#Out on a Limb 1992

[filmjunky-99]

o u t o n a l i m b, 1992 🎬 dir. Francis Veber Matthew Broderick

#film #comedy #out on a limb #Out on a Limb 1992 #Francis Veber #matthew broderick #Bill Campbell #guys in film

[mybutcheredtongue]

I'll Love You 'til the Grass Around My Gravestone is Deceased

harry potter timeline sirius black x fem!reader

CHAPTER FIVE (see full series list here)

1992

You reunite with Remus later in the Great Hall as you take your seats at the staff table beside each other.

"Bloody Dementors every where, just lovely," you grumble, before looking at Remus with a small smirk. "So...remind me why you didn't decide to tell me you were coming?"

Remus sighs, a small guilty smile tugging the corners of his lips upwards. "I wanted it to be a surprise."

You scoff, hitting his arm jokingly. "Fuck you, I could've spent my summer looking forward to having my best friend here with me. When did you find out?"

"Last month. Dumbledore said you had recommended me."

"I didn't necessarily recommend you, I just...may have mentioned your name along with the words 'great' and 'looking for a job'."

Remus chuckles, shaking his head. "I'm sure. But seriously, thank you. I really didn't expect him to hire me."

You lay a hand on his shoulder, smiling warmly. "You're brilliant, and I am right: you're going to be a great teacher. And hey, he hired me, didn't he? Only one who would." With that, you're reminded of your little visit from the Ministry and open your mouth to tell him about it but close it once you spot Dumbledore standing up to begin his speech.

"Welcome!" he booms brightly. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it's best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast..."

He clears his throat and continues. "As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the Dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business."

You feel your heart start to beat faster at the topic at hand, and suddenly become very interested in the empty porcelain plate in front of you.

"They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds," he says, "and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises — or even Invisibility Cloaks."

You exchange a knowing look with Remus.

"It is not in the nature of a Dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the Prefects, and our new Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no student runs foul of the Dementors."

Dumbledore pauses and looks very seriously around the Hall, and nobody moves or makes a sound.

"On a happier note," he says with renewed joy, "I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year. Firstly, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

You clap enthusiastically, smiling widely as the room fills with some...scattered, rather unethusiastic, applause. You spy Harry, Ron, and Hermione clapping heartily and smile proudly at them. You glance around at the rest of the staff, clapping politely, and notice the sour expression on Snape's face. His gaze is dripping with pure loathing as he glares at Remus. You don't know whether to be pissed at Snape or to laugh at his pettiness.

"As to our second new appointment," Dumbledore continues, as Remus' applause dies away, "well, I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties."

You beam down the table at Hagrid, clapping loudly. He's gone completely crimson, hiding his happy face in the tangle of his black beard.

"Well, I think that's everything of importance," Dumbledore concludes. "Let the feast begin!"

The plates and goblets lining the table in front of you fill with delicious food and you waste no time piling things onto your plate. The Hall echoes with talk, laughter and the clatter of cutlery against porcelain.

"So, now that you're here, I guess I can talk to you about...y'know," you say quietly to Remus, though the lowered volume isn't really necessary when the Great Hall is alive with such chatter and noise. "Got a visit from the Minister of Magic and a few of his buddies the last day."

"I expected as much," he replies with a sigh. "Actually, I'm so sorry, I meant to visit as soon as I found out but it was a full — "

"It's alright, Moony. I'm glad you didn't," you say with a weak smile. "They're monitoring the house again. I don't want you to have to get caught up in all this."

"Still...I feel bad about leaving you to deal with that alone."

You wave him off. "It's fine, honestly. I'm very brave." You chuckle at that last part, elbowing Remus playfully.

He doesn't seem to find it too funny, and worry lines crease his eyes as he opens his mouth to say something before shutting it, seemingly choosing against whatever he was going to say and returning to his meal.

⁠✧⁠*⁠。✧⁠*⁠。

The weeks pass much quicker than usual, spending less time bored and alone now that you have Remus to pester. Every Monday at breakfast, you wait anxiously for your delivery of The Daily Prophet, practically snatching it out of the air and rifling through it and scouring for any mention of Sirius. There are plenty, of course — constant reminders from the Ministry that they are doing everything they can to locate him.

Nothing interesting really happens, apart from Draco Malfoy throwing such a fit over Hagrid's lesson that his father is practically trying to get the heads of both Hagrid and Buckbeak on the chopping block. You understand that he was hurt...but in a magical world, most injuries are just not worth fretting over when you can pop up to Madam Pomfrey's and she'll have you mended in a minute.

You check up on Hagrid a few times for a quick cup of tea and it's obvious that the incident has shaken him and he's lost most of his excitement for his lessons. You feel awful. Hagrid has too kind of a soul to be subjected to the threats of Lucius Malfoy.

Speaking of which, you notice the uncanny resemblance between Draco and his father. Your distaste for Lucius has been present ever since you went to school together, and do your best not to let that impact the way you treat Draco — even if the fact that he decides to chat for most of his astronomy class while you are talking drives you up the walls. He is only a boy, after all, and we cannot help what values we are raised with and by whom we learn them from.

You really do wish Lucius hadn't passed on that hair to him though. It's a monstrosity.

You sigh as you sit at your desk, reading over your third years' homework. You hum quietly to yourself, Dubh sleeping soundly on your lap as you work.

You give Harry's a glance, ticking the labels scribbled beneath each star, before you find one incorrectly labeled and positioned star that strikes you as familiar. You shuffle through the other students' charts, eventually landing on Ron Weasley's, taking it out and holding it against Harry's in comparison. Same exact mistake and same exact misspelling of 'Gamma Geminorum'.

You chuckle, writing, 'Nice try' on both charts and moving on to the next.

⁠✧⁠*⁠。✧⁠*⁠。

The Halloween feast passes with you and Remus chatting amicably, the Great Hall lit up by floating candle-filled pumpkins, flaming bright orange streamers and clouds of fluttering live bats. And the food — Hogwarts dinners are always something you miss during the summer holidays.

Later that evening, you walk through the hallways back to your room, when you hear Dumbledore yell loudly from the Gryffindor corridor. Confused and curious, you change course and head down the hallway to find a large crowd of students murmuring, all pushing themselves up onto their tippy-toes to see over the heads in front of them.

Dumbledore is at the front with Percy Weasley beside him, so you push through the students to see what all the fuss is about.

The Fat Lady's portrait is void of the woman, replaced by vicious slashes ripping through the canvas, leaving strips fallen on the ground beneath it.

Dumbledore looks at the strips of canvas on the ground, glancing up and noticing you, before his eyes shift to your right and you turn and see McGonagall, Snape and Remus hurrying towards you.

"We need to find her," he says. "Professor McGonagall, please go to Mr Filch at once and tell him to search every painting in the castle for the Fat Lady."

"You'll be lucky!" Comes a cackling voice and you immediately know the speaker.

Peeves joyfully bobs over the group of students, blowing a raspberry at one trembling first-year.

"What do you mean, Peeves?" Dumbledore says calmly, and Peeves mischief fades quickly and he takes on a much more professional tone.

"Ashamed, Your Headship, sir. Doesn't want to be seen. She's a horrible mess. Saw her running through the landscape up on the fourth floor, sir, dodging between the trees. Crying something dreadful," he says cheerfully. "Poor thing," he adds, unconvincingly.

"Did she say who did it?" Dumbledore asks quietly.

"Oh, yes, Professorhead," Peeves replies, with a devious expression, as though he's got something truly shocking to reveal. "He got very angry when she wouldn't let him in, you see."

Peeves flips over, giggling, winking at you through his own legs. "Nasty temper he's got, that Sirius Black."

⁠✧⁠*⁠。✧⁠*⁠。

->-> read chapter six here!

→ all kinds of interaction are appreciated ♡

sorry it's been almost a week since last upload! had a bit of writer's block 💔

#sirius black #sirius black x reader #sirius black x you #angst #angst with a happy ending #harry potter #fanfiction #the marauders #fanfic #hp #marauders

[adore-laur]

SUNSTRUCK

— a sensual addition to southpaw 🌞

——

TODOS SANTOS, 1992

Palms slick with saltwater spread atop the surfboard floating in Mexico's turquoise ocean, its waxed surface scorching to the touch as it sparkles underneath the smoldering sun. Heaving himself up with taut and tanned arms, Harry switches out the cool engulfment for a beating heat that strikes his skin just right. Droplets cascade down the toned muscles of his back. Freckles that have come out of hiding dot his face in scattered clusters. The ultraviolet rays of June naturally bleach his tuft baby hairs blond.

He's unequivocally thriving, surrounded by a yellow aura gleaming brilliantly in the daylight.

Lying on his stomach, he manually paddles over to where Sawyer is supine on her pink inflatable raft. With a caramel-colored complexion and slim, silky legs that shimmer from the start of a sun-drenched summer, she resembles a solstitial vision for the ages. She has never looked more relaxed in all the years he's known her for. Her limbs that soak up splashes of Vitamin D are loose and not tense from working stationary hours at her office desk. There's no wrinkled crease of frustration between her eyebrows that needs to be smoothed out, nor is there a troubled frown pulling at her lips that needs to be lifted. She's in her own bubble of iridescent ecstasy.

This hush-hush getaway has rejuvenated their souls. The lush ocean breeze and visually flamboyant architecture lured them like they were a message in a bottle destined for the shoreline. Harry finally has uninterrupted time to spend with Sawyer in private in a nestled town where no one knows his name. Domesticity has already begun blooming in the desert bungalow where they're staying. Whispered confessions of love and gratitude spoken around the rims of coffee mugs. Waking up with her in his snuggly embrace is a luxury he's still getting used to. Kisses followed by wandering hands careen lazy mornings and sleepless nights. Their relationship is flourishing every day, and it feels like paradise.

As Sawyer tans like a sun goddess, Harry grows increasingly bored. The sluggish waves weren't nearly powerful enough to triumphantly catch, so he resorted to catching some rays instead. It didn't pan out too well because now his back is burning, and his girlfriend isn't paying attention to him. It's a deadly combination he needs to fix pronto.

"Sawyer," he says, peskily flicking water at her. "There's a shark behind you."

Opening her pretty brown irises shielded with cat-eye sunglasses, she flips him off and grouses, "You're not funny."

Harry smoothly straddles his surfboard and points past her. "I'm serious. Don't move, okay? I can see its fin circling."

It only takes a single second for her precious face to drop. She timidly shifts her sunglasses to the top of her head and stares at him in terror. "Is there really?" she whispers as if the non-existent shark is eavesdropping on the two lovers. "What do we do, Harry? Oh no, what do we do?"

To not crack a mischievous grin severely tests his might. "I'll grab you and take you to land. Don't worry, baby."

"We can't!" she tells him urgently, her voice rising to a whisper-shout. Thankfully, she doesn't dare turn around to see if they're actually in grave danger. "It'll follow us if we move. We have to be smart about this."

Harry dramatically looks off into the distance like he's in a film playing a determined survivor lost at sea. "If this is the last time we see each other," he declares with faux valor, "I want to die knowing I tried saving you."

Sawyer gawks at his morbid statement. He thought it was romantic. "Are you out of your mind? Don't say things like that!"

There's a slight growl to her tone, and she appears borderline petrified, so he abandons his silly prank. He's close enough to her raft to stretch his body forward and lift her, so he does, but not before humming the menacing Jaws theme and wiggling his fingers in her direction. She looks bewildered as he grips her waist and carefully transfers her to his surfboard. Once she's sat in front of him, he clings to her like a koala on a eucalyptus tree, his perspiring chest pressed flat against her back.

"Hi," he murmurs, nuzzling her cheek with his nose. "There's no shark. I just wanted to be near you."

Sawyer stills, then hastily unwinds his arms from around her. "You're so annoying," she whines, harmlessly slapping his thigh and grabbing her raft so it doesn't drift away.

Harry cups her jaw and tilts her head toward him. "You love me. I annoy the hell out of you, yet you can't get enough of me."

Glancing at his lips, she situates herself in his lap and smiles. "It's true. My sunray makes me happy even when he's a complete ditz."

Harry suddenly doesn't know how to speak, too enraptured by her natural beauty paired with a doe-eyed gaze that melts him like an ice cube on a sizzling driveway. Those brown eyes could get him to do anything she desired. Does she know that? Does she see the influence she has over him? Does she know nothing made sense in his life before he met her?

Unable to express his undying commitment to her without stumbling over his words, he utters a simple and sincere, "I love you."

Sawyer places her hand over his heart. "I know it."

Eventually, the rolling tide brings them back to the shore. The Baja California peninsula's tip possesses powdery sand grains that carry on for miles. This particular beach, Punta Lobos, is a hidden gem, and no tourists infest the area during the week. Rocky bluffs border the water, and the occasional hiker will admire the oceanic view from their advantage point before retreating down the trail behind the cliffs. Other than that, there's no one lurking around and disturbing the peace.

Harry and Sawyer lie side by side, sand sticking to their wet skin as the foamy waves barely reach their toes. Their fingers instinctively interlock, palms smoother due to being immersed in saltwater for hours, and something about it sends a firecracker shooting off in Harry's heart. Sawyer's skin after sunbathing is always gorgeous — golden, silken, and stamped with secret birthmarks only he knows the locations of.

He suddenly feels hot all over. Blazing sunbeams mixed with coursing dopamine are making him antsy. Trying to ignore his straying thoughts only worsens the constriction.

Looking over at his girl, Harry swallows and swipes his thumb across her chin to garner her undivided attention. She squints and beams angelically at him, a sheen of sweat gracing her cheekbones.

"Pretty girl," he says, his knuckles tracing the shape of her jaw. "What's on your mind?"

"I'm thinking about where our next destination should be."

"Nowhere. Let's stay here forever."

Sawyer ruffles his wavy hair. "And do what?"

A thousand scenarios whip around in his brain, and he ends up settling on asking his favorite question. "Wanna make out?"

Her plump lips instantly melt into a blissful smile. She rolls over on top of Harry's body, her syrupy skin adhering to his as she clasps his cheeks with her hands. She grants him his wish, coaxing warm and salty kisses from his mouth. His greedy hands roam the back of her thighs, trailing them up and down her sun-kissed flesh. Her ankles prop up and cross over each other, and she hums into his mouth as their craving kisses deepen. The pendant with his first initial that rests perfectly between her clavicles reminds him she's not going anywhere, as does the ring he gifted her that's settled on her finger, the cool metal neutralizing his flaming body temperature.

The unfortunate cause of their breakaway isn't because their love-filled lungs are deprived of oxygen. It's because, after all, they're on a public beach, and the sound of distant chatter has them pulling apart as quick as a zap of lightning.

Sawyer stands, briskly adjusting her bikini straps and glancing around like what they were doing was a scornful obscenity. She's adorably flustered. On the other hand, Harry sits up and nonchalantly adjusts himself while pinching his swollen bottom lip. He would be lying if he said he hasn't noticed excessive PDA isn't something Sawyer is necessarily comfortable with now that they're dating. She shies away from it, while he's quite the opposite. It's almost impossible to suppress the urge to touch and kiss her like there's no tomorrow, so he doesn't feel awkward about the innocuous disruption.

As he snatches his floral-patterned button-up that he left stranded on the sand and begins putting it back on, he spots his camcorder nearby. He brought it along to capture memories, which so far have mostly been of Sawyer in her feminine element—sunbathing on the poolside lounge chair with a magazine in her lap, curling her eyelashes in the bathroom mirror, dancing and singing to "Venus" by Bananarama on the bungalow sofa. 

