#What's that one sound byte? The 'Run' one?

[siixkiing]

Aw, did I hit a nerve? Surely one as powerful as yourself wouldn't have to worry over such a thing happening. I mean, all you have to do is not piss someone off again—

Oh, wait, I seem to have forgotten that you have quite a few enemies.

Hm, I suppose you just can't risk leaving then. Otherwise, who knows what could happen to those sweet souls up there~

"Well, isn't this a shame?"

A small exhale of breath from the Monkey King's lips, golden flames being seem dancing in the air for mere moments. He supposed some fools never learned to heed warnings. Even knowing what he was capable of — the countless legends that surrounded him and his many exploits. That it had taken the intervention of the Great Buddha to put an end to his rampage or a fillet to keep him mostly tame?

It wasn't like he hadn't suffered ridicule before, heard the harsh words spewed at him — every insult been flung at him without care. That he could handle and endure. Having done it before. Torture too, remembering all the cruelty he had suffered at the hands of those who had wished to tame and break him of that spirit.

No, what was getting a rise out of the Great Sage was the mere audacity to aim threats at his subjects. To put his beloved family, the ones that meant more to him than his own life at risk. Or least imply such harm to them. It was one thing to go after him BUT it was another to go after his troop in such a callous way.

"Foolishness knows no bounds — "

" — no matter, I will deal with it."

Visage twisted and melting as a voice too utterly calm for such a mood shift seemed out of place. Dark stripes dancing across golden fur, blood red marking bleeding out from his eyes — the appearance he often took great pains to hide. To better suite the role of a Hero of Legend vanishing without a second thought. A soft hum building in his throat in stark contrast to the powerful aura that was now bleeding out from Wukong's very being.

This was one who could easily undo the world without much effort, make the world tremble and quake. Unleashed and untamable.

[creekfiend]

I have been having a really weird experience this summer, which is that I fell in love for the first time. I'm 36, and if you'd asked me if I had ever been in love previously, I would have said "I don't know, maybe? I used to think so but now I'm not sure? What's it mean to be in love?? how would I know if I had or not???" I thought that because I had not experienced it myself, the people who were always saying "oh no, trust me, You Would Know" were all lying or otherwise mistaken. I DID NOT BELIEVE THEM. I was fully like "this is some sort of mass delusion, there's no way that's a thing"

Now that I know that this is something that Exists even if it doesn't always Look Like They Tell You, there's SO many things that make sense to me!!! Whenever I encountered Romance Stuff before, I had no desire to do any of it AND could not comprehend why anyone else would ever want to either. It was this really large experiential disconnect for me. Whether or not I want to do any of those things, I now understand why other people would, if they Were In Love. LIKE I GET IT NOW. IT MAKES SENSE TO ME. I still can't relate to things like people in movies falling in love instantly, but now it's like "oh right, that's a potential state of being that exists," rather than "pretty fucked up that hollywood made Being In Love up to sell more flowers or whatever."

I feel like I'm constantly 24/7 running a software update on my brain that's been overdue to be installed for years or perhaps decades. It's just like "OK YUP UPDATING ALL THESE PROGRAMS AND FOLDERS. THIS WILL TAKE SOME TIME AND DATA BYTES OR WHATEVER, BUCKLE UP!" Pretty sure there's actually one of those little rainbow spinning icons above my head the whole time I'm conscious, like I am some sort of very confused Sim.

This happened to me REALLY SLOWLY, too, so it was like a big blockage in a river, and more and more stuff was just piling up against it, and then the dam broke, and now I'm sitting in the shallows of a giant basin lake under a massive waterfall wringing my hat out and going "woah. they got never before seen types of fish in here"

Who else knew about this??? Unfortunately the answer is: a majority of human beings over a certain age DID in fact know about this, it's just that every time anyone said "this is a way people feel about each other sometimes," I said "hmm. sounds fake." In-cred-i-ble.

Turns out that being in love is just an experience that people can have!! It's just a thing that happens sometimes! Some people have had it happen to them a bunch and some people not at all. It's just A Thing That Can Happen To You. Wtf. WHAT WILL I DISCOVER NEXT????? IT COULD BE ANYTHING !!! WHAT WOULD BE THE FUNNIEST POSSIBLE NEXT THING FOR ME TO REALIZE EXISTS? ONLY TIME WILL TELL. (Can you fucking imagine having this happen to you when you are in your seventies or eighties rather than your mid thirties ????? THAT WOULD BE THE WORLD'S MOST DISORIENTING EXPERIENCE.) (I also thought that "having chemistry" was fake.) (Do not diagnose me, I PROMISE I already know)

[luveline]

hi hii jade! i hope to not bother u at all but can i ask a request for miguel being with harley quinnfem!reader? like she’s sweet, giddy and a bit girlish but at the same time vicious and extremely violent. maybe miggy likes it a bit too much being with her but gets annoyed seeing her tiny outfit during the mission. u don’t have to do it if u don’t wanna! thank you !!🤍

thank you for your request, i love it!! I'd love to write more for this pairing ♥

—harley quinn-esque fem!reader reports for duty wearing less material than usual, to miguel's misfortune. 1k

"And what," Miguel says, looking you up and down apprehensively, "is the point of that." 

It should be a question, but it doesn't sound like one. He is genuinely shocked by what you're wearing, among other things, and it takes a lot to shock him. Your top half is decent in sense of the word, a skin tight black t-shirt with a pink spider taking perch on your sternum, legs curved over and under the shape of your breasts. Your skort (and it better be a skort, or Miguel is in trouble) is high-waisted and matching in black. A slice of your midriff exposes itself when you move. 

"You don't like it?" you ask, putting on a pout that shouldn't suit you but absolutely does. 

"It doesn't do anything." 

"Well, I figure there's no need to conceal my identity when we're visiting other dimensions," you explain. 

Miguel thinks the thing that irks him most about you is that your sweetness —made up of pretty smiles and girlish whims— is authentic. You tease and twirl, you're prone to dramatics and theatrics alike, but you genuinely are a very loving girl. Especially toward him. 

"It doesn't conceal much of anything." 

"Are you trying to say something mean?" you ask. 

"Depends on your definition." 

"Could you say it in Spanish?" you ask.

"Why?" He crosses his arms across his chest, looking down his nose at you in a look he hopes says you aren't half as subtle as you think. 

"Please, Miguel." You frame your face in two hands, long, naked lengths of your arms shining with a shimmery lotion in the laboratory lighting. "Indulge me." 

Don't I always? he thinks. "Depende de cual sea tu definición," he says. "Tu atuendo es más cruel que cualquier cosa que pueda decir." Your outfit is crueller than anything I can say.

"I hear 'cruel,'" you say, "but surely you can't be talking about me?" 

"The portal's ready," Margo says, a purple image in the corner of his eye. 

"Thank you, Spider-Byte," he says, nudging you toward the platform. For the work and the end of a dangerous conversation.

You rush up onto it and Miguel follows, ignoring the spin you make with your face turned up, watching as the portal begins to form around you, orange fractals that lock you in. 

You project from one place to the other. It's best to take a running start, and there's yards to be traversed until you meet the rendezvous point. 

"Where's the Vulture?" you ask excitedly.

"Around. Watch out, he might have Tinkerer with him." 

"Two for the price of one!" 

You stretch your arms up high, exposing your stomach, fine hair shimmering in the sunshine. Miguel's annoyed because he's weak enough to be distracted, but he'd rather blame you. 

"The point of your suit was to keep you safe," he says. "I designed it to protect you." 

"I like my skirt much more," you say, spinning again. 

So does Miguel. He looks up into the sky with a scowl, confused as to where the Vulture and his henchmen are. They're supposed to be right here, which can only mean— 

You leap for Miguel with your baton extended, the little heart sceptre piece atop of it striking the Vulture square in the jaw as the villain descends. With a spatter of blood, a shining white tooth flies across the open air, and you love it. You shake with excitement, his hands against your ribs to stop you from falling. 

"Yes!" you cry, jumping out of his arms and whacking the Vulture again. You're lucky: you manage to hit him in the eye as he retreats, prompting an outraged and pained scream that shakes the trees surrounding. "You suck!" You batter him like he's a pear under your pestle. 

