#not simple to say verse

[lunacias]

these are the silt verses, and I name our disciples thus

[urlocalwhumper]

my girl and @sowhumpshaped's boy interacting bc yippee yahoo yay (yes that anon was me. again. i should really sign my anons lmfao)

also this is like a weird mix of my pet verse and theirs, tried to keep things consistent but i have adhd memory so do not count on it!! 🫡

anyways,

rayan couldn't believe it. not only had he finally, after years of attempts, been approved for his pet owner's license, but he was also heading to the shelter - not as a volunteer this time, but to finally, finally pick out a pet of his very own.

to say he was excited was an understatement, truly, but he also felt a little bad as he approached the building. he'd been so busy recently, he hadn't been in for volunteer work for a solid two weeks. he supposed it was all worth it now, though.

he only felt more and more excited, almost giddy, as he was brought back towards the kennels. no more pining and yearning, when he left this building, it'd be with his very own pet right by his side.

he already recognized most of the faces he passed, but he still bothered to go kennel-by-kennel anyways. this was possibly the most important decision he'd ever make, and he was going to take it very seriously.

there was one he didn't recognize, though. all the way in the back, curled up as small as possible on its bed, shaking like a leaf in a hurricane, was a pet he'd never seen before. he couldn't even really make out any distinctive features, with the way it was hiding its face in its arms. it was blonde, he could at least say that, with floppy little dog ears of a matching color, but he couldn't pick out much else.

"when did this one get in?" he asked, frowning in sympathy. one of the other volunteers - who he admittedly didn't know very well - glanced at the pet in question and sighed.

"last week, i think." they said. "real nasty case. she was confiscated from her last owner after heavy suspicions of abuse, the pet hospital sent her here once she didn't need constant medical attention anymore."

they clicked their tongue derisively. "i don't know how someone could do that to their pet." they sighed again. "either way, she's very skittish. doesn't bite, though. not even if you corner her."

so it's a girl. rayan thought distantly, blinking silently as he processed that load of information.

"that's- that's horrible!" he spluttered, once his brain finally caught up with him. he glanced back at the kennel. the pet inside had raised her head a little bit, and he could make out one shining green eye looking warily at him. "what- what happened?"

the volunteer spun their ring of keys around their finger, before selecting one and unlocking the gate to the kennel. "see for yourself."

electing not to comment on that weirdly ominous answer, he obliged and stepped inside the kennel. almost immediately, the pet inside shrunk back, like she could somehow manage to retreat even further into the far corner of the space.

rayan frowned, his eyebrows knitting together in worry. he didn't want to scare her anymore - the poor thing had probably already been scared enough for several lifetimes. so, with a soft grunt, he got down and sat on the kennel floor, a good six feet away from her.

"hi." he said, giving his best encouraging smile. "i'm rayan. i'm not going to hurt you." he kept his tone as soft and soothing as he possibly could. he eyed the tag on her collar, too far away to actually read it. "could i know your name too?"

she just stared at him for a few moments, sizing him up with her one visible eye, before slowly, cautiously rising to her hands and knees and taking a single step out of her bed.

and the moment she turned to fully face him, he immediately understood what the other volunteer meant by see for yourself.

only one of her eyes had been visible because the other was completely missing. almost the entire left side of her face, only ending less than an inch above her mouth, was made up of the rough scar tissue left by severe burns. where her left eye would have been, there was simply a shallow divot.

it took everything in him not to visibly recoil, because he knew it'd be interpreted the wrong way. the poor thing would probably think he was disgusted by her, when in reality, he was nearly floored by the depths of the cruelty she'd had to endure. even her tail, which was tucked firmly between her legs at the moment, had an odd bend to it, like it had been broken and healed crooked.

as she got closer to him, he could see just how terribly she was trembling, the way her ribs were clearly visible against her flesh. her single eye held so much fear, and her ears were pinned back against her skull, yet she continued to approach anyways.

until finally, she sat down in front of him, hunched and small and afraid. he wanted so badly to just reach out and comfort her, but he knew that escalating that quickly would likely scare her more.

slowly, so she could still keep a close eye on his movements and back away if she felt threatened, he reached for her collar. black leather - heavy duty, but impersonal. "NANA" was engraved on the front of the tag in bold, capital letters. The back was bare.

