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cherrylng · 3 months
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100 Albums To Understand Muse - Part 7 [STYLE Series #004 - Muse (August 2010)]
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MANIC STREET PREACHERS Gold Against The Soul (1993) After digesting punk, glam and hard rock from the first single to the first album, the band developed a more massive and epic stadium rock-oriented sound on their second album. The band's signature melodic melodies, weeping guitars, dramatic use of strings and literary lyrics reflecting their unique emotionality, etc. are all highly concentrated on this album. -I
MANSUN Six (1999) This is the second album by the heretics of the British scene, who have a weapon of graceful melodies and aggressive guitar sound, and who have eliminated the synths used in their previous album to challenge the limits of guitar rock. While each part is catchy, it is not bound by the concept of song structure, but rather, it is a series of modulations and time signature changes that seem to contain different songs within a single song, and the flow of the raging waves is breathtaking. -I
MARILYN MANSON Antichrist Superstar (1996) The occult rock guru's anti-Christian-themed career. Dominic praised the music video for ‘Beautiful People’, which was one of the biggest hits, although he said it was scary. They employed that director, Floria Sisismondi, for their ‘Supermassive Black Hole’ music video. It is a visual representation of a nightmarish world. -H
MARION This World And Body (1996) A band from the Manchester suburbs that emerged during the Britpop era, this unique foursome were the opposite of Oasis-like wildness and were distinctly out of step with the movement. Their songs, full of fading and melancholy, indulgent romanticism and intense emotion, are still vivid today. ‘Let's All Go Together’ is particularly recommended. -I
THE MARS VOLTA De-Loused In The Comatorium (2003) The Mars Volta was formed by the Afro brothers Cedric & Omar, formerly of At The Drive In. This is their debut album. Often described as ‘progressive music unique to the 00s’, its unpredictable avant-garde development is truly thrilling. The band's massive, dramatic performances have much in common with Muse. -K
MASAHIRO MASUDA Villa-Lobos: Guitar Works (2009) Composer known for writing Bach-like suites in the manner of Brazilian music. Matthew's influence was probably not that, but a collection of pieces written as guitar exercises. There are glimpses of Matthew's playing style in the stoicism with which he pursues the possibilities of guitar expression as well as technique. -M
MEGA CITY FOUR Sebastopol Rd. (1992) When the three Muse members were in junior high school, MC4, Senseless and Grebo-style covers were popular in and around the bands they were in. The influence of these influences could be seen in the melodies and harmonies of Muse's early songs before the band's debut. A cover of ‘Prague’ from the third album was simultaneously included on Muse's single ‘Resistance’ (2010). -I
MERCURY REV All Is Dream (2001) Veteran of the psychedelic-dreamy rock scene alongside the Flaming Lips, who made a name for themselves with 1998's “Disaster's Songs” and cemented their reputation with this 2001 album. The fragile voice of Jonathan Donahue (vocals) and symphonic playing create an iridescent dreamscape. The extraordinary landscape is shared by Muse. -K
Translator's Note: For once, I found not not one, but TWO albums that aren't available on YouTube at all, so the compromise that I took was that one was available on Spotify, while the other is only available for sale as a physical CD on the artist's main website.
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musicmags · 10 months
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sunburnacoustic · 5 months
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Muser questions: #17?
17. Dan or Morgan?
Honestly, Morgan. Dan's the one I've properly seen live, just because I was so far at the back during the last (ST) tour that I could barely tell who was who in the band, and really, they were only distinguishable from 1) Matt's ridiculous LED sunglasses and 2) the fact that Dom was in fact, behind a drum kit :P And Morgan prefers to stay in the background anyway, so I barely saw him. :/
Dan obviously lets Muse be the star of their own show too, but I think you feel his presence more on stage? And he also had a lovely moment at a Muse show where he proposed to his partner! And that's always going to be a part of the Muse family history, which is super sweet.
I can't say that musically Dan is a better or worse fit with Muse than Morgan, because he does what he does well, and iirc he also helped with mixing Won't Stand Down and the band were quite happy with that (separate discussion about what fans thought of those BMTH-like verses, but it sounds like that's what the band wanted in the first place), so I reckon he's got what Muse need.
But I think it's just the history and tradition that make me pick Morgan! How many other people are responsible for my knee-jerk reaction to any time anyone mentions any sort of shaking percussion instrument:
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[ID: "'It's not a shaker, it's a cabasa!' —Morgan Nicholls speaks out against fan ignorance", a classic taken from the Muse message boards]
If Morgan decides he does want to tour with Muse again, I'll miss Dan but be really happy to see Morgan again. I hope he isn't fully done with Muse, he was in the crowd at the final London shows of the tour!
Also, I'm just a fan of Senseless Things, what can I tell ya :)
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opencommunion · 7 months
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The Stop Cop City movement has sought to prevent the expropriation of part of the Welaunee Forest for the development of an 85-acre police mega training center: a model town to prepare the state’s repressive arms for the urban warfare that will ensue when the contradictions of their exploitation and extraction become uncontainable, as they did in 2020 after the APD murdered Rayshard Brooks.  That murder, and all those that came before, were the lodestars of the Black-led movement during the George Floyd uprisings; their demands were no less than the dismantlement of the entire carceral system. Unable to effectively manage or quell the popular street movements, the Atlanta Police Foundation set out to consolidate and expand their capabilities for surveillance, repression, imprisonment, armed violence, and forced disappearance. One result is Cop City, which has been racked by militant sabotage, land occupation, arson, and popular mobilizations, in an attempt to end the construction and return Atlanta to its people.  As the Atlanta Police Foundation was unable to contain the 2020 Black rebellion, so too have they been unable to quell the resistance against Cop City. The press reports that the project is hemorrhaging money and is mired in delays and difficulties. For their part, the city, the state, and the federal government, have in turn employed every tool in their power to destroy the movement. Last week, the Georgia State Senate passed a bill to effectively criminalize bail funds in the state; RICO charges have been contorted to target networks of support and care that surround the fighters; and last January, APD assassinated the comrade Tortuguita in cold blood while they rested in their tent in the forest. It is clear that Stop Cop City represents one of the conjunctural spear tips for expanding the existing systems of counterinsurgency that span Africa, Asia, and the Arab world.  Today the system’s belly rests atop Gaza, whose rumblings shake the earth upon which we walk. Through its Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE) program, the APD has sent hundreds of police to train with the Zionist occupation forces. And in October 2023, after Tufan al-Aqsa, the Atlanta Police Department engaged in hostage training inside abandoned hotels, putatively intended to “defeat Hamas,” in an advancement of tactics for the targeting of Black people. With every such expansion, the ability of counterinsurgency doctrines to counteract people’s liberation struggles grows. The purpose of counterinsurgency is to marshal state and para-state power into political, social, economic, psychological, and military warfare to overwhelm both militants and the popular cradle—the people—who support them. Its aim is to render us hopeless; to isolate and dispossess us and to break our will to resist it by any and all means necessary. This will continue apace, unless we fight to end it. Stop Cop City remains undeterred: on Friday, an APD cop car was burnt overnight in response to the police operation on February 8; yesterday, two trucks and trailers loaded with lumber were burnt to the ground. An anonymous statement claiming credit for the former, stated: “We wish to dispel any notion that people will take this latest wave of repression lying down, or that arresting alleged arsonists will deter future arsons.”  As the U.S. government and Zionist entity set their sights on the Palestinian people sheltering in Rafah, as they continue their relentless genocide of our people in Khan Younis, Jabalia, Shuja’iyya, and Gaza City, the Stop Cop City movement has clearly articulated its solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. They have done so with consistency and discipline, and we have heard them. Our vision of freedom in this life and the next requires us to confront and challenge the entangled forces of oppression in Palestine and in Turtle Island, and to identify the sites of tension upon which these systems distill their forces. This week, as with the last three years, the forest defenders have presented us one such crucible.
(11 Feb 24)
National Lawyers Guild, Stop All Cop Cities: Lessons For a National Struggle (video, 1 hr 45 min)
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twinsimming · 7 months
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Mattresses & Frames Conversions [Pt. 3]
Here's my third set of converted mattresses and bed frames! The conversions are from the following packs: The Sims 4 (#4), The Sims 4: Snowy Escape (#1), The Sims 4: Cats & Dogs (#5), and The Sims 4: City Living (#6).
I also converted the mattress and bed frame from the SIMKEA Furnishings Stuff Pack (#3) and the bed frame from the Tiny Living Plus - CC Addon (#2) by @illogicalsims.
The bed frame and mattress from The Sims 4: Cats & Dogs are longer than the others to leave room up top for the pillows, but I've also included "standard" versions that can work with other mattress/frame combinations. And I edited the bed frames from The Sims 4: Snowy Escape and The Sims 4: City Living to convert them from singles to doubles.
The mattress in Preview #1 can be found here, the mattress in Preview #2 can be found here, and the mattress in Preview #6 can be found here.
Links to Mattresses & Frames Part 1 and Mattresses & Frames Part 2.
Comfort -> Beds
Monster Free Bed Frame [edit by twinsimming]: one channel | §500 |
Not So Murphy Bed Frame [by illogicalsims]: two channels | §600 |
Sömlös Double Bed Frame [by illogicalsims]: one channel | §3000 |
Sömlös Double Mattress [by illogicalsims]: four channels | §850 |
The Barnish Bed Frame: three channels | §400 |
The Barnish Mattress: four channels | §220 |
Modern Colonial Bed Frame: two channels | §1500 |
Modern Colonial Bed Frame Standard [edit by twinsimming]: two channels | §1500 |
Modern Colonial Mattress: four channels | §700 |
Modern Colonial Mattress Standard [edit by twinsimming]: four channels | §700 |
Modern Colonial Bed Pillow: two channels | §50 |
Space Blanket Bed Frame [edit by twinsimming]: two channels | §500 |
| All TS4 presets included and base game compatible |
Credit: meshes by EA, meshes by illogicalsims, The Sims 4, Sims4Studio, TSRW, Blender, Milkshape, Photoshop, and Gimp.
Download (SFS, package) | Mirror (MEGA, package)
If you like my work, please consider tipping me on Ko-fi.
Experiencing issues with my conversions? Inbox me. Enjoy! 💙
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zepskies · 10 months
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Code Red
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Pairing: Boaz Priestly x Female Reader
Summary: When you call him for help, Priestly realizes that he finally has the relationship of his dreams.
