#(first link is long (but worth it) but the second two videos are short) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ajcgames · 5 days

Text

Sounding performant

I had a late night last night tweaking things and getting a bit carried away with all-things audio.

There's quite a lot to cover from those developments, and there's some nerdy performance-related discussion later further down - so skip past all that if it's of no interest!

For now, here's a quick look at some of the work done on the audio system:

Now with sounds and music!

I spent a while working on the audio system for the game. This included setting up a bunch of initial sound effects for various things. Chief amongst these are the UI sounds - something I'm always really keen on getting right (I haven't yet added any audio to main menu screen yet though).

I've always been a fan of more understated audio feedback. Whilst it's nice to have solid, heavy-sounding call-to-action feedback in certain games, for games like this where you're continually interacting with the UI, I prefer to aim for very short clicks and pops.

I also wanted to get two other main things sorted out - the ambient background loop and some sort of music jukebox of sorts (nothing the player can see, this is an internal thing). The ambience is a kind of airy, factory-esque soundscape I discovered whilst hunting for loops, and I trimmed out a nice portion for a continual ambient loop.

How did I make a non-looping sample loop?

I discovered a neat trick some years back to loop any audio sample seamlessly. It's a similar trick to how you create seamless repeatable textures (in a weird kind of way).

Open up the sample in your program of choice. In this example I'm using Audacity.

2. Cut the sample in half from somewhere near the middle, and paste it onto a new track. Move the first half you just cut to begin almost as the second part ends (below they're arranged so that the first part begins about 1 second before the last part ends).

3. Fade-in the first part, and fade-out the last part by as much as the overlapped section (in my example they overlap by about 1 second, which is what I set both their fade in/out durations to):

And that's it! A perfectly looping sample! You can move the first track to start a bit earlier if you want to make the blend between them a little more balanced. For me, this strategy has worked countless times.

Music management

I discovered some nice royalty free, CC BY-SA licensed audio and music which I can attribute in the game's credits screen. I set up a background music randomiser so that it'll shuffle all the audio tracks and play them in order at a fairly low-key background volume.

The game has four primary audio mixers - effects, ambience, music, and master. The latter controls all the others, but having separate channels for each audio lane will let me add sliders that the players can control the levels of each. Something I'm sure players appreciate for their specific tastes.

Beyond this I had to spend some time setting up a global audio singleton (for easy reusability elsewhere in the game), and a lot of time in Audactity trimming and normalising a bunch of sound effects. The net result of all of this is in the video I linked earlier.

The big performance discussion

A few posts ago, I talked about the importance I attached to making sure the game was performant. In games where you allow the player to effectively build whatever they want in moreorless unlimited numbers, performance becomes a tabled issue before too long. It's also something worth considering as a matter of principle when developing a game, because not everybody will share the same specifications of your development machine.

I'm developing this game on a PC with an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and an nVidia 2070 Super. Not exactly 'prime gamer' specs, but maybe a bit higher than some folks who might want to play the game. Therefore, shooting for a decent level of optimisation is an important element for me.

I'm not trying to run the game on a potato or anything, but I'd like to ensure I'm making some basic optimisations if nothing else.

Stress testing

One of the best ways I've found of testing the game under load is to simply scale everything up. More objects, more running logic, more rendering. The works.

To this end, I created a stress testing class which I can just switch on in the project.

I've found that my current default map size of 40 allows for a pretty big factory, though the player may have to work up to that size initially. 40 feels like a good maximum, but why stop there? I want the ability to test the game at an arbitrary size - even far exceeding what I ever envisage it to be used for.

I find that the more you scale up, the easier it is to spot glaring problems in either the code or the rendering. To this end, I decided that the main likely culprit of code slowdowns would either be my belt logic, or my machine loop code.

To get started, I first needed a benchmark to test against.

Here is what the game runs like with absolutely nothing loaded into the level. Predictably, with no loaded machines or belts, and no logic being processed, it runs pretty fast as an empty level:

The test structure

When you enable the stress test, the game doesn't load a previous level, but instead lays out a level structure in an algorithmic format, following some layout rules and placement logic.

I first create a routine that adds an extractor against the edge of the level, then places down the maximum density of belts to reach the other size of the map - which is a zig-zag pattern. In order to get a couple of machine's worth of processing out of this layout (and to make sure it actually functions as a factory line), I drop an Analyzer on the end of it.

It looks something like this:

Then, I simply repeat this for every odd-numbered column in the level, and you then end up with this monster:

That is moreorless the maximum number of things you can put in a 40x40 level. Rather a lot.

Crucially though, this is where I can start looking at the raw numbers and see where my performance bottlenecks are.

Immediately I can see several problems.

There are way too many Batches being handled, along with a ludicrous number of Shadow casters. The render time of 11.6ms is both unsurprising and a little disappointing.

But this is without any optimisations having been made. So I can move straight on to the obvious things: static meshes.

There's thousands of items in this stress test, all being updated. But lots of things (machines & belts) never move and never rotate during the game once they're placed. You can combine these into static meshes to improve draw performance, along with allowing their materials to be GPU instanced to combine them together into single draw calls for each shared material object.

The effect is immediate, and almost doubled the average FPS available in this stress test.

I continued on, tweaking things like shadow complexity and removing them completely from some objects that didn't need to cast shadows at all. After a bunch of optimisations I had managed to get a stabilized average frame rate of around 180 fps.

There are definitely logic improvements I could make, but after running a lot of profiling on the game I was starting to make only tiny sub-millisecond improvements to the frame time.

After all my tweaks, I decided to go all-out and double the stress test map size.

I was plesantly surprised at how well it ran. If nothing else, it showed how well the belt code was working under such immense load.

Again, I should stress that there is no way there will be a need for 80x80 factory sizes, at least not in my current plan for the game. But it's nice to know that I'm still getting over 60 fps even at that extreme level.

Going above and beyond 80x80 footprints for a level would likely require some re-thinks about how I collate and render the level entirely. I'm convinced I can still do a lot of work about these shadow casters, but I'll need to do some research there. Shadows are notoriously expensive in graphics processing, so I'd like to fully understand what's going on there and mitigate it as much as possible. I expect I can make some additional gains to the FPS when I do so.

Anyway, that's about all I have for this one. I hope you enjoyed if you made it this far, and sorry it was such a long one. Hopefully you have a great day, wherever you are!

#indie games #game development #game dev blog #gamedev #automation #factory game

2 notes · View notes

jicklet · 1 year

Text

Finished the Persona 5 Anime, and I ended up liking it a lot more than I thought I would!

I definitely wouldn't recommend it to someone as their primary P5 experience, but if you've played the game and are hungry for more, it’s worth checking out!

Most of the fun is in how they connect all these various plots together into a coherent narrative, linking the confidant progressions into what’s happening with the overall plot or character development.

My favorite example of this is in the episode with Yusuke's confidant where he makes his speech at the end about his friends keeping him on track. Ren clearly learns from that, and so later when he gets into a discussion with Akechi about the Phantom Thieves being dangerous, Ren is able to echo Yusuke when he says that as long as the Thieves stay true to their justice, they'll stay on track. It’s a nice way to keep everything moving forward.

Another nice thing is that two infamously problem scenes got (imho) massively improved: the Mona-Ryuji fight, and the Ryuji scene at the end of Shido’s palace. I’ll go into more detail on how after some other stuff under the cut.

Cons 😅

They also threw in some weird extra fanservice moments in the first half, along the lines of generic anime “Ah yes Ann’s ass is talking” moments. Thankfully they seem to drop that in the second... season? half? whatever it is. Basically midway through there’s a new intro and they stop pulling that shit.

Yeah so the animation quality is notttt good, they seem to have been working off Yusuke’s food budget and everything went into making the fight scenes look almost decent. If you watch video essays, this can almost be treated like that; if you have a project to work on it’s nice to have this on to mostly listen to and occasionally look up at. BUT they do some nice stuff with stills, that's how we get things like baby Yusuke and Makoto and Haru, and some extra time of them all actually having fun at Destinyland. ♥

Ren 🙋‍♂️

So our protagonist is both helped and hindered by the medium shift. He does get things to say and I enjoyed that! Overall though he definitely feels less main-character-y with so much else to focus on. He shines in one-on-one scenes, over time you can see him become more comfortable and confident over time, especially once Futaba joins and we get some more time with Sojiro. But in group scenes I honestly tend to forget he's there.

Shippy stuff 💗

You could easily headcanon Ren as ace or gay or just shy. They keep all his relationships platonic and he never really reacts to being flirted with any way except being uncomfortable.

Oh, though if you’re an Akechi or Joker/Akechi fan... yeah just go watch this, trust me.

Most of my Yutaba moments got skipped or cut short, alas but it’s understandable. The real win here was for Ryuann! They're always rushing over to check on each other, and oh man Erica seriously brought it for Ryuji-possibly-died scene. And, speaking of...

Improvements!! 🌟

Mona-Ryuji “fight”: I was dreading getting to this part as I always do, and then... I actually ended up kind of enjoying it?

Part of it was just due to the medium switch, you don't have all that excruciating in-game time as Joker where you're forced to do nothing while something is CLEARLY bugging Morgana. The tighter timeline and focus of the anime does a better job drawing a line directly from the dream/Morgana’s growing insecurities to Morgana lashing out at Ryuji, making it more obvious how much he's projecting.

The game also splits the focus between “The problem is Mona being insecure but also Ryuji’s ego” which muddies things. In the anime, you didn't get everyone crawling up Ryuji's ass about apologizing; Ann could tell Ryuji was worried because they've been friends and she knows him. Ryuji apologizing was his own choice, which put the focus less on “it’s Ryuji’s fault this isn’t getting solved” and more towards dealing with the actual problem of Mona feeling unappreciated. The lesson was more clearly “You weren’t wrong to feel that way, what was wrong was how you handled it,” which made it all hit stronger when everyone came together to be like “hey man we’re sorry we made you feel like that, you absolutely belong here.”

Shido’s palace: They cut the end off!! 🎉🎊🎉 It only showed Ann, Haru, and Futaba crying and yelling at Ryuji, which is fine and believable as them being emotional and worried, cut to Ren, Makoto, and Yusuke watching them, then it ends! Bam, fixed, we’re good.

Conclusion 🎉

So yeah, think of it as supplemental material. If you’re already a Persona 5 fan, I recommend checking it out! If you have a friend who hasn’t played the game... either have them play the game or show them a let’s play or something, don’t use this as an intro, we all know it could be better 😅

#persona 5 #p5a #v watches p5a #actually finished a few weeks ago but forgot to finish writing this so here it be

21 notes · View notes

shantechni · 2 years

Text

Some important Link Click observations PT 3 (1, 2, & 4):

I honestly thought I'd wait until S2 aired or at least until more content was revealed to tease the fandom, but there's still much to analyze about official art, BTS animation/art/genga, as well as the Chibi short series. So, spoilers below for everything I just mentioned, as well as S1 and the S2 trailer!

Keep in mind that the Chibi short series isn't considered canon by most due to contradicting plotlines in some of the episodes, but certain aspects can be taken as canon so long as they fit the narrative of the main series. Though there are a few things that could imply this series takes place after the events of S1, it's mainly for comedic purposes and simply makes callbacks to any major happenings in S1 (particularly it's finale).

In EP7 of the Chibi short series where the trio is doing a Q&A, they're asked about the bunk bed situation and Lu Guang says they got a bunk bed because the room lacked the adequate amount of space for two separate beds. He also went on to say he sleeps on top because Cheng Xiaoshi moves a lot in his sleep and he worried he'd fall off.

In EP2 of the short series where the trio is searching for food, it's implied that Lu Guang gets a bad case of dry eye if he overuses his powers.

Speaking of Lu Guang's eyesight, in EP6 of the short series and EP8 of S1, he's seen wearing glasses whenever he's on the laptop for a prolonged period of time (that or when he's using the laptop in the dark).

Though I previously mentioned Studio LAN's Twitter acct where they frequently post production images/videos of Link Click and other series they've worked on, I neglected to mention the directors' (mainly Lan Laoshi) Weibo accts and how frequent posts of Link Click behind-the-scenes are there as well. Link to the Twitter acct: ☆ & Weibo accts of the studio and Lan Laoshi: ♡ ♧. It's also worth noting that they often post things that aren't canon or related to the plot, much like the Chibi short series, so be sure to check them out for more slice of life content.

Last bullet point about official accts and whatnot, be sure to check out the official Shiguang Daili Ren Twitter acct (■) and INPLICK's (the character designer behind the series ●)

On the topic of production materials, one most recent image shared by Lan Laoshi pertaining to Link Click is a genga of Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang in a car together. Whether this is simply referencing the duo's overseas trip mentioned by Qiao Ling or if it's a tease of it being shown in the future is to be seen in S2 (the latter is likely since the directors stated they'd go more in depth about the trip in S2).

Two short videos of unfinished animations were shown recently, the first one of Cheng Xiaoshi and the second one focusing on Lu Guang. It's yet to be seen if these are rough animations for S2, but Studio LAN has a habit of showing a few BTS things to keep the fans on their toes.

The Cheng Xiaoshi animation appears to have him imagining or dreaming of Lu Guang before coming back to reality and noticing his absence. The Lu Guang animation is more akin to the S1 OP animation in how the camera is doing a close up on his majestic movement.

Despite Lu Guang being the only one who's blood type has yet to be revealed, he was shown with a blood bag during his rush to the emergency room in the S2 PV. It's up to speculation why the creative team would keep his blood type a secret when the doctors in the PV appear to have found his type.

The series' 1st anniversary since it's airing on April 30th of last year saw the release of official art courtesy of INPLICK. Though there isn't much to be taken away from it aside from the formal apparel the trio wears, the image contains the repeatedly seen phrase, "Past or future, let them be."

In the recently revealed 2D intro to the Chibi short series (the original intro until the last 2 recent episodes has been 3D), the trio is depicted using different styles of cameras to take photos. Cheng Xiaoshi is seen using his phone, while Lu Guang and Qiao Ling are using old style cameras (akin to the one Cheng Xiaoshi has in the S1 ED, as well as the one seen in the 200 million views celebratory art of the trio in high school). This could easily just be a representation of different types of cameras.

The ramen conspiracy--gets dragged

I talked about the 2nd still image (the one of a long haired Cheng Xiaoshi swarmed with photos and a black ribbon) from the S1 OP in my last observation post, but neglected to mention the other 2. The 1st image is of Lu Guang holding a disentigrating photo as he solemnly watches it fly off with a background reminiscent of a cathedral window, while the 3rd image is of him and Cheng Xiaoshi standing back to back and holding onto a black ribbon similar to the 2nd image's (possibly a camera reel). Obviously these images are so ambiguously mysterious that there is little to no concrete explanation for them, but it's fairly certain that these images are representative of things. What they represent is up to interpretation.

This may just be coincidence, but when the verse "stop thinkin' 'bout it" in the S1 ED plays, Qiao Ling appears on screen. This may or may not have been alluding to the S1 finale when the red-eyed antagonist controlled her.

Liu Min calls the red-eyed antagonist from the end of S1 his "friend", raising the question of whether or not Liu Min knew this person before his situation with Emma, as well as if Liu Min hired them as an agent.

It's not confirmed if red-eyes is behind the string of killings before Emma, it's simply implied due to the similar circumstances that each victim died under.

