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#(idk everything weirds IN the tags so)
cuosiscrazy · 1 month
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I did this after side order but I was inactive so… here ya go now 💥
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katabay · 2 months
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Gert: Could be better! Could be better if I’m gonna be honest. Do you have a phone? OW: No, I’m sorry, I don’t have one on me. Gert: Do you know where the police station is? OW: The police are highly ineffective in Crestfall.
Obituary 01: Wyatt Died
the death by dying podcast is really fucking funny
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thekidsarentalright · 8 months
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so fobcore to be up for two awards they deserve to win, lose both of them, not even show up to the awards show But dress up in silly outfits for their prerecorded performance. would expect nothing less from the band of all time tbh
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um-lorii · 10 months
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( its magnetic )
request for @bees-are-my-thing-bro !!!!!!
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i think i've drawn lankmann a few times. just a couple
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fru1tt0ast · 25 days
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dear followers, today i offer you old man yaoi
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tomorrow? who knows
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askcapital · 14 days
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Today I was so brave that I showed my animation meme WIP to my animation professor. I felt so cringe but now I feel so free LOL he was super nice about it and gave me a lot of good pointers, hopefully I'll get this finished this year. :')
since it's still Munday I can ramble about this, and since the animation is about Capital I can post this here specifically
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cristalviper · 6 months
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Made a sim for @squea's Corn! A friend, a lover, an enemy, who knows! I would like to apologize in advance for all the sliders included in his download, making fat sims is borderline impossible without them! Cries!
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Insert witty bio here! I promise I'll come up with something after some food and a nap ;__; For now I offer you this:
Grant "GiGi" Guillaume - adult, gay, he/him
World-Famous Celebrity Aspiration - squeamish, outgoing, lavish
He only has his everyday outfit since I didn't want there to be an overwhelming amount of CC, but I copied his makeup and accessories to the other outfits to hopefully save you some time when editing him. You can change whatever you'd like, btw; be it gender identity/expression, pronouns, sexuality, whatever!
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Included in the download is all the CC used for him, including a trait mod. Again, I used a LOT of sliders for him, so please keep in mind that if you don't use them all, he may not look as intended. Maybe one day double chins will be base game, right? For sure. Slams face on desk.
[DOWNLOAD] If anything doesn't work or is amiss, please let me know!
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kabukeo · 10 months
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tonight's little doodles
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aniverse-x · 17 days
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Random questions(Will add more)
If you could be anything in the universe(non-living)what would you be?
If you could be any animal, what would you be?
If you could have 1 superpower, what would it be?
What color is your toothbrush?
If you had 1 wish(it could be ANYTHING but not more wishes)what would it be?
What’s your zodiac sign?
What are your thoughts on neutron stars?
What is one of your worse weird phobias?
what’s your favorite planet in our solar system?
What’s one(or more)weird fun fact that you know?
What’s one(or more)fun fact that almost nobody knows?
Do you know what Tetration is?
What is your favorite number?
What is your favorite Color?
Do you read comics?
Whats your favorite kids show?
What kind of music do you like?
What are your thoughts on nuclear bombs?
Are you from North Korea?
What is your favorite holiday?
Do you like to draw?
If you could be any celebrity(dead or alive) for the rest of your life who would you be?
If you could spend a day with any celebrity(dead or alive) who would it be?
Who is your favorite historical figure?
How many fictional characters do you simp for?
What’s your favorite song?
Would you want to be leader of a nation if you could?
What is the weirdest hobby you have?
Are you a Night Owl or an Early Bird?
Introvert or Extrovert?
Are you a Cat or Dog person?
What’s your favorite book genre?
What’s your favorite movie genre?
What’s your favorite tv series genre?
What’s your favorite anime genre?
What’s your favorite anime genre?
What’s your favorite comic genre?
What’s your favorite music genre?
When taking a shower, do you prefer Hot or Cold water?
Do you like musicals? If so, what is your favorite? And why?
Who is your favorite song artist?
Are you a Brain or a Brawn?
Are you a Rebel?
Are you a Follower, a Leader, or a Loner?
What are your thoughts on AI?
Do you play Role-Playing games?
Do you like sports? If so, which one is your favorite and which one are you best at?