"nana." he repeated. her gaze immediately snapped from his hand back to his face. "is that your name?"

after a few hesitant seconds, she gave a single nod.

he smiled. "it's nice to meet you, nana." he said. "would it be okay if i pet you?"

she looked almost incredulous that he was asking, but nodded again anyways.

the moment his hand started to card through her hair, it was like her demeanor did a complete 180. she all but melted into the touch, leaning heavily into his hand as he scratched behind her ears. he could even see her tail starting to wag out of the corner of his eye.

poor thing. he thought sadly. is this really all it takes?

"you were just scared, weren't you?" he said. "scared i was gonna hurt you..." he couldn't even entertain the thought. "well, everything's okay. i'm not gonna hurt you, see?"

to his shock, she stepped closer again, and curled up in his lap, looking up at him with and eye full of pleas for more pets. he couldn't help but laugh to himself as he obliged.

"so," the volunteer from earlier said, nearly sending rayan jumping out of his skin - he'd forgotten they were there! "think you've found a keeper?" they gave him a knowing smile.

he looked down at the pet curled up in his lap, feeling the joy of finally achieving his dream once again.

he beamed as brightly as he could. "i- yeah! i think i did!"

[umbane]

[taps mic] kayn is a bit of a crybaby, he just hides it well

[avatardoggo]

sooo i gave FG his birthday present 😭🫣🥹

[sallytwo]

SAm!!! you can't believe how hyped I am about the dovewing pmv you're making!!! the more wips I see of it the more I'm like "waogahah this is gonna be the best thing ever".. like the warrior cats community is not ready for this. *I'm* not ready for it

THANK YOU SO MUCH THIS MEANS SO MUCH TO ME… i’ve never done a project this big like i’ve been spending every spare hour on this and it makes me sooo happy to see that other people are looking forward to it. whenever i get to critical of my art i just think that like… i’ve been staring at this for hours upon hours ofc i hate it but for people who have never seen it it’s exciting.. they don’t see every mistake like me. anyway IM SO EXCITEDDD it should be done by the end of the week :)

[idkwhatimdoingbutslay]

Okay so I’m frustrated.

Nothing serious, just more Arcane discourse lol.

I’ve said before in my “anti caitvi” post that i made awhile ago that I find it very frustrating when people look at Caitlyn Kiramman and immediately go “I don’t like her” without a second thought.

It’s frustrating that Caitlyn can not at all be nuanced because some people just simply don’t want her to be.

It’s unfair and discrediting.

Don’t get me wrong, Caitlyn has messed up, said and done the wrong things (ex. The “bodies in the basement” comment, defending Piltover while arguing with Ekko), but the thing about Caitlyn is that she doesn’t do those things out of malice, but simply out of ignorance.

I get being frustrated with someone’s lack of awareness and wishing they just “got” it, but that’s just unrealistic.

The arc her starting to get it. What else could cou possibly want?

And the other thing???? She’s actively trying to change!

That’s her whole motive.

That’s all she wants.

She WANTS to make a difference and change Piltover for the better.

Some people will look at Caitlyn and go “I hate her cuz she’s a cop 👎🏽” then ignore her breaking the law for (arguably) the greater good.

Maybe that wasn’t her motive in the beginning (i.e. Just wanting to figure out who’s behind the crimes that no one seems to be investigating [though that still seems to be the greater good to me]). Maybe at that point, she didn’t know what she was doing was the right thing.

But once things started clicking, she tried her best to catch up.

Caitlyn wanted to fight. Caitlyn wanted to progress. Caitlyn wanted to make things better.

But too often she’s reduced to “Piltie cop.”

Don’t get me wrong, I totally understand disliking cops. But this seems to be so much more than that.

Caitlyn isn’t a cop to show people that “some cops are good,” she’s a cop to show people that “some cops are stupid and naive before they can fully embrace their privilege and worst traits.”

Caitlyn could have fallen and let herself be trapped under Marcus thumb, get herself on the payroll, start embracing the easy life (i.e. her getting fired and Jayce offering her a job where she could live behind a desk), but she didn’t do any of that.

She disobeyed everyone she was supposed to blindly follow and began to do what she thought was right.

What so many before her failed to do.

Caitlyn became a cop under false and unrealistic expectations, but once the issues and corruption started to look her right in the eye and she couldn’t ignore it, she didn’t.

