#I feel duped because the work is not what I thought it was gonna be | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

compacflt · 1 year

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I have an anecdote about when I worked for a company and a co-worker left to work in a different state on military aircraft. He had to get a TS clearance and because we had worked for several years together he asked if I would be okay with being interviewed for his clearance. I said sure and an interviewer w the gov, arranged to come to my place of work and conduct the interview there. I was asked questions about him like how well did I know him, and whatever answer I gave led to more specific questions like if I answered a question about knowing his wife, they would ask if I thought his marriage sounded secure etc.

This memory of that experience was on my mind while I read your story and I wondered who Iceman would choose for his TS clearance interviews (and who the gov would choose for him) and what would they say? I feel like their "secret" would be uncovered in even a low level clearance (years later I had to submit names for a low level Public Trust clearance for my job) It was so embarrassing because I did not have many friends I was comfortable submitting for that as I kept my work and home life very separate.

Anyway, that is my "cool story, bro"

Thank you for such a great and well researched story!

this is indeed a cool story bro and touches on what is literally my story’s fatal flaw, which is: Yeah, a shitload of people would’ve known about it. I am going to hijack your question to talk about that, so my apologies, though i will get around to your question by the end. This is gonna be a really long post. I have a lot to say and a lot of ground to cover.

So I wanna start out by talking about the structure of this story and its core conflict, because while I’d like to say this story is rooted in an accurate depiction of the US military, obviously that’s not true; it’s rooted in the dynamic of the story that i wanted to tell, which is the story of a guy coming to realize the truth behind a Big Lie—him passing as straight. And that’s a pretty universal story, but it’s made more specific by the fact that a) the guy canonically wants to be the best in an institution that enforces the Big Lie and b) the guy canonically is so successful because he follows the rules/orders of that institution. So, for character growth, to put it simply, the guy (Ice) has to come to the conclusion that the Big Lie is a lie by himself. He can’t be told/ordered that the Big Lie is a lie, otherwise he hasn’t grown out of “just following orders.” (I’ll get to the Big Lie in a second. I made charts and story structure graphs below.)

The only other story about a Big Lie I can think of off the top of my head right now is Passing (1929) by Nella Larsen, which is about a Black woman in Chicago trying to pass as both white and straight. It’s a great book and I’ll try not to spoil it, you should really read it for yourself, but the terminology I’m going to use in this post comes from an analysis of it, so just to bring you up to speed—Clare, the woman trying to pass as white, is recognized by a friend, another Black-but-passing woman, Irene, who is shocked that Clare has abandoned her heritage (the truth of her, that is) and married a hyper-racist white man who doesn’t even know that she’s Black. So the book sets up a dynamic of the Big Lie that I’ve outlined here (hopefully it makes sense):

I built on this dynamic for my fic. Ice is both a “dupe” and a “passing figure,” in that he believes the lie that he is straight and also passes for straight—but it’s also more complicated than that because he’s not actually straight (getting to that). Mav is an “in-group clairvoyant” and can recognize Ice as passing because he is also straight-passing. The Navy are a bunch of “dupes.” But…what is Slider, for instance, or your question’s hypothetical government official who, yes, will 100% find out because people always find out?

In comes my ginormous-and-overly-wordy WWGATTAI Plot and Character Dynamic Summary Graph. You don’t really have to read it all, the only important bits for this discussion are the leftmost column (“plot”) and the green quadrant (“out-group clairvoyants”).

To summarize—people who know the truth can’t actually act on it, because for Ice’s character growth to make sense, he has to come to the truth himself. This forecloses the possibility of any outwardly homophobic action (by which I mean someone like a govt official or one of my lame OCs actually challenging him on his illegal relationship) in the plot, because for 90% of the story Ice is so fragile that he would probably just cave immediately and double down on the internalized homophobia. So, for plot purposes, everyone—including Mav, as it happens—has to sort of tiptoe around Ice’s obvious not-straightness and give him an unreasonable amount of grace so he can figure it out for himself.

And therein lies the fatal flaw of this story. It is, like, not conceptually viable. Of course people would find out, of course the government would interrogate him about it, of course he’d have to confront the truth much sooner than TWENTY-FIVE years after he first starts messing around with Mav. Which literally breaks my heart because I didn’t realize it was a fundamentally busted story until long after I had finished writing the base plot & couldn’t fix the overarching problems 😭 The thing is, it had to be this way, because there is at least a thirty-year gap between TG86 and TGM22, and TGM is obviously the emotional climax of the series and my story had to match that. So—fanfic and its canon constraints, everyone.

But also… I can explain away these logical inconsistencies with story structure & character dynamic graphs to make the story make sense, sure, but it doesn’t change the truth of the matter, which is that… I hadn’t ever really thought about things like security clearances, and therefore wrote around them because I didn’t even know to consider them. And I know there are a bunch of other details in this story that betray my immaturity (anytime I talk about alcohol, for instance—I still am not legal to drink in this stupid country & have only cheap bad experiences to draw on; THE HOUSE—if i could rewrite this story from the beginning they would not have bought a fucking house together, what was I thinking???) and the lack of thought about the real-life logistics and consequences of secrecy is one of them.

And it’s exactly what I mean when I say “I look at this story and all I see are its flaws,” which is why I wanted to write this post & get it on record. I have just enough life experience to read my own writing and know that it’s fundamentally unconvincing, and not enough life experience to know how to fix it. :(

But, to answer your original question, you’ve got me brainstorming a scene where Ice is asking Slider to be his character witness & Slider’s like “Look bro do you want me to lie to the federal government under oath for you because I will” and Ice has to be like “Legally I cannot ask that of you but”

#in case you couldnt tell it really bothers me #idk what the age range of the ppl who read my fics is but i knoooow there are #some parts of this story where you read it and you go #yeah a little kid wrote that #if you asked me what a 401k is with a gun to my head i could not tell you #so the fact that people care about my opinions on these like really grown up adult problems is #literally like the highest compliment ever #but i feel bad that i don’t have the life experience to give a convincing answer & i apologize for that #ive grown up so much & so quickly working on this project both as a writer and as a person & so thankful for that #but it also means that i look back on even recent work & say WTF LITTLE KID ALERT #so #sorry i turned your question into a fiction lecture #but lol that’s like the one thing i actually AM a little bit qualified to talk about #and your question represents like the fundamental fatal flaw of the story i have spent literally 100s of hours on #so I wanted to talk about it #thank you for the ask <3333333 #my birthday is in a couple days so just thinking about getting older lol #edts notes #top gun #top gun maverick #icemav #tom iceman kazansky #asks #hope to one day put this energy into like a job or sumn

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fukuwatchesbl · 9 months

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OFTS thoughts (- I don’t have a title)

Here, I’ll talk about the characters and their relationships. I’m not really trying to analyze them, it’s more about how I perceive them so far (as of episode 3).

First, let me get it out of my system, but I don’t think there’s a clear villain in this show, nor a mastermind. I think we’re supposed to take the characters (mostly) as they’re presented, with blatant flaws. If these characters are dishonest, it’s mainly with themselves or with each other, not with the audience.

1. The core friendship

From the start, Cheum, Boston, Ray and Mew’s friendship felt off to me, but in retrospect, more than off, it’s imperfect. While this can read as a euphemism after last Saturday, there are scenes with both working and broken bonds between them. The good: making sure everyone gets home, Boston and Ray's go-to person being Mew (in ep1: Boston gives his number to Nick for his phone repair, Ray calls him right after exiting Sand’s flat), Mew 2nd go-to person is Ray (but only after he met Top), the way they know who will not do the assignment and who is good with each part of the job. The bad: Boston throwing under the bus both Ray and Mew to get Top, the peer pressure to lose one's virginity, their teacher foreshadowing comments…

Honestly, if it wasn’t for Boston’s unhinged behaviour, their friendship might have a chance to last. (it still might)

2. But that’s not Boston.

Boston looks everyone down, and what he wants, he gets. He doesn’t mind twisting the truth (Top) or gaslighting people around (Nick). He’s also someone who sees everything through the lens of sex. His value is established by the number of partner he has, by how they want to come back for more, and how he had them first and can get them back whenever.

It looks like this lens might also impact his assumptions about others’ relationships. While we now know for a fact Mew and Ray kissed, I highly doubt they had sex. But, at this point, I feel Boston sincerely believe they did. Maybe he saw them getting together in a room. And what else could they have done together if not fuck? This is why Boston keeps looking at them with suspicion. He thinks they’re lying/hiding/hypocrites, but HE sees them, HE is no dupe.

3. Mew the virgin

I wouldn’t be surprised if Mew ended up being demisexual. But, let's talk about how so many of us see him as mastermind, and... I don't. Or, at least, not yet.

Did he make sure their school project would secure his future? Yes, I agree with this. It's his idea, and he's aware how much Ray cares for him, and, to some extant, he's profiting from it. Did he take top's 3-months-limit as a form of challenge? Probably (unless he's demi, then the scene take a slightly different tone). BUT, that's it. I strongly believe the rest can be taken at face value.

Well... until he'll decide to confront Top about cheating on him. Because, then we get to this (I think):

And I still don't know if that smile is Mew feeling reassured, knowing he has the upper hand in their relationship, or planning revenge.

4. Top, a much frailer top-tier

Not gonna lie, I love his character. He looks like a basic (wo)manizer at first, but he's showing some cracks that make me want to know more. Of all the characters, he is one of the most adjusted when comparing who he thinks he is and who he says he is. But that doesn't always mean he lets others see all parts of him.

He had zero problem sharing his childhood trauma with Mew or openly taking sleeping pills, but whatever that dude, Beam, is to him is out of line. And Beam stating he knows Top both in and out of bed? What do you mean OUT?

Also, that clip of his confrontation with Mew (see above), shows Top crying. Do I think Top and Mew are opposites? Maybe. I mean: Mew is reserved, sexless, composed, while Top is in-the-open (mostly), sexfull, emotive. And gosh are we going to see emotions from Top next week. His carefully worked façade is falling in favor of anger and jealousy. Mostly (and wrongly) directed at Sand.

5. Sand, the only really adjusted person?

Well, adjusted only if you consider the men, because so far the women are rocking it better than everybody else. But he has his shit together at least. No trauma in view, very done with bullshit in general, discreet where needed (did you sleep with Boston??), know his own value...

Honestly, the only mystery is what happened between him and Top. Like some others, I feel there must be another person in between them. My wild theory is it's Cheum's lil bro 🤡🤡🤡

6. Atom, who the fuck are you?

Atom, played by Title Kirati, is Cheum little brother. He just got introduced in the last episode, but I have no idea how he connects to the rest of the story (thus my wild theory). We know he's a comm arts student (a link to Nick?). The reason I think he'll impact, in some way, the story is his presence in the opening credits and 1 micro-second in the trailer.

7. Nick, stalker with gentle heart

To be fair, Nick is not the only character with stalker behaviour. Boston shows it with his habit of taking pictures of his lovers in intimate moments, and the picture of Ray/Mew's kiss. Ray also who follows Sand, and Mew who admits he could very much go pry in his lover's phone given the chance.

