#It's made by ONE GUY and it's a great horror game. I am just really bad at it.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Welcome to the Dungeons of Fear and Hunger.

[aquaquadrant]

Philophobia

Word Count: 5,271 Warnings: Shipping, inappropriate/crude humor, paranormal activity, suspense/mild horror, descriptive kissing, mild language Summary: For architecture major and paranormal skeptic Grian, his friends’ after-hours ghost hunting group was just an excuse to spend time with his crush, Scar, without having to actually ask him out. But one fateful night, he finds there just might be things in this world that are scarier than emotional vulnerability… even if only by a very slim margin.

A/N: Did someone ask for a Phasmophobia-inspired Scarian au? Oh yeah, my friend @lunarcrown did! Inspired by the art she made here.

So this is kind of a modern-day college au (not set within the fictional universe of Minecraft), howEVER there are some fantasy aspects in that non-human species (like mob hybrids/monsters) still exist cuz they’re fun and I’m not giving anyone a normal modern name cuz that’s too weird. This is only Phasmophobia-inspired in that GIGS have a ghost-hunting group that functions the same way, but rarely find any conclusive evidence, and don’t have unlimited lives cuz they aren’t playing a game. With that out of the way, hope y’all enjoy, please reblog/comment if u do! - Aqua

~*~

Philophobia

~*~

“I think this is gonna be the one, guys,” Impulse says, turning their van into the driveway.

The suspension creaks as they roll over gravel, rattling the frame in a way that hums through Grian’s hollow bones. His arm is cold where it presses against the window; it’s almost sunset and Impulse has yet to get the van’s heater fixed despite his promises. Stupid demon blood keeping him warm while Grian shivers in the stupid custom pleather jumpsuit that Scar insisted they had made, for their stupid ‘brand’ as a stupid ghost-hunting group. Great, his stupid zipper’s come down again- he stubbornly zips it back up because unlike Scar, he doesn’t like constantly having his bare chest out on display.

Of course, he hasn’t got as much to show off as Scar, who must be getting up at 3 am every morning to work out in order to maintain all that muscle. No wonder Scar prefers to keep his zipper down to his belly button, and doesn’t seem to have ever met a shirt that fits him properly.

… Not that Grian’s ever paid much attention to that sort of thing. 

Grian gives an exasperated sigh. “You’ve been saying that about every case we’ve had for three years!”

“No, no, I really mean it!” Impulse insists. “I feel it in my bones.”

“Yeah,” Scar agrees, leaning forward so his shoulder brushes against Grian’s, “you know Impulse bones good!”

The earnest nature of his statement- and the unexpected physical contact- makes Grian flush. “Scar!” he shrieks, swatting Scar’s shoulder.

“What?” Scar defends. “What, he- he’s got big and strong bones, wonderful bones…”

He acts as if he’s got no idea he said something that could be taken the wrong way. And if it weren’t for the upturned corners of his mouth and the barely-restrained laugh in his voice, Grian might actually believe him.

“Dude,” Skizz chuckles from the front seat, “shut up, that’s awesome.”

Impulse sighs. “Anyway,” he says pointedly, “the place recently had a change in ownership. Previous owner passed away-”

“From murder?” Scar gasps.

Another sigh. “No, from liver failure.”

Grian snorts. “From all the drinking he did to forget about the ghostly hauntings?” he presses, exchanging a cheeky grin with Scar.

“No,” Impulse says, with the patience of a saint, “just normal old-age organ failure. The guy was ancient, and some kinda recluse. House had been in his family since it was built, but uh, he had no living relatives, no will when he died. So the bank took ownership and it’s been sitting off-market for like, fifteen years, til some hot-shot investor thought he could flip it-”

“Ughh,” Grian groans, tipping his head back against the seat. “Investors are the worst-”

“I know, I know,” Impulse soothes, “but um, he’d barely begun when things started happening. Contractors reported it day one, then the owner experienced an event himself and called us. So it’s basically still untouched.”

They haven’t even reached the end of the driveway yet, passing by seemingly endless rows of tall, gnarled pines. Admittedly, Grian’s curiosity is piqued. When he agreed to join this stupid ghost hunting group three years ago, he didn’t do so in the hopes of actually discovering any real paranormal activity. The whole idea is laughable. Ghost hunting is a pseudoscience, at best. Just a bunch of idiots scaring themselves silly in an empty house- and now they’re the idiots! Even their name is stupid: Ghost Investigation Group Services, or GIGS, embroidered on their ill-fitting pleather jumpsuits.

But despite his outright skepticism and dislike for pulling late nights in his already extremely limited free time, Grian’s got one very good reason for agreeing to join.

And his name is Scar.

Grian spent half a semester pining away at the fellow architecture major from across the lecture halls of their many shared classes. Charismatic and easy on the eyes, it was inevitable that Grian would develop a bit of a crush. But as they spent more time together during class projects and conversations in the hallway, he found out just how kind-hearted and passionate Scar was, and how easy he was to talk to, and how strong his arms looked in long-sleeved shirts…

… Yeah, ‘crush’ perhaps isn’t the right word.

So when Impulse- the engineering major who Grian was partnered with for physics lab- got the brilliant idea to start a ghost-hunting group with his best friend and roommate Skizz, and Scar expressed interest in joining, Grian made a split-second decision in a moment of weakness. He maintained his skepticism, claiming that he wanted to tag along just to prove how silly the whole idea was. Impulse was fine with it, while Scar said Grian had to wear the same uniform as them, and the rest was history.

(To be fair, that was before Grian knew it’d be a pleather jumpsuit.)

So here they are now nearly three years later, rumbling down a long gravel road in the dark and cold, up late on a Saturday night even though he still isn’t finished with his condominium model that’s due at 8 am on Monday and he’s fresh out of popsicle sticks. Moments like these almost make Grian wish he could just ask a guy out like a normal person, so they could spend time together without chasing pretend ghosts around dusty houses all night.

But that’d require him to talk about his feelings. Ugh, he’d rather let the ghosts get him.

“Alright.” Impulse slows the van to a halt. The doors unlock with a heavy clunk. “What do you guys think?”

Grian isn’t expecting much when he glances out the window. But the sight that greets him immediately prompts a hasty exit from the vehicle, scarcely noticing the sudden chill, his jaw dropping open in awe.

It’s a Victorian. Not a house that someone has mistakenly called ‘Victorian’ just because it looks old. A genuine, honest-to-goodness, Queen Anne’s style two-story Victorian manor with an asymmetrical facade and a rounded corner tower and a generous wrap-around porch, silhouetted against the fading light of the evening sky.

Grian reaches for his flashlight. Sweeping over the exterior, his breath catches. Knots of ivy creep up the walls, and there are a few places where the intricate wood trim has been lost to previous repairs and weather damage. A couple of the windows are bricked up. Most of the paint is faded and peeling. But overall? It’s beautiful.

“Oh man,” Grian murmurs, pushing his glasses back up, “look at the shape of it... look at the dormers!”

A second beam of light joins in; Scar’s emerged from the van. “Lots of character,” he says, sounding similarly entranced. “And still in great condition! Oh, it’s beautiful. It’s enough to make a man cry.”

Impulse hops out of the driver’s seat, chuckling. “I knew you two would like it. It’s an ‘85.”

Grian gives an appreciative whistle. “Look, I still don’t think we’re gonna find anythin’,” he says with a sideways look at Scar, “but I gotta tell ya… if- if I were a ghost… I think I’d haunt a proper house like this. Not those builder-grade boxes in the suburbs.”

“Right?” Impulse says, his forked tail flicking through the air. “That’s what I’m sayin’... I uh, I think this place has real potential.”

Skizz, who’s come around the van to stand with them, nods thoughtfully. “Definitely somethin’ special ‘bout it, that’s for true,” he says, exchanging a look with Impulse. Then he claps his hands together. “Alright gentlemen, let’s get movin’!”

Impulse and Skizz turn towards the van, heading to open the back.

Grian stares after them, squinting suspiciously. That wasn’t just any look. That was a Look. A Look that he knows all too well. They had that same Look on their faces at last year’s frat mixer, when they rigged the speakers at the Heta Kappa house to play ‘Margaritaville’ every time someone flushed a toilet.

It means that they’re Up To Something.

… Grian’s sure he’ll find out sooner or later.

“Well, Grian,” Scar says, hands on his hips as he surveys the property, “if it’s any connotation, at least we’ll get to study some real architecture tonight.”

Grian gives him a bemused look. “Consolation?”

Scar blinks. “Cono- what, what’d I say? Con- coronation?”

“Don’t worry ‘bout it, ey,” Grian chuckles, patting him on the shoulder. “Let’s go.”

~*~

“Check it out, dude,” Skizz calls excitedly, “temp’s dropping in here! Five degrees colder than the rest of the house!”

Grian makes a noncommittal noise. “It’s an east-facing room and the sun’s only just set, of course it’s colder than the rest of the house,” he says, idly passing his UV glow stick over an armchair. No prints, of course. “I doubt they’ve updated the insulation anytime within the last two decades.”

“And hey, look,” Impulse chimes in from the corner, “I’ve got EMF 1.3!”

Grian doesn’t even look up. “There’s an exposed outlet in here and I’ll bet the wiring’s older than I am. And in any case, it’s still below the recommended threshold.” Ew, okay, now that’s a suspicious UV stain on the floor, but not of the supernatural kind…

“Oh, it’s definitely not up to code,” Impulse agrees. He waves his EMF reader around a bit, making the pitch warble. “But I dunno, I think this must be the ghost’s favorite room. Might not be here right now, but I’m getting some real vibes…”

Grian rolls his eyes. “Sure…” 

Twenty minutes in, and despite the house’s hauntingly elegant construction, it’s been the same old story. The house is empty and quiet, as abandoned houses tend to be. Quite sparse, as most of the furnishings probably went to auction. The furniture that’s left is covered with tarps and every surface is coated with a fine layer of dust. He can smell mold somewhere in the floorboards and there’s apparent water damage in the ceiling.

The only renovation attempted thus far was the removal of some cheap linoleum tiles that were laid in the kitchen at some point- a renovation Grian can heartily agree with, there’s some absolutely gorgeous hardwood underneath- but they didn’t get far. The removed tiles are still sitting about in a haphazard pile, hammer and chisel abandoned on the floor beside them. Frantic footsteps smeared in the dust and powder paint the scene of a terrified contractor fleeing for their life from the reported ‘ghostly hauntings’. 

In any case, they haven’t heard any activity from the spirit box, nothing unusual has stood out on UV, and the salt Impulse laid out is still undisturbed. Surprise, surprise. Grian’s spent most of his time admiring the elaborate wooden trims lining every wall, scuffed as they are. What he wouldn’t give to properly restore this place…

“Hey, Dipple Dop?” Skizz calls suddenly. “Your radio working okay?”

Impulse gives him a curious look. “Huh? What, is there-” He pauses, glancing down at his radio. “Oh. Oh, yeah. Yeah, actually, mine’s on the fritz, must be overdue a battery change.”

“Oh?” Grian tilts his head innocently. “You don’t think it’s a ghoooost?”

Impulse purses his lips. “I don’t think everything is a ghost,” he says mildly. He clips the radio onto his belt, turning to the door. “I’ve got extras in the van, hang on…”

“I’ll go, too,” Skizz says quickly, slinging an arm and his wing around Impulse’s shoulders. “Buddy system! You know what, I- I’m tellin’ you, you never split up when hunting ghosts. That’s how they get you, dude.”

Oh. Oh, no.

Grian gives them a warning Look.

They give him a cheeky Look back.

“Yup, yeah, that’s true,” Impulse says with obvious feigned sincerity, steering Skizz out of the room. “So uh, you two keep at it, okay, and we’ll be right back…”

“Oh, okay!” Scar says cheerfully, busy setting up the tripod over in the corner and completely oblivious to their scheme. “Have a great time not getting murdered!”

Grian opens his mouth to protest, but Impulse and Skizz are already gone out the front door. Leaving him and Scar completely alone. Totally by coincidence, surely. Oh, he knew his drunken confession to Impulse at the school’s annual bar crawl fundraiser night would come back to bite him eventually.

It’s almost insulting, in a way. Like they think the only reason Grian hasn’t made a move is because he hasn’t had ample alone time with Scar. Like he needed them to give him an opportunity. But if he’d wanted to confess to Scar, he already would have. He’d have had it well done by now. They could give him a little credit.

See, the thing is, he’s thought about it. Plenty of times, in fact. But the issue he keeps coming back to is that if he tells Scar about his crush on him, then Scar will know about it. There’ll be no going back at that point. And if Scar doesn’t feel the same way- well, Grian can kiss their friendship goodbye. So yeah, no, he doesn’t think he’ll be making any dramatic love confessions tonight, strangely enough.

The risk of an awkward silence developing is astronomical, so Grian clears his throat. “Man… isn’t this place somethin’,” he says, then immediately fights the urge to cringe.

Scar, luckily, gives an emphatic nod. “It is, it truly is amazing.” He straightens up, dusting his hands off as he turns to Grian. “You know who’d really love this place, is Gem?”

“Oh, yeah, for sure,” Grian agrees. He busies himself with the UV, so he’s not just standing around. “We should take some pictures for her.”

“Oh, good idea!” Giving the tripod a final once-over, Scar wanders over to Grian. “So, any fingering goin’ on, yet?”

Grian nearly drops his glow stick. “Sorry- any what?!” he screeches, whirling around on Scar.

“You know, ghost fingers!” Scar says, perfectly innocent. He holds his hands up, wiggling his fingers in demonstration. “On the- on the glowy light?”

Grian takes a deep breath, face burning. “Oh Scar, buddy, you gotta think through your words better before you say them, alright?”

“Whaaat?” Scar pretends like he doesn’t know. “What, I’m just- you’ve got the stick, you know, little glow stick for when the ghost touches, uh-”

“Nevermind,” Grian groans. “Anyways, no, I haven’t found any ghostly handprints and I never will, because ghosts aren’t real.”

Scar folds his arms. “Well, hey, maybe the ghost is just polite! You know, he- maybe he’s just minding his business, not touching anything or- or anyone. Just because we don’t get anything on UV doesn’t mean ghosts aren’t real, I’ll have you know.”

Grian sees the challenge for what it is. “Alright…” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his spirit box. Holding the transponder to his lips, he belts out, “Where ahhre yewww?” in his best imitation of an over-exaggerated pop-punk accent. If Impulse and Skizz are eavesdropping through their radios, he hopes he gave them a start.

Scar laughs. “Oh man, been a while since I heard that one! You-”

I’m close.

