendy the Good Witch, Hot Stuff (( an adorable demon)), and possibly the Rich Family ((Richies family tree coming into play))

Possibly spin-offs who would want to see a drama about how the Riches got theirs fortune and how they fought to keep it ((very Dynasty))

So why am I typing out into the void? Why am I predicting plot points and possible spin offs, and my hope for actors who get smooch to be playing as adults and not teenagers?Why am I praying it’s more like Are You Afraid of theDark and less like Euphoria?

Peacock announced a live action with a “darker look” and its in the works now.

6 notes - Posted August 28, 2022

#2

I binged watched Our Flags Mean Death last night

Currently the Stede/Blackbeard tag on A03 has 102 pages. I start from the date published (( pg 102-1))

I’m on 96. I will only stop for minimal sleep and tea.

11 notes - Posted April 13, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I love how they use music in OFMD. Which is why in season two I want an Izzy-centric episode (like how they did with Mary) and towards the end when they’ve twisted our hearts with backstory and longing looks, I want to see Ed and Stede’s reunion from Izzy’s point of view with No Doubts “Don’t Speak” playing as we go to credits. Because that angry first mate is have some 90’s teenage angst because he’s breaking up with Ed ((and Ed doesn’t even realize it))and I am so fucking here for it.

40 notes - Posted April 26, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[squidkid15]

Core AU

This shit’s gonna be LONG so lets do this. 

So Basically

Core AU is less of an AU and is instead more of the name me and @lotusmonkey came up with for our RP. It’s canon adjacent/continuation taking place after the end of season 3 and includes all of those events as well as as many headcanons as we can possibly cram into it. It’s really kind of impressive how many we keep shoving in there as we go. It’s ever evolving and we keep adding more and retroactively making things important. 

We’re just having fun. 

It’s not all that cohesive, we think of fun plots and go YEEAAHHHH and shove them in there and play it out. There’s a vague through thread in that it all happens in order to the same monkeys, but that’s about it. 

Characters

Okay so it’s mostly Macaque and Wukong, MK also plays a big role but we really focused on the two monkies. 

Important to note, this is NOT a shadowpeach AU. They are incredibly close now that they’ve patched things up and would do anything for each other, but there’s nothing romantic between them.

Macaque (I play him hi) is if you took canon mac and made him just a bit less angry and a whole lot more abandonment issues. Snarky bastard, more or less on the good side but only because that’s where Wukong is. All he ever really wanted was to go back to how things were before he and Wukong had their big fight, and now that he’s gotten that (more on that later) he’s pretty much mellowed out. He’s still an ass (and he knows it) but he’s not out to get anyone, other than rib Wukong at every change he gets (but its more playful than biting now). He’s very much of the “i’ll do whatever i want and fuck you if you disagree” but luckily for the rest of the cast, what he wants generally aligns with what they want. He’s back by Wukong’s side again so he’s pretty happy there. So, unfortunately, he hasn’t gotten much chance to be a huge pain in the ass lately. I miss his sarcasm.

He’s a demon through and through, with his “true form” (second pic) being mostly made of shadows and a whole lot more spooky than normal. He uses layers upon layers of different kinds of glamor magics he’s developed over the centuries to basically erase that form, he hasn’t even seen himself look like that in centuries. 

We lean HARD into the ‘mage macaque’ narrative, no one can match him in terms of magic alone. Getting into a fistfight with him isn’t fun either, but he’s mostly magic and brains. Can talk his way out of just about anything, we keep using the word ‘battlemaster’. He’s the thinker and the planner, and he and Wukong both know it. 

Good actor also. That’s come up a couple times. 

His core was broken when he died, and the resurrection put it back together enough for him to live, but it wasn’t healed (that comes later). A touch of Wukong’s magic runs up the side of it and deep through it, from how close they were when they were younger. A splash of LBD’s magic runs through the front and to the right, mimicking where the ice was. The gold (that comes from much later in the rp) that mended it is inspired by Kintsugi. It broke, and it broke badly, but was eventually mended once more. 

He has the very unique ability to interact with Cores on a physical level. It’s a very rare ability in the AU, and even among those rare few Macaque has incredibly fine control over it. He can give and take magic from them, rip them free, put them back, etc. We don’t do much with it too often, but it’s VERY important when it does come up. 

He got his past & future hearing back fairly early in the RP (lost it when he died) and since then no longer hides the six ears unless he has a reason to. 

Also he’s just. Full on cat. I think he purred once.

Wukong (played by Hawk/ @lotusmonkey ) is if you took canon Wukong but held together by ducktape, MK, Macaque, and at least seven prayers. This man needs SO much therapy. He’s really good at hiding this fact, however (to everyone but Macaque) and instead puts on a really good carefree front. Pretty confident in himself in the moment and when things work out, but he’ll second guess himself pretty quick if they go to shit. He’ll rib back at Macaque at every opportunity, and we’ve made several jokes about him tackling Mac from across the room. He’s super protective, especially over MK and Macaque, and will get himself brutally injured in a heartbeat if it means keeping the others safe.

He has like 0 sense of self preservation. After centuries of getting injured in new and brutal ways it really doesn’t phase him anymore. He knows nothing can kill him, and has decided it’d be a nice surprise if something ended up managing it. 

He’s super attached to his glamors, and will not go around without them under any circumstances. There has been one time in the RP where he dropped them willingly, and it was for only in one spot and only a couple minutes. There was another time where he was forced to drop ALL of them for an extended period of time, and it took a pretty big toll on him. 

He sees MK as a son, though he doesn’t admit it out loud, and is unbelievably proud of him and everything he’s accomplished. Again, very protective of him and will do anything to keep him safe while also helping him unlock his powers to the fullest. 

He’s very happy to have Macaque back in his life and on good terms once more, and has promised to ‘never leave him behind again’. For better or for worse, they’re sticking to this. Calls Macaque his ‘battle brother’ and ‘best friend’ and means it. 

The weight of being ‘Monkey King’ rests heavily on him, with all the expectations to have all the answers and fixes and having to be perfect at all times. Tired of the weight of the world on his shoulders, but has also more or less accepted that he doesn’t have much of a choice in the matter, despite how miserable it makes him. 

He needs a lot of hugs. 

MK has a bit less screentime/building time than the other two, but he’s just as important in most of the story. He’s much the same as in the show, but maybe a bit calmer/more responsible. Hawk and I both play him depending on which monkey he’s talking to at the time, but its primarily Hawk. He’s still a good kid, and shares Wukong’s wildly protective nature, for both monkies. He sees them both (and the rest of the gang) as family, and would do anything for any of them. 

He’s very curious, always excited to learn more about how something works or about a new power and magic, and eager to try it right away. 

His powers are a bit more of a combination of the two monkies, he sees them both as his mentors even if Macaque would deny it and Wukong would be wildly offended. His powers are much more adaptable, so he he actually has a mix of the two of them. All of Wukong’s strength and resilience, but after the first event in the RP (more on that later) he’s gained the ability to tap into some of Macaque’s powers as well, including eventually his ability to interact with cores. 

We turned him into a monkey very early on (yes, turned into) but he’s taking it well. Macaque and Wukong taught him glamor magic immediately after so he could look like his old self if he wanted to once more. 

The more he gets to know Wukong on a personal instead of student/teacher level, the more he’s slowly starting to see beneath Wukong’s mask and just how much of a mess he is beneath it all, and is working on trying to figure out how best to fix it. 

Cores

The namesake of the AU, cores are the biggest difference/headcanon that really defines how the AU plays out, and a whole lot of the plot points. The biggest separation from canon and the AU is cores and how we treat them and interact with them in the AU.

Cores are, essentially, souls. Every being has them, but immortals are several times the size of a mortals because they also double as a magic source/storage. They are pure magic, not a physical entity like an organ, though they are just as essential. 

A soul is everything a person is. Thoughts, feelings, personality, etc. To immortals, they are also a power source. A finite (but very large) pool of magic from which immortals draw upon for magic. Some immortals tap into theirs more than others, it all depends on their magic. Macaque uses his far more than Wukong, for example, because Macaque uses far more magic. He opens portals, summons shadows, forms shadows into things, etc. All of these tap into his core. Sort of like a mana pool in a video game. Wukong, on the other hand, hardly ever taps into his. He’s far more physical, and will instead punch or kick instead of using magic. 

Cores can be depleted through various means. It could be as simple as using too much magic before there’s time for it to regenerate (very rare, there is VAST amounts of magic in a core, naturally burning it all down is almost unheard of) or something draining it (which we have toyed with a few times in different ways). Draining a core is dangerous, but not fatal until and unless they are drained dry. Recovery is as simple as not using magic and resting for some time. If the mechanism to deplete a core is a bit more violent, it can sometimes take some time before using magic feels normal again, and can even be painful if too much is used too soon. 

Cores can also be broken (different from being drained). Cores can only be broken by magical means, or the death of the body. A core breaks naturally in death, but can also be the cause (as was Macaque’s). A broken core is fatal. 

Cores can crack or be damaged over time, and this is actually fairly common in immortals. The cracks don’t do any real tangible damage to the core, but is a sign of some sort of trauma. Either to the core directly, or emotional/mental can be a cause as well. 

They’re...sort of nebulously physical. They aren’t a physical thing like an organ, there is no space in the chest for them and they aren’t there after death. They’re entirely magical, but do have an appearance (Wukong and MK can see them with gold vision/true sight). Each one looks different to each person in color/design. They only gain a physical form when one is given to them by some sort of magic designed to interact with them. A weapon that has been enchanted to target the core specifically can touch a core (in my head they have a similar texture/material to those solid glass ball knickknacks). Macaque can also give them a more physical form because of his ability to remove them. Once removed they can be held by others, but it’s only after Macaque has given them a form. It makes sense in my head but as soon as I put it on paper it sounds a bit silly lmao. 