AN: So I didn’t think I’d ever write for this character, but it was prompted by a lovely anon and encouraged by my friend @thatonewriter15! I hope you enjoy. ❤️ 
Song Inspo: “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran. “I’ve found a love…”
Word Count: 1,500 Tags/Warnings: Period talk, suggestiveness, mega fluff
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He was in the zone.
Four six-inch double buffalo chicken clubs with banana peppers on whole wheat bread (gross, but he wasn’t the one eating ‘em), two spicy Italians, and a tuna on rye.
Priestly wrapped them up with practiced precision and slid them down the line to Piper, Mission Impossible-style. She smiled at his antics and took them and brought them over to Tish at the register.
Priestly had another turkey and provolone on his docket, hold the mayo, when his cell buzzed in his pocket. Today he actually did have pockets. As in, he was wearing joggers, boots, and a graphic tee that said: NO TEQUILA, NO ENTRY.
He swiveled his phone in his hand like a drummer with a drumstick. He smiled when he saw your name flashing across the screen, and he answered it.
“Hey, Beautiful. What’s up?” he asked.
“Boaz, I need you,” you said. To his ears, your voice was sultry, and a bit strained.
He perked up with raised eyebrows.
“What’s holding up the turkey and cheese?” Piper asked.
Boaz held up a finger to the blonde and tucked the phone between his ear and shoulder. His hands busied themselves with the next sandwich order, but he was all too attentive to your every word.
“Oh yeah?” he replied to you. His smile deepened. “Well, that’s convenient. Because I’m craving some of you, baby.”
You gave a breathy chuckle. “Normally I’d take you up on that, but no. I need you. As in, I really need you to do something for me.”
Priestly arched a brow. His brain was already filling up with ideas of how he could best help you. He mentally took an inventory of the “tools” in your nightstand drawer, and which ones he could best use to his advantage when he—
“Uhh, well, I got about one more hour in my shift,” he said, lowering his voice, even as it deepened a notch. “But if Jen covers me, I can be outta here in half the time.”
“Oh my God, good,” you gasped. “I’m in so much fucking pain, you have no idea.” 
Priestly blinked, and any thoughts of kinky fun times came to a screeching halt. Concern took over when he realized that the strain in your voice wasn’t from the sexy kind of need.
“What’s wrong?” he asked quickly.
“I’m out of Midol, my uterus is rioting like it’s a Vietnam War protest, and…oh yeah, I need more tampons too,” you said. “But I legitimately cannot move from this couch.”
Priestly couldn’t help but smile in amusement.
“Ech, I hear ya. Are we in a Code Green, Code Yellow, or Code Red situation?”
Jen glanced over at him from where she was mopping the floor, and she gave him a questioning look.
What’s wrong? she mouthed.
“Code Red, definitely,” you answered with a sigh.
Priestly grimaced in sympathy. He mouthed back to Jen, Code Red.
She nodded in female understanding, and raised a hand that said, Say no more.
“Okay, yeah,” Priestly replied to you. “Don’t worry, I got you.”
You released a sigh of relief. “And if you want to throw in a Snickers, I wouldn’t hate it.”
He chuckled at that one.
“You got it,” he said. “I’ll be home in T minus an hour, give or take.”
You groaned. “Can’t you just steal a DeLorean or something?”
“You know, I could, but that would mean I’d be going back further into the past before you even needed to call me, and I’d still probably be making sandwiches since I’ve been working here since damn near 2000 B.C. But you know what, they should really call that movie Back to the Present, since they don’t actually go to the future until—”
“Okay,” you had to laugh, even though it was edged with discomfort. “I’ll see you later.”
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At the supermarket, after his shift at Beach City Grill, Priestly had most of the supplies he needed for a successful mission. All he was missing was his old enemy on Aisle 2.
Once again, he faced a wall of tampons. All bright colored boxes and numbers and sizes…
Okay, not Code Green, so not the slender ones that might as well be match sticks. Not Yellow, so no to Regular…ah! Here we are. Super Plus.
AKA: Code Red. Complete with leak guard, no latex. He grabbed the blue box and threw it into his basket of essentials, including no less than three assorted chocolate bars and a pint of Ben & Jerrys. He knew his girl, and you liked your Half-Baked ice cream with chocolate chip cookie dough and brownie pieces.  
He brought over his haul to the checkout line. Sure enough, Gerry, one of the locals, was finally old enough to buy a case of beer by himself. He glanced at the blue box Priestly was taking out onto the conveyor belt and smirked.
“No slender regulars this time?” Gerry remarked.
Priestly’s smile was tight. “No, Gerald. Slenders are for pussies.”
“Literally,” the blonde beanpole snorted. “What, your girlfriend got a heavy flow this month?”
Priestly rolled his eyes, and his mouth pressed in a line. The word flow still kind of grated on him like nails on a chalkboard, but what irked him more was this guy imagining any part of your intimate parts.
“All right, my girl’s flow is none of your business,” he said. “Once you hit puberty and grow your first pubes, you’ll understand.”
Gerry floundered while Priestly continued on to make his purchases. Even the cashier was smiling, trying not to laugh as he silently gave Priestly his props for a burn well made. Priestly shot the guy a nod and a smile before he left with his spoils.
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“Honey, I’m hoooome,” Priestly sing-songed.
He stepped through the door with his keys still jangling in his hand. He was trying to balance the big bag of groceries while closing the door to the apartment he shared with you.
Your head perked up from the living room couch, and your hand slowly curled up, beckoning him over. Priestly obliged you. He peered over the side of the couch and smiled at the way you were all curled up under a throw blanket, already in your pajamas, while FRIENDS reruns played on the TV.
“Finally,” you said with a tired smile. But not the kind of finally that just meant you were impatient for the goods he carried. The kind of finally that also meant you were happy to see him.
He laid a comforting hand on your head, leaned down, and pressed a kiss above your brow. You held him there by the collar of his shirt, prompting him to kiss you for real. Your hand moved up his tattooed neck and your nails gave the back of his head a little scratch, careful not to disrupt the blue mohawk.
He reluctantly pulled away from your lips, just enough to try and gauge how you were feeling.
“How’re you holdin’ up?” he asked.
“Like a beach umbrella in a hurricane,” you replied wryly. “You got the stuff?”
Priestly held the grocery bag tucked under his arm like it was a drug deal.
“Oh, I got the stuff, if you got the money,” he said.
You nodded, and your small smile turned mischievous. “I got your money, Big Man.”
With your hand delicately hooked behind his neck and the other gliding up his arm, he didn’t realize he was falling into a trap.
You tugged his arm hard enough to try and get him to fall over the back of the couch.
“Hey!” he yelped. Yet he also laughed while you tried your best to pull him overboard.
He had to toss the bag of groceries to the floor next to you, but he managed to get over and onto the couch without crushing you. He probably smelled like old sandwich and mayonnaise, but you didn’t seem to care. 
You just helped him settle in behind you, with your back to his chest. This was the only way you’d find comfort for your lower back. It had been aching since you woke up this morning.
You grabbed his closest hand and guided it under your overlarge sleep shirt, then under the waistband of your panties. You laid his warm hand flat against your cramping lower belly.
Priestly pressed a kiss behind your ear and tucked his arm underneath your head. He felt the rise and fall of your sigh as you leaned back against him, and his smile softened.
“You’re gonna fall asleep without digging into your treasure trove,” he teased. “I even got your favorite ice cream.”
You glanced at him over your shoulder in interest.
“Half-Baked?” you asked.
“Yep, for extra brownie points. Eh? See what I did there?”
Your body shook with a quiet laugh. You reached your hand back to touch his bearded cheek this time. Your fingers toyed with his many earrings.
“Did you know that you’re my favorite human?” you said. “Like, ever?”
He smiled against your neck. “Could’a sworn I was your third favorite, behind Ben and Jerry.”
“Nope, just you,” you said, snuggling back further into his warmth. “Thank you, baby.”
Priestly realized then that he’d found it.
He’d really, honest to God found the life he didn’t think he’d get, with a woman who didn’t want him to change; who just wanted him to be here.
Though he smirked when you reached for the bag and dug out the pint of Ben & Jerry’s.
“That’s what I thought,” he said.
You giggled. “Shut up.”
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AN: Priestly was such a fun character lol. I rewatched 10 Inch Hero this past week and this was the first thing I thought to write! If you liked this, let me know! (And if you want more Priestly.) 😘
Read the Prequel!
If you liked Code Red, read the start of their story:
▶️ The Miracle Man
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Priestly Masterlist
Main Masterlist
Tag List:
(Lovelies from my "Everything" tag list. If you want to be tagged on Priestly stuff specifically, check out the Tag List link in my bio.)
@kazsrm67 @letheatheodore @agothwithheavysetmakeup @jacklesbrainworms @foxyjwls007 @wincastifer @ades106 @iamsapphine @simpforbuckyb @vanillawhiskeyflavoredkisses @roseblue373 @brianochka @branj19 @hazel-eye-coffee-shop-girl-blog
@globetrotter28 @charmed-asylum @waywardxwords @deanwinchestersgirl87 @this-is-me19 @rachiem4-blog @sweettimelady @leigh70 @clinicallydepresso @emily-winchester @xiphoidbones @skoveu @nyotamalfoy @kmc1989
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facts-i-just-made-up · 7 months
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In honor of the LoZ anniversary, can you give us the real definitive timeline?
Yes, the games are, in unified and chronological order:
Skyward Sword
Ocarina of Time
Majora's Mask
Twilight Princess
Twilight Princess: Breaking Dawn Part 1
The Legend of Zelda (Sega Master System)
Phantom Link: Past the Four Minish Oracles
Hyrulevania 2: Zelda's Quest
Wind Waker
Breath of the Wild
Tears of the Kingdom
Zelda IV: Link Leaves Lordran
Grand Theft Epona: Gamelon City Stories
Beedle's Gate 3
Mega Man X
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esamastation · 11 months
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Shizuroth, part sixteen
Previous parts: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen
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Though Shen Yuan had played Final Fantasy VII and Crisis Core way back when, mostly because emulation was easily available and everyone praised them a lot, he'd never really gotten that into it. He'd sort of missed the hype train, and all the hot takes had already been taken, and Advent Children was kinda weird and overall it just didn't grab him.
But he has to admit that Midgar is a really cool setting.
It's dumb, of course, like, on every logistical level. Oh, look, there's thousands of kilometres of free real estate in every direction to build on, but you know what we should do? A massive fuck off blast plate of million billion tons of metal fifty metres of the ground, that's what we'll do, and we'll build a city in top of it too!
Like, why?! In what realm even remotely attached to sanity does that make sense?! Is there something wrong with the ground, is there an issue of sudden mega floods, or something? No, it's just. A thing they did! 