But Nick is not the poor bunny we thought he is. His stalker behaviour is present from the start with the invasion of privacy on Boston's phone, which would be illegal in many countries, and now the taping of Boston's car (illegal too). But there's also the cameras he suggests to Boston for their pool party. No one was asking for video and sound recording, but he suggested it as if it was perfectly normal. (btw, did Drake use this kind of camera? Could we get both revenge porn and/or commercial sex tapes?)

8. Ray, he'll break some heart, his or yours, or both

So, where do I start here. By the obvious? Falling out of love is complicated, it’s a process partly built on bad habits. Sometimes, you might even start falling in love again before being fully done with said process. I think this is happening to Ray. But I also think Ray has been lying to others for so long to hide the true extent of his pain, that he has difficulties acknowledging the burgeoning feelings he has for Sand. There’s a reason why both Mew and Yo perceive them better than he does.

There are other things to mention about him. The drinking issue, the call to mental health lack of care, his blackouts habit. And that one is really an habit that has found him waking up in random people beds with no memory of what happened in the night. He didn't go presuming he and Sand had sex that very first night out of nowhere. I'm not gonna lie, it scares me that this can be someone's real life experience. It brings back that time when a coworker told me that really I should have a blackout once (on purpose): "it's a great experience". "Great" said with no sarcasm nor joking tone. It still gives me the chill.

Anyway, I'll stop here, sadly I have not much to say about the women in the series. I wish they were more present, and as messy as their male counterparts, but that doesn't look like it'll be the case. The writers and directors are focusing specifically on mlm experiences, something as intimate to them as to the main characters.

#only friends the series #long post #ofts meta #meta #hopefully I won't have forgotten to erase a formatting note

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raaorqtpbpdy · 11 months

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Blue Moon

Alright, It's time for my individual post! I'm not gonna post every chapter, because I have better things to do, but here's the first chapter of the @batfam-big-bang fic I wrote for @magpie-murder's stunning art piece. It was a blast working with you!

The whole thing is up on AO3 Click on the link to read the rest!

Chapter 1: Harvest Moon

[warning for: death]

(Harvest Moon: The transition from fall to winter, celebrated as the earth slowing down and "dying" to become something new. A time for reaping.)

Back in the circus, Dick had felt completely at home, surrounded by his own kind, as well as humans who knew what vampires were like and didn't mind. His life—or, his undeath—had been perfect for those few years. Those years where his parents had loved and cared for him, had taught him, had trained him. Those years where he and his parents, and the handful of other vampires in the circus, could all drink their fill and be gone before the local police could finish scratching their heads.

When he watched his parents fall from the trapeze, his greatest concern had been how they would explain surviving a fall from such a height without exposing the secret of vampires to the world. He hadn't realized they'd been poisoned before the show. They hit the ground with a sickening, horrible crack. Their bones breaking, skin splitting, blood oozing out onto the floor of the tent. If he'd been capable of vomiting, Dick would have lost his lunch.

He waited for them to get back up. Waited while Mr. Haly evacuated the big top. Waited while the other performers made up excuses as to why onlookers couldn't call the paramedics. Waited while his friends shouted up to the platform, coaxing him to come down. He didn't. He stayed right where he was, forty feet up, staring at the broken, unmoving bodies of his parents.

Someone was climbing up the ladder, but Dick didn't bother to look at who it was until they sat down next to him. It was a man in a suit more expensive than anything Dick had ever owned. He cautiously placed a hand on Dick's shoulder.

"I'm so sorry, son," the man said. "I watched my parents die, too, when I was about your age. No experience could ever compare to the despair I know you're feeling. If you need anything, I'm here."

Finally, tears welled up in Dick's eyes and began to fall, pouring down his cheeks as he wept. He turned and buried his face in the stranger's expensive shirt, bawling loudly. It had finally sunk in. His parents wouldn't be getting back up again. They were well and truly dead. And Dick knew exactly who was to blame.

His parents had been so sure they'd thrown that vampire hunter off their scent. They'd triple checked all the equipment they'd seen him so much as stand next to. Turned out it wasn't him, but them who'd been duped. Somehow he must have done something to them, or their equipment, or costumes, or something. That damned vampire hunter had killed his parents, and if he wasn't stopped, he'd be coming for Dick next, that much was certain.

"I'm Bruce," said the man in the expensive suit as he awkwardly wrapped an arm around Dick, the other holding tightly onto a safety rope to ensure neither of them fell from the high platform. "Your name is Richard, right? I saw on the posters."

"I go—by Dick," the boy responded through gasps.

"I see." Bruce was awkward, and not very good at consoling or comforting, but he was still trying, even though Dick was a stranger. Empathy was one hell of a drug. Dick had no idea how humans could keep that up all the time when he himself had trouble even faking it. "Well Dick, you just go ahead and cry, let it all out. I won't let you fa—ah... I'll... I'll hold onto you."

"This wasn't an accident," Dick whimpered, and sniffed. "Someone—messed with the trapeze. We thought we fixed it." Sobs interrupted him, and he let it go for a moment before he pulled himself together enough to keep talking. Fabricating a story as he went. "He was threatening—Mr. Haly. Said if he didn't pay him—something bad would happen." Mr. Haly would corroborate the lie, he always covered for his people, no matter what their stories were.

"Do you know the man's name?" Bruce asked. Dick allowed himself the smallest upturn in the corner of his mouth. Got him. Bruce was clearly rich, meaning he'd have connections, and that empathy of his would drive him to help Dick get 'justice' for his parents.

"Mr. Haly knows," Dick said, and that much was true. "I just can't believe anyone would—would do something so h-horrible!" Dick blubbered into Bruce's chest.

"Don't worry, Dick," Bruce said solemnly, holding the boy a little bit tighter, his grip much stronger and more secure than Dick would've expected of some random rich guy. "I'll make sure that man faces due process. He'll see the consequences of what he's done. I promise."

Dick mumbled out a teary thank you, and tightened his own grip around the man to seal the deal. Blinded by his emotions, Bruce had bought the story hook, line, and sinker. If Dick's life was about to change forever, then at the very least he could move forward without constantly having to look over his shoulder. Vampire hunters were a rarity these days, but that didn't make them any less of a pain in the ass.

"I know it's sudden, and you don't know me very well," Bruce said gently, his deep voice cutting through Dick's sobs. "But if you'd like, you can stay with me from now on. I'm more than happy to take you in, and care for you, now that your parents...." he trailed off. "I just... I wouldn't want you to have to be alone."

That surprised Dick, although he supposed he should have expected something like this from a bleeding heart like Bruce obviously was. He considered the offer for a moment. The circus was likely no longer safe for vampires.

Within a week, that vampire hunter's friends would descend on the big top like vultures on a rotting animal, and Dick was young and vulnerable, especially compared to his parents, whom the hunter had already successfully killed. He definitely didn't want to still be within these three rings when that happened, and they came nosing around with holy water and silver daggers.

If he went with Bruce on the other hand, he'd be protected. Firstly, Bruce was obviously the type to keep anyone remotely dangerous away from the kid in his charge, and secondly, because, in Dick's experience, rich people could get away with pretty much everything, up to and including murder. That made being this guy's charge a very convenient position for a creature like Dick to be in.

When the silence had finally gone on long enough to be truly uncomfortable, Bruce started to backtrack. "If you don't want to, I understand. I just wanted to give you that option so—"

"Okay," Dick said, a victorious smirk hidden in their embrace, though he couldn't stop the tears still trickling down his cheeks. "I'll go with you."

#dc #batman #dick grayson #vampire dick grayson #vampires #fic #things i wrote #batfam reverse big bang 2023 #batfam big bang

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presidentstalkeyes · 1 year

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Norma Natividad is autistic.

Now, I know it might seem iffy that I'm headcanoning the academically-inclined jerk character as autistic, but hear me out. :V

Her investigative tendencies strike me as a special interest of hers, so when the mystery of the mole comes on the scene she pounces on it and remains focused for the entirety of the story, while all the other Interns are varying degrees of apathetic. She tells everyone it's for the extra credit points but Lizzie's post-game comment - "she's been 'helping' me all my life" suggest it's just a Thing Norma Does. She's also shown talking about her investigation to a less-than-interested Gisu, despite the fact that Raz is standing right there, suggesting that's her 'I'm gonna spill about my interests today because I have to tell someone' moment.

Playing into the above, she wants to make herself helpful and useful - hence the investigation and snitching on Raz to 'Truman' - but has a bit of trouble with impulse control and reading the room. Sometimes she 'helps' when it isn't really asked for and has difficulty leaving well enough alone. I do imagine this is rooted a lot in her past as a psychic, but there's also an element of internalized ableism - she wants to prove she can 'fit in' and contribute to neurotypical society.

While she wasn't unbiased towards Raz to start with because, you know, literal child getting into the Intern program on his first day and all - she came up with her theory because she 'saw what others couldn't' and took the events surrounding Raz's arrival at face value (kid she's never heard of before suddenly showing up out of nowhere, becomes an Intern immediately and is apparently best buddies with three Senior Agents) and came to the logical - but incorrect - conclusion that something didn't add up. This feels like a very autistic thing for me personally, to see something that should be obvious yet gets ignored for apparently arbitrary reasons.

She seems adept at, essentially, spycraft, which she accomplishes by putting on acts - again projecting here, but when you mask for long enough eventually you sorta understand how to mask and in what way to get a desired reaction. I personally don't do this because I can't stand being dishonest, but Norma has no such hangups... which is not to say she enjoys it. Masking for a long time can be exhausting. So when she doesn't need to, she speaks bluntly and honestly, and depending on her mood she either doesn't know or doesn't care if she comes off as rude in the process. It's her treat! (Her comment to Raz about his father, "I'm sorry, are you jealous? Did your father not spend much time with you growing up?" was half-honest question, half-low-blow jab to get a rise out of him because she still thinks he's a smug brat who's duping everyone and 'if only everyone else could see what I'm seeing!')

Kinda grasping at straws for this one, but she has a couple tics she repeats a lot - she's often seen with her hands clasped together in front of her and regularly pulls her glasses up her nose, which both feel like stims.

Finally, going by one of the cut Bottled Thoughts, she suffers from anxiety over if she's really a good person or not, showing she still has empathy for others buried beneath that prickly exterior. This is sort of made apparent in the final game - she apologizes to Raz for thinking he's the Mole and promises to make it up to him, and using Clairvoyance on her in the postgame reveals she at least begrudgingly warmed up to him after that. However, when Raz and her sister directly confront her over her wrongdoing, her knee-jerk response is to downplay it and be like 'well it all worked out in the end, what's the problem?'. I know based on my own experience and convos with other autistic folks that an unfortunate reality of being autistic is having strangers overreact towards something you did or said for seemingly no logical reason, so it's tempting to wish that everyone would just stop making such a huge deal over minor errors - pobody's nerfect, just accept mistakes happen and move on. Except in Norma's case it's more than just a simple mistake, but she's still in the denial phase of the incident and doesn't want that 'am I a good person?' anxiety to flare up again, and her difficulty at reading the room lead to her reaction.