If you could write a book, make show, movie, etc. what would it be about?
Have you ever broken a bone? If so, what did you break and how did you break it?
What is your craziest life story?
Do you like to sing?
Who is your idol, or at least your fav
Have you ever been in love?
Would you rather Stay Single or be in a Relationship?
Antisocial or Social?
Speed or Strength?
Or you Stronger or Faster?
Sprinter or Distance runner?
Do you wear glasses?
What is one life hack you know that nobody else does?
What languages are you fluent in?
What language is hardest to learn(in your opinion)
How many different languages do you know?
Do you dwell on the Past, Present, or Future more?
In school, what were/are you known as?(athlete, quiet, class clown, weirdo, perv, dummy, etc)
Do you believe in Karma?
Do you think you have more good luck or bad luck?
What’s your favorite food?
What’s your favorite beverage?
Do you prefer to be outside or inside?
What’s your favorite kind of weather?
How did you discover Tumblr?
What is your favorite ship, and where are they from?
What is your favorite kind of food?
Sweet or Sour?
Salt or Vinegar?
Do you have strong will/do you have a powerful determination?
Do you easily give in to peer pressure?
If you had the choice to vent to someone, or not?
Is Bigger Better?
What is #1 your goal in life?
Are you a YouTuber?
What is your favorite thing about people?
What is your favorite thing about today’s society?
What is something you HATE about people?
What is something you HATE about todays society?
Sweet coffee or Bitter coffee?
Your house is gonna blow up. You can only save 1 thing. What is it?
Pancakes or Waffles?
Vegetables or Fruits?
When looking for a good song, do you pay attention to the Lyrics or how the Music Sounds?
Pillow or Blanket?
Hamster or Guinea Pig?
Mouse or Rat? Which one is worse?
Rabies or Zombie?
Do you like to read and/or write fanfic?
Is there anyone in your life that you feel you can truly be yourself with?
Do you Support giving chairs free will?
What is your biggest phobia?
Do you think was Math Created or Discovered?
What song best describes you?
What song best describes you personality?
What song best describes your life?
In your opinion, what is the most powerful word?
How many siblings do you have?
Do you think the Earth would be better without humans?
If you were given the power to end humanity, would you do it?
You are given the power to destroy humanity. But if successful in destroying humanity, you have to kill yourself, too. Do you do it?
You’re given the option to control death. Controlling death is your job. Do you take the offer?
You’re given the option to become Karma itself. Do you take it or leave it?
Are you a big Conspiracy Theorist?
Ham or Turkey?
In your opinion, what is the best combo?
In your opinion, who is the most iconic Duo?
In your opinion, who is the most iconic Trio?
In your opinion, who is the most iconic Squad?
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yanderespamton78 · 17 days
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ive already shown this to anyone who actually cares pretty much loll (anyone following the addison arg) but i might as well post it on here
this is actually the first proper animation ive done :'D like other than this ive animated a ball bouncing but that was more to test the software than anything,, lucky for me i consume animation memes more than i consume water so i know the basics B)
#i need to drink hmm#ok im gonna ramble in the tags about the process because i like rambling#that frame where hes looking down and saying “we're coming” was actually the first frame i did#this was gonna be a stupid meme wtf happened#i can show you the first image it was just joking about how quickly everything had escalated lmao#then i drew that and was like#“woag;;;;; ook so like what if i animated this”#twas GRUELING#it may not have seemed like it bc i didnt mention it when i was wokring on it but i wanted to keep it a surprise lol#anyways im finally free from this stupid animation I CAN DRAW PIN!!!#i ended up redrawing the first frame once or twice because it looked really really bad#then the last ones im still kinda unsatisfied with but i couldnt be arsed to change them#im still unhappy with the way he jolts his head back it feels weird#thing is because of my insistence to keep that one really cool frame in there i had to do it#basically i needed a way to get him from hunched over to back straight looking down with his face hidden at one point#and it ideally had to look very unnatural that was the general goal#but idk i thought that line where Slick called Addon blue bell was really FUCKING COOL#also in a voice message Turnip acknowledged the static#SO PROUD OF MYSELF FOR THAT URUAHGH GURAH GH GHH#YES!!! THE STATIC!!!! I DID DO STATICCC!!!!!#also i know thats probably not what Slick possessing Turnon looked like but thats how i visualised it lol#I was binging tawog while watching this B)#OK actual tag time woag#animation#beginner animator#addison oc#turn off the lights arg#not my oc#addisons deltarune#my eyes hurt
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themyscirah · 2 months
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But look at us Luke, we're the ones left alone, holding some rich monster's pain. All of existence, built on his violence. All of space-time, humming to life with a single inviolate rule. Give the hero something to punch.