"Y/N, that is more than enough," Miguel chastises, though the sight of you satisfied and in control is one that twists his guts. 

"Box him in, Miguel!" you call, blood dripping down the sceptre and onto your bare hands. 

"Woah." A third voice echoes as feet touch down to the ground, the wet thwap of webbing like an anchor, the Tinkerer deposited at Miguel's feet. "Who the hell are you guys?" asks Spider-Man.

"It's hard to explain," you say. 

"It's not," Miguel says. 

"Is she… on our side?" Spider-Man asks, eyes of his suit widening with a mechanical clicking. 

"When she wants to be." 

"I'm definitely on Miguel's side!" you say, raising your baton to give the downed Vulture another whack. He groans and raises his hands. You giggle at the fear on his face and twirl your baton around in a circle above your head. "Just kidding." 

"Y/N, come here. Now." He wouldn't be so forward in his command if you weren't as prone to ignoring him as you are. 

You traipse to his side, putting your hands on your hips to mimic him. 

"That was quick, huh?" you ask, looking up into his face. No matter your act, he can see the want for approval in your eyes. 

"Eres muy linda," he says. You're very cute. 

"What does that mean?" you ask, eager for praise. 

"You did great," he says. 

"I think you're lying," you say, and his heart skips as you lean into his space with a knowing smile, "'muy' means I did really great, right?" 

"Actually–" Spider-Man begins. 

Miguel waves a hand at him. "You did really great," he confirms. He doesn't need Spider-Man telling on him.

"And I didn't need all that extra protection after all," you say, sliding under his arm. 

Miguel doesn't react. The Vulture groans and Spider-Man hits him with a web to make sure he doesn't get far. 

"You like it really," you whisper.

Miguel glares at you. Of course he likes it. He just hates how much danger you're potentially putting yourself in. He double hates the appreciative up and down Spider-Man gives you when he thinks no one's looking.

"You have blood in your hair," Miguel says. 

"You can wash it out for me." 

He takes a calming breath. 

"Hey, guys? Do you mind explaining what the hell is going on here?" Spider-Man asks. 

You both ignore him for different reasons, you with an adoring smile sent Miguel's way, and Miguel with a long-suffering sigh as he summons a temporary entrapment for the bloodied Vulture and his squirming lacky.  

[writeforfandoms]

Welcome to New York 3

Find the series masterlist

We’ve got a POV switch this chapter! Time to see what Miguel is thinking. Or, in which his friends pester the hell out of him. 

Warnings: Swearing, Miguel is Done with Everyone, Mayday being cute, everybody just terrorizes Miguel. 

Eventual Miguel O’Hara x f!reader

Word count: 1.8k

Miguel was a busy man. Keeping the multiverse intact was not easy, no matter how much help he had. There were anomalies to keep track of and hunt down, Spider-people to corral, and his own world's problems to deal with. 

In short, he did not have time for this shit. 

"She wasn't a threat," Peter B. Parker, bane of Miguel's existence and continuous pain in his ass, said. "Mayday liked her!" 

"Your baby is not an accurate judge of character," Miguel ground out, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

"Sure she is, she knows good people," Peter continued, aforementioned baby giggling from her spot against Peter's chest. "She wouldn't go to just anyone!"

"What is your point?" Miguel asked, turning away from Peter and back to his screens. He still needed reports from the last mission, and the list of anomalies waiting to be sent home was getting longer. Which meant they were behind on paperwork. (Well. Digital paperwork, but even so.) 

“My point is that you don’t have to be so suspicious of her.” Peter shrugged. “Might help your blood pressure to be less paranoid.”

“My blood pressure is fine.” Miguel flicked through another screen, frowning briefly. “Lyla, why hasn’t this report been filed with the rest?”

“I’m only doing about a hundred other things,” Lyla said, popping up reclining in an invisible seat. She pushed her glasses a little further up her nose, looking supremely unimpressed. “If you want the reports done I’ll have to stop some other process.”

Miguel clenched his jaw. “Seriously?”

“Yup.” She popped the p, just to be annoying. Miguel had not programmed her to be this annoying. He had no idea where that came from. 

“And Spider-Byte?” 

“Busy.” Lyla shrugged. “She’s got stuff on her plate.” 

Miguel dropped his head. Of course. Hundreds, thousands, of Spider-people, and it was like herding cats - unless there was a clear threat, there was a lot of doing whatever they wanted. 

“You do have some other options.”

Miguel picked his head up to look at Lyla. “No.”

“Shouldn’t you at least listen?” Peter piped up. “What’s your idea, Lyla?”

“Weeeeeeell.” Lyla glitched out to reappear next to Peter, cheshire grin in place. “We do know someone who is really good at organizing things, and researching, and put together a beautifully organized timeline and comparison chart on her own free time.”

“No,” Miguel said, though he felt like nobody was listening to him. (Which was true - Lyla and Peter both ignored him.) 

“Wow, sounds like a great potential employee!” Peter’s grin was amused. “You should do something about that, Miguel.”

Miguel groaned softly. He was not going to kill Peter. That would cause more problems than he wanted to deal with. “I’m not bringing her in.”

“Why not?” Peter shrugged. “Sounds like she’s got all the skills you need right now, and you won’t have to try to corral anyone else into doing it. Frees up Lyla’s time, helps everyone in the long run.”

“She’s not one of us.” 

“And? You’ve okayed jobs for three other non-Spiders in the caf.” 

Dammit, Miguel had forgotten about that. He’d known that was a dangerous precedent to set. 

But he got lucky - Lyla switched back to actually working. 

“Looks like an anomaly popped up on Earth-5119,” she reported. 

“I’m on it.” At this point, jumping through an interdimensional portal to avoid this problem seemed like a great idea. 

“This isn’t over!” Peter yelled, even as Miguel dived into the portal. 

Miguel had three days of peace from that particular argument. Not that it was an argument. Because his mind was made up. 

“Heard something interesting today.”

Miguel grunted, glancing back at Jess, which was close enough to admitting he was paying attention. 

“Margo told me she had a look through the filing system. Apparently it’s in rough shape.” Jess leaned one hip against his desk, arms crossed loosely over her chest. 

Miguel grunted. Yeah, he knew that. Lyla knew that. This was not news, nor was it interesting. 

“Apparently it’s keeping several anomalies from being sent home.”

“And?” Miguel tried not to snap. He did. But he was busy and this was not news. 

“She wants help, since she’s got other things to do too.”

Miguel stopped. Turning slowly to face Jess, he narrowed his eyes at her. But she was immune, holding his stare easily, one eyebrow quirked. “Which one put you up to this?”

“Nobody did. Margo asked for help, that’s all.” Her smirk was all amusement, though. “And I asked Lyla for suggestions.”

One hand lifted and pinched the bridge of his nose with a deep sigh. He knew where this was going. “The answer is no.” 

“You didn’t even let me get it out.”

“The answer is still no.”

“Miguel.” 

He looked away first, swearing under his breath. Jess had a very effective disappointed parent voice, he was quite sure it would come in handy with her little one on the way. “What?” 

“I know you have a thing about non-Spiders in the building,” she started, and then paused a moment. “Well. In this part of the building.”

He scoffed. She was not wrong, but he wasn’t going to admit that.

“But we could use the help,” Jess continued, unphased by his attitude. “You and I both know that trying to get one of us to do all that work is not gonna happen.”

Miguel made a face. He did not want to admit she was right, but, well… Margo was unwitting proof of that. And the thought of trying to make any of the Parkers do something like this? It would never get done. 

“Bringing her in would guarantee things would get tagged correctly,” Jess continued, clearly trying to sway him. “In a timely manner, even.” 

“I don’t trust her.” Miguel shifted his weight, planting his hands on his hips. 

“So set someone to watch her for a week.” Jess shrugged. “Have you even checked in on her since you saw her?” 

No. No he hadn’t. Lyla was supposed to let him know if anything happened, since she had access to cameras across the city. 

“Look, if you’re that worried about her, set someone to watch her for a week,” Jess offered, waving one hand while the other propped on her hip. “Make it a training exercise for a few recruits.” 

