#and double va...just read it

[soongtypehuman]

Sex pollen... with androids!

New fic is dropping next Sunday. While you wait, please enjoy this fic from last year that asks the important philosophical question: what happens when you're horny beyond reason with untiring twin android husbands at your disposal?

Read What A Lovely Way To Burn and thank me later.

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

Not yet going to elaborate, especially since we have yet to see the mini series release in full

But I am skeptical that the scene we saw in the preview for the shadow short series is actually a memory

[warblogs17282]

Sinsmas is coming out today! So let's quickly discuss what we know about the episode right now.

Vivzie's Bluesky Thread:

Things we learn from this thread:

There will be quite a long wait until the start of season three, but we will have closer releases of episodes, considering that the team wants to commit to a more traditional release. This also has double confirmed that season three has 15 episodes. Season three will also be 'bigger and better'.

We will be getting shorts during the wait until season three, I assume it'll be like last time where we get a short every single month.

And of course, we gotta prepare ourselves to go out with a BANG!

Sam Haft calls the episode 'PACKED!', meaning yet again we're in for a ride and a half, that's for sure.

Yea, all the confirmation I need that Octavia's song is going to absolutely destroy us all emotionally when we hear it, SAM HAFT WHAT DOES THIS MEAN, WHAT DOES THIS MEA-

Brandon's Instagram Story:

Transcript:

"I'm so anxious for the new helluva boss episode to drop. I went back and I've been rereading the script over and over and over and I don't read."

So we also have Brandon fanning the flames of our anxious waiting as well.

Right as I was in the middle of writing this post Vivzie said that she was doing the final checks on the episode, and that she's in constant awe of what the artists at Spindlehorse are capable of.

The sneak peek gif:

We see a sinner at the I.M.P office, and it looks like the entire I.M.P crew is going on a mission somewhere where it appears to be snowing and naturally has all of the Christmas decorations up as well.

Although I will admit, it kinda strikes me as weird that they'd just leave a sinner completely alone within the building, unless, of course, that there is someone else within the building, with the most likely candidate for that being Stolas, but that's just a theory I'm spitballing here. It does also raise the question of 'where the hell is Stolas during this scene anyways?'

Onto the other not-so-new things, it was confirmed by Sallie May's VA that she is appearing this episode. (The 'next month' is supposed to be 'this month', I think she said at a panel after the first short that she'd be appearing again before this year ends.)

The trailer scenes:

This scene where Stolas appears to be getting attacked by someone while Blitz protects him with some kind of sword, with the floor appearing to suggest that this takes place outside of formerly Stolas' palace, said attacker has been commonly theorized to either be Andrealphus or Paimon.

We see a frozen over version of formerly Stolas' palace in the background, considering the events of Mastermind it now appears like Andrealphus is defending the palace against whatever it is that he's looking at, not a hostile takeover that we assumed it would be initially.

We see Octavia during this scene, everything about this shot seems to suggest that Octavia is getting a song of her own this episode, with this further getting backed up by Sam Haft's response to "Sam what heartbreaking song did you write this time."

It's also very likely that the conflict between Stolas and Octavia reaches it's boiling point this episode, considering that Octavia says "You never loved mother and you don't love me. You love him!" at some point during the episode.

Finally, in the helluva 2022 trailer, we see a shot of Andrealphus (I think this is a beta design of him or something), standing in front of what looks like formerly Stolas' palace, with a bunch of what looks like ice in the background, placing this shot after Mastermind, meaning that this shot also takes place sometime during Sinsmas, if this scene wasn't scrapped.

[dai-mondai]

What would the other Prisoner's T3 Guilty Restraints look like? (Fun Theory)

This is the Second Part consisting of 005002008007009,

To understand this post, you need to read the First Part to so that my conclusions make sense.

The First Part is here, consisting of 010004003001006.

Just to re-establish what we know. There are three elements of varying reliability that can assist us.

a) The Sneak Peaks from the PV Trailer (002003006007010) Which is mostly reliable for previous T1 Guilty Prisoners b) Undercover second chorus sprites Reliable if you're Kotoko c) How they killed their victims Pretty reliable

We also know that those with a Double Guilty will likely have a collar.

Disclaimer: Since this section has a majority of Prisoners without a lot of information to go off, I'm having a bit more fun with it. It's a lot more speculation (also influenced by my own biases) so these ones are likely not to be as accurate.

With tha out of the way, let's get back into it!

Shidou Kirisaki

I discussed this dude a lot in Mahiru's section. Hi again Shidou. A world where he got guilty so Amane didn't kill him.

Sneak Peak: Nil

Now the funniest thing he could have is a plague doctor mask. Keeps hitting stuff with that long nose. Try to treat Mahiru but keeps pecking her and can barely see. Jackalope would be disappointed, he likes how Shidou looks. But I don't know if Milgram would want to cover a prisoner's face entirely.

Muu's restraint shows we don't need to be limited just to real-life head restraints.

So in that case, I propose a wired manneiqun head restraint.

Like the manniequn from Throw Down but without the flowers. If he got Double Guilty he could just have more wires. I just think this would be cool. The wires would likely be gold in colour, kind of like his Conservatory. I think this would be more interesting than some alternatives.

Posing

His hands are tied, a lot like Muu's Guilty restraint. Does not look comfortable.

He can't smoke anymore unless someone helped him. Side note: I think this restraint looks so cool, I can't see a different type that would work so well with his coat. So we'll say this is his restraint. His right leg looks like it's been bent awkwardly. Speaking of legs I'm unsure if they would be restrained. We do see him walk a bit in Throw Down and Triage, but not sure how to combine that well. With how far apart his legs are I wouldn't say an Ankle Hobbit is appropiate. Perhaps leg braces? If we want to get a bit medical a Knee-Ankle-Foot Orthosis (KAFO) brace may be suited specifically, an older leather version with a locked knee joint to restrict him. Whether that be necessary I'm unsure.

Method of Murder

Snips

Yeah considering his restraints from Undercover, that's all handled.

Though thinking about it now, his medical equipment on his T2 Sprite would likely be removed. And if his hands weren't already covered, his gloves would likely have been removed too.

Conclusion

I added gaps like in the Throw Down manneiqun, which wouldn't exist if unforgiven twice.

A Guilty Shidou and Innocent Amane would be amusing going into Trial 3. We never got to see how he felt about his innocent verdict, so it would have been cool to hear his thoughts on his guilty. Since I discuss him a bit last time I'll finish my discussion here.

Yuno Kashiki

Decide I should go between Sneak Peak and non-sneak peak prisoners, so Yuno is up!

Sneak Peak

A Scold’s Bridle, amazing, no notes. A punishment for gossip in the form of public humiliation. I like how there's a single link where a chain is meant to attached that looks like earrings. The way she stares at the audience is very fun.

Aisak Yuuka (Yuno's VA) did say she suspected Yuno would get guilty in Trial 2 because of the things she was saying in Tear Drop, and in this world where she did, a Scold's Bridle is very fitting.

Scold's Bridle tend to have a spiking gag so that speaking brings pain. Would Milgram removed that feature to let Yuno speak, or would her voice drama have to be Es reading out her writing, ending with her calling out? Maybe it depends on if she was unforgiven once or twice. They could remove the gag all together, which would make the headgear Scold's Bridle in design mostly. Maybe no earrings?

Her restraints remind me a lot of Mikoto's. You can see her original horizontal restraint being immendely tighten, but on top looks like Mikoto's X restraints, expect now there's a collar linked to it. Don't think she would get them unless she had a Double Guilty. Funny her final restraints look like his original ones, did Milgram already view him as dangerous?

Wait it isn't his turn yet, sorry Yuno.

Posing

Yuno of all people covering for Kotoko? Haha

Anyways we have another Sneak Peak restraint that actually works with instead of against Undercover! Makes life easier for me.

She also has a bent knee, which due to Kotoko I've been using as an indicator of leg restraints. But I feel stumped. I guess we could go for another round of Leg Braces, but that doesn't feel suited.

You know how Amane's sleeves got huge for T2? I feel like Yuno's dress getting longer and heavier that weighs her down and restricts what she's able to do. It not only acts as a restraint, but also make her look more modest, as opposed to her occupation, since being unforgiven is rejecting her beliefs. She's a prostitute because she wants to be, so forcing her to wear/look more like an outdated idea of a "proper lady" may link with the Scold's Bridle.

Or just leg restraints for the knees (boring answer).

Method of Murder

Well this does make me like the long dress idea more. Not sure what else to say here. I really can't tell where her arms are. Are they crossed or just pressed against herself? Makes the arm restraints seem like a reference.

Conclusion

Depending on how we reach this point changes if this is classified as "warm" to her, if a Guilty verdict is reached because it's her, or just due to other's moral compass and lectures. Would of liked a 50/50 for her, that be nice.

I hope Life is wild.

Amane Momose

A world where Amane got a second Guilty verdict. Muu, Amane and Kotoko would all be our "enemy" in that case, especially Amane and Kotoko.

Sneak Peak: Nil

What comes to mind is a Crown of Thorns.

I mean if they're willing to put spikes on the veil covering Muu's face, then a barbed wire crown wouldn't be too wild.

She wouldn't be able to put her hat on, that signifies her leadership, due to it. It'll be one of the most simplest restraints yet one of the more painful ones. I think it would have a more tight-knitted pattern design than above. Her hair would likely be uncut too. Long bangs.

