#bendy should be a little shorter actually

[just-bendy]

Welcome to Bendyween!

This event will go on until the end of October or a little past that. Bendy and his friends will be answering asks in costume!

[inkdemonapologist]

Ok. A hypothetical scenario if you'll indulge me. You are a casting director on the movie. You are familiar with the material and you are asked to present some actors to the crew- *besides JK Simmons who everybody thinks should play Joey I guess?* who do you suggest and for what role?

I don't know any actors other than The Guy With The Cool Lips Who Played Scarecrow That One Time, so setting me up as casting director would be a questionable decision! I feel like the very tiny amount we know about this movie also makes this difficult; like, am I casting Sammy in 1932, Sammy in 1946, Ink Sammy, all three?

So, rather than picking specific famous people, some broader thoughts on what elements to prioritise?? as hypothetical casting director. For sake of this exercise we're going to take this all very seriously and pretend that the writing for this movie is already great lmao.

Joey: Ironically for the first BatIM character to get a canon human appearance, I think Joey's acting chops are more important than his looks; as long as makeup can do a decent moustache and the voice is good, the energy is what will really sell him. Joey Drew is both VERY important to get right and also the most complex character in the Bendy Franchise, but he's also really really easy to turn into a stereotype, and I feel like this implication of "obviously he should be played by the guy who played J Jonah Jameson" kinda speaks to how easy it is to see just one side of him. Joey is simultaneously ruthless but also disarmingly charming, likeable but also punchable, confident but also pathetically insecure, genuine but also manipulative -- it seems like a tricky energy to nail. If he doesn't have a sharpness to him, that Curiosity Where Empathy Should Be element, you've erased a really important part of the man behind so many nightmares; if he's a cartoon evil capitalist, then everyone who believes in his dreams looks stupid for falling for something so obvious. Whoever plays him has to be able to get in his head AND ALSO convey that nuance. But if you have the luxury of nitpicking appearance after that, I think it's worth noting that Joey doesn't look the way he's trying to look. I keep saying I'm obsessed with his overbite in BatDR, but like:

See? Henry's the one with that aggressive strong jaw facial structure. Compared to him, even this less-aged Joey has facial structure more like mine, with a weaker chin that gives the impression of an overbite and a shorter face (which, to be clear, are attractive traits, but they are definitely not the Stereotypical Energy for this character archetype) -- he just knows how to carry himself to give off that j jonah jameson energy. I think attention to that kind of detail would also help him be his own fascinating character instead of just shoving him into an existing archetype.

Henry: If it's Ink Henry, his vibes are the most important. This character is famously non-emotive, often to an inappropriate extent, and frankly I think whoever plays him should keep that as part of his character. Henry strikes me as someone who wants to be kind but he's so, so tired, and just looking at this guy needs to sell that because Henry's actual behaviour and dialogue won't.

If it's Actually Worked In The Studio Henry, then I think his voice and appearance need to be SPOT. ON. so that they can play him a little differently and it still works rather than just not feeling like Henry. If he sounds like a perfect Henry but he has more energy, he's still quiet but he's more confident, he's not the follower Joey tried to sell him as... that would be such a neat thing to leave as an implied reveal for fans -- that the Henry we know is either a dishonest representation, or changed by his experiences, and is actually a bit different from the man Joey worked with.

Susie: they won't do this because they're cowards, but I personally think Susie would be such a good candidate for protagonist of a Bendy movie..... anyway if human Susie is in it, she doesn't have a canon appearance so you have a lot of freedom here. Most important thing is that She Has The Range; she needs to be able to be both believably naive and starry-eyed in a likeable way rather than coming across as desperate or annoying, and she ALSO needs to have a ruthless energy in her so that her later Womens Wrongs don't come out of nowhere. If Twisted Alice AND Susie both make appearances, I'm torn on whether they should be played by the same person... it could be cool if they were, since then you could see a lot of Susie in Alice even when she's behaving VERY DIFFERENTLY, which I think would humanise Alice in a good way (and also humanise Susie as more than just a Sweet Naive Girl Who Was Tricked)

Either way Twisted Alice NEEDS TO BE HOT. IM NOT JOKING I THINK THIS IS THE PRIORITY. Yes yes half her face is melting, but her vibes are UNIRONICALLY "hot and evil and wants to vivisect someone." Like, it would also be nice to get someone who can play her with dimension, with an implication that she has reason to be a cartoon evil sexy person who flies into a shrieking rage beyond just women be crazy (which is kind of what she is in the games), but also, she IS a cartoon evil sexy person and you CAN'T lose that; she needs to be able to pull off EVIL AND HOT with half her face gone without it feeling like a parody. Lesbians in the audience need to fan themselves. ITS VERY IMPORTANT.

I don't have a ton of thoughts about Allison. We have a pretty specific physical description of her human self. She needs to have enough ethereal poise to justify the lovesick way she is described in every novel lmao. Allison Angel, though, is where I would put a priority of Needs A Character Actor i think; she's a fairly major character but it's so hard to get a good handle on what she actually like..... wants or feels beyond Helping The Protagonist and Being A Good Person, but if she could really sell the bits and pieces so well you believe it, so that she really seems like she's been harshened by the brutal world she lives in but genuinely values a hope she won't let go of, it could make the character really good.

Sammy.............. Well, it's hard to not be biased. But human Sammy has no canon appearance, so I think you can't go wrong there as long as you pick someone who could conceivably be described as "pointy", and I PERSONALLY think based on the little crumbs of description we've gotten that a human Sammy should be fairly distinctive and intense, attractive in a Strange way - but I think the really really important thing for Sammy (ink or human) is his vocal performance. This is a character who took off in popularity in large part because of a couple of really compellingly delivered monologues; Sammy's voice NEEDS to be right, especially when he's speaking quietly. I think physicality in the sense of How He Moves is ALSO really important for him; Sammy's wiggle-fingers in game and constantly odd descriptions in the novels and complete lack of personal space in both all imply that he moves Strangely, and I do think he should have an unsettling Renfield energy, but it's also so easy for Character Who Is Losing His Mind to get portrayed so over-the-top that it becomes goofy or unbelievable or weird for the sake of being "creepy". Sammy's energy shouldn't be Insane Batman Villain, it should be Doomed Guy In A Lovecraft Story -- it's just that nobody but him is in a lovecraft story.

there are other characters but I think these are all the ones i have thoughts on

[crepesuzette2023]

I’ve seen other people ask other blogs on who they’d cast for the boys. So now I ask you, who would you cast for all four of them ?

I'm thinking it would have to be four unknown-to-the-world-at-large actors. They can't be pre-famous, that would introduce too much noise to the system. They must inhabit the Beatles, and the Beatles must inhabit them.

For accent reasons they should probably be from Liverpool, but that would be too Beatle-y. I would prefer them to have no relationship to each other and the Beatles prior to filming, and then to be gradually devoured, yet strengthened, by the project. Think the Lord of the Rings movies, but with music instead of Orcs.

I want the making of the movies to make adults of the actors. I want the experience to meld their hearts together; I want it to provide them with a shared language for the rest of their lives, and also with private memories of undefinable erotic attraction admitted and acted upon—like the real Beatles, but in a healthy 'they went their separate ways towards fulfilling careers afterwards and maintained a [positively loaded adjective of choice] relationship with each other'-way.

I want their autobiographies to have titles like, To the Top and Back, and other things you can do with a Bowler Hat.

Also, I'm sorry, but after the movies are done, the actors decide independently of each other they will never act again—having done what was needed.

No matter their gender, they will have to be young and free enough to embrace the homoerotic subtext, and mature enough to be camp in precisely measured doses.

The person playing Pete Best will have to be the most handsome, irrelevantly so, and Brian will have to be played by a young Leonardo di Caprio. (Cloning, breeding, time travel, just make it work.)

The Paul person must be as angelically pretty as the real Paul, but also appropriately asymmetrical face-wise, furry, and upsettingly long-limbed. Soft spoken and confidently whorish. Should at the very least be able to credibly mime mastery of any instrument (wink nudge) shoved into his face. Obviously must be left-handed.

John: *must* be slightly shorter than Paul, and able to shift from silly and bendy to the immovable Leader Lennon stage stance. Also must be able to hold forth at length without anyone losing interest, melt camera lenses by staring them down, instill unease in parents far and wide, and mess up lyrics in exactly the right way. Final test: add an edge of genuine menace to singing the line "a bad little kitten moved into my neighborhood."

George: everything he says is so dry and sharp it ends the scene—a challenge for the writers. Eyebrows. Will say what the audience thinks and voice what they feel, which is why his movie will be the most anticipated and also the most hilarious. Must be able to glower intensely enough to make roses wither on the vine, then smile brightly enough to shame the sun. A French pastry chef's knowledge of chocolates and treats is a plus.

Ringo: For fuck's sake, make sure he can actually handle himself on drums. Ideally unconventionally and sensually hot in the way of the young Gael Garcia Bernal, but smarter, especially in the ways of human relations. Realistic stomach scars required. Must be able to sit and be present, oddly detached from the invisible battles raging between the other three, a calm pond of sanity, a focal point of anti-anxiety—yet capable of brittle humanity. Audition will include a performance of Boys.

if the movies don't work out they can record a song for Eurovision.

[smallerplaces]

Kid Kore Katie joins the fam

Stacie, Whitney, and Hilary have a new friend: Katie, who is a mid-1990s Kid Kore "Dancing Brook."

in thinking about my small community of dolls, I'd been pondering who isn't represented. A glaring omission is Native Americans. So I went looking for indigenous girls among vintage clone dolls, and in a weird clonish way, I hit pay dirt.

We need to backtrack a second, to Maureen Trudelle Schwarz' "Native American Barbie: The Marketing of Euro-American Desires." Schwarz looks only at Barbies -- and, oddly, doesn't address Mattel's Pocahontas dolls, even though Pocahontas was likely at the heart of the 1990s craze for Native American dolls -- but this narrowness of focus doesn't change the validity of her point. She argues that Native American fashion dolls have been consistently marketed as "other," "historic," and spiritually tied to the earth, in a manner that has no equivalent for white fashion dolls (or even Black ones).

Hooboy is she right about that for Kid Kore's many, many Native American dolls, as well as Totsy's smaller assortment. Kid Kore's are part of the Heartland series, complete with actually labeling dolls as "Indian Princess." Totsy's are packaged as Heroes of Yesteryear. Everyone is in a movie-western version of "traditional" garments. Nobody except the men have any attempt at a head mold that isn't also used on the white dolls. And yes, the boxes have friendly information about historic close-to-the-earth practices.

"Dancing Brook" is a Kid Kore Katie, the 7" younger sister of flagship doll Kelsey. She is also cute as all get-out, and I'm less concerned about head molds on a character that's a mid-sized little girl. I bookmarked a bunch on eBay and bought the one whose seller offered me the best deal.

She arrived in her "traditional" costume, in really great shape. I don't think she'd ever been undressed.

The first step is, of course, to get her out of that costume, since she's here to be a little girl among other little girls. In the long haul, all of the 6-9" little girls are going to belong to a children's performing arts group that requires them to have traditional dance dresses, but this requires getting out the sewing machine, which means getting some eBay listings done first. Point is, Katie will be defined by her "traditional costume" exactly as much as Stacie, Whitney, and Hilary.

Speaking of which, here's Katie showing that she's a little shorter than Whitney (Stacie) and about an inch taller than Creata Hilary. She's also reminding me that I'll need to sew casual outfits for the whole gang, as the clothes I think are Stacie clothes mostly fit Kelly, Skipper, and hypothetical other dolls that may not exist.

Let's see what's under the clothing.

Katie has a pretty simple body, but because she's Kid Kore, she has a secret.

It's not in how she does splits.

It's not in how she sits much more gracefully than Hilary.

No, it's in how Kid Kore handled articulation. Those legs are bendy!

It's unsettling, but allows for a range of motion.

