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lunar-lair · 7 months

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oh my god i never told you guys abt my disaster twins competitive pkmn players concept. one sec ill put it under a cut for you bc this might get long lmao

so basically. gen 9 came out, and the boys, in their recent-switch glory, were like omg hell yes. game time. donnie and leo both get violet and mikey and raph both get scarlet (theyve got their own games bc they would tear each other apart if they had to share physical copies trust me) and generally trade around exclusives and chill etc etc. also while im on this leo picks quaxly, mikey is a toss up between fuecoco and quaxly, raph picks fuecoco obvs, and donnie picks sprigatito, as does april when she gets her own copy of violet later (which she honestly only chose for the loyalty points lmao she likes karaidon better)

anyways i was saying. donnie is one of those nerds who like perfectly iv trains his normal ass in-game team and builds perfect compositions around typings and looks up the gyms types n stuff and he was SO excited when he learned abt tera types and how they impacted team comps

leo on the other hand has the messiest type crossover and team comp EVER but still manages to thrash his opponents bc he uses really good movesets and strategies

the twins get into watching competitive videos while they play violet in silence together (hashtag parallel play) until donnie eventually starts commenting on weird stat spreads and leo eventually bursts out about shitty move choices and weird sets, or leo starts showing donnie videos abt odd pkmn getting high in latters, and then they start watching showdown battles...

and they lightbulb.

donnie loves building teams more than anything else, loves making them efficient as humanly possible.

leo loves showing the potential of odd pokemon and would kill for a good strategic challenge after all this time (hes been protecting against nemona and using electroweb against gym leaders, poor guy).

and, well, its not like you need anything special to get on the ladder in violet...

they start out simple, donnie building a basic team and leo reviewing it before going at the basic gen 9 ladders.

they kind of wreck house.

they just start going at the ladders with that team in their free time, then a different one when they get bored, then one with a few oddballs when donnie decides to ask leo what pokemon he wants to use, then they get kind of bored of just paldean pokemon so donnie gets to work understanding showdown...

but while its fun, they dont have anyone to brag to, because their brothers have no fucking clue what theyre talking about.

donnie has experience with youtube, right?

so they set up a little joint thing; a channel called disasterx2, no webcam, just videos about ladder battles. they end up specializing both in unique teams and movesets and in just vids about breaking down walls in ladders with a normal team. what makes both nifty is that donnie explains the whole team comp in a separate video to the battles, and the aesthetic quality is improved by donnies sensibilities and mikeys input (he was absolutely excited when they asked him to help with it. leo was no help. so much offense, actually, i have a feeling his fashion sense is good but the moment you try to make him make something look good visually on its own hes screwed.), and leos strategies are batshit, and ofc the boys are the boys, they go on tangents sometimes when they do real-time audio during battles and sometimes they just. dont cut them out. raph and mikey make guest appearances sometimes, april cheers them on on occasion, her and raph are very relieved bc its finally something non destructive they can spend their time on, its all great.

leo very often picks pokemon and movesets out and then donnie provides the pokemon (through breeding and stat spread tweaking, because god knows hed love that nerd shit). donnie likes it because 1. how leo uses those outlier pokemon is very interesting and 2. it gives him an opportunity to think about how to apply the right stats, natures, etc to apply to the pokemon and moves leo chose.

one of my favorite ever headcanons is that leo gets quiet when he focuses. like, dead quiet, and terrifyingly quiet. hes well known in their fandom for being very chatty over voiceover and then pretty quiet whenever hes playing challenging battles. donnie doesnt understand the strategies all that well so when leo gets too focused he just talks a lot abt the stat spreads and they add extra text to the video lmao. sometimes they utilize their clueless family members to have them ask questions they wouldnt have considered due to their knowledge in videos, sometimes donnie snags mikey while leos too quiet when theyre doing real-time audio, etc the fam knows theyre just glad theyre having fun

looks around flips through my mental notebook. nods twice. thats it i think! basically i think itd be fun if the twins played competitive but donnie built the teams and leo played hehe. i thought of it one day and it just stuck with me. anyways thanks for sticking w me through this long post that i need to end before my phone glitches out oops

#i DO have a laptop but. i started on mobile. sooo #hope a post thats just a headcanon like this was fun to read at least lmao #rottmnt #pokemon #lunas lies #for new ppl context thats just my talk tag im not actually lying prommy lmao #disaster twins #ehhh kinda? its the focus/the point at least #rise leo #rise donnie #mom come pick me up im still bad at tags

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pbandjesse · 1 year

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Today was great. For me. For my poor husband it started very very stressful. But it would get better. And I still had a great day.

I had a little trouble sleeping last night but it was better. I was very very tired when I woke up though and while I was supposed to go to the museum with James I needed another hour. So I texted James and they came in the room and told me to keep sleeping.

That sleep helped a lot. I felt more like a person when I got up.

But I was a little out of sorts. I usually do everything the same way every morning. Get up. Pull the blankets off the bed. Wash face. Lotions. Brush teeth. Makeup. Go. But I got distracted and started making sure I had everything I needed for my workshop and I was in the middle of doing my makeup and I'm like. I've forgotten something. And realized I didn't brush my teeth and was all confused. My routine was messed up!! But I would get back on track and got my stuff together. And then I was off.

I was in a good mood. I headed to the museum. I got breakfast first. And then it was 9 and I was happy to see James.

They were having a tough time though. Something happened with the group last night and they broke the computer and the audio guides thing and bumped into a bunch of stuff and it was kind of a nightmare. By the time I was getting there the computer was getting fixed. So that was something but it was kind of a mess how much things weren't working. Especially on the weekend when they are the only one there. Sucks.

I got out of James's hair though and went to set up my program. I went and found Stanley and he helped set up chairs. I got all my stuff out on the tables and soon Auni was there to help. She went to find some extension cords. I kept her little son distracted and chatted with him. He's like. 3. So not huge on conversations but is very sweet.

I was nervous!! But it ended up being such a good workshop. It sold out. And everyone was lovely. I was a little nervous at first but once I got through my intro and packet it just felt so natural.

I started with giving everyone a hoop, a piece of fabric, and a skien of black thread. We would do a running stitch, then a back stitch, a stem stitch, and then we did a satin stitch, and then showed them how to weave with a satin stitch base. And if they got that I showed them lazy french knots, lazy daisies, and flying vs. I also got to show one very nice woman a blanket stitch. And it was such a blast. I was walking around also seeing all my examples so I could show people. And eventually once everyone had all those stitches down a few were working on fixing some pieces they brought. And I even got to show a few how to use the darning looms. It was really fun.

We also just had fun talking. I got to tell stories and we had lots of laughs. One of my students from AWAH and her mom came and they did a great job. I really think everyone did so good.

And we had a beautiful community moment when one of them lost the screw from their glasses and everyone had their phone flashlights out to find it. I went and got a magnet and very soon we were all cheering because it was found!! Amazing!!

At noon I let them all know because it was technically the end of the class. But I didn't force anyone out. Soon they were cleaning up and saying goodbye though. Some helped me out the chairs away. And I was in a great mood.

Meril was in today and I was happy to talk to her. I found a basket one of my students had brought in the garment loft and so I went around to try and find them. Thankfully they didn't leave yet. And then I brought all my materials up to the front.

But then I felt like my brain was broken. I needed to return the magnet I borrowed to find the screw. And I had a picture/video in my head of me returning it. But I couldnt figure out if I really did it. And I felt like I was going crazy. I went through my whole basket twice. Unfolded and refolded all my fabric. I was so frustrated. James says it's okay and it'll show up if I didn't return it. It I felt very frazzled.

I waited until James was done checking people in. Then we squeezed hands and I said goodbye.

I went over to the grocery store. I wanted to get a few little things. I also got a rice paper wrap that was really good! Would get again.

I went home and remembered to do the next layer of waterproofing on my coat. And then I heard someone next door and went out on the hall and Ms Tina, our landlady, was there.

We ended up talking for a half hour. I wanted her to know we would be gone for our honeymoon and that Callie would be here. And she told me about her recent Rhodes scholar trip to Egypt. She's such a neat lady.

We hung out in the hall for a dog. She made a big fuss about Sweetp being a good boy. And then we said goodbye so I could go eat my lunch.

After I had one of the rolls I would vacuum and do some tidying. I want to make sure everything is clean here before we go on our trip. I also stripped the bed and put some blankets away.

My suitcase is pretty perfectly backed. But my backpack could be better. So I went through that again. I saw someone on TikTok pack a pillowcase and put their jacket and sweater in it snd use that as a travel pillow and I thought that was so smart. So I put my fuzzy pillowcase in my bag and moved some stuff around so that it will be a little more accessible. I also looked at James's toiletries and put the non-liquids in a separate bag. I also t go ubk I am going to bring one of my rumple blankets because it fits in the top of my backpack and I think it will just make me cozier.

James let me know they would be taking a little ride before they came home. I would get in bed and just got cuddly.

I would eventually make the outfits for the next few days. I only needed three because I already have an airport outfit picked. And when James was home I was very happy to see them. I missed them even though it was just a few hours.

James would go for a little walk eventually. I was cold and was just interested in being cozy.

We would have a little snacky dinner. And it was a nice evening just laying in bed together doing our own things. Though I did make them laugh very hard at one point and that made me very proud!!

Eventually I went and took a bath. Which was really nice. I'm going to probably was my hair tomorrow. But tonight was just relaxing.

Now I am ready to go to sleep. I have my AWAH group tomorrow. Which will be my last one with them because I'll be away the next two Sundays!! Wild. I hope it's a fun class!

Sleep well everyone. Have a good night and be safe tomorrow. Until next time!

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devandahlcourte-work-in-progress · 2 years

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Section 22. 3 chapters, ending with chapter 82

I am reposting these first eighty-two chapters (in 22 sections) plus the prologue and the preface.

These posts will be the updated versions from my DeviantArt account, and since Tumblr may not display all the text correctly (it destroys anything I had in italics or underlined) I would still recommend reading everything there, on DeviantArt. They will also include internal links that navigate between the chapters on DeviantArt and will take the reader off Tumblr if clicked.

This came about because I noticed search engines were finding random sections of my book and displaying them along with some other people’s blog posts.

Okay, so that’s why I installed those internal links in each one… so that if anyone gets to a random section by way of a search engine and would like to read the story from the beginning, they can.

Only then did I realize that it wasn’t getting it’s search results from DeviantArt, but from old Tumblr.

There’s another problem at work here besides unrefined searches…

There is a new species of virus on the internet that likes to eat ancient Tumblr posts and barf them back up infested with adware - spyware - malware etc. The virus goes by names like TumGIR, TumBIG, TumPIK, or Tum(anything else but ‘blr’). The caps were added by me for emphasis so that maybe you can double check in case you’re not looking at an actual Tumblr post right now but one of these so-called “mirror” sites.

If you’re looking at this text through one of the counterfeit Tumblrs that I mentioned, then no link you click (assuming it even copies it with my links intact) will take you out; it will redirect you and show you all of the spam ads it wants to. So read carefully what url is showing on your browser right now.

If it is one of the untrustworthy ones I would suggest closing your browser window and doing whatever else you normally would in order to reset settings.

As far as my science fiction novel entitled “If And Only If,” the safest way to find it is by going to my Instagram:

@michelle.de.vandahlcourte

From there you can click on the link in my bio. It will take you to the beginning of the story on DeviantArt… the safe one! No malware.

P.S. None of this is Tumblr’s fault! It’s the malware/adware/spyware developers who are stealing people’s tumblr posts.

The actual content of this page appears below here👇

Section 22. 3 chapters, ending with chapter 82

↩️return to previous section, section 21

↩️↩️…and if you arrived here because of a search engine and you would like to read this story from the beginning, click here.

Madhvi

The girl caught her eye not so much because of her physical appearance, but just because of a demeanor that said she was in charge. The business suit helped though, she supposed. Only after a few minutes of shuffling around and trying to calm people down, as well as encouraging small groups of them to board the VSTOL-type aircraft, did Madhvi get close enough for a look at her face. And in fairness she felt that she should classify her as “woman,”not “girl.”

The experience was obviously important enough to record. She had one of her old deactivated phones and was running the audio recording app. Hopefully it wouldn’t screw up too badly and she could later make sense of it. In nail polish last week, she’d carefully painted on the back: $5000 reward if found, along with a current phone number & email for her and for one other friend who wasn’t in attendance at the Stalko-Taco conjuration of course.

If what she thought was about to happen did happen, this might be her only hope of “remembering” any of the experience.

So right away, photos, video, and an audio recording of the basics. And next...

“Woman like one of us” she realized.

And “Women like us” may tend to look like kids from a distance – just due to our smaller stature – for those of us who are smaller, and when standing next to large Americans. Average for our women was 152.6 cm and for men 164.9 cm, depending on which source you believed. So just a smidgen over 5 foot zero for the average woman. But did that extend to American-born (like her) Hindustani people with Indian expatriate parents living here? In other words how much was environment versus how much was inherited?

She caught her mind doing that measuring and categorizing mentality thing again and made an effort to purge it as she walked, also getting control of her breathing. The situation was curious. She was so thoroughly convinced that it absolutely positively had to be “The Government” doing this. But a young, barely college-aged woman, whom she could now be sure was somehow from the subcontinent? Her whole presence just screamed “not U.S. Government!”

It was VTOL and not just VSTOL, she observed as the thing took off straight up with no runway whatsoever – a white European dude who could have been Italian or related to Borat, but one who also looked like a casually dressed teenager, was piloting the thing. It reminded her of the Draconian Marauder from the late 1970s Buck Rogers.

The two who stayed behind with her also looked younger – like early to mid 20’s at most. She continued to catalog them: A South Asian man who reminded her of her physics lab TA back in San Luis Obispo, and the other a WASP-ish, short-haired male who could’ve passed for an establishment or government agent-type were it not for the outrageously short shorts he was modeling.

No heterosexual male in America since the days of Three’s Company, she was pretty sure, would choose to be sporting this look in public. And even if a gay government agent were starting out in the service, no way would the current (hopefully soon to be outgoing) administration leaders have allowed such a choice as work attire.

The “screaming we’re not with the government” thing could all be an act. They call it “undercover” work for a reason, Madhvi, she thought to herself as she finally dropped her zip-lock-bagged old phone into a crevice between some big tree roots.

Something about her opinion of government intelligence in general, though, just said “no way!” There is no way a bunch of left-brained code monkeys from NSA, charged with coming up with good undercover looks could pull off “hip young university students“ with this level of success. Rather she thought the result might be, at best, Anthony LaPaglia as “an undercover cop tryin’ to look hip.”

That, and her intuitive radar just told her to trust them. Especially the Hindustani woman. As she at last closed the distance, the girl... um, woman, looked so familiar. “Got it!” She recollected. “When we went to visit family in Philadelphia.” A second cousin on her mother’s father’s side. The mnemonic floating to the surface: a businesswoman feeding papers into an office shredder. Shred. Shrada. No, Shraddha! That was it; Shraddha. She’d only met Shraddha briefly during that week. This one was truly a dead ringer for Cousin Shraddha.

But it couldn’t possibly be her; her cousin had been in grad school in physics and already had chosen her specialty area within astrophysics when Madhvi was 12. If it was her, then maybe she’d met some aliens through the SETI program who’d provided her with a fountain of youth. But seriously there’s no way. This girl looks a few years younger than me she mused. It wouldn’t be her.

Time to introduce herself: “Madhvi,”

The woman’s shocked expression stopped Madhvi as she extended her arm for a proper handshake, and then it was her turn to be shocked: by the response that business-suit woman managed to stammer out.

ℏ♄

“It’s their own fault they’re in a loop. If they had gone straight back to the Puget Sound area to take care of business like they were supposed to, they wouldn’t be stuck. Furthermore,” the liaison officer droned on – how in the hell could a short being like him look up at her and adopt a condescending manner?

She wondered.

Moreover, he was just plain wrong; they weren’t necessarily “supposed to.” He was twisting the wording of regulations to make it seem like Prajina’s decision to go help Eric and Padmanabhan first was a violation of some procedure.

“...they are immortal as long as they are in that loop. There is no particular hurry; so relax,” he continued talking down to her as if she was a child. “We can literally take forever to mount our rescue operation and they’ll still end up back home, safe and sound, in whatever universe they want at whatever time they like.”

The captain felt it extremely difficult to avoid exploding in laughter. Few beings who were not from her empire of worlds had ever heard a member of her species laugh. Most who did found it terrifying and usually thought they were under some kind of attack.

She barely kept herself composed as she continued imagining him saying something like “good nyborg!”

The humans who drew that cartoon had unknowingly managed to do an uncanny rendering of the liaison official. Pudgy. Purple. Lumpy. Nose and ear tubules that were extendable, etc. She also resisted the temptations to tell him to go “snort” some more nyborg or anything to that effect.