I assume the thorns would be outwards, stopping her from being able to touch her head, maybe one or two inwards to keep it in place.

Posing

Her arms look like a Minecraft Villager haha. Though with how big her sleeves are now, it'd probably be a lot harder to make it work. They would have to overlap them.

Anyways her arms are trapped, I find it funny she's not praying like Muu is. With how low her body is to the ground I suspect she would have some heavy restraints on her legs (though Muu stands up straight now, maybe if she was guilty twice it would be worse? Undercover c'mon.). Perhaps with her Double Guilty verdict she's forced to make herself smaller, emphasising her youth. That she is a child being punished, regardless of what she says. Because her thoughts and beliefs have been rejected.

I would like if she's forced to stay in a bent knee position, in which she can either kneel or sit like she is above. Like a rigid knee brace at an acute angle. Have to kind of waddle on each knee to get around. Greatly annoying. At least Fuuta can help her.

Method of Murder

Funny how both her weapons have a sphere on the end yet Undercover doesn't depict that. Inaccurate and unreliable. Haha

Arms are have been dealt with! So not much else to mention.

Conclusion

She's going to be pissed with a Double Guilty, I bet her T3 Sprite would look angry. So both Amane and Fuuta would be against Es/Us. Assuming everyone else's verdicts are the same, 4/7 prisoners would be rejecting us, ans of the three not I doubt they would help us. A very fun time.

Kazui Mukuhara

Guilty Kazui, he'd be happy?

Sneak Peak

Upon closer look at his Sneak Peak, he doesn't look too upset, especially if you cover half the face at a time. He's definitely thinking though.

Anyways, our third muzzled Prisoner, perhaps I should give the others a muzzle? Funnily enough, his muzzle also has that strap being held across the top of his his head (see image below) like Kotoko's T3 Sprite. The shape of the muzzle isn't like an animal's snout, also isn't a cat muzzle (they tend to cover the eyes) so not sure what to make of it. Just a human muzzle.

Can't smoke or drink now huh. Or eat? I really am curious how it works for Mahiru and Kazui with their muzzles.

He's the only Sneak Peak to have a leash that we don't see what restraint it's attached too. I would guess the one around his abdomen. The V shaped restraint is interesting too.

Posing

His pose in the Sneak Peak makes it look like his arms are by his side, but there's nothing that really says they can't be behind him. So he can join the Yuno and Kotoko Undercover gang, maybe part-time, half-commited.

I enjoy the idea of him being forced to be in a bow-like position. Having to respect the judgement and views of those around him instead of his dreams during his life, now the same to the prison. It may force him to look up at Es, and many others aswell. The biggest Prisoner, who found his height and weight useful, restrained to be slightly off-balanced. If we just tightened his leash attached to his abdomen he would be forced to keep his head down. Also this could go hand-in-hand with Amane's kneeling.

But he would need a collar. And if he's only Guilty once, he shouldn't have that. Perhaps his restraints only prevent him from standing upright, but with a Double Guilty, he would be pull down dramatically.

Imagine if he only has one Leg Brace, so his straight leg is actually bent. Getting denied his stance. Not too sure about the legs.

Method of Murder

I only just realised how much pain Es looks to be in, holy. Their back ouch.

"It's not my lies that killed her. She's dead because I stopped lying to her! If I had just kept lying- She wouldn't have died…!"

So yeah, the muzzle checks out. Not many other restraints work except maybe his hands. Well they're behind his back so they won't be of much use.

Conclusion

I really don't have much to say because I'm not too sure how a Guilty verdict would effect Kazui. Would he be more open with discussing with Es? Nevertheless with him and Kotoko unforgiven in this world, Mikoto would be the only strong fighter with near complete freedom.

Mikoto Kayano

Finally. Welcome Mikoto. Been referencing your T2 song a lot haha. I would assume Milgram might hypnotise Oretoko when the new restraints are added, not wanting to mess up again like last time they put the restraints on.

Sneak Peak: Nil

I feel it would have been something interesting, since this verdict seemed to be what Milgram was expecting.

We could slap on another muzzle haha, it feels like at least one Non-Sneak Peak prisoner should be muzzled. It would even out the Prisoner gender ratio 2:2 too. Or maybe his eyes would be covered, like the blood in Double. His card, the Hanged Man, is about a new perspective, but he'd be getting denied that with his vision gone. His eyes (and eyes in general) are emphasised in Double a lot and even scribbled out. Fuuta, who loses sight, also has a lot of eyes in his T2 MV.

I'm really not sure though. Maybe a muzzle + something covering one eye? Depending on why he was founded Guilty would change things.

Let's go with a blindfold thingy.

Posing

THE HANGED MAN.

His arms are triangle bent as opposed to Kazui and Fuuta's more rectangular bent ones. A lot like the Hanged Man card in his MVs on his shirt, phone, and card. Though he's messed up the pose, only one leg is meant to be bent.

Following the logic with Amane, he may have restraints on his legs that bend his knees. His legs seem parallel to each other so the leg restraints may be connected. Knees + Ankle Hobbit?

Method of Killing

Guys I think he killed with a baseball bat.

Welp his arms are restrained. Is there anything else needed?

Conclusion

He's never changing his clothes haha. But hey! Oretoko is still around!

He'd likely have more restraints on top of his original ones (as should any of the other Double Guilty here) but those are a lot more vague so I don't draw them in unless provided.

I wonder would they do with this verdict, try attacking Es again? Not as quiet as a Innocent Verdict created.

End of the Second Part

WE'RE HERE. Thank you for taking your time to read this! If you found it at least a bit interesting than I'd be glad haha.

These posts have taken me over a week to make, spending my free time on them, so I'm very grateful to be able to finish them. Once again please lmk if you have any ideas.

This part is probably not as strong as the First Part and a lot more brief, (though I'm a fan of my ideas of Shidou here,) nevertheless hope you enjoyed it! Since we'd likely never get confirmation it's fun to theorise what could have been!

I'd love to hear anyone else's thoughts! Thank you again!

[evilfrogcereal29]

Cw/Tw: light nsfw, ass slapping, body worship, chubby & fem!reader, cursing, negative body image

I'm sorry but idgaf what König's VA fckin says König would fucking ADORE big/chubby girls. If u don't agree jus block me now /hj

The contrast between his solid, toned muscles and your soft, squishy flesh is like art to him. When he slaps your bare ass and your skin ripples and jiggles for a few seconds longer than normal. Fuck. He loves that so much. Loves the weighted blanket effect you give when you sprawl yourself over him, putting all you have onto him, he will assure you he can take it. If you can cook/bake thats even better!! König is definitely a messy & fast eater, so theres no judgement in sitting on the couch gorging yourselves on chinese takeout while watching terrible german romcoms, his head nestles on your chest. He lets out an adorable sound for a man his size everytime you run your hands through his hair, similar to a purr.

If anyone makes a remark about the large amount of food you've made/ordered, König will make his presence known.

"she's feeding the both of us." He says firmly, and the offender runs off with their metaphorical tail tucked between their legs.

Body worship champion. He can be really bad with words in the heated moment, but his hands mostly speak for him, praising you wordlessly with each affectionate touch.

"oh schatz... you're built like a goddess.." he gasps, double fisting a handful of your love handles, pulling you close to his chest. He's all red in the face, like a shy little boy. You drive him insane. He doesn't feel good enough for you. He's too awkward, too big, too tall, too everything.

But when you tell him you're too fat?

"nein." He hisses, arms slinking around you from your spot in front of the mirror. "Du bist perfekt für mich. The right size, the right weight. You are just right dear. Perfect." He kisses you up and down, starting at your shoulders, working his way down to your back, moving around you so he could kiss your stomach. You try to intercept, with tears in your eyes, but he pushes your hands away. This is his purpose, his real job.

"let me see whats mine schatz... Let me show you how much I love what I see... Let me show you how perfect...." he can barely hold back, can barely finish his thoughts. As he finishes peppering kisses down your thighs to your knees, he moves up and abruptly pulls you into a kiss. And boy. He showed you that night ;)c

Lastly he never presures you into anything, if you decide its time for a weight loss journey, no matter how big or small, whether its for health concerns, emotional wellbeing, or something else, he supports you going at your own pace. And if you pull out of it? Give in and have a cheat day and feel like shit? He is right there to comfort.

I just... I could go on.. he just... Is made for a short chubby gf I SWEAR THIS ISN'T MY BIAS AS A SHORT CHUBBY PERSON😭 nikto, Krueger, all my other top favs, i imagine they would probably date girls of any size.. but König just... HE JUST SPEAKS TO ME OK?? HIS VA IS WRONG.

Thank u for reading and listening to my ramble :3 have a good day

[albatris]

hewwo

I deleted the opening of rentalcar from tumblr months ago when all the ai nonsense happened but now it's back again because I'm me. it's fresh and edited! and shorter

here's the new chapter one for your viewing pleasure. enjoy! or don't. don't let me tell you how to live your life I'm not your mum

hi taglist hello - some of you have already read this! I hope you're having a nice day though 😎

@transmasc-wizard @saturn-iidae @polyaubergine @tracle0 @goosemixtapes @valence-positive @the-one-who-makes-negative-noise @ambiguousfiction @afoolandathief @silverwarewolf @mecharose @vellichor-virgo @plasticseaslug @jetstargenderfuckery @multi-lefaiye @writeouswriter @junoshusband @writing-is-a-martial-art @midnight-and-his-melodiverse @sleepycaprine @cream-and-tea @gailynovelry @lefttigerobservation @indecentpause @writingsfromspace @carnivalls @violetfoxsketches @approximately20eggs @mohluskiepedard @desastreus @kk7-rbs @cee-grice @northwyrm @xylophonicsynapse @careful-pyromancer @recapitulation @incandescent-creativity @whole-buncha-snakess @mysticalalleycat @thatonecrowguy @va-nila-bean @televisionjester @excessive-vampires @walkman-cat @davycoquette @xenascribbles

tw for paranoia, anxiety, hallucinations, swearing, general feelings of unease

Nat Finch blinked awake.

