#i think for demo is a bit hard to find a good time to vent and well his team kinda sucks for that | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

stevenbasic · 3 years

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So far AJ’s day, his first at this new job, had been predictably miserable. He figured that was sort of normal, kinda expected. He’d been his own boss, owner of his own little construction firm for years, so going back to being a manual labor grunt for someone else again was sure to feel like ten steps in the wrong direction. But working on a demo team for a bunch of girls? The women, the company that had put him out of business? That was turning out to be particularly soul-sucking and demeaning work. But, hey, a buck’s a buck and he needed as many of those as he could muster these days. His saving grace was, with a little effort keeping his head down, that he could remain faceless and anonymous and just do his work. The morning had been spent taking down some walls in the area of the building that was to be the new wing. He’d sat by himself for his meager lunch outside - his buddies, guys that used to work for him, were on another team entirely, at another site - and he had now this afternoon been asked to step into the doctor's office area to look at some venting. Privately, he leapt at the chance: maybe he’d be able to see Angie. Or, for that matter, catch a glimpse of - or even meet - that statuesque, brunette boss of hers, her friend Melissa...

He was in luck.

“Oh! H-hey, hun,” AJ said, acting surprised to bump into his girlfriend, Angie, as he turned the corner in the back hallway. He’d already checked out what he’d needed to see, looked at the thermostats, and had been sort of aimlessly drifting around, avoiding others, waiting for just this moment. He managed what he hoped was a casual smile. “Funny meeting you here haha,” he joked, wiping plaster dust from his forehead, “H-how’s the first day?”

At first, Angie looked surprised to see him, too - eyes widening. But she didn’t even give him a word of greeting before her eyes flashed, her smile grew into a grin, and she bit her lower lip. Looking behind herself, down the hall, checking if they’d be seen, she then suddenly grabbed him by the collar of his green, grime-covered t-shirt and pulled him aside. “Here, let’s go in here-“ she said, opening the door to a supply closet and yanking him into it. She shut the door behind them and flipped on a switch.

“Hey wow..!” AJ exclaimed, eyes immediately going wide in pleasant surprise, “Nice to see you too!”

The switch she had hit had turned on an overhead fluorescent, which was just flickering to life. “Shush,” she said, locking the door, “The last thing I need is someone to see us together.” She’d just gotten out of lunch, where all the office girls had assembled, crowded into the too-small breakroom for a welcome meeting. She’d had a few great little chats and was just really beginning to grasp what was going on here, what she was now part of. It was thrilling and her blood was still on fire from the excitement, the potential. Yes yes yes...female empowerment, sisters united, blah blah blah. But there was opportunity here for her.

She’d just been headed to her new temporary, makeshift desk in accounting when she ran into her, well, boyfriend. Though AJ was here doing some work for the construction company hired to renovate the building, she really didn’t want to be seen with him. Things were too big here, there was too much at stake for her to risk getting muddled down by, well, him. “I can’t be the girl dating the hired help,” she said, not smiling, but her heart still thumping.

“Hey, that hurt..!” AJ remarked, taken a bit aback by her bluntness but trying to laugh. Angie looked so good in her short, floral dress, boobs big and on display. “How’s the first day?” he repeated.

Angie faced AJ, mind still swimming with the excitement from the meeting and an electric, estrogen-fueled energy. “Eh, sort of chaotic, with all these new girls, there’s not enough space for us all until the new wing is ready,” she answered, looking him up and down. She’d seen him in his construction gear countless times before, but here - on the job, dirty, as a low-level grunt - he just looked so plebeian. And too tall. “I got to meet the doctor, this morning,” she said, feeling her eyes sparkle and the enthusiasm in her voice, “he’s sooo vulni…”

He’d heard that term before, and he knew how girls were all starting to like that: small, weak, vulnerable men. It had been why she’d had him stop going to the gym, eat less, get skinnier. He thought she liked it, though it never seemed as if it was quite enough for her; he was still tall and lanky, and he felt she’d actually like it if he was somehow smaller than her, shorter than her, weighed less than her. That was the fad, these days, and Angie was into it. But he’d never heard that weird tone in her voice when talking about another guy, not in all the months they’d been together. Here in the supply closet he felt the first pangs of jealousy, starting in his stomach, and it was envy for Angie’s new boss. Not because he was successful, a doctor, and was her superior here (though Ang probably loved that too), but because he was so “vulni” . As he watched her face, seeing how she talked about this guy, the sensation grew heavier, and worked its way up to his throat.

“He was hiding, totally hiding, in his office. But I went in and met him,” she said, “he looked like a kid sitting at a big-boy desk. He was afraid to stand up in front of me, but I bet I’d be taller than him in my heels…”

There it is, AJ thought.

“Your friend Melissa probably has him by more than a foot, then,” AJ blurted, smiling but speaking before thinking and immediately regretting it as Angie’s eyes narrowed, analyzing him. His grin disappeared as her expression changed.

“Yeaaaaah...have you noticed?” she continued, still watching his face, “a lot of the girls here are tall. They’re all hot…”

Smart enough at least for this moment, AJ held his tongue. Saying too much would just dig him deeper into the hole that he was apparently already in.

Angie still looked at her boyfriend of these many months, her smile crooked, and considered him. He’d always felt like she could read his mind, and seemed to be doing it now. She knew what he wanted. “Take off your shirt,” she instructed, hands on her wide hips.

Without as much as a thought, AJ was peeling himself out of his dusty work tee, revealing his trim, lean torso, his ink. Angie’s eyes immediately drifted from his still-defined abs, up his chest and went to the new tattoo on his throat, her name: “Angie Wade”. She reached out and gently caressed it.

“Yeah, he’s surrounded by women here, pretty women,” she continued, once again talking about this dude that AJ was starting to like less and less, “Lots of them are taller than him, walking around in their pumps, their high wedge sandals.” Her hand drifted up to cup the right side of his face, tenderly, watching how her words affected him. “They’re all ditzes, but they adore him,” she said, her expression still hard for him to read, “Imagine that? Imagine being surrounded by huge, brainless bimbos that all love and adore you and just want to get into your pants? I’ll bet he loves it. God that’s so hot.”

AJ, still knowing he shouldn’t say a word, just watched her as she looked at him. Despite his rising jealousy - what kind of girlfriend talks about another guy like this? - he was starting to feel himself hardening between his legs. He had no idea what she was thinking, what she was doing (or why she’d had him take off his shirt) but there were gears turning in her head, for sure.

“And,” she pressed on, “his office is smaller - a lot smaller - than hers. The way she was talking today, you’d have trouble knowing exactly who was in charge, here...” Angie’s left hand had settled behind AJ’s shaved head, holding it, and her right was now resting lightly on his chest. The feel of her soft palm on his shaved skin was exciting him. “...But I’m going to find out. There’s something going on under the surface here, something big. Here. Sit-“

At that, Angie pushed his chest, forcing him to half-sit back on the low shelving unit behind him. He knocked over a couple reams of paper towels, but was left with his eyes at just about boob-level.

She stepped in close.

“Lunch, with all the girls,” Angie continued, smiling again as his eyes settled right into her cleavage, “There was so much estrogen in the air, what with all the laughing and rah-rah cheering for this new place. Most of the girls here are morons, but damn if they aren’t hooked up to the right train, as things are going to be changing.”

She was talking almost to herself, he thought, while he knew he was being so passively quiet. He struggled to think of something to say. “Wow, Ang,” AJ finally spoke, “your tits look really big today.”

Angie chuckled, took a casually deep breath for him.”He’s a boob-guy, just like you,” she mused, reveling in the gift of her naturally big, full bosom, with its perfect, milky skin, “so, yeah, I wanted show them off…think he’ll like me?”

The jealousy continued to sit with him, inside his throat, tightening.

“Well, uh, y-yeah, of course,” he managed, figuring he should be supportive rather than risking her ire by sounding indignant. “Wh-what are they going to have you doing?”

“I’m going to be working with Kathy, this lady reassigned from some pharmaceutical company, to help run the practice’s accounting,” Angie continued, “Technically she’s my immediate boss, for the time being. But it’s okay, for now. She actually sounds like she has half a brain.” Her hand went up onto the side of his head, stroked his scalp leisurely, kept his gaze focused where she wanted it. “If I play my cards right, I’ll get hooked up doing financials for this study, with all the money coming in from the grants,” she said, her tone aggressively self-assured, “I’m going to be on it, totally in the right place, when things go down. Meet the right people, rise up the ranks, make more and more money…”

This was...yikes, wow...really turning him on. Secretly he loved hearing Angie embellish her own ego like this. Her boastful narcissism - she was constantly convinced that she was the smartest person in the room - was just always so hot to him. And he wasn’t nearly sure what she was talking about, but he loved how excited she sounded and how, in the face of his recent career troubles, how powerful she wanted to become. When had he gotten this way? When had he gotten to be such a junkie for the, well, submissive thrill he felt hearing a woman talk about being smart, successful...superior?

“Yeah, well, t-they’ve given me some responsibility too…” he found himself saying, maybe out of a reflexive knee-jerk reaction, some male pride bubbling weakly to the surface, “They’re having us tear out the old HVAC systems, and have me inspecting the venting, some of the thermostats...” Angie was letting him talk, possessively stroking his head, so he just continued. “Supposedly they’re putting in a new central one that’ll handle the whole building,” he explained, “be able to put some sort of aromatherapy into it. Weird, huh?”

“Aromatherapy, huh?” Angie asked, her interest piqued - and betrayed by a new purr, “In the air-conditioning?” She continued to pet his head, and drew in a little closer to him as she thought to herself. “Can you find out...any more about that for me?“

“Oh, uh, yeah...sure…” he agreed, though not really sure what he could do. Lots of this project seemed so under-wraps, at least from the guys. He hadn’t laid eyes on much in the way of blueprints or tech sheets or whatever.

“Good boy…” she praised, speaking plainly, “pull down your pants.”

Suddenly, AJ’s heart leapt. Was he about to get some?? Here in a storage closet?? Ha he’d take anything he could get these days, he thought to himself as he clumsily unzipped his thick, loose-fit utility pants, started to pull them down.

“B-boxers too?” he asked.

“Sure,” Angie allowed, and in a moment they were down at his knees, too. His erection already stood proud; of that he was glad. He wanted her to know how much she turned him on. But, then he thought - how had they gotten here? Didn’t she used to be the swooning drama nerd in high school, who’d barely been on his radar? The one who used to have the crush on him??

“A-Angie…?” he began.

“Shush, quiet,” she said, “grab your cock.”

“Wh-what?” he stammered, knowing exactly what she wanted him to do, “n-no I’m not going to, like, j-jerk off here in a cl-“

“Yes you will,” she stated, her confidence only making him harder, as she physically took his hand and planted it on his erection, balling it into a fist around his turgid shaft, “because you're submissive, just like him, and you’ll do exactly what I say...just like he will, some day.”

”I-I’m n-not,,,’submissive’..!” he bristled, male ego once again raising its battered head in the face of insult and jealousy. Like, what did she mean, ‘just like he will’??

“Okay sure, you’re not submissive,” she chuckled, laughing unpleasantly at his little snit, “prove it.”

With that, Angie took AJ’s full head between her hands, palms on his face and manicured fingers stretching back behind his head, and faced him solidly into her plumply bulging cleavage.

“Now stroke,” she directed, and to his own aghast he couldn’t help but obey. He’d been conditioned, over these past months, helpless when confronted by her, powerless to defy her will...especially when she used her tits. What was wrong with him??? In his hand, with his eyes plastered on the pale, soft flesh of her big breasts, his cock suddenly became even more needy, ached immediately for release. He groaned, both in spleen at himself and this crippling arousal.

She laughed again. “Not submissive, hm?” she purred, “Look at you. You're totally dominated by women. You’re working for women now, you do everything women tell you to do. At the job here, in bed with me…”

”hey..!” he began to protest, eyes rising for the moment, looking for hers, “I thought you liked-”

“Oh, I do, we all do,” she capitulated, shaking her hair over her shoulder with a toss of her head, redirecting his gaze back to her chest, “we love when the roles start reversing like this. Like you, getting to be my little bitch.”

“h-h-heyyyy…” he began to protest, but his voice faded, most of his fight lost between her E-cups.

“Aww, don’t feel badly,” she said, “I’ve been reading up on this. I really think men in general are getting more submissive, turning more beta, just watching as women take charge more. The doctor here included. Look what he’s done - or let happen. This whole place is run by girls.”