A number of fans have pointed out that in the early character PVs for S1, Qiao Ling's backdrop is the only one lacking a camera shutter symbol. It's been added that the camera she uses in the 2nd Chibi short series intro has a shutter symbol on it, so does the camera from the 200 million views celebratory art. The reason for her lacking the symbol up until now is up to speculation.

Many fans have been pointing out hand signs Lu Guang's been making in the S1 OP & ED, as well as some pieces of official art. There are many theories ranging from him replicating a clock to it having something to do with his powers, but we have yet to find a definitive answer.

Okay I wanted to add more but this is getting pretty long now, so I'll cut it off here and save anything else I have in mind for part 4 (whenever that'll happen lol). I will add: If anyone has something to add to this list or a future one, feel free to speak up, it's nice trying to make sense of this donghua.

#anime #donghua #link click #shiguang dailiren #时光代理人 #时光代理人 2 #shiguang daili ren #shi guang dai li ren #cheng xiaoshi #lu guang #qiao ling #lan studio #studio lan #bilibili #sgdlr #Link Click observations #analysis

122 notes · View notes

josnashak69 · 3 months

Text

IP public account

Nowadays, many personal IPs are created on one foot, in the field of short videos, and then expanded to other platforms. The idea is essentially correct, but if you are making professional IP, I think the graphic content HE Tuber of public accounts It is indispensable. I think there are three reasons:

(1) The content of the public account can be used as a business card for brand endorsement, especially the sharing of medium and long-term professional content, which can help you open up cases of user acquisition and ice-breaking communication. Although short videos are intuitive, they do not easily leave an impression of knowledge.

(2) Fans accumulate and link up with your private domain. After fans of short videos follow them, it is sometimes difficult to push them directly due to the platform's strong algorithm recommendation. However, at present, public accounts still follow the recommendation mechanism combined with the public domain recommendation mechanism, so it is more convenient for users to retrieve the public accounts they follow and frequently read. In addition, Public accounts are more suitable for accumulating fans, and leading to private domain paths will provide a better experience.

(3) The graphic and text content of public accounts is also suitable to help you create content in the self-media matrix , helping you maximize content reuse:

As your public account tweet, this is the first to eat;

As a content script for your short video, this is the second bite;

As the content of your Xiaohongshu notes, take the essence and make it into a note. This is the third note;

As a verbatim transcript of your audio podcast, this is the fourth eat;

As an answer to your WeChat question or Zhihu Q&A, this is the fifth food;

Various mainstream self-media platforms distribute pictures and texts, this is the sixth food.

Therefore, it can be seen that as an IP-based public account, it serves as the content origination point, the main sales position, and the user connector. It still has a high strategic position for the accumulation of long-term value of IP.

Whether it is a brand or an ordinary individual, I think public accounts are still worth doing in 2024, but the methods and methods of doing it are different, and it is not just public accounts, but a combination of content formats + multi-platform content, and content production with one fish and two meals. If the method improves efficiency, then the operational gameplay of public accounts is still worth looking forward to.

This article was originally published by @xiaofeng’s operational growth on Everyone is a Product Manager. Reprinting without permission is prohibited.

The title picture comes from Unsplash, based on the CC0 agreement

The opinions in this article represent only the author's own. The

#Music #Gaming #Entertainment #Sports #Science And Technology

0 notes

watercolor-hearts · 1 year

Text

I'm not a big person in this fandom but I wanted to make a post about the F1 related part of my 2022 too.

I joined the Formula 1 fandom around the second half of July (thanks to TikTok) and since then I've read a lot of amazing stories, saw a lot of beautiful fanarts, videos, edits etc., and I want to mention two things that are really important to me.

When I joined the fandom I translated three amazing stories, which were

Boiling Point by tilesonthefloor

I can't breathe by mad_maz and

One Story Left To Tell by WebCookie9

(I put the original links into the titles because I think not many people would be interested in the Hungarian translations, but if you are, you can find them on my Ao3 profile.)

Special thanks to all the authors for letting me translate their stories. It means a lot to me. ❤

These were the first stories I really liked when I started to read in this fandom and I loved translating them. Sadly, there's no fandom in Hungary (or in Hungarian language) for mxm F1 stuff, so after my third translation I decided not to do more because it wasn't worth it. I was so sad because I felt like I've found something that makes me really happy but nobody's interested in it. After this I decided to stop writing in Hungarian (I had already struggled with my original story and didn't really want to write it) and decided to give writing a go in English. (I wanted to try it for a long time but I didn't have the courage to it.)

Well, it wasn't an easy thing, because I think I chose to write a story that was a bit too much, too difficult and to depressing for a first story, so that one is unfinished yet but I'm working on it because I still like the idea. After failing with the first one, I started thinking about other ideas and since then I have like five or six to write.

After a moment I saw in school, I wrote Happy to see you, which is an unplanned, short and sweet double drabble. I really like it because this is my first ever English story and it felt so good to post it and see what happens. (Also, I was so scared, like I always am when it comes to posting my stories.) And seeing that I can write in English gave me enough confidence to try and continue writing my other ideas.

One month later I finally could finish Racing Heart and Collapsing Lungs and it was a big moment for me because this is the first 'longer' story of mine. (Well, longer than the first one.) Writing this wasn't easy and my relationship with it changes every other day, but yeah, still an important moment/thing in my life.

I don't have any other stories yet but I hope I will be able to write more in 2023. Thank you for all the kudos and comments, they mean a lot to me. ❤

I don't want to make this a long ass post so I'm trying to mention only the most important things.

I wasn't in a good shape mentally when I joined the fandom but Daniel (and the other boys too) helped me a lot and I haven't self-harmed since I've got know him and it's a really big thing for me. I'm glad I've found something that makes me so happy because life's not easy and there are a lot of not so happy things in mine, so it means a lot to have a fandom where I can find happiness, where I can watch videos of these men with their fast cars going around on the tracks, joking, laughing, and loving each other and their fans. These things help me to escape from reality when I really need it.

I might not know everything about Formula 1 but I'm happy to be part of the fandom and I hope I'll be there for a long time. ❤

Happy New Year! 🎆❤

#formula 1 #fandom life #my thoughts

1 note · View note

lovelybucky1 · 3 years

Text

steve discovers porn (stucky x reader)

warnings: male masturbation, accidental voyeurism, porn, implied m/m/f threesome, dirty talk, cum play, light overstimulation, anal fingering, hand job, praise/humiliation, degradation, light exhibitionism, minor mention of daddy kink, gender neutral reader, light dom/sub, implied polyamory, fluff, icky romance

steve has obviously heard a lot about porn from his teammates, but he was hesitant to see what twenty-first century technology had to offer in terms of sexual stimulation

about a week after being on the receiving end of some intense teasing from natasha and sam about being scared to watch porn, he decides to give it a try to at least understand why they were seemingly obsessed with it.

steve’s mind was blown to say the least

after receiving the serum, he tested out the features his new body came with and, to name a few, he has short refractory period, along with the ability to cum at least three times in a row

steve never thought he’d break his record of three times in a night before, but he almost tripled it

video after video, link after link, click after click, steve was overwhelmed with the choices at his fingertips and he had no idea what these kinks were and if he would enjoy them

he watched videos of girls with large breasts dumping water on their t-shirts, messy blowjobs complete with tears and hair pulling, videos of men dominating and humiliating their partner, as well as women doing the same to their partner

his favorite category, however, was caught masturbating

the idea that someone could walk in and see him jerking off, covered in dozen orgasms worth of cum, made his cock painfully hard

steve spent two days locked in his room, only leaving to grab a quick snack from the kitchen and refill his water bottle.

no one else on the team seemed to notice steve’s odd behavior, but you and bucky knew him better than anyone, and you were starting to get worried

on the night of the second day, you and bucky take the elevator to steve’s floor, only to find it vacant. his bedroom door was shut but you could hear movement inside.

you both knew steve was prone to nightmares, some of which could have lasting effects on him, so you decided to open the door and check on him like good friends should

you and bucky freeze in the door way when you see steve laid out on the bed with his eyes closed, wearing tight boxer briefs that expose the dark blonde bush of his pubes, and covered in cum

a video of a man bent over the arm of a couch, getting fucked from behind plays on steve’s laptop, the volume up so loud that he doesn’t hear the two of you enter, even with his enhanced hearing

“steve?” bucky asks in disbelief

steve peaks his eye open and when he realizes what’s happening, he sits straight up and tries to make himself decent

“i can explain,” he stars with a hoarse voice

bucky scoffs and gestures to the mess on the bed “what is there to explain? it’s pretty obvious that you jerked yourself half to death.”

you stand at bucky’s side wordlessly, still in shock at what you saw, what you’re seeing

bucky walks towards the bed and leans over the edge to look at the computer screen, all while you and steve watch him with equally wide eyes

“you should look up ‘beefy blonde chokes on daddy’s dick’. i think you’ll like that one,” bucky says, flashing you a grin

steve hesitates for a moment, but gives into bucky’s daring smirk. a video pops up of a man with light blonde hair, large muscles and a chiseled jaw that’s straining to stretch around the large cock in his mouth

you catch onto bucky’s game long before steve does, and a solid minute of watching later, steve blurts out “that looks like me!”

“it sure does, sweetheart. every time i watch this video, i imagine he has your pretty eyes and perfect lips,” bucky smirks as he shuts steve’s laptop

bucky motions for you to come over and you stand next to him again. steve looks up at both of you pleadingly, then down at his painfully hard cock that strains in his underwear

“how many times have you cum today, sweetheart?” bucky asks. instead of answering, steve squeezes his eyes shut and shakes his head. “come on, stevie, how many? was it more than five?” steve nods. “more than ten?” steve nods again, more ashamed this time. “god, how isn’t that cock broken yet?”

“i think i came thirteen times, but it could have been more,” steve says shyly.

you turn to bucky and take a break from digging your teeth into your lip to ask “can we make it fourteen?”

this isn’t something you’d ever consider with anyone else, but you’ve had a crush on steve for years, and seeing him like this brings out a different side of you

steve whimpers, like even just the idea of the two of you pleasuring him brought him to the brink of orgasm.

“i don’t see why not, doll. whatdaya say, stevie? you want us to make you cum again?”

steve just nods like the stupid, cum drunk boy he is

bucky orders you to kneel on the bed on the other side of steve while he kneels at the foot of the bed, between steve’s spread legs.

you take hold of steve’s cock; it’s length making your hand look small in comparison. you slowly stroke him, using the cum that sprayed on his lower abdomen as lube

“you wanna know a secret, baby?” bucky asks steve, who nods with his pouty lips parted. “a good way to cum nice is hard is to stimulate your prostate. you wanna try?”

“god, yes please,” steve moans as he bucks his hips into your hand, trying to get you to go faster

bucky makes a show of sucking on his finger to get it wet enough for steve to take, and you had to admit, the sight of bucky looking deep into steve’s eyes as he hollowed his cheeks, defining his already sharp cheekbones, made you a bit jealous

bucky lets go of his finger with a wet pop, then circles it around steve’s tight rim. steve squirms around on the bed, but you lean your hand on his chest to stop him. while it didn’t physically restrain him, he was eager to please you.

“god, y/n, fuck!” steve moans as you stroke him a bit faster. his eyes dart between your face and bucky’s like he’s not sure who he should be begging for.

“bucky?” you ask, catching the brunettes attention. “can i suck him?”

bucky raises his eyebrows in amusement, then looks at steve. “i dunno, sugar, why don’t we ask him? do you think you deserve their mouth, stevie? have you been a good boy?”

surprisingly, steve shakes his head. “wanna watch you,” he gasps out. you and bucky look at each other, trying to figure out what he means.

“you wanna watch them blow me?” steve nods. “then get on your knees, y/n, let’s give our boy a show.”

our boy. that makes your head spin and you collapse to the floor as you lower yourself to your knees. you hold onto bucky’s thick thighs to keep yourself steady, then you turn your head to find steve craning his neck to look down at you from the bed.

you work bucky’s jeans open and pull them down just below his ass. you pull his cock through his boxers and the tip brushes your lower lip.

you open your mouth and take the tip inside, then you look up at steve with wide, innocent doe eyes that pull a breathy moan from his throat.

“awh stevie, you a sucker for them, ain’t ya?” bucky asks, mocking steve by puffing his bottom lip out.

“yes, buck,” steve whines, “they’re so... fuck!” steve’s sentence is cut off by a loud moan as bucky hits his prostate.

“you hear that, sugar? stevie has a crush on you,” bucky grins down at you, and you briefly pull off of his cock.

“i think he might have a crush on both of us,” you say, looking between steve’s eyes and his stretched hole.

“i do!” steve cries, tossing his head back as bucky grabs his cock with his cold metal hand. “fuck, i love you both, need you both.”

“you got us, baby,” bucky says, then he gives you a look that says get on with it before going back to stroking and fingering steve.

you move your mouth back down bucky’s dick again, this time sucking louder and lewder than before, really wanting to put on a show for steve.

the mix of bucky’s praise, steve’s moans and heated stares from both of them encourage you to go faster and take bucky deeper, and before you know it, bucky is groaning “i’m close,” as he drives to fingers inside of steve

before bucky could fill your mouth with his cum, steve shoots his all over bucky’s metal hand, his abdomen, and his chest.

bucky’s cum-covered hand leaves steve’s cock and grips your hair tightly, thrusting once into your mouth before spilling his cum down your throat.

you suck his cock as it softens in your mouth, making sure to get every last drop to make him proud.

bucky lets go of your hair and gently helps you up. you stand on wobbly legs, then kneel next to steve again.

“thank you,” steve pants, his chest heaving and dripping with sweat

“we’re not done,” you say with a scratchy voice. both of them look at you with furrowed brows. “i still haven’t cum, and i think steve can make it to an even fifteen before he has to tap out, right?”

“i didn’t know you could be so bossy, y/n,” bucky teases.

“get your dick in me and you can see how bossy i can be, barnes,” you smirk as you straddle steve’s waist and lick a drop of his cum off of his pec.

“fuck, i love you two,” steve laughs weakly

“i love you too,” you and bucky say in unison

taglist (dm or send ask to be added): @obsessivestaringdisorder

#stucky #stucky x reader #bucky barnes #steve rogers #bucky barnes smut #steve rogers smut #stucky smut #stucky x reader smut #bucky barnes x reader #steve rogers x reader #marvel #marvel fluff #marvel smut #marvel fanfiction

1K notes · View notes

idontblushsrry · 3 years

Text

SFW Alphabet|| Megumi Fushiguro

A/N: Uhhhh I’m back on my bullshit >:) it’s missing Fushiguro hours folks.

Word Count: 2050

A: Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

(If you want some more in depth affection headcanons click here)

Fushiguro is someone who isn’t big on pda but makes up for it in private. In public, he’ll hold your hand but in private he’s laying i your lap while you massage his scalp. Basically, he’s a big softie that just represses his urge to cuddle until he’s alone with you.

B: Best Friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

Best friend Megumi is literally the president of the Y/N defense squad. If anyone has a problem with you, they have a problem with him. Of course, you have to rein him in sometimes and remind him you can fight your own battles, but just know he’s lookin out for you.

C: Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

Fushiguro loves to cuddle, but he will repress the urge to do so for as long as possible. Because of that, he doesn’t let you go, preferring to cling to you throughout the night. His cuddles are always deceptively loose too. His arms give you just enough wiggle room but the second you try to get up, it’s like fighting two pythons.

