#like just recording what they put in there in what proportions and how long they let it simmer
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stewart lee voice: now i dont know anything about maths, biology, chemistry, or doctor who lore, but i think, what if those formula “timelord real names” are just like, the recipe for their looming
#like just recording what they put in there in what proportions and how long they let it simmer#it's not a name it's#like#a label for later reference
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Hi hi LOVEEE YOUR WORKK
The way you write kinda touches my heart, and tingles my brain a little too
Especially your jjk fics!!!
Do you mind if I request a kind of angst smut fic of reader leaving home to blow off some steam after having a heated argument with any JJK man and he comes out to find her and resolve 😼😼🤭 it in the car?
Thank you for reading thisss 🫶
𝐚. 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞: awww, ty for liking my stuff!! i was supposed to release a sugu fic today (but didn't, yikes, lmao), so imma make this sugu~
⊹ 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬: Geto x afab/fem! reader - explicit content; minors DNI - angst + reconciliation - sex in a public area; car out in the neighborhood - fingering (f! receiving) - clitoral play (swiping and licking) - feedbag position - oral (f! receiving) - pet names (angel, baby, pretty thing, my love, pumpkin, sweetheart) - implied insertion at the end - mention of spit.
⊹ 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 2.2k
“…”
“Y/n, what are you doing?.”
“You can’t see I’m taking a walk?”
“Please just get inside the car.”
“Leave me alone, Geto!”
Geto winces at the use of his family name. Oh fuck, they really are mad at me…
You were walking on the pavement, your anger exhibited through your feet, stomping as you traveled down the concrete floor in the supposed quiet neighborhood. Unfortunately, you weren’t alone; your boyfriend drove slowly to match your speed and speak with you.
Why were you angry? Why don’t you ask the fucking asshat following you in that car of his? The two of you had a terrible argument not too long ago, and you’re sure the neighbors of your complex must’ve heard the audible insults and blows you two threw at each other for almost an hour. You hadn’t expected things to be blown out of proportion – it’s not unusual for people in relationships to argue. However, if your partner insidiously says something that he knows will tip you off the scales, are you not inclined to exit the apartment to blow off some steam before you choke him to death and have a murder charge on your record?
“Baby, c’mon, you can’t just keep walking on the sidewalk like this.”
So here you are, out for an evening stroll meant to calm you down, yet it’s doing the opposite since a certain someone is trailing alongside you.
You suck your teeth, “Geto, go home! Why are you even following me?”
The tall black-haired man ducks down for you to see him from the driver’s window. “Because I feel bad!”
“Good!” You bark. “Good that you feel bad; feel nothing but bad, so just leave me be.”
“You know I can’t do that; look how dark out it’s getting!” It was around nine in the evening. The sun had just finished setting, so its shine was dwindling, and the twilight was mere minutes away from transitioning to dusk. “You can’t be walking out alone; just get in the car.”
“Hmph, absolutely not,” you can feel the crease of your furrowed brows worsening. “I’m heading to get homemade ice cream from that place I like; it’s the only thing that can put my mind at ease right now, and seeing your face and hearing your voice isn’t doing anything good for my mood right now.”
The flat line of Geto’s lips is pressed harder, guilt swelling in the pitch of his gut like no other. “…I’ll take you to the place. Just hop in.”
“I’d rather get shot.” Apparently, your boyfriend doesn’t get the ‘don’t want to hear or see you’ part you stressed about literally seconds ago.
“That’s what I don’t want! Do you have any idea how long the walk is?”
You rolled your eyes. “I’m very aware, and you’re slowing me down with all this chat.”
“Yeah, but you won’t get to that place until around ten o’clock,” he argues. And then that’s another hour and a half walking back; you’d probably be back home by midnight!”
You couldn’t lie; hearing him be so concerned about you and your safety made you feel a little warm from the early summer breeze touching the exposed skin of the halter top. However, a part of your stubbornness refused to stand down. And yet the more you looked towards you, the further it felt like you’d reach your destination. He’s right; you wouldn’t make it home in time. Plus, it’s getting darker by the second, the comforting blue hue of the sky being absorbed by the bright, dominant moon.
Once you come to an abrupt stop, Geto nearly forgets to hit the brakes, and your figure stands motionless and silent. Then, you move towards the door behind the driver’s side, opening the door to sit in the backseat. You beat Geto to the punch, breaking the silence, “Don’t talk, just drive.”
A soft, relieved sigh leaves the onyx-headed man, but he notices you avoiding the rearview mirror, where purple eyes flicker to try to see you. “…Is this really necessary?”
“What is?”
“You sitting in the backseat?”
“What does it matter to you? I’m in the car, aren’t I?”
“What the hell am I, you Uber? Get in the front.”
“No. You said you’d drive me, so do that, and don’t make me angrier than I already am.”
You thought you won the round when you didn’t hear a remark from your companion. Yet, that wasn’t the case because the man opened and closed his door, walked around the car to open the door to the other side of the backseat, and it takes everything in your power not to pop a vessel when he takes a seat. “You cannot be serious.”
“I’m very serious,” he closes the door.
“Are you deaf? I said I don’t wanna talk to you.”
“And are you blind; can’t you see me trying to make this work—“
“Work?” Oh, how you wanted to burn this car up. “You should’ve thought about that when you said what you said back there.” You didn’t know if it was right to say that—That sounded mean, was it mean?—yet it came from a place of hurt that he caused.
Your words strike deep into Geto, but he still speaks his mind. “Y/n, please…Can you at least look at me?” You don’t move a muscle. “I’m your boyfriend, so can you at least look at my face and not push me—“
“Yeah, you are my boyfriend,” malice in your tone. “And you’re doing a pretty terrible job as of today.”
“Y/n—“
“God!” Now, you finally turn to him with vexation scorching your pupils. “I just want to be left alone–away from you, alright! What part of that don’t you get?! Why can’t you leave me alone?”
“Because I’m sorry!”
Your lips nearly quiver at the snap of those three words, eyes on the brink of shedding tears. Nonetheless, your face returns to the front. “Bullshit…H-Hey, let go!”
“I told you, I’m being very serious!” Geto brings you in for an embrace, and your resistance is hushed down as he keeps talking. “Look, I…I’m sorry. What I said back there…I didn’t mean for it to hurt you like it did, baby. You said something before that made me angry and…” his hold on you gets tighter; you notice even if you’re busy hearing every word from his mouth. “I didn’t think what I said would make you leave, and I got scared.” His mellow voice delves into a hushed tone. “So fucking scared…I’m sorry, Y/n. Just…don’t leave me out like that, okay…”
And with that, the remnant of your irritation ceased. The hotness of your blood subsides to a calm flow, your body easing into the hug as his apology repeats in your mind. You couldn’t think about your argument before; you just can’t, not with an apology like this when you can feel and hear him be genuine and vulnerable. You wanted to be angry with him–you tried– but the more you forced the outrage, the more you kept burrowing your head into his chest and your hands wrapped around his slim figure.
“You’re such a dick, do you know that?” Doing everything you can not to cry since his face is nestled in the crook of your neck. “And…I’m sorry for saying stuff that made you mad at me, too.”
“Guess we’re both dicks, huh.” A joke meant to make you giggle, but he doesn’t sense the jerk of your shoulders. “Hey, I’m sorry. You forgive me?”
“Sure,” you murmur. “After you get me that ice cream.” Your jest made him chuckle instead.
“Mmm, on it,” your breath stops at the kiss on your temple. “But, before that,” he lifts his head, violet eyes examining your expression. “Don’t you think I should also have a little something?”
His question confuses you until you feel the grasp of his hand sneak inside your jeans, and the bare flesh of your ass meets the mild cold of his fingertips. “Suguru, what are you—“
“Compensation,” he kisses your neck, and you gasp at another rough knead on your asscheek.
“Oh, that’s bull…Mmm.”
“Oh? So you can have ice cream to forgive me, but I can’t have anything?” The hand is then lifted out to move to the front, his gingers pressing on the part of your panties that cover your groin. “Well, aren’t you selfish.”
You couldn’t question his logic with his digits now motioning up and down your concealed cunt, your legs spreading apart as Geto’s forearm pushed them aside for easier access. “Hahhh, Sugu…Mmmnn, not here…”
“Mmm? Why not?” He says with faux shock, gently having you lay on your back as he spreads your legs further. His hand still fingers your underwear, only fueling a wet spot to protrude more and more. “It’s dark out, and no one’s driving around here.”
“That’s not—Mmmm!” A thumb presses down on your clit; how cruel to sneak that attack on you. “Ohh, fuck…”
Geto kisses you, gradually unraveling your erotic senses with every peck he places on your lips with his soft ones. And his lips don’t rest there, laying kisses to your chin, your collarbone, and lifting your shirt to expose your abdomen for him to kiss and suck the skin of your tummy and navel. All the while, his fore and middle fingers keep pushing into your chasm as your hips buck subtly.
Another minute of pleasing you with his hand goes by, your wetness becoming more and more evident as his digits did the work in having you wet for him. “Look at you,” he’d say cooly. “Making a mess, such a dirty, pretty thing you are.”
“Sugu, stop, you’re making me—Oooh…” he slips his middle finger inside your panties to insert you. And then, his thumb dances around your clitoris, evoking the shaky moans to leave you. “Ahhh! Noo, don’t move like…”
A snicker leaves his lips. “What? You like it when I tease you like this, don’t you, pumpkin?” He pushes your underwear out of the way and continues to finger you. “You’re gripping on my finger like crazy.”
