#little different from what i write tone-wise but i had fun with this one

[a-gal-with-taste]

29 and 38 | Silco x Reader

:3c

Oh, you're evil. I love you

Troupe Mash-Up | Wedding-Fic & Grief-Fic | Silco/F!Reader | ANGST | Fears of Mortality | Discussions of Death | Pre-Canon | Feral/Sad Zaunite Revolutionaries | Speed-Wedding | Hopeful Ending

You didn't have time for this.

You knew that, and a part of you had always known. There wasn't nearly enough time for this, for anything.

There had never, ever been enough time, and it's proven, by how quickly the ashes dissipated into the waves: forgotten, and swallowed up by the sea.

So, impossibly, horrfiyingly quickly.

Dully, you blink slowly as the current does-away with what remains -- they say death is so permanent, but a mere-blink, and all existence of it is already gone.

You give another slow blink, before you turn to him. In the same instant, sea-green eyes find yours and you immediately lose kinship with thought, with air-

Silco's eyes are as turbulent as the crashing-waves of the River Pilt before you both, dark grey-blues that bleed into the vibrancy of the sea. Fascination doesn't even scratch the surface of explaining what you feel when you normally look into that ever-thinking gaze... but right now, when you look into those bright hues, fascination is not what you feel.

You feel afraid.

Strangling you, choking you, there is a sudden, desperate jolt of fear that courses in your veins as you stare back at him, gazing into eyes so fierce and alive...

And knowing, from recent experience, just how quickly eyes like that can grow dull and dead-

"Marry me."

You don't have time.

You never, ever have enough time.

And you don't dare want to waste another second.

Considering how he only takes a single moment to consider, it's clear Silco has no-intentions of wasting time with you, either.

"Okay. When?"

"Now."

"Now?"

He's moreso curious, rather than shocked or indignant, perhaps even outraged at the demand. Maybe he should be... you are, of course, asking him to wed you at a funeral of friends.

But maybe that's the best place to wed. In the sight of what remains of friends, dead and gone.

Or maybe you've at last lost your sanity, it really feels like a toss-up. "You can say no," You inform him, shrugging a bit limply, letting out a small chuckle that is far from mirthful. "Yes, no... it makes no difference."

"It makes no difference whether or not we get married?"

Again, the Son of Zaun is only curious about the entire situation at-present. Keen for answers, but not seeking judgement or admonishment for your... less-than ideal timing, and lack of ring.

Turning away from the bright green, unjudging and daresay gentle glint of his gaze, your own travels to gaze back down into the waters below.

The waves are already clear.

It's sickening, how clean the water is already.

Fingertips touch your chin, and feeling strangely weightless as Silco tips your head back over, from the waves, to him. His eyes flick over your expression, the perpetual flat-line of his lips curling downwards at the edges and brows furrowing.

"I would prefer not to have a crying bride at my wedding," He says, but it's not meant to be insulting.

Regardless, your eyes still roll and your hand raises to tap-away his fingers. "I'm not crying-"

"But you're grieving." He insists.

You scoff, and it's ragged. "I wonder why-"

"We've faced death before. Personally and at a distance - It's an ever-present constant of Zaun, that you and I have both faced many, many times over," Silco pauses. Takes a small, tiny breath, that cracks at the calm expression on his face while his hand trails down, to grip at your own just a bit too tightly as his eyes darken. "It's... not easy."

Understatement. Zaunites are tough, but tragically, forever human at their core.

"But," He continues, squeezing your fingers until they twitch, and he returns to himself. From murky depths, the bright shine of his green-eyes returns when they mean your own gaze. "Typically... marriage-proposals don't erupt from such finality. So I feel the need to ask, why?"

A pause, where there's only the crashing waves and a distant rumble far overhead to speak in your stead.

You find your voice after a minute longer, when that grip on your hand starts to lessen and pull-away. "I love you."

"And I love you," He says, easily. "But why?"

He's not asking why you love him, because that's obvious enough.

You never have had the security of a promised-future, but your past has been long-since entwined with his. Death may be an ever-present constant for Zaun, but Silco has been your ever-present constant.

From the lowest-streets of the Sumps, to the highest-rooftops of the Fringes. From children of trash, to the Children of Zaun... You've done it all-together.

Again, you don't have the time. The unguaranteed of tomorrow, the nonexisting-promise of the future... that's been proven, many, many times over, and there's ashes already forgotten in the river, to help keep the reminder fresh.

"I can't lose you too," You admit in a whisper. Staying still, no longer dismissive or defiant when his hand comes up once-more to hold your chin, so he may continue to hold your gaze. "Why? Because I can't. I just... I can't, Silco."

"You will. One day."

It's a fact, and it's spoken as such. Silco is the kind that will go down thrashing, clawing, roaring and taking down as many with him when his heart-stops, and such a fact is one you have known for the entire time you have been in his life.

Still, you scoff and glare at him for saying it aloud, so flippantly. "You think I'll just sit by the sidelines? Think I won't go down fighting beside you, before I have to lose you?"

The fingers on your chin squeeze, and you become away of how chilly the air is, when compared to how warm his breath is on your face, and how his eyes blaze at your implication. "And you think I won't fight death-itself to prevent losing you?"

Another rumble from the stormclouds overhead.

The next time you speak, the sky has cracked open, and the fall of rain joins the spray of the sea that is steadily drenching you both.

"We'll lose one-another eventually. It's hardly a contest."

"It's an inevitably," Silco agrees, but it's clear he's not exactly thrilled at the prospect. He'll likely drag Piltover to hell with him, when the time comes... but it's not difficult to imagine he is a man willing to take the entire rest of the world down, should you fall-first.

It shouldn't be an endearing as it is. It shouldn't make you feel breathless as you are, and yet-

"Then if I have to lose you, let me have you first." You whisper in a hoarse tone, somehow still audible for him to hear... though it's equally unsurprisingly. He's so close, you might as well be sharing the same breaths of air. "Let me have you, have me, for as long as we got."

"I thought you said it made no difference, if we got married."

"It'll make no difference to the ashes." They won't care whether or not you wore rings on your hands, one of which turns to grasp onto his. "It would mean everything to me. You... you, mean everything to me."

Sappy as a trashy-romance, but one can afford to be sentimental at a funeral.

And a wedding, if the equal-squeezing of fingers around your own is any indication of Silco's choice.

You lean forward - now truly taking-in every inhale he exhales - to rest your forehead to his, the dark, dripping tendrils of his long dark hair acting as a bit of a curtain as he tips his face down, his lips brushing agaisny your own when you move them minutely.

"Silco, marry me."

"Okay. When?"

Your eyes close, and there's the beginnings of a smile.

There was some old netting up ahead, strong and sturdy despite age and disuse. No one would notice a few inches of twine hacked away, until the tied-loops could be replaced by true bands.

No one would notice two rebels, alone in the rain, with only the waves and ashes to hear the whispered promises, eternal vows Silco and you would speak.

Somewhat of a morbid ceremony. Not many brides would prefer it.

But you only smile at the mental image, that would soon be reality.

"Now?" There's too little time left to wait any longer than that. And you love him, by many, many facts, but also by the fact that he seems to agree.

"Now."

#holy shit I finished something?? #i WROTE something? #this was sweaty's fault #and y'all better thank her for it #THANK YOU SWEATY #silco #arcane #arcane silco #silco x reader #drabble #request #also i'm not editing this #you're going to take this treat and you're going to like it (i hope) #little different from what i write tone-wise but i had fun with this one #arcane fic #silco fic #arcane x reader

[littledollll]

I have a request!

Lucifer sitting on the bed while their partner (reader) shows them how they look in different lingerie and asking which one they like better

Take your time and take care 🫶

Fashion show

Lucifer Morningstar x reader

A/n: this was so FUN to write man. I’ve had daydreams about this before actually. I love it here. I hope you enjoy<3

Warnings: touching, lingerie, aludes to sex, nipple play, praise.

____________________________________

“Look who’s finally back..” Lucifer says with a smile as they spot you come in through the heavy throneroom doors. You came in with a returning smile and a few bags in your hands, which were quickly taken off you and dropped off in your shared room by one of the maids.

“Happy to see me?” “Overjoyed. Every second here without you is torture.”

“Well you can’t blame hell for being hell!” You mused as you approached the devil.

“I can, and I shall. I’m always happy to be accompanied by you, my love.”

“Will you let me put on a little show for you?” You smiled as you moved into your devil’s lap. “A show?” They asked in an amused tone, tilting their head as one of their hands caressed your cheek.

“Mhm!” You nodded. Nuzzling against it, you placed a kiss on their palm. “A show. So you can see all the lovely clothes I brought back from the living.”

“Ah, a fashion show, just for me? I do believe I would enjoy that.” They nodded as you moved off their lap, keeping a hand on theirs as you quickly ushered them to your private quarters. They followed along without issue.

Once you arrived, Lucifer was a bit forcefully pushed to sit on the bed, your excitement getting the better of you. “That’s no way to treat your lord, angel.” Lucifer said with a quirked brow, tilting their head curiously your way.

You loved it so much when they did that adorable headtilt.

“It’s no way to treat my lover! I apologize sincerely. If my fashion show doesn’t make it up to you, I’ll let you choose a reward as compensation.” You played along, placing a hurried kiss to their cheek before running along into your unnecessarily large closet to get changed, the bags already being placed inside.

“Pick a color!” You yelled from the closet. Lucifer chuckled. “Any color?”

“Well I don’t have every color. But I might have the one you pick! Or something similar..”

“Oh alright.” They entertained.

“I’ll say... red.” Of course they would. Who is Lucifer without their signature red, black and white colors?

“Perfect choice, my love. As always.” You were more than prepared for this.

You slipped on the most conservative one you had first. ‘Slipped’ is the wrong word for it, considering these things were half impossible to put on. But you managed.

A simple deep red, lacy, one piece with quite the lot of holes, but not in the necessary places.

You looked at yourself in the mirror once, and then thrice to make sure everything was as it should, before you made a rather dramatic strut out of the closet doors.

Lucifer’s smile reached their eyes at your behavior. The piece suited you beautifully but it was all about how you wore it. “Oh so this is how it’s going to be?”

“I told you, red was a very wise color.” You nodded and they motioned you to come closer.

As you did, Lucifer’s hands found your waist, where the lingerie has the cut outs to show your stunning skin. “Very nice… I’m already loving every second of this.” The touch made a shiver go up your spine, and you looked at their face, studying the fit on your body.

They turned you in their arms, getting a full view of what you had on. The back was pretty and simple aswell. Not much revealed but still appreciated by them. ���Delightful. You might be pardoned for pushing me onto the bed because of this.”

“Oh no don’t forgive me yet, I have a few more!” Lucifer hummed. “How many is a few?”

“Mm.. it’s a surprise!” You smiled, turning to face them once more. “A surprise… Alright I’ll bite. Go on and get changed.”

And so you went. You very purposely picked out lingerie in their three colors, of course. So you had two more left to show. And you’d leave the white for last.

Next up was a cute black one. A two piece. It had a big, Star-shaped cut out in the center of the chest, your nipples just peaking from the corners of it. It was slightly uncomfortable, you’d admit. The way the fabric rubbed against you was providing a special type of feeling.

The bottoms were a little more risky, having a star pattern all over that showcased almost all of your skin.

“Turn for me, angel.” You did as asked and Lucifer’s hands moved down your hips and ass, which was on full display, giving a gentle squeeze. “Now this.. is a beautiful view. What made you choose the stars, sweetheart?”

“Isn’t it just adorable! And well.. you are the Morningstar. I thought it fit quite nicely.”

Lucifer nodded along as you spoke. “Yes, yes it does. Very lovely choice this one. I hope to be seeing it again very soon.”

You giggled, pulling yourself away from their arms. “Alright, one more left. Then you’ll get to touch and hold me all you want.”

“I like that idea. Go ahead, angel.”

The white one went on easier, perhaps because there was significantly less fabric to mess with. This one was quite the piece. The most revealing you had, definitely.

Lucifer’s jaw was practically on the floor when you stepped out. It was a tree piece, the bra could barely be considered a bra, it was more like a few thin straps barely holding together. For only decoration since your nipples were revealed by small heart shaped cut outs. The lower half was once again barely held up by some tiny string on each side that went over your hips, your breasts on full display, and a bigger heart shaped cut out, was exposing your mound.

You didn’t bother to wait for them to call you closer, instead you freely moved towards them, giving a little twirl to show all of it. The backside was basically naked if not for a few straps that held the garment together. And what caught their eye for a moment was the pearly and white garter you had wrapped around your thigh.

“You saved the best for last.” Lucifer said after regaining their composure. Their eyes practically eating you up as you stood before them. You hummed. “Do you really think so?” Lucifer nodded quickly. Their hands gripping on your skin, which was far from gentle but very much welcome. “Yes, definitely.”

“The white looks beautiful on your skin… it’s decorating your body just so nicely. Not hiding a thing from me but giving me more to see, yes. This is certainly my favorite.” And how they could’ve continued rambling on about its perfection for years to come.

“What a cute little thing… shall I slide it off with my teeth?” Lucifer murmured as they snapped the garter around your thighs, giving you a small sting. “Later, maybe…”

“No. Now. Right now.” Their voice showed urgency as they pulled you to straddle just one of their thighs. The feeling of your bare cunt against them could send them straight back to heaven.

Lucifer’s lips were quick to meet your chest. Warm mouth wrapping around your soft nipples that were just so readily available to them. They delighted in the way you gasped in pleasure, tangling your hands into their hair and holding them against your chest.

“Oh I-“ you released a shaky breath, closing your eyes. “I believe I’ve been convinced…”

#lucifer sandman #the sandman #lucifer morningstar the sandman #sandman lucifer smut #gwendoline christie #sandman Lucifer #sandman lucifer x reader #the sandman lucifer smut #sandman smut #lucifer sandman smut

[sasaranurude]

Okay. I've been playing Tokyo Debunker today, since the release happened to catch me on a day when all I'd planned to do was write fanfiction. I just finished reading the game story prologue (it was longer than expected!), so here's a review type post. If you're reading this post not having seen a single thing about this game: it's a story-based joseimuke gacha mobile game that just released globally today. It's about a girl who suddenly finds herself attending a magic school and mingling with elite, superhuman students known as ghouls. If you look in the tumblr tag for the game you'll see what appears to be a completely different game from 2019 or so: they retooled it completely midway through development, changing just about everything about it due to "escalating competition within the gaming industry."

