#instead of that weird indie ass one

[ginrise]

Hi, here is Shinsuke's death scene but with Tetsuo Tatakinagara Teme-no Tamashiio Tatakiagero instead of whatever that music piece was, because years later I'm still very upset they didn't put it.

#I mean the movie was lliteral perfection why couldn't they've added it #instead of that weird indie ass one #It's fine but nothing compares to the og #it's the gorilla's fault #did anyone do this I was gone for so long #gintama #sakata gintoki #takasugi shinsuke #sorachi hideaki #gintama the very final movie #Sugita's voice shakes my core purrrr go AGRS CHANNEL

[ddejavvu]

Han solo's hands that are much bigger than readers. They look so massive when compared to readers smaller frame.

Imagine them on reader's thighs,waist even face as he holds it with one or both hands ! Maybe those hands go somehere else ifykwim 😏

Im in love with him, help.

i was just talking about han holding reader by the back of the neck with indy earlier. some good shit.

this post is 18+, minors dni.

han has disgustingly massive hands. no, really, they're obscenely large. and you know what they say about big hands <333

i think before you're even hooking up, or maybe after you've started fucking but you're not right at the moment, he'll still use them to boss you around. he pushes against your shoulder if you're in his way instead of just slipping past you or saying excuse me. he'll pinch your ass if you walk by him. he'll snatch stuff out of your hands, just take it right away from you purely to piss you off. it happens especially with stuff you're trying to move out of the crap pile that i know his quarters are in the falcon. i know there's weird shit laying all over the place, and god forbid you try to pick some of it up and put it elsewhere so that you have a spot to sit down, 'cause he'll yank it out of your hands and go 'gimme that. keep your hands to yourself.'

i think when you're riding his dick he'll shove them in your mouth. you're bouncing on his cock, desperately trying to fuck yourself hard enough on him to satisfy him, but the thing is you're tired and it would be soooo much easier if he just helped you by putting those massive hands of his on your hips and bouncing you himself. but he doesn't, because he wants to watch you come undone trying to please him :]

he'll watch you abuse your achy, soaking wet, drooling pussy on his cock and he'll put one of his massive hands on your face. he sticks his pointer and middle finger in your mouth, and uses the rest to anchor himself on your cheekbones. he's clutching tight to your face and you're letting him jam his fingers down your throat, feeling their rough pads prod at the back of your throat enough to have you gagging and choking on them. you're a mess, your eyes are red-rimmed and wet with tears, you're desperately trying to swallow his fingers, your tongue is going wild trying to cover every inch of his skin with spit, and your poor puffy pussy is all open and wet and hot all over his cock. he likes it when you're a mess, especially when you make yourself a mess for him.

the sounds of your choking make his dick twitch inside of you. he might even press his fingers down on your tongue to flood your mouth with drool because he's cruel, and he wants to watch your eyes roll back into your head as you try to control the itchy feeling in your throat of needing to gag. he's such a shit-talker, he'll hit you with that gruff, condescending voice of his, 'stupid little thing, ain't'cha? trying to swallow my whole fuckin' hand?'

he's gonna torture you until the obscene mixture of slick and cum and sweat and sex is sliding down not only your legs but his own pelvis, and then he's gonna jam it back inside of you with those huge hands of his. he'll use them to manhandle you onto the mattress, pin your shoulder to the sheets, and drag his long, thick fingers across your skin, scooping the slick up and stuffing it back inside of your leaking hole. you're absolutely soaked in the stuff, both of you, so it'll never work the way he wants it to, but he's going to stuff you with as much as you can take, and then he's gonna stick his fingers back in your face so that you can clean them off for him.

i also just think he'd stick his fingers in your mouth for his own pleasure. you're reading something, or you're focused on a project you're working on, and all of a sudden han's pinching the hollows of your cheeks together so that your mouth opens, and one of his rough fingers is bullying its way into your mouth. He pins your head against his stomach if he's doing it from behind you, and you're just held in this headlock while he sticks a finger down your throat.

'c'mon, suck it off, sweetheart.' he orders you, completely unphased by your disgruntled dismay at being oh-so-rudely interrupted from whatever task you were focusing on before, 'stop squirming, you're so fuckin' dramatic.'

i like the idea of him having his hands all over you all the time. i think he squeezes you by the back of the neck like i mentioned earlier. he's the type of guy to pinch and rub your shoulders all of a sudden in a 'massage' that really feels like your muscles are being ripped apart. he's hands-on and you're gonna have to get used to it.

he hauls you around by the bicep, too. he grabs you like a dude and yanks you wherever he wants. pinches tight enough for it to hurt, maybe just enough for it to bruise if he's feeling like it. he can be gentle with you, of course, but he's rough by nature and i think he'd manhandle you more often than not with those monster fucking hands he's got.

#han solo x reader #han solo imagine #han solo x you #han solo x y/n #han solo smut #han solo fanfiction #han solo fanfic #han solo fic #han solo oneshot #han solo one-shot #han solo one shot #han solo headcanon #han solo headcanons #han solo hc #han solo hcs #han solo fluff #han solo blurb #han solo dialogue #han solo drabble

[hanasnx]

my love indy let me hop on this Hayden + young starlet thread because I'm living for it !!!!

but instead of being a singer, you're like a young model and people and media are going crazyyy about you two as a couple. Like: "how the fuck did the awkward guy from SW pulled y/n's ass?" no one understands why you would date someone so much older than you

and he kinda gets off of it. reminding you of the age gap and bullying for liking an old man like him. kinda like in your parent trap au!

you even start having sex once after reading a headline about you two in a red carpet, his hand over your ass and people losing it

would it be weird if you admit in the middle of an interview that he was your childhood crush but also thats so hot for reader because damn you made it girl you're living your dream

mina. you don’t know what you fucking did to me with this line: “you admit in the middle of an interview that he was your childhood crush” i was silently screaming for like 30 seconds.

as a toddler watching him play characters like sam monroe, scott barringer, or anakin skywalker. you had wall-to-wall posters of him. and ofc you don’t tell him that until later, you try meet him as a person first instead of a fan. when you find the appropriate time to mention it, he thinks it’s so fucking precious. drawing you into him to scoldingly swat your ass so you jar against him, bracing on his shoulders, and he gives you a little peck.

“did you keep that from me on purpose?”

i love that you called her “starlet” im obsessed with that. starlet!reader. oh my god.

everything about this message i’m obsessed with actually. “”how the fuck did the awkward guy from SW pull y/n’s ass”” obsessed. i’m not even fucking kidding rn. a model dating someone so much older than her when she could have anyone. i’m so fucking horny for this idea. mina. you beautiful genius.

the red carpet picture with his hand on your ass !!!! shut the fuck up!!!!!! eeeeeee !!! and then fucking about it !!!! ass man ass man ass man !!!!! and i can imagine the picture, you’re in a form fitting dress that flares out more at the bottom, and it frames your legs so perfectly. and his hand is at the top of your ass, your tailbone area. no grab, nothing obscene, just a healthy.. boyfriend .. hand on your ass… i feel faint

#tw age gap #starlet!reader #indy shoots the shit #thanks for the msg!! #forcemeanakin #hayden christensen smut #hayden #hayden christensen imagine #hayden christensen x f!reader #hayden christensen x reader #x f!reader #reader insert

[jealousjersey]

₊࿔*:･୧”too sweet”₊˚࿔*:･୧

pairing // mike schmidt x gn!reader fluff

mentions // purely fluff just some nice and sweet content, pet names, reader is overwhelmed and stressed with everything and mike uplifts you, y/n isn’t mentioned, reader in college, reader and mike are in a situationship, mentions of being cheated on by past shitty gender unspecified partner

1.4k wc

tags // mike schmidt x reader fluff, purely fluff fic, pet names, slight angst

authors note // yes this is inspired by too sweet by hozier i’ve played it 18 times today (still listening to it) also per request (ty anon) fluff

school is kicking your ass. the lectures are too long and not informative at all, although you’ve had exams all week, they never seem to contain the information you’re supposedly learning.

you don’t even live on campus so you constantly feel like you’re missing out on important events and information. it’s truly exhausting.

that is until you get home, you’ve been in a situationship with this security guard worker, mike. you’ve talked and had dates, even had sex a few times but it doesn’t suffice you. you were made to be a lover, but right now you’re just a piece of ass. you want mike to love you, well, right now it feels more than a need. you want to finally receive the love that you give.

once your classes are done, you leave campus. taking the subway back to your apartment, luckily you don’t live too far, but not close enough to walk. and instead of wasting gas on driving to and from school, so why not take the safer option and just take the train?

as you arrive at your apartment, you finally get to lay down on your bed. you feel a tear fall from your eyes but you’re not sure why. today wasn’t too bad…but your body’s reaction is telling you different. you check the time and wait-

it’s the 2 year anniversary of your ex cheating on you, well atleast it’s the anniversary of the day you found out. you check the date and you get flashbacks, flashbacks to you coming to surprise them at their house for your 1 year together.

you arrive with tickets to some indie concert in hand. but instead you were practically hit in the face with realization as you saw her. she looked…perfect. you still wonder how they ended up with her. but let’s face it, you knew there was signs. but you chose to ignore them.

as of now, you’re laying face down on your bed, basically crying at this point. your breath hitches as you just lay there, helpless. until suddenly

knock knock

“hey? anyone here?” you hear a familiar voice enter your house. it’s mike schmidt, the man you’ve been talking to for a few months. wait a second-

“how did you get in?” you question. you thought you locked the door but apparently not.

“oh, the door was halfway open. wanted to check to see if you were being robbed” he says as he gets a good look at you “shit are you okay?” he asks worried, staring at your puffy face, your swollen eyes as tears leak from them.

his worry makes you feel better. you’ve waited on somebody to actually care about how you were, not just ask without remorse in their eyes. but mike actually cares, and it feels good. it feels like he gives you a little sliver of comfort.

“yeah, i’m fine…schools kicking my ass and-” you cut yourself off, he’s just a fling, why does he get to know your personal problems? but something inside you just tells you to come clean. “2 years ago today i went through hell with my ex. he cheated and things went…down from there you could say.” you open up, not wanting to share anything that could bring back more deep memories- maybe mentioning the abuse would be too far.

“oh baby, i’m sorry. you need me here with you? i can get take out and we can watch one of your weird cartoons” he says. you chuckle. does he mean anime? you don’t even watch it that much, maybe he’s basing his suspicions on the death slayer poster in your room that you got because it looked cool. i mean, you only watched a episode or two. it might make you a poser but it looks good in your room so what’s the harm?

“yeah, take out sounds great. and we can just watch a movie or something.” you smile at his request, your eyes still puffy. mike notices this and sits next to you on your bed, bringing a hand to your cheek as he gently brushes a thumb over your eye bags, taking in the darkness.

“i’m gonna be right back, you want take out chinese food?” he asks with a smile as he presses a kiss onto your cheek. you slightly nod.