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svtskneecaps · 7 months
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feel like the global tasks sweep strat should probably be nerfed somehow. my thought would be, give each team an individual ten minute overall cooldown on global task claims. that is to say, a certain team can only claim one global task per ten minutes. say, deliver gas masks, and then in ten minutes you're allowed to deliver tea, and then after another ten minutes you can claim hot chocolate.
another teams would be able to claim a global task for bananas during this time, and their own ten minute cooldown would start.
(the global tasks can either keep their individual ten minute cooldown [i.e. after tea is claimed no one else can claim tea for ten minutes] or a slightly shorter cooldown, say 5-7 minutes)
when a global task is claimed, everyone is notified, right? if not, in my hypothetical, they will be.
then, a team trying to sweep six tasks at once would actually take sixty minutes to do, allowing another team to swoop in and have a chance to stop it in cinematic, entertaining fashion rather than tubbo having to grind resources and then log out in front of the merchant to counter this, which is boring for everyone (including the person delivering). plus, if a team cuts it down to the last second and ends up getting delayed, they physically wouldn't have time to make a delivery, meaning even being a BIT of a nuisance could be a viable strategy, even if you can't manage to kill; if you can STALL you could still wreck their plans.
that's my dream anyway idk i'm not a game designer. just think it would be interesting for most players
(i elaborate under)
red team would have to shake up their strategies, which is fun since they're a team that kinda has to rely more on strategy than outright brawn (overall the team's pvp can't be relied on unless they have carre or phil, as seen today when pierre, bad, and etoiles attacked phil cellbit foolish and baghera, and cellbit and foolish both died to etoiles in the attack, despite it being a 4 on 1 at the time. baghera was killed by bad soon after. phil was the one to get the kills. the first day, when blue attacked [niki, tubbo, and bad as i recall] carre got both kills)
the other teams would then still have a way to stop a global sweep since a sweep would have to start earlier, allowing not only more time to arrive at global to pvp about it, but ALSO allowing another team to swoop in and steal the goal out from under the team again
i'm gonna use it in a scenario bc i'm badboyhalo and i can't stop myself from making examples:
so, tonight, if the proposed cooldown was in place, bad and tubbo would both still had roughly 17 minutes when red team would have HAD to start the sweep process if they wanted all six global tasks: 1 hour until the server closed at absolute MINIMUM. more for safety's sake.
therefore, in this scenario, there's a lot to happen
blue team could wait at globals, knowing red will probably try this strategy, and attempt or perhaps SUCCEED in killing red. if they kill red entirely, the operation is a wash; red doesn't have to gear to come back from scratch and take out blue team, and even if they could, the travel time to return to globals alone would mean they wouldn't get all the global tasks, potentially meaning they don't take the lead. if blue team is unable to kill red and dies themselves or has to retreat, but succeeds in delaying red, red would face the same problem.
if red sends in all of the task items on one person, and that person dies, even if the rest survived, blue could loot the items from that person and would be able to either use the items themselves, if green is currently the owner, or could run away with the items, effectively wasting red's time and again, meaning they wouldn't get all tasks claimed even if they were able to overtake the runner and reclaim their items.