I'll talk about how this looks like a blatant twst clone at the end.

Starting with the positive: The story is charming. I enjoyed it thoroughly the entire time and am excited to read more. The mix between visual novel segments and motion comics was really nice--it broke things up and added a lot of oomph to the action or atmospheric scenes that visual novels generally lack. I like the art in the comic parts a lot. the live2d in the visual novel parts is... passable. Tone-wise, I think the story was a little bit all over the place and would like to see more of the horror that it opened on, but I didn't mind the comedic direction it went in either. The translation is completely seamless. The characters so far all have unique voices and are just super fun and cute. Of the ones who've had larger roles in the story so far, there's not a single one I dislike. It's all fully voiced in Japanese and the acting is solid. (I don't recognize any voices, and can't seem to find any seiyuu credits, so it seems they're not big names, but they deliver nonetheless.) Kaito in particular I found I was laughing at his lines a ton, both the voicing and the writing.

He's looking for a girlfriend btw. Spreading the word.

The problem is like. The gameplay is the worst dark-pattern microtransaction-riddled bullshit I've ever seen. Hundred passive timers going at all times. Fifty different item-currencies. Trying to get you to spend absurd amounts of real world money at every turn. There's like five different indicators that take you to various real-money shop items that I don't know how to dismiss the indicator, I guess you just have to spend money, wtaf. Bajillion different interlocking systems mean you have zero sense of relative value of all the different item-currencies. I did over the course of the day get enough diamonds for one ten-pull, which I haven't used yet. Buying enough diamonds for a ten-pull costs a bit under $60 (presumably USD, but there's a chance the interface is automatically making that CAD for me--not gonna spend the money to check lmfao), with an SSR rate of 1%. BULLSHIIIIIT.

There's like a goddamn thousand-word essay explaining the dozen different types of character upgrades and equippables and equippables for the equippables!! Bad! Bad game design! That's just overcomplicating bullshit to trick people into thinking they're doing something other than clicking button to make number go up! That is not gameplay!

In terms of the actual gameplay, there is none. The battle system is full auto. There might be teambuilding, but from what I've seen so far, most of that consists of hoping you pull good cards from gacha and then clicking button to make number go up. There's occasional rhythm segments but there's no original music, it's just remixes of public domain classical music lmao. I'd describe the rhythm gameplay as "at least more engaging than twisted wonderland's," which is not a high bar

At least there's a cat in the rhythm bit.

And like, ok, I gotta remark on how derivative it is. Like I mentioned in my post earlier, this game is unabashedly aping twisted wonderland's setting and aesthetic. (That said, most of the stuff it steals from twst is magic school stuff that twst also basically stole from Harry Potter, so...?) However, it isn't exactly like twst: in this one, the characters say fuck a lot and bleed all over the place and do violence. Basically, the tone is a fair bit more adult than twst's kid-friendly vibe. (Not, like, adult adult, and I probably wouldn't even call it dark--it's still rated Teen lol. Just more adult than twst.)

Rather than just being students at magic school, the ghouls also go out into the mundane world to go on missions where they fight and investigate monsters and cryptids. Honestly, the magic school setting feels pretty tacked-on. The things that are enjoyable about this would've been just as enjoyable in about any other setting--you can tell this whole aspect was a late trend-chasing addition, lmao. So, yeah, it's blatantly copying twst to try to steal some players, but... Eh, I found myself not caring that much. Someone more (or less) into twst than me may find it grating.

Character-wise, eh, sure, yeah, they're a bit derivative in that aspect too, but it's a joseimuke game, the characters are always derivative. Thus far the writing & execution has been solid enough that I didn't care if they were tropey. If I were to compare it to something else, I'd say the relationship between the protagonist and the ghouls feels more like that of the sage and wizards in mahoyaku than anything from twst. There's some mystery in exactly what "ghouls" are and their place in this world that has me intrigued and wanting to know more about this setting and how each of the characters feels about it. I have a bad habit of getting my hopes up for stories that put big ideas on the table and then being disappointed when they don't follow through in a way that lives up to my expectations, though.

So, my final verdict: I kind of just hope someone uploads all the story segments right onto youtube so nobody has to deal with the dogshit predatory game to get the genuinely decent story lol. Give it a play just for the story if you have faith in your ability to resist dark patterns. Avoid at all costs if you know you're vulnerable to gacha, microtransactions, or timesinks.

#suchobabbles #Tokyo Debunker #it's a global simultaneous release so I'm curious to see how it ends up doing in Japan #it's gonna be competing directly with stellarium of the fragile star which releases in a few days lmao. and is about a magic alchemy school #looks like the two games twt accounts have a similar number of followers #and then theyre competing with bremai releasing in may... #also adding this at the very end since i cant confirm anything: #but i found out abt this game bc it was rt'd by the former localization director/translator of A3en #i dont know if she worked on it or maybe her friend or maybe shes just hype! who knows! but i think her word (or rt) is worth something

[tennessoui]

kit's fics year in review (2023)

it turns out i wrote a LOT this year (last year now, i guess) according to my ao3 stats, and i saw one of those recap games for another fandom floating around my dash so im absolutely gonna pilfer some of those questions for my own little review + add a few!!

how many fics did you write in 2023? it was definitely the year of the silly short fic for me -- i published a total of 6 new oneshots on ao3 along with 5 fics only on my kofi! i also added at least one chapter to 9 other fics that were already posted. and i started and completed 1 long stand alone fic this year (if you love me let it remain unnamed, clocking in at 37k)

what are you most proud of fic-writing wise in 2023? i finished foolproof, foolhardy! it took more than a year to write, from first published to last updated, but i think the lion's share of the work happened during 2023; it's sort of rare for a fic of mine to get that long (72k), so it was fun to write through all the developments. truly a cracky premise that grew legs and ran away from me, but i'm really proud of how it turned out. the last 4 chapters contain some of my best writing in my opinion and the whole story is a love letter to padawan obi-wan, who will always be my beloved lol

what is the fic you had the most fun writing? this is a tough question because i'm torn between two fics; sun, sun, sun here it comes is probably my favorite oneshot that i've ever written. it sorta incorporates everything that makes a silly little au in my mind, from miscommunication to banter to bonus babies. but then there's i pray the same, but my gods have changed, aka the democratic fic- now that's such a fun fic to write, and i'm going to get more into it this year again. it's the one where tumblr votes on what should happen next, which i absolutely enjoy - especially when people send me propaganda about which option should win....thought the amount of ties that have happened is mind-boggling lol

what is a fic you didn't expect to write? hahaha well this is easily 'a more perfect union' which has been sooo fun to write so far but also definitely has had a very short gestation period from nascent tumblr au post to 25k on ao3 lol and still one more chapter to go!!!

what fic surprised you when you were writing it? oh hands down this is 'hand me down dreams got me high in the rafters', aka the pool boy au from tumblr. the adaptation of it from tumblr au to a fic on ao3 has a crazy tone shift where the obi-wan in that fic is much, much darker than the one in the tumblr au - i really ended up leaning into the unequal power dynamics of a boss/employee relationship and exploring how unhealthy it could be while keeping it consensual -- but only because anakin would allow obi-wan to do whatever he wanted to him

what's a fic you wanted to write but didn't? my poor neglected hunger games au!! i really want to get the first chapter of that posted because i am so excited about this fic and writing it as a new big, long project -- i'm excited about the dark anakin, the differently dark obi-wan, the hunger games set in the gffa, etc etc etc

what is something you learned this year that you'll take into 2024? set is the only acceptable name for anakin to use undercover <3 we will be taking the set cinematic universe into 2024 <3

what's a project you're excited to carry into the new year? um all of my wips lol but especially time & tide and the couples counseling au - i have about half of the next chapter of t&t written, and before i got sidetracked by a more perfect union, i was on track to get that posted by christmas....obviously that did not happen lol but i'm expecting to get back to working on a few more chapter updates at the beginning of this year!

#kit to kit #obikin #i would tag people but i think im really late for this sort of review #and people probably did it a few days ago #but i would love to see any fic reviews other writers do if you use these questions!!! #pls tag me <3

[enjolrasling]

I saw the Les Miserables US tour on Tuesday and am still IN MY FEELINGS about it, so here’s a random assortment of somewhat coherent thoughts/rambles/write up/review.

(Note: I saw the entire principle cast except Randy Jeter (who was out) and two ensemble swings. Andrew Marks Maughan was pulling double duty as both the Bishop and Combferre.)

• I didn’t know anything about Nick Cartell going in, but holy fuck, that VOICE. Tone is immaculate. Lungs of fucking steel.

• “Another story must beGINNNNNN” are you kidding me Nick. Who gave you the right to be this talented. Why is this man not more famous?!

• Preston Truman Boyd as Javert - voice is great, nice deep baritone. I wanted a smidge more from him acting wise though (this improved over the course of his performance).

• Nick and Preston sound phenomenal together, their voices work SO WELL.

• Haley Dortch has the voice of an angel and I loved her portrayal of Fantine.

• I appreciated that when Fantine was attacked/arrested all of the lovely ladies kept trying to stop it/help her. A nice staging touch.

• The whole transition into the courtroom was fantastic. Nick with that ending note of “Who Am I?” 🤯 I feel like I heard a few nods to Colm’s Valjean throughout Nick’s performance, this being one, which I appreciated on a cellular level.

• Confrontation sounded sooo good. It is a little goofy looking because Nick is so much shorter/smaller than Preston, which made the whole Valjean-as-stronger-man thing a bit silly. The blocking here didn’t do much for me. But what can you do. However! The “you’ll wear a different CHAInnn!” *cue Present with the chain hitting the stage floor* was fierce.

• It took a minute but Matt Crowle really won me over as Thénardier. Acting choices were 💯 without going over the top.

• There was a lot going on during “Master of the House” and it was a lot of fun, but also hard to catch everything.

• Gavroche was delightful. As usual.

• I’m not sure why Enjolras’ blonde wig was so bad, but it was really distracting. Devin Archer does a very decent Enjolras, but man that wig was not doing him any favors.

• Marius’ entrance was forgettable. I think this was more a staging issue than a reflection on Jake David Smith maybe? All the students kind of looked the same at this time. I had a hard time telling Les Amis apart all night, honestly. Except for Enjolras and Grantaire, obviously, which brings me to….

• Kyle Adams. You freaking fan-servicing national treasure. Cards on the table, seeing reviews of Kyle’s Grantaire was the single biggest reason I decided to catch this tour, and I was really, REALLY hoping to see him in the role. I did not think anyone would ever come close to eclipsing Hadley as my R of all time, but Kyle is right up there in his orbit. Omg that scene stealing little shit. He really put his all into “the drunk one”. Blowing the kiss to E at the end of Red and Black. Continually slapping people with his coat jacket. The dick-bottle in Enjolras’ face. Constantly goofing around with Gavroche. It was all gold. I really appreciate an actor who’s done their homework, and Kyle is very obviously well versed in both the source material and the rabid E/R fan fiction. His performance is a love letter to the fans - to those of us who have cried over the brick, who have watched every musical version we’ve been able to get our hands on over and over again - and I love that for all of us.

• Anyway, back to “Red and Black”. Devin is great, really brings the sassy Enjolras energy. Marius is….kind of forgettable again. Sorry, Jake. Enjolras when he grabs that flag…Devin is really serving.

• “Do You Hear the People Sing” was wonderfully rousing, as always. One of my favorites forever. The transition to the streets was very pleasing. Again, Devin with that damn flag. I might end up shipping Enj with the flag as much as E and R, he’s that passionate with it 🤣

• Delaney Guyer was a perfectly pleasant Cosette. No criticisms, I just haven’t really ever cared about Cosette much as a character. Her songs do very little for me. But Delaney was lovely.

• Mya Rena Hunter as Eponine was somewhat “meh” for me. Her vocals are killer and “On My Own” got one of the biggest ovations of the night, but I didn’t love her acting choices. Or maybe lack there of, it didn’t seem like there were any. I dunno.

• The staging/choreo for “One Day More” was really entertaining. Much better than the underwhelming marching I saw in the 2012 production. Devin serving sassy, dramatic Enjolras with flair and a rifle is a whole ass mood.

• I fucking love the barricade set. Seeing Les Amis climb all over that thing is such a moment. Enjolras literally leaping off the set multiple times. Dude gets AIR.

• Gavroche flipping off Javert was an audience favorite.

• “A Little Falls of Rain” was underwhelming. The staging was a bit awkward and there was no scene chemistry between Jake and Mya. I really wanted to feel something. I didn’t. Just eh.

• “Drink With Me”, on the other hand, was so wonderfully emotional. Kyle’s stying of R’s verse is an angrier, grittier interpretation and I’m sooo here for it. Enjolras goes to console him and R pushes him away. The pain feels so real.

• “Bring Him Home”….Nick. Fucking. Cartell. I have no words. He cast an absolute SPELL over the theater. His breath control is super human. His last “home” note went on FOREVER. Absolutely phenomenal. Hands down best version I’ve ever heard live. Biggest ovation of the night.

• Gavroche’s death 😭 So sad, so well done. It was very striking how he was shot just as Enjolras’ hand reached up for him as he returned. The timing, the lights, sound everything was excellent. Then he crumpled onto E’s shoulder. E handed his lifeless body to R, who was just devastated. I love the relationship they created between Gavroche and R this production. The entire build up of their interactions made this moment so poignant and believable.

• Christopher Robin Sapp really took his 5 seconds of National Guard Officer/Loud Hailer time and absolutely slayed it. I want to see more of this guy in the future.

• The choreo of the final battle was very satisfying. I totally missed Marius getting injured and just mistook him for another student because again….Marius was just not catching any of my attention this tour, lol. The frantic moment between E and R in this scene was so raw and well done by both actors. R reaching for E’s face, clasping hands so very briefly. Ugh.

• Then E with the flag again. This scene is so striking and Devin gives it EVERYTHING. Then R climbing up after E once he gets shot and falls off of the barricade. The way it takes a few moments for R to die after being shot and Kyle freaking Adams makes sure the audience knows it…

• I was lucky enough to see a production with the revolving stage back in the day and I’m really glad I did, because the reveal of Enjolras’ body hanging upside down off the other side of the barricade with the flag is one of those theater moments that will haunt me forever. Enjolras’ lifeless body in the cart just doesn’t have quite that same punch, but it’s timed very nicely with the music swell, and the way his body shifts/almost falls out of the cart when it’s carried away again is quite effective.