“gotta use your words baby” he teases you. “yes, chinese food is perfect” you smile “amazing, i’ll be back in 30. don’t fall asleep” he says as he points a finger in your direction and smiles softly

30 minutes pass, you just stay in your bed until he arrives, he walks in without knocking. “baby, i’m here” he yells, arms full with bags of chinese food. god, how much did he get?

you silently laugh to yourself at the site: mike with both hands carrying giant take out bags that say “thank you” with a smile face, his keys on his mouth and his pinky closing the door. it’s…really funny to be honest.

you snap out of your daze and run to help him, taking the bags out his hands and placing them on your kitchen island. you see him huff out a short breath, taking the keys out of his mouth and hanging them on the key holder.

you place a short kiss on his lips “thank you love” you say. a blush creeps onto his face. he wonders why he’s feeling so intense at your small gesture, i mean it’s not like you two are official….

you two get cuddled up on the couch together. he always said your couch is weird, two seats with a middle compartment in the center, dividing the chairs. he says it’s not ideal for cuddling but you make it work, the chairs aren’t small per say, but you can both fit on k it with ease, kicking up the leg so you can both lay comfortably.

you put on some movie that was recommended through the roku app. it doesn’t matter what movie it was, it just matters that you had mike with you.

soon enough he’s yawning, the mint aroma coming from his mouth isn’t bad. it’s kinda nice. before he could close his mouth fully you kiss him gently, wanting more of that mint taste. he returns the kiss, using the same pace you started.

as you let go, you ask the dreaded question. “do you want to be with me? romantically?” he stops and freezes before speaking. “honey, you’re too good for me- i..i’m not the best person. you’re full of love, i don’t want you to waste it on me, you’re too sweet for me.” he says. you look confused, you know you want to love him. why isn’t he accepting?

“but i want to be with you. i want to love you, and if im being honest i think i kind of already do.” you say after a moment.

“you…really?” he looks confused, almost baffled by your statement. do you really want to love him? like fully and truly?

“god yes mike, I try not to call but there’s some days that i really, really want to. i want to hear your voice, i want to hear you laugh. hell, i even want to smell your cologne. but i stop myself because i know you want something casual.” you blurt out.

“who said i wanted casual? baby i was waiting for you to say that. i think ive been in love with you since we first started talking. it sounds cheesy i know, but i really do.” he responds, making your heart flutter for a moment as you blink, suddenly feeling his breath against your ear.

“i only want you” he whispers, putting emphasis on only. immediately you blush more than ever in his presence. “really?” you can’t help but whisper back. is this really happening? are you about to have a boyfriend?

“really. you are the only person i ever want to be with. promise” he says as he puts his pinky out, asking for yours. sealing it with a pinky promise. he knows you’re serious about those so him doing this for you means a lot.

“you’re the only person i want to be with mike, has been that way since i think i first spoke to you. were so dumb” you laugh.

“yeah but we’re dumb together” he chuckles back as he holds you closer to him.

“so….are we dating or what?” you ask, popping your lips after “so”.

“let me ask you” he fixes his messy hair and uses a takeout napkin as a tie around his neck. “would you like to date me” he says sincerely, still a hint of laughing under his voice.

“fuck it, sure” you laugh as you bury yourself into his neck.

#jersey writes #jealousjersey #josh hutcherson #mike shmidt #fanfic #five nights at freddy's #smut #mike schmidt x reader smut #mike schimdt fanfic #mike schmidt headcanons #fluff fic #mike schmidt x y/n #mike schimdt x you #mike schmidt fluff #mike schimdt x reader #mike schmidt #mike schimdt smut #jhutch #jhutch1992 #peeta mellark #josh futturman #sean anderson #billy burn #josh futterman fluff #futturman #fluff #five nights at freddy’s #micheal schmidt

[reel-fear]

Wow, so umm... This looks bad, not only is it inaccurate due to using the wrong ink demon design [unless this is confirmation BATIM Ink Demon has been outright retconned... Which would make me pissed enough to make a new post just about THAT] but from an art standpoint this is just... Confusing and poorly done.

I wouldn't care if this was fanart, of course you should support young, indie artists... But for a Graphic Novel making sure your cover doesn't look like something Butch Hartman shat out in an afternoon is kind of important. Remember they're going to be asking us to give money to them to read this. The artist likely won't see any of that money and neither do the authors most of the time, not to mention this art screams of the artist being underpaid and overworked.

Like they Had to get something on someone's desk and their boss said 'good enough'. A concept Joey Drew Studios is very familiar with considering the allegations of poor working environments that Kindly Beast. Not to mention Mike Mood admitting in a Reddit AMA that they did in fact rush projects like Showdown Bandit. [Which they sold at full price]

He also says they can in fact say no or yes to designs involving their IP. Either Mike or Meatly had to say yes to this cover, according to his own damn words.

And do you really think this company in particular would care enough about its fanbase to not sell them garbage? They have done exactly that on several occasions. It's not like they care particularly about art either, considering their previous use of AI Art. There was no apology or even posts addressing it... Instead, they just rushed out an archives update to their game to get people to stop talking about it... Even forgetting an entire character in it. Again

This company is [or at least SHOULD BE] on thin ice when it comes to being suspected of misleading their fans or rushing out crappy products to them.

So with all that context in mind, I'm gonna talk about why this cover sucks ass.

The light sources are all over the place? Why does it look like someone put maces or knight armor on his shoulders but it's just flesh?? It looks both gross and weird [not in a good way either]

To explain more I'm going on a rant below but sadly this seems to have been confirmed to not just be a rough pass but the final cover and man... I am not excited about this graphic novel just at all. This felt like it really drained any possibility of it turning out good for me and I already had expectations low.

Okay first point, the light sources?? And there is no consistency here with the shadows or lighting, it looks like there's a hundred light sources all at once but none of them are even consistent!

the arrows here represent all the different light sources I can make out and yet the the shadow clearly implies there's only one. I understand wanting to use highlights to give the character a more clear shape but then just give him one or two lights behind him or in front of him? No matter how u follow the light sources, the highlights make no sense and the shadows make even less sense.

Why are the shoulders like that? Like on the legs it's a little understandable, at least those are clearly very heavily affected by perspective, for me I think they are so exaggerated it makes it look like one of the legs is either huge or one is small but that's maybe subjective.

However, the shoulders are unjustifiable, what happened there, what did they do??

I could pick on so much more honestly, how the color choices of piss yellow with no other colors being used, and the harsh pitch black being used for every part of his body is weird. How it looks straight out of Butch Hartman's recent crappy art. But to put bluntly bad start! Also what the HELL is going on with this background??

Seems once again the Bendy team is fine with sending out stuff thinking it's "Good Enough" for Bendy fans and honestly the people trying to tell me to "Be Grateful" for this are just proving that no matter how many times you betray your audience some of em will defend you!

Which is sad tbh. If anything we should be putting MORE pressure on the Bendy team to do better. Cause we deserve better than this, honestly we do. There are amazing artists in the bendy community who could do so much better for a cover. They've employed their fan artists before... Wouldn't it be great to do that for such a lore important book? The book that gives us the identity of one of the main characters in BATIM? The character you spend the entirety of Chapter 4 fighting to save? Not to mention will give several major characters their human designs?

But I guess this is... Good enough...

#ramblez #batim #batdr #bendy and the ink machine #bendy and the dark revival #sorry I've been on a positivity streak with bendy I know but I have to be honest and being honest I think this sucks lol #Im sure plenty of people Disagree and while I would argue this is more objective than subjective people will ignore me if they want to #maybe Im just a hater idk #but I do know one thing I sure do hate this and Im pretty sure Ill hate this novel and its designs #but maybe I wont ya never know #anyways if they do retcon batim ink demon I will make a post abt how much I dislike batdrs ink demon design #and why I think all the people saying its better than the og seriously arent understanding #what made batims ink demon good or character design in general tbh #to put bluntly just bc something is popular opinion DOES NOT make it right or a good idea design wise #not everyone is qualified to be a character designer and thats just good advice in general tbh #anyways yeah thats it sorry im being mean today </3 #I simply think corporations shouldnt be able to rush out crappy products to their fans and get paid for it but ig thats a hot take now #but esp with how bad that updated employee handbook was too and it still had stolen renders from fans in it... #yeah I dont think theyve learned a damn thing

[destinyc1020]

It’s just so exhausting hearing the same conversation from so called Tom fans every 3-5 business days. No one is saying that you guys need to love everything he does but it really does feel like some of you harp on every single thing about the man to a point it doesn’t feel like you’re fans. His agents, his friends, his family, just constant nitpicking. And I’ve never been in an fandom where people truly think they have a say or can control a grown ass man like this. And some of the criticism that you guys have are the same regurgitated criticism that film twitter bros have who have a gripe with MCU. It’s never actually productive or constructive. It sounds like you guys are mouth pieces for that sector who decided to hate Tom 2 years ago because they decided to hate Marvel and he went public with Z. It’s annoying. The man is one of the most successful unproblematic young actors of his generation. He keeps to himself and his family and friends and girlfriend but I swear there’s always this hate train going on him. You have to see how people can get tired of it especially when he’s done nothing to warrant the constant ragging.

Exactly Anon! 💯

It just gets old.... and exhausting 😩 And I think it mainly gets old not only because it's every 3-5 business days, but ALSO bcoz it's coming from people who supposedly call themselves fans of Tom. With fans like these, who needs enemies?? 🥴

It would be one thing if these people were open haters of Tom and just admitted it. Then the hate and constant nitpicking would at least make some SENSE (okay, you're not a fan of the dude.... got it).

But when it comes from so-called "fans" who are following a blog of someone who's obviously a FAN of Tom's, it just feels really weird to me....

Liiiiiiike....

Like you said, Tom is unproblematic, he minds his business, he works hard, he's talented, and he doesn't do anything wrong or offensive to anyone!

Atp, fans can't even enjoy any new project news for Tom, because fans of his are ready to complain 24/7. 🙄

The TCR Filming Announcement came out:

"Omg....I wish Tom didn't take this project on. It's just going to make people with DID look like monsters! Hollywood always does this! I wish Tom would drop this project." (Keep in mind, the series had not even started FILMING yet, let alone come out. 😒)

The FA Filming Announcement came out:

"Ugh!! I HAAAATE biopic films! I'm so sick and tired of them!! They're just Oscar bait films anyway..." 🙄

Tom Simply TALKS about a possible SM4 movie in the works later on down the line:

"I sure hope they don't do another trilogy. Tom needs to STOP playing Spiderman and do more serious indie films instead of getting sucked into SUCKY Sony and the MCU. He's being held back by his Spiderman contracts!!"

A simple TWEET comes out that Mark Wahlberg has said that the script for "Uncharted 2" is has been written:

"Nooooooo!!!! 😫 I hated that movie! It wasn't funny, it wasn't charming, and it wasn't even a 'good' action movie! I wish Tom would drop this franchise and do smthg else!" 😭

All it sounds like in Tom's fandom is this all the time.....

After a while, it just gets tiring.... 😓

[docholligay]

I'm going to a concert tonight!

I don't know that my musical taste is ever something you think or care about, but @keyofjetwolf is taking me to a concert tonight for a band i've been listening to for more than a decade. I'm sure at least SOME of you have heard of them, as their songs have been in a couple things.

Old 97s are an alt-country band, though they do play around with style from time to time and did an indie pop thing for a little bit that it must be said, I fucking hated. I LOVE most, their heavy drawl red dirt country shit.

ANYWAY, I am very excited to see them and in a way that is not at all like me I will probably buy a t-shirt or something.

Here's my favorite five Old 97s songs as of the moment I am sitting here thinking about it, in no particular order. Maybe even let's call is instead, 'Songs I really hope they'll sing tonight" My only consideration was trying to spread the love among their albums. I really do encourage you to give them a listen, if for no other reason than to go, "yeah, this sounds like Holligay shit"

Good With God: To do a Xerox of Xerox type shit, if I ever got the chance to make a show about (and this is a long recall that only a few of you will get) Yael and Jesse and Cary and Bitsy and all them on before OW, this would have been the theme song.

Up The Devil's Pay: This is one of those great songs that's incredibly fun to sing along with. I have some weird feelings about the album it comes from, but this song kicks ass.

Wish the Worst: This would absolutely be on my 'femme breakup mix' I fucking love it, I listen to it all the time, if you've driven with me some distance you have almost certainly heard this song.