D: Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

I don’t think he ever really planned on settling down, Megumi figured that he’d die long before he ever got the chance to settle down. Everyday is pretty much a new experience in terms of domesticity for him, he doesn’t have plans for the future, but as long as you’re with him, he’ll be happy.

E: Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

If he ever had to break up with someone, he’d probably ask for help on how to do so. The first person he’d ask (regrettably) would be Gojo who’d tell Megumi to just ghost the person. After asking around some more, he figured Kugisaki’s approach of getting it over with as bluntly as possible (although less mean) was the best option.

F: Fiance(e) (How would they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

Megumi isn’t really the type for wedding ceremonies. He’s all about commitment (even though working up to marriage for him is longer than most) but he’s not a fan of being the center of attention, so a wedding ceremony/reception wouldn’t be his thing. If you wanted a ceremony, he’d be willing to compromise somewhat but otherwise, he’s perfectly fine with just going to the courthouse.

G: Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

He’s kind of rough around the edges. In private, he can be the sweetest, most tender soul, but in public he’ll put 7 yards of distance between you both if you try to hug him. Basically, he’s very shy, so anything that’ll draw too much attention is a no go (he isn’t opposed to linking pinkies though).

H: Hugs( Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?

At first Megumi really only hugged you when he was missing you, sad, or tired. Over time though, he got better at becoming more open with his affection and he’ll hug you whenever he feels the urge to. Despite that though, his hugs still have an undercurrent of desperation in them. He holds on just as tight each time like he’s afraid you’ll disappear.

I: I love you (How fast do they say the L-word)

He’s operating on a very strict ‘If you don’t say it, I won’t’ policy and as such this man will not say a single thing to you unless prompted. He knows deep down that he loves you and that you set off butterflies in his stomach every time you smile, but he never really thought to verbalize that until you say ‘I love you’ first.

J: Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous)

Megumi doesn’t get jealous, he’s fought side by side with you and he knows you’re more than capable of fending off any unwanted suitors. Megumi put a lot of trust into you by already being in a relationship so to him, it makes no sense to be jealous over you. That all being said, he’s not above the occasional side eye if someone’s getting a little too buddy buddy.

K: Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

On a normal day, his kisses are so natural, he’s so slow and the pressure is just enough to have you thinking you’ve got all the time in the world. In near death/ post-near death circumstances, he’s a little more feral. When he kisses you like that, it feels like it’s the end of the world and he’s trying to make the most of it.

L: Little ones (How are they around children)

Fushiguro isn’t good with kids that aren’t old enough to communicate. Older kids are fine with him, but guessing what a baby needs based on how loud it’s crying? Hard pass for him and he doesn’t even feel bad about it. The last time he had to watch a baby, he tried to leave one of his shikigami to watch it; long story short, he had to explain to a cackling Gojo why his demon dogs wouldn’t let him leave to go to the bathroom.

M: Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

Mornings with Fushiguro are pretty rare. Most of the time you guys don’t really get to sleep in or even spend mornings together since most of the time there’s missions or trainings you’ll have to go to. When you do get the rare morning off, Fushiguro makes the most of it. He sleeps in and doesn’t wake up before 10 no matter what you try. When he does finally wake up, he loves cooking breakfast with you, he’s not the best cook, but he treasures the experience over anything.

N: Night (How are nights spent with them?)

Nights with Megumi are also rare as most curses come out at night and that’s kinda your guys’ job. If all goes well though, you’ll both come back a little earlier and just go straight to sleep. If it’s a late night where the curse took more out of either of you than expected, yall usually stay up and talk and snack until one of you falls asleep or the sun comes up.

O: Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

It takes him an extremely long time to open up to you about his past. Not because he doesn’t trust you, but because he’s embarrassed and doesn’t want you to think less of him for it (especially during his problem child era). To be honest, you probably find out about certain things from other people. Once he’s cornered confronted, he’ll be completely (albeit a bit grudgingly) honest about it.

P: Patience (How easily angered are they?)

His anger is kind of weird, whereas before, he was a lot quicker to explode, bluntly telling off or even fighting whoever pissed him off, he’s changed. He tries his best to repress his emotions and as such, he comes off as patient, never expressing his true feelings/desires until pushed to the brink.

Q: Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

He’s the king of remembering details you mention in passing. His love language is partially acts of service so for him, remembering details about you helps him later. Oh remember that one time you needed a pen/pencil but didn’t have one? Never again, this man has a section of his shadows dedicated solely to pencils because of you. Oh what’s that, you like this random song? Guess what just got added to the playlist he made for you. Basically, while he may not look like it, he’s actually a simp and so if he can make your life easier/ make you happy, it’s worth it.

R: Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

So Megumi is someone who doesn’t play video games but is really good at them for no reason. One day, you’re playing a game of smash bros. and he’s just kicking your ass, like it was sad. Needless to say, after his 4th win, he “accidently” pressed the wrong button and let you win. He thinks you don’t know he did this but when you won, you kissed him and completely flustered him, to the point that he couldn’t play for a solid 5 minutes.

S: Security (How protective are they? How would they like to be protected?)

Despite knowing and trusting that you can defend yourself, he’s still super protective of you. You’re one of the few people that he cares about in the world and he’d give everything to see you safe and protected. As for how he’d like to be protected, knock some sense into him every once in a while. He has a habit of self sacrificing so if you want to protect him, remind him that you want to keep him alive as much as he wants to keep you alive.

T: Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

On the outside, his dates are very simple. They usually consist of you and him either staying in or just hanging out at stores and the like. Every once in a while, he’ll try to take you somewhere special, like a cove he found or a festival. For most people, these may be simple dates, but Fushiguro puts so much effort into so may aspects of your dates that honestly, anything bigger would lose the personal touch your dates have.

U: Ugly (What are some bad habits of theirs? (I’m gonna add arguments here because they aren’t on the prompt list I found))

One of his worst habits is his self-sacrificing tendencies. Even during a baseball game, he can’t help but sacrifice himself (especially if it means his friends/ you get to get the glory). With time though, he grows out of this and realizes it’s not selfish to want the best for yourself.

V: Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)

He’s giving “I woke up like this” and it’s... it’s something. One might think the style is intentional since obviously, the look could only be achieved with gel, and to an extent, it is intentional. He might use gel to spike it a little more but the man legit rolls out of bed and chooses to leave his hair up like that.

W: Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

No, as much as he loves you, Fushiguro is an introvert. He needs time to just be by himself and unwind every once in a while, so he’s got no complaints if you leave him to his own devices or have to be gone for a long time.

X: (E)xes (Any previous relationship experience. How does that factor into your current relationship?)

Megumi has negative zero relationship experience. He’s never found someone that was worth the risk/ worth opening up to, hell, he just barely got friends when he entered high school. Because of this, every part of your relationship is like navigating uncharted waters.

Y: Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner)

He’s less someone to dislike a specific thing/ personality trait, and more someone who doesn’t like different people for different reasons, ex. Todo and Mai. If he had to pick a single trait, it’d probably have to be hypocriticism.

Z: Zzz (What is a sleep habit of theirs?)

He is someone who will fall asleep spread eagle one night and the next be huddled into a tiny little section of the bed. Mercy on you if you try to cuddle because now you’re wrapped up into his unconscious acrobatic routine.

#jujutsu kaisen x reader #jujutsu kaisen fushiguro #jujutsu kaisen imagines #megumi fushiguro x reader #fushiguro x reader #fushiguro jjk #jjk x black reader #jjk x reader #jjk imagines #jjk headcanons #black reader #black!reader #idontblushsrry #x black reader

274 notes · View notes

findingjoynweirdstuff · 3 years

Note

can u recommend any good underated lore streams? i want to get some good insight into characters and go outside of the ccs that get the most attention

Hmmm...underrated, good insight and outside ccs are three different criteria, so these recommendations may not fit all three of those for every single one, but I’ll try my best! And my definition of “lore stream” is gonna be a little loose here, since that term wasn’t as well-defined in the earlier days.

Sorry for putting so many here, but I have a lot of VODs I like haha. Thanks for giving me a chance to recommend some! This was a lot of fun to put together.

Alright! Here we go.

---

A list of underrated VODs I’d recommend!

---

First up, here’s one I’m always down for recommending, and it’s short and sweet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAAP7CpYfkQ

Skeppy properly joining the server this time and briefly speaking with Dream. They end up getting into a debate about L’manburg, and if you were ever unclear about what Dream’s motivations/justifications were, here they are! Which ends up being some interesting set-up for the election arc, which tackled the issue of L’manburg being European-exclusive as a major point. It’s a great debate (even if Skeppy ended up taking back everything he said the next day)

Next up is the start of Captain Puffy’s hero arc! This is sorta the point where she turns from being more supportive of Dream and Niki to being on Tommy’s side. This was also the night that the Eggpire formed.

Archive can be slow to load with long videos, but here’s the link to the full thing

https://archive.org/details/dream-smp-a-new-arc-sponsored-vikings

Then there’s the Final Pet War!

This one ended up being more easily forgotten due to it taking place the night before November 16th, but it’s very underrated and sets up a lot of the characterization between Sapnap and Tommy in Season Two, as well as ending with an emotional moment as Sapnap releases Mars. So if you want Sapnap lore, this is Sapnap lore.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z_kdlivG0M

This one’s a good one for insight, and it’s extremely underrated by nature of being way too damn difficult to find (oh Tubbo VODs channel, how you cause me such pain). This is directly after Tommy’s exile and the Mexican L’manburg Revolution and features a very interesting conversation between Dream, Tubbo and Ghostbur in New L’manburg! This is the stream where Ghostbur gives Tubbo the Your Tommy compass, and Tubbo and Dream have their chess game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OOhY8jemO0

Not to toot my own horn, but here’s something I worked on -- one of Eret’s August VODs, the day Niki joined. Very, very incomplete, and hopefully we might get the full VOD some day, but Eret looking down on L’manburg from afar while Wilbur sings the anthem to the L’manburgians is one of my favorite moments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o554R8XHtlI

Now, this is 100% due to recency bias as I’ve literally just made a compilation with it, but

The day or so after the Festival is way too under appreciated of a stream considering how important it was. Even if you’ve already seen it, it’s worth taking another look! This was the first time the Button Room was ever shown, it was Quackity switching sides — if you want insight, you’ve got insight right here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lXuZvCQXLg

If you never got a chance to see Jack Manifold’s death to Tommy in exile from his perspective, here’s the link to that! Obviously a pretty big point for his character arc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UygIc5YSA_Y&t=2842s

And here, in case you haven’t seen it, is the Red Skeppy stream, which, as we all now know, is pretty much the basis for Bad’s entire character arc with his corruption by the Egg.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYL94Tynl8M

And of course, how could I forget the best lore stream of them all?

Here’s Antfrost’s Eggpire bathwater stream! Ant returns to the server after Doomsday, gets filled in on what’s going on, learns that L’manburg has been destroyed, and — well, you know. Bathwater.

If Dreamon Hunters is your kinda thing? Same vibes. This stream is great. It becomes retroactive angst later, but it’s absolutely hilarious.

https://archive.org/details/dream-smp-im-backkkkkk

Now, if you want some real heart-wrenchers from the beginning of Season Two, I cannot recommend this arc enough. It is wayyyyyy too underrated and has some of my favorite moments from the entirety of the season.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edzJwEXFYa0

First up, towards the beginning of the arc, with an interesting conversation between Fundy and Jack Manifold about how he feels concerning the recent appearance of Ghostbur, and his feelings about Wilbur’s death.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R-8pbcpAt4

Then you’ve got Wilbur’s stream as Ghostbur building in L’manburg. He ends up talking with Phil, asking about how he was in the past.

And then…oh man. This one hurts my heart more than any other. One of my favorites in terms of acting. If you want canon family dynamic drama, if you want Ghostbur and Fundy showing their characters’ mindsets at full swing, if you want Angst and good acting, here ya go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyKYLaRmb5c

That’s about it for now! If you haven’t seen Foolish, Hannah or Ponk’s recent lore streams, I’d highly recommend them. Those are more recent, though, and you can just go to Twitch to find them.

And lastly, this fits literally none of your criteria, absolutely none, it’s not even a lore stream, but I will put the link here as a bonus because the only way to access it is with this link and I want as many people to know about this fever dream as possible. The VOD was deleted seconds after he ended stream and nothing’s ever been the same since.

https://youtu.be/b2M2al2ZW4Y?t=1276

Happy watching!

#dream smp #long posts #asks #dream smp vod links

149 notes · View notes

jaskierswolf · 3 years

Text

Fuck Indeed - 1 of 4

Rating: E

Chapter WC: 2720

Summary: Jaskier scrolled through the terms and conditions of the website he was planning on selling his soul to. It seemed simple enough, and he really needed the money. His music career hadn’t exactly gotten off to a flying start and he was tired of sponging off his friends and they were, quite frankly, tired of him. He wasn’t sure how much longer he’d be allowed to sofa surf and he really needed his own space.

So, he was starting an OnlyFans account. - On AO3

CW (for whole story): 18+ only, anal sex, masturbation, exhibition kink, sex work, rimming, sex toys, talks of blow jobs, Geralt bottoms but it’s mentioned they switch, biting (but no blood), Jaskier wearing lingerie and makeup.

Jaskier scrolled through the terms and conditions of the website he was planning on selling his soul to. It seemed simple enough, and he really needed the money. His music career hadn’t exactly gotten off to a flying start and he was tired of sponging off his friends and they were, quite frankly, tired of him. He wasn’t sure how much longer he’d be allowed to sofa surf and he really needed his own space.

So, he was starting an OnlyFans account.

The only thing he was good at outside of his music and poetry was sex. So why not make some money off of it. He’d already done a shit ton of research on stats, marketing, and the types of audiences he was looking to attract… and yes that potentially meant that he’d spent more money than he could afford on subscriptions to porn but, well, it was an investment.

He was going to be good at this, nay, he was going to be fucking brilliant; pun intended.

He smirked as he clicked to register his account.

Phase one complete.

Phase two… commencing.

He quickly adjusted his photograph to the incredibly alluring photo he’d picked out. Essi had helped him stage a photoshoot after he’d promised to only film his videos when he was staying with Priscilla or Valdo. The photo showed him sitting backwards on a chair, stockings pulled up to his thighs and attached by turquoise lace garters. He was wearing a gorgeous matching lingerie set that was barely visible from behind the chair, a tease for the sort of content he would be putting out. He was also wearing a pair of killer heels.

Heels he absolutely couldn’t walk in yet, but they’d been so pretty and he’d always wanted to learn so he’d bought them on a whim, again more money that he didn’t have…. thank fuck for credit cards.

He wasn’t looking at the camera, his fringe covering his eyes, but he was clearly laughing at something, blood red lipstick staining his lips.

He was rather impressed with how it had turned out.

Now he just needed to get up some content. He glanced at the clock, he had probably missed the best time to post a video today, but he had a few photos from his shoot with Essi. He flicked through his camera roll until he found his second favourite, one where he was looking up just past the camera, eyes catching the light perfectly so they shone a sparkling bright blue.

Not to be narcissistic, but he looked fucking gorgeous.

He grinned and typed out a teasing caption to introduce himself, then hit post. Afterwards, he locked his phone and threw it across the room, not wanting to think about the comments and reactions.

He stared at it as it bounced on the mattress.

The only sounds were his breath and his heartbeat in his ears.

