#but now I'm having this for the entire week I'm stopping my tablet | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bontenten · 1 year

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good girl

Pairing: Itoshi Sae x f!reader WC: 2k Tags/Warning: eating disorders, throw-up, yandere, manipulation, body-shaming, degradation, humiliation, drugs, pregnancy mention, eating disorders

a/n: read the tags, not my problem otherwise. :looksaway: anyways, fun fact, football/soccer is so insanely popular on instagram. ronaldo is the most followed account with 579M (the only individual to pass 500M, the other is the ig account), closely followed by messi with 457M. 2 football clubs and 2 other football athletes-ish are also on the top 50 list. i was genuinely amazed?

Happiness is sharing that meal with the man you love the most, global football star, Itoshi Sae. After so many years of hard work, Sae is finally the star mid-fielder for FC Barcha. He has so many commercial gigs, sponsorships, and invitations to special events and dinners. With Sae, you have tasted things beyond your wildest dreams. You cannot imagine a better version of your life than the one right now, next to him.

It's glamor and perfection for a little while. One day, the news headline flashes "Itoshi Rin: Star Striker of Bastard München". That day, you see a new, unfamiliar expression on Sae's face. You don't have a word for it, but you can describe it as a peculiar mix of pride and disgust. But he's the only one you'll ever look at. The best in the world, to you forever. You think it's enough.

Rin's debut in the global football scene is hailed as the birth of a genius and superstar. The same talk shows, magazines, and brands suddenly flock over to the younger Itoshi. And for the first time, since Sae has joined FC Barcha, the team walks away from the World Cup, defeated. The journalists sensationalized the entire match. The most circulated photo is none other than Rin mid-air about to send the final point into the goal.

A week later, Itoshi Sae is no longer the most followed individual on Instagram. He's overtaken by Itoshi Rin, with over 600 million followers in a feat that has only been achieved by the platform's own page. Sae never seemed to care about details like that, since he rarely ever posts to his page. It's usually managed by a special team instead. But you find Sae looking at Rin's page, focused on a photo of Rin and a gorgeous woman pressed tightly to him, a popular gravure idol now better known as Rin's girlfriend. You will never forget the scrutinizing look he gives you that evening.

The comments about your body and eating habits started crawling in. You don't realize it at first, thinking that of course, Sae would know more about gastronomy than you. He's been to so many more places than you and seen so many things. He's always careful with his food too, as an athlete.

You kiss him back, eagerly guiding his hand toward the waistline of your panties. Sae rests his hands on your hip and stops.

"You've put on weight," he comments bluntly.

You're a bit confused and still a bit excited.

"M-Maybe. I'm getting my period soon, so I might be a bit bloated," you stammered. Seeing Sae's uninterested expression, you cross your arms to hide your body. "I'll run sometime this week, all good."

Sae ignores your suggestion and leans back against the headboard. "Did you take the tablets I got for you?"

You think back to the large capsules in the jar that you're supposed to take twice a day. "Oh, I forgot. I'll just take it tomorrow," you tell him, not wanting to travel all the way downstairs so late at night.

Sae groans and gets up. A moment later he returns with a glass of water. "Here, I went to get it for you. You have to take it on time every day."

He offers you three pills in his palm and you take one, except he gestures for you to take more.

You look at him cautiously. "I think...I'm only supposed to take one."

A loud sigh escapes him. "But you keep forgetting, so just in case. It's fine. You won't overdose. They're like vitamins."

"Okay." You swallow pill after pill after pill.

Sae smiles and presses a kiss on your forehead. "Good girl, let's go to bed now."

A month after taking those pills, you notice your tastebuds drastically changing. Everything you eat tastes like ashes. For most meals, you try to swallow a few bites, but they go down like sandpaper. And then everything is heaved out not too long afterward.

Sae is with you each time, giving you encouragement and comforting you. He gives you water to rinse out your mouth. He tells you that you feel better now that extra waste is cleared. It's funny that the first time you threw up, you thought you were pregnant. And had the same thought the second time your period was late.

Your period isn't late. It's just gone.

Your wardrobe also transforms. Sae brings back so many gifts often, filling your closet with designer outfits. You recognize a couple of the brands. You've seen the photoshoots of Rin and his girlfriend. He asks you if you want to try them on. You should have realized that Sae doesn't spend his time playing dress-up with you.

"Do they have another size, Sae?" you ask nervously, trying to suck in your core as tight as possible.

You see him wrap his arms around you in the mirror, face resting in the crook of your neck. He shakes his head. "I can't take back something I bought already. Do you still like the styles?"

You give him a weak smile and concede. "Yea, they're pretty."

"Good. You look good in them," Sae whispers low in your ears. "Just have to lose a bit more. One day you'll fit them just perfectly."

Sae tells you how important it is to have a goal in mind and always focus on the big picture. And that he'll help you. Always.

More weeks pass by. You can't sleep at night anymore. Your feet are just always so cold, nothing you wear or do can warm it up at all. And you're so hungry, your sense of smell is so heightened that the air is palpable. The faintest trace of something has your mouth watering. After checking that the man next to you is sleeping soundly, you carefully tip-toe down the hall, avoiding the floorboard spots that will creak. It's a laborious feat when you also have a sprained ankle.

In the darkness of 3 A.M., you find heaven and bliss. You grab at the frozen foods but pause at the thought of turning on the stove or oven. Sae will wake up. You spot a single ice cream popsicle left in the box. It's from the last time Rin visited. Expired, but it'll do. Sae won't pay attention to it. It won't hurt. You rip off the packaging savoringly the sweetness and cold tingles that seem to bring life back into your body. For the first time, something doesn't taste like chalk. Stay quiet, Sae will wake up.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Your eyes flick toward the direction of the voice where a dark figure is leaning against the wall. Sae is up. Each step adds to the lump in your throat. The ghostly fridge light illuminates part of him gradually until the displeasure that's written across his face is revealed. Tears began to prickle in your eyes and stream down.

"S-Sae, I'm—I'm so hungry," you sobbed, curling into a ball. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

"Shhh," Sae coos, using his thumb to swipe your tear away. You're still apologizing between each breath when he wipes the edges of your mouth that are smeared with ice cream. "I know, baby, I know. I know it's hard."

Sae never raises his voice at you. He's always so gentle and extra affectionate in moments of your vulnerability. He reaches for the ice cream pop you're gripping in your hand and takes it from your grasp. He licks the melting trail and finishes the treat in a couple of bites. You don't dare to look at the wooden stick that is the reminder of your late-night exploit. You wish you ate a bit faster.

Sae crouches to your level and waves the little stick in front of your face. "You're not a child. Snooping around late at night for things you know you're not supposed to eat? It's bad for you. Sweets have to be earned."

"Yes, I know," you whisper, ashamed, eyes fixated on the square tiled floors.You hear fabric rustling and soon bright light shines in your eyes. You see the latest picture of Rin and his girlfriend at the beach.

"It's tough love, but take a good look at her." Sae scrolls through a couple of their latest photos. "Look how skinny and sexy she is. See that collarbone? You can drink out of that. Now look at you."

His comments shatter you and you begin to sob. He stands up and continues, "If I wanted just any slutty bitch, I would have ten in my arms right now."

You know he is right. Women fawn over him whenever the two of you go out. At events or just on the streets. Even without his reputation as a football icon, Sae is a gorgeous man.

You don't have anything left after meeting Sae. Your family and friends are left behind. Your schooling and your job are all set aside. If he doesn't want you anymore, what are you even worth? You panic. "I know Sae. I'm sorry, I'll do better. I swear."

You really mean it, truly. You feel terrible.

Sae’s voice softens. "You know why I still choose you out of all of the girls?"

You shake your head.

"Look at me."

You don't move.

"Look at me, baby."

He lifts your chin and your eyes fix on him. His teal eyes seem to glow.

"Because you're a good girl," he says firmly. So assured like it's the most obvious truth in the world. "You're a good girl, yes?"

You nod shakily.

"You have to look good, so I also look good, understand? Say something."

You nod again, biting back the tears that are trying to spill. But you manage to choke out a quiet 'yes'.

"When I'm good, we're," he gestures at the space between the two of you, "good. So, don't ruin this for us."

He hands you the popsicle stick. "If you make a mistake, you have to fix it. Then you have to learn from it. It's the same thing as football. I know it's hard, but I also know you can do it. Prove me right."

You crawl up to your feet and prepare to make your way to the bathroom. Except Sae stops you. "Do it here. You made your mistake here."

You take a deep breath and open your mouth. You take two fingers and try to reach the back of your throat. It's the first time you try to induce your gag reflex by yourself. Usually, you just throw up on time or Sae helps. You look towards Sae. He motions at the popsicle stick. So, you try again. This time, the birchwood presses on your tongue.

"That's it," he encourages, "keep going."

You feel the lurch. It comes in dry, just a wave of nausea. You stick the stick a bit deeper in your throat. This time the reaction is a bit more visceral. A few violent gurgles later, acidic cream spills out and splatters onto the floor. You hurl a few more times, just pure bile and some unidentifiable remnants of something. Tears blur your vision and the inside of your nostrils burn.

"Now clean it up and think about what you did wrong."

You scramble up and limp over to kitchen towels to wipe up your mess.

"I...shouldn't have snuck out at night to...eat ice cream," you confess out loud. "I shouldn't have...eaten..."

"Good job," Sae compliments you, taking the soiled towels from you to throw away and handing you a glass of water and a capsule. "Now you'll never forget. Lessons are only useful if you'll get something out of them. I can see the change in you already."

This is the warm Sae that you love. His smile brings so much joy to you, especially when he is smiling because of you. You sip on the water, expertly swallowing the pill, and nod eagerly. "I'll lose more, Sae. I'll look pretty for you."

Sae smiles and pokes your cheeks. "That's my girl. It's for your own good too, you'll look very pretty when you can fit in the dresses I buy for you."

You bury the thoughts about the sharp pain in your chest and dull ache in your ankles. All that matter is Sae and his love for you. You can lose everything and anything but that.

#yandere blue lock #yandere sae #yandere blue lock x reader #yandere sae x reader #tw drugs #tw eating disorders #emi.freshtea #🍵.sae #tw yandere

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genericpuff · 9 months

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Alright, update on the tablet situation, I do NOT have good news but there are some silver linings.

First off, thank you all so much for your patience. That one week I took off to relax seemed to be an invitation for the universe to fuck with my shit because my tablet literally chose the worst time to get on my nerves ( This is totally not something I'm gonna bring up with my therapist as proof that I'm not allowed to rest /s) I've tried just about everything to get it working again, I got a replacement 3-in-1 cable and even that didn't do anything, so I've ordered in a new pen, but that's not due to show up for another week or two.

However, I do not want to wait a week or two on the off chance that a new pen even solves the problem.

So the GOOD NEWS in all this is that I do still have my iPad. It wasn't setup with Clip Studio Paint because I own a perpetual license for my PC, but seeing as how now I can't use it on my PC (at least not with my tablet pen) I've gone ahead and setup the mobile version on my tablet, thankfully I got a discount because I already own a perpetual license but it's still gonna cost me $10/month so that's yet another subscription to slap on the 'ole credit card.

