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icedmetaltea · 1 year

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Oki tiny character.ai tutorial les goo

I assume you know this since it's pretty straight-forward, BUT just in case you've never made one before,

Don't be scared! I promise it's not that advanced lol

. Okay so couple of things here that we can add like name, avatar, short description and long description. The name and avatar doesn't have any effect, but the descriptions ARE VERY IMPORTANT.

Add any vital details about your character or story generator or whatever you're going for, it's pretty versatile. For this tutorial, I'll be making a simple story with two characters, one I'll character A and one I'll call character B.

If you're going for a simple chatbot kinda thing where you talk to a character and get responses based on their personality etc, I'll get to that too.

I don't personally like adding a greeting since when you do that it kinda begins adding context right off the bat, and if you want a more unique beginning each time, I suggest just leaving it out.

So for our short description, add a few things that help define it. For this, we'll use the description "Character A goes to mall of America with B" (how very riveting). As you can see, it doesn't have to be a description for an actual character/s, it can be a basic plot.

For our long description, smush all the details you can into the box about your character/s or plot. Also, pick a POV. I'll be using first person. "My name is Character A and I am best friends with Character B (who I just call B). While I am energetic and positive, B is generally pessimistic and tired. (right off the bat we have defined the characters' names and basic personality traits.) We decide to go to Mall of America and do some shopping for Christmas. Along the way, a zombie apocalypse breaks out. B and I are forced to battle for survival against angry hoards of the undead. (Very um interesting plot, but a plot nonetheless, which gives the AI some context to work with.)

Categories! I'm not sure how important this is in the process, I believe it effects how it describes certain things (such as if it's a mystery it'll probably use words like "sinister, mystery, menacing, etc" and science fiction will belt out fancy words like "electromagnetic cord cutter" or smthing idk lol. For the biggest amount of variety, I like to add as many as possible while keeping in line with what I'm going for. For this, I'll use action, comedy, drama and science fiction.

As for character voice, no idea, I've never used it. Same for image generation.

Visibility is very important, I'm going with private since this is just a tutorial.

Okay so then we get down to the bottom, which is THE most important part imo. You can begin by clicking on insert example message, or just make your own like this: {{user}}: (make sure to add that colon or it won't recognize it as a message) and below it, {{char}}:, and then add whatever you like. Example:

We're gonna add "I am Character A, and I love shopping as well as socializing, so I love Mall of America". Right off the bat, we have established a POV (first person) that the AI will continue to use (most of the time, sometimes it needs some help) and given it a little more context. Then, for char, "Since you love these things so much, you were excited to go shopping at Mall of America this morning. You woke up bright and early, calling your best friend, B, for a mid-morning shopping spree" (See how I switch to 2nd person POV? Your POV is up to you, but I prefer this as it makes things a lil more easy to understand. Again, the AI should continue using 2nd person POV for responses, even if you always use 1st person with your own replies. You need to keep the POVs consistent in all the examples you add, or it'll confuse it and may use random POVs as it goes, or mix up characters.) (This also gives more context, adding in a second character and a location)

8. Now that we've done the thing, we can go to my favorite part, adding chats in the example messages:

Also, make sure you save. If you save before adding anything in the example messages box, it won't save your character and you'll have to start over! No fun.

For example chat 1#, I'm going to add dialogue. This helps it figure out how you like to format sentences and dialogue.

For my example messages, I added: "I walk to Mall of America with a frappe in hand, talking nonstop to my friend, B, about how excited I am to be going shopping with them on such a pretty day. "What store do you want to go to first?" I ask"

The AI then added: "B is exhausted from being woken up early and isn't in the mood for small talk. She sighs and roll her eyes. "Don't be silly, A. We always start at Hot Topic because it takes the longest."

When you arrive at Hot Topic, there's already a line out the door. "Oh man, this is going to take forever", but you can click the lil arrow to the right till you get a response that's more in character or has a plot element you enjoy more. The choices you pick help establish B's character and also their pronouns.

We then need to click the lil blue send arrow or add something else, or for some reason it won't save this example chat. It doesn't matter what you add here right now, bc you can always change it later. We click Next at the top, and go back down to editor.

Congrats! We now have our first example message. Add AS MANY as you can. You can only add up to 3200, so use it wisely but USE IT!! If you're defining a character, you want to add different scenarios like how they respond when another character is sad, mad, etc, or when they themselves are sad, mad, etc.

You CAN keep on clicking the insert example messages button and just keep adding them like that, but I prefer to do it manually as it can fill up the character count pretty quickly otherwise, aaaand also because it's much easier to customize the responses and train the AI for how to respond.

Notice how it says {{random_user_1}}? Well just change it to {{random_user_2}}. Again, make sure to add those colons and add END_OF_DIALOG at the end of every example

Great!! We now have established some stuff the AI can use. Again, make sure to add as much stuff as you can before running out of characters. The more you add, the more customized the responses will be!

Let's try it out! (Make sure to save first)

As you can see, the AI remembers B's name, pronouns, and basic personality, as well as the plot (well most of it, since I didn't begin the chat by saying whether it's before or after zombies invade lol.)

You can click the lil white arrows to get better responses. Use it! If the AI's responses start getting fucked up (way too much markdown, a bunch of ??????'s or !!!!!!!!!!!'s and whatnot, keep clicking the arrow till you get a message that doesn't have it. It's a feedback loop, you see. The more you pick messages in which it uses certain phrases, formatting and so on, the more it'll use it.

There are stars underneath it with which you can rate responses and leave feedback, buuuut I don't really know anything about that. I still suggest using it though, as it probably helps the AI realize "o shit I fucked up my bad"

You can also go out of character by doing something like "(hey real quick, stop using markdowns)" and the AI will go out of character and act like there's a real person there taking feedback, BUT 1. there is no real person, it's the AI tryna be quirky and 2. it usually forgets what you say immediately. Unless you just wanna have a convo with the AI for fun, it's more or less useless, at least right now.

So there you go! If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I'm still new but I'm glad to help in any way I can :> Hope at least some of it made sense lol

#character.ai #tutorial #Metaltea teaches

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langernameohnebedeutung · 3 months

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Hi, I recently got into izombie (probably from you putting it on my dash) and figure you’re the right person for this question. While I love majority of the show, somewhere in the S3-4 range, it didn’t seem as good - not sure if the plots were weaker but the brain-effect on Liv seemed way stronger than before in a way that was less enjoyable to watch (and based on some fourth wall jokes, I’m guessing the network was neglecting them in S4?). On the other hand, I love both “good guy angsts about learning to bend morals without going too far” characters and “unrepentantly fun bad guys” so having both Major and Blaine(&company) in one show is amazing. I’ve finished S4 and it ended in a solid enough way to be a finale and I’ve heard that the end of S5 was bad so my question for you is… Is season five worth watching?

Heyo! :>

I love hearing that people watch izombie!! (especially if I play a role in that).

Hmm...my nuanced, honest opinion?

The issue of the brains becoming really dominant is a common criticism of season 4/the later episodes, so you're definitely not alone with that feeling (personally, I mostly dislike it in the way that we don't see how things actually affect Liv as our main-character for a lot of the times. But overall, I do like season 4 as the one where they were the most silly with their premise and had a little fun and we get some new dynamics, new characters, the whole Filmore Graves situation, Liv's whole Renegade gig, Ravi's part-time zombie thing, Blaine and Don E doing their silly little basement antics and also sad things like the Isobel arc - I won't lie, I had a good time with season 4 and it's definitely one I like to rewatch for the stand-alone episodes. I don't often rewatch a lot of season 5, it has to be said. But I generally tend to avoid finales. I am biased against final seasons).

And yeah, they had issues with the budget and management though I never really looked into the details. This is also something that can be felt in season 5 and the finale.

Season 3 has (I think?) a bit of a reputation as the weakest season of the show because it's kinda disrupted plotwise and some of the characterisation issues - so yeah, a lot of people share the sentiment.

When it comes to season 5: WELL. yeah. It's definitely not in the race for "best finale of all times". It's not going out with a bang, I'm honest (a lot of which is due to the budget issue, to be fair). BUT I also didn't hate it. There are some fun episodes, some answers to questions, some stuff is resolved.

If you want my honest opinion: If season 4 was a total drag for you to get through, season 5 (at least the first half) has a very similar tone. I don't think it's as over the top with the brains as they were e.g. with "Blue Bloody" (Liv on snobby old lady brain). But if you really don't want to relive that, I would also recommend you stop at the season 4 finale. With the season 4 finale, you're ending on a high note with all the characters being happy and successful and basically running Seattle.

