#alternatively i think he would be into eurobeat

[piosplayhouse]

I know the shen yuan being a PIDW fanartist headcanon is already niche enough but since I've been listening to so much brony eurobeat I'm thinking... Fan musician Shen Yuan.. thinking well he might as well use the violin + piano skills from the lessons his parents made him take when he was a kid, plus all of the shitty character playlists with death metal and shit on the PIDW forums are so inaccurate to the story, clearly Binghe would have a much more elegant and refined sound to his character, and of course the lyrics to his character song would be similarly poetic and so romantic and

Yeah he ends up making the most crushingly beautiful romance ballad as a Binghe character song to post on the PIDW forums. And who's to say if it also ends up in his and binghe's wedding later down the line. There's no proof of that

[bigshot]

1. What they smell like:  Soy sauce.

Fresh from the shower he smells like whatever soap he's been using that week, he prefers generic "clean" scents. You know, the ones with names like "Fresh Rain" or "Seascape." If he's planning to leave the house, though, he smells like strong but cheap cologne.

... and soy sauce.

2. How they sleep (sleeping position, schedule, etc):  Alone, he sleeps in something like a fetal position or just curled up like some kind of little critter. He's used to sleeping in cramped spaces and hasn't shaken the habit, he likes to hold pillows. If somebody else is joining him (namely, Brad) he's sleeping squarely in their arms.

Spamton's sleep schedule is all kinds of fucked, he'd be on the grind 24 / 7 if his body would just let him and some nights he might not get much at all. But unless he's sick or something, he's always up at the crack of dawn.

He's also prone to very vivid dreams and night terrors, the kind that have him moving a lot when he's asleep. Brad's probably been kicked a few times or seen him sleepwalk or heard him talk.

3. What music they enjoy: Alternative, pop, experimental, lounge, rock, techno, eurobeat... he's not really into any one singular genre more than another. If it played a lot on the radio in the 90's, though, he loves it.

I think he'd really enjoy Devo.

4. How much time they spend getting ready every morning: A fair amount of time, not too much but enough that people might notice. He takes the time to make sure his hair is perfectly shaped, that his face is free of scuffs, that the red on his cheeks hasn't chipped and there's nothing weird in his teeth.

Spamton is at his most presentable at the very start of his day.

5. Their favorite thing to collect: Money!!! Cash!!!! Dough!!!!! KROMER !!!!

He loves physical money, it's the one thing he'll collect and not try to sell to anyone else, and it's hard to tell if he likes it more out of greed, compulsion, or genuine interest. Maybe a little of everything?

He has a little coin album he keeps things in and a couple framed paper bills, assuming he's found any as collectors items in a city that runs solely on crypto.

6. Left or right-handed: He's ambidextrous! (But favors his right)

7. Religion (if any): It's... complicated. He's religious in that he practices something very similar to Christianity but with an unknown denomination. It's likely an amalgamation of the Angel based religion the Lightners practice and deification of the Lightners themselves or their world. It's gotten muddied now that he's essentially living with them and in their world.

Whatever it is, he still worships Angels as his sole Gods. When he isn't actively seeking to become a proper God.

9. Favorite touristy thing to do when traveling: Window shopping and touring around, he loves to see what trinkets the locals are trying to pawn off on tourists (and for what prices) and he can't pass up the opportunity to explore someplace new or interesting.

10. Favorite kind of weather: Spring or summer, bright sunshine, puffy little clouds, and the greenest grass you've ever seen. Maybe a comfortable warmth and a pleasant breeze to tie it all together.

11. A weird / obscure fear they have: Burning alive. Burning in acid. Burning in general. Trains make him kind of nervous.

12. The carnival / arcade game they always win without fail:  He's got a good eye for ring toss or dart throw style games, but he's also got a good eye for potential scams and knows a lot of the tricks carnies might be using! He's a good guy to have with you if you're looking to hit up the midway.

stolen from @armstrongstyles & encouraging ya'll to be thieves, too

[ford-ye-fiji]

I think that since season 3 of TUA is set in an alternate present, all the pop songs on the soundtrack should be slightly to the left of what we're used to. Like, instead of a normal ABBA song it's the Eurobeat remix of gimme gimme gimme, or the 80's remix of somebody I used to know. Vegginald can have a Kidzbop rap song as a recurring motif. As a punishment.