“Shhtoop, your fingers,” your hand finds his wrist yet does nothing to stop him. “If you keep going, I-I’ll…Hooohh…”Your eyelids suddenly feel heavy, closing them to conceal your vision. However, that only enhances the use of your other senses, indulging in the sense of touch as Geto plays with your pussy.
Even if you didn’t finish your sentence, Geto takes the initiative and removes his hand to lick the fingers. “Oh, my love,” he coos while rolling up your underwear to stay on your inner leg after removing your jeans. In the meantime, the man brings your hips up and rests your legs on his shoulders. “That’s exactly what I want from you…”
Your eyes snap open at the contact of something wet yet firm, sliding across your wet folds, your body jolting at the sensation of it nestling between your labia. And the flick of his tongue on your clit nearly has you choke. “Suguu, no, don’t—Ahaann!”
Any attempts to squirm out of his hold don’t seem manageable now that you two are in the backseat of the car; his hands firmly keep you stable and still as his face ventures closer to your genitalia. Tiny moans get louder and louder with every lick of his tongue cleaning your slit of your essence; ironic as more of your fluids seep out as he does so.
Your hand grabs hold of tuffs of his raven hair, but that only eggs him on to keep going. Pushing his tongue into your entrance, he fucks you with the wet muscle and has your body writhe and crying for him. As the space gets hotter, you wouldn’t be surprised to find fog starting to cloud the windows. But that would probably be for the best as you wouldn’t want people on this road to know what you two were doing, nor hear the squelches from the commotion.
“Ohhhshit, shiiiit,” your head pounding like crazy, you couldn’t think straight, and the walls of your cunt keep clamping onto the tongue that swirls around and has you wailing. “Ooooh,hoooh, Sugu’, I’m gonna—It’s coming…! I’m…Aiishhh!”
“Go ahead, angel,” he says before licking your clit erratically, using his middle finger to fuck your release out. “Let it out for me, baby.”
With how fast he’s sucking and licking your delicate bud and his digit rubbing on your velvety texture, how can you not come? You scream aloud at the wave that crashes on your body, your hips jerking on their own as the trembles of your orgasm rock your entire frame.
Geto keeps you steady, taking in your release with his mouth. He groans at the taste of you on his tongue, his fingers kneading your waist as if to relax your body for him as you ride out your high because of him. Quivering legs get less apparent with every buck, and once your breathing returns to an average pace, he places you back down.
“Good job, sweetie,” he bends to kiss your cheek as he unbuckles his pants to expose his briefs that harbor a tent. “You tasted too good to resist; wanna feel you all on me…”
“You…” you grab for his cheek to pinch. “I better get my ice cream tonight, Geto Suguru.”
Your soft threat has him chuckling. “Will do, baby,” and you succumb to a kiss.
If the windows hadn’t fogged up already, they sure were going to now.
© 𝐇𝐨𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐲2024 – reblogs and comments are appreciated wholeheartedly ✩ dividers by @/benkeibear.
#𝑯𝒐𝒔𝒉𝒊 ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ 𝑾𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒔: 𝑺𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒔#jujutsu kaisen x reader#jjk x reader#jujutsu kaisen smut#jjk smut#jjk x you#jjk x y/n#geto smut#geto x reader#geto x you#geto x y/n#geto suguru x reader#geto suguru smut#geto suguru x you#suguru x reader#suguru smut#getou suguru x reader#jujutsu kaisen x you#anime smut#jjk imagines
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Does anyone else think this Wilbur thing has been blown way out of proportion? First of all, I am in FULL support of Shelby and am not defending Wilbur. As a victim myself, I sympathize with her story, and I will never discredit her experiences. But this community is going to extremes that make me so fucking uncomfortable.
What people forget is that Wilbur has a record label. He CAN'T say whatever he wants. There’s a reason he made a statement not an apology, why Lovejoy hasn’t said anything, why he never mentioned Shelby by name, why he didn’t apologize- because making promises can get you in legal trouble. One of the first things you learn about car accidents is to not apologize, even if it's your fault, because that will be used against you in court. Admissions can even get you in trouble for things you didn’t do, if the other party decides to push for that. He’s almost certainly not allowed to apologize because his record label can't risk the legal trouble. We can excuse Quackity for making poor statements for the same reason, so why can't we keep that energy here?
Wilbur has always been an unstable man. As a long time fan and someone who heavily relates to YCGMA’s themes of being awful and feeling like you’ll never get better, he struggles with a lot of mental problems. His persona has been built around manic, destructive tendencies and that’s something that’s been a part of his brand for YEARS. He's brought up drugs and alcohol use in the past, and one of his closest friends recently passed away, which certainly only added to things. Mental health isn't an excuse, but it is a REASON. (Listen to Mammalian Sighing Reflex and tell me it doesn’t resemble compilations of artists deteriorating as they lose their sanity)
I don’t understand how anyone can actively want him to kill himself. Or wish that he gets worse. You can’t claim to be an advocate for mental health and helping victims if you don’t want EVERYONE involved getting serious help. Wilbur needs therapy, he needs to atone if either of them want to heal. Nobody has to forgive him, or welcome him back into their life, but he absolutely deserves the chance to fix himself to ensure this doesn’t happen AGAIN.
If you can seriously say that you want him to get worse, and you don’t care about his mental health, then you DON'T care about victims. Leaving a destructive man to rot alone WILL lead to repeat events in the future. As someone with multiple diagnoses for debilitating mental illnesses, when I was at my lowest, I hurt myself. I hurt other people. Mental illness isn’t cute shit you put in your bio. It's terrifying, isolating, exhausting. And if I wasn’t given a chance at therapy and healing, I could have continued hurting people for the rest of my life.
These tweets just confirm none of you actually care about mentally ill people, it's all situational and performative. This is the most clear cry for help I've seen and you're feeding into it. Most of you will never understand what debilitating mental illness is like, how easy it is to hurt people you care about. You can hate him, be pissed, wish he never did it, deplatform him, I AM TOO! But nobody involved would be happy if he killed himself. These are real people, not characters in a soap drama. Actively wishing for him to kill himself is disgusting. If you care at all about Shelby getting closure, Wilbur needs to understand what he did wrong and fix it, so she can move on.
Also the lying I’ve seen is so stupid. The spotify stuff is fake. Anyone who’s a casual fan of Wilbur has known for a long time that’s not his spotify account. It’s a fan account that posts unofficial versions of his songs. So easily debunked and yet people still hold it against him??
Again, I'm in FULL support of Shelby. I fully condemn his actions, and as a victim I'm so proud of her for speaking up. But at the end of the day, we’re people. I'm glad many of you have never had the kind of debilitating downward spiral that leads to you hurting yourself and others, but if you think that makes it okay to wish an unstable man takes his life, then you can’t say you’re a mental health advocate. Take care of yourselves, please think twice about your own morals if you're sitting around hoping fans and creators commit suicide.
If you are one of the people actively waiting for him to kill himself, I pray that you never find yourself hurting others at your lowest, and I pray that people show you the kindness you didn't give to him.
#not a wilbur defense post#but its still important to consider#wilbur#wilbursoot#wilbur soot#shelby#shelby shubble#shubble
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Mating Rituals
"I don't see why you're being difficult."
"It is not me being difficult, human, it is your insistence upon delaying this... this... mating ritual."
Kyle stops and stares at his friend. "Hey, don't be deliberately hurtful, I have a name Jem'rian."
Jem'rian looks up from his plate. Their antenna droop and their wing covers buzz. They are contrite. "You are correct Kyle. I apologize. It's only... I'm frustrated. You tell me that you can not invite the human- er, I apologize again. You cannot invite Jennifer to dinner because..."
"Because things aren't right! We've only spoken twice. She works in a different sector. She might already be seeing someone! She..."
Jem'rian stares at Kyle with his compound eyes. Humans find it hard to figure out where Sefrigan's are looking, but spend enough time with them and you pick it up. His stare bores into Kyle.
"She... might say no."
Jem clacks his wing covers together, like a determined nod. "That's fine then Kyle. I'll ask her for you."
Kyle's eyes go wide. "No! You can't!"
Jem crosses two of his four arms, mimicking a human gesture. "And why not?"
Kyle's hands gesture awkwardly "Because! Because... of a good reason I'll come up with in just a minute."
"You are delaying Kyle. You fear Jennifer's reply."
"I fear rejection Jem. The distinction is important."
Jem'rian picks up his beverage. All of their talk has caused it to warm up, but it's still palatable, though not for long. He takes a deep draught. "Do you like her?"
"Yes, I do."
"Do you wish to mate with her?"
"Jem'rian!"
"What? I don't know how things work with humans."
Kyle is beet red and tries to shrink down in his seat. "I mean I do but that's not discussed when you haven't even gotten up the courage to ask them out."
Jem'rian buzzes his wings. "I still don't see what the issue is. Go and ask her out. If she says yes, then celebrations! Go into the bedroom and... mash your parts together? I don't know how it works." Kyle slides even lower in his seat. "If she rejects you... then you know, and you can stop this unneeded stress."
Jem finishes off his beverage. As he puts his cup down, his antenna perk up. "Look Kyle, she just walked in. Now is your chance!" Jem jumps up from his seat and waves one of his hands. "Jennfer! Human Jennifer! Come over here a moment please?"
Jennifer from Records Management walks over. She's tall and strong looking with well defined muscles and - Jem'rian assumes - a pleasing shape. "Hey Jem, what's up?"
"Jennifer! I am so glad that I caught you. My friend Kyle here from Reactor Management thinks you are very attractive and would like to mate-" Kyle's glare could melt ship-metal "-er, would like to go to evening meal with you, if you would like to accompany him."
Kyle looks up at Jennifer and weakly smiles. "Hi Jennifer. You free tomorrow?"