Now that does mean I have to go through the painstaking efforts of moving everything from my PC onto my tablet, but thankfully that issue is easily solved with cloud backups and transferring. Really all I need to be able to do is draw, I can still do speech bubbles and text input and texture overlays and all that post-production stuff on my PC, but anything that requires actual drawing I'm gonna be using my iPad for. So please, don't mind if you notice some weird little art differences between Episode 30 and 29, I'm adjusting to a new workflow! It shouldn't be too bad because I'll still be using the exact same brushes and textures and all that fun stuff that I do on my PC, it just comes with the adjustment of drawing primarily on iPad, which I don't normally do (I usually only draw on my iPad for tattooing and that's in Procreate which I still suck at using outside of lineart LMAO)

This is a very stressful situation that I'm hoping will only be temporary until I get that new tablet pen, and if THAT doesn't solve the issue, then I'm gonna have to start shopping for a new tablet entirely, and that's not something I can do immediately because I'm already starting to struggle financially due to the slow season creeping in at work and I'm still paying off that new PC I put down on layaway (which I'm regretting already). All that said, if you want to help a pal out, please consider tossing a dollar or two at me on my Ko-Fi, it's all gonna go towards a new drawing tablet if I need it (and if the pen solves the issue, then you'll be helping me stay afloat so I can keep bringing you guys the good shit LOL)

What's wild is that in all my Google searching, I found a thread from two months ago with literally the EXACT same issue, under the exact same conditions, in which OP's tablet pen unexpectedly stopped registering with their Huion Kamvas 22 Plus that they had owned for two years. According to them, it did start working again, after resetting the PC and re-installing the driver over and over again, but I've already done that myself a ton of times and I'm tired of being let down and that doesn't seem like a "real" solution beyond luck, so I'm gonna take a break from doing that while I get my iPad set up. I have the sneaking suspicion this might have to do with some recent Windows updates that just rolled out, my PC had definitely gone through a couple leading up to the malfunction. This wouldn't be the first time Microsoft has fucked with my tablet functionality so I literally wouldn't be surprised if it was something like that. Either that, or the '2' in Kamvas 22 stands for "will only last for 2 years before stopping entirely" LOL

Anyways, that's all for now. Thank you all so much for your patience and understanding through all this. While I don't want to have to reduce the quality or frequency of what I put out for you guys due to technical issues, I also don't want the comic to stop entirely, so if this turns into one of those desperate situations where I'm delivering you guys episodes of Rekindled drawn on a Nintendo DS, so be it. I'm not gonna let this beat me.

#update #update post #lore rekindled #lore rekindled comic #lore rekindled update #technical difficulties #genericpuff #generic puff

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raccoon-eyed-rebel · 1 year

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Part 5

Masterlist

Series Masterlist

Part 4 🟣 Part 6

A reverse harem vampire AU ft. Mikey, Marshall, August and Sherlock

Series summary: Somehow, you've managed to live with your boyfriend and his roommates for months before finding out they're vampires, but the real shock first comes when they find out you have a special quality. A quality the guys would love to make use of...

Warnings: Mentions of blood, biting, vampire stuff.

Word count: 3.5k

A/N: Buttload of information incoming!

@geralts-yenn @deandoesthingstome @summersong69

Elective courses on vampirism. Mind reading gifts. Vampires appearing out of nowhere. The strange urge to offer yourself up as dinner you hadn't been able to stop. The term 'blood whore' wouldn't leave your thoughts. Part of you wished Marshall had never shared that with you. And the suggestion that you play walking buffet for four vampires... Now there was something that definitely rubbed you the wrong way.

Thirty minutes went by quickly as you thought about everything that had happened, and not even a second after you caught yourself violently curious and longing for information, there was a knock on the door.

"Mikey told me to tell you that you don't have to scream," Sherlock said as he stepped into your room. "How are you feeling?" The question sounded less feverish than half an hour ago in the living room; he'd obviously calmed down again.

"I'm good. How is everyone else?"

"Gone," he said, "I told them to hit the road."

"Thank you." The last thing you needed right now was Marshall and Mike digging around in your brain. "Where do we start?"

"Curious, huh?" Sherlock asked. "That's good. I say we go through the topics, and you point out the need-to-knows?” Actually, that didn't sound like a bad idea.

"I still can't believe I am taking vampire lessons out of necessity all of a sudden."

"I'm sure you can adjust," Sherlock said, "your curiosity is a perfect indicator for it."

"I mean..." You could tell you were beginning to blush. "It's definitely interesting."

"Certainly," he said. "Now, first of all; thank you. I don't think I've said that."

"You're welcome." You were surprised by how much you genuinely meant that. "How come you were in such rough shape?"

"I was away for research over the summer, there hadn't been an opportunity to feed for weeks. I used my last bit of strength to get home."

"What were you researching?"

"Oh, I'll need to talk you through four more courses to make it understandable." His tone was friendly, and it made you like him even more. He wasn’t a condescending dick, like August.

"Maybe later," you laughed.

"What do you know?"

"Mike and the others brought me up to speed on the garlic, how turning someone works, a little bit about the gifts. And your... Food sources."

"Alright, so the basics. And our version of 'the talk'." Yes, you confirmed, that was pretty much it. "Perhaps a basic rundown of what you are wouldn't be out of place."

"I was hoping that would be one of the topics, yes." You just hadn't been entirely sure that it was 101 enough.

"You have a right to know, but it might be a bit complicated. Some things I may not be able to explain today, I hope you can accept that without thinking of me as a condescending arse?"

"I'm familiar with August, so I'm no stranger to a little derision." Sherlock laughed at your remark.

"That's a fair point."

"Anyway, Marshall called me a 'natural', was it?" If you were this curious about your classes, you’d be a straight A student, you were sure of it. Unfortunately for you and your grades, vampires were a tad more interesting. Especially since you were apparently wired to be food for them.

"Yes."

"Because being a vampire snack comes natural to me? Or 'us', I guess?" You definitely sounded more casual than you felt about the whole situation. There was definitely a lot to talk about, a lot to unpack, and a part of you really just wanted to hide from it all.

"Yes and no. Let me..." He took a tablet from the bag you had never seen him put down in the first place, and pulled up actual lecture slides. "I am going to try to make this an A to B kind of story. I am also going to warn you I'm not very good at those. I probably won't have to tell you vampires aren't the monsters humans once believed us to be."

"Mike took care of that... It took a me a minute to get on board with that." There was no point in lying to him, especially since your education had seemed to be a massive redeeming factor up until now.

"You were raised by the opposition, then?" Sherlock chuckled softly.

"Very much so, homeschooled and everything." Sherlock raised his eyebrows upon hearing your answer, and commented on the fact that Mike had done a very good job at changing your beliefs about vampires.

"There's still a lot to unpack,” you said softly while looking at your hands. It was all strange and new, and you were long past the option of walking away and pretending none of this had ever happened.

"Indubitably." There was something heartwarming about Sherlock’s smile you couldn’t quite put your finger on. He was a handsome man, slightly older than the others, though not by much, with a certain serenity to him that came with years – possibly centuries – of experience. How anyone was able to concentrate with him as a professor, however, you couldn’t figure out.

Somewhere along the way, your subconscious decided it was time to start asking questions, and pushed one to the front of your mind: "How did I become the way I am?" Sherlock patiently explained that you were born that way: It was an unusual, though not rare, mutation.

"What does it do?"

"If you'll allow me more than a single sentence in between interruptions, I'll tell you." Another charming smile gave you the weird urge to giggle – but you suppressed it.

"Sorry, professor,” you said jokingly, and he answered with a chuckle.

"As I was trying to say; humans and vampires have been coexisting peacefully for several centuries. Mike wouldn't even know of a time where they didn't, the rest of us have memories aplenty, and some scars for good measure.

"We made it this far, because we gradually developed a symbiotic relationship with your kind. Now, normally, these types of evolution take far longer than just a few short centuries, and to this day we don't know just what accelerated this change. It's especially curious because your kind is, as I pointed out earlier, quite unusual.

"Now, most humans who voluntarily allowed us to feed ourselves found it exhilarating, a thrill. Which was understandable because there was a significant risk of dying. There still is."

"Excuse me? Mike assured me that the only way to die would be if he… chose to…" Had he been lying to you when he said that dying wasn’t something you needed to worry about in your little experiment? You immediately felt embarrassed for asking. The details of your sex life were none of Sherlock’s business, after all, and you’d rather avoid this topic of conversation altogether – but it was too late for that, now.

"Ah, right. Bear with me for a moment, please? That relationship between vampires and naturals I described, tackles precisely that problem, and the one of the significant pain a normal human donor usually feels."

"Pain? There's no..."

"Not for you, not beyond the pain of the bite itself. For a normal human, even weakened venom would be painful. To willingly go through that would be indicative of serious masochistic tendencies." Sherlock also explained that this was precisely the reason that ‘unmedicated administration of bites’ – as he called it – was something usually reserved for erotic purposes. You appreciated the clinical, professional approach he took to explaining what was – in essence – more kinky vampire shit.

"So when I offered without thought, you knew?"

"I suspected, and I do have to admit I was prepared to confirm my theory. Then I saw Mike's face. Marshall's commentary confirmed my suspicions. I'm fairly sure he got confirmation from Mikey's thoughts directly."

"And how does my… Condition… Tackle the problem of being drained?" Was ‘condition’ the right word? Existence? Nature?

"A fair question that's kept us occupied for quite some time. It wasn't a secret for long that some humans not only felt no pain when fed on, but also didn't seem to run out of blood. You can imagine what a commodity you were. Large sums of money were involved in the trade of your kind. You were stolen, wars were fought over you. Not to mention the crusades against you as much as us, because humans believed your kind's specific purpose was to feed vampires, and they believed that voluntary feeding was of the devil. They tried everything in their power to keep our feeding practices a crime."

"I'm afraid my family is still in that camp…" You shuddered at the thought of your parents finding out about your current living arrangements, let alone them finding out you were anything other than the perfect little girl they thought they had raised.

"Then I can't tell you how glad I am they never found out about your nature." Sherlock had an apologetic look on his face when he said it, and you decided not to push the matter, but it did make you feel uneasy. Luckily, it wasn’t hard to move on from the subject when the next question popped up in your mind.

"What causes it?"

"Right, the actual answer to your question. Your blood contains a chemical that, when it comes into contact with our venom, creates two other chemicals; one of which accelerates the speed with which your blood regenerates to the point where a vampire can't feed faster than you… replenish. Experiments have been conducted with two of us feeding simultaneously, and results showed it was not only dependent on the amount of venom in your system, but also a matter of habituation."

"Like… Breastfeeding?"

"An interesting choice to describe a basic supply and demand economy, but yes, and also very much no. Do you mind if we skip the technicalities for now?" He emphasized the fact that this would become a very lengthy conversation very rapidly if he were to explain everything in detail, though he didn’t want to put you off asking for further explanations, if that was what you really wanted. For now, however, you were good with the basics.

