#why is stylisation in digital so difficult for me

[jennipond]

so excited for fifteen! his energy is just perfect

#doctor who #fifteenth doctor #ncuti gatwa #art #digital art #artists on tumblr #my art #15th doctor #dw fanart #why is the painterly realistic style the easiest prettiest and the most fun for me #why is stylisation in digital so difficult for me #stresses me OUT

[pjisskullourful]

︵‿ｓｗｅｅｔ　ｓｐｏｔ ‿︵

⛓️ Thomas × reader [The Gift part9]

NSFW🚨 really nasty shit of the KINKIEST degree

Thomas Raggi/non-binary reader insert

° a local sex club hosts a regular event called Pup Night, which sounds perfect to you & thomas

wordcount:::  10,177

° commissioned by the absolute gem that is my nibling jace(@wow-ihateithere) 💋 thankyou for all the patience & support. most importantly thankyou for a truly filthy idea to have fun with [there are currently 2 fics in cue, secure your own spot in my priority list here]

° none of the lyrics included were written by me[x]

° [ITA:] caro: dear - amore: love

you got the green light, don't you hold back no more. Let's live our best life...

Usually you didn’t give targeted advertising much of your attention, scrolling past those banners without a second thought. But in the daze of jet lag (your body clock was messed up after another visit to America) you had been less critical and far more open to distractions.

That was how you had learned of ‘pup night’ at a nightclub in the city. You had heard of this club, but that had been in the pre-pandemic world, in your life before becoming Thomas’ partner. Before him, you never would have entertained the thought of going to that kind of club, your curiosity easily drowned out by your intimidating insecurities.

But when you followed the link off of a fetish gear website, the only thing that you had felt was intrigued. There hadn’t been any second-guessing to slow you down as you looked through the different theme nights that the club cycled through. So many of the options had gotten your heart pounding faster, the digital flyers earning an extended look from you.

Pup Night reigned over all others, ultimately leading you to the application form provided by the website. You sent it to your printer in the study.

The option of getting out of bed to collect these pages was quickly overruled by your boyfriend making getting up more difficult. In his sleep, he had rolled over, stretching out and invading your personal space, placing himself somewhat on top of you, rather than lying next to you. You hadn’t resisted the invitation to cuddle, placing your phone aside. 

Waking up before him, you had taken the paper from the printing tray to look over as you started your day. You ate your cereal as you read over the many conditions of entry.

He surprised you, appearing in the lounge room not long after you had finished your breakfast. You had anticipated at least one hour on your own, creeping around and making a coffee as quietly as you could manage. You had planned to have a quick shower (he had a cheeky habit of taking the sound of running water as an invitation, exponentially extending every shower that he joined) before getting to your university work.

He joined you on the sofa, instantly pressing his body into the side of yours. He laid his head on your shoulder, his wild hair tickling at your uncovered neck. These were the little moments that you didn’t get when he was on tour. You put an arm around his shoulders, listening to his sleepy sighs.

“Isn’t it too early for homework, nerd?” He asked.

You took the time to reorganise the pages before speaking, letting him see the stylised header on the first page. “It isn’t homework.”

He rubbed at his eyes as he read the letters. “Our Sweet Spot, what is that and why do you need to apply, and is that my name?”

“Considering your behaviour, or should I say misbehaviour- the last time we went to a club, I thought I should look into different venues, venues that suit my slutty puppy a bit more. This is a sex club…” You said.

You felt him squirm a little in his seat as he let out an unconvincing laugh. “A what?”

“Yeah, a club where you wouldn’t be the only naughty boy trying to get his partner undressed.”

He lifted his head, looking at you with wide eyes. “So, we just go to this club and fuck in front of everyone?”

“No, not exactly.” You said. “It’s a club, not a theatre, so it’s not like people take turns on a stage, or whatever.” You raked your fingers through his soft hair, trying to tame the strands. “I’ve never been to a club like this either. But from what I could put together from the shit I’ve read-” You put your finger to his lips. “Call me a nerd again, and die. It seems to me that there’s one part of it that’s like a normal club, there’s the bar and a dance floor. But then there’s the semi-private room and a bunch of people can go in there to fool around, and do whatever they feel comfortable doing in front of these strangers.

“And there’s the private rooms.” You said, resting both hands at the back of his neck. “I guess it’s kind of like a hotel suite. You check in for a room with a bed and you get to decide who’s in there and any nastiness that happens is totally private. But there’s no way to know what it’s actually like unless we go there.”

“And we need an application to go there?” He asked.

“Oh yes, it’s kind of exclusive, you can’t just wander in from the street, RSVPing is mandatory.” You said. “They even have a membership program, but I figure we can’t jump into something like that blind.” You studied his face, your eyes scanning for those subtle, accidental tells that you had gotten to know during the course of your relationship. “Do you want to check this club out with me? ‘Cause it didn’t cost anything to get this form and honestly, I can chuck it in the trash right-...”

“No, no, no, don’t throw it away.” He said. “Of course I’d love to check it out with you. I just have no idea about places like that and- well, I’m a little caught off guard.” He held your gaze, his hazel eyes unwavering. “I hadn’t realised that this would be your scene.”

You had started to smile. “Yeah, I hadn’t realised either. But we’ve talked about showing off what a good li’l bottom bitch you are. And I was only inspired to go down this route after how much you misbehaved when we last went out.”

He squirmed in his seat. “But I thought- we put that whole thing to bed, didn’t we? You reprimanded me, I took my punishment, then I was forgiven, right? Did I misread that situation?”

“No, that is exactly what happened.” You said, pushing his hair off of his face. “But forgiving isn’t the same as forgetting. And I certainly haven’t forgotten how much fun you seemed to be having that night, you were having a whole lot of fun being cheeky and boundary-pushing when we were out in public.” He dropped his chin, slipping into this pouty-façade rather easily. “And now that I’ve found this club, it seems like I’ve found the perfect place to have some fun of my own, by owning you in public.

“But only if you want.” You said with an instant change to your tone of voice.

He nodded, looking up at you again. “Yeah, I do, I definitely do. But… well, what do I wear?”

“Don’t get too ahead of yourself, caro. They have to approve our application first.” You pointed out, you resettled yourself on the sofa. You offered him one of the pages, reorganising the paperwork in your lap. “Here, you can read the conditions of entry.”

Instead of taking the piece of paper from you, he frowned at it. “I think it’s great that they’ve got this policy to keep the guests safe, that’s a fabulous practice, truly. But I’m gonna need a coffee before I can attempt reading this. Or three- three coffees before I read this. Do you want one?”

“Yes, please. But just one for me.” You said and he pecked you on the cheek as he got up.

He started to leave the room and you could hear him yawning as he responded. “Okay, if you’re sure.”

You moved down to the floor, finding a clear spot on the coffee table and lying the form down here. You were working your way through the remaining pages when he returned, setting a steaming mug down.

“So they need to know if you’ve ever been known by any other names…” You told him, pointing to a section that had been left blank.

“Like a screen-name?” He asked.

You rolled your eyes, raising your voice as he strolled out of the room. “No, like an alias, like something that you’ve introduced yourself as, or written down on some form anywhere.”

He carried his beat-up laptop back into the lounge room. “Chad Sexington.”

“Swear to God…” You huffed and looked back at the page. “I’m gonna write Jackass…”

“I don’t have any alias’.” He found a place on the coffee table for his laptop, sitting adjacent to you. “Should we come up with a cool one?”

“Uh-huh, I’ll put that right at the top of my list of priorities.” You said sarcastically.

After a pause, he looked away from the computer screen. “Would I be the only pup there? Is it a come as you are kind of vibe?”

“Oh fuck, I totally forgot to tell you the best part.” You said, frustrated at your momentary lapse, your sales pitch hadn’t been planned out well enough. “They have an event, like regularly, called Pup Night, specifically for puppy kinks. That’s how I found out about the club, and I don’t know if I’d say that it’s the only reason why I wanna go, but it’s definitely a big driving force of my interest. I figured that would be the ideal place to start.” You reached your hand across the tabletop for his. “We could go and get some inspiration for our own play. And if we like the club, we can check out the other non-kink specific nights.”

He laced his fingers through yours. “When is the next Pup Night?”

“Uhm…” You picked up your phone, finding the screenshot you had captured last night. You read the date out to him and a new expression came across his face, a sheepish kind of smile forming.

“I’ll be home that week.” He said of the date two weeks in the future.

“Oh, I know.” You said. “But there’s no guarantee that they’ll be done with our application by then. They said that it can take up to a month.”

“A month?” He repeated, eyebrows raised. “They’re super busy with half of Italy applying to get in. This is the place to be, huh?”

“Yeah, getting into your pants was easier than getting into this club.” You teased.

His mouth dropped open in exaggerated shock. “How dare you sully my good name like this. It wasn’t until our fifth date that we slept together. I don’t think that puts me in the category of easy.”

You just smiled. “You can keep telling yourself that you aren’t easy, baby.”

“Anyway, what should I wear?”

“Clearly you’ve gotta wear your collar-”

“Leash?” He asked.

“Yeah, I’d say that it’s the perfect occasion to bring the leash out. And then… Well, we’ve never tried to pair the chastity belt or the tail with clothing before. So the logistics of that- I think we would have to do some experimenting to figure out how that would work.” You said, the uncertainty showing through on your face. “I guess that’s the kind of thing we could Google to find-”

He was turning the laptop around, allowing you to see the screen. “I already did. It’s a whole lot of rubber thongs.”

Your eyes grew wide as you took in the sight of so much flesh, unable to keep yourself from giggling. “Oh, I don’t know if we’re that kinky. I’m gonna need more than one coffee before I can deal with that.”

… … … 

“There is so much ass in here!” Thomas exclaimed over the bass-heavy music coming from the large speakers.

Unlike many of the other people in attendance for Pup Night, your boyfriend had decided against wearing a latex g-string. In the two weeks since sending in your application, he had been able to find an alternate option, something that still allowed him to wear the tail plug.

He was wearing a pair of glossy black vinyl pants - designed for kink with two-way zippers that extended to the very back of the pants. His curved tail poked out from his ass, with the zippers allowing him to hide everything else beneath the plastic material.

He was less covered up on his torso, wearing a mesh top with a black fabric strap running across his chest. This was accessorised with oversized safety pins, the whole look completed by his collar and leash - the end of this you held in your hand.