Logic and sanity aside, though, it's cool, as a videogame setting, it's very cool. With the rule of cool there's no reason for, you know, reason. It's iconic. 
And it's the closest thing to a modern city he's seen in - in a while! And, damn, but the scale of everything in real life is so much bigger than any of the games conveyed.
It's a real city! With real city traffic and bustle and dystopian advertisements everywhere! There's also an ever present haze of pollution that gives all the neon signs a dreamy glow. It's almost pretty.
And it's only powered by the lifeblood of the planet, too. Technically the souls of the dead! Wonderful.
"Please stop gaping at everything like a damned tourist and get in. People are starting to stare."
Sephiroth looks down to the car that had just stopped in front him on the sidewalk. Genesis had told him to get to the front, that he'd meet him there, but…
Genesis has a car. It shouldn't be a surprise, the guy is rich and the city is big, but it is. It's a really nice car too. A fucking oldtimey wine red convertible. It matches Genesis' outfit. How extra can you get?
"... Do I have a car?" Sephiroth asks slowly, rather than point out how ridiculous and in character it is.
"You have a motorcycle you never use," Genesis says, sounding tired. "Get in."
Sephiroth has a motorcycle. Of course he does.
He opens the convertible's side door and is immediately smacked in the face with a mix of nostalgia and incredulity at the old familiar feeling of something so simple as a car door mechanism at his fingertips. The seat is too much in the front for Sephiroth's long legs, but the seat goes back, and that's a familiar feeling too. Kind of.
He always had to pull his seat forward, rather than back.
Swallowing the sudden, long suppressed homesickness for a world he's two transmigrations away from, Sephiroth looks for a seatbelt. There isn't one. Hooray for corporate dystopia.
Genesis joins the four lane traffic in front of the Shinra building with the reckless expertise of a man who drives a lot in the city, and hates it almost as much as he loves his car.
"How far is it?" Sephiroth asks, trying to figure out where to put his hands. It's a really nice car, and it looks polished, inside and out.
He can't believe he's in a car. He can't believe he's in a world with cars again. He also can't believe how badly the games conveyed the scale of Midgar.
"Sector six," Genesis says and glances at him. "You're looking a little green there, are you feeling alright? Don't throw up in my car."
"I'm fine," he's really starting to get sick of saying it. "Stop fussing."
"Who's fussing! I just don't want you to make a mess," Genesis scoffs. "Also you aren't fine. You have amnesia."
Sephiroth snorts and leans his arm on the door, looking away and at the Shinra building.
It's huge, and weird. It sorta bulges out, this lumpy mass of a building with enormous pipes running up to it with a big barrel shape in the middle. It's the biggest building in the city, though - it's the only real skyscraper, towering over all the smaller buildings around it.
After all the metal in the Shinra building, it's weird to see brick and mortar again. Why brick and mortar? What did they run out of steel and concrete building the plate? None of the other buildings go higher than eight levels, too.
"We've covered one thing you remember perfectly. Anything else? You recognized Angeal and me, but how about anything else?" Genesis prods at him. "Hey, are you listening to me?"
Oh, he hates this. At least in Cang Qiong Mountain people were too polite to really pick on him or point out how badly he acted as Shen Qingqiu. They were nice enough to take his bullshit at face value and let it slide. Plus there was propriety to think about - none of his disciples had the standing to really call him out.
Genesis doesn't give a shit about his thin face and actually smacks him on the shoulder, "Hey!"
"What's there to say?" Sephiroth answers, because he has no answers to give. "I wouldn't know what I don't know, would I?"
Genesis sighs, irritated and stalls at the traffic lights. "And I can't tell you what to look up if you don't tell me. You must've figured out something by now."
"I figured I really could've used the day to myself," Sephiroth mutters and watches as a delivery truck advertising pastries runs a red light. "I don't know what you want me to say. I don't know, Genesis."
"Shit," the other SOLDIER says, running a hand through his hair while steering one-handed. 
There's a break in the discussion as they go through a checkpoint, where the guards in infantry uniforms just wave Genesis through. The people on the sidewalk stare at Genesis' convertible, and whisper.
Sephiroth looks away, and then blinks at the dump truck not far away from them, also going through the checkpoint.
Weird - somehow he didn't expect Midgar to have public services. Where do they go to empty them? Do they just dump their trash down the plate?"
"So you remember… nothing?" Genesis asks as they leave the checkpoint behind
"I know - some things," Sephiroth says defensively. "But - the details escape me."
"Things like what?"
"I don't know. You, Angeal. This city. The war. Don't ask me for the president's name, but I know there is one," he sighs and leans back, watching an enormous advertisement for LOVELESS pass them by. 
He also knows that sometime soon Genesis will get hurt and the wound will never heal, kick-starting the plot of Crisis Core. He has no idea when, though. He isn't even sure how to figure it out - the timeline in these games wasn't exactly clear.
"Does Angeal have a student?" he asks.
"What, like a personal student? Not that I know of," Genesis says and glances at him. "Why?"
"Ah, nothing, never mind. Must've been someone else," Sephiroth says smoothly.
So, Zack Fair, the protagonist of Crisis Core, hasn't appeared yet? Or Angeal hasn't met him. Hopefully that means there's still some time.
Genesis is quiet for a moment and then sighs. "I'll get you some intel. Personnel files for people you should know, reports from missions you've been on. The information packages handed to Thirds should help at least a little too. But Sephiroth, there's a lot about your past you've never shared, if someone asks about it…"
"I'll just say I don't want to talk about it," Sephiroth says, watching another neon lit advertisement fly by. "Thanks, Genesis."
"I expect to be compensated in full for my efforts," Genesis says firmly.
Sephiroth leans his cheek on his knuckles and wonders what Cultivation might do for the deterioration Genesis - and Angeal too - have ahead of them. "I'll do my utmost to pay back my debts."
"You better," Genesis says and turns the car from the main highway to a side road, full of expensive looking store fronts and equally expensive looking cars.   "That's it over there. Let me find a place to park and then we can get you a coat that fits."
"Much obliged, Genesis."
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quitealotofsodapop · 4 months
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This was in my notes for a long time
MK glanced up at the ringing of the bell. The food truck was bustling, full of people all over the city looking to enjoy Pigsy's Noodles during their New Years while they await the parade. At the sight of the partially glamoured face of a ginger haired person with a heart-shaped birthmark around his eyes wearing an orange hoodie and maroon pants, he felt his face pale considerably. Especially as the very obviously glamoured demon was accompanied by four seemingly human children, having apparently put more effort into their glamours than his own. A quick flash of Gold Vision confirmed MK's suspicions. His mom and siblings.
"Oh boy..." He groaned, glaring at the snickering of one of the twins. They pointed at their headphones and stuck their tongue out before bringing their attention back to their sibling. Right, lotus ears. There's no verbally spoken secret within a mile that can be kept from the twins simply because one of then was born with their father's ears. Before MK could return the rude gesture he felt a hand shaking his shoulder, startling him.
"What's up, monkey man?" Mei was grinning, "You look like your mom jsut walked in on you or something!"
"That's because he did." MK groaned, pointing to the group, "He brought my siblings too."
"Oooh, tough. I'm totally gonna record the entire thing, it's bound to be good blackmail."
MK rolled his eyes as he pushed himself to the front where his mom was watching the whole interaction with amused golden eyes.
"Mom! What are you doing all the way out here?"
"Can't a fella come to his son's workplace on the holiday?" Wukong joked, instinctively reaching out to stop Luzhen from grabbing at Yuebei's hidden tail, "With the New Years I thought it'd be a good idea to bring your siblings down to the parade for a better view. We're jsut stopping by fir seem food before we go down to the festival."
"Well you came to the right place! What can I do ya for?" Pigsy grunted as not too gently pushed MK aside for some room. For a moment the glamoured monkey demon was frozen at the unexpected resemblance before shaking himself a bit,
"Oh, uh... something vegetarian please. Make sure mine is cooled."
"Cooled?" Pigsy raised a brow as he glanced at MK, a cooled bown the noodles is rarely something people want.
"Mom had an accident when he was younger that makes it difficult for him to eat hot foods." MK explained, writing the order down for his boss. The pig shrugged, muttering something about ice as he began the order. MK returned his focus to his family as they chatted, Wukong quite forcefully demanding a hug from him.
What MK didn't realize was the conversation going on behind him.
"So that's very obviously a glamoured demon." Tang was pointing out as they watched the family interact, "So our theory is looking more and more true."
"Yeah, kid's a demon. Or the least his mom is. Poor guy." Pigsy said in return, "Still that isn't a good glamour."
"I've seen glamours before." Sandy chimed in, "I don't think it's because he's bad at it, just look at his kids! He's probably jsut putting all his energy into keeping his kids' glamours up."
Ref.
Oh gosh poor MK getting mega-embarrassed by his mom and siblings XD
I love the detail of the Eclipse Twin with the lotus ears teasing MK before they even get there. No secret is safe from the twins; one hears all and they both share everything.
I love Wukong being so focused on his kids glamours that he barely has enough magic left over for his own. And ofc Luzhen trying to grab Yuebei's invisible tail - cus where did it go? XD
I love hcs of Wukong not enjoying hot food cus of his lore. Him like his noodles lukewarm at best.
And the noodle gang cofirming their suspicions that MK is def a glamoured demon (or at least half-demon). Imagine the shock they'll get when they learn exactly who MK's mom is! XD
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cityof2morrow · 7 months
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NetworkMAT: Tunnel Entrances
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Published: 2-19-2024 | Updated: N/A SUMMARY The Network Materials (NetworkMAT) (Simmons, 2023-2024) series includes assets for building modern road networks in Sims 2. Use these items to enhance your city’s streets, walkways, highways, skyways, bridges, and so on. This is a set of four decorative tunnel entrances in various sizes and one column. Use them to give your streets/highways a realistic look. Items are meant for use on individual lots but are visible in hood view.