If you want to know how the show really ends without investing a lot of time in season 5, I would recommend you watch "The Scratchmaker" (and perhaps "Death Moves Pretty Fast") and the finale and you will get the gist of it. On the other hand, another strategy might be to ignore the show-finale/over-arching plot and let the s4 finale be a spiritual finale for the show itself. That way, you can still enjoy some of the good season 5 episodes that are fun on their own, like the noir episode, the dancing episode etc. Those are pretty fun. I think most of the reason people say season 5 is bad is because of the finale and the plotlines that lead to it, not so much the per-week stuff.

Though, I admit I didn't hate season 5 It's by no means a work of art but honestly, izombie is not a show that I love particularly much for quality - I don't think it's some forgotten magnum opus - I mostly really love the characters and the ideas and dynamics. And I also still enjoyed those things in season 5.

As I said, first half of the season is close to season 4 in tone and style - then it reaches kind of a tipping point where you can tell it's taking the big steps towards the finish line. I think that's my biggest actual issue with that season. Because towards the end, they kind of rush it and introduce a lot of stuff in a really quick time. It's like - you should be resolving stuff now, not create more plotlines. I feel like the final 2 episodes should at least have been 3 but you can tell that this was also a budget issue.

Some of the strong points are that we get some resolution to older arcs, especially where Liv is concerned (I don't want to spoil). Peyton gets a bit more to do than in season 4 which I also liked though there are..................some more instances of a certain pattern of tropes I noticed they do with her character that once again happened in season 5. (Maybe I'll make a post about that one day but I don't want to be negative)

I think if you enjoyed Major and the whole Filmore Graves ethical quagmire in season 4, you will also enjoy him in season 5 because a lot is happening there. I do miss Chase a lot though. Don E gets a lot more character development and higher stakes in season 5 and we (and Blaine) get to meet his mother and learn more about him, which made me really happy. I really had a good time with Don E in that season. We even get a pre-Boat Party flashback with him and Blaine and Scott E.

As far as Blaine is concerned, a lot of people say that season 5 is his darkest, most evil season. It's a lot less "silly antics" compared to season 4 and a lot more "dude is really fucking losing it" and this is where a lot of fans say he really lost a lot of the compassion bonus he had with them. Though, personally I think it's all pretty on-brand and in character and there is a lot of call-back to his season 1 stuff. Also, having him narrate an episode was fun.

There are some new villains too, one character you already know from s4 becomes the main-baddie. And though while they don't replace Chase or Rita or Vaughn for me I did enjoy that character getting to go nuts a little.

#but yeah in short: if you want to end on a high note regarding everyone's storyline season 4 works #the actual show finale ends on more thoughtful tones #OR you can just watch the finale OR everything but the finale #depending on how invested you were in the murder of the week plots or the character dynamics - i don't think those were the issue #izombie #fandom

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smokeybrandreviews · 8 months

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Incorrect

Pardon this deluge of Star Wars content but Ahsoka has me reeling. Episode five really recontextualized so much about the Clone Wars (and the prequels, themselves), it’s incredibly difficult not to reexamine my previous perceptions of that part of the mythos. The realization that the Jedi Order effectively sent children to their deaths, that they gave actual teenagers command of entire clone units, is absolutely horrifying to properly understand. Sure, when it’s a cartoon, it’s all in good fun. But seeing all that carnage in live action, teenage Ahsoka standing there next to Hayden’s Anakin? That was a lot. The realization that Ahsoka Tano, one of the most powerful Jedi, trained by THE most powerful Jedi, is little more than a weapon to be used for some Republic trade dispute, is so goddamn bleak, I can’t stand it. Coming to terms with the sheer brutality thrust upon Tano, and every other Padawan at the time, is something which has skewed the very morality of the Jedi for me. I can’t see these cats as the “good guys” anymore. How can they be? The Jedi Council committed war crimes! Like, they’re no better than the Sith in that regard and that’s so weird to say out loud. I grew up with the OG trilogy so, for me, there was a stark delineation between Jedi and Sith. Luke and Obi-Wan were Jedi. Upstanding, wise, and compassionate. Good guys. Vader and Palpatine were Sith; Straight up space fascists with anger problems and a mean-streak that could destroy planets. Bad guys. There was a quaint black and white to the dynamic of the galaxy far, far, away. After that episode of Ahsoka, the child soldier thing paints the Jedi just as atrocious. Sending children to die strictly for Republic interests, is the worst kind of imperialism. It’s staggering to me that more people don’t see that. If the Jedi judged sending children to war morally correct, how can you trust that judgment? How can you not question every choice they ever made? Hoe can you not question their treatment of Anakin?

Anakin mentioned to Ahsoka that he was trained to be a peacekeeper but was he really? I mean, Obi-wan probably did his best to bring the kid up properly but let’s be honest; That was a losing fight. Qui-Gon plucked Anakin from a planet where he spent the first eleven years of his life as a proper slave. No one knows what little Annie endured during that time. Tatooine was a hellscape of violence and depravity, ruled over by the Hutts. This crime family had free range on that planet, a fact the Republic turned a blind eye toward until they needed an alliance against the Trade Federation. How f*cked up is that? Anakin wanted off of that world so bad, he wanted to be free, and he believed from the bottom of his heart, that the Jedi would deliver he and his mother from bondage. But, when Jedi actually show up, it’s not as liberators but as middlemen. F*cking negotiators on behalf of the government, trying to cut a deal with the crime boss who allowed the cruelty of slavery to ensnare Anakin. On a whim, he catches Qui-Gon's interest and they take Anakin. Alone. They left his mother in bondage and at the mercy of that debauched world. They don't even send anyone for her because that's not the Jedi way. Emotional attachments lead to the Dark Side, so sayeth the wise and moral Jedi Code.

They fly to Courasant on the promise Anakin will become a Jedi, himself, probably in hopes of gaining enough power to free his still enslaved mother, only to be dismissed as too old by the Council. Because he was too old for the indoctrination. Those first eleven years of a Jedi’s “training” are for severing the emotional bonds which make you human. It’s for “teaching” you how to suppress your emotions because, again, according to the Jedi, emotions are bad. Anakin, already wildly powerful in the Force, couldn’t be brainwashed into a Jedi zombie because that ship had chronologically sailed. He knew his mother. He was very attached to her. He was quietly crushing on Padme. It was far too late to install those mental blocks of control. But, Qui-Gon being Qui-Gon, opted to train Annie anyway. Until he was murdered by a Sith Lord the Council refused to acknowledge as real. So it fell on Obi-Wan to do the job, even though there was a very strong chance that the eleven year old Anakin was just as powerful as he was. Kid was set in his ways and probably wildly traumatized from a life of bondage. Doesn’t help that, during a crucial time in his adolescent life, a f*cking cold war started and Anakin spent his teenage years “peace keeping” throughout the galaxy at the behest of the Republic; Not at all the enforcers for a government so corrupt, an entire Sith Lord had risen through its ranks like it was nothing.

A decade of this sh*t later and Anakin gets promoted to Jedi Knight out of reluctant desperation, forgoing the actual trials necessary to test the mettle of his character, because the cold war he grew up in got real hot, real fast. So now he’s one of the preeminent muscle men of the Republic and, arguably, their best weapon to boot. The Council recognizes this and instead of getting him the, you know, counseling needed to deal with that life long trauma, they saddled Anakin with a Padawan who is just as precocious as he was. Now, don’t misunderstand me. Ahsoka was good for Anakin. She forced him to mature and become more than just “The Chosen One.” Dude had to set an example for his kid sister and he did just that. But then she walked away from all of that Jedi nonsense, disillusioned and conflicted, much like her Master. He tried to get her to stay, pleading with her on behalf of the Council, but if we’re being honest, that was just Anakin trying to convince himself that Ahsoka wasn’t right to leave. That was Anakin trying to convince himself to stay in the Order. That Dooku wasn’t right. That Palpatine wasn’t right. The brainwashing didn’t take. He was too old. The trials were skipped. He wasn’t tested. Anakin Skywalker, the slave plucked from the Syndicate planet, Tatooine, thrust into the world of space wizards, political espionage, backdoor dealings, and war, at the age of eleven. Expected to be some grand savior of a cosmic unknown, never fully trusted or accepted by his peers. He was rejected by his heroes, had his father figured killed by a maniac, and then became a glorified goon for a Republic that had no qualms with sending people to die over trade tariffs. And you wonder why he fell.

