#Lefty is friend shaped

[yourfaveisfriendshaped]

lefty from five nights at freddy’s is friend shaped 🥹

Lefty is friend-shaped!

[silveredsticks]

x

[hideawayintheimaginationworld]

I redrew the old watercolor artwork I did a while ago—

[yanderes-galore]

Hi!

Fandom: FNAF - Freddy Fazbear's Pizzaria Simulator

Character: Lefty

Pairing: Platonic

Type of Fic: Concept

Other: Lefty gets attached to a new gender neutral mechanic reader and tries to steer them away from henry and michael as well as trying to get them to see the two as threats and dangerous

Hey! Thanks for using the request format I gave ^^ I'll see what I can do :) This may be a bit short and I am pulling from my previous Lefty concept, I hope you like it!

Dubious on if there's dead kids in this or not, I didn't think about that in this- Platonic anyways so whatever floats your boat.

Yandere! Lefty Concept I am pulling from

Yandere! Platonic! Lefty with Mechanic! Darling

Pairing: Platonic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Overprotective behavior, Manipulation, Forced companionship, Stalking implied, Violence, Blood, Implied murder.

Lefty is a tame yandere for the most part.

When it comes to their darling they don't wish to harm them at all.

Lefty has hatred for those who have wronged them, which is not you.

Lefty may even think you're being manipulated by Henry and Michael.

In Lefty's mind, they see you as a friend.

Michael had to hire you to make this Pizza Place thing believable enough to lure all the needed bots.

Lefty may have even met you, a mechanic, during the salvage test.

If darling makes them feel safe there's a good chance they'll stick around you.

There's no doubt the bot sees Henry and Michael as threats.

It'll take time before you can even trust the bear bot.

You're surprised their sensors still work due to the shape their in.

Truthfully... Lefty is blind out of one eye but besides that everything works well.

Who knows, maybe that eye is what you're trying to fix on Lefty.

Most of Lefty's obsession over you is quiet.

When they first meet you, they watch you from a distance.

You could assume their a shy bot... that isn't entirely true.

It's more like they're studying you to see if you're a threat.

Once they know you're not they decide to consider you a friend.

A friend supposedly being manipulated by some bad men-

Lefty likes to watch you repair other bots in the Pizza Place from their stage.

They roam sometimes but they mostly just like to be quiet and watch.

They will admit... your skills are nicely refined.

When you do talk to Lefty it's short conversations.

They mostly like to listen to you before responding curtly.

The more you chat, the more they open up.

It takes many meetings before Lefty can successfully get you to listen to them.

Before they can steer you away from your employers that have bad intentions, Lefty acts very friendly.

They follow you during work and carefully watch you do your tasks like usual.

During lunch breaks they go to find you before standing by you and offering quiet chatter.

You may actually learn Lefty is playful.

Each meeting with you is treated like a play date.

Which you thought was fitting and a bit cute as these bots are meant for children.

Lefty most likely plays Hide & Seek along with sneaking up on you to scare you.

Towards you they aren't malicious in the slightest.

They act like a close friend despite being a clunky robotic bear.

It's when the topic of Henry, Michael, or even William comes up that sets them off.

They often claim they are "bad men"

Once you and the bear bot become friends, Lefty begins to try and convince you of the "truth".

True or not, Lefty tries to find evidence to tell you that can paint your employers in a bad light.

They try to make you distrust them by telling you things they "overheard".

You can see the bot's whole demeanor and tone change when discussing the two men.

They hate them and you aren't really sure why.

All you know is you should be cautious of them according to Lefty.

The bot claims they'd hurt you, that they don't really care for you.

You're just collateral.

Instead the bot urges you to trust them.

Out of any of the salvage bots, they are the safest.

Lefty would never hurt you.

After all, you two are friends!

Friends don't hurt each other...

Henry and Michael aren't friends.

With enough convincing surely you'll believe them?

Speaking of Henry and Michael, they are confused as to why you're so hesitant all of a sudden.

They've seen you and Lefty talking recently...

So what has that robot put in your head?

They could try to separate you from Lefty, but that just makes things worse.

If the bot realizes their being kept from you their hate only grows.

In fact... they may just snap.

They won't stand for this.

Not when they could lose their new best friend.

It may even get to the point the bear bot is violent and tries to attack your employers.

See? They're bad!

They don't like the friendship between you two!

You shouldn't like them anymore, right?

In that case... you should stay with Lefty.

The bear bot promises to stay beside you and never harm you.

Even if they are covered in the blood of your employers... the crimson dripping from their maw and hands due to their little tantrum...

They promise they did it to protect you, their dear friend...!

[sirfrogsworth]

Isaac Newton Saves the Day

Okay, so I got my battery installed.

I was worried I couldn't drive until next month. On a whim, my aunt decided to stop by the house and buy some of my mom's antiques. It was literally just enough for a new battery.

But it seems everything is an adventure for me lately.

Getting a pizza and needing a jump start. Tripping at the movies and getting laughed at. Driving the wrong direction on the highway and circling the entire city of St. Louis.

I can't seem to go out of the house and not come back with a story to tell. Just once I want a boring excursion where nothing of note happens.

But not today!

I go to my local AutoZone. I request a new battery installed and a very young man (maybe 20 years old) heads to the back of the store and selects a nice Die Hard for me. If it is as good as the movie, I should be in good shape. It has 800 cold cranks... or something.

He starts ringing me up and notices I have cash in my hand. Seems we weren't at the register with a cash drawer. So we had to move to a different part of the store so I could give him my aunt's crisp 20s.

He gave me change, though instead of 3 one dollar bills, he gave me 2 one dollar bills and a bunch of quarters. He had more ones—I could see them, but I guess he was committed to giving me quarters.

It was time to head out to my car. He had a little cart with wheels and it had various tools he might need to install my battery. I pop the hood and he spends about 2 minutes trying to find the latch. I kept offering to do it, but he insisted on figuring it out.

I was starting to sense this AutoZone employee was not a car guy—just a guy that worked at a store.

He eventually pops the hood and starts to look for my battery. I pointed directly at it, but I guess he didn't see my helpful gesture. He finally notices it and has a little eureka expression. Then he notices me pointing and is like, "Oh."

And here is where the adventure begins.

My car has an engine brace partially covering the top of the battery. It must be removed to swap in a new one. It has three bolts and they looked a bit... rusty.

I may not be a car guy, but I watched my dad fix hundreds of cars. And I had a bad feeling about those bolts.

Then I notice he has the world's tiniest socket wrench.

My bad feeling got worse.

He started on the first bolt. It was sticky. Then I saw him visualize "righty-tighty, lefty-loosey" making circles with his fingers. This confirmed my suspicion he was not a seasoned mechanic. Eventually he started turning in the proper direction and the first bolt came off.

One down.

The second bolt was a little stickier. He was straining hard, but that tiny handle was not doing him any favors.

Then he went back to his tool cart. I thought maybe he was going to grab a longer wrench. But for some reason he got... a longer bit.

And in my head I was just, "No, that's not the part that needs to be longer." I was trying not to intrude and let him figure things out. He seemed like he was still learning all of this and wanted to do as much as possible without help. And I didn't want to embarrass him.

It was at this time that his friend and coworker came out to assist. He was the more experienced battery installer and started giving him tips. He gave the second bolt a try with the long bit and it finally started budging.

One more to go.

His friend went back in the store and he took back the socket wrench and started on the final bolt.

It was not sticky—it was *stuck*.

I watched him struggle for quite a while. He thought maybe he did righty-tighty, lefty loosey wrong. So he turned it in both directions just to be sure. Then his friend tried with no success and left again.

I couldn't take it anymore, "You need a longer wrench... I think."

He inspected the cart and sorted through a haphazardly organized set of tools. Looking for something to help. Then, inexplicably, he found an extension that made the socket bit even longer.

I was screaming in my head, "THAT ISN'T WHAT I MEANT BY LONGER."

Now I was worried he was going to twist his wrist. Those extensions are really only meant to get in tight spaces. They are not terribly ergonomic, especially for sticky bolts.

I think in total he worked on that third bolt for 35 minutes. His friend brought out WD40 in the hopes that might loosen it. That did a whole lot of nothing.