“You can say that again.” You said to him.

“Alright, there’s so much ass in here.”

You giggled a little. “Doesn’t it remind you of being at work?”

But this club made Måneskin, and every other part of your regular lives, look so very tame. Our Sweet Spot looked like any other nightclub from the outside - while on the inside everyone was taking advantage of the opportunity to fully embrace their kink side. They were relishing in this freedom, showing skin and playing with personas of their own creation.

You were used to your and Thomas’ expression of a puppy kink, and you were fascinated to see how others expressed this identity.

There was so much to see, you could hardly find a place for your eyes to rest. Because you wanted to see all of it, all of the different styles and colours of masks. You were paying attention to the wide variety of tails, so many more unique designs than what you had come across at Sexpo.

This large main room had a familiar floor plan - the dance floor was in the middle of the space, with a bar running along one of the walls. There were dedicated sitting areas with burgundy couches and armchairs for the patrons.

You and Thomas were headed for the bar when you were stalled by a couple crossing your path. One partner was holding the end of a leash and the one on the leash had their hands and knees down on the carpet. They crawled alongside their dom, who showed you a courtesy smile as they passed.

You shared a look with Thomas, the two of you silently acknowledging this extraordinary sight. You let him lead the way to the bar, keeping your hand in his as you got distracted by looking around again. Before you had reached the end of the cue, you had already spotted two more people navigating around the club on all fours.

Once at the front of the line, Thomas ordered your cocktail first. “On the menu there, you’ve got two prices. Is that for different sizes, like at Starbucks?”

“Actually, the lower price is for our members.” The bartender gently corrected.

He quickly looked at you, mouth agape. “Cheaper drinks for members?”

“Something to consider…” The bartender said with a knowing smile.

You appreciated when they didn’t instantly try to upsell you from two drinks to a yearly membership. Instead, they allowed you and Thomas room to breathe.

And that was true to the rest of the club. Despite all of the people in attendance, the area didn’t feel crowded. The only person to invade your personal space was your boyfriend.

You got your drinks and found a spot to stand off to the side. You faced him and raised your glass. “What should we toast to?”

He lifted his bottle of beer into the air, copying you. “New experiences?”

“Yes, here’s to new experiences.” You tapped your glass to the side of his bottle.

“You don’t have to join me in this…” He said as you had your first sip of the green cocktail. “But I would like to drink in celebration of how hot you look in that leather jacket.” He was smiling as he lifted the bottle up to his lips.

He stepped in closer, sliding an arm around your waist so that he could place his hand into the back pocket of your jeans. He was close enough that you could smell cigarettes and the styling products he had applied to his hair to keep it in the same state of rumpled all night.

“I can hardly believe that you aren’t taking advantage of all of that available space on the dance floor.” You told him.

It was something that he was known for - his energetic dancing with movements too big to be contained in small spaces, he needed room to go nuts and have fun. He got less enjoyment from crowded clubs, leaving dance floors if they got too full because he didn’t want to risk his fist-pumping injuring another.

“Maybe if they play a song that I know.” He said, providing you with another surprise. His knowledge of music was unmatched by anyone you had ever met - he had taught you about genres you had never before heard of. It didn’t matter the occasion, if he was asked to put a song on, he always came through with the perfect choice.

You hadn’t recognised any of the dance music that had been playing in the twenty minutes since arriving. But you assumed this was only an issue for you. “Seriously?”

“Yeah. I’ve been trying to suss out where the DJ booth is and I think they don’t have one. So maybe this is just some really obscure Spotify playlist.” He said. “Think about it, who is coming here to see a kick-ass DJ set? It’s not about playing the hottest tracks. No, this music is just a soundtrack for grinding.”

You hadn’t considered it like that before - now you looked over the dance floor in a new way. You couldn’t deny that his enthusiastic jigging would have him sticking out like a sore thumb amongst the other patrons. Nobody was showing off their voguing skills, nor was anybody jumping around with the ecstasy of getting to hear their favourite song. 

You realised that the music was inconsequential. It didn’t matter what the lyrics were saying (you couldn’t quite figure out if the few words were being sung in Italian, or English, or something else), so long as the horny people had a beat that they could move their bodies to.

“That’s a very eloquent way to put it, caro.” You complimented.

“So, do you wanna?” He asked, eyebrows raised as he nodded to the direction of the dance floor.

“Hm?”

“Is the music providing you with any kind of inspiration?”

You smiled knowingly and shortened his leash by winding more of it around your fist. “Are you looking to get your grind on?”

“Yeah, can I entice you into that?”

“Sure thing, honey.”

He led you to an available spot on the dance floor, bobbing his head to the beat. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t heard this song before, he could quickly get into the rhythm and he turned to you with a smile.

There was no reason to hold back, you stepped forward to place one of your feet between where his were planted and you pushed your body into his. This wasn’t like when you went out in a group of friends, having to hold back because of a sense of modesty and understanding that public displays of affection were usually frowned upon.

It also wasn’t the same as getting a night out for just the two of you, wherein there was an underlying threat of someone recognising him. If anyone in here thought that his face looked familiar, they wouldn’t have the opportunity to record any of the nastiness you shared. The club had a condition of entry for phones to be checked at the cloakroom, no one could be photographed. There were no consequences that could come from this night, your boyfriend could enjoy the freedoms of anonymity - an indulgence that was getting rarer with seemingly every passing week.

You could grind your hips on his and let your hands wander without worrying about what someone else might think of you. Everyone around you was far too preoccupied to pay attention to you.

You let the music take up only a fraction of your focus as you continued to behave like a tourist, taking in all of the brand new sights with great curiosity. Amongst the many kissing couples, you saw riding crops striking asses. You saw someone with a gag strapped to their face, in the place of the typical ball, a bright red bone kept their lips parted. A lot of people had chosen to cover their nipples with tape, as opposed to putting a shirt on, their exposed breasts decorated with glitters and eye-catching jewels.

Everywhere that you happened to look served as a reminder that this wasn’t a regular bar, served as an invitation to indulge in what you usually kept strictly in the bedroom. It was all as lustful as you had hoped.

Thomas was looking around as well, giving you an insight of what he was thinking when he leaned in closer to ask you a question. “How sweaty do you think those hoods are?”

You followed his line of sight to where a masked individual was dancing. Their entire head was covered by a leather hood, with only their eyes showing, their identity had disappeared behind the protruding dog’s snout. The accessory was completed by the pair of ears on either side of the head.

“Extremely sweaty.” You said. “But you don’t have to worry because I would literally never put you in anything like that.” He looked away from the black and red mask. “I wouldn’t even dream of covering up this beautiful face.” He smiled as he raised his bottle for a sip of beer. “Why would I deprive myself like that?

“Because then I wouldn’t be able to do this…” You gave him a kiss on the cheek, keeping the contact quick in the effort of avoiding any transference of the dark lipstick you wore. “Or this…” You kissed his other cheek. “And where would I be if I couldn’t do this?”

The next kiss went to the tip of his nose, which brought a wide grin to his face. You felt the arm that he had been holding around your waist tighten. You didn’t resist or instruct him to slow down, instead you just enjoyed how his body felt on yours - the rhythm your hips worked at was beginning to give you ideas.

“And how could I pass up an opportunity to do this?” You asked before kissing him on the lips. You could have given more (that was a very tempting thought), but you made it chaste, keeping the moisture to a minimum. When you pulled back, you saw him take a moment before opening his eyes. “Don’t worry, I didn’t get any of my lipstick on you.”

“Why would I be worried about that?” He asked as you downed the last mouthful of your Midori cocktail. “You can get your lipstick all over me, I think that would look great. I would love that.”

“Yeah, I bet you would.” You said, draping your arms around his neck. “But I’m not about to ruin my makeup less than an hour into the night.”

“So it’s a timing kind of thing, I have to wait until it gets past a certain time to be able to kiss you?”

You grinned at him. “Yep, let’s say that’s what it is.”

“When can I kiss you?”

“Oh, I’m not gonna just tell you, lover.”

You put an end to any further discussion of this by spinning yourself around. With your back to him, you popped your ass out, driving this against his crotch. You slightly relaxed your hold on his leash, letting the chain hang down the front of your body with the handle looped around one of your wrists. You rolled your hips back, timing your movements to the quick beat, until you felt him moving with you again.

His arm went around your middle again, his hand firmly pressed to your stomach. You were finding that the colourful and shiny crowd were posing less of a distraction, you were just concentrating on this intimate embrace with your boyfriend. You felt free to explore more, absolutely thrilled by the fact that you didn’t need to stop anytime soon.

You wondered if he knew how sexy he was when being teased. There was something about it that shifted the dynamic between the two of you and it made your heart pump faster.

It sounded to you that the electronic beats were getting quicker, seeming to be building to that moment when the bass dropped for the song to come to an exciting conclusion. Bending your knees, you started to slide down his front, letting your butt rub against him as you went.

There was a look in his eyes - one that you were very familiar with. It was the same look that he gave you when you had just finished tying a knot in the shibari rope. Or when you got out the bottle of lube.

You placed your hand on his leg, beginning to trail it upwards. Before you could get too high, you were distracted by a multi-coloured flashing coming into your peripheral vision. You turned your head, discovering the source to be LED lights embedded in the caster wheels of someone’s wheelchair. As you watched them wheel past, you noticed the two neon leashes they had in one hand, they were going in different directions. One was tethered to a pup who was leading the way, the other secured to the person pushing the chair.

The bright trio made their way over to an elevator, which you had taken for granted upon first spotting it. Now, with one hand wrapped around the back of Thomas’ knee, you noticed a wall-mounted directory beside the buttons. From your current vantage point, the words were too small to be read. But you wanted to know what they said.

You wondered what you were missing out on. You needed to follow through with your plan to see as much as you could in this adventure.

You stood up, pulling on Thomas’ leash until his face was almost touching yours. “I wanna go upstairs. Are you ready to come with me?”

“Upstairs?” He repeated, casting his eyes up as if expecting to see a mezzanine overlooking this area. But the only thing to be seen was the wallpapered roof. “I totally didn’t realise there were other floors.”

“Well there are and I don’t know what’s up there, but I wanna find out.” You said.