Plot

It’s ongoing, like I said, because we just keep thinking of fun new things to add to it and we’re planning like 15 plot points ahead of where we’ve already written, but the barebones of where we’ve gone so far:

1. MK saves Macaque & Macaque saves MK

This whole thing actually started as just a one-off idea & RP (as you do) and was meant to just explore an idea. But now we’re almost a month into a single throughplot. But the original idea was based on mage mac and how he relies much more heavily on magic to run than MK or Wukong, who have just their 7 kinds of immortality. MK and Macaque being trapped somewhere that sapped their magic (we later decided they got kidnapped when MK delivered noodles to Mac’s place, sorta retconned in the “how”), Macaque’s a lot faster than MK. MK manages to hold out/make it easier on Macaque for as long as he can, until they’re both on death’s door. When he’s basically out, he offers his core to Macaque to take, break, and use it to save himself (like how he does when they first meet, but more willingly and a bit more desperate). 

Mac, who has since grown a bit fond of MK, does something slightly different. He still takes some of the power from MK’s core to open a portal and get them both out of there, but doesn’t break it. Instead, when he pulls it out, MK turns to stone. 

Wukong shows up at this point, having felt them arrive on his mountain and sees Mac like seven eights dead and MK turned to stone trying to protect him. He’s Not Happy but after a bit of explaining from Mac, doesn’t take it out on him. Instead, to reverse it, Macaque acts as a conduit to recharge MK’s core using Wukong’s. One hand on Wukong’s, one hand on MKs, letting the power move through him to charge MK’s core enough that it’s no longer in any danger. Mac struggles with the urge to just crush Wukong’s core right then and there because they’re still on terrible terms. He resists. The stone cracks, MK is saved, but is now monkey after getting a direct shot of Wukong’s magic (this is also where MK picks up his ability to use some of mac’s powers). 

Head back to the mountain for some recovery time, teaching MK how to glamor. Wukong and Mac snark at each other over it. Eventually they break into an argument about Macaque’s death - turns out Wukong had no idea Macaque died. He thought macaque went off on his own after their fight to stew and wanted nothing to do with Wukong again. Macaque was killed by a third party immediately after the fight, soon enough that he thought it was Wukong. They make up (maybe a bit quick, if I could go back and rewrite I would maybe make it take longer, but thats just me and we were excited to get to the fun of them being buddies again. Like I said, this is mostly for fun instead of a cohesive plot)  and make a Very Important promise. 

"I.. I can't go back, I can't change it. But.. I won't leave you behind. Never again."

“I'm going to hold you to that this time. For better or for worse, you're not leaving me behind again."

Mac finishes recovering, MK takes a bit longer because he was so much more damaged.

2. Storming heaven & the mayor

Turns out, while mac and MK were captured and being drained like batteries, Wukong was running around interrogating people trying to figure out where the fuck his rival and kid ended up. He gets a few vague leads before they manage to escape on their own.

During the recovery, before he and Mac made up, Wukong was periodically popping in and out to continue his hunt for answers. After they make up, Wukong stays true to his word and doesn’t leave Mac behind. Once he’s all better, however, they’re off. One of the leads Wukong found was that the assassination attempt was orchestrated by someone up in the celestial realm itself, and he and Macaque go kicking in their door (very literally) for answers. 

They get a couple. The attempt on Mac’s life was because heaven saw him and Wukong working together in the battle against LBD and feared what would happen with the two of them together once more. The attempt on MK’s life was because they feared a second Wukong, and some calamity he was supposed to bring (foreshadowing go BRRRRR). The mechanism of the attempt on their lives is something (we made up) called the Dark Ravine. Some ancient thing that was used to kill immortals, drained the magic out of them. It hasn’t been used for some time. 

They also find that one of heaven’s court is infected with...something. They don’t know what it is. But the noble keels over half-dead after muttering some ominous nonsense. Mac and Wukong are understandably a bit wigged out, as is the rest of the court. Ne’Zha (who we again passed back and fourth, but usually ended up being me) is assigned to join them on their quest to figure out what the hell happened. They leave with more questions than answers.

They keep searching, busting in more doors in both the celestial and mortal realms. After one such dead end in the mortal realm, the three of them are attacked by the not-mayor, who appears to have a new master. Macaque and Wukong beat him up pretty good (Ne’Zha stays out to evacuate some civilians because the two of them is already wildly overkill) until Macaque stumbles, his core flaring up after so much intense use so soon after it was damaged. The Mayor tries to take advantage of this, going for Macaque, but Wukong takes the hit instead. Immediately after, the mayor makes his exit with some cryptic words. 

3. Sick Wukong & the shadow

They keep going, Macaque notices the hit seems to be bothering Wukong some but Wukong plays it off well enough that Mac sorta forgets. Keep searching, Macaque pushes Wukong into a river at one point when they stop for the night. It’s very cute. Water wars part one. 

We do a lot of timeskipping at this point as the 3 go around. At one point Wukong astral projects to check on MK. He’s still doing good, the rest of the gang came up to the mountain to hang out.

Wukong slowly starts to slow down, acting sick. He goes from being the first person awake to the last one, and he’s just not all there. Very cold, and Mac starts to notice and get worried. Before he can really properly bring it up, however, they’re attacked again. 

This time, but some broken, twisted Shadow Macaque. It looks like one of his clones, but it’s all sorts of messed up. It gets a couple really good hits on Wukong, and is definitely targeting him, more or less ignoring Macaque and Ne’Zha. One of the hits rips Wukong’s glamors (& hoodie, he slept in a hoodie and they were attacked pretty early in the morning) and reveals a big black crack looking thing over his chest, where the mayor hit him. He’s Not Doing Good, so Macaque and Ne’Zha have to try and protect him. 

The shadow thing, turns out, is using Mac’s lantern as a core/power source, but Macaque can’t get to it without risk of being infected the same way they now know Wukong was. Wukong, being the self sacrificing idiot he is, uses himself as bait to give Mac an opening to rip the lantern free, but Wukong gets really badly injured in the process. Now with his old weapon in hand, Mac’s more or less unstoppable and crushes the shadow before rushing to check on Wukong. 

4. Mac’s turn in the blender

Right after he gets there, a portal opens beneath him and Wukong. It’s some twisted thing, one he almost recognizes (black center & blue fire ring), and it drops them both in the ruins of LBD’s mech. Snowy cold and big chunks of metal scattered everywhere, very cool image. They got separated in the portal travel, and Mac starts hunting for Wukong. 

Wukong, meanwhile, is REALLY not doing good. The attacks from the shadow made the infection worse, and he’s basically delirious. The mayor (the one who portaled them) finds him before Mac does, and starts dragging him off to Somewhere ( :) ). 

Mac keeps searching, and eventually finds the both of them in the center of the ruins of the mech. Big, empty circle where the butt of the staff crushed everything under it. In the center there’s the furnace, and the mayor dragging a very limp Wukong towards it. 

Mac jumps in to protect Wukong, and it....doesn’t go well. 

The mayor’s new master is the ravine (which is sorta weirdly semi-sentient, enough to make plans but all it really wants is to feed on magic) and he’s working with it in order to eliminate the major threats that thwarted his lady, getting them out of the way so he can can continue her work. Part of that agreement is that the mayor gets some...upgrades. The ravine has already chewed on a decent chunk of Mac’s power (where the shadow came from, and where the mayor got the almost-familiar portal) as well as MK’s and now Wukong’s (from the infection). And the mayor got some of those powers in order to help deliver the entirety of the monkey’s cores to the ravine.

Mac gets flattened. 

He’s broken in all of the places in only a couple hits, and the mayor goes back to trying to melt Wukong down again. Mac manages to talk the mayor into trying to kill mac first, with the plan that he could portal away from the inside of the furnace without the mayor ever knowing. 

Unfortunately, the furnace acts as a sort of nullifier, and mac’s magic doesn’t work inside it. Wukong woke up enough to see Mac getting dropped in and panics hard enough to basically nuke the area, blowing up anything that could be used to light the furnace and damaging the mayor enough that he leaves to recuperate. He knocks himself the fuck out when he nukes the place, and the mayor gives him a solid kick in anger before leaving, really messing his chest up.

Mac has no idea this has happened, the furnace is completely soundproof, and he’s stuck with the sound of himself alone. 

Ne’Zha, meanwhile, has started searching for the monkies after they dropped through a portal that didn’t seem too intentional - Mac left the lantern behind. After coming up empty each time, he contacts MK in the hopes that they had gone back to him. This, in turn, freaks MK out and he and Ne’Zha meet up to go track the monkies down. Combining his gold vision with the magic in Mac’s lantern, MK manages to lead them to the monkies. They see the remains of Mac’s fight with the mayor and are Immediately worried because there’s a whole lot of blood. They see Wukong first and fret over him before the furnace starts yelling to MK again (like it did telling him to stop in the show) and they find Mac. 

In the time it took for Ne’Zha to find MK and for them to arrive at the furnace, it’s given Macaque his past & future hearing back. (the reasoning being that it gave wukong sight, and talked to MK, we were wondering what it would do for Mac). Mac hasn’t had this power in centuries, and he’s beyond overwhelmed by hearing everything all at once as well as how broken he is from the fight.

They manage to get the monkies home, but it’s not fun for anyone. 

5. Fever Wukong Arc (tm)

Ne’Zha borrows a healer from heaven to at least get the monkies off death’s doorstep, but there’s only so much they can do because they don’t know what’s wrong with Wukong, and Macaque is VERY broken. 

They spend a few days unconscious, and eventually Mac wakes up first. MK gives him some pretty heavy duty earmuffs to block out most of the sounds because Mac is in Sensory Hell while he can’t control this power, and doesn’t talk for a while because its too loud. 

Wukong takes a lot longer to wake up, and he’s barely there for most of it. He’s deep in the fever and super delirious, it’s not very often he’s fully aware. He accidentally reveals some Trauma in his haze, and his glamors are forced to drop when the infection drags on his magic too much. Macaque actually has to forcefully remove them because Wukong would have killed himself trying to hang on to them and fighting the infection like that. He doesn’t take it well. 

Macaque and MK start looking for a cure in Wukong’s library, but find exactly no information on the ravine anywhere. They do, however, find information on a forest (that we made up) that will answer any question you ask of it, assuming you can pass its trial. They start banking on this being their best bet to save Wukong, because he’s actively dying. 

And he knows it. 

Macaque knows it too, but he’s Very Deep in denial.

As of the time of writing this, we’re in the middle of a bittersweet fluffy moment where Mac and Wukong are grooming each other and Macaque is talking about the stupid shit they’ll get up to when Wukong gets better. 