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DETAILS Requires all EPs/SPs. §900| Build > Architecture OR Build > Misc > Columns You need the BBNiche1Master object from the Nooks & Niches series (Buggybooz, 2012) orfrom the Repository Pack (Simmons, 2023). Like my other bridge/tunnel objects, these are a little pricey – to simulate your city having to pay a little something for proper infrastructure. ITEMS Tunnel Entrance 001 (1-Story, 5x10 Tiles) (144 poly) Tunnel Entrance 002 (2-Story, 11x10 Tiles) (144 poly) Tunnel Entrance 003 (1-Story, 5x10 Tiles) (524 poly) Tunnel Entrance 004 (2-Story, 11x10 Tiles) (524 poly) Tunnel Entrance Column (1-Story, 5x5 Tiles) (40 poly) DOWNLOAD (choose one) from SFS | from MEGA
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Combine the column and tunnel objects to build bridges and other structures. CREDITS Thanks: Ronyx69 for your open policy on CS content. Sources: Beyno (Korn via BBFonts), Cities Skylines (Paradox Interactive and Tri Synergy, 2015), EA/Maxis, Nooks & Niches (BuggyBooz, 2012), Offuturistic Infographic (Freepik), The Square Stair (Khakidoo, 2006),  Tunnel Entrances (Ronyx69, 2017). Converted content is for non-commercial use only. EA/Maxis own all content derived from their games, as do other game/content publishers whose work appears on this site in derivative form. Per the Valve Developer Community TOU, CS creators control their custom content – contact this site via private message re: TOU violations.
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jooheons · 1 year
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spider-man 2099 / miguel o’hara reading guide 
miguel o’hara was a young genetics genius employed at mega corporation alchemax, in the future city of nueva york of the year 2099 (a future universe where all superheroes got wiped out). he became spider-man when one of his experiments to replicate the powers of spider-man is used against him, his dna is rewritten and became fifty percent spider. 
essential reading:
spider-man 2099 (1992), #1-10
spider-man 2099, #11-14
spider-man 2099 annual, #1
2099 unlimited #1-3 *
spider-man 2099, #15
ravage 2099, #15 *
x-men 2099, #5 *
doom 2099 (1993), #14 *
punisher 2099 (1993), #13 *
spider-man 2099, #16-22
spider-man 2099, #23-33
2099 unlimited #8 *
ghost rider 2099 #7 *
spider-man 2099, #34-38
spider-man 2099 special #1
spider-man 2099 meets spider-man #1
2099 unlimited #9-10 *
spider-man 2099, #39-46 *
2099: world of tomorrow (1996), #1-8 *
2099: manifest destiny *
* in early 1996, editor joey cavalieri was fired. it led to the cancellation of the 2099 titles. for spider-man 2099′s case, peter david (creator and writer) chose to resign in solidarity with his editor, finishing his run with issue #44. the last two issues of spider-man 2099 were done without his input and the series ended with issue #46.
* cross-overs are optional reading, they’re grouped together with the original spider-man 2099 issues because it’s part of their collection. 
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non-essential reading (crossovers):
fantastic four 2099 (1996), #4, #6, #8
captain marvel (2000) #27-30
exiles (2001-2008), #72 *
exiles #75-99 
exiles annual #1
timestorm 2009-2099 (2009),  #1–4 *
* exiles!miguel is a variant (not the same from his 1992 run), he’s from earth-6375 here. 
* timestorm!miguel is a variant, he’s from earth-96099 here.
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semi-essential reading (main marvel universe):
superior spider-man (2013),  #17-21
superior spider-man #22-26
superior spider-man annual #1
superior spider-man #27-31
superior spider-man annual #2 
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essential reading (spider-verse event):
spider-man 2099 (2014) #1-5
amazing spider-man (2014) #1
amazing spider-man (2014) #9-15
spider-man 2099 (2014), #6-12
spider-man 2099 (2015), #1-5
spider-man 2099 (2015), #6-10
spider-man 2099 (2015), #11-16
spider-man 2099 (2015), #17-21
spider-man 2099 (2015), #22-25
spider-man 2099 meets spider-man (1995)
amazing spider-man (2018), #32-36
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semi-essential reading (back to 2099):
spider-man 2099 (2019)
spider-man 2099: exodus alpha (2022)
spider-man 2099: exodus #1-5
spider-man 2099: exodus omega
spider-man 2099: dark genesis #1-5
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other media:
spider-man: shattered dimensions (2010, video game)
spider-man: edge of time (2011, video game)
ultimate spider-man, the spider-verse: part 1 (2015, animated series)
spider-man: into the spider-verse (2018, film)
spider-man: across the spider-verse (2023, film)
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this reading guide will be updated should any upcoming projects arise! 
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allysafantasy · 2 months
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A swamp filled with Goomys.
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Astra was on her way to a nearby city to earn her second gym badge, but there was a problem. To get there, she had to go through a swamp, which she didn't realize would be a headache to get out. Lost in the swamp and growing frustrated that she couldn't find a way out. While wandering, she was startled by an Ampharos holding an Oran Berry. This Pokémon didn't belong in the swamp which grew Astra's fears of it attacking her, especially being the final evolution of Mareep. Ready to run away, knowing her Rowlet and Eevee couldn't defeat it, Astra caught a glimpse of a sparkle on its neck—a Mega Stone. This lessened her fears as Ampharos offered her the Oran Berry. "Aww, thank you, Ampharos!" As Astra said that, she thought its trainer might be nearby. She didn't like the thought of talking to another person but she sucked it up and asked Ampharos where their trainer was so she could find a way out of the swamp. Ampharos nodded and started to search for its trainer, with Astra following behind.
They arrived at a part of the swamp filled with Goomys and Sliggoos, and Astra was in awe of how many there were. Ampharos then led her to a guy playing with the Goomys. Ampharos made a happy "mehh" sound as it's red gems on its head and tail glowed. Astra smiled at Ampharos. She nervously approached him and said, "Hi." The guy looked up to see who was speaking to him. Astra panicked a bit as she recognized him—it was Beleth, an Elite Four Member. 
Astra was confused about why an Elite Four Member was there but then remembered that Beleth likes to wander around different places. However, she didn't expect to meet him in a place like this. Panicking, she thought of many ways this interaction could go wrong, but her thoughts were interrupted by Beleth's response.
"Oh! A new trainer! Hello, do you need anything?" Beleth smiled at her while petting a Goomy next to him.
"Y-yeah, umm, I really want to get out of the swamp, but I got lost. Can you help me?" Astra said, twiddling her thumbs nervously.
"Sure! I don't mind. This swamp is pretty big, you can easily get lost inside it, but I know this place pretty well! Since I usually come here to see the Goomys. They are all friendly with the trainers that visit." Beleth held and showed Astra the Goomy he was petting. The Goomy squeaked.
"Huh, why are there so many Goomys and Sliggoos in this place? I-I thought they lived deep within the swamp."
“Well… it’s a long story, but you don’t want to hear me ramble about that. Hey, look! A Goomy is coming up to you.” Beleth pointed at a Goomy that was emerging from the water and approaching Astra. It squeaks at her. “H-hello,” Astra said, still twiddling her thumbs. “Umm, do you want to see my Pokémon?” 
Goomy stretched its body up and down while it squeaked happily.
“Goomy seems to like that idea! You should bring out your Pokémon. Some Goomys really like seeing new Pokémon from outside the swamp,” Beleth responded happily.
Astra, starting to calm down a bit, brought out her starter, Rowlet, from its Pokéball. Rowlet let out a chirp. Goomy went to talk to Rowlet, and Rowlet talked back. Goomy stretched its body while Rowlet flapped his wings happily. Astra seemed to enjoy watching them chat and preferred to take a small break for a while despite wanting to get out of the swamp. Beleth seemed to enjoy just playing with the Goomy that came up to him.
================================================ If you wanna see more info about Beleth here although it has some old art -> Beleth and Miya This whole drawing took a long time and I don't know how I survived that long plus making a story that was pretty much accidental and is probably bad and grammatically bad. Anyway I made this for extra stuff. I thought it would be fun to do my ocs teams. (Also, I found the background from pokecharms.com, cause I can't be bothered to make my own) Here are Astra's and Beleth's Pokémon.
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Beleth likes to nickname all of his pokemon. The names of the Dreepy on Launcher's head are Blast and Rocket)
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cherrylng · 29 days
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Muse interview - Matt Bellamy [CROSSBEAT (March 2000)]
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“My most fundamental motivation for going into music was to give eternal life to human emotions.”
Muse, a trio of explosive lyricists who mix cross-cultural blood with modern sensibilities, have finally landed in Japan! Matthew Bellamy's spirituality, the heart of a band that respects Radiohead but aims to be ‘somewhere different’. Interview: Sumi Imai
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“I think music is best listened to when you're alone. Because it's music that makes you connect with something beyond the material.”
Muse, who hail from Devon in south-west England, were discovered by Maverick in the US as ‘promising newcomers’ and signed independently, followed by individual record deals in five countries around the world, including the UK, Germany, France and Japan, making their debut on an international scale not seen in recent years. Now, Muse is coming to Japan! At just 21 years of age, their first album ‘Showbiz’ strikes the listener's soul raw with instinctively stirring dramatic sounds and melancholy melodies. Matthew's (vocals/guitar/keyboards and lyrics/composition) singing, which is sensitive yet expresses emotions that seem to rise from within, dark, edgy and loud guitars, and melancholic and beautiful melodies have often led to them being described as ‘the three-piece Radiohead of the new millennium’, but of course they are no mere followers. Their music has the shadowy danger and tension of Radiohead, the dynamism, drive and gloss of Mansun (for the second album) and the bare intensity of Nirvana…… They create a unique "Muse world" by weaving in exotic elements (including flamenco-style guitar!). At the age of 14, Matthew joined the band of his secondary school classmate Dominic (drums). Two years later, Chris (bass) joined the band, which became the original Muse and continues to this day. We caught up with Matthew after he had been back home for a while, amidst a packed schedule of European tour dates.