Grian jumps so badly he nearly drops the box, his wings puffing out involuntarily. “What?! Wha- who said that?” he demands, spinning around.

Scar blinks at him. “What? Did you hear something through the box?”

“I- I dunno?” Grian says uncertainly. The box seems to be working as normal; when he holds the receiver down, there’s a faint hiss of static, and the bulb remains white. No further noises come from the speaker.

After a couple seconds of tense listening, Grian feels silly. Way to play it cool. He switches the box off with an exasperated sigh. “No, of course I didn’t hear anything through the box. Like I said, ghosts aren’t real.”

Scar hums noncommittally. “Oh, Grian... you know, there are some things in the world that can’t be explained.” 

Grian snorts. “Oh, yeah? Well, I- I got a few explanations for ya.” He counts on his fingers. “It could’ve been this old house creaking in the wind, or an electrical surge causing feedback through the transponder, or- or, not to mention, Impulse and Skizz pranking us through the radio?”

Scar snickers. “That does sound like something they’d do, I’ll give you that.”

“Yeah.” Grian slips the box back into his pocket. “And y’know, being in a creepy abandoned house, after dark, out in the middle’a nowhere... it’s easy to think you’re hearin’ things.”

Scar rolls his eyes, but his expression is fond. “I know, I know, so you’ve told me. But one of these days, mister, you’re gonna eat your words.”

“Right,” Grian drawls. “I’m so scared…”

The front door slams shut.

That makes Grian pause. They always leave the front door open while out on a job. It saves time when they have to go back and forth from the van, and saves battery life on their radios when they can just shout to each other through the open doorway. Obviously this job is a little different, because Impulse and Skizz have clearly got it in their heads to try and get him and Scar together, but he wouldn’t think they’d go so far as to-

The lights suddenly flicker and go out. But in the split-second before they do, Grian sees a shadowy figure silhouetted against the door.

Pure instinct takes over. Grian spins on his heel, grabs Scar by the arm, and absolutely flies down the stairs to the basement. He knows they’ve disturbed one or two piles of salt but right now, he can’t bring himself to care. His wings are bumping against the walls and he’s certainly never tried carrying someone as big as Scar before but he doesn’t stop, doesn’t even process the ache of it rattling through his body. He bursts into the basement, feathers flying, and careens towards the back of the room, around a tall shelving unit, and into the corner.

There’s a heap of boxes stacked up in this corner; Grian unceremoniously shoves Scar over top of them, dropping him in the narrow space between the boxes and the wall. He’s wedged in as far as he can himself, laying across the boxes, his double pair of wings preventing him from squeezing in beside Scar. He’s still got the UV light clenched in his fist, he realizes belatedly- he braces his forearms against the wall to try and cover it, fanning his wings out behind him to block it out from the rest of the room. Glancing back over his shoulder, he tries to gauge how much light is getting through when a noise makes him freeze.

Footsteps.

They’re soft and light- certainly not the heavy boots of Impulse or Skizz. No, they sound almost barefoot. And as they gently tap down the stairs, the sound of giggling fills the air. It’s a feminine voice. Young, like a child. Like a little ghostie girl is prancing down the stairs to murder them.

Grian thinks he might pass out. Can ghosts actually kill people? How would they do it if they’re incorporeal? He’s never considered the question before, he never thought he’d have to because it’s ridiculous, ghosts aren’t real, of course they can’t kill people-

The footsteps stop. 

Grian isn’t sure if he’s still breathing. He doesn’t dare move. A chill runs up his spine, making every single feather stand on end. He can almost hear the high-pitched violins that would be playing right now if this were a horror movie; the cheesy, overdrawn kind of horror movies that are always playing at the drive-in that the four of them watch while piled into the back of the van in a tangle of limbs and spilled popcorn and oh god he’s spiraling now because he’s about to be killed by a ghost-

Bye-bye!

The chill recedes. Somewhere in his peripheral vision, he sees the faint glow of light from upstairs return.

It’s over.

Grian’s mind is spinning. What was that? What was that? It seems impossible, it doesn’t even feel real to be in this situation right now but he is, there was a ghost, there was a ghost. It feels insane to even think it. But the residual adrenaline coursing through his body reminds him it was very real, he just encountered a ghost.

A ghost! Oh, after three years of very loudly decrying the entire concept as rubbish. He can’t believe it. He really can’t believe it, this is the absolute last thing he expected to happen tonight. Ghosts are real. Ghosts are really, really, real. He doesn’t know what to do, who would ever believe him? Is this how the others have been feeling this whole time? God, he can’t believe this-

“G...?” Scar’s voice pipes up hesitantly. “What... what are we doing?”

Oh, right. Grian glances down at Scar- and his heart jolts. He’d been so focused on getting away from the ghost, he’d acted without thinking, so only now does he realize the... predicament he’s put them in.

Scar’s slumped against the floor beneath him, head tucked just below Grian’s arms. His long legs are still draped over the box that Grian’s laying across, resting on either side of his waist. And due to the odd posture Grian’s in, his chest has been thrust rather close to Scar’s face, lit by the soft purple glow of the UV.

This is probably the closest Grian has ever been to sitting in Scar’s lap.

Grian’s not proud of the yelp that escapes him. “Sorry, sorry!” His wings flail as he struggles to push himself off of the wall, stumbling back onto his feet. It’s clumsy and uncoordinated and he nearly falls backwards, his heart pounding.

Scar manages a laugh, easing himself up off the floor. “No, no, it’s okay, I- I just... what- why’d you bring us down here?” he asks, dusting off his jumpsuit.

Grian catches his breath. “Wait, you... didn’t hear the creepy ghost on its way to kill us?” he asks, frowning.

Scar‘s eyes widen. “What? There was a ghost?”

No way.

“Are you-!” Grian throws his arms up. “Honestly, I- I know avians have better hearing than most but that’s insane. She was laughing! Laughing and skipping down the blumin’ steps! And you didn’t hear any of it?”

“No…?” Scar shrugs helplessly. “I’m sorry, okay! I- I don’t know, I was- a lot was happening, you- you’re grabbin’ me, pulling me down the stairs and into this little corner, I didn’t know what was going on! I didn’t know, I- I was all disconbodulated- disco- bobo, bobumated? I was a little distracted, okay. Jeeze, give a man a break…”

“Distracted?” Grian repeats incredulously. “You’re the one who actually believes in ghosts, here, how could you get distracted? What do you…”

He trails off. Scar is very clearly fighting to avoid looking at Grian, but for the briefest moment, his eyes dart down to Grian’s chest. Suddenly confused, Grian follows his gaze, and-

Oh, for goodness sakes. At some point during his frantic flight, the stupid zipper on his stupid jumpsuit came down again, exposing a frankly scandalous amount of skin. Not Scar-level of scandalous, but pretty close.

Grian immediately feels himself turn red. “Oh. Uh- right,” he hastily pulls the zipper back up, “sorry ‘bout that…”

Wait. Wait just a second. 

Scar was distracted from a literal ghost hunt going on... because Grian’s bare chest was showing? Does that... does that mean he liked it? 

Scar’s avoiding his gaze again. His cheeks are tinted pink.

“Scar...?” Grian ventures carefully. “Were you... lookin’ at my chest?”

Scar’s cheeks darken. “Ah, I- I- don’t- I mean, why would you- I didn’t mean to, it’s just...” He fumbles for the words. “What- what am I- hey, your pecs were basically in my face! I wasn’t trying to look, I- I just-”

“Scar,” Grian says, keeping his voice light and teasing, “did ya… did you like what you saw?”

Scar splutters for a moment. “Well, sure, Grian,” he tries to laugh it off, “I mean, anyone- anyone with eyes can see you’re uh, you know, you’re- you’re pretty attractive. I- I’m secure enough to say it, I don’t care, it’s- sure, of course, you’re very muscular! You’re a- you’re a muscular man, it’s just not always obvious with the sweaters you wear. Or- sorry, you call them jumpers in Britain land, right, they’re jumpers-”

“You been checkin’ me out, Scar?” Grian asks, caught somewhere between playfulness and utter disbelief.

“Uh...” Scar rubs the back of his neck. He exhales slowly, clearly debating with himself. “I... maybe? What... what would you say... if that were the case?”

Grian swallows. His heart is absolutely racing now, and he’s broken into a cold sweat that’s definitely not supernatural in origin. The air between them feels fragile; he’s acutely aware that a single word from him could swiftly plunge them back into the realm of safe familiarity, of casual light-hearted teasing between friends. Scar’s always said things that bordered on the flirtatious, and Grian can hide behind the plausible deniability of teasing. This entire interaction doesn’t have to mean anything. It can be easily moved past and forgotten.

And yet, strangely enough… Grian doesn’t want it to. Maybe it’s the post-haunting adrenaline or the fact that he could’ve died tonight, but all of a sudden, he feels like taking a chance. Like he could finally say what he’s wanted to say for the last three years. He managed to hold his own against a blumin’ ghost, for goodness sakes- he should be able to face his own feelings head on.

He takes a breath. “I’d say that’s a relief… ‘cause I’ve been checkin’ you out since day one of first year.”

Scar stares at him for a long moment. His expression is utterly unreadable. The silence draws on long enough that Grian feels a spike of panic, worried that maybe he’s mishandled the situation-

 “... oh my god,” Scar says finally. “Really?”

It sounds like the good kind of surprise. Grian offers a shy smile. “Yeah, yeah,” he admits. “I- Scar, I know I’m real good at playin’ these things close to the vest, but uh, I- I’ve had a massive crush on you since... basically since the day we met.”

“Huh.” Scar blinks. “You’re serious. You- you’re not pranking me right now?”

That startles a laugh out of Grian. “No! Scar, I don’t- we just survived being hunted by a ghost, I’m not pranking you!”

“Well, that’s- that’s amazing!” A grin spreads across Scar’s face- and man, oh man, does he have just the most wonderful smile. “Oh my gosh, G, I don’t- you don’t even know how long I’ve been waiting for this.”

The relief is almost overwhelming. “Yeah, me too!” Grian laughs, half-dazed and half-giddy, running a hand through his hair. “I- I even- look, the whole reason I even joined this group was as an excuse to hang out with you!”

Scar’s mouth falls open. “No way! That’s- that’s the whole reason I joined in the first place, too!”

Now it’s Grian’s turn to gawk. “Are you joking?”

“I’m not!” Scar insists, “I swear, I’m not- Impulse said he wanted to start the group and maybe we’d all join and get to hang out and I thought ‘hey, ghosts are cool and Grian is cool’ so I just-”

“Oh, I can’t believe this…” Grian groans, hiding his burning face in his hands. “We really are idiots, we’ve wasted nearly three years…”

Scar’s hands close around Grian’s wrists, lightly pulling them down from his face. “Well, I guess we’ll just have to make up for lost time,” he says smoothly, leaning in.

Corny, but Grian will allow it. He closes the gap, tilting his head up to meet Scar’s lips.

In that moment, everything else fades away. All the nervousness, all the second-guessing, even the bombshell discovery of the existence of ghosts- there could be one standing in front of them right now and Grian wouldn’t care. The way Scar gathers Grian in his arms, hands gently roving through his feathers- it’s bliss. It’s perfect.

Scar kisses him strong and purposefully, with no trace of carelessness or haste. He doesn’t rush. There’s intent written into every single movement, jaw working to deepen the kiss. Grian curls against him, hands splayed across Scar’s chest. He can feel Scar’s heart pounding through his flushed skin, and it’s wildly exciting- to think Scar is just as breathless as he is. 

Growing bold, Grian dares to slip his tongue into Scar’s mouth, and the noise he makes- part surprise, part delight- sends pure electricity fizzling up his spine. His mind is starting to drift away from him, lost in the sensation of weightlessness, of floating, that almost makes him feel like he’s gone completely incorporeal- like his own spirit has become untethered from the mortal coil.

Then Skizz’s voice comes down the stairs.

“G-Sharp! Scarface! You down here? We just saw a freaking ghost on the cams, and- oh my god!”

Grian breaks away from Scar, but not quick enough. He turns to see Skizz and Impulse standing at the bottom of the stairs, expressions shocked. And then, as if they’d rehearsed it, they both break into massive shit-eating grins and spin around to high-five each other.

“Woo!” Impulse cheers. “We got ‘em! Ladies and gentlemen, we finally got them.”

“Yeah, baby!” Skizz pumps his fist in the air. “Oh, I love it!”

“Oh, would you two stop it?” Grian huffs, but he’s not really cross. Hard to be cross when he’s on cloud nine. “The ghost did most of the work, alright?”

“That’s right,” Scar sniffs, winding an arm around Grian’s waist. “You know, I- I’m startin’ to think you all were in cahoots! Cahoots, I say!”

“Dude, if only,” Skizz laughs, walking over to clap them on the shoulders. “Could not have planned it better, that’s amazing. Well done, gentlemen!”

“Yeah, it’s about time!” Impulse adds, crossing his arms. “I was starting to think we’d graduate before either of you fessed up, I- I had to take drastic measures…”

“Impulse,” Grian says warningly, “if you’re about to tell me you started this whole paranormal investigation group just as a way to push me and Scar into confronting our feelings, I swear-”

“No, no,” Impulse assures him, chuckling. “I really do like the ghost-hunting deal, don’t worry. But uh, we did deliberately ditch you guys in the hopes that something would happen.”

Scar waggles his eyebrows. “Oh, things happened, alright.”

“Scar!” Grian swats at him, but he’s laughing and it feels good. It feels right. After all this time spent worrying about worst-case scenarios, about denying his feelings for the sake of maintaining the comfortable mundanity of his comfortable life, it turns out the scariest part was the fear itself.

The irony doesn’t escape his notice. A bit on the nose, if he’s honest.

“But in even bigger news,” Impulse graciously continues, “you saw the ghost? And you believed it? You, Mr. Non-Believer in all things ghostly?”

Grian sighs. “Yeah, yeah, I know…”

“This is incredible!” Skizz claps his hands together. “Okay, okay, we gotta go cleanse the area and I wanna hear everything, got it? Don’t leave a single detail out!”

Grian slips his hand into Scar’s as they follow Impulse and Skizz back up the stairs. “Yeah, alright,” he relents. He supposes he’s due for a lot of ‘I told you so’s’. But really, it’s a small price to pay for the life-altering knowledge that ghosts are real… and for finally finding the courage to believe in something extraordinary.

Scar hums. “Wait, details about the ghost or about the kissing?”

“Scar!”

~*~

[xatsperesso]

What if the boys know mc before going to rad?