Her face is adorable! I might want to do a little washing on her hair, but it's in great shape for a doll that's almost 30 years old. Unlike Hilary, she has kept her eyebrows.

She's looking forward to hanging out with her new friends... oh wait... her name!

Well, I'm not going to call her Dancing Brook. That's an obvious "white person romanticizing" name. I haven't decided what tribe she belongs to (which is going to be important in making her a more accurate festival dress). The major candidates are Northern Yokuts, Miwok, or Tohono O'odham [the first two for where I live now, the third for my 10 years in Arizona]. For naming, though, it doesn't really matter because west coast natives usually don't disclose their native names to white folk, for reasons that should be pretty obvious. So I'd only know her Anglo name, and... she's a Kid Kore Katie. As the first Katie in my little doll community, she gets the name.

[fourseasonsfigs]

Irregular Daoist

Since we're already in the JZEUniverse after the last two posts, let's stay just a little while longer for our first fig of Dong Fang Yuechu (东方月初), Gong Jun's character from his upcoming xianxia Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Yue Hong (狐妖小红娘月红篇).

Gong Jun is not the titular Fox Fairy of this show, that's his co-lead Yang Mi. He's a human Daoist with magical powers. You can watch a brief intro / filming wrap-up special of Fox Spirit Matchmaker with English subtitles from iQiyi on YouTube here.

So this is the first fig...out of 20. Yep, 20 figs that I know of for Yuechu, and that is based off only a few photos from filming and promotion. I can't even imagine how many we're going to have once the show actually drops!

But it's no wonder. Gong Jun looks outrageously beautiful in this - the filming staff learned from Word of Honor that spending the money to put him in gorgeous costumes and wigs was worth every single bit.

Junjun also took a page from his Zhang Laoshi's filming experience, and just like Zhehan did for Zhou Zishu, he grew his hair out long enough so his real hair could mix in with the hairpieces and wigs for a more natural and beautiful look.

This is the look we're benefiting from for these inspiration pics for this fig:

Yuechu is photographed quite a bit in the few pictures we have holding tanghulu, which is a popular candied fruit snack on skewers. You've seen the bright red hawthorn berries coated in sugar before, as our dear Tanghulu Niuniu is holding them tightly in his cute little hands here.

Our precious little daoist arrived with his tanghulu safely packaged, and his sword a little worse for also being safely packaged! The little wrapper bag that he came sealed in kept him pretty tightly held. I'm pretty sure that unlike Baiyi, Yuechu's sword is not supposed to be bendy.

No problem though! This isn't super uncommon for PVC figs - I just ran the sword under hot water and gently coaxed it back into a straight line. It usually takes a couple instances to get it to stay, since it's been in that bendy space for a while.

His tanghulu stick just slides right into his hand, nice and easy. Thank goodness. There's been one too many cases recently of swords etc not fitting quite right into hands, and it always makes me worry to muscle pieces around.

You can see here that even though the sword is now straightened, it extends pretty far past the plane of the bottom robes. It's not enough to tip the fig off balance, but it definitely is not a smooth standing fig.

This is the part where I give my normal spiel on how the PVC seam molds etc aren't this noticeable in real life - these figs are so small and dainty that they really just blend in. I've taken pics of figs before that look totally normal just sitting on the shelf, but in the harsh light of the camera I'm shocked to see a thin layer of dust. I go back and look at the figs again - is my eyesight going?!?! - but no, it looks perfect. The lens really does pick up any intangible imperfections (a lesson I should take to heart next time I take a selfie!)

You can see how the sword has to bend a bit on it's side to stay straight here. I get why the fig maker didn't shorten it - it would look more like a dagger than a sword if it was shorter.

A little bit more of the bendy sword, along with Yuechu's impressive half ponytail. Fans have commented that in some pics, he looks a lot like A-Xu, and he actually does.

A shot from above so you can see his hairstyle and hairpin, and the sugary shine off the tanghulu.

The robes and nice wide feet make this an extremely stable fig. I wouldn't need to put it on a fig stand at all, except for the sword.

As you can see though, the addition of a fig stand gives his sword the necessary clearance.

An extreme closeup so you can see the detail on the robes, the delicious shiny tanghulu, and his tanghulu-munching mouth. His sword has an inscription on it, which I just noticed. I can see the character for 'moon', but can't make out the rest.

Speaking of moon, 东方月初 Dōngfāng Yuèchū transcribed literally means New Moon of the East / Eastern New Moon, which is beautiful. I do see the moon in his eyes (this is also a CPF fig maker, so of course we know the dual meaning of moon here).

Google translate helpfully tells me that the name of the sign is "Moon Palace".

There's all kinds of stuff going on in this artwork! Not sure what is happening with the sword here, but there is lots of food, and MTL tells me the name on the vertical sign is "Moon Moon Bun Shop". Can't wait for this show to air so I can learn more!

Material: PVC

Fig Count: 185

Scene Count: 14

Rating: The stars and moon shine together

[link back to Master Fig Index for more posts]

[odekiisu]

Basic Guide to Clone Trooper Armour

I don’t know about you guys, but I have a hard time keeping the terms for various parts of clone armour straight in my mind. So, I decided to make this Guide To Armour, to make my life easier for those times I’m drawing or writing stuff and need to reference what this, that or the other piece is called, how it’s put on or taken off. (I’ve also tried to include/come up with some casual or slang terms for some parts because you cannot seriously expect these guys to use the Right Proper Terminology for everything all of the time.)

This is based on the Clone Wars cartoons, because that’s what I know best. Also, this is just the standard armour of regular troopers; if y’all want something about the possible additions/variations that you could have then lmk and I’ll see what I can put together I guess?

Note: a lot of this terminology is taken from medieval knights’ armour. Many terms are originally French; alternative names provided where possible. I did do a bit of research on medieval plate armour, which is the closest thing I can think of to clone armour, but I am by no means an expert so if you have any input or corrections feel free to @ me. Likewise, if you’ve cosplayed as a clone trooper or stormtrooper, I’d very much like to hear about your experience wearing this stuff, how it moves and how it might be similar or different to the “real thing” so to speak.

Figure 1: Clone trooper armour, front view. Kix got chosen for this because he’s a vain little bastard and loves to be painted. (ETA: this diagram now comes with a second, funnier version.)

(long post under cut)

Figure 2: Back view of armour.

According to Wookieepedia: The armour is produced on Kamino and has UV spectrum markings visible to Kaminoans. It is made of plastoid-alloy composite, and the plates are attached to the bodysuit via magnatomic gription panels. In general, Phase II armour is lighter, stronger and more ergonomic than Phase I, which has been described as heavy and uncomfortable (Wookieepedia also says that it weighs ‘just under forty kilograms’ which sounds like way too much but eh, I’ll roll with it.)

Body glove/bodysuit – the stuff worn under the armour. Provides thermoregulation, some level of protection from things like blasterfire, vacuum, etc. AKA: blacks.

Helmet – The Bucket. Stuffed full of various tech: tracking device, display screen, comlink… Phase I helmets also have life support capabilities, while Phase II helmets do not, requiring an external oxygen supply*. Helmet crest contains comlink antenna. AKA: bucket, I think Rex once called them sun-bonnets, etc… this is the piece likely to have the most slang terms associated with it. Go wild.

* this is according to Wookieepedia; I’m a bit sceptical but I haven’t yet seen the episode it refers to. I headcanon that Phase II is capable of limited life support for emergency situations, but extended missions require external respirators.

Cuirass – there is some conflicting information on whether this refers to just the front chest armour or both front and back. If both, it consists of breastplate and backplate, joined at the sides and shoulders. Shoulder connections appear to be different for Phase I and Phase II: Phase I has a separate piece covering the shoulder seam, implying that it can be opened, whereas Phase II looks like it has an integrated flexible band; it may or may not be possible to disconnect. Either way, the front and back pieces must be able to separate in order to get the whole thing on.

Plackart – belly piece, wraps around the back to protect kidneys as well. Probably flexible to some extent, has been seen to slide down under belt, as demonstrated by Jesse in Figure 3. Might also have to have at least one open-able seam in it in order for troopers to get into it efficiently.

Figure 3: I have no idea how the lower edge of this isn’t stabbing him in the crotch, but *shrug*.

Spaulder/shoulder bell – also known as pauldrons irl, but that term refers to a different item this context (the pauldrons that commanders, captains and ARC troopers wear), so I feel like it might be better to differentiate between them with different terms to avoid confusion. That’s just my opinion though, you feel free to do as you wish.

Rerebrace – bicep plate. Phase I has cutouts in the back to fit pointy elbows (see below); Phase II does not.

Couter – elbow plate. Pointy elbows in Phase I, unpointy elbows in Phase II, as shown on Figure 4. In Phase I appear to be attached to vambraces in the animated version, Phase II is more mobile. I admit, I’m not a huge fan of this word, I kinda prefer elbow plates.

Figure 4: Phase I and II elbows. Am I getting way too into this that it’s gotten to the point of studying clone elbows? *shrug* who knows.

Vambrace – forearm armour. Has wrist-mounted comlink (see below).

Gauntlet plate – covers back of hand. The 212th absolutely calls these “droid-punchers”, no you cannot convince me otherwise. I think I’ve seen fanon that some troopers sharpen the front edge of this plate to do more damage when punching. Decide for yourself if plastoid alloy would do more damage to the metal of a droid’s chassis if sharpened or unsharpened (and therefore sturdier).

Codpiece/crotch plate – covers the front hip and crotch area. Possible slang term, courtesy of @mockingjay34​: cockblock

Skidplate – covers butt and back hip. A lot of troopers probably just call this piece their shebs, and once again you cannot convince me otherwise. Note that in the clone wars cartoon, Phase I armour is triangular in the back and has a sort of erm… diaper shape, in that the codpiece and skidplate are connected in the crotch (I cannot imagine that being comfortable in any situation, but then again, I have Thicc™ Thighs. Do clones have thigh gaps? Also, I would not want to get pinched by the armour joint between crotch and thigh plates).

Figure 5: Sniper Butts! (Featuring Echo and Fives in quite possibly the only comfortable position in this armour.)

In Phase II the crotch and butt pieces are separated, which sounds a lot more sensible, as well as having better butt coverage – think cheeky panties vs full briefs.

Figure 6: Hardcase kindly demonstrating the new crotch plate alongside some significant gaps in his armour… please get yourself some bigger shoulder bells my dude!

I’d imagine that, given the amount of time these guys spend fully armoured, there should be some way of conveniently opening some of this up or removing individual plates for practical reasons (and if any particular trooper wanted to use this feature for… other things, well, that’s their own business).

Cuisse/Thigh plate – covers thighs. Phase I and II have different shapes in the back to account for skidplate shape, with Phase II having significantly less coverage in the upper thigh/butt area, but I guess better range of motion.

Figure 7: Troopers Hardcase and Dogma demonstrating the Butt Cutouts, or Buttouts.

Poleyn/knee plate/knee pad – important for maintaining kneecap integrity. Like elbow plates, appears to be integrated into greaves in Phase I, but moving freely in Phase II.

Greaves – cover shins, nothing fancy.

Boots – boots. Do not appear to be armoured, are soft enough to bend your toes for walking/kneeling/whatever you need bendy toes for.

Belt pouches/boxes/compartments – A place to keep your stuff when out & about. I’m assuming this is a Pocket Substitute. Clones deserve pockets too!

Comlink – Generally four large square buttons and one smaller one (live action has more buttons). They also have comlinks in their helmets. Wookieepedia mentioned that they used wrist comms in the show so that the audience could clearly see when characters were talking to each other. Possibly used for long-range communication, whereas the ones in the buckets could be for shorter range?

Life support/those box things on their back – I have no idea what they’re actually called but these also have different designs for Phase I and II. On stormtroopers they contain a power pack and a small oxygen supply, and I guess it’s reasonable to assume that they have the same life support function for clone troopers. Also read somewhere that they have comlink scanner for long-range communication?