The last reply is from Hawk, and Wukong is humoring him asking about where they’ll go as he’s actively passing out and his heartbeat is slowing. 

And that’s as far as we’ve gotten. 

:)

[monstersdownthepath]

Monster Spotlight: Kasthezvi

CR 12

Lawful Evil Medium Aberration

Adventure Path: Return of the Runelords: Runeplague, pg. 88~89

These malicious, twisted beings were created in ancient, vile rituals that bound words of unbelievably destructive power directly to their bones. Whatever purpose their original creators had for secreting away these Power Words is lost, and over time the mystic energies emanating from the Words (deserving of capitalization) twisted the Kasthezvi (which I’ll be shortening to Kast from now on) into inhuman abominations that one could reasonably believe are Undead. Warped horrifically by their hidden power, Kast can nonetheless walk among the humans who’ve built cities over their ancient lairs, shapeshifting into human guise for up to 8 hours a day to mingle with mankind for their own alien reasons.

Now, it’s not that the Kast won’t communicate their reasoning with anyone, but because they physically can’t. Even when shapeshifted, the Kast are supernaturally Soundless, their actions producing no noise at all even as they interact with the world around them. Their Soundless nature is so complete that the book goes out of its way to hammer in they produce absolutely no noise, so I will too: if a Kast smashed a hammer down on a glass vase it would be completely silent. If they blew with all their might into a tuba, one could visibly see air and dust blasting out the other end without hearing a single note. If a Kast casts a spell somehow, the spell is utterly quiet, even in the case of Fireball or spells like Shout or Shatter (the latter of which they have 3/day as a spell-like ability anyway). In addition to being weird and worrying, this does have further mechanical benefits; a +8 to Stealth checks (meaning they have an impressive +31) and the automatic addition of Silent Spell to any magic they may gain without increasing the spell’s level or casting time.

Their soundless nature is difficult to notice in their usual disguises, as Kast eschew the normal ‘incredibly powerful secret society of abominations’ gimmick of infiltrating high society to instead pose as mute beggars, silent and generic street-walkers, or even as members of the unusual religious group known as the Sweettalkers (who, despite their name, never speak). The purpose for their strange infiltration of above-world society, as well as whatever end goals and objectives they may have, are completely and fully up to the DM provided they fall within the guidelines of “the Kast wish to remain hidden.’ Despite their incredible power and destructive potential--up to and including being able to kill the average person with a single touch--Kast want more than anything to stay hidden. They go out of their way to ruin any attempts at the surface world to plunge deeper or investigate their myths, typically by arranging for Unfortunate Accidents... but sometimes, a victim is found simply dead on the floor, their every organ hideously ruptured by a force the average citizen can scarcely fathom.

The primary means Kasthezvi deal with irritants and impediments is their Subsonic Touch, a gentle caress that deals 1d8 points of irresistible, typeless damage... followed immediately by an automatic 12d6 Sonic damage, which averages to about 44 damage. While spooky for single targets, especially since Sonic is so hard to resist (and deals double damage to more than a few creatures and objects), Kast can attack only once a round with their touch, considerably reducing its threat against multiple party members at once. The primary danger of the touch is that it can come out of nowhere from a disguised aberrant, startling the party with a sudden burst of damage before what they thought was a harmless vagrant disappears into the crowd, vanishing into alleyways and leaving the party to chase them. Worse, they have Spring Attack, allowing them to attack while retreating or perform hit-and-runs. Despite their 30ft movement speed making them just as fast as the average party member, do remind yourself that while ~40 damage isn’t especially impressive to characters likely dealing twice that per round, a player’s damage output usually relies on standing still and doing a Full-Attack, only reaching above the 40 damage mark if they connect with multiple attacks, while the Kast can simply touch and go once a round, forcing their foes to keep up with them as they slowly tear the party apart(y) with Sonic damage.

With only DR 15/Magic protecting them, Kast tend to rely on their Undead appearance to trick foes into wasting effort on them, or their false appearance as a humanoid to bamboozle foes into not taking them seriously. This, however, is only applied if the Kasthezvi is trying to be subtle. In drastic times, their Subsonic Touch can destroy more or less any item not made of solid metal. Merely by keeping their hands against the surface they wish to ruin, they can cause nearly anything to slowly grind to dust from the vibration, allowing them to sabotage entire structures and send them scattering across the streets if they wish. In especially dire times, when secrecy no longer matters because witnesses are either not present or not going to last long, the Kasthezvi can unleash the devastating Power Words carved into their bones to visit just a fraction of the apocalytpic power they hold upon the world around them.

The Word of Sundering can be whispered once per minute and instantly shatters the Kast’s disguise upon use, revealing their true and hideous self if it was still being hidden in the first place. This soundless word takes one full round to utter, but once it’s released, the results are immediate and catastrophic. A 40ft-radius anywhere within 800 feet of the Aberration is struck not only with a localized Earthquake, but everything and everyone within is blasted with 8d6 Sonic damage, usually killing citizens in the area before the ground has even finished splitting and any structures in the area finish falling. The most uncanny part about the entire process is that aside from the cracking of the earth and the falling of whatever debris is shaken loose, the whole affair is completely silent. The Sonic damage is subsonic, and the book notes anything shattered by it “silently breaks.” With the power to invoke these shattering words once a minute, a Kast left with no option and risking capture may decide the best course of action is to destroy the entire area around it, perhaps even bringing a building or cavern down onto its own head.

And this Word? This is just the smallest piece of its power being unleashed. Over the thousands of years, the dampening charms affecting each Kast have decayed enough to allow them to tap into their Words of Sundering, and they one day yet may be able to speak aloud and unshackled. The book even cheerfully states that there may be Kasthezvi out there with different Words emblazoned on their bones, ones capable of enacting even more dramatic and apocalyptic events, such as summoning storms of fire, conjuring endless tides of ravenous insects, or even shattering time itself. When these creatures can all speak aloud, there’s likely little chance of the world surviving their combined chorus.

You can read more about them here.

[darling-i-read-it]

Three Woodsboro Killers

Sidney Prescott x fem!reader

Word Count: 1.5k

Warnings: the origins of jennifer from jennifers body so the fire and the men taking her and trying to kill her, stabbing, eating men, guns, murder

Author’s Note: i just think <3 her <3

Requested: by anon, Yo! Love your fics I'm glad you write for scream bsjsjsj do you still write for Sidney prescott? If so since its spooky season could you do a Sidney x fem! Reader fic (kind of like Jennifer's body type au) like they were childhood bffs to lovers and r becomes sort of like Jennifer check (and she was popular in schools but still best friends w sidney) who fell in love w her while sidney was with Billy and hated Billy and ligit anyone who even liked sidney or got too close w her (tatum was fine tho) and maybe she helps get ghostface away from sidney since she has the strength too but like still has to get her you know usual monthly snacks in so there's like two ghostface and a demon going around 💀 who's protective of sidney and eventually tells her in the end? Sorry this was long just realized that but I hope this makes sense! I just thought it was a cool idea and wanted to share <3

Summary: the request

I don’t own these characters. They belong to author/director/creator

(not my gif)

You had been stupid that night. It wasn’t hard to imagine. Sidney was basically like your babysitter when it came to dragging her along to random local bands. You should have listened to her. But there was the fire and the lead singer was so hot you could barely stand it.

You may have been in love with Sidney but you would never turn down a hot lead singer. Especially not while she was dating that dickhead, Billy Loomis.

So you let him lead you away. You let him give you that stupid smile that you liked far too much.

You screamed as he stabbed you and let yourself fall into darkness, not being able to stop yourself from worrying about how Sidney would react to your death.

Then of course, you woke up which was a surprise for everyone involved.

You walked down the street, your breath heaving, your chest aching. You were unbelievably hungry. It was like someone had ripped a whole open in your stomach and you could eat a horse.

You stood outside of Sidney’s house. You could hear her through her opened window, on the phone with someone. You guessed it was Tatum from the volume of her voice and the context of the situation. You leaned against the door, unable to bring yourself to knock. You didn’t want to hurt her. You had to eat something else. Anything else.

The night sky hung over you as you clutched your stomach.

It wasn’t long before someone walked by on a walk, ill fated and all alone.

===

“Did you hear?” Sidney asked, walking up to you quickly. Tatum was at her side. They both looked great. People were staring as the three of you walked by.

“Hear what?”

“Casey Becker and Steven Orth were stabbed last night. Gut up and stuff, left out for her parents to find,” Tatum said quickly.

“Seriously? Do they know who did it?” you asked, curiously. Mostly because it hadn’t been you. There had been a couple known murders around town but none that had been like that. Those murders, the simple ones with only the neck broken and blood drained, that was you. But not this stuff.

“No. They think it’s something different from those other murders, where that homeless man died in the street,” Tatum explained. You nodded, raising an eyebrow. You clutched your books to your chest as you walked to class.

“They’ve already forgotten all about the fire,” Sidney said quietly. She was referring to the fire where you technically died. She had been there that night too but hadn’t been able to follow you into the van.

“Who knew Woodsboro could have so much excitement?” Tatum whisper screamed.

“It’s not a good thing,” Sidney said. “We could have died at the fire.”

“Did your dad still leave?” you asked. She nodded.

“He has business. He didn’t wanna go with everything happening but he couldn’t reschedule,” Sidney explained. You nodded once.

“I guess in the meantime I’m going to have to protect you huh?” you teased, nudging her. She smiled, brushing her bangs back.

“Yeah okay. If Billy’s out for the count you can step right in.”

“I feel like I could be better than Billy. More attentive anyway,” you said off handedly.

“She’s got a point,” Tatum said. “Has Billy even called? It’s almost the one year right?”

“He came into the window last night, my dad almost caught him, it was awful.” She had a sly look on her face when she remembered it. You felt the jealousy in your stomach like a pit. There was something off about Billy Loomis. Maybe it was just because you were in love with Sidney. It was probably that.

“Well he should really try to do better.”

===

Ghostface was in the wrong town. This was your territory. He was just going to have to find somewhere else.