"If you bite me, I make blood faster, got it." The questions just kept coming, and you were really glad to not have asked for more details, because you were sure your head would overflow with information by the end of this talk, anyway. “What did Mike mean when he said he’d have to… drain me on purpose? mean, he didn’t know what I was at that point. Did he lie to me?”

“Ah, right. He didn’t lie. You see, he wasn’t feeding at the time. There would have been no reason for him to drink a large quantity of blood. Does that answer your question?" You nodded in reply to his asking. “Perfect. Moving on to the other chemical. That’s what is responsible for the… It’s been described as a ‘warm, fuzzy feeling’ you experienced during the… exchange. That one has an effect on us, too, if we take it in. It causes the overwhelming urge to take care of and protect you.”

“That’s what that was?”

Sherlock smiles apologetically. “Yes, it was. I’m sorry for not explaining it then and there, but it’s a very strong sense of protectiveness, and it had been a while since I’d fed in general, let alone from a natural. I was a bit preoccupied.”

“It’s okay,” you said, and you meant it.

“That chemical is also what made you so inclined to offer to let me feed. It was a rather strong urge, wasn’t it?” Indeed, it had been. So strong, even, that you doubted whether or not you would have been able to ignore it.

“And those things don’t happen when feeding on a normal human?”

“Indeed it doesn’t. We’ve managed to synthesize the chemical that serves as a painkiller and makes regeneration faster, which is what we now use to allow for safe feeding. But we haven’t been able to recreate the other one. Again, I unfortunately can’t tell you why. Efforts have been made. I suppose it’s hardly necessary to recreate that one, in fact it would be counterproductive to elicit that effect on purpose. Oh well…”

“So, voluntary feeders aren’t in pain, and you don’t have to worry about them afterwards. That sounds like a better deal than feeding on a natural.”

“It isn’t. It’s always better than feeding on an unwilling donor, or someone in pain – who isn’t enjoying that pain. But your kind have…”

“The a5 Wagyu of blood?” You couldn’t quite figure out whether or not that sounded like a brag, but it was out now, time to just roll with it.

“Exactly.”

"And feeding on another vampire? How does that compare? How is it even possible?" You were starting to feel awkward about your relentless curiosity, but Sherlock assured you that it was no problem whatsoever.

"Ah. We'll keep it simple. You know vampires drink blood."

"Obviously, I was lunch not even an hour ago." As if you could ever forget the most basic bit of vampire knowledge out there.

“Right. Logically, vampires can feed on anything that has blood.” “So vampires have blood?”

“Correct. Our metabolism works differently; it processes blood we drink and turns it into our own, which then functions as the fuel for our bodies. It’s as fulfilling as human blood, but the only way for us to come by more of it is to feed. We don’t make more blood. We also don’t taste as good. Alright, we taste very bad.” Sherlock laughed, and it sounded almost sarcastic.

“And human food?”

“That tastes absolutely fine, but metabolizing costs far more energy, because our system isn’t wired for it. It takes about five times as much food to sustain us than it does you.”

It looked like it was finally time to ask the question you’d been avoiding: “When Mike said you all hoped…”

“Ah,” Sherlock wasn’t surprised you asked the question. “When you said ‘McBloodDrive’, that wasn’t far off – conceptually. But it lacked a lot of depth and feeling. I understand your resistance to the idea, but would you allow me to explain?”

“Isn’t that why we’re here?” You tried to conjure up a smile – and failed miserably.

“Good point. Where to begin… First of all; it’s like you said. You have the blood-equivalent of A5 Wagyu running through your veins. Can we at least agree it’s understandable they want a taste of that?” Alright, you couldn’t deny that without lying… “So part of it is a bit of jealousy towards Mike.”

“Mikey doesn’t… He hasn’t…” You felt a blush creep onto your cheeks again at Sherlock’s suggestion.

“He would have asked sooner or later,” Sherlock said, sounding fairly sure of himself, “knowing Mike, it would have been sooner rather than later.” Even you had to admit that that sounded entirely plausible.

“Besides, most humans get curious at some point. I mean. You did.” He made a vague gesture at your neck.

“Are you saying I would have asked him to feed on me at some point?”

“There’s a very strong possibility.” You had to admit you’d been curious, and as much as you hated to admit it now, there had been a part of you that had been wondering what it felt like if someone were to feed on you. Of course the events of this afternoon had satisfied that curiosity – but there was still definitely something inside you that wouldn’t mind doing it again.

Sherlock then went on to explain that these relationships were not just for the benefit of the vampires, but also for your kind. Adverse effects for you were minimal if not nonexistent – though in the olden days, a natural would have been expected to be available without question, at all times. You, however, still couldn’t fathom being anything other than…

“A McBloodDrive?” he asked with a sardonic chuckle. You shrugged. It was really the only thing you could come up with.

“You’re underestimating the nature of the relationship. They are really rather intimate – it’s inescapable. You wouldn’t simply be a food source. Dear Lord, how do I explain this… I can’t do this well, I’m sorry. I think I may need the others. Are you okay with that?” You nodded. Sherlock gave them a quick call, asking them to come back to the apartment before returning to your conversation.

“And… They were gunning for a steady thing, right?” The answer to your question was affirmative. From here on out, the questions that bubbled up in your mind were no longer coherent, the next no longer a continuation of the former – it was a mess, that was the only way you could describe it.

“Those… arrangements… are they common?”

“They are not. In fact, they’re quite rare. Many naturals capitalize on their assets, so to speak.”

“You can make money off it?”

“Oh yes. Quite a lot, too. Some of us pay good money for a steady arrangement with one of you.” He explained a type of relationship that was very reminiscent of a sort of sugar daddy type of setup – not something you were interested in at all. Others, he said, were just able to afford regular feedings from naturals, but the general setting for the establishments that offered those services was much more relaxed, more comfortable, and much more exclusive and therefore less crowded.

“These arrangements… what are they like?” you asked when he explained all of this to you.

“What are you really asking me?” By now you had definitely learned that not much escaped this guy’s attention.

“Is it a sex thing?” You felt blood rush to your cheeks as you asked your question, but you had to know. And you didn’t find it weird, either.

“Is that what this afternoon felt like?” You quickly shook your head. That definitely hadn’t been sexual, although it was absolutely very intimate.

“The intimacy is a given in the kind of situation you would end up with us.” He said ‘us’, you noticed, so he wasn’t opposed to the idea, either. He did express that there was a possibility that such agreements occasionally did lead to deeper feelings of intimacy between participants. It led you to question whether one of you and four of them would be weird, to which Sherlock answered that the other way around would be much stranger.

“Have you ever been involved in such an arrangement?” you asked carefully. Your curiosity was really getting the better of you, and you didn’t know if you could contain it any longer. “You don’t have to answer! I don’t mean to pry. If it’s personal, by all means, don’t tell me.”

“It’s alright, darling, it is personal, but I am more than happy to share the story,” he said. It answered your question; it was obviously a ‘yes’. “It was just over five hundred years ago.” That shocked you, and you realized you had never asked the guys how old they were. Your surprise must have been apparent, because Sherlock answered the question you had never dared ask.

“I am just under nine hundred years old,” he said, “Marshall and August a little over four. Mike was born in the sixties.”

“He’s just a baby?” Somehow you found that incredibly endearing.

“Don’t say that to him. August would be quick to agree with you, though.” Sherlock let out another one of his dark chuckles. The sound of them was incredibly soothing.

“Where were you five hundred years ago?” you whispered. It seemed like such a strange thing to ask.

“English court,” he answered, “serving as a court physician under Henry XIII. The first Duke of Suffolk – Charles Brandon – was one of us, and he had… procured one of your kind – don’t ask me how, I have no idea and I doubt I want to know – to feed on. For services rendered he offered me… access, so to speak. It was a rather clean-cut business arrangement, as impersonal as could be. He refused to allow me to tend to her, afterwards, which made it hard on me, occasionally.”

“How so?” you asked, wondering out loud what would have happened if you had told him to back off.

“Nothing would have happened, per se, but it is a very strong, uncomfortable feeling of needing to do something, desperately wanting to take care of someone, and not being able to. It soured my mood rather thoroughly.” He chuckled softly again, but the sound had a melancholic ring to it, this time. The memories clearly struck a chord with him, still, and you weren’t surprised at all when he changed the subject.

“The others will be back soon,” he said hoarsely before clearing his throat, “I suggest you take another minute, because this wasn’t the last long talk of the day, I’m afraid.”

#mike hellraiser fic #mike x ofc #mike hellraiser #mike (hellraiser)#hellraiser mike #mike hellraiser fanfiction #henrycavill fanfic #henry cavill fanfiction #henry cavill #henry cavill characters #walter marshall #hc sherlock #henry cavill sherlock holmes #sherlock holmes #august walker #august walker fanfiction

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the-ikran-man · 1 year

Text

@recom-week Secret Prompt: Horror: Existential - Eldritch - Cosmic

Warning:

Some cursing

---

Log 1: Miles Quaritch

It's been at least 7 hours since I woke up in this ship. Stuck in that death trap they call a tank. I had to break it to get out, no matter how much I yelled, no one came to help me, cut myself up pretty badly.

I found some clothes, which is good, but I haven't seen anyone else yet, which is...not good.

I'll explore some more later on, or tomorrow, time is hard to gauge out here, it could have been a whole week for all I know.

---

Log 2: Miles Quaritch

Figured I'd map out the place, know where I am and everything. Found a working tablet, started using that. It's a temporary fix, I know, it'll run out of power at some point, but for now, it's the best I got.

---

Log 3: Miles Quaritch

Found something that could be considered food while I was mapping out more of the ship. Weird outer space crap I wouldn't even feed to a dog.

At least I got something to eat now, beggars can't be choosers. Especially right now. Who knows if I'll find anything else.

---

Log 6: Miles Quaritch

Fuck, I don't know when my luck really kicked in, but I found-

I found Wainfleet, I've never been so glad to see his ugly mug in my entire life. He was hidden away in this storage room, huddled up in the corner, shaking like a leaf.

He's been muttering about things in the walls ever since I found him. Don't know how long he's been here, hiding, but he must have woken up before me, if the state of the place is anything to go by.

Feels good to not be alone anymore though.

---

Log 9: Miles Quaritch

I'm a little bugged out about the things Lyle's been muttering about. Things in the walls. Too many eyes, too many teeth. That's real freaky, considering I haven't seen heads or tails of anything outside of us. Think his paranoia is getting to me.

I'm a little more cautious when I go out to map the final parts of the ship.

---

Log 12: Miles Quaritch

Lyle's started following me around. First time he's come out of his little hidey hole. He sticks too close, like a lost kid, his tail curled around some part of me at all times.

Really haven't seen him this freaked out before.

I found some more food, gave it to him, don't know when's the last time he's had anything resembling a meal. He struggles to get it down like he's forgotten how to eat.

---

Lyle doesn't get any better over the course of days. if anything he gets worse. Quaritch had a place he went to when he wasn't moving about the ship, but Lyle refused to go anywhere near it, shoving himself back into that storage room to hide.

"It's safe, it's safe, it's safe," he mutter when Quaritch tried to get answers out of him about it. He'd never explained beyond that.