Even if it went against everything she knew, everything she was taught, she still let herself be educated. Let herself learn.

Yes, cops are bad. Yes, Caitlyn’s naivety and privilege can be frustrating at times.

But these things aren’t all of what she is.

She’s someone who so desperately wants her own agency. To finally mess with Piltover’s stagnancy.

Even when the council completely shut her and Vi down, she was ready to go back and keep fighting (i.e. the Oil and Water scene).

Caitlyn isn’t just her privilege, Caitlyn is the little girl who so badly wants to break out of her mold and make a difference. Show people (Piltover) that she can be better, that she can be more, and that they can too.

She’s the young woman who goes out of her way to investigate, even when heavily advised not to, because that’s what she believes is the right thing to do.

She’s the woman who refuses to turn a blind eye and be complacent.

She’s the woman who’s (arguably) going to be at the head of Piltover’s reform.

Not because she’s a selfish, rotten cop, or because she’ll eventually become a corrupt Sheriff, but because she’s her own person with fears and dreams and questions.

All of Caitlyn’s development is her trying to claw her way out of the right grip Piltover, her parents, Jayce and Marcus all have on her.

Certain people are upset about who Caitlyn is now constantly trying not to be and I just find that frustrating because it, once again, strips her of her agency. Of her choice to be better.

Caitlyn’s naivety doesn’t make her evil, it makes her due for a change.

And changing is all she’s been doing so far.

So why do some of us still try to put her back in the Piltie category when that’s where we all collectively don’t want her to be?

We want her to be better, right? So let’s let the progress happen. It won’t be linear, but it also won’t be nothing.

[enjomo-arch]

@oblyvn , asked : truth + hey ace how do you feel about nanami—

❝  geee    ,  nanami  ?  ❞  the  expression  over  his  features  shifting  into  a  rather  soft  smug  ,  fingertips  brushing  along  the  stubbled  jaw  he  already  knew  what  to  say.  ❝  well  ,  he's  a  great  man  for  sure  !  very  classy  and  nice.  i  had  a  great  time  so  far  'round  him  ,  he's  a  charmin'  one  that's  a  given.  and  gotta  say  that  cowboy  fit  suits  him  way  too  nicely.  ❞  his  words  ended  with  a  single  wink  of  his  eye.  

[thebigshotman]

The day after Christmas. A rough day for any Addison or salesperson, given that the day was almost exclusively taken up by people returning their gifts and forcing them to shell out money instead of making it. If you didn’t sell anyone anything for Christmas, though, you had nothing to worry about and had a relaxing, normal business day.

That was what Spamton was going through for most of the day today, trying to restock his shelves now that most of them weren’t clipping through the floor. He might be able to reopen soon! And with that he’d have to leave Eileen. A lump in his throat formed at that thought. He didn’t want to do that. What could he do to prolong doing that?

His thoughts were derailed by the lump in his throat bubbling into a gentle hiss of static that transitioned into the screeching of dial up.

Startled, he stumbled to the floor and onto his side, smashing the S. POTION he was carrying onto the floor. He could feel his skin hardening; it hurt like hell. They didn’t say this was going to happen going back, too!

If they had he might not have chosen to be affected by their magic at all!!

*HeaVEN, this hurts…Eileen!! Saff!! An YONE!!!!

His voice was on the frizz underneath the dial up, once again transitioning between throat and voice box. His teeth were growing, that stupid dumb award-losing smile stretching back onto his face whether he liked it or not. How wide he was smiling hurt. His teeth growing hurt. His hair falling out again, the black and white clumps piling up in front of him, were humiliating. His clothing itched.

Someone help him. He screamed beyond the static, only for it to cut off halfway with a startup noise.

He couldn’t feel his thumping, pounding heart anymore. Glitches split his vision now as his glasses became solid frame once again. He squinted his eyes shut, that last bit of moisture trickling off of them as they became simple decoration once again. His plastic hands flew to his head. It was throbbing as the noise and static and voices returned, mocking him.

*[[A]] [[A]] [[A]] [[A]] [[A]]

It was about all the noise he was capable of making at this point as the pain and humiliation built to a fever pitch. Why couldn’t he frown and scream and beg like a normal person could, maybe someone would be able to help him and make this all just go away-

Not like they’d be able to. They’re not real. Like you.