You Were Born To Be in Battle: So there's two 'lead' singers in the Old 97s, Rhett Miller, and then Murry Hammond. The band has tended to use Rhett more, especially as they have gained popularity in a more mainstream way. Murry has a much more pronounced drawl, and makes them sound more like a country band, which makes them less likely to get played on say, Scrubs. I have feelings about this, but that's not relevant. I love this song desperately, there's something about it that gets me in such a "old man looking out at the scrub brush" way, and Murry sings it, and I can't imagine anyone else singing it.

Western Stars: I do not like everything off their new album ahaha. This happens to me all the time with these guys, because they're constantly trying new shit, and you know what? Good for them. They don't owe me stagnancy. But THIS, this song is the kind of shit I love from them. And i'll give them this: No matter what kind of new concept they try, every album always has a couple songs like this for those of us who have been here forever ahaha.

[happyk44]

Jasico prompt:

Nico as a VA who does ASMR recordings and Jason is his devoted fan/follower who listens and comments on everything he posts.

His voice was just soothing. He naturally spoke soft like a summer breeze, but he was good with accents too. He could mimic to the best of them. Still, Jason much preferred Nico's natural speaking voice. It filled him with a gentle air that had him floating as he laid down and listened to the soothing sound of whatever script Nico was reciting. Sometimes Jason didn't even hear the words. Just let himself soak in the clouds of Nico's voice, only taking in the gentle sounds he spoke.

--

Nico had a fan. A very rabid fan. Not rabid as his volatile but just. Rabid as in there. Every post Nico made, he could be certain if he doubled back hours later that fan would have commented on it. Liked it.

If Nico put out a tip jar, that fan was usually one of the first to donate and always had such a heavy amount. It felt overwhelming the first few times - almost like he was going to owe this person something for all the attention they were pouring into him. Sometimes he hovered his finger over the block button.

But he never pressed it. Just backtracked and breathed.

This fan wasn't like the others. They didn't come storming into Nico's DMs demanding certain content. They didn't email him begging him to voice act some indie project they had going on for free. They didn't desperately scream for information on projects he was working on, information he couldn't give out, and then berate him wildly for refusing.

This person was just there. It was kind of like having a sugar daddy that just genuinely wanted you to be happy, instead of your pants down and ass up.

Nico settled at his desk. His equipment was still set up for later, but he ignored it, choosing to lift his laptop lid and sign into his computer. Copying the link Walt texted him earlier, he began to type out a new message to his followers - and any strangers who stumbled across his posts.

Hey guys, my friend Walt is kickstarting his first indie project. It will be a RPG pixel game based on Egyptian gods. You can find more information at the link below. If all goes well, I will be voice acting as the Narrator and a couple secret characters.

He flapped his wrist, willing the pain to disappear before he kept typing.

As a bonus incentive to help my friend fund this project, I will be offering a customized 30 minute ASMR recording of your choice to the person who donates the most to the campaign. Screenshot your donation and submit it through the contact form on my website. I will only be doing this upon completion of the funding period. If you withdraw your donation for whatever reason, your submission will be taken out of consideration.

He submitted the post with a link to Walt's project and sat back. For a minute, he contemplated. His rabid fan... They never did request anything, even when Nico opened the floor to suggestions. Other people did. Then some got frustrated or upset when he didn't do them.

But this fan always seemed eager to please. He wondered if he should text Walt to keep an eye out for their username. Even if they didn't submit their screenshot for consideration, they'd probably still donate a ridiculous amount of money to back the project. Just because Nico asked.

It was weird to have this kind of power over one person. Maybe sugar daddy wasn't the word for what they were. It was probably something else - Bianca would know.

But she'd also make fun of him for it somehow.

--

Jason wrung his wrists nervously. He had spent... Well, it was certainly a number that would have his step-mom calling him once she did her quarterly review of his trust fund account, but it was worth it for the "Hi, Jason Grace, you won a customized recording from Nico di Angelo, aka The Ghost King. Please send a script or concept over for him to develop and record for you."

Hazel sometimes featured in the background of Nico's videos. He said she was his sister, slash assistant, slash business manager, because he was "shit with money" and "would probably live in a cardboard box without her".

Jason had been kind of hoping that Nico would email him personally, but he didn't mind seeing Hazel's name at the bottom. She always seemed so pleasant. She had a nice voice too. Just... not as nice as Nico's.

His eyes flitted nervously to the time at the bottom of his computer screen. Just one more minute.

His request had been sort of... unorthodox. He knew most people would probably have something in mind. Either a fully blown script or an idea - just like Hazel had requested. And technically Jason did have an idea.

It just.

Wasn't what most people would think of.

His concept was just. A chat. A talk. He didn't want Nico to play some character or act in any which way. He just wanted to hear him talk about anything. His day. His life. His hobbies. The colour of sky. Anything.

As soon as he emailed that that was what he wanted, Hazel had sent back a quick, "Are you sure?" He responded with an enthusiastic "yes", and she'd replied back with some dates and times for a video conference. He didn't think that would matter. Since he just wanted to hear Nico talk, there wasn't much to discuss.

But he wasn't going to turn down a chance to meet him face-to-face.

Well, over video, but it would be different this time. Nico didn't really do "lives". People had asked and he just said he didn't like being actively seen. At least with his videos, they were passive. He didn't feel like he needed to keep an eye on the audience.

The clock struck 3pm and Jason immediately clicked the link Hazel had emailed over a few hours earlier. He would've clicked it as soon as she sent it but he didn't want to seem too eager for it.

It took a few seconds but Nico's face emerged on the other side. Jason resisted the urge to gape. Nico was always pretty - it was half the reason he picked up followers so fast. But in his videos, even in photos, there was always shadows, dim lighting, something to disguise him in mystery and darkness, to really sell his moniker as The Ghost King.

But now he was swathed in soft pastel lights. Instead of his usual hoodie, he wore a comfortable dark crewneck sweater with an embroidered skull on the chest. His hair was partially tied back, still a large volume of hair spilling out. What did Piper call that again? A half ponytail.

It pulled his bangs back, showcasing his warm brown eyes.

Jason swallowed dryly as Nico looked around calmly and said, "Hi, Jason! Can you hear me?"

Jason was about to fucking have a heart attack. "Yes," he said quickly.

Nico grinned and Jason's heart soared. The smile was a wicked thing - wider than it had ever been in any photo. Nico didn't really smile in his videos, focused on the things he was saying. But some photos captured a half smile, peaking out around shadows - more smirk than grin most of the time.

Here he seemed content, pleased. "That's great. So... Hazel said you just wanted to hear me talk? She said-" He paused and turned, picking up a black phone. "-anything that comes to mind is fine."

Jason nodded rapidly. Already his pulse was beating fast. Nico's voice was so angelic, even just saying regular words with no intent behind them. Why wouldn't he want to hear Nico talk

Nico cocked his head curiously. "You sure that's all you want? No character you want me to imitate or persona you'd like me to act as?"

"No," Jason croaked. His mouth was dry. "I just- I really your voice."

A pleasant rosy hue spread across Nico's cheeks. Jason stared before he remembered that staring for so long was unsettling to people and blinked away. Nico didn't seem all that bothered by it. Instead he was regarding Jason with a curious gaze and amused eyes.

"Okay, let me just start recording then..." His voice trailed off as he clicked away at the screen. "Okay! Um." His eyes flickered upwards. "Well, Walt surpassed his funding goals and he's starting reaching out to people who said they were interested in working on the project. I can't reveal too many details right now, but the development is going well so far." His focus turned back to Jason. "Are you sure there isn't anything you'd like me to say?"

"No." Jason fought the urge to lay his arms down on his desk, rest his chin on his arms, close his eyes, and listen intently. Nico might think he was falling asleep if he did that. Instead, he just reclined comfortably in his chair and adjusted his headphones. "You can just talk about whatever."

Thirty minutes of Nico's voice would be enough. Plus he'd get a free recording, and at the start Nico would be saying his name.

He'd replay that moment over and over again until he'd memorized the sound of his name in Nico's beautiful voice like a permanent brand in his ears.

Nico crossed his arms over his chest and took a deep breath. "Okay. Let me know if you change your mind." He leaned in a little closer to the microphone. "Yesterday I went to the grocery store with my sister, Hazel. We were looking for garam masala. Hazel wanted to try this new recipe for butter chicken. I like it, but for some reason, I can never get the sauce to thicken properly. It's fine and good, but it is very liquid compared to what you get at a restaurant."

As Nico talked about his adventures with hunting down garam masala and frustratingly attempt to get the butter chicken sauce to thicken up, Jason soaked every word in like it was pouring rain on a long walk home. Every hitch of his breath, the change in tone, the softness, the roughness, the gravelly annoyance, the euphoric brightness - every iota of sound that he made plunged perfectly into Jason's ears, warm and soft like honey.

Desperately he didn't want it to end, but soon the clock flickered that thirty minutes had passed. It dragged on by a few more seconds, just to round out Jason's 30 minute recording, but then it was over.

He stiffened up as Nico trailed off then said, "Oh, time's up."

His heart sank into his chest. He didn't want it to be over. Wanted to hear Nico speak to him for as long as he could. "That was nice," he said instead.

He wouldn't whine. He was not owed Nico's time. Wasn't owed his presence. He won the time he won and he had the time he had.

That was enough.

"It was," Nico agreed brightly and Jason smiled. "You are a very easy audience, Jason."

Nico's laugh and the sound of Jason's name rolling of his tongue had him going warm. It spread hot through his chest and down into the pits of his belly.

"I'll send you the recording of this later today," Nico said. "It was nice to meet you, Jason." He waved and Jason waved back, hoping his hand wasn't moving too fast, that he didn't look too sad. "Bye."

"Bye," Jason echoed.

Nico vanished off the screen. Jason wilted and flattened his arms across the desk, one right over the other. He buried his chin between them, closing his eyes. Concentrating hard, he pulled the sound of Nico's voice saying his name and replayed it over and over again in his mind.

Maybe if he was lucky, Nico would do this again.

And he'd made sure that once more he was the highest bidder.

#happy talks pjo #jason grace #jasico #nico di angelo #my writing #my fanfic #i'm not very familiar with ASMR tbh so i just. winged it here lmao #hope you like it!! #happy's asks #vosh-daemon #jasonnico

[thydungeongal]

No one asked but here's my top 5 games of 2023

5. Laika: Aged Through Blood

A weird hybrid of one of those 2D motocross games where you need to balance on your bike while doing cool flips, a shooter with bullet time, and a Metroidvania. Also, starring a cast of furries in a post-apocalyptic setting.

Laika is not a nice game. It starts with a person getting gutted and strung from a tree using their guts. Its story is very dark and seemingly hopeless at times. I have yet to finish it, but it very much seems like one of those stories where things get progressively worse because the people in power are short-sighted and motivated by selfishness. But besides that, it's a dang good game.

Laika really shines in the gameplay department: you'll find yourself doing insane combos where you'll shoot two enemies while doing a backflip only to rotate your bike midair to deflect the bullet of a third enemy, switch to your shotgun to kill one more enemy while using the boost from the shotgun's recoil to dodge another bullet, and finally to completely on accident kill the final enemy because one of the shotgun's pellets ricochet'd off of an enemy's assault rifle.

When the game works it is extremely rewarding and really gets you into that high-octane flow state. It's not quite perfect though: as I said, I have yet to finish it, but thus far I've had enough fun with it to give it a place in my top 5, and the main reason keeping it away from a higher spot on my list is that as apparently dictated by law when it comes to Metroidvanias that take after Dark Souls, the game has a few bosses that are both exercises in frustration while not actually utilizing the gameplay to the fullest. The cool worm in the mines is an early-game highlight, but the goddamn giant chicken pope can go fuck itself.