That would fantastic oh my gosh!!! kind of like how spider verse did it (for example with the PDNY instead of NYPD) it would really clever! I hate to say this but it’s probably too clever of an idea for them ajaksk they really didn’t do that great with their music choices in season 2 rip.

Bad music? I feel like that’s exactly what Veggie deserves yes please and thank you!! (Lol that or he should get the kazoo version of the a**hole song by jimmy buffet I feel like that would just fit really well for him.) 

[stanleywbaxton]

The One Time I Asked my Friend For a Lift and Left my Soul in an Arcade Car Park

Gas, gas, gas [x]

So this is a quick one, but I need to get it off my chest. Purely because this is the most distilled instance of a hobby matching the hobby-goer I've ever seen in my life.

Arcade Club

is a wonderful place in the middle of Bury. I have this terrible condition known as 'Rhythm Game Brain Fungus', which means I have a compulsive need to check if a rhythm game arcade cabinet is within any distance of my current location, constantly. Arcade Club is run by people who also have a terrible case of RGBF, making it a holy grail in the north of every Bemani game I absolutely adore.

As I'm the kind of person to spread brain fungus as an act of love, I pestered and pestered my friends to come with me for a day out. We're all gamer nerds, and at least one person had to get hooked onto them like I had. And hell, even if they don't care about the rhythm games there's plenty other cabs there, and Mario Kart set up in the corner as a last resort. Everyone wins.

But the actual happenings mean little for this story. I had a great time, my friends had a great time, great times all around. Good day..

Now, the main problem with going to Arcade Club, as much as I adore the place, is that it's quite the way out from where me and my friends live. It takes both a tram and a train to reach it, so if one is delayed or we're late to one regardless of the other, we're a bit snookered for making our way back. But we're not stupid, are we? We'd leave ourselves with plenty of time to account for any public transport mishaps that could befall us, and give ourselves more than enough time to make the connections.

So the last tram leaves in 10 minutes.

I run the numbers, and realise we're not going to make it in time. It takes 20 to walk to the tram stop from the arcade. I'm starting to think through alternatives, seeing if there's a weird train connection that loops back on itself that google can't figure out, and thinking of the final possibility of us all splitting a cab.

When I realise, one of us drove here.

Introducing Tavi. Tavi is insane.

There are so many things to say about Tavi I would be here all day. Here's a selection of favourites.

Tavi wanted a nice speaker system, paid for the entire thing upfront, and offset the cost by eating nothing but cereal for a month. It's so loud that at 15% volume it registered at 80db, and at maximum caused the posters on the walls to fall off. When she watched Inception, her friend who lived in the house next door asked her to stop making her window frames rattle.

Tavi regularly says 'owo' out loud in public. She pronounces it 'oh-woh'.

Tavi is terrifyingly good at Rocket League. She joined her university's esports league, and caused enough decimation during inter-uni matches she caused several people to quit permanently.

Tavi came down to Manchester for Halloween, and everytime she saw a Genshin Impact cosplay would point at them and happily declare "There's an oomfie!" She does not play Genshin Impact.

Tavi is completely obsessed with the game Hatoful Boyfriend, that one dating sim where you go out with a bunch of pigeons. In her home lives a collection of plushies of every single character and when we visit she pelts us with them at random. She has a full dakimakura of one of the guys you can date and proudly displays it in her room. I say 'guy' like he's not a bird. He's a bird.

Tavi is wonderful.

"Hey Tavi," I say, "we're not going to make it to the tram stop in time, would you mind swinging us up there before you go?"

"Oh, sure!" she says with an angelic rasp.

Everyone's rounded up and we make our way out. I'm still running numbers in my head. 5 minute drive to get to the station. It's a bit of a walk to the platform; 2 minutes. We should make this if we get a move on.

So we pile into her shitty little student car—and forgive my homosexuality, I couldn't tell you the model even if I tried—which we manage to fill every seat of.

Now. Let me tell you a few more things about Tavi.

