#instead of just talking about them in vc

[sirompp]

[egopocalypse]

Just followed and knew your meta was good bur also just surprising how amazing your fics and writing and creativity was too

OUGH. Cup :')))

I really need to get back into writing meta, tbh. I have so many thoughts in the drafts that I need to finish and post. I just haven't had the time recently, but maybe I'll finish one soon!

Ask game

[alexisomnias]

— "DOVES SING JUST LIKE YOU" . . .

⤷ how they love your voice

featuring the OVERBLOT BOYS

RIDDLE ROSEHEARTS

        he listens to your voice while studying, while sometimes its a distraction, he loves listening to you ramble while working. Too some its listening to music, but too him its listening to you. You're such a guiding voice for him and he can't help but want to cloud his head with you instead of the equations being put down. Sometimes even just the sound of your breath is sufficient to help him work more steadily. Perhaps its the overlooking hope to impress that is an encouragement, either way he's not hanging up the phone anytime soon! Nor is he EVER going to admit the affect your voice has on him!

"what do you mean, "why do you call me when your studying?" can I not worry about my dears day? In peace...!" 

LEONA KINGSCHOLAR

        he listens to your voice before going to bed, as obvious as it is. He doesn't like having recordings of it, he'd much rather hear your voice in person. No matter how loud or soft it is he can fall asleep easily, so speak all you want, yap away he'd still sleep. Either way its a clearing of his head, and a purify of his dreams. He adores falling asleep to the sound of your voice, and if it has to be over call you better not hang up... He's also a fan of your breath, the sound of your breath relaxes him. He loves listening to yours voice! So never stop talking hm? you'd never annoy him even if you might think so. your his relaxant. 

"don't shut up, keep talking away as you normally do."

AZUL ASHENGROTTO

        he's SO embarrassed about how much he adores listening to you speak. He keeps all your voicemails to keep and listen to while he works on paperwork. The tweels tease him far too much, but even then he'd never delete them. Don't tell anyone else either, but he falls asleep to them too. Voice messages are highly encouraged, he will save them! He may never bring it up other then in smooth talking and flirting, but oh the effect your voice has on him... is this how the land dweller felt when hearing the mermaid princesses voice? He's enchanted every time you speak... sometimes he'll even purposely call you when he knows you won't answer just to hear your voice message left after the tone. UGH! The effect you have is so unfair!

"89 saved voicemails..? what about them? as a business owner its... important to hold every detail said as a reminder!"

JAMIL VIPER

        Jamil will call you while he works. The sound of your voice and the knowing your presence is on the other end of the device motivates him to do whatever he's doing. Sometimes he'll invite you over, but he adores being on call too. Ramble away, please, he loves listening. He's a good listener, he swears. So please, yap away, he'll lovingly listen to it all. After all he adores listening to your voice. Don't tell him I told you, but he ADORES it when you whisper in his ear... just a thing that gets him flustered in ways nothing else could. He'll brush it off, but know he'll be replaying whatever you said for the rest of the 24 hour period."Would you mind repeating yourself? I think your voice is nice to listen to while cooking."

VIL SCHOENHEIT

        vil adores talking to you during routine. He'll call you in the morning, and night if your unable to stay over. Its apart of his everyday now, for you to be the first voice he hears and the last he hears that day. He wouldn't have it any other way though. He particularly adores hearing you ramble, or talk about whatever happened to you that day during makeup or skincare. Its on facetime or in person, he'll listen like your the only sound around. Conversation with you is always a highlight and he adores every word you say. Vil is also the type to hold onto voicemails if he can, he just likes hearing you speak.

"so how was your day? be sure to include every detail, I want to hear all about it."

IDIA SHROUD

        idia is the type to spam call you into vc. bros desperate. the first time he heard your voice he short circuited, and oh dear now is he getting thrown into the fantasies of falling asleep on call like the normies?! ARGH WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HIM!? this is unfair! he shouldn't be thinking about how silky,,, and nice,,, and amazing your voice sounds. get out of his head!! your voice is nice okay?! just get in the vc! Don't leave him waiting like a fool, like a desperate blundering fool!

"ah, y..your voice?! its not bad don't worry. no please don't mute! i'm not being sarcastic i swear!!"

MALLEUS DRACONIA

        malleus loves listening to you ramble. every word you say he holds dear, and sometimes he gets needy to hear it he'll even come all the way from his dorm to yours just to hear you talk! he's not a fan of phone calls, it doesn't feel as genuine as in person. He fucking adores listening to you, no matter what the hell your talking about. He'll just nod his head no matter, he's listening sure, but your voice lulls him into a trance he never wants to be pulled out of. Keeping singing him a lullaby with your wonderful voice! he loves listening to you, and if you love listening to him then oh dear the conversations would never end. 

"I love hearing what you have to contribute, its very insightful. So please, what about that topic again?"

[snowthedemonfox]

So we got some screenshots for Ep 3, and I'm going to talk about some things I've noticed + some theories

I went off for over an hour in the bunnydoll burrow's VC talking about everything I noticed, but I'm realising writing it all down would be a smarter move, cause I know I'd forget it. If I've missed anything you think is important, let me know! I'll edit this post with new notes.

Let's start with the first screenshot, because that just makes the most sense:

The elephant in the room is the realistic human hand. I don't doubt this is the scene that has some level of blood and gore in it. We can't see what the hand is connected to, but whatever it is, it seems to be taller than Pomni and Kinger. They're both looking up, and the camera angle is facing down towards them both.

We can see 2 heads hanging from the wall behind Kinger, and what we can assume to be a 3rd behind the desk behind the hand.

One of these heads, as many have pointed out, seems to resemble Pomni. The face is entirely white, what I can assume is an eye seems to be the same size as Pomni's, and you can see that familiar looking hair on the side.

Even the other two things we see look like other members of the cast!

The head to the right of Kinger looks like Ragatha. It's got the hair, and even the face looks to be made of actual fabric, like a real doll. It seems whatever these things are, they're meant to look like more 'horror' versions of the characters.

(Side note, but if I had to guess, if Glitch releases a 3rd sticker sheet for episode 3, I wouldn't surprised if we got a new set of icon variations for the main cast. But instead of candy, we get these horror versions instead. I think that'd be cool, and I really hope that's what happens.)

You could even go as far to say the 'human' hand we're seeing is from the horror version of Kinger. Like I said before, the camera is looking down at them. Why would it be looking down? Because whatever's looking at them, is attached to the wall.

Moving onto other details in the room, we can see there's a chair behind Pomni with some kind of light on it. At first, I thought this might have been the tape recorder from the February trailer, but you can see the tape recorder is on a desk, not a chair.

And while there is a desk in the room, whatever is on there doesn't look like a tape recorder. It looks more like a photo, or some kind of radio.

The giant 'M' on the rug. We know the ghost lady's name is Martha Mildenhall, so this probably implies she owns the mansion the gang are exploring. Why would she need their help, though? Maybe whatever force is moving the hand in the screenshot, is some kind of 'evil' ghost, and that's why Pomni and the others are there to help. There's evil ghosts inhabitating the mansion, and Martha needs help to get rid of them. It's simple, it's your basic video game quest, it seems like a normal adventure plot that Caine would come up with.