4. Sea of Stars

Sea of Stars is an indie JRPG inspired by many classics of the genre, but with its most obvious inspiration being Chrono Trigger. Combining a beautiful pixel art style with a turn-based combat system with action inputs in the style of the Mario RPGs and a system based around using appropriate attack types to interrupt enemy attacks and make them vulnerable, on a mechanical level it's a fantastic game. The soundtrack also kicks ass.

Having said that, while the story is by no means bad it's also not terribly memorable? Also, the two main characters (who you choose one to be your main at the start... Which actually doesn't affect anything) are almost devoid of personality while still not being silent protagonists, which I think is the worst of both worlds. Anyway, the cast is saved entirely by the nicest and coolest character in the history of JRPGs GARL!!!

Anyway, I know that comes off more critical, but the truth is it wouldn't be on my top 5 if I didn't think it was a fantastic game. It's a fantastic game that just happens to be the weakest in the main character and story department, but not to the degree where it detracts from the experience. JRPG fans, you should really check this out.

3. Halls of Torment

Vampire Survivors is one of my favorite games of the past couple of years, but it didn't come out in 2023 so I can't put it on this list. You know what did come out in 2023? That's right, Halls of Torment.

Halls of Torment is best described as "what if Vampire Survivors but Diablo instead of Castlevania," and honestly? That simple twist kinda takes it over the top for me. The gameplay loop is much the same: walk around a big map, killing hordes of monsters, picking up experience points and new weapons along the way, upgrading your abilities as you progress. Much like in Vampire Survivors it's a game that tests your ability to avoid enemies while making little spreadsheets in your head at the same time.

I wouldn't say it's better than Vampire Survivors, because for the most part it's just more of the same, but the variety in characters, weapons, and upgrades makes it a unique twist on the formula. If you've wanted to use a flamethrower to take down Diablo's hordes while overdosing on dopamine, this is the game for you.

2. Lunacid

A true throwback and tribute to those PS1 and PS2 days when FromSoft hadn't quite figured out what a Dark Souls is and was mostly making janky mech games and janky first-person dungeon crawlers, Lunacid is basically a spiritual successor to those FromSoft dungeon crawlers.

Lunacid not only nails the atmosphere of pressing loneliness that comes with exploring a mysterious, interconnected underworld, it's also a game that oozes personality and charm. None of its actual gameplay systems are revolutionary, but there's enough variety of weapons, spells, damage types, and possible builds to allow for a very personal gaming experience.

Couple that with a soundtrack that is genuinely spooky at times while also really selling the ennui and loneliness of the setting at others, it's definitely one of the highlights of this year.

1. Cassette Beasts

Cassette Beasts took me completely by surprise and completely consumed me for the next month since its release after which I felt a mighty need to 100% it. It's a rare game that manages to do that to me.

Cassette Beasts is a monster-collecting game in the style of Pokémon but with a few important twists: first of all, you always control a pair of characters instead of just one. Secondly, your characters don't call monsters into battle, they transform into them (this is mostly important in trainer battles where it's entirely possible to take out the trainer's monster form and knock them out before they can transform into a new monster!), and finally its elemental rock-paper-scissors system isn't based on just boosting damage, but on a system of elemental interactions granting buffs and debuffs.

Hit a plant time creature with a fire attack and they're now burning. Hit a glass monster with a metal type move and now there's glass everywhere, dealing minor damage to any character making a melee attack. Coupled with a system where all moves and abilities come in the form of stickers attached to the monsters and which can be detached and attached onto other monsters, you have a monster-collecting game with a lot of tactical depth.

It's obviously not perfectly balanced for competitive play, which will be coming in a future update that'll add online multiplayer, but idk it's an extremely cute, heartfelt, and deep little game. Also, the soundtrack is one of the best video game soundtracks I've had the pleasure of listening to, and also there's a cute doggy.

#cassette beasts #lunacid #sea of stars #halls of torment #laika: aged through blood

[micecakes]

Alright here we go, I haven't done this in years but decided to do it this year as a kinda roundup of some of the best games I've played this year and why I picked them, my kinda criteria for picking them is they have to be games I've actually finished, and actually came out this year, I don't usually include ports but remakes do make it in for me, and there will be a section near the bottom for games I did like a lot but didn't actually come out this year, so uhh let's get started i guess gonna get the Triple A junk out of the way first I think, so first off:

Spider-Man 2, rly liked the first one and the Miles Morales games and this one just continued on the story and whatever, it improved on a lot of things over the first game and I think it ended up just being more enjoyable overall, plus like, 19 inches of Venom and whatever, villains maybe weren't as good as the previous game but there was some rly good gameplay sections with some of them, tho once again i felt like the sidequests fell a bit short but they did at least have boss fights and more villain stuff in them so that was good, good game 👍

okey, game 2 is

Pikmin 4, and no i'm not editing this picture thank u, pretty much the best one in the series? just good overall and even tho i didn't 100% it i'm pretty sure the bonus mode you get is just a mini remake of the original game so that's cool, overall really good, definitely dragged near the end tho and kinda felt like it was going on too long, but still good, this was also like the only major Nintendo release of this year i played for more than like, an hour lol, outside of one dlc game 3 be:

Final Fantasy 16, this one is weird because I both loved and hated it at the same time, not rly much to say about it other than its the worst 10/10 video game i've ever played, it has some of the highest highs in anything i've ever played and its offset by some of the most boring shit in the world that made me want to eat my own head at times, it's good but it's also shit, it also runs like absolute ass for no reason and square enix were convinced it was totally 100% fine and didn't need to be patched and even when they did it still didn't fix it, there's literally no way I can sell anyone on this game, play Asura's Wrath instead 👍 okey i guess 4&5 are kinda gonna be rolled into one so:

Dead Space and Resident Evil 4 Remakes, both really good remakes of really good video games, but at the same time don't really replace the original versions? there's both no reason to play these over the OG releases but they're also different enough that it's fine for both original and remakes to exist, so worth playing if you like the original releases, i guess the only complaint i have is they cut out operation Ada and seperate ways from RE4 remake and then sold it back to us as dlc, but its actually more complete than the original version and worth the price i think, still annoying but hey, modern videos games babey

ok i guess next is like "non triple A games" and weird games that I enjoyed, not all of these are indie games but they're not triple A stuff so? 🤷

Robocop: Rouge City, its basically Robocop 2.5 the movie the video game, it's kinda jank, it's kinda slow to be expected but it's pretty fun and funny just seeing Robocop interact with people and then like, grab people off their motorcycles and throw them into exploding barrels, it's dumb it's good it rly captures the 80s jank of Robocop pretty well 👍 next is technically a game that didn't come out this year but it did because literally no one uses apple arcade so

Air Twister, this is probably the fucking weirdest game i've played in a very long time, i went in expecting to play a modern Space Harrier instead i got a lock on style shooter with a soundtrack that is just some band emulating Queen songs, no joke, i was just blown away the whole time at what was happening, it wasn't until i died and ran out of credits that i ended up in the games main menu which had so much stuff i was just clicking menus for about 20 mins and kept discovering more and more video game nonsense to play and unlock, SUPER weird, pretty fun, Yu Suzuki why did you release this on apple arcade originally and WHAT were you on when you made this sir, good job next i guess is

Graze Counter GM, an updated/sequel to Graze Counter, one of the first Shmups i've gotten in to and it's just really fun, loads of characters, about 8? stages to play, good basic gameplay mechanics, bunch of different difficulties and options to play with and it's just a lot of fun for a 20 min ish run through the game, def inspired me to play more shmups and get better at them, good game next we finally got some FPS games

Warhammer 40k Boltgun, classic boomer shooter style game, very stompy and heavy feeling but also really fast and fun, really enjoyed how colourful the game is and the fact there's a dedicated taunt button that does nothing by make you crack your knickles and yell things, only major complaint i had was there wasn't enough boss variety and one of the is kinda straight bs some of the time, but for the most part it was a lot of fun, also corvus helmet best helmet 👍 more FPS gamign which was a semi recent release?

Sprawl, it's currently on sale but its cheap anyways, from the banner art alone you can tell the dev is a MGS and Ghost in the Shell fan, and playing the game you can tell that too somewhat, really fun really gritty and pretty fast paced, has controllable slomo bullet time which is now something I love in games?? soundtrack is good and yeah, it's just good, really cool aesthetically has that very gritty industrial kowloon walled city cyberpunk look and feel to it and very satisfying to play, really good. last thing for games this year is a DLC

I really like the Xenoblade Chronicles series, and the XB3 dlc is a really good final wrap up of the game, lots of fanservice in the good way and just plays well and is fun, ties up a lot of story junk you'd want to know, I still think the XBC2 dlc is the best playing XBC thing but this is very good and just very fun, can't say too much without spoiling anything in the series lol but I enjoyed it a lot after finishing off XBC3 ok halfway there (joke) :^) next is games that didn't come out this year but I did play and really liked sooo

I got into racing games i guess around this time last year, I picked up Gran Turismo 7 in maybe January or February and played it a lot since, not the most exciting game or best or feature full but it has stuff that I like, and as a result has gotten me more into cars, car games and just made me better at it, had a lot of fun and the big update they did semi recently has just made the game better yehaw time??

not really much to say about Evil West other than it's what a new xbox 360/PS3 era action game would be like, just without the jank and with more convenience, not afraid to be cheesy and dumb its just a standard level based action game where you're a techno cowboy kinda guy fighting vampires, it's good it's fun and it's not that hard 🤠 nya:

one of the first games I played this year was Stray cuz i got it in an early sale, I had no real idea what to expect and I enjoyed every moment of it, really good aesthetics and design and an interesting post apocalypse style world you get to explore, you really end up caring about all the robot people and the cat and everything, also you get a meow button so its good 😺 more FPS game

I'd always seen this game just never picked it up, I think Severed Steel is one of my favourite FPS games ever now, the main story/campaign is only about 3 hours long, i beat it in one sitting and i think my face hurt when i was done because i was just grinning and laughing like an idiot the whole time because of how fun it was, there's also a bunch of extra modes to keep playing, the music is good and just everything about the game is fun which was my main takeaway from it, i didn't care that it was short I cared because of how much fun i had, highly recommend if you like sliding into guys, stealing their weapons and blasting them with it before they hit the ground, and with controllable bullet time if you want that too 👍👍 in a similar vein to the above, i guess the oldest game on this list is:

Outrun 2006: coast 2 coast, its the home port of Outrun 2, which includes Outrun 2 and a bunch of extra stuff, similar to Severed Steel this is just the most fun I've had with a racing/car game, it doesn't matter that i'm not super into Ferraris or that it's not realistic or whatever, it's just pure fun, and I don't have to spend a million dollars at the arcade to keep playing, so that's good woa you made it to the end!!!!!!! but wait!!! I played a lot of games this year, and even tho what I said about the previous ones was true, it was kinda hard for me to pick an actual game of the year, i did enjoy a lot of stuff but it didnt feel like anything stood out to me SO much that it deserved a "best game of the year" position for me, so the closest thing to that was:

Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon, hit a lot of plus points for me, I liked that I had to play the game 3 different times for different endings and a true end type thing, i did get frustrated early on but i kept coming back to play more, it def felt more of an action game than a mech game but customizing and messing with builds to get through fights was fun, tank legs thank u, it was also a similar situation to when elden ring came out, and everyone was playing it at the same time and sharing tips and builds and stuff which felt rly cool and nice and added to the whole experience, my only complaint is i wish it just had an option to start a second save file and do it all again, but oh well. and that's it! there's a bunch of stuff I didn't include in this, but i think this list is good enough for now, maybe next year this'll be a youtube video instead? I hope next years games are just as good, if not better, but even if they're not there's still a lot to play and explore 🐁🐁

