#like the early buzzfeed days

[floaty-pickle]

Shes so beautiful, i'm genuinely crying

[citrlet]

very sad this morning seeing Ryan and Shane leaving youtube to start yet another exclusive subscription service :/

[eloise-t-g]

i think for me, the watcher situation comes down to this:

it's absolutely respectable that the watcher team wants to grow and produce better quality content. it's respectable that they don't want to stagnate and end up pushing the same content out over and over again. that's not satisfying for them creatively, i get that.

however, if higher quality, more heavily produced content is not what your fans are asking for, then you can't ask them to fund it.

this all-or-nothing method they've gone for is frankly bizarre. it feels like they leap-frogged all other alternatives to improving their finances and ended up here, alienating and frustrating the majority of their fanbase (the fanbase they thanked for getting them to where they are).

i think this could have gone a lot better if they:

Hadn't hyped up this video for a week.

Hadn't announced the worth it successor just beforehand.

Hadn't put out a wishy-washy, "boo hoo we're so sad about this", over-produced video.

Hadn't made it $6/month (more in a lot of countries given exchange rates).

Had considered that this means fans in specific countries literally cannot pay for the subscription due to geo/region-locking.

my ideas for improving their funds, aka things they could have tried before blowing their brand up: create their own website with two options - a free version with ads and a paid version without ads, OR make better use of their patreon/make their website extra content, not all their content, for example:

Put the ghost file debriefs on there.

Put shows like survival mode on there (or even shift that show from pre-recorded video to live-stream - live stream access to patrons and VOD access to everyone, maybe).

Put episode commentaries there.

Do reaction videos to their old buzzfeed content, talk about memories and BTS, and put that there.

Put one/two episodes of each show, per season on there (and ONLY there).

Put the episodes up there a few days early.

Make specific, website only content (that's not your main and most popular series aka ghost files and puppet history).

Record the live, in-person shows and put those VODs up there.

EDIT (thought of something else lmao): put extended or even uncut versions of ghost files on there. Paranormal Detour on Detune's twitch channel has shown that people will willingly sit through 6+ hours of a ghost investigation.

EDIT: idk, do livestreams once a week where you watch scary movies with fans on discord or twitch.

(side note: the fact that they're not taking down their patreon and instead shifting all of their podcast content on there, something the patreons who have been loyally giving them money for years didn't ask for, is ridiculous and greedy. add to this the fact that they don't even get a free sub to the new website, instead get 40% off - a measly 10% more than anyone else who subs before the official launch).

the thing for me is that they're claiming they want to make "television" and "television-grade content". that's completely fine. what's not completely fine is acting like your four episodes a month is equal to netflix's entire catalogue.

this really felt like it should have been something they told us they were progressing towards, not something they revealed to be on the imminent horizon. idk, it just feels out of nowhere. no, they don't owe us all of the info about their company. but something had to be better than this.

final thought - it's okay and valid to be upset at the team for this. for a lot of people, it's a complete betrayal (especially the comment that $6 a month is something "anyone and everyone can afford", i mean yikes). i do think some people's anger got the best of them, and some of the comments i've seen across youtube, twitter, and tumblr are plain bullying, racism, and harassment. until we have the whole story, we can't decide that one founder (aka steven in a lot of people's minds) is solely responsible. i know a lot of these awful things are only coming from a small minority of the fandom, but they still get seen.

at the end of the day, all three of them got up in front of a camera and made this video, together. that can only lead us to the conclusion that they made this decision together. acting like these men in their 30s couldn't stand up against it if they truly wanted to, is so strange and parasocial lmao.

tl;dr there were much better ways of going about this announcement, if it even needed to be made at all. however, that doesn't excuse the hateful shit being spewed at the team. for now, all we know is the three founders decided they were done with youtube, and done with their loyal youtube audience.

(i have so many more thoughts on this but i need to stop lmao. however i do wonder how different things could have been if 1. they had hired someone with actual business experience as their CEO from the jump, and 2. this video was more of a "hey we're broke! this is a last-ditch effort to save our company!". guess those questions will remain ... well ... you know ...).

[pixiesfz]

can u do reader x leah williamson where reader has a nightmare? xx

OFCOURSE I CAN! I’ve been having these weird dreams lately so I’m gonna play on that so this should be fun for me.

plot: y/n keeps on having these series of dreams and Leah tries to help her out

warning: nightmares, mentions of stabbing and killing idk, I’m writing this on my phone.

You woke away with a jolt as you caught your breath “again?” You whispered to yourself as you took in your surroundings.

You were at Leah’s and you hadn’t told her about your dreams yet but you thought they would go away if you were in her hands.

Maybe all those romance books you read were lies.

You took your time getting out of the bed, you didn’t want to wake up Leah and you tip toed your way out of the bedroom and into the kitchen where you poured yourself a cup of water.

You sat on the couch with your now empty glass as you cuddled yourself. You could never sleep after a nightmare it was something you never grew out of.

But these nightmares lately weren’t very scary as such but you woke up so scared as if it was real.

“Y/n?” Leah’s voice filled the room as you looked behind to see your girlfriends blonde hair enter “I’m here” you said and you saw her walk into the room, her hair up but her bangs were fallen out, she looked beautiful and you smiled at the site.

“What you doing out here? She asked and you looked down “just had a weird dream is all” you shrugged “was it a nightmare?” she asked, now sitting down next to you.

“Sort of” you explained “but it’s just different” you said and she perked her head up “different how?” she asked and you shook your head “it doesn’t really matter it’s stupid anyways”

Leah put her hand on your hand which sat on your thigh “hey nothings stupid about a dream” she said and stroked your hand “well then it’s silly” you shrugged and she smiled “if the dream is big enough to take you out of my bed then it must be serious”

You smiled at her slightly dirty joke before leaning into her embrace and cuddling her side “can we talk about it in the morning?” You asked and she nodded “of course” she smiled and kissed your head “so you wanna sleep here?” her breath now fanning over your ear as you grew more comfortable on top of her.

You nodded with no words as your tiredness took over you and Leah smiled “okay”.

When you woke up you had to remind yourself of the night before and then you thought about the dream.

Leah deserved to know about it, you guys were getting serious and your sleepovers were slowly turning permanent.

“Leah?” You croaked out and she slid her hand through your strands of hair “yeah baby?” She asked “I’m ready to talk about the dream” you said and you felt her body nod.

“It starts out fine, I’m with you and the dogs and then I might be at work with the news crew and filming another weather show-“

You felt Leah softly laugh and you turned to her in a grin “don’t laugh this is my dream” you said and she nodded “sorry I still just find it funny that I bagged a weather girl” “shut up!”

“Okay then continue” Leah smiled and you sat on your elbows with Leah under you “like I said it starts early with me doing normal day things and then once I get home there’s always someone there with me, they have a mask on and their either trying to kill me or take something for me, at first it was scary but now I just wake up with my heart racing and shortness of breath almost as if-“

“You were in the dream” Leah finished for you and you nodded “yeah” you said and Leah smiled “I read something like this once” she said and you rolled your eyes “Leah buzzfeed does not mean actual facts” you laughed and she pointed at you “I actually learned this from a book actually.