i'm unclear what would happen if red divided the task items between them since it seems like the person claiming the task doesn't have to have all (or any? again, unclear) the items in THEIR inventory in order to claim so long as a teammate is nearby with the items in their inv (evidence: pac's vod "voltei... o que tá acontecendo no QSMP?!" at roughly 3:00:00; tubbo claims tea and tea is taken out of pac's inventory. i don't know the limits of this strategy)
blue team also has time to swoop in and steal a global task out from under red during this time. say, if red team had claimed the task for 10 tea leaves, upping the price to 15 tea leaves, and then blue team snuck in and claimed the task and set the price up to 20 tea leaves, (since the proposed 10 minute cooldown on claims would be TEAM LIMITED; red's cooldown applying to red only and so on). if red waited until the last second, they wouldn't have the time to reclaim this task even if they did have the resources, possibly forcing them to start their sweep earlier to counter this possibility, at which point team members who had logged on earlier and are out of time by the end of the night, OR members who live in time zones that don't allow them to stay up until server close, may have an easier shot at participating in defending against a global sweep.
all of this DIRECT CONFLICT would make for good audience entertainment and heighten the stakes of an attempted global sweep, since it would practically have to be one team defending globals for an hour while they pipe all their resources into it, knowing that if they die another team could easily swipe their task resources and use it themselves (along with the rest of their gear). it makes it more interesting, while still mostly viable.
plus it would force more strategizing for red team which is maybe just a personal plus, i just really like seeing people planning both in advance and in spur of the moment. it's really satisfying to see how a plan comes together and succeeds or fails; plus, since red team is the main team using this strategy at the moment and their main draw and strength as a team is cohesion and communication this would be completely fucking riveting for me as a viewer so maybe this is just a personal thing. but i really really think it would be fun
but again, i'm not a game designer, or a qsmp player, or a qsmp admin, or honestly even really a gamer? so maybe i'm off my rocker and out of my gourd and this isn't viable or balanced in any way shape or form but YKNOW what is this blog except putting stupid thoughts into the void and seeing if this time the void spits back hate mail so. i'm folding this into a paper airplane and throwing it into the abyss. hopefully it made sense.
k love you appreciate you getting this far, have a good week!!
(i hope your team gets a win in dramatic fashion and celebrates together!!! i hope they come together and unleash a plan so spectacular it takes the server by storm!!! i hope it's so good it becomes a vod you go back to even years in the future!!!! i hope you have a good week!!!!!)
#qsmp#qsmp purgatory#shut up vic#block game brainrot#yes it's long beneath the keep reading no i'm incapable of being succinct#i color coded the important parts though i just wanted to try to be clear#examples are my bread and butter i do programming and math they make everything easier for me to understand#god i hope this makes sense to other people i didn't ask my biological peer reviewer so idk if this is stupid or not#tbh it's just a tumblr post so i guess it's whatever if it is but i put wayyy more work than necessary into double checking timelines lol#(i didn't watch blue today sorry :/ idr if i mentioned in the body of the post but i main red team)#(their energy is just more entertaining for me personally; though i kept an eye on pac once i could multi-watch!)#anyway other team mains feel free to weigh in if i'm making weird assumptions about what the teams are capable of#heaven knows my pov is biased here LMFAO#((for what it's worth i am fully aware this means red team aren't rly underdogs anymore and i super want them to be kicked in the stomach))#((back to the drawing board; what will they do??? I WANT TO KNOW :O))#((seeing them crawling back to victory from being like two pixels on the bar on sunday was great. more of that pls))#idk i've rambled enough#long tags#ignoring daylight savings it's technically one am goodnight friends i hope this post doesn't suck hahahaha...............#OH AND IF ANYONE THINKS I SHOULD TAG SOMETHING FOR FILTER PURPOSES ABSOLUTELY LET ME KNOW#i want to be courteous but i think this post is pretty neutral in tone? but if you think it deserves a tag i will absolutely add it!!!!!
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b4kuch1n · 1 year
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found out this year’s snow miku contest is happening yesterday while on call with my friend and then I blacked out and woke up to this being posted on the piapro site (it’s here btw)
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kyouka-supremacy · 6 months
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I'll be like “I don't really project in any bsd character” [ten seconds later] so Akutagawa is autistic and hates cooking and has never sent a text to a groupchat ever and
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insert-neologism · 16 days
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Shauna's drunk. When she's drunk, she starts thinking (more than usual, that is).
Also, something's wrong.
Jackie dances in the middle of the floor. With Jeff.
Shauna is watching her from outside the mass of writhing bodies and feels horrible.