Also note that this is the only time you can finally hand her the 'Mission-Critical Assets', whereupon she'll act like a jerk towards Raz again ("get over yourself, it's just a scavenger hunt!") - which, considering my earlier thoughts, strikes me as a 'well fine, if you wanna treat me like a jerk then I guess I'll act like one!' moment (showing she still struggles to regulate her emotions). Then she gets uncharacteristically flustered when Raz suddenly turns the tables on her, and let me tell you, I felt that. :V

Just to be clear, this is in no way meant to justify or excuse her dickish behaviour towards Raz, who I'm pretty sure is autistic himself (and I know I'm not the only one who thinks that). I'm autistic and I was a kind of a dick when I was Norma's age, and I make no excuses for that. She just has some growing up to do, really.

#Psychonauts #Psychonauts 2 #Norma Natividad #Norma #headcanons #autistic characters #autistic character headcanons #Stalkeyes rambles #longpost #This went on for much longer than I thought #Also on a personal note #Given how often autistic people are infantilized and stereotyped as innocent naive angels #I think it's important to sometimes have an autistic character who's a huge jerk #Just as long as they're not a jerk BECAUSE they're autistic obviously #And also have a non-jerk autistic character to compare with #I.e. Raz :V

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parfaitfever · 9 months

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idk if im ever gonna finish this so i'll js post it right now lmk if u want me 2 continue :3

what if project sekai x aikatsu collaboration is real??????

okay so ujm my head keeps thinking what if a pjsk x aikatsu collab happen like what songs they would cover and possible cards, sooo i decided to make this little kinda "what if" post! I will imagine what songs units will cover, possible duets and more!!! (also note im just doing ogkatsu ichigo-akari gen cuz i havent rly watched much of the others, plus im most familiar with ogkatsu)

Lets start with imagining this collab is a big collab, and it has cards featuring aikatsu characters and all (i will explain this at the end of the music discussion!) its such a big collab that it lasts two weeks or perhaps two events (one for ichigo gen, and the other for akari gen maybe) which means there should be 10 collab cards, three gacha cards and two event cards for each event (the usual pjsk 2* will be replaced with a 3*) as for the songs, lets say each unit release 1 unit cover, 1 unit duet and 5 cross duet with unique characters which means 15 songs!!! and there might be dupe songs where it appears in 2 units or more... thats just be struggling to decide who should cover it lols

music discussion!!

before i start doing the music let me tell you how it works! I will seperate the covers into 3 categories: Unit cover, a song sang by the unit (no vocaloids). Unit duet, 1-2 from the same unit sings together with the original singer of the song, ex: minori x akari with song A or minori, haruka x akari, sumire with song B. And lastly crossover duet/crossduets! Its a duet between 2 characters from a different unit with the original singer of the song, something like the cup noodle collab songs that was sung by the siblings from different units! ex: mafuyu, emu x yurika, kaede with song C. I will mostly pay attention to how the songs fits the characters/units aesthetic and how much their voice match the song! I wont be basing them off the lyrics much though. i will be listing 3 possible songs for unitcover and unitduet, while the crossduet will most likely be random thoughts. Now lets start :3

Leo/need

Unit Cover:

1. Hirari/Hitori/Kirari (originally by STAR✩ANIS)

ok i know it doesnt fit much of the band vibes but it still works so well because the song itself feels so sparkly and starry which feels so leoni

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2. Friend (originally by 2WingS)

its literally titled friend pkeas aeugh aehk chokes and dies

youtube

3. Idol Activity! Rock ver. (Originally by Otoshiro Seira)

Idol activity rock ver is a MUST and its gonna be leonis best cover cuz i can hear ichikas voice echoing, singing this song

youtube

Unit duets:

1. Sweet Sp!ce sang by Saki, Shiho x 2WingS (originally by 2WingS)

LISTEN. LISTEN. looking for possible covers for leoni is super hard but THIS. THIS. THIS!!!!

youtube

2. Signalize! sang by Honami, Ichika x Soleil (originally by Soleil)

i am runnig oit of ideas for leoni....

youtube

3. Kindan Hide & Seek sang by Shiho, Honami x Yurika, Seira, Sumire (originally by Yurika, Seira, Sumire)

photokatsu songs would probably the least likely ones

youtube

More more jump!

i have so much ideas for this cuz this is the core inspo/reason for me to make this especially how minori is so much like akari

Unit cover:

1. Let's Aikatsu! (originally sang by Luminas)

ITS LITERALLY LETS AIKATSU. GUYS GUSYY I CAN IMAGINE THEM DANCING ON STAGE SINGING "kimi ni smile ashite ni yume... aikatsu shiyo ... ready go!"

youtube

2. SHINING LINE* (originally by soleil)

imawatashi tachi no tsunaguu muneno naka ... kirameku lineeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee dum durum dum durum dumdurururum i love this somuch it fits the idol theme so well

youtube

3. Calendar girl (originallyy by soleil)

YOU DONT KNOW HOW HARD THE DECISION IS OKAY. I WAS ABOUT TO PUT FASHION CHECK IN AND WAS LIKE "WAIT. CALENDAR GIRL." i will make honorable mention for this sobs

youtube

unit cover honorable mentions!

fashion check

shining sky on the g string

good morning my dream

Unit duets:

1. Prism spiral sang by Shizuku, Haruka x Aoi (originally by Aoi)

the blues all together !! cant wait to see them walk on the runway

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2. START DASH SENSATION Minori x akari (originally by akari)

what? do i need to elaborate????????? guys. guys ITS LITERALLY *sighs* please understand me its them .. theyre the same /pos bro bro imagine them talking about haruka/ichigo hoky shit!!!!!!!!!! theyre besties i say so

#aikatsu #project sekai #aikatsu!#proseka #pjsk #prsk #idol anime

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peacht44 · 1 year

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literally screaming for him to wake up and see me and appreciate me for everything I’ve done for us since coming back home to him after the break(up) because he is losing me, I’m getting tired of fighting. And still he is apathetic at best.

Currently in financial ruin for this “man” ama.

Idc if this isn’t want tumblr is for- I literally have lost my entire family due to my decision to come home and try to make it work with him again after what he did to me, they don’t respect me and are keeping their distance. So I have no family of my own blood (just my little fam who adopted me as their own for giving their dad another chance) and exactly 1 friend who lives on the other side of the country. I have no one and nothing currently (other than a sick ass LDR stash necklace dupe on the way 🙌🏻) so forgive my old ass for being a MySpace kid who hated fb and went offline during the tumblr era, I’m just gonna rant here when I need because NOBODY knows me here.

It’s been 8 years since I attempted last, but each and every day lead me further down that path again and my depression sinks deeper and deeper and gets darker and more unholy by the day 😪 I’m too sunny and too bubbly to feel this way god I hate feeling this way. It would be so easy too and then 🤫 all quiet, no more pain physical or metaphysical or even emotional god that would be a dream. I can’t even buy my dad a Father’s Day or birthday gift (both back to back this month) because I threw my whole paycheck on the house we share that he’s refused to pay for (or even work for like physically Have a job for) in almost 2 years.

Where tf did my self respect go?? Why can’t I be the baddie I try to uplift other women to be when they’re down? Why am such a pushover who let’s him get away with murder??

My whole life is falling apart and all I can think is that no one is coming to save me this time. All I have is me and my own back, and even I hate me. I wish so badly I could be someone else, literally ANYONE else, and so I wish even harder for the silence. That eerie quiet to be only pierced by occasional muffled wails that I let out behind my hand clamped over my mouth through gritted teeth with the vent turned as high as it can go where no one can hear me slowly lose every single part of me that made me human, or even just me.

Maybe a nice grippy sock vacation WOULD be just the ticket to getting my mental back on track. At least it would be quieter there, in my head and in my bubble. For now my only comfort are racing nightmare anxious thoughts that play on a loop every minute or every hour of every day, I can’t seem to quieter them or stop a panic attack anymore. I don’t even know how to breathe on my own any more. I am 36 and no better off than living on my own for the first time at 16 again, and all I want to do is d*e, sometimes. Or kill the pathological people pleaser I give all of my energy to being. It’s time to go scorched earth on this Mf but it still won’t make him see me, or love me; or appreciate me for being a GD DISABLED WOMAN HE HAS LET FINANCIALLY SUPPORT HIM FOR 2 YEARS NOW. It’s gaslight gate-keep and hypocrisy 24/7 on my life so maybe it’s time to girlboss my way tf out of it and ghost every living soul I know, pack up my fur babies and flee this hell hole I’ve let my life become again. This Mf couldn’t even bother TO DO A THING for my birthday this year but cry about how he couldn’t afford a gift for me. Not try to earn some cash to even go on a date, just whine about not having the funds and then having the audacity to pass out on me early and let me agonize over every single thing I’ve fucked up in my life lately by diving deep down a cold lane with him again.

Nothing feels real anymore. I don’t even feel like a person. I’m so numb yet so soft and emotional and unstably sad all of the time but all I do is avoid it. Sitting in this pain might kill me, I can’t risk that.

#iawtds

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josies-not-suicidal-now · 2 months

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There was a restlessness in her. She scrolled like any other day, but something in her was disatisfied, it gnawed at her. The feeling that she might never gain any improvement on this life, that she would scroll herself to her grave. She saw this wonderful comic about transfeminine love and how a trans girl loving a trans girl actually involves four people since the boys they once were are involved as well. Rereading it gave her a sense of nostalgia, of the younger trans girl she once was, and the trans girl she had hoped to become. The feeling pulled at the restlessness dissolved it slowly like a pill in water, but the restlessness persisted. How many times was she bound to reread this comic? Would she ever experience the emotional resolution of its final panel?

Underneath the panel the comic's creator was offering merch for it, oh fuck yeah Josie thought. She clicked on the link and looked at the website, there was a certain horror to it, that there were services with the explicit purpose of creating merch for random tiny creators like this. She wanted a hoodie, it had trans girls kissing on it, so she must have it, the restlessness demanded it. It cost 50€, no doubt the vast majority of which would be spent on lining the pockets of the owners of the website. She mentally reviewed her finances and knew she wouldn't be able to afford weed if she bough it. She sent the link to her newest "sugardaddy", and wrote "please daddy? :3". He was some divorced english dude who had moved to berlin a couple months earlier, when she had fucked him he had really wanted her to talk about how nice his dick was. It had kinda put her on the spot, really hadn't been very comfortable.

She thought about the workers who were going to get the other percentages of the 50€. Their working conditions were entirely unknown to her, their salaries, their rights, their relationships with their bosses, their governments. She didn't even know where they were. She imagined a sweaty Filipino man stood in a textile printing factory without air conditioning that smelled of paints and dyes, among other chemical industrial fumes. She imagined the workers on the cargo ship transporting her hoodie to her. She wondered if any of them would take the time to look at her hoodie and what any of them would think upon seeing it. Perhaps it was less cruel to foist the image of two cute girls kissing next to the shadow selves of the boys they once were, than it was to force them to transport ahegao shirts.