He was slumped forward in the driver’s seat of his rental car, his forehead pressed to the steering wheel, his body aching like he hadn’t moved in centuries. His feet were bare. His throat burned. His head throbbed. Curled over his shoulders was the familiar softness of the blanket from his back seat, the one he’d been meaning to give to the Larsons for two weeks now. A deep night breeze leaked through the slightly-open window to his right, the cold gnawing at the dampness that clung to his clothes, to his face and hair. He felt filthy, filmy, disgusting—more so than usual.

A muddle of memories and flickers and voices fought for space in his brain, bumping up against each other and overlapping, threads escaping every time he thought he’d grasped one. He was overcome, for a single surreal moment, by the sense he had just awoken from an exceedingly peculiar dream.

Nat Finch sat up, groaning.

Disturbed by the motion, plastic crinkled in his lap. A collection of granola bars was scattered over him, a few of them having tumbled down onto the seat next to him and the floor below. Like someone had dumped them unceremoniously over his head and just… left him like that.

He recognised the brand, vaguely—something hoity-toity and ridiculous he’d seen at the supermarket, fifteen dollars a goddamn box—but they weren’t something that had any business being anywhere near him. His bank balance barely scraped double digits at the moment.

“Who the fuck…” Nat paused, not sure what question he was even supposed to be asking. “Why the fuck…”

His attention edged upwards, to a scrap of cardboard folded neatly in two and perched atop his dashboard.

DO YOUR BEST! it read in a childlike handwritten scrawl.

Nat squinted harder. “What the fuck.”

He tried to think. His brain, sluggish and laden with fog and aching, refused to provide any context for the mystery shower of nutrition. Or the note.

Or… anything else, for that matter. He didn’t remember falling asleep; he didn’t remember stopping his car. He remembered leaving work, but it had barely been dusk when he’d left work and the trip from Stop ‘N’ Go to his apartment was fifteen minutes, tops.

It was not dusk anymore. The black outside was the pure solitude of the witching hour and the world beyond his window was silent, save for the buzz and pop of a single faulty streetlight a few metres ahead and the chittering gossip of crickets. No people. No cars. No movement.

Nat’s dread climbed. He craned his neck and strained to decipher his whereabouts. The lonely light offered only flimsy, spluttering illumination—some of it splashing into his car, some of it into dry grass and mesh fence lining the side of the road, most of it merely into the rumble of gravel directly beneath it. He had no idea where he was. He had no idea why he was where he was.

The disco ball hanging from his rear-view mirror glittered at him, blinking urgently.

He shoved the granola bars off himself, suddenly feeling contaminated. A strident, pulsating pain forked through every inch of his body at the movement—he gritted his teeth, letting out a hiss and a wince. The blanket went next, ripped from his shoulders and hurled at the opposing window in a multicoloured flurry. It crumpled to the passenger seat and Nat stared at it, prickling all over with the suspicion someone else had placed it on him. Someone else had been here. Watching. Leaning. Looming. Touching. His hand flew to the window winder and wound it, sealing the opening. Sealing himself in and the outside out.

And then he sat still, mind reeling, chest tight. Panic twisting in his stomach. He waited for his brain to kick over, for his memory to rush back, for the moment he shook free the dregs of post-sleep disorientation and went, Oh, that’s right! That’s why I’m here! That’s what’s going on! How could I have forgotten?

A minute passed.

And another.

Frozen.

Rigid.

Nat swallowed, hard. Nothing clicked into place. Nothing clicked and nothing clicked and nothing clicked. Why not? He’d left work and turned left down Rake Street like he always did. He’d done nothing out of the ordinary.

The night outside was alive. With every flicker-out of the streetlight, the dark whined at his window, still trying to reach him. A tapping, a whistling, a whispering in its own made-up language. Nat. Nat. Nat. Something’s wrong. Nathaniel. Something’s wrong. The dark that should not have been there. The dark that should have been dusk.

He'd lost hours. Hours. What the hell had happened to him? The note on his dashboard sat there, smirking. It knew things he didn’t.

Nat fought to breathe in.

Nat fought to breathe out.

Nat breathed in.

Nat breathed out.

Five things he could see were that gaudy leopard-print steering wheel cover, the smeared windscreen from too-old wipers, the radio, the hazard switch, his own hands, crusted in cracked, dried mud.

Four things he could feel were the press of the seat under him, the press of his work uniform over him, the sting of the cold on his feet, pain, pain, pain.

Three things he could hear were crickets and streetlights and dark.

Two things he could smell were the dull citrus hum of the vent-clip air freshener and the fact it was doing nothing to hide the fact he hadn’t showered in a while.

One thing he could taste was—

Okay, okay, alright. Okay. That would do it. Nat breathed in. Nat breathed out. Calm. Calm. Calm.

He reached gingerly for the ignition, exhaling in relief when he grasped the key still inside. He had that, at least. He hesitated, perched on an agonising threshold between hopeful anticipation and whatever reality was about to find him.

He turned the key.

Nothing.

He turned again.

Nothing. The car stuttered and clicked uselessly, refusing to start. Relief left him as quickly as it had arrived. Flat battery.

Nat breathed, “Ah, fuck.”

Nat breathed in.

Nat breathed out.

He twisted towards the back seat, feeling along the faux leather for his work backpack. He hauled it to himself and rammed an arm inside to seek his phone, shoving through a jumble of familiar shapes—notebook, hoodie, empty soft drink can for recycling, empty soft drink can for recycling, gum, nametag—ah, there it was.

“Come on, come on, come on,” Nat whined, his finger colliding with the power button. “Please, please, please—”

Nothing. Flat battery.

Nat breathed in.

Nat plonked his forehead back down on the steering wheel and released a long, agonised wail.

Simmering anxiety climbed into roiling terror. Terror branched sideways into paranoia. Paranoia bloomed up through his chest and into his throat, where it squeezed tight and threatened to choke him. He’d lost hours. Anything could have happened to him. Anything could have been done to him.

The dark outside mocked and laughed. The disco ball blinked its rhythmic little warnings. He could feel it all, even when he wasn’t looking.

Nathaniel. Something’s wrong. Nathaniel.

“No shit,” he muttered back.

What next?

He lifted his head and flipped the sun visor down to look at himself in the mirror. With no phone screen and no overhead light to guide him, it was hard to get a full picture. He tilted his head, twisted his neck, attempted to catch himself on some jittering streetlight. He snagged a few glimpses—a dribble of blood from a presumably cracked lip here, a smudge of dirt on a cheekbone there. The collar of his shirt looked bloody, too. His hair wasn’t sitting right, tangled black all caked together and hanging in thick clumps. Two trembling hands lifted, the quiver partially from weakness and partially from fear, and Nat gripped at his face. Tugging along those familiar edges and curves and juts, finding them not so familiar. Finding them wrong. Hollow. Caved in. His fingertips wandered down towards his jaw—

—and along the thick, uneven mumbling of stubble that hadn’t been there when he’d left the apartment that morning.

Nat’s heartbeat tripped up. He hadn’t lost hours.

He’d lost days.

Nat breathed in. And in. And in. Not enough. Too fast. His chest heaved. His lungs refused to fill.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. He couldn’t have lost days. He couldn’t have lost days. Jesus Christ, Nat had never been the shining poster child of mental health, but he’d never lost days. He’d been God knew where for God knew how long. He’d been—his feet were bare, his hands and face were streaked with mud, someone had clearly been messing around in his car—he’d been taken. Drugged. Kidnapped. That scribbled note? Do your best? He was being toyed with, probably by some deranged serial killer. And what was with the granola bars? Some kind of clue? A message?

He had to go. Run. Get help. Something close to a whimper climbed up his throat and fell from his lips. His hand crept to the door handle and stopped.

He’d seen horror movies. Not many, but enough. The chase, the hunt, the twisted mind games before the inevitable kill… these were part of the fun. There was probably someone watching him right now, folded into the shadows and out of sight, waiting for him to panic. Waiting for him to make his first mistake and step outside.

Waiting for him to start the game.

He couldn’t leave.

He couldn’t stay.

Could he stay? Could he just wait it out? Someone would find him. Someone would look for him. Someone would look for him, right?

No, no one would look for him. No one would care enough that he was gone.

No, there was no way they’d let him wait this out, whoever they were. They would find some way to lure him out, drive him out, force him into the waiting hands of the night air. Unprotected. Alone. All at once Nat felt a million eyes boring into him, leering from beyond the black, drinking in his every move. He shoved himself lower in his seat, clutching his dead phone to his chest.

Nat fought to breathe in.

Nat fought to breathe out.

He tried a final time to reason with himself.