Thermal detonator – why would they all have bombs on their back? Seems unsafe. Also I don’t think I’ve ever seen one used? Idk. These things confuse me.

[i-am-the-ass-admiral]

For A Laugh (Benny Miller x gn!reader)

Summary: It’s Benny’s first time at a gay bar and you ask him out the worst way possible; ~1.4k

Tags: humor, colloquial writing style, lust, teasing, flirting, implied bi!benny and reader, bad jokes (like terrible impeccable taste), alcohol consumption, excessive use of the word ‘baby’, soft benny, first date (sort of), au, meet-cute

Rating: Teen

Note: look i’ve never done this before, i just really really got stuck on this idea and i really liked benny. might not be your idea of him but god i think he’s a huge dork and a giant softie so here we are. wanted to throw a queer reader out there since you just don’t see them all that much and do something maybe a little off the wall? idk have fun, i think i’m hilarious XD

--

By some stroke of fate, you pick Benny up at a bar the first time you meet. 

He’s not hard to spot in a crowd as tall as he is and you’re just buzzed enough that your eye keeps coming back to him as the night goes on. He slides from corner to corner with his shoulders slightly hunched and the proverbial tail between his legs, following two shorter men who obviously know what kind of bar they’ve walked in to. Benny though—you didn’t know his name at the time so you called him Baby in your head—darts around with a kind of deer-in-headlights expression. It’s cute.

And annoying.

At first, you roll your eyes at him. Great, another straight dude to hit on your friends and get mad when they say no. 

Then you watch him a little longer.

You can’t help it, he’s pretty and looks more than a little lost and even from the end of the bar you can see how wide his tentative smile gets as he looks around. He likes what he sees; you’re just trying to figure out exactly what it is he’s liking. For a while Baby sits at a table with his friends. Holds a fruity cocktail between his knees almost as if he’s scared to be seen with it. Then after a couple drinks his smile gets wider and his voice gets loud. Boy’s boisterous—you can tell by the way he talks with his hands and throws his head back to laugh. He’s actually really fun to watch and it makes you smile. His buddies look almost out of place too until they get up to dance and—wow, talk about snake hips and floor sex, you haven’t seen anyone dance that good off the drag stage in ages. Baby stares at his empty drink for a bit, lost again, then heads to the bar. Not far from where you are, actually. Watching him walk with a couple drinks in him is a world of difference to how he first came in. There’s a swing in his broad shoulders, a confident cocky tilt to his head and you’re not sure if you want to punch him or if it’s the sexiest thing you’ve ever seen.

Despite your better judgment, you’re leaning to the latter. 

You make a bet with yourself as he pulls up at the bar—he got the fun drink to please his friends, he’ll order something boring now—and you’re pleasantly surprised to lose your own bet. Baby orders a whole-ass mai tai and looks overjoyed at the gigantic slice of pineapple and cherries garnishing the top. He turns to the stage. Avidly watches a few performers and even starts cheering. That’s when others folks start to take notice. A couple men make a pass and, wouldn’t you know it, Baby plays nice. Smiles and nods politely even though you can tell he’s not really into it. Not totally but it makes you think…

Maybe Baby’s a little bendy and not as straight as you thought.

At that point in the night, your friends are on their fifth dance, you’re on your third drink, and it’s getting way too loud in here for you. You were going to step out for a bit anyway—or so you tell yourself—so why not have some company? Who knows, you might get lucky. And if not, you’ll have an even better excuse to get some air and at least you can say you did it for laughs. Not that this is a casino but you’re feeling feisty. Might as well roll the dice. Baby looks like the kinda Midwest-flavored bite of beefcake that will either have great taste and love your stupid pickups or get scared and leave. Hopefully he’s not the kind to throw a punch.

You sidle up to the bar next to him. No doubt your outfit gets his attention first. It’s not risqué exactly but it’s got flavor, specifically your queer kind of flavor, and it draws the eye the way you wear it. You smile as you look him up and down, enjoying the red flush on his cheeks that trickles down under the collar of his fitted shirt. Wow, Baby is built. You ask the bartender for a couple drinks while part of your buzzing brain throws up red flags. Maybe you should try to land your mouth before it totally takes off but unfortunately for ground control your tongue is flying solo tonight. You get your drink. Pluck off the fruit, take a bite and shout over the music, 

“Can I get your name or should I just get you a drink?”

As expected, Baby looks confused as hell but he pastes on a polite, if guarded, smile. “I wouldn’t mind a drink.”

Without missing a beat, you give him the second glass in your hand. There’s something about the way that guarded smile doesn’t quite meet his eyes that makes you want to do something stupid. You want to see him smile and laugh and even though you don’t have the slightest inkling about him, you want to know why such a handsome face would ever look so afraid.

So of course you ask, “How ‘bout a bet then? I make you laugh, you tell me your name?”

He makes a considering face and takes a long sip. “Bet.”

“What do you call the sexuality where you’re attracted to people by no one is attracted to you?”

“What?”

Very off key and with all the drama you can muster, you sing, “Allll Biiiii Myseeeelf.”

Baby snorts a laugh in his drink, which you didn’t expect, and a little warmth grows in your stomach. His faux smile is turning to a real grin. Albeit still a confused one but delighted all the same and he shoots back, “So that’s you, huh? By yourself?”

You wince theatrically and shake your head. 

“Ouch, Baby’s got teeth! You got me.” 

“Nah, what you get’s a name.” He holds out his hand and you groan internally at the length and breadth of it as you shake. “Benny.”

Just like that Baby becomes Benny and you’re absolutely smitten. You give him your name. Maybe your fingers linger. You want to get him another drink. You want to tell him another joke. Hell, you want to take him home and stuff him full of food in the morning. He giggles a bit and it’s endearing enough you decide to press your luck. 

“How ‘bout this one? What’s the best N’Sync song?”

It’s not a fair question, dude might not have ever even heard a boy band in his life, so it takes you by surprise when he immediately pops back with a drawling version of, “It’s tearin’ up my heart when I’m with you?”

“Ooo, a little romantic! I see you!” you tease, pinching his thick bicep for just an instant. Because really, any longer than that and you’d melt. 

Benny doesn’t pull away like you were waiting for him to do. Instead he ducks his head, more than booze burning his cheeks, and—ah, hell. 

“That one is killer,” you admit, “but I was thinking of the one where they sing ‘Bye Bye Bye’ while we blow outta here for dinner?”

It’s a stupid line—one of the worst you’ve ever come up with—and it comes out more like a question than a joke. You throw back the rest of your drink to hide the look on Benny’s face but to your delight, he says,

“Wait, really?”

“Well yeah.” You lean against the bar next to him, trying and failing to be nonchalant and you shrug. “I’m hungry and even though you’re a Grade A snack I don’t think you’d appreciate me taking a bite. So how ‘bout dinner?”

Benny finishes his drink all at once. Wipes his mouth with the back of his hand as he stands. You sigh to yourself—this is the part where he walks off and you go get dinner alone, you suppose. But then he grins, like really grins, and offers you his arm to hold and suddenly your knees are jello shots. 

“I could go for a bite.” 

So you go for dinner. Text your friends, of course. But mosey down the street for 12AM tacos and end up laughing with Benny, shoulder to shoulder on the curb until your friends call for a ride.

And even though you didn’t get to take him home and feed him in the morning, your phone still dings through your snooze with a message under Benny’s name that reads: 

What did the barista say to his crush?

I like you a latte. :) 

Coffee later?

The warmth in your stomach from the night before blooms again and you laugh into your pillow before you text back:

Love to!

[inkabelledesigns]

Sam and Jan’s Apartment - Nightmares are Reality Sims

So as of late, I’ve had a LOT of ideas brewing for yet another Bendy fic, and in some of my planning for it, I’ve built one of the locations in the Sims 4 to use as reference. It’s been busy at home, and I needed this to relax, so I’m glad I took the time to do that briefly. You may have seen my previous post about Nightmares are Reality, but if you haven’t, here’s the short version: Samantha Lorenzo from 2021 and Sammy Lawrence from 1946 wake up one morning with their bodies switched, and now both have to embrace the other’s friend group to not only find a way to get back, but also stop the inevitable fate of the studio staff as shown in the novel Dreams Come to Life. There’s angst, there’s fluff, and it get pretty rough, but there’s so much to play with for this story. 

Come with me, and let’s dive into Sam and Jan’s apartment!

So first, we gotta talk about Sam and Jan themselves. Samantha is the curly haired one, and Janet is the one in the hat (she wouldn’t be caught dead without one). Unfortunately the Sims does not allow me to change heights (and I don’t have a mod for it), but imagine for me if you will that Jan is significantly shorter than Sam. I did not have a ton in mind in the way of colors for them, but together their wardrobes have a LOT of red and black, with a little white and tan thrown in. I have Sam with the lifetime goal of being a successful author, which falls in line with her love of storytelling in modern media. Jan on the other hand is a songwriter and musician that’s still trying to find her path. The two met in college and graduated not too long ago, and now they’re both hunting for work (which Janet has part time when the fic begins). 

In addition to them, we have their cat, Figaro (named after the cat from Disney’s Pinnochio, Sam is a nerd like that).

Now, we move onto their apartment!

I chose the 1020 Alto Apartments lot for this, which came with the condition of the Romantic Fireplace that I can’t remove. But I added on Home Studio and Great Acoustics so they could bump up their skills a little easier. This is my first time playing with a lot challenge, and that is Spooky, which makes it so ghosts will come over now and again, which scares the crap out of both of them. And uh, funny story...

The ghost of Joey Drew was the third one to come, and he was VERY angry when Sam met him. X’’’D I did not see that coming, but now I kinda want to make more Bendy ghosts just to see if they pop in. Would you guys be into that? I mean Depths Henry is a ghost, so I probably SHOULD make him. 

At any rate, let’s look at the layout. Bear in mind, I am not phenomenal at building houses, much less apartments, but I think this worked out. 

It opens up into the kitchen, which is filled with all the essentials (these ladies are big on their caffeine). Currently I headcanon that Sam cooks while Jan cleans, but Jan is the better baker out of the two of them. Sam also likes to have fresh ingredients, and while I can’t do a window box on this lot, I can have some indoor vertical plants.

There isn’t much of a separation between living room and kitchen, but this is the living room! Some stuff is for playing with (since I actually play with my households now and then), like the dancefloor, but others are for actual use. They use a record player to listen to jazz and other music, and the furniture would be all mismatched like that (they were broke college kids, gotta sit on something, right? probably got it from a bunch of garage sales). The photo setup is something they use, but it belongs to their friend Vincent, which brings me to the first bedroom.

I haven’t made these two as Sims yet, but Sam and Jan have another duo living with them, Jess and Vincent, who are a couple. Jess is a makeup artist who often experiments on her friends, and she hopes to get into the makeup and wardrobe side of the cinematography scene. Vince on the other hand is a photography and film guy who’s an absolute sweetheart. Those two share this bedroom (Jess had more of a say in the decorating, Vince is pretty easygoing about the aesthetic). 

I had to make sure there was a special corner for Jess’ makeup stuff, she’d want space to move around. The mirror is also something she loves, and they all borrow it a lot. Why?

Because of this creepy room nextdoor! X’’’D So I just learned mannequins are a thing, and I can dress them however I want, so I put some in this pretty much functionless closet. (Though the two masculine ones have been glitching in a way that turns their heads a little at certain angles, and it creeps me out a LOT) This is the cosplay closet, which mostly Jess and Sam use, but all four of them have some numbers in here. These four are a cosplay group, mostly for Bendy, but for other fandoms too. Jess likes going as Twisted Alice (heavy special effects makeup, go figure), Vincent likes Henry and Joey (he likes scruffy nerds and suits), Janet dresses as Jack Fain (though she’s also done some gender bends of other characters), and Samantha (as I’m sure you’ve guessed by now) is right there as the Sammy for their group. If I can ever learn how to work with custom content, I would love to have a cosplay for each of them on these mannequins, but we’ll save that for later. These nerds are absolutely the types to play around with cosplay photos and tiktok videos, I’m sure they duet often. XD

We have some bathrooms, which are pretty self explanatory, but then we have Janet’s room. She is big on the posters and loves having her instruments right there and ready to play. She plays guitar and piano, but I may have her pick up violin down the line. Both of them have the geek trait and are prone to playing videogames more often than not, but Jan is mostly found playing her music. 