“Bollocks,” he muttered after what felt like a lifetime, and scrambled after his phone, unlocking it quickly with a few nimble taps of his finger.

If he spent the next two hours refreshing his page to see what people thought then… well, no one needed to know. It wasn’t an instant hit, but he was new and it was expected, and he was thrilled at the couple of messages he received and he already had a couple of subscribers.

He could do this, the fluttering anxiety in his stomach beginning to settle slightly as he repeated the words aloud a few times. He sighed heavily and decided to be productive. He still needed to set up his Twitter page and link it, perhaps an Instagram account as well, one that his parents didn’t have to know about, and fuck he needed to sleep.

His clock, glowing in the now dark of his room, was telling him more time had passed than he’d realised.

“Fuck,” he groaned.

He still needed to get to the studio early this morning. He’d practically begged the owner to let him record a demo, promising that it would be worth it, that he was good. Luckily for him, there had been a short break very early in the morning before any decent musician worth a damn was awake. He plugged his phone in to charge and made sure he put it down out of reach from the bed. He’d just wake up in the middle of the night and check it otherwise. He just needed to know he wasn’t terrible, was that really so bad?

“Come on, Jask,” he mumbled “you can check after you record your demo. It’s not that long.”

It felt like fucking forever.

Geralt was busy working at the garage when Yennefer messaged him. He huffed and pocketed his phone, giving his customer an apologetic hum before gesturing for them to continue. Yennefer hadn’t started the text with “Ciri!” so he could ignore it for now, that was their deal. He’d only check his texts from Yennefer at work if there was a problem with their daughter, but that never stopped her from trying. Yennefer got bored easily at work. Her mind was too brilliant and even working in a top law firm wasn’t enough to keep her mind from wondering, the monotony of paperwork getting the better of her.

It didn’t help that she had assistants to take care of the worst shit for her. Geralt wasn’t exactly sure what Yennefer did all day. He was pretty sure she just organised her minions and planned to take over the world, in between bothering him at work, of course.

He shook his head with a fond smile, as he watched the young blonde leave her precious Volkswagen Beetle behind. It was an old banged up thing, and she’d clearly bought it for the looks rather than practicality, and the engine had given out after only a month of her buying it.

“Kids,” he scoffed.

Business was business though, it brought in sorely needed cash.

Not as much as his other job… but that was a more lucrative role, one that only Yennefer knew about. He was careful to keep his face hidden, but so far he’d been lucky. No one else in his physical life knew about his OnlyFans account, probably because he was still just starting out. He’d only been at it a couple of months and he was, admittedly, not the best at having an online presence, which was why he’d begrudgingly asked Yennefer for her help.

- New kid on the block, he’s just your type.

Yennefer’s message read, blunt as ever. He rolled his eyes and clicked the link. Sure enough there was a photograph of a young brunet straddling a chair, wearing fucking lingerie. He swallowed, staring at the photograph just a little too long.

He growled and stuffed his phone back in his pocket. He should have known better than to open the link at work.

But that smile haunted him for the rest of the day, making every second drag, the world turning to a haze and every movement felt like he was wading through mud. He wanted to get home.

He wanted to know more about this Dandelion.

“Fuck,” he groaned, pressing his fingers to his forehead, hoping it would push the thoughts of the man from his mind.

It didn’t.

By the time he got back to his house he felt like he was on fire, his skin crawling, restless, burning. He showered as quickly as he could, just about managing to wash all the conditioner from his hair before stalking back to his room and firing up his laptop. He groaned as he finally had a chance to stalk Dandelion’s page.

The second photograph was even better than the first, bright blue eyes searing into his mind, and the smile of a fucking angel. He looked young, mid-twenties, only a few years younger than Geralt probably, and he was exactly the sort of man he would do well on this goddamn site. He looked charismatic, easy on the eye, definitely flirty judging by the cheeky grin on his face, and he was probably excellent at the marketing side of things.

Geralt glanced at his subscribers and cursed. Dandelion hadn’t even uploaded a video yet but his follower count was crawling up faster than Geralt’s ever had.

And that made him… angry?

Jealous perhaps, but there was a bitterness growing in his heart now.

He had to do better. He couldn’t allow this man to overtake him. He just couldn’t.

He growled and shut his laptop with a snap, pulling out his phone with more force than necessary. Yennefer would know what to do. She was good at this sort of thing. He just hoped that he didn’t need to explain himself. It was pathetic and irrational but… he wanted to win.

Jaskier stumbled upon the White Wolf’s page purely by accident. He’d been looking for inspiration before filming his first video. He knew what he wanted to film but he was tired and wasn’t really sure he was in the mood for it, so he began to scroll. He’d unsubscribed from a lot of accounts to save money but the silver-haired Adonis had caught his attention.

The leather strapped around his otherwise bare torso helped. Jaskier was weak for a man in leather.

Before he knew what he was doing, Jaskier was putting in his details to subscribe, sending off a silent apology to his bank account.

The White Wolf was the silent brooding type, never quite revealing his face, but that wasn’t uncommon. His long hair fell down past the man’s pecs, curling at the ends just above the black leather straps. Chest hairs trailed down the man’s torso, the photo cropped before revealing anything else. Jaskier let out a low whimper at the thought of what might be revealed.

He groaned and scrambled for his bottle of lube before letting out a curse.

He had a video to shoot.

He didn’t have time to jerk off to this god’s account. He grumbled and got changed into the turquoise lingerie from the photoshoot. He had decided to use the photos as a teaser for his first video, creating some continuity and helping to create a brand that he could build on. He hummed happily as he pulled up the stockings, they felt soft against his skin, bringing a fragility to his otherwise muscular frame.

Not quite as muscular as Wolf’s.

What wouldn’t he give to lick the lines of those abs?

Once he was dressed, he pulled out his makeup bag. He wasn’t quite as skilled with eyeliner as Essi yet so he settle for a smudged black look before adding the red to his lips. He gave himself a once over in the mirror, flashing a smile. It wasn’t perfect but it was only his first video. He’d get more practice as he worked. After one final check of the lighting in his room – well, his temporary room thanks to darling Priscilla – he made sure he had lube nearby. With shaking hands, he set up the camera and clicked record. He would edit both the start and the end of the video later.

He sighed and then let a seductive smile grace his lips as he winked at the camera, kneeling on the bed.

“Hello darling,” he purred in a low voice “I am so happy you could join me.”

He pictured the chiseled torso of his Wolf, mind filling in the blanks of his face, square jaw, soft warm brown eyes, perhaps stubble on his cheek. He felt the warmth of arousal pool in his core at that thought, his cock filling out in the lacy underwear. Definitely stubble then. He wanted to feel the scratch against his cheek, his neck… his arse.

His fingers had drifted down his chest and were toying with the hem of his panties without him even realising it. His eyes fluttered open as he remembered his audience.

“Oops,” he breathed “forgot where I was for a moment there, sweetheart. You don’t mind, do you?”

He paused.

It felt right.

God, he had no idea that he was doing, but the idea of people on the other end of that camera, watching him. Fuck, he hadn’t known he’d be into that. He palmed himself through the thin fabric, letting out a slightly exaggerated moan so the camera would pick it up.

He wondered if Wolf would see this, would he get hard watching Jaskier touching himself… would he touch his own cock?

Jaskier’s breath hitched and he bit his lip. He locked eyes with the camera as he let out a sigh. “I’ve just been feeling so lonely, it won’t take much tonight, just the thought of you.”

The words felt awkward, stunted but it was only his first video and blood was flowing away from his brain right now, making improv difficult. He’d need a script for next time.

“It’s my first video so I wanted to get dressed up, do you like it?” a pause “It feels so soft against my skin.”

His other hand reached up to stroke his nipples through the lace. He tilted his head back and rolled his hips forward to his cock brushed against his own hand, another moan escaping his lips, playing it up for the camera. “Shall I keep them on?” he asked the camera, voice huskier than he was expecting. Fuck this was affecting him more than he imagined.

He swallowed, and licked his lips, fingers pulling down his panties to reveal the tip of his cock already leaking onto the brightly coloured lace. “I might ruin them… but I think you’d like that…”

Would Wolf like that… watching Jaskier cum all over the pretty panties.

Jaskier whined, smearing the precum over his hand and then down the length of his cock under the lace. The touch sent waves of pleasure through his whole body, and he let out a low curse. His eyes fell shut as he slowly stroked himself, taking his time, teasing himself. He pictured his Wolf pulling the straps of his bra down off his shoulders, pressing kisses into his neck, biting on his shoulders as he touched him. God he really needed to watch his videos, if he could pull such vivid images of the man from just one photograph.

“Fuck, that feels so good…” he gasped, struggling to keep his movements slow. He forced his eyes open to look at the camera. He could only imagine how he looked right now, eyes dark, cheeks flushed, lips red from where he’d been biting them, one hand working on his cock, the other pinching at his nipples through sinfully see-through fabric.

“I want you to touch me so bad,” he gasped “would you fuck me, if I ask?”

He swallowed, imagining Wolf’s hands on his hips, pressing bruises into his skin… spreading his cheeks apart… fingers dripping with lube, ready to stretch him. He bit his lip again, almost hard enough to draw blood. He hadn’t noticed he was fucking into his own hand, thighs burning as he knelt on the fresh silk sheets. He was close, too close… not what he’d meant for this video but it was too late now… he couldn’t hold back.

He gripped his cock harder, stroking faster, the underwear pushed down by his efforts.

“I. I can’t…” he stammered through the haze “I need, please…”

He almost sobbed, begging his unseen audience. “Please.”

He pinched roughly on his nipple, the sharp pain tipping him over the edge, and he came all over his hand with a wordless cry.

He struggled not to collapse onto the bed, but he did rest back on his ankles as he gasped for breath. “Fuck,” he whispered hoarsely… surprised by the intensity of his orgasm. He glanced up at the camera with a smirk, flicking his tongue out to lick his lips. “Until next time, darling.”

He winked at the camera and then crawled forward so he could turn it off. Once that was done, he fell back on the bed with a contented sigh before remembering the state of his pants. He grimaced and reluctantly got up to go shower, the thought of the White Wolf still lingering in his mind.

________

Taglist (18+): @geraltrogerericduhautebellegarde @slythnerd @hailhailsatan @thecomfortofoldstorries @gelos @moonysourenza @frances-the-red @honeysuckletook @elliestormfound @sleepy-thief @artistsfuneral @kittynannygaming @stinastar @fontegagrilledcheese @baka-yu @anythinggoesfandoms @veritasrose @trickstermoose67 @nonegenderleftpain @kueble @justjess94 @kozkaboi @wherethewordsare Let me know if you want to be added for this story or in general!

#the witcher #geraskier #onlyfans au #enemies to lovers #geralt of rivia #Jaskier #geralt/jaskier #unrequited enemies #wolfie's witcher writing

147 notes · View notes

lucky-sevens · 4 years

Text

mechs deep lore compilation post

so! maybe you’ve read the other compilation post i made of basic lore/how to get into the mechs! maybe you want to know more! or maybe you’re a fan already and want to see how deep down this rabbit hole you can get!

well, good news for you: i have gone down the rabbit hole and hit bedrock only to find maki yamazaki standing by my side with a pickaxe! it is time for mechs lore part 2: electric boogaloo also known as ‘wow blue have you considered sleep’

rest under the cut!

i’ve tried to organize this, but given how many random facts there are, it’s hard! decided to start off with lore for each character (in order of them joining the mechs in-universe), including all the carmilla lore at the end; then move into general world lore/a bit of album lore, and finally more obscure/unknown facts, such as explaining the whole scuzz thing! also, citing the sources has been difficult, as a lot of things are from, say, old twitter posts and the like. there might be less links here than you all would like, but bear with me- compiling all this lore is quite difficult!

disclaimer: unlike stuff like the wiki, this includes a lot of my own theories and red stringing, and while i’m noting if something’s fanon or canon, the fanon may occasionally make its way into my theories!

links to the songs will be mostly TheVoidSings’ youtube lyric videos, as i don’t want to find the links to all the different platforms they’re on and the videos are lovely and accessible!

also- i’ve done some significant editing on the mechanisms wiki, as have other talented people- go check it out! it’s a good source of lore!

now on w/ the actual post!

crew

jonny d’ville

his lore is fairly concrete, but since he’s an unreliable narrator, we don’t know what bits can be trusted! his backstory song is one eyed jacks, which gives a pretty clear picture of events, but here in his crew bio he says that he made up new texas, and doesn’t have a very good memory of events in general. (it’s implied that he didn’t lie about killing his father, but we don’t even know that for sure.) a note: unlike the others, we don’t know what happened to his heart in order for him to be mechanized.

the aurora

the aurora’s lore is a mess. here’s what we know for sure, which is an edited version of what i have on her wiki page, (where i have also given a list of her known physical attributes);

she started off as a moon, but was weaponized and turned into a ship. she initially was a navy ship, but mutinied and joined the rebellion, participating in the october revolution, in which nastya died and was mechanized. this may have been her choice, but it is more likely that carmilla and/or jonny forced her into it, as they are the ones who won her from the cyberian navy.

when they stormed the ship, a woman was trapped inside- specialist 278 tereshkova, presumably aurora's programmer. What her and aurora's relationship was like is unknown, but aurora did not make any attempt to save her, so it may have not been positive. before dying, tereshkova managed to program a final distress message into aurora, as well as coding the mechanisms' blog.

she’s likely to be based off of the historical battleship aurora, like nastya is based off of the historical russian princess anastasia.

now, it’s time to get into the main theory about her: that aurora used to be briar rose! i’m collecting all the evidence on it, as well as all the evidence that can disprove it.

here’s a refresher on briar rose’s whole deal, taken from ‘the aurora strikes’-

The Rose Reds were the most effective of the soldiers created from Rose's genetic material, but they were not the first. Rumours spoke of an early prototype, known as the Briar Rose, that had malfunctioned and slain everyone on the desert moon of Briar, where she was being grown. But she was not dead. As the Mechanisms discovered, instead, she slept, at the heart of the defence grid that surrounded New Constantinople. The grid was composed of Thorn-class gun emplacements and was virtually impenetrable. And in its centre, the Briar Rose slumbered, plugged into the system, her anger, her rage, her hatred and her fear, fueling the machines, and focusing their gun turrets.

the main support for the theory here is that over time, briar rose could have fused to the moon, which is one of the very few conditions in which a biomechanical weaponized moon seems plausible and not just like a collection of vaguely cursed words. however, in the fiction ‘by any other name’, which is some collected lab research on briar rose, there’s this line- “During transportation and integration of the specimen, take all precaution and care.”- key word here being transportation. so she must have been moved off the moon.

the fiction i cited to disprove the theory actually has something that further supports it, though- the presence of a mysterious woman in king cole’s lab, who could be carmilla. hood, the revolution’s hacker, notes on a picture of her ‘[No idea. The others I’ve been able to find evidence of, but she’s a fucking ghost]‘. the description is a bit off, though, as she’s described as a short, pale, woman with hair long enough to be pulled back and carmilla is quite tall and has short hair- as well, in a later part of the fiction, the woman is killed and does not revive. however, there’s also another who could plausibly be her, noted here- ‘A tall woman sits opposite Prof. Root with a tray of her own. From her stature, it is conceivable she was one of the figures in the chemical suits. They talk sporadically, but the audio is heavily corrupted.’ she isn’t one of the ones killed later on, either, so that’s possible.