That’s what you told yourself as you ran to Sidney’s house the night you felt something was wrong. You didn’t get a phone call but Sidney also didn’t answer your call so you could only assume. Either she was asleep or in trouble. Sidney never missed your calls.

When you arrived the door was ajar. You pursed your lips and shoved it open.

“Movies make psychos more creative!” you heard Billy yell. You scoffed and turned the corner where he met your eyes. He had a knife to Sidney’s neck who was crying, trying very hard to stay strong. “Well well well.” Stu turned around.

“Stu Macher? I didn’t guess that one,” you muttered.

“If it isn’t our resident lesbo.”

“Oh for fucks sake Stu,” you said annoyed. Stu put a gun to your temple. You smiled. “Try me.���

Sidney couldn’t tell what happened next. It was all a blur. You were moving so fast and then Stu was on the ground. She and Billy leaned over the counter to see what was going on. You were on top of him as he writhed on the ground. You lifted your head up for air and your mouth was enlarged, your teeth like fangs. You had this awful look in your eyes and your gaze landed on Billy.

His eyes went wide.

“Plot twist,” he breathed, backing away from Sidney.

“You’re not going anywhere Loomis.” You stood up and went to chase him out. Sidney scrambled and grabbed Stu’s gun, pointed and shot Billy square in the back causing him to fall. You stopped running, turning around.

Your face was back to normal, spare the blood on your chin and cheeks. It was like you hadn’t just eaten Stu’s neck. Sidney’s hand shook, putting the gun on you.

“Sid? Sidney no, I’m not gonna hurt you. I came to help.” You put your hands up. “You know me Sidney, I would never.”

“That’s what Billy said,” she sobbed. You weren’t sure what to say. You could only stand there. It looked like she was about to speak again when the door opened and Dewey Riley ran inside. He pointed the gun at you.

“Is it her?! Is it her?! Oh my God what happened here?” he asked, amazed. Sidney sobbed and shook, turning to Dewey. She put the gun down.

“No. She helped me. It was Stu and Billy,” she said, throwing her arms around Dewey. He held her.

“Why is there blood on your mouth Y/N?” he asked, confused.

“Demented fucks,” was all you said. He didn’t want to push yet. Not with Sidney right here, like this. Sidney let go of him and ran over to you, throwing her arms around you.

“Is he dead?” she whispered. You looked down at Stu.

“Yes. Billy?”

“Uh huh.” You met Dewey’s eyes. He put his hand on your back and started to lead the two of you out.

“Come on girls, let's get out of here. The killers of Woodboro won’t hurt you anymore.” You gave him a strained nod. Those killers sure wouldn’t.

Scream Tag List: @teenyfrsnchini

[wannabegwenstacy]

Eden's Favorite Fic's (BTS Fic Recs)

Updated Version: Here!

Note: In the past I haven't indulged in tumblr fics often but I recently (past 3 months) have been reading quite regularly & am planning on branching out a bit. To keep track of the ones that I have enjoyed & the ones that I have even came back to I'm making this list. Again, I haven't been digging into the tumblr fics world for long so for right now its a very short list. I'm hoping with time I can get more fics of different types on here (btsxbts, some gender neutral xreader ones, & more ones that I genuinely like)

About me to understand what's going to be on here:

Age: 21 (99' liner)

Sexuality: Bisexual

Pronouns: She/Her

Ult Bias: Yoongi

Trio: Rap Line

I am OT7. I do enjoy smut but don't think it is necessary to FF. Overall I just want a well-crafted plot that makes sense. I read for entertainment & to escape. But I still need some form of realism (just me personally) to follow the trail of events. PSA: I'm trying to find a broader scope of writers I like but for right now I don't have many. There are gonna be some repetitive writers for now.

______________________________________________________________

Kim Namjoon:

- Librarian Namjoon Universe by @jungshookz

Beauty & the Bookworm (I love this concept SO MUCH)

Pairing: Cute, Good Boy, Nerdy, University Librarian Namjoon x Bratty, Semi-Popular, Procrastinator, University Student Reader

Word count: 20.8k

Summary: You're a procrastinator big time and you may or may not be failing. To get some extra credit you begrudgingly take the library assistant opening where you work under strict dorky Namjoon. Passive aggressiveness, cuteness, fluff, & some smuttiness arises.

Jealous-Boyfriend-Librarian Namjoon (Drabble)

Pairing: Jealous Boyfriend Librarian Namjoon x Oblivious Cute Girlfriend Uni Student Reader

Word count: 3.4k

Summary: You take an Art History Course and end up needing a tutor. Joon offers to tutor you but he doesn't know shit about Art History so you end up getting tutored by an ArtHoe Taehyung that may or may not like you but you are oblivious to this and Joon gets super jealous.

Kim Seokjin:

- Hockey Player Jin by @ve1vetyoongi

HEART OF GOLD (BLADES OF ICE)

Pairing: Sweet Hot New Hockey Player in Town Jin x Ex-Figure Skater (who has a history with jin) Reader

Word count: 20k

Summary: After a fall during figure skating practice dashes your dreams of competing at nationals, you vow to hang up your skates for good. That is until you cross paths with Kim Seokjin, captain of the ice hockey team, who is determined to get you back out on the rink and melt the ice in your heart. (Jimin is a bully in this and their other k-pop idols as characters. Very Very Fluffy and Hallmark Christmas Movie-ish so be aware of that. Overall, it's just cute :) )

Min Yoongi:

Note: these are all but one by the same writer @jungshookz & are written from the pov of a female reader. I'm gonna try to find some gender-neutral fics but for now, if you are female-identifying I really enjoyed these! :)

- Mechanic Yoongi Universe by @jungshookz

Baby, You Can Drive My Car (My favorite AU Fics I've read so far on Tumblr!!)

Pairing: Tatted, Mic Drop Era, Mechanic Min Yoongi x Spoiled Rich, Inexperienced, University Student Reader

Word count: 24.6k

Summary: Welcome to Min Mechanics - What can I do for you today, doll?

Maybe She Can Drive His Car

Pairing: Oblivious, Hot, Boyfriend, Mechanic Min Yoongi x Adorable, Spoiled, University Student, Jealous Girlfriend Reader

Word count: 11.6k

Summary: Yoongi's ex is back in town for a visit and you would be lying if you said you weren't slightly envious of a) how knowledgeable she is about stupid cars and b) how well she gets along with literally everyone.

- Uni Yoongi x Nerdy Reader (mini series) by @jungshookz

Note: these are all drabbles I'm gonna link my favorites in the series. I'll probably add more later.

Cocky Uni Student Yoongi x Nerdy Reader:

^^This is the start of the mini-series, recommend you read it first!^^

The One with the Scrunchie:

Contains: smut, a super cute scrunchie turning into a kink of sorts, slightly insecure Yoongi, experienced Yoongi, slightly inexperienced reader, shy about their own body reader.

Yoongi always had an Overactive Imagination:

Contains: talking about sex, implied smut, reader trying to be productive while also being horny, Yoongi being super distracted and horny.

"I'm gonna need you to shut up now please"

- CEO Yoongi Universe by @jungshookz

Suit&Tie (First Fic in the series)

Pairing: CEO Min Yoongi x Secretary Reader

Wordcount: 21k+

Summary: Young Intimidating Hot CEO Yoongi, Clumsy Secretary Y/N who loves Sugar, Best Friend Jimin. Funny Awkward Meeting that sets up the whole plot, was like reading a Kdrama in book form.

The One Where Augst D makes a Comeback (Favorite Fic in the series)

SPOILERS READ PRIOR DRABBLES TO CATCH UP!! (I recommend The First Date, The One Where Yoongi is Just a Little Jealous, The Proposal, The Wedding, Baby Makes Three, Baby Min's Timeline, The Birth of Baby Min, Daddy's Little Girl, Who the Hell is Augst D.

Pairing: CEO Min Yoongi x Secretary Reader

Word count: 6.5k

Summary: Yoongi finds out you faked an orgasm and he's going to gi-give it to you more ways than one.

- Demon Yoongi by @jungshookz

Hellish (I got some feelings for incubus Yoongi not gonna lie)

Pairing: Bratty, Super Sexy, Sex Demon, Mint Min Yoongi x University Student, Non-Supernatural Believer Reader

Word count: 22.1k

Summary: Jungkook is your clueless, energetic best friend. Wonho is a character in this fic, You are dragged into summoning a demon one night by your overly excited to be summoning a demon? best friend Jungkook. Spooky but Kind of Sexy Shit Happens! (This is probably my second favorite Yoongi Fic I've read!)

- Basketball Captain Yoongi by @jungshookz

Basketball Captain Yoongi

Pairing: Cocky, Popular, Charming Captain of the Basketball Team Min Yoongi x Water girl University Student Reader (who has been crushing on Yoongi hard for some time)

Word count: 18.4k

Summary: Jungkook is your athletic bro of a best friend that signs you up to be his replacement as the water boy (girl in this case) after he makes the team. You have had a pathetic schoolgirl crush on Yoongi for a while and is basically the only reason you agreed to be the water girl aside from spending time with Jungkook. It's fluffy & smutty!

- Android Yoongi @jungshookz

Technologically in love (..I cried! but I also smiled a lot so you know this is well written)

Pairing: Personal Assistant Prototype but SUPER Lifelike Android Min Yoongi x Messy, Junkfood, & Cartoons Loving Reader (basically your early 20s living alone kind of vibe)

Word count: 24k+

Summary: You live in a Detroit Becoming Human type universe but prior to a lot of the advancements. Androids are already a thing but not to the level the M1N Y00NG1 is yet. You are best friends with all the boys and they happen to be engineers which is how you ended up with Yoongi in the first place. Namjoon created Yoongi as a personal assistant prototype android & you are told to live with him. Things get fluffy, SUPER ANGSTY, and super smutty!

- Listen Closely by @avveh

Listen Closely ( sexiest Yoongi fic I have read so far, I kept wanting to go back and read again)

Pairing: Tsundere Office Worker Min Yoongi x Hardworking Office Worker Reader

Word count: 12.2k

Summary: Unintentionally, you stumble upon something that makes you view your coworker Min Yoongi in a whole new light. (SMUT 18+: Masturbation, voyeurism, exhibitionism, breathplay, spanking, degrading names.)