We have a small corner of the hallway for the cat. And then last but not least: Sam’s room.

This is Samantha’s creative space. Much like my space, when she’s working, it gets messy. She loves turning on some jazz while she writes, and while she’s crafting. I gave her and Jan the knitting supplies, since I don’t really know how else to simulate sewing for these characters, and they also have some clutter. Sam has one additional mannequin in her room, and she’s into figures, so there’s one of those on the desk. Her closet and bathroom are pretty simple, but that closet is gonna be really important when we get into the story, you’ll see why later.

As always, I have their Sims up on the gallery, along with the apartment, in case you want to play with them for yourself. Just note: because of how apartments work in this game, it’s uploaded as a room, so you’re going to have to fill some walls in and add doors if you want it to work like an apartment would (and you can totally turn it into a house if you want to, you don’t need to have 1020 Alto if you wanna use this). Just search for KatAlystDesigns in the Sims 4 gallery! I’ve also uploaded a few other houses recently, including the DCTL cast for my BATIM mermaid collection, and Buddy’s mother and grandpa. 

I had a LOT of fun putting this together last night, and it’s given me a much better idea of how I want to work with things for this narrative. Bear in mind, Sammy’s the one who’s gonna have to live here and put up with it, so having these details established is gonna help me to make the fic go smoother. I may tweak some things, like actually using upper cabinets in the kitchen (which I always seem to forget about), but we’ll see. XD Either way, this was a good exercise.

I hope you’re all looking forward to exploring these two and their story as much as I am! As a quick final note, I actually have a blog set up for Nightmares are Reality to mimic the one Sam has in the fic, and I’m thinking of using it as a somewhat RP, somewhat fic and content delivery system for the story, so if you’ve got thoughts on that, or stuff you’d like to see, do let me know! Here’s wishing you are all wonderful day!

[thattimdrakeguy]

I just found that Timmy is actually SMALLER than BART Why is him so little? I could crush him! Like, they never drew them well (I would never knew that if it wasn't for the wiki and bio pages Why Timmy looks so buff and taller in Rebirth and Bendis YJ, I'm gonna cry and it's not even night

I think because Tim’s been so out of the spotlight that artists just don’t really know he’s supposed to have a unique look so they just draw him very generically.

Like as grown adults, Bart’s 5′11 too, and Tim’s still just 5′6. Although, it’s DC, and they’ve been a mess with heights since the early 00s, so I have no idea what it officially says anymore. Like I think Tim’s still 5′6 even though he’s back to 16 cause of New 52 reboot, and then in Rebirth said he was 16, which Tim was 5′5 during the last time he was 16 (which was his growth spurt for the little dude). And Bart could be be back to 5′7 cause he went back to a teen before the New 52, even though he would’ve aged back into adult now.

And they’ve never updated Conner’s for some reason, even though he’s a perfectly healthy young man who’s dads are over six feet tall or at the very least six feet. So I have no idea what’s with that. They keep saying he’s 5′7, even though it’s kind of obvious that by now he clearly would be six feet by now.

As someone who’s detailed oriented it gets under my skin a bit. Like I don’t like it.

But basically, it’s full canon Timmy is the shortest of the boys, and it’s pretty implied even shorter than Cassie, but they’ve never really updated hers either.

My best guess as to why they don’t represent that in the art is because in the late 90s a lot of writers started infantilizing Bart really badly, while Tim’s always meant to still be serious, he’s still a dweebie kid, but he’s also pretty mature for his age, or at the very least tries to be. So artists just do the tropes of making Bart the smallest, even though, at that time, they were the same exact height.

Nowadays since so many artists during Tim’s irrelevancy era have just drawn generic heroes, and put Tim’s clothes on it. Sometimes he looks like a full on 35 year old man, and it’s terrible.

Tim’s been outright said to still look really young for his age, being confused for being younger than his true age, by even people his own age. It’s a thing for him. And his Sins of Youth file even made fun of how Tim will never be six feet tall.

So Tim’s appearance is probably the most aptly described one out of the Core Four and Bat-Family even. Yet for some reason it feels like editorial never makes a note of that for some reason? Even Bart when he was aged up the second time and was the Flash said he grew to be TALLER than WALLY WEST. So he’s also noted as being taller too, and as things would have it, Bart should be an adult since he’s from the pre-New 52 timeline.

But yet they don’t draw it like that, with Gleason because I think he was just doing his best to represent the original 90s Young Justice (even if it took some time for him to nail down what Tim’s suppose to look like), and the rest of the artists, just because they didn’t care, and Bendis gives Bart the “small guy” comments, even though that’s Tim’s thing. LIKE GET IT RIGHT. Bart used to get those when he was younger, but he wouldn’t at age nineteen.

It’s really annoying, because I love both Tim and Bart, and I just want them to be accurate, but it’s DC, so of course they don’t give a shit.

[lesbianlovelanguage]

YOUTUBER AU I’m such a fucking sucker for those. It can be anything you want really. Maybe they are friends doing a challenge or something and they end up kissing (or more ;)) or they could meet each other at like a creator even and take a pic together and everyone starts to ship them... :)

HI! Anon I am so sorry, life has been *general handwaving* a MESS. But, I’ve finally gotten most of my shit together and look! A fic! Finally!!! I hope you enjoy two ridiculous boys being ridiculous.

---

“You guys asked for it, and here it is. The explanation to Bendy and the Ink Machine! Now, I’ve watched a ton of playthroughs of this, especially The RatKing’s, as well as played through it myself, and I think I’ve got it.” 

Such a simple statement, it made it through both of the editors as well as Steve and Dustin themselves without raising any red flags. But as with everything, once it had been released on the internet it became fuel for fans to break apart and over analyze. 

The comments started pouring in, the standard mix of support and people trying to break apart his theory. But one comment in particular would stand out and begin something so much bigger than itself. 

Twenty minutes after Steve had pressed upload, someone with the username Random Hoe posted a comment saying Awe! A collab between you and Billy would be totes amazing!! While an innocent comment in itself, it began to pick up steam as people ranted and demanded for the two popular youtubers to interact more. It turned from video ideas to outright shipping within two hours, and only five hours after the video had been up, people began tagging Steve on Twitter with everything from edited screen grabs to fanart and video edits, all about Steve and Billy’s secret yet undying love for each other. 

Steve had almost quit Youtube as the fanbase for what had been dubbed “Stilly” steadily grew and became all the more ravenous. There were less and less comments and reactions to his theories, whether movie, video game, or even book related, and more and more comments about how he needed to do a collab with Billy ASAP, and how he’s queerbaiting, and how it’s okay to come out, it was 20Gayteen after all. He had tried to do damage control, but it only made things worse. 

And then someone showed Billy, and Steve not only wanted to quit Youtube, but also crawl under a rock. 

Billy’s only reaction to someone sending him a picture of Steve and Billy during a live stream was “Nice art, like the hair,” but Steve could have sworn his mouth twitched down in a grimace before Billy recovered his composure. 

But Dustin had convinced Steve to keep going, and with two months of no recognition or new content, the frenzy of Stilly shipping died down. It never disappeared, but no one sent anymore art to Billy and stopped tagging Steve in all of their posts. That had been in February. 

Vidcon was in June, and Stilly was the least of Steve’s worries. He’d been asked to host a panel on the new game show he and Dustin had begun hosting on Youtube TV about pop culture trivia, and then host a live episode with various Youtube guests as competitors. It promised to be relatively simple, a simple explanation of the origin and behind-the-scenes and a simple Q&A session followed by what he spent every Thursday doing for the past two months. And it was, him and Dustin breezing through the panel bouncing off of each other and the first round of Did You Know? You Don’t Say? flying by as the famed beauty guru aced almost every question. But once the second guest stepped on stage, Steve knew it was all going to go to shit. 

Because Billy Hargrove, The Rat King himself, swaggered out on the stage in flip flops and an Everlast crop top and flopped into the contestant’s chair with a smirk. Steve froze, mouth suddenly drier than a desert. 

Luckily, Dustin didn’t even stutter. “Ah! The next victim. Should we go easy on him?” He waggled his eyebrows as he asked the audience. The audience shouting brought Steve out of his daze, and with a shake of his head, he turned and spread his arms out wide. 

“Well then, let’s begin. So, Billy, Do you know what the rarest MnM color is?” 

The cocky smirk melted off of Billy’s face, replaced by one of thoughtful determination. He’s silent for only a moment before he looks up and says, “Brown, like your eyes, Pretty Boy.” Steve feels his pale skin flush with heat, but he coughs and tries to play it off.

“Quite the charmer there, Rat King. Luckily, your lines are actually true. One point! Let’s see it!” He calls out and then looks behind him to the television screen currently displaying the scoreboard. A large blocky 1 appears and the audience cheers. 

“Alrighty then,” Dustin says after the crowd dies down. “Next question. Billy, Do you know the original name of Istanbul?” Billy chuckles, and shakes his head.

“Easy. Constantinople.”

Dustin fake pouts and looks over to Billy. “None of that Rat King charm for me?” The audience laughs, and Billy chuckles before throwing a wink at Dustin.

“Not quite old enough to ride this ride, bud.” 

Dustin scoffs and shakes his head, making the curls bounce around wildly. “Whatever you say, old man. You did get it right by the way. Let me see another point!” Dustin mimics Steve and gestures towards the scoreboard which now shows a big, white 2. 

“Your turn, Pretty Boy. Give me something hard.”

“Alright. Let’s see.” Steve pretends to look over his notes before seeing the perfect question. “So, Billy, Do you know which two American states don’t observe daylight savings time?” Billy stares blankly at Steve. This was the final question in their lineup, but he had asked for a hard question. 

Luckily, Billy recovers quickly and clears his throat before giving another chuckle. “Damn, I know I said give me a hard one, but I wasn’t expecting that. I’m gonna go with Hawaii and Alaska?” Steve shakes his head and gives a small sigh. 

Dustin gives a little cheer, and then runs over to a table off to the side of the stage where they have a cue card that the contestant has to read off of if they lose. It was Dustin’s idea, the You don’t say? part of the title. It’s his favorite part of the show, because they get to see their contestants say some ridiculous things.

“Well, unfortunately, that was incorrect,” Steve announces over the booing audience. “And, following the rules, you now have to read whatever is on this card.” Dustin hands Billy the cue card with a wicked grin. 

Billy sighs and flips over the card. There’s a moment of silence as he reads over what the card says, and then he looks up at Steve and clears his throat.

“Would a Pretty Boy want to go out with me?” He says in a clear voice, gaze never leaving Steve’s. 

Suddenly too many things for Steve to process happen at once. He feels the heat return to his cheeks and his mouth dry out again, the audience goes wild, and a buzzer sounds, signaling that they were out of time for Did You Know? You Don’t Say? Dustin comes through and pushes a frozen Steve off-stage, where Billy is waiting in the wings. With the audience’s weighty gaze gone, the feeling returns to Steve all at once.

“What the hell man? What was that out there?” He hissed at Billy. The man simply shrugs and gives another one of his trademark smirks.

“Just giving the people what they want, Princess. Try to keep up.” And then he turns around, and walks away. Simple as that. Nothing to it. 

Steve wants to scream. Fortunately, he and Dustin have been friends for years, and he knows all of Steve’s tics by now. The stagehands shoo them from the wings, and he pulls Steve through one of the backdoors to outside the convention center. Somehow, he also procures a water bottle in the hustle, and hands it to Steve once they’re both sitting on the steps outside. Steve takes the water bottle gratefully and chugs half of it in one long gulp. He pulls it away and wipes at his face before sighing. He seems to deflate, like a balloon losing all of its helium at once, and Dustin puts an arm around him. It’s awkward because he’s shorter than Steve, but it’s still comforting nonetheless. 

