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#also let me know if there's any interest in another stream where I play the whole EP from start to finish this time???
b1ttle · 2 years
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Mic Check, Please! track #8: "it started here"
After 10 months (oops), the FINAL track is here!! Fun fact, this was actually the first song I wrote for this back in 2020, before I planned on writing any other ones. It was also the first full song I had written in at least 3 years at the time!
Song Art by @watermelonmountaindew <3
Mixing by my brother Alec Ferris (check out his music!)
Lyrics under the cut!
(Verse 1)
When I was younger 
All I wanted was the crown
My father wore atop his head
I swore I’d never let him down 
But look at me now
(Chorus 1)
Cause every dragon that I slayed 
Was another pill to take
And every smile he shot my way
It wasn’t enough, it was never enough 
Maybe I was never enough 
(Verse 2)
Expectations 
It was all part of the game
That I loved with all my heart
Still it broke me all the same
They only loved me for my name 
(Chorus 2)
All those walls that I built up
Just to keep from crashing down 
No one tried to break me out 
They didn’t care, no they didn’t care 
to show me how 
Until you came around 
(Bridge)
A rocky start when it began
I thought I couldn’t let you in 
You saw right through the mask I wore
You changed my world, you unlocked the door
You ended my own inner war 
(Chorus 3)
Was punished for all that I’d done 
For all the wars I could’ve won 
And all those ways that I’d fucked up 
But you didn’t care, no you didn’t care 
You showed me love 
(Ending verse)
I was waiting for my life to start 
After all that I’d gone through
But now I know straight from the heart
It started here, it started with you 
It started with you.
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faeryarchives · 3 months
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hey chat! (first years x gn! streamer reader!)
summary: random but cutesy moments with your bf and brother ortho while being on air warning: modern au! fluff just fluff and rusty writing 🙂‍↕️ characters: twst nrc first years notes: platonic/familial section for ortho (you being the shroud's sibling) !! recently read some streamer au and it made me yearn and now im dragging you guys with me 😁 + longest one i've written ...
check out the art made by our lovley marj 🤍
divider credit goes to @cafekitsune !! her dividers are rlly cute check it out 🤍
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✧.* ace trappola
being a streamer with a clingy boyfriend is really interesting
you are a pretty well known streamer mainly focusing on rpg games and movie reviews
and you also have a pretty good fanbase - they are pretty chill, encouraging and welcoming to newcomers especially in chat (maybe the chat do reflect the streamer)
they are pretty used to the times where you would start your stream with ace in the camera view sitting next to you
the loading screen finally disappeared revealing you on screen waving at the camera. "heya (fandom name) and non-(fandom name), welcome to the stream!" a laugh escaped your lips as the chat start to flood greetings, some were spamming hearts, some are getting creative with their comments and only one stood out to you. (name)clips: our favorite most beautiful wonderful (name) i hope you had a good day! please beware of red haired rats nowadays! and oh hi ace, i guess "oh you are worried for me? sure thing, i will look out for red haired rats, right babe?" "not you again (name)clips, i know you love my partner but they would pick me over you at any day!"
while they always joke around with you and ace, you `can see how they adore your boyfriend as much as they adore you
creates compilation of you and ace during your streams + ace is a regular watcher of your fandom clip channel
@ (name)clips uploaded a new video: when (name) is going crazy but their boyfriend is crazier @ thebestace: @ (username) SEE I TOLD YOU THAT U MISSED THAT ONE SPOT @ (username): i am kicking you out of our minecraft house 😡 NAWT MY FAULT YOU SAID LETS NOT CHECK THAT ANYMORE?
and he sees it all and leave comments (very supportive bf real)
especially when the two of you do streams together specifically horror based games and movie review
"(NAME) WHERE ARE YOU?!" while trying to escape the monster in front of you, ace's character suddenly blurred in and bumped into you. his screams echoing through your headphones. "ace i am literally in front of your character- why are you closing your eyes?!" "I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO LOOK!" "just move to the sid-" before you two could move out of the way, the monster grabbed ace's character and killed him along with his screams leaving you to run away from the scene. "i will live for the both of us!" ilikepringles: LMAO NOT THE CUT OFF SCREAM?! deuce spade 🔧: wow what a normal horror game day with these two cowabunga: never heard someone hit that note so high gloomurai 🔧: what a diva trying to salvage your gameplay (you both didn't save before the encounter), you didn't notice how the door to your room opened only for ace to lean to lean on your side while burying his head into your shoulder. and as if your body was on automatic mode, you leaned your head next to him and hummed. "i hate you." "i love you too, do you want me to finish this game?" "mmmm, we could play it another time with more people..." a dangerous glint appeared in your eyes with both of you letting out evil giggles. epel felmier 🔧: just got chills running down my spine should i be scared (name) (last name) 🔧: oh yes you should be
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✧.* deuce spade
now before you even start your streaming life, deuce was the one who helped you with setting up and with the computer troubleshooting
that is why when you experience trouble during your stream, chat would typically expect him to come in your room with snacks for both of you while he fix your computer
while deuce is more on hands on, this man doesn't really understand most of the slangs your chat use that's why sometimes you include him in reading your fandom tweets
"this is a surprise video but we are going to read some of your tweets under my hashtags! and by i meant we, my boyfriend is going to join our stream today!" not even a minute in of scanning through the compilation of your fandom tweets about you, deuce looks so confused. "from @ ieattoes, not gonna lie, i would let mx. (name) (last name) to break my back like a glow stick. i'll stay on my knees for them." the man looked spaced out for a moment before looking directly at the camera with the most worried look you had ever seen. "... first of all, i don't know if i should be concerned with your username or the tweet. second, what the fuc-" "okay, next one!"
deuce is also one of your moderators! and let me tell you how he is so strict with people breaking the rules ESPECIALLY if there were mean comments about you on your chat
while he do want to uphold his running for honors persona, people disrespecting you, your viewers and friends is a different thing
randomuserjvsd: why did they just passed through that chest? its one of the most important things to do in the game? rebeccabot: aren't you that one streamer accused of hacking? fgsvklvbdhsv: LMAO SHIT GAMEPLAY WATCH (name) DRAMA CHANNEL INSTEAD it was a norm for you to receive such comments but who cares? your community knows you well and you know you did nothing wrong but to play the game. "hi to my favorite haters, thank you for viewing my stream! i don't know about you but tuning in live helps me makes money so..." through out the game, you notice how one by one those channel start disappearing in the chat, peaking your interests. "oh my, that is interesting." one and only ace 🔧: LMAO ONE TAP DEUCE STRIKES AGAIN deuce spade🔧: don't worry love, just continue your stream 😊
deuce's mom, dylla, knows about your hobby and fully supports you with it! even sending you some gifts to try on stream and promote them
pretty sure deuce and his mom are one of your biggest supporters in the fan base really - like mother like son (they are leading the fan war whenever someone drags you into a mess)
he knows he is not much of a gamer but man will go lengths for you in the game
(name) (lastname) @(username) guys 🥹 my bf went through multiple domain runs to build his characters and help me with the boss and explore the new areas in fontaine + liyue 🥹 (he suck at playing games) even in star rail so he could understand what i yap about 🥹 879 replies 11.5k retweets 1.2k quotes 90k likes @ thebestace - if my man isn't like this then i eon't want hiim @ (username) - GAY SPOTTED IN REPLIES?!?!?! @ cddiamond - HAPPY PRIDE 🌈🏳️‍🌈 @ jamilviper - congratulations @ spadecued - hey i don't suck that much at games :( @ (username) - remember how you died to a ruin hunter @ spadecued - that was when i start playing the game ??
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✧.* jack howl
"... since we ended the game late and some of you don't want to leave yet, why don't we have a quick chat?" while you are having a small talk with your viewers after finishing your nth game run, your chat start to flood the stream at a fast pace ji9star: are my eyes playing me or something just passed through (name's) door? lightray: and it's 3am too... kreideprinz: how can you guys see a shadow when their hallway is so dark? "shadow?" curious, the viewers could only watch as you stood up and peeked out of your room. for a moment, you looked shocked and honestly the chat couldn't do anything anyways but what surprised them when that same shadow patted your head and urged you back inside. https.(name): A HAND?!?!?! (name)luvr: that is actually me scaratoes: stop the delusions ruggie bucchi 🔧: woah a mystery someone 🤭 "don't worry guys, it not a bad ghost. its a friendly neighborhood one! ace can prove it, right?"
being very open and active in your social media account, your viewers didn't expect you to be in a relationship!
sure as the kind of person who is hands on in academics and games, they didn't think you would still have time for a special someone!
its not like they are mad - they are happy !! but more like curious on who is the mystery guy!
"who is the mystery guy?" you stopped in your tracks to look at someone off camera and laughed, not wanting to spill the beans so early. the view count did increased once you reach out of the camera view only to show to the camera that you are holding someone's hand. cater diamond 🔧: oh you crazy 😭 "there is no fun if our mystery person got revealed so early, so why don't we start a game?"
in no time #friendlyneighborhoodghost start trending on twitter (not calling that app as X) - speculations about the mystery person
(name) (lastname) @(username) you guys are funny 😂 how are you so wrong about it? good luck guessing because he is also having fun with all your tweets 🤭 who knows he might be your mutual 1k replies 23.5k retweets 3.5k quotes 400k likes @ (name)clips - HOLY SHHIT WE GOT A CLUE ITS A GUY SPREAD THE WORD! @ (name)luvr - i am that mutual @ https.(name) - sweetie we support you but not with this one @ azulstan - no wait what if oomf is cooking something @ leonakingscholar - how are you two such trolls @ (name)bf 🔒 - whatever they say goes 🫡 @ jackloml 🔒 - ily 😘
its not helping them at all when you laugh at each speculations, because some of them were actually crazy
as if to add insult to injury, the mystery guy would come in your stream fully clothed and would randomly hug you from behind, - his face would always be out of camera's view and you made sure of that
it went on for months and finally, something happened
"... i don't think that was the best ending of the game, we could've save some playable character-" before finishing your insight on the game's ending, jack entered your room, his earphones on and probably just got home from training, not noticing how you were still on stream. "hey love, i am going to cook for our dinner, do you want anything?" at first there was silence, not noticing how you just froze in place and looking at him in shock. jack felt there was something wrong and finally removed his earphone, realizing that you were unmuted and your viewers probably heard it on live. "...oh." livelaughlove(name): THEY BAGGED THE ATHLETE?! jackstan: this is the best day of my life my two fave are together 😭 one and only ace🔧: LMFAO U STUPID ruggie bucchi 🔧: U HAD ONE JOB 😭 now i have to pay leona $20 thee leona kingscholar 🔧: hah told you i'm right "guess the secret is out now, finally!" you rolled your chair away from your chair to come your boyfriend and hug him from behind - proudly showing him on screen. "so yeah, this is our friendly neighborhood ghost! you guys may know him as the athlete but he is pretty active in the fandom too, right?" "i'm not subtle about being yours too, its not my fault no one believes me." scanning through his phone, jack showed a particular twitter account that sent the chat through more frenzy. white beast @(name)luvr told you guys i'm the real deal. love you @ (username) 259 replies 2k retweets 1.5k quotes 50k likes @ (username) - love u too 🤍 @ https.(name) - IT WAS REAL THE ENTIRE TIME? @ (username) - told you guys he was among you 😝
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✧.* epel felmier
it was funny how you two first met because it was just on pure accident that you got to team up in a random 5 man team
and the two of you carried your team leading to more duo team up with each other
turns out you have a lot in common too, what a strange coincidence!
and now you live together 🥂
"how did you and epel got together? oh that's such a good question!" you twirled your gaming chair around - huge grin apparent with a mischievous glint in your eyes hayikeva: not the scary vibes all of the sudden 😭 jiminijipity: they were so waiting for this moment to come kandii783: LMAO ON THE OTHER STREAM EPEL JUST GOT SHIVERS "so funny thing! you guys already know how we met through valo and we got to know each other more through discord and collaborations with other streamers. while we only play fps and rpg games on stream, we play some game specifically for two players only!" epel felmier 🔧: ??? epel felmier 🔧: what r u talking abt epel felmier 🔧: R U BACKSTABBING ME?! bokuaka4ever: WHO CALLED HIS ASS HERE? (name)#1fan: what kind of games were you two playing? "oh hi epel, no i am not backstabbing you, it's the opposite - i am sharing how we got to know love! why don't you guys guess what kind of games we play?" teresita: roblox? randomuserh: GEOGUESSER epel felmier 🔧: get that away from me "don't mind him, we almost ruined our relationship fighting about the capital of australia." rook hunt 🔧: I KNOW THE ANSWER!! epel felmier 🔧: what are YOU doing here?! leona kingscholar 🔧: its not like it was a secret, it was obvious afterall mwishxr: WHOA THEE LEONA SPEAKS "hush you two don't spoil the surprise!" as the two streamers appeared on chat, more and more people start to appear too, mostly the familiar ones. ace trappola 🔧: real i have to agree w leona on this one ruggie bucchi 🔧: (2) deuce spade 🔧: (3) jack howl 🔧: wow this is surprising sukisuki: IJBOL DID THE WHOLE GANG TUNED IN TO EXPOSE EPEL? yuriified: this is the real power of friendship epel felmier 🔧: this is not friendship this is BULLYING "alright, i guess if he won't tell then i will - we often play sky: children of light. we play other games like minecraft or stardew valley but epel in this game is so amazing because he is guiding me throughout the game and everything." epel felmier 🔧: ihy 😡 epel felmier 🔧: i am taking tubby with me 😡 sleep outside tonight "wait. no, okay i'm ending the stream" and you really did end the stream on the spot
you apologized with tears that night (no not really)
both of your fandoms know about tubby - your adopted dog/child and he will witness his parents (mostly epel) screaming at random people in game to the point that he will bark along side your screams
but sometimes u have your off days too so there were times where you might have bad game plays -> getting trashtalked by your random teammates
as soon as you peeked at the corner, your character suddenly fell down after getting headshot by the enemy team. frustrated, you let out a groan before burring your head into the pillow next to you. "(nickname) do you wan to take a break?" "no i can still go for one game, i'm really sorry epel. after i told you we would rank up..." "it's oka-... what the fuck?" surprised at the sudden change in attitude and the sound of your boyfriend's furious typing ringing in your ears, you automatically looked at the team chat realizing why he suddenly became mad. randomnamehere: wtf if you are going to troll can you not do it here? randomnamehere: so much so for being a (username) fake randomnamehere2: that is so embarrassing get your ass off rank noob (username): have u seen your stats, been covering for your skill issue the whole game "if i wasn't a streamer, i would've talked back about his ass gaming very much." applelppa: why don't you get your ass off that pc and touch grass and have a touch with nature bc YOU TWO ARE THE ONES WITH THE MOST DEATHS?! **applelppa has been muted for 24 hours** "love, you got muted again..." "COWARDS I TELL YOU! YOUR MOM WILL NEVER BE PROUD OF YOU!" "epel-" "WHY DON'T YOU *BEEP* Y-" "BRO, WAIT CALM DOWN! I AM ON LIVE!"
