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genericpuff · 22 days

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CHAD ANON-

Alright so I've been meaning to post about this for a couple days, but we gotta talk about what's been going on in the /r/webtoons subreddit the last couple days.

Every now and then, the heavens part and an anonymous creator will descend with their experiences with Webtoons. And they're almost never good. And that's good in the long run, because that means we have more ammunition to support Webtoons being an ass platform that benefits no one :))

Obviously the anons here are risking a lot posting this sort of stuff, so before I go ahead, let it be known that I'm gonna try and keep speculating to a minimum and just touch on what anon has provided. When it comes down to it, this post hasn't been verified in any way, so it might not even be 100% real, though there's a lot of evidence to suggest it is based on the responses from other users that validate many of the points anon makes.

I will also mention that any opinion I have regarding the contract outside of what's been provided by anon is from reading other accounts from creators who have spoken up and just generally being a community member for a long time who's been around the bend and heard a lot of shit from Originals creators. I am not an Originals creator and I have never been offered any of these contracts.

So let's get into this!

The contract 'evolving' over time was definitely something that a lot of us were at least semi-aware of, as it seems that a lot has changed since 2020 as verified by many creators who have spoken up on their contracts (or at least said what they could in light of the NDA's that WT uses to prevent them from saying anything). But I had no idea the extent to how far WT was going with it, how much they were trying to get away with. Automatically having the ability to buy 100% of the creator's IP? That is a huge, massive no-no. I've had some creators heavily imply to me in the past that they've sold off portions of their IP, but WT being given the automatic pass to buy 100% is severely unethical.

For anyone out of the loop, IP means Intellectual Property. It means whatever content is being made, it belongs to the person making it. Lore Olympus is Rachel Smythe's IP. City of Blank is 66's IP. Of course, copyright law gets dicier when it comes to stuff like fair use, trademarking, etc. but for the sake of this topic, IP just means "if you made it, you own it". Webtoons typically buys digital print rights, meaning if you sign on as an Originals, that means you can only post that comic that you sold to the Originals section. It doesn't mean you can't use other platforms for other comics, just that for the comic you sold, you have to post exclusively to Webtoons.

Webtoons is essentially trying to take that from creators by going "if you sign on as an Originals creator, you don't just lose your distribution rights, you lose all of your rights." They might still be able to run Canvas comics separate from Originals, but whatever they sold to Originals is no longer theirs to own. And the kicker is that it's, of course, for a very low fee. Buying out 100% of someone's IP should NOT come cheap, but WT is undoubtedly offering pennies in the hope that someone bites for that 'exclusive' Originals offer.

This. This is a big one. I'm not a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure this is massively ILLEGAL.

Just like with the IP rights, creators should not automatically have their printing rights taken from them by a digital publisher. They can make offers, sure, but they can't force creators into giving up their rights for physical publishing when they themselves are not a physical publishing house. Some series do get physical prints through other publishers like Random House (ex. LO) but a digital printing platform should NOT be able to restrict the printing rights of a creator who has only sold their series for the purpose of digital distribution. Especially because, again, printing rights are usually sold for massive gains for the person selling them - not a portion of month's rent for people living in a shitty New York apartment in 2024. That is what Webtoons thinks your printing rights are worth.

This is one that I've been very certain of for the past little while, particularly due to my past discussions regarding LO's merch. Because let's face it... it isn't good.

But I don't hold Rachel accountable for this shit because she's not the one making it, it's almost certainly some in-house designer at Webtoons or some other third party through Random House Worlds. Sure, it says "By Rachel Smythe" but that's more so just for marketing at this point, because no one wants to buy merch made by Chuck the Penguin House merch guy.

Remember when I said LO's partnership with Inklore / Random House Worlds was gonna be purely for cheap merchandise in the realm of cookbooks and card decks?

Yeah.

Point is, it's clear a lot of creators who are part of Webtoons' merch program may not even have any say or choice in the matter. Of course, I don't know what Rachel's contracts specifically are like, so I won't speculate on that too much, but there's a lot of evidence to suggest that she may not own as much of LO as she used to. She was definitely a part of the older contracts from 2018 at one point that didn't have the more predatory tacked on bullshit like the Minimum Revenue Threshold, but... she's renewed her contract since then. So it begs the question of how much LO has suffered not just on her account of being bad at managing a team and writing a long-form story, but at the hands of Webtoons dipping too much of their hands into her work.

Oh look, another highly unethical if not outright illegal thing! Digital print publishers can't be your agent! Repeat after me -digital print publishers CANNOT be your agent! As anon explains here, it would make it far too easy for publishers to steer their creators into directions that only benefit the company. Agents are like lawyers for artists, their job is to protect writers, actors, artists, anyone who's trying to enter some kind of media industry. Most publishing agencies won't take unsolicited manuscripts for publishing, which means writers need agents who are willing to vouch for them and help them connect with publishers. Webtoons being the publisher AND the agent for creators... seriously, that's fucked up. It means Webtoons can direct creators to do whatever benefits the company itself, not the creator. But hey, we already knew that was the case as soon as we saw "Webtoon would be able to automatically buy 100% of your IP" LOL But if you needed more to support the sheer predatory audacity of Webtoons as a company, there it is.

This is the sad reality for a lot of content creators. Comics aren't a new industry, but webcomics are and a lot of the people going into them are either extremely young or just never learned how to navigate the professional world. We talked about this issue last week and now here it is in action - a lot of creators don't even realize they're supposed to hire lawyers for contracts like these, and those who do... can't afford them.

And again, I'm very aware that this reddit post isn't exactly substantiated by anything beyond anon anecdote (such as a copy of the actual contract) but a couple other people in the thread who were offered contracts also came forward to express the similarities - and differences - between what they were offered and what OP was offered.

(these responses are actually gone now but that's why we have the power of screenshotting as the thread was happening LMAO yay me)

This thread is also being discussed on Twitter:

For those who are as old and falling apart as I am (/hj) and remember when Youtube was still coming into its own as a platform, what Webtoons is doing to webcomic creators is very similar to what businesses like MakerStudios did to Youtubers back in the day - signing creators into predatory contracts with the promise of fame and fortune, just to pull the rug out from under them with shit pay, shit management, and less perks than they had just doing it all on their own time and dime.

Webcomics, as a blooming industry, are now going through the same problem as Youtube did back in the late 2000's/early 2010's. No one knows how to navigate the industry. A lot of people and businesses don't even know how to profit off it, at least not sustainably (and for some platforms definitely not ethically). Very few people have come out of this industry with the money and fame they were seeking in the long-term, both because it's easy to burn out quickly but also because there is no long-term yet due to this being such a new industry... and those who have come out with those victories are often people who are still just pursuing the traditional comic publishing ways of glory, by seeking out agents, signing print deals, and doing everything that any other freelance or contracted comic creator would do, because it's safer and offers more structure than what webcomics are offering on their own. There are no regulations, no protections in place looking out for creators, it's basically just a free for all of young people looking to monetize their creations and businesses willing to take advantage of those people for a quick buck.

I don't think any of this means that webcomics have to be exclusively relegated to being a "stepping stone" for traditional print comics or grander media like film and television. They're a medium in and of themselves, a very accessible medium to boot, that welcomes anyone regardless of their status, technical skills, or background. They're wonderful for that and I think more people should be willing to give webcomics a try as a medium if they want to express themselves on their own terms.

But as I've talked about in the past time and time again, there's still going to be a separation between doing webcomics as a passion project or a hobby, and doing them as a profession. When it comes to the latter, you have to be willing to treat it professionally. You have to recognize that there will be those out there who will take advantage of you for money, because that's what the professional world is all about. This is unfortunately something a lot of creators just don't realize, because we're going through those same growing pains a lot of Youtubers have gone through (and still go through) - learning how to navigate our passion as a job, with all of the legal mess, dotted lines, and legal stipulations that come with it. And we're in the midst of that learning now, by seeing the actions of companies like Webtoons that only seek to exploit creators rather than foster them. It unfortunately will take more creators getting screwed over before anything changes. But we have to be willing to talk about it, every single time. We have to be willing to separate the creator and their own faults from the faults of the platform that's hosting them - a creator can be both lacking in their own skills as a creator as well as lacking in support which makes it impossible for them to hone those skills.

And yes, I say all of this because it concerns the criticisms I make of creators like Rachel Smythe. I think there are a lot of things she does that are indicative of her as a creator and her inability to act professionally in this industry, from LO's rampant misogyny and objectification of women to her own misfires when interacting with her fandom. But there are also just as many things that can be potentially traced back to the platform - it's hard to make better content when you're constantly being exploited and hung out to dry.

Like anon, I too hope that more creators will be willing to stand up and speak on behalf of themselves and their peers, to push back against these contracts. It's gonna suck. It's gonna be hard to want to make those moves when just about every creator is just trying to put food on the table. But for every anonymous creator who stands up and speaks, for every person who isn't willing to sign those contracts and talk about the reasons why, for every storyteller who uses their skills to spread the message, the power they have grows. We have to make it impossible for Webtoons to continue to ignore.

After all, it would be a real shame for more of these stories to come to light just as Webtoons is seeking an initial public offering in the stock market. Wouldn't that just be so unfortunate for them? :)

#webtoon #webtoon critical #fuck webtoons #support small platforms

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jellazticious · 3 months

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bing bong bootleg SS au

very long ramble under the C

stuff are subjected to change

The working title isn't solidified but I'm leaning on either Candy Castle or Pastry Castle

Tho I think I'm gonna go for pastry cuz it has the same amount of letters as castle much like pizza and tower have the same number too

The tower is a gingerbread castle. According to a friend of mine (It's Beefy, it's always Beefy go follow him) that Hispanics love their bakeries and yeah, I guess that makes sense. Not only do I have a theme based on the protag's culture but also the theme gets narrowed down to just baked sweets. Candy in general is too broad, I would die figuring out how to put every kind of sweet in it, and if I did it's gonna be really cluttered hooboy

Noise is called Theo because that's Peppino's name formula. Peppino is a nickname for Giuseppe so I thought I'd give Noise's swap a nickname to Theodore as the main name

Hazel Nutt is pretty self explanatory cuz Noisette means hazelnut in French

Their outfits are pretty simple to mirror Peppino and Gustavo's with just coloured shirts and aprons

Hazel doesn't get a mount because she would have Theo's prototype rocket skates. Just like Gus, she would have different stages of getting used to the skates per floor. First she gets blasted from end to end cuz she can't control the thrust. Second, she manages to turn it off but she's trying to keep balance on it. Third, she catches her breath now that she could stand still without moving or slipping. Next she would make a card castle, in reference to the very castle they're inside. and lastly she'd be holding a box of sweets without giving a shit about the scary floor.

To parallel the og Noisette, Hazel would smile bigger when Theo faces her direction.