“Penny for your thoughts?” Dustin asks quietly.

“I- I’m so stupid. For just a second I thought it was real, but why would it be? What would someone like him see in someone like me?” Dustin lets out a huff before pulling away and turning towards Steve.

“Steve, buddy, pal o’ mine. You’re an idiot. If anything, he doesn’t deserve you. He’s a pompous ass for pulling a stunt like that. It’s bullshit.” 

“He could have anyone. Between his paycheck and his pecs, he’s one of Youtube’s hottest content creators.”

“Yeah, sure. But for the sake of alliteration, he also lacks personality. The guy’s a huge dick! And he proved it today. He knew that you wouldn’t shut him down and bitch him out on stage, so he thought it would be funny to pull that shit.”

“Yeah, he is kind of just a publicity-seeking asshole, you’re right,” Steve admits, feeling a little better, and a lot angrier. “You know what, Dusty-Poo? I’m gonna find him, and give him a piece of my mind.” He stands up, itching for a fight and knowing who to go find for one.

“Tha-that’s not exactly what I meant but sure! Go knock him down a peg.” Dustin stands up as well and follows Steve back onto the main showfloor. 

It takes about twenty minutes to find Billy amongst the crowd but Steve sees him, and locks in like a tiger stalking his prey. Or something cool like that. Thankfully, Steve doesn’t have to make a huge scene as he walks up to Billy and gets in his face. 

“You. Me. Conference Room 3. Now,” Steve says, poking a finger in the middle of Billy’s chest to emphasize his point. Billy chuckles, but still follows along as they walk into the empty conference room. Once they clear the doors and Steve hears them swing shut behind them, he turns to Billy.

“Explain. What the fuck was the point of that little,” he wavs his hand around, “stunt you pulled during the game show?” 

Billy raises an eyebrow. “Told you Pretty Boy. I gave the people what they wanted. 

“So that’s it? It was a publicity stunt?” 

“You tell me. You’re the one who started the whole thing,” Billy shoots back, still holding on to an air of nonchalance, but Steve can his patience waning.

“You- you mean the stuff from February? When I happened to mention you in one video? You think I meant for that shitstorm to start, for fun and publicity?” 

Billy only shrugs again.

“Okay. Nope. Again, I mentioned your channel one time, as a source. Gave credit where credit was due. I do it for all the channels I watch! I’ve mentioned Nancy’s channel like 8 times, and Jonathan’s too. Never had this shit started with them.”

“They’re married, Steve. Like super married. Of course it wouldn’t. We’re both single, queer youtubers. Of course shit’s gonna stop. Didn’t your agent or whoever look over your video?”

Steve huffs. “Oh yeah, let me just go hire an agent, cause I have such a need for someone to monitor my every move,” Steve snarked. Billy just looked at him like he had failed to add 2 and 3.

“You’re telling me you, part of one of the biggest channels on Youtube, don’t have an agent?” 

“We’re not one of the biggest channels, and we’ve never needed one! We’ve got our team of editors and assistants, no need for some agent.”

“Steve,” Billy says patiently, like he was explaining something to a child, “You have over 4 million subscribers. That’s a big channel.” 

“We’re still not one of the biggest channels, dipshit.”

“Oh, I'm the dipshit? I didn’t start a fucking fandom frenzy apparently by accident. Because I was smart and got a fucking agent.”

“You’re such an asshole.” 

“Whatever you say Princess.”

“Stop fucking calling me a princess!” Steve screams, voice booming in the silent conference room. “Why do you do that? Pretty Boy, Princess, Stevie? Just- just stop with the fucking nicknames. It’s not fair.” The second part of his outburst comes out as a whisper, sounding almost desperate. 

Billy was at a loss for words, but then again, he had always been more of a man of action. 

So he says nothing, only gives a seconds’ thought of what he was going to do, before lunging forward and doing it. 

Steve’s next words are muffled as Billy crashes their lips together with absolutely no finesse, teeth clacking. It probably constituted as the worst kiss Billy has ever had, but as he moves back, Steve grabs a fist full of blond locks and pulls him forward. Their 

second kiss is far better. By no means is it soft, but that was just par for the course with them wasn’t it? 

The kiss comes to a natural ending as they both pull back to breath, before Steve starts to giggle. 

“You really need to work on your pick-up lines, Rat King.”

A soft gasp from the doorway cuts off Billy’s retort, and they both turn to see a girl decked out in Youtube merch, including a jacket with the Upside Down Theories logo on it. She had dropped her backpack, and was open-mouthed gaping at the two. Her eyes are as wide as dinner plates as she frantically gathers up her backpack and shoots out of the conference room. 

“Chances that this blows up online by tomorrow?” Steve asks, turning to the blond next to him. 

“I’m betting in the next two hours, Pretty Boy,” Billy replies.

A wicked smirk creeps onto Steve’s lips as he shrugs and says, “Oops. What was that about getting an agent to help with this stuff?” 

---

Aside from this taking FOREVER, I hope you guys enjoy this! It was tons of fun to write.

tag team: @lostnoise @gideongrace @stevefuckingharrington @a-magey @catharrington @trashycatarcade @myboyfriendsteve @thesummerof84 @lightsupinthenorth @smashmouth-hargrove (lmk if you would like to be added/removed from the list!)

[teamsarawatshusband]

Word Of Honor - 1st watch insta thoughts - Episode 2

Here’s Episode 1

Okay, before I get started with the episode, thank you so much for your likes and kind words and explanations. Thanks @averageace​ for letting me know that ghosts aren't necessarily dead. And thanks @ pretty-much-obsessed for letting me know it's not xianxia but wuxia. K, no cultivators. Got it!

Oh, just for future reference: I love when you guys help me out in the comments with understanding stuff like this! As long as you don’t spoil the story, I'm super grateful for all the genre info and cultural insights <3

Anyway, here we go!

Episode 2:

Oooooh, it was smirky guy who stopped the whip. And everybody is watching. How embarrassing.

I kinda like purple girl. She's so feisty and sassy.

Ok, the kid wants to make friends with alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy. He's in town to buy pastries for his mom, that's so cute. I need a shorter name for alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy. Anyway, the kid gives him a bookmark like a key to where he lives. Alright.

So smirky guy really did recognize the fighting. Oh, Four Seasons Manor is a sect! Ok, ok. And that's their fighting style. Was smirky guy once a part of them? Still so mysterious.

The kids are singing about the 5 lakes. That seems to be important somehow.

K, alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy wants to hitch a boat ride. And the old man looks like the old guy who got the 7 nails last time, but he's probably not, i'm just bad with faces again.

Yooo, does alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy have so much silver? Yeah, I wouldn't trust him either, old man. Oh, smirky guy intervenes. And now the old boatman wants to do the ride.

Whoaaa, nice scenery with the water and the blossoms and the music. I wanna go there.

So, now he's at mirror lake manor. Was that the kid's place? I forgot.

Wow, that boatman is really something, shouting out his insults as alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy is simply standing on the dock. Can't he be a bit nicer? LOOOOOL, yeah, so now he really dashed without paying, that's what you get for being rude.

But shame on tragic hero lord guy.You should always pay your debts. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

Whoaaaaa, the blossom trees. I'm in love. Tragic hero lord guy flies over them in slo-mo.

And when it's not snowing, it's raining petals. Why is there a boat on dry land? Is that gonna be important?

Ooooh, fan fight! Must be smirky guy. Yusss! And now they're dancing.

Oh, and now smirky guy is being poetic. Dude, you sound like you’re crushing on him hard, man. Alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy isn't having any of it, lol.

There's two guys talking about war in the next scene. One of them is the dad and the other a son. Is that our kid from before? He seems older. I hate being bad with faces. Oh, he's not the kid. He's his older brother. And apparently there's one more brother even. I'm gonna get them all confused so much. Ugh

Tragic hero lord guy gets to stay in a woodshed. And likes it. I mean... whatever makes him happy, I guess.

Ooooh, back at the palace, I remember the helmets of the soldiers. And there's the guy who took tragic hero lord guy's job and... the other, like... boss guy. Maybe a king or an emperor. New at the job guy talks about... stuff. He's killed people. And seems proud of it. And now he's talking about a children's song. Oh wait, is that the song that alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy noticed earlier on? Oh, the song is connected to the glazed armor. Got it.

Ooooh, they sent a spy after tragic hero lord guy. So that's why he went into hiding.

Back in the woodshed, either the alcohol was bad, or tragic hero lord guy is having issues with the nails thing. His veins are moving and it looks disgusting tbh. And he's kinda... fuming. Literally. Looks like he's got a bad smell. And now he's... trying to meditate the smell away?

Oh, there's a fire outside.

Why?

Oh no, it's the red guys with the masks again. They're killing people.

Ooooh, tragic hero lord guy jumps into the fight, alright. OMG, I LOVE THAT TREE IN THE BACKGROUND!!! It's so pretty.

I want it.

Somebody is trying to sneak a kid out. Possibly our kid. Not sure. And the red guys are following them. Hmm.

Oh, a bird. Tragic hero lord guy calls it a sparrow and a spy from the window of heaven, which... okay, but it's definitely NOT a sparrow. Maybe it's just a not so good translation.

Aww man, and now my tree's on fire! :(((( Why can I never have nice things? :(

Now it's raining yellow paper thingies. They kinda look like those smiley potato chips thingies that you can get in the freezer section at the supermarket.

Oh, they're weapons from the red guys. And the guy who's trying to sneak the kid out... is that the boatman?

Oooh, tragic hero lord guy jumps in. If that WAS the boatman, then he's getting paid alright. Heh.

Ok, wth? Swords are not supposed to be that bendy. That does not look like a good sword. How are you gonna stab anybody with a wobbly, shaky weapon like that?

And smirky guy is sitting on the window sill watching the situation unfold like a supermodel waiting to be called onto the runway. Instead of... like... HELPING?! Wth?

And he's an alcoholic too? Hmm

K, that was a short stay, they're back on the boat

Eww, the red guys cut of somebody's arm. Wait, is that the dad from before? And the others are... the kid's brothers? Maybe? Oh, whoever they are, they're supposed to have the glazed armor, and the red masked guys want it. And they're gonna kill them all? That's brutal, man.

But if they ARE the kid’s brothers and they’re about to die, then at least I won’t get them confused, so there’s a plus side.

Anway, alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy, the boatman and the kid are in some dusty place. And the boatman is savage as fuck. He wants his money, lol. I like him.

Oh no, so much information. I'm so bad at this. So the kid is supposed to hide at 5 lakes, but doesn't want to. And somebody saved somebody, I have no idea. I wanna know if alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy is gonna go meditate again, because it looks like he wants to.

And now the potato smileys are flying in again. Great. I'm never gonna unsee the potato thing now.

Anyway, alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy who seriously NEEDS A NAME(!!!) is getting smelly again. And the kid wants to defend them all and instantly drops the sword. That does not look good.

So many red masked guys.

LOL, alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy needs 15 minutes. To smell better, maybe.

Wow, the old boatman is a good fighter, but he stands no chance. Are he and the kid really the ones supposed to fight, while tragic hero guy is being smelly and smirky guy is still chilling who knows where?

See the stinky fumes?

Whoa the kid is willing to sacrifice himself for alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy. Who is just as surprised as me. And if it weren't for somebody intervening, they'd both be dead. Who is it?

Yooooooooo, purple girl coming in to the rescue. Of course. Need a job well done, leave it to the woman.

Wow, she's so badass. And the kid and the boatman are helping too. Alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy went back to meditating.

:O There were two nuts!!! I saw them!!! Is nuts guy one of the red masked guys?

Oh, NOW alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy is starting to fight. Probably smelled the nuts and got into it.