He'd point out areas and things like something was going to leap out of them ready to attack, trembling like a baby deer.

---

"No..." Lyle whispers as he presses himself further against the wall, like if he tried hard enough he'd merge with it.

Quaritch is over in the doorway, braid in hand, having decided to take matters into his own hands.

"It's either this or you tell me what you've been seeing that got you ready to jump out the airlock."

Lyle cowered.

"Braid way it is then," Quaritch said, moving further into the room.

Lyle doesn't make it easy, letting out such a screech it makes Quaritch's ears go back, though doesn't really stop him.

They struggle in the space, Quaritch just trying to get Lyle to connect with him so he could just see whatever is going on in Lyle's head, so he could understand why he was freaking out so much.

Quaritch wins out in the end.

He doesn't like what he finds, what he sees, wht he feels.

---

Separating from Lyle is like trying to pull sandpaper off your arm, like attempting to swallow when your throat is dry and raw.

Lyle curls up in a ball, sobbing in broken notes as Quaritch pulls away, from him moving quickly away from him, his chest heaving, reaching and gripping the doorway with trembling hands as he tries to comprehend what he'd just experienced.

"You saw them too, you saw them too," he can just hear Lyle say-no, whimper, the other rocking jerkily back and forth.

Quaritch doesn't stay in there. He can't.

He flees from there, to the safety of his own space, finding a something solid to sit against.

He tries to tell himself that he was going to be fine. What he'd seen, what Lyle had- he hadn't seen anything right in front of his face, maybe Lyle was just messed up so bad being out here by himself, before Quaritch showed up and found him, that's he'd started to imagine things.

Yeah, that had to be, that's what it was.

That's all.

---

And then some time later, once he's managed to convince himself that he'd experienced through Lyle hadn't been real, when he's falling back into his sort of new routine, he hears them.

In the walls.

---- --- ---

A/N: Recom week has been so fun for us to participate in. We don't normally join in on these types of things, but we're really glad we did this time.

#recomweek #recombinant miles quaritch #recombinant lyle wainfleet #avatar #avatar way of water #my fic #horror

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tainoidiot · 2 years

Text

Get Low

Jervis Tetch X Reader with low blood sugar

CWs: Medical Stuff, cursing, nothing too hardcore.

Desc: Based on personal experiences (Insulin Resistant PCOS). I've wanted to make this for a hot minute!

----

As you sat in the chair seated front and center to Jervis explaining his latest scheme, you couldn't help but laugh at his tactics. God he was so cute when he rambled..

"I'm thinking we strike from here, that way the bat won't find us till later that evening." Jervis explained, pointing at the dock.

"You're counting on him to come?" You ask, twirling the spoon in your porcelain tea cup with small blue flowers decorated on the sides. "Well he does every other time, might as well prepare for the brute.." He grumbled, angrily writing that down in his notebook.

You nodded in agreement. Suppose you hadn't thought of that before. "How does he even know we're there.." you stopped mid sentence. Your entire body began to feel stiff, yet when you looked down you noticed your trembling tea cup. Placing it on a nearby table only confirmed your suspicions. "E-Excuse me, I'm gonna use the bathroom." As soon as you said that, you practically ran off toward a small area where you could check your blood sugar.

Rummaging through your bag, you looked for your glucose monitor everywhere. You took it everywhere! Did you leave it at home today? Fuck! Didn't matter. Just pop a glucose tablet and you'll be fine.. you hoped. After doing so, all you could try was playing it cool. You're definitely not going to pass out soon, just need to get a little something to eat..

Looking at the table, you remembered. Jervis can really only cook one thing. Sweets. It wouldn't last long if you just had that, this wasn't good. Time to bounce.

"Sorry, Jervis. I just remembered I have something tomorrow to do. Gotta head out.. Like now." You exclaimed, grabbing your items and booking it for the door.

"Oh, alright! Is everything alright, bunny?"

"Yes, everything's fine! Get off my ass!" Oh jesus. You didn't mean to yell at him, but you did. Jervis could sense something was off, so he didn't really mind. "No need to shout, do you want to to tell me what's bothering you?" He asked, patting the chair you sat on. You sighed and nodded, realizing you've never told him about this side before.

"It's not you, it's me. My blood sugar lowers sometimes, and I get all kinds of... fucked." You explained away what happened. The nausea you'd get, the tremors, even the mood swings. Jervis nodded, worriedly looking at you. "I would've been more prepared, but this honestly slipped my mind. I've been having such a good few weeks lately!"

Jervis sighed, patting your hand and getting up, grabbing a large plate of appetizers. "Well, what kind of host would I be if I didn't have.." He revealed the items on the plate, making you excitedly gasp. "Tea Sandwiches!"

Long acting sources of sugar! PROTEIN! you could kiss him! Before Jervis could get another word in, you grab at least five and chow them down. Of course, you were violently nauseas and shaking like a winter leaf, but you had a mission. "Slowly, Slowly! Please do not choke." Jervis laughed, rubbing your back.

You took a moment and gave him a hug, squeezing your hatter as strong as you could manage.

"Thank you, Jervis.. "

"No need to thank me, my bunny.."

#jervis tetch x reader #gotham rogues #jervis tetch #pcoscommunity #chronically ill

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kmenkea · 6 months

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Bloodlust - Part 7

Summary: While exploring a cave underneath the village, they come across a deadly fight and an interesting purple gem. Mean, careless comments are thrown around by Leeith, who will regret it after conversing with the vampire.

Word count: 4.2k

Read on Ao3

(I'm looking at this sketch after weeks and i want to make so many changes, but I'm not home with my graphic tablet >:( )

The morning after, it was the drow who awoke everyone and rounded them up in front of her. It was better to break the news now: control the narrative, rather than wait for people to ask questions and start forming little answers in their little heads about what might have happened.

“It is with great displeasure that I must inform you that the wizard, Gale, left us during the night.” Her companions were puzzled, but she continued to speak before they could ask any question. “I’m not sure if he ever spoke to any of you about his condition. Much like our friend Karlach, Gale also had something in his chest. But, unlike you, his heart held something much more potent, that would have levelled an entire city and more if left unchecked. He informed me yesterday that absorbing the Weave from artefacts wasn’t calming down his hunger and was at a loss of what to do. Travelling with us could have put everyone’s life in danger, so he decided to go and take care of the matter. He entrusted us with the question of the tadpoles and will return to us once the Absolute has been dealt with. Questions?" She crossed her arms behind her back, appearing like a general in front of her soldiers.

"What? I can't believe he just left, why didn't you stop him?" Wyll muscled his way to the front of the group.

"Because unlike Karlach's, his condition is not controllable in the slightest. Should I have endangered everyone in this camp? The druids and tieflings of the grove? All of Baldur's Gate if he was to last that long before being consumed?" She stopped, looking down and taking with what seemed like deep remorseful breath. "Sometimes, doing what's best means sacrificing oneself. He chose well and I'm sure even alone he will be able to come up with a solution. He was, in his words, a prodigy and Mystra's favourite. He will survive this."

There were a few more questions about him after that, which the drow answered by claiming she was trying to just protect everyone, like a leader should do. She couldn't tell if someone had seen behind the virtuous mask she was wearing, but if they did, they didn't care about informing the others.

The group of four, Karlach, Astarion Shadowheart and herself, left camp to explore more of the village, with the intention of moving towards the main goblin camp. The only thing left to check out was just the well. The cave they lowered themselves into was full of spider web and it smelled of the underdark. If it wasn't for the foreboding aura of the place, made worse by the tadpole conjuring images of future deaths, the drow would have probably felt at home.

They arrived in an open room, with large chasms that plunged into almost darkness. There were webs connecting the columns that constituted the upper floor, while below they could see a few egg sacks and blue spiders, not native to the underdark, recognised the drow. What really scared the drow was the large spider matriarch walking over the webs. She also had a blue tint, but darker. First thing first, she had to get rid of the egg sacks, before the little ones could surround them.

She looked at Astarion and motioned her hand towards the eggs hatching on one of the pillars, past a web bridge. There was a rock he could hide behind while smashing them, but he was going to be the closest to the mother, so he had to be careful. Next she sent Karlach, who had to climb some roots to reach the eggs on the floor below. There were other enemies there, so she had to be quick and careful. The drow, well, she was going to feel bad about smashing spiders that weren't even born yet and pray to her Quarvalsharess for forgiveness. Astarion destroyed the first few eggs and so did the barbarian, stomping on them. Leeith didn't spontaneously combust, so either Lolth wasn't watching, or she didn't care about these spiders.

The vampire returned safely, cleaning webs from his daggers and ankles.

“Yuck. Remind me, why do you worship these foul creatures again?” He shook his hand, trying to throw away a piece of sticky web. “I hope this is worth it.”

“The ones in the underdark are all fuzzy and can give you big hugs. Want to try some time?” Said the drow, earning a face of pure disgust from Astarion. He couldn't respond, before they heard the tiefling scream.

“This shit teleported in front of me!” Followed by the sound of a steel hitting the ground and a fiery roar. The matriarch spider and two smaller ones ran towards Karlach, allerted by all the noise. Astarion was the first to sprint into action, hitting the matriarch with his crossbow. Even if the bolt was sticking out of her carapace, she didn't seem bothered. The vampire cursed and stepped back into the shadow, looking for a weak spot.

The cleric stood up and rushed into action at the side of Karlach, shield up and ready to defend herself. Leeith didn't jump down to the tiefling, where all the beasts were, but remained at the edge of the pillar; spiders ran down her arm, growing on her palm to be pushed away in a forceful blast. The matriarch looked towards her: its figure vanished from that spot and reappeared a few metres away from the drow, launching an attack with her mandibles. From up close, the beast was more than enormous, casting its shadow over her. She gritted her teeth and stepped backwards as fast as she could, trying to get away from the onslaught; the terrain was so uneven, full of rocks and slippery sand, it was a miracle she didn’t fall over. In retaliation she pointed at the matriarch, who ignited and burnt thanks to her fire spell. The beast screamed in pain and the smaller spiders teleported to her. From the corner of her eyes, she could see another set of eggs breaking open. She was surrounded by them and wondered if it just wasn’t Lolth’s punishment.

“Karlach, Shadowheart, group up!” She screamed. Another arrow hit the mother, as Astarion came out of the shadows from behind her.

Whilst Shadowheart ran to the vines and began climbing them back up, the barbarian leaped in the air, clearing the massive height with unnatural ease. Her sword was already up over her shoulder and she swung it down on one of the spiders, smashing it. She roared victorious, ready to face the matriarch.

Now that they were all together, the drow was slightly less worried, but they were still more than outnumbered. They concentrated on the beast, who by far posed the greatest threat, but all of her children were wearing them down, nipping and biting to spill blood. Even Shadowheart couldn’t do much to help, since she had way too many spiders around her to be at people’s side and cure them properly. Astarion was trying to dart in and out of cover, but it was hard to remain unseen with all of these beasts.