“H-h-huh…” AJ stammered dumbly, not even realizing he’d fallen into a rhythm, stroking himself, staring at Angie’s breasts.

“This is my chance, to get in, to take my piece,” she pronounced, ego swelling her bosom like a deep breath, “I’m so fucking alpha, I could run this place.”

”oh, uh, y-yeah..?” he spoke, bewitched and befuddled by every ripple and jiggle under her skin.

“You men like me to be in charge, don’t you? The thought of a woman boss?” she pressed, “You’d all never admit it but it gets you excited, how the women here - everywhere - are really the ones running the show, that any male authority is really just a thin facade, ready to be, like, cracked.”

“Oh my god Angie,” AJ moaned, now in the full grip of arousal, starting to pump himself with more abandon as Angie’s words struck chords with him neither he nor she had yet heard. Angie was experimenting, learning.

“Women have always been the ones to take up responsibilities, accept them and take them on, when men fail. We’ve been getting more able, more and more competent, while you all just, like, get lazy and dumb and shrink away,” she said, watching how his eyes were glazing over, his face going slack. Still he stared at her tits. “And you know the best part? It fucking turns you all on. You like getting weaker, losing responsibility and authority, your lives getting smaller as ours get bigger…”

“J-j-jesus Angie yes,” he stammered, mouth fully gaping now, his whole body shaking as he jacked off to her, to this vision of women.

She pulled his face closer. “Look at my tits. Look how big they are, look how deep and dark my cleavage is,” she commanded, “I’ll bet you wish you could shrink down and sink in there. Just become a little man and live between your girlfriend’s tits.”

“A-Angie n-n-n-...” he began, trying to deny but unable to come up with a sentence, in the face of the shame.

“Shhh, I know. I know what kind of porn guys have been into these days. I know what kind you’ve been into,” she said, “the shrinking, the bodybuilders, the giantesses…”

“unnh...unnnh…” he grunted, vision starting to close in, laser focused between her tits.

“And our breasts,” she continued, but knowing she had him close, “When did you become so obsessed with breasts? Even when you sleep, they’re there, aren’t they? Vision of my breasts swim in your head all night long.”

It was true. Her boobs were all he dreamed about. He moaned in forbearance and began to shudder.

“It’s true,” she said, her words echoing his thoughts, right as his climax began to crest, “It totally is. It’s why you wake up in the middle of the night sucking your own thumb. You want to be our fucking babies…”.

That was it, that was the final blow, and AJ could take no more. He groaned, finally closed his eyes, and came. His body lurched, shook, and cum shot up out of his cock.

Angie backed off, an inch, his head still in her hands. “There you go,” she said, plainly, “don’t get it on my dress.”

AJ, for himself, opened his eyes again, now jerking himself through it while staring into her tits again. He didn’t want to get it on her dress, so he pointed it back at himself, soiling his hand, his belly, his thigh.

“That’s right, get it all out,” she employed, patience now starting to wear thin, a new edge sharpening her voice. Though his climax still had him, she released his head, backing off another step. Her hands went to her top, pulling her neckline now more fully up over her breasts. “Finish up…”

AJ groaned in distress, his orgasm waning but ruined in its final moments. He just wanted those tits to bury himself into, and she was stepping away...

“Mommy’s got to go,” she said, finally, looking down at herself, shimmying herself back into some semblance of modesty, “Now, Aaron. This is it for us. I’m through.”

“w-w-wait whut?” AJ sputtered, confused, as his cock - just starting to deflate - leaked its final jisms onto his hand.

“I said I’m, like, done,” Angie said, straightly, looking down at him again, “You’ve been the perfect toy to practice on, and I’d be lying if I said it hadn’t been fun. But I’m moving on, to bigger and better things.”

“Wait, no…” AJ managed, sobering quickly in shock but still struggling to grasp what was happening, “...are you...b-breaking up with me?”

“Yep,” she said, no hint of empathy softening her words as she watched the guy she’d lived with, the man she’d broken, start to shake. He was flailing, looking down at himself, at his mess, unsure what to do.

She reached out, grabbed a team of paper towels, and tossed it at him. “Here, clean up.”

“Angie, wait,” he tried, pulling several sheets out and starting to wipe himself down. She can’t do this, not now..! he thought, What will I do? Where will I live?? He had to stop her. “Let’s-“

“No, I’m done waiting,” she stopped him, turning away, hand already reaching for the door, grabbing the handle. An image of Melissa, her last Instagram post, flashed into her mind, made Angie seethe. “I’ve got things to do.”

And then he was alone.

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sorry for the poor image quality, ‘twas the best I could do.

more stuff, newer posts at my Patreon

#growing into the job

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pagingdoctorbedlam · 3 years

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My final potion for @quirkyseastone ‘s “Brew a Love Potion” event is complete! Hope you’re ready for the fluffiest darn thing I’ve written for this fandom (and possibly ever).

Characters: Franky x Reader

Genre: Sci-Fi AU, Fluff

TW/CW: Mentions of loss/death

Inspiration: Kudos to “A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet” by Becky Chambers for inspiring this fic~

Word Count: 2.7k words

"Alright, we've successfully docked. Good job, crew." You sit up from the captain's chair and gaze out at the starport outside your window. It's been some time since you'd landed on one of the Sabaody Moons, but you've always found the view breathtaking. The moons are more tree than earth, and bubbles slowly float from the roots up toward the stars. While some of the moons are still hives of scum and villainy, others seem almost paradisiacal as beings from far-flung galaxies intermingled in the Sabaody ports.

Before you can get too far from the bridge, the intercom of the Thousand Sunny buzzes to life. It's Franky, the A.I. that runs your ship. "Hey Captain, can I nab a word with ya' before you go on shore leave?"

"Sure thing. Need me here, or down in the core room?"

"Core Room, if ya' don't mind. I've got a super new design to run by you." Though Franky works admirably as a ship A.I., he'd originally been coded to design ships, including the one he now ran, the 1000 Suns (colloquially the Thousand Sunny to you and your crew). Even though his focus is now centered on ship diagnostics and flight procedures, the A.I. still delights in crafting new machine schematics, and you have a rule that he needs your approval before he modifies the ship.

You wave off the rest of the bridge crew, and they're all too eager to touch solid ground again after months in space. You are too, but if Franky's waited this long to check on you, it's likely something for your ears only while the rest of the crew is offboard. You stride through the winding metal hallways that make up the ship's guts, flashing your clearance badge here and there until you are down in the deep bowels of the ship, close enough to the engines that you can hear the machinery thrumming as the ship went through cooldown procedures. It's familiar. You come down here more often than others would expect, enough that you've got a futon and blanket stashed nearby for nights you don't spend in your own cabin.

"Franky? Said you wanted to see me?" You call out as you entered the Core Room. The entire room is covered in segments of a giant computer, with retractable screens and limbs for interacting with others; all of this is Franky. In a way, you're standing in his brain, which is something you try not to think about too much. What catches your attention is that all the screens are down, a rarity when Franky has company.

"Sure do!" His voice echoes, but not from the speakers. "Got a surprise for you. Close your eyes a sec, alright Captain?"

"Franky..." You're sure no other ship A.I.s play games with their commanding officers, but then again, you've yet to meet an A.I. with half the personality Franky has. You close your eyes and cover them with your hands. "Alright, ready when you are."

You expect to hear wheels, a cart with some sort of prototype wheeling into the room. Instead there are footsteps, heavy and so in-sync that it borders on unnatural. Then a hand on your shoulder, warm and soft. Too curious to resist temptation, you open your eyes and peek through your fingers.

"Franky, is this...?"

"An android body? It sure is!" He spins you around and takes a step back so you can take in his full visage. He looks human for the most part, even if the muscles in his forearms are overemphasized and patches of metal poke out from his skin. Still, he has skin, the medical-grade sort often used for replacing lost flesh in humans, and hair that's sculpted into a bright blue pompadour. He must have borrowed clothes from someone in medical too, though he's only wearing a floral patterned shirt, sunglasses, and a speedo. You suppose he was too excited for the big reveal to finish getting dressed.

"You made this, Franky?"

"Yeah, alongside Dr. Chopper and the rest of the medical team, plus Usopp over in Engineering. Surprised none of 'em spilled the beans." He flexes to show off the musculature of his arms. "We'd talked about what happened to your last ship, and figured we should make me a back-up body in case I ever needed to leave the ship with you all. Not that I plan for anything to happen to the Sunny..."

"But better safe than sorry." You still miss Merry, your sweet A.I. lost with your previous ship. She and Franky would've gotten along well, you think. "It's a good plan, I approve."

"Excellent! Now I just need to take it for a spin, test it outside the ship. Seeing as we've docked for the time being..."

Ah. Now you see what he's getting it. Pretty sly, for an A.I. "As your Captain, I'll accompany you on your first excursion out on the spaceport, to make sure everything's in working order." You offer an arm. He raises an eyebrow. "Loop it with mine. Like this...there we go. Now let's get going, shall we?"

Even among the strangest aliens, Franky stands out in his own way at the space docks. This is only partially due to his lack of pants: he claims this is because he designed his legs to vent most of the heat his body builds up, and you wouldn't want him to overheat and faint on his first outing, would you? No, he stands out because even though he's clearly an android, there's an excitement to him that would rival even the most starry-eyed space explorers.

"Would ya' take a look at this, Captain?" You'd expect to find Franky gawking at any number of the docked spaceships, and indeed he's gushed about many of them already. Instead, he directs your attention to one of the tree roots. A trail of iridescent beetles scurry up the bark, and overhead, a couple smaller Southbirds (rare here, likely escaped cargo from the planet Skypiea) call to each other as they watch the busy port below.

"Thought you'd studied all these, Franky." After all, he's a powerful computer who can research multiple ideas at once, and innately curious as any inventor tends to be. And he's asked you and the crew many, many questions about the world beyond his metal hull.

"Yeah, but no matter how advanced the notes and visuals might be, it doesn't compare with the real thing. I mean, look at 'em!" He points at one particular beetle as its shell reflects the lights of the spaceport back with an opalescent sheen. "Even if you could theoretically simulate all this on a computer, most wouldn't think to do so on their own. Out here, stuff just...happens."

You have never seen an A.I. quite so excited about life outside, but then again, you've never met an A.I. quite like Franky. "Yeah, I guess that is pretty exciting when you put it that way. Part of the wonders of space travel; you never quite know what's going to happen out here."

Then a realization hits your brain with the full-bodied force of a supernova. "Franky, you've spent so much time traveling through the stars, but have you ever actually seen them the way we do?"

Franky looks up at the sky overhead. "Hard to see 'em from up here, even if I zoom out my eyes to max. Watch this!" His eyes...actually telescope out of his head. That's a bit disturbing with how human he looks. "Figure that's due to light pollution, though. Pretty bright out here."

"Sure is." You offer your arm to him again. "Come with me; I'll show you how folks groundside go out to look at the stars."

Years ago, you'd come out of the harshest space battle of your life. Your crew narrowly avoided becoming space dust, and after giving her all to save you, you lost Merry. The ship that had been with you since the beginning, the A.I. with the biggest heart you'd ever met. As her files corrupted and her hull fell apart, you'd honored her final wish and set her ablaze once you reached planetside, cremating her as one would a human. You still carry a vial of her ashes on a necklace, so you never forget what you've lost to get this far.

You'd wandered through the streets of the moon of Water 7 in a daze. Hadn't even paid attention where you went as the rest of the crew licked their wounds. Before you knew it, a robotic voice called out to you from the depths of a starship demolition yard.

"What's got you down, Captain? Can't be you're sad to be out among the stars!"

You'd blinked, not recognizing the source of the voice. But you called back, "I just lost someone important to my crew. My ship." You didn't care if most folks didn't see A.I.s as people. Merry had been more than a crewmate to you. She'd been a friend.

Even though the voice emanating from the demo-yard was auto-tuned monotone, it took on a warmer tone somehow. "I'm sorry to hear that. But you say you're looking for a ship? I might be able to help with that." A crackle of static. "And if you'd like, you can tell me about your lost pal. I can't bring 'em back for you...but I've heard that talking about these kinda' things helps."

"You don't even know who I am."

"No one does when they first meet, do they? Speaking of which, call me Franky."

Somehow, pouring your heart out to a stranger was easier than talking to your crewmates. You'd wandered into the heart of the scrapheaps and talked to the mysterious Franky, his voice surrounding you from so many static-filled speakers. You'd watched as overhead, he controlled cranes to start putting pieces of a mighty vessel together. He'd asked about your specifications, what you'd loved about Merry both as a ship and a friend. You'd cried. He did too. And when you'd asked how much the ship would cost, he said the only charge would be that he could come along.