After making it to the lift, and waiting until she was down to about the one-hundred-fifty-somethingth floor, she let loose her pent-up laughter and with that some of her stress. The humans’ art and literature and cinema was really starting to entertain her more and more these days. One reason the member species of the amphictiony had yet to appreciate much of their art was that they failed to comprehend how the human emotions worked. She was only a tad closer than her fellow citizens were to such a comprehension. And though the humans were perhaps a bit closer still, even they didn’t usually understand themselves. Which, in turn, factored into their art.

Going over Nyborg-Dude’s head would require contact with possibly two committees – only one of which contained a member of her own species. Even so, while telepathy with that being would be possible and make communications simpler, it didn’t guarantee anything. Since it wouldn’t be possible for either committee to get everyone needed for a quorum and thus to convene – not for another two thaumas cycles – and since she didn’t feel like sulking idly in her quarters…

A diversion through the office complex led her to Barney. The ICL lab could do probably the closest thing that existed to what ancient humans thought “divination” was supposed to be. They could in fact accurately foretell “the” future (stifling a mild urge to laugh again, she thought to her self how delightfully simple their worldview could be – as if there was only one “future”). Barney was in charge here. So while several other employees looked up from the work, they saw him escorting ℏ♄ through the lab complex and thought nothing of it. There wasn’t anything wrong with her looking into possible future outcomes. It was just unusual for a police captain to be doing it herself since it was more of a job for administrators.

She had previously told him of his resemblance to the Earth-kid’s-show character called “Barney.” Although he didn’t have the body of a dinosaur from mid-thorax on down, he understood what she was seeing. ɚ໘ᚣ፮ၕ, (name unpronounceable, even by ℏ♄) was used to going by nicknames since most beings massacred his real one, and had a sense of humor about the Barney thing.

Furthermore, his native language was very tonal and inflected. Even otherwise intelligent beings who would make an honest effort to read and pronounce all the characters would invariably get it wrong. Their mispronunciations, at best, might’ve sounded like they were making fun of the way he dressed; at worst it could sound like they were calling him some kind of creepy pervert. For the record, his name in fact translated roughly as: “stand-up guy who has always got your back,” and had been seeing a resurgence of popularity for baby boy names in their society for the last several millennia.

He also thought it was nice that the Barney character was sweet and lovable. ICL section-chief-Barney, as a being who had an actual dinosaur head, complete with dinosaur mouth – featuring a combined total of four meters of sharp teeth – as well as retractable claws that could rip through many types of metal, was accustomed to being thought of as a fearsome, violent creature. Other citizens secretly worried that he and others from his civilization could bite smaller beings’ heads clean off. This was an unfair stereotype of course.

Perhaps having people watch a loving, happy character who looked like one of his own kind would alleviate their preconceived notions. “We are civilized just like the rest of you now. We don’t go around biting heads off of and ripping sentient beings apart. Anymore. All that often…” he’d joked with ℏ♄ in their youth.

Although, upon seeing the Earth-kid’s show, he insisted that the dude more closely resembled his daredevil older brother ໘ᚣ፮໑ꏃ who rode with a plasma-jet-cycle gang back home and was always jumping over wampano bampos or some other crazy dangerous stunt. Since ℏ♄ had never been to his home world or even to his galaxy, she carefully examined the home video he was trying to show her – immediately seeing why the crowd of Barney-like beings was going wild and cheering Brother Knievel on.

Looking back it was to be the last time that day, or for several t-f periods thereafter, that she would honestly feel good about anything.

The “videos” disturbed her profoundly. Not the ones of Barney’s motorcycle stunt man daredevil brother who supposedly looked even more like Barney than Barney, but the ones from the “PC” department. Barney, the local supervisor of this precinct’s Probability Continuum Department, had done his sincere best to show her the whole subset of outcomes that get Prajina and friends out of the time loop they were currently stuck in.

And as she scrolled down to the outcomes that were, maybe, not so bad… she could see that the probabilities we’re becoming small enough as to be irrelevant. Just as the thought was solidifying in her mind: “Someone. Is. Going. To – – ” Barney interrupted with a look of... amazement? If it were possible for a member of a species with a dinosaur-head to look amazed, he certainly pulled it off.

“I am authorized to show you this, control freak, as it does not create a paradox that will influence anyone but possibly you. And damn! You should see the way you’re going to handle yourself when you speak in front of the Dimension and Energy committee next thaumas.” He grinned amiably while calling her “control freak” so as not to offend her. But she wouldn’t have minded anyway since they had known each other since their academy days – plus, he had taken her side in all of the incidents in question.

Of course she agreed that she’d like to watch herself address, and to some extent debate with the D&E committee members in the near future. She’d opted to wear her dress-magentas and not a regular uniform for that session; curious, since she’d left hers at home – leading her to wonder how she would go about getting… Never mind, she thought. Her speech was truly riveting as Barney had promised.

Her blood began to boil as she noted the laid-back indifference of some committee members. Barney asked if she would have liked the thermostat set lower and she immediately noticed the polymer sanitation bag starting to shrink and wrinkle up next to his desk. She’d failed to keep track of the effects of all the steam coming off of her body, and at once performed a quick meditation exercise which her family doctor back home had taught her to get her blood temperature down below the boiling point of water, to roughly what Prajina would’ve ejoyed for “coffee.”

Right as the “unauthorized future projections” warning timer came on, she watched herself finish: “The humans have an organization among them that adheres to a very important rule: You Never Leave A Man Behind. This committee could Learn something from those ‘simple creatures’ whom you so easily dismiss!” As she abruptly stood up to punctuate her last remark, her chair went toppling over in one direction while she stormed out of the conference hall in the opposite direction. These beings were neither in her chain of command nor in any positions of authority to influence the Temporal Constabulary, so they couldn’t really do much but gasp by the various mechanisms that their respiratory tracts allowed.

The unauthorized future projections timer ended and Barney’s screen went blank; evidently no one was allowed to see ℏ♄’s actions after she angrily stomped out of this meeting. She already had a pretty good idea what she would do. For Barney’s protection she mislead him a bit and said she’d be back the morning after the meeting to see if any more developments were available. She couldn’t let him get wind of what she’d really be up to organizing – because that daredevil streak his brother had also ran through him and he would want to help. That would make him an accessory and likely a co-conspirator.

Her next lift ride from PC analysis back to her room and the bachelor officers living quarters did not and could not include any laughter as she silently contemplated their possible fates. She kept her most serious demeanor, which those who worked with her would merely read as ℏ♄ going about her business. But inside, something else was building up.

“The” future. In their cinema a character called Lord Elrond tells his daughter “that future is almost gone now” when she asks about her potential child that she might have. This suggests some understanding of the time-tree; an attitude the deviates somewhat from their usual linear time perception. And the wise human Richard Linklater also outlined such a tree-like theory of time at the beginning of Slacker while talking to an unresponsive cab driver. So they were starting to comprehend.

Now it was as if a massive branch of the time-tree was being cut off and fed into a wood chipper. These ᢈᯒၔ᎘, or darkworlders as some humans called them, had a profound understanding of the continuum. They were particularly nasty adversaries, but they could, and would, be defeated. At a tremendous cost though.

Once in the billeting wing, she passed the room of the one other being of her species who was currently on base – a childhood friend whom she had known since they were at applied astrophysics camp together – without stopping in to say hello as she normally would. This feeling was overpowering her and chatting with ६ಌ⟂Ə (or “Jingles” as she was affectionately known around the 517th precinct) was going to have to wait.

Back in her quarters ℏ♄ replayed what Barney had shown her in the lab, analyzed everything with all her logical abilities, and came to the same unmistakable conclusion. All at once she started to make a sound which no other being who was not of her World had ever heard before. Much later on, when Barney time traveled to Earth’s past to help a skater kid named Keith, the kid remarked on seeing and hearing “the video” (actually an image that Barney placed in his mind telepathically) just how much it sounded like the end of Yngwie’s long intro to “Hot on Your Heels” from about 2:55 to 3:33. Barney then listened and agreed. For all the species present that night however, who had never had the pleasure of hearing Yngwie’s music, it was one of the most bizarre sounds they’d ever recall and would remain inexplicable for several more centuries.

Only her old friend Jingles reacted immediately: dropping what she was doing, darting across the hall, and entering ℏ♄’s quarters without knocking… To see why her friend was crying!

Hadar

“It sounds like kind of a generalized name for a doll that talks” she ventured politely while avoiding the word generic and hoping not to hurt her hig- her priestess’s feelings. “You were a kid when you came up with the name Voxdol?”

Her priestess carefully finished wrapping the deck in it’s special consecrated cloth that was only set on the table for readings, “I was 13,” Amber more or less absentmindedly replied “and obtained her name through a thing that I used to call scry-writing.” She was now lowering the wrapped deck into its box. Hadar had searched for one like it at all the head shops where Amber thought she might’ve gotten the thing – an engraved wooden box with an intricate carving on its lid of a standard-looking Rider-Waite-ish Lovers tarot card. There was nothing standard about that deck she kept in it though.

She had a pretty good idea of what Amber meant by scry-writing: get in a trance-like or meditative state, take a pen and paper, and without looking – let your hand(s) randomly make shapes. Ouija boards actually started out as a supposed advancement over a technique like this wherein the planchette contained a writing implement and the user’s hands would be guided over a paper. Then Amber surprised her: an intro-level book on Enochian that got mixed reviews in the comparatively small community of Enochian adepts, and one which Hadar hadn’t thought it necessary to bother with. Amber opened it right up to the page with the name of the angelic being.

“Oh, okay. The Earth-of-Fire Angel of the Calvary Cross.” Hadar knew that the letters didn’t have to be in order to represent (spell out) the name of the angelic beings in Enochian. So she thought she’d invoked VOLXDO.

“Yes Amber, you can re-order the letters. And on top of that, as long as you’re transliterating it into English and not pronouncing them in Enochian with corresponding vibrations, there should be no unintentional manifestations of anything.” Yes, Hadar reflected, the order didn’t matter as much. The gematria counted for a lot more. Supposedly John Dee and associates had deliberately scrambled some of the spellings to avoid accidental invocations. She always thought that was dubious.

But to conjure up a being like He Whose Name Is Annihilation, by accident? Rather, since Amber believed in assigning female gender only to all of the Enochian hierarchy in her peculiar practice, it was “She Whose Name Is Annihilation.” Whatever. The question of what gender they were may likely be as a irrelevant as going down a list of Spanish conquistadors and asking what was each dude’s favorite breakfast cereal. It seemed unlikely – the accidental conjuration thing. However, what had Timothy Ferris said in The Creation of the Universe about vacuum genesis? It’s not very likely, but then it only had to happen once.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“We are astral projecting! The entire Crannog!”

I’d only rarely heard that level of excitement from Ambe. This was bordering on glee. The things she saw gazing into cards rarely made sense the first time around to everyone else. After extensive explanation they would start to get it.

And it was unusual for Amber to use the tarot cards for divination; something that they considered to be a base or mundane use. The invocations were more important to them - the manifestations and outright spellcasting using the cards. For the most part she regarded the cards as magical instruments for making things happen, not as some kind of portal for viewing what might happen.

This reading was different. Ambraluxia had felt compelled to do divination in the early evening prior to their observance of this esbat.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Getting her thoughts onto paper. Or into a text file, better yet. Of course that was the problem that every creative had. “I think you may have something like ADHD, like Keith, but undiagnosed. Did you ever think about seeing a doctor and asking them?”

Hadar didn’t feel as much like she was walking on eggshells anymore with Amber. Obama was getting inaugurated again and everyone was taking time off to watch – she reflected that they had first met after Obama inauguration number one. Wow, she thought, it’s really been four years! Back then she would’ve worried about offending Amber; people throw around terms like ADHD in an unprofessional way, along with OCD, almost jokingly. As she predicted the Amber of right now was not offended and simply answered that she didn’t want to be put on drugs that would stifle her creativity.

Evidently she thought the ADHD drugs would cause her to go the way of John Nash in A Beautiful Mind. Hadar made a note to herself to look it up; she was pretty sure they didn’t work that way. The white elephant in the room that both were reluctant to talk about was rape of course. Amber really should have gone to college. The rape and all the ensuing chaos in her life had kind of stalled her. As a rape survivor herself, Hadar would not say anything to that effect- they both got enough of that from their families, friends, and even coworkers and casual acquaintances who had found out. The “snap out of it” crap. The “get over it” crap. The “time to move on” crap. Did people not understand that, over time when PTSD is left untreated, it gets worse not better?

She could’ve done well as a creative writing major. Or technical writing if she wanted. It was still possible some day; perhaps some online courses? Maybe starting out at some community colleges. Maybe a combination of both, just to get the ball rolling, rather than jump right into the circus of a bachelors-degree-granting institution or so-called four-year college, which Hadar knew would be too overwhelming for her.

Amber had so many brilliant ideas... Innovative ones.. but needed to get better at expressing herself. So that’s what Hadar was trying to be: college. She was trying to be Amber’s substitute for college.

Well, to that end, she read her synopsis of the notes she took on “Does Astrology Work?”

To paraphrase from that beautiful mind movie she led with “you realize this flies in the face of not only science but a few hundred years of thinking by learned astrologers?”

“I hope so,” was all Amber said, smiling wryly.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The next section will be posted later this year. Thanks for reading this far!

If And Only If

by Michelle Viviénne de Vandahlcourte

No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

First Edition. © December 16, 2015.

0 notes

katyasrussianaccent · 3 years

Text

you’re so golden (corpse x reader)

Summary: You’re a faceless youtuber that sings cover songs. What happens when a certain faceless streamer slides into your DMs after you cover one of his songs?

Authors note: Part 3 whoop! I havent written fic in 3 years so Im hoping this is okay. Its about 4000 words, super long, sorry. I also dont play Among Us, but hopefully its not too obvious. Lemme know what you think!

You're nervous, though you aren’t quite sure why. The kind of nervousness that spreads to your feet, causing you to tap your toes against the side of your sofa.

Call you in 15.

You look at the message again, staring at it till the screen goes blurry. Rubbing your eyes you exhale into the emptiness of your apartment; a feeble attempt at calming yourself down.

Logically it’s stupid to be nervous over a phone call. Logically you know that in the grand scheme of the universe, there are bigger things at hand. But you’re not a logical person, never have been. You’re all heart and emotion, both a blessing and a curse. There’s something intimate about a phone call, to have nothing but someone’s voice on the other end of the phone, talking to you and only you. It was a little scary; to think your purely online friendship with Corpse was going to be taken to a different level. You’re excited to think what that could mean.

“Fucking get it together,” you mutter to no-one as you exhale again, because there’s nothing else to do other than to wait and try to breath. There’s this frantic energy about you; like when you eat fizzy sweets, the flavour buzzing on your tongue. Your ancestors used to hunt wolves and here you were nervous over a single phone call.

The silence in your apartment’s too much now; too noisy. You grab your TV remote, clicking onto Spotify to find something. You’re scrolling so much, none of the artists feeling quite right for the moment before settling on Sufjan Stevens.

The dulcet tones fill the space, and for a brief second, you feel fine. You’re feeling relaxed and then your phone lights up.

Incoming Facetime Audio

“Fuckfuckfuckfuck” you say. Your face feels warm, your heart quickens in your chest. You could just ignore it, say you’re not feeling too good and that would be that, you wouldn’t have to do this. But it’s Corpse, you like Corpse and you’re kind of friends.

You swipe to accept the call, and press the button for speaker.

“Hey,” you say, cringing at the meek tone your voice has taken on.

“Hey,” Corpse’s deep voice rumbles through your tiny speaker, distorting slightly and you press the volume button to turn it down a little.

There’s a beat of silence, a beat too long, and you already hate how awkward this is. You’re not great at social stuff, the concept of being a social butterfly is almost foreign to you. And it’s not because you dislike people, it’s just you hate this; the small talk, the awkwardness before you get comfortable and can hold an actual conversation.

You suddenly remember a tip from your customer service days. “How are you?” you ask, plastering on a grin so wide that it must look borderline demented. Thank god you’re single.

“I’m okay thanks, how are you?” he asks.

You lounge back against the soft cushions of the sofa, lifting the phone up to your mouth as you do so. “I’m good, excited to be taught by the Among Us master.”

He snorts in disdain. “Hardly a master.”

You chew your lip before you speak again, “I dunno, people on the internet think you’re pretty good.”

He snorts again, and you smile at the sound. It’s not something you’ve heard from him before, through your hours of watching his streams, you’ve become accustomed to his voice and the noises he makes. But this one seems to be new. And maybe it’s the weird, selfish part of you that likes to think he’s only ever made that sound for you. You shake the thought out of your head, because really? Getting happy over a snort is really such a ridiculous thing to do.

“People on the internet say a lot of things.”

“True, but sometimes they speak the truth,” you reply, moving to get more comfortable; tucking your feet under your thighs. You wonder what he’s doing right now as he talks to you, is he sitting down? Or is he lying on his bed; his head propped up with pillows? There’s a brief flash of yearning, of wanting to be there in the same room as him, but it disappears as quickly as it appeared so you ignore it.