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✧.* ortho shroud
this little guy is a regular at your stream no doubt it!
it would be more surprising not to see ortho in one of your streams rather than being in it
ortho would entertain your viewers while you go try to tell idia to tone his screaming down (real)
"okay so do you think i should change furina's artifact or not?" leaning over your shoulder, your brother took a closer look humming, analyzing everything then shaking his head. "no, your build is actually perfect, i think you should focus more on-" "AHHHH I HATE THIS GAME!" a loud scream followed by a loud thud from the room above you cause a thousand of laughing emoji to roll in the chat. jiminijipity: lolololololo mamasita: the eldest sibling is back at it again lolololol ace trappola 🔧: did idia just died or something jamil viper 🔧: as someone who plays league, he is pretty relatable... "... not this again, ortho keep them entertained for me will you?" with annod, you left the room running and ortho casually twirling around his chair, waving excitedly at the camera. "hello everyone! how are you all doing?" orthofanreal: HI ORTHO petuniaaaa: hello ortho how are YOU doing? skibidirdir: its a miracle your neighbors haven't filed a complaint with how noisy your sibling gets in playing games "we are sure noisy, but the truth is we don't actually have any neighbors, it gets pretty lonely here at times." in the viewer's eyes, they can see ortho looking out of your window longingly before shrugging what ever was clouding his mind and smiled. "you guys might already know that our parents are really busy leaving us three to stick together most of the time. and i am glad that (name) and big brother idia would include me in their livestream so i won't feel lonely." https.shroudsiblings: oh no... who is chopping the onions :( jack howl 🔧: you know you can come over here evey once in a while right? yuu 🔧: ORTHOOOO 🙁 there were several crying emoji flooding in as well as the sound of someone crying behind him. the youngest shroud turned around to see his older siblings at the door way, holding in their tears - obviously hearing what he just said. "since when did you guys got here?" "*sniff* okay fuck league and genshin we are going to play mario kart."
it may come as a surprise but ortho is actually the best player out of the three of you
ortho being first followed by idia and you at dead last 😅
but hey who cares if you are last?! you could even play the most boring game ever but ortho will always make it like its made for fun
sometimes you would try to entice ortho with his favorite food just to turn on idia on voting what to play on game and movie night
(name) (lastname) @(username) i love my siblings very much (don't mind the ugly one at the right) 459 replies 2.5k retweets 1.1k quotes 40k likes @ orthoshroud: but isn't that big brother idia on the right? @ (username): exactly 🥰 dont mind him at all our youngest 🤍 @ randomuser: loolololol agreed @ (username): @ randomuser shut the fuck up only i can insult idia @ gloomrai: I SEE HOW IT IS I AM TELLING MOM @ mrsshroud: yeah about that idy... @ (username): IJBOL
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✧.* sebek zigvolt
and if i speak - this man will get everything just to support you
and i mean everything: your channel subscription, merch, plushie, photo cards that he made and he will still support you by sending donations + gifting subs to your fandom
sebek is very proud of you real! he is very vocal about it and he really feels giddy when you invite him to your streams
(name) (lastname) @(username) okay new waiting room for you all <3 and donations are still off so it's a sign for y'all to save money I AM LOOKING AT YOU MISTER @ wanisama 😾 (insert twitch link) 233 replies 1.5k retweets 900 quotes 20k likes @ gloomrai: to those non (fandom name) its like putting a kpop stan on merch ban for their fave artist @ lilredbat: and i was about to sen you some too @ (username): SO YOU ARE THE ONE INFLUENCING HIM 🫵 @ wanisama: :( @ (username): oh don't you go all sad on me now mister YOU'VE DONE ENOUGH 😾
but it won't be too long until he would do it again - just like a routine 😭 that is just how he shows his love okay
other than that, sebek is a pretty cuddly person and pretty much let you do what you want
while you were streaming, you suddenly faced the man with your arms wide out. "sebek babe, come here." before his mind could even process anything, his body moved on his own and quickly wrapped his arms around you. even giving you a a kiss on the head. "what's wrong?" "hehe, nothing. can you sit next to me? we just finished playing." "sure, do you want me to get some snacks?" you cuddled each other, him wrapping you into his hoodie, until you finally finished the stream.
its funny how your viewers would comment on how you are endorsing more of sebek's hoodie rather than your own merch 😭
with your relationship being out in the open, it's no surprise that both of you would shoot some videos and post stories on instagram like cooking and this is where they realize sebek is more like a boyfailure disaster than the one they see on live
"sebek?" "...yes?" "... can you tell me what are you doing right now?" in the video, sebek was trying to hide something behind him, ribbons and papers scattered around his feet. sebek avoided your gaze, hand flailing in the air. "i-i thought you were streaming?" the more you step forwards the more he tried o hide that certain thing behind him "yeah but it got delayed because the game had a sudden maintenace... oh my god is that the one i wanted to buy the other day-" "OH MY MY PHONE JUST STARTED RINGING, I THINK WAKA-SAMA IS CALLING FOR ME. FAREWELL MY LOVE."
yeaaa and don't get him with the q and a because he has a one track mind if there are questions regarding about you
i think he knows you more more than yourself
sometimes though sebek would join his friends' games and content involving everyone asking each other questions and such (like 2 truths one false or a batsu game).
"okay, my turn!" after ace spin the bottle, it landed on sebek who looks like he was about to say something that would change the world. "ah, it's sebek. now this is hard." "give me your worst, trappola." the green haired man challenged, knowing he will emerge as the victor (man vs himself). "alright! if you could kiss anyone in the world without consequences, who would it be?" "easy, my wonderful partner (name) (last name)." "that shit don't count, you do that anyways!" "@ (username) in every social media platform." riddle rosehearts 🔧: never let ace interrogate anybody (name) (last name) 🔧: AWWW BABE <333 I LOVE YOU TOO (name) (last name) 🔧: and ace open up i'm at your door 😃😊
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keys-hellscape-1020 · 2 months
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4 times you meet Red Robin, 1 time you meet Tim Drake
A/N: Sorry for disappearing these last few months. I’m not dead but I am in a serious depressive episode and you know what that means. Time to write.
Content warnings: Angst, Kidnapping, reader dissociates, they don’t get along at first, eventual fluff, this is my first time writing for Tim sorry if he’s OOC, uhhh cursing probably, let me know if I missed anything
Soulmate!Tim Drake x Soulmate!gn!Reader
————
1.
From your seat on the frosty park bench you watch the thin red thread bob in the winter wind, lit only by the pale light that is filtering down from the streetlight above you. You watch the string dance with mild interest, jerking your pinky at random intervals to make it flutter one way or another. No matter which way it sways however, you know where it will always lead. To your soulmate.
His name is Red Robin, or in other words, Tim Drake. One of the richest men in Gotham who just so happens to also be a crime fighting vigilante. A closely guarded secret that you only know thanks to a subtle design flaw in the universe. Television.
Ever since the third Robin made his first official appearance you knew. You could see the red strand trailing off his pinky, and, upon asking your father, discovered it was only you who could see it. It was at that moment, all of 14 years old, that you unofficially met your soulmate. It was at that moment, that your life was permanently altered, for better or worse.
At first, your stomach kicked in excitement. Your soulmate was a vigilante! You simply couldn’t belive your luck. You scoured the internet for any information on him, becoming one of his biggest fans in a matter of hours.
Your obsession lasted all of a few months. It came to a screeching halt when a photo of Robin kissing Spoiler was leaked. You felt your heart break, the pieces jumping up into your throat to choke you on your own disappointment and sadness.
The worst part? You knew you had no right to feel the way you did. Robin had no clue you even existed. His soulmate could be half way across the world and it become clear to you that he wasn’t intent on finding them. On finding you.
In that moment of heartbreak and spite you made a choice that would follow you for years to come. If Robin didn’t want to find you, you didn’t want to find Robin.
It wasn’t until several years later, when you were watching a broadcast of a Wayne gala out of sheer desperation to cure your crippling boredom that you first laid eyes on Tim Drake.
You sat in bored silence, letting the stream playing on your computer become background noise as you mindlessly scrolled through your phone, when suddenly an interview playing on your computer catches your attention. A man in a sleek suit with a face that you’re sure you’ve seen on tiktok before is leaning next to a man that you only recognize thanks to the name edited over the video for the sake of the viewers. Tim Drake, isn’t that guy a millionaire or something?
Pulling your attention back to the video, the interviewer is questioning him at record speed and Drake, for his credit, looks entirely unbothered. If it weren’t for the quickly concealed circles under his eyes and the way he periodically glances over his shoulder with a glazed over look, you might even say he’s enjoying the night.
As you watch Drake be interviewed, a dancing red string in the background catches your eye, stealing your breath. You watch it flitter in the background behind Drake’s head, almost as if it’s teasing you, daring you to do something with the information you now posses. You watch as Drake goes to tuck a piece of hair behind his ear, the small knotted string on his pinky finger unknowingly showing you the identity of Red Robin. It crossed your mind for a half second that they may be different people, but a quick google search reinforced what you already knew. Two different soulmates produced two different strings. You very clearly only had one.
You had laid awake all night, wondering if this changed anything, questioning if you should do something with this information. You couldn’t tell anyone, you knew that for certain. That might put him in danger and despite not even knowing the man personally, despite every fraction of your heart telling you to hurt him in anyway you could for what he’d done to you, you knew that you couldn’t live with yourself if he came to harm because of you.
And so, you bit your tongue, swallowed the ever burning desire to track down your soulmate, if only to scream in his face, and continued on with your life. Whenever the urge to track him down reared its ugly head you reminded yourself of the many photos you’d seen of him kissing someone, someone much more attractive than you. Someone who can keep up with him. Someone better. Why in the world would he want you?
The months after you found out Red Robin’s identity flew by, and despite having come to terms with it months ago, tonight you couldn’t sleep. Your room seemed to suffocate you, urging you to get some fresh air, the window of your room proving insufficient even when you stuck your whole torso out of it. It was at this point that you decided to go out, nighttime in Gotham be damned. You’d lived here your entire life, you could deal with a few muggers. And so you wrapped yourself up in a thick winter jacket over your pjs, complete with a scarf and gloves, making sure to slip some pepper spray into your pocket, where it would be easily accessible should you need it.
Nighttime in Gotham can be strangely peaceful at times, large buildings cast dark shadows which are only illuminated by weak streetlights, and depending on where you are in the city it can even be something close to quiet. You walk slowly, your boots crunching through the thin layer of ice and snow, as you navigate your way to the park.
The cold air feels nice on your face as you sit on a park bench, watching your string. Your head leaning against the back on the bench, taking in the sight of unlit buildings around you. After several minutes of sitting there in silence you finally decide to stand, a strange tingle on the back of your neck seeming to urge you towards home.
It’s only when you begin to turn that you notice the man behind you.
Before you can even register what’s going on you’ve switched the safety lock of your pepper spray and are spraying it directly into the eyes of the man with a shriek of fear.
You’re to stunned to speak as you shuffle back as quickly as possible, tripping over yourself in your panic, leaving you on your back, your pepper spray the last line of defense between you and… Red Robin? You let out a pathetic whimper of shock, which at any other moment would’ve left you horribly embarrassed but right now you’re too confused to feel anything else.
He lets out a muffled “Shit!” As he wipes at his face with the back of his glove. You stand and reflexively hand him a tissue from your pocket.
“S-Sorry.” You stutter out, watching the string cautiously float between you two in shock.
He gratefully takes the tissues and wipes his face with it, “Ah, it’s okay. The mask got most of it, just startled me was all.” He says tiredly, flashing you a weary half smile that has you feeling unfortunately weak in the knees.
“I uh-“ you find yourself at an unfortunate loss for words as you stumble through what you should say, fantasies of what you would do when you finally got the chance to meet this man face to face fleeing your mind in an instant now they you were actually in the moment.
“Are you okay?” He asks, blotted out eyes staring at you in what seems to be concern.
“Y-yeah… yeah uh… sorry I thought you were gonna try and kidnap me or something…” you said awkwardly, suddenly finding the ground very interesting as a sense of painfully strong embarrassment rushes through you.
“I knew I shouldn’t have approached you from behind.” He mutters quietly, more to himself than anything else.
“You were watching me?” You ask, creasing your eyebrows at him in concern. A hot spark of fury snaps to life in your chest. First this man breaks your heart, and then he decides to stalk you?
You swear you see him flush bright red underneath his mask. “No- no! Well, uh, actually yes- but not like that!” He stumbles through his words. “I just uh, thought you might be hurt or something, and then I uh- I saw your string and well I just thought I should say something.” He trails off awkwardly.
“Well then, what did you want to say?” You ask him, the spark of anger growing, fueled by all the painful memories that you’d acquired through the years.
“O-oh.” He looks genuinely startled for a moment at your outburst, and you would’ve felt bad had all the memories of how it felt to have to watch your soulmate flourish without you, how painful it was, not flashed through your mind.
“Well I honestly didn’t think that far ahead.” He says softly, almost shyly, as he looks at his feet and you hate how his cuteness causes butterflies to churn in your stomach. You let out a low hum as you consider your options, doing your best to ignore how adorable he looks as he glances at you and fidgets with his gloves.
“I’ve known.” You say calmly, calculatedly. If you played your cards right you could cause him a lot more pain than yelling at him ever would.
He looks up at you, a hit of confusion and concern in his voice. “Known what?” He asks.
“Tim Drake and Red Robin have one very striking similarity.” You say calmly, taking a few steps down the road that would eventually lead you home. You look back to see if he’s following and sure enough he is. You wag your pinkie at him in response.
“Ah.” He says simply, his shoulders tending.
“Relax, I’ve known for months. If I was gonna tell anyone I would’ve.” You say curtly as you begin walking home once more.
“How did you find out? Why bring it up now?” He phrases his questions as just that, questions, but you know that if you fail to answer truthfully he’ll find out quicker than you could blink. You’d looked into him over the years.
“T.V.” You say simply. “String showed up on it. As for why I brought it up, as of a few months ago Tim Drake hard launched his relationship with Bernard Dowd on Instagram. I’d be willing to bet money that the relationship had been going on for a while before that. That’d put you at dating for what, about 8 months now?” You look at him for false confirmation, you know you’re right. His shoulders are tense and you’re sure you’re receiving a scalding glare from behind his mask. You can’t help but grin in satisfaction. It’s seems your research paid off.