It wasn’t a bad suggestion, actually. And he hated that he was considering it, that he was even thinking of bringing you into this. You were not to be trusted. There was no way you had really just gathered all that information just because you could. 

But Jess was right - the work did need to get done. 

“I’ll think about it.” A little white lie. He had thought about it. 

Jess narrowed her eyes at him a little before she nodded once. “Go get something to eat,” she threw back at him as she turned away. “You’re looking peckish.” 

Miguel scoffed to himself. He was not! Besides, he had work to do still. 

Since nobody else was going to work on getting the information filed and tagged correctly, he’d just do it himself. 

He lasted less than a week. Six days of going through the information and tagging it in between the thousand other things he had to do. His temper, always short, grew even shorter, until he actually threw an empanada at Peter B. Parker. (It was one of the rare times he did not have Mayday with him, because Miguel never would have thrown anything even close to Mayday.) 

“Is this a bad time?” Jess asked dryly, looking at the smear of empanada on the wall. 

“What do you want.” Miguel couldn’t even make it a question, voice flat. 

“Got an SOS from Earth-10436, two anomalies slipped through there.”

Miguel didn’t react for a moment. Two anomalies. “Peter, you’re with me. Get Spider-Noir, too.” His mask materialized around his head. 

As soon as Peter was gone, Miguel took a moment to look at Jess. 

“You still serious about that side project?”

To her credit, Jess caught on immediately. “Sure am.”

“Fine. You’re in charge. Two week watch, minimum. I want a full report at the end of it.” He narrowed his eyes at her, aware the motion transferred through the mask.

“I’ll take care of it.” Jess turned and sauntered out, subtly smug in her way. 

Miguel wanted to be mad that he’d given in, but mostly he was just tired. One deep breath and he took off. Time to go take care of some anomalies. 

He could admit, to himself, much later, that maybe they needed the help. Him trying to do it all wasn’t sustainable (as evidenced by the healing gash in his side where he’d gotten careless). And if, as he suspected, you were not trustworthy, he’d simply find someone for the job. 

Not that he’d admit as much to Lyla, not unless he really needed to. 

Allowing himself to groan as he collapsed into bed, Miguel starfished out. If only the multiverse would stop misplacing people and cooperate. If only. 

Two weeks passed in a blur. Two new Spider-people were brought in. Canon continued to be maintained in all universes. 

In other words, things continued about as smoothly as could be expected. Something that Miguel never took for granted, considering the absolute chaos that life could be. 

That didn’t mean he was exactly pleased when Jess sent him her report. Lyla had even helpfully attached the pictures from the surveillance. 

Jess had nothing but good things to say. Which would be suspicious, but Miguel knew Jess. She wouldn’t sugarcoat things, wouldn’t lie to him. Not about this. 

“Lyla.”

“Yeah?” The AI appeared in a flash of yellow, watching him. 

“I need an employment contract.” Miguel clenched his jaw, half-hating that he was doing this. But. If it would help them, it would be worth it.

“I’m sorry, you need what?” Lyla grinned, buffing her nails. 

“An employment contract.” Miguel knew what was coming before she even said it. 

“What’s the magic word?” Lyla looked up at him from behind her heart-shaped glasses, mischief clear in the curve of her smile.

“...Please draw up an employment contract.” Miguel tried not to sound too angry, because she’d just make him repeat it.

“Yeah, already done.” Lyla waved one hand, pulling up the contract on the nearest pad. “Have fun reading!” 

Sometimes (often times) that little AI was more trouble than she was worth. At least, that’s what Miguel told himself as he sat down to read through the contract.

The sooner he got this taken care of, the better.

[skibidi-mimic-division]

Polaroid scurried over to the mimic division area, several boxes and paper bags piled precariously in his arms, but somehow still balancing perfectly.

After settling things down, Polaroid didn’t even give himself the time to catch his breath and whipped out his notebook and pen to communicate with the human as usual. 

[Hello there, human! Do you remember that today is Father’s Day? Or have you already prepared some things for Veteran? Buddy? Pal? Fiend? I’ve got plans for Sawmus so I’ve got to go in a bit. And I also have missions, you know how unforgiving the war can be, never spare the medical or science personnel a break no matter what time it is, minimum wages and all that.]

Polaroid then turned to the boxes and paper bags, handing them to their respective receivers.

[Anyway, I have some gifts for the local dads! I was thinking of getting something enjoyable and practical for everyone, since you know, everyone’s needs and favorite things are drastically different here.]

[For Buddy, I’ve prepared some jerky and … a chew toy for Byte. I hope whatever make Byte happy can make you happy as well, because I couldn’t think of anything practical to give you. But a child is always the biggest gift for a father, right?]

[For Pal, I’ve made a music box with Sawmus’ instructions on the design and Foley’s guidance on tuning. And a squeaky bunny toy for Melody! I believe that the Human mentions that Pal and Melody like music or toys that make a lot of sounds, I hope these gifts match your preferences.]

[For Fiend and Menance, I’ve got some top-quality pillows and plushies! Found them from a store during one of my missions in the metropolis. Hopefully they would make a fine addition to your collection.]

[And … for Veteran, I’m so very sorry for this.] Polaroid sighed and pulled out a T-shirt with “Best DILF Ever” on the front and “Single Dad Rules” on the back. [Sawmus asks me to give this to you …. I guess it’s just one of his moments, you know how Sawmus can be so serious but occasionally out of character.]

Polaroid then handed the human a little keychain with a figurine of himself connected to it.

[I don’t exactly know what you like, but I do hope this will remind you of me wherever you go, no matter what time it is. The war is escalating and the Alliance board has absolutely no control over the current situation. Every time I leave the base for a new mission, I prepare for the worst scenario. To be honest, I’m … not even sure whether I will come back alive. But, with this, you’ll always have me by your side, literally.]

[Now I got to go. Happy Father’s Day, everyone!]

Buddy: "Mmm...delicious. Thank you for the gift." Pal: "IT MAKES SUCH A PRETTY SOUND! Thank you, friend! I'll add this to my collection!" Fiend: (Absconds with the soft cushions and runs to his lair)

Melody: Thank you so much, Big Brother! I love it!!! Byte: (Unrestrained violence) Menace: "Heheh...I'm king~"

Human: "Oh! This is such a cute gift! Thanks, Polaroid! I'll keep it on my outfit as a good luck charm for the battles I will fight in! You didn't have to do this you know! I already got Veteran a--"

Veteran: "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--" Human: "I...(sigh)...happy father's day to you as well, Polaroid. My dad is the same way."

[kit-williams]

Automat

Yandere Iron Hands gonna be honest this is my least favorite chapter but the male lead might show up again if we decide to try our hand at Chaos [loyal legion] or Loyal [Chaos legion] boys lol

tw: Body horror, technophilia, dubcon/noncon, abduction, Yandere

She ran the numbers again as the servitor slowly put her arm back on and she all but slapped its hands away as she grabbed her other mechanical limbs. She had little under two hours to get repaired and leave. She silently wept for the machine spirits in her mechadendrites how they buzzed their litany of errors. But he would be back and she was certain she would be punished for singing to a servitor to enter his room and give her her limbs back.

He shouldn't have gone for a spirit singer if he didn't wish to run the risk of this... a variable he should have known. She whimpered as her leg wasn't connecting right... the abuse her connectors suffered under his hands but she managed. It would make escaping harder but she still had time.

She pulled her red robes over her form as what bit of flesh she had of her body was bruised and marked up for improvements that he wanted to make to her. Oh she felt so dirty as she looked over herself in the mirror, her skin slick from ungence and oil... her connectors overly tuned and sending jolts up her spine and to her core. She felt sick as she would have to adjust her settings to not be trained to expect what was coming next. It was logical for her body to be dreading and equally aroused for what usually happened after he would overclock her connector ports and adjust the sensitivities to be too high.

She didn't have time! She pushed her way out of his room and looked around before quickly moving. She went to the right after seeing that he always entered the door from the left... having learned what the sound of his bootsteps were. The cold sanitized air slipped through the slits on the back of her robes where her mechadendrites would be but she had to go. She was terrified of what Marlos Vauth would do to her if she dallied too long.