You agreed willingly, overjoyed to have such a skilled shipwright onboard. It was only when you talked to the demo-yard owner that you learned that the person you'd poured your heart out to was an A.I.

That didn't stop you from doing so again once the Thousand Sunny was complete, and Franky took to his new home in his core room. You'd wander down into the depths of the Thousand Sunny whenever you needed a second opinion on the ship or a mission, and soon after that just to talk. You'd spent hours surrounded by the computer that served as Franky's brain for so long, talking and laughing just as you used to with Merry. Except, it was more than that with him. He wasn't just a friend, you'd realized over time. But you'd shoved those thoughts away. It was ludicrous, falling in love with an A.I. whose brain you could walk through, whose body was a starship you controlled with the push of a few buttons.

But now he has a body. You can squeeze his giant hand, and he squeezes back so softly as he gets used to his own strength. He smiles the way you always imagined he would, grinning with pearly white teeth and eyes that (literally) glow with joy.

He follows you with infinite curiosity as you weave through the Sabaody streets and gather supplies for your excursion. You ask about his body's capabilities and discover his fuel source is...astonishingly close to soda, so you pick up a few colas along with some food for you. Franky gets to carry a blanket hand-woven by the locals, and you catch him marveling at the texture when he thinks you aren't looking. Finally, you rent a small paddleboat to traverse the moon with, and a map that lays out the canals and waterways of this particular moon.

"You know, it'd be a lot faster if I rowed," Franky says, mouth quirked into a lopsided grin as your comparatively tiny arms pull the oars back and forth. It's amazingly, how perfectly imperfect he looks, more human than any other android you've seen even with all the metal bits.

"There's an old human adage about the journey being more important than the destination, Franky. Take in the experience."

You watch as his attention zeroes in along the waterways, eyes zooming in on every detail until they're pulled away to something new. You expect him to be interested in the flora and fauna, as opalescent leaves bigger than your boat stretch over the water to shade you from the encroaching moonlight and soft purple creatures vaguely reminiscent of otters circle your boat before chasing each other down the river. But the entire world is new to him, and you find him fascinated by even the dirt or the buzzing insects swarming your head.

"Aww, look. I think it likes me!" Franky lifts one giant finger, where a mosquito (why did those have to be a universal constant?) tries and fails at piercing his skin.

"It probably thinks you're human and is trying to suck your blood," you point out, as the bugs try to use you as a personal juicebox. This only gets Franky to smile. Must feel validating, having even nature recognize him for what he is in his heart.

It takes a bit more rowing, but you finally arrive at your destination. A small island, mostly shore, with a small field and a lone tree with leaves that glow silver in the moonlight. You dock the boat on the shore, then set up the blanket and food for a small picnic. You motion for Franky to sit with you, and can't help but laugh a little at the faces he makes when touching sand for the first time. Then you lay back on the blanket. Franky joins you, and his eyes go wide.

A ribbon of starlight glimmers overhead. Hundreds of constellations twinkle overhead. You'd ask if he knows any, but you keep quiet so you don't break his wonder-filled gaze.

His giant hand encases yours. "Space seems even bigger from here than it does when you're in the middle of it. I mean, look at all those stars! I read that you could see 'em from so far away, but seeing it in person..."

"This is what inspired me to go into space," you say. Your finger drifts up to the brightest star in the sky. "I'd look at that one and say, I'm going to go there someday! Didn't care how far away it was, or even what might be around it. Just wanted to head to the brightest star I could."

Franky narrows his gaze up at that star. "That's over eight light years away. Might take a bit, even with a warp drive like mine. But if that's where you wanna' go? I'll take you anywhere, Captain. Long as we're together, I'll explore every corner of the universe with you."

For a moment, both of you are quiet. The air fills with the gentle rhythm of the flowing water, the buzz of insects, bushes rustling as creatures move in the night. In the distance, the hum of a starship engine taking off from the port; you soon see its lights trail across the sky as it ascends back into that void above, the space that's so comforting because it holds planets and stars and spaceships and you and Franky all together in its embrace.

"I think this is the part where one of us says 'I love you'," Franky says softly.

You smile and squeeze his hand back. "You're such a romantic. But yeah, you're right. And I do. I love you."

"Love you too, Captain. And thanks. For, y'know, helping me be human."

"Franky, you've got more heart than most anyone I know. You're plenty human already. I'm just here to steer you steady. And I always will."

You pass the rest of the night watching the stars overhead. And for the captain and A.I. of a starship, you wouldn't have it any other way.

#seas brew a love potion challenge #bedlam writes #cyborg franky #franky x reader #scifi au #fluff

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tf2-hellhole · 4 years

Text

What are the mercs most insecure about, and how would they react to their S/O comforting them about their insecurities?

This is structured a very specific way. The first one or two bullet points describe what the mere is insecure about, and the rest is like a rough-draftish mini story about their S/O comforting them. Some are shorter because I don’t think all the mercs get self-conscious, so I tried to write what I could for them. Also featuring this dumbass headcanon I have about Spy’s appearance :-)

Scout:

Scout has a lot of insecurities about his appearance that culminate in a general anxiety about other people disliking him or not thinking he’s cool. He always wants everyone to think he’s the best, and feels like shit when they don’t. Because of that, a lot of RED and BLU’s insults hit him pretty hard, but he tries to hide this from people.

After noticing this, his S/O sat him down and tried to talk to him about it. They told him about how worried they were about him and his self-esteem. He sat back nonchalantly and denied what they were saying, trying to keep his cool in front of them. But this defensive wall he put up fell apart when his S/O started describing all of his accomplishments and all the things they love about him.

“You really mean all of that?” he asked, his eyes wide.

When his S/O assured him that yes, they do think he’s handsome and athletic and talented and millions of other great things, his eyes quickly welled up with tears and he pulled them into a tight hug, sniffling loudly.

Turns out he’d really been in need of some genuine kind words, and hearing them from one of his most favorite people in the world made him feel a lot better. From then on, his S/O made sure to tell him he did well in a match or his outfit looked great when he looked like he needed it. He started getting them treats and making them little drawings as a thanks for the emotional support.

Soldier:

Soldier doesn’t really have any insecurities. I really do think that he doesn’t give a shit about what others think of him, he just wants to chew bubblegum and kick ass

But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t appreciate encouragement and compliments from his S/O

He always grins and yells “THANKS, HONEY,” after every compliment.

Pyro:

Pyro usually isn’t insecure, but like a small child, they feel really bad when others ignore them. That usually makes them think the person doesn’t like them anymore.

But they bounced back really quickly when their S/O told them they were just being mean, and it’s not personal. Pyro’s never been one to sulk.

They giggled happily and threw their arms around their S/O, grateful for the comfort.

Demo:

Demo, like Scout, is also a man with a lot of insecurities he seems to try to bury. His mother’s constant beratement has convinced him that he’s a burden to her and that he’s not the best at his job. He knows he’s good, but he thinks he’ll never be “DeGroot good”. He knows his family’s standards are too high but he still feels like shit about not living up to his mother’s expectations. He’s also very insecure about his one eye, and wishes he had both even though his mother is angry he hasn’t lost his other one yet. He also seems to be insecure about his race, as seen in Meet the Demoman. He describes himself as a “black Scottish cyclops”, as if being black and Scottish is a bad thing. Maybe he feels like he doesn’t really belong in either culture, or maybe his color has given him horrible experiences back home, I’m not really sure. So yeah, this man has a LOT of problems that he tends to hide under a confident exterior and drown in alcohol.

Demo gets really emotional when he drinks and cries a lot, so his S/O learned quickly to just take him to bed and get him water when they heard his sobs. But when they approached him this time, they saw that he had barely touched the bottle on the table.

They sat down with him and asked him what was wrong, and he proceeded to vent for about five minutes straight. He had just been on the phone with his mother, and she had been particularly rude about what a disappointment he is. He finished with “And the worst part is, she’s right. I’m a bloody failure,” and buried his head in his palms with a shaky sigh.

His S/O frowned and insisted that his mom doesn’t know what he’s talking about. They brought him into a tight hug and said that everything she said was wrong; He is a very talented, intelligent, wonderful person, and he shouldn’t hold himself to his family’s standards. He wrapped his arms around them and continued to cry into their shoulder.

It’s gonna take a lot of work to help Demo get over these thoughts, but those words did make him feel a lot better.

Heavy:

Heavy often feels insecure about his size and weight, even though he honestly isn’t fat, he just has a thick build and is extremely beefy. Despite this, the other team’s insults often make him still feel insecure. He would often find himself standing in front of the mirror in private and frowning at his reflection.

For a while, he had kept quiet about these thoughts. But one day, he realized that keeping them to himself was probably bad for him and decided to address the issue and talk to his S/O about it. He thought that maybe they and Medic could help him lose weight.

His S/O was horrified by the way he talked about his body. They immediately dragged him down into a hug to tell him that he’s not fat at all.

Heavy was very surprised by these compliments and the sincerity of them. But once the shock was gone, all he could do was laugh softly and wrap his arms around his partner.

He still decided to start eating healthier, but would think about what his S/O said often and no longer frowned when he saw his reflection. His S/O noticed that after this, they got more hugs and forehead kisses from their partner.

Engie:

Engie tends to feel a little insecure about his height and weight. The enemy Scout likes to call him all sorts of names. He usually doesn’t react to this with more than a grumble, but it actually really gets under his skin, much more than people would expect. His parents raised him to be polite, and even though he throws around a couple of mild insults here and there, some of the vicious things that are said to him and to the others shock him. He also has a tendency to keep his insecurities to himself because his father, who he idolized, would often tell him that he’s busy when Engie would try to tell him what he thinks and how he’s feeling.

So one day, his S/O noticed he looked a little distressed as he stared down at his blueprints. They asked him why he seemed so upset. He looked up, sighed, and turned to them to tell them how he was feeling.

As soon as he finished, he apologized for telling his S/O all that, he didn’t mean to burden him with his thoughts. His S/O pulled him close and said that he shouldn’t feel like he had to keep his feelings to himself, and that they would always be there for him. They then assured him that he’s not that short and that he’s perfectly healthy.

Engie turned bright red at his S/O’s words and laughed weakly into their shoulder. “What would I do without ya, darlin’?” he whispered.

His partner noticed that for the next few days, he had a little pep in his step and was more helpful to them and the other mercs. He felt a little more confident after realizing that he doesn’t need to hold his problems in anymore, because his S/O would always be there to listen to him when he’s feeling down.

Sniper:

Sniper, like Scout and Demo, has a lot of insecurities. As a child, he was always bullied for being a weakling and being too skinny. So now, he feels self-conscious about his height and lanky limbs and he always thinks that people are looking at him negatively. And due to the rough, tragedy-filled life he’s lived, he has a lot of anxiety about the people he cares about leaving his life. It makes him feel more insecure about how others see him.

These feelings had recently been bothering him more than usual when he found himself cuddling close to his S/O in his camper, his limbs wrapped around them and his face against their neck. He found himself clinging to them more tightly as they ran their fingers through his hair and down his neck and back.

They asked him if he was okay, though he didn’t respond. They could tell he wasn’t going to tell them what was wrong, so they reminded him that they love him and they’ll always be there for him, even if he doesn’t want to say what’s wrong.

He muttered an “Oi love ya,” in response. They smiled and leaned down to press kisses to his forehead.

They noticed in the next few days that he smiled and talked a bit more than usual, and spent more time around them.

Medic:

Medic doesn’t get self-conscious very often, but sometimes he feels a little down if one of his experiments fails. He’ll usually sulk around the lab with his birds all over him, too upset to heal anyone or do any work.

His S/O came into the lab and picked up Archimedes, who was perched on top of his head, and asked him if he was okay. He proceeded to loudly complain about his experiment not working.

His S/O laughed at the angered ramblings of this man covered in birds and told him that these things take time and lots of trial and error. They knew Medic knew this more than anyone, but maybe hearing someone he loves saying it out loud would help him gain motivation.

Medic only sighed, pulled his partner into his lap, and muttered a “Thank you”. He smiled when he heard them laugh as some of the birds hopped onto their shoulders and arms.

He finally corrected the experiment that night while chatting with his partner.

Spy:

Spy is only insecure about two things, his laugh and his face. His snort is a little embarrassing for him, but he’s learned to brush off the insults his teammates give him. The thing that really bothers him is his scars. He would never admit it, but when he was young, his performance as a spy was sloppy. He ended up in a lot of melee fights that resulted in scars across his nose, left cheek, and neck that he hates. The scars didn’t deform or disfigure his face, as they were all light cuts, but he hates the pale lines criss-crossing his skin. Only Medic knows, when Spy asked if he could fix them with some kind of medigun modification, but they were too old for Medic to fix.