You see your apartment complex off in the distance and turn to face him once more. “This is all to say, you’re dating someone. What’s the real reason you approached me? Troubles in paradise?” You hum, you know you’re being nothing short of cruel right now but after watching this man completely disregard you, not care, or maybe just not realize that his soulmate would have to watch him live life without a care in the world for them, well you couldn’t help but think it was deserved.
He grinds his jaw as he looks at you. “We broke up. Not that it’s any of your business.”
“Ahh so you intended to have me be a rebound then?” You snort and look him up and down. In all your years of watching him live life without you you’d never seen him look so tense. “Well as lovely as this was, I have to wake up early tomorrow. Nice talkin’ to you bird boy.” You turn around and start walking into your apartment building. You glance behind you and see Red Robin standing where you left him, staring at you, his jaw locked tight and his mouth downtrodden in a frown. You can’t help but feel a spark of well earned satisfaction at the sight.
————
2.
You really thought chewing him out would make you feel better. You truly did. Instead all it did was make you feel guilty. You can’t even pin-point the cause of the guilt churning in your stomach, making you feel all the worse. You almost wish that he’d announce another relationship so you could feel justified. On the other hand seeing article on article about his newest love might finally drive you to the brink of insanity. Assuming you could still call yourself sane at this point.
Every night after dusk when you leave to do absolutely anything, you can see a shadow of a figure following you around. You’re sure it’s Drake, it has to be. You’ve studied videos of him and other Robins, compared and contrasted, you know how every one of those vigilantes move compared to each other and there’s only one who has the minor tells you keep seeing out of the corner of your eyes.
Red Robin. The string leading right to him just confirms your theory. He must think it’s not worth the effort to hide himself, the string would give him away no matter what. So instead he’s making sure that whenever you leave the safety of your home you know he’s there. You pour over why in your mind, you even consider the idea that he’s protecting you but in the end even just thinking the idea cause a spark of humor in you. No he must have some other motivation, perhaps making sure you know he has the upper hand? Perhaps showcasing that you can’t hide from him?
Whatever the reason, you’re sure that you’ll find out soon. He’s been getting gradually closer over the last week and a half he’s been following you. Tonight he’s been less than half a block away at all times. Every moment that you’ve been walking to and from the convince store you’ve noticed the shadow.
You’ve never been more terrified in your life.
You know you have no real reason to be. You know that he can’t wound you or bring you into the police. He has no reason and you haven’t given him anything to frame you with, at least, not to your knowledge. That’ll have to be your only comfort for now.
The subject of your fears is about to be confronted as you purposefully turn into an alleyway that you commonly avoid during the night, just as you excepted, the moment you’re half way in you hear the soft sound of feet landing behind you. You’re certain it’s only a pleasantry.
You steel your nerves as much as possible as you turn to face Red Robin. He’s looking at you with a dark expression that you can’t quite place, it causes a drumming of unease in your stomach and you can feel your heartbeat picking up in your chest. You wring your hands together tightly before crossing them over your chest.
“Can I help you.” You ask coldly, keeping your voice low.
“I wanted to talk.” He says calmly, approaching you carefully, calculatedly.
For every step he takes you take two back, and he quickly gets the message and stops approaching. He holds out his hands as if approaching a scared animal. “I think we got off on the wrong foot.”
You can’t help a short, sour, laugh from rising in you. “We got off on the wrong foot years ago when I had to watch you pretend I didn’t exist.” You grit out from inbetween your teeth. “When I had to watch you fuck around in those relationships.” A tiny voice in the back of your mind screeches that you’re being stupid. Melodramatic. That nows your chance to get to know him. You ignore it. “We got off on the wrong foot when I told you to fuck off and you took it as an invitation to stalk me for a week and half!” You‘re getting angrier and angrier, hiding your unease and sadness behind a thick later of rage, as you had for years now.
You’re pacing, back and forth, back and forth, walking on an invisible tightrope before him, trying to calm yourself, to think rationally. It seems that Drake’s very presence however limits your ability to do so. You scratch at the nape of your neck, trying to center yourself.
His eyes widen in shock, as if he hadn’t even thought of the possibility that you’ve know he was your soulmate for years. He shakes the shock off much quicker than you’d like before he speaks. “I wasn’t stalking you-“ he begins, holding his hand out as a sign of peace. “I wanted to say something, I just didn’t know what.”
“So you decided following me around was the best course of action.” You say with a scoff.
He unconsciously copies your body language and rubs the nape of his neck. “Well, I started off on my patrol route and then I got… distracted.”
You fix him with an un-impressed stare. “You got distracted so you decided to stalk me?” You deadpan.
He tightens his fists in agitation, scoffing at you. “Well maybe if you weren’t walking around Gotham at night I wouldn’t have to keep you from getting kidnapped!”
You throw up your hands in poorly-contained anger, approaching him to jam a finger into his chest. “I’ve done fine without you up to this point! I hardly need your help.” You seethe.
He grits his teeth, holding eye contact with you from behind his mask. If you didn’t know better you would say that you saw a flash of regret on his face. “Fine then. Have fun fighting off muggers.” He practically growls as he pulls out his grappling gun and disappears into the night with a gust of cold air.
You start walking back, much more content now that there’s no strange shadow following you. As you drift off to bed that following night however you can’t help but feel a dash of regret.
————
3.
You’re regretting telling Drake to leave you alone.
You’re really really regretting it.
You watch the group of large men discuss you in hushed voices on the other side of the room, all of them dressed in black. You’d been brought into a small room of what you think is the office of a warehouse. After all, this variety of common criminal are never original with their plans.
You stretch and pull against your binds, trying to find any weakness in them, you grind your teeth in frustration when you fail to find any. One of them notices your twitching and after muttering something to the rest of the group approaches you. You watch, doing your best to conceal your fear, as the rest of the men leave the room.
The man crouches in front of you, balaclava covering everything but his eyes as he analyzes you.
“What do you want.” You spit out, attempting to kick him with your bound feet. The man easily swats them to the side, huffing at you in irritation. “Your soulmate is Red Robin.” He doesn’t phase it as a question, but an objective fact, making your stomach twist anxiously.
“Why the fuck would you think that.” You growl out, baring your teeth at him, doing your best to use your anger to mask your true feelings.
A series of bangs and shouts interrupts you from outside the room, causing the man to stand and turn quickly. He stands in front of you, staring at the door a while before he turns to face you, giving you a look that you roughly decipher as his best attempt at telling you “I told you so”. He pulls you up roughly, wrapping an arm around your shoulder and shoving a gun to the side of your head, making you wince silently.
He tugs the both of you into the corner that’s immediately visible from the door way. It feels like an eternity of standing there, trying to maintain a balance of getting as far from the man as his arm wrapped around you will allow while not pissing him off enough that he decides to use the gun. In actuality only 2 or 3 minutes pass as you listen to the sounds of fighting that echo outside the door. Despite your expectation of it, you still violently flinch when the door slams open, a painfully loud crack filling the room.
Drake looks frantic, he’s covered in dust and his Bo staff is sticky with a dark substance that you can only surmise is blood. He barely glances at you, eyes finding the gun that your kidnapper presses into your skull before his eyes trail up to the man holding you.
He holds out a hand, other gripping his staff tightly, and you can’t help but remember your last meeting. “Let them go.” He says firmly, like his trying to will the man’s action with only his voice.
From where the man holds you against his chest you can feel him shake with fear, but how did he think this would go? His friends would get the drop on Red Robin? Yeah right. You silently hope that Drake finds a way to get you out of this soon.
“Let. Them. Go.” Drake says again, approaching slowly. You can see his fingers shifting on his staff, attempting to feel out the man’s next move. “There’s no way you get out of this. So let them go and you can get off easier.”
Apparently he didn’t enjoy the sound of that as he throws you to the ground, points his gun, and fires. Drake’s mind and body are both quicker than any reflex this man might have however as he ducks under the bullets with ease, knocking the gun out of hands with a practiced flow.
You don’t see what happens next, and you don’t want to. All you see as you pull yourself into a corner are the scrapes on your hands from where you caught yourself. You bury your head in your knees and try to fuse into the corner. You don’t want to be here. You want to be able to pretend this entire situation doesn’t bother you. You want your soulmate to be anyone other than the vigilante across the room from you right now who’s beating a man to a bloody pulp.
Time doesn’t seem real, you don’t seem real as you stand in the doorway, watching yourself struggle to breath in that corner. You don’t know when you reentered your body but you know that Drake is in front of you, blood on his knuckles and dotting his face as he frantically unties you.
You struggle to breath and Drake presses his palm to your cheek, you flinch at the feeling of a sticky fluid meeting your skin. “Hey, hey it’s okay. You’re okay now.”
Your soul acts ahead of your mind and you press you face into his chest with a sob, you feel him physically startle for a moment, before he slowly and tentatively wraps his arms around you. “I’m sorry.” You choke out between cries, digging your finger into the fabric on his back. “I’m so sorry.”
You’re sure that in a day or two the memory of this will embarrass you, but for now his arms wrap around you and squeeze firmly, centering you in the here and now as he mummers comforts into your ear.
And for now, that’s all you need.
————
4.
It’s been almost a month since you were kidnapped, and then rescued by Red Robin. Your parents had begged you to come home and recover with them, but you had turned them down every time they asked. Under other circumstances you would’ve agreed in a heartbeat, but your apartment had something that their’s lacked. Red Robin. The man who saved you that night, and your soulmate.
Every night following your capture he’d come to visit. As he handed you off to the police he’d promised he’d keep an eye on you, and it seemed he intended to follow through on that promise, as for the last four weeks, like clockwork, you’d awaken to a soft tapping on your window, opening it to Red Robin.
The first few nights he’d simply crouched on your windowsill and exchanged a few short words with you, turning down your offers of bandaging his wounds or a glass of water before he was disappearing into the night as silently as he came. It took you nearly a week before you managed to convince him to come inside for the first time.
You had to practically beg him to come in, promising over and over that it wasn’t any trouble and you were sure that you didn’t mind. You’d never been so happy Gotham’s rent was cheap enough for you to live without a roommate so you didn’t have to explain to someone why Red Robin was in your apartment at 4 am. It took a while for the both of you to warm up to one another, especially after the rough start you’d had, but once you two actually had a conversation without gritting your teeth at each other you found you had more in common than you thought.
That brings you to today, nearly a month after Tim had saved you from your kidnappers. You’re currently both seated at your small dining room table, cups of cold coffee in both of your hands as you chat about everything and nothing at the same time, his mask laying on the table between you. You glance at the clock on your stove and startle slightly, it reads 3am. He had come by for a brief pick-me-up before he headed out on patrol, now it was about the time he should be done. If the things he’d told you were anything to go off of, Batman would be sure to express his dissatisfaction.
He follows your line of sight and winces when his eyes land on the clock. “I guess this means you have to go…” you say softly, trying to keep from seeming to disappointed.
He leans back in his chair and lets out a sigh before shrugging unceremoniously. “Eh, it’s okay.”
You cock an eyebrow at him. “Won’t Batman be mad?”
He gives you a grin that turns your muscles to jelly and makes your stomach erupt with a swarm of butterflies. “You think Batman’s never missed patrol because of a cutie distracting him?” He asks, looking you up and down in a surprisingly respectful manner that you find yourself wishing was a little less gentlemanly.
You feel heat rush to your cheeks and you rub at the nape of your neck in a futile attempt to disperse it. “I uh- I certainly find it hard to imagine.” You stutter, suddenly finding your floorboards completely fascinating.
He lets out a soft chuckle and a warm silence settles over the both of you like a blanket. You sit there and stare at the coffee sitting at the bottom of your cup as you swirl it around mindlessly. Your trance is only broken by Tim softly clearing his throat.
“So- so uh. I was wondering if you uh. Maybe wanted to go out with me sometime? Well not me.” He says softly, gesturing to his Red Robin uniform. “Tim Drake.”
Despite the warmth gathering in your own cheeks once more you place your elbows on the table and lean forward, taking pleasure in the pink you see on him. “If I didn’t know better I would say you like me birdie.” You tease.
He fixes you with a playful glare and copies your body language, similarly leaning forward. “What if I do?”
You click your tongue and pretend to be deep in thought for a moment. “Well…” you say slowly, “I guess I won’t have a choice but to take you up on your offer.”
He flashes you a smile that could rival the sun and stands up suddenly, prompting you to do the same. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow at 5, wear something nice.” He says with a wink before he’s opening your window, slipping his mask back on, and disappearing into the city with a short wave.
————
5.
You hadn’t slept much last night. But who could blame you? After Tim had left all you could think about was what he had in mind. You spent several hours slipping in-between consciousness and sleep and when you finally woke up for good you found yourself thankful that you didn’t have to work today as your mind darted over all the different possibilities of where he would bring you.
His cryptic fashion advice did you no favors. What exactly qualified as “nice”? You certainly had no clue, and as a result spent entirely to long scanning your closet for something. You considered several outfits. Too formal. Too casual. A shirt he had seen you wear as pajamas. A pair of shorts that would’ve been perfect had it still not been to cold. A top that showed off a little to much. Nothing worked.
It took you an embarrassingly long amount of time to settle on an outfit that could be okay for a variety of activities, even longer for you decide what accessories to pair with it. After several hours you still had time to kill before Tim picked you up, which you spent doing small chores around your apartment, mind too preoccupied to get any real work done. As 5 pm drew you near you found yourself checking over every aspect of your appearance, nothing seemed quite right but as the sound of your doorbell rang throughout your apartment you found yourself grinding your teeth and having no choice but to deal with it.
You smooth out your outfit one last time before pulling the door open. Tim stands there with a soft, nervous smile on his face, a bouquet of red roses in his hand. He’s dressed more formally than you’d expected, in a simple white t-shirt, with a dark grey blazer and slacks, finished off with black leather loafers.
He blinks in shock as he looks you up and down once, his ears turning a bright red as he seemingly snaps out of it, offering the bouquet to you. “You look lovely.” He says softly, looking away from you and towards the floor bashfully.
You feel your cheeks warm as you roll your eyes playfully and take the bouquet from him. “You’re one to talk birdie.” You flirt as you move into the kitchen to get a vase.
He follows you into your apartment, closing the door and leaning against its frame as he watches you work with a fond look in his eyes. You finish filling a vase with water and place the roses on a windowsill. You gently mess with the blood colored petals, moving them around softly before you turn to look at Tim. “Thank you for the flowers.” You say softly.
He gives you a small smile and rocks on his heels, “Ah don’t mention it.” He says with a wave of his hand.
“So, what exactly did you plan?” You ask, unable to keep the excitement from your voice as you approach him.
He gives you a smirk and opens your front door with a flourish. “After you.”