LOL, wth? Now that he's done fighting, he faints? And THAT's when smirky guy shows up? To catch him? And alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy wakes up again instantly to fight.

Lololol, wth? Smirky guy is like "Heh, you cute, let me wrap your sword around us." ;)

Maybe the wobbly bendy sword is a flirting technique and actually does serve a purpose.

He has really long fingers too.

Just saying.

Aww, would have been a cute moment if the boatman weren't deadly hit. And now he's smelly too. Wait, do smelly fumes mean doomed to die?

Ohh, he's gonna make him adopt the kid, isn't he?

Alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy drops a name, and says he's Zhou Xu. Is that his real name? Feels like smirky guy would probably recognize him if he gave his real name. But also maybe not. I know nothing. And smirky guy is mysterious as fuck. But I’ll take the name,because it’s shorter than the one I gave him.

Boatman is still a bit rude, threatening to curse Zhou Xu’s ancestors if he doesn't take care of the kid. Aren't they cursed already? Anyway, boatman can't know that.

Ok, old boatman has died and the kid is adopted. Cool, cool.

Oh, some fighter guys in nicely pleated skirts... who are they? Are they the guards of the manor? Are they there to help the kid? Whoever they are, they came too late and they set off fireworks.

Ok, smirky guy introduces himself. Wen Ke Xing. Oh boy, I hope I can remember that name.

Why is the kid dizzy? Did he get hurt?

Now they're discussing about the bread and nobody's willing to eat first while the kid is empty handed and very clearly hungry as hell. I feel so bad for him.

Why does smirky guy come across so snobby? I wanna like him.

Wow, they finally give the kid some food and now HE's refusing to eat it as well.

Purple girl is the only person actually getting fed tonight.

I mean, she deserves it. She fought the hardest.

Oooooh, smirky Wen Ke Xing guy is onto Zhou Xu lord guy. First stares him up and down while he's resting (lusting much?) and then flat out asks if he's in disguise.

Oh and the kid IS hurt. And smirky Ke Xing is the only one to realize too. He's redeeming himself. A little.

Zhou Xu lord guy doesn't want him to touch the kid though. Why?

Oooh, they're dancing again.

LOL, purple girl gets it. I saw that smile. I bet she's a shipper. What is the ship name? KeXu? ZhouXing? I literally had to scroll up and reread the names. We should just call them smirklord.

Okay, end of episode.

What did I learn? Names were dropped.  Zhou Xu lord guy has adopted the kid. Smirky guy is called Wen Ke Xing. He comes across a bit shady and pretentious and also flirty. Very flirty. But Purple girl is cool, and she trusts him so he must be kinda cool too. Still don't know who they really are and what they want. Like any of them. So far, I like the kid and purple girl best. I hope they all travel together to bring the kid to... wherever he's supposed to go.

Goals for future episodes: Find out who nut guy is. Learn the freaking names reliably. Find out people's connections to each other.

[thetravelerwrites]

Seznik (Drow) Lemon

Rating: Explicit Relationship: Female Human/Male Drow Additional Tags: Drow, Monster Boyfriend, College, Sexual Harassment, Terrible Teachers, Relationship Goals, Sex Words: 2133

A continuation of @cozycryptidcorner​‘s monster match! A professor at the reader's school has a secret that could get him in a lot of trouble, and the reader is determined to expose it, with her drow boyfriend's help. Please reblog and leave feedback!

The Traveler's Masterlist

There’s always a learning curve when you start a new school. You figured that was all it was, that once you got used to your new classes and new professors and new classmates that it would get easier, and for the most part it did. There was only one class you seemed to struggle in: 3D sculpture. Instructor Bitner, whom everyone but you was allowed to call Justin, just seemed to dislike you from the moment you stepped into his classroom for the first time. You were sure at first that it was just a clash of personalities, but after a month, however, you were convinced he had it out for you.

You stomped into your apartment as Seznik was entering the kapotasana pose, the bendy fuck. He’d completed college the year before and was spending a year off before sending out resumés. He was fortunate enough to have parents who cared about his education and well-being and had the audacity to be chipper about it.

“More trouble with Justin?” Seznik asked.

“Don’t call him that like you’re friends,” You said, flouncing down onto the couch.

“I’ve never had a problem with him,” Seznik replied. “Maybe he just doesn’t like how abrasive you are sometimes, and you know you can be.”

“I’m not abrasive, I’m direct. It’s a rare virtue,” You told him with a sniff. “Besides, you’re not going to believe this, but he’s failing me because he knows I won’t put out.”

Seznik fell out of his pose awkwardly. “What?”

“I overheard a classmate brag to her friend that she’s been getting better grades or extensions because she gives Instructor Bitner blowjobs on the weekends.”

“You’re kidding,” Seznik said, pulling himself up on his knees. “That’s a complete ethics violation. He definitely could get fired for that.”

“He should get fired for it,” You said bitterly. “I wish I could take this to the dean, but I don’t have proof.”

“So get some,” Seznik said. “Wear a wire and flirt with him. Or hell, if he likes men, I’ll do it.”

“I don’t think he likes guys,” You said thoughtfully. “A lot of the guys in the class were bitching about him. I don’t think he gives them breaks, so he’s probably straight.”

“Hmm,” Seznik hummed, sitting next to you on the couch. “Let me make a call.”

Turns out, Seznik had a cousin, Tiel, who was a private investigator. Tiel was shorter, a paler purple than Seznik, and had silver hair rather than white. He came that following Sunday to discuss how to conduct the investigation.

“First, video is better than audio for catching him with his pants down, literally and figuratively,” Tiel told you, giving you a belt buckle with a camera hidden in it. “Seznik will be observing from a distance, probably in a car outside nearby or an empty classroom.”

“Should we inform the dean?” You asked him.

Tiel tsked. “I’m torn, because on the one hand, some deans would accept your complaint and start a formal inquiry, and on the other there are those who defend their faculty. Can you say for certain which is which?”

You frowned. “No, I don’t know him that well.”

“So we get the evidence first, then.” He pointed at Seznik. “When you think you have enough evidence, or if we see some sort of dangerous situation happening, Seznik will call you and you make an excuse to leave. Take whatever evidence you have to the dean.If the dean doesn’t do anything, take it to the college’s board of directors. If that doesn’t work, leak it to the internet and let people sort it out. Simple enough?”

“Sounds like it,” You said. “But I don’t know if he’ll even be open to me trying to seduce him. I don’t think he likes me on a personal level.”

“You don’t have to like a person to accept a blowjob from them,” Tiel said flatly. “Besides, you won’t be seducing him. It’s very important not to ask leading questions. Think about this like going undercover in a criminal investigation. It’s very important that he initiates the exchange. You can be flirty and coy, but don’t offer anything. He needs to be the one who asks. Be available, not seductive. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah, completely,” You said. “Only problem is, I don’t know how to be flirty, really. I got Seznik because I nearly beat him up.”

“Yeah, well, he’s a masochist.” Tiel snickered. Seznik shrugged and nodded. “I can’t tell you how to flirt, but I’d suggest maybe giving him reason to infer that you’d suck his dick for a better grade.”

You made a horking sound, but nodded your head in agreement.

The next day, you actually didn’t have his class, but waited until his last class let out before walking at his door as the students filed out. A few of them smirked at you knowingly, but no one said anything. You were wearing the belt buckle while Seznik waited in an empty classroom, watching and recording the feed on his tablet.

“Mr. Bitner?” You called from the door. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“What do you want? I’m busy,” He said, not even looking up from his paperwork.

You stuffed down your seething rage and came into the classroom, closing and locking the door behind you. Bitner looked up at the sound of the lock clicking in place and raised an eyebrow.

“I’m sorry, I think you may have gotten the wrong impression of me. I really admire you as a teacher, and I wanted us to have a better working relationship, you know what I mean?”

He looked at you appraisingly, and you noticed his glance lingered on your breasts, and you choked down some vomit.

“I think I understand,” He said. “I’m not against the idea of working more closely, if you’d like. Did you have a particular concern you wanted to bring to my attention?”

Your creeper sense was activated, but you trudged onward.

“My last grade, actually. I was wondering if there was anything I could do to bring it up? Some kind of extra credit? I’ll do whatever you want me to do, I promise.”

His hand was moving stealthily toward his crotch, and you flicked your eyes to the same place and then back to his face quickly in an effort to seem like you’d looked accidentally, biting your lip in an attempt to seem enticing. You hoped you weren’t coming across as psychotic, which is how you felt.

“I think something can be worked out,” Bitner said, leaning back in his chair and spreading his legs a little wider. “You understand what I mean?”

“Yes, sir,” You said, trying to make your voice low and sultry. “I do understand.”

“Good,” Bitner said, and he reached down and undid his pants, plopping his wrinkly old man dick, short and stubby, onto his lap. You floundered for a second before your phone rang.

“Sorry, I have to take this,” You said, pulling out your phone. Bitner frowned but said nothing. His bits still lay in his lap, seeing sunlight for the first time in decades, probably. “Hello?”

“Sounds like you’re having fun,” Seznik said.

You swallowed your annoyance. “Are you sure?”

“You tell me,” He laughed.

You sighed and tsked as if disappointed. “Okay, I’ll be there as soon as I can.” You hung up and turned to Instructor Bitner. “I’m sorry, there’s a problem at home. Maybe we can pick this up again… later?”

He made a noise of aggravation and stuffed himself away. “Fine. But there’s a deadline. Don’t make me wait too long or the opportunity will pass you by.”

“I understand,” You said, your stomach churning with disgust. You forced yourself to say thank you and unlocked the door, walking out into the hallway. You dashed to the room where Seznik had set up shop. He was sitting with his headphones on and watching his tablet, smirking.

“I can’t believe you didn’t crotch-shot that guy,” Seznik said, taking off the headphones, his long ears flicked one after the other as he did so.

“I wanted to, trust me,” You said. “Let’s go home. We can take this to the dean tomorrow. Dealing with him was exhausting.”

Back at home, he set the tablet down on the kitchen table and you started taking off your jacket. Seznik grabbed the fabric as you did so, effectively pinning your arms behind you, pulling you against him.

“Did seeing old man junk get you excited or something? You asked.

“No,” He said, kissing your neck. “But you outing a pervert and probably getting him fired and discredited is pretty hot, I have to admit.”

You could help but nod. “Yeah, that was pretty badass.”

Holding your hands behind you with one of his, he used the other to whip your belt out of the belt loops of your pants and discard it, bending you over the kitchen counter. He pulled down your pants one-handed and spread your legs open, pressing his face between your thighs. You didn’t stop him, biting your lip as his talented tongue found your slit with ease, slipping inside and swirling around a little before suctioning onto your clit and flicking it back and forth in his mouth.

You chuckled. “You know what, yes. I earned this,” You said breathlessly.

“Yes, you fucking did,” He said, slightly muffled. He sucked at your pearl as he used the free hand to work his fingers into you, and your eyes rolled back in your head. Being in a relationship as long as you had with Seznik lent the two of you the knowledge of how to please each other efficiently. The first one you got for free. The second you’d have to work for.

Your thighs began to shake as the muscles in your feet contracted involuntarily, popping you up on your tip toes. You moaned as the orgasm hit you, feeling your inner walls clamping down on his fingers. He stood up and shed his clothes as you recovered, pulling off the jacket that held your arms in place. He then jumped up onto the counter, laying out flat.

“Babe, that is so dangerous,” You said.

He laughed and shrugged. “What’s life without a little risk?”

You rolled your eyes and lifted yourself up over him, straddling him, and eased his cock inside you. The counter was rather narrow, and you were feeling a little bit of vertigo, but you shook it off and rode like a champ. He had a powerful grip on your hips as you grinded on him, so you doubted you’d have fallen anyway.

He thrust up into you as you came down on him, creating a fabulous friction that propelled you toward the crest even faster than the first time, except he grabbed, pull you down, and stopped altogether, denying you that pleasure. You groaned in disappointment. He chuckled in your ear.