I was struggling to stand for that long. I really wanted to get this over with. I figured they have to sell socket wrenches at an auto parts store. Maybe I could just buy the proper one for these two battery installation comrades.

They were still tugging so I popped inside and checked out the options. But all of the ones with long handles were $30 to $40. I was not spending that to fix this problem for them. Though if this kept going another 30 minutes I may have pulled that trigger.

I head back outside and I start inspecting the tool cart for myself while he grunts. I saw that he had a different kind of extension and the end fit loosely onto the end of one of the socket wrenches. It was not a snug fit and it jiggled a bit, but it was definitely good enough.

I was able to do something similar to this...

His hands were starting to hurt so he went inside to get gloves. When he returned I said, "I have an idea."

I hold up my makeshift extendo handle. "This will make your wrench almost three times longer. It might do the trick."

He responds, "If I could I would, but I don't think that will work."

I am trying to be patient and not overstep. He starts trying again with his gloves and it still has not budged. But I think the desperation was getting to him. After a few more minutes he went back to the cart and picked up the items I showed him.

He was finally willing to give it a try.

First attempt... the wrench slipped.

He thought he loosened it. Turns out he put the wrong size socket on. I was worried he was going to abandon my idea. But he went back to the cart, got the right size, and tried again.

He suddenly realized he could push with a great deal more force. I could see him starting to feel like he was a superhero using his strength for the first time. Now that he wasn't using the shortest socket wrench in existence, he could put his entire body behind it.

Suddenly, his hand flew forward and he had a shocked expression frozen on his face.

He looked up at me in amazement. "I can't believe that worked!"

I exclaimed, "It's just leverage!"

He starts loosening the bolt and dancing with each twist of the handle. He was so happy to have slain this dragon. His friend comes out to check on the bolt progress... "Did you get it??"

"Look at this thing I made!" *holds up the extendo wrench*

*in my head* "Wait, is he going to take credit?"

"Oh wow! And that worked?"

"LEVERAGE, BOYYY!!!"

"We'll have to remember that for next time!"

"I'm just playin'. He figured it out." *points at me*

SWEET VALIDATION.

Not only did my problem solving skills save the day once again, I got to teach two young men about physics. I told them if the handle is longer then the same amount of energy can do more work.

They said that was "tight" and I felt like a real Captain Smartypants.

The rest of the process was trivial. Under his friend's supervision, he was able to get the battery swapped with no further issues. I started up the car and thanked him for his help.

Adventure accomplished.

[tanadrin]

not to be too euphoric on main, but astrology is also phenomenologically similar to other new age grifts-turned-identity-markers that also have a deeply reactionary bent, that I can’t help but wonder how many people start out on the neopagan astrology lefty side of the spectrum and end up Qanon antivaxers who think flouride is turning our children trans. there’s a continuity of thought there that goes beyond just susceptibility to bad ideas with little evidence (and a lot of confirmation bias), and includes not just anti-intellectualism but intellectual as a politically suspect category. the details of that suspicion do differ--the intellectual as tagged with properties like authoritarian, hegemonic, patriarchal, heteronormative vs the intellectual as tagged with properties like decadent and marxist--but both train a reflexive response to critique as, frequently, being born from a place of profit motive, of cynical self-interest, as not requiring any kind of thoughtful engagement.

there’s a woman on tiktok whose videos i run across occasionally who talks about her experience being wrenched out of the “crunchy mom” bubble and trying to have a more balanced and healthy approach to interacting with the world since; a big part of what seemed to make the whole alternative health and wellness space attractive to her in the first place seemed to be this deep-seated craving for purity, both physical and ideological, for not only ways of living which offered moral reassurance, but for systems of knowledge that offered that as well. and the thing that actually jolted her out of her complacency was hanging out with her other crunchy mom friends and one day one of them just casually rattles of some insanely nasty transphobic bullshit that makes her hair stand on end, like she was expected to agree as a matter of course, and she realized, oh shit, these people are actually insane. and i’m one of them.

i think we forget--which is surprising, in an era where the slightest bit of validation of people with only somewhat repellent beliefs by people with absolutely vile beliefs sends once moderate or even progressive public figures running into the arms of right-wing lunatics--that our social context, and the beliefs we choose to cultivate and focus on, can really deeply shape or re-shape our worldview. given that fact, we should care if the things we believe are true or not! that makes truth-seeking all the more urgent. it also makes me deeply suspicious and not a little hostile to systems of knowledge which elide the difficult complexities of human experience in favor of predetermined categorizations, or don’t support critical examinations of our own flaws, or seems to encourage surrendering our agency in the world in favor of impersonal explanations about an immutable nature shaped by distant cosmic forces.

[teddybearsandspaceships]

I´m procrastinating, so here´s too many notes about yesterday´s fantastic Scar stream, ft. Tango, Etho, Joel, Cleo, Ren, Bdubs, Wels, and Grian.

Scar claiming the giant roast in his carnivore car is clown meat

Scar defending himself against chat that he knows things in Minecraft and suggests asking Etho to confirm

Scar “imitating” the neighborhood nerds coming over ^^ they want to learn some scarstone

Tango and Etho complimenting the new cars with the fish tank, and then Tango asking why there are no clownfish ^^

Scar talking about differently scary clowns, and Etho says Baby Yoda scares him more than regular Yoda

Scar offering Tango and Etho a diamond block if they can find his permits in his chest monster, they take them instead and make him worry, Scar finds out and immediately afterwards jumps down the mail chute and his permits actually go missing.

Etho is the only one who knows how to properly operate the post office door…

Scar and Etho both want to collect glass permits. Etho says if Scar doesn´t give him his they´ll have to open a shop together and that´ll be torture for Scar. “I love you Scar but you´re gonna hate me I think…”

Aww, Etho talking about how Bdubs “invented” the piston step-stool one of the first times they met

Literal pillow talk

Scar loses his headphones again, Etho teases him, Gem in chat: “I know etho isn’t talking about replacing tech” xD

Etho: “The tissue box is in good shape, I take good care of it.”

Etho making a block representation of how he sits at his desk, Scar and Tango and Mrs. T flabbergasted

Etho adding lips to Scar´s fish

Who on the server is left-handed? Keralis is, and now they have to go ask the new guy.

Touring Joel´s base with Joel! Looks very nice. There´s no magic mountain chat yet, but there is a mail system chat. Joel: we get it you do mail, shut up Etho. Etho, high-pitched: you´re very impressed though, right Joel? ^^

Etho thanks Joel for the banners, he´s using them. Joel: “I saw, I saw, you´re such a big fan of me.” Etho: “Well someone´s gotta put up with you.” Scar saying they need to get a room xD

They go find the other leftie in Ren, Bdubs joins, then Skizz…

Tango to Skizz: “So how does your wife feel that you´re attracted to her brother? Is that weird?”  

Talking about spoiling things on the server, Grian logs in just to say that they spoiled his chicken farm

Bdubs: “ZombieCleo. Former mother of mine and greatest friend.” Buttering her up ^^ Cleo tells them to use the villagers until she´s set up her shop. Bdubs jokes about getting books and then selling them, Cleo says she´ll kill him and all his horses. Good at making threats! Nobody doubted her.

Etho saying Cleo should play favorites between Bdubs and Scar xD Cleo protesting she doesn´t have any.

Cleo gives Bdubs, Scar, and Etho a Mending book each. Etho asks what he could send Cleo to help them, Cleo says emeralds or gunpowder. And she´ll take heads as well. Cleo sent redstone to Etho as thanks for the mailbox and Etho sent gunpowder and heads back and she thought that was a valid deal. Tango asks who does that, Etho: “I know my Cleo! I figured she would like a couple heads and things…” Cleo: “You know what I like, explosives and dead bodies.” THEM.

Until Scar gets around to building his actual portal he plans to continue using the mail tracks; might lead to problems with more mail being sent…

Scar: “Now that we know there´s left-handed people out there…” Cleo: “We can avoid them.” ^^

Scar, Cleo, Etho, and Tango come as Bdubs´ posse to Wels

Tango calls him B-Double-Doinkers; unsurprisingly Cleo likes it

Wels shows off his walls and tent. Cleo: You´re doing medieval, something new and different for you!

