#and how none of it is scripted

[lynxfang]

(Cw: injury description, death, some body horror ig, existentialism, lynx's dumb headcanons)

Gore dripped slowly down the slick, blue blade. A tear slipped down the cold cheek of the devil who lay there all wreathed in red and crowned if his broken horns. The sword had come down too hard upon his shoulder, and he hadn't been able to grab for the blade that he and scott had tossed aside in an act of virtue and honor. Their fists and claws had been all the weapon they'd needed... if the meteor hadn't struck when he had. The thick, acrid scent of burned fish swam through his nose as he cast his crimson eyes to the corpse of the merfolk who lay before him, wreathed in his own loser's crown of blazing laurels. A halo of blistering lava bubbled and popped as it seemed into the ground around the body. Scott hadn't even had a chance to grab their sword. Their legs had given out under them as the heat boiled their very will. Webbed hands were clasped around gills in a final act of desperate gasping, the smoke choking the air from lungs and gills alike.

Martyn felt the thrill filling his veins with a laugh. It was a hot, blazing pleasure that ran through his blood like lightning. It burned like pain, but it never did hurt. Others had said it hurt whenever you stole the time from another, but that wasn't true. It only hurt because they let themselves feel bad about it. He wouldn't do that. It was a death match after all.

Webbed hands twisted by the sea that gripped the blade losened their hold, and he only barely heard the sword fall to the red-stained grass beneath his feet. His boots had long since come off after his last death when he'd found they confined the large, webbed feet too tight. He clenched clawed toes into the wet grass. His arms felt heavy. Too heavy, and Martyn had to fight to stay upright as he laughed. No one was there to hear him laugh, but he threw his gold maned head back, every gasp of laughter making the pufferfish scales expand and flex under his skin, puffing up like the pauldrons of warrior. He laughed louder than he ever had before. Skizz had complimented his laugh on day one, hadn't he? Oh, how Martyn was glad Skizz had reminded him to laugh. Where was he now? With those listeners? Watchers? Taking his place among the contestants for the next match? Would Martyn join them then, too?

He sloughed the jacket from his shoulders, the banner of a long-lost land he could hardly forget flowing behind him like a scarf of blood from his waist. He flexed his claws- new additions after joining Scott- and looked down at those fishscaled hands. Were they stained red because of the blood he spilt? Or was it simply his scales matching his name? Filthy reds.

As he took a step forward, he lurched forward with an unnaturally long stride, feeling his muscles and flesh stretch with his motions like elastic stretched to its limits. His shoulder pulsed with his huffing breath. The fissures glowed purple, but he tried to ignore them. The time ticked down. The sand trickled through the neck.

That's my time.

He watched as every second passed in the pulse of his fissures and the beat of his heart. I need more time. He climbed the hill, every step more awkward than the last. It was like his legs didnt fit his hips anymore. He tasted the air, checked the tab. There had to be more time. Surely. He had drawn his blade with thirty minutes left. But now, Martyn wandered that familiar land for an hour. Maybe it was an hour? It was aimless and tired and hungry. Every second did not pass as a second, but as a beat of a time starved heart. Twenty four hours down to thirty minutes. I want my time back.

He broke into a sprint, tumbling down onto all fours. Drool (or was it blood?) Dripped down his chin as he scaled the towers, raced along the skynet, and over the hills. He scrambled around TNT craters. Had the meteor made those, too? The cake had gone stale. The bread had gone moldy. "Time... I need time. No, no, no, NO!" He snarled, his voice wet with bloodlust. After everything, he still LOST. He wasn't losing, no... no. But he watched as he lost. He stood before the hourglass, and watched red sand trickle down.

"CRUEL, YOU ARE CRUEL!" He snarled to the heavens, time-addled mind only forming words out of rage as he swiped with his claws at the sky. He couldn't hear their laughter. But he knew they laughed. They laughed and watched and listened and he had to wait. Is this how Grian felt while he buried Scar? Is this how Scott had felt before the watchers, in their infinate "mercy" slew him with a snap of their proverbial fingers? And Pearl? Did she relish the lonesome, or did she too curse the cruelty of those damn voyeuristic bastards overhead.

"Ren... Ren," he muttered, barely recalling whose name it is he called for as he held the tattered banner in his claws. "Scott... I..." He wasn't sorry. Betrayal had been in his blood since before day one.

Inthelittlewood Ran Out of Time.

[ltcdrmcgarrett]

I gotta tell you, buddy, teaching was not so bad. If I ever get maimed in the line of duty because of some stupid stunt that you pull, I have a fall-back, which is nice. A good fall-back is very important.

[learn-and-accept]

I think the most annoying part about all of this watcher shit is that if they had just originally said they'd be releasing content earlier and ad-free on their own website, none of this would've happened. Like sure maybe people would be a little bit upset/disappointed they couldn't afford to see things earlier, but at the very least they wouldn't have completely obliterated their reputation and ostracized their fan base. They just went about this in such a shitty and demeaning way and I'm glad they apologized and backpedaled, but I sincerely don't know how they come back from this, especially after it took them three days to respond. I don't know how their audience will ever be able to trust them again

[completelyandtotalyuneventful]

Ok so I know traffic SMP isn’t actually that lore heavy outside of Martyns stuff but I find it insanely interesting that both servers where watchers/listeners were involved (Evo and the Life series) feature Jimmy being incredibly unlucky. It’s like these Erdrich beings personally have it out for him and I’m here for it.