“Not so fast, buttercup,” He said. He managed to roll the both of you without falling off the countertop and slammed into you hard. You cried out in surprise and delight, pulling his ear sharply. He hissed and laughed. He took off, ramming into you fast and hard, and you held on for dear life. You forgot the possibility of falling, you forgot your disgusting teacher, you forgot everything as the pleasure whited out your brain and left you feeling like your bones had been removed and you were made of jelly.

He grunted and strained, flooding you and pulsing. You locked him in place with your legs, not letting him move and inch until he was spent. He collapsed on top of you and wheezed.

Slowly, carefully, the two of you climbed down off the counter. Moving to clean yourself up, you reached down and picked up your pants to extract your phone when you remembered the camera.

“Hey, babe?” You asked. “Are you still recording?”

He seemed confused, lifted up the tablet, which had been face down on the table, and laughed. “I guess we’ll have to edit this out before we take it to the dean.”

“Don’t delete it, though,” You said, coming up behind him. “That’ll be for us.”

You submitted the evidence to the dean the next day. By the end of the week, Bitner had been fired. It was extremely satisfying to see him boxing his things up and walking out of the building for the last time.

Seznik was with you in the parking lot as Bitner loaded his crap into his car and drove off, never to be seen on campus again.

“You did good, babe,” He said. “You did real good.”

“Hell yeah, I did,” You said with a satisfied smile.

Since my work is no longer searchable, please do me a favor and reblog this story if you enjoyed it. Help me reach a wider audience! To help me continue creating, please consider buying me a Kofi, becoming a Patron, or donating directly to my PayPal!

Thanks for reading!

My Masterlist

The Exophilia Creator’s Masterlist

[captain-of-the-historicfuture]

~hello~ !! For the meta asks!: 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, and 25 :))

Hello!! Thank you for sending these; I was really excited to see that ask game and I was hoping somebody would send some in. It still took me a while to actually answer them though, and for that I apologise. But without further ado! Some meta answers (under the cut because they ended up being fairly long, whoops):

3. What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (Consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway.)

I thought of a few examples, but they could basically be grouped together under a common theme: whumpy/angsty scenes that were self-indulgent as all heck. The whole self-indulgent aspect often required the characters to be just the teeniest, tiniest bit OOC and/or necessitated rather unrealistic plot circumstances. So it was simply easier to keep such scenes as maladaptive daydreams, rather than trying to think of explanations for the character/plot issues…or exposing myself to judgement for them LOL.

Receiving permission to write/share one such scene anyway is an opportunity I can’t let slip by though. It might be because I’m writing this while running on zero (0) hours of sleep—let’s hear it for insomnia, y’all!—but I suddenly couldn’t remember any of my newer ideas under this category. However, I did recall a one-shot I had started writing a couple of months ago that sort of counts? “Sort of” because I could actually be arsed to write it since I was, ya know, writing it. Only got about six hundred words down though.

…should I share those six hundred words…?

………nahhh. I don’t think I’m quite ready for that yet.

But here’s the gist of it: Coulson and May (because of course it’s Philinda) were married for quite some time before the Attack on New York. But then Coulson DiedTM and then got ResurrectedTM. But gasp of horror, he had to lose his memories of his romantic relationship with May because reasons. (I actually did have some ideas for those reasons but sshhhh this is about me yeeting context and setup.)

The first half of S1 still happens as normal (except MayWard doesn’t happen because??? Vows) and it’s now post-E20 “Nothing Personal”. The morning after (or a morning soon after, whatever) the T.A.H.I.T.I. reveal! May’s mom—who doesn’t know about GH.325 and whom May fed a cover story about Coulson divorcing her or something equally as oof, IDK—shows up at the hotel and starts ripping into Coulson for breaking her daughter’s heart, then dragging her back into the field with her ex-husband (him), then accusing her of terrible things and forcing her away again.

Poor guy’s confused as heck, and so is the team, and soon enough so is Lian. The only one who understands what’s going on is May, and she’s freaking dying off to the side like why is this happening to me and eventually everybody’s like! Explain??? (Was thinking about including something from Coulson like, “Are you still keeping things from me?” Just for that extra smidge of angst, yay!)

So yeah then May gives a, like, two-sentence debriefing that elicits more questions than answers. Coulson decides to take May aside and they have a heart-to-heart. Lots of feelings and angst and hurt/comfort and at some point plenty of kissing too. Just! May hiding her feelings for Coulson’s sake but really magnified, plus some actual apologies and consideration of the grief May’s been through on Coulson’s part.

And uhh yeah that’s basically it I dunno hdsjncjshd. I warned y’all it’s OOC, plot-bendy, and very self-indulgent!

6. What character do you have the most fun writing?

I don’t think I could name a single character for this. I get different things out of taking on different voices, you know? I guess recently I’ve found myself gravitating towards more taciturn and introspective points of view, like JQ from my original novel Rosewood or M. Yisbon from my…other original novel Temple.

Generally, however, I like tackling stories from an outsider’s perspective. That’s why I so rarely write my more “substantial” (serious? demanding? for lack of better words?) projects from the PoV of my “preferred” character. This usually means writing from their love interest’s perspective, but not always. With shorter fanfic, using a more removed/unconventional/niche PoV can be really fun. Like, I once wrote a canon compliant ficlet purely(-ish) about Philinda from Tony Stark’s perspective. That isn’t always sustainable with stories that demand more character development or closer character studies, however, which is why it’s a good thing I like writing drabbles!

9. Are you more of a drabble or a longfic kind of writer? Pantser or plotter? Do you wish you were the other?

My word counts tend to run long, but I usually only write one-shots for fanfic. If I’m even inspired with a novella- or novel-length story idea for a fandom, you already know I’m in deep with them. And if I actually find the motivation to plan and execute that idea? Dangg. That’s only ever happened…twice, maybe thrice, and I’m in a lot of fandoms.

At times, I wish I could go for more of a middle ground ’cause, like, you know what I love to see? An AO3 dashboard with several completed novellas for my ship/character of choice. I mean yes, I hecking love >90k fics, but sometimes I’m in the mood for quick reads…and what am I supposed to do when I burn through all the drabbles and 2k one-shots? (Besides despair and/or reread my faves desperately.) Novellas are basically always safe for me LOL, and I’d hope to be able to give as much as I take.

Ultimately though, I think I’m okay with where I am with regards to that. I wish I could write more in general, but I’d be okay with “writing more” just meaning “writing more one-shots”, ya know? More than okay, really. I have mad respect for fic writers who have, like, a hundred or more one-shots under their belt for this one ship. The fandom ecosystem would be incomplete without them (as well as every other type of writer, but sshhh that’s the type of writer I’m closest to being right now).

I’m definitely a plotter, and I definitely prefer it that way. It’s cool having such a detailed record of my process. I like feeling like a frazzled genius on the brink of a major discovery with all of my different outlines and colour coding and many drafts and various websites.

12. Do you want your writing to be famous?

Not exactly. It might be cool if my original works were recognisable in the world, but I don’t think I’d want to be recognisable. As for fanfic, I’d low-key enjoy gaining a place in that fandom’s community as a fic writer. Like someone who gave and got fic gifts from fic writer friends, who participated in challenges and GCs, who received writing prompts on Tumblr, whose name was known for doing a certain trope/genre a bunch of times… Ya know what I mean?

Unlikely to happen when I’m so hecking hesitant to publicly (i.e., outside of AO3) claim credit for my writing, but fjnskfsjhfjs. A writer can dream, right?

15. Which is harder: titles or summaries (or tags)?

Of those three, tags are the easiest for me, for I have a reliable system for figuring out those.

Next easiest would probably be titles. For fanfiction, I like to use titles that are a quote from the source material. You should have seen all of my old Hamilton fanfic… I was really proud of some of those titles. And I don’t mean, like, whole lines—usually only two to five words. It’s a unique type of wordplay that I just love dabbling in.

And lastly, summaries. Sometimes inspiration strikes me and a snappy and intriguing synopsis just jumps out—one that I’m quietly pleased with—but most of the time I’ll spend way too long trying to think of such a synopsis and eventually just go with whatever I’d come up with so far. And live with my quiet dissatisfaction for the rest of time.

18. Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (Plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations...?) Tell us about them!

Typically, no. If I have deleted scenes, I save and publish them separately, but that’s about it. I sometimes think of AUs for my own work and might talk about them in my author’s notes—might even talk about writing them—but I never really do anything with them.

Although…

It’s not uncommon for me to decide a plotline isn’t working for a certain story or to think of an interesting but undoable arc for a certain character, but what I’ll do is make a whole new story for those ideas. Once I’m done developing the original idea and the branched-off one, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell they grew from the same roots. Does that count?

21. What other medium do you think your story would work well as (film, webcomic, animated series, etc.)?

That depends on the story. I’ve actually written stories in other mediums—movie screenplay, musical stageplay, poetry, TV show scripts, play scripts, roleplay—but the novel does tend to be my comfort zone. Sometimes, if I have an idea that I think could work, or would even work better, as another medium, I’ll label it as such in my folder of ideas and decide not to write it as a novel.

Most of the time, my non-book projects are collaborations. I’m working with five different people on six different story ideas: two webcomics, one stage musical, one anime, and two animated TV shows. Little concrete progress has been made in any of those, mind you, but they’re still fun to discuss!

24. Would you say your writing has changed over time?

Absolutely. But I’ve been writing stories since I was five years old, so we would hope so, huh?

I wouldn’t say my writing’s changed completely, though maybe that’s just my insider’s perspective.

25. What part of writing is the most fun?

Oh gosh, I can’t believe you’d make me choose. Writing is just such a wonderful experience for me; I love just about everything to do with it. Admittedly, not all the time, but. Since that barely qualifies as an answer, however, I’ll give you this—

The endings. Not only that intense feeling of rightness when you wrap up that last sentence, but also the moments before. The adrenaline of knowing you’re almost there but you gotta push just a bit more to actually get there. And also the part right after—the real wrap-up, honestly: the revision and the editing. Heavens, I love revising and editing my work.

Which is not to say I don’t like writing it out for the first time, too—there’s nothing quite like seeing your cursor scroll to the next page, like going from a blank expanse to a Oh man, how many more lines are even going to fit on this page?, like watching that page counter tick up another number. However, there’s something cathartic about finally ironing out those problems I had to force myself to stop worrying about earlier because “just finish the first draft dangit”.

I guess that’s not really the end of the writing process, but whatever. Close enough (as fic writers are wont to say).

Another thank-you for these asks, and feel free to come back with more at any time! ;P

Send in fun meta asks for your friendly neighbourhood writer!

[mwolf0epsilon]

Headcanon heights for the Joey Drew Studios employees pre and post ink?

To answer this question I needed to find a consistent way to measure the ink creatures which luckily was actually not too hard:

Using FC Makes's 2nd Viewer Suggestion video where they spawn several ink creatures into Joey's apartment, I could compare them to the average American household doorframe's height and try to make visual assumptions of just how tall they are.

I also looked around for any confirmed heights I could, but otherwise these are just personal thoughts:

--Joey Drew Studios--

Joey Drew - 5'11" (Hard to tell since he's leaning heavily on the counter but I always felt like he was taller than Henry)

Henry Stein - 5'6" (There's still a good foot over Henry when he passes the doorway and I like the thought of average height grandpa!)

Sammy Lawrence/Searcher Sammy - 6'0" / 3'5" (His size only changes after he becomes a Searcher, and even then he's technically crawling)

Jack Fain/Swollen Jack - 5'4" / 3'5" (Was already on the short side before becoming a Searcher, not that he ever minded much. His size as a Swollen Searcher also varies depending on how much Ink he's collected!)

Susie Campbell/Twisted Alice - 5'2" / 6'2" (As a human she was decidedly a petite little lady. She's much taller as an angel!)