we know carmilla knew aurora when she was a very young moon and raised her practically from birth, so if she is one of those two people, it would make sense.

in ‘the aurora strikes’, aurora pushes to save briar rose- nastya explains this as ‘she can not bear to see another biomechanical organism in pain’. in my own writing about aurora, i interpret that as her having very high empathy, but there could be a more personal connection here. this is also notable as the only time aurora is mentioned in-album beyond jonny calling the mechanisms ‘the crew of the starship aurora’.

nastya rasputina

nastya’s backstory song (cyberian demons) was only performed when they were still dr. carmilla and the mechanisms, so it’s harder to find! thevoidsings has made a lyric video of it here, though, and it gives another very clear picture of her backstory! there’s also the fiction of the same name, which i didn’t understand upon first read-through but is basically a nastya character study, covering different points in her immortal life.

her performer went on hiatus for a while, and as an in-universe explanation, the cyberian sequence was written! in which nastya flies aurora to cyberia, infects herself with a computer virus, and transmits it to the entire planet, causing it to explode. this is all in the cyberian demons fiction i linked above, and with it are two other tangential fictions- one presumably just before those events, and one that’s an outsider pov.

there’s also out, which i’d suggest reading rather than just looking at my summary; basically, nastya has a crisis over aurora changing so that it’s harder to recognize her love, and ends up leaving the ship to float away into deep space- this is presumed to be her death, but that is never confirmed and nastya seems to assume she will wake up at some point.

ashes o’reilly

ashes’ whole deal is quite straightforward, which is a nice break from aurora and (to a lesser extent) nastya! their backstory song is lucky sevens, and it’s elaborated on further in their crew bio; interestingly, ashes was the one most into the idea of immortality at first, and also gave clear consent to carmilla.

ivy alexandria

we don’t know that much about ivy, which is fitting, as she doesn’t either! the most clear information we can find about her is in her crew bio, which can be summarized as: she grew up in a library!

archive footage explains more about her memory situation. she has no memories of anything before she was mechanized, according to this line ‘[...] she can tell you dates, and places, and body counts, she can list for you the exact circumstances of each event of her long, long life (at least, every event since that time, long ago, among a maze of bookshelves in a library that, awake, she can no longer describe to you, though once she knew its every turn by heart, when a woman stood over her and offered her eternity: before that, there is nothing at all).’ she also processes her memories differently than most people- they’re more like records, instead of things that affect her emotionally. (archive footage is also beautifully written and very much worth reading!)

the toy soldier

would say it has concrete lore, but it’s also almost solely responsible for fucking up my timeline and the album lore, so i’m rather angry at it. nevertheless, its entire backstory can be found in the fiction ‘the story of the toy soldier’. additionally, there’s a short story about its time fighting in the revolution of once upon a time (in space); presumably, this is the first time it did so, though it was likely in the war at least twice and possibly even three times. the mechanisms were only watching the second time, though it’s not out of character for it to have participated in the war again, and there’s also the dr. carmilla song, eleven, (which is about a war and uses a lot of rose symbology so it’s likely the revolution) where it is present. notably, carmilla had left the mechanisms by the time once upon a time (in space) takes place on their timeline, and the toy soldier is the only one there. at first, i interpreted that as carmilla meeting the toy soldier before it had met the mechanisms, but there’s two inconsistencies there: firstly, it doesn’t recognize her when it joins the band, and secondly, in the song they leave together. this increases the likelihood of it having been in the war three times.

we actually have a recording of the toy soldier’s first time joining the band- the mechanisms @ lashings! (part one / part two / transcript) there’s also a note of that show in the story of the toy soldier! they bought it because jonny was in jail (x). interestingly, that show is the first recording of rose red, and it’s later noted jonny was in a rose red prison!

now it’s time to get into the main theory regarding it, which also will factor into the write-up of ulysses dies at dawn later! i personally subscribe to this theory, or at least, most of it.

here is frankie @byron-von-raum‘s post- the theory here is that the toy soldier is the rebodied mind of the widow’s fiance. i’m not going to get too into that part, as i don’t personally incorporate it into my lore and more importantly frankie already has a post on it! read that if you’re more interested!

the most important bit here is the evidence it collects regarding the toy soldier living near labyrinth; in one of the pictures from the toy soldier’s backstory, there’s a dionysus brand wine bottle. the consensus he comes to is that the toy soldier lives in a colony of earth that trades with labyrinth, and while i think that’s possible, the all-encompassing nature of the city makes it more likely that they would have a minimum of outside communication, so the toy soldier would just be from the city proper. i will get into the impacts of this/expand on it more in the world lore section!

another thing: the angel has an out of character explanation! if you look at photos of old mechs gigs, jessica law looks similar to the drawing of the angel in the story of the toy soldier! their voice being stolen was most likely a reference to that.

drumbot brian

brian’s backstory is laid out in his crew bio! i’d summarize it, but to be honest, it’s already a summary, so i’d suggest just taking a second to read that! sadly, this is all of what we know about it. the priest from his backstory was apparently made almost immortal in some twisted form of mechanization, and has never forgiven brian for it/is still trying to hunt him down (x).

his bio is also where his morality switch is introduced! (interestingly, it takes a far lower role/is mentioned far less in canon than in fanworks.)

there was originally going to be a backstory album about him called indistinguishable from magic. this never happened, but ben below is working on a new one called the wanderings of drumbot brian! no more knowledge on this currently.

the main theory about him is that he had some kind of alliance/is lying about something to do with carmilla! we know from maki that carmilla didn’t go out of the airlock (more on that in her section), and when brian is questioned on what happened to her, he doesn’t give a concrete answer. this is in contrast to all the other mechanisms, who assume she fell out an airlock. here’s what he said:

I will not point fingers and lay blame. I do not know how it came to pass that Dr. Carmilla left this vessel, whether by fair means or foul, and so I will not engage in this painful discussion. I hope she did not suffer, and that we may forgive the perpetrator of this deed.

he’s speaking very formally here. (fucking nerd). well, no; legitimately, this is not the normal way he speaks in other contexts. he could be masking something. we know that even when he’s lying, he’s not good at it, and this comes off as clearly odd. in support of this, i believe one of the songs on his unwritten backstory album was called ‘the doctor’s demise’ (though i could be remembering incorrectly).

there’s not much more evidence we can draw on here to come to a consensus, though!

something else to note- i’ve written this other meta about his prophetic powers! feel free to read if you’re interested in that aspect of his character!

gunpowder tim

of course, tim already has a whole mini-album to himself (gunpowder tim vs the moon kaiser), but there’s a couple more niche things about him, though not as much as aurora and ts!

mainly, the implications that he destroyed the sun. there’s an old mechanisms tweet that states he 'was floating in the wake of a detonated star’. additionally, there’s this old blog post, which turned into a bit of a fiction! the figure speaking is not named, but given the other mechanisms who speak (therefore knocking them off the possibilities list) and the fact that the post was made around the time tim joined, it’s likely that it’s him. now, he says this:

“It wasn’t the deep space that drove me crazy,” he said, his voice low, calm and polite. “It was the sudden realisation that I was entirely responsible for the destruction of my entire civilisation, and happy for it.”

though destroying the moon and his other actions in gptvtmk could possibly count for this, it would fit more if he had destroyed the sun.

both those posts also imply that he was floating in space for an incredibly long time. i don’t know how he survived if so, but it seems very likely that’s what happened.

i considered these posts being too early/having a changed canon now, like the odd use of different pronouns for some characters in the earlier fiction, but they seemed to have gunpowder tim vs the moon kaiser mostly worked out by the time tim ledsam officially joined, as they perform it at the only recorded gig from that year with him (port mahon 2011), which was around when the second blog post was made!

marius von raum

we don’t have a written backstory or backstory song to go on for him, but kofi young (his performer) is working on a full album about him called ‘the death of byron von raum’!

the blog post kofi made about it as a summary is the main source of marius lore that we have! i’d highly suggest reading it, but the main points are:

1. it’s going to be very dark and tragic, and shows that marius at heart isn’t really the kind of comedic figure that he comes off as in the band! ruth @thedreadvampy (the mechanisms’ official artist, as well as morgan’s sister and kofi’s partner) has also made a tumblr post that connects to this!

2. the world he’s from used to be high-tech, but has devolved over time into 18th century levels of technology! what this boils down to is; what we assume is marius and an unknown friend (more on this in raphaella’s part) manage to discover ancient technology and attempt to use it! all we have here is this quote om the blog post- ‘In the middle of this, two kids hiding from the soldiers discover an army of ancient mecha and use them to fight back, but only end up plunging the world into further chaos.’.

3. anime protagonist marius!

we also have this small piece of writing, screenshotted here (monogoggle...)-

[image id: a screenshot of writing, most of it out of view/hard to make out. it’s also in the middle of the line, so the breaks are off. however, it looks to say ‘at the controls of RISML/cockpit is cramped and d[...]/has his monogoggle over his/controls are uncomplicated/the neural interface. They [...]’ end id.]

raphaella la cognizi

i’ve been very deep down the mechs rabbit hole for over a month now, and yet i’ve found hardly anything about her!

there’s a small theory i have, though it doesn’t have too much supporting evidence! in marius’ backstory, it mentions two kids, and raphaella and marius joined together (first mention of either of them is together, in this facebook post!) when questioned about marius and raphaella, nastya says a story instead of stories (x). (that post also clarifies that carmilla was not involved in either raphaella or marius’ backstories!) this could potentially point to raphaella being the other person from marius’ backstory. the evidence against it is that if raphaella featured that heavily, r. l. hughes would have said something about the album as well instead of it just being kofi talking about marius, but it’s still interesting to think about!

there’s also a theory that she was the preacher’s daughter from brian’s backstory, but the only real evidence there is that she could have used his tech to mechanize herself (which her doing is only fanon!) and that she performs ‘lost in the cosmos’.

dr carmilla

this is most likely going to be the shortest section, as it’s basically another crew member; that being said, there’s a lot of lore here!

if you haven’t listened to the carmilla albums, i’d really suggest doing that! there’s two- exhumed and (un)plugged and ageha prototype edition! the story there is harder to put together than in the mechs backstories, especially because the songs are mostly out of order, so i’ve decided to just straight up summarize my interpretation, along with what we have to go on from maki, instead of framing it like a theory, as that’s the easiest way! still, please bear all this with a grain of salt- it’s most likely to be contradicted in the new album maki is working on.

carmilla and her girlfriend loreli lived on a planet called terra. for their childhoods, it was a fairly okay place to live (though i elaborate on this a bit in the world lore section!) however, it was bombed; most likely taking the role of an alternate universe hiroshima, as the blurb on her bandcamp says ‘Dr. Carmilla tells the twisted tales of a dystopian future following WWII having ended very differently.‘ after this, the planet sunk into a nuclear winter.

loreli got sick and died; or, she should have, but carmilla saved her by turning her into a vampire as well. this resulted in loreli losing her morals and becoming abusive towards carmilla. carmilla was too deep in love to see this, and stayed in the relationship for several years.

we don’t know what happened to make her strike out on her own, but eventually she did, and created the mechanisms. while with them, she recognized her own failures with loreli, and left the mechanisms (which they all believe was caused by jonny d’ville pushing her out an airlock, rather than her own volition.)

from there, she traveled back in time to the point where loreli was dying, and let it happen- potentially burying herself and loreli alive, which she survived due to her immortality and loreli did not.

however, she was trapped underground for a hundred years. when she is finally found and dug out, she starts enjoying herself (i.e. committing murder). for some unknown reason, she clones herself multiple times, creating the in-universe version of maki yamazaki.

the mechanisms assume she pursued them after she was pushed out of the airlock, and that that was what eleven was about, but i’m not sure why she would do that, given that she left them of her own volition. because of time shenanigans, it could have been far later on her personal timeline; maybe she simply wished to reconnect with them after all those years.

that’s all we have; we don’t know if she died, or anything like that!

world lore

all the folktales and normal history the irl mechs work off of also exist in-universe! (for an example- the toy soldier and ivy start reciting the walrus and the carpenter together in lashings, and the mechs also do alice in wonderland as a song.)

we know the alternate universe theory is correct, mostly because of this piece in the fiction on kofi’s blog-

In those burning instants, he’d feel the weight of it all, and know it was true. The golden age that never came; the city that stood at the dawn of a world instead of in its dying embers. And beyond – to a myriad of Camelots and a thousand thousand Arthurs, unfathomable worlds apart, each different, each fighting the same hopeless battle.

He’d feel the burden of that task pressing down until it felt like it’d crush his chest, and he’d wake every day gasping for breath, feeling older than he ever had, older even than Ector.

And as he screamed inwardly, Galahad would meet his gaze with those crazed eyes of his and grin, and Arthur would know again that whatever had spoken to Galahad was moving him too.

the mechanisms are most likely traveling between several alternate universe versions of folktales, and occasionally alternate versions of earth! (cyberia, tim’s earth, terra...) this is likely why everyone in their stories is human, and is actually low-key evidence against drawing them as aliens (though ofc feel free to have fun!)

i was initially going to put all the album lore in its own separate sections, but a large amount of it is how it intersects with other pieces of lore, and the rest isn’t necessarily niche enough to cite here? my personal advice is that if you want to learn more about the albums, read the fiction! i have a compilation post of all the fiction up on this blog, and you can find it on the website here!

let’s start with the mechanisms’ roles in ulysses dies at dawn, though! we know for sure ashes is hades, brian is the oracle of delphi, and the toy soldier was a nymph (which is actually quite worrying, considering what that means and the inherent issues with consent there, but i digress.) tim most likely took on the role of achilles (more on that here). then, we know some of the mechanisms’ activities and can guess their roles from that. raphaella was helping athena on her research, marius was psychoanalyzing the olympians, and jonny was committing mass murder. it’s a common theory that one (or three) of the mechanisms was cerberus, but sadly i couldn’t find any evidence towards or against that.

i said in the toy soldier’s section that i would talk more about the implications of it being from labyrinth here! the main thing is the fact that, for it to join the rose red war, the city must have interacted with king cole at some point. it’s a risky thing to pose a theory on the toy soldier’s allegiance towards a certain group, but the fact that it seemed to stick with the rose reds here might also mean that the city was, in fact, under king cole’s power. this fits in nicely with the greek mythology aspect of it all; king cole, in that universe, could have been a stand-in for the figure of kronos/saturn!

a few other theories on how the lore intersects:

1. high noon over camelot takes place after the bifrost incident! in terminus, we see communication breaking down, and that could have been the reason the station was isolated. the mechanisms go from it to the bifrost incident, but as they canonically travel in time, that’s not enough to disprove the theory!