Your angel’s not real, either. Why are you so attached to her?

His eyes flew open.

*…SHUT UP.

He muttered to everyone and no one, for the shop was empty as always. Like a bad nightmare, the pain had passed, as horrific as it had been, and he was back to himself. He was dissociating somewhat as he touched the ground but couldn’t feel the shattered glass, grumbled but in a voice that wasn’t his own. That would pass, too. At the end of the day, no matter how powerful the magic, this was the state he returned to.

…But. He would always make the most of the magic when it was given to him. No matter what the consequences or catches.

*SHE 1S REAL. SHE HAS TO B3. I’D GO [[*cuckoo clock noises*]] IF SHE W4SN’T. SHUT UP.

He slicked back his black hair in annoyance, once again fake and once again layered with an inhumane amount of gel and grease. He hadn’t felt it returning. Probably because it wasn’t real hair that grew, not anymore.

He checked all of his systems now that he was back to normal. His mini-Spams were okay, he could access his Inventory, and his cherub wasn’t in pain anymore! If nothing else, those were pluses. The only other thing was his voice…but what else was new?

That was when he got up without another word, except for a bright, eerily positive-after all that just happened, anyway-confirmation noise leaving his mouth, and went into the back of the shop to check on his mini-selves. Some customers had wanted one, right?

Back to business.

[kuratm]

@avaere asked: " hey hey hey ------------ wanna see a coooool trick ? ? ?" but the issue about certain onis , more specifically those under the name of arataki itto , is that while most people are given a chance to answer such questions by the one in charge , he does not wait around . there's an impression to be made , one that requires eye contact as he simply squats down towards the ground , claws digging into the soil between them as he --- you guessed it --- scoops up a portion of brown, dry dirt. there's a smirk lingering on the oni's face as he , dreadfully so , shoves his hand confidently towards his widening mouth. he devours the dirt, rocks crunching between sharp teeth ( determination or idiocy ? ? ? ) as he knows people DIGS ! DAREDEVILS ! for what bigger daredevil than an actual oni would see it as suitable and ... normal enough to consume dirt in order to ... impress someone. it's almost concerning how eager itto is about this achievement. " ------------------------- i can eat anythin' y'ant ! " the rocks smash up against the oni's teeth as he ... swallows some of it ... a hand slapping against his chest proudly ; " ain't --- ain't nothin' arataki itto won't put his mouth on ! ! ! no challenge is great enough ! ! ! " is this ... courting ?

sayu has come to know a certain, eccentric oni whose presence was grand yet entire personality, well...colorful. it's almost funny how much they contrast each other, with the musician of inazuma having cooler colors, mellower temper and quieter nature whereas him being bright, loud and pompous. was it bothersome? honestly, not at all - she's met far, far worse individuals throughout her experience on the stage - and actually enjoyed this energy. the nation of eternity tended to be quite stuck up with past traditions and refused to move onward alongside other nations of teyvat, so the electro wielder found itto's nature a much needed, fresh air.

however...the same couldn't be said for his strange competitiveness. seeing how much effort he puts was commendable, sure, but sayu quickly understood he didn't think through his actions ... hence why amethyst eyes widened in shock when the way, way taller oni kneels and begins putting dirt in his mouth. what in great seven was he thinking?!

almost instantly, sayu rushed to him and suddenly grabs his hands and forcibly guides them to toss the remaining dirt off. ❛ i-itto-san, please stop that...! spit it out, now...!!! ❜ she can't remember the last time panic took her over like that, but could you blame her?! first off, this was plain unsanitary and secondly, completely unsafe for him! while fussing over itto, a thought popped in her head: what WAS he trying to pull off, in that very moment? regardless, she'd rather focus on making sure he spat it all out and check if he was alright or not.

the pure irony of the inazuman rock musician, whose career rolls around intense music and deep messages, would be quite the worrywart and wouldn't understand the gist behind itto's...impressive gesture, wasn't it? ❛ hahhh...great seven...come on, i'll get you some water, alright...? ❜ if this was his attempt of courting, then it clearly didn't work.