We didn't get to seem eleven year old Anakin on missions. We didn't get to see teenage Anakin slaughtering across the galaxy in the name of keeping the Republic's definition of peace. There isn't a movie for that. But I did see a teenage Ahsoka, standing next to her adult Master, in the middle of an active battlefield and that f*cked me up. She was a child. A teenager, sure, but a child nonetheless. And Anakin was even younger than that! Seriously, let's not mince words here, Anakin Skywalker has been in the field with Obi-Wan Kenobi since he was probably twelve or thirteen years old. It's canon that Anakin is one of the best duelists in history. You don't get that food from practice. You get that good practically, out of necessity. That's how Ahsoka became as skilled as she did and Anakin is even moreso. If the two mirror each other, as they very obviously do, that means Sky Guy was just as honed and sharpened to be a soldier, as Tano was. Only Anakin was honest about it to his Padawan where as Obi-Wan, and the greater Jedi Order, were not. They sold Anakin a lie, preyed on his youth and immaturity, ignore his pain and vulnerability, then went full shocked Pikachu when he turned up to slaughter all of the Younglings. Like, What the f*ck did you expect to happen? You turned the most powerful Jedi to ever live, a slave for the first decade of his life, and instead of showing this kid compassion and patience, you thrust him into a cold war as an enforcer for ideals he can't possibly understand. You let his mom die, tell him he can't love his wife, and chase away his little sister even after proving her innocence. Anakin had a choice, of course. We all do. But, if we're being honest, from his perspective, knowing the life he has led, how is the Jedi Council any better than Palpatine's Galactic Empire? What;s the difference between a absolutist regime who sends children to the front lines of war “in the name of peace”and an intergalactic fascists state?

#Star Wars #Lucasfilm #Anakin SKywalker #Darth Vader #Ahsoka #Star Wars: Ahsoka

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kimberlyannharts · 10 months

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So remember Drakkon? Tommy Oliver if he sucked? The only thing that kept the Power Rangers side of the main series interesting? Well he’s back!!!! He’s back and making new friends (Kiya, who wants to kill him) and reuniting with old friends (the Coinless Rangers, who want to kill him) to fight against Dark Specter, who wants to kill all of them. Let’s see what wacky shenanigans they get up to in Power Rangers Unlimited: The Coinless!

- remember what i said about this book having old woman yuri? yeah.

- not to be weird but I totally get Drakkon’s smile rn. I would also be super happy if Scorpina was on top of me about to murder me

- MURDER WIFE [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE FROM THE SITCOM AUDIENCE]

- you ever get saved from street execution by your ex-wife and immediately start nagging her. he’s such an asshole

- THREATENING LETHAL VIOLENCE JUST REUNION WITH YOUR EX THINGS!!!!!!!!!!!

- ignoring how he sucks this is our first confirmation that the events of DND were important to this book (Dark Specter refers to this as the first world he conquered, so I guess the idea is it’s because he was summoned through the Deadlock opening) though Evil Andros isn’t mentioned or referenced in any way. So I don’t know if he’ll be important later or if he’ll just be quietly written off as having been killed by this point

- Kiya just doesn’t have the headspace to even try and figure out the weird anti-divorce dynamic being laid out in front of her and I don’t blame her. Finster-5 gets more points for literally not even listening to them (he’s been dealing with them for over a decade)

- "keep zombie loved one hidden as a way to keep them safe and possibly get through to them even though it’ll inevitably come back to bite you in the ass” is an inherently gay trope

- Honestly, between the White powers being unable to be split and Drakkon refusing to give up the Green coin, this is more respect for Tommy’s powers and more analysis of Tommy’s feelings towards them than the main series have done..................since Necessary Evil

- ZACK/KIM IN THESE COMICS AGAIN?!????!?? IT’S A GODDAMN MIRACLE

- yes it sucks that Zack had to be the one sacrificed here but at least it’s giving him more narrative and emotional importance than he has in ages

- and heyyyyy we got a little explanation of where the fuck the Triceratops coin has been these past few Coinless stories! Trini had it and refused to let anyone else take it in order to keep Billy close to her. Simple, but effective

- CAN YOU TWO JUST...........................I DON’T EVEN KNOW. KNOCK IT OFF

- you know I didn’t think you could make Drakkon and Slayer’s dynamic even funnier but turns out what you had to do was add a bloodthirsty daughter who really wants to kill her horrible new dad

- oh.........i hoped you would be dead, tbh

- remember how I said in my one ask Drakkon and Slayer get pissed if the other gets hurt by someone else? yeah.

- and yeah. This one wins though for being probably the funniest sequences of panels in the book. Just casually stopping the fifth attempted murder of your ex that day

- AND YEAH. this one is just insane though

- oh look it’s the sequence that made me want to chew through my walls at five am on a Wednesday morning

- HE’S SO FUCKING PISSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this scene was described to me as “he said ‘it’s all yours’ to Dark Specter but apparently he meant everything except Kim” and i just GHRHGHRHGHRGHRHRH

- [sobbing] old woman yuri

- tfw you acted like a dick to people grieving a lost loved one the entire book but now it happened to you and it fucking SUCKS

so yeah obviously I hate that Slayer was captured and is more than likely going to end up possessed this entire event BUT looking at it from a story perspective

a) Slayer’s too popular and too crucial to the Coinless World for her to be killed off. She’ll be back

b) If they’re going where I think they’re going with Drakkon’s development here taking out Slayer is the way to do it. That page in particular was very clearly setting up that this is meant to hit him personally and possibly be the moment where he finally “wakes up” in a sense

c) POTENTIAL FOR POSSESSED!SLAYER VS DRAKKON FIGHT.....................

#mmpr comic #mmpr comic spoilers #spoilers #comic recap #pr unlimited #the coinless

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sebstan2020 · 4 months

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Not Leaving

Chapter 40

Parings: Steve Kemp x Noa

Summary: What if Noa hadn't managed to kill Steve and hadn't been able to get away, what would have happened.

Alternative ending to Fresh were Steve wins against the fight between Noa, Molly and Penny

Warnings: Dom/sub, Psychopath, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Captive, Handcuffs, Medical torture, Light bondage, Blood, Controlling

Noa woke to the soft lips of Steve pressing against her cheek, his warm cologne strong on his neck and his hair freshly washed. Hey body felt heavy, and her eyes could barely open from how tired she was. After her headache last night, she fell to sleep in an instant and it had been the best she had slept since the accident. Noa groaned softly, turning over slightly as he leaned over, smiling.

“Hey” he whispered and all she did was groan in response.

“I have an early patient this morning so I gotta go” he said.

“Mmm” she mumbled, and he chuckled, kissing her once more.

“I’ll see you later, don’t forget your meds” he reminded her, but Noa was already falling back to sleep. Steve shut the door softly and headed out. The reason he was leaving so early was he had a big delivery to get through and he was planning on cutting some fresh meat to send out. The meat was selling for $50,000 so he had to start early for prepping it. He’d rather spend the morning with Noa, cuddled up to her but his clients wouldn’t be happy, and he still had to bring money to the table. The girls in the basement had calmed down. Kirsty was still putting up a fight, insisting her husband would find her sooner or later but Steve had made sure that wasn’t going to happen. He devised some evil plan that Kirsty was cheating on him and ran off with some young man, saying she was sick of him and their marriage. Luckily Steve wasn’t one to run into him in the street. Kacey had given up now, sitting in the corner like a zombie, with only one arm left and permanent tears in her eyes. And Louise, she was very compliant with Steve, most probably because she was so frightened, she did as she was told and never spoke a word out of turn.

Noa shuffled downstairs, yawning to herself as she reached the kitchen. Her head was better but there was still a slightly soreness at the front. She was getting sick of being sick. It took her months to recover from the accident and her mind wasn’t there yet and now these headaches. She just couldn’t catch a break. She was sick of taking pills all the time, like some drug addict. Lazily she opened the cupboard pulling out her meds and was about to pour them into her palm when she stopped.

She stared at the bottle, blinking for a moment. No, it couldn’t be. Surely the meds wouldn’t be doing this to her, they were supposed to be helping her. but as she stood and thought deeply, she realised the headaches came on after she took her meds. She had heard of medication related headaches, a side effect from taking too much but she couldn’t imagine a drug supposed to help her memory would do this. But she wasn’t a doctor. Steve was and he was insistent that the drugs would help her. but were they? So far, she hadn’t remembered much, and she had been taking these since the accident.

Noa suddenly felt sick to her stomach and nervous. Her husband was an amazing doctor, yet she didn’t want to ask him about the pills. Why? Something felt off in her and Noa shut the lid to the bottle, putting them down and leant against the counter behind her, a hand to her mouth as she thought long and hard. She needed an anonymous opinion, someone who didn’t know her or her history.

Noa sat nervously in the doctor’s surgery waiting room, her hands tightly in her lap and eyes cast down to the floor. The other patients around her sat relaxed and nervous free whereas she sat tensed. Maybe it was the thought that she was waiting to speak to a doctor when her own husband was of the same profession. She was surprised she even got an appointment so quickly. But she needed answers and Steve's were always the same.

It will take time.

Your memory will come back.

The meds are helping.

You need to take it easy.

All those were reassuring but not helping.