It was 3 AM

Of course it was 3 am

I was just in the kitchen making myself a sandwich to avoid the existential crisis that's waiting to happen

And i do my lil-not-safe-around-knives-habit of closing my eyes and kinda doing things blindly when im tired. Then i saw a flash of light through my closed eyelids

That was the first time.

I open my eyes quickly and immediately see a chest

That is not my fluffy white cat's chest. That's a man

My eyes squint at the chest in front of me before looking for the head. It was fluffy orange head staring at my plate. The sandwich i blindly made using way too much cheese, pickles and tomatoes even though i dont like tomatoes.

I give the guy my sandwich

He smiles at me, gulps it then disappears

I really need to sleep. It's not funny anymore

--

The second time it's happened I was lounging in my living room enjoying a lazy day with my cat. Just scrolling through the tv, trying to find anything-

Ahem

I whip my head around and see green impatient eyes looking down at me.

"Did you summon me here to just stare or do you have a reason?" He glares at me

I stare back

He starts getting angry

I raise my cat's head as a peace offering

He looks at the cat, no anger could be seen and starts to pet it. I imagined the corner of his mouth twitching.

"Is that all?" I nod

"You're sacrificing this cat to me?" I pull my cat closer, profusely shaking my head.

He looks annoyed but he disappears like the first one

This isn't a one time thing

Dammit, i need to deal with this

--

It's taken me a couple of sleepless nights and endless research, but that's probably what i need to do.

I light the candles around the scripts, try my best to pronounce the words correctly, and wait as smoke encases the room.

"You are in the presence of The Great Solomon. Tell me, young sorcerer, why-" i grab his black robe and stare dead in his eyes

"Is talking to demons dangerous?? Will they steal my voice???" I ask as my voice wobbles, tears threatening to fall

"It's just that last time he was talking to me and i was afraid cause this has never happened to me before but it felt so rude not to answer when he started asking me and it was like he was judging me and-"

"Woah woah, calm down! Demons cant steal voices unless it's in the contract" I stare at his awkward, uncomfortable smile trying to find any signs of lies

"Thank fuck" I let out the hugest sigh of relief, and let go of the sorcerer "I sorry, this has been stressing me out but i shouldn't have grabbed you like that. Tea?"

"Yes, thank you, and it’s alright. This is why i made it possible for magicians to summon me. I take it that you've been summoning demons lately?"

"Nah, they just sorta appear out of nowhere"

He blinks at me

I blink at him

"What-"

--

I was engrossed in the horror movie. The music was getting louder. They were hiding from the it. they were running. One of them tripped cause of course they have to trip. The music is so loud now. They barely manage to hide-

"I, THE GREAT MAM-" I scream so loud the white haired demon gets startled.

"O-OI! What’s yo de-" screams from the tv interrupts him as the character got dragged by that-that thing and it started torturing them for fun-

Lots of screams, huddles, and complaints were heard that day

--

"Gosh, i wish they weren't so busy today" I sighed as i continued playing mario carts alone "i really wanna kick someone's ass"

Just say the word and god will deliver

The light appeared once again, and out came a blue haired demon and-ohmylord is that a tail!

Thank whoever keeps summoning them, now my boredom will cease to exist

"Ugh, why did you have to summon me now, normie"

...Ya know, maybe im not that bored

Still, i pick the extra controller and toss it at him. He caught it with his tail (damn i want a tail)

"Wha-! Don't just throw controllers-"

"Wanna play? I bet I'm gonna win"

The demon stared at me for a second, looked at the tv to see the mario cart game. He seemed tempted

"Tch, I'm not gonna lose to some normie" he plopped down besides me and chose a character

...I'm gonna decimate him

--

"Hah! Noob"

"Shut up! You must be cheating!"

--

My cat gave me something

This was the first time

I was not ready

A red-head suddenly appeared in the living room

He looked mildly confused, but was smiling nonetheless. He looked ready to say something, probably cheerful.

I burst out crying

That made him panic, and that's probably when he noticed the blood in my hands

My cat gave me a headless bird, and that left me shaken

Somehow, he ended up cradling my hysteric form as i cried

After i calmed down and thanked him for trying to comfort me, he said it was nothing and left

He looked very confused the whole time

--

Halloween was around the corner, and i decided I'm aiming for traumatizing people.

i took out my make-up, pulled up a 5 minutes craft video, and tried my best to imitate.

turns out im very good at make-up. it looked like someone cut up my face and blood was oozing out!

of course, a demon had to show up now of all times

i look at the light, and the demon comes out of it twirling like a ballerina.

he seems like a weird guy

"You've summoned me, Asmo-oh my! you're hurt. sorry, but I'm not really fit for this kind of things" he said, eyeing me up and down "unless you have a good payment for it~"

"...ignoring that, I'm not actually hurt. This is just make-up!"

"Oooh! That is pretty good, would fooled anyone! but it's not cute at all. let me show you how to look hella cute" he comes close, nabbing a make-up sponge out of nowhere

"W-wait! I'm doing this for halloween!! I want to look scary!" He grabs the makeup remover and grabs my face

"C'mon, sweetheart, scary is overrated! Just let Asmodeus take care of it~"

--

Once again, it is 3 am. I need a better sleeping schedule.

I'm in the kitchen making some hot chocolate, when he came. In all his grumpy glory holding a pillow.

"Dammit, what the fuck do you want, human"

Oh

His voice was laced with malice

His eyes stared me down with hatred

He was murderous

I need to be careful around this one

...but

It's 3 am. I'm tired. Too tired to deal with this shit.

I return to my hot chocolate on the stove "want some hot coaco?" He squinted at me, warily

Fair. I'm a stranger after all

"What kind of ploy-"

"Just hot chocolate" i grab more milk, more choco. Maybe I'll add more marshmallows too "I'm planning to drink some at the roof. The stars look bright tonight. Wanna join?"

He was still untrutsful, he was still wary, but when i put a cup im front of him and headed upstairs, he followed.

He just sat quietly, i tried my best to not look at him a lot, try making him feel safe.

It was nice. We didn't talk, we stayed far away from each other. He left his cup for me to clean.

But it was nice

--

Shit shit shitshitshitshi-

That's all i can think of as i scramble to get on top of the table. Im so not fit for this

A light, my savior, appeared leaving behind green haired demon

Yes, he's gonna-and he's already on top of the fridge, staring in fear

"WHAT Are you doing?!" I screamed cause what the fuck??

"You must have Misunderstood something. I am not to be summoned for such things"

"... WHAT THE FUCK IS THE POINT OF YOU HAVING ALL THIS DEMONIC POWERS IF YOU'RE SCARED OF A FUCKING RAT"

"May I remind you that you too-"

Meow

"*Gasp*, Satan!" I yelled in relief as my fluffy hero came and chased the mouse out of the room

"Pfft"

"You got a problem with my kitty?" I grumbled, getting off the table on shaky legs to get tan-tan, my hero, some treats and cuddles

Unlike a certain someone who's still on top of the fridge

"Not at all, it just reminds me of someone" he hopped off the fridge and came to give my kitty a few pet

I smiled. Seems like demons like cats.

Or maybe satan is a demon cat

"if that's all, i will be going then. I still have duties to finish"

And just like that, he vanished.

Squeak

Oh. Right.

The mouse is still in the house somewhere

--

Alright, time to work

I'm sitting cross-legged, tablet on my thighs, stylus in my hand and trying figure out how hair works

"Ah. Where...am i?" He asks, looking very confused

A bright light, much brighter than any other appeared, and the person who came out of it seemed to glow

That's a first

"You're in my house. You don’t..look like a demon?? Sorry if that..offends you?"

"Don't worry, I'm not offended at all" he waved his hand dismissively "I'm not a demon, though. I'm an angel. Were you trying to summon a demon?"

"No, they actually just suddenly appear around me. I didn't know this could happen to an angel"

"Well, i didn't know an angel could be summoned" he looked kinda dazed

Im not sure what to do

"Are you..okay?" He looked at me for a moment, a soft smile plastered on his face

"No"

"...do you, want to drink something? I could fix you some coffee"

"Yes, that would be delightful. Thank you" he slowly dropped to the ground, staring at a spot on the wall

It was very awkward until he realised he could just leave

I think he's got an existential crisis to deal with

--

This time I didn’t see a bright light, i heard a 10 year-old scream

I ran out of the kitchen, an egg still in my hand to see who the fuck is screaming in my living room

Lo and behold, it was a 10 year old

"Wh-where am i?! Why am i here?! Did-did you do this??!" The kid was near tears at that point

"Hey, hey hey, calm down" i slowly drop to my knees "it's alright, buddy. i know suddenly being transported here is very scary. Is this your first time?"

"Alright, thank you for telling me," he's glowing like the other angel. An angel too? "You're in my house right now. Do you know how to do magic? Like teleports and stuff? So you can get back home?"

"Y-yes" he's still near tears. He’s also far away from me, untrusting, but he's not screaming. I call that a success

He sniffs, then lowers the arms that were shielding him

"No, b-but I'm sure simeon will know that I'm here and will come get me!"

"That's great! But it might take him a while to figure out where you are. Do you wanna help me make some cupcakes until then? You'll of course take some home with you" he brightened up at that. So cute

"Y-yes! What kind of cupcakes are we making? Is that the kitchen? I happen to have these ingredients that are from the celestial realm and will make the cupcakes taste better!"

I smiled as i entered the kitchen behind him. He's so cute

"Seems like you know how to bake"

"Of course! I love baking things, and all the angels say that my baking is good! Don't worry, with me here your cupcakes will be the best cupcakes you've ever tasted! Simeon says that-" and like that he's taken over my batter and started adding stuff to it, only needing my assistance when something is on a higher shelf

An hour later, the same angel from before ("Simeon, look! We made cupcakes! Want one?) Came and took the lil' guy ("what's your name? I'm luke!") Away, promising him that he can have more play dates with me when I'm free

The guy, Simeon, looked like ge has yet to recover from his existential crisis

--

And just like that, the demons and angels kept being coming

"Oi, you will not believe how much money this scheme got me-"

And going

"Sorryy, but i gotta go now. How about we go to that centre next time?"

They kept coming with their antics

"Hah! Noob"

"At least not a normie anymore"

With their surprises

"What do you mean you're the prince of devildom? How the fuck do you keep ending up here?? Aren't you supposed to be the hardest to summon???"

With their favors

"MC! I am so happy i got here I've just found a new recipe in this book can we try it??"

With their worries

"My twin has been acting weird. He’s less objecting of lucifers plans, but its..very strange? and of coming out of nowhere"

Some still get shaken whenever they come

"Oh. I'm here again. I, thought it was gonna be that one time. Ha ha."

"...how about you sit down. On the couch this time"

And some decide to leave the second they see my face

"Oh, my apologies, but i must-"

"You will sit your ass down and you will drink the tea i make you or i swear i will-"

...Some have found out my address and just decided to make my house theirs

"Hey, apprentice! How about we learn how to-"

"Solomon, we've trained for 5 damn hours yesterday. I'm not uttering a single spell until I, at the very least, eat some damned breakfast"

I started learning more about them

"You named your cat after me?!"

"Your name is satan?!"

I started seeing them grow more comfortable around me

"I don't like humans, but, maybe not all humans are bad"

"...that sound kinda racist-"

"You know what I mean"

Months passed by, and I'm pretty sure i became close with all of them

Until the unimaginable happened

I got summoned

In a flash of light, i was somewhere else wearing different clothes(do their clothes also change?) I looked around to see-

"Guys!!" I screamed happily, it's always fun being around them

"MC!!" They screamed, their enthusiasm matching mine, but they all suddenly froze

"Wait, you know mc??" They turned to each other very confused, and suddenly questions were thrown, their voices growing louder and louder, and im just looking at them contemplating whether to break up the fight that will inevitably star-

"Silence!" A black haired demon suddenly yelled, and everyone stopped yelling "how do you all know of this human?"

Everyone stared at him, gears turning in their minds.

"LoL, Lucifer's the only one who doesn't MC"

They all joined forces (except for beel, the sweetheart) to tease black hair( Lucifer?) Over not being summoned before

"...are they always this loud?" I turn to Barbatos, who's looking very amused

"Yes, they've always been like this"

"Did you really never meet Lucifer, mc?"

"Ive heard of him. They always complain about him, especially satan and belphie"

"Well, worry not! I'd be more than glad to tell you all about Lucifer! I know the most about him, as he's my right hand man after all"

"...I thought you were talking about Barbs, your literal butler. The same guy who's taken care of since you were a baby" i heard a sigh from the greenette beside me

"One can only dream"

-- *bonus*

Knock knock

I looked at the door tiredly. Why would they willingly come to me at 1 am

still, I get up to open the door, and behind it was no other than Lucifer.

Weird, i could've sworn he was trying to avoid me all day

"Ahem, i apologise for disturbing you at this late hour. May i talk to you for a moment?" I let him into my room, then plop myself on one of the cushions on the floor.

He looked at me hesitantly

"You dont have to sit on the floor. There are chairs over there if you want" i say, but he shakes his head. He then attempts to, very awkwardly, sit on a cushion on the floor

Alright then

"So, what do you want to talk about" he looks out of his depth. Like he doesn't know what to say

Fair. No one knows how to talk properly at 1 am, and he looks like he'd rather get a seizure than talk in anything less than formal.

So I just accepted that this might take a while, and started playing with a rubiks cube satan gave me

I hate this cube

After a long moment of lucifer staring at me, he sighed

"I heard that you're the reason belphegor's..views on humans have changed"

"I guess that's what happened? I'm not really sure I'm the reason though. All I've done is give him some drinks or food, lend him my bed and occasionally talk to him. I didn't even try to change anything" i scratched my neck. This is somehow more awkward than Simeon's first visit

"Nonetheless, you were a big reason for what my brother's change, and I've noticed some changes in my other siblings. Positive changes."

"Well, it's nice knowing that I'm a good influence?" I really want him to just get over it. It's late and he's in my room and it's just very awkward

He looks at me for a moment, open his mouth to say-

"For fuck’s sake, Lucifer, just thank them already"

"Belphie! What are you doing in the exchange student's bed?" He asks very accusatory, as if he's not in the 'exchange student's' room so late into the night

"He’s been passed out there since dinner"

"And where were you planning on sleeping tonight" that's a trick question that i know the answer to

"LoL what's sleep" and i instantly regret saying that. That was not the right answer. His face is screaming it

"Just stay out of trouble, human" he gets up and goes to leave the room

He stops at the door way, and looks me in the eye

"Continue being a good influence on my brothers" then he closed the door behind him

"Don't worry," belphie yawns in his pillow " he's just like that. I'm sure you're be able to turn him around"

"Just make sure not to capture his heart too" he mumbled as he went back into deep slumber

Hah. Don't worry belphie

There's no way someone could like me in that way

I continue tinkering with the cube, solving it a couple of time, forget how to solve the xube and get frustrated, and before I knew it the sun was up again

Another day of trying to survive the boys' shenanigans

And I cant help but smile at that

[cookiesandbiscuits]

Obey Me! Older Demon Brothers With an MC Who Gives Punches When Surprised

A/N: Ayo! I'm back with another hc that's living rent-free inside my head. But first of all, I wanna thank you guys for supporting my first hc. I didn't expect it to receive such support when I wrote it. I feel ecstatic knowing that you guys liked it.