She had to warn someone of the malfunction! He was malfunctioning! That's what it had to be. She engaged his curiosity and desire to copulate a few times when the time allowed it. It was hard to not be aroused by the bionic specimen that Iron Hands were and they normally espoused the weakness of flesh the impracticality of emotions. But Brother Vauth kept coming back to her seeking out to crudely "plug and play" but she happily sucked on those usb ports he placed into her mouth... feeling the electronic tingle on her tongue as she was flooded with data streams. Hormone pumps were adjusted and her limbs would spasm occasionally but there was a trust she had put into Vauth when she would give him control over her limbs and their sensitivities.

Several things had blown out or overly stimulated her at once during one of these sessions and soon she found herself in his room. Her limbs on a repair table... her mechadendrites were still operational then but her insistence on repairing her limbs and logical desire to leave aroused the illogical response from him to break her mechadendrites leaving her fully helpless. No way of moving herself or interacting with the world around her. Marlos seemed to derive more pleasure from that fact and she truly felt like a toy from those trashy noosphere pleasure sites. It was all some disturbing plot from one of those too... helpless and at his mercy.

<<Byte where are you>> His message slammed into her skull as she turned off more and more systems to keep him from tracking her. Her breathing became more rapid as she tried to not arouse suspicions weaving through the menials and servitors on her way to escape.

<<BYTE WHERE ARE YOU>> She physically winced and held her head for a moment as his message hurt her mind. <<There you are my little Byte>> Her head whipped over her shoulder seeing Brother Marlos' mass make its way toward her. She would have like to say she reacted logically... that this nightmare would have ended with her messaging the right people... but she would weep until the end of her days as she reacted oh so very much human like... she ran.

It hurt to run due to how overly sensitive her limbs were still registered at but she had to get away! <<BYTE! If you keep running you're only going to be punished more>> She could feel the anger rolling off of that message.

<<LEAVE ME ALONE>> She slammed her message back into him, breaking her self imposed 'silent treatment' of him. She turned a corner a bit too quickly and that loose connector gave out. Her body slammed into the metal floors making her feel so dizzy as her overly sensitive body sent the wrong message to her core and she sobbed out an orgasm.

<<I can smell the mess you've made Byte>> She looks over her shoulder and holds in her binaric scream as he is kneeling right there. She only can pull her body once before his mechadendrite shoves its connector spike into its proper port on her shoulder... too big... to much data flow.

She falls to the ground helpless as she is trying to process the sudden amount of data overwhelming her. Her eye looks to him as she lays there helpless as his mechadendrites move over her form in the same way a close lover may gently caress their partner... reach for their mechadendrites to interlock with each other to increase proximity with each other. << I would beg... but those processes have no bearing on your actions>> She sends to him as she can hear the way his eye zooms on her form.

<<Correct. You have been trouble. Punishments will be doled out to an extent I deem appropriate.>>

<<Statement: You are a monster>>

<<Incorrect Statement. Corrected Statement: I am an Angel of the Emperor>>

<<Defiant jab: I hope you Rust and you malfunction>>

She could hear him 'chuckle' as he grabbed her and pulled her close. <<We will be leaving this location soon. To meet with more appropriate individuals>>

<<Why bother telling me?>>

<<Due to disagreements you might have with them>> Is all he said to her before her world went dark once more.

[cosmica-galaxy]

Does byte ever get in serious trouble after adventuring causing chaos when he's older? if so, how did the human and his adopter buddy react?

He did actually. Not only that, but his siblings were with him.

The straw that broken the camel's back on Buddy's patience with the rambunctious Campup was when they all decided to explore on their own in the nearby suburbs...that were populated with hostile mimics.

They were told to never go there, but Buddy insisted--despite Melody's VERY stern protests. She still went with them anyway to make sure they were okay.

However, things took a turn for the worst when the hostile group found them and the three were sent running for their lives. Despite the fact they wouldn't eat them, they would still kill them for being competition...especially since Byte was showing signs of being a "pack prince" for his little ears and markings, which meant that he was the son of another Alpha.

So they got chased through allies, over fences, and inside abandoned buildings. Melody even almost gets caught by one of the hostile mimics. You know that scene where Nala is sliding down the rockface towards the jaws of Shenzi and Simba swipes her face to save Nala? That's pretty much what happened.

They finally get cornered under an overturned dumpster and Byte tries to remain fearless, but the gnashing jaws of the enemy make him fearful.

Then, a roar rings out making the hostiles pause before they're attacked by Buddy. Slashing, gnashing, and slamming jaws and body parts ring out in the alley as Buddy thrashes the hostiles about. There were a lot, though.

However, backup is not too far behind as Pal lands not too far away from the overturned dumpster, dropping the human and Fiend off before assuming an attacking position. Frill raised to the max, size intimidating, and letting out a warning series of rattles causing the hostiles freeze and pause. Not even counting Fiend's growling and wide open mouth, displaying their clear intentions.

Buddy, with a final demanding roar, sends the hostiles packing and running for cover as the mimic trio protect their young. Melody hurries over to Pal in fearful tears and Menace runs for the safety of Fiend's legs and coat.

However, the moment Byte steps out, Buddy locks onto him and begins to scold him harshly.

Buddy warned him about the outside world NUMEROUS times and he nearly got Melody killed. He's even scolded in mimicry (Mimic sounds for communication, like snarls or clicks.); to which the pup can only stand there huddled on the ground as their Alpha father figure was...genuinely beyond upset.

Buddy doesn't even give him the dignity of walking home on his own, he picks him up by the scruff of his neck like a kitten and begins to walk home with the promise that from that moment forward, things would be different.

The rest follow suit and all of them are grounded for wandering so far away.

Thankfully, the human noticed their absence and started looking for them, but Buddy knew something was wrong the moment they got to the fence that surrounded the compound...and found a sizable hole under it that had all the scents of the young ones on it.

From that moment forward, Byte was put through strict training and was treated much like a teenager rather than a child, as Buddy felt that he was being too lenient and it almost led to the death of Melody.

Byte began his mature training earlier because of his colossal mistake...but he doesn't blame his parents. It was his fault after all.

[migueloharasbabe]

Sex Pollen

A/N: This is my first time writing in a while. Miguel O’ Hara brought my writing back from the dead (so did Oscar Isaac, let’s be honest). I’m so excited to share this fic with you guys! Also yes I know the sex pollen trope is so overdone but... I had to. 

Content: Miguel x gn! reader (this is my first time writing for a gender neutral reader, I hope I did well). Smut, 18+. 

Words: 1.7k 

You had been working in the Spider Society for almost a year now. Although it was a bit scary when you first joined, all of the different Spiders had warmed up to you immediately, Jess taking you under her wing to show you all the ropes of just exactly what they did. Lyla helped you learn the ropes of how the technical side of things worked, and that’s what you fell in love with doing. You ended up working with Spider-Byte, both of you helping run things smoothly with getting anomalies back to their actual universe. Everyone was so sweet and welcoming. 

Everyone except Miguel O’ Hara. 

You had worked hard in the Spider Society and impressed everyone. Everyone except him. He always had a snide comment to say, or was quick to snap at you if you interrupted him in the middle of his observation of the other universes. He made your blood boil and you tried to avoid him the best you could. After countless attempts to show Miguel different ideas that you had come up with-to which he dismissed quickly, you decided to just keep your head down when you found yourself around the hothead. 

“(Y/N), how is that report coming along on that anomaly?” Miguel asked you, his head raised slightly as he looked down at you to await your answer. 

Your hands were working fast on the keyboard and you kept your eyes glued to the screen, refusing to meet his eyes. “Almost done with it,” you said simply. You looked up after a few seconds when you saw Miguel was still there, his head cocked to the side with an eyebrow raised. 

“Why the avoidance, (Y/N)? It’s almost like you’re… annoyed. Are you annoyed at me?” Miguel asks, his voice hinting at a tone of amusement. 

You pressed your tongue against your cheek and bit back a smart retort, before focusing back on the task at hand. “I’m not annoyed. Just trying to avoid small talk, you get mad anyway.” You said, voice curt. Before anything else could be said, Lyla popped into the room, interrupting Miguel as he opened his mouth. 