Wels calls Bdubs the master of castles. Etho, crouching: “I built a sandcastle once.” xD

Bdubs and Wels go to one side to escape all the short jokes. Wels: “Let me get down to your level…”

Etho, Tango, and Scar admire Cleo´s vtuber model that includes hands. Etho: “Can you go like you´re disciplining me?” Cleo, finger pointing: “Don´t you dare, bad Etho, no cookie.” Etho, a bit later: “I might have phrased that poorly. I was going more for a teacher thing…”

The band broke up, how sad. Cleo and Scar: let´s go steal Bdubs´ horse!

Scar jumpscared by Bdubs while talking about Star Wars

Scar and Bdubs talk about thinks that can´t be changed and Bdubs brings up when they became the Clockers! “something else was written in sharpie and you couldn´t say anything other than that thing…”

Scar doesn´t want to give Etho too much credit because, little does anybody know, that man has an ego. Bdubs, astonished: Really? Scar: no, just joking. Bdubs: oh, whew. That almost destroyed… you know they say never learn about your heroes.

Grian shows up, Bdubs asks him if he got Mending. Grian, slightly baffled: Only a week ago. Bdubs, enthusiastic: Great job!

Grian wants to experiment, gets Scar to die twice, second time to a creeper that Grian doesn´t stop from approaching Scar in time. Cleo in chat asks if Scar is okay, Scar: “No can you kill G?” “Thank you mom” Cleo: “never been able to before” ^^ (not true Cleo did actually kill Grian once in Secret Life.)

Grian, out of nowhere: “You ever wonder what life would be like if we were all lip skin?” A James Acaster joke apparently.

Scar and Grian switching to a left-handed skin for funsies and it looks veery strange.

Scar mentions his older brother is ambidextrous. Grian: “You know I don´t like it when you talk about your older brother.” Apparently Scar sometimes sends him pictures of his brother posing in the gym??

Some talk about build planning. Scar watches a creeper walk up to Grian and doesn´t say anything, Grian sees it in time and kills it. Scar says he had such Third Life flashbacks but he was on the other side of it.

Scar offering Grian they go 50-50 on the sand permit! Grian says there´ll be a joint ownership form.

Grian is not looking forward to permit office work. He´ll get the two most competent men he knows as enforcers, Scar and Skizz, and he´s pretty sure with them as enforcers he won´t have to do anything.

[secondtechnicianrimmer]

Space Corp. Directive #1215225

For some ungodly reason, you fancy the second technician, but you'd be damned if you ever admitted it.

Pairing: Arnold Rimmer x (F) Reader

Warnings: None! Apart from some arguing

Chapter Nine: Holoship

//

With a buzz of shimmering static, low and unsettling, a shape appeared in the mess. It wobbled and wavered for a few seconds before finally settling into a familiar form. Then, at last, Rimmer was back on Red Dwarf.

The ship he’d called home for the last few years of his life was so much darker than the Enlightenment; he had to blink and blink until his eyes adjusted to the grungy, spartan gloom.

You were in the next room when you heard the strange sound. Heart hammering, you hoped it meant what you thought it did. Then you heard Rimmer call out your name.

You dropped what you were doing immediately and ran into the mess, so excited you almost fell straight through him.

Too surprised to hide your sheer joy, you almost sobbed at the sight of him.

“You’re back!”

You were making dinner when it happened. The boys had all come rushing into the kitchen, shouting and hollering that this weird ship had appeared and kidnapped Rimmer. Though The Cat and Kryten didn’t seem all that bothered, Lister was half frantic as he explained what had happened.

You’d spent the rest of the day trying to figure out what on Io was going on, and how you could get Rimmer back. Your only shred of hope was that he was a hologram and therefore fairly difficult to harm, but all they had to do was damage his light bee or move out of range of Red Dwarf, and he’d be gone. It didn’t even bear thinking about.

But he was home. He was safe. He was here.

You reached out with both hands, forgetting in your excitement that it was impossible to wrap them around him. Instead, you settled for waving them up and down beside Rimmer’s arms, the closest you could get to holding him.

“Oh, thank God, you’re home. I was so worried about you, Arn. I was having kittens.”

“Now that I’ve gotta see,” said Cat as he and the others joined you in the mess.

They immediately swarmed him with questions. You tried to join in but you couldn’t take your eyes off Rimmer. Unable to feel him, squeeze him, pull him into you, it was the only thing you could do to make sure he was really here, that he was safe.

He was unusually quiet, but if you’d been abruptly teleported to a strange ship and subjected to Io knows what for hours, while your friends waited anxiously back on Red Dwarf, you knew you would be shaken up too.

“Are you alright? Did they hurt you?” you asked.

At last, Rimmer smiled.

“No! No, it- It was brilliant. They’re holograms, they’re all holograms.” He shook his head in amazement. “I could feel, I could eat, I could- I could have a purpose. And there’s this amazing woman. A Commander. She’s going to help me get a place there. On the ship!”

“They’re-” You closed your eyes, trying to process the sudden deluge of upsetting information. “Wait, what?”

Rimmer was grinning now, his eyes alight with excitement.

“I’m going to be an officer. Me! At last!”

As the news slowly sank in, your stomach twisted and wrenched into knots. Suddenly, you couldn’t pull in a full breath. Your throat was so tight, you couldn’t speak for fear of being sick.

You were faintly aware of the boys talking all around you, but all sound had wound down to a faint hum, then a whine, like someone had sharply boxed your ears. The muscles in your arms and shoulders tensed, and you couldn’t resist shivering as anxiety crept through you.

Finally, you managed to get out,

“You can’t do that.”

Rimmer looked down at you. He frowned, confused.

“Why not? They’re like me, Lefty. They understand me, they can touch me. With a bit of elbow grease and the right amount of obsequiousness, I could rise through the ranks in no time!”

There was a profound ‘clang’, a sickening dull ‘thunk’. The final nail.

“Touch you,” you whispered, suddenly voiceless.

Lister seemed to realise what that meant at the same time as you did.

“That woman,” He smiled, oddly proud. “You and her, you, er..?”

Rimmer smirked.

“A gentleman never tells, Listy.”

Stuck fast in denial, you almost managed to convince yourself that Rimmer was lying, a show of bravado in front of the boys, but then Lister wrapped his fingers around yours, and it all came crashing down. Even though he was standing behind you, you could guess the expression on his face. You couldn’t bear to look.

It was suddenly very quiet in the mess.

Rimmer was staring at you in that way of his, with his brows all furrowed and his mouth slightly open. It was a look you knew well. You saw it just last week, when you’d dared to flirt with him while you were loading up the cargo bay together and his arms had looked particularly good, and only yesterday, when you declared that you wanted to be on his team for the Red Dwarf Annual Crazy Golf Tournament. Rimmer always looked at you like that when he couldn’t for the life of him believe that you actually liked him.

You just stared back. It dawned on you that Rimmer didn’t understand why you weren’t more excited for him. And now there was this woman, this amazing, clever woman, and they’d…

Rimmer was still watching you, and you still hadn’t said anything. Could you speak? You weren’t sure. Your tongue felt heavy and useless, and your throat felt too tight to get any words out. At last, you managed a miserable and feeble,

“Oh.”

Rimmer didn’t get a chance to respond. The Cat snorted.

“What makes you think they’d take you, Cartwheel Nostrils?”

“Actually, I just have to pass the exam and I’m in!”

“Oh, yeah?” Lister scoffed. “And how are you going to do that?”

/

They barely noticed when you quietly slipped out. Or maybe they did and thought it best to let you have some time alone. You could only bear to listen to Rimmer banging on about how wonderful the Enlightenment was for a few minutes before it all became too much.

Flopping down on your bed, you stared at the underside of the top bunk and tried to make sense of it all.

That morning, you couldn’t have imagined anything more painful than learning that Rimmer had been stolen away by that strange ship. It put a fire in you. You swore to yourself that if he came back, if you ever saw him again, you would tell him how you felt. Now you knew what it felt like to lose him, silently loving him seemed so pointless.

But now there was something much worse, something so painful, you couldn’t put it into words. And no one would understand, no one would understand just how much you were hurting, and the one person you wanted to tell was an idiot who’d gone and slept with a wonderful woman, who was clever and brilliant and could apparently understand him better than you ever could.

You angrily brushed away a stray tear. How pathetic.