“Hm. We’ll agree to disagree.”

“Okay, you’re the boss Mr Husband.”

He chuckles softly, and again, you smile. You can feel yourself getting annoyed with yourself; you’re acting like a child with a crush; smiling at the phone. All you needed now was a notebook that had Mrs YN Husband written all over it.

“You know if you keep calling me that, we’re gonna have to get married,” he says, his voice a little lower than it was before. You blink and cock your head to the side, looking at an imaginary camera like you’re in The Office. Did you say that out loud? Is he...flirting with you? Sure, you’re flirty over Twitter, but it’s Twitter, Twitter isn’t real. There’s a fluttery feeling in your stomach at the mere prospect that he might actually be flirting with you.

“I’d be the best wife you could ever get,” you shoot back. There’s a brief second of silence before he answers, and you can hear shuffling on the other end. You want to ask what he’s doing, but you know it would break the conversation, and you’re curious to see where this goes.

“Oh really? And why’s that?” he asks, and you can picture the smirk in his voice. You have no idea what he looks like, no real care about it either, but you bet he’s got a beautiful smile. You bite your tongue before it tells him this, for once your brain actually works and stops you from making a fool out of yourself. It’s incredibly strange, how quickly he puts you at ease without a try, he’s just so naturally comforting. He’s not this flashy persona, he’s just a guy who likes to play video games and happens to be kinda good at them. And also has a voice that is literally like chocolate. Not just chocolate; dark chocolate. If dark chocolate could talk, it would sound like Corpse.

“Cos your girl can cook,” you say proudly, puffing out your chest a little. And that’s not a lie, you can cook. Okay, you’re not a Michelin starred chef, but you feel quite confident in the fact that Gordon Ramsey could eat your food, and probably (hopefully) wouldn’t scream that it was “fucking raw”.

“And what would you cook for me?” he asks.

You hum in thought for a second. “You’ll have to marry me first to find that out.”

He laughs, a proper laugh that settles in your stomach, spreading warmth through your chest. “I’ll think about it. I can hear music, what are you listening to?”

You straighten up a little, the question catching you off guard. You bite the inside of your cheek as you look at the song that’s playing. It’s not his type of music, you’re almost positive about that. You almost don’t want to tell him out of embarrassment. You’re not sure why you feel embarrassed; you know Corpse isn’t an asshole, he wouldn’t make fun of you. But music is so personal to you, so personal, it’s like baring a piece of your soul; which sounds so fucking cliche, but it’s true.

“Uhhh...It’s called Make out in My Car by Sufjan Stevens,” you reply.

He hums in affirmation. “It sounds nice; from what I can hear.”

“I can turn it up?” you ask, leaning forward to grab the remote off the coffee table.

“You could always sing some for me,” he offers.

You laugh a little, scrunching up your nose. “And why would I do that?”

“I thought you wanted to get married. You have to woo me,” he replies.

“Woo you?” you ask, your tone incredulous. This isn’t how you pictured the conversation going.

“Yeah. Woo me, yn.” he says, dragging out the “o” causing you to laugh again.

You sigh dramatically. “I haven’t warmed up or anything, it’s gonna sound so bad” you warn as you put the song to the beginning.

“I’m sure you sound great. Go ahead, woo me.”

You shake your head as you softly sing. “I'm not trying to go to bed with you, I just wanna make out in my car. And though I'm dying to fall in love with you, I just wanna make out in my car”. You stop and you’re suddenly very aware that you have essentially just serenaded him. Good going, brain.

It’s silent for a beat too long, and the smile that graced your lips starts to fade as the embarrassment starts to set in.

“Well now we definitely have to get married,” he affirms. And there’s that fluttery feeling again.

You swallow, moving the conversation swiftly onto Among Us. You grab your laptop that was next to you, humming in acknowledgement as he walks you through downloading it.

“So there’s a few of us joining us tonight, it should be really fun.”

“Oh. It’s not just us two?” you ask. You focus on the download, watching the number increase. You’re nervous at the prospect of playing with other people, strangers, for the first time.

“No, it’s a 4 player minimum. We’re going to stream as well.”

“Corpse…” you start. You begin to pick at the skin around your nails, a habit you do whenever you get really anxious. This was meant to just be a cute moment where you learnt how to play a game, not a big event where people would be actually watching you, judging your every move.

“We’re going to do a few games off stream with you, you don’t need to be there for the stream after if you don’t want to,” he interrupts.

“Okay,” you trail off, your teeth biting down on your bottom lip. You feel a little better, but not by much. You didn’t know who the other people were, what if they hated you? You ask this out loud.

“I’ll be there. You know Rae and Sykkuno. Felix, Sean and Toast will be there but they’re super nice, I promise.” His voice is sincere, and it soothes you. You don’t know him, not really know him, but you trust Corpse. You know he has his own struggles, and you believe his promise; he wouldn’t screw you over or put you in a situation you were uncomfortable with.

The rest of the call is him taking you through how to play and how to set up something called Proximity Chat so everyone can talk to each other in the game. He says it’s easier once you actually play, and it doesn’t sound particularly hard quite honestly, you just hope you don’t get imposter on the first try because you’re not the greatest liar.

The game screen pops up, and you type in the code that Corpse gives you. You say goodbye to Corpse, who tells you to text him if you need any help. You drop into the game lobby, and you look at the little astronaut. There’s no time to dwell as a cacophony of voices hits you.

“YN!” Rae screeches and you chuckle at her enthusiasm. You’ve known Rae for a few years now, you met at college and had become fast friends. Though you had many different interests - gaming for one, you considered her your best friend. Rae was the type of friend where you didn’t need to talk every single day, you could message her a week later and it would be like no time had passed at all. And you loved that, sometimes you just didn’t want to talk to anyone. Sometimes your mood wasn’t the best, and you needed a little time to recharge. And she understood that, something that you were eternally grateful for.

“Raebies!” you screech back, using your “pet” name for her.

“I’ve been trying to get you to play forever. But Mr Smooth Operator over there slides into your DMs and suddenly you’re a gamer now?”

“It sounds so sordid when you say it like that,” you reply.

“Hi yn! Glad to see you playing with us,” Sykkuno says. You greet him and the others, making sure to say hi to everyone in the game. You didn’t want to start off by being accidentally rude. You listen as everyone talks amongst each other, and you talk when spoken to, but you aren’t interjecting. It wasn’t anything against the other players, it was just a little overwhelming, and you were figuring out what everyone was like.

“Hello,” Corpse’s voice interrupts your train of thought and you greet him along with everyone else.

“Aw, I wanted purple,” you say, frowning at Corpse’s name above the astronaut.

“We can switch,” he replies.

“No it’s o -” you start to speak before you realise he’s already switched to white. “Thank you, you didn’t have to.” You smile as you switch to purple, and you decide to add a flower for a little pizzazz.

“It’s your first game, I’ll kill you if I get imposter so it’ll even out,” he jokes and everyone laughs. The countdown begins and you puff your cheeks out, exhaling as it gets to 1. You’re nervous again, a seemingly common theme of the night. Your shoulders relax as the word CREWMATE flashes across the screen.

You watch as everyone but Corpse disperses from the cafeteria with haste, and you look at the keyboard to press the buttons to move.

“You ever see an old person text? That’s how I’m picturing you right now,” Corpse says as you walk together to Weapons.

“Shut up Sonny,” you reply in your best old woman voice, getting a laugh. You open up the task, shooting the Asteroids with ease. “Yay, I completed a task!”

“Good job,” Corpse replies, and you beam at the praise. You move down to o2, doing your task while Corpse does his.

“Wait, you could be imposter right? How would I know?” you ask as you walk together to Navigation.

“You wouldn’t, you just have to trust me,” he says, his voice full of charm.

You scowl. “Well that just makes me not want to trust you.”

Before he replies, there’s a blaring alarm. DEAD BODY REPORTED. You blink at the suddenness; you were really enjoying the relaxing pace of the game. You look at the screen; Felix has been killed.

“Who found the body?” Corpse asks.

“I did,” Rae answers. “I was in admin, and was going to lower engine and it was there in storage.”

“If you were in admin, why didn’t you go up through Cafeteria?” Toast asks.

“Because it’s quicker to go through storage,” Rae replies. They argue between themselves, and you listen intently and silently. It’s a lot of information, you can’t tell whose lying, but you guess that’s what makes a good player.

“Where were you yn?” Sean quizzes, and it takes you a second to realise you’re being spoken to.

“Oh. I was in um o2?”

“You don’t sound too sure there, pretty sus,” he says. Your face heats up a little, you’re not the imposter, but it feels like you are.

“She was in o2 and then we went to Navigation,” Corpse answers, and you breathe out as he takes on the interrogation.

“Oh you were together?” Rae asks, and you know that tone she’s got. It’s the tone that says she’ll be messaging you right away.

“Well yeah, it’s her first game, I’m not gonna leave her alone,” he says and you smile at that.

“Yeah we’ve been together the whole time,” you add and it’s left at that. No-one votes anyone out, since no-ones really too suspicious. You carry on the game, and you find yourself really enjoying it, though the questioning part is kind of stressful. You can see why Corpse likes it so much, it’s really fun. You’re in electrical, humming as you do your task when Rae comes next to you.

“Hey,” you greet her.

“I’m sorry, nothing personal,” she replies. Before you have a chance to say a word, she kills you and you look on in shock as your ghost floats above your body. You listen into the meeting as Rae continues to lie and plead her case. She’s good, but Corpse knows better.

“Wait, you said you found her in electrical and you were where?”

“I was in Upper Engine, and then I went to electrical to do my task,” Rae answers, her voice even and calm.

“I was in Lower Engine, and I didn’t see you,” Corpse says, and you grin at the fact Rae’s been found out. That’s what she gets for killing you.

“You were doing your task, I passed right by you,” Rae starts. She pleads her case, but it’s too late and she’s voted out.

“That was so much fun!” you declare. “I can see why you guys play it all the time.”

“Yes! We have converted another!” Felix shouts in victory.

“And all it took was Corpse,” Rae mutters sarcastically.

“Don’t get bitter Rachel, just get better,” you reply, causing the group to laugh.

You get the hang of it after a few games, and find yourself agreeing to stay while the others stream, though you decide against it yourself. You’ve only streamed once by yourself, and it was a very casual affair and you don’t want to feel too much pressure while you enjoy yourself. You know that Corpse gets nervous when he streams and he’s been doing it for so much longer, so you can only imagine how nervous you would be.

You tap your fingernails against the keyboard as the lobby counts down, any previous nerves have been replaced with excitement.

IMPOSTER flashes across. You’re the only one, your astronaut looks lonely on the screen by itself, and the red letters almost taunt you.

“Shit,” you mutter as your brain goes into overdrive. What was it Corpse had said before? Not to be too obvious. You don’t kill immediately, instead going at your previous pace to not look too suspicious. You were still fairly new to the game, and you were going to use that to your advantage.

You fake your task in Cafeteria before venting over to Navigation where Toast was.

“Hi Toast!” you greet, coming to stand next to him as you pretend you’re doing the task.

“Oh hey yn,” he says. It doesn’t seem like he suspects you, and you’re not quite sure when to click the Kill button. You do it anyway before running out and going down and into shields. There’s adrenaline running through you as the dead body’s reported and you crack your knuckles before putting on your game face. You were going to play dumb, play the confused newbie - because to them, that’s what you were.

“YN, where were you?” Corpse asks. Fuck. Maybe you weren’t going to get away with this.

You twiddle your hair as you draw out your words, playing the role perfectly. “Uhm I was in...shields? I think that’s what it’s called. I was in the cafeteria before that though.”

“Wait, you couldn’t have, I was in weapons. I would have seen you,” Sykkuno says.

You open your mouth to talk. “She could have vented,” Felix comments, and the rest of the group starts to agree.

“Guys, I don’t even know what venting is. I literally just started playing,” you point out, giggling.

“That’s true,” Rae agrees and you knew there was a reason you loved her.

“Bullshit! She’s playing you with her “oh I don’t know how to play” schtick,” Felix proclaims.

“Aw, that’s kind of rude, Felix. I’m just enjoying the game, doing the tasks,” you say, pouting a little. He’s the next on your list.

Everyone skips the vote and you lean over your laptop, ready for the next round. You were going to win this. You kill Rae and Toast next, and yet again, manage to worm your way out of any suspicion. You can sense that Corpse and Felix are starting to get suspicious of you, and you know you need to bring out the big guns to throw them off.

You catch Sykkuno in Med Bay after checking the cams in Security.

“Hi yn!” he greets, and you almost feel guilty as you kill him. He’s so sweet and innocent, but unfortunately, casualties are a given. You pass Felix as he comes out of reactor and it’s only a matter of time before you’ll have to talk your way out of this one again.

“I passed yn as I came out of reactor,” Felix shouts with a hint of glee.

You roll your eyes; this is going to be tough. “Yeah I came from Upper Engine, I was finishing part 2 of a task.”

“I was in Electrical, where was the body?” Corpse asks.

“Med Bay. And the only one that could’ve been there was yn,” Felix starts.

“Well no, you could have passed me and killed Sykkuno then self reported,” you reply. “I think you can do that right?”

Corpse hums in agreement. “Oh come on! She’s being really sus,” Felix argues.

“You are being a little sus yn,” Corpse comments.

“Corpse. You don’t really think it’s me do you?” You decide to lower your voice a little, your tone sweet but sultry. “You only taught me like an hour ago, there’s no way I’d be able to fool everybody so quickly.” You get close to the mic so it’s like you’re speaking only to Corpse. “Remember what I said? You’re a master at this.” You’re laying it on thick, and for a brief second you think you’ve been too over the top.

“This is difficult,” Corpse says, and you see the seconds count down, your heartbeat starts to quicken.

“Corpse, stop being a fucking simp and vote her out!” Felix demands.

“Corpsie baby,” you drawl out and you smile in success as you hear him sigh, almost shakily. You’ve got this in the bag. The victory screen flashes up and you cheer.

“Fuck yeah!” you shout, patting yourself on the back. You laugh as you exhale the breath you didn’t know you were holding.

“Good game yn!” Sykkuno comments, the others agreeing.

“Not fair, you used your womanly wiles against Corpse,” Felix says.

“Gotta use them for something. Not my fault Corpse knows where his allegiance lies,” you reply laughing a little.

You stretch, your back crying out in pain from being hunched over so long. You let out a long, loud moan of relief as you straighten your spine, your shoulders relaxing as you move from side to side.

“Your mic’s not muted” Corpse points out, clearing his throat. You feel your stomach drop and your face instantly becomes hot. Shit.

“Oh. Uh. I totally forgot about that,” you say, forcing out a chuckle. You screw your eyes shut, any happiness has been now replaced by red hot shame. “So this was fun, uh, really fun, but um, I’m gonna, I’m gonna go. So...yeah. Bye guys, have fun!”

You click to exit without giving anyone a chance to say a word, and drop your head into your hands.

“Can’t wait to see what they say on Twitter about this,” you mutter into your hands.

TAGLIST (if youre bold, it wont let me tag): @teenageguitarist @fanworrior @cherry-piee @mirahg @clara-bee @cookinglovingalien @vir-tual @clubfairy @youretheonlyonewhomakesme @more-like-reyna @boiled-onionrings @moneybagmgk @brendalopez99 @delicateavenuenacho @dreamsofficialwife @hydrate-tion @little-red02

#my fic #corpse husband x reader #corpse #corpse husband #corpse husband/reader #corpse husband fic #corpse husband x yn #corpse x you #corpse husband x you #corpse x fem reader #corpse x reader #corpse fic #corpse smau #corpse imagine

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cyberloops · 3 years

Photo

Some quick studio updates:

My spouse was having a hard time at their new job, so when my boss mentioned that he was looking for another person to do the same sort of tech helpdesk work that I was doing, my spouse decided to go for the opportunity. On the one hand, it means less stress. On the other hand... less money. Our income is going to be cut by about 1/3. So we really need to find some way to work from home to earn money to make up for that. So this week, while my spouse had a few days off before the new job starts, we buckled down and worked on getting our home office/studio situation set up in a way that will work for us.

Originally we had planned on keeping all the computers in the office (not the room in the picture here) and dividing the studio (the room in this picture) into halves. The half now taken up by the giant desk on the left would be where I’d set up my studio, the area where the other 2 desks are would be a workbench for crafting type stuff, and the drafting table would be where it is. But between the plague causing us to switch jobs and work from home and everything else that’s happened... well... plans change. We couldn’t both work from home in the office, so my spouse had to get a desk and set it up in the studio. And the little corner desk my spouse had gotten for the office way far too small for all of the paperwork that their new job entailed. So we had to get the giant desk.