There seems to be something behind the chair, but I can't make out if it's a door, some curtains, or some kind of closet. The lighting isn't doing me any favours. Either way, I doubt it's important to the episode, probably just background decoration.

As for my other thoughts that aren't as related to the screenshot itself, I do believe that everyone is going to be split up. Obviously Kinger and Pomni are working together, but I'm still not sure if Jax would be hanging with Ragatha & Gangle, or if he'd be off doing his own thing. As for Zooble, I'll get to them later.

And this might just be me looking into things too much, but it almost looks like one of Kinger's eyes is focused entirely on whatever is behind the camera, while the other isn't focused at all. Like he's half paying attention to the 'danger' he and Pomni are in.

But that's really all I have to say about the first screenshot. Let's move onto the main event:

Again, let's get the obvious out of the way: new Zooble design! They've got some new parts, like the arms, unicorn horn, and the blocky yellow and pink thing, but also some old parts, like the bluish-green ring, and their classic black and white antenna. So far, I like this design! I'm happy to see that they've decided to mix things up a bit. Not my favourite design, but still decent. They've got good taste.

Before I talk about Zooble and Caine, I first want to talk about the location they're in. At first, I thought this might've been Zooble's room, but looking closer, it's obviously not. Then I thought it was that little desk area at the end of the dorm hallway.

But nope, the hallway has different plants, picture frames, wallpaper, and no chairs to be seen. The plants we can see look similar to those seen in Caine's resturant realm from Ep 1, so I think I can safely guess that this is a new location, made specifically for him and Zooble to chat.

Speaking of that, I think that's going to be the driving point of Zooble's character development this episode. Something is going to convince them to join the future adventures, and it seems this will be that something. We know thanks to the AMA, that Zooble not going on adventures is important to their character, so having their episode focus on this topic makes sense.

What I can assume happened to lead up to this interaction is this:

Caine announced the adventure, and just like in both Ep 1&2, Zooble immediately expresses that they are not interested, and walks off. Caine can't really do anything about it yet, so he focuses on everyone else. Explains the rest of the adventure to them, and sends them on their way.

He then catches up to Zooble before they reach wherever they planned on going, and teleports them both to this new room. It looks almost like some kind of waiting room, or a room where they're both supposed to talk things out. It's got the comfy chairs, wall art, I wouldn't be surprised if there's a little table between them.

Zooble, obviously, is not impressed. They don't care about Caine's adventures, and want nothing to do with whatever he has planned for them in the meantime. Caine, on the other hand, just wants to figure out why Zooble doesn't want to go on his adventures. He spends so much time figuring them out! Just for the humans! Why won't Zooble participate!?

This very likely evolves into an argument between the two. I like how Caine is clearly angry in this screenshot. It's nice to see him show some more variety when it comes to emotion!! Zooble doesn't care for whatever Caine is saying, and Caine just wants to understand why they don't care.

Something happens, maybe they do talk it out, maybe something else, but by the end of the episode, Zooble decides that maybe going on a few adventures isn't that bad. I think it's way too early to guess what happens in that huge timeskip, but for now, this is the best I've got.

I feel Zooble's arc in this episode might touch on a few topics, like how while they might think staying by themselves all day and doing their own thing is better for them, isolating themselves isn't doing anyone any favours, and that, for lack of a better term, going 'outside' every once in a while can't hurt.

... and that's pretty much all I can think of to say regarding these two screenshots! I'm sure we'll get to learn more as the episode release gets closer, but I'm excited to see how things turn out!! :3

[ultra-violetra]

the reason why red team wins isn’t because they submit tasks last minute. that isn’t even the biggest part of their strategy, so let me tell you what red is doing to win:

delegating tasks: each member has spent most of their time collecting whatever resource the team needs. they work together to come up with specific goals (eg. enchantment table, mining iron, getting string) and then send specific people out to do that task, usually whoever’s free at the moment

helping each other: they would all drop everything at a moment’s notice to help a teammate in trouble

sharing resources: red team shares literally everything they own. most notably, bings and personal quest items

personal tasks: they all help each other out to finish these, and they make sure everyone active gets them done. i think a good chunk of their points come from this category actually, since the other teams don’t seem to prioritize it as much

not seeking fights: ok sure, they’ve gotten in a decent amount of fights, but usually the fight comes to them. they aren’t spending their time searching for people to kill, rather most of their kills have been from running into others in the wild or at spawn (foolish did spend time looking for tina today, but that was mostly looking for blue base as a strategic point)

using time wisely: to kind of add onto the point above, they aren’t spending all their time walking thousands of blocks to others’ bases. they also are very communicative about how much time they have left and what to use it for. they’ll ask how they can help the team with their last ten minutes, for instance

communicating: red team spends almost their entire time on the server in a vc together. I know this isn’t exactly every creator’s thing, but they could still type in chat if they didn’t want to talk. red team have even been leaving discord messages to their teammates to tell them info when they’re not online!

varying their points: i think this is the most important thing tbh. instead of only focusing on tasks or kills, etc. they do a little bit of every. they make sure to do well in every possible point category

being silly: it’s the best part!! the silliness boosts team morale

seriously though, the red team doesn’t just sweep the win at the last minute. if that was true then they wouldn’t log in until the last ten minutes. all the active members spend their 5 hours (or however long they’re playing that day) working on gathering materials and being useful for the team. the only advantage they have from being online later is they know how many points they need to get to catch up. so they can sort of measure how many kills or resources they’d need, etc. but knowing what they need doesn’t guarantee they’ll get it. the red team puts a lot of hard work into their wins it’s not just a cheap sweep. they are clever, resourceful, and strategic

[d1s1ntegrated]

shiggy with a s/o who’s equally as much of a loser as him :3 like they probably met in a discord vc (he’s the mod) or a league of legends match and he probably hates them at first and then gets a lil crush on them when they helped him mid-game or smth!!

thank u <3

hi love! i am working on a full-length fic where this is literally the entire plot omgomgomg, i'll post a little snippet here!

its still a wip so it wont be perfect but its first person perspective in this part, and i'm thinking of going back and forth between povs to show shig and readers sides equally.

also, reader is fem/afab, same age as shig, and alt. she has a quirk, too (not a healing one either).

this one does include quirks also! but it doesn't get into them for a bit, just a few convos.

some tags for the work entirely: slow burn, enemies to lovers, dabi x reader, shiggy x reader, reader is Not mentally stable, but no one else is either, the server is all the LOV and some others, incel behavior, boys being gross

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

i slide my headset off as we log off for the night and head to my bed, yawning as i climb in. i turn my lamp off and from my bedside table, i hear the infamous chime of discord as my screen lights the room. i groan and roll over, checking the message.

𝔡𝔲𝔰𝔱2𝔡𝔲𝔰𝔱

↪thx 4 playing tn, u weren't half bad

↪btw sorry for threatening to ban u for posting memes in general

i read the messages slowly and type out my response.

𝖙𝖊𝖒𝖕𝖊𝖘𝖙

↪gg dude, and np.