[kendallsroyco]

A Very Important Presentation:

Owen Sleater's Kisses (with tongue) in Boardwalk Empire

[jasperyourmutt]

Thank fucking god for doctors who give a shit about your health. I just met my new doctor who is going to be prescribing my T and I feel so relieved to have someone who actually CARES

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

The Principle of Moments

start of a scifi space opera series

a teen girl in the far future where humans are oppressed learns she has a destiny & a lost sister and escapes

and a young time traveler who’s given up trying to find his father through time, and is about to settle in 1812 with the prince he loves, but is unwillingly thrust into the future

they both learn their fates are entangled by a prophecy, and have to race across the galaxy, followed by a galactic emperor and the legacy of heroes from an ancient religion

[lottieurl]

like okay the thing is. the show is about characters who were hunting each other and eating each other in the wilderness so i just think. well. it was never gonna have a nat arc that tells her you're okay baby and your life has value sweetheart. like if it was a different show and nat simply had struggles with drugs and suicidal ideation because of the shit that happened with her abusive father and stuff and then she ultimately died tragically while trying to recover that could really be quite questionable but like. that's not the story? she wasn't getting better she was getting into a cult. that was led by the unstable old friend she was in a cannibal cult with before. she wasn't getting better she was getting into a cult mentality that's why her behavior was so strange people were thinking she's manipulating lottie when in fact she was just getting indoctrinated

i do NOT think it was meant to be a "redemption arc" either like i've seen people say. i do not think it was supposed to FEEL like redemption that's why it DIDN'T. you weren't supposed to be tearing up like oh but with this death she made up for everything they did out there. she never could! none of them ever can! it's not about that. i think it's supposed to be tragic in a preventable way to parallel jackie's death in a way. a different set of circumstances allowed her to survive in the wilderness and doomed her in the present. she saw a moose and brought people to the lake to make a hole in the ice and pull out the moose. the ice wasn't as strong in that place which is probably why javi stepping on there broke the ice. and she was gonna save javi but misty stopped her. and this time misty found her and called for everyone to come because she was there and nat's visions at lottie's cult set off the chain of events. and this time misty's attempt to save her just led to her death instead. nat's attempt to save lisa's life led to nat losing hers like javi's attempt to save nat's life led to javi losing his

[felikatze]

programmers hate me for my insane workarounds to very simple things i do not know how to do

[dabeth-is-dead]

Working in retail teaches you a lot about how much the public sucks, but the most surprising to me was just how common it is for people to feel entitled to personal medical history. I wear a knee brace at work to stabilize my kneecap for long shifts, and usually at least one customer asks, "What happened to your leg?" And thinks that that's an appropriate question for a stranger. The weirdest part to me is that if I tell them I was in a car accident (I'm a strong advocate for lying to customers about yourself) they leave that interaction continuing to believe that it was totally fine, but if I answer with some variation on the truth they suddenly get very uncomfortable. Like, sorry I've got an incurable genetic disorder instead of something cool like a tiger attack. Maybe questioning someone's health shouldn't be on your list of small talk topics if you're not prepared for the answer to possibly be upsetting, just a thought.

[hamartia-grander]

My professor took off a point from one of my scripts because I labelled a character as Nonbinary, and he claims I should've left the gender description blank because "it's not necessary for this character", as if "nonbinary" is a placeholder for "I don't care what gender" I am actually going to tear him to shreds

[grineerios]

Chapters: 2/? Fandom: Warframe Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Original Tenno Character(s) (Warframe), Gauss (Warframe), Alad V Additional Tags: Harm to Children, Flashbacks, POV Alternating, Independent Warframe Summary:

After a near-death event catapults a young Tenno from the grasp of the Second Dream, Rufus and his Gauss warframe are forced to remember their pasts and come to terms with their current selves.

[kirbytripledeluxe]

God do I wish we weren't scared to exist as a system without judgement. Hi .

[lesamis]

youtube and i are locked in a road runner/wile e coyote esque battle of wills where i immediately close any video it attempts to show me an ad on. i close the video, go about my life, and the next time i click on a video, there's never an ad. it's like i said a magic word. in fact, i don't get ads at all for the next few videos, as though i've withheld food from youtube and it is now attempting to placate me, claiming it can be good. after ten or so ad-less videos, youtube will then tentatively Open The Door Just A Crack and begin to show me a single ad at the end of a video, which i, once more, immediately close, and our routine begins again. youtube tries for an ad. i beat it with a hammer. the ads disappear. which one of us will be the first to break this cycle? how did algorithmic feedback get so precise that i can get pulled into a spiral of manipulative behaviour and unhealthy communication with it? does this even work for anyone but me? and will the tube ever put its foot down and play ads no matter how many videos i x out of? which one of us needs the other more? who's to say. in this wreck of a world. i remember when life was kind

[yeetlegay]

Me brainstorming what to say when I propose to my gf this weekend: “hey baby what if I called u my fiancée haha wouldn’t that be cute”

[philophobic-paracosm]

i am CONVINCED i shifted to this reality like 3-4 days ago

CONVINCED, i tell you

completely by accident, but, like

i've been hearing about the Notion app (which i got specifically for scripts and also other personal projects) and like

there is LITERALLY NO CONCEIVABLE WAY that i've only just now heard about it

i've known about shifting since like 2020 right? not to mention my love of making a ridiculous amount of ocs and stories (which it could really help with)

also it's like??? a bootleg Lifa app basically???? i just find it hella suspicious that i've only just heard about this crazy app RIGHT when i start wanting to try shifting again

anyways is anyone else shifting to warrior cats i need people to talk abt it to please please please