The matriarch too was looking worse for wear, especially after Karlach had chopped off one or two of its legs. Its attacks became more violent and less precise: Leeith didn’t know if spiders could experience fear, but that’s what seemed to be happening. It was Shadowheart who put the mother out of its misery, burning it from the inside with a bolt of radiant light. It was easy to take care of everything else, especially now that their hearts burst with confidence.

The tiefling dropped face first on the ground, panting like she had run a marathon, huffing up small clouds of dust; she didn’t look that hurt, she was just being dramatic. They all took a few minutes to lick their wounds. The drow especially got some weird looks when she started to suck on her wounds on the arms and ankles, spitting bitter blood on the ground.

“What?” She asked, her teeth painted in red and a raised eyebrow.

“Darling… are you playing vampire now? You know I won’t turn you, right?” There was slight disgust in his voice.

“Thanks to the Weaver for that.” She rolled her eyes at Astarion. “If anything even slightly insect shaped bites you in the underdark, the first thing you do is suck up your blood and spit it out, in case there’s venom.”

“You could just have an antidote or use a spell. Besides, that's an old myth: you can't suck venom from a wound.” The cleric crossed her arms, already standing up and ready to go.

“I still don’t want poison in my veins.” The drow put her boots back on, feeling embarrassed.

“Aw, look Astarion, she’s trying to keep her blood clean for you.” Teased the cleric, earning a chuckle from the vampire. Leeith mumbled in undercommon, mimicking both of them, but kept her head low to hide her face. She knew she was right and besides, they were all surface dwellers, what could they know?

Once she got up, still grumpy, they went to explore the lower floor of the cavern, finding mostly just skeletons picked clean of meat. The chasm below kept them on the edge, afraid of falling down, especially Karlach, who dared not look down and always walked with her back attached to solid rock. They found an old robe on one of the corpses and, a few steps away from it, a purple gem that glowed lightly.

“Bet this could fetch some gold.” commented Leeith, showing it off to the group and promptly opening her back pack to stuff it in there, among the mess of scrolls, papers, potions and trinkets. And the Necromancy of Thay. The tome trembled when the gem hit it, reacting to it.

“Is that the key?” Said Shadowheart, leaning to take a better look at whatever was happening.

“I would assume. How did it end up here though?” The drow took out the book and gem: the two did seem to fit together.

“Please, we’re already in the dark spider cave, don’t unlock the creepy book her-” Before the tiefling could finish, Leeith stuffed the mouth of the tome with the purple gem. Its eyes started glowing a bright purple and something called her in, a profane whisper that promised everlasting powers. Her thumb lingered on the edge of the lock, ready to push on it, but she hesitated: she scoured through her mind, trying to remember something, anything about the book. She tried to decipher what those dark voices were saying, anything that could cast away the doubts of these pages being cursed. Nothing came. She turned the book, avoiding its gaze in an effort to flee from that presence.

The looks on Shadowheart and Karlach were ones of worry. She expected the same when she glanced at the vampire, but he just seemed eager and waiting on something. She handed the tome to him without saying a word: he smiled and raised his eyebrows in approval, mixed with a tad of surprise. It was a calculated risk: if hidden powers truly resided within that book, then she could have used them through Astarion, granting his aid in battle; if only a curse was hiding beneath the pages, then it would have been easier to let him deal with it and, at worse, put him down. It wouldn’t be the first time she turned on a friend, she would be able to cope with losing another.

“If you get cursed, don’t come crying to me.” Warned Leeith, before letting go.

“Oh, of course, I’ll be extremely careful with the evil-looking, skin-bound book. Trust me.” He smirked arrogantly. She nodded in approval, dismissing his cockyness. “Shall we return to camp for today? My hair is full of cobwebs and I can't stand it a moment more here.” He didn't wait for an answer before walking past everyone, leading the way forward.

The camp set up in the village was fairly unusual. No one had set up their tent, preferring to throw their bed rolls inside the less ruined houses. Most chose to be inside the old smith shop, a large well covered area, pretty cosy as long as one minded the large hole in the ground. Shadowheart and Leeith preferred instead to stay in the apothecary, to make use of the ingredients and alchemy sets. Astarion had claimed the bedroom in that same building for himself, content to lay on the giant mattress, even if most of the wall was gone.

Before bed, they grouped up in front of the fireplace in the smith’s house, sharing a meal of fire roasted meat and red wine. The only one missing was Astarion, who had to go hunt now that the drow wasn't supplying her own blood. She kept glancing outside for signs of his return, but for the whole night, she didn't see anything. There was a slight worry, but he was capable enough to survive on his own. At least she hoped. City dwellers of high social status like the vampire weren't known for their survival skills.

They played a few games of cards, with Lae’zel losing her temper whenever she was confused by the rules, resorting to asking for a duel to set who was victorious. No one really took her on the offer and Wyll decided to stop playing, to guide the gith through the rules. Shadowheart, on the opposite end of the spectrum, kept teasing her about it, so much that the drow had to ask her to stop before the Githyanki would actually attack her. It was harder for Karlach to play, considering whenever she touched the cards, they would get gently singed by her hot fingertips. Scratch was comfortably sitting by Leeith’s side, occasionally placing his head on her lap to ask for pets.

They retired to their bedrolls fairly late, the drow having to drag a drunk Shadowheart across the street to their refuge. She didn't bother with finding a nightgown and the cleric seemed pretty happy with sleeping in her camp clothes.

It was still too early to trance for the drow and she wasn't tipsy enough to need to lay down. Everything in the night was quiet and dark, even the moon was covered by thick clouds. She could see yellow and gold shimmers, torchlight and fires from the goblin camp in the distance, but around her it was all a shade of grey and blue. She was resting her elbows on a guardrail, the stairs connecting with the old apothecary's bedroom. She kept hearing murmurs from somewhere behind her, but the doors at her back were swung open and the room was empty and cold. The wall was destroyed, so she could see behind the house, in a small square, and even there was nothing. The forest was near, so it could have been some weird animal or goblins who had strayed too far from the pack - hardly anything to be bothered about. The drow sighed and went to give a better look to the square, but still nothing. Except the murmur, which seemed closer, but coming from the roof.

“Come on, Come on. What are you hiding?” It seemed to say, between gritted teeth. Was it a thief, maybe looking for easy prey in an abandoned village?

She looked above her, trying to find a way to get up on the roof. In a flash, she remembered the ladder on the wall by the guardrail. She ran there, trying to keep quiet, and began climbing. The ladder was pretty old and creaky, but still got her to the top.

“Can you summon the dead? Bring them back? Can you - Ugh, can you shut up and let me read?” The drow crouched down, recognising the voice of the vampire. What was he doing up here? She kept spying on him, getting closer: a faint purple light came from what he was holding. She recognised it as the necromancy tome they had found. He mumbled to himself, struggling to even turn the pages. His mind was so captured by the book, that he didn’t notice the drow standing right beside him. Did he come all the way up here not to be disturbed?

“No, I won’t kill them. Well, maybe Shadowheart… I can’t. I won’t. Now - stop! Let. Me. Go! Ah… Hello!” He snapped the book close and his face was dark again, illuminated only by the moon. He looked up to Leeith, slightly surprised.

“Good Book?” She sat down, crossing her legs, a bit weary of whatever was happening. He took a moment to respond, weighing his words.

“A unique read, certainly. A tome of necromancy, guarded by spirits. I almost reached the end before they drove me out. And drove me all but mad.” He clicked his tongue and his voice pitched up in frustration. “Now everytime i open it, the voices surge back into my mind. I can’t reason with them; they exist to protect that book.” He sighed, looking defeated.

“Is there anything we can do? Maybe we’re missing some other piece?”

“Maybe. Maybe not. It’s hard to know what’s lurking in here. Someone went through a lot of trouble to protect this tome. It has to be more than a book of cantrips.” He lifted it up, staring at it, the purple haze reflecting off his hair and skin again. “Still, I doubt this will help us with our parasites. Maybe it’s better to put it away for now.” He placed it down, but he didn’t look fully convinced. It seemed more that he just wanted to hide it away from her.

“What were you hoping to find in there?” She pressured him.

“It’s a book of necromancy, full of secrets about controlling the dead, returning the dead to life and who knows what else.” He sounded like he was explaining the obvious, but with a smile on his face. “Whatever’s in here, it might give me an edge over my old master Cazador. Or free me from him entirely. Although I can’t make any progress as long as those spirits remember their mission. It seems to be all they know. Still, if nothing else, maybe I can beat Cazador to death with it.” His eyes gleed at the thought.

“Truly, you’ve discovered how to really use this heavy, heavy knowledge. Attach it to a stick for better reach.” She joked. “But next time don’t do it on a roof in the dead of night, I beg you: I was about to blast you thinking you were a thief.” She held his gaze: his expression was subtle, a little smirk, but his eyebrows were gritted, studying her more than anything. Was he annoyed about the blasting comment? She would have just tried to defend their belongings. It wasn’t her fault if he went around camp like a burglar.

“I’ll keep that in mind, my sweet. I know how much you enjoy talking about blasting people.” His expression returned pompous, masquerading whatever thoughts his mind gears were conjuring. It was fine, he was allowed his little secrets. Furthermore, she was too tired to have a squabble. Better to be friendly for now.

“And blasting them too. It’s so fun!” She smiled innocently, calm like the night. The air itself seemed to relax around them because of her influence. “I should teach you. Mh. Well I don’t know if you can learn how to do it without a pact with another being. And I don’t think I’m quite powerful enough to lend you my power.”

“Ugh, I’m trying to get rid of my master, not switch it for another. Delicious as you are, I don’t think that’s worth giving up what’s left of my soul.” The vampire pointed at his chest, still like water, no heart beating inside nor air flowing through his lungs.

“My soul is already Lolth’s to take. When I bound myself to my mortal valsharess, I swore only unconditional loyalty and servitude.”

“Being a slave to a drow matriarch is only good in the confines of a bedchamber. Yet that’s hardly what I long for, darling.” The drow raised an eyebrow, suggestively, but decided that conversation path was to be saved for another night.

“I’m not a slave. I could refuse to do her bidding, I would just lose my powers and never be able to return home again. To me, that's death. I would be cast away like a traitor-” She stopped herself from oversharing, letting out a heavy breath. “All that I mean is that not every pact needs a soul in exchange, silly. I would rather have your trust… and your fealty.” She added the last part with absolute seriousness, furrowing her brow and hardening her face. He nodded and looked away, thinking.

“Trust and drow are more than an oxymoron. It’s only a matter of time before the matriarch turns on you or you on her, especially if your strength grows. I know who to bet on if that sort of battle might happen - and to be clear, not on you.” He stressed his last words by flicking his index left and right.

“I would be offended, but you aren’t wrong on me losing. At least you can make a fortune on my skin.” She smirked and leaned just a bit closer to him, looking from under her brow. “Yet you are one to talk of loyalty, blood-sucker. You can’t tell me with a straight face that you aren’t just as prone to backstabbing and deceit as me: I recognise my people.” Her voice was lower, seductive, an intimate secret whispered in the dark, inviting the vampire to her world of shadows and blades hidden in velvet.

“How could you think such a thing?” He hummed, chuckling. “You said you trusted me when I had your blood the first time; You trusted me yesterday in that pretty clearing. Have you suddenly changed your mind, Leeith? Did what we share not count for anything?” The drow looked for any hidden meaning in his words, but she only found a handsome pale face.