[potatoes-tomatoes]

this a bit late but I saw ur tags on that sp easter episode gifset "not my ass pulling a stan at the tender age of six" - I'm so curious what ur easter questioning origins were 👀

i was (…am?) a lil insane growing up, like ok, I have memories of telling everyone in my kindergarten class that santa wasn’t real and wouldn’t care if they cried, bc they HAD to know the truth like, how could santa deliver those gifts in one night? why does he only give gifts to kids in america/ with enough wealth? You can still love the specials, and the holiday, the characters of the santa mythos, but believing a lie told by adults just didn’t sit right with me. also bc my parents told me he wasn’t real lol. (listen. my mom grew up very very poor. My grandma told my tias and tio that Santa wasn’t real, and only existed for the gringos with money jfkfkfjf) so. yeah my religiously zealous ass is the preface for even more religiously zealous stuff

so I grew up as a conservative christian girl that read the bible like a storybook every night, but I also have memories of questioning everything, it drove everyone crazy. I would hound my pastors after service with new questions someone my age wouldn’t usually have? I knew they thought it was kinda annoying if not mildly cute but I needed answers for every goddamn thing. Easter traditions bein one of them 😅 Now, I was raised very traditionally, as in, we examined good friday and went to a long Easter service and then, that’s it. Eggs, Rabbits were worldly, and had nothing to do with Christ, and tbh the most my fam enjoyed was the after church carne asada and the trip to walmart the coming monday to get discounted candy to munch on thru summer lolol. But I asked my classmates and teachers at school like at what point did easter become abt eggs? so if you’re not christian then, what exactly are you celebrating? You’re just doing elaborate stuff to eat candy. what’s the true purpose of the bunny? where did this originate? and everyone was like, just paint ur damn plastic egg for class Cel, you’re 6. 😂😅

Well that’s done and over with and I’m completely sane now. Also I did not paint and properly prep my first easter egg and participate in an egg hunt until last year with some friends and it was cute lol.

[tempestaurora]

would all my followers mind going and watching the snowpiercer tv show, getting really into melanie and bennett as a relationship, and then come back and read my fics? the fandom is small and i want attention

[kamipyre]

@heavenrained asked: it's time for another episode of . . . Weird Discussions with Suki and Tai ! ( * talk show theme music plays * ) " would you rather fight one chicken everytime you get in your car, or fight an orangutan with a sword, once a year? "

"That's a simple question." Or so she says, folding a katana out of the paper in her hands ( and she's had practice, people! ). "Everyone knows it's better to fight the orangutan with a sword. You only have to fight it once a year...think of all the money you could make off of it and not mention if you win, you get to have its SWORD- free stuff! Although it's not as good as paper..."

[wethecelestial]

put morton’s fork on repeat because unfortunately it’s my pavlovian conditioning editing music but it got tangled up in the silmarillion brain worms and now i’m like. morton’s fork maedhros animatic

[condemnedsouls]

daniel tag dump.

[thebigshotman]

don't be shy, spill the mother fuckin' tea. or rather the shit you had to deal with while in that amor because that could NOT be comfortable

He locks widened marbles with where he thinks the source of the voice is before he sighs deeply, posture relaxing a little as he kicks his feet against the desk he’s sitting on. Away from Eileen a moment…that saved him from saying something stupid. An opportunity to rant about that body he had so foolishly run back to? He would take that opportunity any day.

*…1’LL [[redeem free coupon?]] TO V3NT. [[Thank you!]]…

*H3LL. IT WAS HELL. SHOULD’VE EXPECTED THAT, 1T WASN’T MY [round one] WITH THAT THING, BUT…IT WAS STILL [[$&@!]]. S0 MUCH NOISE!!!! EV3RY MOMENT OF EV3RY DAY THE [[*phone ringing*]] [[*garbled discussion*]] [[*static*]] [[*keyboard clicking*]]-

He pounded his desk with one fist, heaving wildly as he kept his eyes locked forward and continued to rant.

*MY M1ND WENT [[stocks down 500 points]] 4ND I DIDN’T MIND!!! THAT [[body]] WOULDN’T LET ME!!!! 1F I C0ULD JUST KILL [[trust me, im a dolphin]] 4ND [[*squeaking*]] FOR [Hazelnut]’S $AKE,,MAYBE IT WOULD ALL G0 AWAY!!!! BUT IT D1DN’T!!!!!