Hazel is also Theo's delivery gal to match and switch with how Peppino WAS Gustavo's delivery guy

The "kick the rat" function would be Hazel swinging one of the skates and the cops grabbing Brick would instead hold a weapon detector that also functions as a magnet

Unlike Peppino, Theo is more aggressive than anxious. Imagine an injured cat defending itself from what it thinks is a threat

the name of Pizzaface's swap is Pieface for obvious reasons 😭

but HEAR ME OUT

both pizzaface and pieface are used as insults. pizza face is used for people with so much acne and pie face is used for someone with a flat face or dull expression. It isn't just a pun on what food the characters are made of. Pieface is also a reference to the trope where people headshot other people with pies. With the mech floating towards the protag, it would look like a pie is being thrown and targeted at Theo

Honestly drawing what food makes his face is so fun. Did you know that before the croissant smile it was supposed to be syrup shaped to a smile? The nose was a long whip of cream before turning into a cut strawberry for the mustache effect

Pizzahead's candy version would be called Gingerhead because of how ridiculous it sounds.

Gingerhead is based on Willy Wonka much like how Pizzahead is based on Ronald McDonald which is why he has more of a showman look than a clown look

okay side note, it just occured to me how ironic PH being based on Ronald is considering McDo's isn't a pizza place

actually Wonka doesn't even sell cakes and shit so, I guess it's fair game

Theo has the nickname Muffinman to reference the rhyme. but this time, it's the gingerbreadman chasing the baker

Next up is Mr S, who would be Peppino but he becomes rich. Mr S is the stage name he uses. He is a known celebrity much as Noise is but he is more of a boxer than a host. Like Dwayne Johnson or something. His name is partially a reference to ResEvil's Mr X, another absolute unit of a guy

also the reason why he doesn't wear a shirt. He's committing to the bit. If he needs to cover himself when he isn't playing a role, then there's his robe. He doesn't take out his mask most of the time tho

Mr S's mask is based on the Chef Raider design but also part of the scrapped superhero design much like Pizzano. Actually speaking of Pizzano, S is characterized so similarly to him cuz Pizzano is the only SS character who was actually written well to my standards. To be fair we've seen too much of Peppino to flunk characterizing him sksksk

Since this is Peppino that Mr S is based on, he's not as tech savvy or as self centered as Noise so he doesn't have robots that look like himself. Instead he has ants for a crew

the ants swap the place of rats. the rats in PT reference the new york pizza rat while ants just generally eat your food especially if it's sweet when left alone for five minutes

the ants come from Mr G, who would be Gustavo's swap with Noisette. He's Mr S's lawyer. at the end of S's bossfight, G would snatch him away with Click (the ant) because S would make a foul and embarrassing move on live camera

I can't seperate Gustavo and Brick so Click stays with Mr G instead of assisting Hazel

inside what would be Noisette cafe, instead of Mr G and Click being behind the counter, they would be sitting as customers next to Caraman. the barista isn't seen anywhere

Honestly when I'm writing everyone, my logic of swapping them isn't "make them switch places AND personalities" but more of "write every single one of them with the og personality because giving them a different lifestyle/role would drastically change their motives and how they behave"

I'm practically just swapping each character's place of birth

I mentioned this because it's kinda funny with Noisette and Gus since they play the exact same role of assisting Peppino/Noise so swapping them won't change much in how they act. They also have the same cheery and welcoming personality by default so Hazel and Mr G would act REALLY similar to their og

The only difference is that Gustavo can be threatening whenever Peppino fucks up. It fits right in with being a lawyer for the same goon

Now we got Mel Caraman who would become this au's Vigi. Lemme just say off the bat that Caraman is just as delusional as Vigi. He gets hired as a guard for floor 2 and took it way too seriously that he thinks he's some sort of sentinel. Hired as a guard but thinks he's an ancient guardian or something

his name vaguely references James Bond because you also VAGUELY get "caramel" out of "Caraman, Mel Caraman"

Caraman is a caramel apple but he's half glazed to form an eyemask. he's also got a stick poking out his head that stretches his chorro hat. the big hat makes him look cooler anyways. Bro I was so ready to settle for a shitty wild west mayor hat and I owe Beefy one for suggesting a new hat. I was gonna make him look like Doug Dimmadome with the short brimmed tall hat😭😭😭

but yeah Caraman doesn't have the same dignity as Vigi does. He can fight crime decently on normal circumstances and badass when he's full serious. But like day in day out he's so obnoxious about looking for crime that people get tired of him nor would they take him seriously

he would also be mistaken for a pepper

Next to last, Cam M. Bert or just Bert who would take place of Pepperman. he's an artist who appreciates the world instead of himself, a freelancer also. There was only a bossfight because he was coincidentally commissioned to make a mural for the castle the same time Theo busts in. He didn't like how Theo ruined some of his works with his rush to open the door

Bert is a cream cheese instead of a cheese slime. his beret is actually a little cherry to distinguish him from the other creams.

Bert is really chill and humble, He's like Bob Ross, whenever he can, he'd try to talk about how every beauty in the world should be immortalized through a canvas

In parallel to Vigi's delusion of thinking he's a human, Bert thinks he's actually a living painting (which is completely possible for someone to be in the PT world since Pepperman was able to do it with his own art)

instead of a :{ face that Vigilante has, Bert has a :3 face

the naming formula is taken directly from Vigi

Vig E. Lantte

Cam M. Bert

There is a type of sweet cheese that's really creamy called camembert which his name is a direct reference from. Here is a picture of a camembert since it's hella cute

Camembert cheese was also suggested by Beefy, brother thank you for not allowing me to name this cunt Creamlad

Mr Lardo would be in place of Mr Stick but his motive is that he's collecting Theo's money on BEHALF of Mr Stick. They're probably the only ones who completely stay intact because there's not much canon info of Stick WITHIN the game itself I also feel he's a crossover character from his own "series" with how long McPig has him prior to PT so I just swap the character who makes the "cameo"

The toppins are still called toppins because they'd be used to decorate a cake or pie. They would be

Strawberry - Mushroom

Cream - Cheese

Cookie - Tomato

Icing (in a piping bag) - Sausage

actually I dont know yet for the pineapple but I'll get to it. I've only been figuring out this au since four days ago....

Lastly (of the characters), the Faker in this would be mechanical to match the original Noise's familiarity in robots

Fake Theo (temp name) would be engineered to be "Theo but way better" while actually being succesful with it. Faker would also sort of look like a mini figure of a ballerina. Referencing The Nutcracker

Opposite to Fake Peppino, Fake Theo is more graceful than terrifying but it's so uncanny how unnaturally pretty it is

and now some misc stuff

Title of the final level is When The Cookie Crumbles

the pepper pizza will be replaced with an extremely sweet pie and the immunity is caused by the sugar rush from it

Pizza Time is called Crunch Time

Pillar John would be a giant graham cracker since the walls are made of cookies instead of bricks. Gerome however, is a solidified bar of brownies. like a shittily made brownie that it just turned into a construction brick

Snotty is a pure white cream cheese and that's cuz he's actually made of glue. His name is Sticky

Pigs would either be bears or rabbits with how many times those two animals represented sweets

I'm gonna be clear with everyone here. I literally made this au cuz I'm going insane trying to make swap stuff with Pascal/Stefano when the au itself is so empty. sure it's colourful but it's so empty like I can't draw SS characters outside of poses

I tried like doing fanon modifications as I always do then there's so much I "modified" that at this point it's not Sugary Spire anymore. Just straight up a completely different au. The only similarity is that it's a swap au with sweets

it is what it is yknow. this is my life now. I said fuck it and went with the flow and boom, new personal au that I poured too much into

basically I blame Pascal for this

#Pizza Tower #tagging them as their og until I solidify the au #Pizzaface #Pizzahead #The Noise #Peppino Spaghetti #Noisette #The Vigilante #Pepperman #Gustavo and Brick #i drew this #Cookie Castle

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damazcuz · 2 months

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I don't think people responding to the scrambled "uh oh, we got caught" Tumblr AI announcement with "just nightshade and glaze all the art you post guys! it's your own fault if you don't do that small step! It's ok we'll get through this!" are Getting It:

Everything has already been scraped, including the account you haven't been able to access since 2015. Yes even the private, locked sideblogs of all your old art. Did you glaze it? did you nightshade it? in 2015? can you log in and check? no? Opted in.

This also includes any writing, creative or otherwise, posted to Tumblr. Did you nightshade the poetry and fanfiction you posted to Tumblr on your old account in 2018? why not? not a plan-aheader huh? Opted in!

It's opt in by default and by design. People who left Tumblr ages ago will likely not hear about this and won't know to regain account access and opt out. People who have died won't be able to log in and opt out. People who deleted past accounts or sideblogs won't be able to log in and opt out. People whose content is reposted here from Pixiv or other external sources by unrelated third parties won't have any way to say "hey half of that blog is MY stuff. Opt ME out."

Sorry. They just have everything ever put on the site. And you didn't opt out in 2015 when you lost access to your login email, so it's included. This is on purpose because they don't WANT people to be able to opt out, they want people to stay opted in saying "well my art sucks so I'm poisoning the data model 👍" while posting jokes and creative writing, they WANT you to say "well I'm unaffected" and keep posting photos and text and stuff. Midjourney wants that and Tumblr wants to do anything it can to satisfy Midjourney and scrape some cash out of that deal.

I'm sorry because I love this place too, but genuinely the decisions being made here are business decisions being put into place by a company trying to squeeze the last drops of blood out of a stone. Tumblr is not your friend. Staff is not your friend. Automattic is not your friend. The CEO has hopefully PROVEN he is not anyone's friend. This is a business first and a product that they are selling, not to you and me, but to advertisers and partners. Tumblr will ensure that Tumblr users see their ads and supply them data.

Frankly I do not trust this company or this website and I cannot in good faith just believe that they're going to look at my opt out checkbox and say "okay! ^_^ we will remove everything Dama has ever said or done from our AI scrape. we promise to do it!" and then actually do it. They already have the data. They can just claim that whatever is produced through machine learning based in part off of my data is unrelated, came from other sources, etc. I do not have trust in this website. I don't see how anyone could at this point.

I feel like I'm watching a trainwreck from the inside and no one wants to get out of their seats and try hopping off into the safe grassy field. Wait, they say. Let's see if the train just climbs back onto the tracks, they say. The fire and explosions are all part of the process, they say. Eventually people will stop panicking or dying and it'll be a smooth ride, they say. Just look at how bright the horizon is.

#🛤️ well frankly i hope it explodes even faster.#lawsuit save me. lawsuit. save me lawsuit.