Jennifer has a wan smile. "Oh, Jem'rian, you're so nice to help Kyle out, it really is sweet. But, I like women. Sorry Kyle."
Jem'rian notices Kyle's expression cycle through four or five different expressions. He seems to settle on one that Jem thinks of is 'fake casual indifference.'
"Oh! Oh, I see, no worries, Jennifer, it's all good. I'll see you around." Kyle sits back up and makes himself busy with his own beverage.
Jennifer looks at Jem'rian and then back at Kyle and raises an eyebrow. "See you Kyle." and she walks off to meet her friends at another table.
Jem'rian wordlessly orders another drink from his pad. "Well friend Kyle, now you know."
Kyle sighs and sits up. "You're right Jem, at least now I know. No more wallowing."
Jem stares at Jennifer, talking with her friends and laughing. "You like... humans that look like her though?"
"Kyle looks up from his pad. "I mean, yes? That's an odd way of phrasing it Jem, but yes, I like women, especially women with her general... proportions?"
Jem'rian clacks his wing covers again. "What about... Kelly in plant production? She has a similar shape?"
Kyle looks thoughtful. "I don't know her. I've never met Kelly."
Jem jumps up from his seat. "I have! Come Kyle, I think we both have a need for... fresh vegetables. Let us depart,"
#humans are deathworlders#humans are space orcs#writing#sci fi writing#humans are space capybaras#humans are space oddities#humans and aliens#humans are space australians
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So how much $ (in general) does it cost to produce a fully animated/rigged, fully voiced 1-3 minute cutscene in a game that’s in ongoing development (something like SWTOR, where they have a lot of prebuilt assets)? Like just a general low range and high range?
I’m seeing a lot of people complaining about prioritizing content they want, and don’t know enough about the behind the scenes costs to properly communicate they’re being unrealistic with their complaints.
The cost of any content in game dev is directly proportional to how much new stuff needs to be created for that content. In order to create a basic conversation cutscene to put into a game, we would need:
A narrative designer to write the script for the cutscene
A cinematic designer to script out the cinematic - which characters speak, in which order, with what timing, in which location, and what other actions they would take over the course of the cutscene
Animations for the characters to play in those positions
A rig for those characters to play those animations
Character models for the characters involved
Voice recordings for the characters to speak
A tool with which to set all of these parameters and organize the cutscene
A game system that can parse the tool data and assets and construct the cutscene from them
A script system to start playing the cutscene when the proper conditions are met
This doesn't include extra stuff like VFX, music, lighting, environments, props, etc. that might need to be created for certain specific cutscenes. In an ongoing game like SWTOR, element numbers 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 were already built long ago and already exist. As long as the designers can create the characters with the in-game character creator and reuse the existing rigs, no new resources need be expended to create them. If you need a completely new custom character model, that takes time from a character artist and a texture artist. If the character needs to animate differently than everyone else (i.e. needs its own rig), that's time from a rigger to create. If the cutscene needs new animations we need to bring on an animator to spend time building the new animations needed for the cutscene.
Using some napkin math, let's consider costs. We usually use the $10,000 per month figure to pay for a developer (salary, benefits, rent, utilities, software licenses, etc.) or approximately $2,500 per development week per person. Let's assume that each task takes a developer a week to complete.
Write the script (Narrative designer)
Script the cinematic (Cinematic Designer)
Record audio (Sound Designer + Voice Actor + studio time)
Rig one new character (Rigger) x however many new characters
Animate one animation (Animator) x however many new animations
Model one new character (Character Artist + Texture Artist) x however many new characters
Track all tasks and keep everyone on schedule (Production)
Test and validate that the cutscene works (QA)
At the very minimum, we need the script, the cinematic, production, and the QA tester, so a very bare bones cutscene that reuses all assets and has no new VO (say it only reuses the alien language) would cost 4x$2,500 = $10,000. If we add voice recording and keep it to one voice actor (let's say she voices both characters in the cutscene), then the cost jumps to 7x$2,500 = $17,500 because we need the sound designer, the voice actor, and the recording studio time. Adding in two new animations (e.g. one character throwing a punch and the second character reacting to getting punched) would add another two weeks of animator time, raising the cost to 9x$2,500 = $22,500. And so on and so forth. Those costs add up very quickly.
There are ways to get a "bulk" discount of course - we hire voice actors for blocks of four or eight hours, so we can record multiple cutscenes during that session and share some of those costs. We can create one new character and reuse her across multiple cutscenes so that we get more value out of her. Things get cheaper if we reuse stuff more, but they still cost a lot up front. The bulk discounts only really work if the things we're paying for can be reused multiple times though - the more specific an asset is (e.g. a kissing animation), the harder it is to reuse and the more expensive it tends to be relative to other assets.
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Maverick and Rooster aren't going to be able to immediately fall back to what they were. They care for each other deeply, and saved each others life on the mission, but this sort of shit needs time. One conversation isn't going to cut it with those two.
Look: I like the idea of them falling back into what they were before just as much as the next person, but that's.... not what realistically would happen. And that's ok! It makes sense for them not to know what to do with each other at the start.
For the record: I'm also not blaming anyone for writing fics about them immediately going back to the father-son or uncle-nephew dynamic because, because come on. It's cute as HECK! I'd just like to think about how to explore their feelings and hang-ups about each other in dept!
They're both stubborn fucks and this has been simmering for far too long for anything to be resolved instantly with a single conversation. Bradley un-learned how to talk honestly to people the day he left, and Mav's scared about what honesty can bring. They've sat on this pot for so long they no longer feel it burning their asses, and forgot what they put in the damn thing in the first place, so they stay there. On top of it. Still burning their asses.
Bradley holds onto grudges like it's a lifeline, and one mission isn't going to change that. He listened to Mav in the canyon because he rescinded what he had said with his actions. Mav said that he 'wasn't ready' but then chose Rooster as his wingman, communicating that he is ready and that he trusts him with his life. But that was a life or death situation that Rooster was both present in and could interfere in if he so chose. He saved Mav because he didn't want him to die, and they seem more inclined to deal with it back on the boat, but it's still a long road ahead.
What happened was they rekindled their care for each other, because neither had ever truly given up on it in the first place. Mav never stopped caring and knew it, Bradley did the same without knowing. This just so happens to be the first time they're forced to deal with each other since the fallout.
Just because they care about each other doesn't erase the history that's separated them for all of this time. In fact, it probably makes it worse.
Bradley thought highly of Mav, and he didn't live up to it. Mav wanted the best for Bradley, and did what he thought would be best. Their problems came from the root of care. And it's more bittersweet because of it.
Because of it, resentment and guilt have settled over their shoulders, respectively, and it refused to go away.
They talk, and they try, but it's still not great.
Mav is inclined to just sweep it all under a rug and ignore the lump it forms on the floor. Because of his guilt, he takes all of the blame and sugarcoats Bradley's part in said blame to try and make up for it. Bradley is just as fault as Mav is, but Mav doesn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth.
So instead of fixing things, they look slightly less crooked, but not entirely right. It's a 'their problem' not 'his problem'. They're both at fault, and they both need to deal with it.
Maverick refuses to give up any of the blame, and Bradley is going to refuse to take any of it.
Sure, Mav fucked up, but Bradley blew it out of proportions. Storming off and refusing to talk is a normal response, but not for fifteen years. He barely let Mav explain himself.
Everything "wrong" about himself he blames on Mav. He thinks that Mav fucked him up by breaking his trust as his father figure, so he doesn't trust anybody anymore. He thinks that him being completely emotionally stunted and sensitive to critique is Mav's fault because of the 'your not ready' comment.
Thing is, it's his own fault. It's his fault that he's been fucked up for so long because he never tried to fix what was broken. It's not Bradley's fault that Mav pulled his papers, but he threw away everything, everyone he had before because of a single (justifiable!) mistake. And he doesn't recognize it for what it is, and refuses the blame. Carting it all off to Mav instead of dealing with his own shortcomings.
Mav is aware of this (that Rooster refuses to take the blame), but agreed with Rooster in his analysis of the situation, and takes it all on himself, which is not a healthy mechanism for either of them. It pats Rooster on the head for somewhere he fucked up on, and overloads Mav with guilt that shouldn't be that intense and deep.
But they don't know this. So Mav isn't angry at Rooster, because he's blindsighted by his care.
Thing is, I want someone to be angry. I want someone to be offended on Mav's behalf because he himself won't do it. I don't know who it would be, could be a good number of people, maybe even a child OC.
For fifteen years Bradley left without looking back. He left, and Mav suffered. Someone saw that. Someone was there with him all or most of those years, sitting right beside him as his guilt grew with every holiday that went by, with every letter or call left unanswered.
The obvious option is Ice. However, I want to pull away from that option, because if Ice is dead (stay with me now) it only creates more conflict, more nuance to what's going on.
Bradley cut Mav out of his life, and it's implied that he cut out any association with him too. That includes Ice.
What if he never spoke to Ice either for those fifteen years? Ice died. Bradley went to his funeral. Bradley went to his funeral as a fellow aviator, as an underling obeying orders.
Bradley's face in that funeral was blank.
That is the face of a man watching the burial of someone he once could potentially have considered a father figure that he hadn't spoken with for fifteen years. And he's never going to be able to speak to him again.
At that funeral, I don't think he regretted it. Sad, maybe, but no regret.
The regret only hit later.
He got to mend things with Mav after the Uranium Mission and beyond, but that is no longer possible with Ice.
Bradley regretted what he did, how he neglected them for years, but he regretted it too late for one of them.