“Oh yes your reading phase” you smiled and she now rolled her eyes “Like I was saying” she said and you smiled, looking up at your girlfriend “it could maybe be a warning”

“I’m going to be killed?” You asked and she crossed her head

“No, maybe you will get betrayed by someone that could explain the mask that this ‘person’ always has on that could resemble a person you are close with” you nodded at her words “or it couldn’t be” she said quickly.

“Or it could just be a vivid dream?” You asked and she nodded “some dreams just come for no reason” she explained “maybe your doing something in your daily life that you want to stop” she said “you did say they’re sometimes trying to take something”

“Yeah but” “No buts” she cut you off with a smile “If you have the dream again, wake me” she told you “but-“ “what did I just say about buts” and this time you laughed.

“Maybe he’s trying to take my house” you smiled and Leah smirked “What would you do if he took your house “Well I would stay with my girlfriend, she’s beautiful” you listed “she has these bangs that she complains about but I love and she also is the captain of the women’s England team how interesting-“

You were cut off with Leah’s lips on yours and you smiled into the kiss.

“Y/n” Leah said as she pulled away “yes?” You asked “Do you want to move in with me?” She smiled and your smirk grew “well of course” You said “but I would have to let my girlfriend know”

[eggcats]

"people are mad that that artists wanted to be paid" no, people are mad that they HAD places of revenue they could have invested in and instead decided to fuck everyone over and piss off their fans who have been there since the buzzfeed days

(+ the only reason they're now saying they're not pulling content is BECAUSE of the backlash, and this isn't even going into how any growth is now impossible if it's their own platform, they are NOT big enough or produce enough content for this)

like, apparently they have a patreon? have never heard of it. absolutely no advertisement on it, when PLENTY of people would subscribe if they plugged it at ALL (like, fans love bts content, early episodes, extra/uncut stuff, having their names be credited at the end, a discord, etc) but I've never heard of it, and according to people who have subscribed, they didn't find it worth their money (not an ideal baseline for their own service)

they have merch? make more and better quality/nicer designs (or just fun quotes! so much of my stuff from their buzzfeed days is just shane quotes, but the only stuff I've bought from them now is their jackets and the professor doll, nothing else. I've looked at their catalog, it's ugly. put a funny quote on a shirt and I'll buy it guys, it's not that hard)

a youtube membership for similar stuff to the patreon, yt livestreams, USE THE PLATFORM YOURE ON MAYBE???

explicitly asking fans to turn off adblock for them on their videos

but, like, I am absolutely not paying $60 just for like 1-2 shows that only get like 4 episodes a year. they do NOT have the content for this on their own (and why tf do they have 25+ employees???? bro what) - not to mention, the inaccessibility the new platform and ability for non US based fans to even subscribe

people watch bc of the dynamic between Shane and Ryan, some of my favorite episodes are ones where we get the random text on screen- nothing fancy

tbh I get what they want but it's been my opinion that too much of their stuff that I watch has become a) formuliac and b) overproduced without much to show (imo mystery files comes to mind, it's Fine but I only enjoyed the banter vs all the unnecessary visuals, the same with ghost files)

I've seen people mention how expensive just the ghost hunting stuff is, and like yeah, maybe stop buying that big fancy brandname equipment without and instead ask for sponsors to advertise your stuff, all that stuff is nonsense anyway so it's not like you're lying about like betterhelp or something

and idk, maybe having a show where you apparently eat gold and caviar isn't the best if you're struggling with money (esp bc who watches it? not me)

what they need is someone who actually knows anything as their ceo, having less than half the staff they do, and investing in the avenues they already have with SOME pay walled content (not all), and maybe learn how to actually produce their shows without bleeding themselves dry bc the fans watch for THEM not the "production value"

[sjyuns]

🗒️ 、 BUZZFEED QUIZ PARTY

boyfriend riki x fem reader 513 words warnings - genre fluff mikaela’s note i have insane amounts of trust in buzzfeed quiz results it’s scary

You pull the screen of your phone towards your chest, eyes darting to your left, trying to catch a glance at your boyfriend, riki’s choices.

“I know you’re staring,” he points out, immediately turning his screen the opposite direction, and you groan.

“But you always stare at my phone before you choose your answers,” you pout before letting out a small shriek when riki tackles you down — your back splayed on your bed and him over you.

And you think your boyfriend looks extremely charming in the early hours of the day with kissable rosy lips, matching necklace hanging down his neck, and tousled bed hair. He awakened all your fairy tale thoughts without even having to do anything prince like.

“No I don’t,” he grins, looking down at you, “I’m just making sure we get the same results.”

“That’s not how BuzzFeed quizzes go, riki,” you remark, purposely avoiding the kisses he tries to pepper you with — as if he knew exactly how to distract you from the fact that he was cheating his way through the quizzes. “Plus, I thought you didn’t care about these quizzes.”

“I don’t babe,” he argues, yet the sparkle in his eyes when he looks back at his screen exposes him. “I do not care what kind of hot cheetos flavour I am from the seven course meal I choose. ”

You giggle at his detailed argument, as riki claims he only does these quizzes because of you, yet you have never once done such a quiz before. “riki, we’ve never done a hot cheetos quiz before.”

The revelation turns your boyfriend’s cheeks a shade of ruby red as he runs his hands through his hair, eyes darting everywhere but your face, that has an idiotic smile plastered on it.

“We have,” he tries to persuade but the both of you know that it never happened. And riki buries his face in the crook of your neck in embarrassment. “I started doing more quizzes cause I know you like them. And maybe I’ve gotten a little addicted,” he mumbles.

Your heart swells at his words, and you think that you could look at riki for just a single minute and find a thousand things you love about him.

“Love you too, boyfriend,” you whisper, and riki moves in to give you a kiss. It’s short and sweet, and it makes you feel like you’re going 1000 miles an hour.

Breaking the kiss, riki spends the next few seconds gazing at you in pure adoration. And he thinks he’s going to dream of you tonight, again, like he always does.

He moves back down, resting his head on the crook of your neck once again. The warm and familiar feeling encompasses you for yet another night.

“Tomorrow,” he murmurs, deep voice filling the quiet calmness, “we should find out what our favourite dipping sauces say about us. I bookmarked it.”

“Alright,” you giggle, and riki presses light kisses against the base of your neck as the both of you slowly fall asleep in the arms of each other.

© SJYUNS

[robsheridan]

One year ago, my "Meat Gala" AI body horror fashion series, imagining demons from Hell attending the MET Gala, went wildly viral on social media (here's a Buzzfeed article/interview with me about it)

My subversion of the event's elite glamour with nightmarish gore that commented on the grotesque opulence of the 1% really resonated with people, and as the first AI horror art to go viral in this way it was the first exposure many people had to the dark side of what was possible with AI imaging. It also led a lot of very angry Christians who inexplicably thought it was real (enjoy the comments here and here), and it also led to terms like "body horror," "flesh," and even "Cronenberg" getting banned from MidJourney (I didn't even use the term "Cronenberg" in my prompts), sealing the work in a liminal space in AI art history, unable to be recreated or continued. Of course it didn't slow down my AI horror journey, and the spirit of this work - both visually and in out-of-control viral impact - continued this year with my Valentine of the Flesh body horror fashion series.