She's the center of his universe. The summit of beauty and love.

His gaze flits between the device and Sawyer, who is now red in the face. It's amusing, so he brings the viewfinder up to his eye and presses the record button. He purses his lips to hide his growing smirk as he zooms in on the small group of people strolling to the coastline and then on her rattled reaction. 

It doesn't take long for her to notice. She jogs over to block the lens with her hands, fretting, "Stop it! This is so humiliating."

Harry laughs, lifting the camcorder to a height she can't reach. Sawyer is looking at him unimpressed, her arms crossed, and her head tilted to the side. The people most definitely saw them being handsy and smitten out in the open, but what's there to be sheepish about? Love is meant to be shown to the world.

"Are you embarrassed?" he teases, dragging out the last word.

She raises her eyebrows and nods. A hint of a smile plays at her lips, but it doesn't seem genuine. It appears insistent, one of hidden discomfort. 

Harry isn't a total space cadet, so he takes it as a cue to quit messing around and acknowledge her unspoken signals. He stops recording and drops the camera in the striped beach bag slung over her shoulder. He then tucks his surfboard under his armpit and offers Sawyer his free hand. The energy between them has shifted by a smidge, and he doesn't like it one bit. The grains of sand beneath his soles have somehow turned into eggshells within minutes.

"Ready to leave?" he asks. Sawyer nods again, still ominously silent, as she ignores his hand and fetches her deflating raft. "'Kay. Let's hit the road, then."

They arrive at the rental car, a vintage orange convertible that made his pockets hurt. Sawyer wanted it, and he couldn't refuse her. The hood is up in case of unpredictable weather, so Harry straps and fastens his surfboard to the top while Sawyer hops in the passenger seat, throws her raft in the backseat, and shimmies back into her daisy dukes.

Harry sits behind the steering wheel, his lanky limbs struggling to comfortably fit in the restricted space. The engine rumbles to life when he turns the key in the ignition, and he rolls the windows down before reversing out of the vacant parking lot. He peeks at Sawyer a few times as he merges onto the highway winding along the coast. She's staring at the desert landscape ahead that's saturated with a golden haze from the forthcoming sunset. Cacti and dead brush sizzle under the evening sun. Mountains tower over the feathery clouds. Vultures circle in the sky as roadrunners scurry along the pavement. It's stark scenery but nonetheless transcendent.

None of his surroundings matter, though, when his favorite person to talk to is overtly ignoring him. He tries to convince himself that maybe she's just tired. No, that can't be right. He knows her. She's affectionate when she hits a wall and cuddles up to him sweetly, clinging to his arm like a sloth on its beloved branch.

The truth is that he messed up.

Before he can dwell on every misstep he took in the past ten minutes, an earsplitting BOOM cuts through the atmosphere, followed by a rapid whooshing sound. Harry firmly clutches the wheel as the vehicle suddenly loses equilibrium. Without outwardly panicking, he takes his foot off the gas pedal and lets the car naturally slow down before pulling it off to the side of the road and braking lightly.

"Shit," he hisses under his breath, heart thumping erratically. "Goddamnit. I think one of the tires just blew out."

Poor Sawyer has her eyes pinched shut and a death grip on his bicep. Harry snaps back to reality and kills the engine, listening for any odd sounds. Before he steps out, he gives the top of Sawyer's head a gentle, comforting noogie and murmurs, "It's okay. We're okay."

She shakily gets out with him and leans against the passenger side door, anxiously biting her polished fingernails while Harry perplexedly settles a hand on his hip and assesses the external damage. The front right tire looks like one of the clocks in Salvador Dalí's The Persistence of Memory — sad, melted, and a surreal depiction of an unfavorable outcome.

He looks up and down the highway, finding no signs of any buildings, vehicles, or humans. Something he does see, however, is a broken beer bottle a couple of yards behind where they were driving a mere minute ago. Most of the shards of green glass are scattered along the edge of the road, yet a few stray pieces are lying in just the right place for any vehicle that comes racing down the highway. It's the perfect puncture for a not-so-perfect boyfriend already on thin ice. Karma must have a vendetta against him today, but he won't let it clip his wings. When life gives him lemons, he knows how to make a delectable pitcher of lemonade.

So, Harry does what he's best at: distracting his girlfriend. He can quickly turn this misfortune into something fun and make Sawyer forget about how sour the day has turned.

Swiping his sweaty forehead with his wrist, he huffs and gets to work. He's changed a few tires in his life, so it should be done in no time. First, he takes his shirt off so he doesn't get heatstroke. The humidity outside is brutal, causing sweat to bead by his hairline and on his back. He makes a show of slowly unbuttoning it and slinging the fabric over his shoulder. It's obvious Sawyer's gaze is locked on him. He's willing to admit he possesses vanity over his physicality, and it doesn't help that the girl watching him constantly feeds his ego.

Next, Harry takes his sweet time and saunters to the trunk, where the rental agency told him the spare tire is located. Lifting the trunk and flexing his arms, he opens the well to reveal the tire. There's also a jack and lug wrench that'll come in handy.

After gathering everything, he kneels on the blistering road, loosens the tire's lug nuts with the wrench, and then places the jack under the vehicle's frame. He stretches his arms above his head before using the jack to slightly lift the car off the ground. After removing the lug nuts, he removes the ruined tire, momentarily glancing at Sawyer as he breathes heavily from his body's exertion in the unbearable heat. She's in front of the car now, looking at the sunset that paints elegant splashes of pink and orange across the horizon.

Harry grunts as he tosses the tire aside. Sawyer glances back, and he doesn't miss how her eyes flick down to his abdomen, now slick with a sheen of sweat. 

"Wanna learn how to do this?" he calls out, grunting again when he picks up the pristine spare.

He's given no response as he lines up the holes and pushes the tire into the wheelbase. His biceps flex with soreness, and when he peers up again, Sawyer still looks at him, her eyes communicating something obscure. They have a little stare-down until he can't take it anymore and begins replacing the lug nuts. His jaw is clenched as he works quickly to try to get to the bungalow as soon as possible so they can untangle this yarn of bizarre tension.

Once the tire is secure, the old one is thrown in the trunk, and the tools are all put away. Harry walks over to Sawyer. She's perched herself on the car's hood, picking at her cuticles. Standing in front of her, he places his hands on either side of her thighs, his shoulders taut as he watches her eyes dance over the sky behind him. He kisses the tender spot below her jawbone, tasting and smelling residual coconut tanning lotion left there. Goosebumps rise across the expanse of her neck like a swelling tidal wave, and Harry can't help but bury his face in it and whimper pitifully. He's like a needy puppy when she ignores him, pawing for the tiniest bit of love and attention.

"It's so hot out," he complains before sighing dramatically. "Let's head back."

Sawyer doesn't push him away, which counts as progress. "I want to watch the sun go down," she says, lost in thought. "Who knows the next time we'll be able to on an abandoned desert highway."

He won't argue with that. He doesn't need to nor necessarily want to. If Sawyer wants to soak in the sunset, he'll endure the feverish weather if it makes her happy. Besides, she's right; little precious moments, such as experiencing the sun dip below the horizon, leaving behind a new, wispy portrait of captivating colors each day, are worth pausing life from time to time.

Sealing a kiss on her forehead, Harry hops on the hood and settles beside her. "I'll never learn how to say no to you."

☼ ☼ ☼

Back at the secluded bungalow, an unorthodox band of tension is still waiting to be snapped.

Sawyer has started cooking dinner with the miscellaneous ingredients she purchased from the downtown market yesterday morning. Canola oil is popping and sizzling in a frying pan, and julienned bell peppers of various colors are ready to be sautéed. Harry took a quick shower to wash the ocean and sweat from his sunburnt skin and has since changed into a white long-sleeved button-up tucked into teal trousers. He also has a pair of sunglasses over his eyes to help relieve spending hours in saltwater and squinting under the blinding sun.

Sawyer is in a tight, cropped blue camisole with low-waisted silk pajama pants. Her hair is down, golden beach waves reaching the middle of her back as she maneuvers around the kitchen area. Harry observes her from the dining room table, not quite knowing how to initiate a conversation without stretching the metaphorical elastic too far. Or worse, past the point of no return.

He watches Sawyer tilt the cutting board over the pan so the peppers fall into it. They immediately crackle when introduced to the heat. She then takes a wooden spoon and stirs the vibrant vegetables, turning on the overhead stove fan so the smoke doesn't set any detectors off. She's still ignoring him, entirely focused on one task and pretending there's not an elephant in the room that needs to be addressed before the night concludes. Harry knows if he brings it up, she'll shut it down, say everything is fine, and insist she's not angry. She's a terrible liar, so he'll save that tactic for another argument.

As he stares at the back of her head, he realizes he doesn't like her version of the silent treatment. It's okay if she won't talk to him, but acting like he doesn't exist is ruthless. So, he walks over to her and wraps his arms around her slim waist. She tenses but continues mixing the peppers in silence. 

Okay, that's definitely not the reaction he wanted. Not even an ounce of acknowledgment when he begins kissing her neck, taking his time loving on the beautiful ridges carved there.

"Slow dance with me," he murmurs pleadingly, squeezing her.

"I'm busy right now."

Now, don't get him wrong; he likes her stubbornness. He even finds it incredibly endearing to a degree. But when it's directed toward something he's clueless about, he finds himself having to coax an answer past her adamant walls of defense. Being candid doesn't always end well, so choosing the proper approach is crucial if he wants to crawl out of the hole he's dug himself into.

Harry reaches around her preoccupied figure to flick the stove's heat off. The blue flame vanishes, and the sizzling ceases, causing Sawyer to sigh heavily as she sets the wooden spoon off to the side. She still doesn't turn around, even when Harry moves her thick hair over her left shoulder and starts planting warm kisses further down her skin, slower and more intentionally. She smells like the ocean breeze at the height of summer, sweepingly refreshing and pure. He doesn't know how he went so long without touching her like this.

Light from a dying yet persistent sunset pours through the slanted ceiling window. The nearby radio quietly plays a mariachi song that doesn't fit the fraught mood. Upbeat and punchy, the music is supposed to evoke happiness and camaraderie. It falls short this time, but like before, lemons can always be turned into lemonade.

"Do you know how to Salsa?" Harry pipes up while stepping away, giving her room to breathe.

"How to make salsa?" Sawyer replies distractedly. She's begun garnishing the semi-cooked peppers with fresh oregano.

"No, how to dance the Salsa."

She drizzles more oil into the pan. Her hand hovers over the stove's knob to light the flame again, but she retracts and mutters, "Um, not really."

Harry rolls his sleeves to his elbows and tosses his sunglasses onto the counter. "It's all in the hips, isn't it?"

She glances back at him for a split second before leisurely spinning around and crossing her arms over her chest. "Did you need something?"

"Sí, muñeca."

The almost invisible twitch of her lips doesn't go unnoticed by his attentive nature. "What is it?" she asks impatiently. "I'm trying to make dinner. You know, I've realized you always decide to be a pest when I'm not paying enough attention to you."

Busted. Well, at least she's talking to him now.

Harry begins clapping his hands to the song's rhythm in the background and swinging his hips in a terrible presentation of what's supposed to be salsa dancing. Sawyer arches her eyebrow and blankly stares at his uncoordinated movements. He's making an absolute fool of himself, but honestly, he just wants to see her smile. He'll go to the greatest lengths.

Shuffling closer to her, he caresses her limp hands and tries to get her to loosen up. "Let's dance."

“I'm not in the mood to dance."

He frowns dramatically, widening his feet to be the same height as her. "What's going on right now, hmm? We were having so much fun earlier."

Sawyer slides away from the stove and leans against the adjacent kitchen wall. A psychedelic painting of a gecko in the desert hangs above her. "It's not that hard to figure out," she says, looking everywhere but at him. It stings just a tad.

One of Harry's hands rests flat on the wall beside her, his thumb faintly yet purposefully touching the shell of her ear. He leans in and murmurs, "Are you still upset with me?"

The stubborn girl he knows and loves dearly steadily nods her head. "I'm furious. My body is on fire."

He bites his bottom lip with his front teeth as his piercingly intimidating gaze hungrily travels downward and lands on her exposed stomach. The silver bellybutton ring shining against her golden skin sets him on fire in an entirely different way. She's a delectable feast for the eyes.

Harry doesn't believe that her blood is boiling to the extent of fury, but he'll entertain her flair for dramatics. He says, "I'm sorry for shoving a camcorder in your face when you got embarrassed."

Sawyer gives him a puzzled look. "Huh? Oh, I don't care about that. I'm over it."

"Okay, then tell me why you're so furious." He's being thrown for a loop, and it's making him dizzy.

It's clear she's internally contemplating her response based on how her posture becomes less stiff. After rubbing her arm awkwardly, she says, "Because you're not nice."

Harry blinks slowly. Once, then twice. "What?"

"You were being a jerk by teasing me while fixing the tire."

It takes a while to realize his plan totally backfired. His innocuous teasing wasn't supposed to make her even more mad at him, and now he's stuck in a maze of figuring out exactly what he did wrong. Girls are so complicated!

Unless…

"Is that what this is about?" he asks, his lips quirking in amusement and slow realization. Perhaps the little show he put on for her had the intended effect after all.

Sawyer scoffs. "Stop smiling!"

He grins like a lovesick fool. "I'm not smiling."

"Yes, you are! Your eyes smile before your mouth does." She goes to tuck her stray baby hairs behind her ears, and when she does, Harry traps her fidgeting fingers with his hand still resting beside her head. 

"Yeah?" he goads, his pulse throbbing faster. "When did you notice that about me?"

"I've always noticed it. It's so easy to tell when you're about to smile. Your eyes glimmer, and then you scrunch your nose."

"You like watching me?"

"Cállate. We're not finished with this argument."

"Go on, then."

Sawyer waves her free hand around as incomplete sentences get caught in her throat. "I— you— we can't keep doing this!"

Harry's heart falters at the vagueness of her confession. "What are you saying? Be gentle with me."

She gathers her crumbling composure, then carefully says, "What I mean is... we can't keep fueling this fire if we're not going to do anything about it."

The fire she speaks of has been wildly swirling in his stomach for a long time. He's managed to tame the carnal flames by waiting for Sawyer to declare her desires first since her comfort level is always his top priority. The opportunity has now risen, and he's lucky she has opened up this much so that he can jump in and kickstart the colloquy they've been hesitantly dancing around for months.

"Is this about sex?"

Pink spiderwebs of heat spread across her face. Harry's thumb presses down on the apple of her blushing cheek, her skin delightfully warm. It's nice to know a little fire has also been burning in her stomach. It's just a matter of tending to both of them. Kindle the flames until they roar with lust.

"Sort of," Sawyer mumbles, her eyebrows plunging with an unknown emotion. "Maybe. Yes. I don't know. All I know is that I don't want to tiptoe around it anymore." Her hand reaches out to rest on his neck, her pleading body language igniting the embers again. "Harry, it's killing me. I can't hide it."

He cups the side of her head. "Why didn't you tell me sooner, baby?" His voice has stooped to a deep, gentle rumble that shelters her with compassion.

"I didn't want to rush into things." She drapes her arms over his shoulders and plays with the outgrown curls at the nape of his neck. "I want to take my time with you and soak you in day by day. Take slow sips of your sunshine."

Knees weak, Harry whispers, "Don't. Don't look at me like that."

"Like what?"