“Oh, of course I trust you, Astarion. I wouldn’t be up here discussing loyalty otherwise. I trust everyone in fact. We’re social creatures: we wouldn’t be able to build cities and traverse mountains if we didn’t trust one another.” She stopped, distancing herself again. “I just believe one should always be vigilant and prepare for betrayal. If you’re scared of me just taking the necessary precautions, then, maybe… you do have something to hide?”

“Guilty as charged.” He placed a hand on his chest. “It might shock you, but I am a vampire, ha-ha.” Leeith gasped and covered her mouth. If he just wanted to play, fine, she was mostly sure she didn’t have anything to worry about around him.

“Oh dear, how could you hide such a thing from me?” She dried a fake tear. “You know I only sleep with werewolves.”

“For some reason I’m not entirely surprised you would like to lay with half animals, darling.” He remarked with a foul grimace that looked a bit too genuine.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean? You know I’m joking, right?” She was puzzled and a bit offended that he could think such a thing of her.

“Oh? Oh dear, terribly sorry. I would reassure you I never doubted that, but it would be a lie, wouldn’t it?” Now, sarcasm was slipping through his lips like an everflowing wine goblet. The drow raised her head snobbishly and got up, dusting off her clothes.

“I think I’m going to go to bed now. Being called an animal fucker was a horrible way to end the day. ‘Night, Darthiir.” With a wave of her hand, she stepped away from the edge. Astarion said his goodbyes swiftly, with no intention of getting down from the roof, maybe in an effort to delve deeper in the hexed pages. Leeith stopped midway between him and her destination, turning around again.

“Give it some time before you try and read that book again: mental fatigue won’t help you fend off whatever those spirits are doing.” Her voice was made sweeter by a slight hint of worry for her friend.

“Yes, yes, I know. If I get cursed I’m on my own and you won’t help me.” He dismissed the drow with a wave of his hand. She stood there for a few moments more: she kind of regretted telling the elf not to cry to her if he got cursed.

“Well, what I meant is that if you do get cursed, depending how strong it is, I won’t be able to really do much to help. But I can try and help you avoid getting cursed; I have studied magic unlike you, I might be able to give you some… reading tips, let’s say.” He got up as well, elegant like water.

“A generous offer, darling, but not one I’ll make use of in a long while for now. You can rest easy. Shall we go? This roof is awfully unfit as a seating place.”

#baldurs gate astarion #astarion #baldur's gate 3 #baldurs gate fanfiction #astarion romance #character illustration #baldurs gate fanart #baldur's gate oc #astarion x mc #astarion x tav #astarion x reader #astarion fanart #digital art #character art #sketch

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thevaudevilledemon · 3 months

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When I was a kid, I had a dream of a movie trailer for Night at the Museum 3

To be clear, this was not the Night at the Museum 3 we ended up getting, this was for a very different night at the museum 3 that I think would have been a lot cooler.

The dream was just of the movie trailer, and all it was, was Larry following an old giant panda that was mumbling about something (Honestly it was almost like he was speaking in slow motion with a couple effects on his voice), and then he stopped in front of a hew large doors, the camera zoomed or faded out to reveal a theatre marquee that flickered on and said "Night at the Museum 3" and then faded to black.

Remember in Night at the Museum 2 where they went through the room with paintings and photographs and each of them was moving, and they could even enter them? I think even my young child brain was thinking about expanding on that concept and every now and again, I'll just remember that I had a weird dream of a movie trailer for a Night at the Museum 3 that would never happen.

But what if it did... What if, for whatever reason, I was lucky enough to voice an idea for the third NATM movie? Well, I've done some thinking, and here are some points I've thought about recently about what this third movie could be like.

First off, of course it's set in a movie theatre, some local theatre wants to borrow the tablet for a big Egypt or mummy themed movie premier or rerelease and the museum lent the tablet over for the week.

Of course, Larry would be super worried about this because, remember that whole picture thing at the Smithsonian? Now imagine that with movies, so he tries to argue that the tablet should not go the movie theatre. In doing so, he blurts out that the tablet brings all the wax figures to life at night.

This is where it's revealed that Dr. McPhee knew all along that everything came to life at night, that he figured after the Neanderthals set themselves on fire, Larry wasn't suited for this job, but he managed to convince him otherwise. He wanted to fire Larry after he let the entire museum run out and almost turn to dust, but the publicity made him reconsider.

He would also toss in a throw away line about there originally being five Neanderthals or something.

He convinces Larry to go to the theatre to protect the tablet and hires some temporary night watchmen, who could be Dick van Dyke because, let's be real those cameos in the actual third movie were really nice.

The giant panda would have been an old theatre statue used for a much older movie, dusty and shoved in a corner to make room for other things, like a giant ape hanging from the ceiling, large metal bugs hanging over one of the aisles, mannequins with replica costumes, basically a lot of things that can go wrong tonight.

As night falls, Larry immediately looses control of everything, and all the theatre statues or mannequins are set loose, not outside, but within the film strips, all except for the old Panda.

Why a panda? Because Panda's are my favourite animal, so I'm going to work one into this pitch damn it!

The panda is... old, grumpy, but also sympathetic and does let Larry talk him into helping him track down everyone else.

Things go... about as well as you would expect, Larry and a Giant Panda trying to coax a giant ape, mannequins dressed like famous cinema characters, and some kind of super-hero to leave the film strips is... hilarious sounding.

After some failure, Larry gets a call of someone at the museum, maybe McPhee, maybe Cecil, and while Larry wants to say everything is under control, the Panda gives him a stare and Larry admits that things are a bit out of his control, and he could use some help, which they anticipated and have sent a truck over. This truck of course containing, Teddy, Sacagawea, Attila, Jed and Octavius, Akhmenrah, and of course, Dexter.

They arrive, manage to get some order restored, but then a lot of the film characters realize that they can pop out of the film, just like Larry and the others can, so that's exactly what they do. Now it's absolute chaos, and it's not just film characters either, cartoon characters pop out as well.

Now it's a race to get all the film characters back into their proper movies, some easier than others.

Teddy gets into a fight with Popeye, because I love these kinds of referential jokes.

Larry calls McPhee or Cecil for some more assistance, and he is slightly hesitant, but does go over. When he (whoever answers) arrives, the Giant Panda recognizes him, and it's revealed that the Panda had some other animal friends, but they all got turned into dust. This almost cost the museum a lot of money, but the theatre managers were able to be convinced it was a robbery of some sort.

Lots of apologies, coaxing and comedic hijinks later, everyone is back in their proper films. Save for one, one lone cartoon character who exits the washroom. I know this would have absolutely never happened, but I could just imagine Bugs Bunny just nonchalantly making the comments about how everyone managed to quell the chaos, without his help this time (He's a chaos god remember, he could have dealt with all of this in like... five minutes? Ten at most.) and just walks back into his film.

The giant Panda returns to his corner, the sun rises and everything is as it should be. The movie ends with Larry being suggested to train some potentially new night watchmen, and because I want to tie everything in together, Amy Adams is one of the potential recruits.

Of course, none of this makes a lot of logical sense, and... frankly probably would have been dumb, but damn it, I wanted to see a Night at the Museum movie that was set in a theatre, even though it's Night at the Museum, shut up.

I dunno, I had fun with thinking all of this, and I got to talk about one of my childhood favourite movies, and a weird dream I remember, so... win-win?

#night at the museum #movie pitch #does this count as an au?#yes jed and octavious would continue there bromantical escapades

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thedragonofbadasstemple · 5 months

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A little late but was tagged by @klutenpetter to do a thing! It supposed to be 9 each of like games, TV, movies, etc that you enjoyed for the first time in 2023, but like him I'm just gonna do nine piece of media overall. I'll do my layout of pictures, showcasing each one via the character(s) that were my favorite from each piece of media, and in the order in which I saw them (approximately).

Buddy Daddies, Jan 2023. Super cute original anime. Really enjoyed the QPR thing the MCs had going on. You don't get a lot of found family media like that.

Golden Kamuy, March 2023. I was sick with the flu and binge read the entire series in like a week. LOVED IN. Filled with beefy studs and its a fun ride from start to end!

Psycho Pass, May 2023. I got into cyberpunk recently and gave this a whirl. Really enjoyed the first season, not so much everything that came after tho LOL.

Komi-San, June 2023. I'll be real, I never would have picked this for myself to watch, be me and boys have been watching stuff together and this was a pick from one of them. My first impression was this was just another dumb waifu bait show, but honestly its super cute and super funny. I enjoyed it a lot and can't wait for season 3!

Yakuza Kiwami, June 2023. I started Yakuza Zero, got halfway through and then stopped in 2022, and finally finshed Zero and got through Kiwami last year. I enjoyed it way more than Zero. I really enjoy Kiryu as a character and hope to start the next game soon!

Undead Girl Murder Farce, July 2023. A seasonal anime I picked up and enjoyed greatly. I think its a fun use of public domain characters and the OCs were delightful. I hope we get another season! It was a real sleeper hit for the season I think.

Columbo, August 2023. Yeah, I watched my first episode of Columbo because of a mystery kick UGMF put me on. The first episode I watched naturally was the first episode. I watched another episode on Christmas. I really enjoy this character, I wish I had more free time for this.

Slay the Princess, November 2023. An indie game I've had my eye on for a while because of ManlyBadassHero. The full thing came out and I really enjoyed it! I highly recommend it if you like spooky and romantic things.

Good Will Hunting, December 2023. Its a classic movie, and its been meme'd to death, and yet I've never watched it before now (Its not [my] fault). On my flight to Spain the plane had tablets built in for every seat where we could watch movies and stuff so I took that opportunity to watch a bunch of films I had never seen before (others were Top Gun, John Wick, and Elemental (which I saw in 2024 but otherwise I enjoyed it the most, a morbid curiosity/hate-watch that I loved unironically). I also got halfway through Mission: Impossible but ran out of time.) I'd recommend giving this a go if you haven't seen it. Its a classic for a reason and might give you dark academia peeps a good time LOL.

For this I'm tagging @solanum-iycopersicum, @netnettart, @shinladyanarki, and @the-jar-of-dirt.

#tag game

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gilly-laughs · 1 year

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Poker Face Ep 1-4 Review

I have watched all four episodes of Rian Johnson's new crime mystery show Poker Face. In my previous blog post I questioned why four episodes had been dropped all at once. I'm still not sure but I wanted to share some of my thoughts on these episodes. Mild spoilers to follow.

The first episode has the unenviable job of introducing the main character, her circumstances, her personality, and the hook for the rest of the season. It does this while also having it’s own crime mystery for Charlie to solve. The opening is very Colombo showing off the entire crime before rewinding a bit and shifting to Charlie’s perspective. Seeing the time of the crime from her pov without cutting to the crime really grounds the audience in the character. We know what really happened but we get to see Charlie poke at the pieces she sees.