You have always liked Spanish and South American music, as well as classical and choir music. I think that this diversity of musical influences is what sets Muse apart musically from other bands. 「Yes, that's true. Since I was a kid, I grew up listening to all kinds of music, regardless of genre. When I first learnt to play guitar, it was blues and slide guitar, and I started to get into rock when I was 13 or 14. When I graduated from high school, at the age of 17, I spent about four months travelling around Europe on holiday. I wanted to learn a lot of guitar music there that I wasn't used to hearing before. I went to Greece and Italy just to listen to the different kinds of folk music from different places. It was an experience that opened my eyes to the possibilities of what I could do with the guitar. I also used to play classical music like Rachmaninoff and Chopin on the piano. So maybe I'm trying to fuse all kinds of music.」
You started your first band at the age of 12, and it all started around the same time (1991 or 1992?). Was it grunge or something like that? 「Oh, no, no (laughs), it was actually a jazz-ish band.」
Oh, really? 「I was playing the piano in a boogie-woogie or rock ‘n’ roll kind of way. Then I started playing electric guitar and joined Dom's (Dominic) band. His band was so cool at school, everyone wanted to be in it (laughs).」
Wow (laughs). I heard that they played songs by Mega City Four and Senseless Things. 「Yeah, Dom's band used to play that kind of stuff, and we used to cover other British indie bands like Ned's Atomic Dustbin and Wedding Present. I started learning those songs when I joined that band.」
I see. By the way, you said, "The only bands that really mattered in the 90s were Nirvana and Radiohead during 'The Bends' era. What made these two bands stand out was their pure vulnerability in exposing themselves and innovation". You seem to be obsessed with ‘innovation’, but if there was a ‘new sound’ that Muse could present to the current scene, what would it be? 「Well, I'm not very good at describing what I do in words (laughs). But…… When I mentioned Nirvana and Radiohead, I think I was trying to talk about the ‘guitar music’ they produced. In terms of guitar-based music and its development, from Jimi Hendrix, Elvis, the Beatles and the Who to the Sex Pistols…… I think they're important bands to put in that queue. But yeah, it's hard to talk about ourselves because we're just starting out (laughs), we've got a long way to go.」
So what do you want to create in the future? 「I want to be honest about what I feel at the time. This time I've incorporated classical piano music and organic Spanish elements, but I want to combine these atmospheres in modern rock. There are so many different kinds of music in this world. Music has a long, long history. Different countries have different music. I think it's important to keep an open mind and listen to everything, to get in touch with what's happening in the world, past and present, and to develop what you create.」
I see, I understand. By the way, when UK bands expand into the US, the usual pattern is for them to establish themselves in the UK to some extent, then play small shows in the US…… But you guys are doing a big expansion on your own with your record company in the US. Many of your favourite bands - Nirvana, Primus, Rage, Smashing Pumpkins - are from the US, but do you think success in the US is important for you guys? 「Hmm, it's a challenge for us. It's a big country and I think it takes time to become a thing. The fact that the US music scene/rock music has been so creative for the last five years or so is what I'm really interested in. I think the next couple of years are a good time to bring song-oriented music to the US scene. There's been a bit of an emphasis on heavy metal music over there for a while now. But (success in the US) has never been the most important thing for me. I'd rather be successful in my home country, the UK, than the US.」
I see. But when you went to the US, you were greeted with limousines and champagne, which is unbelievable hospitality for a new British band. 「Hahahahaha (laughs), yeah, yeah.」
When it comes to being treated so well since your debut, do you take it easy and think, "I'll just take what they give me"? Or do you always calmly tell yourself, "Don't get carried away by this. Keep your feet on the ground"? 「Yeah, I don't think we take the situation too seriously. So it's more like ‘enjoy it while you have it’. We know it's all just for the moment, it won't last. We know it's just to make a good impression on us. We know we haven't earned it yet. Anyway, we don't even know if that's what we really want to get. It's just a bit of fun. It's not like I believe life should be like that or anything.」
Hmmm… that's rather cool (laughs). By the way, what ambitions did you have when you were 16, when all three Muse members were together? 「At the time…… I was like, "We're going to be the biggest in the world" (laughs), hahaha. But that kind of thing changes as you get older.」
And now? There are bands like Manics [aka Manic Street Preachers], who made their debut with the enthusiasm of "We're going to be number one in the whole world" (laughs), and then there are bands like Elastica, who say "If we can do what we love, sell 10,000 copies of our albums, and can make a living, that's enough". 「Yeah, it's possible for those two extremes to coexist inside of you. For example, to put it in an extreme way, a part of me thinks, ‘I'm happy just to exist’. Music gives me so much joy that I enjoy just being able to spend time with it, to focus on new ideas and creating something. My main motivation for continuing with music is to keep having the opportunity to create new things and to communicate with other people through it. I think that's the most important thing. There is more than one way to maintain that situation. I think I'd be just as happy if I could just make a living or if I was the most famous person in the world.」
But when we get too big, for example, there are some things we can't control. Like the suffering that fame brings, not to mention the example of Kurt Cobain…… 「Yeah……」
Also, I don't know if you've seen this, but from the Radiohead documentary video— 「Yeah, I've seen about half of it.」
From that you can also get a sense of the kind of madness they put themselves through. Do you have any fear or preparedness for that sort of thing? 「It's easy sometimes to take your situation and everything too seriously. It's easy to get depressed and wallow in self-pity, but I think that's boring. For example, I don't think the situation in that video was actually as bad as it appears on the screen. I think they were deliberately shot to look like they were in a bad situation in order to portray the image they had at the time. I know, I've been on tour for a long time now, and it's actually not that bad, I enjoy it. I mean, I try to enjoy it as much as I can. That's what life is all about. I don't feel the need to dwell on the bad aspects of it, because it's the most enjoyable experience of my life, even though I don't like some of it. I don't think that feeling will ever change.」
One of the unique characteristics of Muse's music is that it is full of deep, intense and real emotions - in the overall sound, in your guitar and piano, and of course in the songs. 'There are many ways that people do and create music - as a means of self-expression, as a means of communication, as a therapeutic role, etc. What is the greatest significance of music for you? 「Well, I guess…… The most fundamental motivation for me towards music was to give eternal life to human emotions. I mean, the feeling that after we die, the feeling remains in the world. That's the first thing, or in other words, I believe in the existence of the soul. Sometimes people can be confused by the body. They feel frustrated by the material world. Art and music express our emotions and show us that there is more to life than material things. Music is a way of connecting with people in a different way beyond the material world.」
You mean a spiritual way? 「Yeah, I think that's probably what it is. I think art exists to express what we feel inside and to communicate with people beyond natural phenomena, if there is such a thing as spirituality. Everyone expresses themselves in different ways, but most of the songs on the first album are about my relationship with the outer material world.」
Hmmm. On a different note, there have been a lot of comparisons to Radiohead, but I was impressed by how you coolly analysed and answered, "Well, I don't mind, I've never really been a fan of Radiohead. If you think about the fact that Thom Yorke was influenced by Jeff Buckley and that our album was produced by John Leckie (who produced ‘The Bends’), it's an understandable comparison." I think there are a lot of bands who, when they're as young as you are, would be very dismissive, but you handle it well, probably because of your own respect for them. 「Yeah, it's certainly partly because of the respect for what they've achieved. And I understand the comparisons for the reasons I've just mentioned. But the comparisons don't mean that we're treated as a copycat band.」
Yes, that's right. When you said that, you also said, ‘But if you see us live, you'll see that Muse is more of a rock band’, 「Yeah, it's just that if you see us live, you can better understand what we actually sound like as a band. On the record we're more experimental, we use different instruments, we sound like a five or six-piece [band], but live it's just the three of us, and I think the emotion hits you harder. And we're definitely from a different generation (to Radiohead)…… So I think we're appealing to a different generation.」
Oh, a different generation…… So what do you actually think of 'OK Computer'? Considering the sound and structure of that album, I thought that what you said earlier meant that yours is a more straightforward and powerful rock. 「I think 'OK Computer' is a good album, I just don't listen to it too intensely. It probably didn't have the same influence on me [as 'The Bends']. Maybe it's partly because I listened to 'The Bends' at a certain time of year that it appealed to me more clearly. I think 'OK Computer' is a good album, but it doesn't resonate with me the way 'The Bends' does. I think it's probably a generational thing, an age thing.」
Oh, I see. Well, this is just my personal impression, but I feel that Radiohead's sound is largely a journey of self-exploration towards inner chaos, while Muse's sound is more outward-oriented with ‘the intention to connect with the listener’. The guitars and singing seem to speak to us. For example, in your live performances, are you conscious of the presence of the listener in that sense? 「Yes, for example, I've loved going to gigs since I was a kid, and the most exciting thing was when a singer would perform to me as if they were talking to me. I'm very conscious of people as 'individuals', not as a ‘crowd’, and I try to be conscious of that. I try to imagine that I'm part of the audience, and I try to put myself in their shoes. I think music, especially albums, are best listened to when you are alone. Because music makes you feel you are not alone and connects you to something beyond the material. I don't think Muse's music is appropriate to play when you're all gathered at a friend's house having a drink and having a good time. I don't think it's the right music for that kind of background music. I think it's more the kind of music that you can listen to when you're alone and feel something different…… I mean, I hope so (laughs).」
Translator's Note: The earliest Muse interviews that can be found in Crossbeat and Rockin'On were all released on their March 2000 issues, with INROCK only releasing theirs on April 2000. But out of three, I think Crossbeat has the best early interview by far, thanks to how good of a journalist Sumi Imai is. Their interviews just reveals Matt and his bandmates in a way that most other western music magazines and newspapers don't.
Or it's just because Japanese interviews tend to reveal the conversation of questions and answers as it was recorded back then, so there's no backfilling of sorts at all.
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monstersandmaw · 2 years
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Male ‘yautja inspired’ alien x gender neutral reader - Part Six (nsfw)
Disclaimer which I’m including in all my works after plagiarism and theft has taken place: I do not give my consent for my works to be used, copied, published, or posted anywhere. They are copyrighted and belong to me.
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Note the rating change please. 18 + only.
Content: a bit more lore, some angst, some fluff, and some wet and messy alien sex :) Wordcount: 6027
Catch up here: Part One (sfw), Part Two (sfw), Part Three (sfw), Part Four (sfw, Part Five (sfw)
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The atmosphere in the camp became charged after that in a way it hadn’t been before, and you felt a little nauseous. That probably had less to do with not having eaten in hours, and more to do with the fact that Croc was staring at you as if he’d just had an epiphany of the very worst kind. Perhaps the significance of Red showing you his face went deeper than you’d first thought. Perhaps Croc had never expected him to do it, but whatever the reason, the usually jovial and lighthearted alien was behaving like someone had just walked over his grave.
Red had disappeared inside the ship again, and you couldn’t help feeling like you’d put a foot wrong in the dark somewhere, stumbling and falling and still waiting to hit the ground. It didn’t help that there was a near-constant churning in your gut anyway about the fact that only the next day you were going to have to leave, and you would probably never see either of them again.
After busying yourself with digging out the last sachet of dehydrated macaroni cheese from your pack for supper, you boiled some water on the healthy little campfire, and ate alone while the two remaining squad-mates finished preparing for the arrival of their rescue party in absolute silence. The bickering had ceased, and they stacked the boxes without making a sound. It was eerie and you truly felt like an intruder for the first time since Red had charged at you out of the trees.
With the final day looming over you on the coming dawn, you still wanted to ask them a few more questions about their home worlds and their species, and their hunt across the universe that had led them to Earth, but you weren’t sure how to broach the topic now.