Jung Hoseok:

- Secret Boyfriend Hoseok by @kpopfanfictrash

Keeping a Secret (this took me places...Idk about you but I have trouble finding really good Hoseok fics and this one was perfect. One of my favorite fics on this website)

Pairing: New Relationship Dom Hoseok x New Relationship Tease Reader

Word count: 3.7k

Summary: You and Hoseok have been hooking up for a few weeks now. No one in your friend group knows. What happens then, when he shows up at movie night looking better than anticipated? SMUT!

- Studio Sex Hoseok by @joonbird

Studio:

Pairing: Boyfriend BTS Hoseok x Girlfriend Reader

Word Count: 5k

Summary: Hoseok is stressed about his upcoming mixtape, so you decide to swing by his studio and help him relax. (Hobi being the beautiful glorious sexy man he is and putting those ungodly hips to use!)

Park Jimin:

- Jimin and His Pregnancy Kink by @boymeetsweevil

ME, YOU, AND THIS THING WE HAVE BETWEEN US (NSFW)

Pairing: Sweet Caring Domestic but Horny Jimin x Pregnant Hormonal Reader

Word count:~3.7k

Warnings (aka what to prepare for): everything is graphic and gross lmao, blowjobs (face f*cking), boob job (not the one w/ silicon inserts), cunnilingus, dom!jimin if u squint, cumplay if u squint again, dirty talk/degrading language, penetrative sex (doggy style), unprotected sex, PREGNANCY KINK that’s a big one

Summary: You’re pregnant and Jimin is…happy about it (If I remember correctly this one is 25% cute domestic Jimin trying to calm his hormonal pregnant partner and 75% pure filth aka Jimin having a pregnancy kink and trying to hide it but not well at all. This is however my ultimate fav Jimin smut I have ever read!)

- Crush/Neighbor Jimin by @sketchguk

Lover to Lean On: (I absolutely adore this fic. Overall it's just really well written and I felt like I was watching a show in my head rather than reading a short Tumblr fic. Highly recommend it!)

Pairing: Cute Customer & Neighbor Jimin x Florist Reader

Word Count: 19.9k

Summary: For months, you can hear your no-face neighbor and his ‘girlfriend’ singing and dancing and laughing and falling in love. Above all, you can hear their bed banging against your shared wall, and they won’t ever let you sleep. You’d much rather stay up at night worrying about your own problems, like the weight of an unrequited crush, so of course, you’re bitterly single. But one day, the apartment is radio silent. And one day slowly turns into one week and then into an immeasurable amount of time since you’ve heard his laugh. So on Valentine’s Day, when you’re missing it the most, you beg your neighbor to open up to you with cookies in one hand and two broken hearts in the other.

Kim Taehyung:

-Roommate Taehyung Universe by @jungshookz

Stuck with You

Pairing: Frat Bro bit of an asshole Roommate Kim Taehyung x Clean Organized bit of a Pushover Reader

Word count: 37k

Summary: Kim Taehyung becoming your new roommate is definitely up there on the list of the worst things to ever happen to you. Librarian Namjoon is your Best friend and ex-roommate. Frat bro Jeon Jungkook makes an appearance. There is so smut and implied smut.

The One with the One Year Anniversary (Drabble)

Pairing: The cutest domestic boyfriend Kim Taehyung x girlfriend reader

Word count: 4.6k

Summary: NO SPOILERS! so I'm going to give you a quote: "well, um, look! I made breakfast for you. f-for us!" Also, SFW

Jeon Jungkook:

- Gamer Jungkook by @softyoongiionly

PRESS START (this is the cutest fucking smut type fic I have ever read! it is so pure and is the exact type of relationship I want! IT MADE ME SIMP SO HARD!) gender-neutral I believe!

Pairing: Night owl Gamer Domestic Boyfriend Jeon Jungkook x Witty Domestic Cutesy Relationship Reader

Word count: 5.5k

Summary: A night in with your boyfriend Jungkook includes all kinds of things: anime, witty banter, snacks from 7-Eleven and, you know, sex. (GREAT READ!! I AM A SIMP FOR THIS FIC!!)

[felassan]

Mass Effect development insights and highlights from Bioware: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development

This is the Mass Effect version of this post.

[In case you can’t read it the subtitle in the bottom left logo above is “Guardians of the Citadel”]

Note: Drug use is mentioned.

Cut for length.

Mass Effect 1

ME began its life in a vision document in fall 2003

Codenamed “SFX”

Conceived of by Casey Hudson and a core team from KotOR. Its genesis was the intention to create an epic sci-fi RPG in an original setting that BioWare owned (so they could have full creative control), and in a setting that was conceived of first and foremost as a video game

Initially players could control any squadmate, but they wanted it to be about Shep and for players to be focused on Shep being a battlefield commander, rather than on switching bodies

By the start of 2004 its story was shaping up. Initially humans landed on Mars in 2250 and discovered evidence of an ancient alien race and a powerful substance, Black Sand, which rapidly advanced tech to the point that FTL travel was possible. (My note: obviously now the Prothean artifacts on Mars & associated mass effect force tech enabled this in the final canon, but I wonder if aspects of the ‘Black Sand’ naming-type & powerful substance stuff was rolled into red sand from final canon) Humans were suddenly capable of travel to multiple star systems and made contact with a multitude of other species. At the start of the first game, these species together with humans had a fragile peace, with focus placed on the political center of the galaxy, a hub known as Star City, later renamed the Citadel

Multiplayer was a vision for the series as far back as 2003. The plan was for ME1, an Xbox exclusive at launch, to take advantage of the platform’s online components. Early designs saw players meeting in one of the central hubs to interact and trade items in their otherwise SP adventures

By 2006 it had the name ME and the story was more specific, with the theme of conflict between organic and synthetic lifeforms. The story’s scope now stretched across 3 games and included scope for full co-op MP

They tried to do MP in every game, discussing it from the get-go, but it always just fell by the wayside. “When you’re trying to build something that is a new IP, on a new platform, with a new engine, you’ve got to really focus on the core elements of the game.” 

The conversation system prototype was made in Jade Empire, and some of ME’s earliest writing was done in an old JE build. At first there was no conversation wheel. Paragon was “Friendly” and Renegade “Hostile”. In the prototype Shep was a silent unnamed Spectre. Many conversations in the prototype about the player’s choice in smuggling a weapon through Noveria made it into the game

In said prototype a merchant referred to themselves as “this one”, though the word hanar never appeared. The PC in it also had the option to end a conversation with “I should go”. In the prototype also, Harkin was voiced by Mark Meer

An early version of the Mako got used as the krogan truck in ME2

Early concepts of the Citadel were drawn in pencil by CH. A piece of concept art of its final design was painted based on a photo of a sculpture near Aswan, Egypt

As with any new IP naming it was a struggle. They put out a call to all staff for ideas, did polls, made a name generator that combined words that they liked in random ways and made pretend logos of ones they liked in Photoshop to see if they could make themselves love the name or find visual potential in it. (Some of these names are in the pic at the top of this post.) CH liked “Unearthed” as it was a reference to Prothean ruins dug up on Mars and humanity’s ascendance going away from Earth. They knew the game would have a central space station featuring prominently so some of the ideas were based on that - “The Citadel”, “The Optigon”, “The Oculon”. “Element” was another one they had in mind due to the rare substance in the game 

CH: “I was a big fan of John Harris’ book Mass, which had epic-scaled sci-fi ideas, so that was a word that came up often. Many of the names came from the idea that the IP featured a fifth fundamental physical force (in addition to the known four of gravitational, electromagnetic, strong nuclear and weak nuclear) so the word ‘effect’ came up pretty often.” Ultimately none of the ideas really felt right. One Monday morning they were going over the names and Greg Zeschuk said he had an idea on the weekend: “Mass Effect!” CH: “I said, ‘I don’t hate it’, which in the naming process is a high compliment. And it stuck!”

CH on Shep’s Prothean vision from the beacon: “It was hard to imagine how we would do this. CG was - and is - really expensive. Instead I wanted to try doing it through photography and video editing. So I went to a local grocery store and bought a few packages of the weirdest looking meat that I could find. Then I set up a little photoshoot in my basement, complete with some electronics parts and some red wine for juicyness.” He used these props to create a video sequence where the photos were rapidly cycled and blurred, along with production paintings, to create the scary vision an organic/machine experiment on the Protheans. These mashups were also used as inspiration for concept artists and level designers who were working on these themes

Tali used to be called Talsi

On the licensing side they often joke that they’re licensing N7 not “Mass Effect” due to N7′s popularity

There was a confidential internal guide to the IP in 2007 to help devs along and summarize/synthesize the vision etc. Some excerpts from it are shown in the book and this is the first time the public have ever seen them

Early versions of Asari had hair

Asari were designed as a nod to classic TV sci-fi (with human actors wearing obvious makeup and prosthetics to play aliens)

The turian design guideline was “we want them to be birds of prey”. They also wanted a range of alien types, some close to human like Asari, while others were to be a lot further away, like turians

BioWare patented the conversation wheel, which was a first for them. CH had been frustrated with reviews of Jade Empire that said that the actioncentric game was too wordy [with its list dialogue]. “I’m like, story is words. [...] What is it about our games that is making people feel like they’re wordy?” Then he thought “In a game you kind of need to feel like you’re continuing to play it. Maybe you should continue feeling like you’re playing it actively into the dialogue.” “[The wheel] kind of gave a new experience with dialogue when you did start to react based on emotion, and that’s ultimately what we’re trying to bring out in our games”

The original krogan concept was based on a bat “with a really wide squidgy face. We just used its face on top of this weird body and it kinda worked”

Geth musculature was based on fiber-optic cables, with flexible plates of armor attached

The vision for the IP was 80s sci-fi inspired space opera

The concept art of Saren lifting Shep by the throat inspired a similar scene in-game. The staging wasn’t planned til designers saw that art

A squadmate with Shepard on the way to meet Ash in an old storyboard was called Carter. Early name of Kaidan or Jenkins?