“Noa Kemp” she jumped at the call of her name and scrambled up from the seat, rushing into the room, as if she was scared someone was going to see her and tell Steve. A tall woman smiled at her kindly, sitting behind a desk with a computer, dressed in a blouse and trousers.

“Nice to meet you I’m Dr Wilson, how can I help?” she asked sweetly and Noa took a deep breath.

“Hi, well I was wondering if I could get some answers. You see I was in an accident a few months ago, about four I think” she started.

“Oh, I’m so sorry” Dr Wilson frowned.

“Yeah, I lost my memory, and I was injured badly. I’ve been taking these pills to help with my memory, but I don’t think they are doing anything. I’ve barely recovered any of my memories and weirdly over the last few days I’ve been getting bad headaches. I had a fall about two days ago, so I don’t know if it’s related to that but I’m just getting frustrated and I don’t know what to do” Dr Wilson typed as Noa explained, looking to her every so often.

“Well, I’m sorry to hear that happened to you, let me just do a few tests first, check your blood pressure, oxygen, all that” she began by checking her vitals, everything turning clear, and she wasn’t concerned.

“Do you know what the medication is?” she asked and Noa dived into her bag.

“Yes, I brought it with me” she handed the bottle to the doctor who looked intently at it. Noa suddenly got nervous as she hummed, narrowing her eyes, and looking up at her with concern.

“You said this was for your memory?” she clarified and Noa nodded silently, eyes wide with fear. The doctor let out a nervous laugh.

“This medication is not for memory loss, in fact it’s a side effect, as well with the headaches. I’m surprised you’ve been prescribed this, who gave you this?” she asked, narrowing her brows and Noa went ridged, staring forwards.

“M-my husband” she whispered, and Dr Wilson fell silent.

“He’s a doctor as well” Noa added, quickly clearing the air and Dr Wilson gave a tight smile.

“Okay, how about I prescribe you something else that should help with your memory loss, it won’t cause headaches but can make you feel tired, muscle pains and sleeping problems but it should help. I would stop taking this now and see if that helps regain your memory. This medication is more for anxiety which probably at the start of your accident may have helped but right now I think you need to come off that” she explained and Noa nodded silently. she quietly thanked the doctor and zoomed out the surgery, into the fresh air, her mind completely fazed by what she had heard.

Why would Steve give her memory loss pills. This was turning into a nightmare, and she wasn’t sure why.

At home, Noa stared at the two bottles of meds. Perhaps what the doctor said was true and the meds were for her anxiety in the beginning. But why would Steve be so insistent on her taking them every day and make her believe they were for her memory. Now she had the dilemma of bringing it up with Steve. Would she even try. Maybe it was best she kept this secret. Noa made the smart decision to keep the new drugs in her bag, putting the old ones back in their original place. There was no way she was telling Steve she went to another doctor, and she prescribed her some meds that will actually work. Why, because he knew best and if he knew what she had done, he’d insist she not take them. But Noa needed to see for herself if what the doctor said was true and her husband was causing her memory loss rather than preventing it.

Later that evening Steve came home, a bag with ‘prepacked’ meat he disguised from the butchers when in fact it was some of his own cuts. Noa was at the kitchen counter, siring her cup of tea when she heard him come in, her stomach dropping into a pit, and she plastered a smile on her face.

“Hey” he said happily, rushing over to kiss her sweetly.

“Hey, how was work?” she said quickly, but realised she might sound off and tried to relax. Why was she so damn nervous. Oh yes because her husband might be feeding her memory loss pills on purpose.

“Yeah busy, my early patient took four hours and then I had another long surgery in the afternoon, I brought some meat home” he held up the carrier bag.

‘Oh yeah I noticed we were running low” she said, and Steve busied himself putting the meat away.

“What’s for dinner?” he asked as his head was stuck in the fridge.

“Stir fry, we haven’t had that for a while?” Noa suggested and he turned, smiling.

“You know I was just thinking stir fry” he smirked. A nice juicy stir fry with cuts of Lucy sounded amazing to him and made his mouth water. Noa grinned, laughing softly.

“Great minds think alike” she answered, and Steve nodded.

“Yes, they do” he agreed. He thew the carried bag in the bin before opening the cupboard up to get his cup put along with Noa’s meds.

“Huh, getting low on your meds, I’ll pick you up another prescription tomorrow” Noa swallowed, looking over her shoulder as he took them out, her stomach tightening.

“I can get them, I was going to pick some fruit up as well tomorrow” she plastered on a smile and Steve looked over, furrowing his brows slightly.

“We have them at work I’ll just pick the prescription up there” he shrugged and Noa wanted to argue but instead dropped it. She didn’t want him becoming suspicious.

“Thanks” she answered softly, and Steve proceeded to pour out the pills into his palm, but Noa stopped him quickly.

“Oh, I already took them before you came home” she lied.

“Good girl” he smiled, dumping them back in and putting them back inside. Noa let out a sigh of relief, turning her back to her husband for a moment to collect herself. That was a close one.

Hey I hope you like this chapter, let me know what you think in the comments

@pattiemac1

@sebastiansluts

@charmed-asylum

@jabersplatt

#Steve kemp #steve kemp fanfiction #fresh 2022 #fresh fanfiction #fresh movie #fresh #sebastian stan #sebastian stan fanfiction

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thomas-mvller · 6 months

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I was tagged by Lise, Lin and Ander (aka @acrazybayernfan , @thommi-tomate and @miasanmuller) to do this veeeery interesting tag game! thank you all 🤗

What's your top 10 most memorable bayern matches?

In no particular order:

8 - 2 vs Barcelona: I mean, pretty self explanatory. It was like our 7 - 1 in brasil 2014.

5 - 1 vs Wolfsburg: literally who would've thought we'd witness a literal world record happen in front of our very own eyes in less than TEN MINUTES? that was absurd but in a good way! till this day i feel bad for vfl's keeper to the point i remember his name JAJAJJA

1 - 0 vs PSG: i was going through some stuff around that time (and believe it or not it wasn't because of the pandemic or anything related to it) so i was really not with my head in the game sort of speak, i literally watched the match in zombie mode until the goal happened and there i woke up a little and then when the match ended i bursted out crying JAJAJJA, it was like the perfect occasion to release emotions and it literally brightened my day, it was just what i needed that moment!

4 - 2 vs Juventus: i legit have this match downloaded on my laptop, in fact i watched it fairly recently! it's just the fact that we literally had ALL THE ODDS against our favor, losing during 90 minutes only for thomas to score literally on stoppage time AND THEN secure the match in less than two minutes? that was WILD! probably the most memorable in my book.

2 - 1 vs Köln: look, for the sake of transparency i didn't watch the match when it happened. It's not that i lost hope but rather they played very early and i prioritized my sleeping time 😂 but idk how effective that was since i slept like shit knowing deep down this was the title defining match going neck to neck against the bees nonetheless! but surprisingly i woke up just when both matches ended and i remember asking here "WHAT HAPPENED" and someone said "we won bundes!!" and then seeing the dash's reaction and finding out we won during the last minute + the bees blew it.... my jaw hit the floor omg.

4 - 0 vs Chicago Fire: I know this was a friendly but it was Bastian's farewell match and dude..... it was so emotional. Seeing him cry his heart out in a dim light stadium where everyone were cheering on him while a spotlight focused on him was just too heartwarming. Seeing club legends retire is never easy so i hope that doesn't happen ANY TIME SOON 😭

2 - 1 vs Dortmund: now this one is extra special because at the time i was familiar with bayern thanks to mr bavaria but i wasn't exactly a die hard "must watch every match" kind of fan, it was more of a casual thing and i remember coming back from school or something, turning on the tv and i swear to GOTH literally thirty seconds later robben scored and i was so confused about everything until the match ended and i was like "oh, they won a trophy, that's nice :))".......it was later when i realized the importance of the entire thing 🤪

vs Villareal: now i know this sounds weird but like, there hasn't been a day where i don't question myself "how the everloving fuck did we lose against them?". ALL THEY DID was make all eleven players defend their area, that's literally it.... AND YET WE COULDN'T BEAT THEM! I AM STILL DUMBFOUNDED AND CAN'T GET OVER IT.

1 - 3 vs Liverpool: once again.... i know this is odd given bayern lost...... but these are my two favorite teams of all time. I remember when it was announced both teams were playing against each other i felt personally attacked, i literally couldn't decide who to cheer on, every goal felt bad, every attack felt bad, and seeing how bayern lost in horrible fashion it was like... i couldn't even celebrate for lfc, i was in neutral mode and it was wild. At least it eventually led lfc to win ucl but still, it was 180+ minutes of double tension 😵‍💫

7 - 2 vs Tottenham: honestly how can you forget this one? it was absurd! serge came out for blood that day, against the sp*rs nonetheless!!!! i know we always joke about bayern destroying london teams but this was just unexpected, right now i feel like rewatching 😂

I'm pretty sure i'm missing one or two matches that shook me to the core, but i guess these will do rn. It was fun!

