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voxofthevoid · 4 months ago

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WIP Wednesdays are back on now that I'm done with the demon AU and once again tackling my ever-expanding list of plot bunnies. I desperately need some shorter projects, so I first picked what will essentially be a pair of sister oneshots with cross-dressing as the central premise—Yuuji in a skirt and then Gojou in a dress. The fics themselves won't be connected in-universe; it's just a shared premise.

I'm nearly done with the first oneshot—a couple more writing sessions and it'll be over, I reckon. So you get skirt-wearing Yuuji this week. Hopefully, I'll be able to post Gojou in a dress next week, but who knows.

Anyway, here comes Skirtfic Wednesday #1—the following scenes are mostly gen interactions between the Tokyo trio, Gojou, and Nanami.

“Why’s he the only one getting fake boobs?” Yuuji asks—he isn’t really sure if he’s envious or not, but it feels like he should ask anyway.

“Your tits are fat enough,” Kugisaki shoots back irritably. “This guy’s as flat as a board.”

Fushiguro doesn’t look too bothered by that assessment. Then again, he’s been staring up at the ceiling for a while now like he can will the wooden beams to fall down and put him out of his misery, so Yuuji’s doubtful whether he even heard her.

But he’s not really doing anything to stop Kugisaki either, even though she’s got both hands stuffed up his shirt. They form weird, squirmy bulges under the silken fabric of the blouse. The one Yuuji’s wearing is pretty tight, especially around the shoulders and chest, but Fushiguro’s has got a little more room—enough for Kugisaki’s arms to not rip anything at least.

Just then, she grumbles something indistinct and takes one arm out, only to stick it down his shirt instead. This time, Yuuji can see a distinct curve form on the left side of Fushiguro’s chest.

“That looks kinda dirty,” he comments. “Like you’re molesting him.”

“Itadori,” she grits out, “shut up.”

Fushiguro hasn’t taken his eyes off the ceiling, but he looks a little more dead-eyed.

After a few more seconds, Kugisaki lets out a semi-satisfied huff and takes her hands out. She pats the chest stuffing over the blouse, and if anything, it looks even dirtier now, like she’s squeezing Fushiguro’s tits. But she was right earlier—Fushiguro kinda doesn’t have anything there. Even these visuals can’t overpower that knowledge.

Kugisaki steps back then, her hands on her hips as she looks Fushiguro up and down. “It’ll do.”

Fushiguro makes a noise that could be acknowledgment, could be despair.

Yuuji checks his phone. “Let’s go then. We’re already late.”

“And whose fault is that?” Kugisaki asks.

“Uh, yours?”

“Huh?!”

“What?” Yuuji holds up his arms defensively. “You’re the one who wanted to give Fushiguro tits!”

“Did you see how that blouse hung on him? Do you know how much time I spent finding outfits that’d fit the two of you? Like hell am I letting his flat chest ruin my hard work. It’s bad enough that we aren’t wearing gloves.”

“Fine, fine…” Yuuji stands up. His skirt immediately pulls up. “Kugisaki, this thing barely covers my dick. I’m gonna flash people.”

She growls. “It’s not my fault you have a third fucking leg.”

“It’d be fine if you didn’t make me wear panties! What’s wrong with boxers?”

“Who wears boxers with a skirt, you moron? And don’t blame the damn outfit! Look at how much more modest Fushiguro is.”

Yuuji looks dutifully at Fushiguro, who’s gone back to staring up at the ceiling—if he ever stopped at all.

“You okay, man?”

“I want,” Fushiguro says calmly, “to die.”

Yuuji blinks. “That’s no good. Anyway, you look really pretty!”

Fushiguro makes a noise. Kugisaki snorts.

“You look really great too, Kugisaki,” Yuuji tells her.

She looks the best out of them three. It’s not just that she’s pretty, it’s also that she’s the only one of them whose frame suits these outfits. Sailor Senshi are all women, and these uniforms are clearly designed for people with a lot more chest and a lot less between their legs than Fushiguro and Yuuji.

Kugisaki fills it out really well. Fushiguro looks fine from the waist below—he’s really got the legs for this, all pale and toned—but whatever Kugisaki’s done to his chest doesn’t really look…organic. Yuuji’s own blouse threatens to rip along the seams at his shoulders whenever he so much as breathes, and he keeps needing to adjust his dick so it won’t just flop around and out of the tiny red skirt.

“Of course I do,” she says, flipping her hair with a smirk. “Now, stop ogling or I’ll nail your eyes shut.”

Technically, they’re working tonight.

Yuuji’s heard a lot about Halloween in Tokyo, especially Shibuya, but this isn’t really anything like the stories—mostly because they’re staying in the campus instead of going to the city. When Yuuji asked about it, Gojou said the day itself is meaningless to curses, despite the spookiness of it all, but the sheer amount of fear-focused activity usually leads to heightened curse activity that lasts for weeks. It’s apparently common for sorcerers to increase patrols in major hotspots on the night of October 31.

But the patrols happen in shifts, and there’s plenty of time in between for some fun.

It was Gojou who proposed a costume party within campus. Kugisaki and Yuuji both leaped at the chance; Fushiguro didn’t outright refuse. The second years were easy enough to rope in, and the third and fourth years aren’t around anyway. Yuuji has no idea how Gojou convinced the principal, but he suspects Panda was involved.

Yuuji’s just glad it’s happening. He’s never really done anything for Halloween before. A couple of times in middle school, his classmates organized something, but those usually overlapped with the hospital visiting hours. Yuuji would go home afterward and curl up with some scary movies…but he did that all the time anyway.

This is different. His friends are here. His teacher is—

“A vampire!” Yuuji crows, taking in Gojou’s costume. “Sensei, you look so cool!”

Gojou blinks. He seems to unfreeze. He sucks in a large breath too, chest swelling noticeably. He must be really dedicated to playing the part if he stopped breathing on seeing them.

At his side, Nanami looks a little constipated.

Gojou comes fully back to life then, bowing with a little flourish. “Thank you, thank you.”

“Suck-up,” Kugisaki mutters from beside Yuuji. “He looks lame. Who the hell thinks a cape is cool?”

“I do,” Yuuji admits cheerfully. “You look good too, Nanamin—but what are you?”

“Myself—”

“A salaryman.” It’s Gojou who answers, throwing an arm around Nanami’s shoulder; Nanami’s expression sours further. “Nanamin’s feeling nostalgic.”

“Do not call me that, Gojou-san.”

“But Yuuji can?”

“Do not put words in my mouth either.”

“It’s a nice suit,” Yuuji says, used by now to breaking up this back-and-forth before it escalates too much. He’s with Gojou on finding it entertaining, but Nanami never seems to have any fun, and that makes Yuuji feel bad, sometimes. And tonight’s supposed to be about having fun. “I like your tie.”

Nanami looks down at his tie. It’s plain, for a change, and the color is a dark, understated grey. Despite Nanami denying being in a costume, Yuuji’s sure he did dress up as a salaryman. No way would Nanami wear such a tame tie otherwise. Plus, he’s switched out his usual near-opaque glasses for a black-rimmed pair that makes him look quite distinguished.

“…Thank you, Itadori-kun,” Nanami says almost grudgingly, looking back up at Yuuji’s face. Then his gaze shifts, fixing blankly on some point above Yuuji’s head.

He’s about to ask what Nanami thinks of his costume when Gojou says, “And what are you, my cute little students?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Kugisaki takes a step forward, cocking one hip and placing her hand on it. She gestures at Yuuji and Fushiguro with the other. Yuuji takes up position on her right. Fushiguro needs a little nudge but does shuffle forward to match him on her left. “We’re Sailor Senshi.”

Gojou laughs. His eyes are glittering. They’re bare, no blindfold or sunglasses in sight, and Yuuji’s used to his hair falling into his eyes when his whole face is exposed like this, but with Gojou’s hair slicked back, there’s no protection at all from the starbright shine of all those impossible blues.

Yuuji swallows, his throat suddenly dry.

“—without the wigs, but let’s see if I can get this right,” Gojou’s saying. He stretches out an arm, pointing at Kugisaki. “Sailor Moon.” The arm slides to Fushiguro. “Jupiter.” Then to Yuuji. “Mars.”

“That’s right!” Yuuji cheers, striking a pose—he has to fight back a wince when the seams at his right shoulder make a very soft noise. Ignoring it, he asks, “Do you like it, Gojou-sensei?”

Gojou’s grin has frozen on his face. He seems to have stopped breathing again.

“Oh my god,” Kugisaki hisses.

“Itadori-kun,” Nanami says tightly, “please pull your skirt down.”

“Oops.” Yuuji tugs the skirt back down. It doesn’t help much. He reaches under and shoves his bits back into his panties. Someone makes a soft, strangled noise. “Sorry, it’s this skirt, it’s so—”

“Perfect,” Gojou says, and his voice is so breathy that Yuuji stops what he’s doing, his head snapping up to Gojou. “It’s perfect.”

Nanami turns his head toward Gojou very slowly, an incredulous glare plastered on his face.

“Pervert,” Kugisaki deadpans.

“Huh?” Yuuji looks at her. “Who?”

Her eyes narrow. “Both of you.”

Yuuji blinks. “But Fushiguro hasn’t done anything. You’re the one who gave him tits.”

Her hand flies to her pouch of nails. “You little—”

Wheezing laughter answers that, the cadence of it very familiar. Sure enough, when Yuuji turns to look at Gojou, he’s doubled over, laughing quietly and apparently uncontrollably.

Nanami stares down at him for a moment and then turns on his heels, walking away without a word.

#goyuu #jjk #tokyo trio #gojo satoru #nanami kento #jujutsu kaisen #wip wednesday #jjk snippets #my fic #fic: pretty white jaws #divider credit: saradika-graphics

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alrightbuckaroo · 5 months ago

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when life gives you lemons

With ao3 down, it seems like the perfect time to transfer more stories from my 100 Ways to Say I Love You series over here! Here's one from early 2023. Credit to this user for the divider and I hope you enjoy <3

“TK?” Jonah’s voice is quiet and TK can hear his confusion clear through the question. “Am I doing something wrong?”

He looks up at TK; his eyebrows knitted together, and his lower lip is jutted out. His green eyes showing slight defeat. TK doesn’t know how to do it; but he knows he wants that look to go away. “Of course not, buddy. We just need to be patient; someone will walk by, eventually.”

TK didn’t say it out loud; but he wasn’t too sure how true that would be with it being in the high 80s on a Thursday afternoon in the suburbs of Austin.

Jonah doesn’t seem too convinced by TK’s false optimism so TK tries his next best trick; distraction.

“Why don’t you inside, grab some more markers, huh?” TK suggests. “We can make some more signs, use some of that glitter glue we got yesterday.”

Jonah dejectedly agrees before hoping off of his chair and walking through the opened garage and into their house.

TK occupies his time alone by spinning the mixing spoon in the pitcher of strawberry fizzy lemonade and rearranging the red plastic cups. He feels his phone start to vibrate agains the table and hurries to grab it, at risk of the newly arranged cups becoming askew.

“Hey,” TK answers, not bothering to see who it is.

“Hey babe,” Carlos’ voice is cutting through the line and TK smiles to himself. He sounds exhausted but TK loves the sound just the same. “I’m heading home, did you want me to pick up anything for dinner?”

TK looks at the pitcher of lemonade again before answering. “Do you think we already have everything for chicken Alfredo?”

Carlos is quiet a moment, visualizing what they already have in the kitchen. “I think so, but, I’ll probably pick up some more Parmesan cheese anyways. We just had it a couple of nights ago, is it that high in demand again already?”

TK shrugs even though he knows Carlos can't see him. “It’s Jonah’s favorite and I think he just needs a little bit of a pick me up.”

“What’s going on?” TK can hear Carlos getting into this car, the sound of his voice becoming more insulated.

“We’re selling lemonade.” TK mixes the pitcher again as he sees some of the flavoring start to settle at the bottom. “Well, we’re trying to.”

“TK, I already told you we can afford the science camp we’re sending Jonah to this week.” Carlos jokes.

TK fights a laugh before he replies. “First of all, it’s math camp this week, science was last week and second,” TK leans against the back his chair. “You’re not funny.”

“Oh you know you laughed,” Carlos answers, seeing right through TK.

“Anyways,” TK says, moving swiftly on. “Last week they learned how to make fizzy lemonade as a science experiment. This week, they watched a School House Rock special about how to save money. Long story short, I have a seven year old who has decided to go toe to toe with Country Time Lemonade.” TK explains and Carlos laughs. “Though it’s not looking to good for us but Jonah doesn’t want to give up.”

“Well, he is your brother.” Carlos remarks, off-handedly.

“I’m assuming that’s a good thing?”

“It’s the best thing, TK” Carlos answers. “You never do anything halfway; you should have known Jonah wouldn’t either.”

“That’s true.” TK mumbles. “And we are both our mother’s child.” TK mutters to himself, thinking fondly about Gwyn. Gwyn always tried her best not to give up on anything, on anyone; on him. “It’s just, we haven’t had any customers and I can tell it’s starting to get to him. I don’t want him to be sad about something out of his control.”

Carlos is silent a moment before replying, “Well, between you and me, I think his luck might change soon.”

TK’s looking over the signs he and Jonah had spent the last 20 minutes working on. He points at a black and yellow blob. “And that is,”

“It’s a bumblebee, TK.” Jonah rolls his eyes. “Can’t you see the stinger?”

TK looks at the drawing closer, not seeing anything different. “Oh yeah, it’s right there.” TK points in a general direction and Jonah moves his finger down until he’s pointing at something completely different. “Ah, got it.”

He holds up the sign, “Why bumblebees? We’re not selling honey.”

Jonah releases a very purposeful and heavy sigh. “They’re yellow? Like the lemons?”

TK nods his head, “Oh yes, obviously.”