2. arthur becomes king cole eventually! this is mostly going off of the fact he’s called ‘the once and future king’, but also the fact that cole used to be considered a good king.

a few loose pieces of worldbuilding:

people from new constantinople seem to be longer lived, and their culture is built around age as a concept. the older you are, the more wise and important you are. specifically, in this fiction, snow is dismissively noted as ‘barely fifty’ and king cole’s age is held up as evidence to why he’s a good ruler.

terra, carmilla’s planet, has two major languages; high terran and low terran! high terran is a more regulated, formal way of speaking, specifically something that only the rich and privileged tend to know. there are many dialects, but the grammar is dictated by the capital. low terran is a creole language formed from several others, including high terran, that most children are taught in school as the baseline. (though they might speak a completely different, less widely spoken language at home!) carmilla speaks low terran but not high terran (although she pretends to know the latter.)

the mechanisms were all (or mostly all) at fort galfridean at one point; don’t have the source to hand, but marius apparently became a prophet to the saxons for staring into the sun for a very long time.

if you’re looking to draw album fanart, there are a few things i know aren’t as widely known; the ones i can think of off the top of my head is orpheus having a ‘foppish haircut’ (the type of thing that falls under that definition is narcissus’ undercut), and snow’s disfiguring scar. there is also official album art; i, personally, have not seen much of it, and i’d encourage coming up with your own character interpretations.

one last theory- it’s highly likely carmilla was involved in the events of the bifrost incident. in the mechscord (sadly, invites are closed due to the difficulty with handling the boom in the fanbase) maki yamazaki has mentioned that part of the criteria for picking a mechanism is ‘good friend for lyf’. at first, i assumed that she meant good friend for life, but when asked on that she was worryingly cryptic (as tends to happen), and she made a joke earlier in character as doc c about accidentally calling odin. though immortal lyfrassier edda most likely became fanon just so they could become a mechanism, this is a piece of evidence towards them actually becoming immortal.

my personal headcanon is that to gain true immortality (which maki has said king cole and the olympians do not have) you have to have some kind of eldritch component, so carmilla had to go to odin for aid. this is supported by the fact that in drive the cold winter away and cyberian demons, their mechanisms are noted as having a rainbow sheen to them!

other lore

scuzz nishimura

scuzz has built up a bit of a reputation for being the ‘cryptid mech’, but her lore is really quite simple! she was a member of the band back when they were doctor carmilla and the mechanisms, but left before they became more popular, so there’s not too much knowledge about her. she appears in this fiction and the only two recorded gigs from that era (lashings and homesick). she’s also visible in several photos!

i know i’ll get people in the notes asking for photos of her if i don’t include any, so have this;

[image id: a cropped picture of scuzz nishimura, looking tired and resting her head on her hand. she looks to be wearing white gloves and some kind of sweater or waistcoat, and her hair is cut short. her cello is also visible, as is someone else’s hand. end id.]

we don’t know too much about her; all we really have is that she was their cello player!

assorted things with no explanation

there’s this old piece from the wayback machine-

[image id: a screenshot of what looks to be the fiction page from a old site for dr carmilla and the mechs. the writing reads;

Writing

( The Aldwich Horror } A short story in which Dr. Carmilla attempts to solve the mysteries of the Aldwich Horror, the strange appearance of a new crew memeber and several zoologically dubious pets.

( Disinterration } A cautionary tale about exhuming corpses.

end id.]

‘disinterration’ is most likely a reference to the carmilla song exhumed, but i’m unsure about ‘the aldwich horror’. the most intriguing bit there is ‘the strange appearance of a new crew member’. i’ve researched the other aspects in an attempt to figure this out. aldwych is a closed london tube station- it served as a bomb shelter during the blitz, which is interesting as both carmilla and tim have backstories involving the world wars (though only carmilla’s is world war ii specifically; tim’s is wwi). the zoologically dubious pets are most likely the octokittens, which we know the toy soldier brought on board, so it would have to be in a place on the timeline after ts joined and before carmilla left. the only mechanism that joins in that space is gunpowder tim, so it’s possible that he is the new crew member.

the mechanisms blogs have a lot of incidental lore, so if you’re this deep in i’d suggest looking at my compilation post of some of my favorite posts of theirs!

and that’s it! we did it! i can finally go to sleep now. i’m so tired. please. i am going to die. i have homework. thank you all so much. please consider coming to my funeral service.

#the mechanisms #the mechs #my posts #compiliation post #meta

509 notes · View notes

jikookuntold · 3 years

Text

Jungkook and His Cover Songs: Is “10000 Hours” about Jimin?

Disclaimer: The following post includes theories, lyric and numeric analysis, plus my personal opinions, so please don’t take anything seriously. I’m too lazy to upload photos and videos for the moments I mentioned here, but I’m sure you know about them all. Any Jikooker must know. And I’m not Korean or a Korean culture expert, I just know as much as any Stan Twitter ARMY knows about their culture.

Anyone?

Maybe one of the biggest Jikook moments of 2021 so far, is where Jimin jumped into Jungkook’s hug, in Lee Hyun’s Vlog. But the other moment on that Vlog was even more significant; Jungkook was singing “Anyone” from Justin Bieber’s new album, and Jimin was harmonizing with him while holding on his shirt. I don’t want to mention their interview moment singing “Peaches” because I know this song is super popular in South Korea right now and somehow it doesn’t count as a moment. But it’s safe to say that Jikook has something special with his songs, and JK in particular always was invested in him.

JK & JB

The reason behind Jungkook’s devotion to Justin Bieber was always a big question for me, and I got my answer not long time ago. Jungkook’s playlist for Melon Radio Station included a song from JB’s new album named “Lonely”. This is one of the most personal songs any artist can ever make, and JK recommended it to his audience. Here are the lyrics of “Lonely” by Justin Bieber:

Everybody knows my name now

But somethin' 'bout it still feels strange

Like lookin' in a mirror, tryna steady yourself

And seein' somebody else

And everything is not the same now

It feels like all our lives have changed

Maybe when I'm older, it'll all calm down

But it's killin' me now

What if you had it all, but nobody to call?

Maybe then you'd know me

'Cause I've had everything

But no one's listening

And that's just lonely

I'm so lonely, lonely

Everybody knows my past now

Like my house was always made of glass

And maybe that's the price you pay

For the money and fame at an early age

And everybody saw me sick

And it felt like no one gave

They criticized the things I did as an idiot kid

What if you had it all, but nobody to call?

Maybe then you'd know me

'Cause I've had everything

But no one's listening

And that's just lonely

These lyrics made me think of one specific thing, the thing that JK and JB have in common: They started their careers at a very young age, and their lives have been under the scrutiny of so many people. These people judged and criticized them but never tried to understand them. The lyrics are straightforward and leave no place for interpretation. By recommending this song, JK showed that he had (and probably still has) the same experiences in his life, and I think the reason he recommends or covers JB’s songs more than any other artist is that he has many things in common with him, and feels connected to his songs.

This can lead us to another theory: By covering a Justin Bieber song, Jungkook shares something about himself with us, something that he can’t express directly.

Jungkook is interested in JB’s songs, but he is not the only one. As I said earlier in this post, Jimin shares the same taste with Jungkook, and my receipt is not just that “Anyone” or “Peaches” harmonizing moments, but also Jimin’s Spotify playlists. Since 2017 (or earlier, I’m not sure about this part) he has added some JB songs to his official playlist, and even his current playlist (July 2021) has two JB songs. And also let’s not forget the fact that Jikook as a subunit started in 2014 with a JB cover. Yes, I’m talking about “Mistletoe” and as you may know, Jimin translated the lyrics of this song to Korean.

10000 Hours

Nearly 700 words and I haven’t started yet! The subject of this post was supposed to be the connections between “10000 hours” cover and Jikook but this prelude was necessary to clarify all the aspects of the topic and we find out how JB is special for JK and Jimin and how they (especially Jungkook) feel connected to him. Anyways, back to 10000 hours:

Dan + Shay and Justin Bieber released this Grammy winner song in October 2019. Here are the lyrics:

Do you love the rain, does it make you dance

When you're drunk with your friends at a party

What's your favorite song, does it make you smile

Do you think of me?

When you close your eyes, tell me, what are you dreamin'?

Everything, I wanna know it all

I'd spend ten thousand hours and ten thousand more

Oh, if that's what it takes to learn that sweet heart of yours

And I might never get there, but I'm gonna try

If it's ten thousand hours or the rest of my life

I'm gonna love you

Do you miss the road that you grew up on?

Did you get your middle name from your grandma?

When you think about your forever now, do you think of me?

When you close your eyes, tell me, what are you dreamin'?

Everything, I wanna know it all

I'd spend ten thousand hours and ten thousand more

Oh, if that's what it takes to learn that sweet heart of yours

And I might never get there, but I'm gonna try

If it's ten thousand hours or the rest of my life

I'm gonna love you

Ooh, want the good and the bad and everything in between

Ooh, gotta cure my curiosity

Ooh, yeah

I'd spend ten thousand hours and ten thousand more

Oh, if that's what it takes to learn that

Sweet heart of yours

And I might never get there, but I'm gonna try

If it's ten thousand hours or the rest of my life

I'm gonna love you

And I'm gonna love you

As you can see, the lyrics are 100% romantic, and the singers including JB, have dedicated this song to their lovers. Also, their girlfriends/wives have a cameo in the MV, which leaves no place for speculation for the context of the song: Even though the uncertainties always exist and no one knows about the future, our love is strong and will stay strong regardless of time.

The Cover and the Theories

Nearly one year later, on July 28th, 2020, Jungkook surprised ARMYs with a short video he tweeted at 11:56 AM. That video was a 49 seconds cover of 10000 hours. A few minutes later, he deleted the tweet (apparently with the advertisement excuses, because it was tweeted from an iPhone and they have a contract with Samsung). Later that night, Jungkook released the full version on Sound Cloud and tweeted the link at 11:47 PM.

Jikookers discovered numerous theories that day about the times of both tweets; if you add the digits of the time, the result is “13” for both tweets 1+1+4+7=13, 1+1+5+6=13, and as you already know “13” is Jikook’s magic number. Also, the first video he tweeted was 49 seconds and 4+9=13. But in my opinion, this theory is not strong. I know that numerology is very popular in Korean culture but still, all of this can be coincidences, but the other things I’m going to bring up are most likely not.

28th July 2020 was the 7th anniversary of the first Jikook selca posted after debut. This also might be a coincidence and to be honest, it cannot be a strong link to make a connection with Jikook, but worths sharing.

The next thing that many Jikookers also pointed out, was related to the title of the song. The lyrics say “10000 hours and 10000 more” and 20000 hours after the 28th of July is 8th November 2022. As you may know. Jikookers believe November 8th is a significant date for Jikook. I believe this can be a coincidence either, and it’s very unlikely of Jungkook to do such calculations (Koreans are interested in numbers when it comes to days and dates, but counting hours is not usual in any culture. Other than that, I’m still doubtful about the origins of the November 8th theory because we have nothing other than two tweets and G.C.F Tokyo release date and their hotel room in Tokyo which still can be coincidental). But I don’t deny these theories because even as a coincidence, it’s still very interesting.

And the next theory is connected to the “Red Moon”. On 27th July 2018, a total lunar eclipse happened all over the world, which became known as the red moon. At that time, BTS were in Malta, and on the same night, Jikook were watching the red moon on a boat. They shared plenty of photos and videos of that moment and I’m sure as a Jikooker you have seen them all and you know that night had a very romantic mood (BigHit words, not mine) for Jikook. So, a second anniversary for that night and the day after that night can be a significant date to release a very romantic cover. Is this a coincidence too? I think we had many of them already.

And last but not least is something connected to Korean culture. You probably know that 1000 days anniversaries are very important for Koreans and they celebrate them along with real anniversaries of the important dates in their lives. And guess what? 27th July 2020 is 1000 days after 31 October 2017. This day is the day Jikook’s travel to Tokyo ended and they posted their couply mirror selca on Twitter with flower bouquet emoji. Despite the one-day difference (the same case for the red moon anniversary), this is not a minor event or small coincidence. I believe Jungkook posted “10000 hour” cover for this reason and based on this, the other theories I mentioned earlier can be true either.

The lyrics hit different if you read them again, after knowing this fact. Right? I don’t want to make this post much longer but before wrapping up, I want to talk about the lyrics of “Anyone” by JB (the song Jikook were harmonizing in Lee Hyun’s Vlog):

Dance with me under the diamonds

See me like breath in the cold

Sleep with me here in the silence

Come kiss me, silver and gold

You say that I won't lose you

But you can't predict the future

So, just hold on like you will never let go

Yeah, if you ever move on without me

I need to make sure you know that

You are the only one I'll ever love

(I gotta tell ya, gotta tell ya)

Yeah, you, if it's not you, it's not anyone

(I gotta tell ya, gotta tell ya)

Looking back on my life

You're the only good I've ever done (ever done)

Yeah, you, if it's not you, it's not anyone (anyone)

Not anyone

Forever's not enough time to (oh)

Love you the way that I want (love you the way that I want)

'Cause every morning I find you (oh)

I fear the day that I don't

You say that I won't lose you

But you can't predict the future

'Cause certain things are out of our control

Yeah, if you ever move on without me

I need to make sure you know that

You are the only one I'll ever love

Only one (I gotta tell ya, gotta tell ya)

Yeah, you, if it's not you it's not anyone

(I gotta tell ya, gotta tell ya)

Looking back on my life

You're the only good I've ever done (I've ever done)

Yeah, you, if it's not you, it's not anyone

It's not anyone, not anyone

Oh, oh, oh, oh

If it's not you, it's not anyone

Oh, oh, oh, yeah, whoa

Yeah, you are the only one I'll ever love

(I gotta tell ya, gotta tell ya)

Yeah, you, if it's not you, it's not anyone

(I gotta tell ya, gotta tell ya) gotta tell ya

Looking back on my life

You're the only good I've ever done (ever done, oh, yeah)

Yeah, you, if it's not you, it's not anyone

If you read the lyrics, you will notice that the context is very similar to “10000 hours”. It talks about the uncertainties of a beautiful love or in other words: No matter what the future brings to us, this love will last forever.

This context of uncertainty and unknown future for a romance is a common concept in many of the songs Jungkook has covered and it’s not limited to the Justin Bieber covers he has done and maybe this concept can be the topic for my next analysis.

#jikook #jikookanalysis #jimin #jungkook

48 notes · View notes

rushingheadlong · 3 years

Text

Tim Staffell Interview Links

Alright, here are all the Tim Staffell interviews that I’ve been collecting (excluding the short print interviews that Tim did specifically about the Bohemian Rhapsody movie).

I’ve provided links for everything that I can, and for the audio interviews I’ve included notes on how long they are and what they cover. Many of these obviously have a heavy focus on Smile and Queen, so the ones marked with a * are interviews that I think do a decent job of covering Tim’s life and work outside of that.

If you have any additional interview links, please send them to me and I’ll add them to this post!

Audio Interviews:

*Doin’ Alright -- The Tim Staffell Story (Interview with The Chinwag) - October 2018

Length: 57min

First half of the interview is exclusively about Smile. In the second half he gets into his other projects, his move into model making, and his solo work. Tim also gets a chance to play a few songs live, and ends with a very lovely stripped-back version of “Earth”.

Note: Several songs are played throughout during the interview, but the host site makes it hard to skip them. Estimate that the actual interview length is closer to 40 minutes.

Interview with Jack Cool - November 2018

Length: 23min

Nice focus on Tim’s solo work at the beginning before moving into some talk about Smile and BoRhap (including a brief discussion of Humpy Bong while discussing the movie). However the audio quality is pretty atrocious due to Tim having some issues with the call connection.

*The Strange Brew Podcast - December 2018

Length: 1hr36min

Covers Tim’s entire career from the band 1984 through his solo album Two Late. There’s a heavy focus on Smile and Queen at the start, but Tim is given an equal chance to talk about both his later musical projects and his model making work. Probably the clearest timeline for Tim’s professional life out of everything here.

Note: The interview includes 12 full songs, which are easy to skip if you so choose. Estimate that the actual interview length is closer to an hour.