Luckily, as dark fell and they joined you beside the warmth and light of the fire, they began to talk about it without prompting, and the conversation flowed quietly, if not always smoothly, while they ate their own rations.
When you’d all finished eating, Big Red leaned over and removed his mask again, and he held it out to you. In the firelight, Red’s colouring looked all the more dramatic, and his mandibles clicked at you into a shy little smile which you returned as you took the mask from him and let your fingers play absently around the smooth rim where metal met bone. Croc watched the exchange intently, looking from his friend’s face to yours and back again, and for once, Big Red’s behaviour went completely without commentary.
Over the next few hours, they showed you more clips of their capital city on Prime and of the training barracks where they’d met as younglings. You were also shown clips of their third, fallen team-mate and your heart ached for them, wishing you could have met him too.
Carefully, you asked about the kinds of things they normally ate, and even what their music was like, and they showed you a steady stream of information that began to make your head spin after a while.
You also saw what the environments of their birthplaces and the nearby cities were like, ranging from Croc’s wild, jungle home in the treetops, lush as the deepest remaining areas of the Amazon on Earth, to the vast, multi-level mega-city that formed the capital of Secundus, where most of the population of the planet lived in a sprawling metropolis that covered an entire third of the planet’s surface. Only Big Red’s traditionalist clan chose to exist out in the middle of nowhere in the harsh, gritty sands of the far-reaching deserts.
After that, he showed you the various beasts that lived in the dunes and rocky outcrops: lizards the size of elephants that spewed acid like a fire hose when threatened; winged reptiles like pterodactyls that soared on the desert thermals for miles at a time without flapping a wing; tiny, adorable, fluffy creatures that looked like hamsters but had three eyes and long beaks; a horrific, black, eldtrich-looking creature that actually turned out to be an entire colony of smaller insects all intertwined that made you want to be sick just thinking about it; and a terrifying sand worm the size of a London Underground train with a mouth like a tunnel-boring machine, but which was apparently very docile and only ate the flowers of one particular, cactus-like plant.
You could see why Croc had called Big Red’s kind ‘tough’ though. Simply to exist out there, they had to be virtually un-killable to begin with.
“Why do you think Croc has to wear so much armour normally?” Big Red grinned when you said as much. You took the opportunity to remove the mask again for the time being and hold it in your lap to give yourself a break from the relentless stream of images and information. He didn’t ask for it back. He didn’t look directly at you most of the time either, and you wondered how bad his eyesight really was, but you felt his full attention on you nonetheless.
“I just thought you were an exhibitionist, Red” you quipped back, and Croc finally cracked a wide-mawed smile. In fact, you’d only seen Croc with a single pauldron on in addition to the armoured ‘loincloth’ that they both wore, but you weren’t about to argue.
“Oh, there’s lots of stuff that wants to kill us in the jungle too,” Croc assured you with a wicked glint in his eyes, and Red groaned, apparently knowing where this was leading already. “Remember when you stayed with my clan and ate that —” he cut off into a series of clicks for a fruit that apparently didn’t have a direct translation “— and your neck and face swelled up like a weather balloon for a week?”
You didn’t mean to laugh, but it snuck out anyway, and Big Red just shook his head. “Never going to let me forget that, are you?” he muttered. “That was the last time I ever ate something that you gave me without knowing what it was first.”
Croc nearly fell off his crate from laughing as he tried to describe Red’s swollen face to you with his little mandibles poking out of it, so Red kindly helped him along by simply reaching over and shoving him in the centre of his chest.
Croc landed flat on his back in the dirt with his legs in the air, still laughing like a drain, and you felt the odd tension of the day finally pop and shatter. Still miming a head like a beach ball at you and chortling, Croc picked himself up again and resumed his seat.
Red sighed though and turned more serious again as he looked around at the silhouettes of the pine trees against the clear night sky. “Are your people sending soldiers here for us?” he asked. “Do they know we crashed?” Despite the sudden moment of jollity, he was obviously still in the mindset of ‘ship’s captain’; responsible for Croc’s safety and the integrity of his tattered mission, and he must have felt vulnerable, grounded on a strange planet with no real defences.
You shook your head. “Not yet. At least, not that they told me,” you amended, just in case. They were unlikely to send anyone — given the reams of forms you’d signed agreeing to go out alone, unsupported, with no guarantee of rescue and with every chance you might never return. Quite what the fuck you’d been thinking at the time was still a marvel to you, but it was a gamble that had paid off against all odds. They must have been rubbing their hands together with glee when an untrained linguist had signed away a comfortable life in the archives to go bushwhacking for them in search of aliens, but you weren’t ashamed to admit that the financial rewards had definitely been the deciding factor at the time.
Although Big Red relaxed a fraction, you still suspected that the two of them would continue to keep watch in shifts that night.
“They sent me first because I’m not exactly a threat to you, and they wanted to learn about you. So far, your kind has only shot when shot at first, so…” They both picked up the subtext that sending in someone non-threatening had been the plan all along, and they nodded. “You’ve managed to learn so much about us when we still know next to nothing about you. They’ll probably send a team here once I get back to investigate and salvage, but —”
“—there will be nothing to find but a crater,” Croc grinned. “Our commander will obliterate what we cannot take with us.”
Your eyes went wide at that, but it did make sense. “Fair enough. Are they still on course to get here tomorrow?”
“Yes,” Big Red said. “They will arrive around sunset.”
You intended to be well on your way by then, but the thought of leaving these two physically hurt, like something inside you was shearing off. “How many are coming for you?”
“Another team like us,” Red said. “Three. They were on their way to make a study of your southern hemisphere to look for locations that the enemy may be hiding in, but they have been diverted to collect us first.”
Croc said something to Big Red in their language, and you got the feeling they were a bit dejected.
You looked from one to the other of them for a moment. “Are you guys… in trouble?”
Red snorted. “Yes. We shamed ourselves by allowing inferior human weaponry to bring us down. Our commander… she is most displeased.”
She.
You remembered what he’d said about females, and your next question just bubbled out of you. “Red, show me what the females of your species look like?”
Croc crowed out a laugh and elbowed Red in the ribs. He then took Red’s mask from your hands and planted it straight onto your face like it was a custard pie before you could do so much as blink.
“Assho—” you began without sting, but never got to finish the insult.
A second later, the helmet sent a new signal directly to your brain, and it created the illusion of standing at the intersection of an alien building complex, or perhaps a ship, with dark walls, dim white lighting, and a shiny black floor. It took you a couple of seconds to register that you were actually also staring up at a creature that was perhaps nine or ten feet tall.
She looked more like Croc than Red, with the same greenish-brown and cream colouring and spines across her face and around her eyes, but she was… massive. She wore a solid chest plate which seemed to be composed of the same dark metal as the inside of Red’s mask, and the same kind of armoured loincloth that Big Red and Croc both wore, with additional, articulated tassets over her hips and muscular thighs. She had a high, flaring crest that was a bit like a triceratops’ where Croc’s was much smaller, and she also bore an array of wave-like spikes that rippled back over her entire skull almost like flames where Croc’s head was largely smooth save for the dark, needle-like spines. Her shiny, greenish-black ‘dreads’ were each as thick as your forearm and fell to the middle of her back.
Her skin was a mottled cream and olive green, and her mouth stretched wide with scorn as she regarded the camera that had recorded the footage, presumably worn by Big Red at the time. Around her pale throat was wrapped a kind of decorated metal gorget — something between a cuff necklace and a piece of armour — and she had wide, metal bands around her ‘dreads’ in the same, ribbed style as the neck-piece.
“Holy shit,” you breathed, and then Croc himself came into the background of the shot. It was strange to see him with two arms, and he had none of the easy, jocund swagger to which you had grown accustomed over the last couple of days. He was deferential to the female without being obsequious, and he exposed his throat to her before turning to go, presumably at whatever order she had just clicked in his direction. Her voice was deeper than either of theirs, and from what you could see of her arm and thigh muscles around her armour, she was probably strong enough and powerful enough to crush Red’s skull with one hand.
Croc left the shot, but Big Red didn’t seem in a hurry to change what he was showing you, so you sat there and let it play out.
Another male with a mottled brown and cream pattern approached her and her whole demeanour changed.
She went from almost aggressively tense to something soft and doting, and she crooned quietly as the unknown male came to a halt in front of her and bowed his head. She lowered hers to touch the crowns of their sloping skulls together. She then stroked the palm of her massive, clawed hand affectionately down his thick mane of ‘dreads’ and he shivered openly and purred. He raised his face a little and they kissed their mandibles together. You’d witnessed Croc and Red do that briefly, but this had a lingering intimacy that their exchange had not.
“That,” came Red’s voice from somewhere beyond the vision, “Is a mated pair.”
“Oh,” you breathed.
When he’d talked about a bond, you hadn’t thought too much more about it, but it was obvious that there was something tangibly different between these two.
Before you could watch any more, you began to feel a little strange from the way the mask was interacting directly with your brain, and Croc chittered something to his friend. Red crooned, and then removed the mask gently from your face to set it back over his own. “Enough for tonight,” he said quietly.
A moment later, you yawned, and Croc did the same.
Amused by the fact that the vast physical differences between your two species did not apparently extend to yawns being contagious, you both grinned, and you made to stand up. Exhaustion from the strain of a four day hike and the stress of finding their ship crashed and Croc injured, and subsequently learning more about them in two days than any human had discovered in five years, as well as using the mask for so long, all washed over you and you swayed on your feet, the world blurring.
Big Red, still seated beside the fire, caught you reflexively with a firm hand to your lower back and you looked down at him, smiling. He did not remove his hand for a long moment.
“Thanks.”
Croc clicked something at him, and he nodded in acknowledgement before turning to look up at you again. “You may sleep in my quarters again if it is more comfortable than your tent,” he said. “I’ll take first watch, but I will join you later, if I may.”
You blinked. “You’re offering me your room again and then asking if it’s ok to share it? It’s your room, Red.”
“But you may use it, and I do not have to be there.”
“No, I’d… I’d like it if you joined me when your shift on watch is done.”
Croc sighed. “Goodnight,” he said, and then added something a little sterner to Big Red, who exhaled and nodded, but otherwise didn’t reply.
With a frown at the odd, terse interaction, you went to fetch your stuff from your tent.
When you returned, Big Red rose from his little crate and said, “I will help you into the room. If you need to get out, you should be able to pull on the doors, but you might want to leave a box between them to keep them open, just in case.”
You agreed heartily, not wanting to get trapped alone in a small metal box with no way out until one of them came for you.