• Ok so the sewers. That was cool. I felt like this production used just enough of the screen to really assist the set design without relying on it too much. It worked really well for the orchestration and gave depth to Valjean just dragging Marius across the stage 3 times.

• Thénardier dragging in that corpse by his ankles for “Dog Eats Dog” lol. Matt really showed up for this scene. I think he did a good job of dipping into the “comedic” aspects of Thénardier as well as balancing the really rotten parts - this was a really great rotten part. I thoroughly enjoyed his turn as the infamous innkeeper.

• Javert is such a little drama queen.

• “Stars” was A++++. One of my forever favorites anyway, but Preston took this song to church. Also, I do NOT remember this staging, if it’s what I saw in 2012 (I don’t think so?!) and holy shit. I was not expecting what they did, which got quite a few gasps from the audience. The falling/floating/reaching while holding that last “ONNNNNNN” was a fucking MOMENT. Props to this production set up. Major props to Preston. Just wow.

• The transition from “Turning” to “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” was beautiful, and I love love love the candle choreography. When Les Amis blow their candles out….ugh 😭 This number was a bit of redemption for Jake David Smith, who until now had kept slipping into the background. I found his Marius to be a bit uninspired and unrecognizable for the most part. He did not bring much of a presence to the role until this moment. But his vocals were great here, and the anguish felt genuine.

• I don’t have much too say about “Beggars at the Feast” because I was too busy watching no one but Kyle Adams as Major Domo for the entire scene 🤷🏻‍♀️

• But omg the change of Thénardier’s lyrics from “this one’s a queer / but what can you do?” to “this one’s a queer / I might try it too” and then he dips that random wedding guest dude was a giant yes from me.

• Finale left a touch to be desired blocking/staging wise. I remember feeling that way with the 2012 production as well. Les Mis is just such a powerful musical, I feel like it deserves a bigger ending than basically everyone just standing in two lines behind Cosette and Marius. The cast’s vocals made up for the lack of production though. Truly so, so good.

• In conclusion: Nick Cartell has an otherworldly voice and Kyle Adams is the Grantaire we all deserve. I am so, SO glad I got to experience this cast.

#les miserables #les mis #les mis tour #review #rambles #text post #kyle adams #nick cartell #devin archer

[moreteethplease]

Devlog: The Museum of Found Things

> Play it here!

Your search for something you've lost leads you to a strange little museum. Stay a while and browse; who knows what you may find?

The Museum of Found Things is a short bitsy game where you explore a rather strange and unusual museum—a place where lost things just might go. It was made for the BITSY FEST jam.

Devlog under the cut.

Choosing A Concept

When I saw the theme of the game jam, "museum", my mind began spinning with ideas almost immediately.

My first idea was to make a game with the concept that everyone carries a museum inside of them, filled with their experiences and memories. If you're lucky, someone might let you visit their museum, and you have to take care of your own museum and curate it if you want to let people in. This was more in line with the stuff I tend to make: prose accompanied by visuals and a heavy-handed metaphor.

But my last few bitsy games have all been like this, and they've been fairly sad or serious, so I wanted to do something just a little different. I toyed with the idea of making the museum a very lighthearted, joke-filled experience. I considered forgoing the whole museum thing and making it more of a cabinet of curiosities linked to one strange and eccentric person. Ultimately, though, I felt that these were too similar to my previous games.

I was lying in bed on vacation with my partner when a song began to play in my head: "The Place Where Lost Things Go" from Mary Poppins Returns. I thought, what if it was a museum of lost things? I mulled it over, but I felt that this concept was somewhat overdone already, and I didn't want to just rip everything from a musical song.

I talked about this with my partner, and he said something about how if they're in a museum, they can't really be that lost anymore. This clicked everything into place for me. It would be a museum filled with things that are found, whether because they're always getting misplaced or because they've were lost long ago and finally rediscovered. And thus, The Museum of Found Things was born.

Making The Game: The Rooms

I made the game by first determining the rooms in the museum and what each one was meant to represent. I really can't help myself with metaphors, you see.

I decided that each museum room should look almost exactly the same except for its star display in the center of the room. This made it much faster to make each room, as I just needed to copy sprites and add dialog to them.

Most of the rooms are adequately explained via both text and subtext, but I wanted to highlight my favourite exhibit. In the fourth room, which is dedicated to things that are found renewed and reclaimed, is a glass display case featuring replicas of people's tattoos. This is meant to signify feeling like your body is yours again, and I tried to illustrate that clearly: one has a Medusa tattoo, one has a semicolon tattoo, and the final is one half of a pair of top surgery scars.

Outside of the museum, I added a small grave dedicated to a former partner who passed away. I thought it would be amusing to write the epitaph on the tombstone in the style of Lemony Snicket's Dismal Dedications. I think she'd find it funny.

Making The Game: Everything Else

Writing-wise, I tried to keep the tone light, even when heavier subjects were discussed. The heaviest and most serious exhibits I allowed to speak for themselves.

I always like using borksy hacks to do all sorts of fun stuff, and this time around, I used it to allow me to edit rooms from textboxes so the curator's sprite only becomes interactable after a player has examined everything in the room. I also used borksy to allow dialog choices. I remember the first time I used the dialog choice hack for my game Making Tea At The End Of The Universe. It wasn't too difficult, but it took a bit of trial and error. I'm so proud of the fact that this time I had no trouble with it at all!

I had trouble with the curator sprite. I wanted them to be memorable and strange without being too detailed and taking away from the relatively simple museum rooms. After a lot of unhappy reworking, I remembered I'd downloaded some 16x16 fantasy sprites by kcaze a while ago, and they're all free to use! I chose a djinn sprite and adapted it, adding animation as well so the curator appeared as lively as their personality.

Sadly, I couldn't find any music that I felt truly fit the vibe of the game better than silence did, so the game is silent for now. I doubt I'll change that, but hey, you never know.

Well, thank you for reading this! If you're interested in playing the game, check it out here!

#devlog #bitsy #indie dev #indiegamedev #indie game #interactive fiction #gif warning

[olderthannetfic]

For a one-off movie to get a fannish following, it seems to require chemistry between people that are sexy to fans, and a really strong or uniquely flavored emotional dynamic with a story that leans on that connection. I'm thinking of Inception, Pacific Rim (yes there was another one but I don't think people knew that at the time), Man From Uncle, The Old Guard. These aren't really buddy cop movies with the exception of maybe MFU - what would you call this type?

--

Okay... but... I was in MFU fandom, and it had the standard movie fandom shape: It peaked a little while after the movie came out, had activity for maybe a year, and then, in many ways, fell off a cliff.

It's also a more than usually popular reboot of a classic fandom that's still going. Granted, plenty of MFU TV fans hated it, but plenty more (like me) loved it.

If you're not aware, the original MFU was a mega-hit of 60s Spy-Fi. It didn't burst on the zine scene quite how Star Trek did, but when the show reran on cable in the 80s, the fandom really picked up. Its got its own extant fic archives and discord servers, yadda yadda. A one-off movie tied to something like that is a bit different from a completely standalone movie that's not part of a franchise.

Pacific Rim and Inception are probably better examples.

I think it's probably partly chance: there are a lot of people who write fanfic now, and small fandoms are findable on AO3 or even FFN because of how the sites are structured. Even if most movies don't have much of a fandom, sometimes enough people like the same thing at the same time to make a community happen.

And it's probably also partly about some infrastructure builder/organizer type falling for the fandom at the right moment. I know someone who threw a Pacific Rim con. The right BNF writer writing an ongoing epic can attract people to a ship or a fandom.

TOG is getting a bit of a boost from canon gay, but I doubt it will remain that active that long unless further movies have good iddy stuff to reinvigorate the fandom.

Hmm... Less cliff-like than I remember from other movie fandoms but still not that enduring compared to really big fandoms.

--

I think the relationships in these movies have some bearing on why fandom latched onto them, but I don't know if I'd really form a unified theory around that. I think I'd point more to them being big, mainstream movies lots of people saw and being in genres fandom often likes (sff-y stuff, though the MFU movie really toned down the spy-fi gadgets). Their settings have unexplored aspects and lots of fun world building. MFU ends with massive sequel bait that we'll probably never get the resolution of.

The Losers is another movie that ends with the story half-told, that has a relationship of interest to fans, and that overlaps, genre-wise, with other things with big fic fandoms. I think it benefited heavily from some organizer fans and from people who like Zoe Saldana, Chris Evans, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, or Idris Elba repeatedly discovering it after the fact.

I think a steady trickle of new fans may be the most important thing, and that can come from actors who go on to be popular or a long-running and widely-recced WIP, among other things.

[soundofseclusion]

5. Turnip Boy Robs a Bank

Release: 2024, PC/Switch/Xbox One Beaten: January 27th, Xbox Series S (Game Pass) Playtime: 6h 49m (100%)

Turnip Boy Robs a Bank, the sequel to Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion, is a strange game in many ways. Aesthetically and thematically it matches the vibe of the first game, albeit with humor and writing that's just a little bit tighter. Mechanically, it is considerably different from its predecessor, focusing on a run-based system that relies on a bit of randomization. It pulls off both its tone and its gameplay, for the most part, very well. This review will be long, and Tumblr is letting me implement "read more"s again, so I'm using one here.

I want to hone in on that element of randomness though, because I made the mistake of going into this game expecting it to be constructed like a roguelike. The way the game is actually set up is that there's a consistent map with mostly consistent enemy spawns, but certain locations on the map ("elevators") lead to pre-constructed rooms that will be rolled randomly each time you begin a run anew. These "elevator" rooms seem to be basically a few different levels whose layouts are mostly not randomly generated; the only major element of randomness in terms of navigation is whether the consistently-placed elevator door is going to teleport you to room A or room B. The weapons that drop in each run are an actual element of randomization that feels more akin to a roguelike, but the world itself does not feel random.

So what that leaves is a gameplay loop where you enter the bank on a timer (which can be expanded), and make choices between progressing through the non-changing portions of the bank--consisting of picking up side quests, discovering obstacles which you need to get an item for to progress through in the next run, memorizing the layout for easier navigation, defeating bosses--and entering the randomized elevator rooms that appear in that run. The consistent thing in every run is trying to snag money, which can be done in multiple ways and is pretty fun to minmax. The money can then be used on upgrades and story-progressing items.

I actually ended up liking this core gameplay loop a lot. I found that as time went on, I was able to be more efficient with my time, which felt pretty satisfying. It's overall a pretty well-designed core experience that doesn't get tiring or boring and gives you a lot of things to do during its runtime. It's not designed to be an infinitely replayable game like most roguelikes, but I think it's probably better for that.

There were mainly two things I didn't like. The first was actually a pretty minor gripe, and it was that I went through about 2 hours of gameplay continually checking for a side quest NPC but never getting the elevator room that would take me to interact with them. I couldn't remember what that room looked like, and so I spent a ton of time checking every room that spawned in case it was the one that would house that NPC. It ended up being the final thing I did in the game, and I did spend a good 20 minutes exclusively trying to get that one room to spawn. The reason this is still a "minor" gripe is because, for the most part, I had other things I was completing during the act of looking for this NPC, so I didn't feel like my time was totally wasted. But still, the randomness can sometimes be to the game's detriment.

The other thing is a major gripe, and it's the ending of the game. The only spoilers I'll be providing here are spoilers about the mechanics of the end game segment and why I didn't like it; feel free to skip to the last paragraph if you want to avoid that.

The "story" ending itself was fine. Pretty good even, I'd say. Gameplay-wise, it fucking sucks. You're expected to do a boss rush, which in the case of this game, consists of navigating through four corners of the map and defeating each boss located there. It's not as simple as "fight boss 1, fight boss 2." You have to actually navigate through rooms filled with enemies and obstacles to get to each of those boss fights. On its own, that boss rush isn't that bad, and actually becomes kind of fun as it tests your knowledge of the map layout, a skill you've honed naturally throughout normal gameplay.

Unfortunately, the boss rush is followed by a chase sequence in a new but equally large version of the bank that again asks you to navigate to each of the four corners of the map. The chase sequence involves attacks that basically take out a third of your health if you get hit by them, alongside tanky, new enemies and strange terrain. Again, on its own, this is fine. But if you die during this phase, you have to redo the boss rush again on the next run, meaning you need to redo a reasonably difficult thing that takes about ten minutes before every attempt at the final boss chase sequence. It's weirdly punishing in a way that feels deliberate and I think it was a pretty bad choice.

But like, okay, I still ended up really liking my time with the game. I was salty about the end game for a bit, but after some rumination, I don't think it ruins the experience. I also have a feeling that ending is going to get patched to be easier at some point in the future, because it seems like a pretty obvious misstep. All in all, yes, I'd recommend Turnip Boy Robs a Bank if you're a fan of the first game. If you've never played the first game, I think they're both worth checking out, but this one is a vastly superior game.

#MT24 January #media thread #media thread 2024 #2024 games #games writing #also fun fact #the original turnip boy was my 5th game of 2023 #now this is my 5th of 2024

[smokeys-house]

Can we hear some pirate tales from puukko?

Gonna put this under a cut bc it's a little on the long side! Also pls excuse any formatting issues bc I'm on mobile.

This was super fun to write but I'm rusty so I hope it's a fun read!

Pirate tales from Puukko (1)

You're seated in a comfortable chair by a fireplace. The scent of the rustic cabin's old wood mingles with the smoke and the aroma of hot coffee from the steaming mugs on the coffee table. Across from you sits a familiar older woman, thick fur and a devilish scar across her eye.

"So... pirate tales is what yer after." She leaves her rocking chair at a comfortable pace. "Of course, of course, aye... If that's how you want to spend your evening." She opens a cabinet in the corner, sliding several objects out of the way. A few small bits and bobs clatter to the floor, but she patently ignores them. She reaches far into the back of the cabinet, looking away at nothing and biting her tongue in focus as she fumbles around inside the cupboard. You sip idly at your coffee.