Since we’d like to get back into the habit of streaming, we decided that we needed to once again change the plans we had for our studio. But with less income, that meant no more buying furniture. We need to work with what we have. So the giant desk that takes up half the room will stay, and will become the graphics powerhouse of the studio, with my spouse’s new computer in the middle, a big monitor on the left, and the graphics tablet monitor on the right. Unfortunately the USB C port is on the left side of the computer and the right side of the graphics tablet... which means we need a longer USB C to USB C cable if we want to use all three monitors. (We can use an HDMI cable instead, but then we wouldn’t be able to use the other big monitor.)

I moved the smaller corner desk from the office into the space between my studio and my spouse’s, and got rid of the little wooden table that was kind of in my way on the right side of my studio. Now we have an entire wall of nothing but desk. The drafting table is still just out of camera view on the right, so my spouse still has a space for traditional drawing.

You can also see in this picture that I was able to finally rig up a top down view of my studio, the camcorder is attached to a little microphone handle instead of a stand. The little handle came with a different mic, the one that I’ve currently got hooked up to my desktop computer in the office. I’m using a boom mic stand that I had packed away that was a birthday present to me like fifteen years ago. (I’m glad it’s finally getting decent use, I used to have it set up next to my old Windows XP desktop computer that had an M-Audio 10/10 soundcard that had XLR inputs so I could actually record a microphone directly into the computer. But that desktop died about 9 years ago, and I haven’t used that stand since then. I don’t even think they have drivers for the 10/10 for modern versions of Windows anymore.) Ironically, the microphone that came with the boom mic stand is in a little tripod that came with a DIFFERENT mic that crapped out on me and I’m not using anymore, it’s somewhere on that desk studio setup. I don’t know if it’s in camera view, it’s not currently plugged into the mixer, but it’s there if I want to record any vocals. However, that setup means that the camera is also about six feet away from where the computer will be... which means we need a longer USB A to Micro USB cable if I want to stream.

... and after moving all that furniture, getting sweaty and gross, and stressing out my bad knees... I didn’t wanna go to Best Buy to get cables. So we ordered them online, and maybe once we’ve gotten them, we’ll be able to get back to streaming again.

Also, since my spouse got a new, better computer, I’m going to see if their old computer is powerful enough to do basic streaming with just my sound and video setup. It’s (I think) about 9 years old, just like my laptop... but mine was bottom of the line at the time of purchase, and this one was midrange. They have the same amount of RAM and hard drive space, but my spouse’s old computer has about 3 or 4 times the processing power of my dinky little old laptop. So maybe it can handle it. We’ll find out once I get that new cable. If not, well, we’ll see what I can do. Now that we’re past the first few weeks of classes, my job is slowing down a bit, so I’ll have a little more free time and energy. I’d really like to spend some time working on more fun, creative stuff. I suppose I could just say screw it and move my desktop into that room, that’s definitely powerful enough to stream. And if I don’t feel like doing music, I can work on 3d modeling/sculpting instead. Or, hell, I could even go back to doing game streaming when we’re not streaming art or music.

I would love to also get a better chair. Unfortunately, all of the comfortable chairs we have right now are too wide to work with that setup, unless I can figure out a way to move my keyboards to the right side of my studio instead of the left. Which honestly, I could probably do if I just got some longer cables. I went cheap and just got 3 and 4 foot audio and MIDI cables when I first set up the studio, since I was jammed in the corner there. So maybe my last investment in the studio will be to buy a couple of longer audio and MIDI cables just for those two synths.

... and after all that, months and months of setup, investing my pandemic bonus money into setting up the whole studio... I still am finding myself kinda obsessing over the fact that the ONE kind of synth I wanted and still don’t have is one that can do more than 2 operator FM synthesis. I was really debating between the Modal Skulpt or the Korg Volca FM at the time, and the Skulpt only won out for me because it had 4 note polyphony, and I like complex chords. But with our sudden cut in income, I really can’t justify buying another synth anytime soon. So I really should buckle down and work with what I have.

#home studio #music studio #art studio #dawless #streaming setup #music streaming #art streaming

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sealer-of-wenkamui · 3 years

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Final Song Tips

I just beat the final song today after about a week of daily practice, so I wanted to share a few of the visual and audio cues I used to help! It was literally the hardest thing I’ve ever done in any game (I’m also not musically talented) but it’s possible!! i noticed I had a few problem spots and came up with tricks to get me through them, after which its just a matter of practice and everything going right for the full 7 minutes, you’ll find the beginning parts easy by the end

General tips

Use L1 and R1, going back and forth for combos, but stick to just one for super fast parts in One/the final segment

Listen to the song with the chimes included when you’re not playing and try to tap along

Watch a sync video simply to learn how many rings are in some of the longer combos, and when you’re supposed to hit them

Just keep practicing, I’d get a little farther each day, and its all about learning the feel of the song so you can more frequently get to the later parts and eventually beat it

Don’t get discouraged, it’s stupid hard and takes time, and even once you’re getting pretty good at early parts you might still make dumb mistakes! Tonight I died a few times on Two even though I had mostly gotten my trick down, and even once on Three even though she was easy for me by now! But I still ended up doing it tonight!

Specific tips

Zero, Five, and Four are pretty straightforward, just hit the button when the ring reaches Mikhail, it still might take a bit to get consistent, but will be a cakewalk by the end

For Three’s blind double note, start hitting it after she tilts her head

For Three’s final note, hit it as her hand moves down to its final position

For Two’s 4 note combo with the zoomed camera, say “one mississippi” to yourself as soon as the barrier from the previous note disappears, then start the combo. Don’t be too slow with the last note. This is one of the trickiest parts imo

For One’s 4 note combo after the two blind notes, use the back of Two’s head as a guidepost, hit them as the rings reach past her head

For One’s final 5 notes, start hitting them as soon as the camera starts to pan up

For the 8 note combos in the final part, count to yourself as you hit each note, don’t be too fast

For the two groups of double notes where the camera zoom in on Zero, hit the first set right after she has sung the next two

The notes after the next 8 combo are double notes!

For the four steady notes after these, start hitting them as soon as the last one is sung, and as soon as the camera starts to move away from Mikhail

For the 7 note combo, start it as Three is on the edge of the screen, hit the first 6 like you would the 8 note combos, but the last note is delayed, I had a tendency to hit it too fast, so make sure you give it the delay! (this is another especially tricky part imo)

Start hitting the final 8 note combo as soon as the camera starts to pan up

You will probably be hyped up on adrenaline at this point, be very careful with the next two notes, don’t hit them too fast, its a relatively easy rhythm to match so mostly go by sound, but the rings will reach past Four/Five’s heads for these two and the next two

The second to last note is fully blind, you hit it along with that strumming noise before the words “aru mama” in the song, if you wait to actually hear it though you might be too late (that’s how I screwed up the first time), so just know how the song goes and hit it right then

The final note- DON’T wait until “I had a lot of fun” actually shows up on screen, that’s how I screwed up the first time, what worked for me was saying “one miss” after Zero says “Nanda” (I was using JP voices, should work with “yeah” as well?), then hitting the note... since its about when Mikhail starts to speak again but I think actually waiting to hear it made me too slow

In the end its mostly about practicing a whole bunch because its so damn hard and doesn’t play fair, but it’s fully possible! Good luck everyone!!

#Drakengard 3 #final song #truly the dark souls of rhythm games #haha just kidding dark souls is WAY easier than this #this is coming from someone that has beaten all bosses in all 3... at least those are FAIR #drakengard #dod3 #branch D

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inactivefandomblog · 3 years

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Things I noticed when I re watched Birds of prey last night

Hi all, I watched BOP for the second time last night and I wanted to write down some of the things I noticed as I had seen @wordsoflittlewisdom , Idea credit goes to them on this one. I’m aware that some of these things are not exactly new discoveries and were blatantly obvious to others, but I have ADHD and a processing delay meaning that I don't always take in all the information the first time I watch a film. For example, I had no idea Renee was gay for ages, even though they tell us she had an ex girlfriend (I think I was too busy fan Girling that Ali Wong was in the film then though to hear that bit). I have to focus more on the overall plot when I watch things the first time, but the second time I was able to scan for little details and take in more things. Without further ado, here’s what I noticed.

“Do you know what a harlequin is? A harlequin's role is to serve. It's nothing without a master. No one gives two shits who we are, beyond that.”

-When Harley is talking about Harlequinns serving their master, she is not just talking about her relationship with the Joker, but about Canary letting Roman be her master. She is saying that she felt like she was nothing without the Joker. She is also implying that Dinah feels the same about Roman, and that she shouldn't because he doesn’t actually care about her like the Joker didn’t care about her.

-THATS WHY SHE ONLY HAS ONE SHOE IN THE CHASE SCENE!!!!! SHE USED IT TO PIN DOWN THE ACCELERATOR IN THE TRUCKKKKKK!!! MYSETERY SOLVED!! ... though.. she didn’t change her shoes to a full set between then and the police chase the next day/ later on the same day. Meaning she didn't go home after that...so did she just like wander around Gotham after committing a huge crime obviously tide to her XD of course she did, she’s Harley Fucking Quinn! Either that or she passed out somewhere from being very very drunk, hopefully her apartment and not just a street or something.

-BONUS: fanfic idea: DRUNK HARLEY HAS A FUNERAL FOR HER SHOE THAT GOT BLOWN UP IN THE ACE CHEMICALS EXPLSION, WITH BRUCE AND THE BEAVER. after she leaves the crime scene. That just seems like a thing drunk Harley would do, as I imagine she loved those shoes as they were awesome..so were her sequin socks.

-The first time I watched it I didn't realise that the fireworks weren’t actually there - because that was all in Harley's head and the film is from her pov - even though we are showed that when the police arrive there are none and it's just a regular explosion. Not until I was told this was the case and realised we were literally shown this later on.

-She goes from being a Harlequinn to Harley Quinn as she becomes emancipated.

-Roman just lets Zsas grab his arms and restrain him when he’s mad, switch energy much.....also they are defo gay for each other. Zsas was acting like a jealous boyfriend when he gave Dinah even an ounce of attention. He legit told her to come back later when he just started massaging Roman’s shoulders. Roman let's Zsas rub his shoulders and comfort him, Zsas wants to protect Roman...need I go on.

- Cass’ parents are yelling about how they don't want her if you listen to what they are saying, so they’re not just fighting, they’re fighting because they wish they never adopted her. She can hear them saying all this too. This made me feel even more sad for Cass than when I thought her parents were toxic to each other in my first watch through.

- (Trigger warning: mention of domestic abuse and child abuse)

Cass’ parents didn't want her and seemed to be very hostile, its not mentioned how Cass got her cast...but I realised that it could suggest that her parents broke her arm. Which would go on to suggest that they were abusing her physically as well as emotionally. Hence why she didn’t trust people, and was so hurt when Harley betrayed her. Because when she says that she though Harley was different, she meant that she thought she could trust Harley and that Harley wouldn’t hurt her.

-Margot’s real accent comes through when she tells Canary ‘I haven't told that to anyone’ when telling her she Broke up with Joker, as well as a few other times throughout the film.

-Cassandra is quiet and not talkative in her first scene because her throat was hurting because of the diamond. That's why she coughed to try and clear it . At that point in the film we hadn’t been shown that part but it was set after it happened so it makes sense when you re watch it.

-Cassandra’s jacket has a little middle finger logo on it, which I thought really suited her character.

- Cass has ‘asshole’ written on her cast, a drawing of a gun the word ‘fuck’, the word ‘magic’ - which is probably a reference at how she does some stuff that is similar to closeup magic and uses the same magicians technique of the art of misdirection - she also has what appears to be two playing cards, one with hearts and one with diamonds. Which is most probably a reference to Harley Quinn’s whole hearts and diamonds thing she has going. Didn’t comic book Harley also have a link to those specific playing cards too? or something like that?

EDIT: THEY ARE PLAYING CARDS!! I GOT A BETTER LOOK AT THE CAST IN THE COSTUMES VIDEO.

- TW: mentions of abuse and child abuse and trauma

The whole diamonds are a girls best friend is Harley going somewhere else mentally to cope with the trauma of being abused - we see her being spanked by a nun when was younger suggesting she was abused then too, and I think it is a part of her comic book story that she was but I don't know for sure - when it flashes and Guns appear that's reality trying to seep in. She's trying to focus on the diamond and block everything else out

-I spotted what looks like a mini mallet on the wall in her kitchen that could potentially be a meat tenderiser, and if that is the case then that is a fantabulous little Easter egg type thingy. The handle looks too long to be a pot, it has a diamond pattern on it and it is next to another tool for preparing meat...so now I'm just waiting on Margot Robbie,Cathy Yan or Ella Jay Basco to Reply to my tweet and confirm it.

-Helena speaking Chinese makes me laugh for some reason, I think its her facial expression.

- Kid Helena’s crayons when she's drawing the revenge pic are all perfectly spaced and placed like her stuff in her bathroom scene. Further evidence of her perfectionism/ her liking things a specific way.

- The towel in Helena’s hotel room on the bed (seen in mirror reflection) is in the shape of a little person.

- Canary sheds a tear when Roman harasses the lady on the table, I didn't notice that before because I looked away as the scene made me really uneasy.

- Harley screws the cap on the nail polish before putting it down even though there's someone at the door after them. This made me laugh because she thinks the police is after her but still takes time to do this, which is such a Harley thing. Like when she bent down to pick up the penny when that guy was gonna kill her.

- Roman has a shirt with his face printed on it.They did a good job of using the costumes and sets to show his egomaniacal trait.

- The look of acceptance of Harley's face when she realises that no one cares about, after the last person she thought cared about her (Doc) betrayed her, is heart-breaking.

-How was Renee not injured from getting launched out the window? Even if she didn't fall all the way to the ground and landed on the top of the entrance bit, she’d still be injured.

-WHERE DOES HUNTRESSS STORE ALLL THOSE ARROWWWSSSSS????? SHE FIRED SO MMAANNNNYYY! I DIDN’T SEE A QUIIIIVVVER OR ANYTHING. I guess she just stores them in sub space along with her hammer¯\_(ツ)_/¯

-Also I think I figured out what the chain is for, at first I thought it was for the crossbow to attach to. Then I though not as she leaves the crossbow on the floor by itself in the funhouse fight scene, but then I think I saw it attached to it..so I think she can just disconnect it when need be. Plus it just looks cool.

-Alllssoo, she toooottallly checked out Dinah! HELENA IS DEFO GAYYYY! she has big useless lesbian vibes. They really knew who their target audience was when they made Helena look so stunning and badass. The producers really said ‘hello LGBTQ+ community’ (hopefully y’all know that tiktok audio or that wont make much sense) Also, if you don't believe me, I have a gif of her doing it on my blog. So there’s no denying it.

-Why were the lights on in the funhouse if it was abandoned?? Maybe its just more Harley vision? but the carousel was rotating too...

Anyway that's everything I noticed, thanks for reading if you made it this far, and even if you didn’t...you wont see this then but still. Thank y’all .

#harley quinn #birds of prey and the fantabulous emancipation of one harley quinn #birds of gay #birds of prey #dc #movie #dinah lance #huntress #black canary #renee montoya #dinah x helena #cassandra cain #victor zsaz #roman sionis

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doomedandstoned · 3 years

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Spelljammer Reveal Trippy New Vid, Talk ‘Abyssal Trip’

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

Interview by Billy Goate

Cover Art by Aaron Cahill

Our week of big interviews continues as we meet up with the ethereal doom outfit from Stockholm SPELLJAMMER and premiere a new music video, from their just released second LP, dropped only weeks ago on RidingEasy Records and now the number one album on the Doom Charts.

'Abyssal Trip' (2021) is an enthralling listen from edge to center, with lavish textures, deep thematic content, and unforgettably emotive atmosphere that will stick with you for life. Enjoy it as you read the revealing conversation with Niklas Olsson (guitar, vox) and Robert Sörling (guitar) that follows as we unpack their steller new spin, talk nerdy gear shit, and contemplate humanity's fate.

And now, Doomed & Stoned is pleased to bring you the world premiere of the brand new video for that epic third track, "Among The Holy."

Give ear...

Spelljammer - Among The Holy (music video)

You guys have been a band now for damn near 15 years, maybe longer. Most bands don't make it past two years! What is the "key" to the band staying together for so long and continuing to find inspiration for creating new music?

Rob: I don’t think it’s been 15 years just yet but we are getting there, haha. None the less - that’s a really interesting question! Nik and I started the band much because we share the same taste in music, film and, well, art in general. I think that's the core keeping it all together. Also, there have been a few constellations of band members over the years, all with their own dynamic. I think these kinds of changes, and the new directions of the music because of that, is part of the inspiration. Maybe another reason is that we all live in different cities and because of that sometimes a lot of time passes between rehearsals, writing sessions and such, making us always craving for new Spelljammer jams and songs.

Nik: The craving yes. And another reason I think is the fact that we’ve never really been in a rush to get anywhere. Anything Spelljammer, the music included, takes time. If we had been set on making it, this thing probably would have fallen apart a long time ago.