Tavi is a huge fan of eurobeat

Tavi is a huge fan of Initial D

Arcade Club has several Initial D cabinets

Tavi has spent the last 2 hours doing nothing but playing Initial D

Tavi pops her phone in, brings up the tram stop on google maps, which starts to chime out the directions. As we're fastening our seatbelts the engine roars to life with the turn of a key.

And among its bombastic cry, is eurobeat.

This was not some pussy shit. This wasn't your 'Night of Fire' or 'Running in the 90s'. These were cuts deeper than the mariana trench, from a woman who has listened to all two hundred and fifty Super Eurobeat albums, from a woman who has a dedicated spot in her living room for a full driving simulator setup.

The English language does not have the words to describe the speed we ripped out of this car park.

You see, the car park does not have direct access to the road. It's one of those where it's two or three turns to hit a parking spot. She, somehow, transcended the need for right turns. Gravel parted in her wake like Moses leading a speedrun of the Exodus.

My soul, the titular protagonist of this whole story, I feel eject out my back and straight through the car seat. Whatever hold it had on my corporeal form was shattered as soon as my stomach hit my throat. There was nothing to be done. I was that stunned by the literal 0 to 60 I was thrust through.

If you go to Arcade Club, it will still be there. Curled up in a puddle and weeping into the asphalt. The puddle is not from the English weather, but instead from its tears.

We're on a road. Then a different road. I don't know what road this is. Not the one we walked down, is all I know. The spare part of my brain grappling what common sense it can says a prayer to God, and every god that does and doesn't exist between Him.

During this experience, I remember speaking. I don't remember what. Words left my mouth without consulting my brain.

I think I yelled one or two times.

My friends certainly did. One friend does almost constantly, occasionally evolving into a full howl. Others laugh in combined astonishment and terror. Another tries, and fails, a bid to get Tavi to slow down.

"Yeah," she said, completely levelled, "that's the thing about drifting, it's all in the throttle control."

At least three people scream 'NO' at the top of their lungs.

I do wonder what we looked like to the denizens of Bury from the outside. We did hit a red light at some point, which I only remember for the screeching the engine made when Tavi launched us off again. Did someone look through a window while we were stopped? To see a gaggle of screaming university students held hostage by a lunatic of a woman entirely fueled by the most gottagofast-inducing music known to man?

I'm too scared to look at the road ahead. I don't know where we are anymore. Where are we going? Some vague notion of 'in time' floats around my mind and slips between my fingers. The notion that did stick around was 'I am going to Fucking Die'.

Everytime we turn, it feels like my body is a sack of organs in a washing machine. I've never felt car sick before, but this would be the closest I've ever gotten to—

The cacophony stops in an instant as she yanks the key out.

"Okay, we're here!" she chimes with a smile.

It's the tram stop, I realise. The world slowly comes back into focus around it.

We leave the car, because what the fuck else were we going to do? That's the correct move when the driver says you're at your destination. I was running entirely on social etiquette and the survival response of being seconds from hurtling into a wall.

I wave goodbye. I think. I don't remember.

Her car roars to life again, the pounding of eurobeat resuming. She sped out of the tram stop with all the fury she took us here with, burning rubber on the bus stop markings.

We watch her leave our line of sight.

We walk into the station.

It takes ten minutes before any of us can speak again.

And you know what? We made that goddamn tram. We were all sat down with the familiar doots of the best thing to happen to Manchester around us, when our usual conversation starts picking up, realising we made this thing. Felt like death was seconds ahead of us, but we made it. The circumstances that brought us here started to matter less and less.

And it's left me with this story to tell.

I guess, in all, I learnt two things that day:

If you want to get there on time, sans sanity, ask your eurobeat-obsessed friend to take you.

Never give a transwoman the aux cord.

[leonajasmin-writeblr]

25 Questions

Thanks for the tag @rain-likes-to-ramble ! It’s the longest tag game I’ve done, so I’ll put it under the cut. Be warned, it gets progressively more sarcastic.