Bono from U2 was kinda instrumental in bringing us ME lol

Finding the right cover art for ME1 was notably tricky

Matt Rhodes got his start drawing helmets for ME1, including one which would become Shep’s “second face”. He estimates he drew between 250-270 different ones

Some of the sounds in-game were people smashing watermelons with sledgehammers and sticking fists into various goos

The audio team had fun trying to slip the iconic main theme into unexpected places throughout the MET. “We were very aware of how powerful that track was for the fans and it was tempting to overuse it for any moment we wanted to make really emotional”.

The theme was creatively repurposed in ME3: slowed down and reworked as the ambient sound for the SR-2. “If you listen to it for a really long time, just stand in the Normandy and listen, you’ll actually hear the notes change slowly. It doesn’t sound like music, it sounds like a background ambiance, but it’s there.” (My note: Well no wonder the Normandy feels so much like home?? 😭 sneaky..)

Bug report: “Mako Tornado”. There wasn’t enough friction between the tires and the ground, causing testers to lose control of the vehicle and send it spinning into the air like a tornado. “As it turns, the front end comes up, and then it starts spinning and spinning and spinning and spinning faster and faster and faster until it just flies up in the sky” (My note: Sounds like a regular day in the Mako to me)

Cerberus originally had a bigger role in this game. It was cut but they had a whole explorable outpost. “I called it Misery,” says Mac Walters, “It was this planet with a little outpost that said ‘Welcome to Misery’”. Everything on the outpost was shit - dirty worn stuff, no windows, no kitchen, the vehicle bay was open to the elements etc

The Reaper sound is literal garbage. Some audio designers went on a recording trip to a national park. One of them got fixated on a garbage can, “a metal bear-proof receptacle with a heavy lid that creaked horribly when opened”. “It was like, ominous, spooky, tonal and almost musical. I decided to throw a mic into the garbage and record it moving. I didn’t know what it was going to be until later”

They were making lots of noises to record like throwing logs and rocks around. An old couple peered at them through the window of their camper van in the woods and must have called the cops because then the cops showed up, pulled them over and told them to stop. The cops towed their car (the driver’s plates were Cali plates and expired), drove them to Edmonton outskirts and then the audio producer Shauna got a call and had to go pick them up “like three little boys”. “We got a stern talking to”. Once back they were playing around with the garbage sound, editing it etc. Casey heard it and proclaimed “That’s the sound of the Reapers”

Preston Watamaniuk: “There are things I could have done to Mass 1 to make it an infinitely better game with better UIs” and some simple cuts and changes. “But when you’re living with it, it’s very hard to see those things”

BioWare Labs

As social media and smartphone games exploded, BioWare dedicated a small team dedicated to exploring opportunities here - BioWare Labs

Mass Effect: Galaxy used a unique graphic art style and static visual presentation common in visual novels. It has the distinction of being the only iOS game BW have made during their first 25 years

Scrapped ideas were a 3rd person space shooter called Mass Effect: Corsair and 2 DA titles - a strategy game and a top-down dungeon crawler starring young Wynne. (My note: Maybe the corsairs stuff was rolled into Jacob’s backstory in 2, the Alliance Corsairs)

Corsair was a very short-lived project that never got its feet under it. It was a spin-off on Nintendo DS featuring a behind-the-ship perspective and branching dialogue. At one point it had MP. The idea behind it was basically “ME: Freelancer” - fly your ship around, do missions, get credits. It had a limited branching story but was a gameplay-centered experience intended to fill the gap between ME1 and 2. That gap ended up being filled by Galaxy

Galaxy and Corsair’s smaller screen allowed concept artists to use bold colors and a simplistic character design style to help those games stand out from Shep’s story

Nick Thornborrow did some art for Corsair but was worried his art style didn’t fit ME. He moved to DA where he feels his art style fits better

Lots of BioWare VAs and even a lead writer and the VO director are drawn from Edmonton’s local community theater scene, which is vibrant. Think this is how Mark Meer got involved

Mass Effect 2

Player choices carrying over was a first for BW

Dirty Dozen-inspired plot

Its plot is a web of conditionals (see Suicide Mission)

Was more of a shooter than anything BW had made since Shattered Steel

There was 2 camps on the team, those who wanted to push combat and systems forward and redefine the ME experience and those who wanted to make a true sequel, with the same gameplay and systems but a new story. Karin Weekes: “I think it ended up being a good push-pull. It felt like a pretty healthy creative conflict”

“ME2 was a game you could hold up to someone who argues that games aren’t a serious medium and go ‘Oh yeah, then why is Martin Sheen in this?’” Sheen was their first pick for TIM

The idea for TIM came from a mash-up of concepts CH had collected over the years. The name “Illusive” originally came from his pitch for naming DAO’s Eclipse engine, a word inspired by Obi-Wan’s line “It’s not about the mission, Master. It’s something... elsewhere. Elusive”. “I thought, what if we called our next engine 'Elusive', but used an ‘I’, and then it’s like ‘Illusion’. [...] I still really like the word with an ‘I’ and what it conjures”

When ME1 DLC was in production, CH had been watching a lot of CNN, specifically Anderson Cooper. “How is one guy travelling to all these places and never looking tired and always being able to speak with clarity?” CH says it seemed almost superhuman. “What if there was someone who is the absolute maximum of the things you would aspire to be, but also the worst of humanity?” Cooper, though not evil, became an inspiration for TIM down to the gray hair and piercing blue eyes

Inspiration for TIM’s behind-the-scenes role pulling political strings came from Jack Bauer’s brother Graem in 24. Graem “can call up the president and tell him what to do and hang up, because he’s so connected and so influential”. Sheen had played a president and his performance brought gravitas and wisdom to the role. He had quit smoking, but the character smokes. He didn’t want to fake it, but he also didn’t want to smoke, “so he actually asked for a cigarette” to hold so he could stop his words to take drags with natural cadence

Writing was still pushing to write and revise lines hours before VO started. A series of problems like injury and some writers leaving for other opportunities left it so that Karin, Lukas Kristjanson and editor Cookie Everman hand to land the story safely, with PW helping where they could. Lukas: “We took over the writing bug and task list, and I can’t stress enough how much [Karin and Cookie] did to get ME2 out the door. There’s no part of that thing we didn’t touch”. Karin: “That was the most dramatic 2 weeks of my life”

Initial fan reaction when they started promo-ing ME2 was very negative because people didn’t want to know about new chars like Jack and Mordin. “[fans were like] ‘Get them out of here. We want our characters from the first game’. But then when they played them, those became some of the most popular chars [of the series]”

Concept art of Thane has an idea annotation saying “Face can shapeshift?”

At one point when designing Thane concept artists sent multiple variations of him to the team asking them to vote on which was the most attractive

Most of the Normandy crew was written by lead level designer Dusty Everman. Lukas gave him advice in the evenings between bugs

BioWare Montreal made ME2 and 3 cinematics

CC for Shep was based on tools used by char designers to create in-game chars. Under the hood similar tools existed to create aliens

Aliens were much easier to animate than humans. When something is human it’s very difficult to make it look realistic and you can see all the mistakes and everything

Over the holiday period in 2007 CH worked out a diagram on a single piece of paper that would define the entire scope and structure of the game. The diagram is included in the book

Bug report: “I shot a krogan so hard that his textures fell off”. At one point shotgun blast damage was applied to each of the pellets fired, and shot enemies ended up with just the default checkerboard Unreal texture on them after their textures got blown off

Blasto was meant to be 1 step above an Easter egg but his fan popularity prompted them to bring him back in ME3

They rewrote chunks of Jack 2 days before she went to VO. She was the only one they could change because all the other NPCs were recorded. They redesigned her mission by juggling locked NPC lines and changing Shep’s reactions by rewriting text paraphrases to change the context of the already-recorded VO

Lukas snuck obscure nods ito ME2′s distress calls. In the general distress call for the Hugo Gernsback, there’s BW’s initial’s and Edmonton’s phone number backwards. In a fault in a beacon protocol there’s the initials and backward phone number from Tommy Tutone’s “Jenny”. In 2 other general distress calls there’s initials and numbers from Glenn Miller Orchestra’s “Pennsylvania 6-5000″ and initials and numbers from Geddy Lee and Rush’s “2112″ respectively 

Mass Effect 3

“The end of an era marks the beginning of another”

ME3 “marked the end of Shep’s story”

Saying bye to Shep was as difficult for devs as it was for players

JHale’s final VO session included Anderson’s death and romanced Garrus’ goodbye. “We were in the session and we both just started crying”, Caroline says. “I couldn’t come on the line to give her notes because I was crying, and she was crying. And so there was just this minute-long pause of like, nothing, nothing, nothing - just silence through the airwaves. And then I came on and just told her that I was crying and she said ‘I’m crying!’” They talked about these anecdotes also here on the N7 Day reunion panel

The Microsoft Kinect voice support required devs to teach Kinect hundreds of commands in a variety of accents across multiple languages. The result was useful but made for some awkward moments. Numerous players accidentally said “geth” or “quarian” while making a particular decision and accidentally killed Tali

MP chars were voiced by cops and military people

The helmet on one of the MP chars was originally designed for cancelled project Revolver

The payload device at the end needed to attach to the Citadel while essentially serving as a giant trigger. “It ended up becoming quite the engineering feet just to visualize how this thing would move and connect to the Citadel”

Concept artists explored creating an anti-team, where Kai Leng was almost an anti-Shepard essentially, with an elite squad to counteract your team. This idea never went beyond concept phase

ME3 Special Edition was released on Nintendo Wii U exclusively. This exclusive version of the game includes Genesis 2 (a sequel to the original Genesis comic) and unique gameplay features that took advantage of the touchscreen GamePad. For years Sonic Chronicles: Dark Brotherhood had had the honor of being BW’s only game made for a Nintendo console

FemShep regrettably didn’t feature in major ME marketing til ME3. Later releases like DAI, MEA and Anthem have taken increasing care not to gender their protagonists in cover art

To capture combat sounds they took a trip to CFB Wainwright, a military base southeast of Edmonton. They got a big tour of it and were allowed to record anything they could find. The tour ended with them getting to drive and shoot tanks (real shells). The force of doing that sent waves through Joel Green, he felt his whole chest compress when it went off; the perfect sound for the Black Widow! After the trip the soldiers let him keep the shell he fired and it’s been passed on like a torch to various devs since

Kakliosaurs began life as a joke in the writers’ room after John Dombrow placed a Grunt figure on a t-rex toy he had on his desk. Lore was brainstormed to justify the mash-up before someone asked, “Why don’t we put this in the game?” They loved it so much Karin had custom coffee mugs made

Bug report: For a while Tali’s final romance scene would fire when she was supposed to be dead

“Balancing combat: how designers in ME3 entered an ‘arms race’” - the solution to players feeling OP vs players feeling frustrated by really strong enemies is to find a good middle ground, but for designers Corey Gaspur and Brenon Holmes, it was war. Brenon designed enemies, Corey designed guns. Corey “was obsessed with bigger, heavier guns. We had this sort of informal competition where he’d make this crazy overturned gun that would just murder all the enemies, and then I tuned some stuff up to compensate”

Brenon had to invent new ways to “stop Corey” and this led to the Phantoms. Corey had in turn designed consumable rockets that could wipe out entire waves of enemies. He must’ve figured this would make short work of Brenon’s space ninjas, but Brenon had other plans: “I had just added the ability for her to cut rockets [when Corey was playing MP and he was watching]. She cut the rocket in half... Corey just turns and looks at me and is like: ‘Really dude? I just shot a rocket at this Phantom and she’s fine? Not even damaged? Zero damage?’” 