So obviously, Spy was terrified when his S/O asked to see his face. He quickly turned them down, and they asked why. “You won’t like what you see,” he replied.

They tell him that whatever is under the mask, they will still love him more than anything. He looked down at them and only saw sincerity in their eyes.

With shaking hands, he pulled the mask off his face and waited for the gasp, but it never came. “All that fuss for those?” they giggled before pressing kisses to his cheeks and nose.

Tears of surprise and relief sprung in his eyes and he sighed happily. He felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulders as he wrapped his arms around his partner and kissed them passionately, relieved they didn’t mind the scars.

Spy spent the rest of the week pampering his partner and ensuring they would never be unhappy again.

#tf2 #teamfortress2 #tf2 x reader #tf2 headcanon #scout tf2 #soldier tf2 #pyro tf2 #demoman tf2 #heavy tf2 #engineer tf2 #sniper tf2 #medic tf2 #spy tf2

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manjuhitorie · 3 years

Text

Hitorie - Ongaku to Hito Magazine Interview - English Translation

Since we too are shouldering so much sorrow ourselves, it was all the more reason to try and find a way to do something about it... That's when we realized it's not about supporting people, it's rather about offering comfort to them.

Interview: Usami Hiroyo Photo: Nishimaki Taichi ～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～

-Tell me how the process went, how did you feel creating a whole new album by yourselves?

Shinoda: In order to keep the band Hitorie alive, forever playing the songs wowaka left behind wouldn't be enough to sustain us, we realized. So the three of us got together and each wrote about 1 chorus of a demo song. No big ordeal, we just knew it had to be done and went along with the flow almost.

-ygarshy, Yumao, did you have also have a hard time coping with the reality of making an album?

Yumao: Absolutely. Like "Are we really going to do this?"

ygarshy: I can't say I felt the same way as either of them, personally. Making an album was indeed the natural flow of things, but I'm still struggling to cope with it even now. I'm still questioning why I had to be main composer of a song, even if deep down I may understand why it had to be done..

-Was there any event that triggered you to act, despite each of your inner turmoil?

Yumao: Back in 2019 we toured as a trio for the first time, that may have been the trigger. Our emotions had burst out of us back then. We were in the midst of the HOWLS tour as a quad until it had to be cancelled right in the middle, so.. We had restarted the tour back as the three of us. Immediately after we begun though, did we begin to be filled with doubt...

Shinoda: Somehow Yumao and I both were never too nervous touring. That is, until the last day. When the question of what we were going to do next finally weighed in on us.

-ygarshy was nervous then?

ygarshy: Unlike the two of them, I was suffering so much. First of all I wasn’t even grasping the reality. Then our audience too came bearing mixed emotions as well, and it was unlike anything I had seen before. There were even people flat-out bawling their eyes out... Normally I never have stage fright, but that situation was nothing of the ordinary. Somehow the three of us pushed through until the end.

Yumao: When it finally hit us, like what the hell are the three of us doing out here! Up until then we were just telling ourselves “This is fine, this is fine.” To be honest we’re still doing that now, if we weren’t we wouldn’t be here.

Shinoda: Not to mention that Yumao had said something backstage that day which was pure cash money.

-What did he say?

Yumao: I had said something along the lones of “If we’re doing this then why don’t we go all the way? As long what we do is acceptable and civil, why don’t we just do it? Don’t you wanna bring in even bigger crowds? I wanna perform at Zepp and tour and stuff, don’t you. Then it’s simple, we gotta write some good songs.”, I think.

-You had no choice but to push forward... You have such strong feelings for the band to propel you forward. Therein lies my question, what originally spurred Shinoda to take on the vocal role?

Shinoda: After wowaka’s passing, we held a memorial event at Studio Coast. When we were discussing options on what to do for the event, ygarshy pointed at me and said “You should sing.” I have a history of singing for old bands in the past so it’s not as if I’m a stranger to singing but.. To sing under those circumstances felt like all too heavy a responsibility for me at first. That’s when even an acquaintance of mine contacted me and said “You’ve gotta sing.” While mulling over the problem before me, I went out to Family Mart, where I managed to hit the kuji lottery 7 times out of 8... That’s when I knuckled under, “Fine, I’ll do it.”

-The kuji lottery...?

Shinoda: One of those campaigns where you get one ticket for every purchase over a certain amount. But I was serious about it that time!!

-Ahahahha! Wait, is it okay for me to laugh at this.

Shinoda: If you don’t laugh then it will feel worse, so laugh by all means, it’s fine (laughing).

-Back to the discussion earlier, ygarshy what was your reason for endorsing Shinoda back then?

ygarshy: We were considering various options for the memorial concert, among them was inviting a substitute singer but, I really wanted to keep it as just the three of us. What was within our power was the question, and I knew of Shinoda’s singing abilities so.. I knew it would burden him further and make his load heavier, but I put that all aside and still told him “Go sing.”

-How did you feel about it Yumao?

Yumao: I understood why ygarshy ordered Shinoda, and I too wanted him to sing. But I knew Shinoda was stressing over it, I told him “If you really don’t want to then don’t do it, we’re not forcing you.” The memorial concert could just be anything and I’d be fine with it...

-Ultimately the choice was left to Shinoda.

Yumao: That way was for the best. But when he did announce that he would actually sing, I was indeed glad.

-I can sense that Shinoda, as the new vocalist, had to deal with an extraordinary amount of pressure and tribulations at times though.

Shinoda: That’s right. But there’s tons of three-man bands out there who sing while playing insane guitar pieces, and they get by just fine. We may be completely incomplete as a band but, I still desire to show an audience a good time. I was able to press on because of my standards as a performer I wanted to uphold.

-ygarshy, Yumao, what was your response to Shinoda’s circumstance? Did you try to lessen his load in anyway?

ygarshy: I basically strived to keep the bass and drums steady and consistent, so that he wouldn’t stuggle at all when harmonizing with it. The only thing I could do was use my bass to try and let Shinoda know that no matter what happened it would be fine.

-So you supported him through means of performance. What about you, Yumao?

Yumao: I reached out to him directly. Not by letting him talk or vent to me but, I tried to do more idle chitchat with him and stuff. It’s important to aaaalways rehearse with a straight focused head, and I always do that because I love to anyway but, if I could be like a crash pad cushioning his singing, then I hope that would be enough.

-Your consideration for each other shows in the album as well... On to the next question. At your 7th anniversary concert yesterday, Shinoda you had said “I hope this crazy shit can be turned into something you can enjoy.” When I heard that it really stuck me how strong you are Because there’s no need for you to ever get over grief, instead you cradle that grief and comfort others with it too.

Shinoda: this may sound weird but... I was worried if there were people out there who may still keep on grieving along with us. We expressed ourselves, our grief and how we feel. In the hopes that people may empathize, or something... Since we too are shouldering so much sorrow ourselves, it was all the more reason to try and find a way to do something about it, something for others who are in true sorrow right now... That's when we realized it's not about supporting people, it's rather about offering comfort to them.

-I see. Sorrow is inescapable so long as we're human. I sense in this album the potential to draw in people who even know nothing about Hitorie. Especially the final track, YUBIKIRI, of which Shinoda wrote the lyrics while Yumao composed the music. The bubbly melody is so easy on the ears, and the strong commitment to coping with reality shines right though. This song could practically be a good luck charm, it has such energy. So what were you thinking when you wrote it?

Yumao: For me personally, making a song that would fit Hitorie's image would be an utterly impossible feat. So I buckled up and wrote something I could. Putting emphasis on my feelings deep down and my own self-expression. The concept for the most part was "A sense of hope, like when the sky clears up and opens wide". When I made my order to Shinoda for the lyrics, I told to keep it straight enough that even a teenager will get it.

- You did a great job at expressing such bright brilliance. How did you confront the lyrics per order Shinoda?

Shinoda: I tried to make it about, like people confirming each other's existence, people hoping to see someone again one day. You may notice that the mood of the first bit is a bit different from the second bit as well. That's because the second was written fit to Yumao's order, while the first bit is supposed to be like a letter written by me to the other 2 members.

-As in the chorus lyrics "To cry, to laugh and rage/To inhale, exhale and inhale/You'd be surprised by how little we have time for such stuff, always so busy/Well then, that's it for today/So let me hear your voice again"?

Shinoda: That's right. Like "We're all so busy writing songs and doing whatever, but this pace is nice, let's keep this up."

-When you say "Let's keep this up", is that akin to a wish for Hitorie to keep on having good songs, including the ones wowaka left behind, and for people to see the beauty in your band?

Shinoda: I'm constantly feeling like our songs still haven't gone as far out in the world as they can go, there's more people out there who would connect with the songs if they could just hear them. I want to find a way to connect with them. Performing and writing music is something I love to do, it's who I am, and there's no one else out there who could do it with me like the amazing comrades I have here can.

Yumao: I feel the same way.

ygarshy: Yeah. Me too.

#Hitorie #ヒトリエ #interview #REAMP

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arcanescholar · 3 years

Text

Hard to Find the Right Words Ch. 2

Omori Post True Good Ending Spoilers. Chapter 1 here

Sometimes you just need to vibe with your friend(?)

The sun hung high and beat down with its telltale brutal heat with not a cloud in the sky to block its fury. Summer was starting to reach its full swing and god damn it she did not wanna put up with the judgy sky orb’s bullshit today. Ugh, riding out to the hospital on her bike at night trying to follow the ambulance’s route was a pain in the ass already that left her legs feeling way too damn sore, and piling on with this was just over kill damn it.

… Huh. Shit, that’s probably why her knees gave out back in Basil’s hospital room. Come to think of it, damn, she should’ve snagged some bandages while she was there, they were all in Sunny’s pocket-

She screeches to a halt, barely stopping herself from running smack into some younger elementary school kids that take one look at her haggard, emotionally exhausted expression and…

Scream.

Then run away, tripping over themselves because the scary nail-bat lady was here to eat their faces.

…

After a bit of fumbling, she yanks her phone out of her pocket and turns the busted front facing camera on to take a better look at her face…

She slept on a visitor’s couch last night, hadn’t had breakfast, just went through one of the most emotionally harrowing nights of her life, then one of the most emotionally harrowing mornings, and now just did what felt like a half and hour of hard pedaling to make it to her planned meet up with Kim cause her sense of time estimation fucking sucks.

“… I look terrible, ugh.”

First thing she’s gonna do, she thinks, is dunk her sore legs in a lake once she gets to the park, but before that, she takes off her jacket, tying the sleeves tight around her waist, leaving her in her favorite crop top to vent some heat off before getting back to pedaling.

The rest of the ride is a bit easier thankfully, a familiar coast through familiar streets and under familiar trees with familiar shade. She passes by the curb that the group first comforted her on along the way, past where she had her picture taken in her favorite coat and decided that she wanted to dye her hair pink one day, past where Kim first snagged her by the hand and dragged her along to meet the Hooligans-

Haahhh…

She coasts down a small hill, letting the bike carry her where it pleases for a bit, hair billowing behind her, standing up a bit on its aged frame and just letting the moment wash over her. She wishes she didn’t leave her headphones at home, this was a pretty perfect moment to just play something dramatic y’know?

But, the ride eventually comes to a stop, as she arrives at the park. The kids were already playing out in force, and that nice garbage collector lady was set up with her stand like always, but Aubrey didn’t have time to snag much extra cash, she was already late for meeting up with Kim by like ten minutes-

“Aubreeeeeey!”

Speak of the devil

“Hah… Hah… Hah…!”

Kim struggles over on her bike, panting for breath-

“Hey.”

“Sorry…! Mikhael- uh, the MAVERICK got in trouble with some girls he was supposed to pay cause he forgot he left his wallet at home so I had to bike back and forth to snag it for him, or else he would’ve followed me here whining the whole time! I’m not too late am I?”

“Nah, I just showed up too.”

“So, uh…! What did you wanna do?”

“…”

Aubrey turns without a word, stepping off of her bike and walking to the back of the park, shuffling her way across the verdant, well kept grass.

Come to think of it, there was way less trash around than before, and with how much she saw Sunny running around town…

Jeez, did he really pick up most of this with Kel? Damn pair of goody two shoes-

Is what she almost thinks, but, after the past few days, it’s kind of hard for her to really make fun of them for it. It’s honestly kind of impressive.