1. Is there a story you’re holding off writing for some reason? 

I’ve been wanting to try and rewrite some of my fanfic from when I was 13/14 for a while to make it less cringy and have a direct comparison on how my writing has changed. But the main thing I’m holding off is a novel(la) called The Scramble. It’s in the same universe as my other WIP’s (with some of its events being mentioned in The Indignant including an appearance from Chris) but it can be read standalone. I’ve got the cast and rough plot sorted out but as it was originally fanfiction, it’s taken a while to weed the fandom parts out of it. 

Brief summary: Sigurd Losnedahl, being the backstabber he is, decided to get involved with the Norikan Civil War despite insisting to his two sons he wouldn’t. Now Eirik and Halldór are stuck in the epicentre of the battle and since neutrality is even more dangerous than picking sides, they’re scuppered. After being taken under the wing of enigmatic Taisto Astergaard, Eirik is entangled with the man’s adopted daughter, Christine, and the only way the polar duo will live is through them ending the decade-long war. The only problem is, his father’s so obsessive with his cause that he now will do anything to put a bullet in his head. And Halldór’s disappeared- how convenient.

2. What work of yours, if any, are you embarrassed about existing?

The fanfiction that I mentioned in Q1 that I plan on rewriting. 

3. What order do you write in? Front of book to back? Chronological? Favourite scenes first? Something else?

Front to back. I tend to leave exposition and descriptions out of the first draft (unintentionally) so I’ll fill in those when I feel like it.

4. Favourite character I’ve written?

Phineas. He was originally a one-dimensional villain (I created him when I was 9) but he’s now one of the most complex characters in the series with the undoubtedly the most well-developed backstory. He’s also developed a great sense of humour over time, and his relationship with Jonathon (who I haven’t introduced on Tumblr yet but I need to. He’s a close second) is one of my favourite things to write.

5. Character you were most surprised to end up writing?

Vladislav. In my plan, he was only supposed to appear in 2/41 chapters. After his personality change, he quickly became one of the major characters. Originally, he was a vain flirt with an ego out the roof. Now he’s a sensitive but righteous boy training to be a lawyer to persecute his mass murdering uncle. Pretty big development for someone who was only created 7 months ago.

6. Something you would go back and change in your writing but it’s too late/complicated to change now.

I’d have added a District based on somewhere in South Asia and also one based on somewhere in Africa. I’m thinking about adding them at the end (since I’ve already stated in my novel that more Districts will come with time), but it’s too late to add them from the beginning.

7. When asked, are you embarrassed or enthusiastic to tell people that you write?

I love telling people I write but hate the follow-up questions, “Tell me about your book!” *pulls out garbage which doesn’t even reflect what my novel is about*

8. Favourite genre to write.

Speculative Fiction. While making characters is my favourite part of writing, I also love world-building. 

9. What, if anything, do you do for inspiration?

I actually play High School Story, Hollywood U and The Sims with my characters inserted. It’s been helpful for one-shots and AU’s more than anything but has given me traits about characters to add to their dimensions for my main works, so it’s win-win.

10. Write in silence or with background music? Alone or with others

Background music and alone. The music has to be a specific genre though.

11. What aspect of your writing do you think has most improved since you started writing?

How I portray emotions. In my older drafts, characters recovered from the deaths of their close friends/relatives in 10 minutes and seemed callous. Now they are all crybabies to compensate.

12. Your weakness as an author?

I rely too much on dialogue and miss out a lot of description.

13. Your strength as an author? 

I write a pretty mean villain (pun intended). This man was reading my work over my shoulder since I mostly write on the bus home and the first thing he said after, “Are you okay?” was “I like Rylan even though he’d scare me sh*tless from the looks of things.” I think I should put that as a review on the book’s cover once it’s (hopefully) published. A 70-year-old man I met on the bus does sound like a reputable source.

14. Do you make playlists for your work?

I have a playlist for Cyrus and that’s it which 90% is Eurobeat since he has a needo for speedo. There’s only has one chapter in his POV.

15. Why did you start writing?

I was a cocky six-year-old and thought I could write a better version of a film I’d just watched. It ended up being about two best friends in a milkshake parlour despite the original film being about a castaway girl. The connection still makes more coherent sense than the fact I got the idea for The Mastery from Mario and Sonic at the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games 🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃

16. Are there any characters who haunt you?

Alex in his angsty stage. He would threaten to kill people 25/8 because he found out he was adopted.