You can’t keep yourself from letting out a short laugh as you let him escort you through the hallways of your apartment building and towards a nearby parking lot, where an entirely too expensive car is waiting. You startle for a moment, but recover as he approaches it and opens the passenger door for you.
“Do you even have a license to drive this?” You tease as you slide into your seat.
He balks and stares at you in open mouthed shock for a few moments, causing you to let out a full bodied laugh.
“What is that supposed to mean?” He splutters, ears turning red as he looks at you in confusion.
“D-don’t take this the wrong way,” you say breathlessly “but you don’t look like someone who knows how to drive.”
He stares at you for a few more moments before wordlessly rounding the car and getting into the drivers seat.
“You’re sure you can sit there?” You snark.
He gives you a half-hearted glare. “And to think I was gonna take you out to a nice dinner.” He mummers under his breath as he starts the engine.
You give him an exaggerated look of shock and lean over as best you can in a mock-bow. “I am so very sorry my lord. Please forgive me.”
He considers you out of the corner of his eye, trying and failing to hide a smile. “I suppose your apology is acceptable.” He quips.
You straighten and give him a large smile, giggling as you turn your head to look out the window at the streets you’re passing. There is no denying that the start you had was rough, but now? Now you wouldn’t change what you had for the world.
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rafeshow · 2 months
Note
where a fan made an 10 minute video with a compilation of hasan and reader being in love.
just for clicks
hasanabi x fem!streamer!reader
tags : hasan being a bit of an ass, tension, lingering touches, angst, use of y/n (scary ik), this is a blurb (I can’t make more parts if ppl want it), basically just angst, nothing really from the readers pov
a/n : i’m pretty sure you were looking for a more sappy direction w this request, but i rlly couldn’t help myself and i made it angsty 😭. also this is my first fanfic on this acc so pls be nice to me 🙏 im not good w english
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It was a regular streaming day for Hasan, for the most part. His typical bogging on about politics, random internet drama, and his frequent frustration at chat. Behind all that though, his mind was a fog. You; another streamer, having been friends with Austin, being introduced to the Fear& group, and all but weaseling your way into being a staple member of the friend group, was all that Hasan could think about. Austin had tried to set the two of you up when you were first introduced to the friend group, but you never ended up going on any serious or planned romantic ventures, the two of yous schedules preventing from such.
That’s not to say you weren’t interested in eachother, it was quite the opposite actually. It was unspoken between the two of you, literally. Minus talking on the podcast or short interactions in videos, you had never spoken outside of ‘work’. That didnt stop the tension from growing though.
It started as accidental; Hasan gently grazing the back of your neck when walking behind your chair during filming in the cramped podcast room, his warm fingers barely lingering for a second on your bare neck, followed by rushed apology. Then it was you; lightly holding his waist as you attempted to squeeze behind him during a cooking stream, still unable to get past without his backside brushing against your front to a degree. And those two accidental touches wouldn’t have been a problem if they had just stayed those two accidental touches. The two of you managed to bump into eachother enough times that it had you each questioning if the other person was doing it on purpose.
Hasan was the first to break the ‘accidental’ rule, having grabbed your waist firmly and practically picking you up off the ground to move you on one occasion. You followed suit with the rule breaking, leaning across him to grab something from QT while filming the podcast and intentionally resting stretched for a moment; your top half shelved atop his forearm as it laid flat on the table.
The two of you refused to do anything about it though, and it was driving you both mad. Each touch was getting more daring then the last, and it was a game of who was going to break first. You were mad because you thought he was intentionally toying with you; knowing it drove you mad whilst not being interested himself. Just doing it to mess with you. Hasan on the other hand was just generally pissed you hadn’t done anything yet, which was ironic considering he didn’t have the gall to do anything himself either.
It was all that Hasan had been thinking of that day, and he questioned that if his facecam didn’t cut off at the top of his head that chat would be able to see the steam emanating from it. He was beyond frustrated, but he found it easy to play off; opting to take his anger out on the idiots who left comments on his livestream.
The two of you hadn’t thought about what your predicament looked like from an outsiders perspective though, not until now atleast.
Hasan was watching some political interview; mostly letting it play while opening links from chat in other tabs. As he opened one in particular, his heart stopped. He quickly clicked back to the tab, his brows taught together as he re-read the title.
“No fucking shot.” He forcibly laughed out, not only in disbelief himself but also trying to play his reaction down a bit for the stream. It was a compilation video, titled “y/n and hasan being down bad for 7 minutes”.
He was shocked he hadn’t thought about it, honestly. He was so concerned with keeping his feelings down while streaming by himself that he hadn’t even considered how he looked when he was actually with you. He clicked play without a second thought, his brain still registering the situation at hand. He had to stop himself from letting a grin slip out.
He watched the whole video without saying anything, which was alarming for chat and him. He was just entranced at how painfully obvious the two of you made it. The way he stared at you as you spoke to someone else. The way you never looked at him when he spoke to anybody. The way he stared at your hands as you fidgeted with a mic cord. The now obvious touches. He was baffled.
But his emotions quickly flipped back to his previous frustration. All that has been going on and you still hadn’t done anything? The two of you still hadn’t even talked? You had interacted this way long enough for somebody to make a 7 minute long compilation and the two of you still hadn’t done anything? He turned to chat, decided to take it out by being defensive.
“It’s actually hilarious the shit you idiots come up with. You do realize we’ve never talked right? The little shit we’ve said on camera is all we’ve ever said to eachother. Ever. I don’t even know her actual name. I don’t even have her in my contacts. I’ve never even thought about her in that way. You guys are so apt on shipping every male and female to ever interact together, it’s disgusting. You guys are fucking weird.” He took a beat, knowing the shit he was saying was doing anything but help his case, and knowing the hole he was digging for himself was just getting deeper. The few excuses he could come up with were borderline pathetic and certainly laughable. He just hoped he said his words fast enough that none of it stuck, even though he could practically feel the clips getting posted to twitter. In a last stitch effort to save himself, he blurted out;
“And anything she’s ever done around me is just for fucking clicks anyway.” He closed his mouth immediately after saying it. Hasan knew how much of a low blow that was, he knew how much he defended other streamers in the space for the same shit, and he couldn’t believe he’d just let that out about you of all people. He knew then in that moment that he’d lost all chances of anything with you, and he couldn’t grasp the fact that he was able to royally fuck himself over in a matter of seconds. He sat there silent, grumbling something else about chat being stupid, and then he went back to his political video.
He tried to keep a stone face, but he couldn’t help as his eyes caught chat every few minutes, mixes of shock and anger still bubbling between all of them. Hasan tried to redeem himself as much as he could; making some jokes and throwing some insults at whatever video he was watching. The main mass of the shocked comments eventually fizzled away, but he ultimately ended up wrapping up stream after another 30ish minutes. All he could do now was watch as everything unfolded before him.
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filmbyjy · 6 months
Text
MINESTREAM
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SYPNOSIS > Wanting to start a new stream series with his best friends, Jay had a bright idea of playing some simple Minecraft with them. Everything was normal, until he realises there is another person in the call with them. He quickly learns that it was ni-ki’s older sister, (name). Watch how streaming a simple game of Minecraft can dig up some interesting feelings between the main leads.
TWENTY-TWO – his lips looks soft
a/n: the day I see jay ever taking off his shirt in front of thousands of people, is the day I am dead👍🏻
MASTERLIST | PREVIOUS | NEXT
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somehow you find yourself in bed after accidentally falling asleep after lunch. you didn’t even know how you got here but at least you didn’t wake up with a painful neck and back.
you had rolled out of bed, it was dark out. you’ve probably slept for a total of at least 5-6 hours. best sleep in a couple of months you’ve had. your throat felt dry so you had decided to walk over to the kitchen. when you finally stepped off the stairs, you noticed the light was turned on. the aroma of something savoury fills the air.
someone stood shirtless in the kitchen as he stirs up the food. when he turns around, you realised it was jay.
WAIT IT WAS JAY???
you tripped on something and fell face first onto the marble floor. jay goes over quickly and helps you up and makes sure you’re okay.
“are you okay? any pain on your ankle? face? arms?” he asks quickly.
“i-i’m fine. just didn’t see the-” you had inspected the item you had tripped on. it was a doggy toy. you and ni-ki did not have a dog and as far as you knew…the 3 boys didn’t either.
jay looks over to where you staring. “ah, jake’s parents dropped his dog over earlier. since, this apartment allows dogs, jake wanted to keep his dog with him as close as possible.”
“oh.”
“I’ll warn jake about the dog toys.” you hummed. you had tried to stand up but a sharp pain stung your ankles. you groaned at the pain.
without a word, jay lifts you up and carries you over to the sofa. he places you gently onto the cushions and goes over to find an ice pack and also any oils/medicine for your ankles. once he’s done, he kneels right in front of your legs and gently lifts up the ankle that was hurt.
“ah.” you winced a little as jay puts some oil and lightly massages the area. he looks up at you once and apologises before taking his massaging much more lighter than before.
“it’s definitely twisted and swollen. just need to put an ice pack and let the swelling get better.” he places your ankle onto a pillow and puts the ice pack on it. “there, now sit there and- oh fuck, the food.” jay hastily runs back to the kitchen.
after a few sounds of clatter from the kitchen, jay emerges with the food he was previously working on. he places the bowl down in front of you. “there, we go. you didn’t have dinner yet so I thought of bringing this upstairs but you came down instead.”
the food looked really good. you didn’t think you’d be able to try jay’s food. “thank you.” before you could even lift the chopsticks, jay stops you and feeds you. he doesn’t forget to blow on the hot noodles.
you seemed to have forgotten that he was literally sitting in front of you half-naked. or maybe you didn’t, you just chose to pretend he was wearing a shirt.
“how is it?” jay asks as you chewed on the noodles.
“it’s good.”
“that’s great, it’s my mom’s recipe so this pretty much reminds me of my childhood. the smell especially.”
“then why aren’t you eating it?”
“oh, I ate it just now with the others. I just made it again for you since you were asleep just now.”
“oh…you could have woken me up when you were eating dinner with the rest. now, I feel guilty that you have to make it the second time.” you huffed.
“no, it’s really okay. i don’t mind making it again. after all, I’d like to take it as if it’s practice for cooking. the more you cook, the better you get.” jay explains. with jay’s words, you couldn’t help but pout. “don’t pout.” he taps your lips lightly with the chopsticks.
“okay. can i have another bite now?” you looked at him straight in the eyes. jay laughs.
“sure.” he picks up the noodles and blows it again before letting you eat it.
30 minutes later, neither you or jay realised the footsteps coming towards the both of you. it was clear there was a tension between the both of you as you two interacted. the person was clearly witnessing it. another footstep trails behind the person and comes to a halt.
*smack* “ow!” jake silently yells when sunghoon’s palm comes into contact with jake’s face. “what was that for?” he asks in a whisper.
“look.” sunghoon points out to jake. the shorter male peaks behind the wall and notices you and jay.
“it’s just (name) and jay interacting?”
“just interacting? do you see jay? he’s shirtless.” sunghoon says. jake rolls his eyes.
“we’re boys, obviously we’d be shirtless whenever we can. besides, you know jay likes to walk around the house shirtless.” jake glares at sunghoon.
“yeah but (name) doesn’t mind it. that’s the first girl that has seen jay shirtless.”
“but it’s not like he’s fucking her.” jake whisper yells.
just as sunghoon turns back to watch you and jay, he realises that the distance between the both of you was practically shorten in a minute. he smacks jake once more and gets him to look at what was happening in front of them.
jay leans in and so do you. it was about to happen, you were going to kiss jay. after what? 22 chapters? finally.
that is until…Layla, jake’s dog, comes running in. jake tries to catch her but ultimately falls onto the ground. the loud boom causes both you and jay to pull away from each other. both of your heads spun over in the direction of the sound.
“uh, hello.” sunghoon says. instantly, your face flushed. you’ve never felt this embarrassed being almost caught kissing someone. jay clenches his fist and stands up to go over to the two boys. he pulls them away to speak to them in private.
once they were out of the living room, you had hid your face behind your hands and groaned. you couldn’t even get up and go back to your bedroom since your ankles were injured. you just had to sit there and do nothing until jay came back. however, did you really have to wait for anyone to hide away from your embarrassment?
and so you grabbed the couch and tried to stand up on your feet. hopefully, you didn’t put too much pressure on the ankle that was swollen. you had hopped over to the stairs and attempted to jump up each step. until jay swoops and effortlessly scoops you up.
“where do you think you’re going?” he asks as he climbs the stairs with you in his arms.
“umm, to my room.”
“you could’ve called me or the boys to carry you up.”
“you three seemed to be having a heartfelt conversation so I didn’t want to disturb.”
he brings you over to your room and places you right on your bed, “not without someone to help you up the stairs. I already told you that your ankles are swollen, you can’t put much pressure on.”
“I know but-” “no, buts.” jay cuts in while you were talking. he tucks you into bed.
“now, I think you should try to sleep this off until morning. luckily, it’s still the weekends. it should get better by tomorrow or the day after just before you go to your morning classes.”
you huffed in defeat. jay pats your head and leaves your bedroom. you laid on your bed and closed your eyes. it was definitely an eventful day but you knew you wouldn’t be able to get some sleep. not after nearly kissing jay.
god, his lips looked soft.
you grabbed a pillow and squealed into it. you had to tell Yvette everything that happened the next morning. for now, you should at least try to sleep again.
well…at least.
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the-artist-grimm · 27 days
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Hi, I have just discovered your AU and I like the design, also the name made curious about what's the AU about
Thank you! And for the ‘Crimson Angel AU’ think of it as translating to ‘Blood-Soaked Angel AU’, since I think that’s more of a better visual/description, but crimson just sounds prettier for an actual title.  This is gonna be a little long for more-in-depth lore dump so see the READ MORE for well, more! And my apologies for the rambles that have slowly taken over my brain, it's a little chaotic but the basic gist of it XD
(Note Anthea goes by she/they and I alternate between the two so if that causes reading issues let me know)
In this case, the ‘Blood-Soaked Angel’ is my lamb, Anthea, who starts off the story as being a seemingly kind, friendly, and optimistic person just wanting to help, but is really just someone who is trying to understand why they lived when their family and people did not, and just going with self-sacrifice and self-destruction as the only way to ‘prove’ they deserved to live. 
Got a mini backstory comic here with some explanations, though TLDR Anthea already had this sense of being responsible for keeping everyone else’s spirits up after losing their father, and when heretics destroyed the rest of their family/village at age 12 and they survived by the shear luck of just being out on a routine supply run, they feel as if they don’t deserve it. 