“Miguel, we have an anomaly spotted.” Lyla said, pulling up a screen to show Miguel what universe it was in. You started to sit down to help gain more information on this anomaly but Miguel shook his head. 

“You can go ahead and head home, (Y/N). You’ve done enough work today,” He said, his voice low. 

‘But-.” You started and Miguel just looked down at you, his eyes narrowed. 

“I wouldn’t want you to have to deal with my anger,” He said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. Before you could say anything else, he was gone through the portal and you cursed under your breath. You waved at Spider-Byte before leaving, finding yourself back in your apartment in your universe. You tried to ignore the bite of Miguel’s words as you changed into a soft pair of PJ’s, deciding not to let the asshole get to you. You fell back against the bed, your body instantly relaxing against the pillows. You started to close your eyes, but heard the familiar sound of the portal and lifted your head, seeing Miguel step through. He looked frustrated, but what was new? 

You pulled your covers towards you, covering up when you realized you had sheer pj’s on, heart pounding in your chest. “M-Miguel?” You ask, your voice almost a whisper. 

Miguel pulled his mask off and you noticed that he was panting, his chest rising and falling in quick succession. You started to come towards him, but Miguel put a hand out, and you noticed his claws were out. 

“Don’t. Just… stay right there.” Miguel growled and you froze. “The anomaly led me out into a field. Lots of different flowers around, and one species happened to produce sex pollen.” 

“Oh,” was all that managed to come out of your mouth. Your heart started to thud against your chest even harder, almost able to feel the tension in the air. 

“Yeah, I don't really know why I brought myself here, but….” Miguel trailed off, slumping down against the wall, his head falling back with a small thud. 

“Does it hurt?” You ask softly, still on the bed. You were scared to move, not because of Miguel, but because you knew what would happen if you got close to him. It’s not like you hadn’t thought of Miguel in that way-he was an attractive man, but you guys hated each other. Or you thought you did. The heat in your stomach was saying otherwise at the way that he was looking at you, eyes dark with need and lust. 

“Not terribly. It’s nothing I can’t handle,” Miguel said with a small smirk. “Mierda,” He growled, his hands digging into the carpet, tearing shreds into the fabric. You tried your best not to imagine him moaning, his hand gripping the headboard as his other ripped at your sheets. You tried not to imagine his tongue in your mouth, how it would feel to have his cock inside you. The room suddenly felt unbearably hot and you moved to open a window, covers be damned. You felt Miguel’s eyes on you, and it made you warmer. 

“If you’re trying to tempt me, it’s working.” Miguel says, motioning to your pj’s and you quickly cover up again. 

“You’re the one who showed up here unannounced.” You bit back, trying to ignore the guilt clouding your annoyance. 

“Mhmm, that I did.” Miguel said almost matter-of-factly. “If it’s an annoyance though, I can leave,” Miguel said, starting to get up and open a portal. Before you knew it, you were across the room and had a hand on his wrist. You found yourself on the bed as soon as your hand touched his skin. Your breath hitched in your throat as Miguel hovered above you, his black hair falling forward slightly, his mouth slightly parted. 

“I told you not to get close to me, (Y/N). You have a bad habit of not listening, you know that?” Miguel quipped, one of his hands coming up to touch your chin, his thumb brushing against your bottom lip. 

“I listen plenty. It’s you who doesn’t listen. You act like you can’t stand me,” you admit, biting your lip in regret as there’s a slight flash of hurt in Miguel’s eyes. 

“Can’t stand you? You’re one of the most brilliant people we have on the team,” Miguel says, his voice soft. 

“Then why do you shut down all of my ideas?” You ask, confusion lacing your tone. 

“Because most of your ideas involve you putting yourself in risky situations,” Miguel says and you can tell that he’s being sincere. He winces slightly and you frown. 

“I thought you said the pollen doesn’t hurt.” 

“It doesn’t. For a bit, but… if I don’t do anything about it soon, It can.” Miguel explained. “I don’t want to pressure you though, and I’m pretty sure this is already pressuring you enough,” He said, almost through a groan as he tried to get up, but you pulled him back down to you. 

“No, I’m not pressured. I promise,” you say, your voice sincere. Miguel lets out a small growl, his lips landing on yours. His tongue slips inside your mouth, your hands finding his hair and you hear a moan escape his mouth. His lips meet yours in need, his hands going to grip at your hips. You start to slowly move your hips against Miguel’s, his lips falling open in a groan. 

“Fuck,” he growls out, his cock throbbing against you. You feel as one of Miguel’s hands come up to your pj’s, a gasp escaping your mouth as his claws rip it off of you. 

“Miguel-,” you start to protest but are cut off by Miguel’s lips against your neck, his tongue licking against your skin. 

“I’ll buy you another one, promise,” he mutters against your neck. A moan escapes your mouth when Miguel’s hand travels down to your dripping core, a breathy chuckle muffled against your neck. “You’re so wet for me already, cariño.” 

“Miguel, please,” you plead, suddenly hating how needy you sound right now. 

“Please what?” Miguel teases, lifting his head up to look into your eyes. 

“Please fuck me,” you beg and Miguel smirks. His lips meet yours passionately, his tongue slipping into your mouth again as he lines himself up with your entrance. The tip of his cock presses against your entrance and you gasp as he slowly bottoms out inside you, your hands gripping his shoulders. Miguel lets out a groan, his face burying into your neck as he slowly starts to move his hips. 

Your fingers move to rest in his hair, tugging slightly as you move your hips in time with Miguel’s. The sound of skin slapping against skin and moans fill the room, a melody that is like music to both you and Miguel’s ears. His lips trail kisses up your neck to your ear before he whispers: 

“You’re taking me so well, mi tesoro.” 

A surge of warmth rushes through your body at Miguel’s words and you let out a whimper. His hips start to pick up the pace and you wrap your legs around his waist, pulling him deeper into you. You feel as a familiar warmth courses through your body, your orgasm right on the horizon as Miguel continues to fuck you. 

“Miguel, I’m-.” You cut off with a moan. 

“I know, baby, I know.” Miguel says softly, his lips covering yours in a passionate kiss as you finally reach your orgasm, body twitching slightly as it comes in waves. Miguel continues to rock his hips against yours, a growl low in his throat as his free hand comes up to rest on the pillow, claws tearing gashes into it. His hips start to stutter as he chases his own high, finally reaching his peak when he lets out a low groan against your lips, the pillow now almost shredded to ribbons. 

Miguel pulled you close to him, breathing now slowing as he looked down at you. He touched your cheek, his thumb rubbing gently against the skin. 

“Thank you for the help, (Y/N).” Miguel says softly, placing a gentle kiss to your forehead. “And as for your ideas… I’ll hear them out again. As long as I can protect you if there’s trouble,” 

“I can handle myself, but how can I say no to that?” You tease, a smile forming on your face as Miguel rolls his eyes playfully. 

“Cállate.” He says back, hitting you softly with a non-ruined pillow. 

[mister-e-muss]

Backlog Report. Another month has come and gone. Surprisingly, I only have one singular game to talk about this time around.

Harvestella

This game had the unfortunate start of being announced when the Switch was already being flooded with farming simulators, so a fair amount of people wrote it off by virtue of over saturation. Those that were more interested in it mostly looked forward to it as “Final Fantasy Meets Stardew Valley.” However that comparison is mostly because people don’t play RPGs or Farm Sims, so it’s really just the first example they can list off the top of their heads. I feel like “Rune Factory x NieR x Etrian Odyssey” is a much more accurate comparison.

I’ve played a fair amount of Rune Factory, but it’s never really been an obsession for me. I’m not too deeply motivated to keep farming and greeting villagers daily for their own sake. I prefer more meat and density to my games than wide sandboxes. To that end, Harvestella fit my tastes to a tee, as it places a much higher focus on narrative compared to RF. It has a very unique take on fantasy/sci-fi fusion, and doesn’t take too long to set up its mysteries and hooks. I’m a sucker for ‘Seemingly medieval world swerves hard into science fiction’ type of stories.

As for presentation, it’s absolutely gorgeous. The environments are varied, appropriately themed, and bursting with color and personality. (Except for the places where they don’t, but that’s no purpose.)