"With those eyes, Sawyer. Don't look all innocent when your words are the opposite."

She's completely clueless about how her imploring brown eyes can hold such seductiveness. Amber flecks swim in her irises, which are the color of dark chocolate. Rich. Exquisite. Tempting. Harry wants to break her off between his teeth like peppermint bark and swallow her silky, revivifying sweetness.

The tip of Sawyer's nose trails along his jaw, her lips brushing a path against his hot skin and setting fire to his loins. "I'm just tired of being patient. Does that make sense?"

Harry gives her a slight, truthful nod, then slumps his forehead against hers. "Tell me what you need, and I'll give it to you. There's no need to be shy around me. I'm your boyfriend."

"What if you don't want the same thing? That'd be so embarrassing."

"Sawyer Alejandra, you are so goddamn stubborn. Do you want me to just give it to you straight? Because I will." He takes a deep breath before blurting, "I want to have sex with—"

She clamps her hands over his entirely-too-bold mouth. "Shush!" Pinching her eyes shut, she whines and grumbles, "Forget I said anything. I have to finish cooking dinner."

If there's one thing he knows about Sawyer's personality, it's that the second she feels an ounce of mortification, she immediately backtracks. He'd usually let it slide, but this topic of conversation is a tricky one to simply forget about and move on from like nothing happened.

Harry unwinds her hands from around his neck and keeps them cradled in his grasp. Then, while staring into her devastatingly gorgeous eyes, he says, "This tension between us isn't going to just magically disappear. Either we do something about it, or ignore it. Your choice."

Sawyer swallows thickly. "I want to, so badly. But I'm scared."

"Why?" he asks, trying to open her blooming petals. They're singed with uncertainty.

"It's an incredibly vulnerable act, dufus." She cutely wrinkles her nose.

"And we're incredibly vulnerable lovers, so what's the sitch?"

She brings their conjoined hands up to her lips and kisses his knuckles. Against his skin, she mumbles, "How do we even go about this? I've made it awkward."

He shakes his head in disagreement. "You didn't. Do you trust me to take the reins?"

"Of course."

"Then follow me to the bedroom."

Sawyer points to the stove. "But what about dinner?"

Harry pinches her cheek and starts dragging her down the hallway. "I know just the cure for an appetite."

☼ ☼ ☼

The queen-sized bed has sheer canopy curtains draped around it. They were too lazy to make it this morning, so the sheets are still crumpled, and pillows are strewn about. Sunlight streams through the open bay window, making the room glow a tender hue of honey. 

It's alluring and also equally terrifying.

Harry went into the master bathroom to mentally prepare himself, even though he told Sawyer he was just freshening up. His reflection in the mirror peered back at him pensively. He fixed his hair about ten times, swiped another layer of deodorant across his armpits, and then gave himself a hushed pep talk before swinging the door open and putting on a cool, calm, and collected face.

Yet the butterflies in his stomach currently contradict everything he's trying to convey, especially when he finds his sweet Sawyer sitting against the headboard, the puffy duvet covering her bare breasts. The sun casts light on her stunning face and accentuates her apprehensive features. She's innocently staring at him as if she didn't knowingly climb into bed without any clothes on and sat there patiently waiting for him like the good girl she is.

And... he's hard already. Well, that's one less thing to worry about.

Harry clears his throat and strips down to his boxers, then slides into the space next to her, waiting with bated breath. Neither of them looks at each other, too hesitant to make the first move. They've both had sex with different people before, so it's not like they're blind leading the blind, but now that they're actually in the bedroom, all confidence has apparently flown out the window.

"We could start with, like, kissing or something." So much for saying he'd take the reins. He can't even speak properly right now.

In his peripheral, he sees Sawyer nod hastily. "Sure," she says, quieter than ever.

"Okay. Are you comfortable doing it naked since you're already... naked?" She laughs, and Harry smacks his forehead. "Sorry. God, I'm so nervous. You're making me feel like a teenager all over again."

Silence lingers long enough for him to finally gain the courage to glance at Sawyer. She locks eyes with him, then slowly, almost teasingly, lets the duvet drop and pool around her waist. Harry's mouth goes dry as he takes in skin he's never fully seen before. She's soft, shapely, and undeniably tempting.

Sawyer crawls on her hands and knees until she's straddling his lap. She still has her underwear on, lace boy shorts that hug her hips deliciously well. With blood rushing to his brain (and other places), his reaction is a bit delayed until his hands eventually find their place on her waist. He's breathing deeply, nostrils flaring as he ravenously wonders how she will look naked underneath him, pleasure etched on her face.

"You're divine," Harry whispers while toying with the flimsy hem of her underwear.

"So are you," she replies, rubbing a coquettish hand down his chest. "Hey, let's maybe skip the kissing part? I'm kind of impatient."

"Damn, all right. We're diving straight in?"

She presses her body against his torso and hooks her arms around his neck. "I want to feel you. I've dreamed about it."

A desperate groan sounds in his throat. "You're lying."

"I'm not. Then I'd wake up, and you'd be kissing me like you knew exactly what I needed. And your hands would get so close to where they were in my dream but never close enough."

"Yeah? Where were my hands in your dream?"

Her eyes flutter shut as if she's recalling the fantasy. "Mm... everywhere. Warm and heavy between my thighs. Sliding up my stomach." A lazy, sensual smile creeps onto her lips as she adds, "Around my neck."

Harry is tired of waiting a second longer. He flips her over so he's on top, his silver necklace with the 'S' pendant swinging over her collarbones like a pendulum. "Let me make you feel good. I'll give you the real deal."

Sawyer twists the chain around her pointer finger and tugs him closer. "Please. I want it more than anything."

"Dig your heels into my back," he instructs before shuffling down her body until his head is lined up with her thighs.

She complies, and the pressure on his shoulder blades makes him choke on a moan. Her bent legs effortlessly fall open, granting him access to the single layer of fabric that comes between him and paradise. He stares at her from his position, his hands hooking around her knees. She stares back at him, a vehement fire in her eyes.

"It's all yours."

Her readiness is enough for him to lose his last shred of self-control. He leaves a suckling love bite on her inner thigh, then murmurs, "Lift your hips for me."

She raises the lower half of her body, and Harry slides her underwear off. She assists him when it reaches her ankles by kicking it across the bedroom. He focuses back on the inviting sight before him. A shiver trails down his spine when he takes two of his fingers and circles them around her entrance. She's dripping wet.

Sawyer's jaw goes slack as she scratches her nails across the expanse of Harry's sturdy back. He hisses past his clenched teeth, loving the luxurious burn. Tingling and tantalizing sensations course through his system as he tests the waters, slowly sinking his middle finger past her drenched opening. He vigilantly gazes into Sawyer's eyes the entire time, gauging her expressions for the faintest flicker of pain or unease.

"Talk to me," he says.

"It stings a little, but keep going."

"You're doing so good. So, so good. Tell me if it's too much, okay?"

She nods with a raspy whine, so he adds another finger, then uses his thumb to press against her clit and rub halo shapes onto it. Her thighs tremble and tighten around his head, tiny gasps escaping past her lips. He leaves bruising, biting kisses on her skin as he skillfully works his fingers, which are now soaked with her arousal. Filthy thoughts invade his fuzzy brain, thoughts of dreams he's had himself. Vivid images of doing what he's doing right now, except they'd always be cruelly cut short by the breaking of dawn.

Harry grinds his hips into the mattress, alleviating the ache while his kisses move closer to where his fingers are. Sawyer's panted breaths motivate him to ask: "Do you want my mouth?"

"Yes, please. Eres tan bueno conmigo."

The foreign praise rolling off her tongue enchants him to dive into her sweet, sticky heat. He laps up her wetness like its melted candy, the taste dangerously addictive. He hums insatiably, palms spreading on her lower stomach as he swirls his tongue inside of her. His cheeks are ablaze with sex drive as his eyes train themselves on Sawyer's face. Soft, sensual sounds trickle out of her mouth, fueling the intensity with which he pleasures her.

Pulling away for air, Harry whispers, "I can't get enough of you," before replacing his mouth with his fingers. They slide past her clenching walls so enticingly, so perfectly.

"Harry," Sawyer moans, fisting his hair and tugging at the strands. "I-I'm almost there. It's so strong."

He removes all body contact while sucking his fingers clean, then catapults off the bed to quickly grab a condom before she loses her approaching climax. He sifts through his duffel bag, finding the box he secretly packed in case something happened on this trip. 

Maybe he manifested it. Or perhaps his girlfriend is simply braver than him.

Making his way over to the bed again (tripping on Sawyer's unplugged curling iron in the process), he bounces back on the mattress and hands her the foil package. Her skin is glowing with an angelic radiance, but sinfulness cracks through when she pushes on his chest to get him to lay back. She straddles him and rips open the package with her teeth. The arch of her back, the excitement in her movements, and the slickness of her arousal are all he sees. She has no idea how heavenly she looks.

Sawyer's fingertips walk down his abdomen and brush over his length, which is straining against his boxers. "Can I?" she asks politely, her eyes wondrous.

"Go ahead, sweetheart." Harry cradles her head and brings it down for a fond kiss, her hair tickling his face. "Feeling okay? Not in pain or anything, are you?"

She shakes her head. "No. I feel like I'm floating."

"Same here." He breaks into an aching smile, coming to the realization of how special this moment is. "I love you so much. I'm gonna remember this forever."

"Me too." Sawyer slides his boxers off, their harmonious breathing mixing together. Harry's cock breaks loose and rests against his happy trail, reddened and throbbing. "Woah."

He laughs at her reaction. "Don't act so surprised. It's all your fault, baby."

She blushes and carefully rolls the condom on while Harry stifles moans by biting his knuckles. He won't last very long, but he'll make it worthwhile for her. He'll take his time, just how she likes it. Soak her presence in. Slow sips.

He sits on his knees, then motions for Sawyer to recline and spread her legs. Once she's in position, he settles an arm on either side of her body and hovers over her. He tucks her hair behind her ears and leaves a hungry kiss on her lips. "Ready?"

"Yeah," she exhales. "You?"

"Totally."

"Change my life, sunray."

Grabbing the base of his cock, he lines it up with her entrance. He reminds himself to go slow as his tip sinks into her, and he keeps it there as he watches Sawyer's face. Her shiny lips are parted, eyebrows pushed together. Her legs squeeze him while her hands hold onto his biceps. The muscles of her cheekbones twitch. God, she's an angel.

"I've got you," Harry says, a thrilling knot forming in the pit of his stomach. "Fuck, you were made for me."

He sinks further into her wet warmth, one hand grasping her leg to bend it more. She's tight, yet he's able to fit himself all the way in. Gasps leave both of their mouths at the feeling of him bottoming out, and it's like everything is moving in slow motion, the golden haze in the room adding to the delicacy of the moment.

"Mierda. Oh my God, Harry. Oh my..." Her fragile voice, leaking with whispery weeps, shatters his poise as he begins thrusting in and out. Sawyer's limbs become weak, her feet slipping down to the dip of his spine. It's all hot breath and swallowing each other's noises with sloppy kisses. Being inside her is a level of intimacy that electrifies every part of his soul. It's unfamiliar territory that binds him closer to the girl he wants forever. The orange flames they stepped around for years are now a cool, sapphire-blue.

Their hips reconnect with each thrust, a beautiful sound fused with their satisfied moans. Harry's pendant sways forward, his neck straining. Sawyer's nails pierce crescent moons onto his back, followed by more scratches that make him shudder.

"Goddamn," he chokes out, his cheek pressed against hers. "You feel stellar. I'm close. Give me... Christ, give me something to dream about."

"I'm there," she says. "I love you. I can't hold it any longer."

"Let it go, Sawyer. C'mon."

Arching her back off the mattress, she orgasms with a cry of release, and the vision of her has Harry immediately spilling out into the condom. It's powerful, otherworldly, and absolutely life-changing. He pulls out and lays on top of her, embracing her in a hold of overwhelming adoration as he whimpers into the pillow beside her head. They both melt into each other, sweaty and happy, coming down from their individual climaxes.

Every minute that passes, the room grows darker due to the moon painting the sky black with stars. Only the wind and their breathing fill the space, cool and heated gusts reciprocating. Harry can feel Sawyer's lips against his temple, curving up with a smile every so often. He's got a permanent smile as his fatigued gaze stares at the ring on her finger. He feels like sunshine is bursting from his pores and serotonin is being absorbed.

Sawyer is the first to move. She uses her remaining strength to get up and tightly wrap the sheets around her naked body before stepping out onto the balcony. With the door open, he can see the full moon illuminate the expanse of the flat desert, cacti and palm trees looming as far as the eye can see. The lack of humidity at night causes a balmy breeze to encircle her body, whipping her tousled hair.

"Can I tell you a secret now that we've had sex?" Harry asks from his place on the bed. His voice is sore and hoarse.

Sawyer turns around and bites her lip with a giddy grin. "Shoot."

He disposes of his condom, then puts his boxers back on and joins her, not caring about the chilliness. He still feels warm inside and out. "Do you remember our phone call last September when I was in South Carolina with a broken wrist?"

A flash of remembrance crosses her moonlit face. "Yeah. I was so worried about you."

He cradles her cheeks and pertly kisses her nose. "You took such good care of me when I got back."

It's the absolute truth. All the tagalongs to physical therapy, icing his wrist while cuddled on the couch, being a shoulder to cry on when he got frustrated—he couldn't have done it without her.

"I hated seeing you in pain," she says, looping her arms around his torso. "It hurt my heart."

"Never mind that." He inhales deeply and pushes forth his confession. "You... when you said you missed me during that call, a feeling came over me. Something in your voice made me weak. And something happened to me that had never happened before. I don't even know why I'm telling you—"

"Spit it out, Harry."

His head tilts back as far as it can go. "Fuck's sake. I got hard, Sawyer. Your voice made me hard."

Her mouth hangs wide open. A well-timed gust of wind passes like an awkward moment in a cartoon. "Um, wow. I'm not really sure how to respond to that."

"You don't have to say anything. Just thought you should know now that we've done the deed."

Sawyer giggles, hiding her face in the space between his pecs. "First off, please don't call it that." She looks at him and continues, "Secondly, you thought I should know that you got hard in South Carolina?"

He starts laughing too. It's contagious around her. "I should also probably tell you that I jerked it out in a crummy Holiday Inn shower. It was quite pathetic and sad."

She sputters out a boisterous cackle that echoes across the barren desert. Harry's cheeks flush instantaneously. "I appreciate your honesty."

"On a more serious note," Harry starts, gripping the balcony railing with one hand, the other on her hip, "I appreciate how you forced a confession out of me the next day. Don't know if I've ever told you that."

Her expression turns sorrowful. "I didn't mean to pressure you. It had been building up inside me for so long, and you looked so beautiful that night. My heart spoke for me and—"

Harry cups her jaw and kisses her unexpectedly, making her squeak. It reminds him of that night in the rain when his blue raspberry lips collided with hers for the first time. He pulls away slowly, fitting his nose over her own and swaying her slightly. "You did everything right. I was a coward who was frightened of rejection. The thought of ruining what we already had was nauseating."

"You thought I would've rejected you?"

"I never really know what you're thinking. That pretty brain of yours holds so many secrets."

Sawyer steals a ripe kiss. "Can I tell you one right now?"

"Always."

She kisses him again before saying, "I see forever with you. I want to wake up in your arms every day. I want to laugh with you until our sides ache. I want to kiss you until I get dizzy."