This series is also special for me because of the subsequent conversations I had with MidJourney's DavidH in which I argued against their censorship of horror art, and he revealed a depressingly vanilla view of "art" and "beauty" that he sought to curate with his platform. What I had discovered, first with VIIR and then with The Meat Gala, was that the algorithmic opinion towards artistic beauty which made MidJourney at the time leagues ahead of previous AI art tech, could be subverted to make stunning and wholly unique horror art. The elegant way those early versions of the software blended elements together like surrealist paintings was meant to ensure that any prompt result gave you something that looked like beautiful art, but what I found is that if you pointed it in the right direction, it would do the same thing with blood and flesh and bones and tentacles, to spectacular uncanny horror effect. In the case of The Meat Gala, the effect was even more potent, as elements of demonic body horror gore were twisted through lenses of beauty, glamour, and opulence. To me, I was making beautiful surreal nightmares, and I was floored with the potential I saw and the ideas it gave me. But David and the other MidJourney creators saw nothing but a perversion of their software. They were, in fact, shocked by my Meat Galaseries and worried that its viral spread was giving the wrong public impression of MidJourney before it had even officially launched. They didn't know their software could make something like that, because they didn't have the type of minds that had ever even thought to try.

In that moment, when I genuinely surprised and upset the creators of the software, I was able to let go of the nagging feeling I had that "I didn't really make this, the software did" and feel true ownership over my AI work. After all, if the creators of the software didn't even know such art was possible, it went against everything they created the software for, and they rushed to try to prevent it from happening again, then I had truly made something unique to me as an artist, that would have never existed from anyone else. It was a new type of creation, but a very real and personal creation nonetheless.  As much of a bummer as it was to find out the creators of the coolest horror art tool I'd ever encountered actively hated horror art, I was empowered and inspired to see what else I could pull out of each new liminal phase of a rapidly-progressing technology.

The Meat Gala series also led to a very cool art collaboration, resulting in something new I'm very excited about that I'll be announcing Monday May 1st, the day of the 2023 MET Gala. Stay tuned!

[starsandhughes]

Unwelcome Mornings— Platonic! Jack Hughes

request: “i have another request for platonic jack bc u write him so. damn. well. but ik u just did one for him so if u don’t wanna that’s all good but my idea was jack and y/n are hanging out but she’s all moody and dramatic on her period and they’re just chilling until her symptoms get bad and he sort of takes care of her??”

Warnings: detailed period experiences, cursing, blood obviously, throwing up

word count: ~1k

MASTERLIST

——————

Having sleepovers at Jack’s place wasn’t unusual for you two, nor was sharing the bed. And getting your period while at Jack’s also isn’t unusual. What was annoying though was your period hitting four days early. Hard. This was the worst one in a while, and your poor best friend was experiencing it with you.

You woke up way too early to the stabbing pains of what felt like your uterus trying to crawl out of your body. You scoot closer to Jack’s side of the bed and cling onto him. You straddle your legs around one of his and lay your entire upper body on his, resting your head right over his heart so you could match your breathing with his heartbeat in hopes of easing some of the cramps. Jack subconsciously moved so he could spoon you, but you gripped onto him even tighter, which woke him up.

“What’s wrong, Y/N/N?” Jack asked you groggily. His morning voice was very deep and scratchy. You did nothing but cling even tighter to him and groan. Jack looked over to see some blood on his sheets on the side of the bed you were sleeping on and quickly put the pieces together. He wrapped his arms around you and started to rub your back up and down, “Do you want me to carry you to the bathroom so you can get situated?”

“I’m early,” you mumbled into his skin.

“I have some tampons under my sink,” he told you. “And you can borrow a pair of my boxers and sweats.”

You immediately started crying at how sweet Jack was being. Jack tucked your head into his neck as he cradled it and rubbed up and down your back some more, “Hey, no, none of that. It’s okay.”

Jack held you for a bit longer before he decided it was time to fix everything up so you could relax for the rest of the day. Thankfully, he had no practice today, and you had no work. So it was just a you and Jack day. You refused to let go, so he carried you to the bathroom and sat you down on the counter so he could get clothes for you. When he came back, he set the folded clothes on the other side of his countertop and stood in between your legs when you held your arms out for a hug.

“I’m going to change the sheets on the bed while you get changed. I’ll be right back, okay?”

You hopped down and did everything you needed to do. You just finished pulling Jack’s crew neck when an intense wave of nausea washed over you. You immediately dropped to your knees in front of the toilet seat, breathing heavily. You tried to focus on deep breathing to push through it, but it was to no avail.

You felt Jack kneel down beside you and gather your hair into his hands to hold it back as he, once again, rubbed your back. You hated throwing up— it burned, and you had barely eaten anything last night so you were mostly dry heaving. You cried as your head hung low, feeling absolutely disgusting.

“I’m sorry,” you cried.

“Don’t be, Y/N/N, it happens. Nothing I haven’t seen before,” Jack assured.

“I’m pretty sure I’m dead,” you heaved out, sitting back and falling against your best friend’s chest. Jack put his head on your forehead and moved it around to press on various places on your face, “Mmmm… you’re a bit cold, so you might be a ghost.”

“Oh yeah?”

“I don’t think ghosts bleed through the sheets, though,” Jack joked.

“What do you know about ghosts, Hughesy?”

“I learned everything I know from Supernatural and Buzzfeed Unsolved,” he said fatter-of-factly, eliciting a laugh out of you.

Jack put new sheets on the bed fairly fast, but he did have to pull the blankets back up after you crawled onto the bed.

“I’ll be right back, okay? I’ve got emergency “Y/N’s dying” supplies on hand,” Jack said as he rushed out of the room.

You grabbed a pillow and pulled it into your lap, very weirdly cuddling with it in an attempt to feel some relief. Jack wasn’t even phased by your unusual position as he came in and dumped a pile of various objects on the bed. A heating pad, midol, dark chocolate bars, and a teddy bear in a devils jersey.

“What’s with the teddy bear?” you asked as you picked it up. The second you brought it closer to you, you caught a whiff of the all-too-familiar cologne and your eyes widened. “Is that…”

Jack awkwardly ran his fingers through his hair, “Yeah… um… I know you liked Quinn’s cologne and said it was comforting for reasons I still don’t know but I kind of… bought it? And sprayed the teddy bear with it so you could have some comfort but saying it out loud sounds really stupid and– please don’t cry!”

You held the bear protectively against your chest and nuzzled your nose into it. Jack climbed into the bed next to you, feeling very panicked.

“I can’t tell if you like it.”

“I love it, Jack, seriously. Thank you,” you sniffled, moving to cuddle up next to Jack. You felt him breathe out a sigh of relief as he slipped an arm around you.

Jack turned on a movie and let you move in various positions to get comfortable, and never complained when you’d shuffle around for minutes trying to get situated.

“Hey Jack?”

“What’s up, buttercup?”

“Thank you.”

Jack looked down and smiled at you, “anytime.”

[simonjadis]

Jesus christ. I'm scared to ask but... what the hell happened with The Watcher fandom?

I don't even go here, but here's my understanding

Several years ago, Shane and Ryan left Buzzfeed to launch their own company, teaming up with Steven Lim. Watcher has grown, producing multiple shows. Initially, people were supporting them on Patreon (for discord + early access) and YouTube. both of these are increasingly notorious platforms that take cuts from profits. YouTube payouts are massive if you're just 1-2 people getting a million views per video and a new successful video every week. but it doesn't cover a growing company's needs

To be blunt, for Watcher to continue as a company, they need cut out "middleman" services that both regulate their content and take a cut of their earnings. That means moving off of YouTube and it means changing the Patreon to just be for the podcast.