#goty #mouse games of da year #sorry its so long !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[thegeminisage]

bro i was SO excited to get into coral island. have been waiting on it to come out of beta for literal years - i didn't want to play the early access version because i wanted to be able to enjoy the entire game at once. when it released i read something about like the merpeople romances not being ready until 2024 and i was like ehhhh should i wait but my brother was like no that'll give you something to bring you back to it later you have been talking and talking about this game it's finally out so you would be nuts not to buy it. so i bought it. $29.99 american dollars. that's about 3 hours of cleaning houses. i had some steam money though so i actually got it for $23

there is an "i'm stuck" button in the menu which acts as if you had passed out - you lose cash and stamina. once my game glitched and i ACTUALLY got stuck because the controls would not allow me to open the door. there've been a few other minor glitches here and there - some weird dialogue, or fenceposts vanishing if you put them in the wrong spot. and steam shows me the xbox controller button prompts instead of the ps4 ones. that was all fine. it's an indie game and it's just been out a couple of weeks. i didn't think a thing about it. for the past 3.5 days the only thing i've wanted to do is play more coral island. you might not be able to marry a merperson yet but i have been cleaning the ocean so i can go talk to them, you know?

but this morning moseyed my ass on over to the subreddit, sure i would find cool tips and trivia etc. instead it's every console player on earth talking about how the crashes make the game unplayable. even on the pc version, there's apparently only 3 merpeople you can even talk to and the cleaning the ocean quest ends with a literal "wip" on the screen. the pet adoption function is still in its infancy, you can't dig for fossils, kids don't grow up, and chests keep vanishing with items in them. i felt like i had only barely scratched the surface of this game but in actuality. maybe not.

andl ike. not to be a whiny pissbaby. but i am SO FUCKINGGG TIRED of games releasing when they aren't FINISHED. i thought an indie game that was in early access for SUCH a long fucking time would be safe from this phenomenon but apparently fucking not. i was fine to wait as long as they needed but when i am flat broke - when as a household we are food bank 2-3 times a month one house payment behind BROKE - to spend $30 on an INCOMPLETE GAME during the HOLIDAY SEASON when i have to fucking buy presents for people is INSANE. if i was going to play the INCOMPLETE version i could have paid the much lower early access price. and i deliberately on purpose did not do that and got tricked into doing it anyway!!!

like how can you raise your price and claim it's because the game is complete now and RELEASE IT ON CONSOLE when the game isn't actually complete now? did they need the extra money to continue development? did some suit stick his nose where it didn't belong? and my ass is WAY past 4 hours so there's no way i can return it. i'm stuck with this game now, just as it is, with the money i paid for it.

idek if i will keep playing. it's fucking fun as shit and ik when it's finished i'm gonna love the hell out of it, plus i've got a ways to go yet before i start hitting walls. but man what a way to take the wind out of a girl's sails. "wip." i spent the last 4 in-game days doing nothing but cleaning the ocean. good lord.

tbh going on reddit was a mistake. that was my bad. i would have preferred to find all this out the hard way and enjoy myself until then. or: better: i would have preferred not to buy the fucking game yet! wild how that works! i hate i hate i HATE this economy!!!!!!!!!! that's so fucking evil!!! i literally want my money back!

#personal #coral island blogging #aaaaaaaaaaaaaagggghhhh. #sorry to put this under a cut i'm complaining. i'm not being nice. don't read it if you don't want to listen to me complain

[banannabethchase]

prompt: a fic titled "take him (oh you mean fight)". obvi has to involve Danny but dealer's choice for the pairing.

On My Mind - also on AO3

~

Danny learns that Yuta and Mox are, like, together. Like really together. And he starts getting ideas he can't shake.

~

Title from Baby Boy by Beyonce. Because I'm perpetually in 2004.

Sarah you unleashed a monster with this one.

~

Danny walks into the locker room while Yuta, Hook, and Jack are having what appears to be a very animated conversation.

“No way,” Yuta laughs, shaking his head. Danny likes his new beard. Danny doesn’t let himself like the new beard. “I could absolutely handle Christian, but you couldn’t take Mox.”

“Okay, maybe,” Jack says. “But I’d put up a good challenge. Danny, what do you think?”

Danny folds his arms behind his head. “Mox? Yeah, I could take him.”

Yuta scoffs. “He’d fucking kill you.”

Danny nods slowly. “Isn’t that the fuckin’ point?”

Yuta narrows his eyes, then slowly shifts to a grin that is many levels of not kind. “Uh, Danny? We’re talking about fighting. Jack’s saying he didn’t think you could take Mox as in fighting.”

Danny refuses to feel awkward about it, and sits back up. “I could do both.”

“So,” Yuta says, “not to be a dick, but I don’t think you could handle fucking my boyfriend.”

Danny stares at him for a second. “Your boyfriend?”

“Yeah, dipshit,” Yuta says. “Jesus. You’ve missed everything the past few months. JAS really is like a cult, isn’t it.”

“It’s not a cult,” Danny snaps. “You and your other BCC weirdos are so gay with each other, I figured it was all an act.”

Yuta shrugs. “Tell that to the broken hotel bed from last night.”

“Not surprised,” Danny lies, “I mean, Mox seems like he’d fuck hard, you know?”

Yuta laughs. “I mean, he does, but I fuck harder.” He winks at Danny, and Danny feels a familiar ache well in his chest. A memory of their indies era, of late nights and roaming hands, strikes him. Then the words process.

He has about a hundred questions he suddenly needs an answer to, but the one that blurts out, is, “Mox is a bottom?”

“How the fuck does that surprise you?” Yuta asks, cleaning up his stuff. Danny’s always been impressed with the speed at which Yuta can fold and put away his gear. Like he doesn’t worry about it wrinkling in his bag. “You’ve, like, watched a single match of his, right?”

“I have!” Danny says. He scrambles to his feet, suddenly self-conscious of the clothes and mess he left all over the floor in his space. “I just. He doesn’t look it, does he?”

“You have weird sex hangups, Danny,” Yuta says, and the way he shakes his head is almost disappointed. Danny feels the ache build. He hates it. “Plus, he’s a vers, technically.” Yuta’s grin goes smug again. “Well, not with me. But with other people.”

Danny lets that sink in – with other people. He wants to ask, wants to know if Yuta’s talking about past partners or a third. He wants to ask how he and Mox got together, what their deal is, what might happen if Danny very nicely asked to join.

But he doesn’t say anything and lets Yuta leave the room. And doesn’t ask again.

~

“Holy fuck!” Danny stumbles over his feet to try and shut the door, but all that happens is he falls on his ass.

“Ever heard of knocking?” Mox asks. He looks very casual for a man bent over a bench in a locker room, Yuta hilt deep inside him. “Jesus, you young kids got no manners.”

“You’re one to talk about manners,” Yuta says, smacking Mox’s ass. He looks like he suddenly remembers Danny’s is there and looks over. “Um. You gonna just sit there and watch?” His expression shifts, from mildly embarrassment to intrigue. “Thinking about that conversation from the other day, aren’t you?”

Danny can’t answer and, instead, scrambles to his feet and backs out of there. “Sorry,” he mumbles as he darts out of the room and slams the door shut behind him.

He has a new problem. He now has a visual for the idea that won’t leave him be. And that makes it even harder to pretend it’s not there.

~

“So I hear you want me to fuck you.”

Danny slips off of the treadmill and is watching himself, in slow motion, plummet to the floor, but then strong hands haul him off and set him on the floor. Like it’s nothing. He turns to see Mox grinning at him. “What?”

“Yoots says you’ve got some weird sex hangups,” Mox says. He rolls his shoulders, like he’s ready for a fight, but his eyes says something else is going on. “Thinks he and I can help. So. What do you think?”

Danny’s eyes flicker to the exit, just for a second. “Um.”

“You’re good to say no,” Mox says, fiddling with the zipper on his jacket. He leans against the treadmill, stands back up, then leans again. “If you’re not into it. If Yuta was wrong.”

“Yuta wasn’t wrong,” Danny answers before he can stop himself. A knowing, almost dirty grin spreads across Mox’s lips.

“Oh,” he says. “Oh, you want it, but you don’t think you’re allowed. Got it.” He steps into Danny’s space, so close Danny can smell the lingering sweat and cologne on Mox’s skin. “You’re allowed, baby boy,” he whispers. Danny feels a shiver go from the top of his head all the way down to his toes. “All you gotta do is ask, and me ‘n Yuta will take such good care of you.”

It’s all Danny can do not to drop to his knees right there. “Okay.” His voice is tiny. He clears his throat. “I mean, yeah. I’m asking.”

Mox pulls back and grins at him. “Awesome. Tonight after the tapings? We’ll meet you in your room.”

Danny nods slowly, the world feeling like it’s spinning around him at speeds he can’t keep up with. “245,” he says. “My, uh, room number.”

“Great,” Mox says, clapping him on the shoulder. “See you then, baby.”

~

Danny’s never felt this vulnerable before, is the thing. He’s bled in rings, he’s bled in high school parking lots. Hell, back in middle school, he jumped off the top of the swings and nearly died. He’s never felt this exposed as he does right now.

He dials a number.

“Um,” Anna says. “Hi? Why the hell are you calling me?”

“Remember that thing I told you about that I told you never to mention again?”

Anna laughs on the other line. Danny needs to get nicer friends. “How you want to fuck Mox and Yuta but you’re too chickenshit to do it?”

“Okay, I’m already being mean to myself. You don’t need to add to it.” He kicks at the hotel room desk. “I just – it’s gonna happen, and I’m freaking out.”

Anna’s quiet on the other end of the line. “Sorry. What’s going to happen?”

“Me and Mox and Yuta,” he clarifies. “Fucking. Um. In my hotel room.”

Anna laughs so hard Danny has to pull the phone away from his ear. “Oh, shit, that’s good. You almost had me going for a second there.”

“This isn’t a joke, Anna.”

She goes quiet again. “Jesus. Who’d you pay off to get your version of the lottery?”

“Be nice to me!” Danny says. Well. He whines it, if he’s honest. He’s not proud of it. “I’m freaking out over here.”

“So you called me for emotional support?” Anna snickers. “Bad plan, dude. Do you expect me to, like, baby you? Tell you it’s all going to be alright.”

“This phone call was a mistake.”

“Yes it was,” Anna says. “But, in payment for you making me laugh, I’ll give you some advice. Get out of your own head, and let yourself enjoy it. It’s not every day you get your personalized fantasy.” Danny hears something on the other end of the line, garbled speech he can’t quite parse. “I gotta go. Jack has ideas for how to fuck up Hook and I want to hear it.”

Danny rolls his eyes. “Please don’t tell me anything else.”

“What?” Anna asks. “You don’t want to hear about the time we fucked on Luchasaurus’ mask before they realized we were in their locker room?”

“Hanging up now,” Danny says. He sits down on his hotel bed and tries to make himself comfortable, like his skin isn’t lighting up with the thought of what happens next. After what happened on the indies with him and Yuta, after everything he thought they would become…Well, this setup isn’t exactly where he saw the story going.

He jumps half a foot when he hears three insistent knocks on the door and steadies his breathing before he swings open the door. “Hey,” he says, and he hates how he sounds a little breathless.

“Hi,” Yuta says. “Can we come in?”

Danny nods and steps to the side. “Yeah, course. Hi, Mox.”

Mox nods at him and squeezes his shoulder.

Danny finds himself anxious about the room – is it too cheap? Is the single king bed too insistent? Did he leave clothes or gear or shoes around the room? He has to steady his breathing again.