Here are a few screenshots to illustrate:

However, there is one problem with the presentation: No Voice Acted Dialogue. Not every game needs voice acting, mind you. It’s just as much a consideration as a capped frame rate, or a pixelated art style, or cel shading. Not every game will run at 120FPS at 2160p resolution, or use Star-studded industry legends in its cast. However Harvestella is odd in that the playable characters do have voice acting, but only in battles. It hampers the cutscenes a bit because the models rely on reusable animations a lot, and without any kind of snappy voices, cutscenes can feel stiff. There’s also the shock of taking a character into battle and Wow Brakka sounds exactly Nothing like what I was reading him. It’s just odd to me because more than enough games at least use a ‘character is [blank] emotion’ type of sound bytes as extra character-specific punctuation marks. They had enough budget to give all their characters battle lines, but couldn’t extend that to include an ‘AriaShockedGasp.mp4”?

The gameplay is a little bit basic. It’s not particularly innovative in its farm sim or job-changi action rpg halves, but it is very solid, with a sizable amount of customization and a satisfying loop of rewards. Hell, there were moments where I shunted story progress entirely just to do all the sidequests I could. The bosses in particular are some highlights to me, as the unique Break system makes each and every one of them a puzzle in how to maximize damage, and when to press your advantages.

In summary, Harvestella by no means reinvents the wheel. It does, however, provide a smooth and fun ride while it lasts. It has a demo on the eShop, I highly recommend you play that and see if it hooks you.

EDIT: Oh yeah, I forgot to mention: the music kicks ass so hard.

[p5x-theories]

@loufiy sent me this GitHub folder they found with what appears to be decrypted versions of some of the BYTES files I can't open myself, and there's some potential new story information in here!

Two disclaimers:

As I can't decrypt these myself, I can't absolutely confirm they're real. However, considering how many of these files there are, and the fact that I can see these files exist in the game files even if I can't open them, it would be an awful lot of trouble for a fake.

Note that these files are from Version 1.3.1, according to the poster. Some things here may have changed since then, and/or Google translate may not give completely accurate translations of everything.

As a warning, this could be considered spoilers for the next story arc, as it goes through what the in-game text indicates will happen.

I'm focusing on the ConfQuest files, as those are the ones loufiy pointed me in the direction of. There's so many other files in this folder that it'd take me forever to look through all of them- it'd be a bit of a needle in a haystack situation, haha. So I appreciate them giving me a direction!

The animal girl's quest is marked as "obsolete", along with the original version of the orange cat's quest. Given the cat's quest was redone and re-added, this probably means they're reworking the girl's quest to add in later. It looks like this may be the case for one of the other side quest characters as well?

Interestingly, the Shibuya mascot's quest, the blonde Shinjuku man's quest, and Kazuhiko Tsuda's quest are all not marked as obsolete, despite not being available in-game at the moment

"Concerto for Rule-Breakers"- the next story arc- has quests listed here despite them not being implemented in the game yet. It seems a new teacher will be introduced at Kokatsu, 明石 (probably Akashi?), and reacts oddly towards Ms. Katayama. Later, in Mementos, the shadow that Wonder and Cattle fought when leaving Mementos for the first time reappears, and they have to defeat it again. It rains the next day, and Wonder runs into Riko on the way to school. The new teacher is formally introduced to the school, but now Katayama is acting weird. Another day passes, and it's unclear exactly what happens- other than Wonder eating lunch with Shun on the roof- but the text for that evening says some "unpleasant things" happened that day. The day after that, Katayama gets in trouble, and Mr. Hakozaki substitutes in for her class. The next day passes, and Wonder talks to Riko. The Phantom Thieves go to Mementos again to look for the next Palace. Apparently they find it, as the next quest says they found the new teacher's Shadow in Katayama's Palace? After that, Shun invites them to eat at Toraiken, and the next quest says Wonder learned some things about Katayama that day. The next day Wonder sees Riko talking to Katayama. More time passes, and the Phantom Thieves gather on the rooftop to discuss Katayama; a quest mentions her "past mistakes" she's being punished for. The day after that Wonder apparently made plans to meet up with Riko in Kichijoji, which Motoha and Shun join him for. After they talk, Riko apparently wants to get more information about the new teacher, leading to Wonder talking to the teacher as a distraction. This sounds like it goes well, and they meet back up with Riko at the cafe in Kichijoji, then head into Mementos after that. Later, Riko and Wonder go to the Student Guidance Room together, while Shun and Motoha have a conversation elsewhere in the school, and it seems they manage to gain some information from the new teacher's laptop. The next day has Wonder meeting up with Shun and Motoha, but then the following quest mentions they all return to Shibuya safely, and Riko asks them about the "other world". This day ends, and Wonder visits the Velvet Room in his sleep, then wakes up in the morning to no Ruferu. At school, Riko apparently asks people about the Palace. Motoha adds her to their group chat. They end up meeting up at a bar in Shinjuku, and after that, talk to Katayama herself. This conversation causes Riko to speculate there may be two Palace rulers in the Palace. At school the next day, the school summons everyone to the gym, and after, the Phantom Thieves discuss the new teacher's change of heart. Meanwhile, Polter is in Yongen-Jaya, with a weird app on her phone.

TLDR for the new plot: A new teacher comes to Kokatsu, and though it's Katayama's Palace that the Phantom Thieves find, the new teacher seems to have a Shadow in there as well. Riko gets involved after the real Katayama gets in trouble at school, and eventually helps them gain even more information about the situation when they access the new teacher's laptop. This endeavor seems to lead to Riko joining the team. After eventually causing the new teacher to have a change of heart, Riko speculates there's actually a second Palace ruler involved with this Palace.

[intercal]

here are my mental notes of how I want to implement a mark and sweep garbage collector in Rust:

I think I am just going to do a pool of bytes to start. the pool will be some fixed size, like 2mb (standard size of a hugepage).

and in fact, there will be multiple pools, and they will be organized as a linked list. if the first pool fills up, then I will allocate a new second pool, and create a pointer to the second one inside of the first one.

no plans for generational garbage collection yet, or compaction. moving pointers and updating stale references, especially in Rust, sounds like a magnificent pain. I can't imagine holes being a big issue either.

this is going to be a massive pain in the ass no matter what because Rust is Like That (I'm already running into issues with static globals)

that's all for now. bye!

[lobyuslucas]

Talking about my musical choices for Splatoon 4 and what I wanted for the next game in this franchise

General context:

The music from Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 in multiplayer:

An undeniable fact is that Splatoon would probably be better off in the hands of SEGA directors, taking into consideration Jet Set Radio and most of the Sonic games, just seeing the soundtrack of both games that fit into Multiplayer and Story Mode, since Rock with Sonic Adventure to Jazz punk and acoustic instruments with Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Colors, or even more ambient music and the totally surreal sounds of Hero Mode, with Hideki Naganuma's Sounds in Jet Set Radio. Even more so, the urban culture theme of Jet Set Radio would be perfect for Splatoon 4, as this is not as well explored and seen in Splatoon 2

Pizza Tower Soundtrack:

In addition to the Goofy sounds and good rhythms, a sound like "Bye Bye There" being the final farewell to humanity and to Splatoon 1 itself would be ideal to replace the same massive plot of Idol songs played at every holy end of the game. The Noise Update Soundtrack for Salmon Run fits Salmonids' Spicy Little Gremlins personality, perhaps "World WIde Noise" would be a great theme for Salmonlings if we get that one day

Jet Set Radio/Bomb Rush Cyberfunk in Hero Mode:

"The Concept Of Love" is a good choice to be in the style of "Shark Bytes" and "Hide and Sleek" but much more punk, "Sneakman", "Fly Like A Butterfly" and "Teknopathetic" are good to play in confrontations against Rival Octolings (Although I wanted more of Inklings and Octolings in general, without the cliche of Rival Octoling Hair, which would be good to have available as available hair for an Octoling), and some separate aspects as something for more nocturnal activities , like "watchyaback!" and "Electric Tooth Brush", something in the style of "Nine Out Of Tension" and "Tentacular Circus", as well as "Right There, Ride On", sounds for stages with a focus on Ink Rails being something like "Ride Of Fry", as well as "Feel The Funk", and other specific things