You stared appreciatively at his body as he hauled the metal door up and let you step through. Once you were inside, he shunted a nearby metal crate into the open maw with his foot to keep the doors from falling shut again. “It is… not too cold for you like this?” he asked.
“I’ll be fine. I can use my sleeping bag like an extra blanket. Thank you, Red. I’ll see you later.”
“I will try not to wake you,” he said, and stalked off into the night without another word.
Hours later, you woke as the blanket and sleeping bag atop you were both lifted up and Red slid in beside you. This time you felt no fear or fleeting panic on waking.
Big Red set his mask down on the floor beside the mattress with a soft clunk and pulled up the covers again. With a deep, satisfied rumble, he slotted into place around your back like you’d been made to fit together, and he pulled you close against his chest in a single tug of his left hand.
His mandibles brushed the crown of your head as he spoke quietly to you in the pitch dark. “Go back to sleep,” he murmured and adjusted the sleeping bag up around your neck to keep the warmth in.
“Why do you need to keep watch?” you asked sleepily. “What are you afraid of? Surely not humans…”
“Humans and animals may present a nuisance,” he said, “But it is the enemy we watch for.”
A frisson of fear shot through you like a bolt of electricity and you jerked your head up. It was only his quick reactions that kept him from getting headbutted in his delicate mandibles. “You mean… They’re out here?”
“They… have a habit of finding us. They enjoy the hunt.” He crooned and purred softly, and the sound of it calmed your heartbeat just a fraction. “But Croc is on watch now,£ he said with another nuzzle against your head, “And we have seen no sign of them since we got here. We will keep you safe. Go back to sleep.”
“Right,” you exhaled weakly, and tried to settle while your imagination insisted on conjuring images of that black carapace slinking between tall pine trees somewhere in the valley below or along the ridge line above the crash site, and you heard again the rabid snarl that had accompanied the footage.
Sleep was reluctant to take you that night, and you lay there a long time with Red’s steady, slightly wheezy breath fanning across your ear and the weight of his arm around your waist.
“You are troubled,” he said after the silence had stretched.
You sighed. “I… I don’t want to go tomorrow, I guess,” you mumbled, and tilted your head down a little to let your lips brush against the hard, smooth skin of his bicep beneath your cheek. He returned the gesture with a delicate touch of his mandibles against your hair. He seemed to like raking the tusks at the end of them across your scalp, though you couldn't imagine that a mouthful of hair was any fun.
His fingers splayed wide across your stomach and he rumbled a long, low-frequency moan behind you.
“Red?”
“Yes?”
“What is it?”
“I… I have grown… attached to you,” he admitted with obvious reluctance.
You smiled and something inside you ached again. “Is that what Croc was warning you about earlier?”
Big Red nodded. “Yes. He is right, but I do not… I do not wish to part with you tomorrow.”
You turned within the confines of his embrace to face him and skimmed your hand up his chest, over his textured throat, and up to his mandibles which were now flexed wide. A little line of drool caught your fingertip and you used it to skate delicately over the thin membrane between his mandibles. He let out another low-frequency rumble that you felt in your chest, and his torso heaved. He rolled completely onto his back and let you explore his face in the dark.
“Are these sensitive?” you asked as you traced your fingertip along his top right mandible, along to the wickedly sharp little tusk at the tip, testing the point with the pad of your finger until it almost broke the skin, and then down the stretching membrane to the lower one that twitched and quivered beneath your touch.
“Yes,” he gasped.
“Very?”
“Very.”
“Mmm, interesting.”
Then, still lying on your left side, facing him, you ran the fingertips of your right hand carefully up between his eyes, over all those fascinating ripples and ridges, around his deep eye sockets, and then over his elongated skull to the ridge that protected the roots of his ‘dreads’. Gingerly, knowing they were sensitive as well, you gathered a small handful of them together in your fingers and then, recalling how the mated pair had interacted, slid your hand down the entire length of the ‘braids’ from root to tip.
Red reacted beautifully.
He arched his back right off the mattress, hissed, let out a long series of rapid-fire clicks that dissolved into a gutteral growl, and then collapsed back down, panting. He gasped your name and fumbled for you with his right hand. His claws caught your thigh and you hummed as he gripped you desperately hard, as if he needed somewhere to anchor himself.
“Show me how to make you feel good, Red,” you breathed. “Show me.”
He paused, and then reached out to his other side with his left hand. A second later, the dim, blueish light of the lantern flared to life and cast his incredible body into stark relief. He shoved back the covers and kicked them off. In the small, warm, sheltered space of his quarters, you didn’t need them. He unclipped the armoured loincloth and lifted his hips enough to discard it, revealing that his body below was ridged like sections of cooling lava all the way down between his legs, with a slight mound which you took to be a sheath of some kind.
“Here,” he said, and took your hand as you sat upright on your left hip to get a better look at him, propping your weight on your left hand. He guided your touch down between his legs and you let your middle finger run around the vertical seam in his body that was growing more noticeable with each heaving breath he took.
You glanced up at his face and saw that his mandibles were opening and closing slowly, drool just beginning to stretch between the tusks as he got more worked up, and his eyes had rolled shut. You knew he could still see you though through his heat-sensing abilities. While still looking at his face, you dragged your right, middle fingertip along the line of the seam and discovered that it was puffy now, and a little slick. “Like that?” you whispered and he gasped and nodded. “You’re beautiful, Red.”
At that, he bucked again, and your finger slid a little way inside the slit. Red gave a muted bellow and you paused. Beneath your finger you felt the silky, hot walls of his inner sheath clench and contract, and then, swelling as he grew more aroused, you discovered his cock. Ridged, hard, and slick, it began to slide from the protection of the sheath, and the more you teased it, the harder and more desperate he got.
In minutes, he was shaking bodily.
His breath wheezed and rasped, the delicate membrane between his mandibles fluttering when he flexed them. His thighs trembled and his claws raked furrows into the mattress that would never be repaired. He bucked and writhed beneath your touch and then, when you pushed deeper into his sheath and ran forefinger and thumb at the same time around the very base of his cock in a teasing, mirrored motion til you gripped him there at the hot, silky root, he let out a rabid litany of growls and snarls and clicking purrs that went straight to your core.
“You’re so beautiful,” you said again and he keened, head thrown back, thin ‘dreads’ spread out in a wide fan around his head. “And so wet…”
With your left hand, you reached for his ‘dreads’ without withdrawing your right from his sheath, and ran your left hand down the closest section of ‘braids’. Again, Red roared and jerked. With the motion, his cock slipped free of his sheath and bounced against his hard abs, leaking everywhere.
Closing your hand around it again, you gripped him and worked his ridged shaft and he whimpered, curling his torso inwards a little as you swirled your thumb underneath the topmost ridge. A spurt of liquid dribbled from his tip, rolling down over your knuckles, and dripped onto his stomach. “You’re so messy, Red,” you breathed, and then another thought occurred to you. Probably a little late, you asked, “Is this… safe? I mean… given what your blood does to humans…”
He nodded. “It’s only… Only our blood that—” he cut off into another growl and series of clicks.
You tightened your grip and he moaned again, one leg kicking out idly. “Watch those claws,” you warned.
“I’m sorry. This is… It’s so… It’s so much,” he cried.
Looking down at the delicate, pinkish flesh of his swollen, slick sheath, you realised that with the kind of talons and claws his kind had, there was little chance anyone had ever done this to him before, and the sheer intimacy of the gesture struck you to the core.
When you used both hands, one to work his shaft and the other to stimulate the soft walls of his sheath, he almost sat upright. His eyes opened wide in the semi-dark and his mouth flared, and you thought he was going to come, but he didn’t. He rocked back and forth a few times, his cock leaking clear fluid everywhere, and then he slumped back down, panting. It was like you were milking him, and he seemed to love it.
Each time you ran your finger around the base of his cock, he let out a beautiful, musical clicking sound. “I wish I knew what you were saying,” you said after a while. “I wish I could understand you.”
Either he didn’t hear or didn’t want you to know, because he didn’t translate. Perhaps he couldn’t.
You’d never seen yourself as particularly talented in bed. You’d had partners before, and none of them had openly complained to your face or anything, but the way Red was responding to you in waves of incoherent ecstasy was more arousing for you than sex with a human had ever been.
“I want you, Red,” you breathed as your brain finally caught up to what your body was feeling, and your own arousal hit you in a colossal wave.
“Close,” Red said, and you eased off on the pressure on his shaft. The mess he was making had covered his lower abdomen until it glistened, and still more leaked from his sheath. He could slide right inside you, you realised, and the thought sent another white bolt of desire right through you.
You let go of him long enough to undress, with Red helping you out of your top and immediately bringing his mandibles to your bare shoulder. He moaned luxuriantly when he scraped the tips of his tusks across your skin, and you gasped when his forked tongue licked out to taste you. He manoeuvred himself behind you while you knelt, and you felt his cock slide between your legs, slick and hard and beautifully ridged.
“Ohhhh, Red,” you groaned, pitching forwards onto your hands and knees. “Oh god that’s good. Yes… Please…”
“Inside?” he asked and you nodded, reaching back to take hold of his cock and guide him. “Carefully.”
His slick, blunt tip nudged against your entrance and you tensed a little, but he shuddered and gripped you with his clawed hands, holding you still while you adjusted to just that much of him. His tip spurted a little inside you and you pushed back against him. God it felt good.
“Please Red, please…”
He slid a little further in, chittering and crooning and clicking in your ear all the while, an when he pressed you gently down to lie on your stomach, you spread your legs to give him complete access to you.
With the new angle, he adjusted your hips a little with his hands, and then sank slowly, decadently, into you, right the way to the hilt.
As one, you both let out a long groan and just stayed there, breathing steadily while you adjusted to the stretch of his gorgeous cock and he to the heat of your body. He bowed his head forwards over you and kissed a short way down your back, circling his forked tongue over your spine and raking his four, tusked mandibles across your skin until you were shivering and begging him to move.
He picked up your hips in his hands and withdrew almost to the tip before rolling deep into you in a steady, careful movement. His ridges felt delicious against your entrance with every slide in and out, and his tip caught you in just the right place at the apex of each thrust. With every stroke he increased the pace just a little, and as he loomed over you, you felt little spots of drool hit your skin and imagined his mandibles flaring wide with pleasure.
This was it. You’d never be able to have sex with a human again. It felt far too good.
When he found a rhythm that had you both grunting and gasping, he changed the angle a little and you lit up all over with a shout and a curse. “There!” you cried, scrabbling for something to hold onto with your hands as pleasure ripped through you. “Oh fuck, Red, there… like that… just like that… oh god… I’m going to come.”