Before TK can continue to embarrass himself is front of the seven year old business mogul himself, he sees a movement out of the corner of his eyes. He turns slightly to see Carlos walking down the sidewalk. He’s still dressed in his uniform and TK can’t help but feel a pang sympathy for him. Last time he checked his watch it was 86 degrees; and that was an hour ago.

Carlos walks up to where both he and Jonah are sitting before saying, “Hey there, so I was in the neighborhood.

TK’s eyebrows furrow, “Carlos we’re married, we live together, this is our neighborhood.”

“Just go with it, babe.” Carlos says through a tired smile. “Anyways, I was in the neighborhood and couldn’t help but be drawn to this colorful sign. I really love the bumblebees.”

Jonah’s smile is so bright TK can feel himself falling in love with Carlos all over again. “Thanks! He didn’t even know where the stinger was.” Jonah using his thumb to gesture to TK.

“How could he not,” Carlos jokes and TK can start to see where this is going. “Isn’t it that,” Carlos points to exactly where the stinger is. “Right there?”

“Is there something we can help you with, sir?” TK asks the question; annoyed but more importantly, playful.

“Well, I was hoping to buy some lemonade, and this seemed like the perfect place.” Carlos smiles and TK swears he can see all traces of defeat leave Jonah’s eyes. “What do you have?”

Jonah begins to talk Carlos through the both options: classic lemonade, strawberry lemonade; both fizzy. “It’s twenty-five cents a cup.”

“Hmm,” Carlos looks over the pitchers, weighing his options. “How much for the both pitchers?”

“You want to buy all of it?” Jonah asks, eyes wide.

“Yeah, how much are we looking at?” Carlos asks, reaching for his wallet. TK gently nudges Jonah, whispering loud enough for Carlos to hear. “Overcharge him.”

Jonah ignores him as Carlos laughs and pulls out a five. Jonah does the math, and TK watches his work. He can see the math camp is doing him some good. When Jonah tells him how much it’ll be, Carlos hands over the five and tells him to keep the change.

“Thanks, Carlos.” Jonah smiles up at Carlos, one of his front teeth missing.

“Go put that with the money you got from the tooth fairy, okay?” TK suggests. “Then come back out here so we can clean this all up before dinner.”

TK watches after Jonah before turning and looking up at Carlos. “You’re ridiculous.”

“You love it.” Carlos argues and TK sighs as he stands up and begins pouring the lemonade from the cups back into the pitchers.

“You know I do.” TK leans forward looking around them and the houses next to them. “Where’s your baby?”

“What are you talking about, you’re standing right there.” Carlos says the words casually.

TK smiles despite himself. “You’re cute, I mean your car.”

“Parked down at the Bakers; don’t worry, I let Mandy know.” Carlos shrugs, “Felt like parking in the drive way and walking up would ruin the illusion.” Carlos gestures to the plastic bag in hand, “If you’ll excuse me, I need to go put some Parmesan cheese in the fridge before this Texas heat causes it to spoil.”

TK grabs Carlos’ shoulder before he makes it too far, “Babe,” He looks up at Carlos. “Thank you.”

“Anything for you two.” Carlos smiles. “Chicken Alfredo paired with a ice cold glass of fizzy lemonade. Sounds like a pretty perfect dinner to me, don’t you think?”

TK smiles. “About as perfect as could be.”

#i guess there's always been a piece of my mind that knows these two would drop everything for this kid #series: this is what falling in love feels like #jonah morgan #carlos reyes #tk strand #tarlos #911 ls #911 lone star #my writing #tarlos fic

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yingdu-lover · 3 months ago

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(Reads your tags reblogging my post) Oh cool lol

Seriously though, tell me about it! :) What are your thoughts on Link Click getting a happy ending other than wanting it to? What’s your reasoning for it making sense? :)

Hiiiii! it's so nice 🥹 to meet people who root for link click happy ending. ftghvuhjdhhjjk.. anyways. I saw your ask the moment you sent it but I was collecting sources (Tumblr meta/twitter thread) for your easy access. That will be a LOT of reading and I think I missed a few posts. I'll add once I find them (I need to get better at tagging 😭)

This was my first meta. Even though it gets heavier in theory, I think you'll find it interesting! I argued here how Shiguang represents Yin/Yang who can't exist without each other. Either they both die from the same realm or exist together. Separation does not fit them.

Extraordinary thread. You can follow Temps on twitter, they have brilliant and insightful analysis! Also Centofu. They argue how Cheng Xiaoshi is NOT the dead wife. He appears to be but it is lc typical illusion.

(Before pasting other links I want to give you a summary of my theory. So, narratologically speaking, every storytelling (except for absurd tragi-comedy, link click is ofc not an absurd tragi-comedy) has to make a journey from point A to point B, weaving a significant difference along the way. In simpler terms, you can't revert back to point zero. It doesn't make sense. It won't signify anything.

Every tragic tragedy opens with a very happy setting and then things go downhill and that's why the tragedy hits hard. By definition, comedy is a genre that starts with a depressing/sad setting, there are hindrances and then happy ending makes so sense, it becomes satisfactory.

Now, tell me, exactly when link click was happy in the beginning? it has the doomed narrative even before the narrative began. Cheng Xiaoshi, the protagonist died BEFORE the story even began and Lu Guang has been hurting since S1 (or before). We were just not aware of it. Would it really make a justifiable artistic journey if link click begins with Cheng Xiaoshi's death and Lu Guang's pain and then AGAIN ends with Cheng Xiaoshi's death and Lu Guang's acceptance of his death? Huh. It will be an extremely dull move. For a genius story like Link Click, I have a hard time accepting the fact that it will sail in that direction.

Also, Shiguang are heavily paralleled with noodle lesbians (do you know that in real life they are very close male colleagues working in the Haoliners Animation League lmao), Dong Yi/Xu Shanshan, Liu Siwen and his wife story; each and every story tells how sincerity of love transcends the wrath of fate. Also if you tell me, but yk Shiguang are explicitly paralleled with Chen Bin/his wife in S2 ep 12 so they are doomed right?

Well, you remember what Cheng Xiaoshi said while diving into old Chen Bin and proposing his wife going back in time right after Chen Bin's funeral? He said : In another lifetime, I promise that I will never leave you.

Those are Cheng Xiaoshi's words to Lu Guang. Our timeline is basically their next life. Cheng Xiaoshi died and the past world crumbled and destroyed with him, it no longer exists (yes, director haoling li said that parallel timelines don't exist. the moment lu guang dived into a new photo, the reality of the last world stopped existing) so, in a sense, lu guang also doesn't exist in that timeline. It's like...they both died. And now it's their next life trying to be with each other.

Another strong evidence of lc happy ending is The Eye, Yingdu's opening- from lyrics to visual storytelling everything hints at a shiguang happy ending with qiao ling's active intervention. This song has a literal discourse. If you are interested, I'll list the analysis in a separate post.)

Yingdu ep 1 is actually a very hopeful and strong anti-death narrative if I say despite literal horror maiming us in the beginning...it's so good (I think I didn't 😭 complete the review tho)

Ah Shakespeare. As we know that Shakespeare's poet speaker (lg clearly) is attempting to save his beloved fair youth (cxs our precious boy) from the scythe of death and fate. Yingdu stresses on Shakespeare sonnets very much, so this metatexual reading is important if you ask me.

We should leave the fuck out in front of Bilibili and learn how to not give a single fuck about your favourite ship. I suggest watching Bilibili's every Yingdu edit on twitter.

ah, do not forget to read the reblogs for more critical and hopeful discussions

The whole yearning poem of lg genius link clickers deciphered

hahahaha, Temps again.

My analysis on shiguang parallels with Dong Yi/Xu Shanshan story.

I should have saved my noodle lesbians and Liu Siwen post too..ugh anyways I'll add them when I find them

#tumblr asks #link click happy ending #link click theory #shiguang #link click #lu guang #cheng xiaoshi #shiguang daili ren #时光代理人 #yingdu chapter #guangshi

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brandwhorestarscream · 25 days ago

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If and only if you feel like it, more tf1 megajazz would be lovely, because the other one you did made me so happy. But you have a lot on your plate atm and I really would have done this anyway.

I did my best,,, idk I'm not very confident with this pairing ( ._.) but I digress. Anyone that would like their own free drabble can submit their vote for Megatron in the most recent poll here.

...

Tink tink tink.

“Jazz?”

Tink tink.

“...Jazz?”

“Mmmmmwha… huh?” Incredibly blearly Jazz's optics squint open behind his visor. His visual feed is monitoring half a dozen subroutines and defrags, and he blinks them away as he manages to focus on D-16's face. “Y… Yeah?” He yawns and his helm bobs sleepily, struggling to keep awake. “Whaddaya need, bay?”

For his part, Dee looks uncomfortable, and incredibly apologetic for waking him. “I'm sorry, Ja-”

“No no, s'all good,” he yawns again, bringing both servos up to rub at his face. “What's up?”

The silver mech suddenly blushes so intensely Jazz can see his face discoloring in the low light. He turns his helm to the side, avoiding his optics while his EM field tinges with embarrassment. “I… um-”

“Yeah?” There's several soft clicks as he disengages from his recharge station to step free, reaching to grab one of D-16's servos to squeeze. “I toldja to get me if you need anything, so what's up?”

“I'm starving!” the words burst out of him like they're physically trying to escape his vocalizer. “I know I had extra at dinner and Pax brought me those rust sticks earlier but I'm so hungry!” his face slides into a dejected pout, fingers drumming on his belly. It had rounded out nicely, about the size of a small hydromelon, and something in Jazz perked up proudly every time he saw it. “I'm sorry, I really am, but I just- will you go get me some jellies?! I- I'll pay for them!”

Jazz snickers, and swipes the offered credit chip out of his servo. “You don't even gotta ask!” He crows. There was a convenience store only about 15 kliks away at a leisurely pace, less if you were intentionally faster, and while D-16 definitely shouldn't have been running around in the cold night air in his condition, Jazz was more than ready! “‘Course I will! Anything you need, remember?”

Dee gives him a wobbly, relieved smile. “Thank you- oh, thank you,” he gulps. “I've been craving them all night!”

“Shoulda said somethin’ sooner!” Jazz teases, poking him in the cheek and snickering when he's batted away. “Anything else you want? One'a those liquid silver pouches you like? Good ol sizz-rockets?”

“Nah,” Dee shakes his helm. “Just the jellies–the dark blue ones!”

Jazz gives him a mock salute, a sneaky kiss on the cheek, then hurries away as quietly as he can. No sense waking anyone on his excursion. They all had to work tomorrow, after all!

Iacon is quieter at night though still quite lively, and more than once he has to slide past a group of rowdy drunks stumbling to the next bar on their tour. It sounds like they're having fun, and the muffled music is turned up so loud he can feel the minor vibrations beneath his pedes as he walks by. Primus… does he wish he could play around with music like that! That's one of the first things he can't wait to show the sparkling: music. He has a long list of lullabies he can't wait to sing them, so many funny little tunes he loves to hum all day every day. He hopes they like it too. He can't wait to meet them!

He reaches his destination quickly and combined with the few assorted chips he has and the one D-16 gave him, he's able to buy three packets of the treats he likes so much. The dark blue ones, jellied energon shells that had been hardened then filled with more jelly and sealed, leaving the outside chewy and gummy but the inside liquid and sticky-sweet.

Dee's face lights up with sheer joy when Jazz returns, triumphantly holding up his prize. Golden optics big and glistening as he folds open the packaging, immediately popping two of the sweets in his mouth. He makes a soft, blissful noise, optics closed and a gooey smile stretching his lips. “Mmmmm…!” He bounces on his heels, up and down a couple times, before cramming a third one in. “OhPrimesJazz-” he gasps, swallowing it down with an audible gulp and immediately reaching for more. “Thankyouthankyouthank–mm! Oh frag that's so good–thanks a ton, Jazz!”

He chuckles and plops down on the bench beside him, watching the silver mech continue demolishing his snacks to sate the cravings. It was adorable, how happy he got while enjoying his favorite candy, and it was good to see the cravings satisfied. Ratchet said cravings weren't because a sparkling needed any one specific mineral, and there was no science to back that up, but it still made Jazz feel at ease when Dee didn't have cravings to deal with. It made him snappy, and sad, and tired, especially when they couldn't be fulfilled. Jazz hated to see him that way, and didn't want him to at all be uncomfortable or unhappy carrying their sparkling if he could at all help it.

“Want one?”

Jazz raises a brow, seeing Dee holding out the container for him. It's already more than half empty. “You wanna share?”

“Is that so wrong?” Dee snarks and flicks a jelly at him. “Try it. They're good!”

Jazz laughs and pops it in his mouth--and yeah, they are pretty damn good. They continue to sit together while Dee munches away at his late-night snack, chatting quietly so as not to disturb anyone. They talk about mundane, quiet things: the shift they aren't looking forward to, the ultrasound that they are. Speculations about the bitty… who's optics they'll have. If they'll have a visor, or Dee's cute nose, or Jazz's nubby horns. If they'll like music, if they'll like poetry, if they'll be clumsy or extroverted or naturally curious. There's just so many things their sparkling could be, and they can't help fantasize about it together.

#jazz #d-16 #megajazz #theyre havin a babyyy and jazz is a good bf going to get craving food

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italian-pastry · 2 months ago

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More smiling critter traditional doodles! Yahoo!

This is the post that includes content abt some Smiling Critter OCs of mine (and a pinch of DayNap if you're willing to work for it), so if you only want Canon Characters (and me) and AUs, you can check out this post for more!