"Sawyer," Harry whispers, his eyes softening.

"I mean it. No one will ever make me feel this type of love again."

"I feel the same. You're all I need."

"Te quiero. Mi alma es tuya."

He nips her neck, slow and tender. "If you keep speaking Spanish to me, we're not getting any sleep tonight."

"Sí? Quieres más rasguños en la espalda?"

"Gonna tell me what that means?"

She gracefully traces the tattoo on his abdomen and says, "I can show you instead."

Harry's stomach suddenly grumbles with hunger, ruining the intimate moment. He peers at the twinkling sky above and laughs at the inconvenient interruption. "I would love that, but I'm absolutely starving right now. We skipped dinner."

"There's cold peppers on the stove."

"Delicious," he says sarcastically, shifting his gaze to her again. A few seconds pass before something he wants to mention pops into his thoughts. "Hey, did you know this month marks five years since we first met?"

Sawyer gapes at him, genuinely surprised. "No way. Five years?"

"Crazy, right? Five years since you almost gave me a concussion."

"I still feel terrible about that," she admits with a pout.

Harry remembers everything about that day, even when his brain got jolted by a killer volleyball serve by the prettiest girl on Cocoa Beach. Her brown eyes up close, holding gentle concern for a stranger. That sassy hand on her hip thing she still does today. Clementine fabric against caramel skin. Orange juice in a bottle. Summerboy.

"But if that never happened," he says quietly, "then we might've never spoken to each other."

Her dreamy hum tells him she's musing about it too. "That's true. Isn't it mind-blowing how the tiniest of decisions can affect the entire course of your life? I like to think that every past choice of mine led me to you."

He admires the way her voice gets wispy when her mind wanders. "Word. Does post-sex make you all philosophical and shit?"

She shrugs. "Maybe."

"Cool." Harry backs away while holding her hands until their fingers eventually slip from each other's grasp. "Well, while you brood about Plato's teachings, I'm going to snack on your world-famous half-cooked peppers."

"Have fun with that."

"I will. Love you." Halfway through the doorway, he suddenly stops and rushes forward, giving her a suffocating hug, his lungs breathing everything about her. "All jokes aside," he murmurs, "I also believe everything I did brought me to you. And it just makes sense to be in love with you. Okay, bye."

He's off and running toward the kitchen before she can say anything else, not even the shadows of night on the floor being able to darken the natural luminescence he leaves behind.

——

#harry styles fanfic #harry styles imagine #harry styles au #harry styles x oc #harry styles fluff #harry styles smut #harry styles #adore-laur #sunstruck #southpaw series

[arklay]

RESIDENT EVIL → THE WESKER FAMILY

To the public, little is known of the families behind some of the world’s most renowned bioterrorists, but the question remains: did they play a role in causing their children to walk down the path that they did? Or are these individuals simply ambitious criminals with delusions of grandeur?

For Diana Wesker (née Afanasyeva), her introduction into the bioweapons black market trade was upon discovering her employers were using her research into limb regeneration with salamanders to further their experiments in creating enhanced soldiers, instead of developing human therapies with which she was recruited for. Although the prospect of using biological weapons in the military did not appeal to her, the concept remained fascinating for her own selfish endeavours. Born on the 27th of October, 1963 in Sydney, Australia to Russian immigrant parents, Diana had harsh expectations placed upon her at a young age, ones that no matter how hard she tried she could never live up to. Her mother, Tatyana, was an unfeeling woman, absent for long stretches of time with little regard to how it affected her daughters, much more concerned with her craft as an accomplished opera singer. Viktor was no better. A strict man whose role as father and ballet master blurred, he pushed his girls to one day follow in his footsteps. Whilst Sofia enjoyed ballet, and went on to become a professional ballet dancer, Diana’s heart was set on going into the field of biology. She wished to make a name for herself, separate from her family – to which she succeeded.

Diana was married to former U.S. Marine, Dave Monroe, for only a year until he was declared dead in 1992 after succumbing to injuries sustained in a horrific car accident. Foul play was ruled out while Diana played the role of the grief-stricken widow, but in reality, she had snapped after years of mistreatment at her husband’s hands, and opted for something she could pass off as an accident to be free of him. For years she believed he was dead – and he was, legally – but that proved to not be the case when he found his way back into her life again in 1999. Unbeknownst to her, she had been lied to by the police and coroner, who were paid off by her employers when they took Dave’s body for themselves and used him as one of their first test subjects in developing supersoldiers. Before he could ever hurt her again, Diana’s second husband, Albert Wesker, tracked the man down, captured him and tortured him, before allowing Diana to get her violent and bloody revenge.

The origins of Albert Wesker’s involvement in bioterrorism, alongside his twin sister, Alex, are much different than that of Diana’s. The two hail from London, Canada, but unfortunately, they hold no memories of their lives there, nor what happened to their biological parents when they were eight years old. Agents of Oswell E. Spencer, an aristocratic billionaire and eugenicist, took the twins from their home and executed their parents as per Spencer’s orders. Albert and Alex were then placed in a home funded by the Spencer Foundation where they were given new names and a privileged upbringing. They had access to the best education possible, free to pursue whichever field they decided, but it was by no accident they both went into virology and bioengineering; at home, their adoptive parents – agents whom they believed to be their real parents – instilled them with the beliefs of Oswell E. Spencer, harbouring disdain for war and pestilence, and believing humans to be an evolutionary dead-end in need of a rebirth. They were only two of the hundreds of children “adopted” as part of what is known as Project W, a plan intended to develop an advanced race of human beings. The most promising candidates were headhunted by Umbrella Pharmaceuticals, the twins amongst them, where they went on to create bioweapons for the company founded by none other than the man who had handpicked them for his plan. The final stage of this was to infect the thirteen Spencer saw fit, however, only two survived; Albert received the intended effects, now possessing superhuman abilities, however, Alex was only offered more time to live due to her terminal degenerative illness.

In the summer of 1995, Diana was working undercover within Umbrella to gather development data on their projects for her company. Here, she had a chance encounter with Albert, an intelligence officer at the time, which permanently altered the course of her life. The two were never seen far from one another’s side, marrying in 1998, and they went on to become notorious in the bioweapons industry. The development of the Uroboros virus was where things took a turn for the worst. Although Diana’s infection was successful and she bore abilities that rivalled her husband’s, the plan itself did not succeed as they had hoped, and almost cost Albert his life at the hands of his former subordinates.

Now, they work within the shadows, with Diana declared missing and Albert believed to be dead. Their legacy, however, lives on with the mark they left on the world. As visionaries in their field, they influenced bioterror attacks carried out by countless individuals and organisations. In turn, they also inspired others to fight against such atrocities. One such person happens to be Albert’s son from a former relationship, Jake Müller, whose existence he was unaware of.

#mine. #oc: diana #pair: ewskers #click for better quality cause it's large & tumblr ate it ♡ #hii so happy birthday diana !! queen is 60 today :] #um. there's no template cause i made this from scratch...i couldn't find any i was vibing with so i was like you know what lmaoo #i'm sorry for the essay...it was meant to be just a short rundown of the family but well...that happened. typical leah fashion... #oh and guys. did you know that there's a limit to the amount you can put in one blockquote? that's why the rest is just left like that caus #i didn't like how it looked with a blockquote each paragraph...cause the spaces between were unever. you understand 😔 #with the tree i was also going to include weskids adoptive parents but i couldn't figure out how to arrange it all & make it look nice !! #cause i also wanted to have spencer in there as well cause he's a big reason why the weskids are the way they are...was maybe gonna include #sherry as well. like connected to jake (hehe) and then do her parents too but that would've made things so wide & it's already big enough #yes. i hc that albert & alex are biological twins. just for clarification there :] i don't think i added anything else that isn't canon or #implied with canon. cause the weskids were put in homes (or at least whatever ''controlled environments'' means) where they were monitored #by umbrella but were unaware of it. so yeah. i don't think i really changed much there !! #honestly i could've kept rambling cause there's alex's whole situation. there's my lore with jake's mum. there's way more with the ewskers #but it's already so long & i can't be concise so there's that lmaoo oh also diana's grandma. so much stuff #also meant to say the weskids birthday in that ramble. it's january 15 1960 :] they are capricorn sun leo moons but alex was born earlier s #their rising signs are albert is a scorpio rising & alex is a libra rising !! #had to redo the image cause typo on diana's birth year for some reason lmao so if that messed up the formatting i will sob

[spiderrrling]

Living After Midnight (Eddie Munson X F!Reader)

Pairing - Eddie Munson x Fem! Reader

Summary - Late night cuddles with Eddie before having to leave

Word count - 1992

Warnings - None, literally pure fluff with just a hint of bitter sweetness

A/N - Soooooo this is weird but hope yall enjoy this

“You kiss me like its everything to you.” She almost had to forcefully pull him away from her with how tight he was holding her. Her words were soft in the dark room, the window to his trailer bedroom was wide open and the sweet late night spring air was slowly coming through the window. The sun had just set, and the dark night sky was slowly pulling its cover over Hawkins.

In Eddie’s bedroom the two of them laid tangled in each other's limbs completely indulged in each other. Laying on his back, his arms were wrapped around her, pulling her closer towards him. Whilst her hands were tangled in the soft mess of his brown curls, gently letting the hair run between her fingers.

Eddie smiled and placed a chaste kiss to her jaw. “You say it like its not.” Eddie pulled away slightly so he could fully look at her. Her hair was tangled in front of her face, barely letting her flushed cheeks peek out and her eyes were gently glinting in the dim evening light.

However, Eddie could not stop looking at her lips, swollen from what seemed like hours spent laying in his bed together. He reached up a hand to brush some of the stray hairs out of her face, cupping her cheek gently with his palm so he could fully admire her, and she could feel the rough pads of his fingers against her smooth skin.

He just couldn’t help but smile as he looked at her, having her in his room, never mind his arms, felt like a far fetched dream not that long ago. “Maybe it is.” She whispered.

In that moment nothing else mattered, it was just the two of them, hiding away in the space they had carved out for themselves in a small town that sometimes felt suffocating. Nothing else mattered but the two of them.

“It is.” Eddie confirmed, sighing happily as he laid there admiring her for a second. “You are everything.” And with that he leaned back in and captured her lips with his, tasting the sweet tang of her chap stick on his tongue.

The moments they shared like this were the moments few and far in between where it felt as if they could both finally breathe. With no pressure to be who everyone else had boxed them in to be. They could just be themselves with each other.

“Tell me you love me.” Eddie mumbled into their shared kiss, his words were slow and dragged out. “I love you.” She responded in between kisses. Eddie’s arms settled back around her waist, pulling her closer and into a sitting position, letting her legs rest on either side of his lap, but he was careful to not let their lips separate.

Her hands lay flush against his chest, feeling each breath he took, the soft material of his shirt running beneath her fingers as she explored more of him. Even though this was far from the first time they had found themselves in a situation such a this, every time she kissed Eddie it felt new, exciting. Every time she was allowed to explore him a little bit further, she found something new to adore about him. No two kisses were ever the same and it thrilled her.

“Do you have to go?” Eddie asked her, his voice was low and quiet, because he knew what the answer would be. She grabbed onto his arm and read the watch strapped to his wrist. “Fifteen minutes.” She sighed and could see the disappointment in his big brown eyes. Its not like she wanted to go, more than anything she wished to stay here with him forever.

But reality was always bound to hit them eventually, even in their little bubble hidden away from the rest of the world. “Stay.” Eddie pleaded with her and kissed her again before she could respond, his grip on her waist tightening desperate not to let her go, his fingertips firmly digging into her soft skin. “Eds-“ the use of the nickname always made him perk up a little but, however, he was too preoccupied kissing her.

His lips leaving hers for a moment as he placed chaste, soft, open mouthed kisses against the underside of her jaw, inching further towards her neck. “Stay.” He whispered against her skin, and it made her break out in goosebumps. “Eddie.” The use of his full name made him pull away a couple of inches, hearing the seriousness in her tone. “I can’t.”

This is what their nights always concluded with, long drawn out goodbyes and kisses that echoed of future longing and needing to savour the feeling until the next time they found themselves like this. With giggly conversations of Eddie offering to drive her back home, knowing she would decline like always. Her bike was sitting locked up outside waiting to take her home, and away from him. Eddie wanted to burn that bike.

Hopefully with school letting out for spring break soon, sneaking around wouldn’t be so difficult, they would have more time to stay just like this, to spend days and nights together.

But for now, reality was that she had parents who would be checking her room at home, and they both had classes in the early hours of the next morning. And she was not about to let Eddie stay in high school as she graduated.

Eddie's back was pushed up against the wall, his hair was messy and tangled from hours of her playing with it and his cheeks were slightly flushed. He looked so peaceful like this, she thought, one of the few moments where his mind seemed to be completely still and he could just be there in the moment with her then and there.

She could have sat there and examined his face for hours, admiring every detail and part of him. Reaching up her hand, she rested it against the side of his face, her thumb attempting to smooth out one of his eyebrows. Eddie placed his hand over hers, holding it tight to his face and nuzzling into her palm, and she couldn’t help but smile at the sight.

It was puzzling, just how different he could be, how he could stand on the tables in the cafeteria just to loudly and proudly declare the jocks to be assholes, and how now in the dark corner of the world they’d mad, he was quiet and calm. She struggled to find the words to rationalise it, and he did too.

When they were together there was no need to live up to the labels the rest of the school and Hawkins had given them, he didn’t have to be Eddie ‘The Freak’ Munson, the seemingly fearless leader of the Hellfire Club, the school's very own D&D group. And she didn’t have to be Jason Carver's younger twin sister, the supposed golden child of Hawkins High.

Which is why the devastating blow of leaving always brought fourth that pit of dread in her stomach. Leaving meant she would be leaving a piece of herself safely tucked away in Eddie Munson’s disorganised bedroom, in the little trailer park off Curley.

“One day.” Eddie said, and she knew he could tell what she was thinking. It wasn’t like they had never talked about it, it was always there nagging in the back of the minds of both of them. She nodded in response and looked into his eyes. “One day.” She whispered back.

Eddie pressed another couple of kisses to her lips, making her giggle. “There is that smile I like to see.” She rested her head against his shoulder, breathing in the scent of him. Eddie always smelled like a little bit of weed and old spice. He swore that old spice was the best way to cover up the smell of weed, the verdict on the theory was still out according to her.

“Need me to drive you home?” Which only made her laugh more, she didn’t have to answer, he already knew. But at this point it was tradition for him to ask. She could feel his hands moving into her hair, his strong rough fingers so delicately running through her soft hair as he cradled her head against his chest. “I love you pretty girl.” He said into the room, not just to her, he said it like it was a declaration, and she nuzzled her face into his shirt, desperate to be close to him.

“I love you too.” She mumbled from where she was sitting, and Eddie pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Ready to go?” Eddie moved his hands to move her head, forcing her to look at him. She only closed her eyes and shook her head in response. “I know sweetheart, I know.” His voice was soft, barely above a whisper as they sat there.

And for a moment they just allowed themselves to sit there in comfortable silence, soaking up the last bit of each other’s company before she inevitably had to leave. She didn’t even have to say anything, she just started moving and he followed her off his bed, his hands still finding some way to be in contact with her, on her hip, on her shoulder, laced with her fingers.

He was desperate to hang onto her for as long as he possibly could, until the very last second, he would not be letting her go, clinging to her as if she was his only lifeline. And maybe she actually was.