Her "sugardaddy" was responding. "Sure thing, darling ;)" He said, "When am I gonna get to see you again?" He asked, like as if he had to be polite. She wasn't interested in fucking him again, but that usually wasn't a problem. These men liked being depended on almost as much as the sex, and she didn't mind losing him, so long as she got her hoodie right now. Perhaps he needed a little encouragement.

She took off her hoodie which read "M.A.D. Magicians Against Data" and threw it at the corner of the room. She held a peace sign against her cheek and took a selfie with her tits out. She sent it to him with the caption "soon hopefully hehe XD"

When she never fucked him he probably would be too depressed about being duped to do anything about it, maybe he would come to her apartment and make a big stink at the front door, and bang on it, and shout and yell and annoy her roommate. That wouldn't be so bad. Maybe he would persist for so long that she would have to confront him, and he would beat her up, or rape her, or hurt her some other way. That would suck, but at least it would be gender affirming.

He was typing again. "You really can't wait to get this big dick in you again huh?"

Josie checked her bank account, he had sent the money, there was no reason to worry about writing a response.

Typing in her details to order this new hoodie she could feel the restlessness resolving itself. The future would be different than the present because today she didn't have a hoodie with trans girls kissing on it, and tomorrow she would. She could feel the gaze of Marx and Foucault disapproving at her from the heavens, for being so satiated by mere consumption. She could imagine Foucaults furrowed frustrated brow just below his gleaming bald head. She knew nothing about his ideas or if he would actually have cared about her relationship with commodities, but she knew he appeared in video essays often, so he was likely to agree with Marx.

#book #I had an idea and it took a couple paragraphs to finish yknow #definitely not procrastonating homework by writing this

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mlobsters · 3 months

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supernatural s14e19 jack in the box (w. eugenie ross-leming, brad buckner)

foreboding episode name. also rolling my eyes again that they decided to do hallucifer 2.0 with jack

sigh i am not really up for mary's wake today. next day. i tried to watch jason kelce's retirement press conference, which was so emotionally taxing, i decided watching this episode would be better. watching someone trying to not cry when their entire body is fighting it is so hard. so hard. i made it a minute before my chest hurt so much i had to stop. anyway.

well i did yell at sam for burning mary's picture, but this the same one but bigger so i guess it was fine. weird choice, but fine.

SAM Hey. Uh, most everybody's headed out, but Bobby's gonna stick around. I thought maybe we could open that scotch Ketch left and hang out, talk about Mom. DEAN "Talk about Mom"? SAM Yeah. DEAN Isn't that what we've been doing?

dean handling it as well as expected

quick sob in the woods to take the edge off so he can go back to being emotionally unavailable for sam. i get it. my personal m.o. is to go silently sob somewhere and then come back and be able to have a cool, calm and collected rational conversation about things. wouldn't recommend that either

SAM But they're real, right? We know that Mom's not sitting on a cloud playing a harp. She's in a good place. Or she's in a great place. She's with Dad. DEAN Hmm. You know what else? There wasn't enough left of her to even try to bring her back.

i have been thinking about that a lot lately. knowing about heaven etc, if it weren't so busted and broken down, what's the big deal if someone dies. especially if they're a "special" case soulmate type so they get another actual human to be blissful with. like the only real-real is on earth, they say, but the alternative sounds awfully compelling

dumah having jack turn a heretic into a pillar of salt, hokay

DUMAH Words can't begin to express how Sam and Dean will feel. Now here is the real test. We need more angels. You're not God. You can't just make them out of thin air. But if a human were predisposed to it, maybe you could take their soul and forge them into one of us.

LOL what. they got duped by lucifer when he said he could make more angels, but i guess they've been working the problem

handy we have this special box ready for eternal torture of archangels and maybe juiced up nephilims? who knows

DEAN No. Well, I mean, I want Zeppelin to get back together. But what I need -- What we need is to stop Jack. Big difference. But here's the deal. We both got to sign off on it. This might be our only shot, and if he even catches a whiff that this is a scam, he's off into the wind. SAM Exactly. And how do you think he's not gonna know something's up? DEAN Because you're gonna be so damn sincere. SAM Me? DEAN Mm-hmm. SAM Why me? DEAN Because you've always been in his corner, all right? You're his go-to guy. Sam, if you reach out, he'll come. If I do it, after what happened to Mom, I could lose it. I will lose it.

how about we cool off, take a minute or week or four, and think about this first. but dean wants to do it literally right now. great.

did not see castiel ganking dumah coming, all righty.

SAM So what do we do now? Just go on with Jack locked up in there forever?

i mean yeah it's reversible but this is the most accelerated plotline ever. like an instant pot to turn jack into lucifer

SAM You know, I never thought it would end like this with Jack. DEAN Sammy, we knew from the beginning it was a long shot with him. SAM Yeah. Yeah, but long shots are kind of our thing.

one day you've got three dads who love you and then you fuck up and they're locking you in a box

DEAN He's locked up, safe. He's in the Ma'lak box. CASTIEL No!

please, we need some pushback on dean about this.

DEAN He agreed to it. Because deep down, I think he knows it's best. CASTIEL No. You're doing what Dumah -- You are manipulating him.

tell him, cas. i hate when they have dean be like this

all right. surprise, surprise. it didn't go well.

i haven't finished an episode this quickly in ages.

#supernatural #spnwatch #spn 14x19 #eugene ross-leming #brad buckner

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ivesambrose · 3 years

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Took me watching black widow for a boost to channel messages besties, apologies for the delay but y'all know I like to provide content!

Pick an image you can vividly picture walking into right now

The reading is timeless xo

To book a personal reading with me please DM or email me at [email protected]

1. Trials & ordeals bring clarity.

Cut them out

"Gossip doesn't mean useful information."

The offer is there, grab it.

"We won!"

The savings did pay off didn't they?

Works a little overwhelming sometimes but you know you earned all of this and you earned your time off too.

New love, stronger than any other.

It's time to drop the baggage, you know it. Its dead weight isn't it? You want to explore more specifically when it comes to your emotions, your gifts and what's out there for you to see till you can. But look at you, glancing back every now and then purposely conflicting your heart and mind. You think you know but you don't, not right now certainly. Now the thing is, 6 months from now this dead weight is not gonna matter. See that's why I called it a dead weight. You're gonna drop the baggage somewhere along the way.

Change is not always easy for you, isn't it? This one won't be either. But do you know what's it gonna be though? Exciting.

You've been lacking so much excitement cuz you've made peace with where you're at. Bad news and great news, this peace won't last either.

2. So much to learn, so much to see.

"aight, imma head out."

"I pretend I do not see it." 🤡 "it's RIGHT THERE my dude."

Hope & abundance

something brings you the kind of wealth you were looking to build. Slow progress but a sure one. It may have taken time to come likely because it had a timing to it.

Well, you did your running. You did your little, "just gonna dupe myself a little more." yeah... No.

Then what? Life got fed up of you not truly living it and decided to spiral out of control a bit. Hey look, I know it was sudden but look at you unrealizing then realizing. And here you are 6 months from now fixated on something that brings you joy, learning and improving along the way. Look how far you've gotten. Look how much happier this makes you. Look how your inner child smiles back at you. And you thought worry and regret is what you were gonna settle for lol.

3. Conflict & resolution.

Gained confidence

Ending (finally) of a never ending task or something you had been putting efforts towards only to gain something far better.

Stronger immunity

Expensive perfume (something specfic but came through nonetheless)

You took all the memories happy, nostalgic, bitter, sour, sweet, salty... Took them all and gathered power.

Now you're gonna go and build yourself a fortress.

Nothing much to tell you besides, you deserve to celebrate this. It was a whole task, wasn't it? Anyway, come on hurry up or you'll miss your flight.

4. Journey

Isolation

Determination

Travel

"life took 'you wanna see some real speed?' A little too literally."

Your words are really powerful, declare with caution.

The world is in your hands. How does it feel like? Looking back at the ones that caused you so much sorrow? They were your friends, yes? Oh a lover perhaps? And you thought the world of them and they left you so cold at heart and you vowed you'd never, ever, open that heart again. Then the ones with brighter smiles and tender hands came and filled you with so much warmth. Now you're celebrating with them. It feels right, doesn't it?

Walking away from fears and attachments that you worried you couldn't really stay without, suddenly your hearts at ease. Been 6 months and you realize why life is about the journey not really the destination. Oh and congrats on the glow up, peak performance right there 😉

5. You can rest now

Just breathe

This isn't your fight

Once you detach, you'll get to see the bigger picture.

A change or an ending of what felt like control or dominance over you. Could also be change in plans or something you were used to.

Time to feel an emotion that flows gently in you and doesn't drag you down and drown you.

Was it sad? Yes.

Did you fake it till you make it? Also yes.

Did things do a 180? Yes, right? It had to. What else? you were not gonna just sit there and cry for long. You're too strong for this.

Life has been spinning out of control but what we're not gonna do is Kubrick stare at yourself in the mirror. You're beautiful, now go water your garden and invest in your own thing. Everything else is covered.

6. Beauty & power.

You're a prize than cannot be possessed.

"So much to do, but I can't stop these new ideas from coming!"

"Okay I need a break. "

Connection

Romance? This is poetic cinema.

You're a fire sign, you're definitely a fire sign or you've unlocked this spark in you finally.

You definitely went through transition and it wasn't pretty at first. It wasn't pretty at all but you are not someone who gives up when you know deep down your hunches are right.

And you're on a mission that seems impossible. Maybe to others but not to you even if you think like that right now.

This will be the smallest one yet,

Damn... You did that huh.

You really did that. You know how you did that?

Come what may and whatever it takes,

You knew you could.

#free readings #tarot community #divination community

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majestyeverlasting · 3 years

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Can you write prompt(s) 40 & 48 with Dad!Bucky x reader pls?

♡ Of course! Thanks for sending this request in! For the kids, I went ahead and used Jamie and Eden, who are in my Dad!Bucky x Mom!Reader fics. There's cute and funny family ~shenanigans~ in this piece (and Eden ends up duping Bucky). I hope you like it!

♡ Prompt 40: "There it is. There's that smile."

♡ Prompt 48: "Those are my pajama pants. They're literally slipping down your waist."

♡ To make a request for my One Month Tumblr-versary, check out my Fluffy Prompt List :)

No Such Thing as Winning By Default Tonight

The way Jamie and Eden greeted Bucky at the door always gave him something to look forward to, to cherish. They were bouncing on the balls of their feet as if it had been ages since they last saw him. In reality, it had only been a span of hours since he’d left that morning. And with sparkling eyes, they waited for him to take off his backpack and shrug off the leather jacket. You’d spent the day out with them, and they were ready to tell their father about everything. From checking out new books at the library, going to the park, and even getting snow cones.