She remembers how many flowers were set up in Sunny’s hospital room in that moment while they waited for him to wake up… How many well wishes and thank you notes sprawled across the tables and some even on the floor itself because of how much space was taken up. For a boy that hadn’t shown his face in maybe four years, that looked like he hadn’t had a decent meal in just about as long, that seemed more like a mystery than an actual person, he really…

…

Was it really good? Was it something he did out of kindness? Was it one last hurrah to try to apologize for what he did to Mari? Aubrey can’t wrap her head around his headspace, and that thought is enough to make her punch her hand against a tree with enough force to shake its leaves… That or the breeze was really well timed-

“Aubreeeey…! I can’t help out if you don’t even talk to me y’know!”

Kim grumbles as she manages to catch up, walking alongside her best friend with the canopy of trees overhead shading them from the sunlight.

As Aubrey turns her head, she takes a moment to stare at her friend, watching the way the sunlight dances across her skin as it peeks out from the trees to light her up the way her smile lit up Aubrey’s worst days.

Kim’s expression was that perfect mix of annoyed and genuinely worried, the kind that makes you feel bad for bringing up a problem in the first place but yanks all your guts out onto the floor to get it settled already, her eyes resolute and determined to get to the bottom of what was happening. Was this her way of apologizing for leaving her behind with Sunny, Kel, and Basil at the lake…?

“… Hhhffffhhhit’sallfuckedup.” Aubrey finally groans, stepping forward into the hidden spot behind the park, the lake’s water glistening in the sunlight, the old statue’s flowers swaying in the breeze, and the same abandoned picnic basket and blanket. Someone really needs to clean that up damn it, but, the blanket makes for a nice place to sit kinda.

She dumps her bike off to the side with more force than she means to, Kim following suit. The pair share a quick look and a nod of understanding before popping off their shoes, their socks, rolling up pants legs in Kim’s case.

They walk together and sit by the edge of the lake, leaving the stuff they took off to the side, dumped carelessly in the grass, dunking their legs into the cool water with a harmonized sigh of relief, a mirrored gesture of leaning back to rest their palms against the grass before flopping onto their backs in near perfect sync, and finally taking in a deep breath to just bring themselves back into the moment.

Without a word, Kim pulls out her phone and a pair of headphones, offering one up to Aubrey that she takes with no hesitation, stuffing it into her ear and staring up at the clouds as music plays loud enough to hear but quiet enough to just let them… Vibe, is the word they’d both use for it.

For a few minutes they lay there, sharing a song, a mellow guitar and the tapping of a drumstick against a closed hi-hat washing over them.

The beach might be out of their reach right now, but sound waves’ll make a good substitute.

Kurayami de yorisou hibi

“… Sunny lost his eye.”

“Holy shit…”

Bokura ni wa beddo mo nai

“Dunno if Basil’s woken up yet either, but… Sunny told us, a little bit about what happened when Mari died.”

“…”

Nai kedo…

“… Sorry I’ve been so cagey and quiet and stuff lately.” She murmurs, rolling over onto her side to look at Kim more properly, her friend rolling over too, her glasses getting shoved slightly till she just takes them off and sets them off to the side.

“I dunno what’s goin’ on but it seems like it’s really heavy… After what went on with your mom and dad though? Feels like you can tell me… well… Just about anything right? After you shut us out and I had to call those three over to your place I started really worrying you were gonna dip back into a screwed up place again.”

“… Gonna be honest… I almost was.”

Kimi waaaa, ima tashika niii-

“But?”

“… But, I managed to realize some important stuff, I think. About… About Mari. About Sunny, Kel, Hero, you, all of our friends.”

Soba de…!

“… I missed them so much it hurt. I missed everything so much that it ached.”

Hohoemu

“And, when I couldn’t do anything about that ache, I turned that anger out on nearly everything around me. If it weren’t for you and the other Hooligans I think I would’ve turned out even worse…”

“Aubrey…”

Sawarasetari shinai

Kurutta koi to

Sashichigaete mo ii nda

Zenbu uketomeru

“… Sunny pushed Mari down the stairs of their home in the middle of a huge argument between them after he broke his violin.” She murmurs, tears starting to trickle down her face, cresting over the bridge of her nose and spilling onto the grass and dirt.

“Holy shit-“

“But… I… No matter what I do I just can’t think to be mad at him anymore.”

Beautiful morning with you

Itsuka, utaitai na

Beautiful morning with you

Kimi to hikari abite

“After I pushed Basil into a lake… Kicked off this whole mess of yesterday and today, I guess it made me realize how precious stuff is.”

“How do you mean?”

“That like… If Basil died right there… And Sunny with him? If he and Sunny drowned in the lake, even if I somehow ‘got away with it’, I’d… I don’t think I’d be able to live with myself.”

“…”

“When it happened I was so freaked out I couldn’t even move, let alone try to rescue him. My head twisted to all sorts of places, like, what should I do to get away if they both die. About how I’d have to run away from town, dye my hair a different color, get as far as I can and never look back.”

Sabishisa wa teguchi wo kae

“That’s… heavy.” Kim murmurs, finding it hard to bring herself to say anything else, but…

Maybe, in a moment like this, there’s nothing she could say. Nothing she could do, except be here in this moment to be someone Aubrey could talk to, reaching out in a moment of vulnerable affection to squeeze her close, one hand resting at the small of her back, and the other pressing against the back of her head, running her fingers through the girl’s hair…

Nando demo ai ni kuru

“So, I guess I get it now. Why he hid away in his home for so many years. Why he took so long to tell us until it exploded like that. Why they did something so… dumbfuck stupid like trying to make it look like Mari killed herself… I get it cause, I think I would’ve done the same thing if we weren’t lucky and had Hero there to save them both, and hating Sunny over it would make me a hypocrite.”

“And we both know how much you hate those…”

Kuru kedo

Futari ikudo to naku

“… I’m gonna try to be better than I was a few days ago. Better than I was a few years ago. Maybe this is just me trying to make excuses and wriggle my way out of the dumb stuff I’ve done but, I want to be there for them the way you were there for me. The way you and the others were, when I had nowhere else to go, so… Thanks Kim.”

“Heh… S’ what I’m here for Aubrey.”

Koko de unadzuite

The pair hold up their hands, and bump their fists in time with the song’s beat picking up, and just in time for-

“AH! There they are! Hahahaha, of course THE MAVERICK would know the right way-”

“Hey sis! Jeez, where were you two, we were wondering what happened!”

“Yeah! Did that smelly Kel and weird Mystery Boy with the knife do something to you after all?! I’ll give ‘em a dropkick that’ll send ‘em flying!”

“… sorry, t-that we weren’t there when… things went really bad…”

Furimuitari sinai

Sodatta ai ni!

Kizusuitatte ii nda

Mou

Modoranai

The Hooligans damn near bum rush the pair, dog piling on them both with muffled shouts in faux-protest as the group becomes a tangled mess of limbs, laughs, and little room for escape.

Beautiful morning with you!

Itsuka! Wakaritai na!

Beautiful morning with you

Bokura umarete kita koto!

“Hey, hey, Charlene brought some egg sandwiches from home that her mom made-” Angel grins at the top of the pile, resting on his side and supporting his head with his hand.

“M-mh… Um… I… had a feeling you missed breakfast again, so, I got worried… I was gonna bring them to the hospital but… when I called to ask where you were they said you were gone…” Charlene explains with her usual quiet voice, this time tinged with affection and worry as she… stands off to the side, feeling a bit too self conscious to dog pile but still holding both Kim and Aubrey’s hands.

“Yeah… After what happened with Basil by the lake and the stuff that went down at his place with him and the other guy, and that day you weren’t answering your door, all of us sorta got together and talked a bit…” Vance continued, directly hugging the pair of girls with a big, doofy grin.

“And of course, I, in my infinite wisdom as The Maverick made the wonderful declaration that we reaffirm our bond as the glorious, Hellacious Hooligans of Faraway Town! Our bonds of brother and sisterhood won’t be shaken like that again, this, I promise! What do you think ladies? Falling for me yet?~”

“shpk lke thhgh hhhhghnn nhhh whhll kll yu-”

“Hmmm? Say that again Aubrey?”

Vance shuffles off just enough to let the girls breathe again, the pair simultaneously sucking in a breath before shouting at the same time with big grins on their faces.

“”Speak like that again and we’ll kill ya!””

In the tackle-hugging dog pile rush, Kim’s headphones got unplugged, and the play button on the song got butt-pressed while it was auto based, but as the Maverick lets loose a yelp and topples off of the pile with only Charlene to catch him, with a laugh from the rest of the group, the rest of the song they were listening to finally gets to finish.

Promises like these might not always stand the test of time, Aubrey knew that for a fact. They can wither and fail and break and shatter in your hands faster than she can blink, but now…?

Beautiful morning with you

Itsuka, utaitai na

Beautiful morning with you

Kimi to hikari abite

Beautiful morning with you!

Isumo, kanjitai na!

Beautiful morning with you!!!

Kimi to, deaeta koto!

Now she kinda understands why Kel was so damn determined.

Even if it doesn’t last forever, even if it doesn’t work out, moments like this are worth fighting for.

She just wishes, in some part of her chest, that it hadn’t taken her so long to realize…

… … …

The hours pass, the sun raises as high as it can be before finally beginning its descent. The rest of Aubrey’s morning and afternoon was spent talking with her friends, practicing her bat swing on any random tree branches they could snap off and throw. Turns out Angel was nice enough to snag her bat for her on the way over too, and Bun-Bun…

Well, Charlene barely fit through the ladder hatch, but, Bun-Bun had a nice, temporary home at her place while Aubrey had to manage everything that happened last night and couldn’t go home to check on her and play with her. It’s a good thing she’s so gentle.

Against her better instincts, she uses her phone’s crappy, busted-ass camera to snag a picture here and there as they spend the day.

Angel and THE MAVERICK practicing dumb poses at each other, Charlene crouching nearby some flowers to see whether or not she wanted to pick them or leave them be to grow on their own, Vance and Kim getting into thumb wrestling matches to figure out how they’d split the last of their candy haul…

They were messy, unprofessional, usually badly focused, and the camera’s issues made it difficult as shit to call them anything close to “good”, but, they were hers…

And as the sun dredged low, and as the group had to split up to go back to their parents’ places for dinner time, that was good enough.

Kim and Aubrey are the last pair left alone once everything is said and done for the day, standing next to their respective rides as the distant laughs, jokes, and banter of the rest of the group echo out into the distance.

“… Hey Kim? ‘Fore I go… I just…”

“Yeah, Aubrey?”

“… Thanks. For spending time with me today. For the music and stuff too.”

“I had a feeling you forgot your headphones with everything that happened. Glad I turned out to be right!~”

“… Yeah…”

“Hey, one last thing before we split off for the day!”

“Huh- Eh?!”

With barely any time to react, Kim sweeps an arm around Aubrey, squeezing he close and tight while lifting her own phone up into the air, the relatively undamaged thing snapping a picture of Kim sticking her tongue out and Aubrey’s shocked, red faced blush at being hugged outta nowhere like that before Kim gives the barely taller girl a big squeezing hug, stuffing her phone into her pocket and damn near lifting Aubrey off the ground.

“Picture for picture, send me some of the stuff you tried to sneak pictures of!~ And... I’m not gonna make the same mistake of leavin’ you to deal with all that alone again, okay? I’m still not good at this kinda nerdy touchy feely feelings stuff, but…”

She pulls away, pushing up her glasses with one hand and scratching the back of her head with the other in an attempt to hide her blush at trying to throw up this kind of bravado outta nowhere-

“Th… The candy doesn’t taste right, if you’re not happy, or something!”

“… Kim that might be the cheesiest shit you’ve ever said in your life..”

“Hey-”

“But… Thank you. I think… I’ll be fine, just for now. If anything else comes up, I’ll tell you, okay? Right now, I gotta meet up with Kel and follow up with him on what we’re supposed to do next.”

“Best of luck with your mission, comrade.”

The pair smack their hands together for a firm high five before going their separate ways.

For now…

She had some god damn pizza to get, and a guy too lovably foolish to give up on people to share it with.

#omori #omori aubrey #aubrey focused #kim omori #spoilers #omori spoilers #omori good ending #omori good ending spoilers #what the fuck i've never written this much this consistently in a while why-#bonus points to whoever knows what the fuck they're listening to #but tbh googling lyrics is easy so #probably just like one point or some shit #fanfic #omori fanfic #hard to find the right words #chapter 2

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loganh0ll0w · 4 years

Note

How's LT's relationship with all the mercs?