Abyssal Trip by Spelljammer

How did the theme for Abyssal Trip originate?

Nik: I have always been more drawn to the feelings or emotions you get from a riff or piece of music than to any theme of a lyric. But I would say that any themes came in at the lyrics state, which is at the end of the process. But the themes aren’t that specific to any of the albums. I think I cast a pretty wide net in the beginning and stuck to it. For the next album perhaps we will venture more into unchartered waters. We’ll see.

What fascinates you about the Great Abyss of the ocean?

Nik: I totally get that the word abyss conjures up images of ocean trenches and, yes, the ocean is a fascinating and to a large extent undiscovered place. However, when I wrote that I wasn’t necessarily thinking of the ocean but more the abyss of our own minds. But I think it’s a word that evokes many things, like despair and doom, and it is of course totally open to interpretation.

Is mankind doomed or do we have time to correct our course?

Nik: I’m not as pessimistic of a person as the lyrics may suggest. I think we will be here on earth for a long time. Mankind is clever (perhaps too clever for her own good) even if there are a lot of people hell-bent on trying to screw up everything for everybody else.

Rob: Yes, and considering how ignorant and careless (some) people are acting during this pandemic, at least over here, makes you wonder if there’s any hope at all.

Nik: People are the worst. Ultimately, though, none of it matters because we’re all doomed.

Have you guys seen any good movies/documentaries or read any good books lately that inspired you or otherwise challenged your thinking about life, the present, or the future?

Rob: I can’t say that I’ve seen or read anything recently that challenged me significantly, I guess I’m getting too old to be that overwhelmed haha. The film A Ghost Story though was kind of cool though because it was different, slow and weird (in a good way), and for me it’s always inspiring to read/see/hear something that makes you think, "Man, I wish I had come up with that idea”.

Nik: Absolutely! Punch Drunk Love, Moon, and Office Space are definitely movies like that. I have watched so many movies and series through this pandemic and I can’t remember any of them right now. But I did just notice that there is a season 3 of Loudermilk on HBO! If you haven’t already, see it! I’m currently reading "Homeward Bound, The Life of Paul Simon” by Peter Ames Carlin. It’s a good read about one of my favorite musicians.

For recording this album, what kind of gear did you use and what production/engineering considerations did you have to take into account?

Rob: Since we did a remote recording in the countryside we had to use whatever stuff that we could fit into a couple of cars. I have a couple of old audio interfaces that I linked for a total of 16 channels. I also have a small collection of mics (nothing fancy) and we used them all and the rest was borrowed. We set up the drums in the living room and put the guitar and bass rigs as far away as we could (the adjacent rooms) to avoid bleed and just focused on getting the rhythm tracks done. The goal was to get us all in the same room and to catch the vibe from a relaxed rehearsal kind of situation. The bass rig used was a Orange Terror Bass and an Ampeg SVT 810 and the guitar was tracked through a Reval Mark I and/or Orange TH-100 and a Orange PPC 412. Of course there’s always some unforeseen problem lurking and this time it was the electricity in the old country house.

Nik: I don’t use many effects, just a fuzz. For this one I used a Supercollider from Earthbound Audio. It is exactly what the name suggests. That’s all you need really.

The album cover is amazing! It reminds me, in some strange way, of the creature in the old B-movie Robot Monster (1953). What's the story behind the artwork?

Nik: It definitely has a B-movie vibe that I really like. I’m afraid I can’t really tell you much about it other than the artist name is Aaron Cahill and you can find his stuff on Instagram under the name nghbrs.

I filmed your first US appearance at Psycho Las Vegas in 2016. Fans want to know: do you have ambitions of returning to North America once the world sorts out this pandemic?

Rob: Yes, that’s our first and only US appearance so far and we wouldn’t mind at all returning to Vegas or any other part of the US. For now it’s really hard making any plans at all. In fact, you would think that this kind of isolation would enhance creativity, and maybe for some it does, but for us it’s actually been the most unproductive period so far for Spelljammer. So I’m hoping that by the time this thing blows over we get the inspiration back both for writing/recording new music, and in time hopefully revisiting the US!

Nik: I agree, playing at Psycho Las Vegas was a blast. I hope we get another opportunity to come back some day.

Spelljammer at Psycho Las Vegas/a>

Some Buzz

“The vastness of everything is something that I think about a lot,” says Spelljammer bassist/vocalist Niklas Olsson. And it certainly shows in both the expansive, sludgy sounds and contemplative lyrics of the Stockholm, Sweden based trio. Following a 5-year break between their previous album, Ancient of Days — perhaps fittingly spent pondering said vastness — Spelljammer is back with an album that perfectly bridges the band’s earlier desert rock leanings and their later massive, slow-burning riffs.

'Abyssal Trip' (note: carefully reread that album title) takes its moniker from the perpetually dark, cold, oxygen-free zone at the bottom of the ocean. The 6-song, 44-minute album fittingly embodies that bleak realm with rumbling, oozing guitars intercut with dramatic melodic interludes. The songs take their time to unfurl, making them even more hypnotic. Likewise, the lyrics take a poetic approach to establishing the sonic scenery.

“The lyrical themes we address, like the ultimate doom of man, and the search and longing for new and better worlds, are still there,” Olsson says. “The concept of something undiscovered out there in vast emptiness is pretty much always present.”

The recording process for Abyssal Trip differs from previous releases in that the band — guitarist Robert Sörling, drummer Jonatan Rimsbo and Olsson — opted to capture the performances while holed up in the mental bathysphere of a house in the countryside near Stockholm. “The songs benefitted from the relaxed environment of being away from everything,” Olsson explains. Indeed, the album sounds confident and meticulously arranged, afforded by the band’s isolation. Sörling mixed the album and it was mastered by Monolord drummer Esben Willems at Berserk Audio.

Album opener “Bellwether” begins dramatically with a very slow, nearly minute-long fade in of rumbling distortion setting the stage for heavily distorted bass and guitar plucking out the lugubrious riff for another minute and a half before the drums begin, and likewise equally as long before vocals gurgle to the surface. “Lake” abruptly shifts gears, opening with an unusually fast gallop before rupturing into thundering doom that soon drops into a clean-tone Middle Eastern melodic breakdown.

The title track serves as the album centerpiece, opening with ominous film dialogue about blood sacrifice that launches into pummeling, detuned guitars rumbling over gut-punching drums and howling vocals hearkening to the proto-sludge of Pink Floyd’s “The Nile Song.” The dynamic relents briefly for a slow building clean guitar melody before all instruments lock into a jerking riff topped off by a trilling Iommi style lead. Throughout, Abyssal Trip is, just like its title suggests, an epic tour through desolate zones which yields much to discover.

Follow The Band

Get Their Music

#D&S Debuts #D&S Interviews #Spelljammer #Stockholm #Sweden #doom #metal #doom metal #music video #HeavyBest2021 #RidingEasy Records #Doomed and Stoned

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prorevenge · 4 years

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Bus bully screws up his life.

TLDR at the bottom.

Cast- me (Bus Driver and a Big B according to some of my students), Juvie (bus bully), Girl (bully’s victim), Luchador (Girl’s badass level father), Boy (bully’s victim), Cusser (kid who goes off on Juvie, Girl’s cousin), 65ish other students on the bus, camera (self-explanatory)

So many years ago at a previous district, on this one route around March, I would constantly have an emergency exit go off at least 4-5 times in a half hour run, no one would admit to it or rat out who was doing it, and the camera angle could not show them either. Our cameras at the time were sucky CCTV cameras like you’d see at gas stations (no live feed though) and recorded onto ancient tapes that were getting so worn out the film was getting stretched out, and it wasn’t unusual for the player to eat the tape. Faces were blurry blobs, clothes were all bleed out to dull grays, and there were only 2 cameras on the bus (front and back), but the audio was at least decent though. I had my suspicions as to the culprit, but no proof.

Finally frustrated at getting constantly in trouble because my bus was always running late due to this problem, I had my moment of inspiration.

Cue assigned seats for ALL of my students, and none were by their friends.

The initial gripping was super sweet, NONE of my kids were happy. After listening to their complaints for a few minutes one kid finally asked why everyone got assigned seats.

In a surgery-sweet tone I said “Then I will know who’s messing with the emergency exit, and after I find out who it is, we can go back to free seating”.

INSTANTLY everyone looked at the same kid with deep scowls and dark looks, who also happened to be the kid who asked why, and was one of my prime suspects, aka Juvie. I went into the Big B mode, made Juvie move up to the front seat ignoring his complaints/whining the whole while, and wouldn’t you know it, no alarm that whole ride. I wrote Juvie up that day and he was off the bus for two weeks due to other misbehaviors done previously. A day later I let everyone else go back to choosing their seats when there was no alarm. In those two wonderful, uneventful weeks, no alarm, and I was on time every single day.

I kid you not though, the very first day Juvie was back the alarm went off again, and all the kids groaned and I heard Cusser going off on someone as I started to slow down. As I was pulling over, I was concentrating on the road conditions and the bus maneuvering and so I wasn’t paying much attention to the kids, but I thought I saw a flash of movement in my interior flat mirror. After stopping, standing up and getting to where I thought I had seen the movement, there was Juvie, but I remembered he hadn’t been where he was at now when I checked seatbelts before leaving; he had been by the emergency side door exit, which was now the only empty seat on a very full bus.

Now some random info that will be import in a moment. This was getting close to summer time and it was HOT this day, and NO my bus did not have air conditioning. It was 110 degrees f outside and getting hotter inside without the air flow of going down the road, plus my giant tin can was parked in the full sun.

All the kids were hot, irritated and just wanted to get home. The moment I stopped by his seat to ask him why he moved, (he said some bs response like “I was here the whole time” or something) all the kids turned on him and started cussing him out EVEN MORE than Cusser had (they hadn’t done this previously and I’ll soon explain why). I decided to make Juvie sit up front again, which required a lot of me telling him upfront and him whining, asking why, and in general just being a PITA, and it took nearly 5 minutes for him to comply. Meanwhile the bus is just getting hotter and hotter and the other kids are getting madder and madder, but eventually he did follow instructions, I think it might have because he was getting hot too. I then pushed down the handle exit he had been next to initially (the handle wasn’t noticeably raised, but it takes just a fraction of an inch to set off the alarm, which makes it hard to tell which exit is buzzing sometimes), and sure enough no alarm when I started the bus.

I called this into my dispatch who pulled my video, and we wrote him a citation for not only messing with the emergency exit, but ALSO for taking off his seatbelt and moving seats while the bus was moving (the camera caught him), and ALSO for sexually harassing Girl before we even left the school (which the camera audio also captured).

Needless to say Juvie was taken off of the bus for the rest of school year, had a restraining order put on him by Luchador for harassing his daughter, and oh, Juvie was also put in juvenile hall when it was found out the reason why no one had ratted him out initially.

So it wasn’t that Juvie was popular, had a powerful or wealthy family or anything, but that he was a huge bully to everybody and everyone was SCARED of him. He had been making the bus run late because he was trying to make Boy get fired from his job for being constantly late, and because Juvie was on some kind of entitlement power trip. Like making me have to pull over made him the boss of the bus or something.

Now Juvie ended up in the juvenile detention center because the next morning at the bus stop before I arrived he tried to beat up Cusser for cussing him out the day before (an unidentified bystander called it in to the cops). The keyword here is that he “tried” to beat up Cusser. Luchador, the father of the girl he’d been harassing? Yeah, he was now in full papa-bear mode, took the day off work, and was at the stop when Juvie tried to assault his NEPHEW. Luchador overpowered Juvie and had him in a strangle hold until the cops came (never mess with field hands guys, they’re hard workers and stronger than an ox).

Now remember, Juvie was off of the bus for the rest of the school year plus he had a restraining order and couldn’t be anywhere near Girl - he had no business being at or anywhere near the bus stop anymore. This was pure premeditated assault on Cusser, which ended up with Juvie getting arrested on the spot.

Last I heard Juvie had been expelled from every regular ed high in the School District and had to go to a special school in another city 30 miles away. His easy half hour bus ride changed to a two hour ride, with another student who would just sit there and scream his head off for the entire ride.

All I have to say, is that I feel sorry for that bus driver, but I’m so glad it isn’t me.

TLDR: Bus bully gets caught breaking several rules and laws by the bus camera, I get him kicked off of the bus and then he’s arrested the next day for attempted assault and breaking a restraining order. His easy half hour bus ride is now a two hour long ride with a kid who screams the whole time.

(source) story by (/u/ItsRedAndFlashing)

#prorevenge #by /u/ItsRedAndFlashing #pro revenge #revenge stories #pro revenge stories #pro #revenge #last10

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namstruck · 3 years

Text

SCHOOL CRUSH｜NAMKOOK

REQUESTED BY: kosmosisgguk (wattpad)

“where namjoon is a teacher and jungkook has a crush on him and confesses,”

WARNINGS; fluff!! non-idols! college au!

WORD COUNT: 1423

spring had just started last week, exactly on a tuesday, earlier than suspected by the citizens of busan. the slight wind from this morning's breath gently shook the neighboring tree from the building b, where jeon jeongguk's video/audio studies class was. and of course it was just another endless, boring day for the young male senior. although his classes were shorter than any lower classmen, he still dreaded them. calculus especially. it made him want to tear out his hair from frustration; it never really was his best subject.

but all in all, world literature was his favorite. not because of the history behind it or its variety of language, but because the young senior got to see his crush every school day in literature. his heart throbbed and grew warm and racy every time gguk looked or even walked by them. it was like a daydream. he never thought he'd find someone for him, especially in his college years. but of course love got the best of the young boy.

bing.

the final bell rings. gguk organizes his notes and sketches, shoving them inside his black backpack as he zips it and throws it over his left shoulder. walking out of the room, he holds onto the strap and hurriedly walks to his final class.

on his way he pauses to the sound of his name being called from a very familiar voice;

"ay yo jk!"

he turns his head around to face the owner of the voice; kim yugyeom. the tall, blonde sophomore waves at his senior along with a big smile. the younger always was so welcoming and charismatic that it was impossible not to love him.

"oh hey yugyeom, what's up?" jeongguk finally says.

when yugyeom catches up, he sighs, "you walk too fast.." he walks jeongguk's pace as he continues, "i was wondering if you'd wanna hang tonight with me and the others?" yugyeom scratches his nose as he waits for an answer from his senior.

jeongguk scrunches his eyebrows forming a funny look, "you couldn't have just texted me and asked??" they make a right turn from the long hallway and up some few stairs to building a.

"well as a friend i just wanted to see you!"

"we saw each other literally this morning.." the senior raises his left brow.

the younger rolls his eyes. it didn't matter when the last time they saw each other was; he just misses his close friend 24/7. "so you down or what?" yugyeom nudges jeongguk’s side, making him shrug.

"sure."

—

after the two went to their separate classrooms, the older arrives to his final and last class of the day; world literature. he walks in and just as jeongguk sits down in his seat, the late bell rings. taking out his binder and note pads, the senior adjusts his seat and settles down.

"good afternoon class,"

a tall, long legged man walks in the room, closing the door behind him. he then walks towards his desk, setting down his stuff and opening his notebook. he wore a green sweater vest on top of a white shirt and ironed khakis, a nice watch on his left wrist, and square rimmed glass on his slender, handsome face. this was the world literature professor; jeongguk's to be exact. and not only that, he was also jeongguk's..

"today's lesson will be based on greek mythology; the dark ages to be specific." the professor rolls down the projector behind him above the board. the students start one by one opening their notebooks and get ready for the lesson. jeongguk follows along, sighing at his view.

vrmm, vrmm

his phone vibrates, catching his attention immediately. he peeks at the screen and sees it was a message from his big brother that reads:

jinnie ☆

› so how's class going? is the view good, lol

jeongguk rolls his eyes in pure annoyance. but the messages keep coming.

jinnie ☆

› is today the day you tell him?

jinnie ☆

› confess your feelings bro! no homo ･̑◡･̑

jeongguk groans and rests his head on his desk followed by a bang. there wasn't a day where is older brother didn't nag about confessing his feelings to his crush ever since he found out. and of course the teasing never stops. why was he like this?

—

"hey jk, what’s with the flowers?"

yugyeom questions the said male as he admires the bouquet of lavenders, "such pretty flowers must be for someone special, huh?" the sophomore teases as he smirks, "you got a girl or what ehe.."

jeongguk shakes him off and ignores his childish remarks. he wasn't in the mood to fool around, all he wanted was to get it over with and done. if he was rejected then so be it, and if he wasn't then..

jeongguk walks in his last class of the day, the bouquet still in his hand. even though he got a few odd looks and some awes it didn't matter to him; not their reactions anyways. once he finds his regular seat, the senior places the flowers on the desk next to his as he takes out his notes. but before he can the professor interrupts;

"since we are nearing the end of class courses around this week, and since you all have worked hard and with motivation along with passion," he pauses as he pushes up his glasses, "i have decided to reward you with a few movies for the rest of the day.." he smiles as he finds everyone pleased. he walks back to his desk as he prepares to start the films.

jeongguk, on the other hand, prepared and practiced for what he planned to do all day long. so for the entire day he wrote small notes and steps in his journal. the whole time there wasn't a second he wasn't writing away, trying to figure out how not to screw up. he was so focused he hadn't realized how fast the time flew by, all he hoped for was for the best.