Anyways I could not be more excited to introduce the world to CatNap's mom and DogDay's dad, Molly Mouser and Salty SeaDog!!!! There is so much of them and references to them under this cut PLEASE admire them

Oh my goodness the lore that lives in my brain of these two. Fun fact they were originally conceived of specifically for a Pirate Au hence Salty being. in a Pirate outfit. but I loved them so much they broke containment and joined my personal Canon. Salty stayed a Pirate tho. bc I love him <3

Both of them are supportive of their sons being gay, but did they have to be gay specifically for the child of their ex-best-friend-now-really-weird-grudge-thing???? Now that's crossing a line Molly: And what if they get Married, huh? I can't be your in-law! Salty: They're kids, Moll. Aren't they too young for all that? DogDay: Dad, we're in our 20's. You already had ME by the time you were my age. Salty: ... Salty: MOLL WHAT IF THEY GET MARRIED??

YAAAAYYYY the first solid designs of my babies and also the first drawing of DogDay's MOM Miss SunnyDay Spaniel!!!!! My gorgeous wife whom I love. Everyday I fight like hell to make Salty and DogDay more and more identical, like those lazy Disney kids where they're just a copy of their parent. The SeaDog-Spaniel family is literally just the "AND HE LOOKS LIKE HIS STUPID DAD" meme. Also Miss Molly, she's supposed to be pure black, a proper Void Kitty but I thought that'd be boring to color so she gets to be disproportionately over-rendered compared to everyone else here (Above Salty's head): He needs to touch the SEA!! (Above Sunny's head): Literally Mother (Above DogDay's head): Yippee! Short comic above Molly's head: Catnap, signing: Mom, meet my new friend :] Molly: *Immediately knows whose fuckass kid that is*

Quick rule of thumb! If Salty has piercings in his left ear, he's being portrayed Pre-Bestie-Break-Up with Molly (and likely pre-Dogday too lol). He and Molly had that "Not romantic, not platonic, but some secret, more sinister third option" thing going on and Sunny was along for the ride. In present day, he has a bite taken out of his ear where the earrings used to be Left side (Salty, Molly and Sunny in the 'Our third ->' 'Not with them' '<- Our third' meme) Right side CatNap, signing: Did you fuck my mother, Captain SeaDog? :))

Oh boy I've gotta break this down into sections. Can y'all tell I REALLY LIKE Salty yet..... Across the top Since I very purposefully designed Salty to be very visually similar to DogDay, sometimes I'd get jumpscared by DogDay fanart that drew him just a little scruffy and I'd think "OMG SALTY????" but no. Just Scruffy DogDay. I broke it down the difference best in the Top Right, DogDay = Round, Salty = Pointy! This does mean I have a lil collection of DogDay fanart that makes me think of Salty. Free OC art 🥰🥰🥰🥰 Those two squares in the middle Just me playing around with some "storyboards" for a hypothetical episode of the hypothetical Smiling Critters cartoon that lives in my brain that Salty appears in! As you can probably tell (tucking hair behind ear) he is not cast in the best light 😌😌😌😌 M. Middle bottom? The pencil drawing with Salty Another running gag from the aforementioned hypothetical Salty Episodes. Just needed some random member of his crew to yell at so uh, hello Basic Racoon character named Rocky :/ Along the bottom Smiling Critter relative height chart! The fact they ended up boy-girl-boy-girl WAS completely accidental Bottom Left Corner YAYY MORE SALTY!! This time with some lyrics from Captain Gutt's song from Ice Age 3 'Master Of The Sea'! It is because of that song that Salty sounds like Peter Dinklage in my brain

I don't think DogDay minds appearance based comparisons to his dad, but kissing your boyfriend is probably one of the times you really don't want him thinking abt your dad. DogDay you've gotta keep up with shaving more often DogDay: Goooood morning! Mwwaaaah! CatNap, signing: Good morning to you, too, but before you kiss me again, you really need to shave. DogDay: Uhhh alright, but why? CatNap: ... DogDay: You can tell me anything, Kitty. I promise I won't be offended. CatNap: *sigh* CatNap, signing: If you let your scruff get too long and kiss me, it ALWAYS feels like I'm being kissed by your DAD. CatNap, signing: DogDay? DogDay: 💀💀💀

#Smiling Critters #Poppy Playtime #DogDay #CatNap #catnap x dogday #DayNap #Smiling Critters oc #it feels so weird tagging them as ocs..... they're so canon to me....#Salty SeaDog #Molly Mouser #SunnyDay Spaniel #I know bobby is here sometimes and so are the others but we both know they aren't the focus here #PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me yap abt these guys some more....... they make me so bonkers..... their relationships with their sons OH MY GOD

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aesadraws · 1 year ago

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Me: Okay, it's been at least a day and I spent some time working on other parts of the project. But I really need to nail this part of the coding before I sink any more time into this. It can't be that bad.

Me two hours later:

Me: I have a Grand Idea for a cool new mod for the video game I am currently fixated upon, I bet This Time it won't be so hard to try and make it. :)

Me, inevitably, every single time:

#aesa rambles #it worked (visually anyway) the first time so... Huh?#now the json parser is saying there's an error and i just CANNOT figure out what the problem is #and I'm tired and hungry and cranky which don't help the issue #i am very much not a coder that's made itself very apparent to me #I'm honestly legitimately more upset that it almost kinda worked the first time but now it won't #the first time it showed all my visual changes but there was an impassable wall #which is wild to me bc there shouldn't have been one in that specific spot with or without the mod #so what the f u c k happened to do that

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kero-cure · 4 months ago

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1 Year anniversary of Boonboomger episode 1 premiere, The series that I never had any single thought that I gonna love them that much when I saw them at first

This time of last year, My life was pretty good. I enjoy my multifandom fangirl life as always, Taking with local friends, Discussing with western friends on discord, Playing some games, Building gunpla, It was a normal life but good. For tokusatsu that I love (and usually have a main focus on Kamen Rider) for more than 10 years now, I was on the hype train of Kamen Rider Blade 20th anniversary event. It was so happy that my favorite series had a spotlight again and still love by the communities. But in fact, I was pretty much on a faraway position from toku fandom since a long while now. I knew that Kingohger was a peak (I have some goods too) And Gotchard came to the half of series. But that time I was too faraway to ride on the hype train. Maybe because toku fandom wasn't my main focus fandom like I used to be. I was just enjoy some information about them when it come to my timeline and go to check if something fun happen.

When I heard a news about Boonboomger at first. I laughed a little from how funny the name is and made fun a little. Like Boom Shakalaka or Boom-Boom Shake (I'm in D4DJ fandom too). After I made a joke, I went back to my main focus fandom again because I thought "Well, Nothing gonna change. Know some news and look at them from far place like always. And my focus in toku fandom are usually Kamen Rider anyway" And when they appeared officially, People laughed at them because how funny the tire heads are. I was surprised too. Yeah... It was crazy design. But I always think that design isn't the most important thing. The story are. So I was waiting for the next information. Then February 18th, The cast revealed. I giggled again, For the third time. Because how the character name are too literally car-related names. Tire, Chassis, Mirror, Lock, Work site. But yeah... Still a normal thing in anime or media that sometimes the character names will bring from something that match the theme of story. So I was like... Okay lol. But the casts visual are so good. I admit.

Finally, First episode premiere. I looked at them from faraway position as usual. I knew that people still so impressed of how Kingohger was that much epic. So I assumed that Boonboomger that go back to simple way might not able to catch their attention that much at first... Or maybe not? How Sentai decided to go back to simple way after all of the craziness for many years might be a good thing, Let us rest for something more simple like a good old days. And after I checked a feedbacks, I was surprised and happy that how the audience like them after many laughs on them. Well, Simpleness aren't bad thing at all. But I will end up just checking on them from faraway again, right? Well, On the same day production blog was update too. As I checked a feedback from audience on Twitter, One tweet that captured one part of that blog caught my attention and it tickled my curiosity. That sentenced said that the blue "loves" (大好き) the red. Since I'm also long time fujoshi for many years that have lots of ships in toku fandom too, I was wonder a lot. Why they put that word so blatantly? Normally about shipping in toku, Just put something like have a strong bond, Strong interesting on other, Or trust that person a lot, is enough to gain an attention from fujoshis. But "Love" Huh??? This caught me off guard. I was like "Well, I'll keep check on them because I'm so curious right now"

So, I went back to main fandom like I always do. But keep checking on Twitter and Facebook every week after the on-aired. I found that they really keep caught me off guard. Outside of how normal but fun to watch story. The dynamics of the characters that interesting. And as my curiousness was on that certain blue boy, It kept escalated lmao. The "Unfair", "Trust your judgement", "Don't leave me behind" all of them came after the word "love" on production blog. They caught my attention and won't let me go because my fujoshi sense was tingling so bad. And his character settings have lots of my favorite tropes too. That time I still thought that "My interesting on them might be not that hard". But then, My local friend that I knew for many years but didn't talk to each other that much for years started addict to Boonboomger. She drew lots of BBG fanart. And of course since she's fujoshi like me, She drew fanarts and spicy fanarts of red and blue too. And those fanart kept come into my timeline. Lots of male friends joking about them too. Everything was too perfect for me to... Maybe comeback to toku fandom again? One day on May, That local friend decided to make a first Tiremeter doujishi. And when I saw that announcement, Even though that time my interesting still wasn't on the super high level, But I was like "I have to get one!" So I DMs to her since many years. We reconnected from the love for them. And then after that for a bit while the plushies was on sale and I decided to bought it. That time I was like "Well, Point of no return for me. Maybe I love them now."

I went to Japan for Kamen Rider Blade 20th anniversary event on August, But I enjoyed Boonboomger stuffs too like watched the on-air real time, Went to eat at Sentai Restaurant and buy some merches. After that I checked on the latest episode every week and enjoy the overall aspect of the series. The lovable characters, The simple but fun story. And they lit my fire to back to toku fandom for real since that time current main fandoms was on stable (and had too little things to enjoy) status. So yes, Toku fandom became the main fandom again since many years. And after that Gavv was able to caught my attention from the design and how cute Gocizos are too so, Fever time! I connected to lots of friends who have the same interest. Even in JP communities too. Since that local friend help me (or drag me) to this rabbit hole, I have to help her access to JP communities to buying doujinshi too. And with our power, It was successful (But our wallet are completely defeated)

The fire that Boonboomger lit inside me wasn't only the feeling of excitement since long time, But my development and improvement too. I already got lots of confident boost about my drawing from previous fandom. When I saw my friend made a second doujinshi, I said to her that I wanna join drawing the extra pages too. That was a first time in my life that I could break the limit of my drawing and the old thought of "My work will never be able to sell" and I was so proud when I saw my arts as a form of doujinshi in my hand even though it was just an extra pages. After that my will to improve my art skill became stronger and I keep on going until now. I even think about what if I revive my fiction writing skill that I left it dead for 8 years too? Well... Maybe. And another one is... Yep, Me came back to Tumblr because I wanna yap about my bois! This maybe a little improvement of my English skills.

I, Who usually mainly attract to Kamen Rider and enjoying Super Sentai from a bit far away compared to Rider (I grew up watching early Heisei Rider before knowing Sentai for a pretty long while so), Finally found Sentai series that I really love, Found actual oshi that I stan a lot, Found OTP that made me excited and brainrot so damn bad since Build. (As I said before that I'd never into toku ships that hard since the best match bois) Found the 3rd IRL person that I stan a lot since last time that was 10 years ago. And I feel really thankful to meet them and everyone that came to my life because of them.

I'm a person who have to take lots of time to like something a lot. But if I really into that thing I'll keep into it and never change. Since my fever time on Boonboomger still strong so maybe I need lots of time to find another series that made me crazy like this again. I don't know if Gozyuger gonna be another wave of my craziness again or not since I need a time to know them a little. But I think I'll enjoy a new series from a little faraway position like always. And I'll never forget how Boonboomger changed some parts of my life. Because a fire of passion inside me already lit.

I'm really glad to meet you guys, Tire person.

#bakuage sentai boonboomger #boonboomger #super sentai #tokusatsu #my post #appreciation post #1st year anniversary

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notthequiettype · 5 months ago

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i've been trying for many years to get into meditation bc i have need-to-calm-the-fuck-down disease and sitting still and breathing thoughtfully while trying to dismiss thoughts i'm not having on purpose feels like the exact kind of torture that could Fix Me if only i could do it right

so this year i was like, i am going to meditate for five minutes a day every day bc trying to do it three times a week or whatever just meant that i was never doing it (it's easier to build a daily habit than any other kind! i have lived and learned! just do it every day!) and so i use the balance app which is fine but they're always wanting me to scan my body and i don't want to! i am in pain often! in ways that are not relievable! i do not need to be MORE aware of it! so i got one real good one once where my friend ofosu made me imagine a garden and like, build it and it was the first time i ever finished meditating and was like, oh shit i feel better??? but short visualization activities with the right ratio of leave-me-alone to guidance are impossible to find??? so i just started doing an unguided meditation and building my own garden or whatever and for me, this is doing exactly what i want meditation to do, it steadies my pulse, it makes me slow down, it takes me away from all the worries and thoughts that are in my mind normally bc i am actively thinking about something else, and it's lovely

but like two weeks ago, instead of a garden i got a Blorbo Image and i was like... huh... meditative blorbo thoughts... i can work with this, so every day i spend five minutes thinking about my special little paper dolls and i come out of it with all the benefits previously experienced doing visualization and i am here to recommend it to you!!

sit down in a quiet space and set a timer for five minutes, close your eyes, take a deep breath and Imagine Your Guys!! put them on a beach, put them in an airport lounge, put them in your favorite restaurant and invent a reason for them to be there, put them in the backyard of your dream home and throw a party

the secret i think is the timing and also that you need to be building an IMAGE, when i get distracted and like, think too much dialogue i find that i do not feel as ~clear afterward, it's fine that they talk (and ymmv in all of this ofc) but i have to break it up with more scenery and detail than i would when i am writing which is good for my brain AND my writing which has been fun

ANYWAY, tips from someone with an overactive brain to you, it is very important when times are as hard as they are for many of us atm to let yourself breathe and actively think about anything else so i hope you do that in whatever way works for you

#unsolicited advice #the funniest thing about this process for me has been 1. accepting that something that works like meditation IS meditation #and 2. realizing how much i think in words #like i cannot just be like oh connor and leon are on a beach and see it bc my brain doesn't produce images like that #i have to have words for the sand and the rocks and leon's flip flops and connor wearing socks and slides which leon hassles him for #and then my brain kind of gets there #but all of those descriptions come out in sentences exactly the way i would write them #one word after another full sentences #the only way in which my brain has ever been orderly

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blue-grama · 1 year ago

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The Sign finale probably should have disappointed me, but... didn't?