From there Anthea bottled everything up and wandered the forests for a bit until being found and taken in by Ratau, who taught her not only how to fight but also told her stories of his time as vessel, of which any involving The One Who Waits were the most interesting. A lonely, bitter, and kinda angry god of death, despite  his appearance, kept and appeared to care for the two young kits by his side. TOWW sounded different from the other bishops Anthea had only ever known to be violent, and thus she began to worship him as a sort of comfort-since thinking a gentler god greeted her family and would one day greet her was a better thought than the horror they must’ve faced prior to death. She lived day to day just pretending everything was fine, being a good kid, and helping out around the shack, while internally treating every moment like borrowed time, thinking she had to keep being useful to everyone else. (Ratau knew she had people-pleasing issues but didn’t realize the extent for a long, long time) 
Cut to Anthea being 26, and after she and Ratau were heading back one afternoon after some errand or visit were ambushed by heretics who managed to injure Ratau when they tried to escape, and though they got away, they were pursued. Thinking she’d lived on borrowed time long enough and wanting to prevent another person she loved from dying, Anthea took advantage of Ratau’s injury keeping him from stopping her and drew the heretics away, being captured as a result. 
Bishops, execution, Anthea gets the shock of hearing that they’re the final lamb prior to sacrifice, then suddenly they’re waking up in the gateway to the god they’ve worshiped for years, and he’s just as Ratau described. A lonely, bitter god with two young kits (I place Aym and Baal as teens since it leads to some interesting moments), by his side. Yet where that’s all Ratau saw, Anthea also saw the chains. The wounds bleeding an endless stream of ichor. The way TOWW struggled prior to their approach, how his voice and smile were strained. This god they’d built up as this better to the bishops is trapped and painfully so, and when offered the chance to help him, Anthea jumps at it. They must’ve lived for SOMETHING, must be the last for some greater purpose because there were so many other lambs who ‘deserved’ to live more, so if it’s for this prophecy then so be it. 
Game plays out, Anthea begins to see past the bitterness/anger Nariender puts up to see someone genuinely hurt by those he cared about and struggling to trust after while also seeing he’s not exactly perfect, whilst Nariender in turn starts to call Anthea out on the whole self-sacrificial stick as them just trying to die to make themself feel better instead of just facing the fact that they lived, others died, and that’s all there is to say. Slowly the two become friends, got an idea for example that Anthea starts to use the crown to show Nariender what he’s missed in the world as a means of comforting him/helping him remember not all was as bad as he recalls (aka they’re unintentional dates lol), Anthea also starts befriending the twins since they remind them of their own brothers which gains more Nariender friendship points at someone making his kids happy, and that friendship slowly turns to a genuine love from both sides. 
Anthea plans to keep her feelings hidden until after Narinder’s free, though secretly starts to work on an engagement present to confess by leaving the crown at the temple and going to the Lonely Shack at night. (the engagement also meant to be a symbolic ‘hey you don’t have to feel the same but just know I’ll be with you from now on I won’t leave you’). Is also Anthea finally taking steps to live life for herself and move on to something that makes her happy. Meanwhile Narinder has no idea what these feelings he’s having are-just that this weirdly kind, cheerful, but also melancholic and frustratingly self-sacrificial lamb makes his heart race, and is now for some reason being a little distant. He’s been trying to figure out how to return to the world above without sacrificing Anthea, but now has whatever this is distracting him, and thus has the crown follow one night, only hears part of Anthea discussing/being teased about planning a proposal but not who said proposal is for, and being unused to jealousy but very used to being cast aside and betrayed gets angry/scared/heartbroken and decides to just go through with the sacrifice anyway since it’s easier than trying to figure out why he’s feeling like this. 
Endgame battle hits, during which Anthea feels very confused/hurt by his order to sacrifice themself, as just the other day here was their dearest friend lightly scolding them for willingly dying just to visit. They try to reason with him and Narinder doesn’t want to hear it, so he orders the twins to fight Anthea which neither are willing but are forced, and Anthea has no choice but to kill both since Nariender refuses to hear reason. The anger, grief, guilt, and heartbreak they’ve bottled up finally boils over as red wings appear on their back like they briefly do in-game when the lamb refuses (this all started when I saw the scene in-game and thought the visual/symbolism was really cool), and they fight and defeat Nariender. 
When back at the compound Nariender’s just lashing out and cursing Anthea on the dais because he’s angry and hurt at her betraying him until Anthea just calmly tells him why he was spared-she loved him. Nariender finally looks at her and is hit with the realization that this lamb who’d always looked at him so warmly with adoration is now giving him the most blank, lifeless expression as she tells him he’s free to do as he pleases before leaving. And he now realizes that because he didn’t stop and think things through and instead let anger take the focus he completely neglected to realize that here was someone who loved him-who loved him even as they learned of his faults, saw his lowest, ect, and he just threw it all away over a misunderstanding he could've EASILY just asked about. He even sacrificed his guards (read sons) just because that was somehow easier than talking. Which begs the question, who else loved him? Who else did he miss? Was his imprisonment really all on the bishops, or was he also to blame? Whilst Anthea’s now stuck with a godhood she didn’t want, two more loved ones dead, and a broken heart. 
The two gotta learn where to go from here, the now blood-soaked ‘angel’ who’s begun to realize just how much giving pieces of yourself hurts, and a fallen god who’s begun to realize things aren’t as black and white as he thought. They get better! Eventually...
Might try making a fic, might just keep this as drabbles and rambles along with art, but right now I’m having fun making fanart/aus for the first time instead of just watching from the sidelines, so I hope you enjoy the ride. But for now enjoy some angsty doodles :D
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homestuckreplay · 5 months
Text
Homestuck Is A Game, Who Is The Player?
Week 3 Retrospective
'Video games have long been associated with spectatorship as well as play, from their origins in quarter-fueled arcades, where high score displays implied the presence of admiring or competitive spectators, to their migration to home screens and consoles. Live streaming chat emulates these older models, but its interaction with economies of scale on streaming platforms brings a different kind of intimacy and intensity to the experience. Chat lets spectators feel like they are there with the streamer as well as a part of a crowd, even if they are alone in their room.' [Jeremy Antley - emphasis mine]
From Homestuck’s very first page, the comic has made something clear. We are not allowed to immerse ourselves in John Egbert’s world. There is a layer of separation between us, an interface mediating our access to his life and story, a voiceover narration from the person who’s really in control. Who is this person, and what form does their control over John take?
Homestuck is presented like a video game, yet unlike a video game, we don’t control the character’s movements with arrow keys or have the chance to type our own commands directly into the text box. Instead of being able to explore the game on our own terms, we are confined to a specific and predetermined route, even though others seem theoretically possible. Simply put, we are not the ones playing the game.
Essay continued under the cut - about 2.6k words
I think there are two really important questions to consider when analyzing the meta elements of Homestuck and treating it as a game. The first - what kind of game is it? The second - where exactly do we stand in relation to the player(s)?
The most obvious answer to question one is ‘Homestuck is a text based adventure game.’ This guide to text based adventures is a great overview, and we can map the example commands here onto commands we’ve seen in Homestuck. ‘Examine room’ (p.4) is a one-word action, ‘Captchalogue smoke pellets’ (p.9) is an action and direct object, and ‘Nail poster to wall’ (p.19) includes the indirect object. John hasn’t given any orders yet - he’s too nice a guy for that - but ‘Report progress to TG’ (p.39) is definitely communicating with another character. All of these, and most other command lines, feel like reasonable instructions that could be recognized by a game.
However, commands like ‘Fondly regard cremation’ (p.52) and ‘Play haunting piano refrain’ (p.77) honestly feel too characterful to be fully interpreted by a computer, and ‘Squawk like an imbecile and shit on your desk’ (p.16) is… well, I tried typing this into the command prompt for the classic text adventure Zork, and got the following response.
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A text adventure is just not set up to interpret wacky, left field ideas, much less respond to them in an entertaining way. And we know there is a real person behind Homestuck doing exactly that.
If my party enters the wizard’s study in Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition, and I tell the Dungeon Master that I squawk like an imbecile and sit on the wizard’s desk, that statement will be understood. Sure, the DM will probably call me an idiot and put a nasty spike trap on the desk, but what I said will become part of the story in the way that a nonsense command in a text based video game never can. It’s interesting to think of Homestuck as a tabletop roleplaying game, where the narrator is the Game Master, the command prompt is a player, and John is a player character (presumably TT, TG and GG are the rest of his party and they’re just really late to the session).
Homestuck isn’t just text based, though - it has a strong visual element, including interfaces and overlays where the player can click and drag items between John’s inventory and his environment, or around his space. This suggests it could also be a point and click adventure game, a genre that grew out of text based games as graphics improved, and is defined by a strong inventory management component (check), puzzle solving quests (check - we’ve recently solved our first quest of acquiring the Sburb Beta) and dialog trees (????). The sprite based, isometric art style is really good for getting an overview of the space and seeing possible interactable objects, and Homestuck does feature extended dialog sequences - we don’t know if there are other possible inputs from John, but it's interesting to think that there might be.
These three genres - text based adventures, point and click adventures, and tabletop roleplaying games - all developed throughout the 1970s and 80s. It’s reasonable that Andrew Hussie (born 1979) could have grown up with some of these games. But to answer the second question, ‘where do we stand in relation to the player’, we might need to look at media forms still in their infancy - let’s plays, livestreams, and actual play.
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[Michael Sawyer, 2004]
In the past few years, ‘Let’s Play [Game]’ has become a relatively popular thread format on the Something Awful forums, as well as personal websites. This began with posters taking screenshots of their playthroughs of a game and adding commentary in the text. The medium has now advanced to video and is typically hosted on YouTube, with commentary overlaid. Either format gives a creator the space to play through as much of the game as they choose, and then edit exactly what content they want to show to the audience, providing commentary after the fact. 
Homestuck, with its per-page illustrations, could be seen as a long thread of forum posts by the player, each including screenshots as they move through the game. The inclusion of short Flash animations shows the edge into video, and makes me wonder if we’ll see longer or more complex videos, perhaps with voiceover narration, as Homestuck expands its focus. The self-referential and aggressive yet helpful commentary in Homestuck is similar in tone to Sawyer's playthrough above, and could easily be the work of a player who knows where the story will go, at least in the short term, and is dropping hints to the audience while purposefully concealing some things.
Livestreaming video games is a similar concept to Let's Plays, but performed in real time. Often hosted on Justin.tv, an open video broadcast website that’s been gaining prominence in the past couple of years, a livestream is an improvised and unedited way to watch someone game. Any commentary from the creator happens without knowledge of how the playthrough will turn out. Homestuck, by Hussie’s own admission, is being written similarly in real life - they don’t know more than the broad strokes of how the story will go, and it’s possible that neither the author nor the narrator knows the long term implications of an action such as John stealing his dad’s PDA. 
Livestreams open the possibility for viewers to influence game events, if the streamer listens to their audience. We know this is true in Homestuck - readers are able to submit commands, and some are chosen for the story. The real time nature of Homestuck, waiting each day for the new update, is equivalent to waiting for a streamer to come online and start playing again so we can find out where their game goes next. This is compounded by us having no access to Homestuck outside of the streamer - we cannot buy and play this game for ourselves, it’s still in some kind of early or limited access, and the streamer controls all our knowledge. 
The livestream is definitely most similar to how Homestuck is made by its author, but it's hard to say whether its narrator is commentating in real time, or after the fact. I can't find any definite clues in our pages so far - I think the narrator wants to seem smart and superior, but I can't say whether they have the knowledge to back it up.
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[img source]
Our final media format is known as Actual Play. Almost a year ago, the creators of Penny Arcade (along with Dungeons & Dragons game designer Chris Perkins) began releasing Acquisitions Incorporated, a short-run, officially licensed podcast where the group plays through a D&D adventure to demonstrate gameplay interspersed with jokes. This isn’t the first time a TTRPG publisher has recorded sessions to help people learn the game, but this idea seems to be crossing over into the entertainment genre - and webcomics are part of that movement.
In the first episode, the group have a brief aside. The DM says that ‘some players prefer to refer to their characters in the third person… others prefer to get into the first,’ and one player says they’ve observed the same thing in World of Warcraft. What’s not explicitly said is that the Game Master typically refers to the player characters in second person, describing what happens to ‘you’ and what ‘you’ see - much like streamers talking to their chat. The blocks of narrative text below pictures in Homestuck could easily be a Game Master balancing giving information to an unruly player, and providing entertainment for the audience. John’s lucky or unlucky moments with his sylladex could be the result of particularly good or bad dice rolls from his unseen player.
Actual play is a really great format for deep diving into a small cast of characters, and exploring their emotional state in ways that aren't intrinsic to a lot of video games. As we're already seeing the beginnings of John's emotional arc, we know this will be a focus, but we need two to four more characters with equally large roles in the story to really form a TTRPG party. Actual play also tends to include a lot of combat and its mechanics. We know Homestuck can handle crunchy mechanics due to the sylladex, but I'd expect to see the Strife concept become just as in depth and central to the story if Homestuck ends up fitting into this mold.
All three of these formats can have a mass audience, just like Homestuck does in reality - but Homestuck also feels like a very personal experience. Two people playing the same video game, even a highly linear game such as Portal or one that doesn’t involve much active interaction such as a visual novel, have slightly different gameplay based on the speed they move through the story and their missteps on the way to finding the solution to a puzzle. 
Similarly, my experience of Homestuck is different from yours. I read the new update every day, while I know some people wait for a few days of updates to build up and then read a larger chunk. Maybe I clicked ‘Aggrieve’ and ‘Abjure’ three times each on p.90, alternating the options, while you clicked ‘Aggrieve’ five times in sequence and then ‘Abjure’ only twice. Maybe I didn’t realize p.110 had an interactive element at first, and skipped over it until somebody pointed it out to me (really telling on myself here). These elements of Homestuck that we have direct control over are currently only a small part of the story, but they do exist.
In this way, Homestuck feels a little bit like sitting in the living room as a kid watching your older brother play a game, begging him to let you take over for a minute, occasionally doing so until he gets frustrated with your inability to Strife and takes the controller back. The nostalgia of the simplistic graphics and the 70s and 80s games that are being evoked only adds to this cozy feeling. If Homestuck starts to add more interactive elements, such as branching paths, opportunities for us to take over the cursor, or a chance for us to use John’s sylladex ourselves and choose what he picks up, it might be worth thinking of Homestuck as different iterations of the same game, each of us watching our own, slightly different player, and even co-playing with them.
So, who IS this narrator? In my mind, I’m trying to draw a clear distinction between the author and the narrator. Hussie is the author in the real world, and the narrator, or player, or GM, exists within the work. Their role is best described on page 82:
‘The game presently eluding you is only the latest sleight of hand in the repertoire of an unseen riddler, one to engender a sense not of mirth, but of lack. His coarse schemes are those less of a prankster than a common pickpocket. His riddle is Absence itself.’