—

after a few hours or so the professor finishes up the films knowing the schedule very well, "also please don't forget to look at the blog tonight; there will be a few forms you will need to fill and print out!" just then the final bell rings and all of the students rush out. jeongguk follows behind, organizing his notes and stuff once more into his backpack. after swinging it over his shoulder, he walks down the elevated room and heads towards the door.

"ah, jeongguk!"

the said male pauses mid walk and stiffens as he hears him. looking up he sees his professor looking directly at him, for he was the one who called. the poor boy could only manage a small 'hm?' as a response, a surprised look on his blushed face.

"you picked such a lovely gift!" he smiles gently. but jeongguk looks at him with a puzzled look, so his professor points at the bouquet of lavenders he was holding in his hand. "she must be one of a kind.." he smiles again along with a small chuckle.

"actually mr. kim," jeongguk raises the bouquet in front of him, "it's for you."

the said male scrunched his face, "for..me?" he receives the flowers and stays shocked for a while. he was speechless; he had never received anything in his life with thought behind it. so why was one of his students giving him such kindness?

"i like you."

the professor looks up again, the flowers still in his hands.

"no, i love you." jeongguk fiddles with his hands as he continues, "i have since the first time i saw you, you were something else; something that is too hard to describe.." he huffs, "but..my feelings are true and my heart is in the right place!" jeongguk, now flustered, carries on as he grips the strap to his backpack, "so please, go out on a date with me!" he bows and speed walks out the door, leaving a speechless man behind.

the sounds of scrunching paper around the bouquet brings the older back to reality, his eyes wandering in confusion. eventually, he spots a white, small card inside the flowers. he brushes aside a few lavenders to pull out the small card. the back was designed in gold, bold figures; a herb in the middle. but on the front it was different, a small note.

____________________________________

| |

| for my one |

and only

—j.k ♥︎

| |

____________________________________

#namkook #namjoon fanfic #jungkook #bts jungkook #bts namjoon #bts fic #kpop fluff #bts fluff

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dandanthemotorcycleman · 3 years

Text

Winterizing your bike, and yourself

So, I’m a mid-west boy born and raised. Which means riding year-round is not necessarily advised. Hell, I don’t run outside past about early November so safe to say, the bike will probably also not be making an appearance past All Hallows’ Eve. I purchased my bike in the fall since it’s considered off season and I wanted a deal. I got one, but what that meant was, my first task with the new bike was to winterize it before I even got to learn to ride it. Since I haven’t been able to ride it, all I’ve been able to do so far is go out to the garage, sit on the bike, and imagine. I fired it up a few times, and even once bravely tested out the clutch by riding it from one side of the garage to the other. Boldly go and such.

The end result of my experimentation was a dead battery. Turns out motorcycle batteries are a tad finicky and don’t like being used but not charged regularly. Who knew? On top of my misuse, I purchased a used bike so who knows how the battery was treated before I so carelessly wore it down to nothing.

Being the nerd that I am, I immediately jumped into some online research to determine if I was going to need a new battery in the spring and how much one would set me back. As it turn out, how much it’s going to set me back can vary quite a bit depending on what level of technology I want to embrace. I’ll save you the full breakdown of options, but I’ve decided on a gel. I believe they boast a decent cold weather start capability, mid-range pricing options, are less likely to leak than an old school battery, and the play nicely with battery tenders. Battery tenders by the way are another topic entirely but for now just know that you’re going to need one.

Anyway, I may be getting ahead of myself. I may or may not even need a new battery in the spring. Step one, for now, was to remove the current (pun intended) one and hook it up to a battery tender for the winter. If the battery is still usable, the tender will keep it fully charged and it should be ready to hook back up and go in the spring.

So, my friend who was kind enough to test ride the bike for me was also kind enough to let me know that I needed to pull the battery for the winter, or I may have just left it on. Complete beginner here after all. He assured me it was a fairly simple procedure and should, “take about five minutes”. I don’t doubt that this would be the case for anyone remotely familiar with what they are doing. Forty-five minutes and three YouTube videos later, I had the battery safely removed and the seat back on the bike.

I’ll give you just a brief breakdown of what it entailed here so you have a general idea of what you’ll be doing, but I would highly recommend YouTube for some audio-visual assistance. I started by popping open the battery cover on the left side of my 2011 Sportster. This was fairly straightforward and even I didn’t need a YouTube video to make it this far. It was at this point that I began scratching my head. Two wires appeared to be attached to the red terminal and the instructions on the inside of the battery cover clearly stated, remove the black connection first. At this point, I’m thinking that I need to remove this bracket thingy (technical term) and probably pull the battery out to access the black terminal. Feeling a little crowded by the seat being right in my face, and wondering if it may be possible to access the black terminal from underneath the seat, I figured I should proceed by taking the seat off so I could get a better look at what I was getting myself into. Seat removal the first time for me was five minutes and the first two of three YouTube videos. The learning curve is steep on this and popping the seat off takes about 30 seconds the second time you do it.

After getting the seat off, I was welcomed by a jumble of wires but still couldn’t get to the negative battery terminal. Fair enough, the goal was to remove the battery anyway, so I may as well focus my energies back on that goal. Big pro of seat removal is that even though I think the battery can be removed without taking the seat off, getting it out of the way really makes it easier to see and manipulate the bracket holding it in place. There was only one screw holding the bracket, so I popped that bad boy off and the bracket came off easily enough after that. I slid the battery out of its compartment and there it was. The vaunted black terminal. Thirty minutes into my five-minute job and I’d found it!

Quick background interlude here. I served for a year overseas in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Spent a solid chunk of that year fixing radios and electrical systems in HMMWVs. That’s a Humvee for you civilian types. Point being, I’m not entirely unfamiliar with working on vehicular electrical systems. So I do have a healthy respect of what happens when someone shorts out a battery while trying to remove it. I managed not to do it, but apparently PFC Garrita dropped a wrench on one and it touched both terminals. Oh, and HMMWVs run two 12V batteries in series to provide 24V of output. From what I heard, the end result was spectacular, and sparks flew. The lesson here is, when you disconnect the black terminal, don’t let it make contact with the bike frame as it is often used as the ground. My college physics is a little rusty so I can’t go into too much detail anymore about exactly what would happen and why, but just make sure the black lead is tucked out of the way or even taped off if you’re the very cautious type. With a properly fused bike, it wouldn’t be the end of the world, but best not to test the system.

Unscrew the bolt from the red, or positive, lead and disconnect the cable. There you have it. Battery removed. Screw the bolts back into the battery so you don’t misplace them, and your battery is ready to hook-up to that tender sitting in your basement workspace. Close up the battery cover, pop the seat back on and pour yourself a beer, all while patting yourself on the back for a job well done. Try not to pull a muscle. It can be an awkward angle.

So that’s your bike taken care of, but how do we make sure we’re taking care of our own internal battery during the long cold winters with short, sometimes dreary, days?

Lean on friends. Don’t be afraid to reach out to old acquaintances. Remember that relationships are a two-way street and it takes traffic flowing in both directions to keep them active. If you’re feeling lonely and down, ask yourself what you’ve done to reach out to someone else recently. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and make an effort. Last summer when people were really feeling stuck home alone with the Covid blues, I commented on an old high school acquaintance’s post about a local distillery that he’d checked in at the year before. It’s a local distillery that’s opened just outside of my hometown and I was completely unaware of it. I think my comment was something to the effect of, going to check this place out when this whole corona thing finally passes. Next thing I know, he’s calling me via the Facebook chat app, and we end up spending the next two hours catching up. We were by no means best friends in high school, but it was great to talk to him again and I’m really looking forward to checking out that distillery when society opens up again.

I will say, if there is one silver lining to the pandemic, it’s the fact that we all have learned how to Zoom, or Houseparty, or Google chat or whatever group video call app you use. Point is, use one. I have some close high school friends that historically I’ve been lucky to see once a year and we’ve actually had more virtual “face to face” interaction in the last year than actual face to face time in the previous three years combined. Technology is making our world smaller and our friends more accessible.

That brings me to the second self service of surviving winter with the double threat of a pandemic. Keep looking to the future. Usually this time of year I start planning a road trip or begin eyeing up upcoming musical festival dates. Covid obviously makes this additionally challenging due to the uncertainty factor but start doing some research on locations that may offer outdoor activities as the weather begins to warm. So, there are certain limitations to our current ability to foresee the future, but try to remind yourself that winter and Covid, as with all things, will pass.

Try to stay active. I’ll be honest, I don’t like outdoor activities once the temperature starts to drop below 30, let alone the teens. I’m trying to get better at enjoying the winter season here in the Midwest. I’ve found having and wearing proper gear helps. Even with that, I’ll just acknowledge that I’m definitely more of a summer guy when it comes to outdoor activities. This makes watching my diet and hitting the weights all the more important from November to March. The nights may be longer, but that isn’t going to guarantee a good night’s sleep by any means. I struggle with being tired already by 6pm but then being unable to sleep at midnight when I finally crawl into bed. Even getting just 5 or 6 rounds of short but high intensity lifting or cardio during the day gets blood flowing and helps my body prepare to shut down and recharge at night.

Finally, find and keep alive, your year-round hobbies. Aside from picking up the bike as a hobby, I home brew, play guitar, and write…which is what brought me here. If your hobby is a productive one that results in say, some mildly palatable beer, all the better. But there’s nothing wrong with having a hobby with no end goal or use other than enjoying loudly and poorly attempting to play and sing along with your favorite songs while no one else is around. The more varied our hobbies, the better the mental exercise and more importantly, the more interesting and fulfilled people we become.

Until next time, take care of your bike and take care of yourself.

#harleydavidsonsportster changeabattery

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adolanables · 4 years

Text

INFLUENCED -

PART 10

A/N:Sorry for how long this took :(

Warm fingers encompassed yours, a soothing thumb rubbing back and forth on the back of your hand. Grayson’s other hand was adjusting the camera in front of both of you, turning the viewing screen around to make sure you were centered in the frame. Ethan stood in the corner of the room to make sure the audio was alright and the lighting remained steady throughout filming.

“You ready?” Grayson looked over at you, his free hand nudging your chin up so you would look at him – a big smile on his face.

“As I’ll ever be.” You laughed nervously, squeezing his hand in yours and making sure your hair was placed over your shoulders perfectly.

Ethan gave you the nod and Grayson smiled at the camera - “I’m back!” He laughed awkwardly and looked over at you, “Well, Ethan is here too – just behind the camera.” He pointed behind the camera, rolling his eyes at his older brother. “I figured this would be the best video for us to come back with – to address a lot of speculations that have happened since we started our break.” Grayson took a deep breath and looked seriously at the camera. “We know this has been a long three months, but we figured the first of the new year would be a good time to start things back up.”

His hand squeezed yours again, glancing over at you momentarily before turning back to the camera.

“As many of you probably know, this is Y/N - she’s been a big part of our – well, my – life for the past few months.” His voice was shaky, clearly pretty nervous. “A lot of you noticed when we started following each other on Instagram, and a lot of you had some pretty serious opinions when those photos of me with someone else came out.” He sighed again, dropping his gaze to his lap for a few seconds. “Well, I’m not proud of those – or the consequences I had to face because of those choices. I’m 19 – well 20 now – but I was 19. I am going to make mistakes, and screw up.”

“It’s the same as all of you, except it gets broadcast to 10 million people.” You spoke up, smiling softly at Grayson as he nodded at you to continue. “I’m sure every one of you out there has had your heart broken to some extent – have screwed up royally at one point or another. Gray and E aren’t perfect humans – well not all the time at least.” You giggled, shooting Ethan a smile in the corner. “I’m sure a lot of you don’t understand why he’s with me, of all the girls he could possibly be with – sometimes I don’t either - but he is. I’m also sure some of you think I’m a clout chaser or a gold digger for staying with Gray after everything that’s happened, and that’s okay, because he knows how I feel about him – and that’s what matters.”

“Thanks, Y/N.” Grayson leaned over and softly kissed your cheek, knowing it would drive the fans insane. “We just wanted to fully address what is going on between us, because I don’t want to hide her anymore. She’s my girlfriend – period.”

Ethan and Grayson finished filming their come-back video without you, addressing other rumors and concerns they had dealt with over the past few months. You were grateful Grayson had wanted to do this with you. After two months of working on your relationship, building up to being able to officially date, you told him you weren’t willing to be hidden forever. It didn’t take much convincing for him to agree with you; calling his management and Ethan in to let them know they didn’t have a choice on the matter.

It had been a hard time – trying to rebuild trust and confidence. There were plenty of sleepless nights spent alone, crying over Grayson when he went back to New Jersey. He made a point to FaceTime you as much as he could, trying to ensure you he wasn’t doing anything wrong. It took a while for those calls to make you feel better, but eventually they did. You started to trust him again, you started to want to be around him all the time again – it was getting better.

Both of you knew it would probably be easier to give up sometimes. When you were screaming back and forth at each other over why you weren’t comfortable with Grayson coming into the bathroom while you were showering. When you were sitting in the back of the Jeep sobbing as Ethan tried to figure out what on Earth was wrong. When Grayson’s hand slipped between the two of you softly while kissing and you had a panic attack, flashing back to the horrible night with Cole. It would’ve been easier for both of you, but you didn’t want easy – you wanted each other.

Grayson had even brought you home with him for Christmas after finding out you had spent Thanksgiving alone – not actually making it back to Santa Barbara. He had been in New Jersey for a few weeks and you had promised him you would be going home – and you had planned to. The day you were meant to go back, your mom called and told you she had to work during the holiday, so you decided to just stay in LA. You didn’t immediately tell Gray, not wanting him to feel bad that you were alone, but of course he found out. Demanding you fly back with them to Jersey for Christmas, Lisa engulfing you in a hug as soon as you set foot into her house made your heart swell and you were so grateful to feel wanted somewhere.

New Year’s Eve was spent together on the couch back in LA. Charlotte, Ethan, and a few other – now shared – friends scattered around the room, watching the ball-drop on TV. A chaste kiss shared between the two of you before you both finished off a bottle of champagne alone in his room. You knew he wanted to make a move that night, but the way your head slowly swayed back and forth and the faint smile on your lips as you looked at him made him re-think. He wanted nothing more than to hold you close to him, forever – letting you know you were safe here. That no one would ever hurt you again.

The response to their come-back video was not what you were expecting at all. You hadn’t had an Instagram in months; knowing it was best for your mental health to avoid it. So when Grayson showed you the supportive comments on his most recent picture of the two of you sitting together on the couch – his eyes on the side of your face, lips curled into a smile as you laughed at the camera. The caption read:

*sorry if I’m not making eye contact with the camera from now on – have a lot better things to look at now*

As the two of you laid down in Grayson’s large bed for the night, you couldn’t help but smile at the man lying next to you. Often you spent more nights in Grayson’s bed than your own - something that bothered Charlotte at first, but now she was happy you were happy. His strong arms wrapped firmly around you and his willingness to drive you to classes in the morning made the incentive to stay even greater.

On top of that, Grayson never wanted you to leave. He wanted you to be with him at all times, his hand holding on to yous tightly as you got out of his Jeep to go to classes, even sitting on the bathroom counter while you showered to talk to you through the steam. Tonight was no exception, his legs swinging back and forth against the cabinets as you washed your hair - his voice traveling over the stream of water.

“People are begging for more videos with you in them, isn’t that so great?” Grayson giggled, you could almost picture his goofy grin.

“Fantastic, Gray.” You shouted back at him, shutting off the water and reaching your hand out of the shower, waiting for Grayson to hand you a towel. “Towel me, baby.”

“Yes ma’am.” Grayson’s voice was closer now, the soft fabric of the towel finding the palm of your hand. You pulled it inside and wrapped yourself up in it, stepping out into the steamy bathroom - directly into the bare chest of your very hot boyfriend.

“Hello there.” You smirked up at him, running your hands through your wet hair and reaching around him to grab another towel to tie your hair up with. Grayson’s hands rested on your waist as you tied your hair up and started doing your skincare in the mirror. Moments like this felt so normal for the two of you - like you’d been doing this your entire lives. His eyes were trained on your face as you finished brushing your teeth and letting your lotion dry onto your face.

“Beautiful, Y/N.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to your temple before heading off into the bedroom - his sweatpants hanging low on his waist.

He tried so hard every day to make sure you felt comfortable around him - and you did, but it wasn’t always easy. Your insecurities overwhelmed you sometimes and flashbacks of unwanted sexual touching made it hard to feel hands on you. Other times you were completely fine, 100% unbothered by Grayson’s hands traveling all over you. You knew it was hard for him too, there was no way for either of you to know how you would react to him sometimes. Seeing you hyperventilate or start crying took a jab at his confidence, but he understood. He wasn’t going to push you further than you wanted to go.