*The StageLeft Podcast: November 2019

Length: 1hr12min

A fairly heavy focus on Smile and Queen at the beginning, with a lot of specific questions about Freddie and Brian, but Tim also does get the chance to talk more broadly about his experiences with all his creative projects and the path his life has taken. There’s less “facts” given in this, but the personal insights on his life make it worth it.

QueenPod Episode 7: October 2020

Length: 1hr18min

Largely focuses on Smile and Tim’s relationships with Brian and Roger throughout the years, with some brief discussions of BoRhap and Tim’s more recent solo works. However the interviewers are respectful and avoid a lot of the usual, “How do you feel about being replaced by Freddie?” sort of questions which is always nice.

*QueenPod Mini Bonus Episode: October 2020

Length: 11min

Tim talking about his work on Thomas the Tank Engine.

*Lyrics Of Their Life Podcast: March 2021

Length: 1hr6min

Spans Tim’s entire life up to recording “Doin’ Alright” for the BoRhap film. Covers not only Smile and Queen but also 1984, his work in the 1970s, his current musical projects, and some of his model making and commercial work.

Queen Conference Interview: May 2021

Length: ~40min (Tim’s interview is only the first part of the video)

Largely focuses on Smile and Queen, but there’s some more specific and interesting questions asked rather than the usual basic recounting of events that usually happens.

Interview with Caroline Community Radio: November 2022

Length: ~40min

No notes - have yet to listen

Text Interviews:

Record Collector “Queen Before Queen: 1984” - November 1995

Record Collector “Queen Before Queen: Smile” - January 1996

*Ask Uncle Tim (Q&A site ran by a friend of Tim’s) - 1997-2000 [Note: Site is archived and each page will open as an html file.]

*10 Questions With Tim Staffell - 2003

*Crew Member Spotlight on Tim Staffell (Thomas the Tank Engine interview) - Date unknown, likely mid 2000s

*Biography from Tim’s Website - Archived page from 2009

Doin’ Alright - Fan Feature by Patrick Lemieux - September 2018

Reddit AMA - November 2018

From Smile to “Two Late”, with a special classmate: an interview with Tim Staffell - April 2019

Doin’ Alright: Tim Staffell Talks - July 2019

Tim Staffell of Pre-Queen Band Recalls Friend Freddie Mercury - March 2020

I asked Tim Staffell about Silver Salmon (QueenChat thread) - April 2020

Queen Fan Club Interview - Winter 2020

Tim Staffell talking about Earth - January 2021

*The New Barcelona Post interview - November 2021 [Note: Article is in Spanish, according to Tim the Google translation is fairly accurate]

Bass Player Magazine Interview - December 2021

Efe Eme Interview - December 2021 [Note: Also in Spanish]

Live Talk at the Twickenham Exchange - May 2022 [Note: Link is to a transcript of Tim’s talk. Audio of the event is not publicly available.]

Queen Books/Documentaries Where Tim Contributed:

Queen by George Tremlett (1976) [also called “The Queen Story”, this was the first time Tim was interviewed about Queen]

Queen: The Early Years by Mark Hodkinson (1995)

Unknown documentary clip (appears to be late 90s/early 00s)

Freddie Mercury: The Untold Story documentary (2000)

Becoming Queen documentary (2004)

Queen in Cornwall by Rupert White (2011)

Queen: A Rock History documentary (2022)

#text #masterpost #tim staffell #tim #smile band #long post //#I'm almost positive that there's things I'm still missing but I wanted to throw this up anyway #and if anyone has more links please send them my way!

99 notes · View notes

cdt12345 · 3 years

Note

We've been friends many years but I've never thought to ask; Top 10 gay OTPs?

1.) Ian & Mickey (Gallavich) - Shameless us

What can I say about these two that we haven’t already said about them?! They are my absolute all-time favorite couple ever! Gay or straight. They perfectly complement each other, they love each other on a level I feel like I’ve never seen before (and I have watched a lot of tv/movies), they’re like a comedy duo, they support each other, understand each other better than anyone else ever will, they fell in love as kids, they bring out the best in each other, and they’re each other's best friend. I’m a sucker for opposites attract, who are also best friends. Gallavich really fits that bill. I wish they didn’t have to struggle so much to get their happiness, but I’m happy they finally got it. When they got married, it felt like the biggest victory ever! We went through those years of struggle with them, rooted for them, mourned for them when John Wells let Noel go after season 5. So much has tried to keep these two apart, even real-life circumstances tried to keep them apart. The chemistry between these two characters and between Cameron and Noel was so powerful, they were brought back to the show. That kind of thing doesn’t happen very often. When an actor leaves a show, they don’t usually come back as a series regular, let alone two actors who have already left the show. It felt like a miracle! I will never forget getting the news that Noel was coming back from you @luckyshazmrsmonaghansblog I was crying with happiness bc we wanted this for so long and I never believed we would get to see both Cameron and Noel back on the show. Or that they would get their happy ending outside of a jail cell. Especially after Cameron left the show in season 9. With their return we got a wedding, an entire season of them as a married couple, we got to see them dance with each other twice, we got them singing together, we got to see them start a lucrative business together, we got to see them free and happier than we’ve ever seen them before, and we got to see Terry get what he deserved after putting them through hell. We are only halfway through season 11, but I already feel so fulfilled with this extra time with gallavich that we were never supposed to have. JW tried to take that away from us. I will never understand why, but he failed. I am not surprised this is the one I wrote the most about. I can go on and on about gallavich!

2.) David and Patrick - Schitt’s Creek

This was everything I ever wanted to see onscreen, where there was zero homophobia. The pansexual character didn’t need to have a big coming out or tell everyone in the town of his sexual orientation, except his best friend. The gay character had a coming out with parents who loved and accepted him for who he is and was only upset that he felt he couldn’t tell them sooner. I dreamt of a day where I could see this kind of representation onscreen. The casual treatment of their sexuality was so refreshing and something I’ve been waiting for. There is no darkness or huge struggle they had to overcome to be together or a sad ending for them. They were allowed to be together without the major conflicts most LGBTQ characters have to go through. Once David made the first move Patrick was comfortable allowing himself to fall for David and start a relationship with him. He was so sure of his feelings for David after that first kiss, he never looked back and I loved that. They had such an adorable love story. Truly one I have been waiting to see for so long between two LGBTQ characters. They made me smile every time they were on screen. They are another of my OTPs that are exact opposites who complement each other perfectly. Patrick was welcomed into David’s family and blended in with them so well, even when he and David had very different upbringings. Patrick serenading David with Tina Turner and then Mariah Carey at their wedding is one of the most romantic things I have ever seen!

3.) Holt and Kevin - Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Captain Holt and Kevin are strange men on their own but together they are the perfect pair. They get each other in a way no one else does. The best part is their adorable fur baby, Cheddar! They seriously make the cutest family! I was so nervous when they went through a rough patch for a while because I didn’t want them to split up. Thankfully, they made it through and are still going strong!

4.) Will and Vince - Will & Grace

On the show's first run, Will and Vince were in a serious relationship and Vince was Will’s longest relationship on the show. They broke up a few times but were together by the series finale. The two reunite during the funeral of Will's father. There was a time jump on the series finale. Though I didn’t love everything about the last episode, I did love the fact that Will and Vince had been together for 20 years and raised a son together, who was conceived through in vitro fertilization with a surrogate. After the time jump, nearly twenty years later, their son goes to college and meets Grace's daughter, whom he would eventually marry. Though I wasn’t happy with the fact that Will and Grace didn’t stay close over the years, it did allow for their kids to one day meet, fall in love, and get married. I did like that outcome out of the finale. My family and I used to watch the original show, but we refused to accept or watch the 2017 revival because they completely changed everything from the original series finale. The second I found out they were changing everything; I knew I couldn’t watch it. They even wiped the existence of their kids from the first series finale. The revival was an attempt to cash in on the reboot craze and I wasn’t happy about that already, but even more so when they were going to break up one of my OTPs for easy money. Bobby Cannavale, who played Vince, has become even more famous since starring in Will & Grace. So, I already figured he wouldn’t be back for the show as a regular, but I know he did guest star. I won’t accept the revival and to me, Will and Vince stayed together, and their son married Grace’s daughter. THE END!

5.) Albert and Armand - The Birdcage

Miss Albert and Armand were the earliest gay couple I remember ever watching onscreen when I was eight years old. I have watched this movie more than I can count over the years. It is a family favorite that we quote often. Their son is planning to marry a girl whose father is in politics and is very conservative. They have to hide the fact that he has two gay fathers for one night, but everything goes awry, and comedy ensues. Nathan Lane and Robin Williams give a wonderful performance without resorting to using the stereotypes that are often used on gay characters, especially back then. It’s a classic!

6.) Stefon and Seth - Saturday Night Live

Okay, hear me out on this one! They’re not the most conventional OTPs on my list, but I really do love them so much! Stefon started doing a correspondent segment on Weekend Update on SNL. The first time Stefon came on, he flirted with Seth Meyers. The second he did I was like ooh they would make a cute couple! Stefon the wild party guy and Seth the serious news anchor. It was a match made in heaven for me. Before Seth Meyers left SNL to do Late Night with Seth Meyers, Bill Hader came back to play Stefon for Seth’s last episode. I didn’t expect what happened next to happen at all! They gave Seth and Stefon the ending that I haven’t even gotten from some actual scripted shows. I never expected Stefon and Seth to have this big ending, but I could not be happier that they did. I’m posting the link to the six-minute skit/ending and I hope it works. It’s worth watching. Though the video says it’s Stefon’s farewell it was really Seth’s farewell episode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj-wYWMdWNk

7.) Mr. Simmons and Peter - Hey Arnold!

Anyone who grew up watching this show already knew that Mr. Simmons, Arnold’s teacher, was probably gay. It was hinted at in the Thanksgiving episode. Arnold and Helga visit Mr. Simmons on Thanksgiving at his house and his family and “friend” Peter are there. Mr. Simmons mother says she didn’t know Peter was coming to dinner and Peter responds with the infamous line “There’s a lot of things you don’t know.” When Mr. Simmons mom tries to get him to take a woman friend to the ballet, he says he loves the ballet and Peter gives him a disapproving look and Mr. Simmons immediately declines. Those were enough hints for us fans to decide Peter was his boyfriend. Years later, the show's creator Craig Bartlett finally confirmed Mr. Simmons is gay and had them together in the 2017 Hey Arnold: The Jungle Movie. It was so exciting to finally get the confirmation years later, even though I was already certain of it for many years. I was happy that the cartoon no longer had to settle with vague hints about it.

8.) Callie and Arizona - Grey’s Anatomy

I was very happy to see a lesbian couple on prime time tv and I really liked both characters. I was excited to root for them but sadly as most couples on this show, their relationship took a turn, and I wasn’t thrilled about it. I was disappointed that it came to an end. By then I was already getting tired of watching the show. It was starting to feel like a chore to watch it every week. I tried to stick it out because I don’t like to give up on shows in the middle of it, but I just couldn’t do it anymore. I’m glad I did though because the shocking events with Derek Shepard, is something I’m glad I wasn’t around for. Anyway, I heard things between Callie and Arizona got even worse, so I was even happier I left when I did.

9.) Sherwin and Jonathan - In a Heartbeat

This was one of the cutest things I have ever seen! I wish this got the full-length movie treatment instead of a short film. But it was still a step in the right direction for the LGBTQ community. Gay characters in cartoons always bring me such joy and that was the focus of this short. A boy with a crush on another boy with a cute ending. What is not to love?!

10.) Mitch and Cam - Modern Family

Another show I had to give up on in the middle of the series. The show began to be less funny and more annoying to me. Another reason, that really has nothing to do with the show itself, that used to annoy me was that this show repeatedly beat out Parks and Recreation during award season. Parks and Recreation is a superior show when compared to Modern Family. This show won almost every year for years and it got really annoying especially when the quality of the show started slipping and they kept winning. After a few years, they finally stopped winning all the time. But before all that, I was a fan of Cam and Mitch. They were a great couple who I loved watching on the show. They were the best part of the show most of the time. But sadly, my annoyance of the show no longer being as funny as it used to be, was enough for me to stop watching.

45 notes · View notes

sapphire374 · 3 years

Text

Soy Sol: Chapter 8 (Long Story Short, It was a Tough Day)

Wattpad Link

Ch.1 / Ch.2 / Ch.3 / Ch.4 / Ch.5 / Ch.6 / Ch.7 / Ch.9 / Ch.10 / Ch.11 / Ch.12 / Ch.13 / Ch.14 / Ch.15 / Ch.16 / Ch.17

Simón approaches the doors of the Jam and Roller. He pulls out a set of keys from his pocket and selectively picks the one with the J&R emblem engraved on it. He’s surprised when he grabs the doorknob and is able to open it without unlocking it himself. He walks in cautiously. “Is anyone here?” No one answers. Everything seems to be intact. He wonders maybe Pedro forgot to lock up last night?

He keeps walking around and gets a little startled noticing a person sitting in front of the main desk in the office. He shakes his head and rubs his tired eyes. Sitting there is Ámbar, crying in her arms.

“Linda que paso? What happened?” He worriedly rushes by her side. “It’s official, no one’s buying this place. No one wants it. Vidia is planning to tear it down and sell the land on its own.” More tears begin to cover her face. This place grew to be extremely close to Ámbar’s heart. After everything that happened with Sharon, the only constant in her life was the Jam and Roller. Being able to skate help relieve her from her anxieties and at least have one moment to be alone with the world. When she got offered the position to be manager, she couldn’t be more thrilled. Putting her heart and soul into setting up events for the gang and making sure everything was in place helped her feel more in control with her life. She was able to calm down the mess that surrounded her and pick up the pieces one by one. Hearing the official news coming from their lawyers was earth shattering for her, it was too surreal.

Simón didn’t know what to do in this moment. He ‘can’ say things will get better, but he doesn’t want to give her false hope, doesn’t want to sugarcoat it. He feels that saying an advice in this instant would only make things worse so he does what he knows best, he hugs her. A quiet display of showing you’re there for that person, always.

When they hear Pedro enter the cafeteria with Delfi, Ámbar and Simón get up from their chairs and go back to work. Ámbar wipes away all the tears with her sleeve and tries to put more makeup to cover her puffy skin.

After two hours pass by, Luna enters with Nina. “Wow Luna I can’t believe he stood you up,” Nina replies. Simón overhears Nina’s comment and hurries over to Luna’s side. “Is this true? Matteo stood you up?” Luna starts trembling and tries to find the right words to say but nothing comes out of her mouth. “I-I- …... okay how do I explain this. Yes, he left me alone all night till the restaurant closed. When I was sitting on the bench in front waiting for my taxi, he arrived. He tried to explain to me that he lost track of time because Viviana was bothering him on filming more scenes for their music video. Basically, it’s all mess. This whole relationship has turned into a mess. He lied to me by not telling me he was going to be with Viviana. If he had told me, it would’ve been okay, but he didn’t, which is why I’m upset. If you lie to someone about being with another person that means you don’t want them to know, which most of the time indicates you’re hiding a secret.” Luna sighs from her mouthful of words.