I think Brad probably ended up at Ice's grave at some point, and owned up to everything he didn't– couldn't– own up to at the funeral. And he fucking sobbed. Begged. Apologized, over and over.
This is the reason I suggested maybe a child OC, because if the child is Icemav's or just Ice's, Bradley's gonna have a warped perception of them. (Note: When I say "child" I mean that it was their child as in gender neutral for son/daughter, it doesn't necessarily mean the person in question should be an actual kid.)
Bradley's gonna see that kid as penance.
And they're gonna fucking hate him for it.
Bradley is going to look at them and see Ice, and they're gonna hate him for it. Their father is dead, and for the last fifteen years of his life he'd never been truly happy because this prick never bothered to own up to his mistakes. Not even at the funeral Bradley owned up to his shortcomings, and now all of a sudden he waltzes right back like he never left? What the fuck!
Bradley could have done this, idk like a week sooner? But he only came to his senses after Ice died. Their father died and Bradley barely looked like he cared is what they're going to think. But all of a sudden, he goes on a suicide mission and almost died and he's suddenly back? Because when his own life is in danger he changes his mind, but when Ice died he couldn't care less? What the fuck!
That man went to that funeral as a subordinate, not as the son he was.
The kid doesn't have the tinted lenses Mav has on about Bradley. All the resentment Mav doesn't feel, this kid is going to feel for him.
Bradley is going to understand their resentment because of Ice, and is going to focus on fixing that part with them, without noticing that the resentment isn't just because of Ice, it's about Mav too.
The kid is going to be pissed because they are not Ice. Bradley is going to be too worried about making it up to a dead man through his child that he's going to neglect the very much still alive man he ALSO has to make amends with.
But Ice didn't have a direct hand in pulling his papers, so Bradley understands his mistake with him (he shouldn't have cut him out over someone else's mistake). Mav, however, did have a direct hand and he's still bitter about it. And the kid sees it. They see him doing exactly that.
Bradley is focusing on the wrong thing, because he's trying to redeem himself in an impossible way, trying to answer to someone who no longer demands it.
He goes after it because the silence is a more comfortable answer than the conflict he's bound to face from someone who's still alive.
In the process, he's going to hurt Mav.
Bradley's gonna be so caught up in making it up to Ice (the one he can no longer make up to) that he doesn't think to properly make it up to Mav (the one he can still make it up to) because he thinks he has to.
Ice is gone. Ice is gone and there's nothing he can do about it. And If he'd just changed his mind earlier maybe there could have been. Admittedly, Ice still would have died, but maybe he'd have died more settled than he did. He'd have died with the knowledge that his son came back. That his son still cared. But he didn't, and Bradley hates himself for it.
So, he veers to the kid. He doesn't outright apologize other than the first time, but he's gonna treat them like either a piece of glass or a carbon copy of his father figure. Regardless, they're going to hate him for it.
It's not them he cares for, it's what he sees them as. They can see straight through his bullshit because there's no deep emotional connection there to blind them.
They could try to care and love for him for Mav's sake, but it'd be much better if it were on their own terms, that Bradley would care for them as them and not as Ice's child.
On top of that, the neglect Bradley has for Mav is humongous. And he himself doesn't see it because the resentment he feels is still there. Mav was the one who pulled his papers. He blames Mav for his own decisions.
He's alone, and he blames Mav. He doesn't let anyone in or near, and he blames Mav. But it wasn't Mav that made him shut everyone out, he did that on his own.
He hasn't thought about why Mav did what he did, choosing to believe what Mav claimed to be the reason. It's blatantly obvious that Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell of all people would never stop someone from going to the Academy because he thought they aren't capable. That's what they did to him, he's not going to do that to someone who is virtually his son.
Bradley was irrational and stuck to that irrationality for fifteen years. He used the emotional stuntedness he himself created as a guise to not actually process what happened. He refused to think about it, and still does.
He and Mav reconnected after the mission, but it's a frail margin. Bradley was more inclined to listen because he's confused that Mav cares at all. In his rage, he didn't notice that he did it out of love, and doesn't know what to do with it. The entire training, he's confused, pissed and uncertain all the while.
He still doesn't know the real reason Mav did what he did, and doesn't understand the love he still sees in his eyes. Rooster thought that he shattered everything he had with Mav when he felt, most of all cemented it with all the time spent in that state.
By the end of the movie, he knows for certain that Mav loves him, and understands that he, himself, never stopped loving Mav either, despite what he claimed.
Bradley wanted to be a pilot because of his dad. Goose wasn't a pilot. Maverick was.
The betrayal hit him harder because he wasn't running after Goose, he was looking up to Mav. He wanted to be like Mav.
And he became a pilot, even when Mav pulled his papers, even after having the person he did it all for ripped him into shreds. He still did it.
He still wanted to be like Mav. Deep down, he still saw him as a role model even through all of the repression.
But he still doesn't know why. He doesn't know why Mav did what he did, because Maverick himself refused to say why.
Mav isn't going to be doing great either. He fucked up, and he fucked up big time. He shouldn't have pulled Bradley's papers, period. I know about Carole, but still. He should have communicated with Brad about it, and they'd fight about it, but Bradley wouldn't have walked out to never return then.
To worsen matters, Maverick has a horrendous martyr complex that makes him take the brunt of Bradley's resentment instead of Carole, the actual perpetrator.
Over the years, he's blamed himself more and more every year that passed, but I don't believe he ever regretted it.
He fulfilled Carole's last wish. It didn't stop Rooster from becoming a pilot. He gave both of them what they wanted.
But he's trying to protect the Carole Bradley has in his head because he doesn't want to stain his memory of her as he did with himself. This has been discussed a hundred times over, so I will try to be brief.
Mav is scared that instead of him, Bradley's gonna resent his mother. His dying, cripple mother that said that in her death bed. His widow mother who saw her husband die in the skies and didn't want her baby boy to have the same fate. His sorrowful mother that had to watch her friend, someone she considered a little brother, keep going up into those same skies and hear all the whispers the people on the ground flung upon him because of it.
So he took it all on himself. Because he sees himself as expendable in favor of her.
So, safe to say he's not going to be the one to tell Bradley the truth. Because of it, Bradley's resentment is going to continue to fester.
After the mission, Bradley knows that Mav's not telling him everything, but he refuses to talk about it so what the hell is he going to do?
They fix things well enough for them to talk to each other, but don't make it too deep in fear of opening up more wounds instead of stitching the old ones back together.
Mav thinks this is as good as he can get. Bradley is annoyed at Mav's hesitance.
Despite mending things, Bradley is still going to think all of his problems are Mav's fault. And he's a petty bitch, so he won't let it slide.
He hasn't properly processed it due to the lack of information, and can't let go because of it.
He's going to slip in dry comments about how Mav affected his mental health and life because of what he did. He's going to be cagey about everything that happened in the in between. He's not going to know basic shit about Mavericks life because he refuses to acknowledge that he was wrong in more than one way.
And Mav's gonna fucking take it.
He's not gonna say anything, not gonna even defend himself because he thinks he deserves it.
Bradley is a stubborn fuck whose pride has been hurt once, and refuses to acknowledge that it could be hurt again. He's just like Mav when he was younger, but ten times worse in the emotional department (I have no fucking idea how he managed that, but he did).
So yeah, soon enough they're going to be balls deep in miscommunication with grudges held close to their chest.
Maverick wants to communicate but doesn't want to communicate a very important piece of information that could potentially make things better and Bradley straight up doesn't want to if he doesn't have to.
Which means they're going to come to a stand-still. And someone is gonna have to interfere.
If I were to guess, it'd either be Slider or Sarah (Kazansky). Regardless if Sarah is Ice's sister or wife (up to interpretation), she knew how important Mav was to Ice and obviously cares about him too from the few scenes we got of her. Slider also knows, and it's obvious he also genuinely cares about Mav too despite claiming otherwise.
I'd honestly vote for Slider to be the one to do it, simply because he'd also see the Ice favoritism and the Mav neglect, and would pull Bradley's ear about it to hell and back. Because he also knew Goose, and this... entire thing is not something Goose would be happy about, at all. Slider has a much more subdued connection to Bradley, so he'd have no qualms about calling him out on everything.
Especially if he ever found out that Bradley said 'My dad trusted you, I'm not going to make the same mistake.' I sorely believe Slider would end up in jail if he ever heard about that one.
If Sarah were the one to do it, she'd probably be more understanding and much less violent than Slider, but she'd be blunt. That's still someone she cares deeply for they're talking about, and she also saw all of it. She wouldn't sugar coat what needs to be said, but she'd be understanding too. Not you did nothing wrong kind of understanding, but a you had your reasons to be upset kind of understanding.
Either of them would probably do this without Maverick's consent, because that's the only way to get it done.
When Bradley finally comes to know exactly why Mav did what he did, he's gonna be in shambles. Not only for Mav, but for himself.
His entire life has been built around that single happenstance and now it's gone, he was wrong. He was so wrong. He can't go back to being the way he was, he doesn't remember how he was.
He's gonna have to start over, rebuild himself from the ground up to be someone better and spare everyone in his life the suffering. Everyone in his life has suffered the consequences of his resentment. He doesn't know if he can make up for it.
To start over, step number one is apologize.
This right here is were he finally lets his ego drop, and fully apologizes to Mav. Finally owns up to his mistakes to the person that deserves it most. He's not gonna leave Mav be, he's definitely going to demand a full explanation from him and then is going to scold him for it, but he's gonna finally fully let go of the grudge he held this entire time.
That's to say, everything isn't a sea of roses.
Maverick isn't the only person he needs to apologize to, and on top of it, Maverick is probably the only one who is going to let him down easy.