It's been a heck of a run lately with Thai BLs that haven't quite stuck the landing, and it's got me pondering why The Sign worked for me despite sometimes feeling like a storyboard for a longer, better show.

I don't think they pulled off the emotional payoff they needed, despite that last reunion scene being so pretty and well-acted, simply because too much happened offscreen, from Khem's recovery from a gunshot wound to the entire multlifetime Tharn/Chalothon dynamic getting resolved without us seeing any of it. But somehow I wasn't that mad about it? And ultimately I think it's because this show did so many things well and so many things I'd love to see more of that I'm just like, yep, I enjoyed that ride sirs, please show me something this gorgeous again. In that sense it's joining something like Manner of Death or Kinnporsche where it's like, plot holes? Yes. Bizarre tonal shifts? Absolutely. Occasionally insane writing choices? Uh-huh. Love it anyway? You betcha. So here's what really, really worked for me:

Premise

I am always going to be onboard with QL that isn't solely coming-of-age or coming out. I'm not against those stories, of course, but give me gay romance with adult characters who know themselves and are doing adult things. I'm also a partisan for romances with high external stakes, so the mixture of crime and reincarnation was catnip to me.

Do I care that none of this training makes any sense? No.

2. Setting

Listen. Is The Sign the reason I have a document on my laptop titled "Imaginary trip to Thailand without ever seeing a beach?" Not exactly. But it's also not not the reason.

I am being willingly manipulated by the Thai Tourism Authority.

Kidding, kidding, but I do love when my Thai shows feel Thai or my Korean shows feel Korean, etc etc. I want to be driven to Wikipedia to learn more! Half the fun of watching stuff from not your own country.

3. Chemistry

I think @biochemjess covered what was underwritten about the romance in The Sign. Billy and Babe carried it on their backs and it was hard to dislike their romance, even when the series skipped over key beats.

Any time the pink lighting came out, you were gonna be in for a good time.

4. The camerawork

I don't know enough about film to speak intelligently about this, but the camerawork and aesthetics of this show were just so lovely to watch. It was really doing a lot. @chaos0pikachu wrote about it better than I ever could.

LOVED THIS. LOVED IT. So good.

We had some really lovely storytelling and visual parallels, too, like the first episode and finale both having a big action warehouse scene, or the multiple times that Phaya and Tharn ended up overlooking the Mekong river.

5. It was always kinda off the rails

I know some people felt this show started out with a strong premise and didn't live up to it, but I gotta say, I didn't have that experience. It was always kinda a bonkers watch for me. There were long training montages, random bodies in the shallows, missing genitals, extended performance art, that comedy flashback to Khem and Thongthai's college years... I never knew what I was going to get each Saturday. And I kind of loved that? I'm into unhinged. I was comparing this in my head to Last Twilight, which did disappoint me in the end, and I think it's because Last Twilight was NOT always bonkers and DID set itself up to tell a straighforward story, then dropped the ideas it had been juggling in the last episode. The Sign always felt chaotic to me, so a chaotic ending was par for the course. This is where I'd compare it to KinnPorsche, which had the weirdest fucking ending, but like, okay??? Why not!

End result? I see the flaws, but I'm giving this show tender forehead kisses anyway. Here's hoping for more like it.

#the sign the series #the sign #the sign meta #the sign bl #phayatharn

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multiverse-menagerie · 1 month ago

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Cupid's Chatroom - Ivan - Faking It Badly

hiiii i've recently got obsessed with the visual novel Cupid's Chatroom and got possessed and wrote this in like two days :3 if you enjoy pleaaaase go check out Cupid's Chatroom on Itchio and Kickstarter <3

(i've also crossposted to AO3 here)

CW; afab!reader, smut

Ivan hadn't really thought it through, calling you as soon as he’d finished the call with his mother. Her joy at her son having found someone was palpable through the phone and - despite it being Fake, remember - he’d rode that high and clicked the call button before giving himself time to think. It was only after it rang for a while before he realized that maybe he should’ve messaged first, at the very least, or maybe just updated in the group chat for everyone -

And then you accepted the call, blinking blearily at him through your screen. Hair a bit rumpled and one tank top strap hanging off your shoulder.

“G’morning.” You half mumble, rubbing your hand against one eye as you try to wake up.

Ivan is…mesmerized. Captivated. Distracted, by your bare shoulder and soft expressions, and is this what you’d look like every day, waking up? He mostly manages to succeed at looking too low on your chest but the tank top doesn't hide much and he can't fight the glances.

“Ivan?” You ask. You squint at the screen and learn forward a bit, trying to make sure your camera and mic are working properly. Which, whether on purpose or not, gives Ivan a clear look straight down your shirt.

“G-good morning!” Ivan looks around frantically, blush rising high on his cheeks and ears. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to call, I - well, I did but I should've asked first. I only wanted to give you an update on, um, things and I got too excited. I’m…gonna stop talking now.”

“Too excited, hmm?” You tease. You reach behind yourself and grab a blanket, draping it over your shoulders.

“That does seem to be my reaction when it comes to you.” Ivan replied.

“It’s way too early for this level of flirting!” You laugh, waving your hand in front of your face and trying to distract him from your flustered state. A yawn catches you by surprise and you quickly cover your mouth.

“Oh, jeez, did I wake you up? I really wasn’t thinking.” Ivan frowns. Well, he was thinking. About talking to you. But he won’t mention that.

“No, well, kind of. I hadn’t meant to fall asleep. Just wanted to relax because it’s my day off, I didn't think I’d just pass out right away.” You explain. Ivan still looks moderately concerned, so you put on your most charming smile. “You can wake me up anytime, sweetheart.”

“You might regret that offer one day.” But Ivan chuckles and relaxes a bit. “I can let you get back to relaxing. Save the excitement for later.”

“You’re just gonna wake me up and tease me with good news before disappearing?” You pout playfully.

“Tempting though it would be to leave you in anticipation, I suppose I can take mercy on you this time.” Ivan leans back in his chair a bit and relaxes. “I spoke to my mom about our…arrangement. Partnership. Fake partnership. Regardless! She is extremely excited that her baby boy is no longer single and can’t wait to meet you.”

“Aw, man, I’m gonna feel bad lying to your mom, huh.” You jokingly whine.

“And my sisters, and cousins, the cutest niece in the world…”

“I can’t believe you got me out here lying like this.” You sigh.

“I’m pretty sure this was your idea from the beginning.” Ivan countered. You sighed dramatically again, causing the blanket to slip a bit from your shoulders. You pulled it back tighter, keeping your hand clasping it shut. Ivan just swallowed heavily, having watched your movements and eyes lingering on your hand. “I get it, I understand if you don't wanna fake date me. I am pretty boring after all. You’re too pretty for me, anyway. That…was supposed to be an inside thought. Maybe you’d be better suited to chat up supermodel zzzleepy instead.”

“Ivan, shut up.” You roll your eyes while ignoring the heat creeping up your neck. “You’re not boring, I’m not pretty, and I think I’d actually go insane from too much zzzleepy exposure.”

“You are pretty, sunshine. Very pretty, actually.” Ivan said. His tone had shifted; he was being incredibly serious right now. No joking around.

“Th-thanks.” Deep breath, you channel some early morning confidence and flirt back. “You’re pretty easy on the eyes too, sweetheart.”

“I…I never know how to respond when you do that. You’re just so casual about it. It’s almost unfair.” Ivan blushed.

“I’m sorry.” You laugh a bit. “I’ll go easier on you, promise.”

The silly bunny Cupid in your phone continued to be moderately creepy while opening up the app for you and Ivan to talk more freely. Suddenly, you could mention towns near you and fewer things were blocked in chat. Ivan was suspicious, of course, and you couldn’t exactly blame Cupid without getting your messages blocked and an earful from Cupid himself. Cupid even put an app on your phone so you wouldn't have to rely on your computer (and so you could message Ivan more, obviously). The other guys only had the desktop chat room still, so you hesitated to tell them about the extras that you two were getting.

Cupid kept trying to push you towards bringing up the wedding again, because why can't you go? Your work is flexible enough (Cupid, how much spying are you doing?). Ivan has mentioned a few times how excited his mom and sisters were that he was finally ‘dating’ and kept asking if you’d be at the wedding. It’s only been a few days! But you can’t deny the temptation to meet Ivan in real life - though you’re really not sure how you’ll survive the Fake part of the Fake Dating.

And yet, you tentatively bring it up to Ivan, that maybe you could actually join him for the wedding? It’s in a few weeks, there’s still time to get to know each other.

“That’s…more tempting by the day, Sunshine, I’ll admit. It’s just, this whole chat room thing. This mysterious chat room just happened to connect me to my perfect, ah, perfect pretend partner?” Ivan’s quiet for a long moment. You’d opted out of a video call this time, so you laid on your bed, computer nearby, and stared up at the ceiling while you talked.

“Maybe it was Cupid.” You blurt out before you can think. You expect Cupid to have disrupted the call or something but Ivan just laughs.

“Fake cupid maybe, since we’re fake dating. I don’t think the real Cupid could be so cruel.” He mumbled the last bit before clearing his throat. “If you…really insist, I’d happily want you to come. With me. To the wedding, I mean. Obviously.”

“Obviously.” You tease. “I think it’d be fun. And I’m pretty sure you’re not a serial killer.”

“Ah, so my plan is working!” You both laugh. You end up discussing details, like a flight and where you’d stay (Ivan insisted you stay with him, of course). It’s daunting to think about meeting his family but seeing Ivan in person is more than enough encouragement. After a few days, you eventually admit to the group chat that you’re actually going to the wedding, surprise.

Romulus: Good job, Tech. [smug emoji]

Romulus: Shame she’s off the market though.

SundaeFundae: this is so exciting and cute [blush emoji] :o are you gonna have matching outfits??

Chapman: I cannot condone such a thing.

Zzzleepy: c’mon chapi dont be a killjoy :T

Chapman: I’m simply stating a fact.

You: ahaha I guess it is a bit crazy to do ^^; but i do it for Tech [nod]

Zzzleepy: scifi really got that GAMEEE

Zzzleepy: OMG we better get pics [puppyeyes]

TechSupport: I domt tthink we cand send pictrues inhere still

SundaeFundae: [cry emoji]

SundaeFundae: so unfair T^T Scifi gets her all to himself

Romulus: That is usually how dating goes, to be fair.

TechSupport: We’re notactuallyy dating

You: Only in my dreams u.u

Zzzleepy: scifi you better be careful or u gonna lose ur girl tsk tsk

TechSupport: she’s notmiene

TechSupport: tecniclaly

Romulus: and that technicality will be my chance [devil emoji]

Chapman: You’re all ridiculous for entertaining this.

Zzzleepy: is chapi…jealous??? [sweat emoji]

Romulus: I think you were onto something.

The fact that you survive traveling to Ivan is a miracle. Not that anything tried to compromise your flight, but the way your nerves and the butterflies in your stomach were fighting the whole time, you’d almost been sure you’d never had made it. Ivan seemed to feel somewhat similar, if his rambling in your dms was anything to go by. You messaged him as soon as you’d landed but found yourself hiding in a bathroom stall. What were you doing? Pretending to date a (really cute and likeable) guy, flying out to said guy to be his plus one to his sister’s wedding, all while trying to not actually like Ivan that much.

Maybe failing at trying to not like Ivan that much. It’s fine.

Once you’d finally gathered your thoughts and conjured up some fake confidence, you wheeled your suitcase out to the main floor of the small airport. You don’t see Ivan in your first glance around as you walk, but turn when you hear your name called.

It’s Ivan, of course, a grin on his face and hands in his pockets, hovering near an outer door. You smile in relief and head over. Ivan tries to stealthily wipe his hands on his pants ( you notice, but you won’t mention it).

“Hey. It’s so nice to see you. In person, I mean, I’ve seen you before. You know that. Fuck, um, hi.” Ivan moves like he’s gonna offer a hug before stopping himself.

“Hi, Ivan.” You grin up at him and let go of your suitcase to open your arms to him. “Feel up to a fake hug for your fake girlfriend?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t do fake hugs.” Ivan says. He takes the invite anyway, scooping you up and almost lifting you off your feet. You both laugh as you stumble and Ivan pulls back enough to help you steady yourself, hands still on your waist.

“You’re really trying to sweep me off my feet.” You laugh, stepping back a bit and reaching for your suitcase. He quickly reaches around you and grabs it before you can.

“It’s simply what fake boyfriends do. This way, I’m parked in their lot.” Ivan has one hand pulling your suitcase and absentmindedly offers you his other hand. You loop your arm around his instead, smiling up at him as you both walk.

“Lead the way, loverboy.”

The drive to Ivan’s house isn’t too long and you do most of the talking, rambling about the flight and asking questions about the town he lives in. He’s a good driver and you don’t notice how often he’s glancing at you out of the corner of his eye.

You ride through a cute downtown area before pulling into the parking structure of a moderately sized condominium.

“You weren’t joking about the condo?” You asked in surprise. Ivan chuckled and rubbed at the back of his neck with one hand.

“It’s not so impressive, I promise.” He pauses outside his door and turns to you. “Just, remember I’ve been living that bachelor life, alright? Don’t judge it too hard.”

Ivan’s condo is very…green, upon first walking in.You’d seen plants when video calling him and he’d mentioned a few times having to keep more watered but it seemed like almost any spare space in the living room was host to plant. Beyond that, the furniture was simple but plush looking and the place looked clean.