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still-a-morosexual-help · 1 year

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okay so lately I have seen a lot of people claim they hate mammon bc he steals from mc, and like there's nothing wrong with disliking a character lol but I don't recall mammon ever stealing from mc?? like the only thing I can think of is that one time in season 1 I think where he was going through their stuff and said he was looking for something to sell (I think?? it's been a while) and beel straight up calling him a liar lmao l'm just wondered if I missed something? or if this is just newer players who maybe misunderstood that one scene? and I figured if anyone would know it would be you lmao

I got so fucking pissed about this (not at you anon <3) cos this is the third time I got an ask like this, that I scrolled all the way down my 'Obey Me Mammon' tag to June/July 2020 and then slowly scrolled my way up pulling all the receipts I could.....I saw this immediately after you sent it and I just finished now...... turns out it takes 5 straight hours to go through my Mammon tag😶

I have answered this exact same ask twice before and I can only assume it's new people? Like honestly you can't play the game for a long time and still think this (they prove this false within the game in LESSON FOUR)

Not only does Mammon NOT steal from MC, he also:

a.) Gets legitimate/legal jobs whenever he wants to buy MC something (which is pretty frequently)

b.) Shares the money with them when he comes into a large sum of money

But anyway here are the links to the posts talking about all this:

(everything is directly taken from canon or based off canon)

A.) No he doesn't steal from MC

• Full Summary of the Lesson 4 locked chapter where he goes through MC's stuff and a compare and contrast of what we know about Mammon from future lessons, events, devilgrams

• First post talking about this, goes more into detail about him not stealing from them

• Second shorter post about how he doesn't steal from them

• They're literally Partners in Crime

• He straight up refuses the Midas touch (multiple times I believe) after realising it means he won't be able to touch MC anymore

• HEADCANON that maybe he steals/borrows their clothes, with their knowledge, to wear

• In the small introductory manga page they say the thing he likes as much as money is MC

• In S3 he admits to loving MC more than he loves money

B.) He goes out of his way to get MC Presents (which we works actual jobs to earn money for)

• Mammon at the Office Devilgram, where he gets an actual office job so he can buy MC a watch he saw them looking at

• In the Movie Date Devilgram he rents out an entire theatre for the two of them because it was the anniversary of the day they first met

• In the You Always Ride Shotgun Devilgram he rents out a pool for the two of them

• He's always giving MC presents

• Usually he buys matching things for them

• He buys them shoes in their favourite colour

• Mammon's love language

• He wants to share his winnings from a lottery with MC

• He finds a secret second map in the pirate au event and tells only MC so they can share the treasure

C.) It's not just MC, he puts the others before Money too

• In the Presents From Mammon Devilgram he buys presents for everyone

• In The Guardian Demon Devilgram he saves a 9yr old orphaned homeless human girl from a mugger, fosters her and plans to pay for all her needs until she's an adult/can provide for herself - which is why he's always in debt to the three witches who look after her for him, there's also extortion going on from them towards him

• He'd rather lose the entire fortune he won than make Luke upset

• List of times he's put others before money

• He straight up tells Luke he doesn't mind missing out on a reward as long as it means Luke is alright

• Socks for Beel

• He gets a stone for his birthday which can give him whatever he wishes for, he wishes for fortune to come to whoever has the stone and then gives the stone to a student who tried to hurt him

D.) How Mammon works as a character

• Solmare makes you form certain expectations about him and then starts breaking them within the next few lessons and it's amazing to witness

• Friendship, Actions & Reality Vs Calling MC 'Servant'

• Mammon, MC and their Friendship

• Mammon being smart and why he comes off as an idiot

• His thoughts about himself vs MC

• He's actively changing and growing as a character and he knows it

• How Mammon actually views himself

• Why there's a difference in his level of affection in public vs privately

• Jerk with a heart of gold trope but better

• Mammon and how much he cares about consent

• How outsiders see Mammon vs how people from the city see Mammon vs how his close friends and family see him

• Chasing some creep away from MC

• How his relationship with MC changes and grows throughout the season

E.) Other reasons to love him

• Examples of how much he loves MC

• How supportive he & MC are of each other

• Some of his funniest moments

• He's objectively terrifying

• Mammon being a good brother

• He's extremely ride or die for MC

• He waits for MC when they've got to stay late at RAD for other work

• Despite being an ancient being all his best memories consist of the time he's spent with MC

• He created a whole line of toys based around missing MC

• Everything he says about loving MC in his 2022 birthday event

• List of things he's good at

• The amount he loves MC

And this is just a few of my posts about mammon, his character and what there's to love about him

And look it's MORE than okay for people to dislike a character but at least dislike them for something that actually happened?

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just-my-latest-hyperfixation · 5 months

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Just another manic Monday

Written for the @steddieholidaydrabbles, day 17

Prompt: Platonic Stobin

Rated: G

CW: monsters

Tags: Urban fantasy AU; Magic AU; Creature AU; background Steddie; background Buckingham

Notes: Based on an idea and the gorgeous art by @house-of-the-moving-image - so happy I got to throw a little something together for it. 🥰

“I don't understand this,” Steve yells, jumping over another garbage bag like a hurdle sprinter. “That thing is fucking huge, where was it even hiding?”

“Gee, I dunno, Steve!” Robin skids to a halt beside him and impatiently hops from foot to foot while he pulls out their scooter from between two dumpsters. “I didn't ask, you think we should wait up?”

Somewhere behind them, something lets out a loud, gargling roar. A giant body scrapes against the walls of the alley.

Steve gulps.

“Nah, I'm good,” he says and tosses her the egg. It's larger than his own head, and Robin sags briefly under its weight. “Get in!”

Sometimes, Steve really, really wishes he was normal.

In a world where ninety-seven percent of the population are either magic users, non-human, or hybrids, people like Robin and him tend to get the short end of the stick. Take the job market, for example. What's a guy to do if most entry-level positions require basic flight skills, or rudimentary knowledge of summoning spells, or two years minimum of experience in applied runology?

The job at Fleetfoot Delivery is actually okay, all things considered. The pay is decent, the uniform isn't completely humiliating, and his coworker is his best friend and platonic soulmate who happens to be just as lamely human and completely unmagical as himself.

It's easy work. Customers trade items via the app, Steve and Robin deliver the goods from the pickup location right to the lucky new owner.

Basic stuff.

Simple.

Boring.

Except for the days you get chased by giant fucking monsters.

“Who even sells a phoenix egg online?” he asks while he waits for Robin to clamber into the side car. “I mean, shouldn't we be calling child protection services or something?”

“Phoenixes are extinct, Steve, everyone knows that!”

He hums vaguely. He does know that, of course, but the question has its desired effect - namely to send her off on a tangent and get her mind off things.

“The eggs that are left are infertile, but they're highly coveted in certain circles. Rumor has it that consuming one will boost your magic like nothing else. Chrissy says there's a sea witch living off the coast who's been looking for one for-”

“Chrissy, huh?” Steve grins and swings a leg over the saddle. The scooter stutters to life. “The cute little mermaid with the milkshake order from last week? You two on first-name terms now?”

“Oh, fuck off!” Robin jabs him in the ribs, but quickly clutches the egg again as he needs to swerve around a stack of old, soggy cardboard boxes. They're picking up speed, but not nearly enough in the crammed, narrow alley. Behind them, the roaring and scraping are getting louder. “You don't get to berate me for flirting with clients. If I see you do that ass-wiggle in your stupid shorts in front of that dragon dude one more time-”

“His name is Eddie,” Steve snaps, neck erupting in heat. “And I don't think he has any idea what my first name is. Or my last name.”

“Yes, Steve, of course,” Robin deadpans. “That is why he calls you big boy and honey and sweetheart. That is the actual reason.”

Steve lets this statement simmer for a few seconds.

“Shut up and tell me where to deliver this thing,” he then says.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Robin smirk while she fishes her phone from her pocket and tells him the address.

“Oh, freaking great,” Steve grouses. “That's only on the other side of town. Won't take forever at all at this-”

“Steve?” says Robin. Her hand is tugging at the sleeve of his uniform jacket, like she's been trying to get his attention for a while. “Steve, you may wanna go faster.”

“I know!” he groans. “Need to beat rush hour, or we won't be home until-”

“That's not what I meant!” Robin shouts. Her voice goes all shrill and grating towards the end, and he almost crashes them into the wall in his impulse to cover his ears.

“Well, what do you-” he starts to say, but doesn't get any further.

There's a loud crashing sound as the dumpsters are mowed over. He glances over his shoulder, just long enough to see a slimy, clawed something that's roughly the size of his house erupt from the alley behind them. It shrieks. The rush of hot, stinking breath sends garbage flying in all directions. A fist-sized glob of spit hits the back of Steve's head with a wet splotch.

“Ugh, what the fuck? I just washed my hair this mor-”

“Drive!” Robin slaps his arm. “Oh my God, drive, drive, drive!”

Steve does.

They shoot out of the alley and onto the main road, just narrowly avoiding a collision with a flock of banshees. As their scandalized shrieks and the roar of the monster fade behind them, Robin's wristwatch buzzes.

“Oh,” she says. “Today's your lucky day. A certain dragon just ordered an entire crate of aventurine, express delivery.”

Steve groans and takes a right, reaching up to disentangle half a banana skin from his drool-coated hair.

The day is shaping up to be a real Monday.

All my holiday drabbles

#platonic stobin #platonic soulmates stobin #Steve Harrington #Robin Buckley #steddie #steve harrington x eddie munson #steve x eddie #buckingham #robin buckley x chrissy cunningham #robin x chrissy #steddie holiday drabbles #steddieholidaydrabbles #hype's holiday drabbles

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qsycomplainsalot · 2 months

Text

Masters of the Air is great, if you've ever thought "wow Band of Brothers is nice but it's weird that the plot is moving from setpiece engagement to setpiece engagement with the same characters, I wish we'd see more of the boring stuff with characters we don't know" then this is the show for you. And don't get me wrong this isn't about turning WW2 into a glorious ballet of death, but when your eight hours long series about US army bomber pilots has maybe half an hour of aerial combat, already that's a problem. The only time Masters of the Air puts you in the thick of it it's to kill as many recognizable characters as possible so that you can lose interest in the cast faster, you don't get to experience the important turning points of the war as seen from their point of view. Because they're dead or in PoW camps, sure, but also because the series doesn't care to show us. Episode 8 somehow encompasses most of 1944 and exactly five seconds of D Day are shown. I was down to get an in depth look at what bombing missions contributed to the war effort, but they never get in depth about it. We never go through boot camp, we never get a strategic sense of things, every episode is just "go there blow shit up" and we never hear about it again. This is, if anything, yet another exemple of screenwriters inexplicably not understanding that scenes must be related in tone or narrative, have a set up and a pay off, all that crazy smart stuff moviemakers figured out in the 1890's. Like at this point when I watch some movies I feel like seeing the work of someone who knows putting letters in a row makes words but doesn't actually know what writing is. Like shit, okay, so I get that this is based on his memoirs but was there any point in showing us that Crosby's fling was a spy in France ? Did we need to have a grand total of five minutes of Tuskegee Airmen over the last two episodes ? Did we need to see Crosby get told to take a vacation then take it offscreen ? Or maybe, just maybe you could have cut all that shit out and wrought a compelling narrative about those two assholes Buck and Bucky who are in every episode, forge a friendship together, get shot down over enemy territory, get captured by the Germans, put into camp, get involved in the Great Escape, go on a death march and finally escape separately, getting back to their home base in the end, 90% OF THESE PLOT BEATS NOT BEING INCLUDED IN THE FUCKING SHOW. This series is an unfocused mess and the only emotions it got out of me were linked to me what World War 2 was, not any kind of cinematic skills. If I want combat footage with no characters I'll just watch a documentary at least that'd be good in its own way. At this rate making a show out of it is bordering on feeling gross and exploitative. "Well we made a series about the Army and a series about the Marines, now we gotta make a series about the pre-Air Force I guess." like "whatever the fuck we do it will sell cause WW2 is so moving and shit, and it's pretty much our version of brand recognition". In conclusion I can honestly say that Masters of the Air isn't only the worse out of the three big WW2 series, but it's also just a flop in general. No action, no tension, no emotion, no nothing. An expensive slideshow to serve as a demo reel for an amazing prop and costume team.