I was literally thinking about this this morning how did you know 👀

Soldier: Soldier and L.T. are mostly a business relationship. They battle together fine on the field, but for the most part LT strays from Solly anywhere else. Hes a bit too loud and harsh for his taste. Though sometimes he doesnt mind his so called "pep talks". LT needs a good stern talking to to get his ass in gear.

Spy: LT and Him to NOT get along. Spy is the lads go to prank victim. Spy finds him annoying and childish, LT finds him an egotistical bastard with a nasty attitude.

Sniper: QUIET BUDDIES! LT will often go hang out with Snipes in his camper when he wants to do alone time but with someone else. They'll both do their own things quietly together. Occasionally they'll sit out in his lawn chairs around a fire and just drink. They dont really talk to each other much though.

Demo: these two LOVE to drink and talk about folklore together. Swap ghost stories. Talk about swords and knives. Besides Scout and Ry, LT hangs out with Demo the most actually! They enjoy a good card game, listen to the radio together, or occasionally they'll have a just a talk session about everything and nothing. LT is a pretty emotional guy, and Demo doesnt judge him for it. So they'll talk about feelings and vent to each other. Its good stuff.

Heavy: LT likes Heavy well enough. Occasionally pesters him with pranks here and there. But mostly leaves him be. He hangs around the Doc too much for LT to really be around him.

Doc: LT KEEPS HIS DISTANCE. He's quite skeptical of the man and doesn't have the most trust in him. Whenever medical thinga happen he strictly requests for Ry to operate. The Doc gives him the heebie-jeebies. Most doctors give him the heebie-jeebies though.

Pyro: They arent super close or do much together. He has a hard time understanding them, but he's learned they both enjoy music! That's sort of their way of "communicating". They'll switch off and on playing their own music in the rec room. But thats about it!

Scout: Out of all the mercs these two are the closest. Considering LT is the newby scout, he has to be trained by THE Scout! So they spend a lot of time together training and fighting. But even outside of work they hang out quite a bit. Play pranks, draw, read comics, tell stupid jokes. Scout will teach LT how to play baseball, and LT teaches him circus tricks. And He doesnt mind that Scout talks a lot, hes a good listener so it works out. To no ones surprise, this has lead LT to have quite the crush on him.

Engineer: LT goes to Engi a lot of advice. Sees him as an older brother type. Engi is usually the one to reprimand whenever LT does happen to get caught pulling pranks, after Engi laughs a little though. He tries not to bug the texan too much. He knows be's super busy with all of his work.

#asks #tf2 oc #L.T.#tf2 #thank you for asking this :') ive been wanting to talk about it recently alsjskak #sorry this was so fucking long

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harrysbaebyhoney · 6 years

Note

#70 from the prompt list?

thank you for requesting this, lovely! i hope i did the prompt justice, enjoy xx

Y/N had an awful day at work, and although she never was one to complain much, she felt the need to have a heavy venting session. She knew Harry was busy, recording for his new album and setting up the rehearsals for his upcoming tour. However, her best friend was on her honeymoon, and she really just needed someone to listen to her.

Besides, she was sure he could fit it into his day to listen to his girlfriend and her eventful day. Boy, was she wrong. Harry’s mood had increasingly gotten worse since he accidentally erased a demo of his song, and he would now have to record certain parts of it again.

Though he figured that was the worse that could happen, his rehearsals for tour were now pushed back due to a scheduling error where a band member wasn’t informed about the rehearsals in the first place. This only added to his stress about the upcoming tour, and he wasn’t in the mood to listen to his girlfriend’s day when he was still dealing with his.

When Y/N had gotten home from work, though, she was obliviously unaware of his rotten mood which is what led her to sulk towards his office. “Harry, you won’t believe what’s happened to me today,” She already began her rambling, walking through the doorway and dramatically collapsing on the couch opposite his desk. “I’ve had the worst time possible! I came in work, just a few minutes late, and apparently, that’s as bad as not showing up at all. My boss totally snapped at me in front of everybody, which, may I add, was awfully embarrassing. Then, I later found out that all my coworkers had a dinner together last night which I was not invited to. That didn’t make me feel very good about myself, and I mean, cmon, did they really have to talk about in front of me? I have no idea what I did, but—“

She was cut off by his long, exasperated sigh, fingers pinching at the bridge of his nose. “Would yeh’ hurry up the story?” He mumbled in a low, irritated tone, not expecting Y/N to hear him. She did, though, and narrowed her eyes at him in offense.

“What’s wrong with you today?” She quipped back in her own annoyed tone, unaware of the awful day he had, as well. However, Y/N always made sure to ask him about his day and to really listen. So, she didn’t really think she was asking for much when she expected his attention on her for just a few minutes, just so she could rant it off.

“Nothin’, (Y/N), but ‘ve got work t’do, and m’sure your work friends will work it out with yeh’, so let’s move past it, alright?” He briefly addressed her, eyes still glued to his laptop screen.

She sat up from her position on the couch, arms crossing over her chest as she huffed lightly. “Actually, Harold, I don’t think they are going to ‘work it out with me’, considering Lizzie was just talking—“

“My god, (Y/N), not everyone is out to get you. Stop thinking that. It’s annoying ,” Harry cut her off with a roll of his eyes, not even glancing up at her for a split second. At that, Y/N gave up, because her boyfriend was clearly not willing to listen to her and was only worsening her mood by taking the opposing side.

Besides, her coworkers were out to get her, and she knew it. He would, too, if he just let her finish venting and actually bothered to listen. “Fine, my bad,” She shortly replied, standing up from the couch and leaving the room silently, leaving a coldness behind. Harry sighed, knowing she was angry with him, but he couldn’t deal with her right now when he had so much to fix.

Y/N, meanwhile, decided that if Harry wasn’t going to help cheer her up, she would take things into her own hand. After changing into her oversized nightgown, which was just Harry’s old jumper, and her fuzzy socks, she sauntered into the kitchen where she started baking chocolate chip cookies. She decided she would be sharing absolutely none of her cookies with him.

Forty-five minutes later and twenty-four cookies prepared, Y/N had curled up on the couch with her favorite sitcom, The Office, playing. Harry had just gotten off the phone with his team, where he finally received some good news: they would have an early rehearsal tomorrow morning to fit in before tour.

Now rather cheerful, he left his office to find his girlfriend and make amends. Once the stress was released from his system, he had realized what an arse he had been with brushing her off. He knew she was hardly one to complain, especially when she knew he was busy. Most of all, he knew that, no matter her mood, she always listened to him with open ears and provided comfort. He just wasn’t as good of a person as she was, but he would now try to be.

“‘Lo, love,” He greeted her in a soft tone as he entered the living room, not surprised when she didn’t look his way and instead nibbled on her cookie. “Baked cookies, hm? Can I try one?”

“No.”

Harry sighed, “Petal, I was just stressed before, I-“

“Not everyone is going to buy your excuses. Stop thinking that. It’s annoying,” She cut him off, mimicking the roll of his eyes. If he wasn’t so keen on getting her to quit being mad at him, he would’ve chuckled or broken into an amused smirk. Instead, he stepped forward until he plopped on the couch beside her.

His greedy hands grabbed onto her waist, pulling her body into his with her back against his chest, although she tried to push away. “Stop it, I’m mad at you,” She grumbled at him, hands grabbing at his to peel his grip off of her.

“I don’t care, rant to me ‘bout how mad yeh’ are, then,” Harry argued, keeping her pressed against him.

“Oh, so now you want to listen? You don’t just get to choose when you want to deal with me, Harry,” She shot back at him, turning her head over her shoulder to narrow her eyes at him.

Harry pressed a soft kiss on her shoulder, nodding in agreement as he tugged her onto his lap, making her face him. “Yeh’re right, and I was a proper arsehole fo’ not listenin’ to yeh’ before. Yeh’re always so good to me, being here and all tha’. Tell me who’s been out to get yeh’, I’ll go find them and give them a good scolding,” He coaxed her, leaving dainty kisses along her neck. He knew she would cave in at that, and he was right as she relaxed into his grip.

Y/N rolled her eyes at him, but her lips broke into a small smile. It was hard to stay mad at him, especially when he was leaving soft kisses on her skin. “Fine, but you really have to give them a good scolding, otherwise this’ll all be for nothing,” She agreed to which he nodded at determinedly.

“Of course, doll,” He murmured in agreement, grinning as she caved in and started up her ranting again, from her mean boss, to her spiteful coworkers, and to Lizzie who unknowingly talked about Y/N in an awful manner right in front of her. He listened and comforted her, arms wrapped around her and holding onto her a little bit tighter when he saw her lips curve into a frown as she recalled feeling all alone in her own office.

By the end of the night, Y/N had finally cheered up, thanks to the comforting words of Harry and his kisses that could cure anything. Of course, cuddling while watching Michael Scott vent about his vasectomies helped just a little bit, too.

#harry styles writing #harry styles #harry styles blurb #harry styles fluff #harry styles prompt #harry styles request #requests #harry styles fic #harry styles one shot

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loftyloftyloftyloftylofty · 6 years

Text

<rant>

I’ve kept a lot of stuff to myself lately and I’d like to take a quick opportunity to vent and maybe get some feedback from people. If that’s your dig, click the Keep Reading banner below.

Otherwise, I’ll see you again soon with more progress!

I’d like to start this one off by saying thanks. I appreciate that you’re taking the time to read this.

Lately, I’ve been spending a lot more time working on Cat Story. This isn’t really breaking news, but I think it’s important to mention that I’ve been pushing myself a lot harder.

The effort shows! Or, at least, I feel that it shows. I’ve been doing a better job of maintaining regular weekly updates on Patreon in addition to Tumblr, I’ve been doing a better job of crossposting these updates to Twitter and Facebook, I’ve been doing a better job of being active on Steam. I’ve been taking more opportunities to interact with other gamedevs on Twitter and Tumblr and trying to get out of my protective shell a little bit and make some friends!

With that said, I feel I can still improve a lot in the context of social media, but it’s hard to measure the impact that it’s actually having. I can see reblogs and retweets and shares, but I’m not really sure if all of this stuff is expanding my existing audience or not. I hope that I’m able to share my project with more people by putting more effort into more platforms.

I think that once Cat Story releases, I’ll be able to get a better understanding of how effective each of these platforms will be for communicating with people that play my game. I see other game developers doing it, and I see bigger game companies doing it, but I’ve just got this nagging feeling that putting extra effort into Twitter, Facebook, etc isn’t going to be worth it in the long run and that I could be leveraging that effort in other ways.

I’m curious on thoughts and feedback from other game developers about how much of an impact other social media platforms have had on your reach and your audience.

Thankfully, in the somewhat niche social media market of indie gamedev, the landscape is almost entirely real, living, breathing people. It’s nice to know that the likes, shares, reblogs, etc that I receive are real, and I appreciate the help!

Moving on from social media, I feel that the extra effort I’m putting in really shined through in the latest Patreon demo. I’m really proud of the fact that I released a demo on time with the features I wanted, and was also able to finish off some bonus content and improve the quality of the demo map by a pretty significant margin. I expect each new demo to be leaps and bounds of progress, because I really, really want to finish this project.

I want to move on. I want to do even bigger things. I want to hire people. I want to run conventions. I want to host tournaments. I want merchandise. I want a brand. I want to be the name in the games industry that is known for doing it right. I want my characters on billboards. I want to collaborate with companies like Nintendo. I want to be one of the people with the resources to do things like dropping huge donations at GDQ or funding and publishing other gamedevs. I want my own MMORPG IP. I want to usurp the E3 stage. I want multi-platform worldwide releases. The list goes on and on and on, and I won’t be satisfied until I’ve accomplished all of it and more.

I’ve said this a lot; Cat Story is the first big step. I want to release Cat Story this year. I’m working my tail off over here to try to make sure that the game releases this year, and to be frank, I’m starting to get a little more than just ‘hung up on it’.

The daily grind of game development has outgrown any pretenses of being a hobby and matured into an aggressive animal of a lifestyle.

Progress every day isn’t optional. Every bit of ground I can gain matters.

Even on days where I feel worn out or tired or uninspired after work, I refuse to let myself go to bed without knowing that I’ve made some kind of progress on the engine, or finished some pixel art, or sent an email to get in contact with someone, or did some research that’ll help me out later on. Sometimes it’s reading books that helped other developers. Sometimes it’s just reiterating on the same ideas to improve them just a little bit more. Sometimes it’s simply making a list of more stuff that needs to get done so that I have a more concrete starting point when I wake up.