So, on Friday (April 19) Watcher announced that they're launching their own streaming model. Everything that they'd already shared would remain on YouTube, but future content was coming out on their own service for a $5.99 sub. Which in turn would be lower than or about the same as anyone subscribing on Patreon, and would also be without the horror of YouTube ads

(Again, I don't go here, but I will not watch advertisements voluntarily, least of all on yewchube. I have ublock origin/firefox and when it comes to streaming, I have the ad-free subscription or I don't watch it at all)

To be clear, they made this announcement well in advance of launching, and were making sure that international viewers would still be able to view (something that some major corporate streamers have not done). They also emphasized that they're unbothered by profile sharing, so that $5.99 per month could come down to $2 per month for three friends, or just (as I often do) one person buying it and sharing the login with friends.

Also you can gift subs. All of this is unfortunately moot, and it seems that many of the people reacting to the announcement did not learn or care about any of this.

The reaction to this news was, to be blunt, unhinged. Obviously, it's normal for some people who cannot afford $5.99 per month to feel disappointed. And any change can be unnerving for a fandom. But the vitriol (some of it, like the person who accused them of "ruining Taylor Swift's day," was admittedly very funny) was pretty vicious.

I think that a lot of it was disinformation based (unclear on where the idea that they were removing old content from YouTube originated, as it certainly was not from their announcement video) and a lot of it was (predominantly younger) viewers looking for social media clout by coming out with the coveted "worst new take" to impress their friends.

And so, SO much of it was racism. For some reason, a lot of people have invented a narrative where Shane is being held hostage by the other two co-owners, and desperately wants to release content for free to the detriment of his company, but Ryan and Steven have somehow conspired to make their company profitable so that they can continue to (evilly) pay their employees.

From what I can tell (again, I don't even go here), the bulk of the backlash ended up targeting Steven. People in the fandom are already weird about him and have an ugly tendency to invent mean things about him (a couple of years ago, some of these same ill-behaved "fans" decided that he was homophobic, not because of anything that he did or said).

So this was an excuse for these vicious little beasts to let loose. They were leaving abhorrent comments on his loved ones' Instagram photos -- some from months ago.

On the less overtly racist front, backlash included people saying that they just want Shane and Ryan sitting in a room talking about stuff. It is unusual for creatives to not care about the quality of what they make; of course Shane and Ryan and Steven care about production quality, about being able to film ghost-hunting and other shows. They're not 23-year-olds scraping by, they're artists and storytellers and they are also employers.

I don't know these men and I don't generally feel sorry for men, as a rule, but it must have been pretty devastating to find out how many of their most vocal "fans" seem to despise them, feel entitled to their art for free, and will rage against them like this.

Which leads to Monday's grim announcement, which as I understand it was that they're going to put new Watcher content up on YouTube with a delay. I'm not saying that it's a bad policy; I'm saying that it means that they remain tethered to YouTube for what content they can include, and it's showing these rancid trolls that their cruelty works.

I'm not going to say that this is "letting the terrorists win" because I'm not trying to victim-blame Watcher here. But I worry about what these rotten little beasts will do now that they've felt the rush of victory.

I cannot emphasize enough that I do not even go here. plenty of people very much go here and have written at greater length and in greater detail than i have. I'm just horrified. I don't even go here

[janesociety]

the interviews

marvel cast x teen!reader

summary: you and the cast have a day full of interviews for Infinity War and you spend the day worried about one in particular

notes: like the other one, kinda cringy and a few years old. also this is based off how i expirience dyslexia and may be different than your experience!

masterlist

✩ ✩ ✩

The whole cast knew you were dyslexic. It was hard to not notice sometimes. It had first been brought up in one of your first Marvel movies a few years ago. It was when you were quite a bit younger and not as good at reading allowed and connecting words to objects.

It was your first read through and you kept mispronouncing “Fury” as “Furry” and were confused as to why the Avengers were fighting a furry. Eventually, Scarlett had leaned over and corrected you. You were embarrassed, but the cast found it endearing, if anything.

It was now time for the Infinity War press tour and you were nervous. You and the cast had just finished up the small LA portion of the tour and were now off to New York for the first full week. The New York portion was always the hardest for you- mostly because of the chaos of it all.

The New York portion was where all the late night show or morning news appearances happened and the “major” interviews such as Buzzfeed and Wired. And there lied your problem.

Your day started bright and early at 6:00 in the morning so that you and the cast could be ready to go on Good Morning America.

“Hey, kid,” Robert said, walking up behind where you were sitting and placing both of his hands on your shoulders. “You ready?”

“For this? Yeah,” you laughed. “Everything else? Not so sure." He shook your shoulders.

"You'll do great, kiddo, I promise," he said, giving each shoulder a squeeze before walking off again into the chaos.

It was only a few more minutes before you and the rest of the cast were sitting down in two rows in facing an interviewer. The crowd of people watching the show clapped as you all walked out and took your seats.

"And we're back in..." a producer held up three fingers, then two, then one, signalling the end of the commercial break.

"Alright, we're back now with our special guests: the cast of Avengers Infinity War!" the interviewer said. "Hello, guys, it's great to see all of you!" There was a chorus of greetings from you all. "Okay, so let's get started...."

The interview went without a hiccup and you and the cast were off to your next set of interviews- which happened to include the ones you were worried about.

Your agent handed you your time table for the interviews you were going to be doing and your heart started to pound. The Buzzfeed interview you had been warned about was on there, first, however, you had to sit through nearly three hours of other interviews. Interviews normally put you on edge, but knowing what was coming after just made it worse.

You found the room that your morning block of interviews was in and sat to wait for the other two people you'd be with. When Sebastian and Anthony walked in, your face lit up, knowing the interview would be 10x less stressful with them there to entertain/distract the interviewers.

And so your long morning started, the three of you bounced off each others energy and jokes. Most of the interviews went well, although there were ones here and there very obviously spoiler fishing.

"I take about what 60% of what he says is true," Sebastian told the interviewer, making you laugh.

"60% of the time, I am right 5% of the time," Anthony said, confusing the interviewer and making you laugh harder.

"What he's saying is that he is only right 5% of the time, over half the time, which is generous, in my opinion," you said upon seeing the confusion on the interviewers face that did not clear up after your comment.

"So, Y/N, we know this movie is a big game changer for Marvel, and people have been wondering what your, as the youngest cast member, future looks like in the MCU?" they asked, trying to move on from the previous conversation.

"I don't even know what my present in the MCU looks like," you answered. "Am I even in this movie? I don't even know- I just show up where they tell me to."

"Same, I don't get scripts until the week after we film the scenes," Sebastian said.

"A week? Damn, I still haven't gotten mine," Anthony laughed.

"I think that's all I have for you guys today," the interviewer said, obviously somewhat disappointed that they couldn't drag any spoilers out of you. "Thank you!" he said, his voice sincere but his expression sarcastic.

Anthony clapped as they left the room, jumping up out of his chair excitedly. "Alright, lunch time," he said, turning to smile at both of you. While you were grateful for the break, it only meant you were closer to the interviews where you had to read on camera.