Bradley is going to be on a tight leash with everybody else for a while, and they don't have any hold ups about calling him out on his bullshit. He's going to need to learn how to take critique to improve himself rather than read it as a straight up insult that he's going to get mad about.
Maverick is going to need to learn that Bradley isn't going to up and leave, and that he shouldn't hold himself to such low standards. Not only that, he's also going to need to learn that Bradley is bound to make mistakes just like any other human.
Bradley is still gonna fuck up in some places, but he's gonna be better at recognizing it. Mav's also gonna fuck up sometimes, but he's going to get better at accepting it and moving on.
With time, Mav is going to call Bradley out on his bullshit too, and Bradley is going to do the same when Mav starts doing his 'I'm less important than other people' shit.
They're going to be sad about it because they think that the reason the other does some of the things they do is because of themselves, but that's a story for another time.
They try. That's what matters.
#by the lord this is basically a fic in and of itself#I am so sorry this is so long#if this has all been said before in like hundreds of Hangster fics and im a dumbass I apologize#I don't read Hangster#perhaps I only ever see Mav's side on this because of it#that's why I focused so hard on Bradley's here#I know this sounds a lot like rooster slander but I swear it wasn't meant to be#Rooster is incredibly emotionally constipated and there's no way in hell they'd fix everything immediately#he's held onto the grudge this long#there's no way he's letting it all go all at once#that's only going to hurt him#like when you run a marathon#you're not supposed to stop all at once. it needs to be a slow decent in speed#otherwise you're going to get fucked up by yourself.#bradley rooster bradshaw#bradley bradshaw#rooster top gun#top gun#top gun 1986#tgm#tg86#character analysis#icemav#pete maverick mitchell#pete mitchell#top gun maverick#iceman x maverick#tom iceman kazansky#me: says that the child OC doesn't necessarily need to be a kid#also me: proceeds to call them 'kid' one line down
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cassia crushing on you hcs
⚠ typical cassia-isms, ie. stalking, obsessive behavior, murder attempts (?)
⚠ reader ≠ chief
You’re an anomaly in Cassia’s quest to hunt down the "fairest one of all" — like Chief, it’s not necessarily your beauty that’s captivated her, but your scent is irresistible just the same. She can’t place the reason. Not that that’s important. All Cassia knows is that it's addicting and she wants more of it.
Typically, Cassia would say that the potency of her perfumes is directly proportional to how beautiful she considers their inspirations. Her fixation on you runs a little deeper than visual attraction, and yet the richness in your scent rivals all her previous creations; she's eager to add this novelty to her lineup.
She collects pieces of you when you're careless enough to leave them behind. A lock of hair from your brush. Your favorite pen. Your fork after dessert. A shirt, especially if it's still warm—your scent is strongest then. Some are to use in perfumes, others are for personal safekeeping.
For a long time, she mistakes her obsession to begin and end with your scent. People rarely serve her any other purpose. She has tried to put you to sleep through various means to obtain more of it: a poisoned comb, a sedative perfume, helping you into a corset strung too tight. Chief always steps in before she gets too far. Now, you're familiar enough with her habits to evade them.
If Cassia is ever frustrated with you slipping away, she never shows it. She continues to seek you out, even for casual conversation, as if her attempts to 'collect' you never happened.
Occasionally she expresses concern for your wellbeing — your scent reveals a lot to her — and she'll offer you rejuvenating perfumes when you're feeling under the weather. You might have trouble making sense of her intentions knowing she has a track record of spritzing people unconscious.
Does she genuinely hold an interest in you as a person? Or are you just imagining things? It's odd for Cassia to be so taken by someone. Even odder for her to drag it out this long. Once she sets her eyes on something, rarely would anyone be successful in prying it from her fingers. You convince yourself it's because you have Chief's protection.
Cassia's mindset is simple: she makes fragrances to bring herself salvation. She doesn't murder in cold blood -- her "inspirations" fall into an eternal slumber, wholly unaware of what's happening to them, and their sacrifice will go on to save someone else. It's never done out of malice.
She reasons that keeping you around might give her the same salvation she's been longing for -- you are her "immortal fragrance," even if not in the form she expected. She still makes perfumes using your hair, if you let her, but also finds deep gratification in your physical presence. She likes burrowing her face into your neck, taking deep inhales for the slow pleasure of it.
Cassia isn't an experienced lover, as she's kept an icy distance from most in her life. She doesn't have much self-restraint when she wants something, though, so she becomes intimate very quickly.
#the world is cassia's dollhouse and we're just here to look pretty for her#🫣🫣🫣🫣🫣#path to nowhere#ptn imagines#ptn cassia#cassia x reader#ptn x reader
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I think what these fic-deletion anons are purposefully ignoring is that...authors are not shocked or annoyed that people are upset when fics get deleted. That much is obvious.
What is annoying is people acting like that deletion was a personal attack, or the worst possible thing that could ever happen to them, or blowing things so far out of proportion that deleting a fic (which is entirely down to personal preference of the author) is somehow selfish or has malicious intent. At the end of the day, it's a fic. One among hundreds of thousands.
Yes, it's disappointing when a fic you love gets taken down. We all know that feeling. But AO3 has a download option. Most authors will be happy enough to give someone a copy of their fic if you go to them personally and ask very nicely. And even if both those options fail; is it worth yelling at authors like they've personally wronged you? Realistically, how long would that fic have stayed at the forefront of your mind? A year? If that?
I'm not trying to downplay people's disappointment over fic being taken down, or minimise it. But creating a toxic environment and yelling at authors about how they are awful, selfish people for deleting their fics is going to make them more likely to do it, not less.
Ultimately, the one who put the work in gets the final say. That's all there is to it.
--
Would you say this about lost films?
The majority of early cinema is gone, not just from fires but from people assuming nobody would care later and throwing it out.
Most individual lost films probably sucked. There are thousands and millions of other films that still exist.
--
When you guys make this stupid "There are other fics" argument, what you're saying is that fic is not an important part of the historical record.
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Oh, hello. That's right, I'm in Bristol, thanks for noticing. I had some business to conduct with some goats, which has just lately concluded. It went very well.
Definitely the best time I've ever had seeing them. It helps a lot that Mr Jon Wurster was present, the last several times I saw them goats it was the drumless version, which is still good but having him makes a huge difference. I hope the fandom at large understands just how special Jon Wurster is, I feel like we have a proportion of people who really do Only Listen To the Mountain Goats or close to it, which is fine as long as you appreciate how lucky we are, the man is a fuckin... like I wanna say he's a fuckin beast but I need to convey that his drumming has tremendous power but also great intelligence and artistry. He's like a fuckin, a beast who's a wizard as well. You know?
Great set list tonight, and although I was rude about the newer albums on here a week or two ago, I have to report that every song they played from the past ten years (there were about 6?) was one I was actively excited to hear. Not that these were new revelations to me, I already knew they were bangers, but it's good to be reminded that they are still putting out some bangers and I'm glad to see the band agrees with me about which ones those are. Or I just got lucky tonight, but fine I can be glad about that too.
It's an open question in my worthless opinion whether Matt Douglas and his contributions have been a net positive on tMG's recorded output, but there's no possible doubt he's been a huge positive to their live presence. There were several moments during the show that made me audibly gasp, or put my hand to my heart, or say out loud "oh fuck", or make some other melodramatic gesture, and a good many of those moments were directly Matt's doing. Also, what a great face he's got? Absolutely iconic face, inspires a combination of enthusiasm and trust otherwise elicited by only the very best dogs.
I love Stabbed to Death but would never have expected it to be a highlight of the gig like it was, I can't describe the mad shit they did with it but I can tell you it was gripping.
I only contributed my voice to I think three songs towards the end, most prominently the best No Children I've ever experienced, but managed to give myself a sore throat anyway. Don't worry, it was mild enough merely to contribute to the atmosphere. I must admit that despite being an annoying hipster who thinks This Year is just a pretty good B+ song, I did get swept up by the spirit of it this time.
It's been a firm and settled matter in my mind for years now that Beat the Champ is the third best album (Tallahassee second, WSABH first), but the last song of the encore was Heel Turn 2 and as the first chords sounded I was instantly and forcefully struck with the thought: "wait, is Beat the Champ actually the best Mountain Goats album??" I feel quite perturbed. I am going to have to think.
There was some kind of throuple directly in front of me who were all dancing with indefatigable abandon and frankly excessive horniness throughout the show, and it's a testament to the excellent general atmosphere, to my good mood, and I suppose also to their winsome spiritedness that I was for the most part simply charmed by this. Normally any stranger being conspicuously happy and in love is enough to fill my shrivelled lonely heart with black bilious resentment, but tonight, quite the opposite. That's part of the magic of them goats, you know.
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Well, since my last post blew up a bit, I figured it’s time for the long-awaited sequel, in a series I like to call:
Why The Lion King 2019′s Realism Sucks Too, Actually
Such Realism. Wow
Now, when it comes to The Lion King 2019′s visual flaws, there is a lot to talk about. From it’s overly-sanitized greenscreen scenery, to the uncanny locomotion, to the positively nightmarish expressions:
hELLo mOtHER
But today, I wanted to focus on one specific area. And that is TLK19′s Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Feet.
Now, when it comes to trying to create something that looks “realistic”, I find it helps to reference well... Reality. So before we begin, I want you to first acquaint yourself with this tasteful handmade collection of lion feet:
Its not weird unless you make it weird
Seriously, don’t just scroll past this to get to the next image. I want you to take at least 2-5 minutes just to look at this picture, and remind yourself of what a real lion looks like. Put on your favorite song, close your eyes, and imagine a blissful reality where The Lion King 2019 does not exist.