17. If you could give your fledgeling author self any advice, what would it be?

Keep writing. If you’re that dedicated to your project that you have to write it straight away, remember you can always edit in the future if it’s not up to your standards. And even people who’ve been writing decades are still improving as writing is wayyyy too subjective to be ‘perfect’ at.

18. Were there any works that affected you so much that it influenced your writing style? 

George Orwell’s 1984 has affected my world-building. Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses and Maggie Stiefvater’s Wolves of Mercy Falls series gave me the idea to write under two characters alternating POV’s.

19. When it comes to more complicated narratives, how do you keep track of outlines, characters, development, timeline, etc.?

Charahub and a timeline which I’ve drawn by hand on the back of some unused wallpaper.

20. Do you write in long sit-down sessions or little spurts? 

Either 5 words or 5000, no in between. It depends on whether I feel inclined to write or have inspiration.

21. What do you think when you read over your older work? 

Cringe at all the unnecessary words and repetition- one sentence in my 2012 draft of The Mastery is literally, ‘Alex got up off his bed, walked out of his bedroom door, walked down the stairs, walked into the living room before standing in the doorway of the dining room’. 

22. Are there subjects that make you uncomfortable to write?

Anything to do with extreme physical or sexual assault. Or sex in general since I’ve not written much smut before. 

23. Any obscure life experiences that you feel have helped your writing?

Meeting my biological father at 16 rather than knowing him from birth. Also, one of my characters has impaired vision like me so its easier since I knew all the terminology and experiences without much research.

24. Have you ever become an expert on something you previously knew nothing about, in order to better a scene or a story?

Handguns. I’ve used rifles before (I’ve gone clay pigeon shooting before) but since handguns are illegal where I live, I’ve not seen one in person nor had any idea of their usage or the terminology. Quite a few of my characters own them as a precaution so I had to learn. 

25. Copy and paste a few sentences or a short paragraph that you are particularly proud of.

(It’s not short but I freaking love how Chapter 36 of The Mastery panned out. Note this is the chapter 70-year-old man liked)

“Cyrus, Keung. Not the most ideal reunion. How has the family been since I was disowned?”

Keung’s jaw twitched, “I think the reason you kicked out was valid enough. You killed your own grandmother, Rylan.”

Rylan, another one of my many cousins, let out what from his mouth movement looked like was a hearty laugh but sounded like a giggle, “It sounds more impressive than getting disowned for supporting the black sheep in an argument, does it not?”

Keung’s hand had been on his spoon all this time, and he was clenching it to the point his arm shook, “I know grandfather wants nothing to do with either of us Rylan, but that doesn’t mean I want to associate myself with a murderer.”

“You stayed under the Xu thumb for long enough. There are fewer fingers in this room than the number of people Tatsuo has killed. Some are justified, I’ll give him that, but others were falsely accused with no chance at justice.”

He leaned at an angle so that he could stare at me, “It’s good to know that you’re being independent for once in your life, Cyrus. Regardless, it’s a real shame you subsequently allied yourself with another family of murderers.” 

“What else could I have done?” I said, “The Ninth District needs allies, and I have genuine friends from Ivanska, Phinea and Willsborg.”

He cooed as he came to lean against my back, “Considering how we’re he half-breed scum of the family, I thought you’d have considered an alliance with me. You’re the only relative of mine I like and who hasn’t seemed to have fallen under Xu indoctrination.”

“Grandmother accepted the fact we didn’t decide to be half-breeds,” I hissed, “Out of everyone you could have killed, why her?”

He lowered his voice to a whisper, “I intended to kill Tatsuo. The fact she drunk the poison I’d slipped into the Mansion was a mistake. I don’t have many regrets but that is one of them.”

He distanced himself, “I have little in common with the man who I once saw as my dear grandfather, but one of the few things I’ll admit is that if we need to, we’ll both use blood to make a point.”

-

My tags are (don’t feel obliged!) @unico-rn-ffee and @alittle-writer