It’s why you hadn’t told him, it’s why you kept your feelings to yourself, why you still only dreamt of slipping into Rimmer’s lap while he was at Starbug’s helm and kissing him so deeply, he couldn’t help but moan into your mouth, why you still woke up gasping for breath in the middle of the night, his name on your lips. Not anymore though. It seemed you’d finally found the cure for your feelings.

/

You weren’t sure how long you stayed there. Time moved strangely aboard Red Dwarf. At one point, you thought you heard familiar footsteps approaching and tensed, preparing for an argument, but whoever it was didn’t knock. After a moment, they walked away again, and you let out a breath you didn’t know you’d been holding.

Not long after, Lister came to visit you. He knocked tentatively on the door before punching in the key code.

“He’s off,” he said.

You ignored him.

Lister didn’t move. He just stayed in the doorway and waited. You supposed that meant he thought you’d jump up and run to Rimmer’s side, maybe even confess your feelings and tell him he should stay. But you didn’t stir. You just pretended to be asleep and waited for Lister to go.

After a while, you heard him sigh.

“Alright, suit yourself. But he’s asking after you.”

Then he was gone.

You kept your eyes closed, waiting for the room to fall silent. The catch on the door hissed shut. Lister’s footsteps faded away. And you were alone again.

“Ask all you like,” you muttered into the darkness. “Enjoy your stupid holoship. See if I care.”

/

When you left home, books were seen as passé, ephemeral, past tense. Now, three million years in deep space, they were practically extinct, which made them a precious commodity, at least to you.

Red Dwarf’s second in command had been a keen collector before her untimely death. Her own personal library had been installed onboard before the ship left for the stars.

Your new crewmates weren’t exactly bibliophiles, so you often had the room to yourself. Though you’d read every book at least once, you still holed yourself up in the library whenever you needed some time to yourself.

It was peaceful here, with just the books for company. You thought you might find some comfort there but it was proving difficult. Settled comfortably in a squashy armchair, you propped your chin up on your balled-up fist and tried to focus on the book you’d pulled from the shelf. Try as you, you couldn’t stop thinking about Rimmer.

You were so angry at him. So angry at him for leaving his friends without a second thought. Angry at him for lying and cheating his way onto a ship with a better future than yours. Angry at him for meeting and sleeping with a woman, while you were back on Red Dwarf worried out of your mind. Angry at yourself for not telling him how you felt sooner, because maybe all this could have been avoided, and he would be home with you, reading something painfully boring about cars or Napoleon’s armies beside you.

He’d only been gone a day. It felt like forever. Would you be angry forever too?

A sharp buzz by your ear set your teeth on edge. With a huff, you swung your palm round and pressed it against the intercom with perhaps more force than necessary.

“What?”

“You can stop your sulking now,” Lister’s voice was cracked and distorted, so you almost couldn’t believe you’d heard him correctly when he said, “He’s back. And still asking for you.”

Back. He was back already. They must’ve seen through him. Maybe he’d failed the exam after all. Well, you thought, serves him right. Serves him right for lying and scheming to get what he wanted. You had no sympathy for him at all.

Except… He was back. Rimmer was back. He was home. And you were still so furious with him. So why did you want to cry?

“Er, Lefty? You okay?”

You stared at your own hand. You were still pressing the button on the intercom.

“Fine! I’m fine. I’m-”

You trailed off. Mind whirring, you tried to pinpoint exactly what you were feeling but there were too many emotions fighting for control at once.

“Well, he’s on his way up to you,” Lister’s voice crackled through the speaker.

“What? Why!”

“He wants to see ya!”

“Why did you tell him where I am!”

“Listen, he’s had a tough day, love. He needs someone soft to talk to.”

You sneered, as if Lister were able to see it. You resented being a comfort to the idiot, not now, not after everything he’d done. Rimmer didn’t deserve your kindness, and he certainly had some gall to come looking for it.

You jammed your thumb harder against the intercom.

“Lister, I don’t want to talk to him.”

“Oh, grow up. We’re the only three humans left in existence, we need to get on with each other.”

“But he-”

“I know what he did, man. But he adores you. Honest.”

You snorted.

“Funny way of showing it.”

“Look, get off the coms. I’m trying to watch telly. You and your boyfriend kiss and make up, and come down and join us when you’re done.”

The line went dead. You jabbed at the intercom, trying to get him back, but Lister ignored you.

It wouldn’t have mattered anyway. No sooner had Lister hung up than the library door swished open.

Rimmer hung in the doorway for a moment, as if waiting for permission, then carefully stepped into the room.

You lowered your gaze to your book as Rimmer slowly approached. You couldn’t see him, but his footsteps sounded tentative and uneasy, like he was afraid to talk to you.

You waited until the toe of his boot came into view over the edge of your page to speak.

“You’re back, then.”

There was a beat. You’d probably caught him off-guard.

Rimmer hesitated, then finally said,

“Yes.”

His reticence annoyed you. Looking up, you saw he was in a brand new uniform, plush and shiny. Even his H was different. Only his eyes were the same.

“Your scheme failed then, did it?” You closed your book with a snap. “They found you out?”

Your words had more venom than you intended but you didn’t care. He deserved it. The boys might’ve forgiven him, said live and let live, but you were hurt and you wouldn’t let him get away with that.

“Actually, no,” Rimmer cleared his throat awkwardly. “I passed.”

“Then why are you here?”

Rimmer looked away.

Despite yourself, the tightness in your chest gave way ever so slightly. You’d almost convinced yourself that he’d had a change of heart, that Rimmer was sorry, that he’d realised he’d been an idiot and come back to you, maybe even realised that he cared about you more than he did himself. But you should’ve known.

“That woman, my friend, Nirvanah Crane…”

Rimmer’s eyes fogged with memory. It made your stomach lurch.

“She was my challenger. If I’d stayed, I would've taken her place onboard. I… I couldn’t do that to her.”

Suddenly, you felt all your sickness and pain vanish, and in its place came a wave of resentment. You couldn’t recall ever being so angry in all your life.

“What,” you spat. “Cos you love her?”

“No, no, she was just…” Rimmer still hadn’t met your eyes properly. “Kind to me.”

Something in you snapped. It had been so easy to leave you but he couldn’t bear to hurt a woman he’d only known for a day. You’d spent years defending Rimmer from the others and it had all been a colossal waste of time. He really was a slimy, inconsiderate moron, just like they warned you.

“Well,” You stood up and threw your book onto the armchair. “More fool her.”

You wished you could have barged past him, but you had to settle for making sure your shoulder pushed through his as you moved to the door. A spiteful thought crossed your mind, you could try and knock out his light bee while you were at it, but it seemed too vindictive.

You had almost reached the door when Rimmer called out,

“I thought you’d be pleased to see me.”

You wheeled around, eyes and mouth wide.

“Pleased? You left us, Arnold.”

“For something better! I thought you’d be happy for me!”

“Something- Do you hear yourself?”

Rimmer shifted uncomfortably.

“I thought you of all people would understand.”

“Well, you were wrong. What you did was-”

You were shouting now, which you hated. It made you seem unreasonable, like you had no control. But you couldn’t seem to get a lid on your anger and Rimmer’s stupid flared nostrils were only aggravating you more.

“It was- You- God knows you’ve had your moments, Rimmer, but this is a new low. Leaving your crew?”

“Oh, come off it.” Rimmer rolled his eyes. “They were choosing my replacement the moment I decided to leave Red Dwarf!”

He looked furious too. His back was straighter, his chin held high, and he kept waving his hands about, pointing and pontificating like this was an argument he could win, and not you just trying to explain that he hurt you.

“You left us first! We’re your friends, Rimmer! We care about you!”

“Stop saying ‘we’, it’s just you!”

That felt like a slap to the face. You almost wished he had. It would’ve hurt less.

“Just me,” you repeated.

Rimmer frowned.

“That’s not what I meant.”

But it was too late.

“Well,” you sneered. “I’m sorry you’re stuck with us now. Sorry you’ve got ‘just me’ for company. Sorry I’m not as good as Nirvanah bloody Crane. Sorry I’m not as clever or as bloody stimulating and I can’t touch you.”

“I don’t care about that, I just-”

“What?”

“I just needed…”

“What?”