It's not that they're dancing now, as if nothing's ever happened, as if Jackie didn't cry just last night in Shauna's bed (only in the dark, silently, when she thought Shauna was sleeping. She wasn't.)
It's not even that Jackie is back together with him, even though he doesn't make her happy and Jackie knows that just as well as Shauna. Even though she keeps saying the opposite.
It's that Shauna cant stop thinking about it; that even if she forces her eyes to wander they still come back to Jackie every time, fixate on her like there's nothing else in the room.
It's that Shauna can't look anywhere but her, and that the music fades ever so slightly when she does (only for her. only ever for her.)
It's that she's dancing so closely with Jeff that they might as well be one, a single body. And it feels... wrong, just deeply, plainly wrong. It shouldn't be him.
It's that Shauna can't be happy for Jackie. It's that she's the worst best friend to ever exist.
She downs the rest of her drink, barely even tasting it.
Jackie, unaware, turns her face towards the ceiling, eyes closed. The light illuminating it turns blue.
It gives Jackie's skin an almost ethereal glow; she doesn't look real anymore, like her soul has left and all that's moving is just her body, a lifeless shell. She stills, for a second or forever - Shauna can't tell. But she's not moving anymore, and her skin turns lighter, white-ish.
Snow starts to fall. It's terribly cold.
Shauna flinches; the red solo cup crumbles beneath her grip. She feels bile rise in her throat.
It's not snow, of course it isnt; it's summer and they're inside. The spotlights are just throwing white flecks everywhere, like the ones behind Shauna's eyes when she closes them and tries to think of nothing (it never works). Jackie's moving again, blue again, with Jeff's hands all over her again.
It hits her, as sudden as a punch to the face: an overwhelming pain, something that can't be described as just 'sadness'. Something that runs so deep that not even death could expel her from feeling it.
It's still cold, impossibly so; goosebumps are covering her entire body and suddenly it's too light and too loud and too cramped and just too much and if she doesn't get out of here right the fuck now she's going to die.
The warm summer air outside and light breeze do make her feel better. There are less people out here, too; or at least Shauna can't see them. Doesn't care for them.
Everything is blurry. She's lost her cup somewhere on the way, but it doesn't matter; it was empty anyways.
Somebody - Nat? there's a shimmer of yellow, but to be honest Shauna would just like to close her eyes and lay on the ground until the earth consumes her, (out of protest against anyone who hinders her she refuses to open her eyes more than absolutely necessary) so she can't be sure - is tapping her shoulder and handing her a piece of bread, saying "for fuck sake, how much did you drink? Did you eat nothing all day or are that much of a lightweight?"
She did eat. Enough, even though she gave Jackie half of it. Well, 'gave' is relative; but she doesn't like to say she forced Jackie to eat. Doesn't think she could do that, force Jackie to do anything. Doesn't think anyone could. Not really.
But she really isn't feeling that great, and food does help more often than not, so she accepts it and watches the shimmer of blonde float away again.
She bites into the bread. It feels hard and cold and tastes salty and not at all like bread.
Shauna turns and throws up.
Somebody gathers her hair and holds it up, holds her up until she's slowly calming down. "Are you alright?" a voice asks.
Shauna looks up. It's Van, Van with her fiery red hair and a scar on her face. She blurs.
"Something's wrong." Shauna says.
"Yeah, obviously. You've had way too much, what the fuck is going on?"
"No, it's..." Shauna doesn't know how to explain. Can't explain, because how do you explain something you don't even know yourself? How do you say something you can't even think, that you don't know is true?
So she doesn't. Instead, she holds her hand out and traces Van's scar, red against white.
Blood on snow.
The skin is smooth.
Her fingertips are crawling. She feels like she did seconds (hours? How long did she lay here?) ago, when she was inside; too light and too loud and cramped. Only this time, it's not because of other people; this time, it's just herself, her own body who she wants (needs) to get rid of. There are feelings inside of her, feelings she can't contain nor express and they're building up (They've always been building up. They've always come close to being more than what she can handle. But today it feels inevitable.); there's an ocean inside of her, and it's gathering up into a wave so big it's impossible to perceive and it's gonna crash, it's gonna crash and crush her and she's gonna go down, go under and drown. She's tearing at the seams.