“Are you trying to live in a jungle?” You joke, eyes comically wide. He laughs as he walks you through the space, pulling your suitcase along.

“It’s kind of peaceful though, don't you think?” Ivan opens the door and gestures you in ahead of him.The bedroom is similarly decorated like the rest of the house. Plants, some pinned butterflies on the wall, and a huge plush rug under a well made bed.

“Oh, it’s nice.” You reassure him. “For a bachelor, your decor is top notch really.”

“Phew, I was worried. So, you can settle in here, whatever you need to do. Bed’s all yours. I’ll sleep in the living room, so don’t worry.” Ivan said.

“You never said I’d be kicking you out of your own bed.” You pointed out. Ivan sheepishly shrugged.

“I wasn’t about to make you share.”

“I’ll take the couch.” You insist. “I’m shorter anyway.”

“Absolutely not. I was just thinking my bed was too comfortable, I need to be reminded of the simpler things in life.” Ivan counters.

“Simpler things like a sore back and bad sleep?”

“Yep!” Ivan pat your shoulder before walking back out to the living space. “Can’t wait!”

It’s a bit awkward that first day. You told the group chat you’d made it safely (and Sundae made you Swear to let them know if you were in danger. He didn’t know how he’d help but he’d certainly try). You and Ivan just sort of…circled each other for a while, nervous and maybe a bit flustered. Around dinner though, Ivan handed you his phone.

“I know you mentioned liking sushi a lot and I was gonna order some as a surprise, but I don’t really know what you prefer. Pick a few out, okay?” Ivan insisted that you order whatever sounded good (he was happy to have a sushi dinner too) and once the delivery arrived you both sat at his small table to eat.

“Thanks for ordering, Ivan.” You chirp, happily breaking open containers and grabbing pieces to put on your plate.

“Of course. I figured this could be our, mm, second real fake date?” He ducked his head as he said it, quietly picking some food for himself.

“Keep this up and I’ll be spoiled.” You hummed happily over a bite of food. “Best second real fake date ever. I’m not sure how it will get better from here.”

“I had actually considered taking you to a nice restaurant, but thought you’d like to rest after traveling today.” Ivan admitted.

“You don’t have to do anything fancy, ya know?”

“I’m taking this fake dating seriously. I thought we were on the same page, I guess I was wrong.”

“Oh, I’m taking this soooo seriously.” You reply, pouting playfully before a smirk crosses your lips. You stand, walk around the table, and throw your arms around Ivan’s shoulder.

“What’re you-!!” Ivan instinctually reaches up to hold your waist. You press a quick kiss to his temple.

“Thank you so much for dinner, sweetheart. It’s very thoughtful of you.” You say. Ivan’s hands clench around your shirt but he lets his hands fall away as you saunter back to your chair. He grumbles something to himself as he leans his elbows on the table, covering his burning face with his hands.

“Something wrong?” You ask as you sit back down. Ivan drags his hand down his face, letting his glasses fall back into place.

“You’re doing this on purpose.” He grumbles.

“Obviously. You’re too easy to tease, Ivan.” You chuckle, before stuffing more sushi in your mouth.

“Ah, I can’t decide if I prefer you calling me that or sweetheart.” Ivan sighs, goes to pick his chopsticks back up before he freezes. “That…I didn’t mean to say that out loud. Ignore it, please.”

“I will ignore it this time, but only because you got me yummy food.” You chat over the rest of the food, Ivan warning about his overzealous sisters and his off-and-on relationship with his parents. You reassure him that parents usually love you and, if you get too nervous, you’ll just act like a very overwhelmed girlfriend that hangs off his arm the whole time (Ivan would not complain).

At some point, you move to the couch, beers in hand. And it’s so easy to relax like this. Ivan is warm and shares more personal things than he had over the (suspicious) chat room. He was funny and kind and, yeah, okay, also kind of a huge dork. But you liked hanging out with him. It was easy. Easy and comfortable and you didn’t notice you were getting sleepy until you dozed off during a quiet moment and Ivan softly shook you awake.

“I told you, you’re not sleeping on the couch.” Ivan jokes, holding a hand out to help you up. You wanted to protest but a yawn cut you off. So you grumbled but didn’t argue. He trails you to the door of the bedroom and shifts nervously when you turn to him.

“If you need anything, you know where to find me.” Ivan said. Before he can leave, you give him a quick hug, squeezing him round the middle before scurrying into the bedroom.

Oh, what have you signed up for? You change into pjs and plop down onto the bed. You’re greeted with the smell of freshly laundered sheets and…the smell of Ivan. You groan, burrowing your head into the pillow but all that does is fill your senses with the smell. You flop over dramatically. Fake dating was a lot easier when you were only talking through a screen.

The next few days are a whirlwind of meeting Ivan’s family, wedding prep, and a lot of “fake” dates. You and Ivan are constantly dancing around each other, flirting and getting flustered. A few days right before the wedding were blessedly clear, a time for everyone to rest before the big event, so you and Ivan got a chance to relax and lounge around his condo for a while. The two of you end up spending one evening staying up way too late, playing Mario Party (sorry FFXIV, you’ll have to wait) and having a few drinks.

“Ivaaaaan. You’re supposed to let me win.” You whine when you lose the second game in a row, his Monty Mole on the top pedestal while your Peach stood on the second one. At least you’d beaten both the NPCs this time.

“If I let you win, you’d just fuss at me for that too.” Ivan retorts, laughing. “One more round? It’s late, though, if you’d rather go to bed.”

“I can’t sleep until I win.” You huffed, starting another game. He laughed again and bumped his shoulder against yours.

“Alright, alright, don’t get too competitive, sunshine.”

“It’s simply in my nature.”

After losing your third game in a row (I swear Bowser sabotaged you this time), you gave up and just lounged on the couch while Ivan played a bit of FFXIV, streaming it to his tv so you could watch. You found that it was really fun to make widely incorrect assumptions about characters and creatures and watch Ivan try to explain it all to you, only to be met with you calling him a mega nerd. At some point you’d picked up your phone, so Ivan wasn’t too worried when you were quiet for a while.

He did jolt, suddenly wide awake, when your head landed on his shoulder.

He glanced down at you, phone dangling precariously from your hands as you slept. Ivan was frozen for a bit, unsure of the best course of action. He could wake you, of course, but he’d feel bad. He wasn’t sure he could carry you to the bedroom without waking you either and that might end up more embarrassing than just waking you up.

He could be selfish for just a night, right?

He shifted his arm behind you carefully and your head shifted from his shoulder to his chest. Ivan stilled until your breathing was even again then carefully, softly, draped his arm around you. He let out a sigh, letting his head fall back to rest on the couch.

He was truly fucked.

At some point, you tried to roll over, couldn’t, and woke up enough to look around. Oh, you fell asleep on the couch, no big deal - wait, nope, the couch is snoring and oh, actually, the couch is Ivan. He’d slumped down a bit farther into the couch, his arm still around you. And your arm, your arm was across his belly. Your head, on his chest. His other hand, the one not around your back, was slightly tangled with your own, fingers entwined.

It wasn’t bad. The opposite, in fact. Ivan was warm and his hand was soft on yours and you were so very tempted to go back to sleep.

Oh, you were fucked.

You carefully extracted yourself from Ivan, moving slowly and stopping anytime he seemed to move. Finally free, you threw a blanket over him and hightailed it to the bedroom.

Neither of you acknowledged it the next morning, though the blush on Ivan’s face gave away how he was feeling. You only hoped you weren’t blushing too (you were).

The day of the wedding was hectic and you were glad Ivan was only a guest. The wedding itself was small and simple, a beautiful ceremony really (and if Ivan teared up at his sister and her wife being so happy, well, you couldn’t blame him). The reception, however, was a loud affair. A good dj, open bar, and a few hundred of the couples closest friends and family made for a chaotic but fun atmosphere.

Ivan was the perfect gentleman the whole night (and he looked quite handsome in his suit and tie, the color of which matched your outfit). Holding your drinks, introducing you to everyone, pulling your chair out for you before you could sit down. It was easy to pretend that this wasn’t all a ploy to save him from family judgement and remarks. Especially when you two got dragged onto the dance floor and Ivan showed off his (questionable) dance moves. When the music slowed and changed to a love song, Ivan tried to pull away.

“Can’t I get at least one slow dance?” You pout up at him playfully. He huffed a laugh and allowed you to pull him back to you.

“I can’t promise to stop at one.” Ivan murmured. He rests his hands on your waist and you lay your hands on his shoulders.

“Oh, nooo, what a shame.” You reply cheekily. You sway gently to the music and try not to make too much eye contact with Ivan. One song turns into two then three. The party is slowing down for most, though some people seemed determined to stay til sunrise. Someone dancing a bit more loosely bumps into you, throwing a sorry behind them. You stumbled but Ivan steadied you immediately, arms tight around your waist even as your grip on his shoulder tightened.

“Don’t worry, sunshine, I’ve got you.” Ivan says quietly, head ducked down towards to make sure you’re okay. You can’t help it, really. Ivan is too attractive and the atmosphere is perfect.

You lean up and kiss him.

Ivan freezes, brain short circuiting. When he doesn’t respond, or move, you pull back and step back from him.

“S-sorry. I’ve gotta - I”m gonna. Bathroom!” You stutter out, rushing away from him and to the hallway, throwing yourself into the bathroom. You slid down against the wall, letting out a huge sigh. Good job, you tell yourself. Way to keep this totally fake and platonic. It’s already after midnight, maybe you could get the key from Ivan and just take a taxi back to his place, and never face him again.

There’s a knock on the bathroom door and you jump as Ivan calls your name.

“Can we talk?” Ivan asks after you don’t respond. After a moment, you crack the door open. Ivan visibly relaxes upon seeing you. “Sunshine-”

“No, don’t!” You cut him off, stepping out into the hallway with him. “I’m sorry, okay? I just…everyone else was smooching and you’re really handsome and I let my brain get away from me. We can forget it happened. Fake kiss, that’s it.”

Ivan frowns, opens his mouth, then closes it. Slowly, he nods.

“Okay.” He says quietly. He shoves his hands in his pockets and lets out a sigh.

“Can we - are you ready to go?” You ask, eyes downcast. “I’m tired.”

“We can go.”

The ride back to Ivan’s condo is quiet. You spend the ride looking out the window and wringing your hands together, playing the evening over and over in your mind. Ivan’s grip on the steering wheel is tight, knuckles white, though you don’t notice. Once inside, you rush towards his bedroom, only pausing to wish him a goodnight with a small, strained smile before disappearing inside.

The next day is similar. You tiptoe around and avoid Ivan, claiming a slight hangover and lack of sleep. Ivan finally loses his patience by evening, knocking on the bedroom door and walking in before you answer.

You’re sat cross legged in the bed, phone in hand (definitely not scouring the internet for instances of others fake dating and how it went. You get a lot of fanfic recommendations though). Ivan had been intent on talking to you but he’s a little…distracted.

Your oversized sleep shirt hangs off one shoulder and you’re very clearly not wearing shorts. Which is one of the last things Ivan notices, because he can’t bring himself to look away for a long minute until he finally shifts his gaze to your face.

You stare at each other wide eyed for a minute before Ivan stumbles backwards.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to, well, I should’ve waited for you to answer. And get dressed. Not that you’re not dressed. I meant more dressed. Not just in your…Not that I looked!” Ivan rambled.

“Ivan!” You scrambled to your feet and joined him in the hallway. “I swear, I didn’t plan on flashing you today. What did you wanna talk about?”

“That’s… that’s a good question. You’re so…distracting.” Ivan huffs a laugh and tugs on the neck of his t-shirt.

“Sorry.” You reply, tugging down the bottom of your shirt. Which only brings Ivan’s attention back to the way so much of your thighs are on display. Ivan takes a deep breath, drags his eyes away so he can look you in the eyes, and takes a small step towards you.

“Can we talk about…that kiss? About what happened?”

“I’m really sorry.” You say again. “I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“You didn’t, actually. Not even a little. But you’ve been avoiding me.” Ivan frowned a bit.

“I thought you’d be upset.” You admit quietly. Ivan takes another step closer and raises your chin with his hand.

“You think I’m upset you kissed me? Am I…Am I not as obvious as I think I am?” Ivan laughs lightly. He takes another half step towards you and you instinctively step back, lightly bumping into the way.

“Ivan…”

“That’s not what you’re supposed to call me.” Ivan murmurs. He ducks his head down so his lips are brushing the top of your cheek. “Try again.”

“S-sweetheart. What-” You’re cut off as Ivan raises your chin just a bit more and presses his lips to yours. You inhale sharply, eyes wide open for a moment, before you relax into it. You lean into it and grab the front of his shirt lightly. Ivan pulls away slightly, moves his hand from your chin to cradle the back of your head as he presses you against the wall, the bulge in his pants pressing into your thigh.

“Alright, Sunshine?” Ivan checks, locking eyes with you.

“Yeah, yeah. Great really.” You try to tug him back down towards you and he chuckles.\

“You got to tease me this whole time, do you really think I’m not gonna play with my food a little bit first?” Even as he says it, Ivan is bent down and scraping his teeth along your neck just under your jaw.

“W-wait, where’s my shy Tech Support and what did you do with him?” You joke, raising one hand to run it through his hair. Your other hand plays with the waistband of his sweats.

“His head’s a little cloudy right now.” Ivan replies, his free hand dragging up the bottom of your shirt. “But don’t worry, I’ve got you. I’d really like you in bed, though, if you don’t mind.”

You’re not really sure how you make it to the bed. You’re on your back and Ivan hovers above you.

“You change your mind, you tell me.” Ivan says, very serious.

“Promise.” Your agreement has Ivan positioning himself above you, though he takes a moment to grind his lower half against you. He tugs at the bottom of your shirt.

“Can I take this off?” He asks. You nod and lean up to make it easier to get off. Ivan groans low, eyes trailing over your chest.