Now regrettably, we must exit this imaginary world and return to the hyper-realistic nature documentary known as the Lion King 2019:
oh
oh no
oh dear
I know, right?
Now, what exactly is wrong with these pictures?
1.) The toes are too bony and overly-defined
At best, they look like dog or wolf feet. At worst, they look like fingers, skeletons, sausages, or dinosaurs.
You can see the difference in the comparison down below, between a wolf (left), the remake (middle), and a real lion (right).
The lack of fur and connecting tissue on the feet only contributes to this issue - making the anatomy flaws more noticeable, and overall looks very creepy.
TL;DR:
2.) The legs are too skinny and oddly proportioned, often making them appear bowlegged or off-balance.
This combined with the small, bony feet makes them look more like hyenas or pit bulls than an actual lion. Seriously, if you just looked at the bodies alone, would you even be able to recognize them as lions?
Answer: No. (But feel free to use this Wolf’s Rain base free of charge)
3.) The limbs (particularly the front legs) are robotic and weightless, and do not move in a natural way
His foot is supposed to be off the ground in this shot, for the record.
It’s like they animated the body, legs, and paws completely independently from one another, with no regard for how the different muscles would actually interact with one another in real life.
Here is a real lion for comparison:
Notice how the toes are already turned and outstretched, before they even touch the ground. See how the weight falls onto his other shoulder, and the muscles tensing in it’s back leg as it prepares for takeoff? The paws should be leading the motion, not just added as an afterthought.
Now, let’s return to the remake again:
His legs don’t even look connected to his body, much less the ground.
Thanks, I hate it.
TL;DR:
4. The limbs lack bones, and bend in the wrong places.
help I think his leg is broken call an ambulance
It hurts just looking at this.
I must re-iterate: lions are not dogs.
While I suppose a lion could theoretically walk on their tippy-toes like that, lions tend to weigh an average of 300-700 pounds, as opposed to a wolf’s 70-120. And unless they’re trained ballerinas, putting their full weight on their toes like that would likely be very painful.
The weight distribution should rest closer to where the “ball” of your hand or foot would be - not the actual toe bones themselves.
I wasn’t sure if what I was saying made a lick of sense, so here’s an attempt to illustrate:
At the same time, friendly reminder that lions are not bipedal, and the “heel” should not be touching the ground when standing.
TL;DR:
5.) The claws are always visibly protruding, and look way too small and delicate
It looks like they’re wearing SoftPaws. Thanks, I hate it.
6.) The legs bend, twist, and distort in confusing and unnatural ways.
This is the part I find particularly infuriating. Mr. Jon “ooh, we can’t have pretty skies or expressions or eyebrows or red fruit or a monkey holding a stick because it’s too ~unrealistic~ uwu” Favreau over here.
But then he has the lions constantly do shit like this:
Or this:
And this:
This might be the worst shot in the whole movie. it looks like Sarabi got possessed by a vengeful ghost and is about to use her weirdly human hands to tear Simba apart like a KFC drumstick
but no, obviously I am the fool, and I just don’t “get it”. i love realism that comes at the expense of art. i love corporate nostalgia. i love the lion king 2019, my favorite part is when the motion lines turn into a FUCKING ASTERIX
Such realism. Wow.
Anyways, that about wraps this up, thanks for listening, and I...
Wait a second.
What.
the fuck
Is THAT
Well I need some time to emotionally recover from this, so see you next century for part three - where I’ll be covering either the lighting, the cubs, or the stampede sequence. Whichever I can finish first.
Okay, that’s all for real now, goodbye everyone I’ll remember you all in therapy
#the lion king#the lion king 2019#rants#body horror#tlk2019#lion#anatomy#live action lion king#review#cowboysandunicorns#2022
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hi, I'm really new to pageants extremely camera shy, under-confident but I want to try new things, if you know what can I improve
Thank you 😊
note: I hope this isn’t too long or confusing!
omg I totally understand this feeling! I only recently became comfortable with my looks and seeing myself on camera.
The key to being able to push through any camera shyness/stage fright is to be comfortable and confident in yourself and your looks.
Things that helped me become more comfortable and confident in my face and body:
staring in the mirror and just looking at my face. Sometimes, I’ll even make faces at myself because I can see what my go-to expressions truly look like.
sitting down and doing my skincare in the mirror. I make it almost a ritual, of some sort. I carve out 10 minutes to take my time and truly work with my face. This helps me tangibly understand my features.
doing my makeup on camera without trying to talk it through, vlog, or anything — just music playing. Most recordings I never post. This helps me see all of my angles and get a clearer picture of my facial proportions.
taking lots of pictures of myself for the fun of it. Selfies, upper body, full body, funny face, weird angle…you name it, I take a pic of it. Think of it as exposure therapy.
Once you understand your face, your features, your proportions, your expressions/mannerisms, and your body at its most comfortable, you’re able to practice how you want to look at your pageants.
If you’ve heard the phrase “know your angles” before, this is what they mean!
Most of all, you should know how to affirm and motivate yourself. In a space like pageants, it can be so easy to put yourself down when you look at others. However, the way you talk to yourself directly fuels your performance. Without positive self-talk, the above activities will fall kinda flat. Like blowing up a balloon that has a hole in it.
I know some people use subliminals to kickstart rewiring their brain to be positive, so that’s an option. However, I’ve seen great affirmations on here that are good to remember when you feel less confident.
I hope you know that you are beautiful and truly believe in your ability to be successful at your pageants. I know I do! 🫶🏽💘
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Ever misplaced your keys or forgotten where you parked? Imagine if you had the remarkable memory of a mountain chickadee. Despite their small size, with brains just larger than a pea, these nimble birds masterfully remember the locations of tens of thousands of food caches.
Mountain chickadees hide seeds in tree bark, under dead leaves, and within pine cones throughout mountainous terrains. Their ability to recall these locations during the harsh winter months is crucial for their survival amid the cold and snow.
Remarkable memory of mountain chickadees
A research study led by the University of Colorado, Boulder and the University of Nevada, Reno has identified nearly a hundred genes that are linked to the birds’ spatial memory, which is their ability to pinpoint and recall the locations of these hidden caches.
Furthermore, the experts suggest that there might be a trade-off between having robust long-term memory and the ability to quickly forget old memories to make room for new ones. This discovery has the potential to deepen our understanding of how spatial memory evolves not just in animals, but also in humans.
“Chickadees are impressive birds,” said senior author Scott Taylor, the director of CU Boulder’s Mountain Research Station and an associate professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
“They can remember tens of thousands of locations where they cached food across an entire winter and a new set of those the next winter. Their spatial memory is much more developed than many other birds that don’t have to have this strategy to survive cold winters.”
Focus of the research
To assess how these birds manage such a feat, Taylor’s colleagues at the University of Nevada, Reno, led by biologist professor Vladimir Pravosudov, put together a creative test. They set up multiple feeder arrays in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, each consisting of eight bird feeders filled with seeds.
Each feeder was equipped with a gate that had a radio frequency reader capable of detecting a tag placed on the chickadees. The setup required the mountain chickadees to remember which feeders they could access as each gate was programmed to open only for certain birds.
Spatial learning among mountain chickadees
Pravosudov’s team observed and recorded the number of times each bird visited the incorrect feeders before finding the right one. The underlying theory was that mountain chickadees with superior spatial memory capabilities would show a lower rate of errors.
Additionally, using blood samples, the scientists sequenced the genomes of 162 tagged chickadees, creating the largest dataset ever for exploring the genetic basis of cognitive abilities in chickadees.
Genetics of spatial memory in birds
By correlating the birds’ genetic information with their performance in the feeder test, the team identified 97 genes associated with the chickadees’ spatial learning and memory. Birds with specific genetic variants at these genes demonstrated fewer incorrect attempts before successfully locating their designated feeders.
According to co-author Sara Padula, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, a large proportion of these variants are linked to neuron formation in the hippocampus, a part of the brain that plays a fundamental role in learning and memory. “Understanding the genetic basis of this trait will allow us to understand how the trait evolves,” said Taylor.
Moreover, he pointed out that the common ancestor of all North American chickadees cached food. However, among the seven species of chickadees found today, two do not.
“They live in a milder environment where food is generally available year-round. Now that we know the gene regions that underlie spatial memory, we can look at what variation looks like in these species that have lost caching,” said Taylor.
“This study substantially advanced our understanding of the genetics of spatial memory in birds and behavioral genetics more broadly,” added co-author Georgy Semenov, a research associate in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
Good long-term memory may have a disadvantage
The research also highlighted a potential downside to having an excellent memory. After a few days of the initial task, Pravosudov’s team reassigned new feeders to the birds. Surprisingly, mountain chickadees that excelled in the initial tests struggled with adapting to the new feeders. They found it challenging to discard old memories and form new ones.
“In a more variable environment, what our collaborators found suggests that chickadees with good long-term memory may have a disadvantage. For example, if there is an unexpected snowstorm, these birds may keep trying to visit caches that have been buried in the snow, rather than forgetting them and looking for other caches,” Padula said.
As climate conditions continue to change, birds that can adapt quickly by forming new memories might have a better chance of survival. “Because of climate change, we might expect these selective pressures that have been shaping chickadee’s special memory for thousands of years to shift significantly,” Taylor concluded.
The study is published in the journal Current Biology.
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I do have a lot of quastions about the mech pilot au but these are the ones I'm most curious about:
- how do titans work - do cityspeakers work double time or is something else involved?