Long term consistency is king. Recently though, I’ve really doubled down on what I expect from myself in terms of maintaning consistency.

It's definitely difficult and demanding to maintain this progress-centric mindset. I feel like I’m sacrificing a whole lot of other opportunities to stay on task, and I’ve been able to justify it so far with the belief that working as hard as I can, every single day, will be enough.

That’s something of a dangerous mentality to have, right? The idea that the merit of the effort put into a work will be the deciding factor in success? Plenty of garbage is successful simply because there’s an awesome marketing team behind it.

It’s difficult to make any one-size-fits-all statements regarding the success of games, and while it’s undeniable that doing a really good job is helpful, I’m not sure if doing a really good job is going to be enough all by itself.

To address this, I’ve started reaching out to folks who work in marketing and publishing to get their input and start making friends, so we’ll see how that goes. In the meantime, sometimes I find myself in that weird, melancholy mindset where I wonder if all the effort will be worth it.

It’s always a gamble though, right? There is no guaranteed, safe way to release the kind of game I want to create. There isn’t a formula for producing these kinds of games that just magically automatically equals success.

I’ve sacrificed a whole lot of stuff for this project. Friends. Careers. Family ties. Time.

I’m going to continue working as hard as I can until the project is finished, but I don’t really have any super-effective ways to cope with the fear that I won’t get the momentum I want from the finished product.

The best I’ve been able to come up with is, “If you’re afraid of not being successful, hustle harder.”

So, here I am, slam-dunking my demo stretch goals, partially because I want to do the best I possibly can, and partially because I’m absolutely terrified that if I don’t continue kicking cosmic amounts of ass, I won’t be able to follow my dreams full-time after Cat Story releases.

I don’t want to be part of the nine-to-five status quo grind anymore.

I don’t want to climb some weird corporate hierarchy in a company that doesn’t belong to me or share my vision of what a company should be.

I don’t want to have to work around a schedule that isn’t in alignment with my own goals.

I can do better for myself and the only way to do better is to work harder. This is what it takes. It’s hard, but it’s necessary. I have incredibly-ambitious goals and my plan is to work so hard that my dreams, which probably seem completely unrealistic, become clockwork victories.

...It’s just kinda’ hard to find effective ways to address the fears that come with these really big goals.

So, that’s where I’m at. I’ve probably still got about 3 hours before I need to head to bed for work in the morning, so I’m gonna’ get back to doing the thing.

Thanks again for reading. Hopefully this stuff helps people understand my point of view a little better:

Get back to work. These games aren’t going to make themselves.

#GET BACK TO WORK #GameDev #Game Development

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mingi-bubu · 4 years

Text

Watch “Love O2O” with Me!

Episode 16

ooohh we are past the halfway point now T.T

i wonder whats going to happen over the summer break !

we are soon to find out ^^~

i have my ramen, my phone is plugged in, i have mogu mogu and no water :|

as the lovely mark lee would say, lezgeddit

oh so according to the episode summary we should be seeing wei2 get a phone soon

i mean obvioulsy the plot calls for it

but still very nice to see

so to summarize the summary weiwei is invested in weinai but scared about summer and shes working hard to get a cellphone and nai goes up against a hacker

we open in the airport or trainstation or something with nai walking back to her

wuhan is wehre shes from

no tickets for 5 days

wowowow

plane ticket for the day after tomorrow

god this is really awkward and now its even funnier bc his phone wasnt on aldkjfslkdj

hes :[

he was so excited too to have her stay any more time

since they mentioned planes specifically im gonna say shes train-ing it

oh so she just left like a shit ton of stuff in her dorm?

shes gonna miss her train

FEOREHAED KISS

nai’s lil mole on his cheekbone i

*smooch*

he wasnt even touching her arm im fuckign weak

still is a NICE fucking car im not over that bit yet

our boy got a phone call and then took the cactus out of the burberry bag

they really are flashing back to their first irl meeting huh

i still think that the framing in that scene was awkward

like i know there were nai fansites but i wonder if there were nai fansites on weibo and stuff adkjflskd

oh we’re just recapping all of their irl relationship huh

ok then

boy if that cactus falls on you its gonna hurt

AWWWW WEIWEI’S DAD!!!

hes so funny i love him

oooh he got a new car?

no avespa

where is he going to put the suitcase

well i guess that doesnt matter

hoy shit her house is nice

this is very awkward

ooohhhh its bc her mom SUCKS at cooking ok ok

oh she really do be giving her mom the puppydog eyes huh

kodak!!!

whos the other guy

its the #Squad and some other guy

oh its the rest of the staff i guess

their office is packed

and he added stuff to his personal office

i swear that that weird thing wasnt there before

he :] at the cactus awwwww

ajl;dkfasjd weiwei isnt allowed to date

but more imprtdanly he :D

shut ppppp he so cuteee

alksdjflkadsjf;lkas HER MTOEHR CAME BACK

XIAOYANG IM SICKK

SHE REALLY USED HER LIL TUTOR BUDDY AS AN EXUSE

I NEED TO TALK TO YOU WHEN IM STUCK ON A PROBLEM I LOVE IT

SHES REALLY SAYING SHE DOESNT WANT TO TUTOR THIS KID

GET A JOB AKJFALSKJD

her mom really took her whole ass scholarship money away

HE SAVE HER HOME NUMBER AS MOTHER IN LAW’S HOUSE I HATE IT HERE

how to be that fucking confident

september loks so good hhhh

the demo is set for sept 20 and theyre going up against yiran’s uncle

he really is having kodak have a mental breakdown

lksdflskajf

kodak got a new haircut too!

jiayou!!!

ok we meet the kid weiwei’s tutoring over the summer

what are they doing???

trig??

its rainy in wuhan

this like 10 year old has an apple watch wthat the fuck

it is a NICE house she just left

she really do be doing the most

their faucet is fucked up a lil bit

oh so she can game now

understood

is anyone on?

oh he is

she said as she sneezes

im dead

shes really doing asmr for him rn im sick

he looks good in plain tshirts

he really said i cant blame your mother

they really are sponsered by the yakult brand

washing vegetables is much easier than doing dishes what the fuck

hes jasdlfkas

you didnt mute yourself so tecnically he iddnt eavestrop

phothesohafj

only beansprouts like the dark

DAMN SHE BRAZEN NOW

HE :D

:))))

CUTEEEE

oooh tinie game design i love it

they sound like dogs

sweetie theyre animations

she really just vented to the animations

if you dont mute it its meaningless babe

shes sneaking around on the phone???

also they sure do have a lot of fish

whats supposed to happen if he cant pay??

bruh

you didnt think this thru all the way i think

i guess he did have money

he had to borrow money ajflaksdj

god hes pretty in that shot

i want rice with beef

i say as i eat my spicey ramen

these people are too skinny

especially wei2

her room is cool

she has a giant stuffed fox? on her bed

she really do being asking about the drama

me too tho

she sleep and he work

he bring the cactus everyweher with him

she wake

she has an alcove in her window??? god i wish that were me

oh they look at the night sky at the same time

dorky

and back to the office

they put fish in an old monitor

one of the benches is a keyboraad???

omg

kodak have juice

ew that was

gross

why is he sleping at the office?

i have many questiotn

oh no something happened

oh he napped

his wallpaper is changed

kodak got hacked

and he cant change it back no matter what

hmmmm

did he just hard reset it

looks like

nai will be alerteed as soon as

OH MY GOD

IS IT HIM

OH MY GOOOODDDD

OH MY GOD

IM SHOOK

ITS CHEF BOY

DAMN

HOW CAN YOU SAY YOU MEAN NO HARM BUT HACK THEM ANWAYS

sdlkfsjd;l

he really stay on this whole goddess thing huh

oh theyre gona

elbow batches

they hacked the camera

oh my god???

its the end of the episode wht the FUCK

ughhhh

afl;kjas im upset

also september has elbow patches i got distracted a bit im sorry

thats all for this episode

unfortunately

thank you for reading!!!

stay safe and stay healthy <333

#cdrama #Love O2O #e16 #love o2o wwm: round 1 #jae.txt #jae.wwm

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its-called-a-balaclava · 7 years

Text

The Team Fortress Testing Initiative (Chapter 2)

Nine mercs, in a field, in the middle of nowhere, looking for a portal gun… what could go wrong?

Multi-Chapter Work-In-Progress

Teen & Up Audiences

Previous Chapter

Chapter Two: Good Science Requires Sacrifice

“Why did we all have to come out here again?” Sniper asked.

“I told y'all, it’ll be faster if it’s nine of us. And I am not cookin’ dinner until we find this thing.” Engie replied. That alone was enough to get everyone moving through the field faster; out of all of them, Dell was the only one who could make food that no one would complain about.

It hadn’t taken GLaDOS long at all to undo the hack that had disabled her. It was meant for simple sentries and dispensers; it had only barely paralyzed her, actually. After she’d regained full control of the facility, she had set straight to multitasking, cleaning up the facility and running through old data she had from when there were multiple test subjects.

Cleaning the facility was a major job. Between that mute lunatic’s antics a while ago, and her frantic attempts to get at Wheatley by shaking the place apart, the whole place had to be scrapped. And as she deployed nanobots for deconstruction, she found a basis for a new procedure of testing; when she looked at the data, she realized that tests could be sorted into grades of difficulty. In an “easy” test, nine out of ten test subjects would be competent enough to make it. Then, if she made a slightly more difficult test, the percentage of success would drop.

She constructed the new testing centers based on this theory. Ten “beginner” chambers, but one subject would most likely fail anyway. There would be nine chambers after that, then eight after that. She rigged an elevator system so that each test subject was automatically delivered to an empty chamber― no talking, no cheating, no wasting time in halls exchanging pleasantries. If one more person survived than what statistics expected, they could wait their turn. Or, depending on how many test subjects GLaDOS could find, just be… removed… from the course anyway.

She loved this system. A mathematical simplicity, yet it involved the ferocity of Darwin. The only flaw― the flaw in all science, in her opinion― was that she needed human test subjects. The day that humans made good test subjects was the day she died― in other words, never.

And construction was nearly finished. It was expensive to pump in air from the outside, but it was necessary in this case; the air pressure levels were simply wrong for human testing down in the chambers. Not too hard to fix, though. Just open up the pipes on the surface for a few seconds.

“It’s getting dark, man. We should just go home.” Scout aimed his words to Engie.

“Oh, hush, kid. The sun dippin’ behind a mountain doesn’t count as it gettin’ dark out.” Engie hadn’t lost his vigor in searching for the portal gun. This, this could change everything .

“I see it!” Heads whipped around. “No, no, wait, that’s just grass.” Wheatley corrected himself. At Engie’s insistence, they’d brought the sapper― though Spy had insisted Scout carry him. But seven false alarms later, it was starting to seem like a mistake.

Everyone continued waving their wands through the grass in silent frustration.

“Wait, wait, I actually see it!” Wheatley said.

“Where?” Medic asked, full of hope that he’d be able to go home and feed Archimedes― he had insisted on coming along and would be starting to get irritable soon.

“It’s right― no, no, sorry, that’s just grass.” Wheatley said. The sad part was, every time Wheatley called out to the team, he really did think he had found the gun.

Heavy noticed the glare in Medic’s eyes and put a hand on his shoulder, which he shrugged off easily. He held his metal detector like a golfer about to take a shot. “Drop it on the ground, Scout, I’m going to kill this machine.”

“No!” Dell said, even as the others looked on, quite happy. “It could possibly be sentient!”

“Even better.” Medic grinned.

“Aye, you know you want to take that thing apart, so just let him smash it to bits and that way it’s not on your conscience,” Demo said in a surprisingly well thought-out argument that made Engie pause.

Wheatley was hooked around Scout’s neck. “Scout, drop it on the ground or else your sternum is shattering along with the machine.” said Medic.

“Yeah, do what the doc said!” Sniper had been annoyed by the robot since he’d first it speak. He was almost never vindictive, but in this case, he wanted to see the little bugger shatter into pieces.

He was working further away from everyone else, as he generally did, and he took long, fast strides, wanting to get there before Medic took his swing.

He didn’t realize he was still clutching his detector until it started beeping. Everyone froze in place, looking at the source of the noise.

Dell was the first to break the spell, running towards the spot while waving his wand furiously.

“Verdamnt,” Medic said, but he followed his lead. Soon, everyone was elbow to elbow, the air filling with the pings of activated metal detectors.

“Where is it?” Demo asked. “I don’t see it!”