#rant #masters of the air #history

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soaps-mohawk · 3 months

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The amount of power you hold by making this series is INSANE LIKE I HAVE SO MANY QUESTION AND THEORIES

Like the institute, was it a bad experience? A good one? A mix? Does Omega! Reader have any specific memories that don't seem to leave? Maybe the omega's who had behavioral issues were punished but no one spoke of the punishments? I HAVE SO MANH THOUGHTS

That's what I love about reading fic series is that the readers talk to the writers and I feel like yall just sit and laugh like 'these guys have no idea how much pain I'm about to cause them' LMFAO like your the person behind the slaughter

No but really y'all have no idea what's coming. Even here very soon...y'all have no idea lmaooo

(please don't hate me I promise it has a happy ending 😬)

Institutes are not good places. I'll just clear that up right now, even though that's going to be kind of brought up here in a couple chapters. They are not good places and they never really have been. They were started in the late 19th century as a place to send omegas that had behavioral issues, health issues, all sorts of issues or perhaps were unwanted by families that couldn't support them or didn't want to have to deal with the work that goes into omegas. So think like mental institutions. They were run by "doctors and professionals" that "understood omegas" and could cure/fix/care for them.

Of course as the years went on people started to realize maybe not everything that goes on in them is so good and after some investigations and such there was a huge reform on institutes and they became more like they are in the present day in the fic. Actual institutes that "care for omegas and prepare them for pack life." Originally omegas didn't leave institutes after they were handed over, but then people realized there was money in institutes so naturally, they started dumping money into them to train omegas and then pretty much sell them off. Not directly like selling humans, but most institutes require application payments and then there's fees for all sorts of things like testing, files, anything they can legally charge for, they will.

Obviously we're beginning to realize a bit at this point that not everything the reader learned at the institute is...right. What omegas are taught and how they're taught varies institute to institute, usually based on the types of alphas that are seeking omegas from the institute. So institutes that have higher standing, more funding, tend to teach more subservience and obedience because that's where you have the rich alphas and the politicians and government looking at omegas. Lower level institutes might teach more how to serve and keep a pack since they might have the upper middle class, future family pack omegas. The lowest level institutes might also teach subservience and obedience less in an "I have an appearance to uphold" type of way and more of a "these are not good alphas picking up these omeags and we know that" type of way.

So, the reader didn't have a good experience because there is no real good experience at an institute. They're very strict, controlling, almost abusive in some instances (kneeling for two hours anyone?) Not every omega gets sent to an institute either. Some omegas live with their families until they're old enough to start seeking an alpha themselves. I think I did touch on that briefly in a chapter somewhere.

There's so much I could talk about on institutes omg. This is probably way more than you expected 😅 I just love this stuff so much.

#i'm having so much fun world building in this fic if you couldn't tell #answered #crcb lore

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mommymlkrs · 1 year

Text

~ You Can’t Escape Destiny ~

~ Summary: Sam, Dean, and Y/n come across a profit writing books word for word off of their lives. They seek out the writer and he tells them something they may not have wanted to hear. Do they really want to try and escape destiny though?

~ Pairings: Sam Winchester x Fem Reader

~ Warnings: Smut, this is also very long.

*Based off of Season 4 Episode 18* *Spoilers*

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The bell dings as Sam and Dean enter the comic book store after being sent on a possible hunt by Castiel. They both make their way to the guy at the front counter in their black and white suits posing as FBI agents.

“Uh can I help you?” The worker says confused.

“Sure hope so, agents DeYoung and Shaw, just need to ask you a few questions.” Dean holds up his badge.

“See anything strange in the building the last couple of days?” Sam pipes in.

“Like what?”

“Strange noises? Any skittering in the walls? kind of like rats?”

“And the FBI is investigating a rodent problem?” The guy asks suspiciously.

“What about cold spots? Feel any sudden drops in temperature?” Sam keeps nagging.

The worker looks like the lightbulb in his head suddenly flickered on as a smile creeps on his face.

“I knew it! You guys are LARP-ing, aren’t you?”

“Excuse me.” Dean says offended.

“You’re fans!”

“Fans of what?”

“What is LARP-ing?” They both question.

“Like you don’t know.” Still finding a bright smile on his face, Sam and Dean both look at him with confusing looks.

“Live-Action role playing, and pretty hardcore too!” He exclaims pointing towards their suits making them both look down.

“Sorry, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You guys are asking questions like the building is haunted. Like those guys from the books. Oh what are their names..” He explains as he tries to remember.

“Supernatural.” The guy recalls as Sam and Dean are both utterly confused.

“Two guys use fake Id's with rock aliases, hunt down ghosts, demons, vampires." He tells them. Sam and Dean both give each other confusing looks.

"What are their names? Uhh, Steve and Dirk? Sal and Dane?"

"Sam and Dean?" Sam questions.

"That's it!"

"You're saying this is a book?"

"Books, it was a series." He corrects.

"Didn't sell a lot of copies though, kind of an underground cult following."

"Let's see uhh" The worker jumps up and searches for the series within his store. Both Sam and Dean follow as he searches through the bargain bin.

"Oh yeah, that's the first one I think." He hands the book to Dean."

"Supernatural by Carver Edlund." Dean reads the title continuing when he flips the book over.

"Along a lonely California highway, a mysterious woman in white lures men to their deaths."

"Give me that." Sam grabs the book from Dean frantically scanning the book.

"We're gonna need all the copies of Supernatural you got."

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Back at the motel, Sam is seated at a desk researching on his computer, Dean is sitting on one bed reading one of their new found books, and Y/n is lying on her stomach on the other bed already starting the second in the series.

"This is freaking insane. How's this guy know all this stuff?" Dean perks up.

"You got me." Sam replies.

"everything is in here. I mean everything. To the racist truck to me having sex. I'm full frontal in here." Dean explains.

"Those were some of the best parts." Y/n chimes in joking. Both Sam and Dean look at Y/n with weird looks. Although Y/n never takes her eyes away from the words on the page she can just imagine their faces so she smirks.

"How come we haven't heard of them before?" Dean says Ignoring Y/n's comment.

"They're pretty obscure. I mean, almost zero circulation. Uhh started in 05. Publisher put out a couple dozen before going bankrupt. And the last one, 'No Rest for the Wicked ends with you going to hell." Sam faces the laptop to Dean once he sits down next to him.

"Well, I reiterate. Freaking insane. Oh and check it out, there's actually fans. Not many of them, but still. Did you read this Sam?"

"Yup."

"Really? Oh my god, you guys are like famous!" Y/n gets up to look over Dean's shoulder at the laptop.

"For fans, they do complain a lot. Listen to this. Simpatico says 'The demon story line is trite, clichéd and overall craptastic.' Yeah well screw you Simpatico, we lived it."

Y/n starts to laugh and points to the screen to read it out.

"There are Sam girls, Dean girls and Sam / Dean fans.”

"What does that mean?" Dean asks.

"As in.. Together." Answers Sam.

"Like together together?"

"Yeah."

"They do know we're brothers right?" Dean says wide eyed.

"It doesn't seem to matter."

"Oh come on. That’s just sick."

"This just keeps getting better and better." Y/n giggles.

"Oh don't worry Y/n, there's some of you too." Sam smirks.

Y/n goes wide eyed and her face heats up in embarrassment.

"I take it back, this is definitely too weird."

"Oooh look at that, 'Y/n and Sam ge-" Y/n shuts the laptop closed immediately and releases a breath she didn't know she was holding while Dean chuckles at her action.

"We gotta find this Carver Edlund."

"But how?" Y/n questions Sam.

"I don't know. No tax records, no known address. Looks like Carver Edlund is a pen name."

"Someone's gotta know who he is." Dean replies.

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"So you published the Supernatural books?" Sam questions the woman.

"Yup, gosh these books. You know they never really got the attention they deserved. All anybody wants to read anymore is that romance crap."

Both Sam and Dean give Y/n side glances knowing that's all Y/n ever reads.

"What?" Y/n whispers looking back and forth between them.

"Well, we're hoping that our article can shine a light on an underappreciated series." Sam looks back to the woman.

"Yeah, if we got a little bit of good press, then maybe we could start publishing again."

"No, no, no, no. God no. I mean why would you wanna do that? You know, it's such a complete series... What with Dean going to hell and all." Dean tries to explain.

"Oh my god, that was one of my favourite ones! Because Dean was so strong and sad and brave, and Sam, I mean, in ‘Heart’, when Sam had to kill Madison, the first girl since Jessica he really loved.." She says so excitedly.

"Totally agree, and Y/n, right guys? Personally I think she was one of the best characters." Y/n says trying not to be left out.

"Yeah.. I mean she could definitely use some character growth but she added to the story." Y/n was definitely offended by that, but the woman continued.

"I really wish I could've seen what happened with her and Sam though."

"Her and Sam?" Sam questioned her statement not understanding.

"Yeah, you know, there was definitely something between them. You guys finished the books right?"

Both Y/n and Sam's faces started to heat up trying to look anywhere but at the people in the room.

"Yeah, yeah, totally! Great books." Dean chimes in.

"How do I know you 3 are legit? Hm?" She points a finger at them.

"Oh trust me, we're legit."

"Well I don't want any smart ass article making fun of my boys." She sits down behind her desk.

"No, no, no." The 3 quickly say in sync.

"We would never." Y/n adds.

"We are actually uhm big fans, read the books cover to cover."

"What's the year and model of the car?" Clearly trying to test them.

"1967 Chevy Impala." Dean says like a proud dad.

"What's May 2nd?"

"That's my-" Y/n quickly shoves Sam's foot.

"Uhh that's Sam's birthday." Sam says correcting his mistake.

"January 24th is Dean's." Dean quickly slides that in there.

"And (your birthday) is Y/n's, i-if you wanted to know."

"Sam's score on the LSAT?" Both Y/n and Dean look at Sam.

"One... Seventy four.?"

"Dean's favourite song?"

"It's a tie. Between Zep's 'Rambling On' and 'Travelling Riverside Blues.’”

"Okay, okay. What do you wanna know?" She smiles.

"What's Carver Edlunds real name?" Sam questions.

"Oh no, no, sorry I can't do that."

"We just wanna talk to him. You know get the Supernatural story in his own words."

"He's very private."

"Please." Sam pleads.

"Like we said.. We are very big fans." Y/n explains rolling up her sleeve to show her anti-posessing tattoo eyeing Sam and Dean to do the same. They both unbutton their shirts showing their tattoo's placed on their chest.

"Awesome." The woman says nervously obviously eyeing their chests. Y/n can't help but roll her eyes.

"You know what? One sec." She pulls down her pants to show her ass. And it just so happens to be the same tattoo. Y/n makes an uncomfortable noise from her throat and coughs to interrupt the weirdness.

"Wow, you are a fan." Dean says without removing his eyes from her tattoo.

"Hah, okay, well here, his name is Chuck Shurley. And he's a genius. So don't piss him off." She explains while writing down the information.

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All 3 of them get out of the car and head to the house.

"You know what? Maybe this guy can see our futures.” Y/n says as a joke.

"Yeah, he probably has a crystal ball too." Dean making a sarcastic comment as always.

"Ha ha Dean. Lighten up once in awhile, it's just a joke." Sam chuckles at her nagging.

"See, Sam laughed, it's probably because I'm funny." She speaks while skipping on a few steps to get beside them. When she reaches them, Sam’s hand and hers accidentally touch, startling them.