When he’d worked twelve hour shifts four days straight, he’d started being dogged by the idea that someone had snuck a microscopic tracking device into his takeaway pizza, which he had subsequently consumed. When he’d been behind on rent for the third fortnight in a row, he’d become fixated on the idea that other customers in the supermarket were reading his thoughts and laughing at him. Look at this fucking loser. Grimy hair and track pants. Can’t even afford instant ramen.

Panic and stress tended to climb on top of him bit by bit. Panic and stress tended to twist all kinds of everyday events into all kinds of unnatural, terrifying shapes. It was normal. Even the tiny, audible hints of speech pushing through the dark, giving voice to his anxiety, those were normal under the right circumstances. It was all… no, not normal. It was a pattern. Tomorrow, he’d be fine. Tomorrow, he’d understand he’d never been in any danger.

So even though he was here now, helpless and stranded in the empty night, barefoot and filthy, abandoned by his memories and surrounded by leering scrawled words and fucking rich-people granola bars—he had to take this moment of clarity and hold it tight.

Tomorrow, this would all make sense.

DO YOUR BEST! the dark around him sang.

“Go to hell,” Nat spat.

And with that, he wrenched the door open.

[luckycheesefoodie321]

I forgot Spirit Bound ended on some WILD SHIT

Before there was Xaden the venin and the sudden marriage that sent shockwaves through the book community…

There was Dimitri the Strigoi and Rose Hathaway the alleged murderer of the Queen!

I didn’t end up starting VA from the start (though I realllly wanna go back and reread Frostbite) and just kinda continued Shadow Kiss and skimmed through Blood Promise. But I sat and read all the way through Spirit Bound.

And Richelle Mead was WILDING.

It’s also really fun in retrospect bc Dimitri, the whole time after he got transformed back into a dhampir, is like “I don’t want to see Rose. I don’t deserve Rose. She’s not safe around me. I don’t love you Rose! Love fades, mine has” WHICH FUCKIN HEARTBREAKING LINE I STILL HAVENT RECOVERED AND ITS BEEN 10 YEARS SINCE I READ VAMPIRE ACADEMY

But also the whole time he says all that above he’s doing double takes every time he sees her, he gets distracted by her presence, he gets all heated and emotional and passionate around her in a way he absolutely doesn’t with anyone else, and even if he wants to ignore her, every time they run into each other he can’t help but answer when she talks to him. And the one time she doesn’t and chooses to ignore him, which he supposedly wanted this whole time, HE ASKS HER A QUESTION FIRST.

And in that same conversation, she was barely talking. Most of her answers were short and to the point. And yeah it was about an important topic. But dude could have just as easily turned to the other guardians and asked them.

AND THEN. This absolute fool. Rose gets surrounded and his first and immediate instinct is to a) go back to back with her so they could fight easily WITHOUT HESITATION and

b) when it was clear Rose was the target, he immediately threw her behind him and started swinging. He was ready to fucking risk it all for her. Reformed Strigoi be damned. Returning to society successfully, forgotten. Rose was in danger and he wasn’t about to let her get hurt.

Dude was stuck in his stubborn damn mind about how he should feel about her but was already falling back in love with her with every interaction. Dude was ready to throw down at the hearing too.

[spanishskulduggery]

Hi! Native Spanish speaker here

Could u explain the difference between Chilean/ Uruguayan-Argentinian Spanish?

I have amigos gringos y estaria bueno explicarles.

Me di cuenta que sabes español así que puedo pedírtelo asi jajaja

Muchas gracias! 🫶🏻

Saludos desde Uruguay 🇺🇾

I'm not even sure where to start, the accent itself is so different even though Chile is very close to everything else

I'm going to list some differences in no particular order as they come to me

-

I think it's because Chilean is a bit of an outlier compared to what they call rioplatense Spanish... like there are similar trends, but it's pronounced differently

The main grammatical difference I've found is that Argentina uses vos for everything - more than tú, more than usted... it's a lot of vos

[Historically a singular vos was quite fancy and the way you addressed nobility and people very politely; the common term of address Vuestra Merced turned into Usted over time. In Spain, vosotros is now plural and informal. But depending on the time period, vos still shows up in historical dramas and fairy tales or things set in medieval times like fantasy. It's my understanding that multiple languages have something similar....... in English, our informal "you" was "thou" tú and "you" was formal, but then "thou" became obsolete]

The voseo in most of South America is usually understood as more intimate and friendly than tú

The big exceptions to this are Argentina and Chile

In Argentina, again, vos is the de facto 2nd person singular pronoun [I believe plural is still ustedes "you all"]

In Chile, vos has a different meaning from what I've been told. It's not vulgar but it's kind of impolite. If you're addressing someone as vos in Chile it can read as "dude" or "bro" almost, it's very familiar and not how you'd want to address someone from the older generations

While Argentina uses vos for everything, Chile uses vos for close friendships or where informality won't cause offense

The other main issue is the conjugation of vos

The majority of South America (including Argentina) conjugate vos like the vosotros form just without the I

...Like vosotros sois "you all are" in Spain then turns to vos sos "you are" in South America; they keep the S, but omit the I

Chilean voseo usually takes that vosotros form but omits the S sound and leaves the I

And so you get something like vosotros habláis "you all speak" turning to vos hablái in Chile [while it would be hablás in Argentina or the rest of Río de la Plata]

The verb that always trips you up with Chile is going to be ser because there are two forms; vos soi but I've more commonly heard vos eri(s)... like I've heard Chilean eri puro blabla which is "you're all talk" but literally "you're all blah blah"

The other one that's a little weird is ir just because of how vosotros normally works

In Spain vosotros id "go" as a command, ve for tú, but then vas for regular rioplatense commands, and then Chile says vai which is like if you tried to say ve but had your mouth way open

Chile (specifically those from lower income backgrounds) tend to omit the S more than most, while the higher income backgrounds or those trying to sound more posh tend to pronounce things more fully

The very informal aspects of Chilean Spanish are associated with the working class, which is probably why it's considered impolite (or maybe uneducated is the better word? it's a class distinction) to use those kinds of pronunciations and vos but it does depend on the area

...

The other weird thing about Chilean Spanish, which is sometimes common in rioplatense Spanish outside of Argentina, is that sometimes people use vos forms with tú as a pronoun

You might see tú eres or tú eri... or tú vas or tú vai

-

And I don't know if it's a thing in Argentina but I see Chilean Spanish sometimes using double reflexive pronouns. I think the common example is that Chilean Spanish might say me voy a irme, where you would typically say/read me voy a ir or voy a irme

Sometimes translations write it a bit differently to imply it's a different and more informal or regional way of saying it; so I've seen me voy a irme get translated as "I'mma head out" or "I'm gonna go" - it's not a 1:1 translation but it does portray that it isn't technically considered "correct" but is understandable

-

The common expression that I had to learn to sort of make sense of it was Chile's ¿Cachai? which is "Got it?" or "Understand?" which is from cachar (in Latin America it's like "to catch" like, "Did you catch that?" both in physical grabbing and understanding, but it's less common outside of Latin America) - it can be used as a filler word, but it is literally like "right?" or "got it?" or "you know what I mean?"

The only other expression I know for Chilean Spanish is qué fome which is "how boring" - I think they still use that

There's more of a generational and class divide in Chile as far as Spanish expressions

In general though, Argentina's accent (and rioplatense in general?) sort of sounds Italian. The Chilean accent is... very hard to understand, there's a lot of unique grammar and the accent is like Italian but more rural to my ears, not in a bad way but to me it sounds like if you were speaking Spanish with a southern drawl almost

...

As far as general vocab, I think Argentina and Chile agree on a lot of the regional words like the word for "car" is el auto which is probably from many German immigrants, they use extrañar for "to miss someone" like most of Latin America

But I do know the one that trips me up constantly is "computer". Spain says el ordenador. Most of Latin America says la computadora. Chile says el computador

Some typical words you should maybe know for Chile:

fome = boring

guagua = baby [from Quechua, I think it's the sound of a baby crying; Caribbean countries sometimes use la guagua for "bus"]

pololo/a = boyfriend, girlfriend

el computador = computer

¿Cachai? = Got it? / Right? / Understand?

el cahuín = gossip [I think it originally meant "party/assembly" for the indigenous people, sort of like in American English you might hear "pow-wow"; but cahuín is when you get together and gossip, so it can also mean "shady business" or "intrigue" or "something sketchy"]

po = (generally means something affirmative; it comes from pues but po is used so often it's like "yup" or "uh huh" or "of course" but can show up at the end of practically any sentence)

hacer perro muerto = "to dine and dash", to eat at a restaurant without paying [lit. "to do a dead dog", the rest of Spanish tends to use hacer un simpá which is from sin pagar "without paying"]

weón / weona = dumbass / dude [informal way to address someone - sometimes an insult sometimes not, kind of impolite, comes from huevón "dumbass", again means "big balls" I think since it's "big egg" and los huevos are slang for testicles]

la wea = thing [it's really comparable to how some countries say la vaina for "thing" - it's informal, it's everywhere, and for some reason it sounds almost rude if you didn't know better]

...