Rimmer looked suddenly shy.

“I would’ve taken you with me if I could,” he said quietly.

“What?” Taken aback, you shook your head. “Why would I want to do that?”

Rimmer seemed just as bewildered.

“That’s what this is, isn’t it? You’re jealous.”

“Jealous?”

You felt your resolve slip as your heart began to pound again. He knew. He’d finally figured it out. The idiot had actually managed to put two and two together, at last. Jealous wasn’t exactly the word you’d use. Sleeping with another woman when everyone was so fond of assuring you that he was practically in love with you, and abandoning his friends because he’d found something better, that would spark more than jealousy in anyone but-

“Jealous of me,” Rimmer said haughtily. “You’re a scientist, they should’ve chosen you. That’s it, isn’t it? That’s why you’ve been giving me the cold shoulder?”

You pressed your lips together, forcing yourself to pull in a lungful of air before you spoke. You knew if you didn’t give yourself time to recover, you’d only end up crying like an idiot, and you weren’t going to give him the satisfaction.

“You are such an idiot, Rimmer,” you murmured, then you turned and left the library.

/

Life went on as usual aboard Red Dwarf. You wasted time playing and losing at cards to Lister, ransacked the ship’s hundreds of empty rooms for treasures with Cat, and tried to learn a thing or two from Kryten in the labs. You were done with feeling like a spare part. The next time you found a derelict, you wanted to be more than a hanger-on.

Only your relationship with Rimmer had changed. Since the argument, you hadn’t spoken more than a few curt sentences to each other at a time. It wasn’t that you refused to interact with him, that would just be childish, and rather pointless on a ship with only five passengers. You’d simply stopped trying. You didn’t sit next to him at dinner, you didn’t ask how he was doing or if he wanted to play chess. You stopped inviting him to explore passing planets with you, and if Rimmer plucked up the courage to ask you, you either made up an excuse or made sure to invite one of the others along.

He’d shown you what your friendship meant to him. He’d shown you how little he cared or thought about anyone but himself. You weren’t angry, you weren’t upset, you’d just given up. You weren’t going to give Rimmer any more patience or kindness or love than he deserved. He’d scorned it for the last time.

Two weeks after Rimmer returned from the Enlightenment, you spotted an abandoned ship on the scanner, just a few clicks away. Emboldened by everything you’d learned from Kryten, it was you who proposed exploring the ship to see what you could salvage.

It felt good. It had been a long time since you’d felt helpful to anyone, and when the boys all happily agreed, you felt a swell of pride.

The derelict was falling apart. Rusted metal and peeling floors greeted you as you stepped off Starbug. Still, it was worth the risk. Holly had picked up readings that indicated there was enough fuel aboard the Delta Jet to power Red Dwarf for a five months.

Unfortunately, Cat and Lister went off together pretty quickly, leaving you and Rimmer alone together, with only Kryten as a buffer.

“Come on,” you muttered, slinging the bazookoid Lister had pressed into your hands over your shoulder. “Let’s get this over with. I don’t think this ship is all that stable.”

“Agreed, ma’am,” Kryten was scanning a read out on his forearm. “The ship should hold but we need to be on the lookout for any weakness in the structure. Keep your eyes peeled, sir, ma’am.”

“Oh, great.” Rimmer crossed his arms as your group began to pick its way into the heart of the old ship. “I didn’t realise this was that sort of a reconnaissance mission. I would’ve stayed on Starbug.”

You bit the inside of your cheek, annoyed but determined not to show it.

“There’s still time for you to go back,” You jabbed your bazookoid at the little ship. “No one’s forcing you to come, Rimmer.”

A muscle twitched in Rimmer’s jaw as he clenched his teeth.

“All I’m saying is, I think it would be a good idea if one of us stayed with Starbug. You know, just in case.”

“I’ve done a scan, Rimmer. It’s fine. We just have to be careful.”

“Oh, because you’re such an expert all of a sudden?”

You stopped and wheeled around.

“What did you say?”

Rimmer looked unbearably pompous as he swung his arms behind his back, his chest all puffed out and his nostrils flared.

“I just find it funny that we’re trusting you without question when you only learned how to read the scanners last week. Who knows what we could be walking into!”

“Sir, I’ve double checked the readings,” Kyten put in helpfully. “The Lieutenant’s interpretation is correct. The ship is structurally sound, we just need to enter cautiously.”

“What’s the problem, Rimmer?” Feeling encouraged by Kryten’s support, you sneered at him. “You don’t trust me? Is that it?”

“I trust you. I just don’t think you have nearly enough experience to be leading an expedition.”

“Oh? Is that right?

You were faintly aware of Kryten trying to get your attention but you brushed him away.

“Or is it just that you’re jealous?”

“Jealous?”

“Yeah. Jealous of me,” You smiled coldly. “You're the highest ranking officer. Or you were. They should be listening to you. That’s it, isn’t it?”

Your raised voice echoed through the silent, empty cargo hold. You were sure even Cat and Lister must’ve been able to hear you.

It hadn’t been easy, giving Rimmer the cold shoulder. You didn’t, couldn’t, avoid him, so you’d simply treated him the same way you did the others. Still, it had taken him a long time to realise that something in you had changed. He finally seemed to get the message.

“It’s fine,” you went on, turning to move deeper into the ship. “Like Kyrtes said, we just have to be caref-”

Your foot fell through the floor. You didn’t even have time to react. The crumbling, rusted metal gave way beneath you, and you staggered back, your instincts kicking in. You tried to catch yourself but lost your balance as more and more of the floor caved in beneath you.

You were faintly aware of Rimmer shouting your name, then you saw him leap forward and try to grab your hand, but of course, you slipped right through his fingers.

You fell, arms windmilling, and heard yourself scream as the floor below grew closer and closer. Then suddenly, your whole body jolted so hard, you thought your eyeballs might pop out of your skull. All the air left your lungs and for some reason, your left leg was suddenly screaming in pain. But you weren't falling anymore.

You let out a shriek as you dangled in midair, your breaths coming short and fast as your arms flailed about in panic.

"It's alright, ma’am! I've got you!"

You twisted around so that you could look up and found Kryten hanging over the ledge, one hand gripping what remained of the floor, the other wrapped tight around your ankle.

You forgot about the fuel after that. Rimmer buzzed around you like an anxious hummingbird as Kryten pulled you up to solid ground.

You were faintly aware of Rimmer firing off a million questions: Are you okay? Are you hurt? What were you thinking? Don’t you look where you’re going? Don’t you know what it would do to me if you- How could you scare me like that? But they all wound around your head and up into the air as you focused on pulling in enough breath to settle your racing blood and the sound of your own screaming in your ears.

When you finally came back to reality, you were sitting on the examination table in Red Dwarf ’s lab. A cold white light flashed in front of your eyes and you hissed, batting the torch away.

“Kryten. I’m fine,” you sighed. “I just had a bit of a fright.”

“You can’t be too careful, ma’am,” Kryten said as he shone the light in your eyes again.

You huffed and pushed his hand away, though only gently. He had saved your life, after all. You almost laughed when he pulled out a blood pressure monitor.

“I just need a lie down, Krytes. This is silly, I don’t need all this.”

Kryten lowered the cuff, looking unsure.

“Mr. Rimmer was very firm, ma’am.”

“Rimmer? Why? What did he say?”

“Well, he threatened to connect jump leads to my nipple nuts and fry them if I didn’t conduct a thorough examination.”

You raised your eyebrows.

“Oh, he did, did he?”

Kryten nodded solemnly.

“He was very clear. I am to do a complete evaluation of your health and then I’m to escort you to your room, bring you your dinner, then make sure you rest.”

Rimmer had said all that? You couldn’t believe it. That wasn’t like him at all. It had been only too clear after the last few weeks that the stupid git couldn’t care less about you. And anyway, if he did care so much, why wasn’t he here now? Or maybe you just wanted him here. You’d never liked hospitals. It would be nice to have him close. You hadn’t felt the warmth from his light bee in so long.

“You know, ma’am, it’s not really my place to say but… I measured his heart rate.”

You blinked at Kryten. He looked almost bashful. Sometimes you wondered if the mechanoid understood more about humans than he let on.

“Holograms don’t have heartbeats, Kryten.”