"Aha, here we are!" Her voice is low and gravel-y, but the fondness in her tone is comforting. She sets aside what appears to be a very dusty false panel and sets a very small chest down on the table. Before you can ask what it is she's found, she begins pouring a deep amber liquid from a bottle she pulled from the chest directly into your coffee. "I won't have you waste that. Sup mindfully." Her commanding voice is intimidating, but sweet. She pours noticeably heavier into her own mug.

"I'll be brief. But let me tell you of a day I thought would be my last." She takes a very long sip, and sits back. "Now it may surprise you that at one time I was quite young like yourself. This all happened pretty early on in my piracy days. When ah was a young upstart with a fire in my belly and with my caution very intentionally placed to the wind." She begins to prepare her pipe. She hasn't looked in your direction since she began her story.

"I'd made a rather small name for myself by then. Had no shortage of plunder; trade ships, navy, even other pirates. Another young aspiring 'property reassigner' by the name of Capitan Helio had set his sights on my haul. He weren't an enemy or nothin' he just thought he could show his quality as a sailor by takin' on yours truly. He was a hard young man but not a very wise one, and he hadn't the stones for a killing. Now the style of piracy I'm most known fir was sneakin' on board, alone. My crew would keep the ship at an unthreatening distance, and I'd row on over in the dark of night aboard a tiny little dinghy painted all dark and sneaky like." At this point you notice she's starting to sound a bit different, perhaps a bit piratey. She seems almost excited.

"I'd usually get the capitan up in the middle of the night. Put on airs and act all big and scary in his cabin while he's got his night cap on." She chuckled deeply. "It's where my ship got its name. The Honeyed Word. Sometimes it'd go sour and things would get more... well let's say it's less family friendly. Anyway ol Sunny knew that's what I got up to. An' he figured if he could pull off me own stratagem against me and my crew that folks would respect 'im more I suppose." She puts some ember tongs in the fire and fishes out a small chunk of hot coal. She sets it in the bowl of her pipe and starts puffing intently before tossing the tongs aside.

"I'm shleeping shoundly in my cabin all comfy an' cozy" Her pipe hangs from between her teeth. She pinches free the coal from it with her fingers and tosses it back into the fire, taking a long drag from her now prepared pipe. "And in walks none other than ol' Sunny boy!" She slaps her knee and guffaws. "He hated it when ah called him that. So I sit up in my bed and I says to him 'fancy meeting you here! I don't normally take up gentleman callers.' An' I'm supposin' he thinks he's rather clever on account o' he starts up with 'I ain't no gentleman! Not tonight. Tonight I'm the most famous pirate on the seas.' What a bilge rat!" At this point she seems downright jovial.

"Now by then I'm real tired, and to be honest, fairly annoyed. I'm in my jammies and I've got to use the head somethin' fierce so I'm 'avin none of it. He starts goin' on about my unconditional surrender" She blows a raspberry crudely. "An' I'm barely hearin' 'im. I get outta bed and start heading for the bathroom like he's not even there. Obviously that upset Mr Sunny to no small degree. He reaches for his pistol and I'm quite the cocky lass so I just ignores it. I didn't think he had the stones for it."

You've been nursing your drink but she's finished hers. She's fully engrossed in her tale and is now pacing in front of the fire as she speaks. "That's when I hear it." She goes quiet and her grandiose gestures slump into a closed off position. It's a long moment where her eyes are empty and staring into nothing. Her tone was somber, almost fearful. "The hammer on his pistol. The flint strikes the frizzen. My heart sank. and then... nothing! I turn and I'm starin' down the barrel of his flintlock and I'm absolutely enraged! I hadn't made it out the door o' my cabin yet so I reach for the letter opener on my desk and start stickin' him!"

She's grinning, very in her element before she notices your discomfort at the idea of repeatedly... injuring a man with a letter opener. "Ahem. Sorry. He's fine now, we got him patched up okay after the whole incident. Anyway by now you're probably wondering what happened. Well the thing about pushing out in those little tiny boats at sea to sneak aboard is that it's not a very leisurely activity! I always kept me pistols wrapped thoroughly before headin' out, but the poor fool didn't think that far ahead! All his powder was soaked by the time he got aboard!"

You wonder about what lesson she's trying to teach here, or if she's simply recounting an incident as it happened. You can feel the coziness of the cabin beginning to take you. "The guest room's all right n' ready for ye over there. I knew that'd put ye to bed." She gives a hearty chuckle and motions to a door with her pipe. You find rest rather easily on the mountain of extra blankets.

#capitan's cabin #creative writing #short story #moomin oc #puukko #idk how to tag writing stuff adrgdthch hope this was fun for yall! #whetstone's whispers

[mr-no-life]

Three Games that have Creative Sound Design

When it comes to video games, I think that sound and music are the biggest make or break for me (second that to the story, but we are not going to worry about it). One of the core components of a video game that I feel gets ignored all too quickly (especially in the Indie Game scene) because Graphics are what people worry about the most. I was going to write a post about how the lack of sound/music in a game can drive a game… but I had a meltdown trying to write the opening paragraph, so instead I am going to talk about three games that I feel like have the strongest and most creative sound design and why. I will link all of these games at the end of the post for you to enjoy. As a reminder, I am no industry professional and this is by far not professional commentary on the state of how video games are made. I am a filthy casual that is a sucker for things that sound good. Oh, there may be spoilers for these games, this is your only warning. 

To start, all three of these games have the following in common:

The overall sound design (from levels, to timing, to being able to set the tone etc.) are pleasing and engaging. 

The music whether it be original score or licenced music fits the tone of the game 

It strived to do something unique (I know that is a broad category, I’ll do my best to explain it) 

The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe 

This game… An enigma gameplay wise with a quite interesting take on the narrative as a whole. But, what sets it apart from most games (and even from the other two on this list) is how the lack of sound and music are used to drive the story along. What makes this game so charming is how while the designers could have easily gallen to the trope of having music constantly playing in the background throughout the whole game, they instead chose to only have music at key moments and endings depending on the choices you make. 

One ending that stood out to me is what is known as the “Space” ending where after a series of choices you end up in a black room with a nice little ambient track and a quick quip by the narrator and that’s it. Speaking of the narrator (who is voiced by Kevan Brighting) he is the only voice throughout the game and depending on your choices he will judge or praise you. At times he is the only thing you hear (outside the dulcet ambient humm of the office around you) and (at least for me) that alone can be a drive for the player. This “search for the next cue” may seem not fun for some people, but for others, finding the next cure or a different cue is the fun part of the game. It’s almost hard (for me at least) to describe how the lack of music is actually a good thing and how most of the time you only hear the ambient noises of the office around you, the dull hums of computers and what I can only assume is the HVAC system in the background as the narrator occasionally quipping at you as you run in a continuous loop trying to find something different each time. 

As for the soundtrack, there is only about 90 mins worth of notable music cues, that is not bad considering games like Skyrim and Red Dead Redemption (1 and 2) easily clock in with 3+ hour long soundtracks, which isn't a bad thing I just find it impressive when games with little to no soundtrack can still be this enjoyable. I almost have a hard time describing any more because at the time of writing this I still haven't even gotten to any of the newer endings and I'm just scratching the surface with finding the little easter eggs.

Favorite song track: Control by: Yiannis Ioannides Favorite Sound Effect: Clicking with nothing to interact with

Fallout: New Vegas

One of my (and many others) favorite RPGs out there. There is honestly nothing I could say about this game that over twelve years of gaming journalism hasn't already covered about this game. I will say this, it amazes me that through the years, New Vegas and the rest of the Fallout games as a whole have managed to stay consistent (for the most part) with their sounds and music scores. From the iconic bottle cap sound to the entire ambient score by Inon Zur, for a game of the Xbox360/PS3 era, it surprisingly holds to this day. The ONE nitpick I have (as with most Bethesda games) you will at one point encounter all five voice actors at some point playing every named and unnamed NPC in the game… kinda strange but it is what it is. 

Speaking of voice actors, the voice levels are surprisingly crisp, and the fact that the levels change if the NPC is wearing a hazmat suit or a helmet (an obvious notice but a tiny detail I love). A couple key voice actors that really stand out to me are Ulysses voiced by Roger Cross and Mr.House voiced by Rene Auberjonois (may he rest in peace). As much as the internet likes to meme it to death, Ulysses’ ramblings are by far the most catching of the named NPCs. It’s his overall tone and demeanor that despite all the bullshit that has happened to him, he still manages to stay calm and let his words do the real damage. Mr. House, for a robotic A.I this snarky asshole definitely oozes that “Mr. Vegas/big money CEO” persona. I actually appreciate the fluctuations (which are subtle but they are there) that he has throughout the game. The thing that seals the deal for Mr. House as my favorite NPC is the fact that depending on who you side with in the game, you see Mr.House’s shriveled body, and he actually sounds how he looks. They could have easily  made his human form sound like his A.I persona, but they didn’t, and that is an amazing touch. Outside of the voice acting, the rest of the ambient sounds are actually mixed pretty well for the most part, no one sound overpowers the others (and I usually have my master volume set to about 50% because I play with speakers). 

All of this is just the vanilla base game with DLCs that sound this good, I have neglected to mention the years of mods from the community that add their own sounds and voice acting to the game (and I am not going to talk about it here cause that is a blog post for another day). Speaking of the DLCs, the wealth of unique characters, and sound effects I could gush about for a while (But I have to leave something for a future blog post ;) ) I could proceed further, but to summarize, 10/10 sound quality from a different era.

Favorite song track: Serenity/Dream Town by: Mark Morgan Fun Fact: This was first featured in Fallout 2 Favorite Sound effect: The ambient sounds of the K9000 Cyberdog gun from the Old World Blues DLC.

Left 4 Dead (both 1 and 2) 

This game is one of the few exceptions I will make to play multiplayer with. Something about grabbing three other friends and fighting hordes of zombies is just… **Chef's kiss** delightful. BUT, I have never played a game (or seen a movie) that does Leitmotifs as good as the Left 4 Dead games… For thoughs who do not know, in short a Leitmotif (or more commonly a Music Motif ) is a song or sound cue that is recurring with a specific character, idea or place. What makes this game stand out (even to this day) is the almost god-like timing and placement of these cues. For a game that came out two years (for the first one, one year before for the second) before Fallout New Vegas, the techniques used and the style they are mixed stand out far above the other games of the time (in my opinion, and that is not to say the other games were not bad, hell, Super Smash Bros Brawl and Fallout 3 came out the same year, 2008 was just good as a whole). 

Let’s start with how Leitmotifs are used: both games have what are known as “special infected” zombies, and are usually there to spice up the game and either force your team to work together, or panic and split. Each one of these special infected have their own sound cues and music stings to alert the player(s) that they are coming. What I like about this is that when you first play these games you’re initial reaction may be “What the fuck is that?” and then BOOM all hell is breaking loose. But, as you play them more and more the confusion turns into “Everyone start running shit is going to hit the fan.” But, a nice little detail I actually learned from another review of this game, is that a lot of the audio cues (not necessarily the music stings) have there own built in Doppler effect (witch I fucking hate, but more on that later) witch makes it all the harder to pin point were the zombies are coming from. It adds a nice little touch to something that could easily have been a bland generic one cue note. 

Speaking of musical stings, there are FOUR (Yes four) music stings for when you are hanging off a ledge, and they get louder and more intense as time goes by, witch just makes me giggle like a child because it is a clear indicator that you are gonna die unless someone saves you. While I was doing research for this post, I noticed another interesting detail I did not notice until now, when a hoard of zombies is approaching in Left 4 Dead 2, the song that plays during the hoard is different depending on witch of the six campaigns you are playing, and I think that is absolutely BRILLIENT it makes it seem like each campaign is unique and fresh. This may seem kind of an odd praise, but each of the campaigns (in Left 4 Dead 1 and 2) have their own unique song attached to them (that is separate from the Hoard songs in the case of L4D2). As with the other two games I have gushed about, I could spend a lot more time going on and on about how each of the sound cues for the special infected have both a piano and a string variant, how the sound goes mute and dry when you are almost dead, but I feel like I have gotten my point across, this is a solid game for it to have come out in ‘08.

Favorite song track: Dead Air (the self titled theme for the L4D1 Campaign of the same name) by: Mike Morasky Favorite Sound effect(s): The entirety of the L4D2 Dark Carnival campaign.

In Conclusion. These are just three games I feel like have some pretty solid sound design, but as with most things, they are not without their flaws. Stanley Parable gets a tad frustrating because you are sometimes left wandering around in a quiet empty space with no cues from the Narrator, Fallout New Vegas and the famous “crash every two hours” issue, and the Left 4 Dead games sometimes gets a bit TOO chaotic at times and some of the details are lost. But in the end, that’s what makes these games great, there flaws are often put to the wayside because the strengths shine that good, and to me that is the sign of a good game, where the nitpicks and issues are still there, but it makes the game that much more enjoyable because it is essentially a flawed masterpiece. In the era of “everything has to be 4k graphics and flawless and bug free day 1” the charm of an indie game taking its first baby steps into the world is often seen as “lazy” because we have sadly shifted the focus from “quality” to “quantity”. But, that is not my place to talk, we are here to celebrate the Music and Audio Design in games (both AAA and indie). I will most likely be doing another one of these types of posts later in the year talking about three more games’ audio I love. If you have any questions, feel free to DM me here on Tumblr or on Twitter (links in the bio). Below is a list of resources for you to check out the games mentioned here today (and the kind people who inspired me to do this). Stay safe everyone! (^_^)

Games:

Fallout: New Vegas

Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe 

Left 4 Dead & Left 4 Dead 2

Resources:

Left 4 Dead Wiki

Nukipedia

What keeps Left 4 Dead 2 so GREAT even 12 years later? By: Bricky on Youtube

#youtube video #video games #video game music #video game audio #audio production #audio engineering #music #art #design #science #music theory #audio music #aaa games #stanley parable #left 4 dead #l4d2 #L4D #fallout new vegas #FNV #Dog #carnival #dark carnival #2008 #indie games #gamedev

[hargrove-mayfields]

It’s the 30th, which means it’s already the final day of @harringroveweek! I had such a fun time writing a new piece for every day! Thank you to everyone who participated in, engaged with, and organized this event!!

Today I chose the song of the day prompt: I Think We’re Alone Now by Tiffany!

trigger warning for detailed depictions of blood/injury and general violence. Basically, monster hunting.

If he lived to see another day, Steve was going to murder those kids.