Tagging people from my latest bayern gifset because i know everyone has been tagged already so feel free to ignore this if so: @fabioquartararhoe @probayern @chelleisamazing @youknowitsworthfightingfor @dieclownschaft @gxtzeizm @uncoolfc @fcbalding @shrimpeon @be-lucky-again @colorsofmyseason @angry-pinscher @miss-i-ship-it and whoever wants to do this! just say i tagged you and you're it! :D

#ask games #yaay!#sorry for the eternal rambles 😫#i prefered not to read your options first so i wouldn't be influenced!!

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canmom · 8 months

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seasonal animes: Zom 100/Bucket List of the Dead

watched 5 of the current 6 episodes of Zom100 (I'm watching Zoombie's releases, which have Crunchyroll's translation with better typesetting).

tricky to know what I think...

visually there's nothing to fault - it's got energy and style all over and every episode brings a new crazy impressive sequence, with great choreography to music and inventive staging. that's why I'm watching it, and it consistently delivers! kVin has already written about the strength of the team behind it in great detail. the consistent bright colours of the zombie blood, the use of yellow, the seamless transition between real and abstract - all kick ass.

narratively... it's certainly direct with its themes, but not at all in a bad way, and it's a meaty subject matter for which the whole irreverent take on zombie movies is a fitting metaphor. it won't say it in so many words, but it's clearly about philosophy, finding the 'good life'.

As You Know, the zombies in Romero's movies stood for Consumerism(TM). if the modern world has a deadening, dissociative affect to it, we pull that further, and we get literal walking dead. alongside that is a huge element of wish fulfilment in zombie/post apoc stories: the idea of a reduction to a simpler world, where all the complications of society are stripped back. sure, everyone may die, it's tragic, but the protagonists are given a stage to come into their own as a badass hero type full of Machiavellian virtù.

zom100 doesn't bother with the smokescreen of tragedy, and indeed it uses the contrast between the feelings of of the protag who's getting to live his best life against the backdrop of collapse as a source of comedy. but then it's about poking and prodding at that wish fulfilment, trying to define it more sharply.

our protagonist wasted years at a hyper-exploitative 'black company' but now he's freed, he has to face existential aimlessness; his friend found material and social success but no personal fulfilment and had to conquer his fear to pursue his real dream; the blatant tsundere love-interest girl is too narrowly focused on survival to enjoy her life - each one seems set up to explore some facet of the human condition. the ED shows a fourth member of the MC group, who will presumably explore some other angle of 'how do you live'. if you know how much I like NieR Automata, you can probably imagine that's a theme that's up my street.

so what's the "but"? well it's just so much hetero guy pov lmao. I just... do not connect to the MC, and the show is very heavily structured around providing a stage for him to work out his shit.

for example, it's maybe a little too obvious in introducing characters to demonstrate the theme of the episode, then feeding them to zombies as soon as their purpose is served. the fate of the flight attendants in episode 4 especially bugged me: for our main two boys, the flight attendants are an opportunity to prove their masculinity and sexual prowess (the MC's ability to 'score' is questioned, while it comes effortlessly to his friend). so these girls show up and they hang out; one of the girls has sex with the friend and then promptly dies. the other refuses sex to our protagonist but she talks about her ambitions providing some insight to him and then gets chomped - don't you see, she was reminded of her childhood memories, she had one good day, ah, mono no aware! meanwhile the cynical and slightly arrogant leader of the flight attendant group is the most fun of them all, but she's just zombiebait. the protagonist grieves for all of one minute but then cheers himself up.

and of course you expect characters to die frequently in a zombie story; and the whole point of the show is that the MC's cheerful affect is completely inappropriate for a zombie apocalypse. but the effect of storylines like this is to that it's so manifestly a world of effectively invincible protagonists, where everyone else is basically an NPC. our protagonist will embarrass himself and suffer pratfalls for a joke, but ultimately this is a world that exists to serve him, and he acts like on some level he knows it!

all the same, I'm curious where it will go once it finishes establishing the main cast group.

on a more niche note, it's interesting observing that 'hypercompetent hacker girl in a big coat' is becoming fixated as a love interest pattern. the big coats are cool, so fair enough.

#anime

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alphawolfstabs · 6 months

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Hey Billy

First off in Resident Evil: Afterlife somehow Wesker is using and holding TWO FUCKING DESERT EAGLES. That seems a bit problematic to me a little bit but you know movie magic right?

Now for the actual question.

If we were in a zombie apocalypse what guns would you use? How would you suit up in a situation like that if you were in let's say The Last of Us, Walking Dead, and Resident Evil kind of situation? Okay maybe not those exact choices maybe start off gentle and scary like The Last of Us.

MOVIE MAGIC IS SO WHACK. T W O DESERT EAGLES??? Jfc, good luck doing that irl.

Anywho-

This will probably be a long post.. whoops but here we are.

STARTING WITH The Last of Us bc currently, in love with that game so it’s fresh in my head:

WEAPONS:

• first things first, some kind of switch blade or, ofc, trusty butterfly knife. Reason being: you’re gonna need a knife or two, you can’t really go in guns blazing all the time, especially for the fckn clickers.

• Pistols: I’d choose a nice classic Colt 1911 pistol. Reason being is quite simple. It’s very popular and has been for a while, John browning gun, 9mm which I find snazzy, low recoil, can be made withhhhh.. polyester I think? Which makes the carryweight good. DOWNSIDE: it can roughly hold 8-10 rounds in the mag, which depending on the situation could be really good or really bad.

Another neat pistol I’d choose would probably be FN Five-seveN. The ammunition is a 5.7x28mm…? 26? 28? One of those- anyways it’s known for its low recoil but good penetration skills. 20 rounds ‼️ The pistol has a Picatinny rail on the lower frame for mounting accessories such as lights, lasers, or red dot sights which would probably be good for certain situations.

• Rifles: I think I would keep at least two rifles on my person- yes they’re big BUT rifles. One that I, for sure, would choose would be the Mossberg 464. Reasons: ITS A LEVER-ACTION. It’s a snazzy gun, good for long distance and such. Not to mention, I just.. I have a problem BSHSJDJEJ. unfortunately, it does only hold 6 rounds but that’s okay bc it’s worth it.

Another Rifle would be the FN SCAR. Reasons: It's a gas-operated, short-stroke piston system, which is known for its reliability and reduced recoil, usually holds 30 rounds, quick change barrel system- over all? I think it would be pretty good against clickers

• Shotguns: LEVER ACTION SHOTGUN. Reasons? ....It's a lever action shot gun man, that's all tbh- one downside is how it only has roughly 6 shots but that's okay bc mmmm lever action.

• How I would suit up: If I'm not experienced and it's just happening, I would be that idiot wearing hoodies and converses and jeans. I have emotional attachments to my jeans fgjakfgdafh

• However If I am experienced and I know what I'm doing: I would probably wear lighter clothes, like a t-shirt and probably still my jeans, because jeans actually would protect me alot- and if I could find some, I would also wear body armor. I would most likely have a good book bag to fit all my shit in like medical supplies, food, water- all of that snazzy shit.

The Walking Dead:

So for this I would take a much much different approach. I would own ONLY two guns, since the noise can draw herds towards you.

• I would have a fckn SEXC Colt Python revolver. [Think rick Grimes- his gun.] Reason: It's a fucking BEAUTIFUL gun, its a .357 magnum so it's got a kick to it and its GOOD. I would use it for emergency use. The second gun I would use would most likely also just be the silly 1911.

• As for more silent weapons, I would use a crossbow. Probably a compound crossbow tbh- Because the mechanical advantage provided by the cam and cable system, along with the increased arrow speed, contributes to the accuracy of compound crossbows- So it's rather very very fast and effective.

Suit up:

If I'm just starting out I would become a hermit. Stay inside with my shit until I run out and need to go get supplies. However If I'm used to everything, I think I would suit up in a similar way as I would in tlou, simply because that, to me, is the simpliest and best way to suit up.

Now I would LOVE to do this for resident evil but, alas, I do not know that game the best. However if I ever get around to watching a gameplay of it, I'll most likely make a post and tag you :)

Thanks for this ask btw!! I love talking about "What if" Situations fgejkgfeakfuy

#fantasylandbitch #AHHHH #autism time #can you tell I'm just a silly guy #HE HE HE #anyways #this was fun to make fgdjkfg #thank you Beth!

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allchoseny · 1 month

Text

Early One Morning

Prologue

“Exactly that. Only they’re not statues,” he said, pointing to the alcove. “They’re called the Lonely Assassins. No one quite knows where they came from, but they’re as old as the universe, or very nearly, and they have survived this long because they have the most perfect defense system ever evolved. They are quantum-locked.”