“A picture will last longer.” You tease, grinning up at him. Ivan arches a brow at you before leaning down to kiss you, while one hand wanders to your chest. He grinds his clothed cock against you again, making your breath catch.

“I just have to last longer than you, Sunshine.” The two of you make out for a while before you’re the one tugging on Ivan’s shirt. He tries to pull it off but it catches his glasses.

“Fuck, shit.” Ivan grumbles, head still stuck in his shirt. You can’t help but giggle as you sit up and help him out. You hold his glasses carefully as he flings his shirt to the side. You let your eyes roam, catching on the trail of hair that disappears under his sweatpants. You gently place his glasses back on his face, followed by a light, quick smooch.

You pull him back down on the bed, bare skin brushing, and groan into his mouth when his fingers trace down the front of your underwear. Ivan kisses you harder all while swirling his thumb across your clit, your underwear adding extra friction. You buck under him, pull away a bit for air.

“Damn, S-sweets, fuck!” You stutter harder as Ivan leans down and bites your neck, sucking and nibbling enough to form a hickey. “Condom?”

Ivan leans over immediately, digging around in the bedside table and finally pulling out a box. He leans back on his knees to get one out and open it while you take the opportunity to tug his sweatpants down. His cock sprang free, leaking freely, but he lightly smacked your hand away when you reached for him.

“Patience, Sunshine.” Ivan grumbled. He quickly rolled the condom on, stood up to free himself of his sweatpants, and tugged at your underwear. You lifted your hips but never took your eyes off Ivan. His belly, his thighs. Ivan takes the chance to do the same, eyes roaming your entire body before he climbs back into bed over you.

Ivan leans back down to kiss you, then trails kisses down your chest before nibbling and licking at your nipple. You gasp, arching towards him, and you’re distracted enough that you don’t notice his hand until he’s slowly rubbing your clit again.

“Ivan!” You whine and dig your nails into his back. He chuckles against your chest, before letting his fingers trail further down and press just inside you. You whine again and try to rock against his hand, but he just pulls it away.

“Patience, remember?” He teases as he leans back up to kiss you.

“N-no patience. You’re being too slow, w-worst fake boyfriend ever.” You reply, equally teasing.

“I’m trying,” Ivan starts, pressing one finger into you as he talks, “to get you ready for me. I won’t hurt you.” You reach up, grab him by the back of the head, and pull him into a searing kiss as he starts fingering you. Fat fingers indeed, you think. Clearly his skills in typing was the only thing his fingers were bad at. Ivan presses his thumb to your clit while slowly pumping his fingers in and out of you, and you can’t help but squirm.

“I-Ivan, sweetheart, just - fuck me, please.” You moan. Ivan carefully and slowly pulls his fingers out of you, leaned back enough so that he could see the wetness that clung to him. He used that hand to stroke himself a few times before positioning his cock at your entrance.

“You’re sure?” Ivan asks quietly, eyes steadily meeting yours. At your nod, he slowly presses his cock into you, kissing away the groan you let out.

“Fuuuck, Sweets.” You’ve got your head thrown back, one hand clawing at his back and the other one grabbing the sheet under you. Ivan rocks against you, letting out his own groan as he drops his head back down to your neck, pressing hot kisses along it. One hand winds its way into your hair, tugging just enough to feel, while the other lands on your hip, helping you move in time with his thrusts. Ivan is mumbling nonsense against your neck between love bites and kisses, mostly praising you for taking him so well or about how tight and warm you are.

“I-I’m close, I think.” You manage to stutter out. Ivan slows, earning a whine from you. His hand keeps you still as you try to rock your hips.

“Does this count as fake fucking? Or can we quit pretending now?” Ivan murmurs against your neck, keeping himself still above you. Your heart stutters, even after all the two of you have done. Ivan’s hand tightens on your hip when you remain quiet and he nibbles lightly at your neck.

“I - I don’t…” You stumble over your words as Ivan thrusts slowly, just once. You shudder, instinctually trying to match his movements. You can feel his smile on your neck.

“Speechless, sunshine?” Ivan leans away from your neck so he can look you in the eyes. His own eyes are dark but steady.

“You’re not - not supposed to talk about feelings during sex, ya know. Too - too many endorphins or s-something.” You’re not sure how you manage to even speak with the way your head is spinning but you do and Ivan hums in response.

“Gonna have to have a talk after then.” Ivan yields for now. He grabs your hands in his, pressing them into the pillow beside you as he looms over you. “We will talk about it. Right, sunshine?”

“Yes, ye-” Ivan cuts you off with a kiss, squeezing your hands in his and slowly starting to rock his lower body again.

Ivan returns from the bathroom, damp washcloth in hand, and sits beside you on the bed. You’re both sweaty and you lay sprawled out on the bed, hardly moved from when you guys had finished. You reach for the cloth but he shoes your hand away and begins to gently wipe you off.

“You’re the most attentive fake boyfriend I’ve ever had.” You joke, trying to ease the intimacy of the moment. Ivan stills and slowly meets your eyes.

“Still stuck on this being fake? I - I admit, I was hoping for, well, not that. Honestly.” He takes a deep breath and tugs on your hands to get you to sit upright, so you’re both eye to eye. “You must know, that this, what we…are. I can’t keep this platonic. You are far too enticing for that.”

“Ivan…it’s just, if this is fake, then it can be fun and I don’t have to worry about you deciding I’m not worth your time.” You admit, head tilted down. Ivan places his hand under your chin and gently raises your face so he can look at you.

“You deserve nothing but the best. And I'm not saying I'm the best - that’s not what I meant. But if - if you want to stop pretending, I’ll do everything in my ability to lo-, to adore you the way you should be adored.” Ivan presses a soft kiss to the corner of your mouth.

“…okay. I’d…like that.” You admit softly. It earns you a big grin from Ivan, who peppers the side of your face with kisses, making you giggle, and pulls you into his arms.

“Oh, thank the gods. I thought I was ruining everything.” He sighs in relief.

“I will need to tell my fake boyfriend that I upgraded to a real one, though. He’s gonna be devastated. Oh, oh, hang on!” You lean out of his arms as much as you can and grab your phone. Ivan is content to press kisses to the side of your neck while you type (So not distracting, thanks Ivan) but he looks up when his computer dings too.

“What did you do?” He asks and you hold out your phone, Cupid’s Chatroom pulled up and a big cheeky grin on your face.

You: Guys, I have bad news. I broke up with Tech u.u

SundaeFundae: WHAT ;;

Zzzleepy: bish better be joking fr wtf o.o

Zzzleepy: my OTP, BROKEN T-T

Romulus: Does this mean you’re back on the market? [smug emoji]

SundaeFundae: ROMI NOW IS NOT THE TIME

You: Oh, sorry, mistype! I fake broke up with Tech. And then asked him to actually date me <3

Zzzleepy: [dead emoji]

SundaeFundae: that was meaaaan T.T but also really cute [blush emoji]

Romulus: I suddenly feel sick.

Ivan groans and leans more heavily against your shoulder. You giggle and toss your phone away again.

“You’re such a brat.” He grumbles.

“Is that a problem?” You asked cheekily. Ivan bit your shoulder quickly, making you jump a bit.

“Not a problem at all, sunshine.” Ivan says, voice a bit husky. He presses a light kiss to where he’d bit you. He placed a hand on your thigh. “As long as you can deal with the consequences, of course.”

#ivan espinoza x reader #cupid's chatroom x reader #cupid's chatroom

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mulders-too-large-shirt · 3 months ago

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s7 episode 7 "orison" thoughts

i’m baaaaack!

it feels like it’s been so long, but i think it’s only been 5 days since i’ve seen an episode. regardless! last one was cute and light, which is good, because i imagine that this one is going to be heavy.

we don’t often get to see a return of a baddie of the week. last time we saw this happen, it was a return of the pusher, and i didn’t find the second episode as good as the original, which i consider to have an important role in the x files canon. as does irresistible. so i’m really hoping for a suitable sequel, but i don’t want to be overly optimistic.

(post-episode thoughts: sometimes, i read my little pre-episode predictions and marvel at how very off i was. other times, my ability to see what is coming is a curse. this is one of those times. SIGH.

what is frustrating me the most, beyond the demonic retcon, is that i cannot figure out what mulder was going for during this episode. he starts out so concerned for her- rightfully so- and from there, it blurs to me. is he teasing her playfully to try and keep her from spiraling? is he genuinely listening to her theories? is he pushing them down because he sees them as potentially dangerous in that they can be used to manipulate her, or is he pushing them down because he thinks they're foolish? is it a mix of all of these? i just cannot get a read on him here, and it is driving me up a wall.

after a very lengthy pondering, i think i've decided that he was trying to be protective and genuine- and this interpretation is especially influenced by one of his final comments i'll analyze later- but it came off awkward

while i am curious as to how others interpreted this episode- so please do tell me your thoughts- overall i didn't like it very much and i think i will mostly pretend it didn't happen.

but we got to see more of scully's apartment. is it still the same one? the bedroom angle looked different from the anasazi arc. it almost looked like a house, tbh. need to make a mental layout of both their living spaces for fic purposes)

back to past me: let’s begin.

we open with a man preaching the gospel to some men who seem to be in prison. huh! i accidentally typed “orison” first, which is the name of the episode, and one letter away from prison. interested to see why this was chosen as the title.

he asks who believes. and he kinda looks like joe biden. he gets right in someone i assume to be donnie’s face and ask if he believes. and donnie says nothing. “well, believe, because god’s love is not just some slogan”

why is donnie smirking…. what has he planned….

now the preacher guy is tossing holy water, shouting glory, amen. but donnie does not partake in the hollering.

the prisoners are at work making shoes, it seems? one of the guards asks donnie if he really believes god loves him- he kills women and cuts their pinkies off- god has a place for him in hell.

augh! someone cut their fingers off with the saw?? did donnie do this somehow?? he is watching everything in slow motion…. the screen is very dark. in the chaos of someone cutting their own fingers off, he tosses his jacket and walks away.

now, i haven’t gotten very much information here, so i shall keep an open mind. anyway, it’s intro time! and we get the full one!!

woooow. always a treat to watch such visuals.

scully is sleeping!! do not wake her up!!!

alas. there is wind. ah. it seems to just be from her open window. we can allow this to disturb her slumber, for it is a mostly peaceful way to wake up.

wait. it can’t really be 6:66. that isn’t how digital clocks work!!

the electricity is flickering. and now it says 6:06. oh… poor girl. she is being tormented by signs.

now she’s at the prison. they’re handing her donnie’s file!!! mulder is watching her like a hawk… somehow donnie escaped and they need to get him back behind bars.

scully stares at the photo….. and nearly gags as mulder describes to the prison guards what donnie does

mulder does a little smile when the guard asks about them working with the supernatural LMAO- it almost seems embarrassed or like he just does not want to have that conversation right now.

then he’s back to watching scully. she had to step out of his line of vision to see donnie's photo again. very interesting.

she promises that there is nothing supernatural about this man- he is just plain evil. and she walks away. into the room where the men were shouting glory. she hears some sort of song.

oh…. he’s telling her to go home. “mulder, this case doesn’t bother me” “the man abducted you. donnie pfaster did a number on your head like i’ve never seen, and it’s okay to walk away” i appreciate his moment of tenderness so much....

but her body language is so defiant. “mulder, that man does things to people that no one should ever have to think about. it’s not a question of if i should stay. i don’t have a choice” <- THERE!!! RIGHT THERE!!! HER BEING MORALLY FORCED TO DO WHAT SHE CONSIDERS THE RIGHT THING!! ALL OTHER CONSEQUENCES BE DAMNED!!! GOD!!! it’s such a fascinating character trait of hers.

she says they have to get to work.

ohhh, donnie left the prison at 6:06 in the morning…. when she saw the alarm clock….

huh. is this going to retcon the whole thing about donnie being pure evil without the aid of any sort of devils or witchcraft? i liked that a lot about the original- that the evil was entirely human, like scully said.

okay. no more predictions from me.

mulder describes how donnie was the third person to walk out of maximum security prisons in recent years. no one who was at the scene remembers anything. and the other 2 that walked away were never seen again.

they’re asking a prisoner about donnie’s disappearance from the garment shop. oh no! it’s finger guy! but he still has them all?

so other people saw his fingers come off too, and he felt them cut off, but they’re still here. “god works in mysterious ways, brother”

when mulder lifts his hand, he says glory and raises his foot. hmm…… very weird.

mulder thinks this reaction is from hypnosis. and he makes a joke about it not working on her- trying hard to keep the mood from becoming a void of darkness- but she adamantly does not think it’s possible. her words are harsh. i understand.

ooo! mulder has figured out the one person all the escaped prisoners had contact with!! the chaplain. he is good at finding out this sort of thing.

and scully hears music once again coming from the vents. mulder can barely hear it.

“well i think if it was a make out song, it’d be ruined forever, huh?”

ohhhhh, his jokes seem nervous today…. or maybe i’m over-analyzing. both have been known to happen.

donnie is at a diner!!! he almost gets distracted by a woman he sees, but then goes to sit down. oh. and he’s watching the waitress’s fingers…. gross.

a woman sits next to him. asking if he’s hungry for today’s special. he stares at her fingers, and he declares she needs a buff and polish. and he says he just got out of prison- he’ll do it for free.

who is this missy figure and why does the waitress know her by name…?

OH! the reverend is here in the diner!!! saying it was the grace of god that got him out.

the marshals arrive. reverend dangles his car keys in front of donnie. and when he says “glory, amen”, the waitress tosses a pot of hot coffee at the cops, allowing donnie, missy, and the reverend to escape.