The narrator is this unseen riddler (or perhaps unseenRiddler?), providing a secondary layer of control over what happens and what we are able to see. They’re the person clicking and dragging objects around John’s room, and choosing what actions to take next. The narration is their perspective on the game - whether we see this as a GM describing a scene to their players, or a streamer reading aloud information that the game has given them and providing their own commentary. 
So, we're watching the narrator play Homestuck, in whatever form it takes - but there's another layer to this. On page 22, an equivalence is made between the Sburb Beta, which John was supposed to receive on April 10 (and finally acquired on April 13 in-story, p.100), and the Homestuck Beta, which launched to us on April 10, but was quickly canceled and replaced with Homestuck proper on April 13. The Homestuck beta is linked within the comic, and might be canon within it - the narrator making an initial run at the game before restarting their save (perhaps on a different computer or console?) and trying again. Homestuck the game is currently about a kid who lives in the suburbs - and if the name and logo are anything to go by, Sburb could also be a suburbs-themed game. While we watch the riddler play Homestuck, the riddler will be watching John play the game Sburb. How deep does this go? Are there more layers inwards or outwards?
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I’ve been puzzling this over for days, and I’m definitely left with more questions than I can answer. Here are the ones I'm focused on:
Is the unseen riddler playing the game as intended? Now that they’ve passed the tutorial, are they keeping the game on the rails and trying their best to follow a linear story, or are they pushing the boundaries, going for some kind of pacifist or resource-stripped run, trying to interfere with John’s intended story? Have they played the game before, and if so, how does this affect their gameplay?
If the unseen riddler is a character within the story, distinct from the external author, are we the true audience? Will there be an audience within the story, or perhaps other players? If so, how big will it be? What kind of reach does Homestuck the game have, and how many people are playing it or tuning in to watch?
How permeable are the boundaries? Is John simply pixels on a screen for the unseen riddler to play with, with no agency of his own outside of the riddler’s interpretation, like if we were playing The Sims? Or is it possible for the riddler to enter the game, or for John to leave it, and the two of them to communicate directly? Or a middle ground - something like ‘character bleed’ in TTRPGs, where a player embodies a character for so long that despite their not being real, they come to influence each other even outside of gameplay?
What the hell is the Midnight Crew? Is this a different game that exists separately to Homestuck? Will our riddler, or a different one, eventually play it? If we have three games - Homestuck, Midnight Crew, and Sburb - what exactly is the relationship between them, and how interrelated are they?
This is a lot of thoughts for what is, at time of writing, is 125 pages of comedy webcomic. But the story is just beginning, and we’ve been told it’s going to be a long day. Anything could be important, and with the frequent in-text nods to the meta elements - ‘examine third and fourth walls of room’ (p.61), ‘you decide it’s time for less meta, and more beta’ (p.113), the title appearing in the clouds on p.82 that John may or may not be able to see, the integration of the physical captchalogue card into the sylladex interface on p.98 - I don’t want to draw any firm boundaries, or make any assumptions about what is and what isn’t part of the story. Instead, I’ve cataloged the meta elements of Homestuck that might be worth paying attention to as we move through the comic, to develop a more concrete theory in time.
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Can you do a Buddy Daddies imagine where Rei has to act like a couple with his crush for a job?
Rei Suwa + Reader - Fake Date
“Your table is right this way. Please follow me.”
“Thank you so much.” Though you beam a smile at the waiter, you also have to practically drag Rei by the arm to get him to follow. Luckily, they were already linked in this ‘lovey dovey couple’ act you had going on.
The job this week was to get information on a corporate billionaire, out to dinner with his mistress. Not an interesting or newsworthy element of the job, as everyone knew he cheated on his wife, but who else he was having dinner with was. 2 chiefs of staff, a liaison diplomat, and the rat that put this all together, each with their on rent-to-own bimbo for the evening; financed by their gracious host in a blatant display of corporate malfeasance.
You had been hired to collect intel on the event and report back to the client. A competitor, or the actual government, you weren’t sure. So long as they paid you didn’t ask questions.
The problem was that this restaurant was too posh and expensive to go to alone without being conspicuous. So you have reached out to Rei and Kazuki for help. Kazuki had been happy to assist, even getting out his trusty spy gear for the cause. But at the last minute he got a nasty cold. Making it impossible to go on the mission as, aside from his raging fever, his coughing would blow your cover immediately.
So Rei, reluctantly, stepped in.
“Can you try not to act like this is the end of the world?” You asked through a gritted smile once the waiter left. “You’re out to dinner with a beautiful woman at a 5-star restaurant. There are worse ways to spend an evening.”
“I’d rather be playing video games.”
You sigh, and put your chin in your hand. Pretending to look dreamily at Rei, while your ring camera was pointed at the target table a few rows over. “I’m sorry I had to drag you out tonight. I’ll make it up to you.”
“The mission is important.” He said. Finally sitting up straight.
The waiter came over with your menus, and you had to pull your camera away from the targets. “Let’s just get drinks and dessert. If we drag it out then it won’t raise alarm, and we can get you home in time for late night streaming.”
“Are you gonna play?”
You look up over your menu at Rei, who was looking up over his menu at you as well, and smirk. “Of course.” You could see him smile, just a hair, behind the ornate leather before he ducked his head back down.
Ordering champagne and oysters, neither of which Rei touched, you continued to monitor the targets casually. “How much intel do you have to get?”
“I don’t know.” He was clearly getting antsy sitting here doing nothing. Rei was a do’er. A triggerman. The nuances of espionage, let alone corporate espionage, were not his forte. “I’ll know it when I see it.” You sip your champagne and pick at the ice on the oyster tray a little more.
Suddenly, one suit leaned into another, and then the second leaned into the big boss and passed him an envelope. “Seen it.” You make sure to take some extra still pictures with the camera hidden in your clutch of the deal for security, then put it away as you turn to Rei with a smile. “Ok. We can go now.”
“Finally.”
Rei called the waiter over and paid for the check before coming over to the other side of the table to help you from your seat. Like a gentleman.
“I’ll pay you back for the meal.” You told him, once you were out of the restaurant and far enough away from any potential eavesdroppers. Certain you weren’t followed. “With these babies I’ll be able to pay you back ten-fold.”
“Don’t mention it.”
You look over at Rei, his shoulder slumped again and hands in his pockets. “Aww…that’s sweet. And here I thought this was just a pretend date.”
“It’s not like I need the money.”
You chuckle at little as you continue to walk. Silent, save for the sound of the cars driving by now & then. “Are you coming over?”
“I thought you wanted me on the stream. I can’t really do that if we’re on the same consol.”
“We can do teams battle instead.”
You grin at Rei and step closer to link your arms again, like you did in the restaurant. “Sounds like my kind of date.”
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soupthatistohot · 2 years
Text
why it's called Meursault and why that's the correct spelling
(plus other related thoughts because I'm a nerd)
BSD s4 spoilers ahead!
With s4 of BSD airing, we've finally arrived to the point where Dazai has been arrested and is imprisoned with Fyodor in Meursault. With this, I noticed that depending on the streaming service people are using, in the subtitles, Meursault is spelled differently (Mersault vs Meursault).
There is a correct spelling. It's Meursault. I know this because (surprise, surprise!), this name is a literary reference!
The Stranger is a story by French-Algerian author Albert Camus (1913-1960), and one of his most well-known works, the main character of which is named Monsieur Meursault (hence the spelling). I don't think there would be any spelling discrepancy with this name because it's French in origin, meaning that it's spelled using the roman alphabet. There would be no reason to eliminate that extra "u".
Other names that are translated from languages that use different alphabets having multiple spellings are more understandable. For example, Chuuya's name in Japanese hiragana (one of multiple alphabets the Japanese use) looks like this: ちゅうや. I don't know much about etymology or anything, but I assume the fact that because Chuuya's name doesn't originally come from the roman alphabet is why it has multiple spellings in English (Chuuya vs Chūya). This would not be the case for Meursault, though, because there's no discrepancy there. French and English use the same alphabet.
Okay and now I wanna be a literary nerd for a second — spoiler warning for The Stranger in the next paragraph, if you care about that.
At the conclusion of the story, Monsieur Meursault is arrested for murder and goes to prison, where he accepts his death as inevitable and is at peace. I suspect that the fact that in the BSD universe Meursault is a French prison has to do with the character's fate, but I wonder if the part about accepting death will somehow play into it? I don't know how much Asagiri is letting the inspiration for the prison's name influence his storytelling....
And on that note, I also think it makes so much sense that Asagiri would have an interest in Camus' work! Albert Camus was an author, yes, but also notably a philosopher who believed strongly in absurdism — the idea that life is meaningless, essentially.
This point of view isn't quite as dark as it seems, because for some absurdists, it just meant that it was up to the individual to create meaning within their own life. One of my favorite quotes from Camus is "The literal meaning of life is whatever you're doing that prevents you from killing yourself.”
Part of the reason I think this makes sense for Asagiri is because BSD is very much about its characters searching for a meaning of life. Dazai is searching for a reason to stay alive by helping people as Oda told him to, Atsushi is slowly overcoming the idea that his meaning of life is solely to help others, Akutagawa is slowly overcoming the idea that Dazai is his reason to live, etc. etc..
It also makes sense because Kafka Asagiri is a pseudonym. The given name Kafka is taken from another famous absurdist author, Franz Kafka (1883-1924). He wasn't a philosopher like Camus, and actually, he wasn't really even known in his lifetime for his writing. He worked a day job as a banker, which he hated, and at night he wrote. His stories often touched on the absurdity of bureaucracy, and were far less realistic and more ridiculous than Camus' work (ever read The Metamorphosis?). But they were similar in that they called out hypocrisy and the innate absurdity of life.
So basically, that's why it didn't surprise me at all that Asagiri was also familiar with Camus' work, and liked it enough to include a reference to it in BSD.
I was also just genuinely delighted to learn this as someone who is really interested in Camus! I read one of this other works, The Plague, in high school and this past summer I read The Stranger. His work is really cool to me, and though it's dense at times, I like that it's thought-provoking. It was also interesting to see the parallels between The Plague and the Covid pandemic... it's quite spooky how not much really changes.
Anyway! Thanks for reading my nerdy little ramble! I hope you got something out of it and please share your own thoughts if you have any, I'd love to hear them :)
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omeletcat · 7 months
Text
ALRIGHT SO, lets talk about text boxes, in almost every game, at least any that have a good story, have a text box where you can talk to the npc's. usually its a box below the screen with at least a name and then text in the middle, but i've been thinking about them a a lot, since the type of textbox for my game would impact the overall vibe A LOT, i want every chapter of my game to have a different vibe, my plans all have different themes for each town and place they go to. meaning that i want my text box to be simplistic and not to attracting. So i went to toby fox! , i love toby fox and his overal vibe, his text boxes are very simple, it has a white outlining and just a general black and white vibe with a single image of the character you are talking too.
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Deltarune does smth similair except more detailed portraits and those little thingy's at the corners. i do have to say, as much as i admire Toby fox, and love his music... i have never played any of his games because i am broke as fuck i have played a bit of a demo before but that was AGGES ago, but AS SOON as i have enough money i will try it out!
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BUT i don't want to copy toby fox, so i will try and take inspo from other games i like (and also havent played because i am broke...)
That and i find the black and white vibe to be to simplistic for my maximalist mind. So then another game i LOVE the art is great i have also been listening to its music before i knew it was from a game (and i also havent played it caus i'm broke..) OMORI!!
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Omori also has a very simple vibe to it but it has multiple boxes 1 portrait that changes a lot! and a thingy where you can see the name of the person you are talking to! i also remember from a random jaiden animation stream i watched where she played Omori, that omori has a lot of cutesy text animations where it moves at certain words to give of better vibes, tone and emotions to what the npc's are saying.
Then one of the games i haven't played BUT i have seen almost every ending is the class of 09, the game that inspired me to make a game, then learn how to code, and decide to work on a completely different game lol
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class of 09 is way different then omori and toby fox games. it has a very clear vibe to it, the paper and all is great, but it wouldn't work for me. something i LOVE is something that isn't rly a part of the text box, but the thing behind it. the fact that you can see 2 full body drawings of the characters (the player and the npc for example, just 2 characters in this specific one tho) and basic actions, and movements gives them SOO. MUCH PERSONALITY. i love pixel art, but its hard to animate emotions into them, and especially in my artstyle. so i always thought i'd learn to make more detailed images of my characters with a bunch of different poses and smash them together like pngtuber. that way you can see the person you are talking to and it would give them so much more personality and i would be able to draw all the little things i want to add to the sprites, but can't because its to small.
i also have Stardew in mind (A GAME I ACTUALLY PLAY) as just as omori it has a portrait and a name, then a text part, it has a wood theming just like all the ui in the game, and that fits stardew Perfectly! butt i don't know what that would be for my game.
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So to make a conclusion, i need to design a simple, but interesting ui, with a place for a name, text and an at least torso and up image of the person you are talking to! then i either need to choose for a single colour and outline, or i can go the class of 09 and stardew vibe, and pick a texture and a vibe that fits the game, but since every chapter will be somewhere completely different (stardew is always in the valley and class of 09 is in a school most of the time so their textures fit)
so what would be a good texture that fits the vibe of the game, has a simple texture that won't class with completelly different themes of each chapter, has a perfect way to show the npc in the frame, and just... looks good.
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the theming around my game is fairly simple, a kid's soul shatters into pieces and they try and find the pieces to find out who they were and how to ended up in the spirit world, meeting different people who all have differen story's on how they ended up in the spirit world, and spiritis themselves.
i have thought about maybe theming it around stars, since it is a MASSIVE part of the lore and aesthetic of the game, in the spirit world, there is no sun or moon, and stars float around that give off heat and light to the world. so i could do a galaxy textured textbox? but i feel thats to themed.\
anyway what do y'all think!! this is a rlyyyy long post that i've been thinking about making for ages now! pls tell me what you think i should do!!
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where-dreamers-go · 6 months
Note
Can I ask for the super skilled fighter Reader from the last request to invite Eragon for a sparing match after they defeated everyone? Almost like an end-boss situation XD.
Ooo if you need song inspiration you could go with super massive black hole by muse!
“Sparring Fool” Eragon x Reader
(A/N: Hi! The way I practically shrieked while reading Super Massive Black Hole was hilarious. That song takes me back…closer to when I was reading Brisingr, maybe earlier. So thank you. Also…I did not specify this being Modern! Reader. Plus at this point, I don’t know if this is an Eragon insert reader or an Eragon Reaction. Warnings: Me writing to that song! Lol Mentions of fighting. Ancient Language for Dragon Rider and friend used. Word Count: 972 words)
Eragon had learned much in his life, especially after leaving home. What he had witnessed between you and the warriors on Mount Arngor gave him a fast course in learning your opponent while fighting. Sure, he had only visuals to rely on, but he was still greatly impressed.