“I told you they had king rooms,” Yuta says, throwing himself on the bed and stretching out. Danny looks away before he remembers he’s allowed to look this time. “You did shitty research, Mox.”

“Did not!” Mox says. “They said they didn’t have any.” He looks at Danny. “Did you request a room with a king bed?”

Danny shakes his head. “This is just what they gave me. Think they thought I was all pathetic since I was one of the only people booking a room for one person.”

“You’re not pathetic,” Yuta says, rolling over to look at Danny. “You’re single. That’s not a bad thing.”

Danny feels too exposed again. He fights the impulse to run into the bathroom, to hide.

“Yeah,” Mox says, and his grin turns almost sleazy. “If you weren’t single, we wouldn’t be here to fuck your brains out tonight.”

Danny feels himself turn bright pink.

“Oh, you’re cute,” Mox says, walking toward Danny with determination. “Yoots, you forgot to mention he gets all flustered like this.”

“It usually takes him longer to get to this point,” Yuta says. “When we hooked up back on the indies he acted all tough and mean until I got him under me and then he was all, ‘please Wheeler, kiss me.’ It’s fuckin’ adorable.”

“I do not!”

Mox and Yuta stare at him with the exact same expression, something learned from endless hours together. Danny squirms under their gaze. “You do, baby, and it’s cute,” Yuta says. “How about you come over here and I can kiss you.”

Danny wants to argue. He wants to say he doesn’t need it, doesn’t want it, can do without it. But he knows he’d be lying, and maybe, just this once, he’ll allow himself to get what he wants. No consequences, no fighting it. Just acceptance. “Okay,” he says. He walks back over to the bed and hops onto it, laying down a foot away from Yuta.

“That won’t do,” Yuta says. Then there’s a strong arm around his waist dragging him into Yuta’s space, and Danny feels a bit dizzy. “That’s better. You okay?”

Danny nods. “Can – can you kiss me?”

Yuta breaks into a beautiful smile, something Danny wants to pocket forever. “Sure, Danny. Anything you want.” He leans in and it’s just like it always used to be. Sweet, soft, but something behind it hinting at the barely restrained aggression Yuta usually keeps under wraps. Danny wants him to unleash it against him. He whimpers against Yuta’s lips, throwing a leg over Wheeler’s hips to drag him closer.

“You were right, Yoots,” Mox says, voice closer than Danny expected. “He does get all whimpery.”

Danny pulls away, a little dizzy, to see Mox sitting on the edge of the bed behind Yuta, watching them intently. “Hey, baby boy,” he says when he notices Danny looking at him. “You okay?”

Danny nods. “Great. So good.” He looks down at Yuta, then up at Mox. He’s not sure how to say what he wants, doesn’t know how to ask for it. Doesn’t know if he’s allowed to have it.

“Danny,” Yuta says, reaching up to stroke Danny’s jaw. “Do you want to kiss Mox?”

Danny hesitates, but nods. “I do,” he says, voice so quiet and timid that he’s almost ashamed of it.

Without another word, Yuta sits up and Mox slides into his space.

“Hey,” Mox says. “You want to kiss me?”

Danny nods.

“Okay.” Mox smiles and it’s sweet, something Danny never would have expected from a man so often staining the canvas with his own blood. “Then kiss me.”

Danny thinks his entire body is coiled in anticipation as he leans in. Kissing Jon Moxley feels like every iteration of himself is singing – the sixteen year old wearing a Dean Ambrose shirt, the eighteen year old watching Ambrose on WWE, the twenty year old watching Mox debut at Double or Nothing, the twenty-four year old laying next to him in bed. He reaches out and yanks Mox toward him until he’s practically on top of Danny. He can’t resist another whimper at the weight, at the way Mox expertly takes him apart with his lips, with the way Danny’s mind is going nuts with the possibilities of what else Mox’s tongue could do.

“You look beautiful,” Yuta says from behind Danny. He hadn’t even realized Yuta had moved back into the bed, had lined himself up along Danny’s side. “Mox, isn’t he beautiful?”

“Yeah, kinda busy here, Yoots,” Mox says after pulling off of Danny’s lips. Danny leans up to kiss him again. “See? You made him upset.”

“I’m not upset,” Danny says. His head is swimming again. “Just – come back here.”

Mox leans back down and kisses Danny like it’s the end goal, but Danny’s dick has different opinions. Mox seems to get it and slides a leg between Danny’s, pressing gently up. Danny’s pretty sure his brain shorts out at the touch, his dick twitching in interest.

“Please,” he gasps as Mox slides his lips down his neck. “God, please.”

“Please what?” Mox asks. “You gotta tell me.”

“Don’t be a dick, Mox,” Yuta says. Danny looks over to see Yuta sternly looking at Mox. He grabs him by the scruff of the neck and lifts him so he can look into Yuta’s eyes. “Remember what we talked about.”

“What did you talk about?” Danny blurts out, before he can stop himself.

Yuta’s expression shifts gentle again. “About how, sometimes, when you’re really into it, you don’t speak. And that’s okay, as long as you know how to tell us to stop or anything else.” He eyes Danny. “Still the same?”

Danny nods. “Yeah. Three taps.”

“Good to know,” Mox says. “Three taps. Mine is ‘seashell’, just so we all know.”

Danny looks at Yuta. “Still canvas?”

Yuta nods. “Alright, Mox, you can go back to what you were doing.”

“Actually, I wouldn’t mind getting naked,” Danny says, trying for humor. “What with the hot guys in my bed and all.”

Yuta smiles, breaking his face into sunshine and glow. Danny wants to bask in it forever. “Course, baby, anything you want.” He turns to Mox. “Yeah?”

Mox nods and pulls his clothes all the way off before Danny has the time to pull off his shirt.

“Damn, Mox,” he mutters, “you work fast.”

“That’s the only time I’m fast, baby boy, don’t you worry.”

The nickname sends a shiver through Danny again and he leans up to catch Mox’s lips with his again.

He’s vaguely aware of Yuta arranging himself behind Mox, but he’s too lost in the feeling to ask.

Mox begins moaning against Danny’s mouth, dragging his lips down Danny’s jaw to settle his face in the crook of his neck. “Jesus fuckin’ Christ, Yuta, yes.”

Danny shifts to see Yuta concentrated, two fingers deep in Mox. He feels himself blush, but he’s not sure why.

“That happened fast,” he mutters as Mox works a bruise into his neck. He leans into it, gripping his hands at Mox’s waist. “I – oh, fuck – you’re going to fuck him?”

Yuta nods, and Mox bites down on Danny’s neck, making him gasp. Yuta grins. “He likes it, yeah? Biting?”

“Uh-huh,” Danny manages, nails digging harder into Mox’s sides. “Whatever you’re doing, he’s way into.”

“Good,” Yuta says. “I was thinking,” he says casually, “we’ve fucked before, Danny. Do you want Mox to fuck you? And I fuck him?”

Mox licks up the side of his neck and it’s enough for Danny’s entire body to shudder.

“Yeah, Danny,” Mox says, lips pressed to Danny’s, “want me to fuck you?”

“God, yes,” Danny moans, and it’s like the words are dragged out of him. “Please, yes.”

“Cool,” Yuta says. “Alright. Mox, move a little. I gotta get Danny.”

Danny’s a little startled at the cool air rushing over him as Mox rolls off of him, but then there’s Yuta in his place, and he’s got Danny’s legs collected around his shoulders.

“Can I touch you, Danny?” Yuta asks, dark eyes even darker. “Can I open you up?”

Danny nods, can’t speak, just nods.

“Okay, love.” Yuta turns and kisses Danny’s ankle, then shifts. “Of course.”

Danny doesn’t have time to think about the nickname, doesn’t have time to freak out about it, because Yuta’s slick, just that much familiar fingers are sliding against his hole and he can’t –

“Danny,” Yuta says carefully, fingers stilling, “nod if you’re okay.”

Danny nods frantically, and thinks, in the back of his mind, that he must be something close to good for Yuta to know him this well.

“You sure?”

Danny nods again.

Yuta’s face shifts into that beautiful smile again. “Okay, love, I’m gonna open you up. Anything wrong, show me what to do.”

Danny taps three times on the bed.

“Good, love,” Yuta says, and Danny practically melts when Yuta leans in to kiss his forehead before returning to press his fingers inside of Danny.

Mox has a reassuring hand on his chest, murmuring dirty and delicious things in Danny’s ear as Yuta is silent as he adds another finger, then another. The sensations are blowing his mind into dust, sending him into delight and desire and nothing else. He’s not able to access anything outside of this moment – outside of Mox and Yuta and the sensations coursing through his nerves.

“More,” he mumbles. “Please, more.” He looks over at Mox. “Fuck me?”

Mox lights up. “Yeah?” He glances over at Yuta. “He ready?”

“I think so,” Yuta says. “Danny, are you ready, love?”

Danny nods. “Yes, god. Yes.”

Yuta stands and walks to the end of the bed and Mox takes his place, hands surprisingly gently as they smooth up Danny’s thighs.

“Nod or tap, okay?” Mox asks. “Can – can I fuck you now?”

Danny nods emphatically. “Yes,” he says. “Mox, please.”

Mox grins. “God, you really are cute.”

Danny waits as patiently as he can as Mox slides on the condom and slicks himself up. He slides his fingers down between Danny’s cheeks.

“God, you’re so – fuck,” Mox sighs. “Yoots, you were right. He feels incredible.”

Danny wiggles his hips, trying to bump himself up against Mox’s dick.

“Right,” Mox chuckles. “Good?”

Danny nods.

“Okay.”

Mox is slow and methodical as he slides his dick into Danny, like he’s scared he’ll hurt him.

“He can take more than that,” Yuta says, laughing. “Can’t you, Danny?”

“I can,” Danny says. His voice sounds funny to his ears, like they’re not quite his words.

Yuta’s smile over Mox’s shoulder sends a shiver through Danny’s body. “I’ll show you.” He pushes into Mox, not too quickly, but fast enough that it jolts Mox further into Danny’s body, and Danny’s eyes roll back in his head.

“Oh,” he gasps. “Okay. Good. This is good. Got it.” Mox grins down at Danny. “You good, baby boy?”

Danny nods. “Please,” he whispers.

It takes a minute for the three of them to sync up, but it happens and Danny thinks his vision has blurred except for the the points of Mox’s and Yuta’s faces. Mox runs his thumb across Danny’s lower lip and Danny sucks it into his mouth, swirling his tongue around the pad.

“Jesus,” Mox says, looking almost reverently down at his own hand. “Yoots was right about you.”

“I’m always right,” Yuta says. “So perfect, isn’t he?”

Danny closes his eyes and smiles around the thumb in his mouth. He’s perfect. Yuta said so.

The world swims as he grips at Mox’s biceps, feeling Mox inside of him and Yuta’s thrust as more of a hint than a surety. He reaches down to wrap his hand around his own dick, but fingers tangle around his hand.

“Let me,” Mox says gently. His hand is slick and warm as it slides up and down Danny’s dick, the motion building and building. Danny’s suddenly reminded of the wave pool at his local water park, the smaller waves cresting and building and cresting until the wave is so big he can’t keep his head above water and just has to dive into it. And he does. With a wordless cry, he dives into the feeling as it pulls him into bliss. He knows words are happening around him and he gives a weak thumbs up, thinking, inexplicably, of Orange Cassidy as the aftershocks wind down.

“Fuck,” Mox grunts. “God, baby, so good – ”

“Go ahead, Mox,” Yuta says. Danny thinks his voice sounds tight. “Come for me.”