- in that vein, what is the Lost Light like? assuming it's part of the mech pilot au similar to your sentient ll au
- do you have any crumbs of mech pilot au mythos/historical records/urban legends to share? I do love me some in-universe lore tidbits
I wrote a little about titans in the greater lore post, so for convenience I'll put what I had here before answering:
Titans are directly spawned from Primus, and the only case of a fully sentient mecha. Curiously though, they can create artificial human bodies to masquerade as an ordinary mech pilot. Some are the size of entire cities, though others are only the size of massive starships. Long ago, the city titans served as as vessels tasked to form colonies on other planets, while the starship titans were talked to chart the edges of the known universe. However, some have remained on Cybertron, and their artificial human consciousnesses walk among ordinary society. Their speakers are real humans who attain cybernetic attachments to help them last longer with their titan, but they are still mortal and die after thousands of years.
On that note:
Speakers are normal humans who receive cybernetic enhancements that extend their lifespan, so they can serve their respective titan the same way they do in the normal universe. They're still mortal however, and are rotated once every ~10,000 years. Being a speaker is a lifelong commitment, and much of their time is devoted to being with their respective titan. It's kinda similar to going to live in a monastery, what with the potential isolation and commitment, but speakers still get more free time than that.
okay so I’m kinda in contention with if I actually want LL to be sentient here, my brain really wants them to be canonically sentient in the main au (esp because the events of MTMTE don’t really happen here) but at the same time, I don’t want to go inserting sentient LL into everything since they’re technically an au in themself! I know mech pilot is my own au but still 😂 that being said I def wrote some parts of the lore post with LL in mind so maybe, anyway: Sentient!LL would be a titan who spends most of their time using their artificial human form (titans don’t turn into humans, they’re more like puppets they control remotely with their own consciousness). Pyxis, their first and only speaker, died eons ago, and they haven’t had another since. Light would be friends with the staff at the academy/organization that trains mech pilots and sends them on missions, especially the uppers (Ultra Magnus in particular). He also hangs out with Rodimus, though their dynamic isn’t the same as it is in the normal SLLAU. Light is still parental in nature to him, but they’re more of an aunt/uncle or family friend figure who isn’t always there but brightens everyone’s day when they are. LL the titan is the same size as their normal counterpart I’d say, which in human proportions is a lot bigger. They were likely meant to serve as an arkship, but they might’ve been a little late to the party.
Still working on the lore bits but for some small bits I’ve been thinking about: humans (cybertronians) have colonies on other planets outside the main set of planets, and there are ancient ruins scattered throughout the galaxy rumored to be built by the knights of cybertron (Rodimus is interested in this). I said these to you in dms but just to reiterate here for everyone else: The best of the best pilots have been to Unicron (The primes and their closest allies), and they’re actually tracking his movement, and there’s a routine visit to it to keep the tracker up to date. The guiding hand was like the first five pilots (with rung in possession of the first forged from Primus’s core), while the 13 were the first 13 to traverse the stars. This could change though so nothing guaranteed!
The quintessons might’ve been Quintus Prime’s fault, splitting from everyone and deciding to do funky life making magic on a desolate planet isn’t going to end well if you mess up
The organization that hires and trains mech pilots is an offshoot of a special organization that has been guarding the planet since before the era of Optimus. Postwar, most of this org consists of Autobots with Optimus himself at the helm.
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Gerald Celente has long said the ramifications from the authoritarian lockdowns in the West are incalculable and will only be fully realized years from now when documented by historians.
A newly released Pew Research Center poll shed some light on the steep decline in living standards among Americans—the young in particular—who are forced to move back home to live with their parents due to the lack of a steady income and work.
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The poll found that about 52 percent of Americans from 18 to 29 years old live with their parents, which Pew identified as a record—even when considering WWII and the Great Depression. (The proportion of those living at home never exceeded 48 percent.)
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About 47 percent of young people in the U.S. lived with their parents in February 2020—just before former U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the country would be locked down to stop the spread of the virus. States enforced their own laws during this time. (See “COVID-19 LOCKDOWNS LEFT CHILDREN BRAIN DAMAGED, NEW STUDY SUGGESTS” 6 Dec 2022, “AS FORECAST: U.S. SCHOOL CHILDREN GETTING DUMBER AFTER COVID LOCKDOWNS” 26 Oct 2022 and “WHO NEEDS COLLEGE? UNIVERSITIES STRUGGLE WITH ENROLLMENT AFTER COVID LOCKDOWNS, AS WE FORECAST” 12 Oct 2022.)
Just six months after the lockdowns were put into place, 2.5 million people moved back in with their parents. The biggest jump was among young whites, from 18-24, who blamed the COVID outbreak and subsequent dorm closures on why they were forced to move back. The survey found that 18 percent said they lost their jobs or faced some kind of other financial difficulty.
TRENDPOST: When wars are fought, the little guy suffers while the Bigs get bigger and the world went from the COVID War to the Ukraine War before most of the world even knew what was happening.
It should be noted that the Great Migration Home crisis is not isolated to the U.S. Other European countries—like Greece, Spain, and Italy—have all seen young people move back home at an unusual rate. (In Italy, for example, 65 percent of those 18 to 34 years old live at home.)
China has seen millennials move out of their homes. About 70 percent of the age group in the country can live independently. (See “WHY SIX-FIGURE EARNERS STILL RENT A HOME INSTEAD OF BUYING,” 21 Mar 2023.)
We’ve long noted how young Americans who should be heading for mature adulthood face significant challenges like a soaring cost of living and punishing student loans. These individuals justify the move because they say they would not be solvent living on their own, but society generally looks down on young adults living with parents. A survey in 2021 found that one-third of Americans believe it is bad for society to have these individuals back with mom and dad.
The New York Times spoke with Tim Morris, a 23-year-old college graduate who had about $53,000 in student debt when he graduated college in 2021. The associate chemist who works at a silicone manufacturing company told the paper that he moved back in with his parents and was able to reduce that loan amount to $24,000. He likened living with his parents to having roommates who are willing to pay for everything. (He said he paid for his personal bills and gas.)
“It is not what I want, but I am putting up with it because it is helping me put a big dent in my loans, Morris said.
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Hope in Tragedy - Part 21
Jake's P.O.V.
It's been days since I've heard MC's voice. I don't know if she's still in jail or if she was able to make bail or what kind of charges she's facing. Hell, I don't even know what happened or why she killed Parker. I would like to think she didn't take it upon herself to avenge my death, a death that never happened. I know she's smarter than that.
"Duval, you have a visitor." The guard says, pulling me out of my thoughts. Could it be, MC?
"Who is it?" I ask.
"I don't know; it's just my job to take you down there." He says.
He unlocks the door and puts me in cuffs and shackles to go to the visiting room. I walk in, and on the other side of the glass is Chase. I sit down and pick up the phone to talk to him.
"You look like hell." He says as soon as the phone is to my ear.
"How's MC?" I ask, ignoring his attempt at humor.
"She's been better. She's not speaking to me at the moment, but Jared has been keeping me updated. They found the other half of the recording and then met with the DA yesterday. They finally dropped the charges this morning, so they should be dropping the conspiracy charges on us soon." He tells me as if I know what he's talking about.
"Wait, back up. What recording? What was she even being charged with? Why did she do it?" I ask.
"Oh shit, you don't know anything, do you?"
"I know she killed Parker, and they think we helped her plan it, but that's it. Please tell me she didn't do it because of me."
"No, she didn't; the whole thing got blown way out of proportion. It was self-defense."
"Did he hurt her?" I ask before he can explain further.
"She's got a few cracked ribs and a bunch of bruises, but I think he hurt her more mentally than anything."
"What happened? How did things escalate so quickly?"
"Basically, it comes down to he knew you were alive, and she didn't. He got fed up with her, denying it, and broke into her house. When she continued to deny that she had any contact with you, he started showing her pictures of you and her together as proof. Of course, she managed to put two and two together and realized who you are. Oh, and she's pissed about that, by the way; hence, her not speaking to me. All she sees is that we lied to her; she doesn't care about the reason why."
"Fuck, I didn't want her to find out this way."
"She wasn't supposed to find out at all." He reminds me.
I always hoped to be able to tell her one day years in the future. Future, that's such a strange thing to have hoped for; there is no future with her now. She hates me, and I'm going to be locked up in here for who knows how long. If I don't get to keep the deal, I'll probably spend the rest of my life in prison. If I do get to keep the deal, I'll probably be sent somewhere far away from her.
"Hello, earth to Tristan!" Chase waves his hand in front of the glass.
"Sorry, I was thinking about MC. I need to get out of here so I can at least tell her my side of the story. With my accounts frozen, that's kind of hard to do, though.
"I'm sorry, man. I wanted to bail you out, but my lawyer strongly advised against it." He says
"It's fine. I just have to figure out some way."
"Alright, times up." The guard says, signaling that it's time for me to go back to the cell.
He takes me back to my cell and takes off the cuffs and shackles. I sit down on the cot, racking my brain, trying to figure out a way to get out of here or to make MC talk to me. After about 10 minutes, the guard comes back.
"Well, you've made bail."
"How? Who?" I say stunned.
"I don't know. Like I said before, I'm just here to take you from point a to point b. Girlfriend, maybe? I don't know; she's cute, though." He says.
I don't know whether to be shocked or get mad at him for calling her cute. Wait, is it even MC? She's angry. I don't see her coming to bail me out unless it's because she wants to kill me, too. We take the long walk down the hall to a little room where I'm given the conditions of my release and my personal belongings back. I get changed, and they lead me to the lobby. I look through the glass door, and the person I see in the lobby is even more shocking than if it had been MC.
"Jake!" She runs to hug me.
"You shouldn't be here, Hannah."
"You shouldn't be here either, but here we are. Did you think I was just going to let my big brother sit in jail?" She asks.