Sending him out there with no back up, no plan, no fucking way out. Just watching as he was dragged under and didn’t resurface. What a real group of geniuses they are.

He doesn’t even know how long it’s been since then. If maybe they’ve forgotten about him. He’d prefer to think that they just think he found his way out and skipped town or something. Not that they probably had given up all hope.

To be fair, he would’ve too, pretty early on actually since after only about a few minutes of the portal sealing itself behind him, he’d been jumped by some new flesh eating thing.

Yet another obstacle he’d come unprepared for, without even a weapon.

Laying on the ground, being eaten alive by those things, that was when everything changed though.

Because Billy Hargrove, looking only a little worse for wear, had been the one to bash the monsters in, and toss Steve his own bat to finish the job.

Time moves differently down here, so he doesn’t know how long it’s been since then either, but one thing Steve is perfectly certain of is the fact that they’ve fought through another three hordes of those things, and spent even longer hiding from more.

They haven’t even had a chance to talk about much, like what happened before Billy died. Dynamic wise, things seem unchanged from last year, but as far as Steve remembered, Billy had died heartbroken by him and his stupid inability to not be jealous all the time. They fought and broke up and then Billy went missing.

But now he’s alive again, in better shape than Steve even, and they’re too busy fighting for their lives to fight for themselves. They just sort of accept that they’re together again.

Feeling like he can’t walk any further, Steve leans against the siding of a crumpled metal shed. They’d searched it for more weapons, then promptly broke most of them when another pack of demobats showed. His mouth tastes like blood, and not because he bit one this time. He needs a break.

“Hey. I think we lost them..”

Billy turns his head to look at him sharply, “Just like you’ve lost your damned mind if you think that means I’m just going to stand here and wait for them to come back.”

“I’m not stopping, I just need a breath. Not all of us have had this shit in our lungs for as long as you have.” Steve is doubled over now, panting a little. Blood and spit drip past his lips. Not a good sign.

The harshness drops from Billy’s tone instantly, moving to trying to encourage him, “Can’t let it get in your head or you’ll suffocate. You’re fine, Steve. Gotta keep going.”

Wheezing, Steve emphasizes his point, “So a little break isn’t going to kill us. I seriously think we’re alone now..”

“Fine. But if those things catch up to us again, with you in this state, we’re goners.” Billy sounds stern, but his heart isn’t in it.

Tired of leaning on hard metal, Steve sinks to the ground to catch his breath, “What happened to not letting it get to your head?”

Billy moves closer, drawing his weapon of choice, which is a shotgun for now. A silent agreement to stand guard for Steve while he’s down. He mutters bitterly, despite his willingness to help, “There’s a difference between being cautious and driving yourself crazy.”

“I think being trapped down here with you is enough to drive me crazy.”

“Good crazy or bad crazy?” Billy scoffs a laugh, and Steve returns it with a crooked, pained smile, “Both.”

“Aw, you’re just flattering me.”

“See? I can’t even get a word out without you being all sarcastic and snarky about it.”

“You like it.” Billy hums confidently, so, instead of disputing it, Steve decides to catch Billy’s ego off guard, “I guess I do. That’s why we’re going to make it out of here, Billy.”

Everything about him softens, his face, his posture, his voice, “Well if we’re going to do that, you’re gonna need patched up again. You’ve bled through again.”

“I’m fine.” Steve tries to resist, just so he doesn’t become a burden. His feelings towards Billy are too complicated right now, caught between that old summer fling and a sense of inferiority, for how quickly he succumbed to a bite when Billy’s been here for twice as long.

“Sure, thing. Just watch my back.” Billy hands off the gun and kneels in front of Steve, digging through the bag of supplies he’d been able to accrue during his time down here until he finds more bandage rolls, the cleanest material he can.

Shifting forward on his knees, Billy rolls up the sticky, tattered shirt they threw on Steve to cover his bandaging the last time. He grimaces, and Steve takes that as his cue to look straight up at the sky instead of assessing the damage for himself, “Damn it, Stevie. This is getting bad.”

He swallows hard, bracing himself by asking, “How bad?”

“Not worse than I’ve seen it. Just.. not good.” Billy pokes at it, assessing the damage. Even the lightest prod feels like fire in Steve’s abdomen, the pain flaring as far up as his chest.

He starts to panic, seeing the expression in the other boy's face combined with the intense feeling, “Oh god..”

Pulling his hands away to look for something else, bandages apparently not cutting it anymore, Billy warns, firm but sort of sweet sounding, “Panicking’s not going to do anything but shorten your air intake and attract those things to the sound. If you’d like to savor this tranquility, I suggest you cut the freaking out.”

Steve closes his eyes and tries to follow his advice. The first thing that comes to mind, he starts talking about it to get his mind off of the irritating ache, “You always just call the monsters ‘things.’ You haven’t named them yet?”

Billy snort-laughs, half-heartedly sarcastic, “Uh, no? Why the hell would I? They’re trying to eat me, they’re not my pets.”

Something wet touches him, and he reacts so fast, but so uncoordinatedly that he smacks his head off of the surface he was leaning on. It’s just a rag with bottled water, Billy’s attempt at washing away some of the dried blood to asses the damage further, but it felt suspiciously like a bat tail. Billy smiles apologetically. Steve rolls his eyes pathetically slow and and keeps talking,

“We call the big ones demogorgons. And the little ones are just demo whatevers: demodogs, demobats, now..”

Periodically checking in with Steve on what he’s doing after that little scare, Billy glances up at him, waiting for a small nod to keep pressing harder, wiping away more blood and dirt and monster spit than Steve knew was possible to have on him. He keeps him engaged as well, asking, amused, “Those losers named the interdimensional face-eating monsters after dungeons and dragons?”

“You recognized it.”

“Shit. You got me.”

A particularly painful movement has Steve wincing, demanding despite the nice back and forth they had going, “Are you done yet?”

“Almost. This last parts gonna hurt..” Billy warns, and Steve tries to understand but,

“Why? What are you- Fuck!”

Too late. There’s a stinging pain so intense his vision goes blurry, and if Steve didn’t want to throw up so bad he’d be cursing at Billy for it.

Knowing that just from Steve’s posture and his clenched fists, Billy explains himself, “Sorry, H. Pretty sure that was a tooth or something in there. I couldn’t bandage you back up like that.”

Steve lets his head fall back, suddenly feeling more exhausted with all this, his pain levels admittedly somewhat improving with that thing out of him, even if it sucked to get to that point, “Just please tell me that was it.”

Finally wrapping the bandage around, watching Steve’s face to make sure it isn’t too tight and making him feel weirdly vulnerable under his gaze, Billy remarks, proud of his work, “It’s your lucky day. All done.”

Finally Steve relaxes, exhaling out some of the tension he kept in his muscles to make Billy's job easier. It helps, but not much. “Christ.. How did you survive down here for so long? I’ve been here what, a few hours? And I’m barely hanging on.”

“One, don’t say that kind of shit. You’re fine. Two, I don’t really know why I was able to fight for so long.”

Billy looks away, whether he’s hiding his feelings or checking the tree line, Steve isn’t sure, “I mean, I guess that’s what I’ve done all my life, is fight against some big scary monster. Except now instead of worrying about school and my social life and watching Max, it’s just about surviving now. My troubles are between me and the monster and nobody else for once. So it’s almost easier.”

Steve opens his mouth to say something in response and validate his willingness to share his feelings, his breath sort of crackling in his throat, but Billy cuts him off quickly and stiffly, “I’m not done.”

“When all I have to do is fight, and not try to balance all these problems on top of an already broken foundation, I got to thinking. About how shitty I’d been to everyone, just because I was too busy fighting the monsters to notice. You and Max and Sinclair, mostly. Susan too. Everyone really though.”

Billy pauses to clear his throat. Steve can tell it's to hide the strained sound of a tearful voice, but he also coughs, pretending it was something to do with the air. In exchange for how open he’s being, Steve is willing to let him have that, “I dunno. I just felt kinda shitty knowing that if I died here and never made it back, everyone would always think of me like that, and I would have done nothing with my life but make other people feel like they were running from a monster. Running away from me and all my shittiness like I had done for so long.”

“So pretty much, I guess I survive now ‘cause I want to do better than that monster. And I want to get back so I can make things right.”

“You’ll get that chance, Billy. I promise. We’re getting out of here.” It’s not much compared to that massive emotional speech Billy had just given, but Steve doesn’t know what else to say, what else to believe in.

Billy only mutters, all his passion drained out and just sounding tired now, “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

“I mean it. Because unlike before, we’re not alone. We aren’t fighting these monsters by ourselves the way you had to. There are so many people behind us, those kids and their families, your family, that are looking for us right now.”

Steve assures him, making himself feel better if he’s being honest, “They don’t care who hurt who in the past. Our friends are going to do what’s right no matter what and they’re going to save our sorry asses. I know it.”

But Billy just sounds broken, defeated. “Steve. It’s been days. Maybe even weeks, and nobody’s come for you.”

He’s speechless. There’s no way it’s been that long. Bracing himself, he tries, “Well it was months before I found you. I never gave up on you.”

“Why?”

“You know why.”

“So say it.” Billy demands, and Steve does with equal intensity, “Because I love you.”

“Right. Do you think anyone up there feels that way about either of us?” He hadn’t been expecting him to weaponize that. Steve bites his tongue as Billy rants, “I shot down any chance of Max feeling that way a long time ago. Wheeler definitely doesn’t love your bullshit anymore. Our parents hate us. Half of those kids are strangers, and the other half just think you’re their expendable babysitter to send away on suicide missions to fix their problems.

“They don’t care, Steve. Not the way you do. With your stupid stubbornness and your stupidly big heart. They’re not coming for us now.” This isn’t something that’s coming out of nowhere. It’s obvious Billy has put a lot of thought into this, probably long before Steve found his way down here.

At least Steve knows where they stand relationship wise now. It’s not much of a silver lining.

Matching in his desperation and fear, Steve asks, “What do you mean?”

“You said it yourself earlier, babe. I think we’re alone now.”

A beat. Steve makes up his mind, “That’s not going to stop me.”

“Who said it should?”

“Alright, then. What’s next?”

The fight still seems to have drained out of Billy entirely. He shrugs, “You tell me. You’ve done this before.”

“We follow those things and see where they’re hunting. We’ll probably find another portal there if we’re fast enough.” Steve details. That’s how they found the portal on the other side, anyways. It’s the only theory they’ve got.

Billy buys it, seeming slightly less defeated to see that Steve actually might know a little bit what he’s doing, “If you’re sure, then lead the way.”

A hot spot for monster activity is usually near flat ground. Clearings and fields and places where the dead grass is tall enough they wouldn’t dare go near it unprotected.

Their hideout is on top of a hill for a reason.

Gathering all they need, weapons and such, they set out, waiting at the bottom behind trees and vines for a monster to step out. They’re hard to find down here, that bluish tint making everything look the same. It’s easier to listen. Rustling steps ahead, accompanied with growls and chitters, tell them they’ve got what they need.

Billy leads, peering around to check that the demodog is indeed walking away from them, and signaling for Steve to follow.

It leads them unknowingly for a good several miles until they lose track of it in a separate clearing. Exposed like this, they’re on high alert now, Steve’s got enough adrenaline pumping in his system now he can barely feel the bites. That’s for the best, he thinks. To be afraid of anything.

Up ahead, there’s a faint reddish glow emanating from exactly what they’re looking for, a hole large enough to fit them both through at once in the wall of what looks like the remnants of an old barn. A portal. Intimidating as the sight is, Steve is relieved, “There it is.”

Billy is too, as he jokes, “Are those things always that gross looking?”

“Who cares? Let’s just get out of here.”

Steve steps forward towards it, but is quickly caught by Billy, a strong hand on his shoulder freezing him to the spot.

Billy holds up a hand, a sign to stop and listen, “Wait..”

As expected, Steve hears it before he sees it, a demodog lurking just beyond the edge of the clearing where the old barn is. It chirps, calling for backup. Eventually Steve’s eyes adjust, and from yards away he can see rows upon rows of hungry teeth.

They hardly have time to prepare after that initial moment, Billy having just enough to make sure there’s still bullets in his gun before it pounces with a sickening snarl.

There’s a half dozen of them, two smaller ones taken out instantly with blasts from the shotgun as they opened their mouths to bite. For someone who never held a gun before, Billy’s become a damn good shot.

Then the gun clicks. It’s empty. He hadn’t had time to reload it before, so he certainly doesn’t now.

But he doesn’t falter for even a second, when the next one comes he uses the butt of the gun in the same way Steve is using his bat, swinging it and sending the demodog skidding across the wooded ground.

He chases it and bashes its skull in. That makes another angry and it pounces at him, taking his gun between it’s jaws.

More dogs swarm them, and they get turned around then, separated when a bigger dog runs between them, rearing to tear apart whatever it can get its teeth into. Steve calls it out and bolts, finishing off the one that initially ran with him with a side swing of his bat. It stumbles, already bleeding, and doesn’t get back up.

Now the larger one is after him, because Billy must not have killed the one he was fighting yet. Steve wishes he could stop and find him, make sure he was holding up. Right now, he let that get in his head. He focuses, and waits for the dog to pounce to jam the bat in its jaws.

The nails stop it from splintering the wood with its teeth, and give him a way to shove it through the things skull. He hates that part, feeling it pierce flesh, feeling the fight fade from what’s left of the monster. Not out of sympathy for it, just because it feels gross, to take a life.

It sounds like the fight has died down. He looks around, counting the bodies and coming up with six. There’s no more left from this wave. He withdraws the bat from the corpse and kicks it just to make sure it's not going to get back up and bite him.

Out of breath and sweating from the fight, Steve checks in with Billy after he’s sure that last one is dead, “Looks like we’re alone again. You good?”

“Uh..” When he looks over, Billy is pulling his hand away from his side, uncovering their worst fear. There’s blood on his hand up to his elbow, soaking completely through his shirt, which has been partially torn away to reveal giant gash marks in his side. A missing chunk of flesh near his ribs. It looks like Steve’s injury, but much worse, which makes sense considering this one’s a dog bite, instead of from those mole rats on wings. Rationality doesn’t make it less terrifying.

“Billy!” Steve drops his bat completely and rushes over to him, using his hand to press Billy’s back against the wound, applying pressure despite the way it makes Billy wince. He walks him backwards like that for a few steps to sit down on an old turned up tree stump.