↪promise i wont spam ur precious server w memes again

↪gn bro

i turn my phone back off and close my eyes, only to hear my phone go off again. i sigh, contemplating on ignoring it, but i lazily grab it anyways.

𝔡𝔲𝔰𝔱2𝔡𝔲𝔰𝔱

↪would u ever wanna vid call :)

↪u can say no. its ok

i frown at the message for a minute. this is the same guy who, about an hour ago, was screaming at me for not being fast enough in game, calling me a fucking pleb.

but other than that...he was funny. and nice to talk to.

𝖙𝖊𝖒𝖕𝖊𝖘𝖙

↪for sure, we can tmr.

i type out a half-assed response but feel a ping of excitement inside of me. i fall asleep with my phone on my chest, waiting for a reply.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i wake up around 1pm, the daylight searing through my curtains. i feverishly reach for my phone, only to find it flung off the bed. i drape myself off the side to reach it, eager to read any messages.

i flit through the random notifications, only to find disappointment. i open up discord, wondering if maybe i just fell asleep with my phone on, but there's no response from him. i see him active and type out a message, ultimately deleting it. if he wants to respond, he will.

i haul myself out of bed and head to the shower, leaving my phone behind, slightly jaded knowing i was left on read. i let the warm water wash over me, soaking up the few minutes of peace before i exit and get dressed. i continue ignoring my phone until i hear a ping. i rush over to it, feeling slightly embarrassed that i'm this concerned already. i open discord again, expecting a message from him, but it's not there. instead, a string of messages from someone else sits unopened. my brows furrow and i open the dm confused.

𝙗𝙡𝙪𝙚𝙛𝙡𝙖𝙢𝙚

↪yo

↪u played ovw w us last night right

↪u should play again tn w me, pretty.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

again this is just a snippet >_< but i hope it tickles some anticipation ahhhhhhhhh. ik there isnt a lot sorry ;-;

[magicalmanhattanproject]

so i wanna talk about 2b2t, specifically as a backstory for qfit. because the thing is everyone talks about 2b2t as a wasteland and a wreck and a bombed out warzone and like. it sure as hell isn't not that. but it's also a server that people keep on coming to. it's a server that takes pride in actively murdering new members, but it's a server that keeps on having new members

so, what's the draw? what keeps people coming and coming back?

well, the thing about an anarchy server is that it has no rules, be they rules of society or rules of reality

the way i think about 2b2t is that it's a fucked up wonderland. like you know when someone makes a deal with a sinister fairy and it comes true in the worst way for them possible? that's how everything works on 2b.

you want infinite blocks for your builds? sure, the griefers have infinite tnt too. you want infinite totems to stay alive? sure, end crystal pvp means you're gonna need every last one of them. you want fame and fortune for griefing a legendary build? sure, you got a target on your back for the rest of your life though

but the thing is that the metaphorical fucked up fairies are busy. it's down to the individual server members to take care of the double dealing and the double crossing and the wreaking of havoc. and they do! with delight! but they can't* be everywhere at once.

so, you have a chance. you can get lucky. you can get lucky for a while. you can build a nice little life for yourself. you can even get it off the back of tearing other people down if you're quick and you're clever and that's much faster and easier than trying to grind your own resources the vanilla way when every moment is a race against the clock before your base gets found and griefed but you can try and you can do pretty well and you can try again and you can try to get revenge and you can make friends and you can make enemies and you can have everything you ever wanted for the low, low price of everything you ever had and why not pay it when you can just build it all back up again

the other things about 2b2t that i think points to fucked up fairy wonderland instead of standard wartime dystopia is so much of how the server works is really best understood as necromancy-adjacent. so every account is a different person, right? well, some people have a half dozen faces just in case someone finds out where one sleeps. sometimes. there was that one time one guy's shambling corpse** just got reanimated by a completely different guy who took over his identity and no one really minded when they found out

there's an entire population of bots that move and act like players and communicate in all the ways players can barring hte most intimate*** and they literally can't be distinguished from players in most circumstances but they're used as delivery drones so they'll bring you a package and then die in front of you so you can't follow them back to the cache

like this is just!! a thing!!! that people live with!!!!!!!

2b2t has highway unions!! it also has collectives who go around destroying the highways!! there are compassionate souls making community areas!! those areas are griefed to hell and back but not beyond recognizibility!!

it's all just an absolutely fascinating world and it deserves to be explored in how it affects fit's character a lot more than just "ptsd from bombs" even though that's also a massive part of it

*NOCOM notwithstanding

**To be clear bc it wasn't a roleplay bit, the original player is still alive, but he's got no intention of returning to 2b2t so his cubito is definitely dead.

***They can like spam crouch and send messages in chat and you're not gonna want to hop in a vc with a rando from 2b2t

[askagamedev]

About Unity these past few days

A lot of people have asked me about Unity and their strange new per-install charges policy that they rolled out on September 12th, 2023. I wanted to give them at least 24 hours before I posted my take on it - let the dust settle a bit so I could get a chance to read the new policy properly and all that. First, however, I think we need to take a step back and get a wider perspective. Unity Software Inc. is in some serious financial trouble. Here are their operating numbers from 2019 to 2023.

The blue line here is how much money they take in and the red line is the amount of money they are spending each year. You may notice that they are spending significantly more money year over year than they earn. In fact, over the past 12 months alone (August 2022 to August 2023), Unity Software Inc. has lost almost $1 billion.

In 2022, Unity spent four times as much money as they did in 2019. If they had managed to keep costs at double their spending in 2019, they still would have earned $243 million in profit. Instead, they lost $882 million in 2022.

Where does all of this cost come from? In any software company like Unity, the vast vast majority of costs comes from employee salaries. And we can directly see it in Unity's number of employees:

Unity Software Inc. more than tripled its headcount from 2019 to 2022, and it did all of this hiring during the pandemic while competing with many many other developers all trying to hire from the same pool. I don't work for Unity, but I was in the market and I had lots of recruiters trying to recruit me during that time.

In short, Unity is suffering from the same miscalculation that Embracer Group did, that EA did, that Activision-Blizzard did, that Square-Enix did, and just about everybody else in the tech industry - they misjudged the good times at the beginning of the pandemic, overspent hiring people thinking the good times would last, and are now scrambling to figure out how to survive. The difference is that Unity was getting all of their operating money from Venture Capitalists (VCs) hoping that they would eventually become profitable, but VC money has all but dried up because it's become much more expensive to borrow money over the past two years.

As a result, the Unity executives are likely grasping at straws in hopes of saving a sinking ship. This wild and decidedly senseless pricing plan is their (seemingly-desperate) attempt to juice their revenues. It really makes very little sense from the developer perspective, which is what makes the whole thing reek of desperation. That isn't greed talking, it's survival. My guess is that Unity is currently desperately looking for a buyer to save them and doing whatever they can to buy themselves some more runway. They already announced layoffs back in May, but I suspect they'll probably have to announce some really big layoffs (e.g. 40-50%) soon. Unity Software Inc. is living on borrowed time and they know it.