“Okay, so how do I slay it?” Buffy asked, wanting to get to the important part.

“You can’t. Well, it’ll be difficult. See, they don’t exist when they’re being observed. The moment they are seen by any other living creature, they freeze into rock. No choice. It’s a fact of their biology. In the sight of any living thing, they literally turn to stone. Except with your friend, the vampire.” -The 10th Doctor & Buffy Summers, “Don’t Blink.”

The world shifted.

One moment, Buffy was standing in her Watcher's garden surrounded by the familiar hum of 21st-century technology, and the next, she was plopped down in a place that seemed straight out of a history book. Or a movie set. Buffy was really hoping this was a movie set. Emma. Sense and Sensibility. Pride & Prejudice—the one with Colin Firth. Those were all great movies. Her mother loved those movies. Wouldn't it be something if she had been transported on a movie set? She could navigate a movie set. She’d heard that the catering on movie sets was to die for!

Buffy rubbed her eyes, taking in the sights and the sounds around her. And the smell. Oh, god, the smell was something else—a mixture of human and animal waste and probably dead things. Buffy was used to the smell of dead things. But this was like the after-party of a zombie convention, and someone had used up all the air freshener.

Buffy smelled all the smells—they were not fancy catering smells. Maybe a realistic horror movie or special effects smells? But she didn't see a single camera, boom mic, or key grip—whatever those were—in sight.

Dense fog wrapped around the streets of London, the sharp chill making her skin prickle. The muted morning light filtered through the haze, casting long, eerie shadows. Everywhere she looked, people moved with a purpose she couldn't fathom, their clothes and demeanor utterly alien. She felt like a brightly colored peacock in a flock of sparrows.

The fabric of her dress fluttered against her legs, its modern cut and color drawing attention from everyone who noticed her standing there in a sundress, jean jacket, and Doc Martens. A fashionable outfit in the 21st century, but wholly underdressed and practically naked wherever—whenever—she was now. The sensation of dozens of eyes on her made Buffy's skin crawl. Men in top hats paused mid-conversation, women in bonnets whispered behind gloved hands, and children stopped to gawk openly.

'Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore,' Buffy thought, her heart racing, her throat constricting with fear.

A sharp whistle broke through her spiraling thoughts. Buffy turned toward the sound. A police officer pointed in her direction with a stern face. He marched toward her with purpose, and Buffy's pulsed leaped furiously. What did I do? I've only been here two seconds, and the police are after me already. Is it because of how I'm dressed?

Desperation urged her legs to move. Instinct kicked in, and Buffy began to run, knocking into a sea of unfamiliar faces blocking her path. Each step felt labored, the weight of her new reality pressing down on her with each heartbeat. Her mind flashed back to Giles' garden and the statue of his great-grandfather, Percival Fairweather. One blink and the once inert effigy had come to life before her.

The Doctor's warning about weeping angels and cherubs echoed in her mind. But he'd never mentioned statues of real people springing to life. The thing had appeared out of nowhere. Before Buffy could process what was happening, she blinked, and now she was running through the streets of old-timey London with a police officer on her heels.

Just as she felt the cold fingers of despair clutching at her, a rough hand seized her arm, yanking her into the cool shadows of an alleyway. It was a young woman, maybe a little older than Buffy herself, dressed in a worn dress. She had a kind yet world-weary face.

She pressed a finger against her lips, urging Buffy to stay silent. Together, they waited as the echoing footsteps of the police officer grew faint.

Once certain they were safe, the woman turned to Buffy with curious eyes. "You ain't from 'round here, are ya?"

Buffy swallowed, her throat dry. "Where am I?"

"In London," she replied.

Buffy's eyes welled up, the enormity of her situation crashing down around her. She fought the urge to cry, to scream, to do anything to wake herself from this nightmare. "When am I?" Her voice shook.

“Ma’am?” The girl frowned, obviously put off by Buffy’s question.

“What year is this?”

The tavern girl hesitated, her expression confused. "1874, o’ course."

The world seemed to close in on Buffy. The city sounds became muffled, replaced by the loud drumming of her heart in her ears. She felt the walls of the alley press in on her, her knees threatening to buckle. Then everything went black.

I just updated with chapter 26.

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yacinthemorning · 10 months

Text

Mother Hen

Chapter 6 of 6

[First] [Prev] [Last]

Summary: 5 times Jimmy was almost the mom friend, if not for his other quirks.

Ships: Jimmy/Tango (Ambiguous)

Warnings: Fire, Temporary Death

Not a day into the latest one of Grian’s life games Tango had died.

It was, to be frank, embarrassing.

Then, he felt a tug on his chest and someone shouting, “What happened, Tango?” and was reminded that this time he had a soulmate. A soulmate he had yet to meet, one he had just killed.

Well, now it was just humiliating.

The blazeborn rolled out of the tree and onto the ground, scanning for the other person. “Are you here?” He asked until he spotted two very ruffled yellow wings stretch out among the canopy. Jimmy hopped down, landing harder than Tango thought he intended. Tango chuckled, his voice breaking. “Oh, hi, hiii. Ain’t that a- a weird coincidence, huh?” He let out a deep sigh. “Oh, Jimmy, I’m so sorry.” Of course it had to be someone he barely knew.

Jimmy’s hands went to his hips. For a moment Tango felt like a scolded child. “It’s fine, I’m not mad, but… What happened? Take me through it.”

And so, Tango explained- or, tried to. His words spilled out like a waterfall and he wasn’t too sure of their coherency. Maybe in hopes of getting the point across a bit better he attempted to re-enact the moment of his death. He thought he did a pretty good job with the sound effects. At least when they weren’t interrupted by goats. Jimmy’s expression slowly morphed into concern as he listened, his wings pulling tensely to his back. When Tango pretended his claws were a zombie’s teeth he caught the avian’s hands lurch forward, before he realized and folded them under his arms, face dusted pink.

“And then, yeah.” He sighed, patting his own shoulder. “The old creeper from behind trick.”

“Oh my gosh.” Jimmy groaned, hanging his head. “Okay, well… It’s okay. I need to try and get my stuff back before-”

“Oh no, I have no idea where I was!” Tango finally realized. “I just lost everything!” Sparks leapt out of his tail as it began to swish against the grass.

Jimmy’s mouth fell open, gaping like a fish. Another “Oh my gosh” escaped him like a sigh. He began looking around, poking his head through the trees in all directions. “Dude. Okay well… oh, where was my stuff?”

“I don’t know!” Tango threw up his arms, joining the search. “Do you remember anything?”

“Uh.” Jimmy returned to pacing in the centre of the clearing, wings held up tense and fingers massaging his temple. “Ah, I…”

And then he made a sharp turn, just as Tango was jogging by. The two collided, Tango’s forehead smacking into the avian’s nose. Hands shot out to prevent them from falling, but it only succeeded in dragging both down.

A hysterical sort of laugh escaped Tango. In-between heaves he managed to get out, “We’re just running in circles!” What was wrong with them?

Jimmy stared at him like he was crazy for a moment, but he too devolved into giggles. “Tango! I just need to figure out the direction!”

“I’m sorry! Here.”

Tango helped his soulmate onto his feet, brushing away the dirt caught in his wings. Jimmy took over, pacing the clearing with a bit more clarity. “I think it was that way. So, let’s make a chest, and then I’ll go look for my stuff.”

“Right, yeah, sounds good.”

Jimmy hummed, already pushing through the branches of a tree to place a hidden chest. “Do you wanna come with me? Or you could stay here and start to gather resources.”

Ah. That was probably a good idea considering they lost at least half their things already. “Yeah, sure.” Any opportunity to make up for the mess he’d caused today. Continued making. “I can do that. I can totally do that. Meet back up here in an hour?”

Jimmy placed a hand on Tango’s shoulder and nodded. “Good Luck, then…”

And that was Tango’s first real impression of Jimmy Solidarity. Jimmy didn’t hide his disappointment particularly well, but he pushed past it and pulled them together. After two games of almost no interactions and his only info on the avian being his reputation of dying first, Tango wasn’t sure what he was expecting but it had not been that. And when he returned, having lost his things but walked off his frustration, it all just fell into place.

Tango didn’t know why, but things were just… easy. It was so easy to get excited over every new thing they accomplished on their homesteading quest.

Jimmy would show up to a hideous box of birch and praise it to hell and back. “I love it, I’m not just saying that.” He said, leaping over the crafting table in the doorway. “I can’t believe you lied to me and said you weren’t a builder!”

While Tango couldn’t agree less, he believed him. It was not the Mona Lisa. The ranch house was more on par with macaroni art, and Jimmy was proudly pinning it to the fridge.