And I know I said it already, but po. No, but seriously po is so Chilean I cannot stress this enough it's just an all around affirmative - I don't know if you can use po wrong, it just shows up at the end of sentences

Also I don't know if Argentina says it but I'm pretty sure Chile uses bacán as "cool" - if I remember right Argentina uses chévere

I think it's common in most of Spanish now, but particularly Argentina/Chile and rioplatense Spanish are known for using chao/chau as "goodbye" since it comes from Italian ciao; this is as opposed to something more formal like adiós or more Anglicized "bye"

Every so often you will hear tschuss or something equivalent in Argentina which is from German as well

Chile tends to share a lot of regionalisms with Peru and Colombia and generally it's like countries that are in the Andes or were connected to the Inca Empire or some of the indigenous tribes

Argentinian Spanish you should maybe know:

che = hey / bro (a go-to word like "hey"... it's a bit like the Chilean po but it usually calls attention to something or it's affirmative; can also be "bro/dude")

el pibe = boy la piba = girl

la mina = chick (usually a girl/woman you don't know the name of; it's not polite but it's not mean)

boludo/a = bro / dumbass, idiot [it can be an insult "has big balls", but it can also just be like... "bro" or "dude"]

And if I remember right the slang term for money here is la plata which is literally "silver"

The main thing about Argentina people talk about is the accent particularly with how they pronounce LL

Spain tends to pronounce LL as if it were LY with a bit of an L sound in there still... Latin America sometimes pronounces it like a full Y/I sound... parts of Central America give it a hard J sound

Argentina gives it a SH sound; so llamar or lluvia can sound like "shamar" or "shuvia" in Argentina

...

Also I think in Argentina you hear la remera for "t-shirt" [lit. "rowing shirt", from el remo "oar" or remar "to row" but sometimes remo "oar" can be "limb" on your body], and Chile says la polera which I think is from "polo shirt"

General Spanish will say la camiseta which is the diminutive of la camisa "shirt/chemise"; in textbooks they typically say la camisa is a "shirt with long sleeves" or a "dress shirt", and la camiseta is "a t-shirt" or informal shirt

And I'm not sure if they both say this, but it's my understanding that they use la frutilla for "strawberry" in rioplatense Spanish; usually it's la fresa

Mexico does this too if I remember right, although for them la fresa means "posh" or "snobby" like it's slang for a rich person or someone who acts fancy. I'm not sure if it also means that in Argentina and Chile

There are also different linguistic quirks of Argentina like lunfardo [regional Italian-inspired words, specifically from Lombardy], or vesre which is... I don't know I'd call it closer to Cockney where words are played with or backwards [revés "backwards/reverse" -> vesre]; like la mujer "woman" is sometimes jermu which is the same word just the syllables are backwards

...

And Chilean Spanish has been called the Quebecois of Spanish; similar enough but also very different and more irreverent in other ways... though to me I find it's probably closer to how English-speakers see Australian English, a little hard to follow sometimes and the accents are very much class-based, where there's a way to sound posh and a way to sound distinctively not posh

Argentina is more like if you had an Italian person speaking Spanish then sprinkled in a bit of German, lots of rising and falling tones, almost lyrical, sometimes like someone is speaking in very fast accent marks (both Spanish and Italian accent marks á then à, just so many rising and falling tones)

[hangingslothcentral]

looking for a new audio drama?

If you like weird philosophical sci-fi and cyborgs, and hate AI and capitalism, check out Clockwork Bird!! it's the first show I ever made so it's a bit rough around the edges but it's an exploration about the rights of the dead, the limits of science, and the nature of personhood. it's all told through scattered 'found footage' recordings as listened to by Shelly Croft as she looks for her missing journalist girlfriend, Alice, who disappeared whilst she was investigating the welfare of Robin Jaeger, the posterchild for advanced synthetic limbs who may be more, and less, than he seems.

Clockwork Bird as 30 episodes, each 10-25 minutes long.

If you like spooky stories with a lot of heart, long series with lots of moving parts and character arcs, check out Spirit Box Radio! This show has a ton of original music and an accordian cast which grows as the show goes on, topping out at about 27 VAs. Sam Enfield is the happy-go-lucky host of Spirit Box Radio's Enlightenment Segment in the absence of its previous host, but something fishy is going on, and Sam's actually at the centre of a plot with apocalyptic stakes. SBR is a show about grief, storytelling, and what happens when a people pleaser has potentially unlimited magical powers. Find it @spiritboxradio.

Spirit Box Radio has 93 episodes, each 15-30 minutes long, with season finales that are up to 50 minutes long.

Do you like vampires? Gay vampires? Gay vampires that suck (blood. and other, uh, things)? Not Quite Dead may be the show for you. Join Alfie, a former A&E nurse who's knee deep in horrors because of his boyfriend, Casper, who is a vampire. Cas is missing with no indication of when he will return, but without his blood, Alfie is going to die. As time runs out, Alfie records everything he can remember about the months leading up to this moment. This show is gory and horny. Season Two has a tiny blonde guy who sounds French but who is older than the concept of France. This love story bites, viciously, multiple times, for fun and profit. Find it at @notquitedeadpod.

Not Quite Dead has 40 episodes, each 20-40 minutes long. The final season will be out early 2025.

Are you into mysteries and characters who eat hot chip and lie? Do you enjoy listening to shows as they air? Are you a person who likes to have conspiracy-board-level theories about the media you engage with? My new show, Remnants, might be just up your alley. Remnants follows the Apprentice as he learns how to read the objects that come to the First and Last Place. He's watched over by Sir, but Sir isn't much help. Thier purpose is strange and confusing, and the more remnants the Apprentice reads, the more he wonders at what the meaning of it all is, and if there might be some connection he's been missing... Find it at @remnantspod.

Remnants will have 30 episodes of about 30 minutes each in Season One, which starts airing with a double episode drop of episodes 1 & 2 on 15 July 2024.

[lxvvie]

y'all, I made the mistake of revealing that I write fanfiction as a hobby, and when asked about the fandoms I write for, I broke it down as I know best: into cliques. I realize I might be shaking the table but it is what it is.

This is what I said for CoD (I've since add some more stuff):

You got the forever war between Gaz Nation and Gaz Deniers. May or may not be rooted in his attractiveness as a person of color, opinions vary (read: it most definitely is). Bonus points if the racism comes out in full force. DOUBLE/TRIPLE those points if it's expressed using butchered ass AAVE. 🥴

You got the Masked Men Lovers Brigade of which König, Ghost, and Keegan are the patron saints and arguably the holy trinity.

You got the Peepaw Price Lovers who absolutely adore his chonky cheeks, peepaw mannerisms, lumberjack body complete with the slutty waist, and relative long-suffering thanks to the shenanigans of the rest of the crew.

You got the Soap Suds who, I think, have found that relative balance between Johnny being a destructive-as-all-hell force to be reckoned with and the quintessential golden retriever boyfriend. His VA doesn't make it any better apparently lmao.

You got the Ghost lovers who've pretty much diversified him so he can run the gamut of Daddy Dom Extraordinaire™, Babygurl™, Sassy Simon™, and the list is endless. What IS consistent is that someone parked a dump truck on that ass and he has some big ole titties. There's also the subset of people who REALLY, REALLY love Ghost but also think his VA is ugly (which he isn't) while simultaneously thinking that he (Ghost) is supposed to be David Gandy levels of immaculate despite being in active combat. Make it make sense.

There's the Gravediggers who, for the most part, acknowledge their love-hate relationship with Graves and I think that is both hilarious and endearing.

You have the Kult of Köthulhu, König's devoted followers who have allowed him to transcend his gremlin nature to become the long-lost progeny of Cthulhu. Move the fuck over, Cthylla. I kid but he, like Ghost, has also been diversified in terms of his portrayal. And no, he's not a part of 141. Some followers of His Gremliness are also embroiled in a forever war with Gaz Nation so please be safe out there, y'all.

You got the Valeria girlies who want her to sit on their faces. I don't blame them. Please do.

You have the Los Vaqueros crew who need more love shown to them and Pony by Ginuwine is their official theme song thanks to Alejandro Thee Stallion. The less said about the butchered Spanish I've read in some fics, the better.

There's also the Farah Fanatics who rightfully adore her and deserve their flowers just like the rest of the cliques.

There's the Keller Kollective who, I think, tends to intersect with the Farah Fanatics. This lot also deserves their flowers because Keller is a sub absolutely underrated as a character. You'd also be forgiven for thinking he and Price are elated.

You also got the Horangi Horde who, just like Gaz Nation, will RISE TF UP. I think. Hopefully. lmao

And then there's the self-righteous crew who, for whatever reason, seem to think they're above it all and love to police writers on what they write and how they write the characters (we're talking in terms of rather innocuous subjects in the grand scheme of things; the sus shit absolutely needs to be and should be called out). Interestingly enough, this group also seems to forget that they're in the same damn boat by being in the fandom, consuming, and writing about the same characters. The ones who have all the energy but none of the courage even if they say or think they do. Bonus points if they also move like fans. Double/Triple those points if they, too, also use butchered-ass AAVE to make their points. 🥴

The girlies who can't separate fiction from reality and insist on harassing the VAs and their significant others and families because how DARE they have a regular degular life outside of *checks notes* their job. Baby, it was never gonna be you. It will never. be. you.

did I get them all? lmao

[localplaguenurse]

pantalone girl dad headcannons? for ya girl with daddy issues? 🥺🥺🥺

I’ve had this very concept rattling around in my brain for a while, in part because of the brainstorming I did for the discontinued Helina fic. Honestly, if I do ever bring that back (do not hold me to that my beta reader WILL kill me), I think I’d just do the occasional one shot. I guess these will also sort of count as spoilers but again, not writing it, so it’s better to just get it out of my head here. Also, I do have another dad Pantalone one shot from when I first started writing that may be a nice read afterwards.