"Gotta eat something, kid, gotta long day still," Anthony said, watching you stare at your sandwich. You looked up, nodding and then taking a bite. Just focus, you'll be fine.

"You okay?" Sebastian asked from next to Anthony. You forced a weak smile as you finished chewing.

"Just nervous," you answered, wiping your hands on a napkin near you.

"Why? You're great at interviews," Anthony said.

"I have to read in the next few and I'm worried I'll mess it up," you said, playing with the sleeve of your shirt. "I know it's dumb- I just get nervous about it."

"You got nothing to worry about, kid," Sebastian said. "If you mess up, just play it off as a joke- people will love it it'll end up in one of those 'Y/N being the best MCU cast member' compilations."

"Thanks," you said with your mouth full.

"Chew your food," Anthony said, throwing a napkin at you.

~~~

"I'm Tom Holland," Tom said from beside you.

"And I'm Y/N L/N, and we're going to be taking a quiz to see how easily we can identify Marvel movies-" you cut off, waiting for Tom to finish.

"That had been terribly described," he said.

"Alright, first one," you said, pushing your nerves out of your mind. "A boy destroys his planet because he doesn't want to share it with his sister who broke his favorite toy." You read slowly as to not mess up, and it worked.

"Is that the one Guardians of the Galaxy movie?" Tom asked, thinking out loud. You hummed in thought, trying to figure out what it was.

"None of them have sisters though- except for Gamora but it says him," you said.

"It's Thor!" Tom shouted. "Thor: Ragnarok." You smiled, looking back at your computer, realizing you had to type your answer. Great.

"How do you spell Ragnarok?" you asked, raising your eyebrows.

"It's exactly how it sounds," Tom said, already moving on to the next question. You raised an eyebrow at him.

"Tom, I'm dyslexic, I don't know how to sound things out," you said, him going red remembering it.

"R-a-g-n-a-r-o-k," he spelled out for you and you laughed as you typed it.

"'A boy solved daddy issues with the power of friendship'," Tom read. You both looked stumped.

"Tony had daddy issues," you thought out loud. "So does Loki- maybe it's one of the other Thor ones."

"Would they put two Thor ones in a row?" Tom asked.

"Maybe it's to trick us?" you offered. You both shrugged and started typing.

"Ah! This one is Guardians of the Galaxy," Tom groaned.

"'A dude made a wormhole to seek attention'," he read, moving on to the next one.

"I have no clue," you laughed, leaning back in your seat.

"I don't either," he laughed. "Give up?" he asked, cursor hovering over the button. You nodded doing the same.

"Avengers?" you read out, confused. "Did Loki make a wormhole in that or something?"

"Maybe? God, we're such bad Marvel fans," Tom laughed.

"'Small guy who likes committing international war crimes becomes a him- a himbo who still likes committing international war crimes'," you read aloud.

"Ant-Man," you and Tom say at the same time, laughing as you type the answer in.

"What?" you yelled as it the screen reads Wrong!

"Captain America?" Tom asked, confused.

"We were so confident!" you said, smacking the table.

"'Someone just got out of prison commits more crimes, but now with inces- insects'," you read.

"Did you almost say incest?" Tom laughed/yelled. You burst out laughing too, covering your face.

"Oh my god," you wheezed with laughter. "Can we both agree it's Ant-Man?" you asked, both of you still recovering from laughing, the question only sending you into more fits of laughter.

"'A surgeon gets operated on by his ex-girlfriend'," Tom read. "See, I think this one is Dr. Strange, but that's not actually the plot, so I don't know."

"Want to guess it?" you asked. He nodded, both of you typing it in and getting it right.

"'Man had to face his consequences after ignoring a- a weird guy 2- years before, while adopting a kid who owned the garage he broke in?'" you read, not so sure of the ending. "Was that it?"

"Yeah, that's it," Tom nodded, his brows furrowed. "'Garage he broke in,'" he repeated.

"Oh, Iron Man... 2? Maybe 3?" you said.

"I think 2?" Tom said. "Let's go with that.

"Goddammit, 3!" you groaned.

"Okay, last one," Tom said. "'An orphan fought his teammate (who tired to run away because he hated the American government) with his best friend who murdered the orphan's parents when he was younger.'"

"Okay, I'm almost positive this is Civil War, but we've gotten a lot wrong that I've been sure of, so I don't know," you laughed.

"I think it's Civil War- orphan Tony, teammate Steve, killer Bucky," Tom said, explaining his thought process.

"Alright..." you said typing it in.

"Yep!" Tom yelled but you looked up at him confused.

"I got it wrong?" you said, showing him your laptop. He read what you typed and tried to hide his laughter.

"Y/N.... it's c-i-v-i-l, not c-i-v-a-l," he said chuckling. You turned a bit red and glared at him.

"I hate you," you mumbled, closing your laptop and rolling your eyes.

"We're terrible Marvel Fans," Tom said, looking at his 38% and your 25%.

"Wanna go binge watch every single movie now and redeem ourselves?" you joked. He smiled.

"Sure why not," he chuckled.

[its-elioo]

Incorrect quotes (RnM fanfic related)

Part 2, Part 3

Rainbow: When I get murdered, can you make sure I become an unsolved case?

Sideswipe: What?

Rainbow: I want to be on Buzzfeed Unsolved.

Sideswipe: Can we go back to the part where you said “when I get murdered”?

-

Sunset: I want to be a caterpillar.

Optimus: Explain?

Sunset: Eat a lot, sleep for a while, wake up beautiful.

Optimus: You are aware that they have a lifespan of two to five weeks, correct?

Sunset: That’s another highlight.

Optimus: Sunset, no—

-

Bumblebee: I’m not mad, I just want to know why you need a fake ID.

Fluttershy: *mumbles*

Bumblebee: What was that?

Fluttershy: …You need to be over 18 at Petco to hold the puppies.

-

Optimus: You are very mature for your age, Sunset.

Sunset: Thanks, it’s the trauma.

-

Rainbow: Sibling relationships are weird.

Rainbow: Like, I’d give Sideswipe my life on a dangerous mission without a second thought but there’s no way in hell that I’d give him a single fry from my McDonald’s meal.

-

Rarity: *hurts herself*

Rarity: SH-oot!

*Knock Out and Sideswipe look at each other in confusion*

Sideswipe: What was that?

Rarity: I don’t swear.

Knock Out: Why not?

Rarity: It’s not ladylike. No well-mannered woman does it.

Rainbow: *walks by in the background and stubs her toe*

Rainbow: FUCK!

Rarity: …most of us anyway.

-

Twilight: Excuse me, who’s in charge here?

Ratchet: Well, usually whoever yells the loudest.

-

Rarity: We can’t kill him!

Knock Out: Not with that attitude, we can’t.

-

Fixit, gesturing to Twilight: Sir, that’s my emotional support human.

-

Pinkie: You call it a near death experience-

Rainbow: We call it a vibe check from God!

Ratchet: *optic twitches*

-

Sunset: When I asked if my day could get any worse it was rhetorical question. NOT A CHALLENGE!

-

Sunset: I stopped a murder today.

Optimus: Good job, Sunset. I’m proud of you. How did you do it?

Sunset, staring seriously and ominously at Optimus: Self-Control.

-

Bulkhead: What are your superpowers again?

Applejack: Super-strength, agility and stamina, yo mamma jokes-

Bulkhead: Yo mamma jokes?

Applejack: Well Bulk, I’m an orphan so they can’t say anything back.

Bulkhead: Kid—

-

Ratchet: How would you rate your pain?

Twilight: Zero stars, would not recommend.

-

Rainbow: Hey, Ratch.

Ratchet: *sighs* Yes?

Rainbow: If you say the words “control alt delete” do you just, like, straight up die?

Ratchet:

Ratchet: Every day I convince myself humans are intelligent life forms and every day I am proven wrong.

-

Sunset: I’m willing to do a lot of things.

Sunset: But admitting to Optimus that I’m cold after he told me to bring a jacket is not one of them.

-

Everyone else: Knock Out, no!

Knock Out: Knock Out, yes!

Rarity: Knock Out, no.

Knock Out: Knock Out, no.

-

Fluttershy: *staring blankly at a wall*

Bumblebee: Fluttershy? What’s wrong?

Fluttershy: Did you know that rap stands for ‘rhyme and poetry’?

Bumblebee:

Bumblebee: *sits down and joins Fluttershy in staring at the wall*

-

Arcee: You’re okay, right? You’re not hurt?

Twilight: No, no, no, I’m fine! Totally fine, no, no, I’m fine.