The aesthetics of the show are perfect for the “seventies/eighties weekly crime mystery show” style they’re going for. Frost Jr’s suits are perfect and the casino also has slightly outdated look. Natalie and Charlie’s cars are older models that invoke that past time period. And the Mother of Pearl handle gun is just chef’s kiss. Despite the older aesthetic, smart phones and tablets do show up in the episode and are smartly integrated into the plot. The villain is smart enough to erase evidence from a phone and even check that he isn’t being recorded at one point but slips up in other ways.

The ending of the first episode is strong. Charlie solves the murder of her friend and gets back at the men who killed her. Her victory is short lived after Frost Jr kills himself in disgrace, which puts her on Mr. Frost’s short list. Thus the premise of the show, Charlie Cade, human lie detector, on the run from Mr. Frost’s men, is established.

Watched the second episode and I loved it. It’s very Incredible Hulk or The Fugitive with the main character wandering from town to town getting mixed up in the local crime of the week. I really like that the show isn’t afraid to spend time (17 minutes this episode) setting up the crime before Charlie shows up in the episode at all. The one thing I’m missing is a short intro explaining the premise; not because the show needs it but because it would fit with the style of the show and be fun.

Something like, “Charlie Cade is a human lie detector. Her best friend was murdered by the men who run Las Vegas. She uncovered the truth and now she’s on the run from Mr. Frost and his right hand man Cliff. They will stop at nothing to find and kill her.”

I like the recurring bit with Charlie not being able to remember a word. They did it a couple of times in first episode and once in the second. It’s a fun audience participation moment; the grownup version of a Muppet asking you to sound out the word on the screen.

Charlie’s lie detector skill is used but it isn’t the crux of the show. She does plenty of boots on the ground information gathering and investigation; mostly using her skill to ferret out contradictions (in a very Colomboesque manner).

The episode’s ending is a little week because Charlie has to run before seeing Jed getting arrested. The fact that we do see the police pulling up, lights and sirens blasting, lets us know he doesn’t get away with it after all.

Episode three is the first episode not directed by show creator Rian Johnson who wrote the first episode and directed the first and second episodes. The show’s style is so well defined that I did not see a noticeable difference. Plus it can be hard to say what differences are from directing, writing, or editing.

I was sad about the dog until it turned out to be a “MAGA dog”. It’s a funny bit and lessens to blow of the dog’s apparent death (spoiler the dog lives but is still racist). I thought the dog was going to stick around as Charlie’s “sidekick” but thankfully it gets a home at the local radio station.

The music cues while Charlie was tasting the different woods was a very interesting way to convey that information. Later when she first smells the cinnamon floss we hear an air horn which calls back to George calling it an air horn at the symphony which Charlie literally calls back to in the scene a minute later. And then later the lack of a sound becomes instrumental in unraveling the murder conspiracy.

It’s a little funny that this show, that streams on Peacock, would include Okja, which was a Netflix movie, as a plot point.

In this episode unlike the last one, Charlie gets to stay on the scene until the police show up giving her and us closure before she fades away. Overall I think I liked this episode a little bit more than the second but all three episodes so far have been very good. On to the next episode.

The fourth episode feels like the weakest episode so far. It’s still good but lacking some of the complexity of previous episodes. The murder is fairly straightforward and so Charlie’s investigation doesn’t have many twists to uncover.

I expected Ruby to deny Gavin wrote the song and for that to lead to a gotcha moment but it didn’t because she just admitted it. She checks out the amp and sees that it has the three prongs. So it should have been safe, which again felt like it should have lead to a gotcha moment but also just goes no where. And when Charlie realizes the whole band was in on the murder not just the one guy, that felt like it should have raised the stakes but she just accuses the whole band and gets kicked out.

Cliff showing up also was kind of anticlimactic. The villain’s right hand man catches up to her and she easily evades him and escapes.

The ending, where the song’s melody is revealed to be copied from the sitcom Gavin was watching and having the whole murder plot exposed by a true crime podcaster, was the best part of the episode. Still an enjoyable episode and if I wasn’t writing this review I probably wouldn’t have thought to much about it.

So, did Poker Face need a four episode drop? No, I don’t think so. The first episode is outstanding and has a strong story hook to bring back the audience in the following weeks. If they had wanted to play it safe, dropping the second episode as well to give a taste of the weekly format wouldn’t hurt. I just don’t know what is gained by dropping almost half the season, four out of ten episodes, on the first day. I’m not complaining to hard because the show is great and I plan to keep watching it in the upcoming weeks.

#gillian's blog #poker face #spoilers #tv #review

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genericpuff · 9 months

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in this week's episode of "sometimes life really goes for the balls"-

so last week was a nice little break from working on Rekindled, and my PLAN was to 1.) chill from working on comics for a lil' bit, and 2.) prep sketches for future episodes (I'm currently about 5 episodes ahead when it comes to storyboards)

but then i got sick ( : so the first half of my week off was wiped out by being stuck in bed

THANKFULLY it wasn't covid, just a nasty cold, but i've still got a bit of a cough that acts up 1-2 times a day

but w/e, i'm feeling better and it's time to work on the next batch of episodes-

and my tablet has stopped working.

the screen still functions fine, there isn't any problems when it comes to the display, it's just the tablet pen itself that isn't registering. I've tried uninstalling the driver and re-installing it, nothing. I've managed to jerry rig it back into working a couple times just by swapping the USB cable around but today i haven't been able to get it functioning at all, the device connection is just dead.

the irony is that banshriek was literally just dealing with tablet issues a few weeks ago that required them to replace the entire thing, so of course whatever force is at play here was gonna come for me next

i'm hoping it's just the USB part of the cable, i'm like 99% certain it's that because it doesn't work when i plug it into anthony's laptop and Windows keeps popping up the "a USB device has malfunctioned" prompt (and the few times i've been able to get it reconnected, the pen and screen have worked fine, it's literally just the USB portion of the cable).

unfortunately because it's a display tablet, i can't just use a different USB, it's a whole system of cables made up of a power cable, HDMI, and USB, so i ordered a new cable.

it's apparently not going to show up until the 8th/9th.

so this means no episode this week either, it'll be up September 16th instead. I'm really frustrated by that because I was really excited to get into the next few episodes and I really, REALLY don't like going back on my word. I'm really sorry if this is disappointing to hear. I'm incredibly annoyed by this whole situation, my tablet couldn't have chosen a worse time to shit itself (literally why couldn't it have malfunctioned last week when there wasn't gonna be an episode anyways ffs), but I know there's nothing really that can be done beyond replacing the cable and hoping that solves the issue. Shit just happens sometimes and I'm trying to be okay with that.

So I'm gonna be spending this week just getting back to asks in my inbox, writing up LO critical stuff, maybe I'll put out some pencil sketches. Might also try and script out the rest of S1 (hint hint).

I'm so sorry again for the inconvenience, thank you all so much for your patience. This has my brain firing in all directions right now and it's not being kind to me. Please send good luck my way, I'm desperately hoping it's just the cable and I don't need to replace my entire tablet. If you have any fun asks, send them and I'll get back to them ASAP !!

#lore rekindled #lore rekindled comic #lore rekindled announcement #lore rekindled episode postponed #announcement post #and this is why people who do this as their jobs have buffers!#and yes this is me kicking myself for not having a better buffer esp when i give rachel so much shit for it LOL

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kogameh · 11 months

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So...I took some time from my day off and played every songs in Growing Stars until the last minute...

And that was…that was really a LOT of fun!! I know people scoff at rhythm mobages having a similar Chunitm/Soundvoltex kind of layout (or more so what ppl call Guitar Hero format now haha) lately and while I will miss all the older games that have their own unique playstyles..I…kind of get why recent ones go for this specific "standard"? Long ramble short, I think this layout is just perfect for "easy to learn, hard to master" kind of methodology no matter if you're playing on a phone or a tablet, no matter if you're playing with thumbs or index fingers, it's flexible for everyone and requires not too much learning curve… It's almost addicting to discover new things in these chart patterns and retry them until to get the hang of their playstyle. And I think each game under this format/UI does have some sort of chart pattern and style that are unique to their own games and songs, that if…If I were to ignore the brand attached to it, I don't think any other games with similar formats like Bandori or Pjsekai…will ever fill that gap for me…now that this game is gone…haha…

…The entire time I played, I really, really wished that this game was the game that existed back in 2017 instead of LoS… (and I was one of those who defended this joke of a game to hell when it existed)

I don't want to go through my entire history with imas but. I first got into imas through the 2011 anime when it aired. I played Deresute two weeks after it launched. I played pretty much every imas mobile games on launch since that. From Mirishita, LoS, Shinymas, even Saisuta… But back then, I really…didn't have any friends to talk about Deresute or Mirishita despite actively playing them haha ;; I got some friends to play the game and met new acquaintances here and there but…I never really considered myself a part of its fandom despite how much I closely followed the franchise and liked all branches equally…

But then just…SideM anime happened and…that was really, the first time I felt like I had friends in the imas fandom haha… The days when all of us started to play SideMoba, scouring through in-game magazines and Pixiv logs/fics and watching all SideM lives while counting down for LoS to launch…was a moment I'll never, ever forget… Unfortunately, it didn't take too long for us to move on to other interests after the letdown LoS was…so, if only Saisuta was the game that existed back then, maybe things would've been different… (Tbh the only thing that stopped me from playing Saisuta as much as I wanted to was my burnout with mobage and lack of free time, had only this existed when the past me was overly into idol games haha…)

In fact, back in 2018, it was SideM that taught me the term called "hobbyani". And I…really can't emphasize how that was really, and I mean REALLY important to me. Haha. But that's another story I prob would tell on another day. It may be a bit of a common term among kodomo anime circle now but back in 2018, I just…didn't know anyone on the EN side that knows about this "genre" that described my biggest interest from all these years until now, and I knew that from a freaking idol game of all places :')

So…back on topic, Saisuta is not perfect, I've heard qualms about it here and there but the thing is? Most of the criticism I've heard was mostly room for improvement. Despite its flaws, I still can tell that the devs, PR and people involved put a lot of heart into Saisuta… Literally just…everything about this game feels like it's THE symbol of hope and a bright future for SideM, but unfortunately, one thing the devs can't ever fight…is when the higher-ups refused to give them a chance…

I'm aware that the SideM brand is not dead, but it…kinda hurts seeing all its sister games celebrating a game to represent their brand identity and for the case of imas, the games have always been THE medium in-between new concerts and songs, without it, there's almost feels like…nothing to do to call yourself a "producer" for your fav idols haha… Even if imas has gotten better at making their songs and concerts much more accessible, I'd be more likely to just stick to my comfort zone when browsing their catalog on Spotify etc when these games essentially "forced" me to play and "remember" songs that I wouldn't otherwise give a chance. That IS the biggest advantage of having a rhythm game for a music brand…

And I don't think a future game for SideM can ever regain that "trust" that was already shattered and betrayed, nor it will live it up to the quality and potential Saisuta provided because it IS the best form of SideM content we've gotten in years…

…Anyways, I've pretty much voiced all my disappointment with Saisuta's shutdown... I could say more, but most of them are things that are pretty much already said elsewhere...I merely wrote this because I also…have my own "story" and "reason" with this franchise that I needed to mention, haha… This is not the first time I faced a shutdown of a mobage I've played, but frankly, this might as well be the most devastating one I've faced…

Well then. Good night and sweet dreams, Saisuta. May someday you will 再度笑む again.