As soon as Bucky finished putting his things in the closet, he scooped Eden up and kissed her cheek. And he pulled Jamie into a hug after giving him a fist bump—the gesture was something the boy insisted they started doing everyday because it was ‘cool.’ It was important not to forget the explosion fingers right after, because that’s what made fist bumps even cooler.

The kids talked a mile a minute as they told Bucky about their day—as if their lives depended on it. Hundreds of people had told him hundreds of things over the years and, yet, listening to their words—and yours—added a value to his life that he hadn't, or couldn’t find anywhere else in the world. A smile stretched across your face when he entered the living room with Jamie and Eden on either side of him. You were sitting on the couch with the laundry basket on the floor in front of you. Folding clothes that, admittedly, should’ve already been taken care of.

Bucky shot you a wink when your eyes met his, and you felt the smallest flutter in your stomach. After spending the day with children, you were glad to have some adult company again. It helped that he was particularly attractive in his unshaven state. “Hey, stranger,” you teased, affectionately. “How was your day?”

“Not too bad,” he said, draping his arms over the kids’ shoulders. “From what these two were telling me, it sounds like you guys went around the world while I was gone.”

That earned a laugh from you. “It feels like we did. I’m not moving for the next week.”

Jamie snorted. “But don’t you have to move? You can’t just stay still,” he said. “You’re moving right now to fold the clothes.”

You gave him a flat look, narrowing your eyes. Everyone else laughed. “Well, in that case, mister, how about you three come do it for me so I don’t have to move?” Your tone was playful.

“Uhhh... Dad can do it. I forgot how to fold,” he lied.

“‘Dad can do it?’” Bucky repeated, looking down at him in feigned disagreement. If you truly needed a break, or wanted any sort of additional help, he’d step in a heartbeat—he always did.

“Wait, I’m actually pretty good at it,” Eden spoke up, leaving her father’s side to plop beside you. “Do you want me to help, Mommy?” Without waiting for an answer, she picked out one of her shirts from the basket.

It was then that Jamie decided he was going to assist too. Instead of joining the two of you on the couch, however, he sat crossed-legged on the floor, and dug to the bottom of the basket in search of his favorite race car graphic tee. The way their brows furrowed in concentration was adorable. And because they were no longer glued to Bucky, he was able to lean down and press a kiss to your temple, hands bracing on the plush arm of the couch. Before he could pull too far away, you cupped his chin and directed his lips to yours in a brief kiss, sighing through your nose. You felt him smile upon hearing the kids’ quiet giggles.

Eden’s voice soon arose. “Hey, Mommy, look. Is this good enough?” Bucky pulled away and straightened back to his full height, clearing his throat and running a hand through his hair.

On Eden’s lap was a white shirt printed with pink flowers that she had folded. “It looks great, E. Put it on the stack of your other stuff.” You pointed to the clothes of hers that you had already folded.

What you ended up finding later that evening was that one of the kids had accidentally placed Bucky’s navy blue pajama pants in your sleepwear drawer. Considering he was off in the playroom with them, you decided to put them on to go get a reaction out of him. You paired them with a gray V-neck.

When you walked in on him and the kids, they were winning in what appeared to be a play fight. They hovered over him as his back was against the floor. A helpless smile budded on your face as you stood watching in the doorway. He tried to prop himself up upon noticing you, but Jamie growled and pushed chest back down.

“Do you surrender?” He asked his father.

A laugh bubbled up Bucky’s throat. “Yes, I surrender.”

“I don’t believe him,” Eden told Jamie.

“I do! I promise,” Bucky said. “I just wanna talk to your mom.”

They let him sit up, and you caught the way his gaze traveled up your body. “Hey… those are my pajama pants,” he said, pushing himself from the floor to go stand in front of you. “They’re literally slipping down your waist.” To prove his point, he attempted to pull them up to a more proper resting place on your hips. But they slouched back down a bit when he let go.

“No they’re not," you challenged with a smile. "They’re mine."

“Oh, is that right?” He let his hands come to rest on your hips, and in turn you wrapped your arms around his neck, gazing into his eyes. “They look good on you,” he said, voice low. And before you could register his intentions, he reached around you to squeeze your backside.

Bucky chuckled at your small squeak and dipped down for a kiss. He was gentle, and warm, and smelled woodsy. When he started to pull away, you thought it was way too soon. But, a second later, you realized it was because Jamie had started tugging on the back of his shirt.

You stifled a laugh at the way he rolled his eyes before turning around. “May I help you?” He asked the boy.

“Can we do one more round?” Jamie asked. “But this time you have to go harder on us.”

Eden came to stand beside her brother’s side. “Yeah! And Mommy can be on a team with me and Jamie,” she said.

Bucky looked back at you with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “You up for that?”

You wrinkled your nose. “Maybe I should just watch. These pants probably make me wardrobe malfunction prone.”

He waved a dismissive hand. “You’ll be fine.”

That assurance is what landed you in a four-person play fight. Per Jamie’s request, Bucky does exert a little more effort. But he was still overly mindful that nobody got hurt in any other way. For the first few moments, you drew back and let Jamie and Eden make most of the advances on their father. They practically cackled every time he pinned them.

But he eventually locked eyes with you, and you knew he wasn't going to let you remain in the background of the action anymore. All you could do was squeal when he made a very direct advancement. Because you were already kneeling, it didn’t take much for him to force you the rest of the way to the floor. It happened so swiftly that all you could do was let out a surprised huff of laughter. Somehow he managed to capture both of your wrist.

“He’s got Mommy!” You heard Eden say. Then she came to your rescue by pushing his shoulder to divert his attention.

In the sliver of time before Bucky walked on his knees to get the girl, Jamie did a discrete signal to her that she nodded to. All it was was a quick swipe of his pointer finger down his cheek. And between you and Bucky, only you caught their quick exchange. It took a second for it to click that he had told her to fake cry. Or pretend to be hurt, at least.

As soon as Bucky gathered Eden into his arms, and lowered her to the floor in the most gentle 'slam' ever, she enacted their scheme. From her lying position, she winced and released a soft whine. There was no possible way that what he did could've caused any pain, but Bucky didn't even rationalize that. The only thing that rang in his mind was that he'd just hurt his little girl.

“Shoot! I’m sorry, babydoll.” He repositioned to sit in a narrow straddle, and coaxed her up to sit on his thigh. The tenderness of his voice made you want to tell him that she was fine. "What hurts, hmm?" She just continued pouting. Jamie put a hand over his mouth to hide either a smile or shock that it actually worked.

Bucky sighed as his eyes flickered over to you. All you could do was offer an expression that was likely a mix between neutral and guilty. Then he redirected his attention back to Eden and started pressing consoling kisses to her hair. When he noticed her beginning to smile, relief flooded through him. “There it is. There’s that smile,” he said. "I really am sorry, sunshine. Didn't mean to hurt you."

She craned her neck to look up at him. "Daddy..." she said, voice tentative. "I was just kidding..."

Jamie was quick to pitch in. "I only told her to so we could win by default or something. At least she's actually okay, right?" The hopeful edge to his tone made you bite back a smile. "Mom was in on it too." Snitch.

Bucky's mouth fell slightly agape, but he let out a small laugh a second later, shaking his head. "Wow," he breathed. "'Win by default,' huh? Give me a heart attack to 'win by default.'" In all fairness, it had been a somewhat mean trick. But nothing he couldn't recover from.

"I didn't even know if you were gonna believe me!" Eden claimed. She squealed when he suddenly laid onto his back, taking her with him. The sound of their mixed laughter filled the room, and the energetic buzz returned to the atmosphere.

Then Bucky made a proposal to your team. "You guys are gonna have to come save little miss from my arms if you wanna win for real," he said. "No such thing as winning by default tonight."

Previously fulfilled request: Cold Little Paws.

#bucky barnes #bucky x female reader #dad!bucky #bucky fluff #bucky x reader #dad!bucky x reader #bucky barnes imagine #sebastian stan #winter soldier #tfaws bucky #marvel #marvel fic

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 2 years

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Psycho Analysis: Audrey II

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

Man-eating plants are really cool, but you really don’t see them a lot in fiction these days. Sure, your average Scrimblo Bimblo is probably going to have to jump over a few of them in his game, but you never really see one take charge and be the big bad.

Well that’s cuz none of those other plants have half the guts Audrey II does.

An alien plant that zapped down to Earth during an eclipse, it ingratiates itself with the weak-willed Seymour, manipulating him into feeding it human flesh and blood so it can become bigger and stronger in its quest to spread across the world. And it does it all with great style, a killer smile, and one badass villain song.

Motivation/Goals: Audrey II’s got one goal in mind, and that is global domination. To this end, it dupes Seymour into feeding it and giving it the power to grow and expand. It’s kind of your typical evil alien plotline, combined with a “be careful what you wish for angle.” Seymour is getting fame and fortune at the cost of his soul and his peace of mind, and the plant bringing him this good fortune is duping him.

Performance: Levi Stubb’s of The Four Tops played Audrey II in one of his only two voice roles, the other being Captain N’s version of Mother Brain. Stubb realized that he was simply too powerful and had to give other people a chance to voice act, so he dipped and went back to being a hugely iconic Motown singer for the rest of his life after these two roles. Boy, does the man kill it as Audrey II though! But we can’t give all the credit to Stubb for bringing Audrey II to life, though his voice is the big selling point; props must also be given to the dozens of puppeteers who worked tirelessly to make this massive plant puppet feel as alive as it does. All of it just comes together perfectly.

Final Fate: It really depends on what version you’re watching. If you’re watching the theatrical version, Seymour manages to get the upper hand on the Mean Green Mother from Outer Space and manages to blow it up with an extremely corny stock explosion effect… or does he? Despite the seemingly happy ending, there’s another Audrey II in Seymour and Audrey’s yard. Dun dun dun!

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In the Director’s Cut, though, Audrey II’s big song ends a little differently, namely in that Seymour fails and is eaten, which lets Audrey II’s plan go on completely unimpeded. Cue one of the most impressive feats of special effects and puppet work you will ever see as Audrey II and its numerous duplicates go on a kaiju rampage through New York. The movie ends with the fate of the world up in the air, and even the fourth wall isn’t gonna protect you because Audrey II bursts out of the screen.

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Best Scene: “Mean Green Mother from Outer Space” is hands down Audrey II’s finest moment, simply because it is an awesome villain song sung by an alien plant voiced by a legendary Motown singer.

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Of course, if we’re considering the Director’s Cut here, the extended kaiju rampage is just breathtaking with how impressive it is.

Best Quote: Say it with me now: “FEED ME.”

Final Thoughts & Score: Man-eating plants are seldom the big bad in fiction, and it’s a real shame when the original Audrey II, Audrey Jr., is one of the most influential man-eating plants in all of media (it inspired the Piranha Plants in Mario for crying out loud!). But I guess there’s a good reason for that: When there’s already Audrey II, where else can you go but down?