"Or because you can't keep up with us, short legs." Dean remarks once making it to the porch. Dean presses the doorbell and after a few seconds a guy with brown scruffy hair opens the door squinting at them like a vampire who hasn't seen light in days.

“You Chuck Shurley?” Dean asks.

“The Chuck Shurley who wrote the Supernatural books?” Sam seconds.

“Maybe, why?” The scruffy vampire man replies suspiciously. Y/n steps up between the boys.

“I’m Y/n, this is Sam and Dean. The ones you’ve been writing about.” She explains pointing at them. The man shuts the door so Y/n raises her arm and pounds on the door. Once again the man appears in the doorway.

“Look uh, I appreciate your enthusiasm. Really, I do. It’s always nice to hear from the fans. But for your own good, I strongly suggest you get a life.” Y/n scoffs at that and stops the door when the man tries to shut it.

“So here’s the thing, Chuck. We have a life, you’ve been using it to write your books, and I’m not in the mood for crap today.” Y/n perks up and walks into his house. The brothers both look at each other not expecting that from her.

“Wait a minute, this isn’t funny.” The man stutters.

“Damn straight, it’s not funny.” Dean starts to get mad.

“Look, we just want to know how you’re doing it?” Sam asks obviously being the nice cop here.

“I’m not doing anything!”

“Are you a hunter?”

“What? No, I’m a writer.”

“Then how do you know so much about demons and tulpas and changelings?” Dean pressures.

“Is this some kind of Misery thing? It is isn’t it? It’s a Misery thing.”

“This is not a Misery thing.” Y/n chimes in.

“Believe me, we are not fans.” Explains Dean.

“Well then what do you want?”

“I’m Sam, this is Dean, and that’s Y/n.”

“Sam, Dean and Y/n are all fictional characters. I made them up. They’re not real!”

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Dean opens up the Impala’s trunk.

“Are those real guns?” Chuck asks.

“Yup, this is real rock salt, these are real fake Id’s.”

“Believe us now?” Says Y/n.

“Uh, I gotta hand it to you guys. You really are my number one fans. That’s awesome, so.. I think I got some posters in the house.” Chuck dabbles and walks back to his house.

“Chuck stop!” Deans yells.

“Wait, please, please don’t hurt me.”

“How much do you know? About the angels or Lilith breaking the seals?” Asks Sam.

“Wait a minute, how do you know about that?”

“How do you?” Y/n questions.

“Cause I wrote it.”

“You kept writing?” Questions Y/n again, curious.

“Even after the publisher went bankrupt. But those books never came out.” The 3 look at each other then Chuck.

“Okay wait wait wait, this is some kind of joke right? Did that- Did Phil put you up to this?” He laughs pointing to his left.

“Well nice to meet you. I’m Dean Winchester, this is my brother, Sam, and that’s Y/n Y/L/n.”

“Last names were never in the books. I never told anybody about that. I never even wrote that down.”

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After talking more with Chuck, they all head to the Laundromat.

“‘I’m sitting in a Laundromat, reading about myself in a Laundromat, reading about myself-‘ my head hurts.” Dean recites the paper.

“There’s gotta be something this guys not telling us.” Sam says putting his laundry in the machine.

“‘Sam tossed his gigantic darks into the machine. He was starting to have doubts about Chuck. Whether he was telling the whole truth.’”

“Stop it.” Sam now annoyed.

“‘Stop it’ Sam said.’ Guess what you do next. ‘Sam turned his back on Dean. His face brooding and pensive.’ I mean I don’t know how but this guy is doing it.”

“Yeah I mean those are definitely his brooding and pensive shoulders.” Y/n responds to Dean.

“See, I knew you were gonna say that, and Sam just thought I was a dick. As well as Y/n daydreaming about Sam’s ass.” This caught Y/n’s attention.

“It does not say that!”

“I’m pretty sure it does, look-ey here” Dean waves the paper in Y/n’s face.

“Gimme that.” Y/n scootches over to Dean on the bench to grab the paper but he waves it around out of her reach.

“Oh my god, you are so childish Dean.”

“Says the one embarrassed she got caught starin’.” Reading off the paper again, Y/n snatches the paper, crumples it and throws it in the trash.

“You gotta admit, the guys good.” Sam chuckles and tries to ignore the previous conversation.

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Back at the house trying to get more information, Chuck holds more paper.

“So you wrote another chapter?” Asks Sam.

“This was all so different before you were real.”

“We need whatever you can tell us to figure this out so just spit it out.” Y/n perks up.

“Okay, uhm this might be a little uncomfortable, but you asked so.” The 3 share glances across the room from where Dean is sitting on a chair and Sam and Y/n are sitting on the couch. Chuck sits on a stool, puts his glasses on and begins to read, obviously seeming like he doesn’t like to read his work out loud.

“‘Y/n grabs him by the edges of his unzipped jacket pulling him closer to her when he hungrily smashes his lips on hers like a wave of relief, a desire fulfilled.’ Chuck stops reading to look at the 3, who’s faces are utterly confused to see if he should read on. Y/n just knows her face is red as a tomato when she starts to feel very uncomfortable at the mention of her name. Chuck starts to read on.

“‘Sam’s hands grab her hips trying to get impossibly clos-‘“

“Okay, I don’t think we need that much information..” Sam cuts Chuck off feeling embarrassed and very sweaty at the moment. Dean chuckles at the very obvious uncomfortableness in the room.

“It’s just a draft..” Chuck states. Y/n stands from the couch.

“I’m uh super thirsty actually, do you have any water Chuck?”

“Y-Yeah, I’ll uhm go get some.”

“Great, I’ll come with you.” Y/n follows trying to leave the awkwardness as fast as possible.

Sam starts to laugh.

“What’re you laughing at?” Dean questions.

“Nothing, nothing, its just, Y/n and me? In bed?”

“Who are you trying to convince here?” Dean smirks.

“Don’t worry, I definitely don’t see you’re guys’ little glances and hand touches, and staring at the other when the other isn’t looking type of deal.”

“Dean.”

“What?” Dean says innocently causing Sam to roll his eyes.

“Bitch.”

“Jerk.”

Y/n and Chuck walk back into the room with her glass of water.

“Thank you.” Y/n says kindly avoiding eye contact with Sam as she sits on the couch but a little farther away this time trying not to make it more awkward.

“How does this whole psychic thing work?” Dean asks Chuck.

“You mean my process?”

“Yes. Your process.”

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“Come on.” Sam starts while they’re all in the Impala.

“‘The minivan accident wasn’t that bad. But Dean was still seeing stars, he scratched absently at the pink flower Band-Aid on his face..’” Y/n giggles at that from the backseat.

“So?” Questions Dean.

“So I’ve seen you gushing blood. You use duct tape and bar rags before you’d put on a pink flower Band-Aid.”

“What’s your point?”

“My point is this, all this is totally implausible. It’s nuts.”

“He’s been right about everything, you think he’ll ground out at first now?”

“‘Dean slid behind the wheel of his beloved Impala and drove off, the plastic tarp on the rear window flapping like the wings of a crow.’”

“Can we stop with these papers? Our lives aren’t a script we have to follow, reading off of these isn’t gonna help with anything right now except make you guys argue.” Y/n put her hands on the seat and leaned forward glancing between them.

“Yeah whatever, you just don’t wanna come across another part with you and Sam.” Dean smirks.

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Back at the motel Dean still seemed to have questions.

“I’m gonna go outside and try to see if I can contact Cas.”

“Don’t leave me in here Dean!” Y/n whisper yells.

“Sam’s in the shower, I’ll be like 10 minutes tops Y/n. Just don’t go hopping in there with him.” Dean smirks and shuts the door to the room.

Y/n decides to get comfy so she sits on the bed, back against the headboard and watches whatever she can find on the tv. After watching the clock, it had been 10 minutes exactly when she heard the bathroom door open. Sam walked out, damp hair and water dripping down his body with only a towel hanging on his waist. Y/n found herself staring.

“Oh, uhm I thought I heard the door close, I assumed you left with Dean.” Sam explained gathering up his clean clothes.

“He said he would be like 10 minutes, just wanted to contact Cas.”

“Oh okay.” Sam said nervously heading back to the bathroom to change. After a few minutes the bathroom door opened again and this time he had pants on but still no shirt.

“Could you uh pass me that shirt beside you?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, here.” She tossed him his shirt. He raised his arms and put his shirt on. Y/n swore she almost drooled. Sam came and sat down across from Y/n on the other bed facing her. She sat up and put her feet on the floor.

“Listen, about earlier..” Sam started as he scratched his neck. Remembering back to earlier Y/n laughed, noticing how funny it actually was.

“Which part? There was so many.” She giggled referring to all the awkward times people said something about them being together. Sam laughed too at that.

“Yeah, I just don’t want that to make things awkward between us, it’s kinda felt that way since earlier.”

“Yeah, I felt that too. But maybe Chuck was wrong? I’ve always believed we write our own futures, so fuck destiny. If we don’t feel what everyone is saying we should feel, then so what?” Sam laughed and nodded his head.

“I agree.” At that, Y/n smiled and stood up to hug Sam.

“See? All better, we can feel how we wanna feel.”

“So I can feel that I wanna tickle you?” Sam smiled and Y/n immediately gasped and tried to run away but Sam grabbed her waist and started tickling.

“SAM! I swear if you don’t stop!” Sam pushed her back onto the other bed stopping her from squirming away.

“You swear what?” Sam stopped tickling her but held her hips to the bed still. After a few moments, Y/n caught her breath but didn’t know what to say. She looked back and forth between his eyes and lips and so did Sam. Suddenly they heard voices and sat up quickly. Dean walked through the door.

“I don’t even wanna know. C’mon we are getting out of here.” Dean stated.

“What where?” Asked Sam.

“Anywhere, okay? Out of this Motel, out of this town. I don’t care if we gotta swim. We are getting out.” Dean started packing his bag.

“Why aren’t you guys moving?” Dean raised his voice.

“Listen, Chuck is not a psychic. He’s a prophet.”

“What?” Y/n stood up.

“Cas showed up. And apparently, Chuck is writing the gospel of us. Now let’s get the hell out of here.”

“It’s the middle of the night Dean, the road out of here is cut off, we can’t leave.” Y/n walked towards him.

“Fine. We are leaving as soon as the road out of here opens up.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.” Dean repeated.

*:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*

That night, Dean some how ended up getting his own bed and Y/n got the other bed while Sam was stuck with the couch after very much debate between him and Y/n.

Y/n slowly opened her eyes to find it was still dark outside, she found herself thirsty so she got up to grab a water bottle out of the fridge but only found beer. ‘Liquid is liquid I guess’ she thought. Once her eyes adjusted to the room, her eyes found themselves on Sam, quietly laughing at how gigantic he was with his legs hanging off the end of the couch. She looked over to Dean but he wasn’t there.

“Dean?” She asked like he was suddenly gonna appear. She quickly made her way over to Sam shaking his shoulders to wake him up.

“Sam? Sam!” He groaned as he awoke.

“Deans not in his bed.”

“What?” Sam questioned Y/n.

‘Oh my god, his morning voice.’ Y/n thought.

“I don’t know where he is. The Impala is still outside and all of his stuff is here.”