Okay, that’s my rambling quota for the day. I have headcanons to write!

Notes: Because most of this was from my discontinued dad Pantalone fic, it’s all focused purely on the father-daughter relationship. Other than that, mainly domestic fluff with a few references to Pantalone’s impoverished background.

Pantalone Being a Girl Dad

He never thought he’d be one of those “girl dads.” Not that he wouldn’t love a little girl of his own, but because he found the notion a bit silly. What difference does it make if it’s a little girl instead of a little boy?

In spite of that, the moment she’s placed in his arms and he sees her little face, he is absolutely smitten. She’s this tiny squealing thing with dull eyes and hardly any hair, and already he’s completely wrapped around her tiny wrinkly finger.

(Or technically it’s her tiny wrinkly baby fist wrapped around his finger, but that’s all semantics.)

When his daughter was a little baby, he had to stop wearing his chain so she wouldn’t yank his glasses off his face. He still wore his rings, though he made sure to wear ones that were smooth or didn’t have many stones on the off chance she started gnawing on his fingers while he wasn’t looking. He’d feel awful if she cut her little gums.

Never baby talks to his daughter. He’ll coo and hum and speak softly, but no special baby talk voice. He instead speaks to her like he would anyone else. Those two would have full on (mostly one sides) conversations where his daughter would babble incoherent baby nonsense, and he’d start yapping as if she’s made some brilliant argument.

Having a chatterbox for a father results in two things, the first being that his little girl starts talking before other babies her age, and then other is that she can and often will fall asleep in the middle of him talking to her.

Best bedtime story reader, period.

Her first word was “dada” and the way Pantalone was beaming the rest of the week, you’d think his vast fortune had doubled overnight.

Loves brushing and styling his daughter’s hair. Will braid ribbons into her hair for special occasions, or if she asks nicely and he has the time. 

Whenever she gets a new dress, she makes a big show of spinning around to show off how cute she looks. Pantalone smiles and claps every time, getting a big grin from his little girl.

I headcanon Pantalone has a rather thorough skincare routine, so I like to imagine she joins him before getting ready for bed. She doesn’t need a million lotions, creams and cleansers, goodness no, so instead she just gets a good face wash, brushes her teeth and combs her hair. It’s a good way to get her settled and ready for bed, and it’s good to teach her personal hygiene early in life so she’ll know what to do when she actually needs those cleansers.

(Plus, seeing her father covered in green goo is really funny.)

Because I also headcanon Pantalone as being prone to developing tinea veriscolor, his daughter would also have it, and in that case he rubs some tea tree oil on her skin where it would be most affected, primarily the neck and shoulder areas.

He spoils her, of course, but is very careful not to spoil her rotten. While he’d love to provide his flesh and blood with a childhood he never had– one where there is always a roof over their heads, food on the table, and all the best toys and clothes money can buy– he’s spent too much time around the snotty brats his various partners and clients have (hardly) raised and he is not tolerating that sort of behaviour from his own daughter.

While he certainly buys her the best toys and clothes he can (anything for his little princess), he works to instill a sense of value in such items, the idea that you must take care of your possessions because you may not be able to truly replace them.

He’ll leave repairing any torn or stained clothes to professional tailors, he himself will take to stitching up a ripped teddy bear or doll when his daughter brings them to him. He takes them from her before wiping away the tears in her little eyes.

Unexpected perks to being a father: using your child as an excuse to not talk to that really annoying client who hasn’t taken the seven business proposal rejections as a hint already.

They have actual tea parties. It’s their designated daddy-daughter bonding time where she gets to tell him all about school or her friends or anything remotely interesting.

Yapping is a dominant gene it would appear, though his daughter has also become a rather good listener. She’s also very good at math.

Whenever Pantalone has to travel for work, he will always bring something back for his little girl. Sometimes it’s a new toy or game, or new clothes that match the style of wherever he visits, or new kinds of candy to try. When she’s older, he might even start bringing her along if he’ll be gone for extended periods of time.

He absolutely commissioned a tiny harbinger coat for her. I will not be swayed.

That said, he isn’t always perfect. There will be times where frustration gets the better of him and he snaps at her when she is misbehaving or is pestering him when he needs to focus. The guilt is instantaneous, and gets worse when he sees tears well up in her eyes. He crouches to her level and apologizes, offering a hug as well. She’ll usually take him up on it, though he’ll respect her boundaries if she wants space, even if it does break his heart a little bit.

Sometimes his rough upbringing comes up, and it’s usually in regards to food. He’s definitely had the “when I was your age I had to eat from the trash” or “there are starving children on the streets” talk whenever his daughter was picky about food. Arlecchino happened to be visiting once when he brought it up again, and she had to explain that such talk would give her a complex regarding food.

He’ll try a different approach after that talk. Maybe it’s not so much the food, but rather how it’s prepared that is the issue, or maybe some ingredients can be substituted to create an equally nutritious but more palatable meal?

When she gets sick, he tries not to let his worry show. He knows it’s a cold, he does, and he knows that a little medicine and plenty of rest will help her, but all he can think of are the sickly children he grew up alongside and how horribly ill they were before… never mind that, it’s a cold, she’ll be fine.

At the end of the day, he only wants the absolute best for his daughter. He wants to love her the way he wishes he was loved.

He sometimes doubts if he’s truly doing a good enough job of raising her, wondering if he’s too strict at times or not strict enough, or if he’s providing for her financially but not quite meeting her emotional needs. She’ll never know about those doubts, though. He won’t let her.

Still, he must be doing something right to have such a bright daughter who never forgets to say “please” and “thank you,” who is more excited to hug her dad after a long trip than open the presents he brings her, and always tells her she loves him before she dozes off to sleep.

[dalekofchaos]

The bastardization of Life Is Strange

I thought things couldn't get worse than the D9 Predatory business practices, toxic work environment, rampant misogyny, homophobia, transphobia and protecting a fucking Nazi Expose.(this apparently wasn't the red line for some folks and still insisted on buying the game anyway)

Well, it's not worse than that, but now?

The entire game has been leaked.

You can't make this up.

They made Life Is Strange, a Indie developer's passion project into MCU Lite.

Safi is a shapeshifter and the final choice in Double Exposure is "will you join forces with Safi" and Max joins the dark side or some stupid shit like that. Or refuse like the Max Caulfield I know would actually fucking do. Who wrote this fucking shit???

“i'm going to find other people like us, max, people with powers. i spent my whole life thinking i was the only one, knowing i could never tell anyone because they would look at me like THAT. but now there's you. you... and me... time traveler and a shapeshifter”

literally why is there even an option to side with her in the first place, she's clearly out of her mind, if there ever was a "morally bad and morally good decision" like d9 wants to assign to the endings of lis1, THIS WOULD BE THAT what a crock of shit.

How did Life is Strange go from melancholic, artsy slice of life to fucking Avengers? HOW!?

at the end max gets a nightmare just like in LIS 1

Texts are assumed to be apart of the nightmare

Silver lining. One final Chloe message after alienating the core fanbase and D9 think scraps will make up for it?

In hindsight.....they warned us what they were planning.

Dude took the "Elsa join the X-Men" meme a little too serious and literal.

But wait, it gets worse.

....I FUCKING APOLOGIZE. I once dreamed of all the protagonists coming together. But not like this. NOT FUCKING LIKE THIS!

BUT WAIT. IT GETS FUCKING WORSE!!!

Life Is Strange going from one studios passion project to the fucking Avengers is the biggest fall of grace I've ever seen.

There was a charm, chemistry and likability of the original game.

It was never about a character having superpowers. It was about finding oneself in the world, friendship, love, tragedy and making the hard choice. LIS 2 is about brotherhood, family and learning to make the best possible choice to give your brother the best life. TC is about trauma, family, finding a better life, corruption. It was never about the powers. That was a background noise and a small part of the overall story.

You know, the worst part of all this is that Hannah Telle sold her principals and credibility for DE.

Thinking about things better and from certain comments I've read about her, such as the nervous breakdown, it leads me to believe that Hannah is a hypocrite just because she's nervous.

Think about it: early 2016 she says she likes Grahamfield. But in 2018 for Farewell she says she likes Pricefield and her favorite ending is Bae because she knows Max couldn't live without Chloe (and Farewell made her come to that conclusion) and now saying she couldn't think of anyone else doing Max... dude... better say you need the money, and you didn't want to deal with the angry fandom and that's why you changed ships.

It bothers me (or rather I see it as hypocritical) that they say "nobody bothers Hannah, poor thing" poor thing? But she accept all that! She's accepting not even saying "Chloe" in interviews anymore. Poor thing, why? I mean, they can attack the other AVs but not Hannah? What the hell privileges does she get when NO ONE DESERVES to be harassed. Damn, even Max's Japanese AV is afraid of being harassed when she goes to play DE!

At least Ashly Burch has some principals. She knows her worth and when the direction of the story is shit. She stands up for her fellow VA and the only reason BTS was remotely successful is because she was a story consultant and Farewell because she stood up gor her fellow SAG VAs.

Ashly even said that she prefers Bay and sees Chloe more with Rachel. And there she is, living with her principles. It makes me think that if Hannah accepted the whole DE disaster, it's because she agrees that Max is like that and she liked everything and that to me is worse, that Hannah sees the complete bastardization of Max Caulfield and Life Is Strange as a whole and went "yes, this is the complete direction I can see for Max and I completely accept this superficial soulless garbage, why no I am not a complete and utter hypocritical sellout".