They bested everyone they sparred with. Eragon watched as you sipped from a cup of water. Who trained them?
Steady in an oncoming stream of thoughts and images of your movements, the leader of the mountain forgotten where his gaze landed. Deep in analysis and questions kept even his sight preoccupied for the better part of your rest period.
“Thinking of a puzzle?” You asked with a small smirk.
Eragon composed himself. “In a way, yes.”
Humming in acknowledgement, you nodded.
“You’ve very skilled in your fighting.”
“I do my best.”
“Your best is impressive,” he added.
“Thank you, but there are others more skilled than I.”
He smiled.
Your attitude only made Eragon more interested, curious.
“Would you like to spar with me?” You asked, stretching.
Straightening his back, he paused for only a moment. Long enough for Saphira to encourage the activity.
“I would.”
Standing up, you inquired, “Weapons or no weapons, Shur’tugal? Your choice.”
An easy decision for the Dragon Rider. One he was most confident in succeeding.
“Sword.”
Your smile mirrored his own and his stomach fluttered for a second.
Let us see how this turns out. He thought as he felt Saphira’s amusement.
You picked up two swords, ones already magically altered to prevent severe damage to oneself and the swords themselves.
Have fun, little one.
Eragon met you in the middle of a clear area. He took the weapon you offered graciously before taking a few paces backwards. A preferred distance for the start of the spar.
Taking a ready stance gave Eragon a sense of calm confidence.
There was no danger.
There were no enemies.
It was another practice in skill.
You made the first move.
If only Eragon hadn’t let his confidence in a sword-fight and his observation of your skills lead him into a false sense of victory. For when his confidence hit a peak, you used it against him.
Retreating to the left, the Dragon Rider let out a soft groan.
That kick hurt, Eragon thought in some attempt to warn himself of any more light damage. They are good. He repositioned the sword.
Years ago he was changed by the dragons. He had greater speed and senses. He knew this.
Yet Eragon very well could had been taking his first few lessons of fighting all over again.
He had been anticipating specific moves from you. All that time spent watching and you had the advantage.
“Are you watching, Shur’tugal?” Your voice snickered towards the end of your question.
Warmth coated his skin to which he hoped was unnoticeable.
They are playing with you.
I know, Eragon replied to Saphira.
It came time to change tactics. To be as unpredictable as possible or almost unlike himself became his strategy.
Eragon charged forward. If he could no longer land a hit then he desperately needed to disarm you. Anything before you bested him completely.
How would it look if you won against everyone and him?
If he set aside his pride, it would look amazing. A skilled warrior who could adapt to their opponent and win was a great addition to have amongst others.
For the most part, you twisted away from Eragon’s swing. Keeping some momentum allowed him to hit your leg. Enough to cause you to stumble.
The surprise in your eyes added to his confidence of his altered strategy. He would need to be careful.
“Are you watching, fricai?” Asked Eragon with a smirk. His bent his knees and looked for another opportunity.
Rolling back your shoulders, you answered, “Closer than you think.”
Swings, dodges, hits, and words were exchanged for a while longer. Limbs aching and sweat noticeable. You both continued.
Close, he thought as he used his blade to push yours further away.
You were left open.
He swung down, however before impact you kneed his side. A little too close to his rear.
Sending you a disapproving frown lasted a second.
Swords locked between the pair of you.
Eragon had never been that close to you before.
“Pouting again, Shur’tugal?” You panted.
“No. Tired, fricai?”
“Not yet.”
Muscles flexing, Eragon added weight to the point of contact. He watched the two blades lean towards you. There was no need for enhanced hearing for him to know you were trying to even out your breathing.
If he could tire you, perhaps he could win the sparring match. There were no tricks to truly fend off exhaustion.
“Do you always…stare at someone’s lips when fighting?” You huffed.
Eragon’s eyebrows rose.
What? I don’t—
A flicker of change, a thought, in your eyes and you kicked one of his legs out from under him. With his weight focused foward, the Dragon Rider knew his mistake.
Pivoting to his side, you gave a shove onto his back.
Down Eragon went. Catching himself on one knee saved some of his dignity.
Not much could be said about his pride as a while as he felt the cold blade of the sword across the back of his neck. Nor did the Dragon Rider know what to say while your fingers pressed down on one of his shoulder blades.
Eragon Shadeslayer had lost.
After aiding him in standing and Eragon complimenting you, tension died away.
“Best two out of three?” You smiled playfully.
Laughing, Eragon replied, “Perhaps another time.”
“I think I owe you a drink.”
“It would be very appreciated.” He smiled and added. “Then perhaps you could tell me how you beat me?”
It was your turn to laugh, “Perhaps, Shur’tugal, perhaps.”
~~~
(If you love my writings and want to support me, I have a Ko-Fi where you can buy me a coffee. I would be eternally grateful.
Best wishes and happy reading.)
~~~~~
DreamerDragon Tags: 
Inheritance Cycle Tags: @shewhobreathesfire @
**Let me know if you would like to be tagged in insert readers, either through replies, ask, or message.**
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monkey-network · 8 months
Text
Good Stuff: Orion and the Dark
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You know? I remember playing Pajama Sam 1 many moons ago and to this day I find it lovely to play. Great characters, incredible artwork, the differing routes each playthrough which I didn't even realize until then, and the ending which really stuck with me. That what was kept me anticipating Orion and the Dark, as I felt it was that spiritual successor I never knew I wanted. It sucks that Dreamworks dropped this onto streaming like it was nothing, not even on the site they own no less, but I genuinely looked forward to this and that's what matters. Now that it's out, let it be known I can't believe this will be the first Charlie Kaufman film for me. Just saying, any interest in his previous movies is gonna feel like whiplash.
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Just imagining some kid loving Orion & is eventually in awe for a movie called I'm Thinking of Ending Things
To truly start this review, this might be the best kino non-Pixar Pixar movie Dreamsworks ever made. I didn't think of it having the whole "what if X had feelings" factor until now but I actually like that they take it not only in a reasonable direction, but twists the dynamic in a way Pixar honestly hasn't done since... Toy Story 4 I guess? No spoilers, but I enjoyed that Darkness and his entity friends have their insecurities, this is before they all met Orion, and they take that in a very great if offputting direction. Plus I love that they were able to personify these elements I didn't actually think about when it came to night time. They also present the biggest problem with the movie and that's the lack of real camaraderie with the entities and Orion. You enjoy the friendship between the boy and Darkness, but they streamline the bond Orion has with the others and that really makes the story hit or miss depending on if you grow to care about them. I brought up Pixar and yeah, while they have their great individual moments they don't have the same effectiveness dynamic wise as the emotions from Inside Out. Also small nitpick, but I didn't like that Dark's name is "Dark" and not "Darkness"; doesn't roll of the tongue, you know?
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Plus we didn't get Orion and Dark playing Cheese & Crackers like missed opportunity of the year
Now again, this is my first Charlie Kaufman film, but I was familiar with his writing style and I gotta say I loved what he does with the structure of the story. It's a story within a story where as soon as the curtain is pulled, I was fully hooked. I love how Orion essentially helps himself overcome some of his fears both thanks to unexpected but welcomed help and developing his own confidence. It was clever how when you put a face on a fear, that fear slowly fades but the film shows that it's not something capable of a cure. Orion's neuroses dilate thanks to this adventure, he probably wouldn't have lived to tell it if otherwise, but it presents that growing up doesn't mean everything will work out perfectly or immediately. Does it do a lot to get to that point? Yes, but I felt the risks paid off in a way I don't think I've seen before in a story like this. I know as a kid I didn't have constant paralyzing premonitions regarding the worse outcomes imaginable like Orion, but on some level I remember what it's like and how it'll still fester your mind as you get older. This film, pun unintended, gets dark on a personal level and will probably stick with me long after watching it.
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Can't say this scene broke me, but damn did it get close
Orion and the Dark impressed me as something thought-provoking, that does a lot more than being another adapted storybook. Is it an insanely masterful modern Dreamworks movie like Puss in Boots 2? No, even with its great subversions the movie doesn't juggle everything as well as I hoped. Then again, I highly appreciate that this was a risky movie Dreamworks was willing to release, that got both Kaufman and Werner Herzog of all people on board, as opposed to shelving it like some companies I know. A movie that doesn't spell everything out, that gets to be a family movie not constantly upbeat but colorful and optimistic in all the right ways. Orion deserves a chance where I think everyone will have interesting takeaways even if it won't be their favorite Dreamworks film in recent years. I'm overall glad I saw it and kinda want to see it again soon for missed details.
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4 Out Of 5; The night truly shined with this one.
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good-chimes · 2 years
Text
Okay Phasmophobia stream recap for those who don’t watch horror:
Grian, Scar, Impulse and Skizzleman have for some reason decided to play Phasmophobia, a game where you and your friends go into a spooky house with ghost hunting equipment and do a variety of unwise things while a ghost tries to kill you
They begin in the starting area:
Grian: So, I’ve played Phasmophobia once, Skizz and Impulse have played it every week for a couple of years, and Scar—
Scar: I’M NOT MUTED ANY MORE AND I’M SO EXCITED FOR PLASMATOPIA
Grian: Scar has never played—I’m sorry? PLASMATOPIA?
Grian and Impulse follow this up with trying to trick Scar into looking at a jump scare, eventually they realise Scar didn’t alter his brightness settings so literally can’t see it
Five more minutes of trying to get Scar to work the radio properly
Grian: Scar are you holding down B or just pressing it?
Scar: I don’t have a B on my controls
Grian, audibly unravelling: WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DONT HAVE A B, YOU ARE SITTING IN FRONT OF A KEYBOARD
Impulse and Skizz quietly loading equipment as they’re actually good at this. Scar learns how to throw a basketball.
Grian into his own radio: this is a shambles, come in come in, this is a shambles.
Grian insists they pick a hard level because ‘it’s Scar’s first game and he needs to learn’
They move to Spooky House #1:
Increasingly clear that Scar does not know how to use the controls and none of the others are explaining
Grian (definitely very expert and tough and not at ALL a thin layer of bravado over a ball of terror) attempts the Spirit Box, a piece of equipment which requires you to shut yourself in a dark room by yourself and speak to a ghost who might try and kill you.
Skizz: come here, come here, listen to Grian trying to talk to the ghost
Grian, muffled: what’s your naaaame
Skizz: this is like Grian on a date and he’s getting shunned
Skizz: you gotta ask her about her interests buddy
Scar has found a glowstick. The glowstick does nothing helpful for him.
Scar cheerfully disregards Skizz’s worry about their sanity ticking down in the darkness
because we have glowsticks so we can have a rave
mm tss mm tss mm tss!!!
Grian’s ethereal voice over the radio: Scar I’m going to kill you
They set up a camera. A door opens by itself. Scar: “d-d-d-door!” Grian dissolves into goat screeches and Scooby Doo accusations.
Scar: “the door! The door opened!” Grian: “okay Scar go in there.” Scar: “NO!”
Grian eventually talks Scar into locking himself in a dark room with the ghost and the spirit box. Impulse and Skizz suspiciously quiet.
Scar attempts to make the ghost laugh, succeeds instead in making Grian laugh.
Scar didn’t even pick up the ghost radio, turns out he’s been talking to a notebook this entire time
okay second attempt
Grian, goading: Say the ghost’s name, Scar, go on, say it, say it
Impulse: okay when the attack comes you gotta hide and turn off all your equipment buddy
Scar, who very clearly does not know the controls: what does that mean???
notable silence
Scar: okay Betty Betty BETTY
LOUD CRACKLING
WIND SHRIEKING
Grian: scar run!!! get in the closet!!!
BREAKING GLASS
CACKLING THAT SOUNDS LIKE A HORROR EFFECT BUT IS IN FACT GRIAN
ghost murders scar
scar wanders the hallways as a ghost. He finds his friends, who seem unconcerned.
Scar: They didn’t tell me ghosts could kill you!
Scar: [on top of them] I hope you ALL die
Scar: Can I pick up things. Is there a gun. Can I hurt them.
The ghost murders Grian, who screams like he’s dying in real life
Scar perks up
Scar SO disappointed that Grian doesn’t seem to be appearing where ghost scar appeared
The group get in the van with Grian’s ghost and leave Scar behind
Debriefing back at mission end is slightly Contentious
Okay let’s let bygones be bygones and do another mission
Grian: Scar you didn’t hear me scream, right, you still think I’m manly
Scar: Oh, I heard you scream
They move to Spooky House #2
Scar has been given the temperature checker this time around
but he has also found the tools contain a lighter
Scar: I gotta be myself
Scar delighted to find the new spooky house is made of wood, we’re gonna burn this place to the GROUND, interrupted by Grian whispering terrifyingly on radio I’m behind you
Scar: don’t do that!!
Scar: wait was that Grian or the ghost
Scar: wait
More shenanigans while Skizz and Impulse try to figure out what kind of ghost it is
Grian: scar where are you
Scar: I thought I could just burn this place to the ground but it’s not working
Grian: these clients are expecting us to SOLVE the ghost mystery. You are the worst scooby-doo I’ve ever worked with.
Scar: [in the tone of patiently explaining something obvious] They could collect on the insurance
Grian has no luck talking to the ghost with the spirit box. Meanwhile Scar has spent five minutes trying to open a door (Impulse, Skizz, and Grian still being very withholding about the controls). Grian, after another feeble attempt thrusts the spirit box at Scar and says “You try, Scar”. Scar immediately like “oh okay! what do I do?” despite the fact that being shut in a dark room with a ghost by himself and instructed by the others into provoking it was exactly how he died last time
Scar is murdered by the ghost
Scar haunts Grian and the others, vindictively grumbling about them trapping him in with the ghost. throws empty cans at them. after five minutes of this discovers that Impulse is also dead and could hear him this whole time.
Skizz: okay radioing the dead people! [long one-way explanation about game mechanics so Scar and Impulse can pick up game points while they’re dead]—
Scar: Can we sabotage them? (Impulse just laughs.)
They’ve left in the van without Scar again
They move to Spooky House #3
Scar ignores all the tools and builds a beautiful pile of salt and candles. Grian laughs at it for thirty seconds straight.
Scar is murdered by the ghost.
Scar: play this game with us they said! It’ll be fun they said!
Scar: I assume the van’s gone again
Scar: oh no it’s still here. Hopefully they’re all DEAD.