Sam stood up to see Dean was in-fact not in his bed. ‘He doesn’t have a shirt on too? Oh my, what this man does to me.’ Y/n thought.

“Maybe he went for a walk?” Said Sam obviously too tired at the moment to focus.

“I don’t know Sam.” Sam took a step closer to Y/n to get her attention.

“Y/n, I’m sure he just went to the bar across the street or something. Let’s just go back to sleep and when we wake up I’m telling you he will be here. If he’s not, we can take as many precautions as you’d like.”

“Fine.” At that Sam took another step closer to put his fingers on her chin turning her head up to him.

“Y/n.” Sam said sternly knowing she was worried.

“It’s okay Sam, if you think he’s fine, I believe you.” Y/n explained placing her fingers on his hand. Sam smiled at that.

“Goodnight Y/n.” Sam said softly leaving her touch.

“Are you sure about that couch Sam? You didn’t look too comfortable… You can sleep in my bed if you want, I really don’t mind.” Y/n said calmly trying to act as chill as possible as she climbed in under the covers.

“You sure?”

“Just get in Sam.” She smiled at him. Sam made his way over to the side of the bed and hesitantly got under the covers as well. Y/n turned over to face Sam still smiling.

“What?” He smiled at her.

“You’re so warm, the bed was so cold before.” Y/n said, thoughts racing.

“I’ll gladly be your heater anytime Y/n.” She loved when he said her name. She shuffled a bit closer not wanting to roll off the bed during the night. At that, Sam slowly reached his hand up to brush her hair out of her face behind her ear. At the action, Y/n’s cheeks turned pink, thankful it was dark so he didn’t notice.

After a moment of staring into each others eyes, both of their gazes flickered back and forth from their eyes to each others lips. Sam leaned in slowly not wanting to accidentally get the wrong idea. His lips grazed hers and after realization Y/n pressed her lips to his. A slow kiss made faster in the moment turning his hand on her hip and hers on his cheek.

They both separated taking heavy breaths, echoing through the motel room. Y/n smirked and pulled him closer once again intertwining their mouths and pressing their bodies as close as possible to each other. Sam put both hands on her hips now turning them over so he was on top, he started kissing her jawline and down her neck giving them a break to breathe. Y/n put her hands through his hair as Sam looked up at her.

“I remember you saying ‘fuck destiny.’” Sam smirked.

“And I remember you agreeing. So shut up and kiss me Winchester.” She smiled at him and brought him up to her face connecting their lips. Sam tugged at the edge of her oversized shirt making her lean up off the bed so he could pull it off finding her without a bra. He instantly went to sucking her chest and twisting her other nipple. Y/n let out a moan and Sam smiled against her chest switching to give each the same attention.

He went back to her mouth and Y/n found the draw string to his sweatpants undoing the bow tugging at them. Sam got the hint and detached their mouths to kneel and take off his pants. He slowly reached for Y/n’s shorts and looked up at her. She smiled and nodded so he continued to pull them off her. He rubbed his fingers against her covered heat.

“Your so wet.” Sam noticed and smiled at her.

“All for you.” Y/n spoke up. Sam then hooked his fingers on either side of her hips pulling her underwear down and off. She whined at the cool air hitting her suddenly. Sam leaned down toward her heat spreading her legs with his hands and licking a stripe up her slit. Y/n moaned at his action so Sam did it again liking the sweet sounds she made. He then started sucking on her clit harshly making her squeal and try to shut her legs around his head so Sam reached both his arms under and around her thighs keeping them open for him.

He started moving his mouth around more chasing her to moan and stick her hands back in his hair pulling and tugging.

“Sam pleasee.” Y/n moaned.

“Please what? Tell me what you need sweetheart.” Sam replied against her pussy.

“I- I need more!” At that, Sam unhooked one of his arms from her thigh and stuck his finger in her hole. Y/n screamed at the sudden movements. Sam roughly moved his finger in and out adding a second one still sucking her clit.

“I- I’m gonna-“ Y/n tried to tell him.

“That’s it, cum on my fingers sweetie.” At the nickname, Y/n came on his fingers a moaning mess. Still thrusting, he let her come down from her high.

Sam sucked her juices off his fingers coming off with a pop.

“You taste so good.” Sam stated crawling back up to her to intertwine their lips. They broke apart as Y/n tugged his boxers down finding his hard cock.

“You’re so big.” Said Y/n, almost drooling. Sam chuckled and turned her on her stomach with her ass in the air. Sam stuck his arm around to her face.

“Spit.” Y/n did as told and Sam brought his hand back to stroke his cock a few times. He put one hand on her ass spreading her open for him and the other hand guiding his dick in her wet hole. He slowly went in as Y/n started to whine.

“C’mon, you can fit me honey.” She moaned at his deep soothing voice and Sam bottomed out giving her a second to adjust before he pulled out, back in, and started slamming into her from behind with both hands on her hips now bringing her hips to meet his. Their moans and groans filled the room along with the slapping of their hips.

“Sam-“ Y/n moaned into the bed gripping the sheets. Sam grabbed both her arms and pinned her wrists behind her back grunting as he pounded harder. Y/n started to whine loudly and he felt her clench causing him to roll his head back.

“You gonna cum baby?” He said to her reaching his fingers down to massage her clit.

“Mhmm.” She moaned out not being able to form words. He let go off her wrists, grabbing a fist of hair instead making her uncontrollably moan as well as her eyes rolling back in her head. Sam stopped his movement on her clit and let go of her hair before pulling out quickly to flip her body around. Her back now on the bed he lifted one of her legs over his shoulder immediately putting his cock back into her wet cunt causing her to whimper and scream. Sam leaned down grabbing the sides of her face in his palms and kissed her. While pulling away from her lips he started pounding into her like never before shaking the bed. They stared into each others eyes mouths wide open moaning. Y/n’s eyes started to get heavy and started to stutter.

“Sam, I’m-“ Sam knew what she was trying to say and continued fucking into her.

“I know baby. Cum for me.” He said between breaths feeling her starting to clench around him. Y/n moaned his name all the way through her orgasm.

“Good girl.” Y/n then began to shake at the over stimulation.

“Sammy- I ca-“

“Just a little longer sweetie, you can do it.” He reassured her and let go of her head to pound into her a little more when his thrusts started getting sloppy and his dick began to twitch. His cum shot into her causing them to both moan. He carefully pulled out and leaned down on top of her to kiss her swollen lips. She ran her fingers through his hair while both of them panted to calm down and catch their breathe. Sam lied down next to her on his side, pulled her into him by her waist and kissed the top of her head.

“I guess we can’t really escape destiny huh?” Sam joked and Y/n looked up at him kissing him again.

*:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*

Y/n’s eyes began to open immediately putting her hand up to block the bright sunlight. She looked around to find Sam’s arm draped over her waist and Dean’s bed still empty. Sam awoke from her movement.

“Hi.” Sam said fluttering his eyes open.

“Hi.” She replied smiling at him. Suddenly the motel room door opened and in walked Dean landing his eyes on them.

“So, destiny huh guys?” Dean smirked. Sam’s cheeks went pink and Y/n grabbed her pillow and tossed it at Dean.

“Hey! Watch the coffee grumpy.” Dean remarked.

“Where were you last night?” Y/n asked ignoring his comment.

“Just at the bar. Why? Seems like your guys’ minds were somewhere else.” Dean placed the coffees down and widened his eyes at the pair.

“Couch comfy Sam?” Dean asked, obviously amused. Sam just rolled his eyes at his joking behaviour.

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greyauras · 3 months

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This is like 600 words.

Everyone headcanons Ghost and Soap's living conditions like Ghost is a frequent visitor of r/malelivingspace and Soap has like a slightly cozy, filled just enough with furniture type of place. I think that's cute and hilarious, but I'm just thinking about the opposite.

That Ghost actually has this REALLY nice place somewhere near the base that Price *legally* finances for him but pays out of pocket for. King sized bed, some cacti, has an elderly neighbor that waters them for him if he's gone for too long and everything. I'm pretty sure Ghost was canonically a butcher (I hc him that way anyway) so he probably can make a good steak, and eventually learned how to cook for himself and it's become a hobby. He grew up without, so now that he has the money and the luxury to have a quiet space of his own, he takes full advantage of it.

I believe he likes stability, and while the base is where he feels the most like himself, the bustle of it all irritates him. Sometimes it's nice to drink your weird ass flavored tea with your pink cacti. Best date you'll ever have if you squint past the red flags Tom Cardy style.

And Soap? Pretty big, concrete, studio loft. Completely empty save necessary appliances and the fullest place being his art space with easels and canvases in front of the large windows, a cot with boxes of his shit next to it. And a bean bag chair begging for life. The only thing he knows how to cook is ramen and MRE tuna packets. He tries family recipes, but fucks it up so badly he hopes his nan doesn't see it beyond the grave. Growing up, he took care of himself while his parents worked constantly and could have been away for days at the time. It's easier to take care of yourself when your only obligations are feeding yourself, doing homework, and going to bed before midnight. Being an adult has similar rules but for some reason it's much worse.

Being in the military, it's an automatic rule to take care of yourself (physically). You stink, you'll get a bath one way or another. He doesn't buy anything because why need a bed if you'll only sleep on it for a month or so? Why a couch and TV when paying for a streaming service would be a waste? (Laptop disc player kind of guy, got a box of classic movies too, “THIS IS SPARTA!”) Really shouldn't even invest in a flat, he doesn't really celebrate holidays with his family anymore since they're the vacation on Christmas type. The only time he's there is when injured, forced or both.

But since Simon moves to Scotland and brings all his stuff with him, the big place gets filled a lot quicker. John gets some shelf racks and finally unpacks his boxes. I would say and maybe vice versa since Soap doesn't have a lot of stuff, but Price is glad to get that freeloader’s lease off his name.

Extra: They're all hanging out in the base’s living area.

Gaz: Does anybody need a couch? My sister's selling one, might even give it away if I ask.

Soap perks up from his spot on the floor: I do! I've been sleeping on the floor for 3 years!

Ghost: Johnny, I thought you said you had a cot?

Soap: I did. The legs broke, now it's just a framed mat.

Gaz: Bruv, what the fuck.

Soap: Does it have a stench?

Gaz: No?

Soap: I'll take it.

#ghostsoap #call of duty #drabble #totally not projecting #soap mactavish #simon ghost riley #i think i did this right #omg ghost with a little cactus with two pink flowers that look like eyes #gotta draw this now #kyle gaz garrick #shitpost #inncorrect quotes #john soap mactavish #Gerard Butler fan Soap #i think im funny #it's even called an old lady cactus #her name is Eleanor #the cactus and the woman

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animentality · 1 month

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got some people complaining about the poll I made yesterday that determines if you're poor, middle class, or upper middle class based on whether you know what DevSecOps is.

mostly people who know what it is, and were protesting that it's not a class indicator... except it is.

and I can tell they're middle class from this, almost definitely living in a suburb or just outside a city, not in a rundown neighborhood in the city or a backwater bumpkin town in the deep south that hasn't seen a job since 1973.

middle class people who come from college educated parents and/or went to college themselves and are in the sphere of computer programming and tech really take the world they know for granted.

people are waiters, man. they're truck drivers. they're hotel receptionists. they're plant workers and electricians and plumbers and shit. they sell machines to people and do secretary stuff. they work at hospitals and as emts and as car mechanics. or boring bureaucratic government jobs where you do paperwork all day.

you really think every single person on this planet knows what DevSecOps is?

it's a work philosophy similar to scrum that is specifically geared towards software developers with the goal of releasing software quickly and safely and responding to security threats as quickly as possible.

so.

a software developer who specializes in security would be familiar with it.

and you're gonna stand there and tell me that a software developer with a specialty in cyber security is living in poverty?

not very good at networking I guess.

it's just funny because I think the tendency to take your world for granted is unavoidable, but the people complaining that they know what DevSecOps is, but it's not a class indicator-

they're like the people who think everyone can afford college.

you're privileged to know what it is.

they don't teach that shit in public schools. they don't even necessarily teach it in colleges.

it's something you learn while working a desk job, for some tech corporation. and while you're no CEO, you're still better off for knowing how to develop software applications.

so check your privilege, internet weirdos!

this may shock you but knowing what some esoteric technical terms mean are an indicator of class.