“Sex. That’s what’s going on up there, the sexy times.”

“Right. Do you wanna check it out with me?”

His mouth opened, but he didn’t say anything at first. He scratched his cheek as his eyes went over to the mechanical doors, then he looked at you and back again, seeming to need extra time to find his words. “I- yeah, I do want- yeah, well we can… ahem…”

You put your hands on his cheeks, getting him to look into your eyes. “Tom, we don’t have to do anything you aren’t comfortable with. The whole point of coming here was to have fun and we can experiment within what we’re comfortable with. I brought you here to arouse you, not make you cringe.” He nodded as he listened. “I’m having fun dancing, we can keep dancing.”

He put his hands over yours, wrapping his fingers around them. “No, I want to go and I think that we should.” It felt like he was squeezing a bit tighter than usual. “But I’m just- I don’t know how I’m gonna react and I’m worried that it’ll- what if it’s embarrassing?”

You linked your fingers with his, silently taking in this moment and letting him squirm because that was what he felt he needed to do. You understood that he was only allowing you to see this vulnerable side because he felt safe with you. And you had to show him that you could rise to this occasion - just as he had done for you so many times.

“Embarrassing for who?” You asked. “I don’t know how I’m gonna react either. But we won’t know unless we try.”

He took a deep breath. “That is true. And we’re just trying it…”

“Exactly. We can just walk in and do a lap and leave if it’s not okay. Or we can sit, we can sit far away from everyone else.” You said, you let go of one of his hands and started to turn your body in the direction of the elevator. “We can hold hands the whole time. And nothing else, nothing unless you want to.”

He started to walk with you. “We can use the traffic light system.”

“Yes, we definitely will use that. Good puppy.”

There was a worker standing by the elevator's control panel, they looked friendly as you approached. Before you could begin to read the directory, they were showing you their open palm, getting you to slow down. “Sorry guys, no alcohol past here.”

“Well I’m done anyways…” You added your empty cup to the tray positioned on a shelf beside the worker.

Thomas held his bottle up to eye-level, considering the liquid left and shrugged a shoulder. “Yeah, that’s about half.”

He placed the bottle to his lips and threw his head back. Without pausing, he swallowed down the remaining beer in a series of greedy gulps. You watched, wondering how much this quick intake of alcohol would affect him as the night unfolded.

Once the beer was gone, he placed the bottle into the provided tray. He was out of breath but he smiled. “Ready to rock ‘n’ roll.”

There were four levels that made up Our Sweet Spot - the parking lot beneath where you currently stood and two upper floors described by a single word each.

Public.

Private.

You pressed the button, holding Thomas’ hand. The doors started to slide open and the worker nodded to you. “Enjoy the rest of your night, guys.”

It was just the two of you in the elevator.

“I think it’s good that the sexy rooms are upstairs, instead of down.” He remarked as you began to travel upwards. “It breaks that cliché of a sex dungeon.”

“Yeah, I hate it when I go to a sex club and all that I see are clichés.” You said, making him laugh.

The doors opened to this new floor and he took the first step forward, with you hurrying into motion again. You had no idea what to expect.

This large room wasn’t very well lit - you supposed the dim lighting and the shadows were to create a mysteriously sexy atmosphere.

At first it didn’t seem so different to where you had just been. The music was quieter, but still present. The way that you could hear people talking and laughing together kept you from separating from the feeling that you were just in a club.

But as you took some more (slow) steps into the room, the change in environment began to properly dawn on you. Instead of having a dance floor, this area was filled with more burgundy sofas and other comfortable-looking seats. Everyone was sitting, either in pairs, or in some sort of group.

Unlike when you were downstairs, you were no longer interested in what these patrons were wearing. Seeing someone having their dick sucked quickly got your attention off of cool body harnesses. Your grip on your boyfriend’s hand intensified and you followed your first reflex, which dictated that you look away.

But looking in another direction only resulted in you seeing a different variation of someone giving head. A fellow club-goer had a partner sitting between their parted knees, who was performing cunnilingus. This time, with slightly less shock in your reaction, you decided to keep looking. You watched how the receiver was biting their lip and gently playing with their lover’s hair. It seemed sweet, and authentic, not done for the enjoyment of any kind of audience.

“We should find a seat.” Thomas told you. As you nodded your head, you wondered if his tone sounded more tense now, or were you projecting?

There was a walkway that wound through the groups of seats and he led the way. Nobody was noticing the two of you, they were all entirely absorbed in their own interactions - from sharing passionate kisses, to giving a hand job or grinding on a partner’s lap.

Against the wall, he found an unoccupied sofa. There was a couple making out in the seat beside you and directly opposite to you another couple were stretched all over a couch. They were lying down, spooning and kissing in a way that reminded you of movie night at home.

As you got settled on the sofa, you placed your hand on Thomas’ knee. “What colour is your light?”

It took a moment for him to move his eyes off of a person bent over the arm of a nearby chair, having their bare butt spanked. “Green.” He told you.

“Me too.” You said, playing with the length of his leash.

He shuffled in closer, pressing the side of his body to yours, until you could feel his body heat through your clothes. You pulled your arms free of the jacket, placing it behind you before returning your hand to his knee. He took advantage of this change, placing his fingers to your wrist. With both hands, he slowly moved up, exploring the skin left exposed by your tank top.

You started to look around the room, taking in all of the intimacy on display. Removing your jacket hadn’t allowed you to cool down much as you spent longer staring at each explicit act.

You watched a couple where one person was vigorously sucking on their partner’s fingers as they were offered. They pumped their fingers quickly, wearing a satisfied smile as they watched their sub maintain suction.

You reached your hand up, pushing it into Thomas’ hair because you needed something to keep your own fingers busy, something other than shoving three of them into his mouth because it was getting difficult to think of anything else. You were suddenly filled with memories, able to clearly recall how he had looked when you had given him your fingers to suck. Always when you were in the throes of passion, with his eyes looking a little dazed, as he rode that edge of bliss. This action had been required when you had overnight guests in your home because he couldn’t be counted on to come quietly.

You didn’t let these memories merely pass you by - you indulged them, unpacked them. Soon you were thinking about the things you did that made it impossible for him to stay silent, all while watching this pair of strangers enjoy their oral fixation. Your blood was pumping through your body faster as you made a mental list of the many ways you could make him want to be very loud.

Making him beg to have his cock released from the chastity cage. Using a vibrator in his ass to get the most deliriously happy orgasm from him. Hitting his perfect ass until he was yelping. Licking him until he was a needy, whimpering mess.

His fingers finished their journey up your arm, loosely holding onto your bicep and he kissed you on the exposed part of your shoulder. You felt a little out of breath as you turned your head to look at him.

There were no words that you wanted to share, instead you kissed him. You held no consideration for the transfer of your lipstick, not now that your brain was overflowing with depraved thoughts. It had an intoxicating effect when combined with the sensuality all around you.

You sucked his top lip into your mouth as you readjusted how you were holding onto him. You wrapped one arm around his back, placing this hand amongst his hair. Your other hand went to just above his knee.

He was smiling as you separated, he kept his eyes on you. “It’s time to kiss you now?”

“Yes, it is.” You said, stroking your fingers through his hair. “Good things come to those who wait, honey.”

He licked his lips and placed a hand to your cheek, using this to draw you in for more kisses. You were tasting beer as you moved your hand higher onto his thigh, squeezing a little.

As his tongue teased your lips apart, you trailed your other hand to the nape of his neck. You let the tips of your fingers play across the skin above his collar. You were tapping into each other’s bodies, with you rubbing his neck while his tongue rubbed at the roof of your mouth. You drew patterns across his skin, enjoying the feel of his reactions.

The kiss was broken and he leaned in closer with a shiver. He placed his mouth next to your ear. “You give me tingles when you touch my neck like that…”

You didn’t remove your hand, just smiling. “Really?”

“Yeah. It’s like tingles all the way down my spine, the feeling is totally irresistible…”

“Really?” You repeated, leaning in closer to him. “Just from my hand?” You were bowing your head down. “But what if I…?”

You placed your fingers under his chin, gently easing his head back. Then you filled in this available space with your face, and kissed him on the neck.

This time he didn’t shiver. He let out a dreamy sigh and lifted his leg, draping it across your lap. You tightened your arm around him, applying chaste kisses on his throat - some of them left lipstick prints, almost like you wanted to mark your territory.

As you were working, your eyelids fluttered open. Beyond his body, you noticed the couple in the armchair next to you. They had changed their positions, no longer just kissing. Now you were seeing a blow job being performed. You curiously watched the technique of the giver as you continued to kiss Thomas’ throat.

You kept checking the progress of the fellatio as you started to suck on Thomas’ skin a little. Your goal wasn’t to leave hickeys, you simply had to do more, you needed the next level. You slipped your hand down from his neck, onto his chest. You caressed and groped him over his mesh shirt, prompting him to arch his back, looking to get even closer to your body.

You sat up, keeping your eyes on the blow job. “How badly are you wishing I would do something like that to you?”

He followed your line of sight, putting an arm around your waist as he looked at your neighbours. You continued to stroke his chest, watching the blow job with him.

But he looked away before orgasm could be reached. His interest moved elsewhere and he nodded his head to the lounge directly opposite you. You turned to where the cuddling couple had been lying earlier.

It was the same couple as before, but their spooning had grown more intense. The person lying in front had the hand of their partner buried into their shorts. You saw the crotch of their pants bulging, the material twitching and dancing to a frantic rhythm. You licked your lips, your eyes growing wide as you watched what were familiar movements.

“Actually, I’d rather do something like that to you.” Thomas said of the fingering.

It felt like the two of you were looking through a living and breathing catalogue. You could peruse the many sexual acts as effortlessly as you could flick through the pages of a catalogue, reviewing it all until you found the thing that jumped to the top of your wishlist.

You looked at him, feeling how your heart had started fluttering. You followed the line of his jaw with your fingertips. “Should we head home and take care of that impulse you’re having?”

“Home?” He repeated, a quizzical look on his face. “We’re gonna leave the sex club to go and have sex?”

“Well I didn’t want to just assume…”

“I think we should check out the private suites, don’t you? In the spirit of experimenting and just trying things out, right?”

You smiled and nodded your head, pleased to see that he had seemingly found his footing in this environment. “Right.”