I take back what I said about the Pricefield breakup being realistic because it was done out of malice to hurt Ashly Burch for standing up for herself and having an ounce of self-respect and principals and alienate Chloe's fans. Fuck SE and fuck D9.

Anyways I stick with my headcanons.

Post-Bay. Max and Warren are successful Photojournalist and Science Professor, married and living their best lives while keeping in touch with their friends from Arcadia and visiting Chloe's grave on her birthday and the anniversary of her death.

Post-Bae. Time shenanigans happen which results in Max saving Rachel and because of saving Rachel she saves Chloe and Arcadia Bay. Max, Chloe and Rachel ride off in the rainbow and get their happy ending. Max is a successful Photojournalist, Chloe is a mechanic and owns her own Tattoo Parlor and Rachel fulfills her dream as an actress and model. They often visit Arcadia to visit old friends, run into Alex and Steph, even join their band for a few gigs and are just living their best lives.

[period-of-nocturne]

I listened to Mizuki commissioned song again lately. All of them.

I actually had very little thought about most of it. Most of the song's meaning stays unchanged, but a few sentences now feel extremely foreshadowy to me (we're making up words today)

I'll use Amiaryllis' lyrics to talk about the song btw (go check her cover she cooked). It might lead me to see things that weren't intented in the original song's writing because well, lyrics translation. But some of the more literal translation of the songs can feel very cryptic + I'm obsessed with Amia's cover so idc bear with me.

And to clarify the color-coding. Mizuki, Ena, Mafuyu, Kanade. I'll color the lines to clarify who sings what, but I need to specify that as much as the line distribution is made to fit each character's situation, every line that isn't sung by the focus character (Mizuki here) bears a double meaning, as it can be read and interpreted entirely from their perspective. It's their commissioned song for a reason, after all.

That's a way too long introduction. Let's get into the topic!

Staring with IDSmile :

"I've given up- tried to keep my distance"

"I've found defeat here in hide and seek.

I've lost my way to melancholy"

"To feel this pain or fade away ?"

A few lines that took another dimension after Mizu5, I think.

If you lost in hide and seek, it means you've been found. You've been seen.

Giving up, setting a distance (1003), getting lost... Fading away. What can I say. I believe lyrics speaks for themselves.

Lower is something else entierely.

"Admiration fades to distaste"

"Quiet meeting dissolves into farewell"

Sounds like Mizuki's fear in general. Except it became near tangible now.

"I raise my hazy voice as it scorches my throat, forgetting everything I'd cherished the most,

My mind, it draws a blank, what was I supposed to utter ? "

And that is Ena's line. Ena, in shock, unable to process what she heard and answer accordingly. Ena, screaming Mizuki's name in the corridor.

"A quiet whispers echoes through the halls. Hear out the wishes, hear out the wishes shared by all."

It might be just me, but I can't help but think about the school's corridor. People whispering as you walk by. Typical school bullying.

To Mafuyu, the 'wishes shared by all' are the high expectations pushed on her. To Mizuki, though...

"I don't know where to start, don't even know what I've lost sight of now. I don't know the answer but I pray they come to me somehow."

Kanade's but makes me think of how Mizuki was afraid to speak to Ena and wished someone did it for her. Ha. Ha. Ahem. It's not the first Kanade line that gives me that impression.

The full thing makes me think of how Ena is probably confused and not sure how to proceed. And by the way we know Mizuki is gone from real world but has Niigo noticed yet ? Do Ena knows what she has lost sight of now ♪ ?

I'm focusing on Mizu5 foreshadowing but I'm still freshly out of reading Mafuyu Engeki event and

"I promise that we'll make our great escape, someday and somehow" line sang by Kanade and Mafuyu together. Although it's a line from a Mizuki commi, Mizuki who's the one who told Mafuyu to run away Aaaaaaaa- anyway back on tracks!

"Whispered secret once obscured by tinted glass" Past tense. No more tinted glass. Secret exposed for everyone to see. Ena why is this your line oh my god I need to scream--

"Wondering how much longer could this truly last ?"

Well. It's Mizuover now.

I'm glad the chorus exists, still.

"I know we'll be connected in the end, no matter the cost."

It might be hellish as of now, but there's no need to worry. It will end up being fine. Trust.

Give me Your Night.

I want to talk about that song but there's little to say in Mizu5 context because that song. Isn't about Niigo.

I wish I had the source, but I heard Hinata Satou (Mizuki's VA), thought of the song as Mizuki speaking to Rui as they were recording. And. I can't not scream about the song seen through that lense.

But the Mizurui brainrot is too strong so I'll make it into its own post. Just to avoid this one being way too long.

I'm less confident about Kitty.

If there's foreshadowing here, it's not in lines you pick up.

The song is telling Mafuyu to run away. But I also somehow see Mizuki who start to question things.

Mafuyu is being told to run by a girl who start considering facing things. In that exact moment, they both share the feelings of doubt about how to proceed. Not sure they should speak up. Apprehending changes. But the will to make the first step for that change is right here, starting to grow. Something like that.

Escape for our Survival was the last Mizuki focus event before the Thorns, so it makes sense the hints are less subtle. Listening to it now, I feel like the song is telling me "Hey. It's coming."

On a side note I can't help but notice the use of the world Telecaster. In a Mizuki song. Mmh.

Bonus Keitai Renwa ?

Bonus Keitai Renwa. It was a commissioned song after all. Using Ami's lyrics🌸 again where I can. Filling the rest with wiki EN translation.

"All the things I say, they only seem to lead us astray, so what now ?"🌸 Ena trying to get closer to Mizuki desperately only to--

"Even though I try, I've only found a time for goodbye"🌸 MIZUKIIIIIIIIIIIII. YOU COME BACK HERE.

"The sweet sensations of the past, why is it they weren't meant to last ?"🌸 *Dies in 'Mizuki is afraid of change.'*

"Your fabricated kindness makes my heart goes insane." Why. Oh why. Why the concept of made-up, fake, kindness. Why here. Why now.

"It makes it hurt so much." Okay. Fine. Sure. I'm fine. No problem.

"I got lost searching for you" Go Enanan, go. Technically that line fits mfyd too.

"The whispers that don't exist in the chat history, I don't need them at all" mention of whispers again.

I can't make sense of the sentence tho. For the funfact, that song was commissioned for an alternate universe, as the plot of Niigo changed after the song was made. So they asked for another song for the Untilted track. Namely, Kuyamu to Katie Mirai.

So yeah a lot of Keitai Renwa lines are a bit cryptic, because they're talking about another story entirely. Any sense of foreshadowing here is purely coincidental.

Back on tracks

"Love me if that's what you please, hate me if it gives you ease"🌸 Mizuki asking for hate rather than a made-up kindness.

"Screaming out my deepest fear : Please don't leave me yet !"🌸

To an extent, it could fit them both. But it went to Ena. Ena would had to look at Mizuki running away without having the chance to speak.

Wait- please, don't go.

"Even if this love's gone cold, like the tea I've left alone, I would not lose hope and throw it all away"🌸 Unfortunately you didn't exactly did that, huh...

"Searching through my heart to find what to say"🌸 why does so many lines brings me back to lower ?

/"I still want to hear you speak with words [...]"

I still want to hear it from you. I haven't waited all this time for naught.

"To just connect with you, so, please... Are you there ?"

They sing that like together, except the 'with you' part that is only Ena. But in our specific context, the line feels like Ena's.

And that's about it. I can't say much more.

Sure, I could go through every Niigo cover that includes Mizuki and pick up every line that feels suspicious to me. I'm down the rabbit hole enough to do that.

But that post is long enough. If I find something earth-shattering in the covers, maybe I'll share it. Maybe.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

We often hear about all the faults of SPOP (in which you are often spot on!), but what are the things that you DID like about the She-Ra reboot?

it's my favorite season so let me say something positive for once. i think i've answered this question before but i forgot when, so i'll do it again!

here are 8 things i like about spop:

THE THEME SONG. it's such a banger! one of the only theme songs i don't skip when watching each episode.

the entire s3 finale. if it wasn't for s5 ruining it in retrospect, i think this storyline was carried out so well. i've said this before but i'm a huge fan of horror, especially psychological and cosmic horror, and the portal sequence has BOTH of those. not to mention, it was so fucking cathartic to see adora read catra to filth and sucker punch her in the face.

the character designs. now, i have criticized some of the character designs before but i do legitimately like a lot of them. and as much as i've talked about how the diversity in spop is flawed, i still think it was a step forward and i can appreciate that. my body type is a lot like glimmer's and it would have really helped my self-esteem if i had watched this show when i was younger.

shadow weaver and double trouble. just. these characters are so fucking cool. they're terrible and i love that their actions aren't justified by the narrative, for once. i know there's some controversy with double trouble's design and characterization, and i can definitely acknowledge that some of its implications are icky. but i still love them as a character.

chipped catra's design. it's just cool, okay? i prefer her short hair slicked back like that.

she-ra's s5 design. it looked a lot more classy and less like a kid wearing a dollar store superhero costume.

glimmer in s4. i went into it dreading how glimmer was going to act because i saw a lot of fans complain that she was acting bitchy and toxic. but all i saw was a realistic representation of a child who was forced to repress her grief and take on a huge responsibility. glimmer was nice in the previous seasons and she had a bit of complexity but it was in s4 that her character really got the chance to shine (pun intended). also, i just love corruption arcs in general, they're so much fun.

the voice acting. i think the VAs did a really good job of conveying emotion, especially catra. as much as i don't like her, i commend her VA for doing all her emotional parts so well.