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sapphia · 1 year

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so recently, scar has gotten good at minecraft. like, really good. if you watch his old stuff, it doesn't take much to see that scar's strengths generally used to lie outside of the actual, run-around-without-dying-especially-on-a-pvp-server level of play. and that's fine, it wasn't his jig, and the people he's playing with really are very good and very experienced at this sort of play. so it never needed to be something that scar was good at because his fanbase mostly watched him for other reasons, so that just wasn't something he needed to be able to do.

but for a while now, especially noticeable over the life series, he's been rapidly improving at the sorts of particular skills that the life smp server values (and also certain skillsets involved in MCC, too). The water bucket clutches spring to mind, as well as the hot-guy stuff that make him such a lethal force with a bow. (It's honestly a shame that life smp doesn't have elytra -- he regularly one-shots people from the air on hermitcraft, and it's a fantastic bit.)

And it's just so good to see because like... he didn't have to go and do that! he went and practiced those skills, and got good at them, and then came and showed them off. and it was awesome, but also he made it so creative and entertaining, and he really didn't have to do any of it at all if he hadn't wanted to. people don't play on life smp because they're good at the technical elements of the game. more than anyone else, scar's particular shenanigans and the energy he brings to the server are what make him a great fit for the series. there are plenty of players on life smp who aren't great PVPers but who get by on politicking, or scheming, or storytelling, or just generally being a good time to be around, and each of them makes the smp tick and are valuable in their own way.

not to mention that life smp is made up of such a wonderful group of human beings that they'll do whatever it takes for you to fit in. to make your thing, and your particular energy and abilities, a part of of the series. to make it that you aren't hampered by your abilities and handicaps, whatever they may be. when skizz dies early on to some early misfortune in limited life, people are pretty clearly aware that he's one of the weaker players and it might impede his ability to have a full series. but don't worry, because half the server are tripping over themselves to give him their time and lives and totems and to swear undying oaths of fealty to protect him at all costs. grian, martyn, tango, literally every one of the ties - not to mention everyone who stood around and watched as skizz killed tango - all are working together and giving up things, valuable things, to make sure this one player gets to keep time on the server, and therefore time on the series, just because that's who they are. that's what the server is. friends, playing together.

i'm sure that's also why grain stuck with scar in the first series: to make it fair. they want everyone to have a good time. To be able to do their own thing, whatever that thing is you bring to the server, be it your insane PVP skills or trying to scam players by selling them magic crystals.

which is a long way of saying: scar was under no obligation whatsoever to get good at these player-skill-based elements of minecraft. but it's wonderful that he did! he really said, "look, i know you all think i'm a walking disaster, but i need you to know, it's not because i'm bad at the game. it's because i'm me." and then he went and got crazy good at archery (well, okay, crazy good at one very specific archery move, but also pretty damn good at shooting things overall! and at flying!) and he started parkouring around a bunch and now he's mastered waterbucket clutches (and what a fucking display he got to show off in double life, too) and just all around Got Good at the things that he wasn't previously that good at.

and the best thing was that he's still such an irreverent force of chaos that it hasn't even mattered. he's still just as lethal to himself through his own terrible decisions and random lack of awareness or foresight. or even just his own desire to fun, no matter what. the man really went into a hardcore server and said alright, i'm gonna build my base up high enough to definitely kill me, and also make it out of trap doors, and oh grians here, oops i'm sure that won't go wrong. and then he went and died to his elytra failing. that's just the most scar thing I've ever seen. you can't even fault him because grain also died on that server. only joel properly made 100 hours and there's no surprises there, joel is insanely good. so its no mark against scar that he died. but how he plays it, it's just so him.

and you wouldn't have it any other way because this is why we watch him. he's entertaining because he's totally unpredictable and also predictable and good and bad and competent and incompetent all at the same time. he will waterbucket-clutch INTO an impossible situation to save a bunch of useless pandas that were almost definitely going to die and he'll get away with it. and then also he will die by setting off a trap he's trying to very obviously lure others into. yes also he fell into a pit of zombies, what of it? it's just scar and his wacky hijinks. will he die? lets find out!

scar really said the only thing holding me back is me, and then proved it.

#goodtimeswithscar #good times with scar #limited life smp #last life smp #life smp #long post #sorry for the length lol i just think he's such a bright point #and people don't realise sometimes how good a player he really is #he just hides under a total lack of applying those skills in the situations where they'd be meaningful #his meter is swinging between 'i'm a baby and i will die if you breathe on me' and 'i'm an untouchable god'#and you just cannot predict where it will land

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cookinguptales · 22 days

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Okay so now that I've had some time to digest and think about Late Night with the Devil, some thoughts.

Sorry in advance, this got really, REALLY long as I rambled about all-male secret societies, who and what was possessing whom throughout this movie, literal and metaphorical hauntings, how fame and fortune tempt us all to give up our humanity, and uh. Family youtubers.

I really enjoyed the film, but I do have to wonder, to start with, if other people will get all the allusions...? I didn't think about it until later when I was reading confused posts by other viewers, but I guess the film does kind of predicate on a lot of somewhat arcane knowledge. Like you can understand what's going on without it, but I do think you get a lot more enjoyment out of it if you have a good working understanding of, like, the Satanic Panic of the 70s, the parapsychology/esper craze, James Randi's whole thing, Anton LaVey, Waco, late night hosts like Johnny Carson, and of course the Bohemian Grove.

The Bohemian Grove is kind of... like, obviously a lot of the people making up conspiracy theories about that recently are alt-right assholes (see: Alex Jones), but it is very much a real thing. It's kind of a modern Masonic situation, imo, where you get these big groups of rich, influential men together and they do silly, juvenile vaguely pagan frat boy shit. It's edgelord stuff. But because they are secretive and they are powerful, people come up with all of these conspiracy theories about them.

(I mean lbr that's kind of the history of the occult in general, isn't it? lmao. People ask me if I was afraid when I was studying secret societies and occultism and it's like -- no, these were by and large just rich assholes fighting over headcanons about rituals that they made up based off of deeply faulty scholarship. But I digress.)

The fact of the matter, though, is even if the actual rituals and stuff are kind of silly, the main focus is really rich, powerful men meeting up with other rich, powerful men and networking like crazy. It does keep the rich rich, the powerful powerful, and political resources focused on men. Like the Masons, women aren't allowed in the Bohemian Grove -- and women in politics have bitterly criticized the way that they're being excluded from this kind of networking.

(God, it's so fratty. It's so fucking fratty.)

So in that respect, it is kind of something to be feared.

And... I do think you see that aspect of it reflected in Late Night with the Devil. The consolidation of power, the networking with shitty people, and the way that women are "sacrificed."

[massive spoilers for the entire film to follow!]

I do think I want to see this movie again to firm up some of my ideas, because I suspect that there are a lot of details that I missed the first time I watched this. (And I really should have watched the open captioned version of this; I couldn't understand a lot of what the demon was saying, rip.) But here are some initial thoughts.

The heart of this, obviously, is the demonic presence at the Grove and the way that men go there to sell their soul for power. In a very literal sense, that's what's happening in this film and it's what happened to Jack Delroy. He made a deal with a demon for fame, and that demon ended up taking everything from him to achieve that.

But... metaphorically speaking, it seems clear that Jack Delroy was very willing to make human sacrifices in his day-to-day life. He may have literally (and I think accidentally) sacrificed his wife's life to a demon at the Grove, but he very consciously and willingly sacrificed her for fame when she was alive, too. I mean... imagine having a spouse who is actively dying of cancer and making her make an appearance on your show two weeks before she passes. For ratings. Imagine how much it must have physically taxed her. Imagine how difficult it must have been for them both emotionally. It even could have hastened her death. But he was still willing to do all that for views. He sacrificed his wife, his home life, and his overall privacy for views.

(Family youtubers, anyone? 🙃)

He's also willing to sacrifice his girlfriend, his crew, his audience, and a little girl for ratings. Gus, his voice of reason. He was willing to humiliate him onstage and wouldn't let him go home when he was scared. His audience, whose trauma he was entirely willing to capitalize on through Christou's act. His gf, who I'd argue was probably using Lilly as well, was totally thrown to the wolves when he realized it'd make good television.

Like -- yes, there were supernatural forces at play. Supernatural forces claimed these lives. But Jack sure as shit wasn't being very careful with them, and these supernatural sacrifices always, always mirrored his mundane ones.

(I mean... he performed a human sacrifice of a little girl on national television while in a hallucination about using the sacrificial dagger on his dying wife. It wasn't subtle. lmao)

Moreover, the producers of the show were also very willing to put people in harm's way and capitalize on tragedy for ratings. So... there's a really unsubtle message here about fame and capitalism and the way it tempts you to sacrifice your humanity to get ahead.

(MAYBE LIKE UNDERMINING YOUR ARTISTIC INTEGRITY BY USING AI INSTEAD OF HIRING ARTISTS, IDK)

I'd in fact argue that pretty much everyone who got on that stage that night sacrificed their humanity a bit for fame, with the possible exception of Gus. Gus was the voice of reason, but I mean... he was still there. Maybe a message about how once you get in, you can't get out. :(

But yeah, Jack's obvious, but also Christou, who was willing to use people's trauma for fame. June, who was willing to use a little girl's incredible trauma to advertise for her new book. Carmichael, who got off on humiliating people just to make himself seem smart.

Like... they all started with a kernel of something good (wanting to help the grieving, wanting to help traumatized children, wanting to stop charlatans) but in the end, show biz turned all those urges into the most amoral, selfish, and cruel versions of themselves.

And all of those people crumbled when they were confronted with something real.

(Side note, our theater was in hysterics when Carmichael tried to offer the demon the check. lmao)

Truthfully, it felt like all of them had made their own individual deals with the devil years ago. Halloween 1977 was just the devil finally coming to take his due.

That's the main message of the movie, I think, but there are still some smaller details I want to talk about.

The Grove itself was an obvious allusion to the Bohemian Grove, which is a secret society of powerful men who meet amongst the redwoods in Northern California. Their mascot has always been an owl, which is why you repeatedly see the owl motif throughout the movie. (Happy Owl-ween, the owl mask, etc.)