Without hesitation, he got to his feet. He grabbed your jacket in one hand, before offering to help you up with the other. You were filled with excitement, ready to share all of the horny thoughts that had been building up in your mind.

You placed the loop at the end of his leash around your wrist and followed his steps to the elevator. You admired as much as there was to see on your way out. Someone was performing an impromptu striptease for a couch full of people, the puppy hood remaining on their head as everything else was being shed.

You and Thomas stepped into the empty elevator, then you pressed the button to take you up to the next floor. He smiled at you as you placed an arm around his waist. You rubbed your hand across the small of his back before reaching down lower, until you could wrap your hand around his temporary tail.

He drew in a quick inhale, seeming to be able to predict what you were planning to do. And he didn’t try to stop you, just biting into his lip when you found the plug’s hidden button. It offered less options than the Bluetooth-connected control panel on your phone, but it vibrated and that was all you really needed.

Under the elevator lights, you could see how the look in his eyes had changed as you leaned in closer. As you kissed him, you took your hand off of the tail, the lowest setting of vibrations would be enough for right now.

The doors slid open to a much quieter room, but with equally dim lighting. Walking out of the elevator you saw the tall check-in desk on the right. This was the main feature of the room, which quickly became a corridor. You felt less like you were in a night club, now you were being reminded of visiting a hotel.

The clerk behind the counter showed you a bright smile (far happier and more polite than any hotel worker you had ever come across in all of your travelling).  “Hey guys, how can I help?”

“Are there any rooms available?” You asked.

“Indeed there are. Can I just get your names to check in our database?” They asked and you provided both hands as Thomas quietly stood half a step behind you, keeping his eyes down. “Here’s your access card.” They gestured to the hallway full of shut doors. “You’ll be in suite thirteen. If you run into issues, we have a comm’s system and you can hit the button to get through to our staff and they will come to help you straight away. Condoms are provided and we have both latex and non-latex in case you have any allergies. Play safely and we hope you enjoy the rest of your night here.”

“Thanks so much.” You said.

The hallway had better lighting, and you led the way past the other numbered doors. Your suite sat somewhere in the middle, with more doors running along the corridor, exceeding number thirteen.

The key-card unlocked the door and you stepped in, Thomas close behind you. It was a straight- forward room, the only piece of furniture was a large, four poster bed, covered with white sheets. He shut the door and you let go of his leash, walking forward to get a proper look at the space. There were some shelves mounted on the wall beside the bed and you recognised the row of candles lined across the top as fakes, the light coming from an LED light, programmed to flicker. The phrase ‘play safely’ echoed in your mind, and you saw the multiple packs of condoms on the next shelf.

“I swear to God, our bedroom has never smelled this clean.” He said, crossing the floor. He peaked through an open door, opposite to where you had entered. “Oh cool, we’ve got our own crapper.”

You chuckled, shaking your head. “Don’t say crapper right now, caro.”

He turned to face where you had sat down on the mattress. “No?”

“No- sure, it’s good to know there’s a toilet in here. But this is the time when we should be having dirty talk, not gross-out talk.”

“My bad.” He said with a sheepish smile. “What kind of dirty talk?”

“I wanna hear how you’re feeling.” You said as he joined you on the mattress, needing to take extra precautions when it came to sitting down with the plug in his ass. “I wanna know what you’re thinking.”

“I’m not gonna lie to you- I’m not thinking a lot of thoughts right now.” He said and you cupped his face in your hands. “But I feel pretty great.”

“Do you think that’s because of the buzz from the beer and the buzzing your plug is doing?” You asked.

He licked his lips. “Partially. But it’s mostly because I’m glad that it’s just you and me again.”

“Me too.” You said, smiling as you leaned in to kiss him. “So, you truly aren’t wishing you were having your cock sucked like that guy in the other room?”

“It’s not that I would turn a blow job down.” He said. “In fact, the day that I refuse a blow job, is the day you need to call the paramedics because I would be dying, or I might already be dead.” You laughed. “Truly, I’m still thinking about touching you, feeling you and finding out how you’re feeling, how all of this has been affecting you.”

You allowed him a few more kisses before pulling back a little. “That’s not what I’m thinking. Because, do you see these bed posts?” He glanced at the bed frame. “They’re giving me ideas…” You started to unbuckle your leather belt. “The last time we had a proper play session, you were only allowed to use your hands…” You pulled the belt free from the loops of your ripped jeans. “How do you feel about doing the opposite?”

There was a sparkle in his eyes as he looked back at you. “Do you want to tie my hands to this bed?”

“I would love to do that, if it’s okay with you. Obviously it wouldn’t be as fancy as what I could do with the supplies we’ve got at home. But I still think we could have a lot of fun.” You said.

He grinned, sitting up on his knees, clearly ready to move as you dictated. “Alright, let’s have some fun, babe.”

“Wrists.”

But he hesitated, stopping himself before extending his arms to you. “Did you want me to take my clothes off first?”

“Nope.” You said simply. You held your belt in one hand, reaching around him with the other. You gently took the tail in your hand and his body visibly quivered when you set the vibrations to the next level of intensity. “With these pants, that’s not necessary. And I wouldn’t want to get you out of this outfit, not yet. ‘Cause I love you like this.”

You ran your hand up from the nape of his neck, to the back of his head, able to bring him in closer like this. You heard him take in a quick, excited breath when you kissed him, before he melted into it. You could feel the hunger in how he kissed you back, his tongue moving forward to meet yours. He started to lean his body weight into yours, placing a hand tenderly to your cheek.

But you resumed your position of power by putting both hands on his shoulders. You used this to guide him, moving him back, until he was laid out on the bed.

He started to stretch his arms up, above his head. On your knees, you moved over, closer to the corner post you had chosen for him to get tethered to. He put his wrists together and you checked that there weren’t any twists in the belt.

“The way that you look tonight, I am absolutely obsessed.” You said, lining the middle of the belt up under his wrists. “You’re the best, sexiest, most gorgeous puppy in this place.”

He looked up at you as you wrapped the leather strap around his wrists. “I don’t know if I’d say the best.”

“That’s fine, I wasn’t asking your opinion.”

“I just think there are people here who look far more impressive. Like, they are turning actual looks. They put a lot of money into their fetish gear. And the dedication to put on a full bodysuit of latex, or wearing a mask that covers your whole head for the whole night? I doubt I could ever do that…”

You started to manipulate the end of the belt into a knot against the bed’s post. “And you don’t need to. It doesn’t matter what other accessories any of those pups’ have, there is literally nothing that I would add to your outfit, ‘cause nothing needs to be added.” You sat back once he was attached to the bedframe. As you looked at him, you stroked your hand across his forehead. “Looking at you right now, I’m seeing the perfect bottom bitch.”

This brought a small smile to his face. “Your bottom bitch.”

“That’s right. Now, are your hands and arms comfortable like this?” You asked.

His response was immediate. “Yes.”

“Can you tell me a colour?” You asked.

He met your eyes and he looked so determined, putting his full confidence into the word as he said it. “Green.”

You smiled and swooped down to give him a quick kiss, standing up before things could escalate. “Good. ‘Cause I’m about to make you feel like the best pup.”

His eyes remained on you, watching as you went over to the shelves. Amongst what was on offer, you spotted the brand of condoms that you regularly bought. You plucked one out of the box, placing it on the bed before beginning to take your boots off. You weren’t concerned with getting fully naked, but you knew that skinny-fit jeans wouldn’t be conducive to the things you were planning to do.

Once your pants and underwear were gone, you returned to the bed, mounting your boyfriend, sitting on the top of his thighs. He looked at you, his eyes bigger than before, his excitement clear. The vinyl material of his pants was hot, sticking to the insides of your legs.

You undid the button, then grabbed the zipper tab, pulling it down until you could see his black underwear. You moved the waistband down, making room for you to reach your hand inside. He bit into his bottom lip as you wrapped your fingers around his cock, pulling his boner free.

You picked up the single condom and his breath started to come in quicker as you covered his erection with latex. Once it was on, your eyes flashed up to his face and you saw him watching, his lips parted now. He was waiting, concentrating with such intensity that you could tell he was no longer thinking of anyone else in this building - not to compare outfits, not to picture certain acts.

You rocked yourself forward and tightened your legs around him. You lined your crotch up with his, using your hand to guide his cock between your labia majora, pointing directly to the ceiling for the moment. You felt warmth bloom throughout your body at this pressure now resting against your clit, beginning to invite in sensitivities as you felt your body differently to how you had been inhabiting it all night.

The smile on your face grew when you leaned forward, indulging in more pressure on your clit as you reached down. Your thumb went back to the control button on his tail, this time you increased the vibrations by two levels. You felt his body grow more rigid beneath you in response. And with an arch of his back, his shaft was pressed more firmly against your clit. Your eyes fluttered shut as you listened to him give a little whimper.

You straightened up and lifted yourself a bit, wrapping your hand around the base of his cock. You moved forward again, until you were in the right spot to push his tip inside. You lowered yourself, more of his shaft disappearing into you. You gasped as he writhed between your clenched thighs.

That triumph of pleasure was blossoming in you, your excitements no longer contained. You jerked your hips forward, feeling a greater stretch around him.

“Best puppy ever.” You purred.

He pushed back against your thrusts, as you grinded down with all of your body weight, increasing the impact of every collision. You grabbed for his leash, wrapping it around your fist as you sought for the perfect pacing.

“Me first.” You said, making sure the authority in your voice was clear. “Are you gonna wait for your turn to come, puppy?”

“Yes, yes, yes, I will.” He whined.

You stroked your pussy up-and-down his cock, your walls beginning to clench as you aimed to conclude each thrust with your hips pressed to his. He kept his eyes shut, concentrating on the movements as he allowed you to work his body over as you desired.

Your sensitivities grew and you started to gain speed as more of your body responded to these heavenly sensations. Looking down at him in his current state made you go even faster as he inspired a greater need within you. You tightened your grip on the leash, eliminating any unnecessary slack in the length of chain.

Everything was feeding into your arousal as your walls uncontrollably clenched around him. He was struggling for breath and there was a sheen of sweat on his face as he kept rutting up into you.