Eddie reached for a discarded sweatshirt which had been hanging over the back of his chair. Guiding her arms over her head and helping her pull it on, before pushing her loose hair away from her face and pressing his lips against her forehead in a lingering kiss. “I can’t have you getting cold.” He whispered against her skin.

“And besides, now you have something that smells like me.” Eddie laughed, disregarding the heap of his clothes which he knew had found their way into her bedroom over the past few months.

He held her hand all the way out the front door, lacing their fingers together and rubbing gentle circles onto the back of her hand. “And you’re sure you’ll be fine going home? You know I don’t mind driving right?” He asked for what felt like the millionth time, but he couldn’t help but be slightly protective, and it wasn’t like she minded it either.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine, especially now that I have this to protect me.” She said referencing the sweatshirt, and Eddie couldn’t help but smile. “Your own personal good luck charm.” He concurred.

Walking outside she was immediately happy she had accepted his sweatshirt; the early summer air had shifted and the temperature had dripped just enough to make her feel a slight chill. But his hoodie was big enough on her that the sleeves almost reached to her fingertips.

Quickly unlocking her bike, and pulling on her helmet they had finally arrived at the worst point of the night, when she was actually leaving. Eddie pressed another kiss to her lips, cupping her face in his hands. If it was going to be the last kiss of the night, he was going to make it count. And she couldn’t help but feel the same way.

Her hands looped around the back of his neck and pulled him as close as she could while wearing a helmet, which made them both laugh into the shared kiss. “Be safe, ok?” He told her and she hummed and nodded in response, taking one last look into his dark chocolate brown eyes, and smiling.