(author's note: now, having seen the whole episode, this too seems like a plot hole. because how did his mind tricks work on the waitress he had never met before to hypnotize? unless i missed something and one of the cops started to attack her and her coffee pot launch was an act of self-defense? that seems like the most logical conclusion, but i didn't see it happen and also there isn't a whole lot of logic in these sort of things)

BAHAHAAAAA but as the escapes the diner, the reverend gets hit by a car!!!!!!!! DAMN!!! that caught me off guard, LMAOOOO

i thought it was mulder and scully in the car, but it’s donnie and missy!!! and they drive away, leaving him on the ground.

NOW scully and mulder are here, and the cops can’t answer if they saw donnie or not. it is like their minds were wiped. but they do know that reverend orison was hit by a car. and scully hears that song again!!!! she asks the waitress to turn it up. she is so confused.

they go to talk to orison. he says some vaguely religious stuff and she replies “that’s nice”. a measured scully response.

he says that god has those who have left the prisons. “you’re a believer, aren’t you?” “this has nothing to do with me, sir” <- GET HIM!!!

but he says it does. she still isn’t taking it- she grabs her cross necklace, shows him- “it’s not exactly a long shot, sir” and he says she is longing, afraid, waiting for a sign. now. what is that supposed to mean.

he’s quoting something to her…. "the devil’s instant is our eternity".

OH MY GOD! mulder comes in with a photo of missy slaughtered in a bathtub. “missy”. they sure do love giving people in this show that name.

mulder asks the reverend where donnie is- orison says she wasn’t supposed to die. mulder thinks that orison was supposed to kill donnie!

“the reverend orison is really robert gailen orison- convinced in 1959 of first-degree murder. served 22 years in soledad” oooo.... the plot thickens.

he says god spoke to him, told him to look after donnie. “when god spoke to you, reverend, did he happen to mention where donnie was headed?” mulder is NOT happy!!!

scully is trying to process this. they walk into the hall.

this is deeply fascinating. she wants to know how to prove somebody isn’t being directed by god. “god is a spectator, scully. he just reads the box scores” “i don’t believe that” “you think god directs that man? you think he directs him to kill?”

oh my god. this is so tense. she says she knows the reverend believes it is god speaking through him. mulder replies that a lot of nutcases think the same thing.

“has he ever spoken to you?” (brief stunned scully silence) she looks him in the eyes and says “i’m trying not to take offense”. which is a nicer reply than he deserved- if he meant that as a dig instead of a rare moment of vulnerability. but he keeps going: “what did he say?”

(is he bullying her? or is he able to see what she is hiding from him? is it both? why can he be so hard to read? what is going through his mind? does he actually care about scully communicating with god? or does he think she is also a nutcase? the different ways you can interpret this are killing me. i want to analyze the script for any sort of clues)

she sighs and admits to hearing that song three times now. it may not mean anything to him, but it does to her. and he asks what it means.

she was in san diego at age 13, listening to that song, when her mother came in and said her sunday school teacher was killed. mulder softly says “oh”. “he had been murdered in his front yard. and that was the first time that i ever felt that there was real evil in the world”

and orison called her “scout”, which is what the sunday school teacher called her. see, i just thought he was quoting something, but that instead explains why she was so taken aback. and she tells him that she woke up exactly at 6:06, when her power went out and donnie escaped.

“so what do you think god is telling you?”

is he going to approach this with sensitivity? god, i hope so.

she’s at a loss for words.

“well, come with me, scout. i’ll show you how the reverend talks to god” and they’re on their way

this is so juicy…. i will be analyzing this for centuries to come.

(but him calling her scout made me uncomfy. again. was he trying to be reassuring? is he mocking her? i cannot tell. i feel like i'm trying to decode something here with slim to nothing to go off of. i want to read the script. i want to compare this with other episodes. i can't get a read on anything.

does he pity her? is he unintentionally condescending towards her? is he fundamentally incapable of understanding her worldview to the point where it comes off as disrespectful and malicious? is he trying, and he's just not very good at it?)

donnie is listening to the radio, which is describing his escape. the trunk of orison’s car is filled with bloody clothes, and donnie finds his license plate and his keys.

mulder is showing scully some brain swelling. she thinks it came from the car accident, but orison told mulder that he had a hole put in his head, so more blood pumps in through his brain.

listen. i recall someone else once getting a hole cut in his skull to get information from mystic sources. so i'm not trying to hear any judgement.

mulder thinks that mental powers might be limited by blood supply, and holy men in the andes used to remove parts of their skull to do just this. they could perform tricks like “stopping the world” <- aha! the slowing down thing! 'twas not a mere trick of the camera for us, the viewers, to enjoy!

so mulder thinks maybe orison was going to kill donnie, but he unleashed something he couldn’t control. hmm...

back in his hospital bed, orison says "glory, amen" and his heart rate slows. or not! the guard’s perception of the world slows! he gets up and takes his keys!! and leaves the hospital!!!

donnie is in a kitchen, cooking fingers naked. which is a crazy sentence.

well, technically he isn’t fully naked- he has a towel on. and he’s not cooking the fingers- he’s freezing them. but. you know. the initial image was visually striking.

a knock at the door… a woman arrives from a gentlemen’s service. he lets her in.

she knows it’s not his place- a reverend orison lives here. he stares at her fingers. her face.

“something you want to say?” “love your hair” ooooo…. it's spooky.

very interesting that they so blatantly queercoded the death fetishist. that's a topic of a different essay.

she is in the tub, soaking. he’s in the bathroom, asking if her hair is chemically treated. he doesn’t know which product to use. she does NOT like this. “you’re not using no product- i’m clean, my hair’s clean. if you’re gonna be that weird about it, i ought to just leave” and she gets up to go. asks for a towel. he wraps it around her. he's staring at her hair. it’s a wig.

“they lied to me” (he rips it off) “YOU lied to me!” he throws it away…

she tosses the candle wax in his face and makes an escape!!!!

when mulder and scully come back for orison, he’s gone!!! the guard has no idea where he went and his gun is gone.

scully finds a message…. “don’t look any further” ITS THE SONG TITLE?? mulder thinks maybe he overhead them talking in the hall, but she’s positive she didn’t mention the name of the song.

orison finds donnie…. cocks his gun. says he’s taking him home. the wicked will be punished.

orison digs a grave, with donnie's hands tied behind his back nearby. he asks him to repent. and donnie whimpers. cries. says he can’t. he cries for the reverend. “because you cannot kill me”

HUH??? donnie morphs into the devil. or a devil. WHAT.

LMAO WHAT. I’M SO CAUGHT OFF GUARD. BAHAHAHA, HOLD ON.

okay. i need a minute for this!

well! way to ruin the thing i liked the best about the first episode.

maybe i’m being harsh. we can…. see where this takes us. i guess.

mulder and scully are here. donnie's body is in the grave. she apologies to mulder. “there’s not much mystery in murder” “and for that, i owe you an apology, mulder” “what do you mean?” “well, you were right. i was looking too hard for connections that weren’t there. orison was a murder, plain and simple. he liberated those prisoners so he could bring them out here and pass judgement on them”

does she really believe that?? is that easier to believe than what she thinks she felt before?? and that she apologizes to him... was she aware of how worried he was for her? but did his worry come off as genuine concern or something closer to derision? is she used to that?

donnie placed the call that led them out there… scully seems to think he’s still around. but mulder says the x file is over, let’s go home, let the marshals deal with it. “don’t look any further, scully” <- wild to quote that song that is traumatizing her again

AUGH! but of course, donnie is still about, as he is a devil and i'm not sure how you go about killing those. and he’s in scully’s place, it seems. walking through her apartment. peeking into her bedroom. picking up her bible. putting it away.

and she comes home. oh my god. i’m so tense. she sets down her keys, takes off her coat. he’s watching her get changed. putting on pajamas. she’s standing outside the closet…. and her clock says 6:66 again. and the lights flicker out. she sees the closet open.

he opens the door and grabs her….

mulder’s phone rings, he isn’t home, but the marshal says a call girl identified her attacker as donnie- he was upset she wasn’t a real redhead. he gets home.

donnie’s choking her. she scratches his eyes. but he slams her into the mirror. she stabs him with broken glass. throws a bookshelf on him. runs and dials 911. but he grabs her. wraps up her wrists. “who did your nails, girly girl?”, he says as he slams her to the ground.

“the only reason you’re alive is because i asked the judge for life. the only reason you’re alive is because we didn’t kill you when we could”

MULDER IS STILL AT HOME??? he hears the song.

donnie is dragging scully into the bath. he tells her to be good- don’t cause any problems. she’s gagged and bound. the phone is ringing. and the song is playing.

she’s trying to get free…. looking under the door. she sees her gun. donnie looks through her products.

she got under the bed!!!! she’s rolling around.

he takes scissors from her kitchen. i can't help but think of how, once she gets through this, she will never want to use those scissors again. she inches towards the shattered glass from the mirror to cut the ties and grab her gun.

donnie is lighting the candles. he sees her on the ground. time slows down. mulder comes in. tells him something. we can't hear what he's saying, but his lips seem to read "put your hands in the air"

he turns to her. she’s free. she has her gun. she's bleeding from the nose. mulder’s screaming. the lights pop as she fires the gun. she looks at him. tears in her eyes.

woah.

later, they’re still in her place, and the cops are here. she’s wrapped in a blanket, and goes to her bedroom. mulder excuses himself from talking to a policeman to go see her.

“if you want to pack some things, we can get out of here”. are they going to spend some time at his apartment while the cops investigate? is she going to move out?

she finds the bible hidden in the drawer. “you can’t judge yourself”, he says

she sits on the bed. “maybe i don’t have to” “the bible allows for vengeance” “but the law doesn’t”

he leans in close. “the way i see it, he didn’t give you a choice. and my report will reflect that… in case you’re worried”

there's something she doesn't understand: “what made me pull the trigger” “you mean, if it was god?” “i mean… what if it wasn’t?”

(thus concludes the episode)

hmm….

i’m not sure how i feel. the best thing, in my opinion, about irresistible was the fact that donnie was entirely ordinary. so the demon reveal made me face palm. actually, i laughed out loud. i was thinking “please don’t go there” and boy, they sure did.

still, i could see some merit in the episode concept. he takes her again. okay. we’ve done this before- it's getting old. but this time she saves herself. a nice reversal. puts a bullet in his chest.

but she feels guilty at the end?? like the devil made her do it??

girl, you kill people all the time. is he different and special because you feel like your reasons for killing him were personal? and normally you feel disconnected from the action, so it’s fine?

hmm. hmm.

it’s always interesting when we see scully’s faith weaponized against her. i loved seeing her be like “yeah, fuck you” to the reverend who was trying to manipulate her. and very interesting to get that lore reveal about her childhood and the discovery of evil. orison somehow knew exactly which words to say. how?

i guess this episode feels like it wasn’t fully formulated to me. wasn’t thought all the way through. orison aimed to extract divine justice but didn’t for once, and then because of him more blood was shed. why did he change his mind that one time and spare donnie instead of killing him right away? why did he know what nickname and note to leave scully? was that sent by god? that makes no sense in a narrative role of god from a writer’s perspective. obviously, god is fully unknowable, but the writers of a tv show are, and i’m not sure wtf they were going for here.

idk, i think the original irresistible has so much to say about gendered violence, about things mulder could never understand, about scully’s worldview where real evil is out there, and it is impossible to comprehend. and at that point they hadn’t dived into her catholic lore, but it still feels like a major retcon to go over that initial terror of what humanity is capable of and blame it on the supernatural. even if she didn’t fully see his demonic transformation, she thought she felt it in herself with the lights flickering as she pulled the trigger. scully believes in the holy and the demonic, but most of the time, good and evil are just done by the human. and i love that about her.

i feel that the most interesting moments here were mulder’s. him telling her that she can go home (and her steadfast refusal out of her strict moral compass). him saying god is just here for the box scores- has he ever made any comment on what he really believes in terms of religion, ever? that view sounds like deism. is that really what he thinks or just another of his one liners?

and when scully opens up to him- even though he basically calls her a nutcase, and she specifies that she is trying not to be hurt by such a statement- he seems to listen. but is he? is he really trying? i cannot tell. is he concerned and trying to keep her from being manipulated but in doing so coming off as disrespectful? is he genuinely trying? i cannot fucking tell.

then, it is god (or fate or coincidence) that ends up talking to him when he hears the song and goes to help her. how interesting that choice is. for god to talk to someone who isn’t interested in listening.

would he be interested in listening after experiencing something like that?

i made that post the other day about how i would have loved to see them talk religion completely openly and without his trademark scorn. just to pick scully’s brain and learn what is important to her. but he seems almost unable to comprehend (or respect?) where she’s coming from. he inches close to it when he asks what god is saying to her. but then he dismisses orison as having extra brain blood. is that also dismissal of her theory that god can speak to people?

it’s frustrating, the give and take of it. she doesn’t believe in his theories, but she goes along with them. okay, sure, she says, let’s imagine that drilling holes in orison’s brain would make him connect with the divine or perform parlor tricks- why would he use that power to free donnie? she can put herself in the “what if” shoes and work around his theories even if she doesn’t adhere to them. but he seems unable to reciprocate. and it’s frustrating!

and i know this is a point of contention because i have had angry mulder fans leave comments (which is a funny statement to make, because it makes me sound like i am NOT a mulder fan, and obviously i am, look at my URL, look at my whole blog)- those fans have said: "well, she never believes him about his ghouls"- but there is something a lot more intimate and disrespectful about scoffing at another’s god, don’t you think? idk. i understand that he is a fictional character and fictional characters have flaws, but for someone who spends so much time researching other people’s belief systems out of what seems like genuine curiosity, his disregard for what scully thinks irks me.

i’m not expecting them to agree on everything, i’m just expecting him to listen. in my experience, as someone who studies religion, it’s really great to talk to someone who has different beliefs than you!! you get an inside scoop! learn about how the people you love see the world! is there any greater way to know someone? but he’s so cynical about the whole thing, it comes off as him dismissing her faith as childish, when he himself knows that wanting to believe in anything is an act of hope. which pisses me off.