By this point he was leaning right at the edge of his desk, voice clipping at its maximum volume. The sudden silence from himself pausing seemed to startle him, and he flinched and tumbled off of the desk, landing facedown. A voice clip of annoyed grumbling escaped his throat as he looked up to finish his speech.

*…WH3N I COULDN’T [[kill]] 4N YMORE…I WENT [[no thoughts head empty]]. TH4T’S WHEN SPAF GOT INVOLVED. AND…well…

Glitching a little, he heaved himself up and put his head on the table. Right over the dent his lunch just now has formed.

*WHY D0N’T WE [[pause]] FOR NOW??? [[Come back tomorrow for more specil deals!]] 4ND I’LL T3LL YOU MORE ABOUT MY [personal hell]. [[Yes/No]]???

He definitely sounded a little out of breath, despite not possessing lungs. Perhaps it was for the best…

[annabelle--cane]

"the magnus protocol had a whole ARG beforehand? what?"

yes! it did!

"oh so I need to have participated in this whole big thing to actually understand the podcast?"

not at all! from the official post-mortem put out by RQ, "while the ARG was not something that was necessary to participate in to understand the magnus protocol, it was designed to contain a wealth of background story and context that would enrich any player's listening experience."

"a wealth of background context that would enrich my listening experience 👀👀👀 how can I learn about this?"

SO glad you asked. sadly, many of the materials made for the arg have been taken down since the game ended 😔 (ex., the official OIAR, magnus institute, and bonzoland websites. (edit ii: I found partial wayback machine captures! see below) though @strangehauntsuk is still up!), so we're a bit low on primary sources, but in terms of learning about what happened:

for a starting point, I would really recommend this video by @pinkelotjeart

it's super accessible, it was made in real time as the game progressed and follows the solving and revelation of clues as they happened, it hits all the major points of the mystery and moments of community insanity while eliding some of the nitty gritty puzzle grinding, 10/10 would recommend.

here's the official summary put out by RQ, and I'd recommend reading through this once you've already gotten a basic handle on the flow of the story and the basic connections between major clues and events. it's got some fun behind-the-scenes info and lays out the thought process behind the puzzles in simple terms

here's the full masterdoc of all puzzles and resolutions put together in the statement remains discord server. masterdoc my absolute BELOVED, masterdoc my bethrothed, masterdoc my soul mate. I'd recommend this as a second port of call after the above video as it either contains all details about the puzzles or links to other expanded docs that do.

here's the narrative summary doc that lays out all the plot and lore discovered in three pages of plain prose. if you just want to get to the good bits as fast as you can and get blasted directly in the face by contextless lore bombs, this is the doc for you. if you don't want to start with the video, I'd say this is another good entry point.

once you've got the lay of the land, some of the game materials that I found particularly interesting include:

the in-universe east germany expat usenet forum, with all content translated into english. most of it is irrelevant space filler with occasional extremely sus lore, but I still found it fun to read through. love to soak in some fictional forum drama.

chdb.xlsx, the spreadsheet of the names of all the children the protocol 'verse magnus institute was studying/experimenting on. EDIT: here is a version of the sheet without any annotations and with all of the names in their original order, kudos to @theboombutton for catching that the commonly shared copy had the order swapped around.

klaus.xls, a (very corrupted) spreadsheet with what looks like the classifications of a bunch of old OIAR cases.

EDIT: have a few more saved materials from the game that I forgot to include.

an in-universe audio ad to apply to the OIAR that ran before archives episodes and kicked off the whole game.

an in-universe video ad to apply to the OIAR, this one is an official upload that's still up from the game itself. you can subscribe to the OIAR's official youtube channel today, if you so chose.

the robo-voicemail greeting from the OIAR's phone line.

EDIT II:

here is a wayback machine capture of the OIAR's official website.

here is a wayback machine capture of the bonzoland website.

(pretty sure both of the above captures just archived the home pages, though I haven't tried clicking all of the links. I'd say they're still worth looking at, the home pages give a good window into the vibes.)

once you start poking around in these documents, you'll find a bunch of links to others with further information, the materials I've included here just contain what I feel to be the most relevant details to getting a broad feel for the whole game. once again, huge shout out to the statement remains server, I was barely in there as the ARG was in progress and only ducked my head in every so often to find links like these. true mvps of the fandom.