Abrasax makes sense as a demon to choose (the strong historical associations with magic and demonology, the reoccurrences in many world religions (and occult groups), the role in Gnosticism, etc.) but there seem to be vibes of Stolas, an owl deity who communicates arcane knowledge to humans in exchange for their souls, as well. I noticed a lot of little allusions to Abrasax throughout the film even before Lilly started manifesting, like the movie being shown after the show being about Abrasax.

Lilly... She was rescued from a cult that seems to be a hybrid of Anton LaVey's Church of Satan and the Branch Davidians who died during a siege by the US government in Waco, TX. (Like the cultists in the movie, their compound caught fire when they were being raided. IRL, it's unclear whether the fire was started as a suicide cult situation or if it was started by the actions of the government as they tried to flush people out.) In this cult, girls were sacrificed at age 13, and all who witnessed that sacrifice would fall under the control of Abrasax.

So... she was rescued at age 10. Three years have passed. So she is now 13, the age at which these girls were sacrificed. She was due, in other words. Who and what was possessing her... that's the question, I guess. Demons, historically speaking, were known to speak foreign languages, speak in the voice of other humans, have psychic knowledge their hosts shouldn't know, etc. So she did exhibit symptoms like that.

I think... there are a couple of options here. There's Abrasax specifically, there's June's theory that she was possessed by a minor demon, and there's Minnie. Or a combination of the three.

It's pretty clear that Minnie's presence is felt throughout the whole taping. You can see her reflection various times throughout the movie, she manifested through Christou, and obviously you see her in the tape playback.

(And when I say my theater YELLED. lmao)

The question is, though... Is it really Minnie? And if it is, what does she want? Has she been haunting Jack all along? Is she there because, as it's the first Halloween after her death, it's her last chance to deal with her unfinished business? Did the demon allow her to manifest? Or was the whole thing an illusion created by the demon all along?

(I'd like to note here that, historically speaking, there was a theory that ghosts aren't actually real. They're actually demons masquerading as the spirits of departed loved ones, and they want you to summon them and listen to them so they can tempt you away from God. You can read this in the writings of a lot of the ancient Christian theologians. Or you could have talked to my grandmother, who also told me this when I was a kid! :') But she's dead now so I guess you'd have to do a summoning and find out for yourself.)

All that said... I come down between two current theories. I'd have to watch it again to firm up my ideas.

The first theory is that she's been trapped on earth for the past year, but because it's Halloween, she can haunt them. They mention at the beginning of the film that Halloween is a recent spirit's last chance to take care of unfinished business. So this could have been the case with Minnie. That said... what exactly was her unfinished business? Was she trying to protect Jack and the others? Or hurt them? Was she angry, or was she just, as Christou said, sad? Was her "an unmarried man wearing a wedding ring" referring to the way that Jack was grieving her and still wearing his ring, or the way that he wasn't much of a husband to her when she was alive?

The second theory is that, when she was sacrificed to Abrasax, she became a part of that legion. She was, like Lilly and the other little girls, essentially raised to be sacrificed, and once she was, she joined everyone else who is under the control of the deity. It's still hard to sense whether she was trying to help or hurt throughout the broadcast, but it explains her presence (she came with Lilly, not Jack) and how she was used during Jack's hallucinations to ultimately get him to perform the sacrifice on Lilly, thus bringing all audience members (both in the studio and at home) under Abrasax's control.

Either way, Minnie, in this film, is literal ghost haunting the stage -- but also a metaphorical one. The ghost of all of Jack's past misdeeds and the humanity he's sacrificed to get ahead. She's guilt and she's shame and she's desperate grief, and I guess it's no wonder that the negativity surrounding her was enough to kill Christou when he touched it.

I do think it's fascinating that all of the women in this movie are, in a very real and physical sense, sacrificed for the aspirations of men. (The little girls are sacrificed, Minnie died of a mysterious cancer, June dies because Jack pushed for her to stay, etc.) But metaphorically speaking that seems to be the case as well. They're constantly expected to put their own comfort and safety aside for the men in their lives, and their own aspirations are consumed by the men's.

Like I said, it feels very telling that women aren't allowed at the Grove. Women are constantly being denied power in this movie (or are only allowed power when it's in service to a male costar/deity) and it's largely because they just don't have the connections that the men do. The deals were made while they weren't in the room, essentially.

I'm not sure if that was a conscious choice being made, but it does seem to dovetail nicely with the strong, strong sexism and male privilege present in real-life secret societies of powerful men that disallow women. Like June only getting to shill for her book because Jack let her, women are only allowed at the real-life Bohemian Grove in very limited areas -- and only as a male member's guest.

Um... back to Lilly, though. What the hell is possessing her? She speaks as Minnie a few times, but that could be because Minnie is a part of their legion or just because she's trying to freak out Jack. Demons are known to lie using the voices of loved ones. Minnie's presence could have been influencing her, but I definitely don't think that's all that was in there.

The question, really, seems to arise from what June said about Lilly changing like a week ago and how she started talking about Jack nonstop. At least one presence in Lilly seems to be the same deity that Jack spoke to in the Grove when he was making his deal with the devil (so to speak) because it mentioned that encounter. But is that the only one in there? Is it the same deity that's always been in there? Or did it come to her only a week ago as a way to get to Jack and complete their contract? ("It is done.")

Lilly refers to her demon as Mr. Wriggles (which feels like an Exorcist allusion) and it seems like she has a pretty good lid on it. And when that demon is brought out of her by June, it seems confused and frightened. But Lilly is pretty clearly possessed the entire rest of the broadcast, so really the two options are that she was faking the entire time just to fuck with them (entirely possible) or there were two different deities, perhaps the original (lesser) one put in her in the cult and Abrasax(?) newly arrived to claim Jack and his audience.

It's fascinating watching her, because you can see her slip in and out of a possessed state several times when people aren't paying attention to her (jerking, spacing out, etc.) but it's hard to tell whether that's different presences coming in and out of control, her "talking" to what's inside her, etc. Again, this is a thing I think would benefit from multiple viewings. I'm really not sure if the Grove creature is new to her body or if it's been there all along biding its time, and it's only changing its behavior now because it wanted to be on tv.

While her recently changed behavior seems to lean towards the former, I am sort of stuck on the detail that Jack said early on, that he read June's book and couldn't stop thinking about it. That could just be normal fascination (and he did end up having an affair with her) but it could also be demonic intervention. That would indicate that the demon was manipulating him into putting Lilly on TV long before a week ago.

What is not really up for debate is that the presence inside Lilly now is one that has connections to Jack through the Grove and promised him fame. Lilly (before she was visibly possessed) alludes to this promise by telling Jack that he'll be very famous after tonight. And once the ritual starts, she is seen taking electrical energy from the set and cameras. She is literally getting her power from the audience viewing the sacrifice. (It's very Ringu.) And after Jack stabs Lilly, the studio audience, audience at home, and presumably real-life audience watching this movie, are all put under Abrasax's control.

("Hail Abrasax" is seen multiple times throughout the film, which might also imply that the documentarians themselves are trying to spread this contagion after watching the video.)

Uh... a few more small things.

Carmichael Haig is obviously James Randi. Like Houdini before him, Randi was also a stage magician who dedicated his life to exposing "supernatural" charlatans. He did indeed offer a huge sum of money to whoever could prove him wrong. Carmichael even looked like James Randi. (Though I'd point out that "Haig" is the name of the man who constructed the owl statue at the real-life Bohemian Grove!) I suppose it makes sense that he'd be such an asshole in a world where demonic possession does actually exist.

The one thing I'd say is... it's hard to say whether this was a case of the filmmakers not thinking through implications or if this really was a nasty joke, but Randi was, IRL, gay. He came out late in life and got married to a man shortly before he died. So the implication that Carmichael, in the movie, wanted to join the Grove largely because he was perverted is... iffy. Carmichael was never stated to be gay in the movie (that I noticed) and it's hard to suss out whether the orgies he was talking about were relating to the all-male membership of the Grove (i.e. a gay orgy) or the women that these powerful men had hanging all over them (i.e. a... less gay orgy) and I do think which they were implying has major implications for what they were saying about a man who was, IRL, gay.

Like... if the implication was that he must've been willing to hurt people in order to have wild sex because he's gay, that's uh! Not great! But if the creators didn't realize that aspect of Randi's life (it was less publicized because, as I mentioned, it happened later in his life) then they might have just been pushing on that trope of powerful men using women.

Really, really hard to say.

Next, Christou. Christou... it's hard to say whether the man was psychic at all. It's clear that he was doing a lot of fake-ass cold reading beforehand (though I do want to go back through it and see if there really was any allusion to a Peter- character involving the skeleton) and was using interviews to find grieving audience members. (Two practices that James Randi talked about a lot IRL.) But he also did have a very real experience when he sensed Minnie and, while overwhelmed, didn't seem particularly shocked by it.

If I had to guess, I think that Christou does have some psychic powers (which is why I want to investigate the Peter thing) but can't control them well and is easily overwhelmed by real phenomena. He plays things up for the cameras (I noticed his accent slipped when he had his real experience, lmao) but I wouldn't be surprised if, like everyone else on stage, there's a kernel of something real in him.

Finally... that fucking skeleton! I want to do an entire watch through just to examine that guy. He was in the flashbacks about the Grove, so I think it's likely that he might've been a member of that. He also is the only one who refuses to take off his mask, which seems to relate to the dialogue at the beginning of the film about wearing a mask to protect yourself from spirits during Halloween. I think he's definitely in on what's going on, to some extent, but it's hard to figure out exactly in what capacity. Was it a Grove member, or maybe a cult member? A follower of Abraxas? Was it actually the personification of Death?

Hard! To! Say!

Like I said, I really do want to rewatch this movie to pay more attention to small details I might've missed in the theater. I'm also looking forward to seeing it with subtitles. It wasn't a perfect movie, but it was intriguing and original enough that I really enjoyed it and want to watch it again to puzzle through it. Really, the one big mark against it was the brief use of AI, which is just -- god, it's infuriating.

It's such a small part, so it would have been so easy to not do. (Apparently it wasn't even IN the first festival showing.) But it kind of pollutes the whole movie, especially when such a large message is not fucking over real people in the quest for success in the media landscape.

Plus, it just kind of looked like shit.

I know it's probably a lost cause, but I would be thrilled if they hired a real artist and redid those images for the Shudder release. It would be so easy to fix, and it would make the movie a lot better. Those commercial breaks were so funny and if they had better interstitials (that didn't make you feel icky just looking at them) then it would boost an already great film.

I just. I don't even know why they did it in the first place. I'm guessing, based on the fact that they weren't in the original screenings, that they were pressed for time to finish things...? But come on, surely you can find some artist who can do something quick for you. It wasn't even a moving image.

So uh... yeah, I guess that's where I'm at. It was an interesting (if slightly hokey) movie pulling together a lot of threads to make something cool and mysterious, I liked a lot of the acting (particularly Jack Delroy's) and set design, I wanna chat with people about it -- but I can't really in good conscience fully recommend it because of the AI thing. It's just such a disgrace to artistic integrity. Here's hoping they hire a real fucking artist.

#this got really long sorry lmao #really though more than anything this just made me feel like #damn why did I stop coming out to the bourse and east #like yeah they're a little further than the PFS center and the amc but not by much #I felt so nostalgic there #I gotta get back into seeing weird indie movies I miss it #late night with the devil

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