Arcee: Really? Because you’re repeating your words you look pale and you look like you’re about to topple over.

Twilight: Yeah, you might wanna catch me.

-

Twilight: [holds up a cauliflower in front of Ratchet] What is this?

Ratchet: … a cauliflower?

Twilight: [turns to Pinkie and Smokescreen] Okay, now tell him what you think it is.

Both: Ghost broccoli!

-

Rainbow: I’m ten times funnier than you.

Sideswipe: Ten times zero is still zero.

Rainbow: Well, jokes on you, I can’t do math.

-

Arcee: You’re up early this morning.

Twilight: …

Arcee: You never went to sleep, did you?

-

Rainbow: You’re an attention-seeker.

Sideswipe: What?! I’m the total opposite of an attention-seeker. I’m the best there ever is, I do not- hey, don’t look away when I’m talking here!

-

Knock Out: Do you think I don’t like you? I do. I would kill for you!

Knock Out: Please ask me to kill for you.

Rarity: …First of all, calm down.

[hiimtryingtounderfell]

the bots are following you for SEO (Search Engine Optimization)!

basically, the way google determines whether a result is legit or not is that legit results will be linked to legit sources--for example, CNN is a trusted source, and so anything they cite will be marked as a trusted source. this worked pretty well at weeding out scams from real things in the early days of search engines, since real people tend to link to real sources either by discussing them or friending/following them, and scams can't generally force real people to link to their pages, only generate fake pages that link to each other without that trusted source leading in. but all of us on tumblr are trusted sources, because we link to each others' blogs and are linked to by things like buzzfeed, our deviantarts, our AO3s, etc. and we're linked (in tumblr's backend) to all our followers, so when those bots follow us, they gain our legitimacy, and the sites they link to end up flagged as not botted in google's algorithm, allowing those sites to show up on search results.

the more people flagged as real that link to a source, the more likely it is to be considered real as well, which is why there are so many of them and they spam follow everyone. blocking them cuts off the link from you to them, and the link from google to whatever they're linking that goes through you to them. ofc, it doesn't stop them from being linked through somebody else, it just knocks down their credibility slightly. google also has other methods of verifying sources, but this is the one that's being targeted by this method.

this has been your algorithms lesson for today! now I need to go do my real computer science homework (bleh)

A lengthy yet useful explanation! Thank you, misty, good luck with your homework!

[aj-theteenagecondition]

why are people so pissed at watcher putting up a pay wall but nobody seems upset that others such as dropout entertainment have streaming services

i love watcher and have been a fan since early buzzfeed days but we are not entitled to content. If this is what they want to do- it might be a horrific mistake, but it has nothing to do with you personally. I feel like today with such a strong parasocial culture, people get confused. You might mean something to a creator as an idea of a “fan”, as someone who enjoys and supports their media and they might cater towards what you want to see. But this is a job and all of us mean nothing at the end, nothing but a number on a screen that informs a number on a paycheck.

they didn’t do this because they hate us, it’s sad but I don’t think that it makes them horrible people and it feels weird to watch people who were die hard fans of them turn their backs and say that they are just disgusting rich people. God forbid someone succeed in a capitalistic society. They have money and made a bad decision, but they are not the “rich” referred to by “eat the rich” and they are not trying to ruin your life.

don’t get pissy with me because I said something you disagree with, i literally am just some guy and you don’t have to ever have to think about me after you scroll past this post. please go touch grass

[slimebiock]

buzzfeed unsolved enjoyer since brent and ryan were sitting in a car doing buzzfeed unsolved here. worth it enjoyer since the first episode got posted here. type of guy who was involved in the early days of the bfu fandom here.

i need you all to take a breath. maybe its because after i drifted from the buzzfeed fandom and went my own way while still watching their content, i went to minecrafters, who are actually evil people, and learned the true horrors of parasocial behaviour, but i dont care for any of this.

‘its all steven’s fault’ okay. weird comment. have you watched a single making of watcher, or paid attention to any of the podcasts or content that isn’t ghost files? no? alright so when you do that i’ll listen to your ten page essay argument where shane madej is painted as a victim of his evil capitalist friends.

‘the content is worse now anyways i miss unsolved’ good news you actually dont have to watch content you dislike out of this weird sense of devotion or parasocial behaviour. you can stop putting your white man on a pedestal. you can consume content normally and healthily.

i dont know how to explain to some of you freaks that content creation is labour. i dont know how to tell you that this decision was long hinted. they want to be free of contractual obligations from sponsors. they want to own their content and have it be theirs. they want to produce and create, because that is who they have always been. do you think they all started at buzzfeed purely to make Youtube videos for the rest of their lives?

you are not watcher. you dont own watcher. you are just here, like i am, witnessing all of this. your opinions do not matter, because last i checked half of you have made it very clear you don’t even watch the content you’re currently saying isn’t good enough or isn’t worth it.

and yeah, okay. whatever. its six dollars a month. maybe its because i work full time while juggling rent and utilities and groceries and a phone bill, but that just means i maybe dont go to a cafe once during the month ? and for the international fans i do hope they figure out how to make pricing fair and reasonable. but for the western fans acting if they were shot and killed by steven lim personally? do me a favor and remember you’re part of this issue.

its popular to be angry right now, and so you are. i get it. ive been around this block a thousand times before. but i genuinely hope a lot of you realize that the behaviour this has sparked is strange. these are human beings capable of mistakes, but you do not own them. you never have!

c’est la vie. content creators disappoint. move on.

[sardonic-the-writer]

—THE FILL IN

—Getting called up to be a stand in mic operator was something they were used to. Being a stand in that is. But working on the most popular show at Buzzfeed all about the supernatural proves for an interesting experience. In more ways than one.

—Word count: 2.7k

—Extra: tagging @beep-beep1

It would have been nice to get a heads up.

I mean, (Y/n) was used to random calls durring spotty times in the day. To come be a stand in for this that or the other was their job after all. The sole purpose of their jobs contract was to litteraly be a substitute for whatever called. They'd been on sets as things from a water boy to just a cam guy and still got paid the same.

But this was a little out of the blue. Being called up at four in the morning (read again: four in the goddamn morning) for an emergency job to some fucking—mental, obscure, supposedly haunted, insane assylum in the middle of the country? Just to film?

Still, who were they to deny working along side the most popular show at the office right now. Anyone would be lying if they didn't say that Buzzfeed Unsolved was carrying the corporation at this point. Aside from the Try Guys that is.

Personally (Y/n) saw why they, they being the fans and people who tuned in, thought that way. In fact, in one of the earlier instances of their start for working at Buzzfeed, they had been on one of the first ever filmings for that show and had met Ryan Bergara before—allowing them to see why such a large amount of people had taken a liking to him. Ryan was a kind fellow, if a bit of a wimp when it came to interacting or even thinking about interacting, with spirits—along with some other guy that would sit by his side. All they had remembered was that he had a beard and redish-brown hair. And that he had quit the show a few episodes in opting for a replacement, not finding it that much his style.