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[lowkeyrobin]

I'm sorry for spamming you I'm just really excited--

Reader who also streams and just rants a lot while they play Stardew Valley?

Like mid milking a cow or something they pause the game and rant about how to kiss someone or smth?...

-🌕 anon! <3

AH OMG DONT WORRY ABOUT SPAMMING I LOVE YOU GUYS 🫶🫶🫶 but I absolutely love this LMAO I made this into a preference setup instead of a oneshot bc I didn't know exactly who you wanted and I was having difficulty finding a way to stretch it out that long anyways. idk much about stardew valley so bare with me, I rewatched Tommy's video of him playing w Molly to help me 💀💀

MCYT ; stardew valley rants

includes ; tommyinnit, ranboo, freddie badlinu, niki nihachu, foolish gamers & quackity

warnings ; language

masterlist

TOMMYINNIT

you'll just be doing some tasks and be like "you know, I've never kissed anyone before. like, how does that work?"

meanwhile Tommy came over a little bit ago to hang out after stream and he just looks at you like 🤨😨

"youve never kissed anyone?? wait... we haven't kissed before? y/n/n, what?"

you shake your head no, confirming that you guys actually never kissed somehow, your relationship was kinda new in both of your defenses.

"we've only been dating like, 2 months, it's fine"

"ARE YOU TRYING TO BE A KISSING VIRGIN FOREVER????"

literally have your first kiss on stream bro

THE EDITS 🫶🙏 I CANT EVEN

the cutest shit ever

RANBOO

you literally paused the whole game mid-farming to rant about some restaurant you and ranboo went to the past day

chat was exploding with "oooo they went on a date" and you were just like "guys it was good food, 10/10"

they get you to join a call with them and you guys talk about it together and your whole experience and how awesome the food was

not to mention the aesthetic of the restaurant was so well put together

you got back to your stream with a little story for your viewers

BADLINU

you started ranting about a movie/show you're fixated on at the moment

went through all the lore, all the characters, background info, etc

Freddie was watching and using tts to talk to you

he encouraged it dw

like he was holding a convo w you and everything it was the cutest shit ever

the edits.

also people clipped the whole like half hour long thing and posted it to YouTube like "y/u/n and badlinu talk about ___!"

you don't even remember it within a week but HE DOES

just one of those cute relationship moments he loves to think about

QUACKITY

you were playing stardew while he was playing gta and you were on a vc together

so obv it kinda sounded crazy 💀💀

"y/n I'm gonna drive my Honda Accord over there and kill all your cows!"

"I swear to God, quackity, don't even dare"

not really ranting but you were yelling threats at him and shit LMAO

NIHACHU

you guys were playing together 🫶

you were teaching her how to do everything and stuff

you eventually went on a tangent about things you do and don't like about the game

she was agreeing to your solid points and stuff

that turns into a rant about hair color and if she can color your hair for you LMAO

FOOLISH GAMERS

"Dude, how do people do that van life shit? I'd die doing that"

straight up hour and a half rant about how much you hate van life tik tokkers while playing stardew valley

he's in your chat like "Yes 100 percent" and adding onto your points LMAO

you both share a hate for van life mfs

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for going no-contact without warning in perhaps the pettiest way i could?

Context: I(20m) had a falling out with my friend (18m) about 2 years ago. We were in this discord server with our friends, and I woke up one morning to find it gone. I asked him, and he dm'd me and began with "I just wanna say, I mean this respectfully;" followed by THE LONGEST RANT about a bunch of things I did (including not giving feedback on other people's art, dominating the conversation, and being "hard to corral into one topic" which i still don't fully get). He said "everyone else in the server feels the same, you make people really uncomfortable." I asked who had what gripes, so I could apologize, but he said nobody really wanted to hear it and this was a mutual decision. I respected that, cried for a day or two, moved on.

Enter a few months ago. I up-heaved my entire online presence, recreating my friend group from the ground up with people who were more up to my style of interaction, and got better with boundaries. We open a roleplay server for a fandom my old friend liked, and it'd been a few years, so I decided to hit him up, invite him and try to mend some things. I was different after all.

Shit hits the fan, let me keep it brief- a different friend (it/its) makes a comment about eating something that's gonna make it sick later, because it has IBS but it's fuckin hungy and wants pepper poppers. The old friend dms it and says "hey, you shouldn't talk about self harm in this channel, it's gonna make people uncomfortable!!!" Which. first of all, yikes, but secondly, nobody else seemed uncomfortable. I was in a vc with my friends which is where it told me about the dms, and everyone else agreed that yeah, he seemed to be overreacting a little. But I started piecing shit together.

Even though I never talked to most of the people from the old server ever again, none of them reached out to me either. Not even to ask for an apology or where I'd gone. I was just kind of relying on what my friend said to be true. I asked someone from that server, and they said that besides a few gripes mentioned here and there, nobody seemed that uncomfortable with me. In fact, many of them- whom i hadn't spoken to in two years- asked where i went.

I got pissed, and probably could have handled it better, but I didn't wanna see his face anymore. So I removed him from the server, and when he asked me why, all I said was: "I just wanna say, I mean this respectfully;" and blocked him. Part of me still thinks about it. I felt like a hypocrite, and wanted to explain what I'd found out and ask him about it instead of jumping to conclusions, but the deed was done and I figured I'd feel better if I ignored it. I do feel a little better, but I just wanna know if I was the asshole.

What are these acronyms?

[starrixle]

simpbur headcanon dump ♡

a bunch of random headcanons for simpbur that i thought of !! (all under the cut because there is a lot...)

his birthday is december 11 and his height is 5'4 (this is actually canon but im including it anyways)

he goes by he/they/she (in order of preference). he's genderfluid, but more masc aligned. he is also bisexual and horribly closeted (the closet is as clear as glass)

he is neurodivergent, he also suffers from lots of anxiety. he is very anti-social

he and liliana (the e-girl) were both just not great for each other. it was not just simp being toxic to the e girl, but she was toxic to him as well to a certain extent. she isnt a bad person, and neither was simpbur, they were just a pair that wouldnt work out

part of the reason why simpbur is so insecure abt himself is bc liliana tends to be a judgemental person. she has standards that simp didnt meet, and that made him go into the mindset of changing himself to suit what she liked. however, this failed and they ended up breaking things off instead

his breakup with liliana destroyed simpbur's mental health, especially with him being a very fragile person to begin with. this is where his obsession began due to still having a very strong attachment with what he once had with her, along with having extreme jealousy over the thought of her being successful in life with someone other than him

his favorite vape flavor is bubblegum. he would smoke cigarettes, but he doesn't like the smell, and he just prefers vapes

he is horrible with being responsible with his money. even though he struggles to pay rent and works a minimum wage job, he usually spends his money on games and anime stuff

types with stuff like uwu, owo, :3, :<, XD, ^_^, (*≧з≦), etc.

used to live with his mom, but now he lives in a tiny apartment on his own. it's not very well kept or clean, and he often just throws his junk around everywhere since he never has the energy to clean the place up. the only place he bothers (kinda) decorating is his bedroom

cries over small things easily, like when he gets a paper cut, stubs his toe, when his food order is wrong, etc.