Now, I never really "punched" someone when they surprise the shit out of me, but I did hit someone accidentally when they scared me while watching my classmate play Granny (sorry whoever that was). It was really funny to imagine when the brothers get smacked by MC when surprised, so I decided to write this crack hc.

Another note: I got too lazy for the other brothers lol. But if you guys want I'll try to make the younger brothers' edition.

Summary: The title is self-explanatory.

Genre: Crack

CW: N/A

MASTERLIST

Younger Brothers + Diavolo & Solomon Version

Lucifer

This is very unlikely to happen but let's just say that it did happen once.

You woke up from a nightmare that night. Earlier that night, you and the other brothers decided to watch a horror movie for movie night. It was an understatement to say you were scared. You went to the kitchen to grab a glass of water to calm yourself down.

Meanwhile, Lucifer, who was pulling an all-nighter to finish his work, also decided to go to the kitchen when he noticed his cup of coffee was empty.

He notices that the kitchen lights were open. He immediately assumed that it was Beel having another one of his midnight fridge raid.

Was about to shout until he saw your figure, and his anger readily subsided.

But he's curious as to why are you still awake at this ungodly hour.

He tugs your shoulder and asked.

"MC, why are you--”

His words were cut short when your fist made contact with his face.

You two stood there silently for a moment, your brain took a few seconds to process what just happened between you and the firstborn.

When you finally realized what just happened, panic quickly took over your body.

"O-oh my gosh, Luci! Are you okay?!"

He just waves it off, and he clears his throat to affirm that he is okay.

"Yes, I am fine. But I have to say, you do have some strong punches."

He will ask you to keep this incident between the two of you because it is likely that his brothers will use this to blackmail him.

Mammon

He just came from one of his money-making schemes when he saw you walking alone in the street.

What the hell is his human thinking walking alone in the street? You do realize that you're in the Devildom right? Walking alone in the street is like an offer to the lower demons that you're a free meal. But the Great Mammon won't let that happen on his watch.

He started running and when you were finally within arm's reach, he grabbed one of your shoulders to get your attention.

He was going to ask you why you were walking alone but you didn't give him a chance to when you decided to make his face into a punching bag.

Oh my Diavolo, I think he broke his nose!

He started groaning and you started panicking, saying incoherent apologies to the demon who became a victim to one of your surprised punches.

"...What the hell was that for?! Are ya tryin' to break my nose or somethin'?"

"I'm really, really sorry Mammon, it's a bad habit of mine. There are a lot of creeps back in my hometown that's why I can't walk alone on a street without being always on guard. I really didn't mean to punch you."

Why are you giving him that look?! You know he can't stay mad at you when you give him that puppy dog eyes.

Alright, fine! He'll forgive you for this, but only if you're the one who'll take care of his facial injury. Don't get him wrong though. He's not asking you to do it because he wanted to be pampered by you, okay?!

Leviathan

You were lounging on the common room couch with Levi and you were playing a horror escape game on your phone.

He was curious about the game you're playing since it's rare for you to be engrossed in one.

So he decided to look over your shoulder to peek into your screen.

Wrong move, my dude.

At the time he looked over your shoulder, the serial killer caught your character, which caused you to yeet your phone and jerk your hands away.

MC's Hands - 1 Leviathan - 0

"OH MY GOSH! I am so, so sorry! A-are you okay?!"

He's fine MC, don't worry. But his forehead isn't.

I mean, you did hit him in the forehead with your bony knuckles, which will leave a mark for a few days. But he can cover it with his bangs so it wouldn't be visible to others.

He'll make a mental note to never look over your shoulder again, especially when you're playing a horror game.

[flanaganfilm]

Hi Mike!

I am loving the LONG posts you’ve been making about your career and films. I wonder if there is any such one for ‘Ouija: Origin of Evil’?

‘Doctor Sleep’ was the first film of yours I had seen where I went “What else has this guy made?” And I was so surprised to learn Ouija was yours as well, it took me back to that college date! When I bought it on blu-ray and showed it to my friend, she saw Alice and Doris and went “It’s Shirley!”

Id love to know what your thoughts and feelings are on the film, 7 years later. Cheers!

Sure thing! This will be a fun one... I had such a great time making that movie.

Back in the spring of 2015, we were shooting Hush. Blumhouse was coproducing the movie with Intrepid Pictures. This was my second outing with Blumhouse after they came aboard Oculus at tiff in 2013, and they'd even hired me do a little uncredited consulting on another movie they'd made - a teen horror flick called Ouija. The first Ouija movie was... well... not great, but it made a lot of money. And I mean a LOT of money. A sequel was inevitable.

Jason Blum started calling me about the project while we were working on Hush. Initially I passed on it, I wasn't interested - I wasn't sure how to make a movie about a Ouija board interesting, and I didn't see myself as a sequel filmmaker. It just wasn't a movie for me.

If you know Jason at all, you know he is one of the most persistent and persuasive people in the business.

He wouldn't take "no" for an answer, and the phone kept ringing. The bar was low, he argued. The first movie performed very well, and because the franchise was just hung on a board game, there was kind of a blank canvas. "What movie do you want to make, buddy? Because I promise you'll wait your whole career for someone to make you this kind of offer again. You are a fool if you don't say yes."

He finally made me an offer that I couldn't refuse: I could approach the film from any viable creative direction I wanted, just as long as it connected somehow to the first movie and involved a Ouija board, and if I did that (and brought in the scares the kids wanted), I'd have a guaranteed worldwide theatrical release through Universal Pictures.

It's hard to understate how appealing that prospect was at the time. Oculus had been released theatrically but only performed moderately well. Before I Wake had been caught up in Relativity's bankruptcy, so the promised theatrical release never occurred (at this time, the movie was tied up in bankruptcy court without any release on the horizon), and Hush had been scooped up by Netflix, which meant it would never see the inside of a movie theater.

This offered me substantial creative freedom and a guaranteed wide theatrical release with the full weight of Universal Pictures behind it... I finally agreed.

How could I not?

The first film was a contemporary elimination horror film about a group of teenagers who awaken a scary little girl ghost with a stitched-up mouth. She kills them one by one. I wasn't really drawn to that, and I pitched Jason instead on a prequel that focused on a single mother in the late 1960s. To my astonishment, he agreed.

They had their conditions - it had to be PG-13, it had to directly connect to the first film, and I had to deliver the movie on their budget. And I had my conditions - I wanted my crew (including my producer Trevor Macy and my DP Michael Fimognari), I wanted my period setting, and I wanted the movie to look like it was made in the late sixties, down to the zooms, the film grain, and all the other aesthetic bells and whistles. This wouldn't look like a contemporary movie.

Again, to my astonishment, they agreed.

They had one more stipulation, this one from Universal Pictures - no one could smoke cigarettes. And not just that, there couldn't be evidence of smoking in the movie; not even ash trays.

"But this takes place in the sixties," I argued. The NO that came in was emphatic and resounding. There was to be no evidence of cigarettes in our 1960's, and this was non-negotiable. This was a priority for Universal Pictures, and they were far more interested in eliminating cigarettes from the eyes of their young viewers than they were interested in historical accuracy.

Frankly, they were right.

We all agreed on the terms, and to my own admitted surprise, I went off to write and direct Ouija 2.

There was an immediate skepticism in the press when the project was announced, and a fair amount of mocking online. I was determined to ignore it. I really thought this could be fun. I felt like I had been given a gift; I had a huge canvas and precious few rules, and a guaranteed theatrical audience.

I wasn't just going to make Ouija 2; I was going to make Ouija 2 as well as it could possibly be made.

Sitting to write the script was a unique process. The only thing I knew for certain was the very, very end. Our connection to the first movie was that we were telling the origin story of Doris Zander, the ghost from the first film.

She came with some backstory that we were married to: the first movie told us her mother Alice was a professional medium. When Doris had been possessed after using an Ouija board, her mother had sewn her mouth shut and killed her. And we knew her older sister, Lina, had spent the rest of her life in a mental institution (where she grew up to be Lin Shaye), and was absolutely not to be trusted.

So no matter what I did, we had to land there. Everything else was fair game.

I was very interested in the idea of a family who worked as mediums, but most interested in them if they were not authentic psychics. I'd researched a lot about fake mediumship, and the tricks that were used in those performative seances to separate willing marks from their money. What if that was the family's business? What if her mother was something of a con artist, and her kids were part of the act? And what if they ran afoul of a real haunting?

And further, what if it wasn't that they were con artists - what if they were good people, behind it all? What if they had experienced loss themselves, and had rationalized their behavior by saying they were offering people comfort? This was interesting to me. It was cool, it was fun, and I hadn't seen that movie before.

The story was a lot of fun to write. I really enjoyed the characters, I really enjoyed the world, and I kept thinking about the kinds of movies that I loved growing up. Yeah, this was a movie for a younger audience, but maybe they'd sit in that theater and have an experience that would stay with them, the way the movies of my youth had stayed with me.

I thought about those movies: Poltergeist, The Omen, The Changeling, Watcher in the Woods... and I thought about the theatrical experience of them. Their music (I particularly honed in on Jerry Goldsmith's score from Poltergeist), their aesthetics, even the little markers in the upper corner that signal the reel changes - "cigarette burns", as they're called in the business.

All of those things were ornaments of my earliest theatrical experiences, and I wanted to recreate that for the young viewers who might seek out Ouija 2.

One thing that set Ouija 2 apart right away was that we were going to shoot in Los Angeles. I'd lived in LA since 2003, but I had never actually filmed a movie here (and haven't ever again, sadly). This was a really exciting factor - I could spend the day in prep at Blumhouse, and then go home and sleep in my bed.

This was also great for my home life. Kate and I were engaged by then, and Blum was very happy with Hush, so she ended up playing a small role at the top of the movie. Having just spent the Spring living in a hotel in Fairhope Alabama and only working nights, it felt very novel that I'd get up in the morning and go to the office, and be home for dinner. We absolutely loved it.

Casting was also fun. Terry Taylor at Blumhouse did the casting, and for the first time in a long time I could be in the room when actors came in to audition. This was all in-person, because we were in LA. For Before I Wake, we'd had to run the whole thing through the lens of foreign sales value and over choppy, pixelated FaceTime meetings that did not give us much understanding of who we were casting. Compared to that, this process was a real delight.

For Lina, I really wanted to bring back Annalise Basso, the young actress from Oculus. She'd done a terrific job on that movie, and this was a great chance to work together again.

Henry Thomas signed on as Father Tom, and we hit it off immediately. I had been a fan of his since... well, forever I suppose, but I was really excited that he'd be in our movie.

The big revelation, though, was Lulu Wilson. We auditioned a lot of girls for Doris, and we used a particularly upsetting monologue as the audition piece - a 60 second speech about what happens when someone is strangled to death. Lulu's audition knocked me over, and we cast her immediately.

(Fun note: in the film itself, Lulu performs the monologue almost exactly as she did in her audition. And she did it so well, we never cut away. Don't know many 10 year-olds who can hold an entire monologue like that... in fact, I know a lot of 40 year-olds who can't. Lulu Wilson kicks ass.)

Production began in September 2015.

From the jump, this movie was FUN to make.

We were using an antique zoom lens package to achieve the look, and after spending much of prep obsessively watching The Changeling and The Exorcist for inspiration, we were really excited to do something fun. Every day was like a trip to an amusement park.

Michael Fimognari and I enjoy one of the vintage cars

One set, it was a family reunion. I had a lot of my crew from Oculus, Before I Wake and Hush, and a few familiar faces in the cast as well. It even reunited me with Dougie Jones, who had worked for one day in my debut feature Absentia, and agreed to let us bury him in gross demon makeup.

I really can't overstate how fun this was. The movie had more genre set pieces than most of my other work combined, which meant every day we were dealign with ghosts, ghouls, and some wild stunt work. Annalise and Lulu were just delightful, and spent their days pulling escalating pranks on the crew. I would find myself tagged with dozens of C47's (clothespins) whenever Basso was on set, and Lulu was doing all of her own stunts and making us laugh like hyenas.

I was also really enjoying Henry. Toward the end of the shoot, I told him I wanted to put him in everything I did. He laughed and said "whatever, sure man, sign me up." He's been in everything I've made since.

We didn't have a lot of money, but had a lot more money than I'd ever had before, and because Universal was committed to a theatrical release, they wanted the movie to work. I felt supported at every turn. Trevor handled the production the way we'd always done, and this was now our fourth collaboration - I knew I had a producer for life.

Blum was also a delightful collaborator, popping up frequently to check in but always just to see if there was something we needed. I felt an enormous amount of trust from Blumhouse, Hasbro, Platinum Dunes and Universal. That's a lot of cooks for one kitchen, and believe when I tell you it can easily go south... but it didn't. In this case, it just clicked.

We got to do a lot of fun things that had nothing to do with horror, too. There's a lovely little scene in the movie where Lina has her first kiss. We modeled the entire shot sequence after the best kiss in the history of movies: Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly's smooch in Rear Window.

We were even able to perfectly mimic a slower frame rate just as their lips meet, exactly as Hitchcock had done in that movie. If you look in the background, the Rear Window poster is hanging on her wall. We were always careful to cite our sources (and there were a lot of them).

My favorite scene of the whole movie was a dinner date between Elizabeth Reaser and Henry that we filmed at the Cicada Club in downtown LA. This was a restaurant that I loved, as once a month it transformed into a full-blown time machine, putting a brass band on the stage and functioning like a 20's-era speakeasy.

The scene where Alice and Father Tom spend an evening out together was among my favorites in the script. It was two adults who were clearly attracted to each other, and who acknowledge it, but recognize the reality of their situation. As we were filming, I remarked to Fimognari that - for a movie about a haunted Ouija board - we were really getting away with murder. This was lovely, sweet, subtle character development, and no one was stopping me. After what we'd gone through on Before I Wake, I had to pinch myself.

My favorite scene of the film

It was set in a restaurant in the late 1960s - almost everyone in that room would realistically be smoking. Universal had been clear that there was to be absolutely no suggestion that cigarettes even existed in this world. But for the restaurant, I had to haze up the air. It was the only time I was questioned creatively, as there was immediate pushback.