“Good night.” She smiled at him as she got on her bike and adjusted her helmet. “Sweet dreams princess.” Eddie said with a final kiss to her lips. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

~~~~~

Mutuals aka my beta readers + grey @uglypastels @catparkers @hey-its-grey

Huzzahh and there it is my return to posting fanfic, please tell me how I did and maybe idk I might post more so throw me a follow or ask to be on the tag list? idk?

This is the weirdest thing I’ve done all year seriously who expected my return to tumblr to happen?

CREDITS TO Z FOR THE FIC NAME SHE SAVED MY BUTT

What can I say I’m just in love with this man

#eddie munson #eddie munson x fem!reader #eddie munson x female reader #eddie munson x read #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson fic #stranger things #stranger things fanfic #stranger things fanfiction #st #stranger things 4 #joseph quinn #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson stranger things #eddie munson concept #st4 #eddie munson oneshot #lets say its a oneshot for now #eddie munson blurb

[mintyscuriocabinet]

My Little Pony Tales (1992) Infection AU! Part 1 (CW: BODY HORROR)

Hi all, thank you for your overwhelming support of my infection AU. I really hope you enjoy it. I decided to go for something a little different than the usual infection AUs and put my own little spin on it. This AU is based on G1.5! If you have any questions about it or you'd like to see more, please let me know! With that out of the way, here's my Infection AU art.

Bon Bon

Status: Uninfected

Sanity: 80%

Health: 95%

Bon Bon wants to find a cure for the Crystallovirus, despite Flapjack Fiesta telling her it's impossible. She's willing to develop a vaccine before the infection spreads by any means necessary.

Items: Medical supplies, diary, kitchen knife (self defence)

Starlight

Status: Infected (Stage 3)

Sanity: 2%

Health: 10%

Starlight was infected by an unknown pony before being admitted to Redheart Hospital. Once she reached stage 3, she was too powerful for the staff to control so she escaped into the woods with the other zombies.

Items: Ice cream shop name tag, hospital IV, the crystal (plenty to go around...)

Clover

Status: Uninfected (amputated infected limbs)

Sanity: 78%

Health: 80%

Clover was infected by Starlight after she bit her legs. As a result, she had to get them amputated to control the spread, which works as a temporary solution against the Crystallovirus. Her disability makes her an easy target for zombies, so she prefers to be in the company of other safe ponies rather than bring alone.

Items: Flask of tea, pocket knife, seed pods

Ms. Hackney

Status: Infected (Stage 2)

Sanity: 50%

Health: 50%

Ms. Hackney is being treated at Readheart Hospital. She's currently experiencing the worst stage of the virus, where pain increases and memory begins to fade. She is highly supportive of Bon Bon's goal and hopes she can cure her before she reaches stage 3. She has aggressive outbursts regularly.

Items: Balloon (from the girls), pills (for pain), mask

Flapjack Fiesta

Status: Immune

Sanity: 85%

Health: 99%

Flapjack Fiesta is the girls' substitute teacher, who took over from Ms. Hackney after she got infected. He was born in Unicornia to two unicorn parents, causing him to be immune to the virus as it only effects earth ponies. Bon Bon is using him as a case study. He's also now the girls' primary caregiver as they were separated from their parents.

Items: Maths compass (for self defence. He's surprisingly good at using it for this purpose), textbooks, "mobile" phone (BRICK)

Dr. Hooves

Status: Uninfected (Possible immunity?)

Sanity: 90%

Health: 100%

Dr. Hooves is one of Bon Bon's biggest supporters in developing a vaccine. Because of his name. She things he has a medical licence, but he doesn't realise this. He spends a lot of time caring for his sick companion, whom he is very protective of. He believes it is possible that timelords are immune to the virus, however, he still wants to protect himself just in case.

Items: Umbrella, Nitro-9, psychic paper

Scrub-a-Dub

Status: Infected (Stage 1)

Sanity: 60%

Health: 65%

Scrub-a-Dub is a crime scene cleaner for Coltville Decon who contracted the virus from the blood of an infected pony while she was at work. She is the doctor's companion and has been quarantined in the TARDIS since she was diagnosed. The epidemic has had a major impact on her mental and physical health.

Items: Kitty (emotional support), Swiss army knife, keepsake locket

Sweetheart

Status: Uninfected

Sanity: 99%

Health: 100%

Sweetheart seems to be the least effected by the stress of the epidemic and acts the way she always did. This, along with her lifelong dream of becoming a nurse, has helped her to take on a 'medic' role of sorts. Her bag is always filled with non-perishable foods - like her favourite chocolate - just in case of an emergency.

Items: Chocolate, torch, portable radio

Bright Eyes

Status: Uninfected

Sanity: 90%

Health: 90%

Bright Eyes is Bon Bon's lab partner and the brains of the operation. Unlike Bon Bon, she's much more level-headed and utilises her critical thinking skills to help her stay sane when under pressure. Though she isn't very skilled with weaponry, she makes up for it with her high intelligence. She is one of the most valued member of the team.

Items: Portable lab kit (give to her by Flapjack), rope, notebook and pen

Melody

Status: Uninfected

Sanity: 69%

Health: 83%

Melody has been traumatised after losing her twin sisters, Jing-a-Ling and Ting-a-Ling. Her house has been taken over by zombies so she no longer has access to her belongings, including her bass. For this reason, she's turned to poetry rather than music as a source of comfort. She isn't afraid to get her hooves dirty and is skilled with a blade.

Items: Surgical blade (stolen from her mother before they were separated), poetry book (from library), music player

#my little pony #mlp #mylittlepony #mlp g1 #mlp g1.5 #mlp tales #my little pony g1 #my little pony infection au #mlp infection au #mlp infection #mlp infected au #infection au #infected au #my little pony tales #cw body horror #Crystallovirus

[sisterspooky1013]

Gaslight, Chapter 6/58

Rated X | Read it here on AO3

Six Weeks Later

She’s in his lap, facing him, the heat of their bare skin pressed together as she grinds her hips desperately. She can feel him, the stretch of him inside her, the slip of his shaft as it brushes over her clit again and again. She digs her fingernails into the flesh of his neck, accepting his hungry kisses as she moans into his mouth. He speaks to her, unintelligible words that make her swell and peak, pleasure coursing through her limbs—

Dana wakes to the throb of an orgasm thrumming between her legs. She squeezes her thighs together and moans before bringing her hand down to press on her strobing clit over her pajama pants. It’s not enough, so she slips that hand under her panties and groans at how wet she is. Moistening her fingers, she slides them back and forth across her hood and is surprised when she comes again, not as strong but still very much welcome. She muffles her whimpers with her head turned into the pillow, and realizes that she has no idea how long it’s been since she last had an orgasm.

The door clicks open and she freezes, her fingers resting over her still throbbing clit. She waits, anticipating the sleepy whine of a child and preemptively embarrassed that she may have woken them.

“Dana?” Cal’s voice whispers across the darkened room.

“Yeah?”

“Are you okay? I thought I heard something.”

Her cheeks flame, and she discreetly slips her hand out of her pants as she changes position.

Michelle had recently inquired, very gently, about the state of her relationship with Cal. She posed the question as whether Dana had returned to their shared bedroom, but the underlying question about whether they had resumed a sexual relationship was obvious. When she informed Michelle that she was still sleeping in the guest room and that a few brief hugs were the extent of her physical contact with him, Dana was asked, without judgment, why that was.

“I’m not entirely sure,” Dana had admitted.

“Are you not attracted to him?” Michelle asked.

“No, I am. He’s a very good-looking man, actually.”

“Is it possible that there’s some guilt regarding your infidelity?”

Dana considered the idea for a moment, then pulled in a deep breath.

“I think that might be part of it. I think I also feel a bit of insecurity about whether I’ll be able to live up to whatever the nature of our sexual relationship was before my accident. In 1992 I’d had a few sexual partners, only one of which would qualify as long term, and it seems likely that I’ll be lacking some—skill, as well as some context,” she said, her eyes on Michelle’s shoulder. “Long term partners may have done more advanced exploration. They know each other’s bodies well, what the other likes and doesn’t like. They may have predictable routines or order of operations—”

“You’re worried you’ll be a lousy lay?” Michelle joked, and Dana laughed mirthlessly.

“Pretty much,” she agreed.

“I think that’s a very reasonable fear. And I think you should consider talking with Calvin about it. Just putting it out there, laying it all on the table, so to speak, can take a lot of the pressure off. I gather he hasn’t asked why you aren’t ready to be physically intimate with him?”

“No,” Dana said emphatically. “He’s very, very respectful. I honestly think if I slept in the guest room for the rest of our lives he may never make mention of it.”

“Sounds like a low pressure situation,” Michelle commented. “It’s pretty ideal, really, all things considered.” Dana nodded. “I’d like to give you some homework, Dana, with the caveat that you should only do this if you feel ready to push yourself and rekindle your romantic relationship with Calvin.”

“I think I am,” Dana said, feeling nervous. “I will admit that it feels a bit lonely at times, being so distant from him.”

“Okay, then here’s what I’d like you to challenge yourself to do: touch him in some way that doesn’t feel completely platonic. That might be a kiss, or a more intimate hug, or maybe just holding hands. Whatever feels good and attainable, try it out and see how it feels. Don’t put pressure on yourself to move back into the master bedroom or have sex, just crack open that door to intimate physical contact and see if you’re inclined to want to walk through it. How does that sound?”

Dana nodded, feeling both afraid and hopeful.

“I think I can do that,” she’d said. “I think I’d like to try.”

“Sorry,” Dana says to Cal, whose silhouette is backlit by the nightlight in the hallway. “I had a dream—a nightmare. I think maybe I was talking in my sleep,” she lies.

Cal crosses the room and sits on the edge of the bed.

“Do you remember what it was about?” he asks.

She thinks of him, the man. His mossy green eyes, and the way he moved inside her.

“No,” she says, guilt coiling in her gut.

“Do you need anything?” Cal asks gently.

She is quiet for a beat, then slides her hand, the same that is still damp from her wet dream, across the comforter until the tips of her fingers collide with his.

“Will you lay with me?” she asks, her heart racing.

She can feel his surprise heating up the air in the room, and she senses him tempering his enthusiasm.

“Of course,” he says, standing and pulling back the covers.

He slides in beside her, lying on his back with just a sliver of space between their bodies. She feels a swell of affection at just how patient he is, how respectful, how incredibly understanding he has been every step of the way. Despite everything, she feels lucky that he is the one she chose to marry, and that he is the one who is by her side through this. Most of the men she dated in the past became frustrated after just a few days without sex, and here Cal has gone over a month without so much as a kiss and he has made zero complaints. Perhaps this is one of the reasons she was drawn to him in the first place.

She scoots closer to him and gently lays her cheek on his bare chest. He immediately pulls his arm free and wraps it around her back, which allows her to snuggle even closer. She rests her hand on his belly, and after a few minutes she drapes her leg over his. Cal sniffs wetly and pulls in a shuddering breath, and again guilt kicks at her.

“Are you okay?” she asks, mirroring his question from just a few minutes ago.

“Yes,” he says hoarsely. “I’ve just missed this—missed you—so much, mija.”

The emotion in his voice and the warmth of his body against hers make her feel like she’s been missing it too, if you can miss something you don’t remember.

“I’m sorry—” she starts, but he quickly stops her.

“You don’t need to be sorry. It’s not your fault. This happened to both of us, Dana,” he insists, and it’s far from the first time he’s said it to her. “Let’s get back to sleep, okay?” he continues, giving her a light squeeze. “The kids will be up in a couple hours, and you have a big day tomorrow.”

She sighs, sinking further into the comfort of a body that knows and loves her, and sleeps a deep, dreamless sleep.

When she wakes again, the mellow light of dawn washes the room in shades of blue. She is on her side and Cal is curled up behind her, his breath warming the crown of her head. She stretches a little, flexing the muscles in her back and inadvertently pushing her backside into his pelvis.

Cal stirs, humming in his sleep and thrusting gently against her, and she feels the firmness of his nocturnal erection jab her ass. She stills, both embarrassed and aroused, and briefly debates wriggling back against him to see what will happen. She doesn’t get the chance to.

The door flies open and Abby marches into the room, climbing up onto the bed and crawling towards them. Cal jolts awake and turns his head to look at her, then touches Dana’s hip and pulls her even closer, perhaps to conceal himself from the child.

“Daddy?” Abby asks in an accusatory tone. “What are you doing in Mommy’s room?”

“We’re having a slumber party,” Cal says groggily. “Go downstairs, honey, I’ll come make you breakfast in a minute.”

The child does as she’s told, and they listen until they hear the slap of her bare feet on the hardwood.

“Sorry,” Cal says, though he does not pull away from her.

“It’s okay,” Dana replies, glad that he cannot see her face.

“Is it?” he asks hesitantly. “Okay, I mean? Is this okay?”

“I want it to be,” she answers after a beat. “But I’m afraid—what if it’s not how you remember it?”

He shifts down so that his pelvis is no longer touching hers and hooks his chin over her shoulder.

“You’re worried about that?” he asks. “You think I’ll be disappointed?”

“I think…I think that I’m missing nearly eight years of knowledge and experience. So yes, I worry that I’ll disappoint you,” she admits, and as Michelle had promised, she immediately feels a weight lift off her chest.

“I’m glad you told me,” he says, running the tips of his fingers over her forearm. “But I think you’re wrong.”

“You do?”

“I mean—if you’re basically yourself from 1992, and we met in 1993, I can say from experience that I was not at all disappointed by 1992 Dana’s skills in the bedroom,” he offers.

“That’s good to hear,” she says uncomfortably, and he laughs a little.

“We can take things as slow as you want, mija,” he says softly. “I won’t expect you to bring back the whips and chains right away,” he adds, and she rolls to her back to give him an incredulous look.

“Are you serious?” she asks, and he smiles broadly.

“I’m just messing with you,” he says coyly. “Not that I’m not open to the idea.”

Her belly tumbles and she rolls her eyes. Cal’s expression softens, and something anticipatory settles over them.

“Would it be okay if I kissed you?” he asks, his jaw twitching to the side nervously. “It’s okay if you’re not ready.”

Dana swallows, thinking about her morning breath and the fact that Daniel is the last person she can remember kissing. Thinking about the man from her dreams, and whether he or Cal is the last person with whom she actually shared a kiss. But none of that should matter, she’s learned, because here and now is all she has.

She nods softly and Cal sighs. He touches her cheek, his eyes searching her face before he leans forward and presses his lips against hers. It’s chaste but lingering, and while it doesn’t feel familiar it does feel good. He begins to pull away and she arches her neck up, kissing him again. She feels the brush of his tongue against her bottom lip, and again they are interrupted.

“Daddy!” Abby calls from downstairs, and Cal pulls away from her with a laugh.

“She has a knack for that, be forewarned,” he says, kissing her once more and then rolling out of the bed. “It’s a miracle we ever managed to conceive Pete.”

She watches him with a smile as he leaves the room, then gets out of bed herself and initiates the task of waking up Peter.

Today she returns to her job at St. Agnes hospital, though only part time. While her tenure there prior to her accident had been short, they were pleased enough with her performance during that time that they were happy to accommodate a slow ramp up to full time work. She opted for a four-hour shift that will still allow her to take Abby to the bus stop and be there when she gets home, which should hopefully also ease the family’s adjustment to having two working parents.

There are all the trappings of what has become a typical morning: Blue’s Clues and Eggos, lunches packed and children dressed, Cal returning from his shower in a trim black suit and tie. But there are new things too: Dana dresses in khaki pants and a blouse instead of comfortable house clothes, she puts on a little bit of makeup and curls the ends of her hair. When Cal dispenses vitamins and brings her her Numerol, he steps up close and smirks as she smiles behind her coffee cup. Something feels lighter and exciting, like the thrill of a new relationship, which it may as well be for her. He holds the pill out and when she moves to take it, he clamps his fist closed.

“Gotta pay the toll,” he says playfully, and she sets her mug down on the counter behind her.

She touches his waist, her heart fluttering as he leans down and kisses her. It’s just a brush of a kiss, a teasing whisper across her lips, and she feels the pull of desire bloom low in her belly. He pulls away, still smiling, and holds his hand back out. She swallows the pill with her coffee, helps Peter put his shoes on, and escorts the men of the family to the car before bidding them farewell with more kisses and wishes of good luck.

The late spring morning is bright and already warm, and she walks Abby the three blocks to the bus stop with their clasped hands swinging between them.

“Do you love Daddy again?” Abby asks in the candid, unafraid way that children do.

Dana is surprised, both by the question and by the realization that she hasn’t at any point considered whether she loves Cal, or did, or will. It simply never crossed her mind.

“What makes you ask that, Sweetpea?” she replies, question for question.

“Daddy sleeped in your room so maybe that means you love him again,” Abby says matter-of-factly.

They arrive at the corner where the bus will pick Abby up for school, and Dana tries to decide how to answer.

“I didn’t stop loving Daddy,” she says, though it may not be entirely true. “My brain just got confused for a while after I hit my head and I think I forgot why I loved him, but I’m starting to remember.”

Abby considers this for a moment.

“Did you forget why you loved me, too?” she asks, and Dana kicks herself for not thinking her explanation through.

“No, Sweetpea.” She crouches down, bringing herself eye level to her daughter and pushing a lock of the child’s untamed hair behind her ear. “The way a mommy loves her children is easy. I love you because you’re mine, and I always will, no matter what. You don’t need to worry about that, okay?”

“Okay.”

Daisy, the little girl from across the street, joins them and the children sing a pop song and dance a clearly choreographed dance that makes Dana’s cheeks ache from smiling.

“Oops I did it again, I played with your heart, got lost in the game,” they squawk between giggles, and finally the bus pulls up and carries them off to school, Abby waving at her from the window until it rounds the corner out of sight.

Dana walks back to the house and spends a bit of time nervously tidying and checking her purse repeatedly to be sure she hasn’t somehow misplaced her wallet or cell phone since the last time she checked. She rifles through a stack of mail and flyers from Abby’s elementary school, separating them into things that need to be filed versus shredded versus paid, and comes across the legal pad on which Cal had written helpful notes for her when she first arrived home. It’s both painful and sweet to remember the care he took in trying to make her feel comfortable, and she finds herself looking forward to this evening when she can see him again. She feels a pang of excitement at the idea of curling up on the couch, side by side, and sneaking kisses during commercial breaks of their favorite show. She decides to save the sheet of paper, so she tears it off the pad and goes upstairs to put it in her keepsake box in the closet. Just as she’s slipping it under the lid, something occurs to her and she unfolds it and looks at it again.

Calvin Micheal Rose 5/29/1962

That’s next week. Cal’s birthday is in less than seven days. Relieved to have remembered while she still has a bit of time to plan, she stashes the paper and hurries back downstairs to slip into her heels and head to the hospital. On the drive across town, she tries to think of something special that they might do, but quickly realizes that she doesn’t know enough to pinpoint what might feel special to him. Birthday planning serves as enough of a distraction that it’s not until she pulls into the parking lot and passes a sign reading “St. Agnes Hospital, Provider Entrance” that nerves twist again in her belly.

She stands on the sidewalk outside the doors for a full minute, pulling in deep breaths and letting them out slowly. You can do this, she encourages herself. Finally, she walks toward the glass doors and they slide open, blasting her with warm, antiseptic air as she passes into the vestibule.

Suddenly, she feels lightheaded. She stops, touching her fingers lightly against the wall beside her to ground herself. An acute and haunting sense of deja vu creeps up her spine, and for a moment she’s afraid she’s going to be sick. Someone touches her arm, and she turns her head and tilts her chin up with an uncanny expectation that she will see a familiar face beside her.

“Ma’am?” a muted voice asks, and Dana blinks, shaking her head softly. She looks down and sees a wiry older woman in scrubs peering at her curiously. “Ma’am, are you alright?” the woman asks, her voice and her face coming more fully into focus.

“Yes, I’m fine,” Dana replies, easing herself away from the wall and walking unsteadily through the second set of doors. “I just got a little dizzy. I think I forgot to eat breakfast.”