Danny feels it inside him, the pulsing, the shove deep within him. He wants to feel it over and over again.

He manages to open his eyes in time to see Yuta coming, his eyes pressed shut and mouth open in a silent O. Danny pockets it next to his heart.

He lets his eyes flutter shut, for how long he doesn’t know, and then someone taps his arm.

“Hey,” Mox says, “I’m going to move you so we can get the covers fixed, okay?”

Danny nods, and allows himself to be moved around gently, forcing his eyes open again so he can help a little. He frowns as he notices that Yuta’s gone.

“He’s just getting a towel, baby boy, don’t worry.” Mox leans down and kisses Danny’s forehead. “It’s okay. He’ll be right back.”

Danny nods and pulls Mox back into bed, burying his face in the crook between Mox’s neck and shoulder. Mox wraps his arms around Danny’s back, and he feels safe. Danny curls his arms up around his chest.

“Okay, you two,” comes Yuta’s voice. “I gotta clean you both up.”

“I got myself,” Mox says. “You make sure the kid is okay.”

“I thought I was the kid.”

“Not when Danny’s in the room,” Mox says. Danny thinks he can hear the smile.

Danny feels a gentle hand on his thigh. “You okay for me to clean you up?”

Danny nods, and feels Yuta mop up the lube from his skin. “Th-thanks,” Danny manages to stutter out as Yuta gently wipes him down. Mox pulls the covers up, ready to pull over Danny once he’s clean.

“Shh,” Yuta says gently. “You don’t need to talk, love. Just nod, or tap if something’s wrong. I got you.”

Danny nods, managing a smile. “Yeah?”

“Of course.”

Yuta curls into bed next to Danny, face to face while Mox is behind him. They’re quiet as Mox pulls the blankets up around them. Danny can’t help it – he buries his face into Yuta’s chest and sighs.

Instead of pulling away, Yuta wraps his arms around Danny’s shoulders and holds him close. Danny exhales slowly, feeling Mox’s big hands rub gently on his arms.

It takes some time, but Danny feels like he can finally figure out words eventually. “How do you know me still?” he asks, pulling away from Yuta. “After everything, why…why would you…” He doesn’t know what to say, what he wants to ask. His words leave him and he looks back up to Yuta’s eyes, only to see him smiling softly.

“Danny,” Yuta says, cradling his face, “I’ve always told you. You can always trust me, no matter what happens in the ring. And I’ll always listen to you. No matter how you say it.” He leans in and kisses Danny’s forehead, so sweet Danny might cry. “Okay?”

All Danny can do is nod, but he thinks that’s enough.

Yuta pulls him into his arms and holds him tight while Mox softly holds his hand on his other side and Danny thinks, maybe, this is where he could belong.

~

Mini Playlist:

Claws - Kim Petras

Do I Wanna Know? - Arctic Monkeys

3 - Britney Spears

Baby Boy - Beyonce feat. Sean Paul

#IT'S FINALLY DONE #This one was a bitch to complete and I'm not sure why #wtf i like wrestling now??? #in which sara writes #MoxDannYuta #MoxYuta #MoxDanny #DannYuta #I'm a sleepo now

[equalseleventhirds]

hello welcom to algie's occasional game rec, bcos i've been planning a campaign for some friends in a ttrpg system i haven't used before, and like. listen.

if you like the general fantasy 'group of people go out into a semi-lawless magical world and kick ass cause chaos and get loot' of d&d, but don't really enjoy some of the finer morality points of the setting (cough the weird default to being purveyors of fantasy racism and colonialism, sure you can homebrew it out but it's difficult), or wish it had modern stuff (like phones and internet and twitch streamers but in dungeons) in addition to the magic, or want to ignore like half the rules while still having some of the structure (that some smaller indie games don't provide)

high magic lowlives by gemroom games absolutely fucks.

the ultimate villain is the capitalistic, nepotistic, monarchistic system--the one most of the world ascribes to, and proper, legal adventurers work for. but you are not adventurers. you're lowlives; people who maybe could've gone to wizard school and worked off your debt as a pawn of the aristocracy, but have instead chosen to. well. steal from them. because c'monnnnnnn.

you've all got phones with actual game purpose (and relevant rolls to make), bcos you can benefit in-game from gaining online followers or streaming your shenanigans to fantasy twitch. or, then again, you can fuck yourself over. lotta choices, and you are a lowlife, after all.

mechanically, the game is detailed & crunchy enough to provide excellent guidance and character inspiration (character creation is a lot of fun!), but stuff like 'make sure you eat x amount of food and water every day', or having to track actions and special abilities during combat are streamlined out of it. you also get to make up a lot of stuff (like your magic domain & patron! pick whatever! make it work how it's fun for you!), but it provides enough examples to help you get started.

the gm's side is a little more freeform than in d&d--no monster manual, just a quick & easy guide to assigning basic stuff to ur npcs & monsters and then you can do whatever--which may not be a benefit if ur used to the rigid templates of the mm, but allows you to be quick on your feet with unplanned encounters.

also it's just fun. i love a game that lets you cause chaos and destruction and humiliation, but clearly positions you against the incredibly powerful people who would normally, say, hire an adventurer to clear out a cave of kobolds (or other 'definitely always evil' races from d&d) to get at some treasure or w/e. no no, says high magic lowlives, don't work for those people. steal from them. and stream it to your followers on the way.

#algie talks ttrpgs #i'm having a GREAT time #it's crunchy enough for bigger campaign play but also...... u don't need five billion books. u kno. #long post

[rhythmantics]

Do you think Xander, Alex or Dana enjoy desserts? If so what do you think they like/don’t like? Also what hobbies do you think Xander and Dana have outside their jobs? Sorry I love the smallest and most frivolous of details about characters I love to think about the kinds of things they enjoy it’s fun to me

Dessert:

Xander: Hates sweets. He eats 99% cocoa powder dark chocolate and it is NOT fair trade. Fuels up on sugar only as needed to reach carbohydrate goals. Would not turn down dessert in a social setting, but would rather order a second appetizer or entree in private.

Dana: Likes sweets a normal amount. Would prefer pizza over cake. Eats 80% cocoa powder dark chocolate and it IS fair trade.

Alex: Can and will eat pure sugar straight out of the bag. Even in his lowest-energy form, he has a massive caloric requirement, so he packs away anything high in fat, carbs, and protein. Pretty much a garbage disposal.

Hobbies:

Xander: He has kept his hobbies secret, even from his siblings. Why he feels the need to do this is a mystery even to him. He's a workaholic, so he doesn't take MUCH time off work, and Dana knows he likes to get up at ass o'clock AM and go work out, nearly every day. If you ask Dana, she mentions that he likes hard rock, grunge, punk-type music, and likes to watch horror movies. These aren't really hobbies so much as sometimes he can't be working out or regular working, and he needs something to pass the time. Since she can't be assed to wake up in time to go work out with him, she doesn't know that he practices parkour/gymnastics as part of his workout stuff. This is less "fun" to him and more a way to expunge the murderous energy that builds up in his body so that he doesn't flip out on his coworkers/subordinates. If he couldn't regularly slam his body against concrete and brick walls, he would probably start actively physically harming people. Karen noticed the random injuries he'd sustain and he'd pretend it was from doing kickboxing instead. Problem with martial arts is they're not solo sports and workout time is alone time for him. This is also why he hates going to gyms despite holding a membership. To practice, he has several favored quiet, run-down alleyways where no one else goes. I hope the impression you walk away with is that he is in serious need of therapy.

Dana: Mostly concerned with making ends meet while juggling college and work, Dana also spent a lot of her time just working. Both Mercer siblings are very driven and goal-oriented people. Had she the free time and money, she'd probably be a party girl. Clubbing, recreational drugs, dancing. Xander hammered safety into her head from a super early age, and they have their mom to look to as an example, so she wouldn't wind up in heavy drugs (or even heavy drinking - she's not a straight-edge like Xander is, but she's not a huge fan of alcohol. Weed is her drug of choice) or crazy flings. She just likes the dancing, the music, the people. She'd be into all kinds of weird, on-the-street art stuff - indie concerts, pop-up galleries, flea markets. She'd probably get into owning snakes or bugs, something low-maintenance and kind of creepy. The woman-about-town, always trying new things, going to new places, making new friends, (hustling them out of money), rinse, repeat.

Alex: He likes to run really fast in self-imposed obstacle courses and try to beat his best time. Or climb up somewhere really high and try to land within 5 meters of a round landmark.

#prototype 2009

[mcbitchtits]

My non-spoilery review of Dial of Destiny is that I think it succeeded; it’s a good movie. People seem to like it, despite whatever critiques Cannes had going on (and I need to go back and reread all the reviews now that I’m no longer avoiding spoilers). I think everyone should go see it, because a day with an Indiana Jones movie is always a good one. I wish Mads Mikkelsen had been given a little more room to chew the scenery as the villain; I can’t for the life of me figure out why he had last billing on stuff??? Shockingly most of all to me, the CGI de-aging pretty much worked.

ANYWAY, and then once everyone has seen it, you should come back and dig into the spoilers with me because there’s really so little I can say without immediately ruining... any part of it.

And so with that, here be spoilers:

When I say it succeeded I mean they put together a lot of parts that makes a fun movie, and it has Indiana Jones, so right there you’re golden. Ultimately, it’s literally just Tomb Raider (2001) But With Indiana Jones. Which I don’t think they did on purpose; if anything, I suspect they were trying to give a nod to the original Raiders plotline of the two headpiece pieces, and uh, oops, time travel macguffin. (I haven’t seen any official comments to substantiate that it’s supposed to be an allusion to the original script, I am wholly pulling that out of my own ass.)

Surprisingly, I think the movie succeeded where I expected it to fail (Disney’s hand in it, the CGI de-aging, the extremely dubious interpretation of the antikythera mechanism), and failed where I expected it to succeed: most notably, the score felt tacked on after the fact (what the hell) and while they fully delivered a cathartic and mature character arc, well, uh... it’s kind of miserable. I kind of hate it!

There are a lot of pieces I enjoy, and absolutely none of them— once you’re past the first 30 minutes or whatever— can manage to overtake the fact that you’re watching Indiana Jones drown in depression and complete personal despair for two hours. The final two hours of this character’s “grand finale”, I might add!

I’m totally fascinated by the fact that Mangold and Ford were able to look at the development and say, “we don’t want to make cheap Old Indy jokes” and then go and do that. It really feels lost to me in the line where Indy talks about “I’ve seen things I don’t understand... [...] it’s not a matter of what you believe, it’s how hard you believe them,” and I know it’s supposed to be sort of a commentary on hope (and Helena being the Indy-character and being stubborn and bringing him back to himself and his life), but also, WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT EVEN MEAN!!!!!!!!! MY DUDE YOU WATCHED SO MANY PEOPLE GET PHYSICALLY DESTROYED BY THE HANDS OF MULTIPLE GODS AND SUPER BEINGS. WHAT. ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT. A real “?” from the writers on that one, chiefs, fuck’s sake.

Anyway, in terms of it being an Indy movie, also weird that they clearly are reacting to the reception of Crystal Skull the way that Last Crusade reacted to the reception of Temple of Doom; and yet the thing they managed to extract from that was “oh, people hated Indy feeling out of his element of this being a 50′s movie instead of a 30′s movie, so let’s dial that up even more and make him depressed about it.” (pun circumstantial)

That is. certainly a choice.

But it also misses to me what Indiana Jones is on a fundamental level in that they are movies about other movies. They are movies about movie-making. And there is a whole lotta None Of That in dial of destiny. There’s like, a couple of lines that are maybe supposed to be throwaway references to the earlier films? But I honestly can’t tell if they did it on purpose or if it was just, like, everybody binged the movies for research and the words got stuck in their head and fell into the script because they happened to sound right.