can't handle spicy foods whatsoever

he has a shoe box full of random stuff he stole from liliana, such as pens she used, her clothes, trash, hair, etc.

kicks ass at competitive games, such as first person shooter games. he is a chronically online gamer and he lowkey acts toxic sometimes while gaming

he sometimes just goes "gg :3" in the chat whenever he manages to dominate the game. he doesnt like using vc bc he doesnt really like his voice, so he usually sticks to typing, esp bc hes a pretty fast typer (100+ wpm)

he collects a ton of anime figures. usually leaves things in their packaging. he cringed whenever liliana took them out of the packaging, since she didn't understand why he left them in the box instead of taking them out

he blasts music at full volume, especially while gaming. he listens to a lot of vocaloid, breakcore, krushclub, hyperpop, indie rock, etc.

his diet consists of fast food, take out, ramen, microwaved food, soda, snacks, anything that's unhealthy

he usually hides his figure with thick, oversized clothing

he doesn't usually express his style much outside in public, but he likes experimenting a lot with outfits at home, especially ones that aren't typically masculine

he's secretly a furry and has a fursona. he usually acts as if he thinks furries or cringe, but he would have anon alt accounts where he'd look at furries online and talk about how cute they are

his feelings towards his body changes depending on his mood. although he doesn't completely mind being assigned amab, he does wish he looked more feminine, or at the very least androgynous

at a certain point in his life, he denied his femininity and attempted to retain a super masculine appearance and personality. it didn't make him happy, instead it made him more insecure

coming to terms with being not cishet was extremely difficult. he was in denial that he was bisexual, and even more in denial he wasn't a cisgender man. altho he's grown to slowly be more comfortable with his identity, he's still struggling to accept himself

he switches from being masculine and feminine a lot. other times he simply just does not want to be perceived and would avoid people

he loves the idea of romance and intimacy, but the actual act of doing romantic/intimate things freaks him out. he craves for love, but he's terrified to act on it, especially with his last relationship with liliana failing

he posts rants/vents about his thoughts anonymously online on places like reddit

he grew to be good at stalking, even learning strategies to keep himself hidden or quiet, along with learning how to unlock windows or doors. he thought he was insane for doing it at first, but he's grown more used to it being a routine

his eyes are actually dark brown. i just draw them pink because it's just an artistic choice i like in his design

he has sharp canine teeth

he says "im gonna kms :3" and makes all kinds of self-deprecating jokes very often

he often writes random songs in his diary and sings to himself/plays guitar in his room. it's very comforting for him, as its a form of coping

even tho he dislikes his voice, he's very good at singing (insert the entirety of the e-girl trilogy here)

if i ever come up with more headcanons i will make another post as a part 2 !! this guy is constantly living rent free in my mind 24/7 i am so perfectly sane about simpbur i swear. completely. 100%. *eye twitching*

[creedslove]

bestie??? that marcus pike headcanon you just wrote??? we, pike girlies, NEED a part 2, marcus and reader getting together after Lisbon broke up with him

(mari, você é uma das melhores coisas que já aconteceu nesse site e você deveria ser tombada como patrimônio cultural pela UNESCO. Não é a mesma pessoa da primeira ask do marcus, to feliz que meu menino tá sendo lembrado por outras pessoas 😭)

Marcus Pike x f!reader

PART ONE

A/N: aí meu amor, obrigada pela sua ask! Que linda, de vdd, vc eh um amor ❤️🥺 o Marcus merece o mundo inteiro ❤️🥺

• when you left Marcus' house after the small argument you had with Lisbon and Marcus had overheard it, you were so deeply embarrassed, you couldn't even word it properly

• you knew feelings weren't supposed to be recriminated and you couldn't actually control them, but still, it was such an awkward situation, the way she'd talked to you, how you realized maybe your feelings were easier to read than you originally thought, how it was so easy for her to go all territorial over him just because you were around and yet anyone could see she wasn't even that into him, not as much as he was into her

• but she was right though; she was his girlfriend and not you, as much as it broke your heart, underneath all that poison Teresa shed, she was telling the truth: she was Marcus' girlfriend, she was the one who was going to move with him and become his wife and if Marcus had any romantic feelings towards you, he would've acted on it already

• and just to think he had heard every single word that went on, he saw how you never denied your feelings for him and how your eyes flooded with tears that insisted on spilling down your cheeks the moment you left his house abruptly, it was mortifying to you

• the fact that Marcus didn't go after you was both crushing and relieving all at once; you understood it, you really did; you wouldn't want your boyfriend running after the friend who stormed off instead of staying by your side, your rational side kept warning you of it

• but your sentimental side, mostly your heart, kept reminding you of how long you'd been friends and how important you had been to each other, the way you would just be inseparable before that woman came along and how Marcus wouldn't hesitate in taking your side

• you weren't selfish or delusional and you were fully aware that if you were his girlfriend or fiancee as that annoying woman liked to state, you would disapprove him having such intimate and intense friendship with another woman, many times you thought of back off from them, but Teresa didn't care about him, not as much as he cared about her; anyone could always see how reluctantly she was around him all the time, and you couldn't stay away from him, being so emotionally dependant from him, it hurt you at the same time it healed you to be so close and yet far away

• so when all of that happened, you saw it was your turn to stay away; you had to do it in order to feel better and let Marcus live his romance in peace, so when Marcus called you up a few times and you didn't pick up, he understood what it meant, he didn't want to overstep it, but it also pained him to think you'd be away for a while

• still, you sent him a text explaining why you had to keep your distance, you explained how much you cared about him and how you hoped he was going to be happy with the woman he chose; you also wished him a nice and safe trip and told him one day you'd go to DC to visit him

• and a few months went by as your friendship with Marcus was shaken up, you hadn't asked him any personal questions in the moments you texted and he didn't say anything about his relationship with Teresa, so you assumed eventually you'd get a wedding invitation or you wouldn't get one at all

• it didn't really matter anymore, you'd lost Marcus, or so you thought

• until the day a bearded Marcus showed up at your work during lunch break; he was in his regular dark suit, his FBI credential dangling from his pocket but he'd grown a beard and his hair seemed longer too

"Marcus..."

• you whispered as you weren't expecting to see him there, especially now that he was so different. He had his hands in his pockets and smiled shyly, chuckling as you complimented his new look, shrugging in a cute way as he explained he had been out undercover

"listen, I know the things haven't been great between us for the past few months, but I miss you, I really do, you've been the best person in my life for so long, I could call you a best friend, but you're so much more than that, and I'm sorry about things and Teresa, I-"

• you didn't even let him finish, going to Marcus and wrapping your arms around him, only then realizing how much you'd missed him. At that moment it didn't really matter what happened or if he was with Teresa anymore, all you wanted was to be close to him

"Pancakes? You can tell me everything over pancakes!"