Most memorable areas:

Some songs from Sonic CD I included because I wanted more memorable areas, this would serve to make the hero mode more memorable, just like Sonic was a classic era, it would bring more memories to those who play the game, that's why songs like "Metallic Madness" or "Spring Yard", something that was variable where each sector has its specific challenges and its focus that could vary between puzzles, speed, quick thinking or just stopping to appreciate the level design

Agent 4 and his "Endless Possibilities" :

Most people are probably thirsty for Agent 4 in the next Splatoon, I'm the type who compares Agent 3 with Shadow, so such an emotional sound for a final battle like "Endless Possibilities" would be perfect for a face-to-face fight against Agent 4, especially considering what this song is about

The Idols of the next game:

I thought a lot about a group of 4 idols, to finally be able to put at least two men to break the standard of women, in addition to putting more songs from that party atmosphere with Funky rhythm like something like "Soda City Funk" and "Next To Me " as the main theme, in addition to electronic breakbeat rhythms from Hideki Naganuma for Turf Wars such as "GET ENUF" and "Never 4ever", or even classic video montage types. EXE" such as "YO-KAI Disco" and " Radical City: Living In The City" (by the way, Sonic R's OST would be a good inspiration as it is this fast and energetic House Music). My choices come from the fact that I wanted an aesthetic that ranges from POP of the 90s and EDM of the 2000s, with its members inspired by classics from those times.

Bands in general:

We would probably have a continuation of Punk Rock, but I would prefer something more Industrial Rock, a style of music more like "Boarder 70" and "Rhythm and Balance... for White Jungle". There could be exploration of genres such as Breakbeat with acoustic Jazz instruments, such as "Windmill Isle" and "Sweet Mountain", Big Band as in the Team Fortress 2 OST but more similar to the community remixes. The band "Chirpy Chips" could adopt a style from Scott Pilgrim's OST or HI-FI Rush, and could expand these genres to remix the already famous songs in Splatoon

...if I have the option to have Octoling Rival Hair, I'll be happy enough

[writingmochi]

an honest review of orange blood from musical and conceptual observation (not proofread)

opening remarks: wow... they really let go of manifesto saga all together, huh? ngl i think they're doing this to cater towards the dark moon audience (as per what sunghoon said in the vlog they did in lotte world towards solon, "are you more famous than me? you are me."

also, i'm gonna be truthful here: i haven't kept up with their lore stuff after border era finished (actually it's more of because i've been straying from kpop a lot now). i used to read webtoons but idk man i still think that hybe is really pushing their artists into making intellectual properties so they can license it to everyone (the successful ones are tiny tan and bts universe) but when you're here for the artistry in the music and audio visual aspect of the music, you kinda feel being left behind. so, relating to another hybe artist, i kind of like txt separating from their star seekers character but dark moon is technically enhypen's (and &team's) dna now.

concept-wise visually, i think it's good. we love a sanskrit representation with ksana and kalpa, but i think it'll be more interesting if they dig deeper into what it means cosmological, mythological, etc and relate it towards dark moon, sooha/selen, the werewolves of sunshine city and more.

also, it's an interesting choice on hybe's behalf to make a comeback between &team and enhypen around the same time, especially since they are brothers-with-rivalries group (yes, i just coin that teehee)

i can go on on a tangent about how belift doesn't know where enhypen's is going long-term wise but... eh, that's for another time...

let's start!

1.mortal: intro track as always! i love the more lo-fi instrumental of it (it can be a good bgm to reflect on mortality akfbauewiue4g) i also love that every member participates here, either by monologuing or singing. it's like a poem in a short film (it could actually be in the concept trailer, cmiiw) and i think it's gonna be a good visual spectacle on concerts (which given the state of kpop now. they will do tours even for EPs, too criminal actually)

also WHY THE FUCK IS THIS LONGER THAN THE TITLE TRACK FFS (unless this is not a monologue, but dialogues between differing perspective, i agree that it should be that long) oh gosh...

2.sweet venom: AINT THIS JAKE'S ERA?! my boy!!! also WE GET A FREAKING BRIDGE ISTG YOU DON'T KNOW HOW UNEXPECTED THAT IS AS SOMEONE WHO MISSES ENHYPEN'S BRIDGES (given-taken my love). from the post i made before this, i mentioned hybe is doing something interesting and the answer is... we're returning to 2020 hybe again with their retro-sounding title tracks like chasing the feeling, god of music, and this. also, i watched the mv first before hearing the audio and i love the stop-motion mv like for real (definitely matches the music)

i definitely can see and hear the michael jackson influence for this comeback and the choreo, funk is his genre after all. but the funk is making it easy-listening that it doesn't overwhelm those who aren't funk and disco listeners. the orchestral bytes in the bridges make it nostalgic towards songs in the 90s. it definitely is trying to cater towards gen z's affection towards nostalgia (which hits me too with the mj influence, riki probably likes this comeback so much :D)

highlights? oh the three oldest hyungs get it. jake has never been the center of a comeback (it's always heeseung or jungwon) and i love that he can hold himself up, for my fellow jaeyun lover be prepared to see him in thumbnails now~ heeseung and jay's vocals? chef's kiss! get those falsettos, kings! and their runs in the verses is just so good ughh

also, another tangent of me of the vocal mixing incoming. i think it's better but niki's voice sounds unrecognizable in the audio. maybe it's because his voice hasn't stop evolving or what not but yeah, if i didn't watch the mv first, i wouldn't recognize niki's voice. also the last chorus can be given two more bars cause it just unsatisfyingly ends? and i can understand why sunghoon doesn't have that much lines here because (and don't cancel me on this) it doesn't suit his timbre much because his voice is more on the baritone range than the others who are tenor and this song is in a high key. if maybe they can lower the key like a full step than it can match his voice more...

3.still monster: emo-ballad enha? is that you? the start does sound a bit more bossa-nova ish before the drums kick in. i love how muted the instrumental is so that we can hear the vocals more. it definitely has the analog phone filter to it, kinda of reminds me of haru haru by big bang but mellower. i think i know that synth keyboard sound font is because it sounds so vintage and i like how it harmonizes with the guitar. i can definitely play bass to the song *cue me trying to make the bass tab in my free time after this*. i can hear sunghoon again yay! also we love the ad-libs at the last chorus. get it, heeseung! and this song is very heeseung actually lol

4.blind: wow... synth? at the start i think this is gonna be like cyberpunk by ateez but then it goes into a more rnb route. i almost thought also jersey club percussion, okay drum fills in the pre-chorus. and BAM... synthwave! this is more like take me home by ateez. i think this could even be an ateez song, but it's not as abrasive as the ones ateez makes. that post-chorus part though when the bass kicks in, the fuck was that? and why can't we got more of that D:?

but i actually like how slow it's taking, like they're trying to take the vibes in first, ya know? i think it is because this is their first venture to synthwave from a more rnb/hip-hop-based set of songs. they tried it with tamed-dashed but this is a mature, slower version of it. also, heeseung with the ad-libs istg!!! heeseung stop it, don't tug my heart string like that. that bounce between sunghoon and niki, we like that!