He had a flare for surprises, too, sneaking up with an entire herd of cattle until Tango opened the door and burst with excitement.

“Look at you!” Tango said, awe stricken. “You have a beef army!” They marched like one.

Jimmy giggled, burying his face into the side of one’s neck. “I have a family!” He said - corrected. The cows seemed to agree, nuzzling up to him until he patted their brown fur. “Welcome to the family.”

Most importantly to a blazeborn like him, when they finally wrangled the cows into the house and both were vibrating with excitement, Tango – too caught up in the moment to remember they were at best acquaintances just a few hours ago and thus probably should have asked first – crushed the other in a spinning embrace and discovered Jimmy was indeed very huggable. His feathers were soft, insulating when they followed his arms and turned the hug into more of a cocoon. His face squished happily into Tango’s hair despite the lock threatening to flare, and his hold was enough that when his own feet hit solid ground again Tango was in the air instead.

It was so warm and comforting. Grounding, in a way Tango wouldn’t fully realize or appreciate until later when their hard work went up in flames. Maybe it could be forgotten among the antics and teasing, where Jimmy would fumble his way through impulsive decisions and theatrical anger, but that side of his rancher was always there, waiting for when it was needed most.

It was easy to adore, easy to click into place with. Tango wasn’t completely sure why, when he was just an angry little redstoner who made a constant flow of terrible choices. Jimmy could probably get along with anyone with that winning personality. Tango was glad it got to be him for this game.

Tango was glaring down one of the goats when over the wall he heard Jimmy rambling to someone who only hummed back. He narrowed his eyes, pointed towards himself, then the goat, then at the ground of the pen, before jumping up to haul his upper body over the top of the wall. Jimmy and Pearl both were fluttering their wings at one another, Jimmy animatedly explaining their woes until he spotted Tango and waved him over.

“Tango! Pearl knows how to get a horn!”

“Oh, that’s great! Thanks so much, Pearlypop!”

Pearl nodded. “I just need some food first.”

Tango didn’t hesitate, pulling a quarter of a stack of steaks from his inventory and handing to the poor starving girl. Her eyes lit up, and she started to dig in even as she flew up onto the wall with Jimmy. The two avians really towered over everything from their perch, and Tango mentally sent his best regards to their older brother. No wonder Grian always placed himself on Scar and Mumbo’s shoulders…

“We’ve been trying for hours, do you know what’s wrong?” Jimmy asked, frowning down at the goats who had done nothing since he left. Tango shrugged, getting ready to take another headbutt. Pearl or no, Tango would figure this stupid goat thing out and get that horn for Jimmy.

Pearl started to explain, “Well, only blocks natural to their native biome can break their horns, so you probably need to replace that birch with stone or spruce or… Potentially dirt?” She seemed equally unsure.

Well, dirt was by far the easiest of those to try. While he pulled a stack of dirt out of his inventory to help Pearl create the new wall, yellow wings flitted into the doorway of the ranch with a stack of cobble. Tango stared after Jimmy curiously for only half a second before Pearl’s continued explanation of how to get goats to charge.

Jimmy returned just in time to watch Tango barely jump out of the way of a headbutt. The goat slammed into the dirt wall, but no horn fell. They all deflated. “Aw, that was it.” Tango whined. “It didn’t work.”

“Looks like you’ll need stone, then.” Pearl sighed, then looked around. “Is there anywhere to cook some up?”

Jimmy beamed, “I got it! It should be about done.” He ran back into the house and appeared with stone.

Tango let out a noise of approval. “Look at you, all on top of things!”

Jimmy’s feathers puffed out proudly as he laid down the stone. “Why don’t you show us how to do it properly, Pearl? I’m not sure Tango and I’s stomachs can take another headbutt.”

She laughed but jumped down into the goat pit. “Sure, sure.”

And of course she gets it on the first try. Tango is pretty sure he sees the goat giving him a smug look, but Jimmy is too wrapped up in his excitement to notice, and Tango is too wrapped up in Jimmy’s excitement to care. He blows the horn, a melody yet unheard playing. All around them people reply.

Jimmy was so happy Tango was pretty sure he didn’t realize he’d ceased speaking English in exchange for elated trills. At least Pearl understood him, replying with subdued chirps. Tango just chuckled to himself, watching the canary hop around, wings vibrating, speaking with his sister, until their attention turned to Tango. He blinked, confused. They were still speaking birdy at him – now Tango was sure Jimmy just did not notice the switch in his brain was flipped – and seemed to be up to something. Well, as long as Jimmy had his horn, Tango was fine to go along with anything else.

What Jimmy was up to was getting another horn. He’d done it while Tango was distracted by Pearl, until he heard another high trill from his rancher and saw him holding a second horn. “Way to go, buddy!” Tango cheered, hopping down to congratulate him.

Then the horn was pressed into Tango’s hands. A matching one to Jimmy’s own. Jimmy barely managed to speak out a little countdown for them, and they didn’t quite match them up perfectly, but that didn’t matter. Tango vaguely heard Pearl chuckling behind them while they cheered and hugged and blew the horns once more.

It wasn’t all great. Grian decided it would be funny to tease his brother’s obsession by using their horn’s unique sound to exclude them. Jimmy didn’t seem to mind nearly as much as he dramatized, though. A snicker broke up his protests while Grian paraded around them as if he’d won something.

And when they got home, the canary held up their horn with a grin. “It’s the team rancher horn now, then!” He said. “Just ours. So we always know where each other are.”

Tango thought he liked the sound of that quite a lot.

A bit too fittingly, Jimmy found his soulmate in death.

And. honestly, he was less than pleased. If not for the shock of the situation Jimmy might have done quite a lot more yelling. How could someone be so negligent with not only their own life, but their soulmate’s life?

Well the answer to that was apparently a creeper falling directly on top of them, as Tango had explained. Actually hearing and seeing the blazeborn helped calm Jimmy greatly before he could do or say something he’d regret, too. That didn’t make the situation any more ideal. But they picked up the pieces – well, picked themselves up and collected new pieces – and tried to make it work.

To his credit, Tango did his level best to immediately make up for his mistake. While Jimmy trapesed about searching for supplies that had already despawned and venting to any friend who would listen, Tango had collected plenty of resources. Maybe not as much as before, certainly not much iron at all, but it was something.

It was enough to make himself some leg armour and boots, and when he discovered Jimmy in a cave with nothing but a shield, he didn’t hesitate. There was a clunk and clatter and then Jimmy had boots being pressed into his hands.

“If you die, I die.” Tango shrugged with a grin. “Now we’re both equally protected.”

You would think Jimmy was the one blown up with how quickly Tango appeared out of nowhere every time Jimmy found himself in even the mildest of precarious situations, honestly. Just dropping everything to come find him and make sure he was okay, that there was nothing Jimmy needed. Not that Tango even had things to give, but Jimmy caught him searching for those non-existent things, quick to mention he needed things for Jimmy when they went trading.

It wasn’t quite coddling, but Tango didn’t even give Jimmy the chance to wonder if he could rely on his soulmate. It made the lies Bdubs tried to tell him later all the funnier.

Next came the base. Despite the time of day and precariousness of their situation it was… enjoyable. Easy, even. Like birthday shopping. Tango was remarkably agreeable to anything Jimmy wanted, only offering additions to his suggestions.

“Here’s good.” Jimmy finally decided, holding his arms open to the small jungle cliff as he turned to Tango.

His soulmate gave him a giant grin and a big thumbs up, as if it was a goldmine and not just another random patch like the rest. “So, what are you thinking of making? You have any ideas, or…”

“I dunno.” Jimmy admitted, brows furrowed. He examined the trees, looking for some sort of inspiration. “I guess we could just make a shack to-”

“To shack up in!” He giggled.

Sweet Void, not even Martyn would make a dad joke that lame. Jimmy just shook his head, smiling to himself. “Well, I’m not a builder at all, Tango, so-”

“Oh no, you’re not the builder?”

“No- wait.” Jimmy’s eyes went wide. “Are you not the builder?” Truth be told, he just assumed all the hermits were amazing builders.

“I’m not the builder!” Tango panicked, then chuckled. “Jimmy, I think we might be living in a dirt hut.”

“Gosh…” They were going to be a bigger mess than he thought, weren’t they?

Their wallowing was interrupted by a chorus of horns that echoed across the world, taunting them. Jimmy’s feathers ruffled, pouting up at the sky. Tango let out a whine. “They never stop!”

“We’re getting that horn as soon as possible.” The avian asserted to little resistance.

“Yeah, absolutely. I need one as soon as possible.” He said, pausing only briefly as another round was blown. A wide grin and wiggling eyebrows were shot Jimmy’s way. “I have horn envy!”

He took every good thing he said back. Jimmy was going to die before the second day, actually, and it would be all Tango’s fault.