So as you pulled the hairbrush through your damp hair for the last time and wandered into the bedroom, leaning against the doorframe in your towel, watching as he scrolled through his phone mindlessly. It reminded you of the first night you spent with him here; recovering from entirely too much drinking and covered in dirt. Both of you were such different people just a few months ago - you had grown so much, together and individually. He finally noticed you staring at him, a small smirk creeping up on his plump lips as a blush crept across your cheeks.

“Want some of my clothes or?”He raised an eyebrow at you, going to stand up to walk towards his dresser, but you stopped him - shaking your hand at him and walking towards the bed.

“Can you hold me?” You spoke softly,tucking your lip in between your teeth - leaning on the edge of the bed next to him - still clutching the towelto your chest.

“Of course, babe.” He tossed his phone to the side, pulling you into his chest - minding the towel. His hands wrapped around your lower back as you nuzzled your head into the crook of his neck, his soft lips pressing kisses to your collarbone. “I love you, Y/N.” He whispered, his arms tightening around you firmly. Grayson had said that to you before - pretty early on in your relationship actually. He was a hopeless romantic, but you knew that didn’t make it mean less to him. Every time he said it to you it made your heart flutter, he chose the right times to let you know. It wasn’t thrown around casually, only said when he knew you needed to hear it.

“I love you too, Gray.” You muttered, pressing a kiss to his neck - smiling softly as you heard his breath catch in his throat. It had taken you a long time to feel like you could say you loved him. Even if you did all along, you were terrified of being hurt again and telling him how you felt put you at even more risk. But you knew you did. You also knew he needed to hear it as much as you did, and you wanted to let him know that you finally felt comfortable telling him.

“Yeah?” Grayson pulled back from you slightly so he could look you in the eyes. His cheeks were flushed red, a giant smile on his face as he stared at you. The smile only grew as you nodded your head at him, smiling back. “Fuck yeah.” He giggled,nodding.

“I was wondering if you maybe… wanted to…?” You bit your lip again, hoping he would catch the hint you were tossing out. His eyes widened and he raised an eyebrow at you, wanting you to explain further. “Make love to me Gray.”Your voice was quiet and sincere, hoping he could understand how much you wanted to experience this with him.

Honestly, since the first time the two of you had fooled around, nothing much else had happened. Except some intense makeouts and heavy petting, it never went further. Grayson seemed to be okay with it, probably because he hadn’t yet been blessed enough to experience sex with you - or anyone. He was okay waiting as long as you felt like you wanted to. For you though, you were desperately craving Grayson’s touch, but you hadn’t been ready for a long time. Tonight you were sure this is what you wanted. He was smiling at you wildly, but ready and willing for you to make the first moves - for your comfort and because he wasn’t really sure what he was doing.

Grayson’s head was buried between your legs, his fingers carefully moving in and out of you as he pressed soft kisses against your thighs. His free hand was softing gripping your breast, his eyes glancing up at you every few seconds to make sure you were still enjoying yourself. He continued to pepper kisses closer to your core, pausing for a moment to look up at you. “I want to taste you, Y/N.”

Your breath caught in your throat as Gray leaned into you, pressing a soft kiss to your sensitive clit. You nodded at him and laced your fingers through his dark brown hair, pulling his face back to you with a smile. “Lick - soft, I’ll tell you if something doesn’t feel right.”

He nodded at you confidently, beginning to softly lick against your clit; soft kisses following after. He spent ample time down there, trying his best to make you finish, but you knew he needed more experience. You softly tugged on his hair, pulling his face to yours to sloppily kiss him - tasting your remnants on his soft lips. He looked at you expectingly, waiting for your direction.

“Condom?” You whispered as he nodded, leaning over you slightly to reach into his nightstand to open up a brand new back of condoms. He nervously slipped it on, his hands shaking softly as he made sure it was on correctly. “Calmmm Gray.” You smiled up at him, your hands rubbing soft circles on his bare chest as he positioned himself in front of you and took a deep breath.

“I’m just nervous I’m not going to last - or mess up - or”

“Shh.” You held his face between your hands and pressed a kiss to his nose. “You’ll be perfect.”

You helped him guide his way into you, slowly stretching you out as he started to press in. It has been months since someone had been inside of you and Grayson was anything but small. You kept your eyes glued to his face as he fully sheathed himself inside of you - his eyes were clenched tightly shut, gasps of pleasure leaving his lips as he held himself still for a moment. He flicked his eyes open and looked down at you, pure adoration in his hazel eyes. “I love you so much, Y/N.”

“I love you too.” You assured him, your hands tangling in your hair as you pulled his chest to yours, helping him lay against you and encouraging him to move his hips against yours. “Come on baby, make love to me.”

He grunted roughly and started pumping in and out of you, pained sighs falling from his lips as he felt himself coming unglued already. His head was buried in the crook of your neck, one arm tucked underneath your neck, the other gripping your hip firmly as he ground into you. “Fuck, Y/N, I’m not going to last.” He whined, attempting to slow down a bit to make it last longer

“Come for me baby, I want you to feel good.” You whispered in his ear, your hands tracing lightly on his back, squeezing your legs around his waist tightly.

He took your words as permission to thrust a little faster, working himself up to his very first orgasm inside of a woman. As he felt his balls tighten he let out little moans of your name, his grip on your hips tightening as he fell over the edge. Curse words and sighs leaving his mouth as he collapsed on top of you, his head buried in your neck, pressing kisses to your damp skin. “I love you so, so much.” He whined into your ear, wanting to be closer to you like this forever.

“I love you too Gray.” You smiled into him, holding the sweet man against you.

#grayson dolan #ethan dolan #dolan twins #adolanables #grayson dolan imagine #grayson dolan fanfic #grayson #grayson dolan smut #ethan #influenced!grayson #influenced

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justlookatthosesausages · 4 years

Note

Hi, I hope you don't mind me asking. Your English is absolutely incredible, If I didn't know I'd think you were a native English speaker. Your writing is completely indistinguishable from native writers! Do you have any specific tips or tricks or anything for learning a language to a near native level? Please don't feel like you have to reply. (Also very random but the way Elsa says 'ah non' in making today a perfect day is cute)

Omg, this compliment is adorable! Truly, thank you!! 😊🧡

You know, in my defense, I only speak fluently French and English. I used to learn German at school but it all went away because I didn’t practice it since. And there are people around the world who can speak more than 3 languages fluently!

Well, my only advice is: practice. Genuinely the best advice I could offer. You said it yourself: I write fanfics in English. That’s practice #1, if you want to get better at a language, try writing in it a few minutes a day.

Practice #2 would be “learn some new vocabulary anywhere you can” so it can be listening to Disney songs in said language instead of yours (wink wink), playing video games with the audio set in said language with the appropriate subtitles so you can both hear and watch how the words are spelled, but also always have a dictionary tab at the ready when you watch a TV show or a movie in said language so your brain will remember the unknown popping word after looking it up.

Practice #3 is talking. Now that’s the most difficult, coz well, if your coworkers don’t speak the language you’re aiming at and/or your family and friends can’t help you with some fake other-language-convo, you’re screwed. But you can try to repeat stuff you heard from video games or movies or tv shows! Trust me, that helps. This is how I got to imitate both british and american accents.

#frozenfandom2017 #asks #languages #cute

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art-by-rozzai · 5 years

Text

band au headcannons? more likely than u think

tbh i just love found family tropes and band tropes and platonic lamp is the shit

HERE WE GO FOLKS

it’s the schools fault really. it starts as some stupid music theory project where virgil is forced to make friends once again, and do all of the work yet get none of the credit. the requirements seem simple enough-find three-four different instruments and write a song about something you all have felt before

when patton hart, the one of the only kids who’s ever made an attempt to talk to him, asks virgil to join his group of three, virgil decides he’s got nothing to lose and agrees.

virgil plays keyboard/piano and sings. his voice is really good, sounds a lot like tyler joseph from twenty øne piløts. (remember that lmao) his keyboard is his life-the only thing that’s able to help him through his anxiety is music. it’s a lifeline for him. virgil’s keyboard is plain black when the band starts, but when they start to become more mainstream, logan and roman buy virgil a purple piano and paint on a lightning theme. he loves it.

patton plays drums. he started playing because of his fidgeting-he was always tapping his fingers on something and decide to make the best of it!! his drums are a light blue set. (later, clouds are painted on them by roman and virge). playing music is one of his favorite things, but he wishes he had people to play with. his solo group is missing something-so, he starts by asking logan croft, straight a student, validictorian and the band’s best bassist. lo says he might as well, and types his number into patton’s phone before offering a small smile and heading to his next class. then, he talks to roman prince-an incredible gutairist and singer, the lead in almost ever school musical.

logan plays bass. (and cello, but that’s not as important for the story lmao) he likes bass because while it doesn’t stand out the most, it’s crucial to carrying the melody of the song. his bass is decorated completely in a space theme-stars and galaxies line up the sides and the strings have been replaced from black to white. roman and patton worked together to create it and gave it to him for his 15th birthday present. it’s the only gift he’s cried over receiving

roman plays gutair/uke. he also sings a lot, but doesn’t like it as much unless it’s for the school play, where he isn’t worrying about playing an instrument at the same time. the double tasking can screw up his playing a lot. he learned uke first, after obsessing over dodie clark videos. he plays a tenor uke that he decorated with disney stickers, usually on covers because it’s sounds really good with his voice. he plays acoustic and electric gutair, but he seriously prefers acoustic. he decorated his light wood gutair with hand drawn roses in different shades of red. it’s his prized possession.

so now these three friends and one acquaintance are partners! (yay!!) patton sends them all a text to meet at his house on friday, and bring instruments and a smile. virgil shows up ten minutes late (not enough to be rude but enough to not seem too excited) and carries in his keyboard. he takes a seat next to logan, who is sprawled across the couch scribbling into a notebook.

after a few games of never have i ever to get to know one and other more (patton insisted) the four began to work. they discuss topics to write about and suddenly find themselves having a really deep conversation about life and death and feeling meaningless

and they relaize that maybe they have more in common then they thought.

so they start writing. and playing. and writing. and playing. it takes three sessions before they write their first song-it’s called taxi cab. (listen to the tøp song bcuz it’s that but add in bass and a bit of uke)

when the project is turned in, they get an a, and virgil is surprisingly upset he won’t see these friends again. until patton starts inviting him to hang out with them more. and suddenly he feels like he didn’t have a life before patton, logan and roman. everything is going great-he gets to bake and laugh with patton, read and stargaze with logan and watch movies and complain about drama with roman. life is perfect.

until roman suggests they put the song on his yt channel and things start to get crazy. after much arguing, virgil agrees on one condition-they’re faces must be blocked out. romans cool with it, deciding to create a cool thumbnail and simply play the audio. they decide to name the band “sander’s sides” after their highschool, sanders high and the fact they’re all different sides that all come together in the end. the video goes viral overnight.

virgil is panicking. this was just supposed to be some easy project that was over immdiatly and now he’s on the trending page??? this is insane roman i swear to god-

virgil’s not the only one freaking out-logan is terrified. people have never seen him in this way-vunerable and showing a side of himself he doesn’t like that much. if anyone finds out one of the members is him-logan doesn’t know what he’d do. still, the comments are flooded with love for all four members. people are obsessed with this group.

so after some convincing from patton, the group starts writing together more often. they post frequently on youtube, constantly creating more and hanging out together. then they drop their first album, simply called “sander’s sides”, which the fans nickname “self titled”

the album gets insanely popular very quickly. part of the hype is the mystery of who the band mates were-only the friend’s family members and the schools band teacher know. it’s the middle of lunch when lo gets the call from his mother to turn on the radio and he nearly faints. they’re on the radio!!! people everywhere are listening to them!!!

everyone is talking about who the sides could be. fans have started to call themselves the “fanders”

patton lovesssss fan interaction-so he suggests they start responding to fanart/mail! they each are allowed to run one account-patt starts a band snapchat, logan takes twitter, roman creates a band insta and virgil sets up the tumblr account. they all enjoy responding to fan work, especially answering questions that the fans have.

most noteably-w h a t a r e u r n a m e s ?

but logan and virgil insist they dont tell anyone-what if people they know in real life find out that they’re in the secret famous band

that’s when fans decide to use nicknames-

whoever is running the tumblr account constantly makes self deprecating jokes and complains about mental health? anxiety!

the insta runner is very proud of his aesthetic and ability to create stunning pictures of each member without revealing their identity? creativity!

the snapchat runner is the biggest sweetheart ever and constantly send fans inspiring messages and reminders to drink water? morality! (most of the fanders end up just calling him dad tho.)

the twitter runner is the most responsible, is always up to date on politics and sends helpful advice to fanders who need help being adults? logic!!

i’m gonna finish this tmrw but enjoy for now lmao lmao

(check out that kinda similar band idea that idk the name of but can b found when u search “sanders sides lamp headcannons”)

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olderthannetfic · 4 years

Photo

Vidding absolutely counts as a fandom, and Escapade is key to the history of vidding.

Notice how the terminology shifts over the course of Escapade: The first year, it’s ‘songtapes’ being shown, then ‘songvid’ or ‘song video’ predominates for much of the 90s, and then we move on to ‘vidding’ and ‘vids’.

The vidshow moves from being more of a curated presentation of old favorites to having a lot of premieres. It goes from just one night to two, then back to one. Vidshow panels where you just watch vids for a whole panel slot come and go. In 1998, vid review starts up: This is a Sunday morning panel for in-depth critique of the vids shown the previous night and is a famously contentious part of the con. And then there was this:

2002, Friday, 6pm - VividCon Discussion (Come discuss the proposed VividCon, tentative time/location, August/Chicago.)

Yep. Escapade was where Vividcon was born!

By 2008, people were talking about how vidding had moved on from Escapade. In 2011 a vidshow retrospective was added to try to counter the lack of vidding-centric programming. There was a big resurgence for a few years, including such hard-hitting topics as:

2016 - Vidding Aesthetics (”Why is there so much show audio in this vid?", "Why didn't that cut hit on the beat?", "What do you mean 'Cheesy?' She's Celine Dion!" and other immortal questions of vidding aesthetics. If you've ever watched a vid, we want your opinions.)

Why yes, it was my panel. Why do you ask?

There were rounds of warnings wank, caused by Oz vids and by that time Absolute Destiny sent a vid of a violent coming of age film.

Check out this 1994 panel description from Fanlore:

"[The technology in fandom panel] included several things that people can now do in-home that they couldn't do five years ago: cutting and splicing songs on Macintosh computers (to remove inappropriate choruses, verses, or the word "girl"); the soon-to-be-easier ability to select different people from different clips and combine them onto a new background (also for songtapes); printing vhs video frames directly to computer screens, printers and/or color copiers (for fun); and zines and/or libraries on disk. Most of the new technology possibilities were followed by comments that the actual work we can do is illegal [...]. Which comments were followed by the statements that seventeen years ago, writing and publishing a slash fanzine was illegal.... [...] a few people [...], talked to me at different times throughout the con about getting accounts or modems [...]”

This is interesting not just technologically but aesthetically. Is the word ‘girl’ bad in a slashvid? Different communities have disagreed.

Conversations about digital vidding and digital vs. VCR really heated up around 2001, much later than you might expect if you’re coming out of an AMV background. While most of Youtube vids on Sony Vegas--a Windows-only program--at Escapade, Mac has been the norm.

The topics that have remained big are vidding aesthetics, including things like how to make an effective pimp vid, discussions of hosting options and where the community is hanging out now, and how-tos for people who want to get into vidding.

(And before anyone asks, the answer is that you should download DaVinci Resolve because it’s free and cross-platform. And you should encode with h.264 because it’s widely compatible.)

The 2020 vidding panels are:

Vidding 101: The Vid Bunny Farm So you’ve had an idea, and it’s gnawing on your leg? Or maybe you have too many vid ideas and can’t choose? Or you want to make a vid but don’t know where to even start? Aspiring fan vidders, unsure-vidders-to-be, and experienced vidders welcome alike to share vid bunnies, brainstorm together, and talk about the processes of conceptualizing a vid.

Vidding Genres Then & Now We’ve come a long way from “living room vids” vs ‚”con vids‚” or have we? Let’s talk about evolving fanvid genres, from ship vids to AU vids to multivids, from character vids to fake trailers, from genre-bending vids to long form vids to cosplay music videos, and more. Let’s talk about all the genres of fan videos floating around YouTube, Billibilli, AO3 and beyond, and also consider if the old school genre terms still apply.

Escapade has had many, many vidding panels. So many that even I feel the need for a readmore. I’ve pulled out the meta ones and left off some single-fandom vidshows and whatnot. Sorry for the wonky formatting, but Tumblr, in its infinite wisdom, seems to have removed the horizontal rule feature.