• you suggested with a sweet, lovely smile, feeling excited and cheerful to see him again; Marcus took you to your favorite diner, where you are your favorite treats together and he told you about how things didn't work with Teresa and she's left him for Jane, he admitted he didn't call you earlier because he was ashamed of everything went on and asked you if you could both work on your friendship together once more; you agreed as you'd missed him very much

• and like that you and Marcus got closer again, enjoying each other's presence and he finally invited you to visit him in DC; one thing led to another and you and Marcus finally became more than friends

• a year later when you were back home for the wedding, you and him ended up running into Teresa and Jane, she didn't seem pleased to see you with Marcus, but in the end you couldn't care less, she'd made her choice and you were pretty happy about it, as you were finally with the man of your dreams and it couldn't be any better than that

____

[ily-tomura]

Dedication - First Encounters

Autistic!Tomura, ADHd!Spinner, Social Anxiety, QPR

Tomura does get nervous talking to new people, but he almost has a sense of ease to him when interacting with folks online. They can’t see him fidget and he doesn’t have to worry about them wanting him to make eye contact. He’ll occasionally stream games for folks in his favorite server. He likes the company of chatter in the background.

Iguchi on the other hand is not very socially adept. He does what he needs to to get by without being harassed in public, but that’s about it. The first time he joined a group VC he couldn’t even bring himself to speak. He eventually just sent a text in the general chat that said his mic was broken.

Tomura will occasionally chime into dialogue in the voice chat, saying if he agrees with something someone has said or if he thinks XYZ video game sucks, but he keeps an idle watch of who’s watching his screen.

Iguchi’s hands are shaking ever so slightly as he types responses to different folks in the chat. The conversation often moves so fast that he doesn’t have time to respond. He’ll type something out and then back out before sending it because the moment has passed. He’s really glad he’s not speaking now, because surely his voice would be shaking as it escaped his mouth. He finds some peace in watching Tomura’s gameplay.

At a certain point, different people in the call leave to do their own things or go to bed and it’s just the two of them. It’s very quiet at first, but Tomura, not liking the silence but not wanting to go to bed quite yet, strikes up a conversation.

It’s about little things at first, just a question here and there. Simple questions. What games do you like? You into esports at all? Did you hear about XYZ title coming out?

Tomura leaves ample time for Iguchi to type out responses. When Iguchi answers Tomura reads it and gives his own answers in response. It’s an easy flow to get lost in. It’s something comfortable.

The way Tomura talks about games and laughs with someone he’s barely met, its kind of cool to Iguchi. Confidence is a trait he wished he had.

Three am rolls around and Iguchi is having trouble holding his eyes open. He’s stopped shaking for the most part, but he knows he’ll have to leave soon. He types out a message asking if they could hang out like this again, but he hesitates over the send button and lets out a sigh.

“Hit send.” The command hit’s Iguchi’s brain like a brick. Was this guy some kind of psychic?? He complies regardless, figuring he might as well. He hits send.

Tomura doesn’t reply, instead sending over a friend request.

“I’ll let you know the next time I want to stream, that sound okay?”

‘yeah’ Iguchi sends before Tomura tells him to have a good night, ends the stream, and leaves him alone in the call.

Iguchi leans back in his chair, letting out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. This was all so new to him. Hopefully that guy didn’t notice how nervous he was.

Tomura turns off his PC for the night. That was the most nervous person he’s ever talked to on call. He didn’t mind doing social heavy lifting to get the friendship ball rolling though. Helping people open up took a bit of dedication, but for the right people, it was something Tomura loved to do.

[coffeegnomee]

An analysis of having a rigid character in mcrp vs being swept up into playing a character in mcrp.

I was reflecting on dreamsmp and qsmp the other day and realized they both lost me when the lore shifted to a rigid character of the streamer.

Quackity approached the late-game lore as a cold, calm, businessman, completely devoid of the goofy, unserious charm that is Quackity. And in qsmp he was the alcoholic father. 

I didn’t watch much of qsmp, but I got similar vibes from Celbit and… heck I forget his name. The one who became president. 

Like they approached every stream from a very serious point of view, getting into character before the serious moment happened, not chatting with chat in the lulls between yapping as they journey from one destination to another. 

And they lost me. 

That’s not what the medium of streamed Minecraft rp is about.

What it is about is logging on, bantering with chat, walking around the server, and then other members approach, they take the lore seriously, and subtly change it from a normal interaction with another streamer into something that is moving the plot forward.

There’s two examples from the dsmp era.

Tommy is the obvious one, and doesn’t need much explanation. Especially in the exile arc he would be fine and happy and bantering with chat until Dream showed up. Then the tone shifted. He always had moments where he was his annoying happy self before being drawn into the serious character he was developing. All of it was an act, but he planned to let his character be moved from one emotion to another through the conversations that happened.

But the same happened with Foolish, which I find fascinating since it was widely acclaimed that Foolish doesn’t really lore. Not on purpose at least. He’ll never be the one to overtly plan something, but he’s one of my favorites to follow because he will always get swept up into it.

I followed the Foolish/Leo lore through clips and tiktok, and it was the only aspect of qsmp lore that could draw me in. 

And in the dsmp, the L’sandburg arc and everything that happened at the summer home never had server-wide implications, and yet it captured the charm of the early months of the dreamsmp.

There was a day when Sam joined vc but shifted into the SamNook character and stopped actually talking in vc, just playing the animal crossing noises while writing in chat.

Foolish played along for a bit, and then they both returned to building in the hanging gardens, Sam making a tree while Foolish was doing like material collection I think, talking to chat.

Sam continued only communicating in chat until one moment when it was more helpful if he began actually speaking about the tree instead of being in character.

And I, and Foolish, literally jumped, forgetting that Sam was there and we weren’t talking to SamNook as a real npc.

It was so bizarre. 

We were swept up into the lore of the moment, and kept there through the efforts of the other streamer. 

And again, this happened one day when Bad and Foolish were arguing and Dream showed up in vc as Dreamxd, talking just to Foolish as if he was in his head and Bad couldn’t hear him. The conversation that followed was so hilarious as Foolish had to manage two streamers who refused to acknowledge that they could hear each other.

Without realizing it he was swept up into the lore. And he took us along with him. 

The reason this matters to me is the Lifesteal smp.

In Lifesteal, Zam takes this concept of casual banter with chat and moves it, when the moment arises, into something that is suddenly extremely RP.

In an instant it can go from random conversation into something that is moving his character forward and changing the fabric of the server.

I think we saw it best with the Joker arc. 

Every Joker day began with a threat given to either Minute or Jumper. Something to goad them into lore. 

He had no real plans, just a threat that he would do, a base he would blow up, if Minute or Jumper didn’t do anything to stop him. And he let them do anything they wanted to stop him. 

It was completely unplanned.

And you could hear in his voice the changes from, here’s my silly plan for the day, to, you just unlocked the Joker.

Changing it from a casual stream to something overly lore. Not going into it with a perfect character but using the encounter itself to bring out the character.

Interestingly enough, we all know that the Joker arc landed weirdly in relation to pb&j and how they were swept up into the lore.

And I think, in part, it had to do with the a flipping of roles compared to my above analysis about Foolish.

Zam was, more often than not, the one who was live AND the one who was going to take lore seriously and bring others into it. 

Vs Foolish being live and Dream/Bad/Sam being the one to take it seriously.