but his comment at the end about the bible allowing for vengeance makes me think he really was trying. he really was making an effort to understand where she was coming from and reassure her of her validity in her own belief system. was this whole episode an awkward tango of him trying to protect her but not being sure how to do it? because that line recontextualizes everything for me!

hmm. i’m not sure what to think. i guess it would have been a fine episode on its own, but in the context of rewriting the narrative around an older iconic episode, it displeases me. i was engaged because i love to learn more about what they think on the world, but there are so many other plots that don’t involve the brutalization of women by men.

even if i think the choice of the queercoding for the villain- "who did your nails, girly girl?"- is incredibly interesting, and you could really mine that for social commentary. is that choice a 90's legacy of homophobia, or an acknowledgement of the fact that misogyny, femicide, and other violence against women can also be perpetrated by any man? and is that is part of what makes the randomness of the evil so impossible to comprehend? that who does it is entirely without pattern? well. that is a subject for another day.

on a base human level, how did the episode make me feel? i was invested. i like the religion stuff. i like protective mulder and scully who could be considered walking a line between listening to the divine and being a participant in her own demise. it’s interesting. but then we got to donnie in her place, and i was scared. again. really the only time i’ve felt fear during this show is with the femicide or stalking cases. i don’t think i’ll ever watch milagro again. maybe not this one, either.

i guess that is reasoning enough. i don’t like the cases where we see scully brutalized and tortured and hurt on the basis of her gender. and i don’t like that the original episode was shifted into the domain of the demonic. so those are two solid reasons to not like the episode. add in mulder’s inability to understand her and you can get some bonus points there- and him calling her scout also made me uncomfy. was he trying to joke with her? about her murdered sunday school teacher? was he trying and failing at being genuine? AND the sudden guilt when it came to scully defending herself made me mad too. girl, where did that come from? i’m looking all around for clues and i cannot find them.

there are definitely worse episodes, and definitely ones i’ve hated more. i don’t hate this one with a super intense and firey passion. just the sort of tired “ugh, why’d they do that?” you experience every so often when things should have been left well enough alone.

same with revisiting pusher. they should know when they’ve nailed something once that coming back to it is setting everyone up for failure. except for that one actor that gets to return and a sweet paycheck. for that guy, it rocks. although personally, if i played donnie i’d be mad they made him a demon LMAO but hey. you have to make a living.

#this post is long as fuck. the amount of words i'll type on this website for 8 notes...#LMAO. lots to dissect here but mostly i'm throwing my hands up in the air and saying “i didn't like it”#i do think mulder was trying but i think that also he is mulder and there are certain things he cannot understand and for him that might be #both the feeling of being a woman targeted for a violent crime and having a religious faith that guides your life #which you can't really fault him for but in the past he's barely even tried to understand her relationship with religion so i was wary #well girl. at the end of the day. who the fuck knows?#they made him a demon. you have to laugh. as seriously as i can treat the text as something worth dissecting you STILL have to laugh #hmm. well. let me know what you think. i'm excited to watch the next episode because it sounds silly.#7x07 #juni's x files liveblog #txf #the x files

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imustbenuts · 28 days ago

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Slasher route hundred line thoughts, most clock tower like experience of my playthrough so far

Went from "guhhhhh this is excruciatingly boring too much free time" to "oh huh hey ho I like this g'ie takumi hehe!" in a nutshell.

and then "hm this is the most different feeling route in terms of what genre the game has been about thus far"

but fist i need to geek about the character design. takumi sumino is. cute. or moe. takumi already has an extremely cute face, almost cat-like with how his cheeks are shaped and having a fringe that hides/blends with his eyebrows. with his coat covering at least 1/4th of his hand covering his wrist, rui komatsuzaki somehow nailed the Moe foundation really good for the cutscene illustrations to do this:

thats the cutest murder boy ive seen from a video game in my entire life so far, thank you mr rui (also i feel like he picked up a fashion book somewhere in the time between DR and THL but thats just me dsklfjds)

I picked the slasher Takumi route first and the zombie route later. I think slasher Takumi route suffers from extreme pacing problems and could do with more timeskips and better character writing and banter. Poor Yugamu got butchered in more ways than one in this route, the killing game route Yugamu was a hell lot more fun.

The execution when it happens is also very fun. Idk if good but yeah characters and their frustrations makes sense and their actions make sense. Gaku and Darumi acted like proper teenagers so I won't give them flak for catching the g'ie and causing this whole mess too hard. ...still dumbasses for that tho kjhJHDFLFDSKJ

takumi going slasher was already a big suspision early on for me, the how's and why's pulled me along nicely

one major annoyance was sometimes the threat would be implied to come from one side of the screen when it's actually the other. So I'd get game overs just like that multiple times running into it

my experience with VN and old JP adventure type games are admittedly VERY limited, so take this next part with a huge grain of salt.

there are a lot of 2D navigating to objective points in this route, and its from either running from zombies or from the suit killer. or as in the later case, chasing as a zombie or the suit killer.

and this kept vaguely pinging something in my sleep deprived brain at 2-4 am of my play session this morning, but now that im digesting what i went through, this felt like the old horror adventure games thats the great predecessor of games like THL and DR.

clock tower and twilight syndrome specifically. for me. actually MORE so twilight syndrome bc of how often theres a sub character following takumi as they run around in the school corridors. the slasher routes lacks the spooky supernatural elements, which i understand but also kinda wished it affected a lot more than just within the school.

v'esh getting eaten was nice at least. ive whooped her butt about 8 times now a little change of pace is very welcome.

anyway, THL is far more basic about the mechanics, so its only a weak connection, but its still there. now granted THL is a game made by fans and/or developers of those games (kodaka worked on clock tower 3 as assistant director so wahey)

meanwhile the whole g'ie thing was fascinating. my first impression of its visual was, "is that a metroid???"

and then it proceeded to g'ie all over takumi and made him her host which then caused me to think: "ah, so by killing eito his saya no uta disease is fully unleashed from his pov hell and into the narrative. this metroid has elements of saya all over itself with the reproduction with an intelligent queen host thing."

i see. i understand now. theres a time loop going on and theres attempts made to stop g'ie takumi from trapping everyone in the torment nexus along with him. okay i can roll with that.

eito aotsuki is a barrier maiden and by killing him the narrative laughs at the player and says, "You fool. I am the culmination of influential JP games you dont even know about. My fathers are Kodaka and Uchikoshi and their diets are wonderful eldritch etertainment and Nice Boats. You shall cower before us and be charmed."

and i did. yeah. im very much having fun.

#the hundred line #last defense academy

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acaplaya-musings · 6 months ago

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Voiceplay Visuals - Party Of Your Lifetime

Man I'm so happy to have one more video to visually dissect and delve into before the year ends! I really do enjoy making these posts!

VoicePlay's cover of Party Of Your Lifetime was released on the 13th of December, 2024 (or the 14th of December if you live somewhere like New Zealand, or Australia like myself). This was done in collaboration with the developers of the videogame Warframe, who reached out to VoicePlay after seeing and loving their cover of Sleeping In The Cold Below, another Warframe song. This song, however, is not a space shanty like SitCB was, but instead a song "performed" by the in-universe 90s-style boy band "On Lyne", whom VoicePlay are basically portraying for this video!

Many other things to say, (and if you wanna wanna hear my thoughts on just the vocals/arrangement/music, go HERE), but it's time for me to rewatch the video and start grabbing screenshots! Lets Get Into This!

I wasn't prepared for the "ad" at the start, ngl 😂

(Also in case you don't know the On Lyne band members, Geoff is Zeke (and Zeke is Geoff), Eli is Packet, Layne is Harddrive, Omar is DJ RoM, and Cesar is Drillbit)

"BIG BYTES PIZZAAAA!" (god they're such dorks, I love them)

Actually I might as well spend a bit of time talking about their clothing now, since there's gonna be even more costuming (and makeup) stuff to talk about quite shortly.

Geoff is wearing a key around his neck again! (Idk whether it's got any story significance or just meant to be a 90s fashion thing, but this is like the third or fourth time Geoff has worn a key necklace for a video if you count both VoicePlay's channel and his). Eli's got glasses on again! (First time since 2022 if you don't count Jingle Bell Rock or the Jump In The Line Mini). Also I like Cesar's necklace! (It's part of the character look)

(Also I kinda love the "a memory in every byte/bite" tagline)

I'm a little sad that the CDs they're using have the original On Lyne visual graphics, i.e. before Zeke's design got updated (to look more like Geoff), but oh well.

...I'm Sure It's Fine. Nothing to worry about, guys!

(Also fun fact: part of that was done in editing of course, but part of that was also just done by Kathy off to the side flicking the light switch off and on again! 😆)

Now we get to the bit that was seen in the teaser video! (And man I hope I don't hit image limit!)

It does bug me just a tiny bit that there are four spotlights in the back and not five, but oh well, teensy nitpick, it's not really that big of a deal.

Actually, while I'm talking about lights, I gotta shoutout Eli as usual, but also a guy by the name of Anthony Baldwin for both working on lighting design!

Lights up! I'll get to costuming again in a moment, but let's talk about set design!

I didn't actually fully register it until I was watching the BTS, but the floor is wet! (Or like a thin layer of water mopped over it anyway). Like with VP's Running Up That Hill video, it gives a cool (and even creepy/otherworldly) vibe to the scene thanks to the reflection effect, but I guess it also helps with some of the footwork, like doing easy spins and stuff (but be careful not to slip!)

There's also empty pizza boxes strewn around (shoutout to Kathy for doing a lot of work with those!), and there's even a metal lighting rig(?) thing at the back left of the shot that's tipped over in a way that implies that stuff has been wrecked!

(Oh boy getting clear screenshots from this is gonna be a Challenge huh).

Okay so like all of the guys' outfits are visibly dirtier and "tattier" than they were in the intro clip (more indication of whatever infection/infestation they've fallen victim to). But like while the others have clothes that are like moth-eaten, or have small holes, or rips in the hem and sleeves and stuff, Mister Geoffrey Castellucci has now had his shirt ripped open all the way down to his midriff/stomach area. I literally had to pause a couple of times to be like "wait are my eyes deceiving me?" No. No they were not. (definitely a "new record" for a YouTube video!)

Anyway the design thing on his forehead is cool, if you look past the fact that it makes it look like he's got no eyebrows!

Oooh I like this shot. Also maybe the four background spotlights are alright after all without needing a fifth.

This video was directed by both Layne and Tony (Tony helped out a lot with choreography and stage direction during the shoot), and Layne also did the arrangement for this one (though Eli is also credited with "additional arranging", funnily enough)

Even when infected/infested, Cesar continues to slay! Love the lipstick, love the fishnet arm thing! Also his left eye looks kinda purple in this shot and I'm guessing it's just the lighting, but it could be a contact lens, idk

Look how cool Eli looks! He had a relatively simple outfit compared to the other guys, but I guess that just means more to work with for the "post-transformation" stage! Look at the things on his shirt! (Claws? Plant tendrils? Alien things? Idk!) And the designs on his head!

Here's where I give credit where credit is due to Rick Underwood and Renette Feren, but also a woman named Jacqueline Coleman, as all three of them helped with makeup and prosthetics for this one! And of course Rick and Renette always do a stunning job.

The very first hint that any of us got pertaining to what VoicePlay was up to was when Omar posted on his Insta story when he was getting this makeup/face stuff put on him! Some people thought it looked kinda dragon-y, and yeah it still does! Like half a face of dragon scales! Cool!

Cool brief black-and-white "glitch" with distortion effect!

Okay but why does that picture low-key have such a vibe to it honestly

And can't forget a couple shots of Layne! He's got a kinda sorta "dragon-scales" thing on his face too, but yellow and wrapping from one cheek to another, up over his forehead (and blocking his eyebrows like with Geoff's face thing)

Oh I like that shot actually

(He's not getting a "he's so pretty" for this one, but I will give a heart emoji! 💜)

"DJ spins the track!"

Eli going over to Layne as Layne imitates being a "disc jockey" and doing the kinda record-scratch movements was honestly kinda cute? Also funny because the "DJ" of the group is DJ RoM, who's being portrayed by Omar, but of course Layne is your best bet for being able to make all those turntable noises by himself!

Omar does a very smooth spin on "the boys are in sync...", and in fact you can briefly see a bit of water 'splash' out from his feet as he does so!

A better shot of the side of Cesar's face! Also lighting colour change for the bridge(?) section!

Omar still has his portable CD player that he had in the intro clip, love that.

Also this is a better shot of some of the dirt, rips, and tears in some of the guys' clothing (but no one got a super low v-neck except Geoff, pfft)

...Alright fine, he's so pretty!!

I guess once you've seen videos like Thriller and Classical Chaos and Kidnap The Sandy Claws and stuff, makeup looks like this really aren't too hard to "get used to". (Also is it weird of me to say that the yellow-green stuff on his forehead kinda brings out his eyes a little bit?)

(And I can tell by the glimpse of the two necklace chains I see here that Geoff is, as always, still wearing the necklace that he always wears as well as the key necklace! <3)

Okay that's definitely a coloured contact lens

Does this count as an old-timey video effect? I think it does - I'm gonna have to start a running tally for VoicePlay videos honestly (and/or an idea for a new screenshot compilation maybe?)

Wait is Geoff doing air bass guitar?

And the screen closes back in for the end pose! (Also rip Geoff being the one most in shadow)

And that's Party Of Your Lifetime! Honestly it's just a really fun video with a really upbeat, energetic song, and I'm so happy for VoicePlay that they got this cool opportunity! They deserve all the recognition and more!

Got plenty more stuff lined up for this blog before Christmas, but in terms of visual analysis, that's it till January at earliest! Until next time!

#voiceplay #geoff castellucci #layne stein #eli jacobson #cesar de la rosa #omar cardona #voiceplay party of your lifetime #voiceplay visuals #acaplaya analysis

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