This villainous Venus Flytrap from the cosmos is just a glorious slice of B-movie fun. It has an amazing design coupled with fantastic puppet work and voice acting, it has a simple yet effective motivation and goal, and it has an awesome villain song. What more do you even need from a villain? Audrey II is just a clear and obvious 10/10, hands down, no question.

A big part of why Audrey II is so great is just the sheer audacity of it. This is a big, goofy plant monster who says shit like “Tough titty” and sings a toe-tapping villain song, and yet at the end of the day it is just so thoroughly wicked, evil, and manipulative. It’s such a charismatic creature that manages to be both genuinely, terrifyingly evil and awesomely fun and memorable. When it comes to horticultural horrors, there’s simply no comparison (Save maybe for Biollante, but she’s not really evil).

#Psycho Analysis #Audrey II #Little Shop of Horrors #Levi Stubb

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skepticbeliever-bookclub · 3 years

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After three solid weeks careening heart-first into a long series, we have come to the conclusion of our Book Club wide read of Precious Metals by Striker Eureka. Together, we discussed the thrilling conclusion You can feel it on the way home that both surprised, horrified and delighted us in a myriad of positive ways. Our main takeaway is that there is truly nothing like a reminder of what Shane and Ryan shooting in haunted spaces inspired from us as a fandom, especially with how this fic took us there with gorgeously poignant descriptions and just the right amount of suspense.

Rating: M

Summary:

Something has noticed Ryan and it isn’t content to just watch and wait. While Shane attempts to share his true sight with Ryan, things begin to quickly fall apart. Ryan thinks he’s losing his grip on reality and Shane takes entirely too long to figure out what’s really at play. They’re closer to one another than ever before, but it might not stay that way if they can’t beat what is coming for them.

Shane holds his wrists with both hands, his touch strangely gentle. “I’m gonna get something to clean you up with.”

“I don’t need to be cleaned up, I need you to tell me what the fuck that was,” Ryan says, getting increasingly louder as he speaks. “You said I was in danger,” he jabs at his own chest with a numb finger, “you could feel it.”

“Yes.”

“What was that?”

Shane’s gaze searches his face and Ryan doesn’t look away; he feels like he’s on the edge of a mental break and Shane is giving him nothing to hold onto.

Finally, Shane says, “A demon.”

Book Club Thoughts

How. HOW is a final part somehow both a perfect conclusion AND the highlight of the journey. normally distinct works within a series have their follow-ups be little complements! this is SO MUCH!!

Ryan's discomfort w the freshly made spirits is another one of those pieces from this series that stuck with me even years later

I was terrified and enamored by the description, the mood building and the raw discomfort of Ryan's experience all the way down to the grit in Ryan's teeth as he forced salt down his own throat like what a concept!

I also really like the choice to have this be only in Ryan's head because we don't know what he doesn't know which means we don't know what Shane won't tell us

The revelation that this demon hasn't just been around for a while, it's literally been there since the start of the series and is in fact the inciting incident for all of this, it's just [chef's kiss] levels of tying everything together

it's such a small part of this fic but I was thrilled with Steven's cameo and how he's the most wonderful man, even in fic and even before fans had any idea that Watcher would one day be a thing. The sex was amazing but the shower scene after the demon attack was somehow even better because of how intimate and gentle it was, ughhhh I love a good shower scene so much (especially with h/c situations).

It works very well for the two of them, highlighting the different ways that their anxiety manifests, one being proactive and the other taking a more hands-off, theoretical route; the two of them switching off and rarely on the same wavelength.

There is NOTHING as delicious to me than the moment we discover that the set up to this story was in the first instalment all along. We can so easily allow ourselves to be duped into thinking that the first two fics are just fun, almost standalone introductions to the set up, fun character studies, because of the way we know fanfic can and has worked in the past.

I'm really enjoying the deconstruction of Shane The Friendly Demon -- after the reveal to Ryan he's set up as someone who happens to be a demon but is still kind and caring, and I'm loving the immediate clash between Ryan's morality and his

I really enjoyed revisiting this series. This author is good at maintaining tension and tells the story at a pace that makes it fun to read. And the series has such a classic BFU vibe; it's like going back to watch a movie old enough that you can feel the age of it and finding that it still holds up years later.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN US FOR OUR NEXT DISCUSSION? CHECK OUT THE FAQ, AND SEND US AN ASK! IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR FIC RECS, PLEASE CHECK OUT OUR READS, NOMINEES AND BOOK CLUB REC LISTS!

#shyan #shyan fic #otp: we took an oath #read of the week #demon!shane #supernatural au #sbbookclub

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shoot-the-oneshot · 4 years

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Bartender turned babysitter

Requested by @joannatsakou98

Hey, I was hoping if you could write an imagine with Rio were the reader is asked to keep the three girls in the house (reason unknown) but they actually end up getting along so at first it's a bit of a cold atmosphere but Rio ends up finding them drinking tequila together, laughing, having fun all the girls together and has to carry his girl home, I just wanna see some girl love. Thank you so much

Rio x Reader

“Y/n, your man is here!”

Kelly your coworker yelled. You barley heard her over the ice you were pouring into the machine and the loud music. You didn’t remember him telling you he was stoping by, must be important. Not bothering to hide the smile crawling on your face as you made your way behind the bar. Spinning the towel previously hung over your shoulder.

“Is this the part where I wipe down the bar and you spill your life story?” Playfully running the towel over the wooden bar top. Eying Rio, dressed in his normal blacked out attire, his two goons as you called them waiting by the door. “You already know everything mamas,” he winked, leaning in closer to you. It’s not uncommon for him to visit you at work, it is where you met after all. But you could tell by the tension in his shoulders that this wasn’t one of those times.

“What are you doing here Rio?” - “and don’t say to see me because I know it’s not.”

You said, cutting in when he opened his mouth, no doubt to defend himself. “I need a favor.” Of course he did. He tried to keep you out of that part of his life, but being apart of the very few people he trust you got dragged in for more sensitive matters.

“I need someone to watch the housewives while I handle something.” He pleads, you’ve only met them once and it wasn’t a situation you wanted to ran back into. And judging by the begging look in his eyes he knew that fact. He’s lucky he’s cute, you thought to yourself, and nodded your head.

“I don’t suppose I get anymore details?”

“Just that everyone has to stay inside until I pick you up.

Which is how you ended up in the suburbs standing next to Rios G wagon. You felt like a child being dropped off at a slumber party. Dragging out his name as you turned back to the window whining. He stayed in the car knowing if you got your hands on him you’d convince him to take you home, he never could say no to you. “It’s only for a few hours Y/n” he started, leaning out the window to brush your lips together, “I’ll make it worth your while.” You didn’t know if it was his words or tone that sent shivers down your back, regardless you hated the knew the power he had over you. Huffing as you spun around to face the house shouting over your shoulder. “I hate you!” Rolling your eyes as you heard his laughter. “I love you too mamas!” The women must’ve been watching through the door because they were huddled around it when you knocked.

“Hey.”

“Hi!” Annie squeaked, winching when she got hit by Ruby. Stepping aside Beth you could tell they didn’t know what to think of you. They’ve only seen you once at a cash pick up while you waited by the car. So their weariness wasn’t unwarranted. Looking towards Beth as she cleared her throat the other two close behind her. “Um, I’m Beth, this is Annie and Ruby.” The mentioned giving a small wave to accompany their name. “I know.” You smirked, this must be what Rio feels, you’d only bask in it for a few more seconds. Your heels clicking against the floors echoes through the silent house as you moved to sit on the couch. Dispersing themselves around the living room. Annie sitting as far away as she could on the other end of the couch. “I’m Y/n,”

After a good hour of complete silence, Annie got up to the kitchen, your eyes following her as she tried to make a drink. You couldn’t help but cringe when she filled a cup to the top with ice and then pulled out whiskey.

“No, stop!” The girls freezing as you yelled and suddenly stood. Annie going pale as you got closer and took the cup. “I couldn’t watch you butcher that fine whiskey.” Duping the ice until only two cubes were left, you noticed Beth and Ruby crowding by the entryway while you poured the whiskey and handed it back to Annie who was still unmoving. “You only put two cubes for whiskey so it doesn’t water it down.” Turning back to raid the liquor cabinet you miss the wide eyed looks the women send to each other. “Do you want a drink?”

Grabbing three more glasses out of the cabinet and making a makeshift shaker. Passing the finished drinks out. “Not bad right?” Smiling as their eyes widen with the first sip. “Gang girl got skills!” Annie woopped, as you laughed at the nickname. “Gang girl?” You questioned, “well, you’re the only girl I’ve seen in the gang so.” She shrugged, “I’m not apart of the gang.” The girls following you back to the living room drinks in hand. Annie sitting much closer now, you knew alcohol would open them up.

“Then who are you?” Ruby asked.

“I’m Y/n,” their shoulders dropping at the vague response, “I’m Rios girlfriend.”

“Huh?” “Rio has a girlfriend!” “I thought you were an assassin!” Were the mixed yells you got, everyone turned to Annie. “What she definitely looked like one! I thought he brought her here to offing us!” She defended, causing us all the fall into laughter. “Well assassin or not the girl can mix a drink.” Meeting Ruby to clink your glasses. “Thanks Ruby.”

At some point during the night the bachelorette turned on which resulted in all four of you squished on the couch, empty glasses surrounding the room. You were sure the entire neighborhood could hear the screams you all were giving out at the tv. Letting out simultaneous groans as roses were giving out. Annie even throwing a handful of popcorn, getting scolded by Beth. It was so loud none of you noticed the man standing behind the couch. “He’s a jerk why would she pick him!” You yelped, the girls all falling over each other into the floor when another voice sounded behind you.

“I thought you liked bad boys?” Rio smirked, his hands clasped together. Your drunken state made you giggle and start singing. “Bad boys bad boys, whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when they come for you!” The girls singing along once they caught on, Rio just watching in confusion.

“But you come for me every night don’t you bad boy!” You winked, the older two women looking disgusted at your dirty joke while Annie high fived you. Rio just shakes his head walking over to haul you up over his shoulder. “Time to go mamas.” Waving to your new friends as he walks you both out of the house. “You looked like you had fun.” He said, dropping you into the passenger seat as gently as he could. Quickly nodding your head, volunteering yourself to babysit them anytime he needs as if they were actually kids. All the ways your new friendship could cause him trouble flying through his head as he walked around to his side. “How’s Chinese sound for dinner?” His question going unanswered. Looking over to see fast asleep. Sighing to himself, “Yeah, definitely trouble.”

#rio x reader #rio imagine #rio good girls #good girls imagine #johnny tuturro imagine

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pride-moth · 3 years

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If you were church, I'd get on my knees [Stolitz Week Day 4 - Wedding]

Ao3 Link

Event Info Link

The paparazzi are everywhere. They sit in the trees, in the windows of neighboring buildings, in the cars on the adjacent streets, some have even made their way onto the premises. They’ve been taking pictures of everything all morning. Of the seating area, the flower arrangements, the early guests, even the waiters. They’re prepared to fill the tabloids with the most scandalous wedding in hell. A Prince and an imp. The highest and the lowest. It’s gossip pages simply filling themselves.