“Forgive me, ma’am. I thought an equivalent metaphor would help to articulate my point more effectively.”

You sighed, then finally held out your arm.

“Go on,” you said, gesturing at the blood pressure monitor.

Kryten moved towards the table and carefully looped the cuff around your upper arm.

“The frequencies from his light bee were off the scale when he thought you were in danger, ma’am.”

He pulled the black material tight, fastened the velcro, then pressed a button on the side of the cuff. It began to tighten until it was almost claustrophobic. You tried not to squirm uncomfortably.

“So? Doesn’t mean anything.”

“Though simulated, he does breathe, he does feel. All his faculties were lost when you fell, ma’am.” Kryten did his version of a shrug. “I’m only a droid but I know the science. Mr. Rimmer cares about you.”

You narrowed your eyes.

“Mr. Rimmer only cares about himself. It’s about time I accepted that.”

“But ma’am-”

“When Camille was onboard, who did he see?”

Kryten hesitated.

Fed up, you tore off the cuff and handed it back to him.

“I know he told you Kryten. Who did he see? He wouldn’t tell me.”

It was unfair, you knew that, but the heart-to-heart routine was starting to irritate you. Kryten didn’t know what he was talking about and you weren’t in the mood for anyone to try and convince you that Rimmer was a good guy.

Kryten couldn’t meet your eyes.

“I don’t know what she looked like. I just know she was a hologram like Mr. Rimmer.”

“So not me.”

“No, ma’am. He’d never seen her before. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that he doesn’t feel anything for you. Camille could reflect absolute synthetic perfection but nothing realistic. Mr. Rimmer saw a woman he thought was perfect for him, that doesn’t reflect what he truly feels.”

You didn’t know why the thought made you feel so sick. Kryten was just confirming what you already knew to be true. The others had all excitedly told you about their dream lovers, but Rimmer had been suspiciously quiet. A small part of you had secretly hoped he was just too embarrassed to admit who he saw. Turns out you were right, but not in the way you hoped.

“But I saw him,” you said, and winced when your voice cracked.

Kryten lowered his head.

“I’m sorry, ma’am.”

Yeah, you thought, me too.

Ace had laid it all out very clearly. In his dimension, you hated him and he adored you. He’d theorised that there must be some version of your lives where you were lucky enough to be in love at the same time. It was only logical. Stupidly, you’d believed that this was it. Turns out your universe really was the opposite of Ace’s.

“Don’t be. Doesn’t matter.” You forced a smile as you slid of the exam table. “Thanks again, Kryten. You’re my hero.”

You kissed his odd, rubbery cheek, then left the lab. You kept your head down as you hurried through the seemingly endless corridors, just in case you bumped into one of your friends. Thankfully, you made it back to your quarters just in time.

You slammed your hand against the keypad, waited until the door had slid shut, then fell back against it and started to cry.

//

Next Chapter

Master List

[lost-technology]

So, a while back, I saw a post here on the tumbles regarding the Eye of Micheal symbol - specifically how it resembled the state flag of New Mexico, United States. The post was in complaint that said symbol was a colonial theft from one of New Mexico's indigenous peoples. It's the Zia Sun Symbol, a sacred symbol that the U.S. really has no right to. The Stampede crew likely did not know this, as not too many people outside the U.S. (and even many within) are particularly familiar with New Mexico's flag, nor its history and are likely to see it as just evoking "the West." The symbol also resembles a cross, but that is not seen as problematic, as no one really likes Christians (even a great many of us who are Christian. Hi there, lefty-Christian who doesn't mind twisted use of Christian symbols here -and these things are generally thought of as "given out for free"). Well, after talking with a friend in this fandom about a video game series I like, I wound up on a Youtube rabbit-trail enjoying some of the old ads the series-makers put out and realised something I'd forgotten, just staring me in the face: It's not as likely as the Zia Sun Symbol an inspiration, but here is a POSSIBLE inspiration for the Eye of Micheal insignia? Get a load of this:

The Vault-Tec logo from the Fallout universe. It is the logo for the mega-corporation that constructed fallout shelters in the games' lore. They were U.S. government contracted and billed themselves as a friendly company that would help people survive in the event that the Sino-American cold war that was present in the year 2077 of that world went hot, which it did. What Vault-Tec didn't tell any of its prospective residents was that most of the shelters (there were control-units) were actually built for unethical human experimentation (most of it psychological, some physical). The symbol has nothing to do with the New Mexico flag. It's drawn from old American / Russian cold war energy-symbols, if I am not mistaken. It also might represent a sealed Vault-door (although those are usually symbolised by a gear, as they are shaped like gears). It is VERY evocative of common old electricity / nuclear warnings. And looking at it again, I have to wonder if there was some inspiration there, perhaps more from this than from the stolen indigenous symbol. The EoM symbol doesn't have the central circle, but Wolfwood does put his thumbprint as such on his Pastor's Contract. It would also make sense in terms of Vash and Knives, the Two Angels, being born from energy-reactors. But I have no idea how familiar anime-producers in Japan are with the Fallout games. They are very America-centric games, explicitly American setting with particulars set in American culture and history. Buuuut, they're also post-nuclear wasteland open-world shooty adventures, which are fun for the whole family everyone!

[lover-of-skellies]

Rank scariest fnaf animatronics or weirdest fanfic you've read

Hmmmmm. I've had fnaf brain worms for a while now, so I'm gonna do that, and I'll try to cover as many of the animatronics as possible, minus the different skin versions that pop up for different events/DLCs/whatever

1 = fuck THAT, nuh uh, that's the stuff of nightmares

2 = mildly creepy, unsettling, don't leave me alone with it I'll be super uncomfortable

3 = I would happily dropkick it into the ocean

4 = y u so ugly bruh

5 = keep it behind a heavy duty glass wall and chained down first and THEN I can tolerate being around it

6 = aight it can roam around in the same room as me as long as it stays over on the other side from me

7 = friend shaped, looks cute or is a goober, I trust this one to not hurt me

8 = just a guy, they are simply there, I'm indifferent to them

9 = not at all scary, I may even smooch them

**There's so many names here and it's a bit of an eyesore. Read at your own discretion**

Nightmare Freddy, Nightmare Bonnie, Nightmare Chica, Nightmare Foxy, Nightmare Fredbear, Nightmare, Nightmare Mangle, Jack-O-Bonnie, Jack-O-Chica, Grimm Foxy, Nightmarionne, Nightmare Endo, Nightmare Cupcake, Nightmare Balloon Boy, Nightmarionne Bots, Twisted Freddy, Twisted Bonnie, Twisted Chica, Twisted Foxy, Twisted Wolf, Stanley, Ella, Plushtrap Chaser, Phantom Freddy, Phantom Chica, Phantom Foxy, Phantom Mangle, Phantom Balloon Boy, Phantom Puppet, Fetch, Scrap Baby, Burntrap, Stitchwraith, Eleanor, Julius' Exoskeleton

Withered Freddy, Withered Bonnie, Withered Chica, Withered Foxy, Toy Freddy, Toy Bonnie, Toy Chica, Mangle, Balloon Boy, JJ, Shadow Freddy, Shadow Bonnie, Shadow Puppet, Shadow Balloon Boy, Circus Baby, Ballora, Funtime Freddy, Funtime Foxy, Minireena, Music Man, Funtime Chica, Rockstar Chica, Rockstar Foxy, Lefty, Carnie, Dark Freddy, Neon Bonnie, Neon Chica, Burnt Foxy, Dark Foxy, Shadow Mangle, Party Freddy, Prototype Glamrock Freddy, Yenndo, The Mimic, Ennard, Molten Freddy, The Blob, Dreadbear, Lucky Boy, Springtrap, Dark Springtrap, Golden Freddy, DJMM

Cupcake, Funtime Cupcake, Golden Cupcake, Shadow Cupcake, Neon Cupcake, Freddles, Bidybabs, Bon-Bon, Electrobab, Bonnet, Little Joe, Magician, Human Heads, Fortune Teller, Lemonade Clown, Fruit Punch Clown, Mini Music Men, Dee Dee, Helpi, Tag Along Freddy, Lonely Freddy, Plushtrap, Theodore, Baby Crawlers