You were both recklessly pursuing that climax, with him wearing the effects of your lust already, his pale skin had been dirtied with smears of your dark lipstick. You leaned a little further forward, getting closer to watch his reactions to your energetic rocking. In this moment he was (in every possible sense) yours and that knowledge made your heart swell in your chest. It also made you want to take everything you could from him, using his body to fulfil the needs that wouldn’t exist without him.

You had shifted into a frenzied pace, your body growing tenser as the time for recovery between thrusts rapidly shrank.  The chain rattled, a musical tinkling as all of your power went into your hips jolting.

“Yes, slut.” You hissed, beginning to lose yourself in the perfect tempo your bodies were sharing. “Give it to me, juh-just like that.”

You kept your hips in motion as you sought his tail out with your shaking hand. You turned the vibrations up another notch, rewarded by hearing a choked sob from him.

You watched him, leaning in close to him as you started to feel the climax dawning upon you. You were filled with awe at the sight of your entirely perfect puppy.

The orgasm arrived, immediately making all of the muscles in your body melt. You were overwhelmed by the glory of this pleasure, moaning loudly as you experienced only bliss.

His voice broke as he murmured words of encouragement, keeping you as his main focus. He didn’t seem to be able to keep himself still in this moment, writhing and giving little bucks from under you. All of which prevented you from fully coming down from your orgasm, he was making you feel as if your nerves were charged with electrical currents.

You threw your head back with a gasp, seeing that slightly-dazed look in his eyes as he looked at you. You couldn’t help yourself, turning the vibrations up, to the sounds of his wordless whines. Then you were looking at the whites of his eyes, until his eyelids fluttered shut.

You hadn’t been keeping track of how many times you had pressed the button on his tail, meaning that he might be struggling to maintain his composure through the most intense vibrations.

You sat up, watching how rapidly his chest was rising-and-falling. You could tell that he was right on the edge of falling apart. You slowed how you were rocking your hips into him, but you weren’t very interested in going easy on him yet - not while you were too excited to come down from your peak.

You secured even more thrilling heights of pleasure by slapping your fingers against your pussy, colliding with your clitoris. You were both left reeling from this and it would have been impossible to judge who had shouted louder. You saw fireworks popping in front of your eyes as your cunt squeezed harder on him.

You were stunned, hardly recovered from the first full-body quake before striking your clit again. The stinging was immediately over-ridden by satisfaction and you were inspired to keep going, leaving your boyfriend to wail. His legs spasmed as he was rocked to his core, the limbs flailing restlessly.

“Fuck, fuck.” He burst out.

You watched him squirming and you counted this orgasm as just for you. It was intensely personal, with a complete disregard of how many other bodies had been fucked on this bed.

You slapped your cunt a few more times, until the squeeze on his dick was too much and he became ruined by the climax. He arched his back into you, his face scrunched up in the effort. He shouted through another crack in his voice, then groaned, going limp.

You moved off of him immediately - to finally get your chance to start coming down. You could feel the adrenaline starting to leave your body as you removed the belt from around his wrists. You grabbed his knee and tugged on it until he rolled onto his side, allowing you to grab the tail. You turned the vibrations off before taking the plug out, listening to his laboured breaths.

You collapsed onto the bed next to him, shutting your eyes at once. You lifted your arm when you felt him moving in closer and he laid his head on your flattened chest.

“I love you, amore.” He said in a husky voice.

You smiled, still enjoying the after effects of so much pleasure. “I love you too.”

… … … 

You didn’t hang around the club for much longer, not after achieving more than you had hoped to accomplish in the very first visit. Thomas wanted to take a shower and you were ready to fall asleep, so an Uber was ordered.

You sat in the backseat of the car, one hand outstretched towards him, your fingers intertwined with his. You held your phone in your other hand, scrolling through the updates you had missed on Instagram without much interest.

“I think that when we go back…” He started to say.

At once you looked over at him, a smile developing on your lips. Your heart fluttered a little as you admired him in the dim lighting cast from the streets beyond. You were enthused by his sense of adventure.

You thought that he looked sexier now than he had at the beginning of the night. His hair was no longer purposefully styled, it was simply a bird's nest-level of chaos. The thick black liner applied under his eyes had streaks, tracks of darkness spilling down his cheeks. Not to mention your lipstick prints still decorating his skin. He was a masterpiece created by the collision of your desires.

His appearance gave you tingles, keeping you warmed by the flames of passion because you were instantaneously being reminded of what the two of you had just done. What he had allowed you to do and what he wanted to repeat.

“Obviously we’ll go back for Pup Night, but I-”

You jumped in to take a stab at finishing his thought. “You wanna wear a rubber thong?”

“Actually, I was thinking that would be more your style.” He said, making you chuckle. “No. I would like to socialise a bit more. We were very much sticking to just us tonight, which was pretty natural for our first time, I’d say. But we could get to talking and maybe meet some cool people and get some more, uhm, kink resources. Like, maybe there’s a bunch of really cool shops right under our noses that they could tell us about.”

“Oh, so you wanna ask where they bought their rubber thongs from?”

“Exactly.” He said with a smile, giving your fingers a little squeeze.

He was already lusting for more and you couldn’t wait to see what came next for the two of you.

»»————-　♡　————-««

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[currywaifu]

𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: escape room 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩: minagi tsuzuru/reader 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: sfw 𝐰𝐜: 3.4k words, 3 images

𝐚𝐧: the combi of my love for this tsuzuru sr card + a certain enabler + my first time wearing handcuffs being in an escape room = the birth of this fic. it’s chaotic, but so is every escape room experience i’ve had. wtf is this fic.

One of the perks of having Tsuzuru as a boyfriend was that the two of you always found ways to have fun and go out on dates without spending a lot of money. Neither of you were big on splurging out a bunch of money anyway— not with you rather spending your allowance on necessities and Tsuzuru being the King of Part-timers™.

Watching community and college plays, having picnics, movie marathons, making dinner together, going grocery shopping, taking advantage of coupon sites, couples promos and happy hours to get great deals on things you wouldn’t normally be able to just for the ultimate discount...

It was domestic, it was homey, and it was Tsuzuru through and through; you loved every single second of it.

Which was why you were surprised when he suggested going to an escape room together.

“Those can be kind of pricey, right?” you replied, raising your voice slightly to make sure he could hear you despite the noise you were making in the kitchen. You turned the burner to high heat, scooching the veggies over to one side of the pan, melting the remaining butter in the other half.

“Oh, well, a friend gave me a 20% discount coupon. Apparently he didn’t need it anymore,” Tsuzuru’s voice was a little quiet coming from your phone’s speaker, and you quickly put down the soy sauce to adjust the volume before going back to the stove.

“I figured there was some kind of catch,” you replied with a soft chuckle as you continued stirring the veggies and sautéing the rice. “When do you wanna go? I know we’re both busy over the weekend, and that’s when we usually—“

Your hand halted its motions as soon as Tsuzuru uttered the word, “tomorrow.”

It wasn’t like you weren’t free, thankfully you only had one, albeit three hour, lecture during Tuesdays, but wasn’t he saying it a bit suddenly? It was a Monday evening, after all.

“Why tomorrow?”

Your boyfriend’s awkward laughter rang, but he remained undeterred as he explained to you his reasoning— going to an escape room would be a good way to get more writing experience, especially in terms of creating and feeling the ambience.

“Plus, not only is it cheaper if we go together, but the rates are also lower Monday to Thursday,” after a few seconds of silence on your part, he quickly added in, “and! And, we usually don’t have dates like this… so it’ll be fun, right?”

That thought process was so like Tsuzuru that you couldn’t help but smile.

Oh, the rice and veggies were already turning brown?

“You know what? I’m not even surprised,” you commented, adding and stirring in the rest of the ingredients. Ahhh, it was starting to smell heavenly, “by the way, have you had dinner yet?”

“About to. Excited to figure out what kind of curry we’re having,” a giggle escaped you upon hearing Tsuzuru’s deadpan voice, “are you almost done cooking?”

“Just about done!” after giving the rice a taste, you decided to season it with a pinch of salt and pepper, “thanks for giving me your fried rice recipe, by the way. Even though I’m the one cooking it, it feels like I’m about to eat something you made with love~”

As you were pretty much done with the kitchen, Tsuzuru’s exhale was a lot more audible to you. You could already envision the slight quiver in his tight-lipped grin and the way he would avert his eyes for a few seconds as he addressed you.

“Seriously, don’t be so cute,” he said, sounding a little exasperated, “sometimes I don’t know how to respond anymore.”

“A writer at a loss for words?” it was steadily getting difficult to keep the bubbling up amusement in check— you should probably be serving yourself dinner and accomplish your work for the night, but in the same manner it was always fun to flirt with the brunet. “When you put it that way, it makes me want to act even cuter for y—“

“Anyway!” you couldn’t hold back your laughter at his sudden interruption. Alright, that was enough for the both of you tonight.

“So are you free tomorrow?” he asked.

Well, who were you to be able to say no to that?

You completed signing the waiver the staff asked you to fill out, before turning to Tsuzuru.

“I forgot to ask, but which room are we playing? They have, like, 3 different ones here.”

Your eyes followed where Tsuzuru’s pointer finger landed— a simple but eerie poster in black and white, the three masks you could commonly see in craft stores plain and copies of one another, save for one thing. The first mask had gloved hands atop its eyeholes, the second had them covering where the ears would be, and the third had them placed over the lips.

Domain of Discernment.

“I don’t know much about it, but it’s one of the more popular ones. Apparently we’ll be held captive by some serial killer named Sire Maniac, and we’ll have one of our senses taken away,” he explained. Before he could potentially say anymore, one of the personnel went over to bring you right by the room entrance.

After giving a brief rundown of rules and some info about the room itself, she brought out an unused pair of foam earplugs and a blindfold. “Since there’s only two of you, we’ll be taking out the not being able to speak part. Both of you, choose who gets their sight or hearing removed for 50 minutes.”

You and Tsuzuru turned to look at each other, quietly discussing amongst yourselves which option would be more beneficial, coming to the conclusion that you would be the one to don the blindfold and he’d be the one with the earplugs.

“You might accidentally fall asleep if you had the blindfold,” you joked, “besides, I trust you to be able to guide me.”

Not one to be a killjoy or cheat, he plugged in the foam properly as you get your blindfold tied securely by the woman, making sure it definitely wouldn’t loosen up midway through the game.