This friendly rivalry helped elevate ME3′s gameplay. Corey had a knack for making a gun feel so good to fire it had his fellow designers scrambling to keep up. It was his version of balancing. Before Corey sadly passed away he mentored Boldwin Li in all things weapon design and the arms race continued

Corey designed the Arc Pistol. It was causing problems for enemies because it was too powerful. It seemed hell bent on staying that way, Boldwin would tune down all its stats and it was still doing 3x the damage it should have been doing. “I was like ‘What the hell?’, and then I looked closer. It secretly fired 3 bullets for every pull of the trigger! Corey, you sneaky jerk”

The day it launched there were midnight launch parties across North America including one near the BW building. Numerous devs sat at long tables greeting fans and signing autographs as the fans picked up preorders. When midnight struck the line was long enough that it took several hours for some fans to get their game. One particular fan is remembered: “It was 3am. Some guy drove up from Calgary with his friends. He was like one of the last people in line. I think he was sort of tired-drunk. He threw himself across the tables, pulled up his shirt and shouted ‘Guys, sign my abs!’ And like I did, because he waited so long. It felt impolite not to. So I hope he enjoyed his copy of ME3″

For designing Protheans concept artists had free reign to design something that read as ancient

Before the concept art team had the story of the game to work toward, they explored wild ideas of their own including an image of the crew stealing back the Normandy to go after the Reapers

Jen Cheverie was testing scenes and was initially excited to be testing Mordin scenes, til she saw she was testing the Renegade version of his death. “This is even before like all of the audio and everything was in, so you didn’t even have the sad music. I remember sitting at my desk and my hands just went to my face when I saw that the gun Shep pulls on Mordin is the gun he gives Shep in ME2. I burst into tears and was crying for the rest of the day. People are waving to me as they walk by and I’m like, ‘It’s ok, I’m just killing my best friend’” 

There’s a segment called “Shepard’s story ends”. Casey on the ending: “There’s a whole bunch of things that come together to make it incredibly tense and emotional for players. I think the biggest one was the sense of finality, that whatever it was that happened in that very last moment... was it.” 

Wrapping up the story was a massive feat. In a way all of ME3 is an ending. Its final moments were the players’ last with a char they’d been with all the way from Eden Prime

“And while the critical reception of the game was extremely positive, many fans were unsatisfied with the ending, which became one of the most controversial in the history of games.” CH: “We were, on one hand, at the end of a marathon trying to finish the game and the series. But as devs we also knew that there would be more. We knew that we would continue to tell the story. In retrospect, we didn’t fully appreciate the tremendous sense of finality that it would have for people”. He envisioned an ending that posed new questions, something in the tradition of high sci-fi that left players dreaming about what that particular galaxy’s future could hold. “Frankly, there’s a lot more that we could have and should have done to honor the work players put in, to give them a stronger sense of reward and closure”

AAA games are massive undertakings with a million moving parts. Somehow they come together but even the best-planned projects don’t turn out quite like devs hope. From start to end video game production is a series of compromises. It’s rare if not impossible for devs to ship a game they’re entirely happy with. “I think that people imagine that when you finish a game, it’s exactly the way you wanted it to be. But whether people end up loving or hating the final result, we work hard to finish it the best we can, knowing that there’s a lot we would have wanted to do better. I think that’s true of any creative work”

As the dust settled after the initial reaction to the ending and later its epilogue, meant to show the wide-reaching ripple effects of Shep’s final choice, “players emerged mostly asking for one thing”. CH: “Now, most of what we hear, after both ME3 and MEA, is ‘Hey, just go make more Mass Effect’. And that to me is the most important thing. Knowing that players want to return to the ME universe is what inspires us to press on and imagine what comes next”

Mass Effect: Andromeda

By creating a new ME in a new galaxy the team was challenged to put their own visual stamp on the game while keeping it true to the franchise

Being the first ME game on a new gen of consoles meant for more detail

“Massive transport ships called arks populated with salarians, turians, humans, asari and quarians” made the risky jump to the Cluster

MEA was the first time BW had truly codeveloped across 3 studios: Edmonton, Montreal and Austin. The bulk of the work especially early on was done in Montreal, which was composed of a handful of Edmonton expats and heaps of experienced devs who joined from elsewhere specifically to bring a new ME experience to life. Series vets in Edmonton then came on to contribute writing, cinematics, design and QA, along with leadership from creative director Mac Walters and the core Production team. Austin writers and level designers also joined the fray

“It took a new team to take ME beyond the Milky Way”

Mac: “A lot of people in Montreal joined BW as fans of the franchise, so they just had this passion, and it felt like it was more like the days of Jade Empire, where a smaller younger team gets to do something for the first time. Even though it wasn’t necessarily a new IP for me, it felt fresh and new because of that. The team was just super excited to be working on it”

Early plans had the player exploring hundreds of worlds, procedurally generated, allowing for a nearly infinite variety of experiences. But as development wore on, it became clear that the game narrative required more specific, hand-touched level design on each world to keep the story focused and the experience engaging. “The plan was to give players numerous uncharted worlds to explore. Designers worked hard to come up with procedural elements that would make such planets special. Eventually the team made the difficult decision to abandon procedural planets in favor of more memorable hand-touched alien worlds, each with a specific story to tell”

One challenge was defining what ME meant without Shep. Care was given to include many of the MET’s key species. “Ryder recruited turian, asari, krogan and salarian followers”. Like Shep Ryder represents humanity’s hope for a peaceful coexistence among aliens who had long operated without human contact

Beginning with MEA the team decided that with few exceptions vehicles in ME have 6 wheels. Early Nomad concepts were bulkier. Later ones focused on its ability to move over its ability to protect itself from hostile fire, underlining the themes of exploration

German concept designer and auto-motive futurist Daniel Simon was contracted to create the Nomad and Tempest. The Tempest’s final design took inspo from the Concorde 

Concepts for angaran fighter ships have the following notes: “Two doors swing open, wings rotate down to function as landing struts, the landing struts split open. It has a spinning turbine engine 

Despite being set a galaxy away and some 600 years after Mordin’s death, there was a time when he had a cameo. It wasn’t cut due to running out of time however, it was cut due to drug references. John Dombrow explains: “One day I had to write a small quest for Kadara. I thought it’d be amusing if these 2 guys living way out on the fringes in a shack were growing plants for uh, medicinal purposes, and needed Ryder’s help with it. It occurred to me, wouldn’t it be amusing if Ryder had the option of actually trying ‘the medicine’ to see what would happen? And I thought, what if it turned into some hallucination that somehow involved SAM - like maybe SAM would sing? But why? How could I motivate that? Then it hit me. Who else in the ME game sings unexpectedly? MORDIN. As a nod to him I wrote SAM singing Modern Major-General. It got even better when our cine designer John Ebenger wanted to take it even further. Bless him, he came in on a Saturday to do a special hallucination showing Mordin himself. It was great. Til the fateful day we were told MEA had already been submitted to the ratings board. That’s when you declare things like drug references in your game. Mordin fell under that category which meant it was a no-go. We were too late”

Ryder’s white AI armor contrasts Shep’s iconic dark armor (intentional design)

Concept art for Ryder involved experiments with cloth (cloaks, ponchos, capes - “Pull here to release cloak”) and asymmetrical design elements

For alien design, there’s a few exceptions but humanoid figures are the ME standard and this persisted into MEA

Kett and angara concepts explored striking lines and textures 

– From Bioware: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development

[ontheoddoccasioniwritestuff]

Valentines Day for Nerds (Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader)

Summary: Spencer’s favourite holiday is often taken up mostly by work, but this year his enjoyment doesn’t seem to be as disruptive in the BAU bullpen. The team soon realise why.

AN: It’s a bit late- who am I kidding? IT’S ALWAYS HALLOWEEN IN OUR HEARTS! This was a part of @imagining-in-the-margins fic swap, for the brilliant @agntprentiss <3 

For my smut fic from the swap, check out A Little Indulgence (18+ only!)

Reader uses she/her pronouns!

Word count: 1.7k words

Gif credit to @imagining-in-the-margins​ <3

Your name: submit What is this?

The first breach of boredom was Penelope practically skipping into the bullpen, her arms cradling a bouquet of flowers as if it were an infant. The bold orange roses contrasted with the dyed black petals of its counterparts as they were planted upon Spencer’s desk.

“Delivery for Doctor Reid!” trilled Penelope, clapping her hands now that they were free of said delivery. Dropping his pen onto his unfinished paperwork, Spencer pivoted the base of the bouquet before he found a small black envelope.

It held a little card with two pumpkins, happy faces carved into them both. Inside were the following words:

 Black is for new beginnings,

Orange is for enthusiasm,

Spooky times are afoot tonight,

Watch out for ectoplasm!

I spent ten minutes trying to think of a rhyme for that. Happy Halloween, Cara Mia!