Scraptrap

OG Freddy, OG Bonnie, OG Chica, OG Foxy, OG Puppet, Fredbear, Spring Bonnie, Rockstar Freddy, Rockstar Bonnie, Happy Frog, Mr. Hippo, Pigpatch, Nedd Bear, Orville Elephant, Endo - 01, Endo - 02, Glamrock Endo

Glamrock Chica, Montgomery Gator, Roxanne Wolf, Glamrock Mr. Hippo, Jack-O-Moon, Moon*, Security Bots, Map Bots, Mop Bots, Party Bots, Worker Bots, Mask Bot, Head Chef Bot, Server Bot, Attendant Bots, Nanny Bots, El Chip, Captain Foxy, The Entity, Security Puppet

Alien Bots, Comedy Bot, Magician Bot, Driver Assist Bots, Instructor Bot, Pizza Bot, Wet Floor Bots, Helpy, Glamrock Freddy, Rockstar Foxy's Parrot, Yarg Foxy

Candy Cadet, Giant Cupcake, Mystic Hippo

Glamrock Bonnie*, Sun, Eclipse

Moon* - I'd smooch him, but I know he'd probably strangle me for not sleeping as much as I should, hence why he needs to stay on his half of the room

Glamrock Bonnie* - He gets pity smooches because LOOK at him. The poor guy is in literal shambles. He needs so much maintenance, therapy, warm blankets, and hugs

[b0und4gl0ry]

...alrighty I'm home again.

The date went well, (kinda expected since its not our first) and I forgot to mention I watched the other videos you've recorded before I found your account too. Listen, I know you said "no secrets" and all, but are you really being honest, Casey? I don't want to dig too hard... But if it's how you said, why did you say their their name like you were surprised to see them while you tried to sleep? It's definitely faint but you can hear it in the recording. (Also remember to turn off the recording next time unless you want to bloat the hard drive of your laptop with a single video file. you probably don't want to rely on whatever horrific things haunt your sleep to wake you up so you can turn it off.)

Anyways, onto that story;

So, like, a year or so ago. I was sleeping. And suddenly, I had a good old case of sleep paralysis, It was actually pretty common with me, I have it all the time. The normal stuff, hat men, pitch black shadow people, ect.

This event was like the rest of my sleep paralysis experiences, except, no Shadows, voices, or anything. Tried moving to check if I just woke up for no reason. But I couldn't.

Eventually. Something came up to my window. (On the fifth story.) It was pitch black, (which I later found out was a very, very deep shade of red.) It had super long hair, looked kinda like a cats head with droopy ears in kinda a ^ shape, 4 smaller eyes that scanned the room, frantically? And one large eye that was staring directly at me, all with pitch black pupils.

I'll reblog this with a sketch of what it looks like if I can.

It raised up a long, bony arm. And I hear a chattering noise. It points at the door to my room.

But.

But then I realized I could move again.

The creature made another sound, and I noticed the door to my rooms doorknob was rapidly being turned, and then it was getting pounded like a fucking horror movie. The door slowly was being unlocked somehow?? The lock on it was being turned. At this point i glanced at the thing again and it was just looking at the door now with all its eyes. I got up and held the lock and the door closed. After what felt like an hour of banging and something trying to get in, it stopped.

I looked at the window again.

Nothing was there.

I went back to sleep eventually, I didn't have a dream after.

I occasionally see that thing now. One time when I went hiking at night, a few times again when I'm all by myself.

Sorry if this was long winded or unwanted or something. But I think it's an interesting story. I think I'm still here because of that thing. I haven't fully committed to a name for it yet, so I'm open for suggestions. But I'm primarily I'm calling it Lefty because the big eye is on the "left side" of it's face.

- Stace T.

"Yeah, those "Mae" nightmares are the worst. I just get shocked that I see her and hear her. I don't know why I'm having them…is it my guilt about leaving? Paranoia? I don't know.

"But Mae…she's a good friend from my old hometown. She's done nothing wrong"

"Also, that's a sick ass story. Wild as shit, but cool. I could see a novel about a person dealing with their strange cat demon"

"Nice to see we have similar shit going on. Continue these stories if you want"

"But, what I think is more likely is you had one of those "awake but not" dreams. Where you wake up but you're still dreaming. I have those a bunch"

"Also, I'm glad your date went well. Sorry, it kinda took a seat behind all the spooky shit"

"Also, that's a sick ass story. Wild as shit, but cool. I could see a novel about a person dealing with their strange cat demon"

"Nice to see we have similar shit going on. Continue these stories if you want"

(ooc: I'm not sure how familiar Stace is with the source material this AU is from, which is Night In The Woods, but to anyone who doesn't know too much about it, I highly recommend it! It clears things up about Casey a little...I don't know if that comes off condescending or not. I'm not good with communicating sometimes)

[the-ghost-bracket]

PJ propaganda:

"PJ got his name BEFORE he died in his pajamas, thank you very much! He’s been a ghost for a long time, and he’s best friends with another ghost, who is a hand named Lefty. He died when his house exploded, and he’s sure a meteor hit his house and that’s what killed him. He’s also terrified of the elderly for unknown reasons, but we’ll probably find out later. He’s now friends with his new roommate (aka the protagonist who moved into the Corner Store he is inhabiting). He cares so much about the people he loves. He’s my boy."

"just a good natured ghost boy. I love him"

"PJ is young pajama-wearing ghost who haunted a grocery store before the main character, Max, moved in. He died wearing pajamas, but that's not why he's called PJ, that's just a coincidence.

Since he died young, PJ is fairly timid and naive. He has social anxiety from not talking to people for so long, and tends to fluctuate between being snarky, morose, and overeager. Before Max moved in, he only had other ghosts for company, such as the hand-shaped poltergeist ""Lefty"", and ""Hissing Pete"", who hisses when he senses danger (and is pretty much always hissing).

After Max shows off his ability to wield a spirit-possessed 'tool' that gives him power over magnetism, PJ yearns to become a 'hero', instead of just some nobody who died at age 11. He's a little gung-ho about it, but his heart's in the right place!"

[loopscereal]

@multishipper-baby @thedumbestfuckingpersonyouvemet

you guys both mentioned the background so uh lol hi. btw do tell me to stop @/ing you guys if you dont want me to do that :3

Anyways I'm glad that you noticed the bg! i actually did that first before toddy. Sorta as a warm up, just blocking in shapes of characters. First it was gonna all be silhouettes like the screenshot, it then i started having fun setting up a genuine scene. Having them all "doing their own thing" as characters with names faces rather than blank slates was very fun.

Just the filling in of a void. Having messy blocked in characters with juuuust enough detail to be recognizable was satisfying to do.

I did, I jrook the original bg, coppied the mos visible half and then flipped it over to cover more of original toddy, then started "painting" over it with blocky shapes. Again, it was originally gonna be shillouettes like the og, but i suddently started making em the cast lol. it makes me happy to hear that you like what i did with toddyyyy :3 I like making up styles for herrrr

It might look like a lot of people, but its not everyone, far from it tbh lol. The toys, Town and Cami, Lilly, Golden and Puppet, Fox an Bonnie, Mai, Malva and Loon, our version of Felix, then two oc's. Based of lefty and ennard.

Also yes, they all have animal features. Cami has antennae because shes a Praying Mantis, that is also why shes so damn tall. In the arthropod world Mantis are built all vertical which is very odd. In my friends words. They're freaks of nature /lighthearted. Anyways, This is why you will see us drawing her with things such as segmented limbs, green "blades" on her arms, and cool bug eyes. She has green surface blood.

Towns a lion, Lilly is a shark, a nurse shark specifically as a reference to Melanie Martinez since Lilly has that song that's a cover of Mrs Potato Head. (it was a process of just looking at Melanie's song titles names and looking up if any sharks had names with certain keywords.)

Joy is a duck, "isn't Chica a chicken though?" yeah. In the fnaf fanbase people confused Chica for a duck sometimes, though so! She's a duck. Chica herself is a chicken, though :3 Bon n Malva n Bonnie are rabbits (all to be determined what specific species)

Loon is your classic 7 spotted ladybug, complete with segmented limbs, antennae that's sprout from the back of her neck that aid in listening to very quiet sounds. He has yellow surface blood. Mangle is a fox (again, to be determined what subspecies.) You might notice that he is missing his tail though. Or, well. She has a little stub, which is why shes got the cane right now, Animals with Tails need those, mainly for balance.