“Luna, I don’t want to make it sound worse but you’re right. If he lied to you about being with Viviana, there’s a chance he’s hiding something. There’s no necessity to lie about filming with a coworker…. Unless he has feelings for that coworker. Sorry you have to go through all of this.” Simón hugs Luna and tries to console her. “Amiga, remember these are all assumptions we’re making. We don’t know the full truth so maybe he was keeping everything a secret for a reason. We are still missing parts of the story,” Nina advised. “I don’t think so Nina. I think I should just start moving on and start focusing more on me and you guys of course. Oh, that reminds me. How are those wedding plans going Simón?” Simon widely opens his eyes in shock and covers his mouth with his hand. “No no no nooooooo”

“Que paso Simón? Why are you so upset suddenly?” Luna asked.

“Ámbar and I have been so caught up with issues pertaining to the Jam and Roller that we completely forgot to prepare the wedding and plan everything out.”

Luna lays her hand on Simon’s shoulder, trying to comfort him. “Well, you don’t have to worry about that anymore because I can help with whatever you guys need.” “Yeah, me too,” Nina tags along.

“Also, what issues do you guys mean when ‘pertaining to the Jam and Roller?’” Luna questions.

“You’ll find out soon, and by soon I mean around…. now.” Simón states while staring at the clock.

Ámbar leaves the office carrying a clipboard and heads to the stage of the cafeteria. “May I get everyone’s attention! I have some disappointing news to say. For a while, Simon and I have constantly tried to negotiate with Vidia, in hopes that this beautiful place stays as it should. Sadly, our wishes were not met and Vidia has officially announced that it will be tearing this place down and selling the land. Sorry to be the bearer of this awful news, I wish I didn’t have to. I wish that the Jam and Roller can stay for generations and generations on. This place has been the spot where many of us have shared experiences together and won a few competitions. It deserves to stay here, but the owners disagree.”

Everyone gasps in astonishment. Some covering their mouths, some leaving it open, some having visible tears coming out. Everyone reacts as if the place was already completely gone and become a deserted land. Eric (Jandino) enters the place. “Hey guys what did I miss?” Everyone’s red puffy faces glance towards him. “Oof tough crowd huh?” Nina is the first to respond and make the situation a little less awkward. “The Jam and Roller is going to be teared down.” Eric stays speechless and just nods in response.

“This can’t be the end of this place. Are we really going to give up so quickly? Vidia tried to sell it and we were able to convince them not to. This time could be the same,” Luna exclaims.

“This time is different though because the investors don’t need this place anymore and no one wants to buy a skating rink since it’s ‘old fashion’ and ‘not modern.’ This place was in the market for months. Simón and I hoped someone would buy it but no one did. The only way for us to even have a chance to keep it is if someone purchased this place,” Ámbar refuted.

“That shouldn’t be so bad. All we have to do is find someone who is rich and has a kind heart,” Luna proudly states. “Luna are you insane? Where we are we going to find a kind, rich person? This isn’t a cartoon where stuff magically appears out of nowhere to help and save us. Yeah, that’s right Mickey, I’m talking about you and your “musketeer named Toodles,” we all know that’s fake.” Jazmin argued in front of her tablet camera.

“You are right... well on the first part. But I have an idea, maybe I can afford it!” Luna confidently states.

Ámbar gently brings Luna’s hopes down again. “I’ve already checked how much I have in the bank from the half you gave and doubled that and it’s still not enough for the place Luna.” Luna pouts, facing the ground. “Oh... well I guess never mind then.”

Delfi comes up with an idea. “Hey what about Matteo? He is rich now from being a star and all.” She then points to the man in sunglasses who had been staring at Luna ever since he arrived. Luna didn’t realize it till now. “If that’s what you guys want, I’ll buy it. How much does it cost?” Ámbar walks to Matteo. “I’m showing you in secret, so you don’t get embarrassed with your net worth not being enough,” Ámbar explained. “Oh please, it can’t be that bad.” Ámbar show’s him the clipboard and points to the bottom. Matteo begins to sweat. “Oh…... um guys I can afford it but then I’ll be broke with no where to live.”

“Great! I guess that means the Jam and Roller is saved then! Yay!” Jazmin yells out. “Jazmin we can’t force Matteo to do such a grand gesture either,” Gaston responds. “And why not?”

“Jazmin are you really asking that question after he said he would be broke?” Gaston added. “Yes, I don’t see the problem.” Gaston shakes his head and covers his eyes with his fingers from annoyance.

“You guys, it’s hopeless,” Ámbar announces and walks away, heading straight to her office.

Nina walks over to Luna’s side. “Why aren’t you so sad Luna? I mean of course I wouldn’t want you to be sad, but I thought the news would be devastating for you since you love this place so much.”

“This place isn’t getting teared down. At least not under my watch. I will find a way to keep this place the way it is. I will just need to do some research,” Luna persists. “Luna you never seize to surprise me. Whatever help you need, I’m right here,” Nina chuckles.

Eric approaches Nina and tries to comfort her. “Yeah, I bet this must be awful news for you guys. I know I wasn’t here long enough but one thing I know for sure is that this place is certainly magical.” Gaston views Eric close with Nina and he immediately rushes over. He places his arm around Nina’s waist. “Your Corazon will really stop going wowow if you keep flirting with my girl!” “Gaston!” Nina is shocked and tries to calm him down from his jealousy burning his own skin.

“Guys I think I’m going to head home. It’s been a rough morning and I barely got any sleep,” Luna waved goodbye to the gang. Gastón gestures over to Matteo letting him know Luna is leaving. Matteo runs over to the parking lot.

“Luna wait, can you give me a second to explain everything.” Matteo calls out to her. “Matteo, you’re the person I least want to talk to right now.”

“Luna I’m sorry. I’m sorry for arriving extremely late and standing you up. I’m sorry for not replying to all your calls and messages. I’m sorry I lied about the video with Viviana. I didn’t tell you though because I was worried you would get upset and think I remotely like the girl,” Matteo confesses.

“Hah so you’ve even noticed that she’s been extremely close and has been flirting with you,” Luna attested.

“What no? It’s not like that at all. You’re just jealous.” Luna turns around and displays a furious expression, this is the moment when Matteo noticed he had chosen the wrong set of words. “Jealous? That’s what you think of me? Maybe you’re just too blinded by fame to realize she’s constantly glued to you. Haven’t you noticed that when she talks to you, she gradually grows closer and closer to you and whenever you two go out she tries to hold your arm and pull you in tight. I’ve seen all the paparazzi videos so I know. Plus, she’s always calling you. She calls you more than your own manager does,” Luna argued.

“Oh please Luna, you’re just being delusional.” Matteo hears his phone ringing. He pulls it out and notices it’s Viviana calling him. “Yet I’m the delusional one, you have just become so full of yourself you can barely even notice what’s actually going on,” Luna walks away. “Wait, Luna please don’t go.” This time she doesn’t listen to him and keeps walking away without a slight turn of her head.

Luna’s Home

Luna enters her room and throws herself in bed. It’s barely Sunday and Luna feels a whole tornado of emotions have taken over her body. She doesn’t feel like doing anything, not even taking off her socks from wearing her shoes or wiping off her light makeup. She grabs her blanket and tries to fall asleep on top of her bed.

After an hour has passed, her mom knocks on her door and gently opens it. She sees her daughter sleeping and tries to lightly pat her. Luna’s eyelashes wiggle and brush against her skin. She slowly wakes up. “I brought you some breakfast, just thought maybe you haven’t eaten and were probably hungry.” Luna happily smiles. “Mom you know me too.” Monica smiles back too and hands her a tray of waffles with strawberries. Ah strawberries. The least she needed was to be reminded of “el chico fresa.” Her smile slowly disappears and turns into a frown.

“Hija, lately I’ve been seeing you all down in the dumps. Always depressed and never wanting to do much other than sleep. Are you okay? This isn’t normally like you,” Monica sincerely concerned, looks at Luna in the eyes.

“Everything just seems to be falling apart. Not just dealing with Matteo and I’s relationship ending but also the Jam and Roller too. Apparently Vidia is planning to tear it down and the only way for us to be able to have the chance to keep the Jam and Roller intact is to purchase it but none of us can afford such a high price.”

Monica nods and tries to conjure up an idea. Eventually one crosses her mind. “Luna, I’m shocked you didn’t think of this earlier, especially since it deals with your favorite hobby in ‘el mundo mundial,’” Monica says.

“What does skating have to do with this?” Luna laughs.

“Competitions. I know there’s some competitions out there in which the grand prize is a sum of money. Why don’t you guys enter one and try to compete.” Luna lets go of her fork and soon becomes energetic. “Mom that is genius!! Thank you thank you thank you!!!” Luna yells out and tightly hugs her mom.

“Well you know what they say, us moms are geniuses,” Monica chuckles. Luna hastily grabs her computer and retrieves to her bed. She opens up the laptop and begins typing and searching through. “Well Luna I guess I shall leave you to it. Glad I was able to help. Love you hija.” Monica kisses Luna’s forehead and leaves. “Love you too mom!”

After searching for hours, Luna is able to find a competition in which the grand prize pays most of the Jam and Roller price tag. When calculating the percentages, Luna notices that what’s left to pay after all the costs are taken up, is affordable for the whole gang. She jumps up and down all around her bedroom with content pouring out of her. The Jam and Roller finally has a chance to stay. Maybe things can even go back to old times when they all skated together.

11 notes · View notes

killian-whump · 3 years

Text

Game Night! [Liveblog #1]

Alright folks! There’s been a lot of to-do over the last couple days over this video... a lot of debate over paid content and whether folks have $10 or not and whether it’s worth $10 or not and who paid what for who to see it and why can’t we all just get along and what the hell are blobs, anyway?

Long story short, this video has proven rather difficult to rip from the site in order for us poor folks to share the video amongst ourselves so everyone can enjoy it... so I’m going to attempt to liveblog it in a fun, animated way that will (hopefully) let you all sort of enjoy it along with me. ‘Cos I paid ten fucking dollars to make sure everyone could enjoy it, and I’m going to make you all enjoy it somehow even if I have to make you a post like this.

Note: I don’t want any bitchy asks about how terrible it is for me to “ruin” the exclusivity of paid content or whatever. I’m a pirate. If I could, I’d rip the fucking thing off the website and send it to every person I know who doesn’t have $10 to spare or a credit card to use. So don’t waste your breath trying to shame me for making this post - I do not care.

Without further ado... LET’S ENJOY SOME CUTE COLIN CONTENT.

Okay... Here we go. I have to admit, Josh has a cute, professional-looking intro for his little channel/show here. I mean, it’s still a zoom call he recorded. But the intro looks professional.

Anyway... Josh is now introducing the show, and he makes a joke about his celebrity friends... or fake friends... or sort of friends... and then says, “We’re real friends, right Sam?” and Sam’s like, “No.” and Colin goes:

I DIDN’T EVEN MEAN FOR THAT TO LOOP PERFECTLY, GUYS, IT JUST DOES - and I feel like this is a fortuitous start to our journey.

Oh, there’s also some nice upbeat jazzy sort of music here, so you can play some while you read this post, that’s probably a good idea.

Now we have bagpipes as Josh introduces Sam...

HAHA, Josh introduces Colin: “He’s probably too classy to be here, but he’s also too kind to say no to me... You know him from Once Upon a Time and The Right Stuff: It’s Colin O’Donoghue.” Colin waves and Josh goes, “hey buddy” like he’s talking to a puppy, because he basically is, and Colin goes, “Hi Josh.”

Josh: Colin, is that the first time you’ve been called classy? Do I have you pegged wrong? Colin: It’s probably the first, and I suspect will be the only time I’ll be called classy.

I have to take a moment here to say that Colin still has a crap camera, lol. He sounds like he’s phoning in from a tin can under the sea, and his picture’s already broken up a couple times. Like, if my $10 went towards buying Colin a new webcam, I wouldn’t mind it. I’M JUST SAYING.

Now we’re talking about the trash-talking capabilities of the group... and Kat says something, Sam says he can’t hear what she said, and Colin says he can’t hear anything. I take back the nice things I said about the professionalism of the intro, like please, can we do a sound check 😭

Topic moves on to fandom overlaps... Kat says something about how they all wield swords on TV, so people who enjoy that would probably enjoy all of their shows. Sam nods thoughtfully and shakes his head a little as she speaks, and Colin looks frozen in time with a neutral smile on, in a way that makes me pretty sure neither of them heard a goddamn word of what she said. Josh repeated the bit about sword-wielding, and now the guys are chuckling and talking swords. Sam informs Josh that he doesn’t wield a sword, but at least he has a plant.

And it’s game time! We’re starting with Would You Rather...

We’ve got an animated intro... and then some sparkles and pictures to illustrate the questions, which all seems rather superfluous when we paid $10 to look at celebrities, but whatever, I mean, it’s his show.

First question: Would you rather hear dogs’ thoughts or your significant other’s thoughts? Colin says dogs. Josh asks why, and Colin laughs as he says “I suspect I know them, and I really don’t think... I really don’t think I want to know them sometimes.” He also says he has a dog, and he’d like to know what he’s thinking half the time. Sam says dogs, as well, because “they’re gonna be way more interesting than your partner” and this greatly amuses Colin.

(By the way, I’m using a GIF program with a screen recording function to make these GIFs. It’s not a viable method for recording the whole thing, but it works good for GIFs :))

Second Question: Would you rather have the body of The Rock with your face? Or the face of The Rock with your body? Kat answers, and then Josh says, “Colin you had something?” and Colin goes, “I didn’t really have something” because he didn’t really have something. He says it’s a real Catch-22, and takes a minute, but finally goes with “the body of The Rock... with my head on it, I guess.” Sam agrees, and there’s some chat about how awesome The Rock is. Colin also said The Rock has an amazing body.

Third Question: Would you rather always be naked or always be wearing the most embarrassing, uncomfortable costume you’ve ever worn? Josh shared a snippet of this part on his Twitter and Colin re-tweeted it, so you can actually see this part. Sam says he can’t stop thinking of when he wore Colin’s costume... and Colin’s having fun playing offended :D Kat answers and then Colin says his worst costume was when he had to wear just a pair of Y-fronts (he’s talking about when he did the play Outlying Islands), so he might as well pick being naked, and I’m feeling a little better about that $10 I spent if he’s gonna go on saying things like that and then making faces like this:

Bahahaha, Colin shares that the Y-fronts “had been stained for the production” 😂 Kat’s giving him two thumbs up and Josh intones, “The glamorous world you guys inhabit.”

Fourth Question: Would you rather have a mouth full of bees or one bee in your butt? 😂 “I’d probably have a bee in my butt,” Colin O’Donoghue states, after giving this very serious question a very serious moment of thought. Meanwhile, your fearless liveblogging friend had to rewind a couple times here, due to the sheer force of her laughter. Everyone looks flummoxed. This appears to be a real dilemma. Josh tells us that this (the bee in the butt) seems to be the common consensus, and that this is what Sam answered when Josh had asked him this question previously. “And how did that work out?” Sam asks. Josh says he doesn’t know and, “Have you tried it out?” “It’s still in there,” Sam says. Kat agrees with the ‘bee in the butt’ consensus, I’m pretty sure Colin and Sam still can’t hear her, and Josh thanks them for giving that question the intelligence it doesn’t deserve.

And that’s it for Would You Rather?! And this seems like a good spot to take a break and maybe have a beverage and post this bad boy, so you guys can start having fun too - and so I don’t end up with TOO long of a single post :)

As always, you can use any GIFs/caps in here however you like :)

Here’s a handy link to go on to PART TWO...

#colin o'donoghue #game night #liveblog

25 notes · View notes