Debriefing is contentious once more
Grian: okay scar when the haunt starts you have to not talk and hide. You stood in the middle of the room and yelled.
Scar: I had some salt!
Impulse: That doesn’t do anything…
Scar: [indignant] the salt should protect you!
Skizz: if the ghost is a snail?
They move to Spooky House #4 with extra scary mirror ghost:
Impulse declares their goal in the next house is to keep Scar alive. Gains reluctant agreement from the group.
This will definitely go well
This ghost is really out to get them. Skizz nearly dies despite being very good at the game.
Grian: let’s send scar in!
Impulse: What happened to Operation Keep Scar Alive????
They find the ghost from the haunted mirror but can’t get it to write in a book. They wander back and forth between the van full of tools and the spooky house.
Scar goes back into the house
Impulse: Operation Keep Scar Alive is very difficult :/
Grian: [over the radio] hey scar take a quick look in the mirror
Scar: where’s the mirror
Impulse: [despairingly] he’s trying to get you killed
Scar looks in the mirror and gets murdered by the ghost
Skizz dies. Shrieking.
Impulse dies. More shrieking.
Grian [tiny voice]: I’m in a cupboard…
Grian is by himself and he’s so scared
who could have foretold getting Scar murdered might lead to Grian being alone and terrified
Grian has shut the van door in scars face a third time and driven off
Grian has just realised he got all his friends murdered, not just Scar, because he forgot to take the sanity pills
Impulse: so we failed again
Grian: scar how’s your heart rate?
Scar: [throws a basketball at his face]
They move to hard level: Spooky Abandoned Asylum
Skizzle: Did you just turn that light off?
Grian: Sorry
Impulse: [resigned] if it's got buttons he's got to press it
grian and scar slowly being driven mad by an invisible child making a 'weh' sound
five minutes later proven it was Skizz
Scar has not fully cottoned on to the fact it is Skizz
Scar: Schism if that is you, i will throw you into the ghost
‘Schism’ honestly not the worst mispronunciation of the night only because Grian is absolutely convinced ‘tarot’ rhymes with ‘carrot’
Scar: ah i can't wait to hotguy you skizz >:( ... almost spoiled something
Scar: Oh I found someone’s tongue [it is clearly a red bookmark]
Skizz: Don’t touch that tongue that’s mine!
Asylum is glitched and the ghost doesn’t get to them
They make no money
Scar: does that mean… TECHNICALLY I LIVED
He is so pleased. Scar mission accomplished.
They move to Spooky Campsite:
Skizz has found this map with a camp fire so there is something to burn
Skizz: Scar you’re gonna light the campfire buddy!!
Skizz is instantly forgiven for every sin he’s committed against Scar ever
Campsite is supposed to be an easy mission. They wander around for twenty minutes. Scar is pretending to vlog
The ghost shows up out of nowhere… and murders scar.
Grian shrieks with laughter like a dying chicken.
Scar: all I hear is grian’s cackles
Grian: we were supposed to keep him alive, why did his body do a little hop
Disembodied Scar makes a game attempt at “I will get you back! All of you!” then gives up revenge and carries on pretending to vlog
Chat tells Scar to enter the clues
Disembodied!Scar: what clues did we learn? That I died and the ghost cackled at me? Oh, that was Grian actually.
The group try and figure out the ghost. Is it a demon… they’re pretty sure it’s a raijiu…?
Disembodied!Scar: I think it's a banshee.
Disembodied!Scar: The banshee is Grian >:(
Skizzle: ghost, give us a sign
Disembodied!Scar: [hurls a can at him]
Grian, with a frankly hypocritical level of outrage: Scar stop throwing stuff
They've shut the van door in Scar's face again
guess what.
they other three were all wrong.
it was a banshee.
Back in the starting area:
Impulse sounds almost impressed. He has never seen someone die so much in this game.
They mess around with the basketballs and blocks. Grian, in a tone that is almost an apology is like, scar no genuinely scar what is your heartrate.
Skizz pushes them all into a group Scar hug.
Scar: ...I can see the back of all your eyeballs
Grian: i'm never playing this game again
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idpreferyoudead · 4 months
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There’s a lot of movies I haven’t seen yet this year because going to the cinema is bloody expensive and you can have a couple of months of nothing grabbing your interest and then suddenly 4 movies come out in the same week and somehow I’m meant to choose which movie I want to see the most? Well last month I didn’t pick Abigail and I’ll admit that was solely on the fact the film was by Radio Silence and the focus was on Melissa Barrera. I thought Ready Or Not was a great film but I hated what they did to the Scream franchise. I haven’t really seen Melissa in anything else but I just hate her character in Scream so much it’s hard to separate her right now. So with Abigail hitting streaming services, I finally gave it a viewing.
Now we all know what this movie is about thanks to the trailer: a little girl comes home from what is presumedly a ballet class, is kidnapped by a group of criminals and she turns out to be a vampire. That is basically the extent of the entire plot. Six completely random crims, where none of them look like the type capable of pulling off something of this magnitude even if it is just glorified babysitting, but it only takes Joey (Melissa Barrera) 30 seconds to prove she’s incompetent for the job when she believes everything Abigail tells her. The second hand embarrassment was real when Joey did this not once, but twice, then stands there saying how smart Abigail is for manipulating them. I feel like Joey would be really susceptible to TV advertising. The kind of person to believe something on wikipedia because nothing on wikipedia is ever wrong – and it is, you should look up the plot to Robert the Doll on there. It’s hilarious but oh so wrong! They all realise this little girl is a vampire and stand around discussing the ways to kill a vamp. Of course, Twilight is mentioned. Garlic, sunlight and holy water are the obvious answers, 2 of which are useless to them at 3:30am barricaded inside a large house but the dumb got dumber when Sammy (Kathryn Newton) runs out of the kitchen with a bag of garlic and she gets a quick lesson on what an onion looks like. I wish I could say the movie gets better, but for me, it didn’t.
Early on with teaser trailers, people were very quick to make comparisons to M3GAN – all because of a young girl and a dance routine – and that’s not much of a comparison. Honestly it’s kind of insulting to compare a Tiktok dance to ballet. Though for a kid that’s been around for a few centuries, I’ll guess ballet is a relatively new hobby for her but her ballet skills are better than whoever was in charge of giving Sammy tattoos. I don’t know what is going on in Hollywood right now where every ‘edgy’ character that exists in a movie must have some of the absolute shittest tattoos that ever existed. The kind of tattoos that look like they were done in your mates crack den with the tattoo gun he bought from Temu. Harry Styles is not the poster boy for how to look cool with tattoos, okay? Just employ someone from Ink Master, they could draw you up something real nice compared to the random black drawings that look like were done with a felt tip pen.
Plot wise I was mostly pretty bored to the point where I started wondering if I should count how many times the word FUCK was said in the movie, because that one word is definitely like 30% of the script. Total overkill, just like that time someone let Chris Rock near a Saw film. Even the way some of them were dying – just fully exploding bloody messes – was straight out of Ready Or Not and didn’t feel very imaginative.
I’m sure to have no fans with this but Melissa Barrera’s acting just doesn’t do it for me. This was just another character I couldn’t stand where she was gullible at every turn while also being holier than thou. Can we normalise not praising a movie just because some actor/actress you’re fangirling over is in it? Let’s raise the bar a little!
Any rating I give this movie is going to Alisha Weir. She pulled off playing a terrified and vulnerable little girl, a vampire child who likes to play with her food and she was definitely the smartest person in the room. Her ability to switch between meek child to ruthless killer and back again makes her someone to watch – I’ll be interested to see what she does in the future!
Lastly, I’m saddened that after hearing ‘Tiny Dancer’ a few times in the beginning, not once was Elton John played in the movie. What a missed opportunity.
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jujumin-translates · 1 month
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[A3!] ★ Main Story | Act 15 - Painful RE:bake | Episode 6 - A Broken Shell
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Taichi: --Well then, I’ve got a challenge that I’ve always wanted to take on!
Taichi: I… wanna try getting a leading role outside of the company.
Taichi: The only reason I was able to stand at position zero with my chest out as the lead role during Mantou Fist was because I had everyone in Autumn Troupe behind me.
Taichi: But for my “individual growth”, I’ve gotta go beyond that.
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Taichi: I wanna play the leading role without having all of Autumn Troupe with me. That’s what will lead to my evolution and confidence as the actor, Taichi Nanao.
Taichi: That’s why… I wanna take on that challenge and give the world I once gave up on another shot head-on.
Azami: The world you once gave up on…?
Taichi: I’m gonna try my hand in the film industry, like dramas and movies, ‘cause when I did those as a child actor, I didn’t grow at all!
Sakyo: The film industry, huh…?
Taichi: I got so knocked down by Ten-chan’s overwhelming presence, especially since he was the same age as me, that I gave up on the idea that I could ever be like him…
Taichi: But now that he recognized me as an equal rival, I think there might be something I can do now.
Taichi: I wanna contribute to the troupe by re-challenging the barriers that I failed at back then and become an even better actor than I am now!
Taichi: …That said, I’ve got no clue where to even start.
Banri: If you’re tryin’ to get an audition, why don’t ya talk to Tenma?
Banri: I mean, you’d still hafta be offered the leadin’ role in a production, but the Sumeragi Agency prolly has some contacts.
Banri: That’s how I got an audition for Handsome Detective.
Taichi: Oh yeah, that’s right!
Juza: Handsome Detective, huh… That was quite the masterpiece.
Banri: Shut it.
Taichi: Alright, I’ll try talking to Ten-chan!
Azami: If that’s the kinda thing you’re talkin’ about, I’d kinda like to do something like that too.
Sakyo: That’s something I’ve always wanted to try too.
Omi: …
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Taichi: Omi-kun? You okay?
Omi: Yeah-- I just need to find something to challenge like everyone else.
Omi: (I’m concerned about the matter at hand, but… I need to focus on myself.)
Banri: Aight, so that’s it for what we’re--.
Sakyo: Can I make a suggestion?
Sakyo: These individual challenges are good, but this is a sequel performance. If we don’t bring attention to Autumn Troupe, we won’t fill seats and we won’t sell on streaming.
Sakyo: We should make good use of our spare time and do something all together as Autumn Troupe.
Taichi: Like what…?
Juza: Somethin’ like how Spring Troupe did their beginner’s workshop?
Sakyo: Exactly.
Azami: I feel like that was a good opportunity to get people interested in their performance, not just our fans.
Juza: Should Autumn Troupe do that too?
Banri: Nah, a workshop for beginners with this many scary faces? …We’d just scare away the participants.
Azami: Shouldn’t it be somethin’ that take advantage of Autumn Troupe’s strengths?
Juza: Our strengths… Ya mean action?
Taichi: I getcha! We can teach people the basics too!
Sakyo: We should get Yuzo-san to supervise the rehearsal menu then.
Banri: If we’re gonna put together a plan between now and before Autumn Troupe’s performance, and talk to a buncha different people, we better get on it…
Omi: Then I’ll take care of the management stuff once you’re ready for it.
Omi: I’ve done planning and management for these kinds of events for the photography agency before.
Omi: Also, Zen-san mentioned the other day that--.
· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·
*Flashback*
Zen: Just let me know if any of the newborn group wants to use it for action-specific rehearsals or somethin’.
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Zen: I’ll lend it to you whenever it’s available. Tell your director about it.
*Flashback end*
· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·
Omi: So I can get right on it and talk to him about it.
Taichi: That’s some great timing!
Sakyo: The first generation always has a soft spot for the newborn group.
Banri: I’m grateful that we’re able to rely on them now.
[ ⇠ Previous Part ] • [ Next Part ⇢ ]
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jewishbarbies · 7 months
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I didn't know about the antisemitism in hp because while I wasn't explicitly taught "this is antisemitic" I still learned those tropes. I just didn't know they they were tropes. The only thing I knew was nazi propaganda, because that was in textbooks. We didn't learn about everyday antisemitism. We didn't learn about the history of jews in any other country. And that doesn't excuse me or the school I went to. But I know better now, and I can look around and recognise certain tropes. But I can also recognise that jkr was hateful to so many different groups of people. Jews, the Irish, asian people, gay people, trans people, ironically women in general (Ginny Weasley in particular who only existed as a character for Harry to save and get married and have babies with) and women who like "girly" things (Lavender Brown deserved better.)
at this point, so much of pop culture is steeped in these antisemitic things (tropes, imagery, caricatures, etc.) and a lot of fantasy lore in some areas is just antisemitic to its core so while I’m angry I have to sift through the distressing nonsense, I try not to get angry at people who genuinely don’t understand. because you can spread antisemitism while not being an antisemite. the entirety of the witch aesthetic is stolen and twisted from jewish caricatures, antisemitic history, and practices appropriated from indigenous cultures - but that’s just The Witch now. same with goblins. that’s just what That Thing is to people now, so if you want to stop it, you have to throw the whole thing away and barely anyone is actually willing to do that. on top of that, they believe they don’t have to.
with HP specifically, I don’t blame anyone for not picking up on the bigotry from the books they read as children. now, if you reread it as an adult and still don’t get it, that’s another issue. but at least with the antisemitism, it’s much more obvious with the movies and a lot of people try to excuse JKR from it bc of that, when she had such a heavy hand in making those films. she had/has enough sway to change literally anything. and I think a lot of people understood the antisemitism more when they could see just what these goblins were supposed to look like, and that brought it all together. however, there are people obsessed with goblins (I think there’s a lot of neurodivergent people who have a special interest in goblins for one reason or another and that makes it more difficult to let go, in my experience) who absolutely refuse to come to terms with the antisemitic nature of the creature to begin with, when it’s antisemitic originally AND in JKR’s interpretation. I never got into HP so I didn’t know about the goblins, having not seen the movies, and it was really easy to not interact with it once I did. I can genuinely understand how heartbreaking it is to find out something you love goes against what you believe in, bc for jews it’s just part of our lives. we find out creators of and the things we like are nazis or antisemitic every single day. moreso than usual as of late.
imo the racism and general bigotry of JKR should be more than enough for HP fans who claim to care about other people, but it’s hella odd that antisemitism is the sticking point for so many people. they’ll say they’re streaming the movies and playing the games and reading the books but but but they’re not giving money to JKR and therefore not supporting her transphobia and racism, but you mention her antisemitism and the fact that the HP game was just antisemitism the simulator and they immediately dismiss it. her bigotry is embedded in the work. it’s in the imagery of the franchise. hell, there’s a storyline where a villain is a villain bc he wanted to stop the holocaust. that speaks for itself, and should be enough for literal adults.
(on the It’s The Thing Now point, it’s happening with lizard people as well. everyone is calling themselves a goblin and making lizard people jokes and it’s just apart of the young people dialogue now. I could go on for hours but I think I made my point.)
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