1991 - "Classic" songtapes were shown at 9:00 on Friday.

1994 - Song Video Roundtable (Bring works in progress or finished works you're having difficulty with for a quick jump-start. Open to anyone who enjoys videos as well as the people who make them.)

1994 - Songvid Editing (Authors get edited and usually have to do at least one rewrite of a story. Artists have erasers. What stops songvid makers from doing drafts and re-edits of their work? Let's talk about editing style (what cuts to use for best emphasis) and technique (how to physically do the inserts.)) [Notice how much of an issue editing is. These are VCR vids, edited in order, so insert edits are a gigantic pain.]

1995 - Techno Vids—Media Cannibals, (What's available with the new computer hardware and software? Can have Bodie & Doyle screwing on screen if we apply the right touches. Should we? How and when?) [Yes. Sweatily. Always.]

1995 - Video Workshop (video makers & watchers discuss the art.)

1996 - Music Video Critique and Workshop (Roundtable critique of videos, how to tell/recognize story, POV, rhythm. Also, tricks of the trade.)

1997 - Music Choice for Song Vidding (Finding the right song for the fandom is almost as great a challenge as finding the right clips for the song. Discussing what to look for in music choice.)

1997 - Songvid Critique (An exploration of different elements of media vids, with an emphasis on aesthetics. We'll look at segments of different songs to see how the images were used in conjunction with the varied rhythms of the music, and to enhance the mood.)

1998 - Media Cannibals Self-Indulgence Hour (Stunned to look back on vidding effort, MC plans to show -- and talk about -- some of their best and worst vids, pointing out some happy accidents and some annoying f*ckups. This is a great panel for people who want to learn about vid-making, the work that goes into them, and what to look for when watching them.)

1998 - Con Vids vs Living Room Vids (What are the elements that make a music vid accessible to a large crown, or more appropriate to an intimate setting?)

1998 - Music Video Show Review (Selected vids from Saturday's show will be replayed and discussed for their aesthetic, technical and musical choices. Open to all, for feedback and fun.) [Perhaps the start of the Sunday vidshow critique, which was also such a feature of Vividcon?]

1999 - Songvid Aesthetics (An exploration of theme, color, mood, and rhythm. Choosing clips to relate to the music and convey your message to the viewer.)

1999 - Sunday Morning Vid Review (Selected vids from Saturday's show will be replayed and discussed for the aesthetic, technical and musical choices. Open to all, for feedback and fun.)

2000 - Vidding Basics (Or "you want to learn how to make a music vid, huh?"—Carol and Stacy will take a group of novice vidders from the basics of what you need on your VCR, to all your hardware set ups, thru the selection of music, to actually doing some hands-on putting a dip (or two) into a music vid. So if you're interested in music videos and you want to try your hand at making one... you know what panel you need to go to.)

2000 - Songvid Appreciation 101 (Remember Art Appreciation? "Why is this painting good?" Well, we're doing the same for vids, using examples from the ESCAPADE Video Show. Let's take advantage of the fact that we've all just seen these vids, and use them to illustrate how to do cool things in a vid. We'll look at clever POV changes, appropriate choice of music to theme, skillful uses of musical changes within a vid, storytelling techniques, changes of mood, cutting on the beat vs. cutting on the lyric line, the different approaches to serious and humorous vids, or single fandom vs. multiple fandom vids, and more.)

2001 - Vidding Workshop (2 hours) (This workshop will cover: a comparison between digital and analog vidding; a how-to for analog vidding; a how-to for digital vidding; and a discussion of the artistic side of vidding, including song and clip choices, and techniques to avoid.)

2001 - Impact of Computer Tools on Vidding (Vidding used to be push-and-pause between 2 vers, and a LOT of patience. Now with I-movie and Final Cut and Macintosh G4's, the technological leap is here and it isn't going anywhere. Are vids better for the technology available to them?)

2001 - Songvid Appreciation (2 hours) (Comments and feedback on vids you saw last night, Escapade style.)

2002 - Art Manipulation Using Photoshop (A how-to overview, with demonstrations in Photoshop, and more detailed techniques for creating photo manipulations, web graphics, and zine graphics. Depending on interest, creation of vid titles and overlay vid graphics may be included.)

2002 - Digital Vidding (An overview of the digital vidding process, including some advice on the hardware and software you need to get started. Learn the basics of editing with Premiere and similar programs, and get an overview of some of the fun options you have when using a computer to vid.)

2002 - Vidding Workshop: Art After Craft (What is the Art of Vidding?)

2002 - Vid Revision (The art and craft of revising vids—how you get from a song in your heart and a bunch of clips on your hard drive to the final product. We'll show multiple versions of a few vids, critique them, and talk about what improves a vid. No technical knowledge needed; come whether you make vids or just like watching them.)

2002 - Vids: Pro vs Fan Editing (A long time fan vidder and a professional editor discuss techniques.)

2002 - Sunday Morning Vid Review

2002 - VividCon Discussion (Come discuss the proposed VividCon, tentative time/location, August/Chicago.) [VVC started 6 months later, in August 2002, and ran until 2018]

2003 - How to Vid on the Computer (A brief intra vidding on computers. It will touch on hardware requirements, software options, and basic concepts of non-linear editing and what makes for a good vid, and, time and tech permitting, it may also include a demonstration of some of the editing basics. There will be handouts.)

2003 - Vid Show Review (A discussion (and literal re-viewing in some cases) of some of the vids from the Saturday night show.)

2003 - Also Premiering Vid Show (The "Also Premiering..." vid show is for vids premiered in the last year that aren't going to be shown in the Friday or Saturday shows. This will be an informal setting and we'll go by participant preference — if folks want to see a vid a second time, or want some time to chat about it, or if a vidder wants some feedback on it, we can decide to do that on-the-fly. If you'd like to show any vids in this show, just bring them to the show itself. There are no hard-and-fast limits on number of vids; we'll just go with what shows up and take turns until we run out of time. Afterwards, consider going out to lunch with other participants to talk about the vids!)

2004 - I want to vid! (But I don't know how) (Introduction to vidding hardware, software and maybe some concepts if we have the time.)

2004 - Made On a Mac: The MacFen Symposium (So you're a slasher and a Mac user. Come and share your tips and tricks for HTML coding, photo editing, website management and vidding on a Mac, Share the programs that have and haven't worked for you and hear some helpful tips from the front lines.)

2004 - Vidding: Creating Mood (Why do rapid cuts of short clips create tension? What does a wipe *feel* iike? A vidder's toolbox Includes more and more options, but how do we know what emotional effect each technical effect will produce? Leave the music at the door; this one's about the visuals.)

2004 - Editing Techniques and Vidding (How can you edit together clips from widely different episodes and movies into a seamless whole? A familiarity with concepts in filmmaking can help you achieve the results you're aiming for. A look at some of the common rules of continuity editing and how they relate to vids.)

2004 - The changing face of vids (How has increasingly cheap technology, wider highspeed access and the new flood of vidders changed vidding? What should we rejoice about and what should we worry about? How do we help make it a winning situation for all?)

2004 - Vid Review (A retrospective on the Saturday night show.)

2005 - Vidding: Let the Lyrics Help You (How to look at lyrics to add depth and structure to your vid. or why top 40 songs usually make you do all the work.)

2005 - Vid Review (A Sunday morning tradition at Escapade, and a chance to discuss those great vids.) [See how it’s a “tradition” by this time.]

2006 - The Changing Vid Audience (The move to digital vidding, the availability of vid source and software, and the expectation of online distribution have all radically affected audience desires and expectations. What do audiences want from vids now? Vidders, share your historical perspectives. Vid fans, this is your chance to tell vidders what you want.)

2006 - Defining the Character Study Vid (We love character study vids, so how do you go about making a good one? What's the difference between a vid about a character, a vid about a universe, and a vid about seeing the universe through the eyes of a character?)

2006 - Marketing Your Vid (How can you stand out among the swelling ranks of vidders? What's the best way to present yourself, and to draw attention to your work? We'll focus on knowing your audience, timing your release, pimp communities, etc.)

2006 - Vid Review (Like Ebert and Roper, but much better looking.)

2007 - Ulead Media Studio Pro 8 and Why It's Better Than the Rest (A compare and contrast of the semi-professional video editing software programs with a strong emphasis on Ulead Media Studio Pro 8. If you are new to vidding, or interested in upgrading your video editing software, this panel should help you make an informed choice.)

2007 - Mac Workshop (The ins and outs of vidding on a Mac.)

2007 - Vid Show Review (Take apart what worked and what was missing from selected vids in the Saturday show. Audience participation at its finest.)

2008 - Ulead Video Editing Introduction (Intro to Ulead Video Studio/Media Studio Pro for those who are interested in vidding but don't have a clue as to where to start. or wouldn't mind a refresher course.)

2008 - Vid Review (Last night was for watching, today is for analyzing. What worked, what didn't, and why?)

2009 - Fannish Aesthetics: Extrapolation v. Subversion (How do we as writers (and especially as vidders) interact with the source material? Is that relationship evolving? What can we say about where we've been and where we're headed?)

2009 - Vid Review (Last night was for watching, today is for analyzing. What worked, what didn't, and why?)

2010 - 2010: A Vidding Odyssey (Current trends in vidding, including what's changed and what's remaind the same when it comes to slash, vidding in particular. We will show some examples of "classic" slash as well as some of the newer develpoments in constructed reality.)

2010 - Vid Review

2011 - Escapade Songvid Retrospective (A trip back to the days of yesteryear, when vids were made on VCRs and Escapade was the place for vids and vid programming. Compiled by Kandy Fong, this show will survey vids from a variety of vidders and shows, covering Escapade 1992-2001 in a fun, informal environment.)

2011 - Decoding Vid Meaning (How do you read a vid? Clip choice, lyrics, structure, symbols or the tone of the music— vids offer plenty of clues, and we decipher them as we see fit. Come watch a vid (or two!) and discuss how we get meaning from what we see and hear to develop a deeper understand of what's going on in the vid. Multiple viewings are required!)

2011 - Vid Review (Flash all the way back to Saturday night to dissect our favorite (or not) vids from the show.)

2011 - The Vidding Explosion (1985-1990) (Who taught whom. The growth of storytelling, technique, and sophistication. Includes vid show and presentation.)

2012 - Vidwatching 101 (Vids have their own language and their own framework for discussion. It can be tough to translate vids into words, but if we have the same language, vid discussion can be wonderfully rewarding for both vidder and viewer. This panel is a primer to get us all on the same page.)

2012 - The State of Vidding Fandom (Ten years of VividCon and roughly the same years vids have been distributed online, let's talk about the state of vidding and the community of vidders. Is there one? Where is it? How do vidders fit in with fandom at large? What are the different options for watching/releasing vids, and how do they stack up for vidders and viewers? If you love vids, join us—whether you vid or not.)

2012 - Festivids Review (Festivids is a fannish vid exchange inspired by the Yuletide fic exchange. This will be a vid review-style panel where we show clips from some of this year's highlight vids and talk about the challenge.)

2012 - MVD Vid Retrospective Show (Sometimes the oldies really are the goodies. Mary Van Duesen has made songvids since the 1980s, working in a range of fandoms. She has also remastered many old vids, and they look better now than they ever did. Come see some old favorites, or find some new ones.)

2012 - Vid Show Review

2012 - Nearly New Vids (So many wonderful vids were submitted for the Escapade show that we couldn’t fit them all in the early show. Here’s your chance to see the rest in the daylight hours (replay of the late-show vids).

2013 - Mac Vidders Roundtable (What’s the best way to vid on a Mac? Our vidding options have changed a lot in the last few years, and it’s been a while since we had a roundtable to discuss and compare our tips, tricks, and processes. This panel is for all of the above.)

2013 - The Art of the Pimp Vid (What makes a pimp vid so addictive one hit will get you hooked? Let’s talk vids for people outside of your fandom. Plot arc vids, character vids, pairing vids: How do you grab a new audience hard and never let them go? Hey there, little fangirl, the first taste is free!)

2013 - The Bestivids of Festivids (This year’s Festivids featured everything from incest testtube babies to care bear Avengers to a surprisingly large amount of kickass femslash. Let’s watch and discuss some favorites from Festivids 2012.)

2013 - So You Want To Be A Vidder (Nobody vidding your OTP anymore? Sad that vidders haven’t discovered your new favorite show? Why not vid it yourself? Come learn the very basics, from choosing programs in your price range to dos and don’ts if you’re planning to submit to cons.)

2013 - How Do Vids Work? (Let's talk about the techniques (not just the feelings!) that make a slash vid work. What makes for a vid that we watch over and over and that sticks with us long- term? We'll talk about these things with reference to a couple of specific vids, see what strategies, commonalities, and differences we can identify, and then open up discussion to additional favorites from the audience.)

2013 - Vidding Aesthetics (Vidders and vid watchers: let’s talk vidding aesthetics. How have styles changed over time? What makes a good vid and what’s just a matter of personal taste? What do you want to BURN WITH FIRE? Let’s get this cage match... err... discussion going.)

2013 - Vid Review (Flash all the way back to Saturday night to dissect our favorite vids (or not) vids from the show.)

2014 - Vidding 101 (Never edited before? Haven't made a vid since the VCR went the way of the dodo? Come learn how to turn those vidbunnies into reality!)

2014 - Vids for the Viewer (We often discuss writing from the perspective of a reader, but vidding from the perspective of vid-watchers not so much. Let's talk about how to read a vid, different vidding aesthetics and how accessible or popular they are with viewers vs. vidders, and impostor syndrome in vid review.)

2014 - Vid Review (Flash all the way back to Saturday night to dissect our favorite (or not) vids from the show.)

2015 - Best of Festivids. From the slashy to the merely sublime, what tickled our fancy in this year’s Festivids?

2015 - The Perfect Slash Vid. What makes the perfect slash vid? Is it the song choice? The point of view? The abs? (Okay, you got me: it’s the abs.)

2015 - So You Wanna Be A Vidder. Bring your laptop or at least a pen and paper and find out how to get started in vidding.

2015 - Vid Review: Flash all the way back to Saturday night to dissect our favorite (or not) vids from the show.

2016 - The State of *Vidding Fandom. Sunday, Noon, San Diego 2. What's going on in vidding fandom today? Where are people hosting and posting? What's next?

2016 - Vid Review. Flash all the way back to Saturday night to dissect our favorite (or not) vids from the show.

2017 - Vidding 101 - Have you dreamed of making a vid but just aren’t sure where to start? We’ll go step by step, talk finding your source(s), choosing music, finding your way with non overwhelming tech-tools, brainstorming ideas, finding collaborators, and learning by doing. Already a vidder? Come and help new vidders find their way, find new collaborators, and make new ideas happen.

2017 - Let’s Collab! New Forms of Collective Fan Creativity , Newport Changing technologies mean that we collaborate with each other in ever-evolving ways when we create fic and vids. What are the possibilities for collaborating beyond geographic boundaries with digital technologies? How are you collaborating with fellow writers and vidders these days? Are you interested in finding new collaborators and new ways to connect? And are these new forms of collaboration creating new forms of creative fan work?

2017 - Vid Review, Marina del Rey On Saturday night, we watched the vid show. On Sunday morning, we talk about it. Join Rache to discuss the good, the better, and the great of the show, including techniques and all of the reasons Charlotte doesn’t vid anymore and never will again.

2018 - Noon (Vids from the Vault, Part One Kandy Fong Newport A curated retrospective of vids from early Escapades.

2018 - Fanvid Feels (What vids do you return to again and again because they just make you *feel* things, thrill you, or fill you with joy, or even sadness? Maybe a vid introduced you to a pairing, or a fandom, or perhaps you love it even though you’re not really that into the source? Let’s look at some of our/your favorite vids and think about what makes them tick. Come with vids you want to talk about in mind, or just come to watch and talk about vids that make us feel stuff.)

2018 - Vid Review (Flash all the way back to Saturday night to dissect our favorite (or not) vids from the show.)

2019 - 3-Minute Pimp Vid (Forget telling: Show us your canon with a vid or clip! (3-5 minutes each.))

2019 - Lend Me Your Ears: Vids and Music (Have you ever discovered a song or musician because of a fanvid? Do you have thoughts on what music works and doesn't with fan vids? Let's talk about all the ways in which different types of music can work in vids, and look at some vids that work with music in awesome or surprising ways. Plus maybe there will be a little singing along...)

2019 - AO3 But For Fanart and Fanvids (AO3 has been great for fic, we need safe harbors for art and vids too. Let's talk about it!)

2019 - Pitch a Vid Bunny, Find a Vid Beta (Have an idea for a fanvid you'd love to see happen? Come with concept, song, source ideas, characters--share your bunnies, find some cheerleaders, brainstorm together. For newbie & experienced vidders alike, all welcome!)

2019 - Vid Review (Rehash the Saturday night vid show with a room full of fans.)

#escapade 2020 #escapade con #fandom history #vidding #vividcon

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