Van's looking at her, she realises, eyes wide and filled with an badly hidden emotion that Shauna knows intimately, can match to what's inside her, infesting her like a parasite. That sometimes overcomes her, makes her unable to move and makes her always keep Jackie halfway out (because she doesn't know what, but something's wrong with her. And if Jackie ever finds out it's going to be the end of them - the end of the only good thing Shauna has.
And she knows it's futile, knows she'll destroy it either way; by keeping Jackie out and by letting her in, but this way she can at least pretend.
She can pretend until it's too late, and then keep pretending; because deep down she knows Jackie won't ever leave her. She's imprinted in her skin, behind her eyelids, her brain; she's haunting her already, so why should that be different when she's dead?)
What she doesn't know is why Van is feeling that, why Van is even familiar with it, the bone-deep fear that infests everything she knows like a toxic gas - unable to keep out and killing everything around her.
But she's still looking at her, with the same wide eyes as minutes (seconds?) ago, her mouth slightly open.
She doesn't move, doesn't even blink - just like Shauna, who then becomes aware that she has a body too, that she is more than just a thousand thoughts and prayers and emotions, insecurity and rage, mixed up and dumped into a pocket of air. She becomes aware that her throat hurts, that there's a twig digging into her thigh, that her hand is still on Van's face, unmoving.
"Van?" a voice calls. Van flinches, and so does Shauna. She drops her hand (it lands on her lap, limp and unfeeling), and Van blinks rapidly as if to make up for all the time she didn't, and time starts moving again.
Being normal again.
Except that nothing is.
A hand lands on Van's shoulder, and this time only Shauna flinches. "Damn." Tai says. "Is she alright?"
YES, Shauna wants to say. She is alright. She is the alrightest she's ever been, so could everyone please just leave her alone? Thank you.
"I don't think so." Van says.
She's still looking at her, this time tinged with something like an understanding. A connection. Shauna doesn't want it.
"Do we have to get Jackie? I know where she is, I just saw her-"
"No."
Tai sighs. "Van, please, I'm not dealing with this tonight. First... "
She wishes she could throw up again, get out every thought and memory and watch it disappear into the ground. If it won't claim her body then maybe it'll be enough for it to claim everything that makes her her. Maybe she'll be the ground afterwards; after all, swallowing her thoughts is all she ever does. ("Just talk to someone. It'll be good for you.", her mother had said. Shauna had taken up journaling instead.)
Somebody's pulling her up to her feet.
"Shauna? Shauna, hey..."
Shauna sways, held up only by Van's arm around her waist. Her eyes land on an exceptionally blurry Tai, who's watching her with a concerned look (which is her own fault, Shauna thinks. If they just would've let the earth consume her in peace she'd be long gone already and everything would be alright.)
"Something's obviously going on." Van says. "I'm not leaving her alone, not in that state."
Both Tais glare at Van.
Shauna blinks.
Both of them are still there.
One of the Tais, the one with the longer hair, says something.
Her teeth are dark.
Maybe her bread fell into the dirt too, Shauna thinks miserably.
They're still arguing, still about her. She doesn't want them to, doesn't want them to care for her. Caring for her is not going to end well; she's a knife, a violent paper doll, hurting and destroying and incredibly fragile all the while. Waiting to be discarded.
She turns into Van and starts to cry.
"That's it." Tai (Shauna can't see which one) says. "I'm getting Lottie. Her party, her responsibility. "
Van just sighs and rubs Shauna's back.
Some time later (Shauna is confident that this is a correct estimate about how much time has passed) she's sitting on the steps to the balcony; at least, that's what she thinks based on the noises around her and the smell of weed in the air. The party is obstructed by the impossibly huge plants on the balcony, and it's too dark to make anything out except for a stream of light in front of her. She's grateful for it.
She still feels Van's touch on her back, a ghost handprint.
They're talking about her, Shauna knows, and about her. They (Van and Lottie; Tai pretended to leave but Shauna can feel her eyes from somewhere behind her) are standing a bit apart and the only thing she can hear are whispers. It's not hard though, to know what they're talking about; it's always the same thing. As if they’re entwined, as if Shauna doesn't even exist without her.