Of course, (Y/n) being (Y/n), had to try and remember all this on the drive towards the sets location. It had been a year or two since that initial interaction after all, and they tended to not do their reasearch. Classic.

Aching feet touched a gravely asphalt road as they stepped out of their car with an almost inaudible groan, still stretching the exhaustion out of their bones from this mornings quite litteral wake up call. They would have to either set their phone on silent next time, or be prepared to cuss out anyone who's not their boss on the other end. Emphasis on the not their boss part.

Still, they rubbed their eyes while walking up to a hotel in front of them. It was nothing they hadn't seen before when traveling for work. Just a small, cream colored thing that was probably on its last limb, jumping paycheck to paycheck just to tie up loose ends if they had to guess.

They had been given directions via email this morning to meet up with Ryan before any shooting had begun. The team had wanted (Y/n) to know what was going on before just diving headfirst into an episode riddled with spirits and dumbassery.

Yeah. Probably a good decision. It was too early in the morning for any dumbassery.

All the same, they found themself in front of two rooms with faux gold numbers on them, the sickly yellow paint chipping from some corners. Both presumably Ryan and another guys room, Shane, they belived, based on the message that had popped up in their inbox.

Jeez (Y/n) hoped they weren't secretly a pair of giant assholes.

A quick knock on the peeling doors gave way to one, then two, swinging open with their respective residents quickly assessing their summoner.

It took Ryan a second, standing bleary eyed and disheviled in his rooms doorway, but eventually his eyes lit up.

"Oh hey! I remember you! Corporate told me we'd be getting a stand in for Jake." A friendly smile blossomed on his face, bringing his almond shaped eyes into a squint with the effort.

(Y/n) just nodded at him with a slow grin, choosing to assume Jake was the mic guy they'd be standing in for durring filming. They took note of the way Ryan spoke with a mix of polite professionalism and genuine joy, finding it a nice change of pace from the dry orders and comments they normally received at work.

This guy on the other hand—

"Ohh so you're the jack of all trades!" Somebody else had entered the scene durring the brief exchange between Ryan and (Y/n). A very tall somebody, practically reaching the tippy top of his hotel doorframe.

From in his own private domicile, Ryan shot Shane a look of disbelief and disappointment. But (Y/n) had to resist the urge to snort out loud.

It was funny to say the least, to have this random guy that looked more like a homeless dude crossed with a stereotypical white dad, call them the Jack Of All Trades at eight in the morning with the stupidest smile they had ever seen from someone.

Goddamn he was one goofy motherfucker.

“Really, man? Everytime. I swear—” Ryan sighed, but his face lit up again when he looked back over at (Y/n).

“So! Basically I’ve heard that this place well be heading out to is pretty haunted. Have been doing a lot of research this past week about it, so I dragged my buddy Shane all the way out here to investigate with me!” He said, basically bouncing on his heels with far too much excitement for the early morning hour. The person across from him nodded, casually admiting they knew how the show worked from the snippets they had seen.

“You’ll be hanging out with us all night, er, day I guess, trying to get some sleep. So be prepared for a lot of headaches. Little miss ghost hunter got plenty of sleep on the way here so he's ready and rearing to go.” Shane sighed, motioning his head towards Ryan. Ryan pretended not to notice, opening his door up wider.

“Here, you can get your stuff set up in here!” Thanking him, they stepped in. It was a bit new to say the least, staying in another person's room less than five minutes after meeting them, but worse had happened to them. And besides, less than average budgets were often used on shows that required a lot of traveling, like this one.

Once entering the small hotel room (Y/n) realized there was a door connecting the two boy’s rooms. They also noticed a large pile of various mic stuff in the far side of the room, conveniently placed on top of what they assumed would be their bed. Suppose somebody had thought it was best to think ahead.

Whilst sitting on the ground in a kindergarden remanicent criss cross applesauce pose, their fingers would halt every now and then from untangling wires. A feeling of something pricking the back of their neck would alert then of an unsettling feeling. Almost like they were being watched.

Yet every time their neck straightened itself up to look around and search for the source, nothing was found. Ryan was just laying on the bed typing on his phone, assumedly working last minute on the script for the video.

It was unnerving to say the least.

Shane eventually came into the room through the shared door, and gave them the same carefree smile.

Something about it felt—off to say the least. But they wouldnt be able to describe why even if you asked them.

He sat next to Ryan, and they started quietly talking about the plans for the video. (Y/n) turned back to the mess of technology, finally getting everything untangled and set up; and eventually stood up to walk over to the boys.

They met Shane’s eyes, and the pair glowed a soft red. Like a cars backlights in an early morning fog.

(Y/n) inhaled sharply and paused. They itched to rub at their eyes as if cleaning them off to make sure what they had seen was correct. But by the time they had blinked, the light hue was gone as quick as it had came.

"You alright?" Their gaze flitted to Ryan, his question taking a second to penitrate their brain.

"Yeah. Yeah no I'm okay sorry."

"Alright." Ryan hesitated. "Hey, could you come proof read something for me? I need to make sure you're okay with it before shooting."

Even while (Y/n) walked over to the side of the bed, that feeling of being watched didn't go away.

They had the feeling it wouldn't for as long as they were on this trip.

"And cut!"

(Y/n) finally lifted the mic they had been so graciously lugging around for the last three hours off their shoulder, an ache flooding their arm—! sure sign of a big bruise to come tomorrow morning. Compared to how disheveled Ryan looked just then though, and how he had been looking throught the entirety of filming, they would be okay.

"Great job. Really everyone. Absolutely amazing. Now can we please get the fuck out of here?" Ryan was still pointing his flash light every which way despite the cameras being off. "I swore I saw something a couple minutes back and I'd rather not end up with my insides on the outside."

"Yeah yeah whatever you big baby." Shane teased his friend while walking towards the exit, Ryan in the lead with everyone following in the pairs footsteps.

The trip out to the assylum hadn't taken long. Apparently Buzzfeed had taken the courtesy of booking the place out for the night so that way it would be devoid of tours full of spirit obsessed family's. (Y/n) hadn't been able to decide if they felt like that was a good thing or not. One the one hand shooting was ten times easier without mics picking up screaming children in the back ground. But on the other hand as Ryan pointed out, if they died no one would find them for at least a day. Fun. But at least now all they had to do was make the treck back to the vans. Nothing more.

"So (Y/n), what'd you think of your first time on set with the infamous ghoul boys?" Shane asked only after flagging the mic operator over to his side. His eyes scowered their face with a curious look. Like he was expecting a certain response.

"Technically it was my second time filming." Ryan nervously backed up that statement with a nod, still on edge. Shane just outwardly laughed at that. "And it was okay. Honestly the prospect of ghosts and stuff doesn't scare me, but I'd rather not stick around any longer." They shrugged.