“You know how I said it was only a little bad before?” Billy snarks through gritted teeth, voice straining with tension.

“Don’t. You’re going to be fine. We just have to go through the..” Steve glances over his shoulder at first, referring to the portal they had found. The portal that he doesn’t see even a trace of. He knows they hadn’t gone that far in the midst of the battle. His heart drops, his spins around, cranes his neck, desperate to find it.

But it’s not there, “Where’s the portal? I saw it, where’d it go?”

“Looks like we missed our chance.” Billy grunts in pain, forcing himself to sit up straighter, a sorry mistake that has him doubling over, barely able to speak, “Listen, Stevie, I don’t think-“

“Shut up. You’re fine. You have to be. I can’t do this on my own.” Steve kneels down to his level, tending to him in the only way he knows how, shaking out of his jacket and bundling it up, pressing it into his side. It makes him sick how quickly Billy’s blood seeps through the fabric onto his hands. He keeps talking, to keep them both sane, “We might be alone, but we’re alone together. You’re all I have. You have to keep fighting, for us.”

“Don't be such a sap. Just, get me some alcohol or something and I’ll be right as rain.” Billy smiles weakly, half-heartedly, trying to be snarky like usual.

Another snarl interrupts the mood, telling them more of those monsters are coming to where they are, probably to finish the fight.

“And maybe get me out of here first.”

“Can you walk?” Helping him back up to his feet, Steve wraps one arm sturdily around Billy’s middle, letting him press the wound on his own, carrying all their discarded weapons under his arm. They’re vulnerable like this. Too vulnerable.

Billy knows it, because he insists, “I’m fine.”

“You just said-“ Steve starts, but Billy cuts him off, the urgency of there being more dogs nearby outweighing his caution over the injury. Which is fair, because if more came after them like this, they wouldn’t stand a chance this time.

“I’m fine. Let’s go.” His insistence weighs out, and Steve begrudgingly walks him back through the long expanse of woods they traveled through in the first place, all the way to their shelter that way.

By the time they make it there, Billy’s barely conscious. It makes it easier for Steve to tend to him when he’s fading in and out like that, too in shock to argue or fight, but it does nothing to soothe his worries.

It’s at least a few more hours of bandage changes and shots of vodka before Billy’s fully with him again. Steve has taken the time to clean up most of the blood off of them, if not just to make the target on their backs smaller. He also found the least decomposed pillows and blankets he could find in their hideout and made a comfortable little corner to prop Billy up. It’s not ideal, but he thinks it might be nice to regain awareness in a slightly better state than when he went out.

The first thing he says when Billy is fully conscious is, “Hey. We’ll get another chance.. It’s not over.”

“I know.” With assistance, Steve ready to help as soon as he sees him move even an inch, Billy sits up on his elbows, “It’s just.. hard to keep hoping for something that seems like it’s never going to happen.”

“We were so close. Don’t quit on me now.”

“I told you I’m not I just.. I need a break.”

A reference to their earlier conversation. It hurts, realizing how long ago that felt, when really it only took them less than a day to fail so miserably. Steve pretends it’s okay, “Is this the part where you tell me I was right?”

“Sure. You were right Steve, stopping isn’t what’s going to kill us.” A slow smile spreads over pale lips, making him look more like himself, and certainly sounding more like Billy as he says sarcastically, “Just the gradual buildup of this floaty shit in our lungs from not doing anything. When we suffocate in a few hours, well, at least we got to rest right?”

Steve loses what he’s saying about halfway through though, because another sound catches his attention. He can’t be sure what it is, but after what happened, he’s on high alert. He warns, “Be quiet.”

Billy scoffs, “Damn. Won’t even entertain a wounded man.”

Steve shakes his head, listening and finally understanding. It’s surface noises that are distracting him, the distant sound of people talking and car horns and dogs barking that carry over in the dead of the night, so he explains, “No I.. thought I heard something. Voices.”

Billy looks hesitant to remind him, “Hate to say it, Stevie, but..”

“I know, I know. We’re alone, whatever. But.. don’t you think it’s strange how if we’re quiet enough, we can hear things on the other side?”

“I try not to think about it. I thought we already established that nobody's coming to find us.”

“Because they don’t know we’re alive down here, but what if there was a way we could contact them?” Steve’s onto something with this. Another breakthrough idea like before with the portal. He just hopes this one works out better.

Billy is skeptical before he’s even heard the plan, “Don’t torture me.”

“I’m not. I’m serious. When Will was down here, he was able to talk to his mother through lights, like lamps and things.” Steve explains the foundations of his idea as it comes to him.

Still not convincing enough, Billy rambles critically, “So we possess the lights and suddenly our problems are magically fixed? The portal closed on us Steve. Even if we catch somebody’s attention, what if it’s the wrong person up there? Some government cronies who rescue us just to blow our brains out in the backroom of a lab.”

“Then we find the right person before we do it. We have to try.”

“If you knew this all along, why only bring it up now?”

Steve motions to himself and Billy, the state of their clothes, the nearly identical bloodied bandages around them. Things aren’t looking so good, and that's his answer, “You’re hurt now. I’m willing to risk being hunted by the men in black or whoever the fuck they are if it means we have a chance at getting you help.”

“Alright, fine. I’ll play along. What do we do?” Billy shifts forward in interest, wincing slightly. He’s really hurting now. Steve can tell. But Billy’s hiding it well, so he doesn’t bring it up. Not until they’re safe.

“We don’t really know what Will did, but I guess you have to just touch the lights. And be careful about it so somebody can see that it’s intentional.” It’s the oversimplified version, but it will do.

Simplified plans lead to simple observations. Billy points out, “There’s nobody around.”

“Not on this side. But up there, things are normal. Life goes on. Empty buildings are full of people and light. As long as it’s somebody who knows about this happening before, we’ve got a chance.”

“Where do we find this somebody?”

“I’m going to leave it up to you.” Steve’s tone is rich with honesty, knowing that this is a tender spot for Billy. He suggests, “I don’t know most of the kids too well except Henderson. He’s probably noticed I’ve gone missing so he might notice the lights too. But then there’s also..”

“Max.” Billy finishes for him, his expression too multifaceted for Steve to even begin to break it down. What he gets most is doubt, “She knows about this shit?”

“Well, she’s been down here, technically. The night we fought..”

Billy doesn’t want to acknowledge that, enough other hints to argue about, moving on almost immediately to, “The lights in that house are shitty anyways though. Doubt she’d even notice a little flickering since that’s what they do all the fucking time.” He’s trying to make excuses for the obvious concern they both have without saying them. What if they don’t notice or care that it’s them?

Steve offers a solution, “There was something else.”

“Go on.”

“The radio. Will was able to turn on a radio, and Eleven could hear him through radio static. Nobody without powers could hear us, but if we flicker the lights and play music, she’ll probably know something is going on.”

“Think it’s worth a shot then?” Billy sounds more optimistic and stronger too. Like the idea of still having hope to be saved is helping him to push through. Steve doesn’t want to think of what might happen to Billy if this doesn’t work.

He nods determinedly, “The best we have.”

———

By the time they make it to Billy’s house, Billy himself is worn down. He’s slow and he’s exhausted and he’s just all around depressed. A sweaty, bleeding mess, much like Steve himself. Not that they could blame it entirely on the injury. They’d avoided this side of town deliberately, the memories too torturous to the trapped psyche.

The best Steve can do is offer his support, holding Billy’s hand tightly as they walk along, partially to help him walk with his injury, but mostly for comfort.

Even with a lethargic second half, finding the house is easy. Just from a year of Billy living in Hawkins they both had every path to and from the house memorized. The hard part is just going in.

Steve asks, after they’ve been staring up at the crumbled form of the house that was never really a home, and definitely not a place where he felt safe, “You ready?”

Billy doesn’t say anything more as he steps forward and leads the way, needing Steve’s help up the front steps but after that navigating straight to his old room. It’s unrecognizable under the thick black cover of vines and decay, but Steve can tell Billy still gets emotional seeing it. He sniffs, wiping at his eyes discreetly before walking to one specific spot,

“Somewhere under here is my stereo. There’s a lamp on the bedside table.”

That means he’s ready. Steve lets go of his hand and lets Billy reach out to the tangled mass of his death that engulfs their chance at discovery. Just touching it, the room fills with this overwhelming, static-like feeling, and there’s a faint, muffled sound like music. It’s indiscernible what's playing, be it some local radio station or the last mixtape Billy left in the rack, but they can tell something is. A fact which is accentuated by the sound of a distant shout in the house.

It worked.

Someone in the real world, and they both have a guess as to who that is, wants the radio turned off. An unfortunate confirmation that they are heard.

“Quiet.” His adrenaline kicking through the roof again, Steve shushes Billy, convincing himself he can hear the sound of approaching footsteps.

“I wasn’t even sayin’ anything.” Billy argues, his voice whispery and sad. This is hard for him. Being hurt and having to ask for help, and just being able to communicate after so long trapped in this dimension.

“You are now. Hush.”

For a moment there is no more noise from above, the only sound the beating of their hearts in the tense moment and the faint radio static.

Anticlimactically, it just shuts off. And then there’s nothing.

Steve looks at Billy and he’s already looking back, they nod in mutual agreement to try again.

Billy taps it once more, and this time, they get a real response.

It’s thankfully Max that’s been tasked with shutting down their sound, as she mutters, barely audible through dimensional barriers, Come on, you stupid thing.”

She shuts the stereo off again, shaking it slightly. But hearing her voice only means they have to act more, before this incident is written off as an easy to fix technical problem and they lose their chance.

Billy turns it on and doesn’t take his hand off, with Max’s further attempts at silencing the stereo now unsuccessful.

She raises her voice slightly, without being able to see her, sounding on the verge of tears, “Even now you just have to annoy me... Why won’t you let me forget you?”

Steve keeps his head down. This moment feels too personal. Even though it’s his only sense of connection right now, he fights the urge to listen too. Those words were meant for Billy.

Only out of his peripheral does he see Billy, who’s taken Max’s words as his cue to up the game, reach across to the lamp he’d mentioned and putting his hand where the long shattered bulb would have been.

They hear Max sigh bitterly, “Great. Now I’m going crazy too. Is this..?”

Her disbelief makes Billy tense, almost panicked from not being able to get his point across easily, or any more clearly than this. Steve imagines that as he does so, the light dulls, because Max’s next response is even more doubtful.

“Of course it’s not.. I’m so stupid. And now I’m talking to myself. This is fine, everything’s fine.”

But it isn’t, and as Billy applies more intensity to the radio, the correlated volume going up on the other side, they hear the sound of hollow thuds against hard plastic, the unmistakable sound of Max smashing the radio against the desk in frustration, “Why won’t you turn off!”

Interrupting her meltdown, Billy goes back to the lamp, trying desperately to get her attention, to answer her question and say that it won’t turn off because there’s someone who needs her to hear them. Steve joins in, reaching up towards the half-exposed ceiling light, which he imagines is still perfect on the other side.

It seems to be enough. In a fascinated voice that is thick with tears, Max confirms what they needed to hear all along, “So this is real. This is really happening. Then that means… Billy?”

They both stop with the flickering, leaving the room in silence and dark until Billy, very purposefully, lights up that one bulb as intensely as he can manage. Whether it’s from the effort that takes or just from the situation, tears are tracking down Billy’s face now. He looks like he’s about to break completely.

“I knew it. I knew it!” The effort, the plan, the poorly thought out strategies, it’s all coming together for this moment. They hear Max raise her voice, as if to be better heard on their side of things, “Hey, um, I-I don’t know if you can hear me too good but, just stay wherever you are. I’m going to get us help.”

Billy nods, but realizes she can’t see him. A strange expression that Steve can’t read settles on his face, and he flickers the lamp, a confirmation that he heard her.

They can hear Max taking shaky deep breaths, sounding in shock, “You better still be here when I get back with backup. I need proof that I’m not nuts. Just.. I’ll talk to you again soon...”

“Please be real, please be real…” Bittersweet, the sound of her voice slowly fades to nothing as she leaves the room. Their presence is known now, but they’re technically back to square one, without anybody but themselves.

This time though, there’s hope in the solitude. There’s a future for them if they can just assemble enough help to make that reality.

Steve puts his arm around Billy, careful not to bump the massive injury in his torso. For the first time since he’s been down here, he smiles a genuine smile, “I don’t think we have to worry about being alone anymore.”

#HarringroveWeek #harringrove #billy x steve #billy & max #this is pretty much my ideal season 4 #canon? i don't know her #pretty loosely based on the song itself and more just on the concept of being alone #also #monster hunting boyfriends #heads up this one is pretty long after the read more #ej writer #story by ej! #my writing

[alwaysthegeorges]

Wednesday's child is full of woe

Summary - I wanted to explore the poem Wednesday Addams was named after and made a little universe, assigning each line of the poem to a different Addams sister. Kind of similar to a headcanon but a little more depth and no bullet points. No real storyline, just a little fun, and I think it turned out cute!

Warnings - none

Word Count - 1.4k

a/n - original lines of poem in bold. just some cutesy fun i decided to try at 3 a.m.

!gif not mine!

Monday's child is fair of face

Monday Addams was always known as “the pretty one”. Taking after her mother, the young woman lit up every room she entered. Her soft jawline and faint natural blush- despite having more of a pale skin tone compared to other people- made heads turn at every angle. Her luscious black hair flowed to her lower back like Morticia’s did as well. The other sisters grew envious of the attention her beauty garnered, even though she wasn’t half as quick-witted or well-read as them. All except Wednesday, of course. She was not like her sisters in the slightest. Monday took on her role as “the pretty one” and took it very seriously, bringing home stories of a different boy attempting to woo her each week. She failed to accept their offers and they all moved on eventually, deciding that trying to go after her wasn’t as fun due to her walnut for a brain, and decided they wanted more of a challenge. It didn’t stop the boys from coming, though. They never failed to attempt to gain her approval or attention, no matter how many stories they had heard. What they didn’t know, however, is that like her mother and sisters, she contained a power. Her power wasn’t controllable by her, more of an air that carried around her at all times, but it lured boys in like a siren song. They couldn’t resist bringing her flowers and showering her with their family jewels after getting caught in her song. Turns out there’s more to “the pretty one” than meets the eye.