[feukt-42]

CO:E33 rambles and notes bc i am in shambles rn

ok so i just finished playing clair obscur : expedition 33 and i have so much shit to say abt it or i will explode

Obvious spoilers obviously.

First off, this game is a fucking masterpiece. I know everyones said it like 15 times but holy shit, the art direction, the writing, the dialogue, the gameplay, the level design, the ost (how tf is this lorien testard's first ost jfc), the voice acting (both english and french, i played in french due to being french and listened to the english vas through yt playthroughs), theres not a single discordant note for me in this, it genuinely is that fucking good.

Speaking of the ost, listening to the lyrics while playing and understanding them is truly an experience. i caught most of the juicy shit after the fact but sometimes id hear sth and be like "oh shit that sounds like its important". i have a bunch of favorite bits and im just gonna dump them here bc i need to spew them out.

-> Gustave and Gustave Eiffel : Ok so pretty early on i was already listening to Lumière and Departure non-stop but post act 1 the lyrics kinda started slotting into place. Eiffel (first name gustave), is referenced a bunch of times in the ost, and while at first i was like "ok french game is french", now im pretty sure theyre referencing Gustave (Parisian engineers from the belle époque who share the same name hmmm). Theres a lot of lines that really just work for this, like Departure's "Clair Obscur ôtera, brisera Eiffel" (Clair obscur will remove, break Eiffel) that seem to foreshadow gustave's untimely demise at the end of act 1. I thought it was really neat.

->Dualliste ok so this is a fairly small one but the song starts with and repeats several times "Renoir ôta, Renoir brisa" (Renoir removed, Renoir broke) in a fairly somber, almost angry tone. To me this feels like a callback to the part mentioned above, with the thing being removed/broken being gustave, in which case this reads like a call for vengeance and action, a reflection of the expedition's mental state in which they (mostly maelle tbh) are pushed forward mostly by this grief, this emptiness being turned into cold hatred and anger at the one responsible for it. That was also neat.

->Our drafts collide i just noticed this one while going back to listen to the ost, at first the title didnt really jump out that much, it just sounded cool but nothing special yk. then, i realized "oh shit the first fight theme is 'Our drafts unite', thats sick as fuck actually". Then i got to the spoken french section and Lorien hits me with "Nos desseins se confrontent" and i deadass did the surprised pikachu face. For the non-francophones in the audience, desseins, meaning intentions, plans, the will to do sth, etc., is a homophone of dessin, meaning sketch, draft. The french lyric the titles are based on is a massive double entendre of "Our drafts collide/unite"(literal, as in these people are fighting in a painting with chroma and gradients and such) and "Our wills collide/unite". That is so fucking cool. ->Lumière s'éteint ok so that whole poem is fire as fuck and you definitely should find a translation if you dont spek french bc its just really good, but the part that rewired my brain chemistry was "Si nos pulsations jouent à contretemps/Notre amour veillera sur la mesure". The translation is "If our pulses play off-beat/Our love will see to the measure". That is so fucking romantic holy shit. Its also sung in Une vie à t'aimer, but the second verse is replaced by "mon amour veille, attend" (my love watches, waits) which didnt strike me as much. That song is still a massive banger though.

-> Déchire la toile ok so this one has A Lot. Its downright spoilery if youre smart enough to connect the dots (which i was not). Im gonna translate whole entire sections bc this is just textual spoilers in the lyrics.

"[...]Renoir aida / Mais toujours son fils perdra [...] Verso va déchiré canva / Maelle tristesse dura / Amour vivra / Alicia va déchiré canvas / Renoir pleura / Verso dané / Alina enferma"

ok so in order we have "Renoir helped(?) / but always his son will lose" (aida reads like the conjugation of aider, to help, but is pronounced drastically differently), "Verso will tear the canvas" (should be déchirer grammatically, idk the meaning behind that) "Maelle ['s] sadness will last", "Love will live", "Alicia will tear the canvas", "Renoir wept", "Verso damned" (admittedly this one is complete guessworke but dané sounds remarkably like damné so im putting it in), and "Alina locked up" (as in she locked sth up, not shes locked up, that would be enfermée). I'll leave you to interpret the nitty gritty but i just thought it was wild how they just drop this on you beginning of act I like holy shit.

Thats most of the neat little details in the ost. Since ive given some bits of translation already, here are some more that i havent seen mentioned anywhere yet :

Orphelin : orphan

Serpenphare : serpent (snake) + phare (lighthouse)

échassier : wader/wading bird

Benisseur : someone who blesses (bénir=to bless)

Boucheclier : Bouche (mouth) + bouclier (shield)

Chapelier : hatter

Chorale : choir

Danseuse : dancer (feminine)

Moissonneuse : harvester (feminine, in the agricultural sense)

Pelerin : pilgrim

Portier : doorman

Potier : potter

Ramasseur : someone who picks things up (ramasser : to pick up)

Rocher : rock

Veilleur : watcher

Tisseur : weaver

Dualliste : mix of duellist and dualist (thesis that relies on two irreductible concepts e.g manichaeism)

Theres also a fuckton of jokes and references that dont really work in english so heres a couple ive seen :

-The "à on" achievement for beating the serpenphare is a reference to the "Astérix et Obélix : Mission Cléopâtre" movie, pretty much a cult classic imo, in which the pun "Le phare à on" (sounding like pharaon -> pharaoh, meaning the lighthouse of us) is the crux of a whole gag (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdWZhAAf6gA)

-Two kid gestrals have a conversation which is almost word for word a copy of a badly dubbed scene from Hitman the Cobra which became a french meme a while back (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qznbecUX3Fc). The reference is almost unrecognisable in english unfortunately.

Theres most likely a lot i missed, and theres a lot more i have to say but this post is already long enough as is so ill just reblog/make new posts if i want to say more.

[madamefluffnstuff]

TES Crushes

Original here by @pyre-of-pages and tagged by @pocket-vvardvark!

I'll tag @hircines-hunter, @fangsandsoftgrass, @lithiumrev, and whomever else in my circle would like to do this and has not yet already.~

(Pretty sure I'm double-tagging some folks but I don't care lol.)

Which NPCs in TES (all games included!) do you crush on, and why? They don't have to be marriage candidates (in vanilla), just people you find yourself blushing around. Hell, it could be a Deadric Prince if that's what you're into. Name them and say what about them you find appealing! Then feel free to tag a friend or two!

For someone who's been playing Elder Scrolls since she was 15, this list is, surprisingly, not as long as it should be?? Must mean I'm loyal lol

∘•···············•∘ʚ ♡ ɞ∘•················•∘

Skyrim

Farkas. Sorry to disappoint, but he and I have a history: my then friend from High School suggested I romance Farkas because she married Vilkas. So if I married him we'd be sister-in-laws. Of course I had to be SIL's with my friend!! Lo and behold he's actually a big teddy bear and overall a really good character! (We've been married for 10 years now. 👌)

Marcurio. He's nowhere near the level of adoration I have for Farkas, but for someone who complains so much he's a great traveling companion! Plus his spells have saved my hide more than once.

Online

Razum-Dar. Okay, hear me ou- Hear. Me. Out. When I first started playing ESO about 6 months or so after launch (give or take), Raz was the first major NPC I made contact with. Don't ask me what it was; his sweet but teasing demeanor, the way he'd comfort the Vestige after any teammates died, or the voice. That damned voice. Ugh. Love him.

Prince Irnskar. Okay so when I first met the Prince, I was much closer in age to him. I'm not entirely sure what it was, maybe how close he is to his father and how protective he is, little teenage me thought he was sweet! Now I'm older and it's a little weird to think about aslakadff (for the record, according to the timeline he is exactly 18 at the start of the EP line.)

Goveled Herendas. Fam. FAM. This guy is the one who awakened a potential thing for Dark Elves in me. The way he says that ONE LINE HE HAS IN THE ENTIRE GAME made me set my controller down and contemplate my life choices.

Ritemaster Iachesis. Now normally I'm not one for High Elves buuuuut this guy?? I'd make an exception. Dude has the most velvety, dulcet tones and any time I hear him it's like a Prarie dog scouting, I look around so fast lmao. Can you tell I have a thing for husky voices hehehe~

Fennorian. Come on, as much as I write about him that should be fairly obvious, haha. He's such a sweet and caring guy, and his affinity for the supernatural and alchemy is 👌 right up my alley. (Also doesn't hurt his VA is Robbie Daymond.~)

Verandis Ravenwatch. Allllll about the voice for this guy, Jonah Scott could read a phone book and I'd be absolutely under his spell 😩👌

Bastian Hallix. If he were a real live person I'd ask for his hand in a heartbeat. My followers and mutuals know how I feel about him. Not to mention his VA is the same age as me---

Vole. Fam your guess is as good as mine as to what in god's good earth made me like this little weasel. I was this close to shipping him with Ebony. Then I realized I couldn't travel with him :,)

Braghis. Okay not so much a crush as so much I would absolutely 100000% hang out with him. I bet you he has amazing stories to tell. He'd be such a cool friend to have.

Sombren. I have no idea what it is with him but I almost couldn't help but develop a soft spot for him. Maybe how he is with the twins? Could be his determination to help his friends? Dunno. He's most likely too young for me though.