When the both of you are within the room already, the both of you hear (well, Tsuzuru lip-reads) the woman say one more thing.

“After hand-cuffing you two and I leave the room, the timer will start. Good luck.”

… hand-cuffing?

With a sound of a click and seeing the door shutting from the distance, the both of you knew the timer would be counting down from 50 right about now.

You’re the first to speak up. You’re unsure where he’s facing right now, so you pulled your left hand knowing the pull of the metal chain would catch his attention, and you were right.

At the slight pressure on his right hand, he turned to face you with a hum leaving his mouth, and unexpectedly finding himself stupefied at the sight of you. You opened your mouth to say something, and he can excuse himself all he wanted that it was him not used to lip-reading yet, but he knew it wasn’t the truth.

He felt a little guilty, really. You both knew how flustered or embarrassed he could get around you, but how blissfully unaware you must be right now that his brain was literally mush because of your blindfolded self and how you were handcuffed to him. He, well, he never thought… no, he could never—

Time to kill that train of thought. Right now.

He should really be responding to you right now. What… what were you saying?

“You want me to describe our… surroundings?” he sighed in relief as you nodded. Okay, at least a part of him was still functioning properly. All he had to do was focus on that and not hyper focus on you.

The two of you were in a cell of sorts— barred, jail doors preventing your exit into a much larger room, which inevitably would lead to a door the both of you would escape to.

Though the jail room was significantly smaller, there were an assortment of items to sift and look through— boxes with and without locks, some papers scattered on a small desk, a lampshade that was left turned off, and a CD player were what stood out the most to him.

After relaying it to you, you pulled him again by your shared shackles as you asked him to read out what was in the papers—the first, a hint on how to figure out the number combination to unlock one of the boxes and a code decryption guide.

The second, a torn page from a “book” of either plants or poisons, based on the content and stylisation. Atropa belladonna, also known as deadly nightshade.

“Why are shade and floor highlighted though?”

Another pull on the cuffs. Another look at you— and trying not to be awkward about it as he combined his lip-reading with whatever the earplugs couldn’t block out of your voice.

“Shade? You said there was a lamp shade, right? Maybe a key or something is hidden under there?” you suggested, a pout set on your lips, “don’t know what the relevance of floor is, though.”

He didn’t have to look very far, the papers being situated on the desk beside the lampshade. It’s in his second time staring though that he realised something’s off with it. “You’re right, there’s something in the lampshade.”

When he lifted the bell-shaped cover, he’d come to find that there was no lightbulb in the first place, but a thin flashlight cleverly inserted within a vase. “If there’s a flashlight in the vase, then—“

“Shine a light on the floor!” you exclaimed, excited at the prospect of being able to move forward with the game, despite not being able to see.

Doing just that, he swished the flashlight left and right, verbally listing all the letters he could see.

“X, O, I, C, T…” you repeated, before trying to clap your hands (keyword: trying to, handcuffs say no), “the order is toxic! So the encrypt—“

“I’ll decode it ASAP,” Tsuzuru replied, immediately referring to the guide the “killer” oh so graciously left there.

“The passcode is… 420652,” he fumbled with the digits on the only 6 numbered padlocked box, before grinning, “alright, we got it!”

Another tug, and at this point he’s already aware that tug or pull on the cuff equals you having something to say.

“If they were gonna do a 420 joke, they should’ve inserted a 666 joke for the full eerie, creepy effect.”

Okay, just how was he able to lip read that perfectly? Was he just that used to the dumb jokes you made?

“I can just imagine your dream escape room— all the hints and puzzles are meme related,” the earplugs were unable to block your laugh, ringing through the room as he opened the box. A key, and a CD.

Knowing that between the two remaining boxes left, one of them needed a key so that was pretty much solved. The disc, on the other hand…

He called your name, you turning to face him based on the direction of his voice. “Since there’s a CD player and a CD, and unless I go really close I wouldn’t be able to hear anything—“

“I’ll listen carefully, no sweat!”

“I swear, if I hear the word wall another time, I will scream... and this isn’t even a horror room!”

The two of you came across your first real obstacle. Your audio just talked about poisonous vines growing on walls and other surfaces, while his box just contained another note that neither of you could decipher whatsoever. For five minutes, the two of you stood there, pondering.

Every once in a while, Tsuzuru would check the giant timer— currently displaying that 35 minutes were left.

“… honestly, just give it to me,” you suddenly spoke, Tsuzuru’s shoulders going up in shock.

“Give what?”

“The box! While we try to figure it out, I’ll use my nonexistent luck to just guess the passcode somehow,” you explained, feeling up the type of padlock it was “it’s just rolling everything around anyway until it magically opens.”

Within less than a minute, you had figured out the passcode.

“I’m—“ Tsuzuru trailed off, clearly just as shocked as you were. Your eyes probably would’ve been wide open right now.

“Eye… so this is where all my luck went,” you said, before shaking your head to refocus yourself, “okay! So inside the box is a… another key? It has buttons… car key?”

You hand the object to the brunet, who, upon taking it from you spared no second in his next actions.

“Wall,” he said out loud, pointing the car keys at the wall. With one press of a button, the wall, slowly but surely, opened to reveal another room. Though you couldn’t see it, the sound was loud enough to amaze you as well.

“Worm,” you breathed out, “pretty lit, not gonna lie.”

You wouldn’t know but the room was actually extremely dark, so not lit at all. Thank god he had a flashlight or else the handcuff + your blindfold + him not being able to lip read combo would be… particularly deadly.

The misunderstandings, he could already imagine it. Ah, well, for the writing experience.

“I don’t know what worm means, but yeah, lit.”

“Sorry,” Tsuzuru apologised as he bumped into you for the nth time.

Obstacle number two was unlike any other. It wasn’t another audio recording, neither a puzzle nor riddle.

“Ah, shit, sorry!” you shouted for the nth time, raising your voice as much as you could so Tsuzuru would be able to hear you properly.

This was getting ridiculous. You were able to figure out the meaning of an audio file after a few loops, while Tsuzuru got to work reading more clues and unlocking locks. The real problem, however, was since the room was dark and had limited space, the two of you tended to crash against one another even with what limited movement you could make.

You had to wonder— did the staff get some sort of amusement or feel any pity watching people stumble around in this room through the CCTV? It wasn’t so bad in the jail room, but this closet? storage? room gave you two a run for your money. How did other people get through this room, genuinely? Especially the bigger parties?

“… I have an idea,” Tsuzuru mentioned. You wait for him to tell you what it is, his hesitance confusing you. However, before you could have said anything, you felt his strong arms wrapped around you.

Was… was there an equivalent to a verbal keyboard smash? Even if you weren’t saying it out loud to save you the embarrassment, the fact still stood that your brain was legit going ztesxrdctijmoljhnge right now. Help—

“How does this… help?” you asked, still a little confused by his motive. He wasn’t really one for PDA, and despite the two of you being the only ones in the room the fact still stood that the escape room staff are probably required to glance at the CCTV monitors every once in a while to check up on you two.

“Since we’re… handcuffed, and there’s barely any space it’d be better to just stay together,” he explained as nonchalantly as possible, “sorry, it’s just for this room. We’ll go back to normal when we get to the last room.”

See, if your brain was working right now, you’d be able to think of a counter or a better solution— actually, if you could see right now maybe you could point out something about Tsuzuru’s face that screamed he was lying, but something about escape rooms just made your logic go brrr.

That, or you were just a simp for your own boyfriend.

… not gonna lie, the chances of it being both were pretty high.

“Makes sense. Can’t bump into each other when you’re already stuck together,” you said, already convincing yourself.

Sorry to whoever’s manning the CCTV monitor, it was their fault for handcuffing the two of you anyway.

Well, this set up wasn’t that bad. Other than, you know, getting to hug Tsuzuru, you were able to still keep doing your task while he did—

You heard the padlock unlock after your fingers pressed a certain combination of numbers. Pushing the device upwards, the cabinet doors opened as you removed the lock.

“It’s a digit push combination padlock! How are you doing this? Blindfolded?”

“I… I have guessing powers. For locks.”

“I’m considering robbing a bank or business with you now.”

“Awww, cute couple’s date idea!”

After two or three minutes of Tsuzuru doing some last minute riddle solving, the sound of jingling keys and him letting go of you let you know of one thing— you two were almost out.

With a writer compromising one half of the team, and an exceptional guesser and context clue figure-outer as the other half, you weren’t gonna lie— the last room was kind of anti-climatic to go through.

…

SIKE!

Every time the two of you ever accomplished anything, be it decrypting a message, unlocking something, or finding a hidden item the two of you still reacted to it— Tsuzuru being more on the shookt side and you being on the hype side.

With fifteen minutes to spare, only one thing was left to do— finding who Sire Maniac’s real name, and then decoding that name into number form so you could use it on the exit’s number pad lock. It was pretty obvious to you that you had to use the number equivalents of the name, but first… you needed to know the name.

“You sure you don’t want to try your luck?” Tsuzuru teased, procuring a huff out of you.

There were only two clues. The first was a letter to an A. R. Nicolas, detailing something about being thankful for a book.

Initially, the two of you thought that that A. R. Nicolas would be his real name, but clearly it was some sort of pen name based on the second clue— several torn pages from a book penned by the very same A. R. Nicolas the letter was addressed to.

It was clear— Sire Maniac and A. R. Nicolas were the same person, but what was his third identity? His real identity?

“What are the poisons on the torn pages again? Those usually have something to do with the answer,” you asked Tsuzuru. The sound of shuffling of paper entered your ears as he began listing them off.

“Ricin, amatoxin, tetradotoxin, chloropicrin, batrachotoxin… and arsenic.”

“Huh… arsenic is the only one that ends differently, lol,” you pointed out with a laugh, before it quickly died as the realisation dawned on you, “no fucking way.”

“Okay what the hell, I think you’re on to something,” Tsuzuru replied hastily, “because A. R. Nicolas, as in A. R. Nic. Arsenic.”

“Tsuzuru. Tsuzuru. Tsuzuru—“ you chanted, before laying out one last game-changer, “Sire Maniac. Is a fucking anagram. For I am Arsenic.”

With a speedy enter of the number 2773642, the two of you had achieved freedom.