It broached a new style of mcrp, one that created streamers/characters who were resistant to doing lore, I think because they didn’t have the stakes behind it of being live. They were there for their recording, but they always knew they could cut it out of their YouTube video and it wouldn’t matter to their characters.

You only have to look at the difference between the Jumper/Zam yap session and Minute confronting Clown and Leo to see the difference going live had on them being wrapped up into the lore. 

Lore they did not expect to be doing when they first went live. 

As opposed to Jumper’s stream where she killed Mappic - she went into that with a plan and a character to play.

As opposed to Ash’s streams when he had a character and plan to execute.

They lost me on those streams because it was obviously so planned out and they entered the moment completely in character and resisted changing in response to anything that was said to them. 

Why does it matter? 

Because a character’s 3dimentionality comes from being fully fledged out. 

And you can make an extremely complex and compelling character when you draw on aspects of yourself. It doesn’t (and probs shouldn’t) just literally be you, but if you willingly draw on who you are as a person, the character comes alive. 

And the medium is Minecraft live streaming. It’s long winded. Time in the story passes by similarly to how real life time passes - day to day something new happens unlike a book or movie where they have to cut things out.

And the stories you create when you approach the medium of live mcrp is substantially different than any book, movie, or video. 

The method of storytelling allows you to explore a character over 100s of hours of content rather than a couple hours. 

And for my money, boiling that character down to something you put on for an hour or two at a time around completely unrelated grind streams, is so much less compelling than if both merged together and you never knew when a moment would turn from casual banter as a streamer into a character moment. 

[modelbus]

hiiii would you be willing to do a tommy x fem/gn reader where the reader doesn’t have a prom date and tommy offers to fly to america to be their date teehee … perhaps starting platonic and ending romantic ?

Starting platonic and ending romantic my beloved Also, uh, this got a bit long...

Pairing: CC!Tommy x gn!Reader (who wears a dress)

Perfect Prom

“Where have you been? It’s been ages since I’ve talked to you!” Tommy whines when you join his VC.

“It’s been a day.”

“You didn’t answer any of my messages!”

“Someone is clingy.” Tubbo coughs.

“Fuck off! No I’m not!”

You sigh, opening Minecraft to join him. His stream is pulled up on your second monitor so you can see his expressions while talking to him. It seems to be a chill day today. Or as chill as it gets with Tommy and Tubbo in the same stream.

“I was busy!” You defend

“Too busy for big man Tommyinnit? What were you even doing?!”

“Helping my friends shop for prom. It’s a whole day thing, you know?”

“Oh!” Tubbo exclaims, suddenly sounding eager. “Is your prom soon?”

“A week, yeah.”

“I expect photos.” He tells you.

You give an awkward laugh, moving your Minecraft character to try and find Tommy and Tubbo’s. “Uh, I’m not going?”

“Why not?!” Tommy yells.

This was the embarrassing part, the part you were about to admit to thousands of viewers.

“I, um, don’t really have a date.”

Your popularity started and ended online, leaving you completely and utterly alone. Sure you had friends, but they all had dates. And with prom in a week… well, you had just given up. It wasn’t like you wanted to go to prom that bad.

“What?!” At least Tommy seems outraged for you. “What about your friends?”

“All have dates. I’d rather hang out with you guys and stream anyways. Right chat? You’re more important than some dance.”

Chat seems to disagree with you, but that’s fine.

“So you don’t want to go to prom at all? Not even a little?” Tubbo questions.

“Nope.” You lie. “Now where are you at? I can find you.”

“Have you ever heard of the man cave?”

The topic doesn’t get dropped forever though, coming up later off stream. Tubbo had left the VC immediately after ending stream so it was just you and Tommy now.

“Genuinely, you’re fine with not going to prom? That’s super important, isn’t it?” He asks, breaking the post-stream silence first.

“I wish I could, but the administration has rules against going alone.” You shrug despite him not being able to see you. “Besides, what’s the point of buying a dress if I’m not going with anyone?”

“So you want to go?”

“You’re just rubbing it in now.”

“I’m not! All you need is a date to prom to go?”

How many times did you have to repeat this for him to understand?

“Yeah. All I need is a date.”

“Then I’ll be your date!”

Immediately, you choke on your own saliva in shock. “What?!”

“I’ll be your date to prom! So you can go!”

“Tommy, there’s a few problems with that. I’m in America and prom is in a week, for one.”

“I’m already looking at flights.”

“Second, you do realize a date is romantic right?”

“Platonic date then.”

“Why can’t you just let me be alone?!”

“Because,” he starts earnestly, “that’s shit. Besides, it’ll make for a pretty cool vlog.”

“Tommy, you know I couldn’t ask you to-“

“You’re not asking, I’m offering. Say yes for the content if not for yourself.”

“…fuck this. Yeah. Come to America and be my prom date.”

He cheers, making you laugh.

“I’m gonna get to experience an American prom! No more content searching! There’s a flight out tomorrow.”

“Should we, like, ask Phil about this?”

“Probably, but I already bought my flight.”

“This is going to be a fucking mess.”

-

“This is so fucking stupid! Why won’t it stay in the fucking pocket?!”

You laugh, trying to adjust the pin pinning the flower in his pocket to no avail. “I told you the corsages were a bad idea!”

“Dream said to buy them. All or nothing.”

“And here we are, putting holes in your suit. Isn’t this a rental?”

“How dare you think me so low that I’d rent a suit instead of buying one.”

“Aha! The flower is on!”

You step back, taking in the sight of Tommy in his full suit. He had gotten you both matching corsages, red and white flowers that stuck out on his black suit coat and your wrist. Tommy turns to the bathroom mirror, filming with his phone.

“Oooo! Damn, I am sexy.”

“Okay, we’re going to miss the reservations.”

“Oh! The ones at Applebees?!”

“I still can’t believe you wanted to go to Applebees. We could’ve gone literally anywhere.”

“Okay, but Sapnap said-“

“Do you think Sapnap got any bitches?”

“Have you seen Sapnap?”

You stare at each other for a moment.

“He’s from Texas. Never trust a man from Texas.”

“So Applebee’s isn’t good?”

“I’ll let Applebees talk for itself.”

“Really? It’s that bad?”

“It’s… it’s something.”

With the newfound lack of courage in his choice of restaurant, you two set out for Applebees. Considering most people go somewhere nice on prom, it’s pretty dead. Maybe you’ll actually get good service for once.

“I swear the waitress just quit.” Tommy laughs, glancing around.

“Or maybe she’s disgusted by the fact you got a medium rare steak.” You suggest.

“Hey!” He yells, throwing a fry at you. “Don’t insult Dead Henry!”

“You named your food?!”

Dodging another fry, you start to throw your own back at him.

“This is fucking war!” He declares, grabbing a handful.

Under the sudden pelt of fries you half hide under the table. Tommy laughs maniacally, seemingly evil. And it’s all because you insulted his choice of steak. You should never get steak from Applebees to begin with!

“Excuse me, sir?”

Oh, of course the waitress comes back now.

“I’m going to have to ask you two to leave.”

Fuck.

“Oh.” Tommy says, apparently too shocked to find a response.