"It's a restaurant," I said. "What if there's a fire in the kitchen, an entree got burned and that's why it's smokey?"

No one bought that for even a second. But they let me go ahead anyway. Man, I love that scene. And later, when it was all said and done, Jason Blum shocked me by telling me it was his favorite as well.

We wrapped the movie just before Halloween, and off we went into post. The holidays came and went, and Kate and I got married in February 2016. There was gentle pressure in the cutting room to make the film as tight as possible, and keep things short, but as with everything else, the pressure was decidedly gentle.

The movie's test screenings were very positive. People were very engaged by the story of the family, and the only issue people took seemed to be with the ending. It was a real downer to get so attached to everyone, only to have to kill Doris so brutally. The ending was, to put it mildly, very depressing - Father Tom was dead, Alice was dead, Doris was dead (and her mouth stitched up to stop the demonic voices), and Lina was condemned to the asylum. It was exactly what was required of us, and what was dictated by the first movie. But it hurt people's feelings.

My original ending had Lina in the asylum, crafting a handmade Ouija board out of her own blood, and trying to contact her dead sister. She tries and tries, but there is no answer. It is just silence. And we leave her saying "are you there? Are you there?" over and over again, as tears fall down her face. Doris wouldn't answer - in fact, Doris wouldn't answer for decades, when the first movie finally caught up to us. It was a haunting and sad ending, and I kind of loved it.

But test audiences are a fickle thing, and so we came back to tweak the ending, as the studio wanted one last scare to send us out on - not an unreasonable position, though it was a cliched one. We shot the film's current ending, with Doris' ghost on the ceiling of the asylum. It's as rote and impersonal a horror movie ending as I can imagine, but... well, it was Ouija 2, for crying out loud.

The movie we'd made up until that point had no business being as much fun as it was.

I remember the phone call I got from Blum after the movie was done. Universal had decided that they wouldn't call the movie Ouija 2 after all, they were worried about the number 2 making it feel less interesting.

Instead, they'd taken a big swing: the movie would be called Ouija: Origin of Evil.

I laughed out loud. I thought he was kidding. When it became obvious that he wasn't, I filed a protest. "It's not very good," I said. "It's cheesy. And not to put too fine a point on it, but the movie depicts neither the origin of the Ouija board, or of - um - Evil."

"Buddy, the title tested well. That's the way the cookie crumbles. Trust us, if the studio says it's Origin of Evil, it's Origin of Evil."

With a big theatrical release comes a lot of pomp and circumstance. There was a huge premiere for Ouija: Origin of Evil that October, and whatever nerves I had about the critical reception to the movie proved to be short-lived. People really enjoyed it. The overwhelming sentiment was that a sequel to a movie like Ouija frankly had no business being this interesting.

For all the pomp and circumstance, I missed it all. I didn't get to go to a premiere or walk the red carpet, as I was already in Alabama shooting Gerald's Game. On opening weekend, I took the cast and crew to a local theater in Daphne Alabama to see Ouija: Origin of Evil on the big screen.

The projection in this little backwoods theater was NOT good. The lamp was too dim (a common cost-saving strategy in some theater chains), and it was out of focus. I ran up to complain to the manager.

"The movie's soft focus on purpose," he said. "That's what the filmmakers wanted."

"No, it really isn't," I said.

The movie ultimately was not the runaway hit that the first Ouija was. Not even close, in fact.

To everyone's surprise, the teenagers just... didn't really show up. The first movie had grossed 103 MILLION dollars worldwide, but our little prequel only managed to do about 80. It was considered a modest success, not a hit by any means, but no failure. In the end, Universal decided maybe there wasn't a franchise to be had here after all.

So in the end, I had single-handedly revitalized and destroyed the Ouija franchise.

But man, believe when I tell you I've got no regrets whatsoever. I had the time of my life making that movie. Sure, some people groan about the ending, but that was kind of our only job - those were the cards we knew we had to turn over. Did you see everything that led up to that, though??? Did you see what we got away with?!

Since this movie, I've worked with a lot of people again. True to my word, I've put Henry Thomas in every single thing I've made since. Elizabeth Reaser came back to play Shirley in The Haunting of Hill House, and little Lulu Wilson - who was so wonderful as Reaser's daughter Doris - played the younger version of Shirley on that show. Lulu is also in The Fall of the House of Usher (and if you look closely, her original Ouija board and planchette are in frame with her.)

Kate sported a fun blonde hairdo for her small role in Ouija: Origin of Evil, and it was a really fun stepping stone between Hush and Hill House for her as an actor. There's a fun deleted scene where she goes home and murders her father, played by the great Sam Anderson. I really dug that scene, and I wish it was in there. You can see it on the blu-ray and DVD though, because even in a world where Netflix is trying to erase such things, Universal Pictures actually takes care of their movies with proper physical media releases.

I haven't yet found the next project to do with my friends at Blumhouse, but it's not for lack of trying, and my dance card has been booked solid since we wrapped this movie. It was an important step for my career, and their support was amazing. I know that we'll work together again, as soon as the timing is right.

Also, get this...

Ouija: Origin of Evil is my most successful movie.

Ever. Of all of them.

It did 82 million worldwide. That's better than Doctor Sleep, which did 72 million. It's better than Oculus, which did 44 million. The rest were all dumped to Netflix.

So yeah, Ouija: Origin of Evil is my most successful movie. Ain't that a trip?

We weren't trying to change the world, or reinvent the genre. I was making the second entry in a PG-13 franchise about an evil board game, and dammit if I didn't get to do everything I set out to do. There's an exuberance to the camera movement, the staging, the set design, and the lighting. There's an unbridled joy in this movie, and I smile whenever I think about it.

Up until this point in my career, every movie I had was hard-fought. Oculus was a trial by fire whose distribution deal was detonated days before it premiered. Before I Wake was a brutal experience both creatively and logistically. Hush was a labor of love and determination against all odds. But this one... man, this one reminded me why I wanted to make movies in the first place.

Because it can be really, really fucking fun.

[giggly-squiggily]

Amazing, Showstopping, Glamorous Blue Lock Headcanons That Are Definitely True Ego Told Me So #1

Inspired by a friend and I yelling about Blue Lock lately. Some of these are yours, friend. Thank you for contributing to my madness :D

Don't now if I'm gonna make a part 2 but eh? We'll see where my next fever dream takes me.

Isagi un-ironically Naruto-ran throughout middle school. He thought it made him look cool and increased his speed. One day he was full blown running across the soccer field and took a heavy nose dive- breaking it. He stopped doing it after that.

Raichi's playlist is entirely made up of early 2000's/2010's pop hits. I'm talking Britney Spears, Destiny's Child, Ariana Grande, and his queen herself- Lady Gaga. Knows all the songs and dances and performs them at 2 am in the Blue Lock cafeteria when he thinks no one's up. Has been walked in on multiple times.

Chigiri has a very specific set of bookish characters that if their name is even referenced he will throw hands. You wanna see this soft spoken shy princess swear up a storm? Drop a name. "Hey Chigiri, who's Gale Hawthorne-" "Don't you ever speak that bastard's name in my presence again."

Kunigami loves All Might from My Hero Academia. He's not at the collector level Deku is in the show but he'll quote the Number 1 Hero ("Former-" "We don't talk about the other guy, Isagi. There's only All Might"). Only Isagi knows what he's saying; everyone else has heard "Plus Ultra" but doesn't really get it.

Bachira is a fantastic artist. He gets it from his momma and it shows! He likes to draw the monster a lot, but he has drawn everyone in the room at least once. Whenever he draws his friends, they'll have little decorations associated with them. (Kuni's got a cape, Chigiri's got a tiny crown, Isagi has his own monster.)

Nagi can do the worm. He does mainly when he's already on the floor and is too lazy to stand, so he just kinda wiggles over to wherever he needs to go. No one knows where he learned it but it's absolutely hilarious to watch.

Sae speaks fluid Spanish from his time in Spain. This comes very apparent after Shidou pissed him off so badly he chewed him out in it. The mentioned man finds it really sexy, even if Sae's calling him a "Colossal hemorrhoid I have the displeasure of having stuck up my ass."

Despite his love for Horror games/movies, Rin is beyond easy to jump scare. His argument is that in those settings he's prepared to get spooked. Bachira can be as silent as the wind when he wants to be, so accidental (and a lot of times intentional) spooks are common between them. ".......Hi Rin!" "FU-!"

Chigiri is a great singer but horrifically shy about it. He sings in the shower when he's sure no one is around. Most of the tunes he sings are ones his sister introduced him to- things like "Uptown Girl" and "Tiny Dancer"; but he knows a handful of newer ones. One time Bachira walked in on him. The dribbler told everyone he knew about it but Chigiri flat out refuses to sing in front of anyone so it's more a rumor.

Reo on the flip side is a horrible singer and refuses to believe anything otherwise. In his head, he is a god of vocals. In reality, he sounds like Toad from Super Mario getting tased in the balls. Nagi has learned the art of tuning him out, so he's no help in disproving Reo's false beliefs.

Gagamaru has been the resident bug catcher since the Blue Lock Spider Incident of 2018. He's the only one brave enough to gather them up in his hands and put them outside.

[loverforstrangerthingsfics]

The stages of dating ...... eddie munson[This is long]

[ I just think the song matches the vibe so I suggest listening ]

The meeting

:you had met eddie through the party because you were just like eleven but older and you understood the world more than her

:you had the same story plot as el because you escaped together

: you guys together were unstoppable so while you stay in Hawkins while the byers were in California you stayed with the wheelers

:befor you meet eddie you had a crush on Steve so it took a while for him to peek your liking

:people thought dnd was weird and you were one of the people

:so when most of the party met him you met him to

:so when lucas was busy with basketball mike ran to you so you can fill in

:[Mike out of breath] ed-eddie I found your sub for dnd

:"sup I'm y/n .... let's cut to the chase you obviously need me sooo in return I want my homework done for the rest of the week by you munson because I am supposed to be with nacy right know stuffing my face and binge watching horror movies so do I have my self a deal"?

Eddie:every day beside friday I have stuff to do

Yn: so deal ?

Him:.....deal

:it only took you a few minutes to learn because you scammed through your powers and got any information about dnd there is

:and ofcorse you won the game and that impressed him

The asking out

:he was formal ,came to you because you were friends so he wasn't so scared to ask you out

:so eddie asked you at lunch

"So y/n what about you and me Sunday at the movies "

Y/n:eddie who the fuck goes out on Sunday that's me day how about this Friday?

"Of course babe"

"Were not there yet munson "

:the date went great you both ate till you couldn't and laughed at the stupid movie that played

The dating

:hanging out in his trailer

: playing dnd together

:stealing his clothes

:getting a hell fire shirt

:you got to spend more time with Dustin and the boys and you got more closer to Erica

:using your powers for easy stuff

"Ed's I just read there mind and there definitely talking about us"

"Those ass holes"

:binge eating

:being lazy

:going to school and rocking your grades [with cheating of course]

:random drives at night and I love yous

:doing everything together

:him teaching you how to play guitar

:modeling for eachother

:showing him your powers

:random singing matches

:making mistakes for eachother

:laughing at each other

:being confident within eachother

Pictures and videos of you guys

You telling him his hair isn't all that

You being drunk at 2 in the morning and saying this

Playing a game of dnd

You after using your powers [Imagine your race and gender]

Id like to add one more stage .... grief

:you always thought why not you why did I not use my powers to save him then you realize el , Mike, hopper, max, Lucas, all of them... they all need you alive well.. you needed your eddie alive you were not even living when he dead

:the guilt took over you, you changed you weren't the same withought him

:you did the best you could for him trying to live life the way he would

:people say sooner or later it gets better it didn't kinda

:but your family and the people around you made life worth living again

:you would visit his grave and play the guitar for him

:you would tell him all the good and bad news

"Yeah and then they walked away like nothing happened "

: u tried to move on really

:but you did move on ... to steve

: you always felt bad like you shouldn't move on but then you would remember

A month ago...

"Hey y/n what would happen if you passed like would you want me to move on "

I think it depends..... on the person and how much you loved them I would want you to because you deserve happiness like I do so yes I would want you to because I would never want to see you hurt and not happy I'm not saying you have to or need to but you would know when the time is right

"Yeah I guess so y/n I would want you to move on to and if you do I hope they treat you good you deserve happiness so I would want you to move on "

And that's why I love you

"Come here gimme a kiss "

End of flashback

:know you remember why you loved

The " freak" eddie munson

"All my tears have been used up......... on another love "

And that is the start of the stages series

[polygonsexual]

A whole pecking essay on why I love Garten of BanBan and my perspective on it

____

So I bought and played all the chapters. I did watch the gameplays and Then finished all of them, twice! And Even from the first chapter, I actually never thought the game is bad! In fact, I very much enjoyed it.

I’ll go over three, maybe?.. topics in this silly essay. I’m sleepy, it’s 4 am so I don’t know for sure but I really want to express my opinion:’D

Ps. Spoilers will be outlined with this color, sorry if I left something out, you can let me know tho!

The topics are:

——————————

1. Style

2. Gameplay

3. Character writing

——————————

So Style is the first thing people found off putting and lazy about this game , from the first chapter I actually kind of enjoyed it. Yes it’s simplistic and used some free stock models, but there was something about it..this simplicity is well organised. Starting with the Main cast(BanBan’s friends) they look very simple from afar. But if you look closer you see how many little veins and details they have, and as mutants made out of unknown substance it makes sense! It’s only an illusion of simplicity, they are terrifying biological monstrosities that were made to look like kid’s mascots, adds up , doesn’t it?

Now for the free samples, I don’t know if there’s much of them in the chapter 3 or 4, as those two are where the quality really starts to rise, but I can excuse it for the first two chapters, each chapter costs like 3 dollars , considering there’s only two devs working on the game and they also have college. I respect the prices and don’t regret spending my money, after all, it’s not that much and helps them make each chapter better then last one, considering that, they did start using less free samples with the 3 and 4 chapters, You can correct me if I’m wrong, but I can tell that I didn’t notice anything that felt out of place in those two chapters and that’s what makes a difference.

Overall surroundings are more polished now too, it’s a mix of a facility and kinder Garten, they worked with children but they had to keep it professional with the huge void under the facility. It can explain the amount of bottomless pits in the game and odd mix of professional and childish ornaments in the rooms. Also the safety hazards can be explained too! BanBan did talk about “we should have spoken up sooner” and that really makes it seem like the heads of the facility didn’t really care for safety of their workers, so much they ignored the countless containment breaches of the specimens , death of facility workers and maybe even children..