“Not gonna lie, some parts of it were a little cliche, but… I had fun,” you told him, the two of you walking home together, “I felt simultaneously dumb and a genius at the same time.”

“Same to both, honestly,” Tsuzuru replied, before looking down at your hand linked with his. “Huh, haven’t you had enough of being stuck with me?”

You rolled your eyes. “I could say the same to you— didn’t you totally take advantage of us being handcuffed together? Or me being blindfolded?”

It was just a joke, but Tsuzuru’s sudden sputtering caught you off guard. Did… aha, no way, did he actually enjoy that gimmick?

“Tsu~ zu~ ru~”

“Whatever you’re thinking, that’s not it—“

“Are you sure? Because—“

“You’re misunderstanding something.”

“I’m just saying, it’s better to be honest~”

As the stoplight turned red, the two of you finally found the time to take a good look at each other. The laughter that erupted was instantaneous.

“Thanks for going out with me today,” Tsuzuru said softly, the blooming smile on his face impossible for you to not mirror.

“Thank you for inviting me,” you replied, “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

After a few seconds, the stoplight turned green, and the two of you continue making your way back home.

want to order again?

𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐞𝐬: ⤷ curium fairway (the person who sent arsenic the letter) is an anagram for “i am currywaifu”.

⤷ the “reader is good at guessing part” is just based off of me. being really good at guessing padlock combinations.  ⤷ the hugging part was based on my two irl friends (who are dating) hugging in front of the cctv

⤷ the “one sense gets removed” and “being handcuffed to someone” part is based on two different escape rooms i played

⤷ i wasn’t supposed to make a whole concept for the escape room with media and riddles... but i decided to finally make use of all the research i did before on poison. am i on a watchlist?

#a3! #a3! act! addict! actors! #tsuzuru minagi #tsuzuru minagi x reader #minagi tsuzuru #cafe: dessert menu #a3! tsuzuru #a3! imagines #a3! x reader

[psrj]

do you have any advice for knowing when to stop with art? sketches I'm okay with, but recently I've been overpainting and adding too much, and ruining pieces

So I’ve been staring at this in my inbox for literal months now, because putting any kinda coherent thoughts together has proven to be a MAJOR pain in the ass. But I do have a lot of thoughts so I’m just gonna … spew some garbage under the cut.

So, how do you know when to stop with art?

I’m just gonna run down my own process when a piece just drives me completely insane, because to me, that’s what this boils down to. Because I personally just work on a piece until I’m content with the result. That’s all the wisdom I have to that. 

This means that the problem is continually adding stuff that isn’t making you any happier with the piece you’re working on.

So, try to spot what you aren’t liking. Why is the piece ‘ruined’? Why haven’t you declared it done already? Here’s what I look for when I realise that I’m pretty damn mad at whatever I’m working on:

1. Imbalance in stylisation and rendered details -

this depends A LOT on artstyle, but for me this means there’s too much detail somewhere. For example, a big dissonance between the face and the rest of the body in both realism and rendering.

For me, this means zooming out, and whipping out the Big Brush. All parts of the piece needs to work together stylistically. Continuous rendering is basically never gonna fix it, do not be scared of redoing something entirely.

2. Just real fucked up anatomy and/or lighting -

whip out the references. no way around it. probably the simplest one, just difficult to realise sometimes. buuuut if you’ve already noticed something is off, you’re halfway there already.

3. The composition is fundamentally not working - 

alright, personally, this is the real hard one to spot, but ruins a piece for me very easily. My instinct is to work on something until it feels right, but when the composition is unappealing, the whole concept works against me. 

For me this is only really fixed by properly planning a piece conceptually. Which can be hard if you didn’t intend for something to be a piece to begin with. But zooming out, squinting, gray scaling, it all helps when it comes to figuring out why something about a piece might be driving you slowly insane.

What ultimately helps me is keeping an analytical mind through out a piece. Work big to small, start out by blocking things in two or three values, ALWAYS SAVE PREVIOUS VERSIONS. Go back and compare constantly, it’s THE best thing about digital art. Don’t be afraid to completely redo parts, if only to figure out what’s bothering you about it.

So to summarise this heaping mess, if you think that your overpainting has ruined a piece, you’re already halfway there. Your mission then is to figure out WHY. Figure out why you keep working on the parts you are, if you’re actually fixing something or if you’re just adding disconnected amounts of detail. 

Know your goal, the aesthetic and/or style you’re going for, learn how to spot underlying technical mistakes throughout your process and ALWAYS be ready to completely redo parts of it. It’s the absolute best way to learn.

#advice #aaaaaalright #i finally answered this one #just as much of a mess as usual but lets not have it any other way #i have a lot of thoughts and they're a Big Mess #honestly guys #feel free to dm me if you want like #my art opinions but don't want a fucking essay #im very excited to talk about the art process in general #again im completely fucking unqualified #( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) #ask

[defexperimentswexperimentalfilms]

WHEREIN I TEACH MYSELF TO ROTOSCOPE.

One of the concepts I learned recently in my class is the idea of rotoscoping, which is drawing over a piece of footage to interpret it through animation. I’ve always been interested in animation, but I’ve always deemed myself to be not so gifted when it came to drawing.

But when my lecturer demonstrated rotoscoping on paper, an idea hit me-- why don’t I try this out, but digitally? And so, a few days later, I had Adobe After Effects in my arsenal in order to try this method out.

Figuring out the program was admittedly difficult at first, especially with the juggling of layers. There were moments wherein I could not figure out the basic concepts such as rendering or drawing on image layers. But what I learned from this process was the worth of patience, and walking away from a program and coming back once the head is cleared.

The sample above is a simple and quick example of the finished potential of rotoscope. What I love about it is how stylised it looks even though the lines themselves are messy and haphazard. But it feels unique. This is a technique I will definitely be exploring more with my actual projects.

I just have to keep in mind all the things I’ve learned so far, and render layers correctly...

[against-a-dark-background]

Cyborg Identities – Media and Identity – The Terminator & Terminator 2: Judgement Day

On the internet, we are able to create new cyber-personalities, avatars that bear no resemblance to ourselves, and free ourselves from the constraints of the physical limitations of the real world. You are posthuman, (Becker, 362). Identities are always changing shape, in the same way water takes the shape of whichever containers it fills. This happens in real life (IRL) as well as in the internet domain.

Becker (362) notes theorist Donna Haraway states humans have already become cyborgs, and any delineations between human and machine are evaporating. We should not be afraid. There is nothing to fear. Skynet (Cameron, 1984) is not coming online anytime soon, and no Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 (ibid) is going to come from the future and say “Your clothes. Give them to me,” (ibid). Haraway and Butler state that “gender and sex,” (Becker, 362) are not natural but imposed upon us by particular debates and forced on our bodies by society (362). Haraway notes that our bodies cannot be considered as amalgamated units with delineations and definitive, static identities (362). New models such as computer code, optical, copper, and Wi-Fi networks — the whole global data network, of which the internet is only a part, and the fragmentation of technologies and media, have eliminated the idea that the only thing anyone can be sure of is that they exist, and genuine knowledge of anything else is unachievable (362).

“This is deep!”  - John Connor, Terminator 2 (Cameron, 1991).

In the postmodern world, we appear to be living in a situation of overexposure. Telotte notes Jean Baudrillard finds this “obscene” and “everything…immediately transparent, visible, exposed,” (26). Telotte, writing in 1992, thought that true science fiction films echoed Baudrillard’s notes on the overexposure that focused on the synthetic, the “robot, cyborg, android…” (26). These unnatural bodies threaten and frighten us. They make us feel as if we are headed for our own destruction if technologies relating to cyborgs, robots, and androids are left to continue on their current paths (26).

The two Terminator films show a conflict between humans and robots, cyborgs, and machines. Humans have been subjected to nuclear genocide by machines, led by the autonomous defence computer network, known as Skynet. The survivors band together and strike back at Skynet and the machines in the year 2029, in Los Angeles. The Resistance, as they are known, are so successful that Skynet decides to send — first, a cyborg back in time to kill the mother of the leader of the Resistance — and a second, more dangerous, implacable, inexorable Terminator to kill the Resistance leader, John Connor, while he is still a child (Telotte, 26).

The first film The Terminator (Cameron, 1984), shows the cyborg body, a technological threat that plays on society’s fears of what Telotte calls “Technophobia,” (Telotte, 28). The danger is not just for Sarah Connor, played by Linda Hamilton, if she is killed by the Terminator (T1), played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, the future of humanity is at stake (28).

 Telotte argues that showing us the “technologized body” as a threat from the T1, plays to a societal fear of “technophobia” (28). The T1 passes easily for a human. He sweats, his skin is shiny and oily, and his first interaction with some punks does not go well. At first, the T1 repeats what the punks say. He is completely naked, and the epitome of hegemonic masculinity. He kills one punk, the rest but one run away. The T1 then says his iconic line: “Your clothes. Give them to me,” (Cameron, 1984).

The T1 is so difficult to “read” that Kyle Reese, played by Michael Biehn — sent back through time by the Resistance, as the protector of Sarah Connor — cannot shoot the T1 in the nightclub, where Sarah is holed up, until the T1 makes his move.

After this shootout, and the following chase, in which Reese is arrested and Sarah gives a statement, the T1 shows up at the police station. He surveys the flimsy structure and says: “I’ll be back,” (Cameron, 1984). He then ploughs a car into the front of the station and massacres police in search for Sarah. Reese and Sarah escape.

The T1 is now shown to be more machine than cyborg. He has a damaged hand that he must repair — he cuts the living tissue off, exposing the metal skeleton — and fixes his damaged hand. His organic eye is irreparably damaged, so the T1 simply cuts out the organic eye covering, exposing the digital video camera he has in place of eyes, (Telotte, 28).

In Terminator 2: Judgement Day (Cameron, 1991), Telotte argues that the T1 is not a threat, but a protector. “Holy shit! My own Terminator, cool!” – John Connor, (Cameron, 1991). Sarah and John remove and alter the cyborg’s CPU so it can begin to learn (29).