“Would you like me to get a doctor for you?” the woman asks, following her towards the front desk just inside the doors.

“No, thank you. Actually, I am a doctor, today is my first day. Or my first day back, I suppose.”

“Oh, are you Dr. Rose?” the woman asks with a smile, and Dana nods. “Just take a seat right there, Dr. Rose, I'll page Dr. Thomas for you.”

Dana sits on a small padded bench and waits, unsettled by the familiar feeling she had when she walked through the doors. It’s not the fact that this place feels familiar that unsettles her, and really it should be some comfort to her that it does. But the familiarity wasn’t as much with the space itself as the way it made her feel, and how she felt was afraid.

No, not afraid. Terrified.

Tagging @today-in-fic

#the x files #x files fanfic #txf #dana scully #fox mulder #xf fanfic #x files

[mickeys-malarkey]

BATDR Analysis/Post-Playthrough Theory Revision Pt. 4/4: Guess what? I found some more highly suspicious songs…

So, let's add some nice, juicy lyric/film analysis to our dish (sorry, Betty, I couldn't resist the joke rofl… Speaking of Betty's comment, “all those juicy, lovely books gone to waste. Only Keepers go in there these days, and they'll tear you apart limb from limb if Wilson isn't with you…” sure sounds like the fandom simultaneously lamenting that all the Bendy books are supposedly “no longer canon” after the Memory of Joey/Nathan Sr.'s so-called “retcons” and, in a few cases I've seen, getting downright vicious towards anyone who tries to dig back into them)!! I'm very excited about how perfectly these wound up matching my theories, I had all but the first one in a playlist to watch/listen to later, and when I did and re-watched/re-listened to the first after writing Parts Two and Three? Wowzah… 👀

Before we start, summaries in case you haven't read/recaps because it's been a while since I posted the other parts.

(Sorry again that this part took so much longer to repost than expected… I live in shame.)

Part One: Wilson and Audrey have been trapped in their time loop for at least a year of real-world time, the game is actually taking place sometime between 1974 and 1992, and the beginning of BATDR is just a replay of June 18, 1973 like how the ending of BATIM is just a replay of August 1963 (there's also still all the evidence in my original analysis/theory that suggests BATIM and BATDR are both taking place sometime between 1978 and 1991, so do with that what you will). Also, there's definitely only ever been one studio and timeline, it's just that multiple entities have been editing everything beyond recognition (mostly Nathan Sr., whose alteration of the Ink Dimension is definitely symbolic of gaslighting, which I continue touching on throughout, but especially in the next part, which is my personal favorite).

Part Two: Wilson told us his entire life story and explained how his dad always was and still is the true villain to us in riddle format (which The Mug and the Maiden is the key to starting deciphering). Information he divulges includes but certainly is not limited to:

Arch Familial Dysfunction (Understatement of the Century): Wilson is the younger half-brother of Nathan Jr. from an affair that Nathan Sr. had with their housekeeper in 1926 (yes, the year before Joey reunited with him at the Sparkle Unicorn in 1927 and he was looking for girls to dance with there; dude's a serial adulterer). It's heavily implied that Nathan Sr. was not just emotionally but also physically abusive of him, that he was the cause of those big honking scars of his.

Power Dynamics: while Nathan Sr. was never officially involved in JDS, he was always pulling strings behind the curtain, to the point that it's accurate to describe him as one of the Three Kings of JDS (the other two obviously being Henry and Joey); we're given intimate details of how manipulative he is, including that it was under his influence that Joey claimed responsibility for horrible things that he didn't actually do.

The Truth About TLO: Joey and Allison were in Atlantic City schmoozing Bill's dad in order to get out from under Nathan Sr.'s thumb after the events of and since DCTL knocked sense into them, but Nathan Sr. retaliated by orchestrating all of the events that lead to Bill's “death” so that Mr. Chambers would instead put a price on Joey's head and they'd have no choice but to come crawling back to him for protection from he who they thought would be their way out.

Wilson's Corruption Arc: Wilson spent his youth watching his dad's machinations from the shadows and warning people through riddles so that Nathan Sr. wouldn't realize what he was doing; when Joey created the hivemind, he connected to it in order to do this more easily. This is how he was actually involved in the events/writing of TLO and DCTL. Unfortunately, his dad caught him by the end of TLO because he'd done a little orchestration of his own to lure a wildcard – Brant Morris – into the mix in hopes of exposing Nathan Sr. to the world and he was punished, starting him on a decades-long journey to Murder Puppet/Decoy Villain status that eventually involved Nathan Sr. ordering his mom (again, the housekeeper, not Tessa Arch) to put him through some sort of obedience test and then drug him so that he would be there when the crate containing the Ink Machine “accidentally” broke. He wrote The Mug and the Maiden to Audrey (like Buddy wrote DCTL to Dot and, as I previously theorized, Joey wrote TIOL to Henry) under the unsubtle pen name of “Wilton,” taking inspiration from her childhood memories of a toy (the Cracked Mug) that reminded her of her dad (like how he took inspiration from Bill's memories of Alice in Wonderland for the riddles he sent to him, Constance, and Brant) as a last, desperate cry for help before his own dad finally finished turning him into a Murder Puppet (like how TIOL was a cry for Henry to come save Joey from Nathan Sr. before he did the same to him and DCTL was a cry for Dot to stop Joey and save everyone else before his mind was overtaken by Boris's).

True Identities: the Memory of Joey is actually either a puppet created and controlled by Nathan Sr. or just straight-up Nathan Sr. in disguise; he symbolizes the image of Joey that Nathan Sr. has carefully curated and ingrained into the public's memory. Meanwhile, Bendy is actually the real Joey Drew, forced back into the Murder Puppet/Decoy Villain role by Nathan Sr. postmortem but most definitely not the real monster; Dapper Bendy symbolizes the side of him that did his best to heal from what Nathan Sr. did to him and be a good uncle/father and friend and that Nathan Sr. brainwashed him into hating and suppressing, Freaky Teeth Bendy symbolizes the habitual remnants of his maladaptive coping mechanisms formed by decades of being manipulated and abused by the man in question which he doesn't want to be, anymore.

Signs To Watch Out For: does something about the story make no sense (e.g., facts like dates and how the heck the ink actually works aren't matching up, an event gets called out as as weird/odd/strange only to have questions about it brushed aside, characters seem to have very different thoughts/feelings/motivations in one game/book than in another, an event gets written off as accident/coincidence/fate, etc.)? Great news /s! That's a sign of Nathan Sr.'s interference. Also, if a character seemingly randomly says something weird/odd/strange, that's a sign that Wilson's sending us a warning riddle through them (especially if it gets directly called out as weird/odd/strange).

Part Three: Henry and Allison's so-called “story retcons” are actually blatant lies made up by Nathan Sr. to keep Bendy/Real Joey trapped and at odds with his two real best friends postmortem (and put icing on the torment cake by allowing those friends to still be friends with each other but not him); the truth appears to be that Joey did call Henry for help but Nathan Sr. had him murdered, and then Allison tried to switch sides for good and help Joey through recovery as a fellow reformed abuse-victim-turned-abuser, so of course Nathan Sr. also had her and Tom murdered. Audrey is neither a soulless ink creature nor a sacrificed human but instead has her own, completely new soul created from pieces of Henry and Joey's via the same ghostly soul-combination process that creates all “children of the darkness/Machine” (many of whom seem to be hiding messages in their audio logs/memos in order to rat Nathan Sr. out on their parents' behalves), making her Henry and Joey's daughter (Henry, Bendy/Real Joey, the Memory of Joey/Nathan Sr., Wilson, and Audrey also appear to be the most powerful beings in the Ink Dimension because all souls are combinations of pieces of one's parents' souls in the Bendyverse, so all five of them have Royal Souls). Porter and Heidi are not Audrey's siblings, they were given their powers by the Memory of Joey in order to push us towards thinking that Joey was a cruel uncle/father who discarded the failed Audreys when he got sick of taking care of them (when, in reality, Joey was a very loving father who cherished every second with his baby girl and fought for her to have a better life than he did even though he made mistakes due to decades of being trapped in survival mode [e.g., having Audrey call him “uncle” in her previous reincarnations in order to cope with the grief of her dying over and over due to only having a partial soul] and it's actually Nathan Sr. who was the irredeemably evil dad, straight-up celebrating when they found Wilson's dead body on the floor of his JDS museum); Gent CEO Alan/Allen Gray/Grey appears to also be a child of the darkness/Machine, the son of Tom and possibly either Allison, Bertrum, or Nathan Sr. (who's definitely rewriting history to include Mr. Gray/Grey as one of his many Decoy Villains, regardless of whether he's his other parent or not), Grace the daughter of Norman and possibly Shawn, Heidi the daughter of Allison and Susie, and Steve the son of Wally and Tom. Bendy/Real Joey being the center of the hivemind and anyone infected with the right kind of ink becoming a personification of part of his psyche has confirmation out the wazoo, except it seems that Norman, specifically, may have become a personification of part of Wilson's psyche just because he's very powerful, himself, as another JDS Royal. “Cyclebreaker” doesn't seem to truly mean “person who can reset the loop,” but instead “person capable of breaking the cycle of trauma/abuse,” and Wilson's Keepers seem to be called that because Nathan Sr. gave them orders to ensure that his son continues obeying and remove anyone who might help him recover from what he did to him from the picture.

Both Parts Two & Three: many scenes appear to be heavily symbolic of or just straight-up Audrey leaning on/being tempted to lean on Joey's maladaptive coping mechanisms generational trauma-style and having a choice between cruelty and compassion. There's also quite a bit of evidence pointing towards Joey having intended the Ink Dimension to be a heavenly paradise for the salvation of suffering people (especially his fellow victims-of-Nathan-Sr. and people that Nathan Sr. used him and his studio to hurt/disappear), but Nathan Sr. having sadistically hijacked it and created the End Reel in the process of twisting it into a hellish prison to continue torturing his victims in postmortem (especially Joey).

Real quick, some thoughts I had while working on fanarts:

The cheese store man (from The Mug and the Maiden) may symbolize Porter and Steve McGregor in addition to all observers of the Joey-and-Nathan Sr. situation (a giant man with bits of cheese stuck in his beard? Sounds like Big Steve with all those bits of metal and whatnot that he eats stuck in his body. An old man with a long beard and ropes around him? Sounds like Porter, who got stuck in a pipe just like how Brant/Mr. Darble Mouse got stuck under the secret door in the warehouse basement/Governor's cellar… And the cheese store man knows the widow's real name but she calls him by the wrong one? Porter's definitely Brant Morris using a different name and he may have actually spied on the Memory of Joey in order to tattle on him, I love him even more now. Also… Brant/Porter is totally a personification of Wilson's sense of humor in addition to Joey's shame. Brant's the funniest character in TLO, Porter's downright mirthful about everything, Wilson/Wilton wrote the funniest fairytale I've ever read in my life… they also both apparently dealt with early hair thinning, interestingly), trying to push us towards investigating them in order to expose Nathan Sr.'s Fake Siblings plot.

The Decoy Villain and their Keeper dynamic is actually something we see repeatedly across Nathan Sr.'s victims, especially when the torch is about to be passed from one Decoy Villain to another… Arthur was Isabel's Keeper when it was time for her to kill Walter, Allison was Joey's Keeper when it was time for him to turn his employees into ink creatures (turning several into fellow Decoy Villains in the process), mayhaps we could even say that whoever figured out how to create the Slugs was Chef Buck's Keeper when it was time for him to start his “recycling” spree… and Heidi is Mr. Gray/Grey's Keeper now that it's time for him to take over from Wilson? 👀👀

“We're in the final days here. I can tell. People are packing things into boxes. Tools are going missing. You can smell the panic in the air around the studio. But us Gent boys, we're just watching from the shadows. We lock the doors, and keep our research going. Mister Gray already gave us a little wink. All is well. When one ship sinks, another one leaves the dock. I just need to keep my Ink Machine safe in the chaos. It's the key to so many discoveries.” ~ Thomas Connor, Bendy and the Dark Revival, “Business as Usual” memo (emphasis added)

“It's a funny thing. How so much can fall apart so fast. We never really had control at the studio. Either you were in someone's pocket, or you were putting someone else into yours. I just wanted what was promised to me. I just wanted to be beautiful! Surely you can understand that. Henry… Why are you here? We're all dying to find out. Do you just enjoy the terror of the drop into hell? Because if that's the case… Hang on tight. I've got a surprise…” ~ Twisted Alice, Bendy and the Ink Machine, ch. 4

Wilson's BATDS audio log was 100% about him wanting to pass on his secrets before his dad could silence him completely and forever in death as he did to so many others, just like how Joey managed to leave clues about the reality of the whole situation behind despite everything.

“It's important to seize an opportunity, before it slides through your wrenched fingers. The past so often dies without passing on its bountiful secrets. But oh… Mister Joey Drew. The secrets you've left behind. How very interesting, such… knowledge, such… opportunity. The time draws near… For a dark revival to come at last!” ~ Wilson Arch, Boris and the Dark Survival (emphasis added)

…Welp, now that that's out of the way, on with the show!

I believe that this one, released back in July (close to when you would've expected the Bendy Twitter to release a third teaser image), is supposed to have been written by Wilson:

*Dapper Bendy bounce-dances in what looks to be part of BATIM Chapter 1 as it looked when the Memory of Joey brought Audrey there* “Under foot, have you looked, where the light don't shine no more? Here's a hook, what it took, to break their spirits and yours” *Dapper Bendy rests against a pipe in what looks to be the sewers in BATDR but with the contraband display case from outside the Pit in the Cyclebreaker prison* “Didja make, give or take, a bigger difference away? Didja break, didja quake, when you saw what's really at play?”

This sounds like the singer's asking us if we've read the Bendy books and looked for clues in the other games – all of which the Memory of Joey/Nathan Sr. is distracting us from with his erasure of Allison's existence, writing Mr. Gray/Grey into the story, etc. – and directing us to read The Mug and the Maiden for the explanations of events that we need. They then seem to be giving us confirmation that Wilson, Joey, and eventually Allison were trying to make things better from the inside and asking them if they broke when A: Buddy's death at the end of DCTL made Joey realize how Nathan Sr. was going to keep on using him to hurt people despite his best efforts, B: Allison experienced whatever it was that woke her up from Nathan Sr.'s trance in-between DCTL and TLO, and C: Wilson was punished at the end of TLO for learning too much and being a good boy, all while also D: acknowledging Audrey's ghostly origins and generational trauma??

*Dapper Bendy bounce-dances in what looks to be another part of BATIM Chapter 1 as it looked when the Memory of Joey brought Audrey there* “When it started, this commotion, this great disaster, what a brilliant revelation, what he's really after”

This sounds like Wilson realizing why his dad was doing what he was doing to Bill, Constance, and Brant by the time TLO ended!! “For it was the death of Mr. Darble Mouse that started all the trouble.”

*Dapper Bendy sits on a table in what looks to be the Little Devil Lounge, behind him is a buffet sign with graffiti that reads “Fetty was here,” which could be “Betty” with part of the “B” smudged off??* “It's a daily shift of churning, burning down the candle, it's more than we can handle”

Did you just confirm that Wilson's mom indeed drugged him as part of Nathan Sr.'s plot to punish him for warning people about his machinations and turn him into a Murder Puppet with your environment design, and then that everything was more than Joey, Allison, and finally Wilson could handle with your lyrics?? Which, y'know, now I think about it, honestly gives whole new meaning to TLO's epilogue…

“Swirling blackness wrapped so tightly, at first like a hug and then it squeezes, it crushes, it smothers . . . A quiet buzz, then louder, like a thousand voices talking at once. Screaming at once. Outside and inside. Our thoughts are not our own thoughts. Whose thoughts are these? How many of us are there? How many more will join us? We are all screaming. We are all waiting. We are all… lost. The light appears in sudden bursts. Too bright, it pierces at you, tears you apart even as you reach for it. What is there to reach for? Why hurt yourself? Just sink back. Sink back in with your friends. . . . We sink back and back and back. We understand now. We see how all this time we were wrong. We understand the joke now. Knock knock. Who's there? We can't fix the machine. We never could. Knock knock. Who's there? Who is there? Out there? Out here? We're all here. We understand now. It's the punchline to the joke: You can't fix what isn't broken.” ~ The Ink Machine('s Hivemind), Bendy: The Lost Ones, pg. 290-291 (emphasis added)

I think that this was the hivemind poetically describing what happened to Joey, Allison, and Wilson at the end of TLO, and to who knows how many more puppets and other victims Nathan Sr. collected over the previous and following decades: This man, who seems perfectly friendly on the surface, turns out to be an abuser once you're caught in his vice-like grip. His victims seek freedom, salvation, genuine love, even try to provide it to each other, but are punished for doing so, often alongside those who they tried to reach out to (e.g., Bill and his dad, Henry, etc). Eventually, they're trained to see potential help/etc. as something painful that they shouldn't even bother with, and learn to think that they should just allow themselves to sink back into obedience, because at least that hurts a little less. They understand, now, that they can't fix the Ink Machine, because just like every other thing they, themselves, intended to be good, Nathan Sr. intended it to only hurt them more. And he thoroughly enjoys watching them struggle, only to finally give in to him… Terrible. Dreadful. I'm sad, again. *Sniffs* Back to the music.

*Dapper Bendy is falling, possible reference to both the “falling down the rabbit hole” message Constance received from Wilson and Audrey's falling down the elevator shaft to where she meets the Memory of Joey and is set back on the path of meeting Wilson in his ink mansion* “So come on a ride! Further down below! And learn the prophesy of the hypocrisy that runs this broken show!”

“Come find me, Audrey. Come find me and I'll show you your purpose. I'll show you… the truth. And now… we die,” and learn the prophesy of Nathan Sr.'s puppeteering hypocrisy through Wilson/Wilton's twisted riddles??

“There's nowhere to hide! There's nowhere to go! You brought the hallway to a standstill, now the desolation grows”

This sounds like it's referencing Nathan Sr.'s not allowing anyone to escape and reality/memory alteration??

*Audrey wielding a pipe appears. Behind her, in the top right corner, “Jose[scribble],” presumably Joey's legal name “Joseph” scribbled out, is written in black ink; underneath that, written in the golden invisible ink, is the word “Life” with a halo, a dotted line like on a cartoon pirate treasure map that leads to an anarchy symbol that could also be being used as a certain family's last initial (Arch), and the letter “D,” presumably beginning “Death,” with devil horns. On the far left, in the same golden ink, is drawn a key* “Well it took, just a look, to see it wasn't the same, wrote the book, then he took, all the fortune and all the fame” *Audrey's now somewhere kinda nondescript other than signs pointing to the Art Department and a “Devil Cafe,” possibly a work-in-progress placeholder for the Little Devil Lounge* “Broke a tie, let it die, the love that made him a king, tell me now, can you find, the end to pull on this string?”

“Open your eyes and look around you! None of this ‘makes sense,’” yeah, I think I know exactly where the end of this (shall we say “puppet?”) string is: right there in Nathan Sr.'s hand!! This looks and sounds like confirmation that the version of Joey's story that everyone knows, the one that makes no sense because nothing matches up, was written by the Great Puppet Master, the Second of the Three Kings of JDS, Nathan Sr., as Wilson explained in that rant I just quoted!!! While also confirming that Nathan Sr. has forced Joey back into the Decoy Villain role postmortem as Bendy?!

*Audrey's now somewhere littered with toon carcasses like what Henry and Boris encounter all over Twisted Alice's territory in BATIM and BATDS* “Something in you brought you back here into your history, it's no mystery why your feelings seem so contradictory”

This sounds like it's acknowledging both Joey's seeming emotional/motivational contradictions under Nathan Sr.'s influence and Audrey's emotional conflicts being caused by the pieces of the First and Third Kings of JDS's souls that make up her own???

*Slow zoom on a door with a Gent pipe lock* “It was love that built this testament to artistry, warped by hate and trickery!”

Confirmation that the Ink Dimension was indeed created for Joey's regret and corrupted for Nathan Sr.'s revenge?!

*Chorus repeats with Audrey in an elevator until after the prophesy line* “Why have you arrived? Is there something you know?”