Im getting a bit sidetracked with the lore here, but with such simple yet memorable style, I think they did a great job. It doesn’t fit well with the established mascot horror quality, but it has it’s charm and I think a game about a scientific facility turned into a kindergarten wouldn’t feel the same with some complicated high budget textures.

Talking about high budget textures.. I don’t really like what the two weeks remaster of Garten of BanBan did with the game, maybe yeah it added more detail to the surroundings, but it stopped giving away this too polished and deeply fake childcare center feeling, and man, Opila bird does look much better in the original, mutants don’t even have blood and are supposed to look like cartoons, not whatever this guy did to them.

—————-

Gameplay

[Puzzles]

That’s something I heard complaints about a lot, but In my opinion, I didn’t see anything wrong with the gameplay, it’s easy yes, but that’s what makes it good, you can easily fly through the game without getting stuck on some task you just can’t figure out(Except snail hall we all suffered there at least for two tries). In fact, the tasks are actually enjoyable, specially in chapter 4! They are more fast paced and give you more to work with, but I can go as far as to say that I liked puzzles even from the second game, as Yet again, they are simple but still make you think a bit, which gives you a satisfaction of solution without getting stuck in one place for hours. The simplicity of the puzzles fits with the overall kindergarten style, in fact some of the tasks were made as entertainment for the workers, which explains why they are supposed to be more entertaining then difficult, obviously Chapter 4 has the best puzzles, specially when you have lil beak around and can take her everywhere. But looking back at the older ones, they were neat too!I liked the first puzzle in chapter 2 where you have to press buttons depending on the worker’s rate on the board, it’s extremely simple but satisfying non the less, plus I kinda failed it..twice on my second run because I was rushing.

[Drone]

The drone is a nice puzzle tool if you get the hang of it, people rush a lot when using it and usually that’s what makes it an annoying experience, (Drone is indeed good mental support, you can’t prove me wrong>:)) Maybe you could call it a useless unreasonable problem maker, but those are not more then another puzzles you have to solve, maybe you don’t like to solve so many puzzles, well that’s your opinion I don’t judge, but it’s kinda a base game mechanic that devs wanted to space out the main events and puzzles with. And I think it works quite well, with all the different tasks you have to do here and there, getting back to a mechanic that you recognise and is used to is a good thing to keep you busy but not overwhelmed. It was kind of unnecessary in chapter 2 but I think devs did a great job on the new ones, they don’t use it to open each door and manage it quite well with other more differing puzzles.

[Chase sequences/Boss fights]

I must say the chase sequences in this game are quite boring most of the time, the main issue is how extended and slow paced they feel, sprinting doesn’t really feel like sprinting and there’s not much dynamic in the chase, it’s a quick time event, but even for how simple BanBan is, those are just too simple, it would be nice if the boss fights had more to them then dodge or run away and stuff, I must say, if you know what to do in a kittyzaurus fight, it’s quite enjoyable! But the chameleon-turtle one is just meh, it’s just too long and doesn’t have much going on, main focus is only the attacks that happen very slowly, kittyzaurus fight is good because it gives you less time to prepare for the Kitty’s dash into your direction, so you actually have to constantly move and keep focus on the boss. For good side, the snail hall(chapter 2) nabNab chase in the werehouse (chapter 2) and bird riding(chapter 3) were a highlight, they had a challenge in them, an additional task that makes the running away process much more entertaining and I hope that the devs will do this more in the future!

[additional thoughts]

What I also hear people complain about is how spaced out and long the backtracking is, and sadly I have to agree here, as I said before sprinting in this game doesn’t feel like sprinting, and you become quickly frustrated by going through so many hallways over and over again, like the distance between Queen’s lobby and elevator is painfully long, it didn’t had to be so big. I hope there will be shortcuts in the next chapters so players could skip the long walks in the empty hallways:’) Also want to leave a thought here that chapters 2 and 4 final chases felt meh, but the build up on the 4th is something worthy talking about! That’s what next topic is about.

—————————

Character writing

A LOT OF SPOILERS stop reading here and go straight to conclusions if you don’t want to get spoiled

BanBan

That’s probably going to be my favourite topic, as Chapter 4 really opened my eyes on the character’s situation, relations and interactions, and again I really hope they’ll do more in the future! Let’s begin with Banban, as I see his storyline as the most interesting one. It’s said in the notes that BanBan is “the devil” who believes to be a human and completely ignores his mutant appearance, in chapter 4 we get his inside oh now his friends betrayed him, looked at him like he’s a monster and didn’t talk to him at all , leaving him when all in the facility started to crumble. First, BanBan’s DNA is mixed up with a DNA of one of the workers, which could very well explain his tired , careless and very human voice. BanBan believes he is human, he acts like one, cares for others like a human, feels betrayed because he always thought he is one. His friends looked at him like at a monster because he was created one, but he never realised that, thinking they turned their backs on him for no reason, as he still thinks he’s one of them. That could also explain why he is the only one who’s actually willing to help us find our children outside of Queen and Sheriff..maybe he’s willing to help, I can’t really tell. But if you think about it, BanBan’s situation is frocking sad and very much understood, with his sudden switches to devilish hunger and thirst for organs, he is trying to get out of the facility and help the mutants at the same time, maybe he sees them as humans too?… He surely tried to fix NabNab, as he said several times, he’s genuinely trying to help and bring back senses to them , refusing or just not knowing it’s impossible. It can explain his trauma when he killed NabNab in chapter 4, it’s his snap and finale , he tried to save them , but ended up hurting with this “devil side” , and it’s obvious he regrets every time it happens, he was very sorry when we meet him in the hospital and he even wanted to help us again , he finally felt like he can hold it and be useful, he said this himself. Be there for us in person!..but yet. It happened again. And this time with someone who he was always finding excuses and ways to help for. In chapter 2 he acts selfish and fishy, but you can see how he starts to care for NabNab, seems like his human senses come back to him more with each chapter, and it breaks my heart to just leave him in this room with dead NabNab alone with his did, I hope there’s a way to help him out, and I can tell that this is a good character writing, maybe Im not a professional. But with all of this I said just now, he does seem more attractive as a personality, doesn’t he?

It reminds me of Stinger Flynn’s dream sequence in chapter 4, surely the ending was..crazy and out of place , but what happened before it made me chuckle and wonder about the other characters too, it’s kinda cute and very natural of BanBan to say lIm not good with this stuff” when Stinger Flynn needed comfort with his.. endless sorrow. His “not again” really made me chuckle, relatable man…

Stinger Flynn

Despite being the most deep sounding and biggest in all meanings character of the game, his goals are very simple, to be a normal jellyfish and aimlessly swim in the real sea. I could understand his exhaustion with all the knowledge he somehow got, and it seems like he struggles to control the most unpleasant emotions there can be, anger and sorrow. No wonder he wants a life where those can’t exist at all! Did you know that Jellyfish is like the simplest organism there is? Peck they can live forever but they have no brains, that’s the life you would definitely want as a huge mega mind depressed jellyfish. He is aggressive often , but he seems to keep us alive for some purpose, from that many encounters he didn’t even once actually hurt us, but instead we had a glance at his beginnings with every dream sequence he gave us, maybe there’s something he tried to tell us? In his dreams we also can have a better look at other characters, know them better and see them actually interact, they are chaotic but I must say that the dream from chapter 4 is really good at giving us insight on him and BanBan, even NabNab(rest in peace lil bud) as NabNab actually shows us a kind gestire, which could be a hint at the fact that NabNab actually has potential in being “fixed”. I hope he’s alive and there’s still a chance….

Bittergiggle , sheriff Toadster and the Queen

Well well well, I can say that chapter 4 had the best character showcase in comparison to all the previous chapters. Bittergiggle is simple in his nature, yet he just clicks with those two. All three are playing their roles, they are the caricatures given life and their purpose is their life. Toadster protects his Queen and the Queen rules her kingdom of one, something they were made or believe they were made to do , but Bittergiggle wasn’t satisfied in his need, as he couldn’t make the Queen laugh, something he was made to do. When there were humans around, maybe he was satisfied but now there’s none, and without making someone laugh he didn’t feel like he’s living, he wasn’t doing what he was made to do, then what is the point? He said himself that he desperately tried to prove himself that there’s things more important then laughter( said it himself) but the existential crisis couldn’t make him keep his mouth shut for long, it’s unfair that everyone get to play their roles but he can’t, and it’s a good motivation, maybe one we won’t understand fully, but it makes him am reasonable villain of our story and when he finally gets what he wanted, oh did it hit hard. The chase sequence after the escape of “naughty ones” was not living up to the build up, but I’m surely invested in what will happen in the next chapter

And I feel very bad for lil beak, hope we’ll get to meet our kiddo some time soon…

Also some additional stuff I like, BanBan hides his horns under the party hats, maybe when they go off he automatically gets into his satanic side? I’m really curious on how Stinger Flynn managed to make him evil for that moment and how he turns back, but maybe that will always be left out of scene, still, that’s a cool ahh detail for the little amount of details that they have!

Other characters are simpler in their nature, but I must say that Snail, Banbaleena, NabNab and Sheriff are good to, I can’t really do the analysis here as this essay is huge already, sorry:’)

———————-

CONCLUSION

All in all, Garten of BanBan is not for everyone, but it surely doesn’t deserve to be called the worst mascot horror. If you take a look at the game from the inside and not from the perspective of those who keep listening to how shit the game is, you really can find it very much entertaining and interesting if you throw all this rumble away!

I don’t make you go and buy the game or praise it, it has it’s flaws and I’m a bit disappointed in Dev’s complaints about people refunding the game , people should do with their money whatever they want. But I hope the devs learned from backlash and won’t do this again:’D

———————-

The game is becoming better and better with each chapter, Devs are good at choosing on what to improve and it’s respectable, I wish them to keep doing what they’re doing and please restock the Plushies or make new ones Im 😭😭😭😭😭 for them. Thank you for the game too<:3

And thank you for reading this! Hope my rumbling gave you an interesting perspective, I’m terrible at essays and is often flying in the clouds and getting sidetracked, but I really wanted to share my thoughts and put them out in this world,,, Get well BanBan, I’ll be waiting for the next chapters and putting them all on my shelf so they’ll look pretty 💗

[imminentinertia]

SHIPPER TAG GAME

@lurkingshan tagged me, thank you darling! So now I'm forced to admit that whispers I'm honestly not much of a shipper

I get into shows and films, but rarely so much that I get invested in couples (canon or otherwise). Even rarer, so much that I start taking ship war sides. Notable exception: Harmony (Harry/Hermione) because that ship came with the stupidest shit I've ever seen in any fandom.

1. What ship were you completely obsessed with when you were a teenager, but now you don't care anymore?

What do you mean, don't care anymore. I absolutely do care about every ship I've ever shipped.

No wait - as a very young teenager I was so into Alice Hoffman's books it's not even funny. Especially Property Of. I wasn't terribly into the nameless main character, but I adored The Dolphin and thought McKay would be much better off with him. Then I grew up and realised that Property Of is pretty badly written and has a frightfully naïve plot (no wonder, she was practically a baby when she wrote it), although it really hit the spot for a 13 year old with a rabid case of bad boy syndrome, and completely stopped caring about any of the characters.

2. Which ship would you consider your first one?

The first I went insane about was Harry/Draco, so probably that.

3. Your first fanfic belonged to which couple?

Harry/Draco. I wasn't going to write fic at all! Wasn't interested in writing them myself! But I got so fed up with all the horrible purple prose in a lot of fics, wrote a pisstake, and it escalated.

4. Do you remember the first couple you saw a fanart over?

No. That was so many years ago. SO MANY.

5. Did you ever get into ship discourse?

No. When I get into discourse it's about other things than ships. When I try to start discourse it's definitely about other things.

6. Did you used to have any no-otp or have it currently?

Some pairings squick me, but I tend to forget the horrors as quickly as I discover them.

7. Who were the couple in the last fanfic you read?

Jaeyoung/Sangwoo (Semantic Error).

8. Currently, do you have any OTPs?

VEGAS/PETE. I also adore a number of other BL couples, but that's the OTP. Show versions, not book originals.

9. Is there any couple that, to this day, you are extremely mad about not getting together?

Spooks WASTED A BRIILLIANT OPPORTUNITY for a ship that could have been either canon or not-canon by KILLING A GUY ten minutes after he meets THE POTENTIAL LOVE OF HIS CANON OR NOT-CANON LIFE. They barely had time to share some chips. YES I AM EXTREMELY MAD, 16 YEARS LATER.

10. Is there any ship you used to dislike but now you think they are kind of interesting?

To me, any ship that's well written and where both characters are well formed and not limp 2D shit can be kind of interesting. I can't remember any of my squick pairings starting to intrigue me. Does it count that I used to dislike any KinnPorsche pairing featuring Ken, but I'm starting to quite like them?

11. Do you have any ship that, in the past, was considered normal but now you would be cancelled over?

Oh, I'm sure I do. I like age gaps. People are often very weird about them.

12. What was your favorite crack ship?

Giant Squid/anyone. Such a great setup for crack tentacle porn.

13. Who is the couple you read more fanfics of?

I've read a fuckton of Harry/Draco, but because of betaing and rec blog running it might be Even/Isak? Give it enough time and it will be Vegas/Pete.

14. What most of your ships usually have in common?

At least one, preferably both, of the parties is a criminal. Okay, that also has to do with what sorts of films and shows get made and appeal to me, but I love a good criminal so much and I just can't get interested in some goody two-shoes. I can honestly only think of Even/Isak when I try to list my ships that don't feature a delicious criminal. Preferably unhinged murderers, but I'll take minor misdemeanours too.

15. What do you absolutely hate in a ship?

Big fat traditional seme/uke or het dynamics where the seme/man blatantly doesn't give a canon shit about the uke/woman. I could write a thesis on this, I suppose.

As usual I don't dare to actually tag people, but if you've made it this far, you are so tagged.

[conkreetmonkey]

While it is really great to see practical effects in the FNAF movie (the animatronics are all puppets made by Jim Henson's Creature Workshop, if you didn't know), I can't help but find the fact these iconic monsters of video game horror, the digital equivalents of Frankenstein or Dracula or Godzilla, true pioneers in their particular genre of horror from which almost all future entries would go on to take inspiration from in some form, firsthand or through another piece of media inspired by them (which of course was for better or worse depending on who you ask, but that's neither here nor there), are being made by Jim Henson's company. I know the man was no stranger to the spooky; The Dark Crystal, anyone? This, though, feels different, probably due to a) this project being straight-up horror rather than a dark fantasy with creepy monsters in it, and b) these characters being preexisting and not an original IP. Correct me if I'm wrong, and I likely am, I'm not much of a puppethead, but I don't think the company has ever done something like this before?