5.orange flower (you complete me): *cue onf's complete* you complete... ME~~~~ when i see the tracklist, that's the kind of song i predict with this title. and, a signature of enhypen in this album, we have a more mellow version of the style they're going with this song. they're also catering this towards gen z as this is like the type of songs that's gonna be placed in a "indie rock end credits" type of music. it's pretty predictable with a name like orange flower for it to be a feel-good song. i actually like this more than tfw cause the instrumental is more optimistic.

i also like the verses more than the chorus (kinda a bit anti-climatic for me) but it still gives of a music that you play while riding bicycles with your friends around sunset (wish i could do that again but growing up is pain ehheheheeh)

6.sweet venom (english ver): since this is just sweet venom but in a different language, i'm gonna focus more on vocal performance and lyrics.

i like how gritty they sound, like the textures in their voice i can hear it better. the way the pronounce the words is clear enough to be deciphered. i love the pre-chorus in korean version better but i know that they're trying to make the lyrics make sense in the language. idk why but heeseung sounds better here like my man wtf is on with you istg

7.sweet venom (ft. bella poarch): first: i don't have beef with bella poarch cause i don't really care about her. she's just another influencer trying to survive the internet and life honestly. i think it's also another situation how engenes are jealous because enhypen's with a girl because they're delulu that enha can only be with them through sooha lmao (read: enhypen now performing bite me with female partners) because they dig into controversies that don't really involve them (international engenes, especially westerners). i just think that what western engenes are doing with the situation is reacting the same way that korean engene react to them during bite me era. it's part of stan culture and to break it, it's gonna be hard.

second: since this is technically sweet venom eng ver with bella poarch, i'll be focusing on vocal performance and lyrics (if they decide to change it)

even from the mixing, you can hear the difference from the vocals. bella's voice is much more airy with more reverb than enha's. i also think that it makes the song more richer, especially with the harmonics, some are a bit unnecessary. but from me, this changes sweet venom's color from a full orange color towards a peachy one with bella's feminine influence.

closing remarks: i definitely didn't expect to like this album as much.

coming from unliking three enha title tracks in a row, even i can't believe that i like the sound of this album. the sound is more cohesive; a mellow rnb touch in every track as they combine with other genres (sweet venom with funk, still monster with emo-ballad, blind with synthwave, and orange flower with indie rock) yet they still try to push the boundaries of genres they wanna try.

the highlight of the overall album is definitely heeseung. he kills it with his vocal performance and i love how versatile he is as he pushes some fancy things in one song and dim it in another, creating a more diverse set of texture for each song. jay is close second because this album just shows how much of a powerhouse he is (i think his music diversification with listening to rock songs helps him with that).

when it comes to the whole comeback, imo, it doesn't really match that well from both audio and visual. it's like they have two different visions cause the theme doesn't matches with between the art and music direction. it's like if belift just said "the main theme of this album is orange." okay so what do you mean orange? like visually, the concept photo is very orange-like and the music does sound orange to me, but what is the connection here? it also definitely shows with how enha can't explained what orange blood means in one interview they did. because i don't understand what they're trying to say with the phrase orange blood. is it orange because it's like fire? is it orange because it is derived from red blood? if it's like fire, then why did we get a funk song?

also, what saddens me is the track listing like only 5 new songs + one is more like monologue. even i can see it as a scam if you actually are trying to use your money to buy an album + they have 3 versions of this album with randomized photocard. please treat your money carefully!

final ranking:

7.sweet venom (english ver.)

6.mortal

5.sweet venom (ft. bella poarch)

4.still monster

3.orange flower (you complete me)

2.sweet venom

1.blind

small conclusion: DON'T INTERACT WITH VENOM AND POISON, FOLKS. ITS DANGEROUS FOR A REASON: YOU CAN DIE!!11!!! THERE AREN'T ANY SWEET VENOM UNLESS IT IS SUGAR (N EVEN THAT CAN CAUSE YOU DIABETES)

also, here's my predictions for the next entry of the blood series:

following the colors of the rainbow, it's gonna be yellow/golden blood. it's gonna make the blood series have seven albums from the colors of the rainbow (red = jungwon, orange = jake, yellow = ???)

following the next phrase related to blood (and because of selen from the lore), it's gonna be blue blood: a term used to refer to noble birth, royalty, etc here's me hoping they do a more dpr ian miito sound for a regal comeback

[brutalist-interruptus]

ABLATIVE ABSOLUTION A brittle haze has settled into the bike-path that lifted my spirit with a

litany of ivy grown wild and irresponsible. A blinking string of building block satellites strewn across the

snow-globe Thursday evening tightens

like a piano wire on skin, shedding its static imagery and 90s candy-

flavored ketamine treatments into what remains of the air.

Not so long ago I stood in the middle of the marrow bones of the earth,

where I felt so small,

yet so very large all in the same instant.

Where I prayed to no particular god that the limpid prehistoric

molecules were predestined to find a home

in all the negative space in me.

One more ignored calendar with all the stenciled sharpie events;

creased and curved like matchstick men

that spontaneously combusted in the too-hot sun.

There is a maddening roar of freedom somewhere in the distance,

somewhere beyond the feline coil of highway bitumen

and glassy-eyed zero sum sound-bytes.

Under it all, the storm drain starts running red.

[antihibikase2]

Request a drabble using this prompt list!

Even at his worst, Ghetsis had a code of honor- at least, that was what he liked to tell himself.

At the arrival of his son along with The Hero of Truth, he scoffs and taps his cane against the icy floor, claiming that the true battle has yet to begin- and allows the heroes ample time to prepare, claiming he is a fair man.

He finds himself saying that, even as N stops himself from declaring his father a monster- for the damaged states of Nikolai, of Hugh, of Rosa, and of Cheren, three of which were nearing death.

Hilbert approaches Nate, still in a state of shock, still kneeling on the floor, still shivering from the attack; the same attack that Cheren took for him.

Cheren, in his hold, was cold and still; like a broken doll.

The Hero of Truth takes his heart into his arms, walking him to a stone pedestal.

Nate follows, blocking out Ghetsis' gloating voice with the sound of the keychains swinging on his bag, his damaged soundboard beeping and playing distorted, choppy bytes of music.

As Hilbert places Cheren on the pedestal, he whispers something Nate could not hear- a secret like the contents of his letter.

But he doesn't leave just yet, his warm hand pressed against Cheren's cold cheek.

Nate looks down at his mentor and his frostbitten hands, tears welling up in the corner of his eyes.

"Big bro, I-"

In his mind, Cheren is by the bench at Aspertia's lookout, melancholic and waiting.

"I've been thinking of what you told me, of what it means to be a hero,"

Cheren would look away from Aspertia's sunset, instead of lying still.

"I can't- I can't forget the things you said to me,"

Cheren would have smiled at him, laughing off the serious conversation they would be having- instead of begging Nate to run away, to never become a hero.

"I- I understand now, I-"

The Hero of Truth holds his shaking hand, squeezing it- the power of Reshiram must have been coursing through his veins, with how warm his touch was.

"You're Zekrom's chosen, aren't you?"

At the mention of the black dragon's name, Nate saw bits of static on his palm, barely repelled by Cheren's cardigan- Cinccino fur, he remembered.

"You- both of us have a lot of things we want to tell him, but now-"

From behind them, Reshiram spreads its majestic wings, shielding the party and its injured twin from the view of Ghetsis and Kyurem.

The bursts of fire felt like a warm summer day.

"..let's finish what I've started first, alright?"

Nate didn't meet his gaze once.

But, with a stiff nod and one last glance at his mentor, he adjusted his visor and prepared himself for battle.

[oplishin]

where the water tastes like wine: some thoughts

where the water tastes like wine is an indie game that has you walking across the continental united states while trading stories based in american folklore and watching them grow. "atmospheric" is a cliche so frequently used that it now means nothing, but the game is really great at that!! the music, by ryan ike of "west of loathing" fame, is so, so good. like so good. there's a primary song that plays throughout the game, and as you travel, multiple renditions of it play based on what region you're currently in.

the art for this game is also gorgeous, just look:

the gameplay itself is primarily walking simulator, and that's where we run into the game's biggest issues: jank, and confusing mechanical choices. the walking itself is slow, but i don't really have a problem with that. the stories you pick up are numerous and impactful, and walking isn't that tedious when you can sit back and listen to the music and digest the stories. one of the game's primary mechanics, probably there to make the walking more interesting, is the player's ability to speed up the pace through whistling. the issue with this is that the whistling doesn't sound very good, and it plays on top of the music. and it doesn't align, at all. it creates a pretty jarring experience. this is definitely a game made by artists, writers, musicians, and not game developers.

the gameplay primarily looks like this:

the stories themselves start to blend together after a while, although that may just be an issue with my playstyle. i mostly remember the stories from the start of my playthrough. some of them are beautiful, and sad, and hopeful, and wonderfully scary. i really like these mini-bytes of narrative. you interact with these stories by making choices within them, but the stories never interact with each other. as a result, you feel like a passive viewer passing through various points of american history.

the vibes are impeccable, this really scratched the pathologic itch in me. would recommend, if you can get past the jank. although if you like video games and you follow me, chances are you're a jank lover