Norman Polk/The Projectionist- 6'11" / 7'2" (As the Projectionist he bumps his head on the doorframe while slouching, so I'm guessing he's on the 7 foot mark. What a beast!)

Allison Pendle - 5'9" / 6'2" (Just a little bit taller as an angel, otherwise it's not too big a change. Not that she recalls.)

Thomas Connors/Tom Boris - 6'2" / 6'0" (Becoming a Boris knocked 2 inches off his height! He's mildly annoyed by this...)

Wally Franks - 5'3" (He may be short but he can still kick your ass.)

Shawn Flynn/Boss Searcher - 5'7" / 6'8" (The luck of the Irish has bestowed upon him the height of a giant as the Searcher Boss! This is crawling height mind you, so imagine what his actual full scale might be...)

Grant Cohen - 5'11" (He's a tall glass of anxiety)

Buddy Lewek/Buddy Boris - 5'5" / 6'0" (Before Boris took over completely, the added height put him off quite a bit)

Dot - 5'6" (Pretty average which seems fitting!)

Abby Lambert - 5'9" (Miss Lambert is just tall enough to grab everyone by the ear. Grandma vibes.)

Bertrum Piedmont - 6'2" / ??? (I'm honestly at a loss for measuring Bertrum's Octopus Ride form. The man was already a unit, then he became bigger)

Lacie Benton/Bendy Animatronic - 6'3" / 6'0" (She's tall but often hunched over working so you'd never tell. As the animatronic she should still be tall but sadly her state of disrepair makes it hard to notice...)

Emma LaMonte - 5'11" (It's not her height you should be intimidated by, it's the ballerina legs. Kicks harder than a goat on crack.)

--Ink Creatures--

The Ink Demon/Beast Bendy - 6'11" / 7'5" (That's pretty intimidating considering he's a slouching and limping terror. Becomes an absolute unit!)

Searchers - 3'5" (A little inconsistent since they're technically crawling)

Lost Ones - 6'7" (They walk with a bit of a limp but they're almost bumping their heads on the doorframe)

Piper - 5'6" (Tallest member of the Butcher Gang and appears to be at eye level with Henry)

Fisher - 5'2" (That neck was hell to visually measure but I figured its a bit shorter than the Piper)

Striker - 5'0" (Group babby)

[darkwingownsthenight]

I kind of promised you guys something tutorial like, so I thought body shapes would be a good place to start. Whenever you draw a character the first thing you should do is consider their height and proportions. Each character has their own unique shapes that make them up, and I will give you a quick run down from top to bottom of each that I have shown here. If you have a specific character you would like me to show please leave a comment and I will see what I can do. I also plan on doing the Caballeros. Because my drawings are in my own drawing style, which is a combination of old and new and just whatever appeals to me personally, you don’t have to follow them to the book (obviously). Some people prefer to draw in the style of the new Ducktales which is not really my bag (the style, not the show of course) as I find it some what limiting. This is a personal preference. You will make your own as you develop your own style. If you like the way something looks like maybe a curvier beak or bigger more stylized hands for example, go with it. But no matter what style you choose these rules will always apply. 

In my head canon, Drake and Fenton are roughly the same heights, which makes them slightly on the tall duck side being taller than Donald/Scrooge. We will start with Drake though. Firstly, his head is a very unusual shape from the others which gives him much of his unique character and expression. Think eggplant I guess? It’s very much an oval, which is crossed over in a “T” shape by his cheeks. His cheeks can curve up and down also according to his expression. His neck is slightly shorter and thicker than Fenton’s. His overall body build is not as exaggerated as a “Donald like” character either. His chest is more closely in size to his hips, and his butt doesn’t turn out either. His hips are more of a soft square, but they are a bit exaggerated as he is still pretty bow legged (he is a duck after all and that is one hell of a thigh gap). His legs are also different, starting out thicker in the tops and tapering to his ankles. His feet are large and bendy like clown shoes almost. 

Fenton had a more rectangular head. I will go into beak shapes in a another tutorial, but as he has a “Daffy” like over bite in 87′ I like to give him a similar beak. He has an exaggerated long thin neck. His shoulders are very narrow and to make sure they stay small I use a little circle/oval. You will also notice I use circles for shoulder placement and at every joint. I’m not just doing this for your benefit, they are very handy in keeping your proportions in check. It also helps avoid that dislocated look. Fenton, like the other “Donald shaped” ducks is very pear shaped. He has a big circular butt, but is slightly longer-waisted to give him some added height. His legs are noodles, and don’t have any thickness variation really. Mark your knee circles as you draw though so you can make sure that the leg can still bend realistically. I draw his feet smaller than Drakes, bigger than Donald’s. 

Gyro is not a duck so he has a completely different set of features. His head is a soft square and is often slightly wider at the top than the bottom. His neck is also long and thin like Fenton’s but a little thicker at the base, and angled with his head forward (he has bad posture). His shoulders are also quite thin and are usually no broader than his head. His body is shaped more like a bean or a sack of flour, maybe a potato? And his bottom/hips are more squared like Drake....BUT he is not a duck and this means he is not as bow legged either. This is very chicken like actually. So you will always see this rather abrupt change from body to legs where it looks like they are just sort of attached with glue. It gives him that look like he has a little extra weight from sitting around in the lab too much that just sort of settled in his ass. His knees are generally bent (bad posture again). His legs are very slightly thicker than the ducks, but not much. His feet are larger in the ‘17 version than past ones, and they remind me a bit of loaves of french bread. Study men’s dress shoes to add detail here. I am kind of a foot person, so shoes are always a good challenge.                

[lucky-dreamfisher]

This Week’s Asks #1

My blog has been overwhelmed with asks lately, and not all of them require a long reply, so to make it easier for you folks to find your asks, I decided to gather the shorter replies within one weekly post! If you don’t find your ask in one of these weekly posts, it means that I’m working on a longer theory post on this topic.

anonymous asked:

Here's a minor detail I notice: Nearly everyone don't refer the Ink Demon as Bendy in  the game except for Sammy and considering with the recent news, it seems rather interesting

I also noticed that. But it’s a detail so strange, I cannot quite fit it in with any concrete theory. Another strange detail is Sammy repeatedly confusing Joey with Bendy/The Ink Demon.

So, Bendy is a real, but he is also Joey. Bendy is a demon, but the Ink Demon isn’t Bendy, and also the demon is benevolent. Which demon, exactly? This is getting more and more confusing.

anonymous asked:

I think the two studios functions similarly to Silent Hill in that there is two versions: one that's real and one that's not real like there is an actual studio that's old and abandoned in the real world but is normal and fake one based on the real studio filled with horrors much like how in Silent Hill, there is a real old, abandoned town and a otherworldly version of the town filled with horrors

Makes perfect sense.

anonymous asked:

It seems the cassette tapes are specifically made for the fake studio to detail past events and life of the real studio before it shut down like they seem to hold memories of those that once worked there since cassettes were released in 1962 so how did the studio acquired the tapes for the workers to use if they haven’t been invented yet? It also explains the inconsistencies with the tapes and how they are found in rather convenient places

That’s an interesting observation!

Though the Meatly said before on his twitter that BATIM has some alternate history stuff going on. The logs on the official JDS youtube channel have dates attached to them. They could be fake logs with fake dates, but I wouldn’t dismiss them all right away, until we get concrete proof that at least some of them are fake. Still, it’s something worth keeping in mind for sure.

anonymous asked:

Maybe the Ink Demon imprinted on Joey and he has a link with him since he's his still creator like Joey owns the Bendy design after Henry created Bendy, there's a saying that people do write a bit of themselves into their characters since "write who you know" right? The Ink Demon do takes on many traits from Joey and he's almost like an avatar to Joey with him as an actual demon

That might be the case, yes. But then it’s a little bit strange that the Ink Demon would resemble Joey more than he would Henry. Joey didn’t even personally participate in his creation, considering he found out about him by accident. All this resemblance only because of the smile? Strange, though not impossible.

anonymous asked:

If it is true that possible future Bendy games will focus on other cartoons based on the different animation eras, I do want to see what kind of cartoons exist in the Bendy verse like is there a toon that is the equivalent to Mickey Mouse and company counterpart to Disney?

I think JDS is primarily supposed to be the counterpart to Disney (with some details from the other animation studios sprinkled in). It would certainly be interesting to see what the rival animations looked like. Joey made a mention of Bendy fans moving onto some “new shiny thing”, so they must’ve been good.

Allison is working for the Archgate Films at the end of BATIM, so they may have been the main competitor. I hope we get to hear more about them in the next game.

Sammy

anonymous asked:

From your recent post about Sammy and true Bendy, does that mean “Benevolent Demon” may refers to the true Bendy?

It could be either the True Bendy, or the Ink Demon, or even cartoon Bendy. There could also be another demon inside the studio, though that’s unlikely.

I’m keeping my mind open to every possibility at this point.

anonymous asked:

Could the Bendy that Sammy saw in his dreams and is watching him also the one moving around the cutouts? Like the cutouts do seem to be always watching with their eerie smile no matter what,

That’s unlikely. The cutouts never move when there’s no one around, and we’ve seen Sammy personally transporting them. It’s more likely that they are being moved by the ink creatures.

anonymous asked:

There’s something definitely wrong at the studio prior to the studio even going downhill and things gets worse leading to the canon game, Sammy was the one that may have noticed it before the others considering he has dreams of Bendy and that he wrote note to Joey that the cutouts were acting weird like moving on their own

Agreed.

 BATIM Novel

anonymous asked:

It is possible that Buddy could be one of the people that Joey hired to replace Henry after he left? It does look like he is taken under Joey’s wing for the potential he has as an artist with his dream to be one and all that

If the ink creatures are roaming around the studio, then the year has to be 1943, 13 years after Henry left. Buddy is just 17, he would’ve been 4 when Joey was hiring people to replace Henry.

anonymous asked:

I don’t think it’s going to end well for Buddy and Dot since quite frankly, it’s very likely they’re doomed to not make it out alive and escape from the studio especially how they’re snooping around the stuff behind closed doors like finding the ink creatures at the studio

I will be very surprised if there’s a happy ending for either of them. 

anonymous asked:

From the description alone, it does seem the novel will be set at the middle of Bendy timeline as an interquel side story like possibly during when the ink creatures are being made and before the studio truly went downhill

Hopefully it will give us some insight into the ritual and who the items belonged to. 

anonymous asked:

I do believe the Bendy book will hopefully gives insight of how things are done at the studio like what are the roles of the various workers, how much work is made on the cartoons and such in general the everyday work time at Joey Drew Studios before things got worse leading to the canon game events

I think that part will be covered by the Employee Handbook. No need to release two books about the same topic just two months apart from one another.

anonymous asked:

I really hope the Bendy book do fleshed out the previous characters enough since we only have the game's tapes and other stuff of what were certain characters are like before they died or turned into monsters by the time of the canon game events

The description makes it sound like Sammy is going to play a large role in the story, so we should be able to get to know him better.

Animaniacs

anonymous asked:

So in a sense Bendy is basically if the backstory for Animaniacs is more horrific and satanic with everything going horribly wrong thus meaning Animaniacs is Bendy before it was cool and dark

It’s funny how much this works, when you think about it this way. If Animaniacs came out of their prison yearning for vengeance, that’s probably what it would look like.                                     

anonymous asked:

When you think about it, Animaniacs is pretty much the good end result to Bendy if everything turning out right with no satanic stuff and the toons were harmless pranksters instead of monsters plus nobody died whatsoever           

Yup!

anonymous asked:

If the Animaniacs were to suddenly appear in the Bendy game in their usual chaotic toon selves from the show, they will definitely causes so much chaos and confusion with making things go off the rails to "lighten"  up the atmosphere since everything is so dark and serious with more classic toon comedy and their regular antics           

A lot of the antics of the Animaniacs could actually be deadly in real life. Dropping an anvil on someone might be funny in a cartoon, but in real life, it would’ve been a horrifying act of violence. Good idea for a horror game!