Don't get me wrong, I think they're a great fit. Using puppets to portray possessed animatronics is genius, and certainly not the cheapest option. It feels like something a fan would suggest, rather than something a big media corporation would actually do, and I commend whoever made it happen. Of course, to not only spring for real puppets, but to go to one of the most prestigious puppet manufacturers on the planet drives home that there are people working on this movie who really, truly care about the artistic aspects of filmmaking and doing this iconic horror IP justice. But that's not what I'm here to talk about. Just think about this for a second:

I know nothing about how this company operates, but does this mean that work done for The Muppets and Five Nights At Freddy's could seriously take place under the same roof? Because the mental images that creates are hilarious. Imagine some guy repairing a torn Ernie, his workstation festooned with smiling Sesame Street characters, working away right next to a guy slopping chunky fake gore into Freddy Fazbear's gaping mechanical maw. Imagine Big Bird slumped over in storage right next to Foxy. Imagine Oscar the Grouch's trash can with a dilapidated animatronic monster next to it, frayed wire and mummified human flesh poking out from under a sickly-saccharine veneer of moldy synthetic fur that was once bright and fuzzy but now peels from a shell of cheap plastic and jagged steel. Imagine that in the Family Guy death pose next to Mr. I Love Trash, left to mingle while the FX artists and puppetmakers go to lunch. Imagine a guy leaned up against the wall next to those guys, wearing a lanyard and Kermit the Frog shirt, eating a 6-inch sub from Subway, nonchalantly humming while scrolling through the puppet forums with a phone in an Elmo phone case.

Peak aesthetic clashage. Peak environmental comedy.

[blazescompendium]

Shin Megami Tensei is 31 years old today.

image provided by Vesk Scans. Please follow her archiving work!

Yeah, Shin Megami Tensei for the Super Famicom is now 31 years old. It is surprising for me how a game that came out full 6 years before i even give my first breath on this Earth, would be so important for me and my life. But here we are.

Even after playing the entirety of the mainline franchise, and a lot of spin offs, this game still holds its position very well in my heart because it is such a unique game. First, i always loved mythology and religion, so much so that i pursued it as a career. It started when i was little, with the influence of my father who was a scholar (albeit amateur) of those fields. Religion always played a major role in my life, both for the good and the bad, and although i don't actually align with any religion at the moment, i was studying the bible in a religious school since a very early age.

So, when i found out about Shin Megami Tensei, it clicked really, really well with me. I know that it is just a game, and even if it tries a lot to be faithful, as a researcher and scholar of Mythology and Religion we got to say it not always gets it right. But it tries! And when it tries, it can achieve very good results, and that's why i love it so much.

And that was when i was a teen/young adult. Now i grew up a lot, and even started my career in those fields, and still regard this game very high.

The characters are great for me, because i love how this game can be incredibly inclusive. Your main character is not a destined hero, or magical being. It is just an average guy, going to the groceries when the world start to end. He lives with his mom, have its problematic friends, and lives an average life. He always acts like any other person would act, and even his looks are just average.

Now, the thing is that this game did not aged well, but its absolutely playable and very fun to play. The old SMT titles have this ''survival horror'' energy, where you have to take care of resources while advancing in the game. ''Should you use your complete party in this dungeon, since its dangerous, but risk to deplete your MAG stock?'' Stuff like that got me.

And this brings me to how much i hate Atlus as a capitalist company. They made this effort to show us they care about the anniversary of the franchise that kick-started their business, but did not do anything about it. Just shoved merch to the US audience, that is not available anywhere else. Us, from outside, just did not got anything from this ''anniversary''. And i thought the Persona 25th was bad enough lol. But i guess merch hoarders are happy?

And that was a big fucking lie

I honestly don't want anything out of the ordinary. If they could at least port the SNES titles to the Switch Online at the west, because its already available in Japan, i beleive we would be very grateful already. Playing and presenting this games for a new generation is a pain. And i believe Shin Megami Tensei deserves it as a series, not only for its uniqueness but also for everything this IP did to Atlus.

But hey, i guess we are getting something, right? We have a whole new Persona 5 spin off coming next week! I am so hyped to see the same characters, exactly as they were 7 years ago, in another story about teen rebellion or whatever.

Im sorry, SMT. We failed with you. But your legacy will never be gone. I beleive SMT message keeps relevant to this day, and even more so as the time passes by. The world is a very different place then it was in 199X, but still a very divided and extremist place. SMT was the only game of its time to tackle this issues.

Happy anniversary to Shin Megami Tense, as a great game as one of my favorite games of all time. I wish more people could play it at least once!

And yeah, to celebrate i think i will be beating SMT 2 tonight, after lectures!

[definitelynotshouting]

hi ! i just read all of the hunger au tag and #($+$(()33-(# . Hm . God awful . I am a worse person because of it /j . I have a lot of thoughts !!

First off , i find the conversion of biology and software fascinating , specially in the concepts of first worlds ! Like , you mentioned how players are more often spawned rather than born , and i personally interpret their first worlds as a sort of prenatal stage . think abt it , they're still connected to the universal code , still relying on it to learn and advance , and after they shed it and are finally "born" as themselves , able to access the rest of the world .

also , lots of body horror in this au . like , code , right ? i keep imagining the universal code as sort of veins , tendrils freshly born players are still teetered with , the connections grian has to put effort into severing as fleshy tendrils twisting and clinging unto players . much wet !

speaking of which , listeners , dude . i think genuinely they r much more scarier than watchers because they're not noticeable , their effects r not threatening , they don't stick to you n eat your insides , they get into your system and /change/ you , fuse into you , how many people have been affected by it ? even worse when you take into account they connect with other infected , n worse when they work towards Goals . girl what goals could the listeners want ????? I'm terrified .

And grian finally !!!!!! For al this time I've been looking at grian as having an eating disorder , cause , well , he does . It's so interesting , he ticks almost all the boxes . The guilt , the hiding it through clothing , the fact he's thinking of food all the time , damn . I'm also eternally fixated on the image of , like , the existential horror on it . he was created by sucking himself dried of code , he broke out of his own skin . something something caterpillars completely melt themselves in their cocoon before emerging as butterflies something something .

anyhow , such fun !!! I'm definitely gonna draw a lot for this , you're a great writer fr grrrr -🔆

Im really glad you've picked up on these concepts and themes i've carefully folded into this au, because it means they're coming across really clearly!!! :D thats how i know im doing my job as a writer, so im very pleased because all of these things you've mentioned (except maybe the Greater Code as tendrils) have been baked into the au with great deliberation

Spawned Players and their first worlds are absolutely very prenatal in nature-- i described to a friend a few months ago that a spawned Player's relationship to their first server, and the universe at large, is like an "umbilical cord" that they eventually detach from as they grow older :] how fast they go through that process depends ofc on the individual Player, but that was the general idea behind that concept!!

There's definitely a TON of body horror in this au WKDNWJDJSJ thats one of the first things i remember cw-ing for when explaining this au for the first time. Actual historical record right here LMFAO:

I personally tend to see the Greater Code as this sorta like. Fabric of binary, that forms the base for what everything in this universe is made of. Within it are echoes of recycled information, code that comes together to form the impressions of old meaning-- you could almost think of them as ghosts. No longer conscious, but emulating fragments of what they once were. Also, any and all body horror imagery is the full fault of my cousin, whom i consider the ultimate Horror Guy in my life, as well as his favorite video game, Dead Space, which has. so much meat in it, gods bless<3

Listeners are absolutely more scary than Watchers imo; i was sorta thinking of cordyceps as well as the mycorrhizae when i was coming up with them!!! There's something utterly terrifying about being so subtly changed and just not knowing why. You can see and hear Watchers; their presence is palpable even if you dont know what they are. But a Listener? They're quiet. Symbiotic but deeply, utterly invasive. Definitely more frightening on an existential level than a Watcher, which i find suitable for something modeled after fungi.

As for Grian, he 100% has an eating disorder. My portrayal of that in the au is very deliberate, even though its not directly stated. So im glad you picked up on that!!! And if you do draw anything for this for the love of gods send it here or tag me in the post i will DIE i love fanart and i am guaranteed to scream about it for a million years AUGH

[gust-jar-simulator]

Somebody liked my post on evil Red so here’s a teaser for Penumbra, featuring Legend and Blue.

-🐇❄️🧊❄️🐇-

Legend… really didn’t know what to think of his new captors. He’d been expecting a cell, maybe some shackles. At worst, fucked up dark magic and torture devices. This room was certainly functioning as his cell, but there were rugs and little seating poufs and a slightly-better-than-shitty bed, all in alarming shades of pastel that clashed horribly with the bare stone and rune-enforced door.

If he thought about it too hard he felt like a pet, so he didn’t. No need to tempt the already sadistic gods.

He’d heard the three shadows bickering outside his door maybe an hour ago- the greenish one had been throwing his authoritative weight around, it sounded like, demanding an interrogation, but the other two had headed him off with mentions of “Vio” and the game and something about hospitality that had devolved into a shouting match. At this rate he was just sort of hoping they remembered Hylians needed to eat. Why invent future horrors when he could wait patiently and see them for himself?

He was busy considering the cracks in the walls when the door finally creaked open on heavy hinges, and the blue one hustled into the cell with a platter of something, collapsing back against the door with a harried sigh that echoed strangely.

“Fuck everything,” the ice-encrusted shadow hissed, “but fuck that guy in particular.”

“Trouble in paradise?”

The dark’s head snapped up, frozen eyes gleaming with a sick milky film. “Excuse you?”

“Oh, sorry,” the veteran drawled. “I meant to say the weather’s so nice today.” He leaned back on the bed, eyeing the windowless walls appreciatively. “Kind of monastery chic meets little girls’ tea party. Bold choice for a prison, I like your moxie.”

With an utterly disgusted noise, the dark stepped forward to drop the platter a little too roughly on a tea table- mostly fruits, nuts, and a few mushrooms, with an entire waterskin instead of a cup. He then straightened a chair, a doily, and gave a rug in the corner a particularly severe look like he was resisting the urge to completely pull it up, hands flexing a couple of times.

Legend watched with great interest as he hissed between his teeth again, icy vapor misting in the air. “This is stupid. We both know this game is fucking stupid.”

Well. He wasn’t expecting one of his captors to crack so soon. “I’m the guy in a box.”

“Yeah?” There was a crunching, grinding noise as the shadow turned to glare at him sightlessly, clear water dripping from a crack in his stony neck. “Well our guy in your box is a massive fucking problem, because I give it a week max before Red or Green or both can’t handle the fucking temptation of a good guy on our turf.”

He liked to consider himself a reasonable guy. Villains typically didn’t have much worthwhile to say but gloating or breakdowns of their own weaknesses, and this was decidedly the latter but far too soon. He frowned. “Uh. What about you? Gonna give in and eat me or something?”

“You wish I’d eat you.” Blue- that had to be his name- started pacing, rugs glittering with frost as he started wearing a trench in the floor. “If I had my way I’d drop you right back on the Goddess’s golden tits. Or a ditch. But the game’s been set, and there’s rules to this shit, so here you are and here I am and Vio is pulling a goddamned stunt that will get us all killed.”

Legend dragged over a pillow and propped it behind his back. “Do I get a reward if I pretend to be empathetic or something? Is this group therapy or just a you thing.”

Blue made a noise like a feral boar, and the temperature dropped so fast his ears popped.

Right. Unknown and unpredictable shadow monsters with possible elemental affinities. That. Legend swallowed, and licked his dry lips.

Dragging his compusure together, thread by tenuous thread, Blue took several deep breaths that fogged the air around him like the cloudy crown of a mountain. “I mean this in the most genuine way you’ll ever hear: watch your fucking mouth, you stupid piece of shit.” He marched closer, cold as rain and twice as unpleasant, to stand a respectable foot away from the bed and glare down at him. “I’m a lovely spring flower compared to the rest because I don’t want shit to do with you. Your only fucking use to me is collateral for my teammate’s health. Green thinks you might be useful. You don’t want to be useful.” He leaned down slightly, voice lowering like someone could hear. “Red wants to be friends, but if you get uppity you’ll wish he’d just killed you. And I won’t stop him, because I love him more than I care about your fucking well-being. Get me?”

“Gotten.” He was very, very uncomfortable having a possible ice elemental within spitting distance, but heroes thrive under pressure. He could work with this. He could sit put and be boring, or he could push his shitty luck. The man leaning over him was cracked like oracle bones. “What about Dark? Should I be expecting courting gifts?”

“Dark doesn’t know you’re here.”

What. Did they sneak him into the enemy’s base for fun?

They’d been calling it a game from the start.

Shit.

Shit.

[moved828376278]

Uh uh uh uh team stan + craig and tweek with a reader who plays a lot of video games?? video games on the mind?? pro-gamer perhaps??? Idk—

this was made up on the spot so apologies if it doesn’t make sense or smth

i am not a gamer so i hope this is good

MAIN 4 + CRAIG + TWEEK WITH A GAMER S/O!

[ gender neutral ]

>> reblogs appreciated!

- kyle gets super competitive while gaming.

- he thinks of it as a way to prove his intelligence.

- sweats SO HARD, gripping the controller like an animal.

- he loses, and when he does, he’s like “oh it’s fine. like, i wasn’t really trying that hard.”

- he’d rather just watch you game.

- if you’re forgetting to eat, he’ll unplug the wifi and force you to take a shower, eat, and rest your eyes from the game.

- stan doesn’t really take the video games seriously.

- he’d rather play adventure games rather than competitive ones.

- doesn’t really force you to get off the game, he just reminds you to eat and drink water.

- he’ll bring you a bowl of snacks and will open the curtains if the room is super dark.

- likes to listen to you explain the lore of your favorite games, but he gets confused easily so you’ll have to explain a ton of terms to him.

- kenny likes to come over to your house and play mario kart with you, since he doesn’t really have any opportunities to at his own house.

- will literally spoon-feed you if you’re distracted by your game 😭😭 best bf ever

- misses the bus so he can walk to school with you while you explain everything about the games, and he’ll just shut up and listen.

- draws you little drawings on sticky notes of your favorite characters and asks if he can come over and watch you play AUGHHH i’m getting carried away..

- cartman doesn’t really understand how you can only think about games. like- don’t you wanna go outside? touch grass? /lh

- literally drags you off the couch so you guys can go get food and hang out- not in front of a screen.

- “y/nnnn come ennnnn!!!”