“Of course you don’t! And it’s not because you’re missing an eye! Someone obviously buried it!” Soldier belted out. “You look like a pirate, you start digging!”

“Ya don’t tell me what to do!” Demo grabbed Soldier by the lapels.

“Whoa, fellas, break it up,” Engie tried to separate the two.

“Yo, it’s your fault that we’re here in the first place, hardhat!” Scout retaliated

“As though you dropping the gun had nothing to do with it,” Spy snapped.

“Oy! Watch your elbows, spook!” Sniper shoved Spy’s arm from where it was invading his field of vision, and it became a full-on battle between the tense mercenaries. Only Pyro was calm, looking through the grass carefully for the portal gun, as though there weren’t eight men (and a robot) trying to wage war in the immediate vicinity.

System pumps were online, and the test chambers were all set to receive air. GLaDOS would mind the dirt that came in from opening the field’s tunnel, but that’s what nanobots were for.

A rumble from beneath them made everyone pause. Archimedes clung fiercely to Medic’s lab jacket, because whatever happened― and he was sure something was going to happen― he didn’t want to be left without him.

Without warning, the ground around them gave way.

In a split second, Dell looked up as they fell, and he saw the vent― the large, metal vent that they were standing on― closing above them.

“So that’s why we couldn’t find it,” he thought.

NEXT CHAPTER

#chapter two #crossover #portal #tf2 #fanfic #expect really fast updates #for now...

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spotlightsaga · 7 years

Photo

Kevin Cage of @spotlightsaga reviews... 60 Days In (S03E03) Trust Issues Airdate: March 16, 2017 Ratings: 0.822 Million :: 0.31 18-49 Demo Share Score: 6/10 **********SPOILERS BELOW********** Initially we had a plan to work in '60 Days In' and parallel the manufactured, fictional Netflix Drama 'Orange is the New Black' with 6DI's authentic, guerrilla style, aggressive reality television meets dramatic docu-series, expose. After a few episodes of OITNB and it's focus on the prison riots and binge-worthy bottleneck type episodic viewing patterns, it was clear that these two weren't a good fit. Each series that Spotlight Saga now covers will be taken to a new height... Last television season we overwhelmed ourselves with the number of projects and frankly that's just not fair to shows that can have a real existential impact on everyone from viewers to participants to the people making the series. Due to an overwhelming response to '60 Days In' we are going to keep pushing, people see and feel the effect a series like this can have on our society and the corrections system at large. It's hard to say if these seasons of 6DI actually affect the jails they take place in, but people are watching, and it's damn well doing something. I've personally talked about reaching out to former inmates and participants of S1 & S2 and readers responding with a lot of questions and comments across the internet & social media, and believe me.. We'll be doing the same with S3 & S4. We've already begun lining up a few, but before we dove directly in, I wanted to make sure I could give this project the attention that it deserved. After two episodes we've already seen 1 person flee the scene when they found out that Louisville was upgraded to Atlanta... And we've only met a few of the show's participants. Take the sign however you want, we believe it to be an obvious cue that S3 was done right and that everyone will be given their fare share of the limelight... An opportunity to make their personal contributions. Despite our assessments of any new volunteer inmates, remember that everyone at Spotlight Saga wishes all participants the best and we all understand that there is truly only so much that Lucky 8 can do to keep the cast as safe as possible. 'Trust Issues' starts with Don. It's been awhile since we've covered the show, but to give a quick catch-up... Don has a problem with any kind of authority but ultimately has honorable intentions. We're only human, y'all. For drama sake, Lucky 8 has somehow made sure that Don ended up with the oldest, wisest, most street savvy inmate in the entire jail, DelRico. Of course DelRico questions Don's cover story. Production and the facilities they work with have failed to come up with truly great cover stories because Don's, like many others are, is weak at best and allows the participant too much wiggle room to say the wrong thing. Don does the best he can to sell it, but it's obvious that DelRico smells blood in the water. Don could be in trouble. Clearly DelRico is lying to him... If he had 30 years on his plate, he'd be in a different zone entirely and be praying for them to take him on into prison. He's testing him, that must be it. Since we're on the subject of terrible cover stories, if A&E wants to continue to do this series, they might want to also have an extensive class beforehand on slang and different terminologies that the inmates might come across or use to make themselves look more adapted to this lifestyle. You don't need to be in jail multiple times to know particular lingo or slang connected to a specific area's 'life of crime'. These contestants are supposed to be 'first timers', not first time ever coming a crime'rs! Street smarts aren't necessarily a problem for Don, however they do seem to be an issue for Calvin. His bunkmate, Dasanique, is also suspicious and it's easy to see why. DelRico might be dangerous, but I think off top that the younger groups pose more of a real threat than the older crowd does. DelRico can easily be swayed by Don's approach to authority, they bond over it and Don uses it to his advantage. It's a smart move. Calvin wants to help so bad but he comes from a different world & more importantly a different place from the soul, so he simply doesn't think like that... 'Roll with it and use what's working.' Calvin is also easily embarrassed... As the CO's call him out for his sloppy bunk keeping skills, he clearly becomes embarrassed and slightly confused. He's blindsided easily and these are things that these younger men notice, whether it's intentional or not... It's a sociological response. Calvin is oblivious that Dasanique thinks that he's a snitch. He's obviously in trouble and the clever tv editors show off their skills and demonstrate just how oblivious he is by splitting an interview where Calvin is telling the producers everything is going well with Dasanique yelling through the vent to other inmates as to what he thinks of Calvin. Clever, editors, real clever... And although I'm legitimately worried about Calvin, as I am all the participants, I believe that Calvin's strong resolve will prove to benefit him in the end. Essentially this is one big set-up episode so we'll have to wait and see, the dominoes are being set, it's now a question as to how they'll fall. Never count anyone out or anyone in. As far as the men as concerned, my personal favorite, Jon, is clearly thinking fast and naturally going with the flow. He's doing exactly as he should... Keeping his head down, his mouth shut, making acquaintances, but keeping them all at an arms length. Jon is keeping his details light and instead of engaging in thorough conversations about details of his charges and present situation, he's engaging in games, or *reluctantly* letting other people talk. Yeah, I'm talking about Deshaun, the babyfaced 'blood' wannabe who is in for crack possession who talks a whole lot... Like a WHOLE LOT. It's funny how the other men cast in the show can't seem to shut up, and on the flipside Jon can't keep the inmates from shutting up and blabbing in public to him. This is just yet another testament that Jon is playing his hand the best way he knows how, while the other men struggle to find their niche and get a grip on balancing adapting to jail life past their cover stories and 'alleged' crimes committed. Nate is the newest edition to the male cast. He's good looking, but he has a bit of 'fish out of water' look to him that worries me intensely. He has military training so those things should and most likely will cancel each other out at some point. The thing is, almost everyone has had some type of degree of difficulty adjusting to either the jail or their cover story. Once these guys are settled and can get past this 'What are you in for?' routine, things will be come much easier and a whole lot less scary. The producers continue to make a conscious decision to downplay Nate's airtime, which leads me to believe that, in fact, he'll have quite a bit in the future... And we all know that Lucky 8 Production Team loves them some military men... I.E their 'Golden Boy' from S1 & S2, Zac Holland (Zachary Baker). The previews lead us us to believe that Nate has trouble ahead, but outside of that bewildered look in his eye that is most likely natural for anyone walking into Fulton County Lockup, I have a feeling he will be just fine. We didn't spend a whole lot of time with the women this episode and that's a shame. I took an immediate liking to Jessica, and she continues to play it smart like Jon is doing among the male population and keeping her down and mainly observing. However, she is showing signs of shock & disbelief that put her resolve in question. I hope that she didn't just check in to get a rare taste of her husband's former life and then bounce... But as I've said before, I have the upmost respect for all involved here. And with only reviewing two episodes (now three), I've already talked to several actual inmates who seem to be trying to turn their negative experiences in Fulton County Jail into positive ones, more on that later... Although on our FB page you can find a YouTube video of Male Inmate Trae, who has created a well-crafted piece of music accompanied by his environmental influences... Check it out '6LUE_ANACONDA'. Unfortunately, Jessica's polarizing bunkmate, Lyric isn't among those few inmates. Although, for the record, if at anytime these articles make their way to Lyric or anyone that knows Lyric hands', I would love to speak with her... She's fascinating. I feel like she's not being shown in a proper light when it comes to her portrayal on television. I don't know Lyric and I'm not pretending I know anything real about Lyric from the brief edits that she's made onto the show, but I feel this weird empathetic connection with her. I am no stranger to jails, juvenile halls, detention centers, group homes, rehabs, or boot camps... I was never in the foster system, so I can't even imagine adding that to the list, but Lyric, to me, comes off as a fascinating and complex individual who never got a fair shake. Now, here she is on the '60 Days In: Atlanta', and she's not being painted in the best of lights either. I hope that that changes or she's put in front of someone who is able to help tell her story because she seems like she is one compelling tale after another. I was so invested with the show while she was on it that I was furious with Iesha as she taunted her into getting physical, then just pulled her hair and threw embarrassing blow after embarrassing blow. Iesha, if these reviews make it your way, you might as well put them down. She reminds me of the bitchy, unruly medium sized dog at the dog park that squares up with every bigger dog she sees. It's sad. Obviously they let this poor excuse for a fight go on for the cameras because no one is truly in danger and Lucky 8 needs some fight scenes to hand into the network. Here ya go, A&E, enjoy! Just as we added Nate to the Male Gen Pop, Mauri (with an I) is added to Female Gen Pop in the South Annex. Mauri is a former corrections officer from a men's state penitentiary. She cares more about her weave than she seems to care about anything else. Then again, I am immediately triggered and understand when she says that if she loses that weave it will make her feel less like of a woman. Essentially she is saying that any potential removal of said weave will play a huge role in dehumanizing her. Just from talking to women of color from various countries (mainly Trinidad and Jamaica, as well as transplants from Caribbean Islands here in Miami) when working on previous articles, particularly about the 'fetishization of black skin and it's psychological and sociological effects', I have a deep understanding that anything that tends to affect some of these women in a way where they feel anything less than a human being is particularly jarring to their senses, more so than other groups of people or gender. We are generally taught to respect women and when women are denied that respect or have had traumatic experiences, particularly fueled by race, it can truly flip the wrong switch. Unfortunately, that switch has almost always been toggled, outside of those born with specific blessings (as Lil Wayne would call them), so it's understandable (at least for me) that Mauri would cling to this specific 'piece of her' as she's being processed and brought in. Also, in a more simplified perspective, said weave may also trouble Mauri excessively because it looks like a glue-on wig and she may have been told it could go either way at intake considering that once she's inside, not everyone knows she's is this program. Mauri ends up keeping the weave/wig and the inmates notice and point it out as soon as she arrives. It's hard to get a read on Mauri as we don't spend a whole lot of time with her, just like her fellow late entrant male counterpart, Nate... But once again, I have made respect for anyone who walked in those doors... I don't care if you were worried about a piece of lint in your pocket that you brought from your house because it gave you a sense of home. People sometimes dismiss or nervously laugh off my more intricate or complicate breakdown of simply human behavior... But that's because the truth, or the mere possibility of that truth, makes people nervous and defensive. That's it for 'Trust Issues', guys. I've attempted to add as much as I possibly can to what I admit to being a 'set-up episode' more than anything. I will continue to try and bring you alternate perspectives that others have yet to bring to the table... And also... RATINGS, I got ratings, which have still not made it to wikipedia or any other source material. I have no idea why... But I'm happy to release them and will be sharing them with TVTime and Twitter now as well. Remember to comment wherever your seeing this article. We love feedback! You can DM us on Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, Path, and of course... Our #1 Spot and community for likeminded individuals sharing love, comments, reviews, video responses, memes, and art for all our favorite tv shows... TVTime.com! Any private conversations stay private, unless otherwise given permission by the other party involved in any project process gate messaging or video contact. We are no longer affiliated with one specific social network, who isn't fond of our championing of equal rights... Or should I say, the way we go about it. I am, we are... NOT... a divisive group. We only want to trade shoes with our audience and the people on the shows we cover, because everyone deserves a voice, everyone deserves a chance at empathy. We've gotten a lot of messages about 'Too Tall'. Please, remember that we cover this show episodically and refrain from looking at spoilers that could affect our perspective, so please don't send us any either... We are aware of 'Too Tall' and his impact on the series but specifics will come as we tackle each episode... Ending with a finale on the finale, of sorts, with short interviews and extras from the cast. Show love, Get love! -Kevin Cage

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