#kogami's diary #long post #i debated on posting this or just keep silencing until the end. but ah well...

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pbandjesse · 1 year

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What an excellent day off. I had a great time just resting. But it was also a productive day.

I was really happy to be home. I had a great weekend in Philly but it's not the same as being home. And waking up with James is always really good.

I actually slept really well. Waking up was hard but it was okay. I felt kind of gross. I am still upset about cutting my bangs to short but I'm trying to not let it upset me. Though it is.

I got washed up and dressed. I had pulled this dress out of my dresser back at my parent's house. Felt nice and colorful. And it helped me feel a little nicer.

James had been doing the laundry. And was finishing up getting the clothes form the dryer. Which allowed up to really jump into our practice packing for the honeymoon.

I was really looking forward to this. I love packing and honestly it went so well. My list I made a few months ago really helped streamline the whole thing.

James would run around and grab everything that was nonclothes. And once that was all gathered we would both pull out clothes. I had made a list of types but I'm still not sure exactly which pieces will be coming with me. But that's alright. I had the size and amount. And so we were able to figure out which packing cubes we each needed. What bag is holding what things. And we did such a good job!! I had so much extra space in my backpack! I'm thrilled.

James said it was really a good idea to do this. Because they didn't know how their clothes were going to fit in the suitcase I gave them and now they have a better idea and really I just had fun.

Once we were done that we both put stuff away. I spent some time picking outfits for the week and then picking outfits for camping with Jess over Easter weekend. Which was hard only because I have so many good fleeces now. But I figured it out and I'm very happy with my choices.

James would go for a bike ride before it started raining. And I just enjoyed my time alone. I decided to finally start my next embroidery project. James got me this white bag last year. And it's just such a good open space to work on. So I'll fill it up. And it will just be a continuous project like my puhtok bag is.

I would do that for a while. And soon James was home. And it started to rain soon after that.

James would have lunch and get a shower. I was just chilling. And then it was time to go get groceries.

Which was a bit demoralizing. Everything is just so expensive. Yogurt was $3. The rice I like was $4! A two pack of peanut butter was $20!! It just felt bad. We both made guess for the total and James guessed only $1 off. But it didn't feel like we got much.

We drove over to the Walgreens to see if they have the magnesium I wanted but no luck. Though James thought it was interesting that they had krill pills.

We made one more stop at the fancy grocery store to get the vegan shrimp I like. And then we went home. After James put the groceries away I would get to work reorganizing our snack basket and the freezer. While James would work on the other room cutting bears out for my workshop this weekend. James is the best.

It was nice just organizing. Making things feel a little less cluttered. And once I was done I would have a snack and start working on my tablet.

James would come and lay with me for a bit. We watched tiktoks and just chilled until they made us dinner. I had a quesadilla and drew for the rest of the night.

Mom asked me to update the bear I made of her. Change the color to more of a periwinkle and give her better bangs. It took a while to get the color right but we got it! And then I spent the next few hours drawing the entire solar system. Which I am absolutely thrilled with. I learned some new stuff about the brushes I have and mixing colors. I was just having a ball.

Making them all on one sheet was also fun and a challenge. Trying to make them relatively in scale took a whole. It's just a really nice project.

I took a shower and washed my hair and now I am chilling in bed with James and Sweetp and I am going to dry my hair a bit and get ready to sleep.

Tomorrow I am at the museum. And it should be a good day. I hope I have good kids. I hope you all have a great night. Sleep well and be safe!!!

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ettawritesnstudies · 2 years

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etta! thinking about you and your wips tonight! take this as a freebie ask to ramble about anything!

Hi Katie! How have you been doing?

Currently I have more non-writing active works in progress than stories but the quick rundown goes as so!

hand-sewing a pirate shirt as part of a cosplay base: but specifically so that I can be Vin from the Mistborn series this halloween. (I hope) I have all the materials I need and they're mostly cut out and stitched together in various stages of progress depending on what part of the shirt we're talking about. I mostly work on this during zoom calls for dnd games, but I've also been sick on-and-off since MAY and so I also spend a decent amount of time on the weekends just sitting around for hours and hyperfixating on a relatively simple task while youtube runs in the background

Editing Runaways before summer ends so that I can throw the 3rd draft at a second round of Beta readers while I'm dealing with the inevitable senior year uni drama. This is slower going than hoped due to being sick more or less all summer and not having the energy to do braining but we're getting the ball moving again. The core of the story will remain the same but this draft includes several big fixes that will hopefully help smooth out the entire story, such as...

Refining Hannah's character arc and her relationships with her family members

Providing more exposition and backstory as to the villain's motivations and the greater conflict going on in the fae world that the characters don't directly interact with,

Tweaking a couple of continuity errors and changing the worldbuilding to eliminate contradictions

strengthening the tone and voice and mood and pacing and all that good nitpicky sentence level stuff

Learning a bunch of songs on the guitar: I got a fingerstyle version of Fireflies by Owl City that I've been slowly picking up and I have some other pieces that I've been learning to sing and strum when I have a voice.

Figuring out audio recording, storage, editing, etc: This started as a project to record my dnd games for our group to use as review, but I might be exploring audio drama and podcast options in the near future once I get my act together.

Catching up on people's stories and my reading goals on goodreads: I can mostly read at work thanks to the nature of the tests I'm running at my internship this summer, so I've been splitting that between audiobooks, podcasts, ebooks, and fanfic

Sewing a bunch of patches onto my jacket/misc. embroidery projects: idk if I ever posted about this on here, but I have this green handmedown jacket that I love and want to customize so I've been embroidering homemade patches for it and sewing them on for several months now. I have a couple more my parents got me to add, there's florals attached now to give it some 3D texture, I want to add charms to make it noisy, it's a whole project on it's own separate from the sewing. I've also got leftover scrap fabric from the shirt I'll be turning into a dnd dice bag eventually

Author platform stuff/Catching up on writing reviews: because reviews really help indie authors! I want to do my part to help them get the recognition they deserve. Also maintaining my website is a part time job in and of itself so that's a decent chunk of my evenings.

Teaching myself digital art/animation: I impulse-bought a drawing tablet on a good deal earlier this summer and I'm putting it to good use with updated character art and illustrations, and hopefully some animatics or vine comps soon once I get my act together with THAT and overcome my fear of video editing.

Talking to friends and working on club stuff for uni: because none of them are here and I miss them :(

basically, I work for ~40 hours a week and spend the rest of my waking hours desperately wishing I had more free time, even those this is the most free time I've had in probably two+ years haha. If my body could stop dying for more than a week that would be great though :P

Thank you for checking in!

#right after my internship started I lost my voice #which turned into bronchitis #which turned into an infection and bruised ribs which left me too sore to do much #and then I was fine for a few days and then got a stomach bug #and now I'm over that but my throat's starting to hurt again and I swear if I lose my voice for the FOURTH TIME THIS YEAR I will cry #anyhow #etta rambles #wip update #works in progress

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missspringthyme · 4 months

Text

January 17th, 2024

Alexa from the future note: I originally wrote this on the day, but I made the fools mistake of attempting to post it from my tablet without first saving a draft. I will (hopefully) never make this mistake again because it made me so angry that I did not post the last 19 days worth of art. My disgust has lessened and so now I'm back, but because of this many of my writings are now being done days or weeks after the day. Blame the Tumblr mobile app.

Today I had a meeting with my supervisor, and as usual, I was a little bit late. Whoops. I woke up late (shocker) but not late enough to be late late, just rushed. I then skipped breakfast because the turkish roommate was in the kitchen with her friends and I didn't really feel like talking with her this morning (I find her a bit annoying because she's very clearly 18, and very sheltered. This is her first time living away from home but she lacks some basic life skills. She treats me like a parent and asks me for permission to do things. Additionally, she keeps trying to talk to me about how actually it's okay to be racist to Arabs, so I try and limit my conversations with her).

There's train strikes, and the trains are more expensive anyway so I took the bus. Unfortunately, I fell asleep on the bus and missed my stop, meaning I had to walk a little longer than I had budgeted. I should really start taking the bus before the last possible bus I can take before being late, but alas plans always seem more tangible in dreams than reality.

Anyway, I make it to the meeting and we talk. I managed to hold my own in the conversation and he complimented me on understanding the material because most students don't. The only reasons this is true is because (1) my undergraduate thesis was on distributed vs centralised sub-second timing models and my undergraduate supervisor is an angel who explained everything to me on brightly coloured sticky notes (2) I am incredibly smart and talented (3) I am incredibly good at appearing to be smart and talented and (4) he talks a lot and doesn't really allow you the chance to speak.

He does it in this very German way where he's very calm and soft, but he has this gravity around him where you wouldn't dare interrupt. I feel like every conversation I have with him is a game of chess. This time, I managed to make a really good move though, because at the end of our meeting, I pointed out a flaw in his theory and asked how he accounted for it. Tee hee.

After my bachelor's thesis, I currently feel that the brain uses a combination of centralised and distributed systems to accomplish the experience of time. I cannot in good faith support a purely centralised model of timing when there is adequate evidence supporting differential processing of timing information from different sensory modalities. This motherfucker has based his entire work off of a centralised timing hypothesis. It's what I'll be working on for this thesis, but oh ho ho if I won't have some stuff to write about in my discussion.

At the end of the meeting, a girl came in who's doing her thesis on the project that I'm doing my independent elective on, so we'll be working together. She seems kinda quiet and shy, but hopefully, we'll be besties by the time this is all over. She's from Greece, but also did her bachelors in the UK (in England though, so boo).

When I left I decided to take the train for god knows what reason. Like I said, there are strikes so there's no direct route at the moment. This means going to Heerlen and then changing trains at the station. However, for the 2nd time since moving here I took the wrong fucking train! It comes very close to when the train I am supposed to take will come, and the screens that show the route and the train number were broken.

Much like the first time this happened, I didn't notice until I got pretty far north. At least this time I knew what to do and got out at the next station to begin working my way back. It had begun snowing very heavily earlier in the day and there was only more coming, so I sat on a bench in the station and cursed myself while I watched my fingers slowly turn blue.

At one point, a train came and I watched it wishing that it was the one I was supposed to take and not the one in 15 minutes. On the side, it had the words 'Pink Pop' written on it. I have no answers for why, because nothing on the train was pink and when I googled it nothing came up. The thing I'm choosing to believe is that is the train's name. First name Pink, last name Pop. I stared at Pink Pop until it pulled out of the station.

Eventually, I made it back, and I had to rush home to get to my therapy appointment on time. I had made another stupid decision today (wearing Mary Janes instead of snow boots because I assumed that the snow wouldn't stick) so when I got back to my apartment, my feet were soaking wet and freezing. Only 3 minutes late, I joined the therapy session, frantically eating a granola bar I had saved from my flight in the first 30 seconds of the call. After that was done, I had my first real meal of the day. Hooray!

#january #mom #thesis #roommates

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