"And I wouldn't call you guys 'infamous'." They accentuated their words with air quotes and a playful smile. "I don't really see any other ghost hunters names being tossed around as much as I see you two's."

"Please don't call us that. I prefer to think of myself as someone who gets paid to deal with Ryans bullshit." Shane playfully groaned, fidgeting with his ridiculous looking camera vest. Ryan just shot a panicky glare at him out of the corner of his eye sarcastically laughing.

The rest of the walk through the winding hallways—had it been this tedious of a path on the way in? Certantly didn't seem like it—was filled with the idle conversation between (Y/n) and Shane, Ryan occasionally joining in to keep his mind off things.

"Yeah I just think tha—"

Darkness fell over everyone in one fatal swoop, words respectively dying in everyone ls throats for a moment. More suprise than anything.

"Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck!" Was what broke the silence. (Y/n) heard what they guessed to be Ryan cussing rapidly while hitting the side of his flashlight in hopes of turning it back on.

"Hey come on. It's not that big of a deal. We can find the rest of our way back with the go pros." (Y/n) attempted to soothe Ryan. When they turned to look at the big black blob next to them who they hoped was Shane, all they got in response was a simple claim that the cameras had fritzed out.

"Fuck!!"

"Calm down Ryan. If we die I'll give you my inheritance what about that."

"That not how that works dumbass!"

While Shane attempted to curb his shorter friends anxious shouts and groans, (Y/n) couldn't help but notice how relaxed he seemed. Yes, they knew that Shane didn't belive in spirits. Yes, they were well aware he had carelessly asked said spirits to muder him if they weren't too pussy multiple times. But they had to admit even they were a little spooked. And his attitude made no sense. It made them think of the weird thing that they had seen in his eyes back at the hotel. Or at least what they thought they saw.

"Come on. Let's bounce."

"Please don't say that." Ryan whined. Yet he still headed for the nearest exit, a pair of barely visible double doors.

(Y/n) went to silently follow before a small wisper made them freeze.

(Y/n).

Whipping around quickly, they had to resist the urge to hold the long mic out like a jousting weapon. Even in the pitch black it was better safe than sorry.

They hardly even heard the call of their name come.

"Hey. You coming?"

They snapped out of it to look at the source of the voice, seeing Shane a few yards down holding a pair of double doors open, the moon from the sky outside lighting up his lanky figure.

His shadow was even darker than the surroundings. Stretching across the barren hallway and consuming everything. Horns and wings protruded from his ba—

Wait. Horns and wings?

(Y/n) swallowed thickly and blinked. And it was gone.

"What planning on staying the night?" Shane goaded them again when they offered no reponse. But his smile held a silent message. An amused one. Granted none of any malicious intent, just like he knew something no one else did.

They mummbled a wide eyed no back in his direction. Shuffling down and out of the building and past Shane took a lot more nerves than they cared to admit, hairs standing up on the nape of their neck for seemingly no reason.

"Pretty fucking ceepy night."

Shane just grinned.

[tearsinthemist]

People In Their 20s Are Sharing The Hardest Pills To Swallow About Becoming An "Adult"

BuzzFeed

Sat, September 7, 2024 at 8:57 PM CDT·5 min read

As we grow up, we see things differently. How we look at the world at 25 is vastly different from how we view life at 13. And as we age, we are forced to come to terms with difficult things. So Redditor u/BluebirdIll6390 asked, "What's the hardest pill to swallow in your early twenties?" Here's what people said, including members of the BuzzFeed Community, about the toughest realities of aging into your 20s and beyond.

1."For me, a hard pill to swallow was realizing how much I actually have to make to have the lifestyle to which I was accustomed and how far I was from that as a recent graduate."

2."You have to become the driving force making the next steps of your life happen. There’s a pretty clear, direct pipeline from childhood to university. After that, it's all open. A lot of people get stuck floating around in post-college purgatory, waiting for something to happen, but you just have to be the one to make those things happen now. It’s very easy to get sucked into the rhythm of the first job you get out of college, setting up wherever you’re situated, having ideas of what you’d like to do with your life with no urgency to get started because you’re under the false assumption you’ve all the time in the world. You’re young, but the days are long, and the years are short. Don’t wait to start living."

3."Some careers don't start till you're in your 30s."

4."My dad told me that the older I got, the smarter he would seem. It turns out he was right all along."

5."True friends are hard to find. They're not the friends you party with. Not the friends you hang onto because you 'have a history even though you don't have much in common anymore, or they treat you like shit. The true friends who will love you for who you are. It took me a long time and a lot of heartache to learn this one, but my best friend at 35 has enriched my life in ways that my old contingent of 'friends' never could."

6."The hardest thing for me was realizing that some of my friends and family were objectively bad people who would never change and/or grow up."

7."You have to decide what you want to eat for every meal for the rest of your life."

8."Your parents are getting older and won't be here forever."

9."You will either cultivate habits, willpower, study, exercise, and routines for success, or you will slowly watch yourself fade. No one is protecting you from yourself anymore."

10."This is likely the best your body will ever feel. Put in the work now, and your body will thank you. I'm talking about flexibility work, strength work, skin and teeth."

11."Being an adult isn't nearly as exciting as I thought. While I love my autonomy, I don't love my bills or responsibilities. The fact is, every stage of life has its pros and cons. Nothing is ever perfect, but that's okay."

12."Remember how, as a kid, a year took forever? Like the week after Christmas, had this crushing reality that it would be forever before it happened again? Now, remember how fast this last year went? Yeah. That's your life. You'll be 30, wondering what happened to time. It just keeps getting faster. Don't try to speed through, even in the bad times. Take time. Don't live for the weekend, don't put things aside for 'another time.' People say you won't be young forever, but nobody prepares you for how short 'not forever' it actually is."

13."Your comfort zone quickly becomes a prison if you indulge in it. You need to push your boundaries and only fall back into your comfort zone when you absolutely need it. Staying in your comfort zone will breed anxiety when you leave it. You have to put yourself into uncomfortable situations to build up resilience for the future."

14."That feeling of being a kid who is just figuring shit out never actually ends."

15."Realizing that adulting is a full-time job with no time off."

16."At the end of the day, you are on your own. No parent, teacher, or camp counselor will swoop in, resolve conflicts, and guide you to the next step. You have to figure it all out. You can ask people for advice, but the problems are infinitely more complex and never have a 'right' answer, only a 'best we can figure' answer given what you have available. Yes, close friends or a significant other can be there to aid you when you need help with projects, moving, or a shoulder to cry on. But at the end of the day, it's your life, and you must steer the ship."

17."All the fun of going to school, having summers off, having 'breaks' for fall or winter...that's just about over. Time to go to work every day until you're ready to retire. Hope you enjoyed your school years!"

18."'You can be the sweetest, juiciest peach in the world, and there will still be people who don't like peaches.'"

19."My parents were right: A boring life is a happy life."