- forces his mom to make you food so you don’t starve.

- acts like you’re super immature if you offer him to play LMAO he’s like “no, actually, y/n, i have better things to do.”

- doesn’t really understand why you care so much about the lore- they’re just characters?? what’s so cool about them??

- craig loves video games!

- he likes first person shooters the best, but will play adventure games if you ask him. he just gets super bored when he’s not killing zombies!

- doesn’t really care for the lore, but he’s not opposed to hearing about it, he might give his opinions on characters.

- sits in the dark with you and plays, complete silence except from the console.

- makes you take breaks with him to get food and drinks, he has great self control.

- tweek gets super nervous when playing games, ESPECIALLY shooting or horror games.

- doesn’t really watch you play, cause he’d be screaming and shaking the entire time.

- the only games he’d really play are mobile games, like neko atsume and cookie run. you could try to get him to play minecraft, but he gets super anxious when it turns night.

- panics when you go a while without eating or drinking water, you have to eat or he won’t calm down.

- likes it when you talk about the characters, but not the bad stuff that happened to them.

[slooshee]

I WATCHED THE FNAF MOVIE!!! SPOILERS AHEAD!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!

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Alright time for my honest thoughts on the fnaf movie? Honestly..? I enjoyed it, I think some of the problems I have with a lot of newer fnaf games/media shine through but overall I think it was a solid movie. There’s some things I would’ve done differently personally but it wasn’t bad. I’m okay with it being our fnaf movie. I have a few things as a diehard fnaf fan since the first game that I am a little salty or upset about, but it’s not really the movie’s fault. It’s kinda just how fnaf is nowadays. Some for the better, some for the worst. So some pros (in my opinion. Keep that in mind and if you did really enjoy it that’s great! Like I said it’s a pretty solid movie I just have a frustrations with it or questions about it).

Pros!

I really liked all the characters I think the writing was pretty strong for the most part! A few parts were a little shaky but for the most part I really liked all the characters we got. I liked the characterization of the animatronics especially. I know a lot of people are complaining about “the pillow fort scene” but I actually liked how they did that. I can understand where are coming from with that (i could admittedly see how for some people it takes away from the horror aspect for later scenes) but I like that they gave the animatronics childlike behavior and made them a little sympathetic. I thought it was really cute. I get where people are coming from with that but tbh I think fnaf fans villainize the dead kids WAY too much. So it was nice to have them acknowledge them being kids and acting like that.

The visuals and set were GORGEOUS!!! This cinematically had some really strong scenes and I could gush about the practical effects for hours. The animatronics looked beautiful and I have almost no complaints visually about it. I also liked some of the YouTube cameos and how they weren’t too in your face. The only one I found kind of immersion breaking was matpat’s to be honest. Just cause his line felt kind of forced but it was a quick cameo so I can forgive that. Truthfully I didn’t even realize it was him till he said that so.

William fucking Afton bro.. Oh my god when I tell you Matthew Lillard absolutely ate this role up.. like my god. I knew he was gonna be good but he was absolutely iconic. He’s probably one of my favorite depictions of William Afton to date. His delivery, his mannerisms. It was (chef’s kiss). The springlock suit (WHICH ILL BE SO FR I DID NOT THINK THEY WERE GOING TO PUT THE SPRINGLOCK SUIT IN THE MOVIE MY JAW DROPPED WHEN THAT HAPPENED) scene is probably one of my favorites in the movie. When Cassidy(?) watches him just like dying and closes the door on him. Chills. I though that whole part was really well done. I wish the springlock sounds were a little louder but regardless I think they found a way to capture the horror of the springlocks while not making it too intense. Some people will find that as a con but I personally think it’s a pro because I would say this movie is a general audience film. There’s some very disturbing or unsettling parts but I think this is actually somewhat of a good gateway to horror film for younger audiences.

As goofy and kinda dumb as the cupcake looked at times I honestly love that he got so much screen time. I love that guy. Cupcake is underrated even if a bit silly.

I lost my shit when the FNAF 1 song played at the credits. I was SO excited. I’m really happy for TLT that his music got up on the big screen too. I cant imagine how cool that is.

Now for in my opinion what the cons are:

My biggest issue with this movie is the plot. And I know a lot of people are going to say “it’s a different timeline!” Or “it’s based on the books”. I would have no problem with that except for the fact that we still know nothing about the Afton family after all these years. I was really hoping (although I was aware it was going to be a different storyline) they would’ve kept Abby, Michael, and Garett Aftons. Because even if I just isolate the movie itself from the games, it just makes more sense. The way William acts when he first reads Mike’s name, The fact William would’ve had to gone out of his way to go to Nebraska and specifically target Garett. The film takes place in Minnesota, the pizzeria is there. Why is William Afton in Nebraska? It doesn’t make sense. Now, the only OTHER explanation I can think of for this is that Michael, Abby, and Garret are Emilys or the movie’s Emily equivalents. Even though I have some problems with this I will say I don’t entirely hate Vanessa being an Afton in this. It’s an interesting idea and the dynamic is alright. Truthfully I wouldn’t have a problem with any of this but this is a problem that I keep having with FNAF as a whole. FNAF keeps actively refusing to acknowledge any Afton that isn’t William (and sometimes Elizabeth in the books). And I don’t understand why? I don’t understand the aversion especially considering Michael was the protagonist for so many of the games. He is SUCH an interesting and important character and I was so deeply disappointed to find out he wasn’t an Afton in this universe because we finally had some kind of characterization of him (that I really loved tbh). I think it’s just frustrating as a longtime fan there are so many questions that go completely unanswered for no reason. Knowing things like the crying child’s name is something that has no real relevance on the plot and yet we still are refused a direct answer. I don’t mind a bit of mystery but when it’s been almost a decade and we still know nothing about half the games’ main protagonist. I have a little bit of an issue with this tbh. I wasn’t actually expecting this movie to have Mike and Abby be Aftons actually, but the way WATCHING the movie led me to start to believe that got me excited. Maybe that’s just a me problem.. Then the reveal happened and I was left kind of scratching my head. I think FNAF does that a lot, to me at least.

I also think having Vanessa be an Afton, although interesting is kind of a disservice to her character. Vanessa is a character I have found really interesting since she was first announced. I don’t have an issue with her being in this movie at all. In fact I really liked her in this movie. If you’re gonna do a different timeline thing then that’s fine. But I think it’s kind of a disservice to her to make her an Afton, I like the idea of there being another fnaf character who stands on her own. I wish in security breach they kept alot of the FNAF:AR stuff cannon that was established. I feel like they did nothing with her character in Security Breach which SUCKED because I think her whole character is so interesting and I would’ve loved to have seen more of a characterization of her in this movie. I hate this idea of making everyone related to Afton it feels lazy. The theories with Vanessa and Gregory being Aftons I really don’t like. They’re fine characters on their own, if you want to focus on Aftons then just focus on the Aftons! There’s so many questions unanswered about them that you easily could still do something with them. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again I have no problem with Security Breach existing EXCEPT that it should be it’s own story with no relation to the old storyline. It could’ve been a really solid Sci-Fi type game especially with the DLC that came out. Afton shouldn’t be there.

I keep talking about this problem with ‘modern day fnaf’ so what is it? What is the problem that affects even this movie? Well I’ll tell you, FNAF constantly changes. Things are things added to the lore making it more confusing and convoluted (which to be fair has been a problem wayyy before SB even with some of my favorite titles in the series), and imo it makes it almost impossible for new fans to join. As an older fan who is fairly active indulging in FNAF I can barely can keep up. I know a lot of people like the convoluted and insane lore and to some extent so do I. But it’s gotten to the point where I feel a little bit of disappointment after each game and a little after the movie. I’m okay with mystery and theorizing, in fact it’s one of my favorite parts about FNAF! But having been here for so long and I still feel like we never get any answers or we’re ALWAYS left with more answers. It gets frustrating. I don’t want everything to be answered but lately every FNAF game and piece of media has left me with more questions than answers. To the point I think it affects the main plot. I also want to say it’s very hard to keep up with everything. I don’t have the money for the books or the time to read all the books and I don’t understand the whole “it’s not canon to the game lore but we’re gonna put it in there anyways!”. I don’t know. To be honest I wouldn’t have AS much as a problem with it if it was actually separate, but even though it’s stated to be it keeps seeping into the game storyline. I don’t necessarily think it’s bad to bring something like the mimic in, but it’s kind of upsetting when I watched the movie and felt there were more references to the books than the games. I was disappointed there was no ‘hello? Hello?’ Or freddy nose honk, or just a few things that are really iconic to the game. I thought the sparky being canon thing was awesome though! That was a real treat. But I do think the silver eyes was a good idea to take inspiration from. But again I also don’t understand why they wouldn’t just make a silver eyes movie? Idk I guess it’s just frustrating having been here so long and if someone asked me to explain FNAF there’s really no way of giving a set summary. Hell, even most of the “lore” explanation videos half of it isn’t even canon or confirmed. It’s just speculation or ‘a theory’. I love this franchise a lot and I guess it’s just kind of upsetting for it to be a struggle now to understand and keep up with everything. Especially when I used to find it really fun to try and do so, and now I just feel like there’s no payoff to it. And that it’s just way too confusing and overwhelming. Maybe there never really was a payoff? Or maybe it always an issue? I mean FNAF has had like 4 different ‘endings’ and then kept going. Idk I think just.. having been waiting for this movie for 8 years and it leaving me with a somewhat similar feeling after I finished security breach, I’m a little disappointed. That being said…

I will say, overall the movie itself was a little better than i expected to be honest. Which I’m very happy about My expectations for this movie were to have a good time and have a fun campy horror flick. I pleasantly surprised in a lot of areas and most of my gripes with it are kind of just my gripes with how fnaf has been as a franchise. All my criticisms of this movie and franchise are out of love and wanting the best for this series. Seriously, this series means the world to me. Most of my really close and best friends I met through FNAF, and some of my fondest memories are FNAF related. Even if the movie and franchise aren’t perfect and I have a lot of frustrations with it, I’m glad after 8 years of hearing about this movie I finally got to see it. Kid me would be absolutely over the moon right now. A part of me is. Despite its flaws I’m really proud to see how much this franchise has grown. FNAF you’re not perfect, not even close, but you mean a lot to me. Im glad you made it to the big screen after all this time :>

[mk-wizard]

Winnie-The-Pooh Blood and Honey: The Liberating Hidden Message

Just to make it clear, I am not going to watch the movie, but I still appreciate its hidden message, which is not only intelligent, but it is a wake-up call.

I absolutely adore Winnie the Pooh and even as a little girl, one of my favourite cartoons was The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh which was made during the time Disney actually still held its work to a high standard. Even the other absolutely adorable live action show Pooh Corner holds up as being sweet, cute and great for kids. To say Disney really did wonders for Winnie the Pooh is an understatement, but the operative word here is “did”. Now, the more modern Winnie the Pooh works do not feel like something out of a child’s imagination anymore which is depressing as that was the whole premise of Winnie the Pooh: he, his friends and the entire world was made up by a boy named Christopher Robin. Speaking of which, I find it disrespectful that the character Christopher Robin was dropped for a long time from the series and was only brought back later in a way that I feel did not honour him at all. At times, I felt like they were making fun of the guy and childhood in general which is sad. It is not just Winnie the Pooh who has fallen from grace either. A lot of modern Disney works lack any love behind them, and it shows because Disney is making new movies and shows way too often. Plus, they are made to please modern audiences instead of the intended audiences. Just look at how Disney+ has a new show or film almost every week. The only pocket that takes its time and it shows because it actually produces amazing work 90% of the time is the Star Wars franchise. Yes, it has flops, but you can count them on your fingers on one hand and even then, their flops tend to try harder than all of Disney’s other pieces as of late which includes the Marvel Universe.

But in the midst of all this, someone decided to come up with this;

No one would think of making a Winnie the Pooh horror movie, but in its defense, has anyone thought of doing anything with Winnie the Pooh at all instead of waiting for Disney to do something new with it? There is a deep, dark yet liberating message behind this daring film and it is not about the bear;

Disney does not own Winnie the Pooh. Nor does it own Peter Pan, Beauty and the Beast, Pinocchio, The Fox and the Hound, Hercules, Aladdin, Mulan, Robin Hood or any of the princesses from classic literature. All of these pieces are public property meaning anyone is free to adapt them as they wish. The problem is that everyone has been too afraid to try because in the back of our minds, it will never compare to what Disney did.

This fear of touching something that always was free for us to use is crippling us and it is depriving future generations of a chance at seeing a classic tale be reimagined in a way that truly is amazing rather than as another empty cash grab. In other words, the true message behind Winnie-the-Pooh Blood and Honey is: take back our public property.

And believe it or not, when artists did, they made amazing things. The thing is not all of them are in the form of films (though some are). I could even recommend a list. And while they may not be giants like the Disney adaptations, they are worth your time and dare I say, better in some cases. Here are some of the non-Disney adaptations of classic tales I recommend.

Ever After: which is a reimagining of Cinderella that replaces all magic with feminist elements and get this; Leonardo Da Vinci is part of the main cast.

Gepetto: a webcomic adaptation of Pinocchio with a science fiction twist along with all kinds of other twists.

Megan Kearny’s Beauty & the Beast: a webcomic adaptation of the classic tale which takes on a more gothic tone and also explores the trauma behind the Beast’s life story.

Snow White and the Huntsman: a film where Snow White is on equal heroic footing with her “prince” and is a great watch if you love Lord or the Rings or Game of Thrones.

Beauty and the Beast (TV Series): a reimagined version of the classic where “Beauty” is a badass detective and “Beast” is a super-cyborg soldier making the setting more superhero like in all the fun ways.

Red Shoes & the Seven Dwarfs: a deconstructed version of Snow White where the dwarfs are the ones who actually need saving and it is the first ever version of Snow White to be plus sized.

Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp (1982 anime film): this film follows the original tale almost to the letter with a few differences.

Splash: a reimagining of The Little Mermaid that takes place in the 1980s which also happens to be one Tom Hanks’ best classic movies.

Ponyo: another reimagining of The Little Mermaid except the two main characters are children and it was made by Chibli Studios, so you know it will be high quality.

Penelope: the most unique reimaging of Beauty and the Beast there is because in this case, the titular character is both the Beauty and Beast.

Let us make the list even longer, friends. Let us take back our public property. Let us stop comparing our work to Disney before we have even written it.

EDIT: Demon’s Mirror: I forgot about this one. This is a reimagining of The Snow Queen which is no Frozen. I would classify it as a horror-adventure that does not shy away from body horror, trauma and fates worse than death.