---

Tuesday's child is full of grace

Tuesday Addams was the dancer of the family. The poem she and her sisters were named after rang true in her life as well, filling her with the grace and poise of the most pristine principle dancer in all of Jericho, and even the country. Tuesday showed such promise at a young age that teachers were begging to get her into their ballet classes, and by the age of 5, she had been admitted as a model student in 3 different studios. Luckily for Tuesday, she enjoyed the fine art, and continued it all throughout her life. Sometimes, she and Wednesday even bonded by the sisters performing their talents together in the backyard, Tuesday gliding and spinning to the smooth sounds of her sister’s cello. By the time she turned 16, she had been scouted for the most prestigious dance companies in all of the country, and the parents finally allowed her to graduate early (of course she also had to be gracefully smart, what were you expecting?) and move to perform with the New York City Ballet as their principal dancer. As far as the family knows, she is still dancing her heart out and living her best life in those rehearsal studios.

---

Wednesday's child is full of woe

We’ve all heard of Wednesday Addams, so what more is there to say? She is equally as talented and smart as Tuesday, has the same boy-luring qualities (without the magic of course) as Monday, and has gotten visions just like her gorgeous mother. Wednesday of course is a bit of a troublemaker, causing her to end up living her own best life at Nevermore with boys chasing after her left and right, and she is painfully different personality-wise from her siblings, making her the most unique of the bunch. Her knack for mystery-solving and using creative energy to write and play music adds more layers to her than people would think if they didn’t bother to know her, which is most people. Wednesday’s aura is full of woe, like the poem states, and she can have a scary energy that comes off when you first meet her. Therefore, getting her to open up and be herself takes quite a bit. A lot of people don’t have the guts to try, but some people, like her best friend Enid and her sisters, aren’t phased by her woeful antics and go on to include her anyway. It just adds to the mystery and depth of her personality.

---

Thursday's child has far to go

Thursday Addams has never been the most beautiful, most talented, or the most sought-after. What she is, however, is clever. She is skilled in psychology, despite being only the age of 14, and easily reads people. (Some may say she actually did inherit an ability, the ability to mind-read, even though their ghostly doctor declared she didn’t receive one.) She strings up mood boards and has made one-too-many “life plans” scribbled onto pieces of paper that adorn her beige walls (she says color makes it harder to think). The young lady journals often, claiming that it’s “good for the soul and mind” and “you all should try it sometime”. Thursday is adamant on becoming a psychiatrist one day and getting a Doctorate at Colombia University, therefore claiming she will make all her family members call her “Doctor Thursday”. Wednesday smacked her upside the head at dinner when she announced it to the family one evening. Thursday has far to go, but she will go so far with her ambition and spirit (not to mention smarts).

---

Friday's child is loving and giving

Friday Addams is the most generous of the Addams family. Since learning of the more unfortunate in the third grade, she has devoted her life to helping and will do whatever she can so that they may feel a little less alone. Though she is only 13, she has volunteered at countless soup kitchens, and has even devoted every weekend to helping out at food banks. Her famous phrase, “they need all the help they can get”, has been said to the rest of the family so many times that they can tell when she is about to spew it to them again. It is a fact in her mind, and the fact that she believes in helping others so deeply inspires the rest of the family (minus the few oddballs) to help out when they can, too. Moriticia started picking up a few extra canned soups at the store each trip so that Friday can take them with her to the food bank, and even Wednesday’s friend Xavier has been roped in, selling paintings he wants to part with and donating the money to homeless shelters. Friday is a good fit, helping to inspire a family that isn’t the most happy-go-lucky to be a little more ethical.

---

Saturday's child works hard for his living

Saturday Addams sadly didn’t get very far in life. The first boy born to the family after five girls wasn’t expected or destined to stick around for long, anyways. After only a few months of life, his birth-given power of teleportation swallowed him unintentionally into a black abyss, and he hasn’t been seen since. The boy worked hard to try to come home, showing up in family member’s dreams, trying to gain contact through seances, but nevertheless, he grew up in that abyss. Maybe one day he’ll harness his power enough to return, but until then he must keep working and fighting for his life back.

---

And the child that is born on the Sabbath day

Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay.

Sunday Addams, the youngest of the sisters, was of course born on Sunday, the Sabbath day. She is the one that doesn’t resemble the others at all. With her natural, bright complexion and golden blonde hair, she sticks out like a sore thumb. Luckily, the family loves to embrace soreness and pain. It’s in their blood. Sunday is the most peculiar, constantly joyful, and very squeamish. She tries to participate in Wednesday’s activities, but has to leave very early on, due to the inability to stomach her sister’s squirrel autopsies. At least she tries. The poem rings true in her life, just as the others, and she is constantly the joy that fills a room full of death. During family dinners, they don’t even have to light candles, because her presence is enough to light the whole room up. She is a perfect mix of all her sisters, maybe excluding Wednesday, making her to be the most thoughtful, happy, adorable, joyful sister on the family tree. Though she is so different from them all, the family loves each sister for who they truly are, and no one seems out of place in this ancestry of oddballs.

---

a/n - thanks for reading! much love to this fandom. glad i got to share this fun tidbit! <3 for more, here’s my links!

⬧ masterlist | taglist form | author’s favs list | owlery ⬧

#wednesday #wednesday addams #wednesday universe #wedensdays child is full of woe #poems #poetry #headcanon #wednesday headcanons #the addams family #addams

[anxiouslyfred]

Janus who becomes a make-up artist for reasons like 1. it's a socially acceptable way of lying by altering your appearance 2. no-one can comment on them using make-up (to cover a burn/birthmark/hide vitiligo? i'm just picturing Janus getting brutally bullied for something beyond their control as a kid, discovering make-up, and then still getting bullied for using make-up) 3. i'm just thinking of that "if the men find out we can shapeshift, they're going to tell the church" video tbh, it fits Janus so well as an attitude

So writing this reminded me that I can often find questions to be the worse kind of bullying because you can't always tell what the motivations behind asking them are. Fun times.

I loved your ideas and decided to carry on with this as the prompt to write today.

What Eyes See

Janus had never really been ashamed of his scars. Any child could get injured during play, or by the animals around them if their parents didn't pay reasonable attention to them or teach them how to treat creatures gently. They weren't even ashamed of their parents for failing to avoid the situation they got their scars from.

They were however immeasurably done with the questions people freely asked constantly. Just because the scars were on their face did not mean every randomer on the street was invited to know the story of them, nor that anyone could judge Janus for their interest in all animals, including the type that had injured them.

That had been the original reason they picked up some foundation, hoping the make-up could disguise the scar. The effect was poor, worse than useless as Janus would describe it. Their unskilled attempt to hide the scars rather emphasised them and blending the foundation over their entire face felt uncomfortable that first time, as if trying to form a mask from paints.

Janus wasn't known for giving up though and they turned to research, online tutorials at first. They were a little frustrated by the amount of focus videos and tutorials places on eyeshadow, or just the various types of make-up used around the eyes. While the colours could be pretty a lot of it seemed more extreme and noticeable than they'd want for daily use, especially coming from all the attention having been on the scars around their eyes up until now.

Courses for beauticians were where research into shaping and toning the face led Janus next. They'd amended the searches each time they tried to find ways to cover up their scars until the online tutorials focused on shaping. It was the most useful thing they'd learnt for covering up the scars, especially when a few youtube channels they'd found came out with the reverse, teaching people how to give themselves scars with make-up for Halloween.

It was a spiral staircase they'd started following by trying to hide their scars and now wanted to find the end of, whether that be professionally doing make-up or figuring out how to make themself and others look utterly different from some application of highlighters and darker tones.

The course itself interested Janus too, since it wasn't specified in where it could lead the students taking it career wise. People could take it for their own enjoyment, or they could be trying to be a professional make-up artist for weddings and other important events. Most interesting the them however were the descriptions of how theatre's could ask for make-up artists to transform their actors according to need and roles.

Janus looked up character archetypes, things like the cowboy, the prince, the wise elder, the damsel in distress. They spent time in front of the mirror trying to shape their face to the characters, even occasionally figuring out how a character would use body language to convey who they are. They remembered character studies that were assigned in literature classes and found making them physical by acting and creating make-up looks far more effective for understanding.

They asked at the local theatres and city halls if there were any groups who could use a make-up artist on the staff and were amused when each time they went in the receptionists never recognised them. Janus was enjoying the contouring and shaping of their face almost as much as they enjoyed the peace of nobody realising they had scars.

“You seem tired today.” One of the actors commented a few months into Janus taking on occasional shows as the make-up artist.

They paused for a moment, because that wasn't someone asking who they were. It was a comment normally made to a friend, or at least acquaintance regularly met. “It was just a poor nights sleep, Darling. Nothing that will impede on making you the most lovely prince in the world.” They crooned after a moment, not expecting the actor to shake his head and lean away from their steadying hands.

“No. You've been expecting something to be said for a while and I've not figured out what. Today you're taking your time more, pausing to think before choosing shades slightly closer together than usual to use on me. Is there something wrong?” His eyes were piercing, and Janus almost cursed themself for having done the eyeliner already to emphasise the imploring stare.

“How do you even recognise me? I've had to introduce myself to basically everyone every single day I come in.” They countered, fairly sure they wouldn't avoid the conversation this actor was set on having.

He rolled his eyes. “You're Janus, ever slightly pretentious and with a sharp tongue to lash anyone away from you with. You're also the only member of our back-stage crew who wears enough make-up you could probably join us on stage without looking out of place and you are splendid for it. Now let me help with whatever is bothering you.”

Janus frowned, felling uncomfortable with how well this actor had perceived them. They only just managed to remember his name was Roman with how ready they'd remained detached from the people they worked with. It was safer that way, less questions they didn't want to answer for people they barely knew, and less chance of getting hurt if those questions are turned into cruelty. “Roman, I'm just having a bad day and slept poorly. Will you let me finish your make-up sometime before you have to go on stage?”

“Promise me that nobody here has done or said anything to make your day worse.” Roman insisted, still avoiding the hand reaching toward him so Janus could continue with the make-up.

“Just some strangers on the street. Nobody worth getting so energetic over.” They confirmed, shaking their head when a grim but satisfied nod was given. “And if you want to know what was said then merely leave your make-up on as you leave here today. I'm sure someone else will be available to share their comments with you.”

Roman chuckled lowly, “They'll find I'm far less likely to walk away from them with just a few sharp words than you are.”

#lance #janus sanders #roman sanders #platonic roceit #protective roman #bullying mentions #make-up artist janus

[noccolibroccoli]

Spoiler-free Sonic Frontiers thoughts

So I’m a fair bit into the new Sonic game now (haven’t beaten it yet but I’ve gotten pretty far) and I thought I’d share some of my thoughts about it! I’m going to try and avoid spoilers, just share my thoughts on the game in general and what my experience has been so far.

First off: I like it. I REALLY like it. This is probably the most fun I’ve had playing a Sonic game besides like….Mania and Rush. The plot and characters are one thing, which I’ll get to in a moment, but overall it’s just a lot of fun to play! I like zooming around and exploring! I like most of the game mechanics! There’s a few mechanics I don’t really like and sometimes the gameplay feels a bit repetitive but overall I’m having so much fun that those things don’t detract from the experience.

Storywise…hoo. It’s really good. I’m totally engrossed in the unfolding plot and all the tiny little details and side bits that make it feel more fleshed out are just great. The highlight for me is definitely the CHARACTERS. This game is just chock full of little character moments that make the cast feel so well-rounded and complex. I won’t go into details here but holy shit this game did everyone so good. SO good. Thank you Ian Flynn please write every sonic game forever.

(I mentioned to a friend that you can just tell that the dialogue was written by him lmfao and I mean that in a good way. It’s very distinctive and so different from what we’ve gotten in prior games)

I love how solemn and contemplative this game is. It’s really beautiful and has a very sweet heart underneath the melancholy tone. It really hits in just the right spot.

I’ve seen people call this “sonic adventure 3” and I can definitely see why but here’s my hot take: this game isn’t SA3. This game is Sonic 06. This game is what Sonic 06 was trying to be and might have been if it was actually finished. Not plot wise - the story is completely different - but just with the gameplay, the scope of it, the way it’s a completely new direction while honoring what came before. There are definitely moments when I’ve been playing and had the thought of “this is just like 06, but Good.” that’s just my opinion though lol

Overall it’s a really good game and I’m enjoying it a lot. I’ll have to see how I feel once I’ve beaten it, but this might actually end up being my new favorite Sonic game. I definitely recommend it, I think it’s worth the price tag and I encourage everyone to check it out.

#nacho plays frontiers #sonic frontiers #sonic the hedgehog

[broadwayandnetflix]

i have a request for bo burnham!!:) maybe like the reader and bo watch the special when he gets done editing it and doing all the other stuff he has to do for it, and he records her reaction to the whole thing and that’s how he announces the special?? i know that’s weird but it’s been stuck in my head, so you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to!

Test Run - Bo Burnham x Reader

Warnings: Language

Theme: FLUFF (angst if you like squint)

Word Count: 1.6k

A/N: y’all I wrote this so fast, like kachow. I hope you enjoyed it, and got a break from all of the angst. but angst is still good. but this fic is not me fangirling over inside. never, couldn’t be me. I hope you enjoyed the fic though @bos-a-feminist I had sm fun writing it.

It had been late one evening when Bo had practically burst into the door of your bedroom. You sat puzzled as you gave the man time to catch his breath, as he gave you an eager look.

Trying not to giggle as Bruce yipped at Bo’s feet in pure excitement, it seemed he too was trying to figure out what was going on.

“What? Are we finally gonna have sex again?” you say humorously, causing the man to break composure for just a second.

“No! I mean what the fuck? Yes, yes, and to answer your question, yes. But not right now.”

You giggle as he looks at you with an expression you couldn’t fully decipher. In any constellation, it had been months since you had seen the man this energetic.

Usually, when Bo would come back from his long days in the guest house, he’d tend to be exhausted. Often just giving you a quick kiss before collapsing onto the mattress.

His blue eyes softening towards you as he extends his hand for you to take. Which made you realize that there was an ounce of seriousness in his actions.

Your hands fitting perfectly in his as he pulls you up from the bed, one hand making sure to hold the small of your back.

“Where are we going?” you breathe out.

Bo remained silent, but you found out soon enough as he led you outside to the guest house.