Terminator 2: Judgement Day (Cameron, 1991) shows the rehabilitation of one Terminator, but the introduction of a second, more deadly, more unstoppable Terminator — the T-1000, played by Robert Patrick. It has no organic covering, no metallic endoskeleton — it is “all surface,” (Telotte, 29). The T-1000 has no gender, it is a “poly-mimetic alloy,” (Cameron, 1991) that can take on whatever shape it touches. Telotte argues that the T-1000, being all surface and no depth, or inner workings, indicates misleading reassurances that society may feel about the increasing hegemony of technology in our everyday lives (29).

The T-1000 is a genderless, fluid thing. It can form solid metal objects: stabbing weapons, prying tools, and other human beings —both women and men, with near-perfect accuracy. (It does not know John’s dog’s name.) “Your foster parents are already dead,” – The T1, (Cameron, 1991). The T-1000’s formless shape gives rise to a new kind of fear — “what shapes we give to our technological imaginings — and what shapes they could, in turn, give to us,”  (Telotte, 30).

Judith Butler states in Performative Acts and Gender Constitution that gender is “not a stable identity,” and gender is “…an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts,” (519). The T1 is the ultimate in male hegemonic masculinity. He is tall, well-muscled, with razor-sharp cheekbones, and a square cut jawline. His appearing naked also showed a shot of his penis, leaving no doubt that this cyborg stands for a masculine gender performance. Once the T1 has the punk’s clothes, and later the iconic image of him wearing sunglasses at night; this repetition of acts that carries over through two films, cements the T1 as the apex of hegemonic masculinity. He performs his gender by wearing punk clothes, by wearing sunglasses, by the use of weapons, by his muscle-bound frame, by his ultra-violence, and by riding a Harley-Davidson in Terminator 2, (Cameron, 1991).

Sarah Connor is an interesting case for her gender performance. As Butler contends; “the body becomes its gender through a series of acts which are renewed, revised, and consolidated through time,” (523). In The Terminator (Cameron, 1984), Sarah is first presented as an example of the opposite of the epitome of the 1984 female. She performs her gender by wearing jeans, riding a motorcycle, and when she is stood up by her off-screen boyfriend, she goes to the movies alone. She ends up in a restaurant, eating pizza, where she discovers, not only that a second Sarah Connor from Los Angeles has been executed, but also a third. When Kyle Reese saves (and kidnaps) her from the T1, and forces her to listen to him, she relents — and becomes passive, “I can’t even balance my check book!” – Sarah Connor, (Cameron, 1984). Later the pair have sex, conceiving John Connor.

By the end of The Terminator (Cameron, 1984), Sarah has changed her gender performativities that have been placed on her by the T1’s inexorable quest to terminate her. After Reese dies to save Sarah, she lures the remnants of the T1 into a hydraulic press. As she presses the button, crushing and destroying the T1, she says in a firm and deep voice: “You’re terminated, motherfucker!” (Cameron, 1984).

Sarah undergoes a dramatic gender performance change in the second film. The first time the viewer sees her, she is sweating, oily-skinned, and doing pull-ups on her upturned bedframe. Not only has she become a cyborg, but also, she has changed her stylised acts of repetition. Sarah has become masculinised in the way she performs her gender. She looks like a Terminator — well-muscled and prone to violence and aggression. She is a weapons expert; she is in Pescadaro State Mental Facility because she was caught trying to blow up a computer factory, (Cameron, 1991).

The T1 performs his gender in much the same way as he did in the first film, except this time he is the protector, not the Terminator. After alteration of the T1’s CPU, he begins to learn — as he is lowered into molten steel, after hugging John and saying “Sorry John, I must go away now,” the T1 says “I know now why you cry,” (Cameron, 1991).

John Connor, played by Edward Furlong, performs his gender in a series of repetitions that become clearer throughout the film. At first, his performativity is that of the rebellious teen — he rides a motorbike and does not listen to his foster parents. In time, it becomes clear that John is compassionate. He discovers that the T1 must obey him, so he commands it not kill people anymore. The T1 now shoots them in the legs: “He’ll live,” says the T1 after shooting a security guard in the leg, (Cameron, 1991).

There is a moment in Terminator 2 where Sarah, fully armed and become a Terminator herself, masculinised and with deadly violent intent — goes to Miles Dyson’s house. Dyson, the inventor of Skynet, is days away from making a breakthrough which will set the future on a course of nuclear annihilation in 1997. At a considerable distance, the Terminator, Sarah Connor, aims an assault rifle with a laser scope at the back of Dyson’s head. She pulls the trigger. Dyson bends down at the last millisecond, and Sarah misses. She switches to fully automatic and begins spraying Dyson’s office with bullets. The magazine is empty, she pulls out an automatic 9mm pistol, and begins firing at Dyson, still a Terminator.

She enters the house and at close range, shoots Dyson through the shoulder. His family come rushing in and his son leaps onto his father. “Please don’t kill my boy,” Dyson begs. Sarah falters. Is she still a Terminator? She is a mother, with a son of her own. She slumps against a wall and begins to cry as John and the T1 enter. John hugs his mother, asks her if she is hurt and she becomes fully human in this moment: “I just couldn’t do it…I just couldn’t…I just couldn’t...I just…”  - Sarah Connor says. John holds her tightly as she begins to sob heavily. She is no Terminator. (Cameron, 1991).

Throughout the denouement of the film, Sarah regains and keeps her masculinised gender performance until the T1 is immolated, wherein she hugs the distraught John, in an act of motherly compassion.

   Works Cited

Becker, Barbara. "Cyborgs, Agents, and Transhumanists: Crossing Traditional Borders of Body and Identity in the Context of New Technology." Leonardo 33.5 (2000): 361-356. PDF. 16 October 2020. <https://www.jstor.org/stable/1576879>.

Butler, Judith. "Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory." Theatre Journal 40.4 (1988): 519-531. 16 October 2020. <https://www.jstor.org/stable/3207893>.

Telotte, J.P. "The Terminator, Terminator 2, & the exposed body." Journal of Popular Film & Television 20.2 (1992): 26-34. PDF. 16 October 2020.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Director's Cut). By James Cameron and William Wisher. Dir. James Cameron. Perf. Arnold Schwarzenegger, et al. Prods. James Cameron and Stephanie Austin. TriStar Pictures, 1991. Digital Video. 10 October 2020.

The Terminator. By James Cameron, Gale Anne Hurd and William Wisher. Dir. James Cameron. Perf. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn. Prod. Gale Anne Hurd. Orion Pictures, 1984. Digital Video. 10 October 2020.

#The terminator #Terminator 2: Jugement Day #Academic Paper - submitted to Turnitin - so don't plagiarise it! #I'm trusting Tumblr here #Be good to me #Cyborgs & Identity #Media & Identity #university #Brisbane #Charles' Fictional Memoirs & Sci-Fi & Pop Culture

[michaelchapmanba2a]

Inanimate Objects - Evaluation - 15/11/17

After a month and a half working on this project, this is where it comes to a close. Aced It was a film about a King card and a Joker card playing cards for the money in the middle. Shot like a 1940′s noir film, it was in black and white and had accompanying music, title card and credits much like the films from back then were like. I’m going to briefly talk about the style choices I made, what I like and what I don’t like.

First of all, the reason why the Joker to play against the King, when originally it was meant to be the King plays another King is because I liked the idea of the King of hearts thinking the Joker had cheated, and being the 1940′s he just pulls out a gun to shoot him and take his money anyway. Also doing research on playing cards led me to find out the King of Hearts has no facial hair while the other 3 do. It’s popular beliefs is the lack of facial hair signifies him being purest of the four kings. So I figured that the card game would essentially be a battle of good and evil. I also chose to edit this in black and white not only because I’ve never done anything this style before but also because I thought the shadows I could get from the cards would look better if the colours were removed. I also tried to stick to the theme as much as I could which warranted me to stick with the lack of colours.

I have to say that this is perhaps my most stylised film yet. I did give myself another hurdle in the form of trying to stick to a style that films were made 60+ years ago but I felt that led me on to make it as authentic to the real style as I could. I watched and studied many forms of noir pieces as well as card playing pieces of media to try and get my look right, taking pieces of information in with me to shoot the animation as in how the cards should stand, how they should react, how to make the card look like a body falling etc. I think the lighting is pretty consistent also and it looks great in black and white, making the shadows really pop. Both the cards look menacing. Especially when the king card looks down on his card to then look back up. I stuck to the brief, having a close up, wide and medium shot also. I think I particularly framed the final scene well. With the gun being in centre frame and the Joker being an over the shoulder shot to when he falls, you see the money through the bullet hole. I’m glad I made the bullet hole bigger in the end, whilst it’s exaggerated, I feel it kind of needs to be as it’s set in a universe where these things are alive. The stop motion is very smooth, my particular favourite moments are when the Joker card falls on the table, When the King picks up and drops the gun as well as the King looking at his cards then the Joker.

I do think there are issues wrong with this however. The most common criticism I have had is that the gun the King uses to shoot the Joker with is to small. I thought it was just the right size however a few people have made this criticism which does become a problem. I did re-use the gun I made last year for the puppets. It seemed to match the style of the guns they had in the 1940′s. People did suggest to cut round the gun to digitally make it bigger but with the amount of times it moves and creates a bit of a shadow i soon realised it was difficult to do. If I was to do this again I would either make a new gun or use a shop brought one. One thing that someone pointed out to me was that they were a bit confused with the shots. Obviously you only see the Joker face on once and that’s at the start when he deals the cards. From there it’s a close up of the King and a medium shot of the King and a over the shoulder shot for the Joker. I did think about this with filming and I was tempted to stick another Joker to his back but I feel that would complicate the issue further. The majority understand what is happening but it is a fair criticism. I think next time I wouldn’t have it as a over the shoulder shot so you see the Joker get shot. or maybe flip the roles, so I have it as the King over the shoulder shot to see the Joker get shot. Jon picked out the issue that I may have been able to show the card the King holds a bit better, perhaps from a low angle which I did attempt to do but I couldn’t quite get it right.I’m not sure how I could correct this issue in the future, perhaps I could have held the cards myself and point the camera up suggesting he’s holding onto it. One more thing of note is there are tiny bits of rigging left in there through no fault of my own. I missed them on the continuous re-watches. However I do think they are small enough to slip by but it still is an issue.

This was a really fun and engaging project. I really got invested in this to try and make it the best I possibly could. I did try to do the films from the 1940′s justice. Whilst it has it’s flaws I’m proud of what I accomplished.

#inanimate objects