Y/N xxx

Spencer beamed as he placed the bouquet at the edge of his desk, next to the fake severed hand that now held the card in its stiff fingers. He scratched his bristly cheek. Less than a day until he could shave this off. It’d be worth it though.

“Is it from Y/N?”

He looked up to see Penelope had lingered like a lost spirit, waiting to see if her trials of passing on the bouquet had been worthy enough for her to move onto the next world – her Batcave. She was poised with a hopeful expression.

“Yes,” Spencer said, watching Penelope lean up on her tiptoes as she tried to rein in her delight.

She clapped her hands, her purple painted nails clicking as they tapped together, “Are my two favourite ghost hunters up to much this Hallow’s Eve?”

“We’re going to see the Phantasmagoria re-enactment after we go trick-or-treating with Henry tonight.”

It was hard to ignore the absolute glee with which Spencer spoke. Even if one completely ignored the way his voice carried a light excitement, the way his eyes lit up and his broad smile almost fell off his face was enough to connote that he was very excited for tonight. It was also hard to ignore the mild bemusement on the faces of everyone who heard.

Glad to be back and bearing witness to his elated behaviour regardless, Emily cracked a smile, “Maybe she’ll cling to you when she gets scared.”

A heat crawled up Spencer’s neck and he tried to return to work now in hopes that his gift’s display would be cut off. He’d rather sit in the glow of receiving the flowers without mockery.

To the team’s credit, no one ribbed him for it.

The flowers were not the last gift though.

Soon Penelope reappeared, “Your Cupid has returned with another gift for you!”

As he tore at the paper and revealed an Edgar Allen Poe pin – the titular Raven he instantly attached it to his satchel strap – in pride of place, just like the bouquet.

Derek was the one to notice how Spencer’s sandwiches had been cut into little pumpkins. Some digging and Spencer revealed that he had gotten Y/N to order a cutter online. He held his lunch in one hand, his collection of classic Halloween short stories in the other, with a childish glee that no one wanted to squander.

When Spencer climbed the steps to drop off a file to Hotch around mid-afternoon, Rossi walking behind him noted the brand-new socks. A classic odd pairing, and obviously they were Halloween themed. This kid left no opportunity untaken when it came to celebrating Halloween – more than his own birthday.

But Rossi was not closed enough to get a good look at them, and no one else was as close. So, he recruited Emily and Derek to discover what the pattern was. It was Emily and Derek who upped the stakes by wanting to get a glimpse without arousing suspicion. Now that outright asking Spencer was not an option, the game began as they dropped several pens as an excuse to bend over and strain for a flash of those socks.

Derek eventually resorted to a pantomime attempt at tripping in front of Spencer’s desk and gave the jig up straight away by shouting to a stressed Emily (whilst also catching the attention of Hotch through his office’s blinds): “IT’S IT!”

A few language barriers hurdled later, and hindsight brought them both clarity. The red splodge on Spencer’s ankle was officially defined as a balloon.

“So tell us! What’s the other one?” Emily said, her voice strained with how much she was invested in this single sock.

Spencer hiked up his trouser leg to display the skeletal zombie sewn into the sock. “It’s Curtis Danko from When Good Ghouls Go Bad. Y/N had it commissioned for me!”

JJ was watching nearby, unaffected by the tensions of the sock bet. She knew the film because Y/N had wanted to show it to Henry the other week when she babysat him. But upon further inspection, the R.L. Stine film – while intended for kids – might be a little intimidating for Henry to watch without his profiler mother and godfather, police officer father, and favourite auntie there to protect him from the cursed statue.

No one else in the bullpen knew the film.

The team soon discovered that Spencer was not the only one to be on the receiving end of such gifts. Six o’clock rolled around and Y/N entered the bullpen. She was wearing a fuzzy black scarf, some sparkles shining within the wool. At the tail of it, a lucky black cat patch was sewn onto the end. It caught Rossi’s eye and he hid behind a folder as he smiled. The three times that Spencer had forgone a card game with him (in favour of knitting the scarf on the flights back from cases) had been riddled with playful teasing. It was good to see that it was worth it.

Especially when Spencer saw Y/N wearing it and his back snapped straight up. His chair flew backwards, spinning around with the effort that Spencer had launched himself from it, and he and Y/N embraced each other with casual affection.

“How was work today?”

“Not as boring as I thought. But, I have to say: I’m meant to call you Cara Mia.” Spencer’s eyes darted to the card Y/N had sent that morning.

Y/N caught onto his meaning, “Should I stop?”

“Never.”

She rubbed her nose against his and Spencer went pink again, giggling like a teenager. True, he was as smitten with Y/N as Gomez was with Morticia. Then he remembered he was in the workplace as Y/N went to greet the rest of the team, and Spencer’s pink became a scarlet.

“Aww, Pretty Boy,” Derek grinned at him from his desk chair, “You’re so cute!”

“It’s like Sergio!” Emily said, admiring the scarf with her thumb rubbing over the stitches around the cat patch.

“Make sure he’s safe tonight,” Y/N squeezed her hands for a second.

Then JJ appeared from her office, coat and bag over her arm, and she, Y/N, and Spencer wished the bullpen a Happy Halloween before they left.

They had three hours before the Phantasmagoria started. Plenty of time to get ready.

Henry was right behind the front door of his home. The second it opened, he bounced at Spencer’s feet, his tiny hand clutching onto two of his fingers to drag him inside. He was babbling away at such speed that Y/N could barely keep up. She gave Will a wave across the ironing board where he was diligently ironing Will’s cape.

“Well don’t you look handsome!” Y/N beamed at Henry while JJ combed his hair back, slick with gel. It was something he agreed to but only if Spencer was doing the same. Which he was, occupying the downstairs bathroom as he prepared his own costume.

The moment Spencer had finished shaving everything bar the moustache, he was plonked in front of the television. Henry smoothed out his cloak and put in his plastic fangs in to watch the rest of his new favourite Halloween film, The Little Vampire. He mumbled along with Rudolph’s lines and sat enraptured as he pointed out to Spencer the flying scenes. Luckily for him, Will and JJ were getting dressed as Frederick and Freda Sackville-Bagg upstairs to join in the Halloween spirit – last year’s Halloween date night disaster long forgotten.

Henry put in his plastic fangs and hissed at Y/N who emerged in her long sleek black dress. As she stepped across the room as elegantly as Morticia, Spence spied that she was wearing the black spiderweb tights he had bought her today.

“Hello, Gomez,” She smiled radiantly at Spencer, smoothing out his suit jacket as he stood before her. He presented her with a red rose that matched her lipstick to a tee.

As she breathed in the flower’s scent, he kissed her cheek, enjoying her giggle at the bristle of his ‘stache, “You’re stunning.”

“Thank you, and you’re handsome as ever.” She swung their linked hands between them in the opposite way she poised on her tiptoes. “Maybe we should have taken a tango class.”

And she laughed loudly at Spencer’s wincing at such a thought.

“It’s ok, Cara Mia. I’ll settle for a kiss instead.”

Oh, that was something he could do forever. He brought her hands to his lips and kissed her knuckles then the inside of each wrist.

Unfortunately, Henry interrupted the stream of kisses that were headed in Y/N’s way. “Ready to go!” He skipped his way between the happy couple.

It was hard to be mad at Henry, especially with how adorable he looked beside his parents and with his bright orange pumpkin bag ready to collect candy. He felt safe with his four favourite adults guarding him.

“Tonight,” Y/N whispered into his ear and he could hear the smirk in her words, “After the Phantasmagoria.”

Spencer beamed, his dimples delightfully framing that smile. One day maybe, they would have their own Wednesday, Pugsley, and Pubert to join them. And maybe then Derek would dress up as Uncle Fester.

[wamulu-gorillaz]

Halloo idk if you still take reqs but can i get a gorillaz matchup (if you dont take reqs anymore feel free to ignore this ask lol)

• Appearance •

im 5'5, 58kg. I have long black hair (halfway down my back) with bangs and i dyed the underneath teal. Afab (i use she/her)& of south east asian descent (i prefer not to specify)

• personality types thingies •

Aquarius, istp, sanguine, type 7w6 enneagram, love language is quality time, and also im a gryffindor

• style •

for tops i mainly have black and white striped tops and graphic tees, for bottoms i wear black skinny jeans with some rips & some dark green cargo pants, for shoes i wear doc martens and high tops, and lastly for accesories i wear unusual earrings, dog tag necklaces & chokers (not at the same time lol) and i wear black midi rings to match with my dark nail polish

•hobbies•

I like listening to music and spooky stories while i draw/paint and i like to sing to myself bc i aint that confident to let others hear. I watch horror movies and watch people play horror games and like making pretty notes about random knowledge that i will never use

•Likes and Dislikes•

likes: coffee and earl grey tea, Cool weather, Cupnoodles, the colours :violet, navy blue and maroon, people who listens and tries to actually know me

dislikes : touchy people, hot weather, overbearing people, the colours neon green and yellow, overly serious people

•what am i like•

Im generally a chillaxed but cheery type of person, i like to point out the brightside of things to other people. Im shy at first but im very talkative when im comfortable with a person. I dont like to disappoint the people who are close to me so its hard for me to say no. acc. to some they see me as passionate and blunt but really im just lost and i just do what feels right. Im terrible at expressing my emotions via talking soo i just write it out instead.

Anyways this is my first time asking for a matchup req so sorry if its long, idk what and what not to put lol

Anywayss Tysm!! <3

(also, apologies for any grammar and spelling mistakes english is not my first language)

2D!

- Beware! Spooky story sound affects from him whenever you have a story going. But also beware! He might spook himself and that doesn't help anybody ("BOO!" Oh no... no... calm down, there Stuar', we were goin' for spooky, not frickin' diabowlickle - he says to himself)

- Sometimes, to make you feel more at ease with expressing your emotions, he'll hide little letters of affection throughout the house or in your bag. Sometimes, however, it's just random things like 'I'm sad Tottenham didn't score last time they played'

- He also secretly hopes that you dye the underneath of your hair blue like his. He would be over the moon if you did

(Also, you don't need to apologise for your grammar and spelling mistakes! I understood everything. And besides - I can guarantee that everyone whose first language is English makes the same mistakes. If they don't need to apologise, neither should you xx)