Red’s rhythm stuttered a little at that, but he picked up the pace again and pounded relentlessly into you. He was quite literally holding your hips up off the mattress like you weighed nothing at all.
“Want to feel you come too, Red,” you choked. “Please…?”
“Close,” he grunted, adding a little extra force to each thrust and making stars burst across your vision in the dark. “I’m going to…” he hissed, barely able to speak around the purring and the clicking coming from his throat. “Now,” he said, and his hips drove into you one final time, right to the hilt so that his pelvis was pressed flush against you while his cock pulsed deep inside you.
With a bellow that made your ears ring, he emptied himself into you.
The convulsions that swept through him knocked you over the edge and you came too beneath him, untouched and twitching and gasping as he continued to fill you. His claws dug into your hips and he held you mercilessly in place while he came and came.
With his cock still twitching inside you and his hips still rocking against yours, he leaned forwards and closed his jaws around the back of your neck. He didn’t break the skin, but you felt his teeth dig into you as well while he held you steady beneath him and rode out the final waves of his colossal orgasm.
You’d never been so full, or felt so needed.
Eventually, Red stilled and slumped atop you, careful not to crush you. His cock was still buried inside you and you both lay there, breathing hard in the dark for a long time. Occasionally his mandibles caressed you, but mostly he just lay there, spent and holding you. When you gave a soft mewl of discomfort, he did move, withdrawing slowly and pausing when you winced a little.
The rush of come that spilled out of you when he finally withdrew all the way was the most obscene thing you’d ever experienced. To your surprise, Red trailed his fingers through it, playing with it as he pushed the flat of his thumb against your entrance, apparently fascinated by the sight of his come on your skin.
“Gonna need to clean up,” you mumbled, rolling over and gasping at the slick slide of your thighs over one another. “God, Red, you came so hard.”
You were far too leaden-legged to stagger across the room to your backpack and get out the wipes from the top section, but Red obliged and tenderly cleaned you. The process of touching you everywhere and taking care of you seemed to get him worked up all over again because when you opened your exhausted eyes while you lay on your back and he knelt between your legs, you found that his cock was hard and leaking again, though he seemed content enough to ignore it in favour of your comfort. When you expressed quiet surprise at his stamina, he twitched his mandibles into his shy smile.
“You make me like that,” he said. “I will not… I mean… if you are tired…” he added awkwardly.
“Come on me?” you whispered, and he rumbled a pleased groan.
Still kneeling like a supplicant, he took his cock in his hand and worked himself slowly to start with. The slick sounds of his pleasure filled the small room and despite your tiredness, you found yourself turned on again by the sight of him. “I can smell you,” he hissed, opening his mandibles wide. “I can taste you…”
“Come on me, Red.”
At that, he looked down at you with reverence, gasped, grunted, pitched forwards onto one hand, and then started to come all over his fingers in thick, pale spurts. He directed his release over your stomach, but a moment later his knees went out from under him with a small gasp of surprise from the force of it, and he ground his cock against you instead, all the while still coming.
Red’s second orgasm lasted just as long as the first, and seemed just as intense, but eventually he went still and he buried his face near your neck, inhaling the scent of your skin while you let your fingertips draw idle patterns over the cracks and textures of his leathery shoulders. Occasionally you stroked down the length of one of his ‘dreads’ and he would whimper and rock his hips, grinding his slick, softening cock into the hollow of your hip. The mess between you was nowhere near as much this time though, but he still used up a fair few wipes to clean you off again.
The mattress was ruined. It was partly from his destructive claws but mostly because of the mess that had spilled out of you, so when you expressed distaste at the idea of sleeping on it, he spread your sleeping bag onto the floor and lifted you onto it, one arm under your knees and the other around your shoulders.
He dragged the blanket down and pulled it over himself with uncharacteristically clumsy movements, and then pulled you — sleeping bag and all — right up against his chest and began to purr like a big cat.
“You ok?” you asked, not knowing the protocol for his kind after apparently mind-blowing sex.
He nodded.
“You need anything?”
He shook his head and held you even tighter.
“You should rest,” he said thickly. His breathing evened out only a few minutes later, and it wasn’t long before you joined him in the deepest sleep you’d ever experienced.
When you woke in the morning, the lantern was still glowing dimly and Red was somehow wrapped even more determinedly around you, and you wondered how long you could get away with lying there before either Croc disturbed you or the rescue team arrived.
___
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Here we have Iota Squad all together and ready for action. One of hero factories many search and rescue teams. Though, this team in particular is usually assigned to more hazardous conditions than usual. They're more than capable than handling themselves alone but when together, as with all teams, they can achieve great things. Listing them off from left to right (In the group photo):
Heinrich Phase: A brash and boastful rookie always looking to prove himself to his team's lead, Pixie. He feels that the Hero Factory could be doing more with it's influence and power. Heinrich made a name for himself while using the experimental short range phase generator mounted on his upper back. This device allows him to "teleport" or blink a short distance, leaving an after image in his path. Depending on the mission at hand you'll either see him with his High Frequency Dual Claws, able to cut through even the densest of metals and rock. They come quite in handy for clearing debris and clearing paths to rescue targets or ripping the armor off of foes. Or his Dual Concussive Photon Repeaters, usually mounted on the side of a Mach Bike, he took the opportunity from a wrecked one to see if he could put them to use himself. They have a lot of kick… unsurprisingly.
Gretchen Ranger: An overprotective, unyielding, near-unstoppable force of a hero. Not afraid to speak her mind, she tends to butt heads with the team lead at times. Even so, they're the closest of the four. Despite her predisposition, she willingly chose the role of tracker of the team. Ranger's armor and equipment are reminiscent of a badger. She comes equipped with similar strength augmenting tech implanted in Duncan Bulk with optimized actuators in her hands for more grip strength, allowing her to crush even stone in her claws. She can scale sheer vertical surfaces with ease as well. Her tool of choice is a modified version of the M.D.S.B (Mega Decibel Sound Blaster). Referred to as, lovingly, the "Search Light". Instead of sending out masses of explosive sound, it acts as an advance echo-locator. Though, the output can be turned up higher for sustained and devastating firepower should the need arise.
Clara Pixie: Team lead, voice of reason, and a great shot. Pixie, despite being the shortest in the team, is the most capable fighter out of all of them. She traded in the standard plasma gun issued to all heroes for a condensed combustion hand cannon. The design of the handgun is very much "lightning trapped in a bottle". However, that is a topic for another time. Pixie while not leading the team, is often participating in Hero Factory's rehabilitation program. In which a select few potential ex-villains are given a second chance. In the form of being assigned to a city and being charged with protecting and helping the inhabitants in anyway they can. Of course, under the close supervision of an assigned handler. Pixie, being part of this program, has been assigned with being Corroder's handler. The two have grown quite close as time passed. Even bringing him along on missions with the rest of the squad every now and again. The two would be near inseparable if it weren't for responsibilities that need most of their attention.
Andrew "Andy" Bolt": Quiet, patient, disciplined, Andrew Bolt is one of the best scouts Hero Factory has had in years. It's rumored that he could've been on the fabled H.R.T (Hero Recon Team) at one point or another. His actions, speak much louder than words in most cases. Not much is really known fully about him aside from him being a veteran hero and his blinding speed. He is equipped with an energy condenser mounted to his quaza core that passively absorbs any ambient electricity in the air. Giving him a constant flow of energy to power his tools/weapons. Speaking of, Bolt's equipped with Dual Stun blasters that have an extended function, when drawing directly from his energy condenser, to create nets of energy capable of neutralizing weapons and powers similar to the hero cuffs used during the breakout event. His pride and joy comes in the form of the Mach Saber. in it's normal state it functions just like any other sword made by hero factory. But, when drawing power directly from his energy condenser, it's high frequency function activates, allowing him to cut through even the strongest alloys. Bolt is also capable of diverting extra power to his legs for short bursts of speed or a constant, blinding sprint. Doing so charges the condenser further. If not released he could overheat himself. After long sprints Bolt requires venting almost immediately.
This was a really long one but, I really needed to get this one done since I've been sitting on the idea of this team for a while now. I figured now would be as good as any since it is Hero February and all. Hope you like them as much as I do. Enjoy!
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twinsimming · 2 years
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Game On! Collection 🎮
The Sims 4: High School Years added a bunch of cool items for gamer/streamer sims and I’ve converted some of them for our sims to use in The Sims 3! I also converted the video game consoles from The Sims 4: City Living and the simmi figurines from The Sims 4: Snowy Escape so I have some more silly little guys to put on my nerdy sims’ shelves :p
Note: There are two versions of the wireless speaker, one that glows and another that doesn’t. They both work as stereos. There are also two versions of both computers, one version each with the streaming equipment and the other without it.
The flag on the wall and the rug are previous conversions of mine here, the freezer bunny figurine is by simbeings here, the headphones, camera, and seashell plate are by bioniczombie here and here, the MySims dolls are by Around The Sims 3 here, and the voidcritter cards are by kandiraver-sims here.
Comfort
Spine Reticulator Gaming Chair: non-CAStable | §350 |
Multitasker G: non-CAStable | §325 |
Décor
Yamachan Simmi: non-CAStable | §25 |
Electronics
Gamer’s First Computer [edited by twinsimming]: four channels | §1350 |
Streamer’s First Computer: four channels | §1500 |
The Big Picture Ultrawide Computer: four channels | §2525 |
The Big Picture Ultrawide Computer Base Model [edited by twinsimming]: four channels | §2400 |
The Big Picture Ultrawide Computer Webcam and Microphone [edited by twinsimming]: two channels | §125 |
GoldiBox Gaming Console: two channels | §400 |
UnorthoBox Gaming Console: two channels | §800 |
Groove Tube Wireless Speaker: four channels | §150 |
Groove Tube Wireless Light Up Speaker [edited by twinsimming]: four channels | §150 |
Lighting
RGBright Strip Lights: two channels | §105 |
Tri Hard LED Panels (Right): four channels | §125 |
Tri Hard LED Panels (Left): four channels | §125 |
Surfaces
PR-0 Gaming Desk: four channels | §430 |
| All TS4 presets included and base game compatible |
Credit: meshes by EA, The Sims 4, Sims4Studio, TSRW, Blender, Milkshape, Photoshop, and Gimp.
Download (SFS, package) | Mirror (MEGA, package)
If you like my work, please consider tipping me on Ko-fi.
Experiencing issues with my conversions? Inbox me. Enjoy! 💙
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