"How did you even know?" I ask pulling away from her.
"Well, I called to check on MC because I hadn't heard from her since you went into protective custody, so I was worried. In the midst of her going off on me, she mentioned that you had been arrested. She hung up before I could find out any details. I called several different numbers, trying to figure out where you were and if bail had been set before finally getting to the right person. So the group and I got the money together for your bail and a lawyer, and Lily and I booked the first flight that we could." She says cheerfully.
"Lily's here, too?"
"Yes, she's in the car. She wasn't happy that I hadn't told her about you but she quickly got over it." She says.
We walk out side and I take a deep breath of fresh air and look around. It's so good to be out of jail. Lily gets out of the car and walks up to us.
"So you're Jake?" She asks.
"I am." I tell her
She grabs me and wraps her arms around me and starts sobbing. "I'm so glad you're alive. I'm so sorry I released that video. If I hadn't, none of this would have happened."
"Hey, it's ok. You didn't know." I say as I pat her on the back.
"We have to get you out of this." She pulls away and looks up at me. "I have to make this right."
"Speaking of making things right do you mind if we stop by MC's house? I have some things I need to set straight." I ask reluctantly.
"You really think she wants to see you?" Hannah raises an eyebrow.
"No, but I need to see her."
"Are you even allowed to see her?" Lily asks.
"Yeah, they never said I couldn't so I guess it's alright."
"Let's go then." Hannah says before turning to get in the car.
We pull up in front of MC's house and I can tell she's the only one here. I breathe a sigh of relief knowing I am going to get to talk to her alone. I jump out of the car.
"Let me go alone." I say to the girls before walking to the door.
I knock and I hear MC coming to the door and suddenly I don't think I've ever been more nervous. MC opens the door and I'm shocked to see all of the bruises that are beginning to fade. Her face immediately falls when she sees me.
"Go away, Jake!" She yells attempting to slam the door in my face but I catch it and push it back open.
"MC, wait," I call after her and step inside.
"No, Jake trust me you don't want to hear what I have to say!"
"I do want to hear what you have to say. I don't care if you scream and cuss at me as long as you talk to me." I tell her.
"You fucking lied to me! That is the one thing you knew I couldn't stand. That is the one thing I asked you not to do. You promised not to lie to me but you fucking did it anyway! Do you know how much that fucking hurt me? Do you even fucking care?" She yells. Before I can say anything she continues and I figure it's best to just let her vent. "Did my pain amuse you? Did you and Chase sit around laughing at me mourning the death of someone who was right in front of me? Was I just a big joke to you?" She steps closer and starts hitting my chest with the sides of her fists. "Damn it, Jake! Do you not have anything to say for yourself? You're not going to defend yourself or even argue with me?" Then she bursts into tears.
MC's P.O.V.
"Damn it, Jake! Do you not have anything to say for yourself? You're not going to defend yourself or even argue with me?" I yell at him. His calmness is pissing me off even more but before I can say another word I break. I start crying uncontrollably all the tears I've held back since finding out his true identity just come flooding out.
Jake wraps his arms around me pulling me close. One hand is gently rubbing up and down my back the other stroking my hair.
"There's no defending what I've done and I can't argue with the truth. I did lie to you and I did hurt you more than I ever thought I could."
"I can't forgive you." I whisper.
"I'm not asking you to." He says which infuriates me even more.
"Then why the fuck are you here?!" I yell at him.
"I'm here because I couldn't let whatever is going to happen, happen without you knowing my side of the story."
I pull away and look into his eyes searching for something but I'm not sure what. All I can see is pain in his eyes.
"Fine what's your side of the story?" I ask.
"MC," he cups my face and stares down at me. "When you came into my life falling in love with you was the last thing I wanted to do."
"Is this supposed to make me feel better?" I ask.
"Sshhh, let me finish. The more I talked to you the stronger my feelings got. Fighting them just made them stronger. Accepting my feelings for you meant putting both of us in danger. Do you remember when I told you I was done fighting it? Do you remember me telling you if you wanted to be with me we would find a way to make it work?" I nod and he continues. "This. This is how I was supposed to make us work."
"Really? This? How was that supposed to work when one of us got to be happy while the other was forced to grieve an unspeakable loss?" I ask dumbfounded.
"Admittedly things did not go as planned. MC, I was offered a deal, a chance to be free, a chance to give you the life you deserved. Once I agreed to the deal things changed and I realized I had failed you. I was faced with the decision to either let you go in hopes you would move on and be happy without me or spend the rest of my life in prison which would have made both of us miserable. If I had known the free life I was promised wouldn't be as Jake I would have never taken the deal. I never expected to be right here with you. I didn't look into your personal life because I didn't trust myself not to go running off to find you. Ending up here was not planned. When I walked into that restaurant and saw you there and found out you were Chase's sister it felt like, for the first time in my life fate was on my side. There was actually hope in this awful tragedy that had become my life. The first few weeks I was here were fucking hard. Watching you grieve and knowing I could stop all of the pain of I could just tell you the truth was fucking hard. All I wanted to do was hold you in my arms and tell you everything was ok and that I was right here and not going anywhere. Not to mention the fact that you were too hung up on me to even give me the time of day." He says putting extra emphasis on the word me.
"Oh, but you told Chase?" I interject.
"No, you told Chase. Chase had already guessed I was Jake but you were the one who told him about our relationship. He almost kicked my ass over that by the way so thank you for that. Part of my deal was that I couldn't have contact with anyone from my past life. Nobody knew about our history except me and Chase so I was able to get away with spending time with you. Then, Hannah showed up, fuck, that almost ruined everything. I didn't expect her to be able to recognize me. I made her swear not to tell anyone because if anyone knew of our history I would have been reassigned immediately. You finding out who I really was would have meant our eternal separation. I made a promise to you that I wouldn't let that happen and this was my way of keeping it."
I stare up at him completely shocked by everything he just told me.
"Would you have ever told me? I ask.
"I don't know. I hoped to be able to one day. It really doesn't matter now because Parker showed up and ruined everything." Still cupping my face he leans down and gently presses his forehead to mine. "I love you, MC, so fucking much. So much it hurts. Now that I've spent so much time with you I don't know how I could ever live without you."
I stand on my tiptoes and press my lips to his. "So what happens now?" I ask.
"I have no clue. My guess would be: best case I get reassigned somewhere far away from here and I can't have any contact with you or worst case I go to prison for the rest of my life and I'm still not allowed to have any contact with you."
"Those are both horrible choices. I say we make a third option." I laugh and kiss him again.
#duskwood#duskwood jake#duskwood fanfiction#duskwood game#duskwood everbyte#duskwood community#duskwoodfanfic#iamjake#jake duskwood#jake x mc#duskwood jake x mc#duskwood mc#everbyte duskwood#duskwood fanfic#Hope in Tragedy
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Do you write an ending for your fic "don't make a sound"?
So I’ve had a good chunk of the second chapter written for a very long time, and I’ve been stuck on it for almost as long. I do very much hope to finish it someday, sooner rather than later, but I don’t know when that might be. It’s a rather more ambitious chapter than the first one was.
Here's the first bit of it, under the cut:
Noctis glared up at his captors over the gag in his mouth. Somehow the gag was the most irritating part of the whole situation, despite it really being the least of his concerns.
He had woken up with a clear, if achy, head, whatever they had dosed him with gone from his system. His back ached, as he had expected, but it would be hard to tell just how bad it was until he was able to move, and he suspected it would be a while before that happened. He was bound to a chair in the center of the room by his wrists, elbows, and ankles, the ropes cutting deeply into his skin and chafing if he so much as twitched a finger. His hands were slightly numb, tingling from a lack of circulation, which was worrisome.
The room he was in was bare, hard concrete beneath his feet and plain walls with no windows that he could see. A basement? It was difficult to tell what kind of building it might be, and if he was even still within the Wall. He figured the door must be behind him, but he wasn’t willing to turn his head to try to look.
In the front corner to his left was a table covered in computer and recording equipment. It wasn’t as impressive a setup as he was used to from official Citadel broadcasts, but it was familiar enough that he recognized what it was for. Things were just getting better and better.
There were three men in the room with him. He distinctly remembered only two people removing him from the Citadel, so the third must have either been waiting for them back at their base, wherever this was, or he had been the getaway driver. Noctis had lost consciousness before they got him to the car, so it was hard to say, and really it didn’t matter at this point. He was just mulling over unimportant things to keep himself from panicking.
For the first time, Noctis got a good look at his captors, and felt sick as he realized he recognized one of them as a Crownsguard. Anton or Atten or something. Not one of the guards usually assigned to him or his father, but he had seen him around the Citadel. The other two he didn’t recognize, but that didn’t mean they weren’t Crownsguard or Kingsglaive. Noctis certainly didn’t claim to know all of them.
“Oh look, Sleeping Beauty is awake. And before noon at that!” Atten said it with a sneer, and Noctis scowled the best he could around the gag. Gladio was the only one who called him that. Gladio was the only person Noctis would let call him that. His Shield had a whole stash of unflattering nicknames for him, but they were usually delivered as good-natured ribbing. He never used them when he was truly put out with Noctis. Then he resorted to mocking his actual titles, which was, Noctis supposed, probably actually worse, but… well.
As much as he loved a good nap and was not a morning person in any sense, his tendency to sleep in was exaggerated by the media, specifically the tabloids. It was an easy “flaw” to pick at, so of course they blew it out of proportion and used it to call him lazy. He’d like to see any of those reporters try to take on his schedule for a week and deal with the constant draining ache in his back, hip, and knee, and then they’d see who wanted to sleep in.
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