“I am so sorry.” You apologize, scrambling to try and find your card. Tommy’s won’t work because it’s English and Applebees isn’t refined enough to take English cards, so he promised he’d pay you back somehow.

“Yeah, you’re disrupting our other customers.”

Tommy glances around and mouths, “what customers?” to you.

“Mhm, mhm.” You hum as the waitress prints the receipt.

“…have a good day. I guess.”

The second the door closes behind you two, Tommy erupts. “What the fuck?! There were no other customers! It was just us! And she could’ve asked us to stop, not fucking kick us out!”

“It’s Applebees, Tom. What did you really expect?”

“America is the worst!” He laughs, “we really got kicked out because we threw fries, fuck.”

His words make you realize exactly how stupid the situation is. It’s prom night, Tommy came to America to be your date, and you both just got kicked out of Applebees.

Soon enough you’re both laughing at the absurdity of it all.

“How far is the boat?” Tommy asks after a little while.

Because your school was stingy on literally everything else they made up for it by going all out for prom. If you hadn’t known that then maybe you would’ve declined Tommy’s offer, but goddamn was prom meant to be cool.

“Walking?” You ask, pulling up Google maps.

“Yeah.”

“Uh, Google maps says fifteen minutes.”

He nods, offering you his arm. Without a second thought you take it, walking where he goes.

“Where are we going?”

“Prom.” He answers confidently.

“…wrong way.”

“Fuck. I knew that.”

The walk is only slightly cold, but after a few minutes you completely forget about the breeze in favor of joking with Tommy. You definitely owe him a lot. He came all the way to America just to be your date so you could go to prom!

Platonic date. You couldn’t forget that word: platonic. Because although your feelings before this were entirely platonic (were they really...?) seeing Tommy in person was changing that too fast for you keep up with your own feelings.

By the time you reach the docks it’s been well over fifteen minutes, tipping into thirty, which makes it perfect timing.

“When you said prom was a big thing I didn’t realize it was this fucking big.” Tommy says.

“Yeah, there's a lot of people." You agree, joining the line. "At least we're moving quick."

"I was more concerned about everyone dying at seeing my stunning dance moves."

"Oh, yeah, that's a pressing issue."

Soon enough you're both on the boat. It's actually really cool. There are three floors to the boat: the top one has an open-air dance floor, the middle has an indoor dance floor, and the bottom just has food and drinks.

By the time the two of you make your way to the top floor where everyone else is, prom is already in full swing. That is, to say, crowded and loud as fuck. Tommy grabs your hand so you two don't get separated in the huge sea of dancing people, pulling you a bit closer to him.

"Now what?" He asks.

"Dance, I guess?'

With a nod, he steps back and starts doing his weird dance moves. You can't help but laugh, although you do admire the confidence.

"Why aren't you dancing?! Dance with me!" He yells, eyes lighting up at a Taylor Swift song.

"Oh no no no, I am staying far away from you and your embarrassing moves."

"You're on the phone with your girlfriend she's upset!" He sings, grabbing your hands and forcing you to dance. After a second you give in, dancing with him.

The next songs pass so quickly in the blur of having fun with Tommy that you don't even realize he never dropped your hands. In the classic Tommy way, he's just dragging you around and forcing you to do his shitty yet wonderfully fun dance moves.

"Alright guys, we're over halfway through this thing, let's let the couples have some moments." The DJ announces.

As the current pop song fades into a much slower one, you start to head off the dance floor.

"Wait, we have to dance." Tommy quickly says. "Y'know, for the whole prom experience."

"Do you know how to slow dance? Because I don't."

"I am Tommyinnit the womanizer, of course I know how to slow dance!"

You laugh and loop your arms around his neck. "Alright then, womanizer."

He hesitates before placing his arms around your waist. The two of you just sway to the song, slowly relaxing throughout it.

"Thank you." You finally say, breaking the silence that had fallen between you two. "For coming."

"I came for Applebees, not you."

"Oh, of course, how could I not know." You roll your eyes.

He laughs, glancing around. "But of course I fucking came."

"You didn't just come though. You're in a whole suit. You're slow dancing with me."

"Because I'm your date."

"Platonic date." You correct instinctively. You've had to mentally correct yourself for a whole week now.

"...right. Yeah."

He doesn't sound entirely happy with that, and you can't help the way your heart leaps. It's foolish hope, but hope nonetheless.

"Actually, Wilbur's been telling me to make a fucking move for a while now." He suddenly says. "And that's why I offered. I know it's super shitty of me to tell you this now, but I just- you need to know, and I need to know, so I can stop getting my hopes up. I-"

Stopping your swaying, you cut his words off with a kiss. Maybe it's some Disney bullshit, but you swear this feels different than any other time you've kissed someone. Perfect, almost.

"What if I suggested we went to prom as a not-platonic date?" You ask.

"I'd say we're already fucking doing it." He responds with the stupidest grin you've ever seen him wear. "Wilbur's never gonna believe this."

[jamiesfootball]

In a different world, Roy tried to make it work with Keeley, but it would probably be the only thing he could focus on outside of work.

Work, which would’ve been business as usual compared to his own personal life. Which means Richmond would have had two coaches on staff that were so focused on their own problems that they ignored the Zava problem.

And maybe Roy notices that Jamie is a little off, but what’s that compared to trying to save your relationship with the woman you love?

(Not that it stops him from noticing)

And maybe he catches Jamie’s face when Zava steals that goal - but maybe in that version he doesn’t go up to talk to him at Sam’s and offer him comfort. Because there was no breakup in this version, so Jamie never tried to comfort him about Keeley, so Roy figures that’s not something they do.

Instead he gives Jamie a nod and a toast and that’ll have to be good enough to let him know that he sees them.

There’s no 4am training. There’s just watching Jamie push himself on the pitch, maybe harder than he should. With more teeth. With more rage. He’s self isolating from the team. Maybe Roy brings it up to Keeley, who asks if he’s talked to Jamie, and he says ‘maybe I will’ but he doesn’t get around to it.

Roy really really needs to not focus on Jamie Tartt. Not when the VC of Keeley’s firm has started hanging around, and roy knows that Keeley would never be unfaithful, he’d punch anyone who suggested otherwise, but right now the back of his brain is suggesting it would serve him right and he’s so torn up about it that he tries to overcompensate for it by treating her to an amazing evening in Amsterdam.

In a different world, Roy doesn’t learn how to ride a bike or go looking for windmills. He and Keeley stroll right over Skinny Bridge- not that they know what it’s called. No one points out the Fault in Our Stars bench either.

In a different world Jamie is in Amsterdam for the third time, and he isn’t bubbling with manic energy. He’s just manic. No one ever tried to soothe him about Zava. No one ever told him he could be the best. He’s in Amsterdam, he still doesn’t have a goal to his name for the season, and it feels like his dad is still there.

In a different world Jamie is still pissed with Dani about Zava, so he doesn’t vote tulip. He breaks the tie. Maybe he votes the way the old him would’ve voted, just to spite them. Just to prove to himself it didn’t matter.

It very much mattered.

In a different world Richmond has a very bad night, because they might’ve accidentally broken their star player.