Don't get Jackie. At least theyre honoring that wish; they might pass her around like she's a particularly fucked up plant that everybody wants to get rid of as soon as possible, but god forbid anyone would want to pry Jackie from her second body.
Let's get Lottie instead.
She didn't want them to, and told them as much (which didn't do anything at all). Almost like she isn’t her own human with her own agenda; somehow, everybody keeps insisting that she can't possibly make her own decisions, that she doesn't know what she wants. Misplaced. A puppy hanging around outside, waiting to be let back in.
There's something to be said (thought) here, something that she can't grasp right now; it feels just out of reach, dancing behind closed glass doors, but it's interrupted by Lottie's shadow appearing right in front of her, cutting into the yellow light.
She isn't wearing a hat or anything, Shauna notes; which is weird considering it sort of looks that way on her shadow - as if there's a very weird tree growing from her head. Briefly, Shauna wonders if she's high - if she's simply inhaled enough smoke on her time on the balcony to make up for actually smoking.
Lottie, who's holding a joint, doesn't make that theory seem too absurd.
The smoke curls up and obstructs part of her face. Together with the dim light Lottie looks like she's hidden behind a veil.
It's cold again.
The smoke lifts, and Shauna can see Lottie's frown. She doesn't want to, doesn't want anything to make Lottie frown. Especially not to be the reason.
" -you alright? Van said you said something's wrong."
Shauna can't talk, can't get any words out. She feels too weak, suddenly, like she could just collapse right here in the steps and sleep forever. She wants to.
"Did you eat enough?" Shauna nods, hastily. She won't eat anything else tonight. Can't.
Lottie grouches. Her shadow convulses, almost following the movements of Lottie's body and forms into something else, something smaller. The branches have grown. They're almost at the border of the lightstream now. It feels like they're reaching for it. Shauna's hand finds hold on her arm, nails biting into skin.
"You know, " Lottie says, gently.
Shauna's eyes are ripped away from the... thing cowering in the light, to Lottie's eyes.
The smoke-veil has lifted completely now. There's a softness in Lottie's eyes Shauna almost never sees; and if, it's never directed at her. Only ever at Laura Lee. Nat, sometimes.
It feels like an ocean. Calm and harmless; but at the bottom, Shauna knows she'll be crushed. And she's sinking, faster than she ever did before. Her heart is a hand-grenade, beating with anger and fear, but there's something else there, too.
"There- Sometimes you don't know what's going on, and that's ok. Sometimes you're feeling things that don't make sense, or that you don't want to feel, or that make you want to rip your heart out every time you do feel them. Because you have to. And because they're so great you can't just feel them alone, because one person's just not enough but you cant talk to anyone about it because they'd kill you. Not literally. But metaphorically.
But I- I guess I just want you to know that you can talk to me about it, alright? About everything. About her. "
Lottie looks away briefly, her eyes releasing Shauna.
The joint dangles between her pointer- and ring finger, burning into her clothes or maybe not. It doesn't catch on fire.
If it would, Shauna asks herself, would her shadow be exterminated too, destroyed by the light? Or would it simply be freed?
"Shauna?" Lottie starts moving towards her.
"No." Shauna says. "Stay in the light. Please."
As long as Lottie stays right there, in the light of the half-open balcony door, the shadow will stay there too. Has to. If she lets it into the dark Shauna can't keep track of it anymore, will lose sight of it, and it's gonna envelop her, burrow itself inside her and never let her go.
"Do you still think you're a killer?" Lottie's shadow asks. "You could be. If you tried."
"I know. " Shauna's shadow says.
Lottie stills and looks at her. There's surprise in her eyes now, along with that overwhelming softness.
Shauna realises that she's sitting behind one of the plants, in the dark; there's no light. So there's no shadow. She lets her head drop to her knees.
Lottie sighs. There's a rush of air and rustling of clothes and Lottie's hand, gentle on her head.
" Oh, honey."
Shauna wishes that she could drown in her honey voice, could let herself fall and sink and go under and never come back up again. Live as her reflection. It'd be alright then; she's nothing more than fragments of a person who might've existed once anyways.
She doesn't dare look up now, now that she knows Lottie's shadow isnt contained anymore.
She doesn't dare feel anything else than her hand.