They’re prepared for everything. Except for the ceremony not happening in the elaborately-staged venue. They will sit there for hours until dawn comes and there’s still nobody there, except the guests and waiters who have been roaming the place since the morning. “We’ve been duped,” someone will say eventually but nobody will have any idea what to do next.

Sometime in the afternoon, the real wedding congregation is happening in the I.M.P headquarters, with only a handful of people and a private wedding photographer. Everything is decorated in the crispiest shade of white they could find. It’s smaller and simpler than the fake venue they’ve coordinated, but it’s still stunning and gorgeous and perfect, and Stolas is slowly losing his mind in his little pre-room where Millie and Octavia are doing their best to keep him together. He picks at his white suit, wrings his hands and runs to the mirror every single minute to check himself.

“You need to calm down,” Via says, slightly exasperated considering Stolas hasn’t exactly been calm in hours, “Everything’s going to be fine.”

“What if it isn’t? What if the paparazzi come here? What if they find out? What if Blitz decides he doesn’t want to marry me after all?”

“Blitz is…” Millie says while fine-tuning her own hair, “Not gonna lie, I didn’t think he’d ever marry. Didn’t seem like the type. But he’s decided to marry you and that’s something, right. Plus, you’ve gotten married before, you know how it works.”

“That was so long ago, I scarcely remember.”

“The point is there’s no reason to be nervous, everything is going to run smoothly.” Millie gives him a hearty pat on the back.

“Weren’t you nervous when you and Moxxie married?”

“Oh, I wasn’t, Moxxie almost lost it, though. But do you know what I told him?”

“What?”

“That marriage isn’t that big a deal. We love each other before the big party and we’ll love each other after the big party, just with more tax benefits.”

“That’s not very romantic…” Via remarks from across the room.

“It’s true, though, isn’t it?” Millie shrugs. “You’re just having a big party to celebrate how much you love each other. And to get tax benefits.”

“Maybe.”

“So, don’t worry about it! Also, there’s no paparazzi, they’re still swarming the fake venue, Moxxie has CCTV on them.”

“Thank you, for organizing this whole thing, I just… Didn’t want to do this with the press present. It’s… I don’t know, it feels less special when everyone gets to watch, you know?”

“No problem, and now get out there and marry my boss!”

Stolas takes a deep breath and his daughter by his hand and walks out of the room.

He walks in with Blitz already waiting in bated breath, wearing a matching white suit that makes him look just obscenely handsome and when their eyes finally meet, it’s as though all worries fall off him in an instant. It’s going to be fine, Stolas thinks, maybe all of it is going to be fine. Forever.

“You look great,” he says shyly and takes both of Blitz’ hands.

“You are absolutely smoking hot,” Blitz responds. Stolas chuckles.

Next to them, Loona, their impromptu officiator, clears her throat to get their attention. “So, uhm, again, can someone explain to me why we’re doing this all proper and pseudo-Christian??”

“Because I like to spite the establishment which I’m marrying into. Also, Christian weddings have a very good aesthetic, we’ve been over this, now ask us for our vows, Loonie,” Blitz replies sharply.

“Okay, sure, uhm, vows please?”

Stolas breathes in deeply. “Blitz, when you came into my life, I never could have imagined standing here with you now. You were loud, abrasive, vulgar and… Well, you still are all of these things, but now I love you for it. Now I want to listen to talk about nothing and rant about your least favorite fruit all day. I want to hear your voice from morning to evening and I won’t tire of it. When I met you… I thought you would be nothing but a tiny speck on my night sky. Seen once, but quickly forgotten. But now I know you’re the brightest star of them all, always leading my way. I love you and I wish to always find my way to you.”

There is some sniffling in the room, though someone is probably also throwing up.

“Wow, okay. Dad, would you like to go next?” Loona says, then, her voice shaking just the tiniest bit.

Blitz looks around and takes a deep breath. “I’ve never been lucky with relationships before, they were… Yeah, they were all pretty terrible. And I didn’t even plan on having one with you for a long time, frankly. But… You know, sometimes you don’t really have a choice. You don’t want to fall in love with the weird bird prince. You just want to get his book and you have sex with him to do, but… It becomes more than that and that’s why we’re here now. Because I love you, even though it took me a long time to accept that. And I can’t wait to be married to you and rail you in the Hellton Hotel honeymoon suite.”

There’s an uncomfortable silence for a moment. A silent, disturbed “What?” comes from Octavia.

“What?! Do you think I’m not gonna fuck my husband harder than ever before in our wedding night? Fucking prudes.”

Loona clears her throat again. “So, uhm, right. Stolas, do you wish to take Blitz over here as your husband?”

“Yes, of course I do!”

“Great. Dad. Blitz. whatever. Do you wish to take Stolas here as your husband?”

“Hell yeah, let’s go!”

“Good, then blah blah something something by the power of whatever is going on here, I pronounce you two married. But please wait until after the party with whatever you two want to do to each other…”

“And…?” Blitz says.

“Oh, right, yeah. You may now kiss. As if you need my permission for that. ...Wait, we didn’t even do the thing with the rings yet!”

But they’re already kissing. And so they share this, their first kiss as husbands, it feels exactly the same as always in the best way possible. They’ve kissed before, hundreds upon thousands of times, and this time is no different, it’s an intuitive motion, a well-practiced one, carried out with pure trust and comfort.

And yet, it absolutely is different because that kiss now carries a promise. A promise for many, many years of more kisses, years of just them, together.

The party goes into the dead of night, people dancing and drinking all in celebration of their love, it’s an almost surreal concept. Octavia gets drunk for the first time and that’s a whole piece of work, but Loona is there for her, them being sisters now and all.

But in the Hellton Hotel honeymoon suite they’ve booked for the night, nothing much actually happens because they’re drunk and tired and exhausted, so all they do is cuddle up against each other in the gratuitous pink bed and fall asleep soundly, secure in the knowledge that there’s more than enough time for everything else during the rest of their lives.

The next day, the tabloids will be filled with only one picture, the one their own wedding photographer made, the one they actually want the world to see on their own terms. It shows them, in their matching white suits, Stolas with one hand on Blitz’ hips and a content smile on his face while Blitz has his tongue out and gives the camera the middle finger.

#helluva boss #stolas x blitz #stolas x blitzo #stolitz #stolitz week #fanfiction #my writing #wedding fic

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subwalls · 3 years

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CONFRONTATION. || DreamSMP

An analysis on Ranboo’s January 30th stream, meant to pick apart c!Ranboo’s complex relationship with reality and the voices in his head. This will be broken up into three (3) parts: introduction, stream analysis, and conclusion.

cw unreality, derealization, etc.

INTRODUCTION.

Before we start, I want to make clear that this is just my personal reading of the stream’s events, and as such it may not be the same as yours, and that’s okay! Critical reading is all about how one work can be viewed through a variety of lenses to yield very different conclusions, and the validation of one does not immediately mean all the others are Bad and Wrong.

We all got that? Cool.

Now, a common theory being tossed around at the moment is the idea that the entire stream was a dream (ha) or hallucination. This possibility is somewhat backed up by a few observations I will point out in the rest of this post, but for the sake of seriously dissecting this dream into truths and untruths, I will not be assuming that everything that happened was fake. I’ll delve a little deeper into why this theory doesn’t completely convince me in the conclusion, too.

STREAM ANALYSIS.

Aw yeah, here comes the frame-by-frame analysis of 41 minutes of footage.

... Well, kinda. Let’s start with a play-by-play instead of a frame-by-frame, yeah?

At 2:45 into the stream, Ranboo starts out in the panic room, looking at the “You are fine” sign. He says that Sam told him he can visit Dream (”him”) today, and reflects on the fact that he’s no longer looking for clarity or confrontation (me, looking at the stream title: uh,) but rather to make Dream think about what he did.

“He deserves to know what he did.” (Ranboo at 3:47)

“I’m gonna tell him what those thoughts are.” (Ranboo at 3:55, which is an... interesting remark, seeing as the voice in his head that sounds like Dream has been trying to tell Ranboo what his thoughts are. But it doesn’t mean anything substantial.)

Vibe check so far? REAL. Nothing appears to be out of place in the panic room. Ranboo is nervous but keeping it together and talking himself through it. Sounds great!

After a bit of psyching himself up (and noticeably declaring his memory book to be the only one that hasn’t been tampered with), Ranboo starts towards the prison. He’s scared and doesn’t know why, but he’s gonna do it.

One thing of note is that he passes by Sam Nook’s construction site, and the place’s big map sign thing never quite loads in properly. The whole thing just stays black. Suspicious, but those maps are honestly kinda glitchy at loading in anyway because they’re entities instead of blocks. Or maybe Sam Nook’s doing some prep. (Edit: more likely is that this is a clone of the Dream SMP server for the sake of what they’re about to do to the prison, and it doesn’t have the map plugin, so all the picture maps in the world are broken.)

As the prison comes into view, he continues talking to himself (he’s never been to prison, apparently; he’s been inside Pandora’s Vault before, but not as a prisoner). He thinks about the fact that he could get rid of Dream if he wanted to, but no, he couldn’t.

The prison entrance portal is actually already lit. Ranboo isn’t sure what he’s supposed to do but eventually hits the button.

After quite a bit of waiting, Sam eventually greets him (13:32) and invites him to step into the portal. Ranboo goes through the portal and appears in a warped forest biome.

This is incredibly suspicious. The prison’s nether portal is supposed to be a customized portal in six (6) layers of obsidian that floats over a sea of lava. In fact—and I will come back to fix this if I’m mistaken—I’m pretty sure the portal resides in the fringes of a basalt delta, not a warped forest. You can see a bit of a basalt delta poking over the warped fungi in the distance, but Ranboo is very clearly in the wrong spot.

So why the warped forest, the wrong biome and the wrong portal? It probably has something to do with the fact that Ranboo is part enderman, and enderman live in the warped forest. With the End forbidden and unknown (seeing as Techno and Phil had no idea what an End Portal was), the warped forest is likely the closest thing endermen as a species can call home in the Dream SMP.

Anyway. This is the earliest instance of either a brief hallucination or Ranboo losing his connection to reality altogether.

Ranboo goes through the portal when instructed to by Sam and properly appears in the prison’s interior portal, facing Sam at his warden’s... desk thing. Sam has Mining Fatigue right now, by the way, as seen by the particles. Ranboo is then teleported to Sam (14:20) for some reason (maybe because, behind the scenes, he was in a duped prison portal in order to make the warped forest thing happen), appearing to be inside Sam’s space before he moves back out. They do not acknowledge this.

Sam does the same series of questions to Ranboo that he did to Tommy. Ranboo says that he has not come to the prison before or even spoke to Dream before, and expresses to Sam his desire to bring his memory book along. Sam agrees on the condition that he holds onto it during the way there.