You had stopped dead in your tracks, causing him to do the same. Eyes widening as you realized what was gonna happen, turning to Bo and giving him the biggest grin you could muster.

From the minute he had set foot in the guest house to begin his special, he had been very secretive about it. Something about how it helped him to create something that no one really knew about.

I mean, you had some idea when the UPS trucks kept delivering camera equipment. Or when he had asked if he could take some of your clothes. Other than that, though, top secret.

It had been about roughly a little over a year when he had started the special. A year of emotions and hard work, and by the looks of it.

It seemed as though he had finished.

“Wait are you doing what I think you are doing?” you say, looking at him expectedly.

“Shit babe you catch on quick. Yes, if we are on the same mindset. I think we are, now hush, or I’ll never get to show you it.” Bo instructs before leading you inside.

In all honesty, you didn’t know what to expect. The last time you had seen the guest house had been roughly two years ago. Now? It looked completely different.

Wires and different camera equipment lay waste on the floor, making it almost a hazard. Other lights of various types and sizes filled the room like mini metal trees. It looked disorganized and yet organized at the same time.

Yet Bo walked through the maze of equipment with ease, almost as if it wasn’t even there. You smiled before tiptoeing to the clearing that Bo had made for you.

“Yeah apologies, I wasn’t expecting company.” Bo smirks as you break into laughter.

“It looks…well it looks well used.” you reply, getting comfortable on the chair he had provided.

In front of you sat a projection on the wall of what seemed to be an editing software. You looked back at Bo with an eager grin; he gives you a slight wink.

Anticipation settling in the air as you watched him mess around with the monitor. Until his cursor finally presses on a folder and a video screen pulls up.

You half expected him to sit beside you. Still, instead, he remains behind the computer, amongst his sea of technological instruments and cameras.

“Y/N, I’m showing this to you. Simply because you deserve to see why I’ve been so busy for like a year or more. Plus, you mean the world to me and I wanna know your input.”

Bo says softly. You can detect a hint of nerves in his actions and tone; you practically melt, realizing that was he anxious. Regardless you knew without a shadow of a doubt you were gonna love whatever he puts out.

You open your mouth to reply before he presses play, and an eerie ringing fills the room. Music filling your senses as the special, titled Inside, plays before you.

The next hour or two fills you with a multitude of emotions that you can’t quite place. It seemed like Bo was making you laugh seconds ago, and now you can’t help but feel tears well up in your eyes.

Cinematically it was stunning, breathtaking even. It was hard to believe that Bo had turned the little guest house into a studio. Or at least to the extent that it became, with its gorgeous displays and production.

Performance-wise, it was a completely different ballpark. Bo fucking delivered in more ways than one, whether in humor or just pure raw emotion.

Acting or not, it broke your heart to see the man you loved so dearly in the state that he was in. Of course, you could tell something was up even then when he was filming, but he never gave away the extent of it.

Just hearing him cry made your stomach twist in knots; you wanted to comfort him. Only to be reminded that it was just merely a video of him.

Even at the moment, it took you everything not to look back at Bo; you knew how much he valued your attention. Plus, you wanted to experience the special in full, just as you would if he were on stage.

The special wasn’t the same as his others, but it was well needed for a time like this. It felt personal and introspective, but it was also oh so clever and in-depth. You adored it and the time and effort that he had put into it.

As the credits rolled out and you saw an acknowledgment for your name, your heart soared.

You knew that the two of you had worked hard to be there for each other the past year. Especially with everything that was going on and Bo working most of the time.

To know that you had helped him in any shape or form. It just meant a lot, in more ways than he’d ever know.

The lights in the room flickered on as if he had made a make-shift movie theatre. You wiped away any stray tears, and before he could even say anything, you ran into his arms.

Bo jolting back in surprise before accepting the embrace and holding you tighter into his chest. His head resting gently on top of yours due to his taller stature.

“God I love you so much, more than you’ll ever know. I seriously don’t know if I would’ve made it out alive this past year if I didn’t have you.” he croaked into your hold.

It took you a second to realize that the man was crying, and you pulled away to meet his eyes. Your fingers brushing away his tears before reaching up to give him a kiss.

His figure bending down just a tad to meet your lips as he kisses you back sweetly. It’s light and yet so filled with passion for making up for what time that had been lost.

Yet as he looks down at you, a smile etching across his lips. As he asks you about what your thoughts are on his special, he already knows your response.

Unbeknownst to you, he had recorded your entire viewing experience. Of course, if he were to ever share it anywhere, he’d ask your permission, but it was apparent.

Even as you told him how much you loved it and how much you enjoyed it. You knew that he knew that you understood the special the way he had intended it.

It was one of the many things that made him adore you endlessly. You meant the world to him.

“We should celebrate babe! Maybe order a pizza or something.” you exclaim, arms still wrapped around his neck in your embrace.

“We definitely should, but what pizza places are open at this hour?” Bo smirks as you give him a slight frown.

“I don’t know, that’s a good question.” you hesitate.

“Actually I do know one place that’s really good and delivers.” Bo whispers seductively up against your ear.

You giggle and gesture for him to continue as he swiftly pulls away from your hold. His hand outstretched for you to take once again as he leads you towards the house. Or, more importantly, towards your bedroom.

“Me.”

——————————————————————------------------------------------

Bo sat anxiously beside you as his fingers lingered over the ‘post’ button on his different social media accounts.

The post in question was a video that he stitched together of you watching the special. With your consent, of course.

It had been edited together to be vague enough that he wouldn’t spoil the special. But nonetheless, it was sweet, and he totally made sure to include you tearing up in it.

You made it a priority to tackle him for that one.

The video was sweet and short, but it got the intended message across, and you personally loved it, just like you loved Bo and the special.

“Any-day now Robert.” you tease as you hold his one hand in yours.

“Do you think that they’ll wanna watch it?” he whispers quietly.

“Of course they will, it’s you. Baby you are so talented, your fans will be so excited.” you reassure.

Bo sighs before squeezing your one hand tightly before pressing the button. And letting Inside out into the world.

#@broadwayandnetflix #bo burnham x reader #bo burnham #bo Burnham x you #2021 #fluff #Fanfic Request #inside #make happy #words words words #what

[hpimaginesandblurbs]

i don't know if you getting requests but can you write something like the reader (a slytherin if it makes a difference but don't really matter) gets jealous about Draco with Pansy and give him the silent treatment, at some point he lose his patience and fuck the brattyness out of her

pairing: draco malfoy x reader 

warning(s): 18+, dom!draco, orgasm control/denial, edging, choking, degradation

word count: 1.7k

a/n: as a self proclaimed brat, this will be my fantasy of the week. this one goes out to all my bratty draco lovers - enjoy!

“What the fuck is your issue Y/N?” Draco asked, storming into your room. 

The day had been a never ending saga of you giving Draco the silent treatment and him growing increasingly more frustrated with you. But really, it wasn’t your fault. It was his own. 

It started last night at the party. Draco, your fucking boyfriend, decided it would be a wise choice to spend his night hanging out with Pansy instead of you. Sure, you were having a good time with Theo and Daphne, but he was more than welcome to join. What he wasn’t welcome to do was schmooze with his ex-girlfriend where everyone could see. 

And then it continued at breakfast. And although he took his normal spot at the table beside you, he kept whispering in hushed tones with Pansy all throughout. 

So you decided to give him the silent treatment all day, much to your friends dismay. 

But now here he was, in your room, boiling with anger, and he expecting you to talk. 

Not going to happen. 

You simply looked back down at the book you had been flipping through to kill time, not even sparing him a second glance. 

“What the fuck am I missing? Because the last time I checked I didn’t do anything to warrant you acting like a fucking brat,” he said, walking quickly through your room to stop at the end of your bed, leaning against the footrest. 

You only looked up at him and raised a brow, internally applauding yourself when you saw how utterly confused he looked.

“I’ll give you one last chance before I take matters into my own hands, and you’re not going to like that. So. What. Is. The. Issue?” He asked slowly, emphasizing every word. 

You had to give it to him. If it had been anyone but you, his little display would have been intimidating. If it had been anyone but you, they would have spilled all of their secrets right then. But you saw right through the act. And honestly, you were quite intrigued by what he meant by ‘taking matters into his own hands.’ 

So once again, you said nothing, just turned back to your book and ignored him. 

You weren’t even sure how he got over to you so quickly and silently, but the next thing you knew the book was getting thrown across the room and you were getting flipped onto your stomach, your legs dangling off the side of the bed. 

“I gave you so many chances today, Y/N,” he said, a faux sympathy in his voice that was dangerous and arousing all at once. “But if you’re going to be a brat, you’ll get fucked like one.” 

With that, his hands were ripping your pants and underwear down your legs in one go just before you heard the noise of his belt coming off. You were growing wetter by the second, completely caught off guard by his behavior, a fact he was all too aware of due to the fact that you were displayed in front of him. 

“And you’re already fucking soaked,” he commented, a finger coming up to run through your slit. “A bratty little whore. Is this what you wanted? Wanted to get punished like a little slut?” He asked, but you both knew he wasn’t getting a response. 

His finger left only to be replaced by the tip of his cock, which shocked you at first. Normally, no matter what mood he was in, he’d make sure you were stretched enough to take him painlessly. Clearly, that care had flown out the window today. He did say you were going to get fucked like a brat after all. 

You did your best to relax your body as he pushed inside of you, his cock filling and stretching you more than it ever had before. But your efforts were futile, a whine coming from your throat as he continued to fuck into you without letting you adjust. 

“Aww, does it hurt?” He asked, mockingly. “Maybe you should have thought about that before acting like a dumb fucking brat all day.” 

He fucked you harshly, not holding back a single bit. You did your best to stay quiet just to toy with him some more, but his efforts didn’t go unappreciated. A few moans had slipped through, only egging him on. But the moment he pounded against your g-spot, you completely lost it. 

“Draco, please,” you gasped, needing him to do that a million more times and then some. 

“So she fucking speaks,” he said harshly, coming down to drape his chest along your back, his face aligned with yours. His thrusts never faltered as one hand left your hip and creeped around your neck, pressing down just enough to make you dizzy. “You love getting fucked like this, don’t you? Love when I treat you like a fucking whore?” 

“Yes,” you hissed out, trying to control your breathing even as he fucked all the air out of your body. 

“Well that’s lovely because you’re not cumming until you tell me what the fuck is wrong,” he told you, not even out of breath. 

Your heart jolted at his words, not wanting to give up the act yet. But you desperately wanted to cum. He was pushing you closer and closer with every thrust, so you knew you’d have to make a choice soon. 

“I don’t want to tell you,” you argued, but even you knew it sounded pathetic at this point. 

You heard him scoff behind you, but your words only made his double down, practically forcing you to the brink of an orgasm. 

“That’s not going to work. Tell me,” he said, his grip tightening threateningly on your neck. 

When you didn’t even make a sound, he completely stopped moving inside of you, planning on waiting you out until you calmed down. You let out a whine and tried to fuck yourself back onto him, but his hand on your hip immediately forced you back down on to the bed, your plan now useless. 

And you knew you were fucked now. He was in full control of your entire body and the entire situation, leaving you no other option but to tell him. 

“There’s such an easy fix to this, Y/N. You tell me why you’ve been acting like this all day and you get to cum. Don’t think I won’t leave you aching,” he told you, his hips beginning to roll into yours again slowly. 

“You’re a dick,” you bit out, enraged that he had you trapped. But you couldn’t deny his plan was utterly fucking genuis. The man knew what he was doing. 

“And you’re a brat. I wouldn’t have to be like this with you otherwise.” 

That only made you roll your eyes, but it didn’t stop the moan from leaving your lips as the tip of his cock moved directly over your g-spot over and over again, bringing you right back to the brink. 

“Tell me,” he demanded, squeezing your throat before loosening up, the raspiness in his voice letting you know he was close to his own orgasm. Not that that would stop him from torturing you. He’d edge himself for hours if it meant getting what he wanted out of you. 

So you gave in. 

“You were flirting with Pansy all last night and this morning,” you gasped out in one breath, hoping he knew you were being truthful. 

“We’ll talk about that later,” he said, giving up the mean dom act and staying true to his promise of letting you cum. 

The hand that had been on your hip snuck in between your body and the bed, going directly for your clit. The second his hand was on you, you let out a loud moan and felt your walls constrict around his cock. He barely had to move his finger until you were cumming around him with a scream, him following you right over the edge. 

You both laid breathless for a moment, his body still draped over yours, as you both silently came back to reality. He rearranged you easily until you were lying back on the pillows before coming down to lay beside you, facing you on his side. 

“Is that really what all that was about today? You were jealous of Pansy?” He asked, his voice soft now, as he brushed some hair out of your face. 

“Yeah,” you said, too tired to defend yourself. 

“Darling, you do realize how ridiculous that is, right? One - you shouldn’t be jealous of anyone. You’re it for me. And two - there was nothing to even be jealous about,” he told you reassuringly, making you feel a bit better but you still had a bone to pick. 

“What do you mean there was nothing to be jealous about? You were with her practically all of last night and this morning at breakfast the two of you were whispering and I was right there,” you said, growing more defensive the longer this conversation went on. 

He sighed but looked at you carefully, deciding if he wanted to say what he had to say. He must have seen something because finally, he opened his mouth to explain himself. 

“It was meant to be a surprise, but she was helping me plan something for you. Her father knows a guy who owns a hotel in London and I was thinking about getting us out of here for a weekend,” he explained and suddenly you felt so foolish for the whole thing. 

“Oh,” was all you had to say, no longer willing to make eye contact with him. 

“See how easy this could have been fixed if you just told me what was wrong when I first asked?” He asked, and you could hear the smirk in his voice before you even looked up to see it. 

“I guess,” you agreed with a shrug, not warning to admit total defeat. 

“But no, my girl had to go and act like a brat just to drive me fucking crazy,” he said with a chuckle, pulling you into his chest with ease. 

“It’s fun being a brat sometimes. I got great sex out of it,” you finally said, your eyes twinkling with mischief when you looked back up at him. 

“What am I going to do with you?” He asked, rolling his eyes, before connecting his lips to yours. 

Little did he know, you had a lot of suggestions for what he could do with you next time.

#harry potter #draco malfoy #draco malfoy smut #draco malfoy imagine #draco malfoy headcanon #draco malfoy blurb