"Lottie? Uh, I think they need you inside. There's a. Well, I wouldn't call it a fight, but Tai and J-. Oh, I'm sorry, am I interrupting?"
Lottie breathes out.
"You could never, Laura Lee."
She stands up.
"Could you stay with Shauna till I'm back? She's not feeling well."
"Of course." Laura Lee says.
Shauna can only imagine the look they share, but she's seen them a thousand times so she can imagine it pretty well. It hollows her out, pulls something inside of her out piece by piece until there's nothing left. Until she's but a shell. In some way, she supposes, she's never been more.
Laura Lee sits down beside her. Shauna can feel her eyes; not concerned like Van's or inquiring like Tai's or whatever the hell Lottie was, but simply looking.
Waiting.
She always does this; sitting beside someone and simply being there until they start talking. Even if it takes forever. It always works.
She's the best of all of them. Of the team, of the world; she tries and tries and never gives up. She's never once thought about being a bad person; she's never once thought about anyone being a bad person, because she believes in the irrevocable good in anyone.
Shauna doesn't realise she's crying until she feels Laura Lee in front of her, gently trying to pry her hands from her head. They fail.
"Shauna. Shauna, please look at me."
Shauna shakes Laura Lee off.
"I can't." she says, muffled. "If I do, something bad's gonna happen."
"To me?"
Shauna doesn't know. Van's scars weren't ever there. Of the two Tai's that went to get Lottie only one came back, and none remained. And Jackie's still dancing.
"Something weird is happening, Laura Lee. Something bad, and I don't know what to do against it, how to stop it, what to-"
Laura Lee stops her struggles against Shauna's arms.
"You know. Some things you can't stop. Some things are just bound to happen, and you can't avoid them. They're going to find you anyway. But, once you're through, you're a stronger person."
"I don't think this is supposed to happen." Shauna says. And, then: "Wait, you mean like a test? from God?"
Shauna can't hear it, can't feel it, and yet she knows the expression Laura Lee makes. When she starts talking again, though, her voice is just as gentle as before.
"I don't like calling it a test."
"Why?"
"Because it implies that you can fail."
Shauna sniffles.
"What, you don't think you can fail?"
You don't think I'm set up for failing, for being the worst possible person with every step I take.
"I don't think he'd do that. He didn't create us to fail, he created us to be good."
"Is that in the bible?"
"I'm not bound to the bible, Shauna." She hears the smile in Laura Lee's voice. "Look at me? Please?"
It was stupid to believe she'd get through with this. Laura Lee listens, and talks, and keeps company until it works. And it always works.
Slowly, Shauna looks up.
The night sky is much darker here, with Lottie's house being out of town and less polluted by the street lights.
Shauna knows, though right now it's being largely obscured by Laura Lee's face, painted blue by the moonlight. There's a light breeze, and warmth, and the giggles of random boys who probably went outside with a stolen joint or something.
It doesn't matter, though. All that matters is Laura Lee.
There's so much love, so much certainty in her eyes that Shauna feels herself simultaneously recoil and wanting to come closer; to submerge herself in the belief Laura Lee holds, that spans her world, endless like the sky.
How one person can have so much faith, Shauna doesn't know. Can't imagine. Wishes she could.
If Lottie is the dark, all shadow and hidden half-smiles, then Laura Lee is light incarnate.
"It's going to be alright." she says, and for once, Shauna believes her (because it's said with such conviction, such immense knowledge that Shauna can't not believe her.)
The sky starts to burn. There are snakes of fire, a place of smoke, rising around Laura Lee's head like a halo.
A second later, there's a boom. It shatters the earth and Shauna's heart, vibrating deep in her bones.
"What the fuck?" Lottie shouts from somewhere behind Laura Lee, who's still towering over Shauna, hair still reflecting the light.
"Who the fuck brought fireworks? I swear to God and everything that's holy, I will get your asses, and you will never show your godforsaken face here again."
Fireworks. Of course.
Shauna exhales, shakily.
It rains blue and purple fire around Laura Lee's head.
In the moonlight, it looks like snow.
Is she right back where she started?
"Did you see? Nothing happened." Laura Lee smiles, tentatively. "I'm alright."
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