Fox is your classic red fox.

Golden is an Andean/ spectacles bear, Mai n Pup are ring tailed lemurs. Lefty is Mai and Pups cousin, so she is an indri lemur.

Ennard is an amblypygi, also knows as a whip spider (don't be fooled its not a type of spider) Extra appendages for sensing things like vibrations Toddy, is a cinnamon bear, a sub species of black bear !!!!! "Felix" (Felicia now) is too be determined on her animal all together. We have too many fox's and bears and rabbits so were holding off on repeating those any more than we have to. Fede is still a bear (for now??) though because it satisfies me to complete the "main bear types". Polar bear. erm. anyways i love ranting abt our silly ass animal choiced i could do it till the end of time.

[destinysbounty]

Huh. I just realized I haven't said much about my steampunk fanseason/AU thingie! Which is weird, considering I've been working on it for over 6 months at this point. Well, time to remedy that!

Title: City of Gears

Premise: The ninja are asked to investigate a series of disappearances in the quaint tourist town of Yama. Eventually their investigation uncovers the nefarious schemes of Lady Adelaide, a woman who is using a mysterious power to change peoples' shapes at will. So far she's been turning people into an army of wooden mannequin slaves, and intends to do the same to the ninja - but thanks to the intervention of her henchman "Lefty", Zane is instead turned human!

So now Zane has to adjust to being human and all the drama that comes with that, with each of his friends dealing with traumatic situations of their own, all while trying to stop Lady Adelaide from turning everyone in the world into mannequins.

There's a lot more to it than that, but I won't bore you with the details. Instead, here's a drawing I made for it!

My art is a bit rough around the edges so I'll try to explain what you're looking at real quick. In the main box is Zane, who has a mysterious gold scar running down his now-human face, with "Lefty" peeking out from around his shoulder and Lady Adelaide standing off to the side. She's holding a strange glowing lantern staff, with its glow spiraling ominously around Zane.

The top and bottom boxes each have three gears, with each gear containing the face of a different ninja. On the top row from left to right is Lloyd, Cole (a ghost), and Nya. On the bottom row is Pixal, Kai (some kind of fire monster), and Jay.

My goal with this story is to give each character their own subplot even though it's Zane-centric, and each of the gears has little clues to how their arc will play out. Such as - Lloyd's Oni horn, Cole being a ghost, Nya's intensity, Pixal's sword, Kai's uhhh fire body???, and Jay's goggles.

And as for why their gis look so bland....look I'm not very good at this cut me some slack, that was the best I could do.

That being said, my bestie @oracleofdiscord made some absolutely phenomenal art of the villain, Lady Adelaide, which you can check out here!

(Close-ups under the cut)

[solarbird]

I've made a scene at the party and posted my angry goodbye to Twitter.

[Originally posted on Twitter. Not linking, obviously.]

Well, this is it.

I'm done. Most of you aren't. If you've decided to stay, you've decided you're okay with drinking in a Nazi bar, and you'll stay until you can't.

You've also given Elon's advertisers the green light. They know they can stay, too. Which is what he wanted.

-----

I mean, if the owner tweeting Hitler memes while banning lefties and onboarding nazis who call for genocide and mass rape of women doesn't do it, nothing will. Least of all trifles like worker barracks.

That's not "fine." I'm not going to tell you that's fine, because it's not.

-----

If you don't have some kind of transition plan telling followers, "I'm leaving in N days, go follow me here," then what you're doing is telling Elon _this is okay_. Not that you _like_ it, but that... you can live with it.

-----

And, once again, your queer and Jewish and BIPOC friends have to figure out how to live with _that_.

-----

You're not "fighting back." Sorry. That's bullshit.

It was viable before, if barely. I stayed this long to use my tiny voice to shove the algorithm around, just that little bit. With mentions, with tags, with lots of @ usage - something very few people actually did.

-----

But the new owner loves the fash and is weaponising the place, using confidential data, private files, disinformation - and if you think he _won't_ slam the algorithm around, you're out of your goddamn mind. Shaping it is not an option when the owner locks in the outcome.

-----

All you do by staying is tell Elon his plan is working.

You're telling advertisers they still have your eyes. That you won't leave. That they can safely advertise next to nazis, because they're also advertising to you. You'll still be here.

-----

You're saying that you'll sit at the table with Nazis. On the other side, sure... but at the table. That it's... acceptable. That it's _tolerable_ in civil society.

Push comes to shove, you'll live with it, as long as the food's good enough. And clearly, it is.

-----

I'm not surprised. Most of you kept eating those damned chicken sandwiches too. But that doesn't make it okay.

Your queer and Jewish and BIPOC friends are not okay. We're really not.

But Elon and his fash friends - _they're_ okay.

-----

After all, this is what the fascists want. It's what the Russians want too - them, and their hate-pushing botnets. In the end, it's even what Elon wants:

To normalise fascism.

And for you to go along.

-----

Complaining, maybe. Howling, even. They like that. They like causing pain and generating traffic and this does both, all while normalising fascism.

And it's working, because you're staying here, and helping.

-----

And having made my horrible scene at the party - don't bother replying. Not here, certainly.

You know where to find me.

I'm out.

[My remaining profile data points here, and to my Mastodon account]

[thaisibir]

Digimon Survive headcanons - Miu as an adult

An extension and elaboration of my first post on the Survive gang 15 years later.

Age: 26 Profession: mangaka, professional cosplayer

-Before making it big in the manga industry, Miu made ends meet during art school by working part-time at a local bookstore. She started out at the cash register, but in no time ended up being a storyteller in the children’s section. She knows many stories from Japanese folklore by heart, reciting them from memory dating back to her childhood. Her dramatic, often comedic enactments made her very popular with kids. Even after she became a mangaka and stopped working at the bookstore, she enjoys telling scary stories by the fire to her friends.

-Junji Ito and Kentaro Miura are her favorite mangakas and sources of inspiration for her own work. Her favorite Western authors are Edgar Allan Poe and Peter Straub.

-As a professional cosplayer, Miu is talented at making her own wigs in every conceivable color, shape, and form, though she keeps her own hair naturally dark and pixie-cut short.

-She gives significant discounts to her friends who request handmade Halloween costumes. One of her greatest achievements, in her opinion, is the scarily accurate Tusken Raider costume she made for Ryo.

-Due to their shared interest in comic book culture and frequent attendance at conventions, Miu sees Minoru the most. She regards him like a second older brother and they always have fun geeking out at cons together.

-Never forgetting the stalker that has haunted her memories since childhood, Miu took it upon herself to learn self-defense from Aoi.

-Above average height runs in the Shinonome family. After hitting her late-teen growth spurt, Miu is now the tallest girl in the group. As she had when she was eleven, she likes to wear comfortable, oversized clothing that hides her lanky build.

-Miu is a leftie and is very loud and proud about it. She has bought practically every product from the local store for lefties.

-When Miu racked up enough savings from her success as a mangaka, she went backpacking around the world to investigate spooky, interesting sites on her bucket list. If she had to pick just one favorite destination, it would be the Sedlec Ossuary in the Czech Republic: a church made of human bones. She steered clear, however, of the Aztec pyramids where human sacrifices were conducted. Hits too close to home, in her opinion.

-She wears gauze around her fingers from constantly pricking them by accident when she’s sewing her own costumes.

-Miu coming out as aro ace seized the attention of Japanese social media, and to the disappointment of some of her fans. Her friends were the first to know, of course, and had long known before the public announcement.

-She owns more books in the house than anyone in the Survive gang, even more than Shuuji with all his history tomes. She collects manga volumes and horror novels from her favorite authors, as well as an impressive stash of fashion and hair salon magazines she uses for reference and inspiration.

-During her free time, Miu likes to take Syakomon with her to the aquarium. On warmer days, they’d hit the beach. Chilling out in tide pools is Syakomon’s favorite pastime. Ironically enough, Miu often finds ideas for the darkest stories in clear, sunny skies while she lounges on the beach.

-Since meeting Syakomon, Miu has sworn off seafood and can’t bear the thought of eating clams or oysters. Just looking at them spread out on a plate makes her nauseated.