Side note: Ranboo does not get Mining Fatigue until he’s already inside the prison and being questioned. (14:47) This is quite different from the timing when Tommy got Mining Fatigue in his visit, but considering the fact that we don’t know the placement of the elder guardians or even how many there are, this could just be natural variation...

Anyway, Ranboo does the same thing we saw Tommy do with the locker and the examinations and whatever, except that Sam is... more cordial. Nicer. This is vaguely suspicious, but he’s been a little softer since his encounter with the Crimson and he has a clear soft spot for the kids. Tommy also is very different from the clearly nervous Ranboo (Sam points out that Ranboo is nervous later on, around 20:01, so he definitely noticed), so he could have just been being nice to the poor traumatized kid... Or maybe this is just a Sam constructed from Ranboo’s memories of a nice person, and not the real one. It’s not very clear but could be swayed in either direction.

One odd thing—Ranboo took quite a bit to die to the harming potions, and I feel like Tommy died faster, but I’ll have to check. It’s as though Ranboo got Harming I instead of Harming II? Sam even comments that it “took a minute” (19:12). Also, Ranboo loses his levels in this process, so, uh, if his next stream he appears with levels, that means there’s something happening that we ain’t seeing.

A skeleton dies somewhere offscreen lmao.

Ranboo is immediately re-inflicted with Mining Fatigue every time he dies, by the way, so they’re definitely within range of the elder guardians.

Ranboo endures the water section of the trip and it sucked but he seems about the same level of nervous as before, so. Sam takes the time to reassure him and give him the memory book at the last step before the cell itself.

“He [Dream] shouldn’t misbehave, he knows what happens when he does.” (Sam at 25:23, he still got that bit of ruthless warden in him.)

Vibe check again—this prison, physically speaking? Seems real. It’s possible that Ranboo could be drawing on memories from his other self, but considering that he has never been to the prison before, the fact that the prison is the exact same as the real prison that Tommy went to seems to indicate that this is a real experience.

Ranboo’s Mining Fatigue gets refreshed, so looks like the elder guardians reach here too. Dream has the Mining Fatigue particles as soon as he comes into view. (Only pointing this out because it notably took Dream a long time to get Mining Fatigue back when Tommy visited him.)

A weird sound happens at 27:31. Not sure what that’s about.

The lava curtain comes back down, and Ranboo turns around to see Dream. His screen shakes a bit as he turns, which could be anything from lag (there’s a lot of lava moving right now) to nerves (both in-character and out). (Edit: confirmed in the chill stream following that he was just nervous, and feeling his character’s nervousness.) First thing of note, here: the item frame holding the clock on the wall is transparent. This is a texture pack thing, presumably—could be the same thing that fucked up the construction site’s map sign earlier, maybe it’s even just the texture pack that some members of the SMP have installed for the chess thing—but it’s still something to notice.

Dream greets Ranboo with quite a bit of joy and energy, and says it’s not a surprise for Ranboo to visit, and altogether makes numerous implications that he and Ranboo’s other self have been conversing a lot in the times that Ranboo doesn’t remember.

“We’re best friends, right?” (Dream at 28:19, and I better not see any serious remarks about gaslighting here Dream is actually telling the truth, he just has not realized that this Ranboo doesn’t remember their conversations.)

“I’ve probably talked to you more than I’ve talked to anybody on the entire server.” (Dream at 28:27, indignant at Ranboo’s claim that they’ve barely talked, which. Yeah. I mean this whole thing could be a lie or fake but... I don’t know, I’m not convinced.)

Ranboo, whose understanding of his relationship to Dream is very different from Dream’s apparent understanding of their relationship, claims that Dream is just trying to scare him. Dream sounds confused and asks, “Why are you acting different?” (28:45) so he’s definitely not had dealings with this (awake?) Ranboo, but rather the... other set of memories.

“Ooooh.” (Dream at 28:56, which I think marks the moment he realizes that this is the other Ranboo, and it isn’t the one that he normally speaks with.)

Dream continues to say that he’s glad that Ranboo’s come to visit, that Ranboo’s been a great helping hand, and Ranboo immediately accuses him of somehow knowing about the whole panic room situation, and after Ranboo declares that he’s not going to let Dream trick him into thinking that he did those things—

“But you did do those things.” (Voice at 29:36)

Voice is always fake; it’s not “real” (audible by anyone else), and it’s not Dream.

Kudos to cc!Dream, by the way, his tone audibly changes when he switches into Ranboo’s Voice. This, I believe, is the turning point of the stream. The Voice returns, marked by the tone difference from c!Dream and also by the constant referral to Dream in the third person.

Now, here’s the interesting thing. The Voice claims that the reason why it went away is because Dream was put in prison and thus they haven’t been talking as much, which leads to Ranboo forgetting how Dream sounds like and thus robbing Voice of that, well, voice. (29:58) The implication here is that the reason behind Dream’s voice being the Voice of the “other” in Ranboo’s head is because the other just talks to Dream a lot.

Ranboo questions the third person thing, asking if he’s gone insane in prison, and there’s a pause, and then Dream says, “You’re right, you’re right. Yes, yes, there’s not much to do here.” (30:20) The tone shift is a little more subtle here, but the way Dream responded—it’s like he was responding to something else. “Have you gone insane” doesn’t usually lead to “You’re right”, because that’s a question, not a statement.

We’re real again, folks. But only briefly. Actually, it sounds like real Dream has been talking to someone while Ranboo was talking with his Voice, and when Ranboo heard him again, he was mid-conversation. Dream may have been speaking with that other Ranboo and we as the audience and Ranboo simply couldn’t hear.

Dream apparently doesn’t like his clock (30:32), and then prompts Ranboo to see what he’s been writing. In suspiciously good timing, we hear the elder guardian’s curse go off again to refresh Mining Fatigue, and then Dream hands Ranboo a book.

Here, the unreality really sets in.

The book is named Do not read. (30:47) It is a precise copy of Ranboo’s memory book, and when Ranboo checks Dream’s chest full of books, they are all named Do not read. and have the same contents. What appears to be real Dream invites him to look through them, and as Ranboo panics over this, what appears to be the Voice rather than c!Dream tells Ranboo that he needs “to face the truth” (31:18).

Ranboo says the truth is that Dream is a terrible person who hurt others.

The Voice says the truth is that Ranboo helped “me”. (31:35) Now, I can’t tell if this is a slip of the tongue on cc!Dream’s part or on the Voice’s part, but he does correct himself and say “Dream” after, so take that how you will.

At this point, the Dream on the screen’s body language starts to match up with the Voice (moving while it talks), and the Voice claims “I’m not even Dream,” which lines up with its prior claims that it is just another part of Ranboo.

Ranboo tries to rationalize the situation, assuming that the real Dream is speaking right now, but the Voice refers to Ranboos memories in the first person (“I know what I went through because I’m you,” 32:01), reinforces the fact that “you” (Ranboo) use to talk with Dream every day, and the only reason the Voice stopped happening is because he couldn’t picture Dream’s voice after not speaking with him since Dream went to prison.

“He [Dream] would tell you [Ranboo] things to do. You were like his little... servant.” (Voice at 32:24)

Ranboo refuses this, the Voice continues to insist that he did help Dream, Ranboo asks why he doesn’t remember, and Voice says that he does; the Voice remembers, and the Voice is Ranboo.

And then the Voice says, “I’m not even real,” and the Dream on screen vanishes.

We don’t see a logout message on screen, but Ranboo isn’t in f1, so Dream probably either /tp’d somewhere OR switched to spectator mode. Ranboo suddenly gets the Nausea effect, panics and looks at the chest and says that he got rid of the voice, but the obsidian starts falling (gravity applied to the cell, hope they have a backup of the server to rollback to or let themselves use creative lmao) which unveils some details in the Pandora’s Vault inner chamber that I’d love to dissect but not now, and then Ranboo "hits the ground too hard” and dies.

Of note: Ranboo’s death screen is not vanilla. The word “Died” is capitalized where it shouldn’t be, and even though Ranboo lost his levels dying on the way in, his score is 206810. I bet that’s a code for something but I have no idea what for.

(I typed 206810 into my search bar and got a hex code for green. Yeah. Darker than what you’d associate with Dream, but... green.)

And then we have morse code crown and smiley that’s supposed to say “not free yet” or something but apparently there’s other translations because cc!Ranboo might’ve hecked it up a little bit. Oops.

But yeah, there you go! That’s the stream.

Not once does Ranboo press tab, by the way. Something makes me think that that might be because they’re not on the real Dream SMP—also to, you know, avoid having to rebuild the prison.

CONCLUSION.

I do think the prison visit is real at first. Ranboo falls in and out of contact with reality, and the warped forest is definitely fishy, but the layout of the prison is too precisely accurate to be wholeheartedly dreamed up. He’s never been there before, after all, and Sam doesn’t correct him—which could mean that Sam is fake and Ranboo is drawing on those other memories, but we never see Ranboo use memories he doesn’t have, he just acts on emotions and feelings that his other self seems to have.

So, the moments that are “real” are Ranboo walking to the prison, through the prison, and the first part of his talk with Dream. He clips back into reality just in time for Dream to show him a book, which immediately pops Ranboo back into the land of hallucinations, because there’s no way Dream has so many copies of the real memory book when he’s been isolated in his cell this entire time. The warped forest was probably a hallucination born of Ranboo’s enderman (sleepwalking) half being nervous, since Ranboo said he was nervous but couldn’t pinpoint why; it was probably that other side. Still don’t know why he’d be nervous though, when it seems like Dream’s happy to see him.

The room caving in and Dream disappearing are fake. I think it’s symbolic of the other side forcing Ranboo to black out in order to have a conversation with Dream that isn’t being interrupted by the awake self. Who knows where and how Ranboo is going to wake up next time, honestly. Or even if he’ll remember the visit at all.

Oh, and I really doubt this costed a canon life. There’s some very funky implications if it does, but I’ll only get into that if we get a confirmed life lost.

Again, the Voice is not Dream but instead is the side of Ranboo that actually remembers the supposedly “bad” things he did at Dream’s behest. Interestingly, Dream calls them besties, but the Voice sounds almost... scornful and refers to Ranboo as Dream’s little servant. Sure tells you how fucked up c!Dream’s definition of a friend is, huh?

Speaking of c!Dream, here’s an interesting thought: sleepwalking Ranboo only speaks Ender, as shown by his attempts to communicate with Philza. So, assuming that sleepwalking Ranboo is the “other” Ranboo that remembers things, he probably couldn’t have visited the prison, because he couldn’t organize a visit time with Sam, because that would require speaking Player.

However. He used to speak with Dream on a regular basis.

Which means Dream speaks (or at least understands) Ender. This would also explain why the Voice manifests as Dream’s; it’s the only other voice that understands the tongue it uses.

I’ve got a lot of thoughts about Pandora’s Vault because we got a little sneak peek at some of the redstone behind those obsidian walls when the room started caving in, but that’s for later. Hope this was helpful to... I dunno, anyone? I’ll probably come back and add/edit things as needed.

#general thoughts #dream smp #ranboo

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