There are some things structurally that worked for me. The diving and the eels felt like a good nod to the Bond structure while being fresh and not out of place, unlike the bugs which felt unnecessary. The Atlas boulder that was in the trailer didn’t make it into the film, which is fine by me. I was surpised to find that Sallah’s role did not feel gratuitous and out of place, but very welcome. (And also when did Indy bring him to America and WHY WASN’T HE AT YOUR WEDDING, INDIANA)

I will take a Midwest/Wright brothers joke literally all the time. Dayton pride, babey, SUCK IT NORTH CAROLINA

There were no location/date title cards, and then the weird choice to end with an iris on the hat which— always yay, the hat—what on earth are you trying to say, here? You just spent the whole movie telling us he’s retired, this is the end of his saga (but not his life), he wasn’t back in the saddle, the world doesn’t really have a place for him —and to be clear You, Mangold, and You, Ford, and You, Marketing are promoting these statements—and now... he’s “back“? I mean, do be trying to pitch more Indy films. I will watch them. Especially after this mess. But like... what is your point. Again, I realize the other characters are telling him how wrong he is and how he shouldn’t give up and things are just different now, but the whole denoument just feels like an afterthought to me. And then we do not soar into the Raiders march with a final finesse a la Raiders, no, but go from something for Helena, drop into the Raiders March for a loop, then detour into... a ballad???????

Again, the score on this felt like a hot mess. It never seemed to hit its stride.

I am glad they didn’t give me the Disney castle to start; sad though we didn’t get a mountain. Lucasfilm felt like a good compromise, but also just kind of... there.

I do like that they had the spear of Longinus and it was a fake. A+, I am so tired of Christian artifact bluster.

I think they could have tightened up the script and cast a bit; Klaber as a character felt very poignant (it took me 70% of the way through the movie to realize he was not supposed to be a secretly-trained-up-German-Nazi but rather a good ol’ fashioned deep south American white supremacist), but also I think he took screentime that I would have rather seen given to Voller. Hauke (?), the Pat Roach stand-in, was kind of just... there. I don’t want to say Teddy was excessive, because he was there literally to be Helena’s Short Round, and to give their relationship some heart, but it also felt like a lot on top of also meeting Renaldo and then he and all his men immediately get killed, and also the Moroccan mobster is Helena’s ex and we have to have a ten minute chase about that. Mobster and his chase scene could have been folded more into the casino kerfuffle and his part of the tuktuk chase cut pretty much completely, were it me editing.

Despite being maybe-a-Raiders-concept-homage, I don’t think the antikythera needed to be in two pieces AND there was the graphikos AND then there was the necklace in the tomb. It starts to feel like just a video game series of missions at that point and to be quite frank, as much as I love them choosing a Greek artifact, a lot of the puzzles didn’t feel grounded to me. Just... pulled out of mysterious nowhere (or ahistoric nowhere), which on top of the conspiracy theory angle equals my distaste. Too much like the Akator puzzles in Crystal Skull, just being fantasy for fantasy’s sake and not for any other reason other than padding out the artifact story. It’s not doing anything for the plot. I understand why they chose to lean on Archimedes, as a scientist and a point of resonance for Indy’s and Basil’s and Voller’s characters (and archaeology), but again, me hating the conspiracy side of things, I wish they had 1) given it a more mythological grounding in the Greek pantheon, and 2) used that mythology more explicitly to give Voller his comeuppance. (Maybe he deserved a shitty and forgotten death, since he clearly had visions of grandeur and assuredly an ego to match Hitler’s. But nonetheless I WANT MYTHOLOGY.)

Also for no other reason than personal taste, I hate the hexagonal design of it.

At the very least when it comes to the macguffin and the time travel, they managed to hold back until the end— unlike Crystal Skull where they pulled the trigger showing the audience too early in the movie— and so that pretty much worked despite its ridiculousness. It’s maybe a little too Young Indiana Jones Chronicles for my tastes, but also it felt sort of respectfully reminiscent of the Grail Knight, just going in the opposite direction, so. It works enough.

I’m glad Helena punched Indy and brought him back to the present because I *ALSO* have been thinking about Indy’s death for a long time and boy howdy this movie could have been a lot worse. Jesus christ. A near fucking thing, though I’m hoping they never considered it as a real ending. (Indy certainly spent a lot of time being conscious for a man who got shot in the chest and was bleeding out like ten minutes previous.)

On a strictly personal taste note, and realizing it’s something most people felt no loss for since it figured centrally in their distaste for Crystal Skull, I hate that they killed off Mutt. I did actually like Mutt. I thought he was cast perfectly, sorry to the haters. And again, I think it was a fucking cruel thing to foist onto Indy and Marion’s relationship and THE FUCKING FINALE INDIANA JONES MOVIE. FOR TWO FULL HOURS!

Unrelated, just wanted to also point out that I was right about the “I’ve been looking for this all my life” line in the trailers being a dubbed fakeout. What’s up. This has no bearing on anything other than stroking my ego.

I did expect there to be a joke about Medusa or the Aegis what with Athena being Right The Fuck There in Archimedes’ tomb, but alas.

...

Anyway. I’m mad about it and I’m going to see it probably five or six times in theaters anyway and then, like, just always watch Raiders instead for the foreseeable future. For the past 24 hours now I have just been oscillating wildly between, like, this is fine, and also this is the worst thing ever, and also I love that everyone else likes it but I am sort of thrilled in my distaste? Like, Crystal Skull was a disappointment, for sure. I remember feeling that. I remember exactly what I thought coming out of the theater. But I also actively enjoyed a lot of parts of it (c.f. Mutt) and I developed a sort of wider appreciation of campy/corny/actively terrible things due in part to that.

This is not that. My distaste here is very specific, and very nearly overwhelming. And, I don’t know, I have some weirdly gleeful response in everyone asking me if it’s good, if they should see it, what did I think of it, and I can’t say anything that isn’t spoilery because even “it’s a good movie” is a clue enough that I didn’t enjoy it, and idk, maybe it’s, like, a weird science experiment? Where you’re getting RESULTS and that’s just purely fucking enjoyable no matter what they actually are? You just get to have something and examine it? I don’t know. I honestly don’t.

It’s far and away for me, technically and personally, the worst of the five.

On the whole it feels like... exactly matched to Disney’s/Lucasfilm’s efforts lately in general. The mediocre graphics and poster. The trailers that just kind of existed. A score that somehow turned out to be barely anything. The fact that they put out tons of shirts and collectibles with outright errors. The fact that they had to steal their Facebook page ages ago from a fan, then never post to it, and never bother to take over/rebuild their site from Paramount (they sold in 2013!!!!) until two months ago, wherein now it just forwards to Lucasfilm. A macguffin that, for the first time ever, seems to have no actual resonance to the plot. (Should have been, for Helena; instead we spent that time being chased through the streets of Morocco by her ex.)

Yep. You sure did put Harrison Ford in a fedora again. And as I’ve said forever, I will be there every time, and I will watch it.

But. like. The End, I guess? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Hell of a note to go out on. And you didn’t even go out on the Raiders March.

#i'm sure i'm forgetting some things but. you know. #like i ever shut up about indiana jones. #there will always be more to say #SPOILERS #LIKE ALL THE SPOILERS #indiana jones #dial of destiny

[hoes4dylanobrien]

Don’t Make It Weird

The Birthday Girl

It wasn’t like you had planned it that way. 

To sleep with your best friend. 

It just...well, sort of happened. 

The crowd cheered on Dylan who shotgun’ed an entire beer can along with his friends: you, Sam, Matt, and Danny. Olivia sat this one out, instead dancing with a guy you hadn’t seen before but one she’d been vibing with all night. 

Dylan won, the rest of you finishing at later stages. You felt queasy but then burped, really loudly, drawing laughter. Dylan cupped your waist. “You doing OK?” 

You raised your hand, doing the ‘A-OK’ sign. He chuckled, boozy breath and spicy aftershave hitting your face. “Good. Going to hit the John and then we’re doing another round.”

“Of what?” 

“Whatever the fuck you want. It’s your birthday, baby.” The deep octave whispered in your ear sent pleasant shivers down your spine. 

Afterwards, you grabbed him afterwards in the hallway.

“Dylan,” you said, completely drunk out of your mind. “Yeah?” He responded, not as wasted, but getting there. 

“There’s something I need to tell you.” 

“What’s that?” 

“Something I’ve wanted to say for a long time, but thought it would be weird.” 

He laughed, starting to sway. “Who gives a shit?” 

“Okay, but you can’t tell anyone.” 

He shrugged. 

“Promise me!” You shook his broad shoulders. 

“Okay, okay. I promise. Jesus,” he giggled. Yes, giggle. It was your kryptonite. Such a weird little sound, but attractive nonetheless. 

You leaned in to whisper: 

“I want you to fuck me.” 

He laughed at you. Just laughed. 

When you didn’t react, he sobered up. “What? You’re serious? What the fuck, y/n?” 

“Why not? You’re hot, I’m obviously hot — I mean, look at me.” You gestured to your tight minidress, which very little to the imagination. “I’m also horny. Why the fuck not?” 

“Because,” he said, fumbling for words, eyes narrowed in concentration. “I think you’d be pissed at me tomorrow, and I’d definitely be pissed at myself. You’re also way younger than me. Shouldn’t you save it for someone who matters to you?”  “You matter to me.” You pointed out. 

“Not like that. You know what I mean. A boyfriend, a lover. . .” 

“You did not just say the word ‘lover’,” you finally cracked a grin, laughing. 

He stared at you seriously. 

“You’re just fucked up right now. You won’t want this tomorrow. Trust me.” 

You sidled up to him, running a hand down his chest, over the small chest hair peeking out of his black tee. It was manly. Sexy. God, you wanted your best friend. 

“I hear a whole lot of what I won’t want and less what you want.” You looked up to stare deeply into his brown orbs. “What do you want, Dylan?” His Adam’s apple bowed, cupid’s bow mouth parting. 

Sam, Matt, and Danny were calling you. It was time for you to blow out your birthday candles. 

“Think about it,” you said, leaving. 

As everyone called out to you to make a wish, you closed your eyes and blew out the candles. When you opened them, Dylan stood before you. Unreadable, hypnotizing. You had to physically drag your gaze from his when someone engaged you in conversation. 

Dancing came next. 

Old R&B songs played alongside newer pop and a combination folksie/indie music. Everyone made the best of the living room space. You were a terrible dancer, and you were in good company, but you all had a lot of fun. 

Some guy who’s eye you caught more than once that night finally had the courage to walk up to you. You chatted a little, but mostly stuck to your bodies speaking for you. It was kind of nice until he pressed his front to your back and started trying to grind on you. There was only one person you wanted to feel against your ass and he wasn’t it. 

“See you can handle yourself,” Dylan said, joining you. “Did you ever doubt it?” He smiled endearingly, shaking his head. “Nah. Know you’re capable. Jersey girl after my own heart.” 

You returned his smile. 

“Thought more about what I said?” You raised a brow. 

“I don’t know, you tell me.” You felt it then. A hardness over your tailbone in a telltale outline of his designer shorts. Heat blossomed in your pelvic region. 

“Sounds like a ‘yes’ to me,” you flirted back, grinding against the package to his pained delight. 

“What if you change your mind?” 

“I won’t.” 

“What if things. . . get weird? Between us?” 

“Easy. Just don’t make it weird.” You winked. And then you kissed him for the first time.

#dylan o'brien fanfiction #au #smut #bestfriends #unrequitedrequited #birthday #friends #drinking #parties #dylanchesthair