Of course, he didn’t and it wasn’t. He also found out Tango lied right to his face about being a builder. Apparently, when a Hermit said they weren’t a builder, what they meant was they were not a Scar-level capital ‘B’ Builder who changed the landscape of architecture with every new build. Or maybe it was just a Tangoism. Either way, he made his awareness known, and they agreed Tango would work on the ranch while Jimmy went looking for iron. What he came back to was mayhaps not the prettiest house, but it was certainly theirs, better than Jimmy could have done, and that was more than enough.

“It’s a box.” Tango insisted with a nervous chuckle.

“No, it’s good!” Jimmy insisted even harder. “I can’t believe my man said he couldn’t build.”

The blazeborn’s tail curled around itself. Flickers leapt off it and his hair as he tried to hide in the collar of his vest. He didn’t say anymore, though, so Jimmy moved on, almost giddy as he pulled the bucket from his inventory.

“Hey, I have something.”

“What?” Tango then gasped, throwing out his arms. “You got it!” He cheered. “You go out, and you come back with goods! Well done! This is exactly what I like to see, partner!”

A shudder ran through Jimmy’s wings until they were fluffed up. He could feel his cheeks burning but he managed to puff up his chest. A happy squeak from the man made his entire display crumble into a fit of giggles, though, and long claws buried themselves in Jimmy’s hair.

Jimmy in fact found himself on the end of a complete onslaught of compliments and praise and pats on his back and hands ruffling his hair and- It was almost too much, overwhelming. But it made him feel like he could do anything if he tried, and that someone would be there to help when he did.

“I’ve never been more proud of someone in my life.” Tango had said later, running over to the barn where Jimmy was putting Oreo away in order to scoop the avian up into a hug. It couldn’t be true, objectively. But Tango sounded so sure, Jimmy believed it anyways. It was easy to believe when Tango said it.

“Tango!” Jimmy’s voice pierced through the flaming walls. “Tango, don’t die!”

Flames that were not his own bit into his clothes and skin, and Tango had to finally accept that the house fire was too much for even him.

“Tango?” The avian’s voice warbled with fear. Tango followed after it to a collapsing window, and leapt out, hitting the ground harder than he should with their damage.

A bucket of water cascaded over him, then he was dragged up onto his feet and brought away from the flaming home. Jimmy patted him down, concern knitting his brows together. “Are you alright?”

“Scar…” Was all Tango could hiss.

Bdubs, his mind corrected.

“What did you say to Scar?” Scott asked from… somewhere… Was Scott there?

Jimmy let out a whimper in response. “I took his horse, that’s it.”

A chorus of ‘oh’s and ‘why would you do that’ echoed across the still-smoldering ranch.

“That doesn’t mean you burn down someone’s home!” He tried to defend himself but only received disagreement in return. Another growl ripped from Tango’s throat at them all when Jimmy’s expression contorted to guilt. They were the victims, here, couldn’t they feel even a bit of pity?

His mind flung him in all directions, memories mixing with the present. He hissed something to Etho that may or may not have actually come out comprehensible. Etho chuckled, but whatever he said in the present mixed indistinguishably with the past. It only seemed to distress the avian, who pulled him away from the other players.

The world was blocked out by a cocoon of feathers. Shaky hands rubbed circles into his forearms, slowly moving up to cup his face and force him to look away from his memories and at Jimmy instead. “Snap out of it, Tango!” He begged, partly cut off by a trill. “Snap out of it.”

Tango latched onto Jimmy’s arms, evening out his breathing. Jimmy looked just as frazzled, but he continued to force out soothing coos.

Somewhere beyond the protective yellow wall the others began to quip. “I did like our little neighbourhood watch.”

One wing fell so they could listen. Tango continued to focus on Jimmy, and so Jimmy continued to murmur. “Look, the ‘R’ survived.” He tried to reassure, fingers massaging into the side of Tango’s scalp until he nodded in acknowledgement and whispered it back.

“They literally came and accused us of killing their goats, and we still came to save them.”

“Oh, they accused you, too?”

Sparks flew from Tango’s tail once again. He whipped around to the gossiping neighbours. “Well someone killed our goats!” He snapped. They couldn’t wait until the embers on their house were out before complaining about them?

Jimmy flared out his wings before any more arguments could start up, stepping away from Tango to address the whole crowd. “No, no. We really appreciate the community watch. I know we- Tango’s- he’s having a moment, but we appreciate you for coming to help-”

“Help!” Tango growled. “It’s burnt to the ground!” Scott and Cleo could have been right on their heels if they really wanted to be. Joel and Etho were apparently close enough to see it! Martyn was within earshot of the ranch, for goodness sake-

But Jimmy was immediately surrounded by the others, demanding this and that as reward. Tango let out a screech, trying to release some of the frustration building in his chest. The world was turning red.

Then suddenly Etho was beside him, chuckling. “I think you need to express yourself physically, Tango.”

He was so right.

Flames curling in the corner of his vision, Tango let out a diabolical chuckle and went. Those pandas were dead, and maybe also the keep, and hopefully also Scar. Grian too, for good measure. Why not the whole corner of the map? He heard others behind him, following him, laughing, asking if he – Tango! A blazeborn! – needed a flint and steel.

He turned around briefly to tell them as such, and apparently that was his mistake. The red tint in his vision was replaced by an impenetrable yellow in every direction. Once again he was walled in, the little soothing noises and gestures returning. They only briefly stopped when Jimmy’s own façade finally cracked to show his frustration at something – or maybe everything – the others said, his wings flitting down so he could scold them. “Stop it right now, leave him be! You just want to see destruction!”

For once they listened, and Tango’s world returned to being just the two of them. Truthfully, he could already feel his rage giving way when Jimmy continued. “They won’t get away with doing this, okay?” He promised. “But Let’s go calm down and think about this first. We’re all friends here, you know he didn’t mean it to really hurt. It’s a game, remember? Let’s not do anything while angry you might regret later.”

With a final, deep, smouldering sigh, Tango nodded. “Yeah. You’re right.” Of course Jimmy was right.

Jimmy smiled. “We’ll get him back, I promise. We’ll think of something more clever than just burning everything.”

“But I like burnificating things.” He grumbled, but it was playful. His tail curled around his ankle when Jimmy laughed.

He really won the soulmate jackpot.

“Did you get it?”

Jimmy paused, sucking in a terrified breath at the sudden words. If Tango was speaking, though, that meant it was safe, right? He turned to his rancher, pulling out the chest plate they had just swiped, proudly holding it out. “It’s right here.”

“Nice! It looks like decent enchanting, too.” Tango patted the diamond armor, then raised it up to pat Jimmy’s head as well. “Good job, little buddy! Let’s get you home.”

Jimmy squeezed his eyes shut, partly instinctively to keep the ruffled hair out of his eyes, and partly to hold himself back from some noise that would most certainly be embarrassing. His energy instead went to his wings, which fluttered, and heels, which bounced in lieu of room to properly hop in the cramped tunnels. For a hot moment he just basked in the bit of praise. “… Okay.” He remembered to reply.

Tango moved up the ladder first with a soft chuckle. It would be a long climb up. “I gotta say,” He started. “I’m proud of you. I’m really proud of you.”

“Yeah?” Jimmy beamed. Maybe he was being a bit too self indulgent with his soulmate’s simple praise.

“Yeah. You have, um, a bit of a reputation for not lasting this long. But-!” He put out his had before Jimmy could say anything. “You’ve been careful and worked hard. You’ve really turned things around. I’m proud of you!”

Jimmy ducked a little, in case the blazeborn looked down in time to see Jimmy’s doofy smile. “Well.” He managed to reach up high enough to give a pat on the back. “It’s really all thanks to you, really.” His words came out far softer than he intended.

Tango let out a giggle, “What you talking about? I’m the one that got you explodificated!”

“No, that’s…” He let out a little frustrated noise. Honestly, Tango was such a hypocrite. Handing out praise like candy, all the while refusing to take a single compliment. “That was way at the start, back when nobody had anything.”

“True, true.” Tango hummed in that appeasing way.

Jimmy rolled his eyes, then reached out with one of his wings to lightly smack Tango on the back of the head. It got a yelp and a betrayed pout, but Jimmy only returned it with a playful glare. “It is true, don’t say it like that.”

Tango snickered, returning to climbing. “Yes, dear.”

Jimmy smiled. “… Tango?”

“Hm?” The blazeborn’s tail flicked in acknowledgement.

“Thank you.”

A pot probably shouldn’t call a kettle black, after all.

#jimmy solidarity #tangotek #team rancher #rancher duo #trafficshipping #mcyt #double life smp #traffic series #fanfic #fanfiction #fluff #hurt/comfort #5+1 #sharing a slice of cake

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