Confirmation of Nathan Sr.'s mafia-style disappearing of potential info leaks?? Perhaps even of the Insane Reader Ending being Audrey getting disappeared for knowing too much???

“Will hope or desolation be the seeds that you will sow?”

I think y'all will see why this line is fascinating in the analysis/theory conclusion… 👀

*Shot of Sammy, Boris, and a boatload of Lost Ones huddled around a flaming barrel like we see the Butcher Gang huddle around in BATIM Chapter 4* “Hello again, my dearest friend, *shot of the chasm in BATIM* don't look so down, it's not the end, let's play the same old little game, *shot of Joey's office door in BATIM* to back out now would be a shame, now step in time, follow the lines, I've saved your seat right next to mine, *Dapper Bendy and Audrey stare at a wall of what looks like graffiti mixed with notes on employee and cash numbers as well as pieces of paper* like an oiled machine, rhythm and key, we'll make you fit in our harmony, your eyes can lie, you're doing fine, it's just a chill run down your spine”

*Unintelligible noises* 👀👀👀 There?? Are?? So?? Many?? Layers?? To this?? This sounds like it could just be Wilson singing to Audrey, but also like it transitions from Joey and Henry singing to each other to Nathan Sr. singing to everyone, then the original Three Kings all singing to their kids, back to Nathan Sr. (with an implication that we should be searching the whole series for clues and a hint at most of the Children of the Machine never having actually lived in the real world as Nathan Sr. wants us to think they did), back to all Three Kings, Wilson singing to everyone, and back to Nathan Sr. again!!

“Don't be afraid, you're not alone, *Audrey and Dapper Bendy turn around to see Freaky Teeth Bendy with one eye X'd out* he's always watching”

“Shh, don't fret. We're going home,” Wilson and Bendy/Real Joey are always watching in similar hivemind-y ways?!

*Shot of Freaky Teeth running through inky darkness* “There's teeth in the night, a life as dark as coal, and in the prophesy, he's just the mockery of your own heart and soul”

This sounds like confirmation that A: the Cheshire cat reference in TLO was indeed one of Wilson's riddles, telling us that the smiling face that everyone's so afraid of isn't the real danger, it's the unseen claws who won't allow anyone to escape nor to look at anything but the smiling face, and B: the literal and figurative Memory of Joey as well as Henry being a copy created to be tortured are blatant lies meant to keep the First and Third Kings of JDS at odds even beyond the grave as well as torment and mock the both of them?!?!

“There's fear in your eyes, so where now can you go? Can you own what you have made here, or will terror take control?” *Chorus repeats over shots of the Ink Machine being raised on chains like it was in BATIM, then of Archgate Studios, and a couple of empty hallways*

More that I think y'all will find extra fascinating in the concluding section… 👀👀 Also, If you're somehow still questioning the books' canonicity, at this point, I dunno what to tell you. Before we move on to the next song, I wanna bring up… I'd noticed, way back when it was first posted, that if you turned off the audio and just focused on what the final BATDR teaser audio log is actually saying before we hear Wilson's voice for the first time, there seemed to actually be a coherent thought being communicated…

“So what can you expect in the coming months? You never know! He's always watching me… I saw Mister Drew the other day, meeting with that Connor fellow, holding some papers. I think they saw me looking though. Just too many secrets being cooked up in the kitchen! If I didn't know better, I'd say there was magic there. Well calculated understanding between creation… -big things are coming!- …and creator. Massive things! That smile… You just learn to go with it. He's always watching me… You just watch! I've got a good feeling something great is going to happen.” ~ Unknown, Bendy and the Dark Revival teaser audio log dated April 14th, [YEAR REDACTED]

At first, I thought that this plus the fact that they'd released seven audio logs but only six shorts at the time of the seventh meant Bendy was alive as a cartoon, he'd been watching events from inside the drawings and was splicing audio logs together to express that he thought Joey realized he was alive and he was excited about the idea of having a real body… But who do we know, now, communicates like this? Through hints dropped all over the place via the thoughts, mouths and pens of many different people? Wilson and Joey, communicating with us through the hivemind, right? With this new perspective… it actually sounds like this is two people talking…

“So what can you expect in the coming months? You never know! He's always watching me… I saw Mister Drew the other day, meeting with that Connor fellow, holding some papers. I think they saw me looking though. Just too many secrets being cooked up in the kitchen! If I didn't know better, I'd say there was magic there. Well calculated understanding between creation… -big things are coming!- …and creator. Massive things! That smile… You just learn to go with it. He's always watching me… You just watch! I've got a good feeling something great is going to happen.” ~ Unknown, Bendy and the Dark Revival teaser audio log dated April 14th, [YEAR REDACTED]

Joey and Wilson, talking about the events of TIOL, DCTL, and TLO… Joey saying he's excited about creating his paradise for the lost, even if he's nervous about being caught by Nathan Sr… and Wilson saying he's excited about what he knows so far that the Ink Machine can do – watch people and get messages out more discreetly through the hivemind, not even having to be physically near anyone and risk getting caught to do either thing – and that he can tell Joey has good intentions, but he knows better than to get his hopes up for this whole thing to go well because his dad is involved in the situation, with his smile that masks the monster underneath with its Santa Claus Vibes and you just have to learn to play along with or else, because he's got spies everywhere… I love how they can make that same statement of “he's always watching” go from creepy in all instances to kind of comforting when it's referring to Wilson and Bendy/Real Joey and positively gut-wrenching when it's referring to Nathan Sr., once you dig deeper… *Shudders again* Anyways. Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

This next one, by one of the very same artists who previously released songs containing canon info, had its preview dropped the same day as the BATDR trailer:

*Obvious Joey shadow puppet appears* “Pictures in my head contained all, *Bendy cutout puppets appear* to make standing out art, *cutout puppets are replaced by an Ink Machine puppet* we need to take big steps not small, *Ink Machine puppet is replaced by a mannequin puppet* draw animate your part, *mannequin puppet disappears* trying to impress *Lost One puppets appear* in this mess, *Joey puppet looks around to find himself alone* you were trying your best, it wasn't close to the success, *obvious Bendy smile materializes behind the Joey puppet* you'll stay in this nest” *Bendy smile consumes the Joey puppet*

First of all, I'm frightened by the fact that he's telling us this story with literal puppets, considering how many times the only way I personally could think to accurately describe the relationship between Nathan Sr. and his victims was with “puppet-and-puppet-master” imagery (by the way, I saw someone point out that Betty's mask looks an awful lot like the marionette faces in Showdown Bandit did… Sounds like another layer to Wilson's intentional symbolism for his mom's involvement in his dad's machinations, if you ask me. Remember how the marionettes had such a big thing about how they shouldn't look up at whoever or whatever was controlling them that many of them literally plucked out their own eyes to avoid it? Sounds an awful lot like the symbolism I proposed for Wilson's posters). Second of all, this sounds like Joey was the one who was singing for exactly one line, then somebody took the microphone away from him to sing to/with/about him rather than letting him sing about himself. The mannequin puppet seems to imply that, while we may think Joey's the one pulling the strings, it's not actually any of his employees who's being spoken to in that “draw animate your part” line. And everything from “trying to impress in this mess” onward seems like it's confirming that Joey was trying his best to create a paradise to rescue his fellow victims-of-Nathan-Sr. in without tripping the man in question's alarms, but he failed at both that and obeying Nathan Sr.'s orders to satisfaction in general and was both A: isolated and villainized in the real world, and B: finally merged with the soulless Bendy body in the Ink Dimension when his human one died, all partly to punish him??

(Speaking of mannequins, anyone notice these ones sitting right across from each other in Twisted Alice's part of Wilson's mansion that seem to imply that both Susie and Joey were just puppets in the whole “creating Twisted Alice” situation?! The Joey one even has distracting eyebrows drawn on, further correlating him to Bernard the Ugly Lizard Man Who Wears a Blue Cloak in The Mug and the Maiden!!)

Sepiatone: I gave you all that I had, frames are showing new way, the apathy that's so sad, you lead my name away Grayscale: Calling it phantasmagoria*, when you're seeing more than them, means not knowing what's euphoria**, now I can live it through again

*A sequence of real or imaginary images like those seen in a dream.

**A feeling or state of intense excitement and happiness.

Holy… guacamole… He just crammed so much information into the space of only two freaking verses!!

The first one sounds like it has two meanings, using the “frames are showing new way” line to transition from A: confirmation that Sammy Lawrence became a personification of part of Joey's psyche (his desire to be protected/saved by and feelings of betrayal/abandonment at the hands of Henry and Nathan Sr.) when he was infected by the ink and that Nathan Sr. caused Henry leaving but manipulated the narrative so that the only options anyone was allowed to believe were “it was Joey's fault” (when, in reality, he genuinely tried to make things work) and “it was Henry's fault” (when, in reality, he also genuinely tried), to B: confirmation that Henry's being gaslit into believing he was never human and, as a result, using Joey's Illusion of Living coping mechanism to try and forget his human life and become apathetic so that his imprisonment in the Ink Dimension will hurt less and that The Mug and the Maiden, King Widow, and Lord Amok pretty overtly point towards the Memory of Joey being Joey's name and image stolen by Nathan Sr. (the context implied by the previous two lines being: “in order to rewrite history”).

The second sounds like confirmation of A: the symbolism behind Wilson's blacked-out eyes and lack of damage until you see him colored in in his posters being that, if we allow Nathan Sr. to gaslight us into ignoring the evidence of his crimes, then we're blind to the truth (and adding that, consequently, we'll either not realize that the default ending isn't the happiest possible one [as most of the YouTubers I've watched play the game seem to think it is] or find the story – especially the ending – utterly nonsensical and/or unfulfilling [as even I did, at first. I'll explain why I was wrong in the analysis/theory conclusion]), and B: specifically because we didn't know the truth, the time loop cycle is continuing (she showed Bendy the End Reel, remember? And they literally showed her walking through the same door in Joey's apartment to get back into her own studio as Henry did to get back into Ink Dimension JDS. Audrey reset the time loop cycle, she didn't break it. Probably the only reason it was daylight is because her and Wilson's loop is larger than Henry and Joey's was). Hot dang, y'all good at cramming several layers of meaning into lyrics.

Now, I'd like everyone to notice that there seem to be two Joeys singing the chorus!! One speaks in sepia text and seems friendlier until you pay attention to what he's actually saying, the other speaks in gray text using a deep, growly, stereotypical villain voice and seems to enjoy this role until you pay attention to what he's actually saying…!! 👀

Sepia Joey: Hey, can you hear me now? Gray Joey: Even if you don't like it you'll die in ink Sepia Joey: You'll breathe when I allow Gray Joey: You will die so make it easier, just sink Sepia Joey: I left for you my legacy Gray Joey: All consumed by fear, inky atmosphere Sepia Joey: Take my hand, that's the destiny, let's spin the last gear, we are back my dear

Sepia Joey is actually scarily controlling (honestly, that “you'll breathe when I allow” reeks of Nathan Sr.'s mafia-style disappearing of anyone who becomes a liability or he grows bored of, just like the first paragraph of the “Next in Line” memo did) and the fact that he says that taking his hand (as Audrey refused to do when the Memory of Joey was telling her the obvious lies about Allison and Henry and half-truth about her origins, only to decide that taking Bendy's hand when he came to save her was wrong and she needs to reset the time loop partly to resurrect the Memory of Joey), spinning the last gear (sounds awfully similar to playing the End Reel), and returning with him+ (to the beginning of the time loop?) is our destiny (a synonym for “fate”), all sounds like further confirmation that the Memory of Joey is either a puppet controlled by or straight-up Nathan Sr. and the End Reel and its endless “cartoon cycle of torment” was his creation and plan. Meanwhile, Gray Joey actually sounds… downright despairing… and, I probably don't need to reiterate, at this point, but uh…

“…I remember this night well. Though I remember it being at the Bee Room, gold and black, not [the] silver [that Joey describes] as the main design aesthetic. Doesn’t really make much of a difference though, I suppose.” ~ Nathan Arch Sr., The Illusion of Living, pg. 44 (emphasis added)

…confirmation that Bendy is Real Joey alert (it makes a whole heckuva lotta difference, Nathan Sr. Shut the heck up)!! Also— did anyone notice that the visual effects for transitioning out of Bendy Is Chasing You Grayscale is freakishly similar to the visual effects for transitioning in and out of Henry's visions in BATIM?

Further evidence that Audrey is Henry and Bendy/Real Joey's daughter alert!!! Possibly also further implying that we need to be looking at more than just what the Memory of Joey/Nathan Sr. wants us to, and that Henry, Bendy/Real Joey, and Audrey are three of the five most powerful beings in the Ink Dimension— even without the Seeing Tool, they all seem able to see things that other ink creatures seem unable to…!

*Obvious Joey shadow puppet reappears* “Disappearance in the big silence, *Lost One puppets reappear, who the Joey puppet looks around at like he's panicking* world turning upside-down, *Lost One puppets disappear, leaving the Joey puppet alone again* everyone needed a new guidance *new Lost One puppets who seem to be kneeling in worship of the Joey puppet appear, only to disappear again, replaced by an obvious Henry shadow puppet, who the Joey puppet turns away from* one had but he has drowned.”

This looks and sounds like confirmation that Joey went into hiding to escape Nathan Sr. after JDS shut down and indeed contacted Henry for help fixing his mistakes but Nathan Sr. had Henry murdered and made it look like Joey either lured him to his death or created a sentient clone to torture in his place, both of which options make Joey look irredeemably evil?! And that, when Sammy's cult were worshiping the soulless Bendy back in BATIM, they were worshiping Joey's future image?!?! Y'know… it occurs to me, what if Joey wasn't the one who removed Henry from the ending of Tombstone Picnic?? 👀👀

Bendy (Joey) runs away from a skeleton (Nathan Sr.'s machinations?) and stops to catch his breath, Henry's shadow looms, Bendy looks up at him and smiles, only for the film to suddenly, inexplicably be cut short… Could this have been a clue that Nathan Sr. had Henry murdered when Joey called him for help all along??

Forgive me, I'm about to go on a bunny trail, cause I just remembered, as well, that I thought it was weird that the thumbnails for all of the shorts are sepiatoned, but the animation is black-and-white… A hint that these are the versions that Nathan Sr. has altered, we're only getting a peek at Joey's truth? *Stares at my notes on Joey having to jump through hoops to get Nathan Sr.'s permission to publish TIOL and then Nathan Sr. further editing it postmortem via his excessive, creepy notes* (While I'm on the topic: I wonder if Audrey colorizing Tombstone Picnic at the beginning of BATDR could be a hint at the further story detail we get through The Mug and the Maiden, Audrey herself, etc… Wilson does import color into the Ink Dimension, after all…) My bestie pointed out once, as well, that it's weird that Bendy's literally known for his iconic grin, but… all of the shorts (excepting Tombstone picnic) seem to end with him scared, frustrated, or sad… *Stares at my notes on Bill, Constance and Brant being personifications of Joey's fear, anger, and shame* and also how it's weird that Boris is supposed to be his best pal, but he's actually really mean to him… *Stares at my notes on Nathan Sr. isolating and villainizing Joey, turning all of his friends against him* and also how it's weird that none of them (excepting Tasty Trio Troubles) really… have any music to speak of… aside from the beginning ditty… when BATIM made such a big deal about it (like, an “every single one was fully orchestrated” kind of “big deal”)… Now I've read TIOL, where Joey literally titled a chapter “Without Music, Life Would Be a Mistake…” and, in the BATDR teasers, there's those audio logs from Sammy and Jack…

“Every time I turn around there’s more work to do. Four cartoons almost complete and all of them need a tune by tomorrow. Typical Joey planning. I’m working so much I’m starting to see Bendy in my sleep. That smile... He’s always watching me. Few more months of this, I wouldn’t be surprised if that grinning demon drove me completely insane. That smile… something’s just wrong with that smile. Can’t put my finger on it. Shake it off, Sammy. Best get back to your songs. Someone has to keep the little devil happy…” ~ Sammy Lawrence, Bendy and the Dark Revival teaser audio log dated June 16th, 1935 (emphasis added)

(Could this be a hint that Sammy figured out that Joey, a terrible planner, was not the one in charge?? And the reason behind his unsettling smiles that get read as malicious but are actually dissociative???)

“Okay, the smell is kinda starting to get to me now. Ever since they started putting in more pipes, it’s really begun to flow a lot more down here. The good news is that it’s helped me to work on things a lot faster. Definitely been some of my best lyrics lately. Sammy and I even won an award for one of our songs last month… I was told. Of course it had Mister Drew’s name on the award, but it’s the thought that counts. Speaking of which, I saw Mister Drew the other day… was meeting with that Connor fellow, holding some papers. Why they’d want to meet down here is beyond me. Something stinks.” ~ Jack Fain, Bendy and the Dark Revival teaser audio log dated November 18th, 1943 (emphasis added)

(This already suggests that Jack learned something he shouldn't, but could it be that we were completely wrong about the circumstances and information? Could he and Sammy have put what they each learned together…?)

…And then, in the actual game, there's that memo from Telly Wester we find on a desk right after climbing a ladder that's had rungs removed for some unknown reason next to the first two “Wilson Knows” posters we see, and a memo from Sammy shortly after which is under the third poster… and Jack has mysteriously changed his tune about the sewers…

“Geez! You'd think I was drowning kittens the way these people are lookin' at me! I've never seen such disappointment in a person's eyes. But this is the way of things, if management can't pay their bills, then the bank takes the goodies back. Still, it does break me a bit knowing how much I loved them old cartoons this place used to make. Oh well! Times change. Life moves on.” ~ Telly Wester, Bendy and the Dark Revival, “Hard Times” memo (emphasis added)

“Joey, Jack and I have been wondering if you could meet with us considering the current situation? We have been with you for many years and we feel we have contributed to the success of Bendy in the past. Our interest is purely in keeping this company strong. We just want to help however we can. Let's talk.” ~ Sammy Lawrence, Bendy and the Dark Revival, “Let's Talk” memo (emphasis added)

(When I first read this, I thought “ouch, poor Joey. Someone finally offered help and they made a big deal about how it's only for the company's sake? That must've stung…”)

“You gotta follow your inspirations when you're a musician. Stick to what you know works. But when they built the new studio buildings, they all but filled in my office down in the old sewers. Turns out, I've gotten so accustomed to working in those disgusting conditions, that now if my office doesn't stink, the lyrics I write do. So when Gent started digging their massive utility shaft between their place and ours, I knew it would be just the right spot for me to move in. Now, I've got a song in my heart, and a creative stench up my nose.” ~ Jack Fain, Bendy and the Dark Revival, “Sewer Songs” memo (emphasis added)

What… what “goodies” was Telly talking about? What would cause people to look at him like that? Why this suspicious placement of items in a room that Wilson obviously had set up to welcome Audrey home…? I just remembered reading an old comment of mine… but I'd noticed that Tom, in his first BATIM audio log, talks about the ink pipes like he wasn't the one who put them in like his BATDR teaser one implies he was by placing him in the studio in 1943, just six days before Jack's audio log…

“It's dark and it's cold and it's stuck in behind every single wall now. In some places, I swear this godforsaken ink is clear up to my knees! Whoever thought that these crummy pipes could hold up under this kind of strain either knows something about pressure I don't, or he's some kind of idiot. But the real worst part about all this… are them noises the system makes. Like a dying dog on its last legs. Make no mistake, this place… this… machine… heck, this whole darn thing… it just isn't natural. You can bet, I won't be doing any more repair jobs for Mister Joey Drew.” ~ Thomas Connor, Bendy and the Ink Machine, ch. 1 (emphasis added)

I'd originally thought this meant BATDR was taking place in an alternate timeline/universe, not the same one as BATIM, but is this actually another case of Wilson and a child of the Machine trying to explain how past events have been edited and hint at what really happened? Is… is this saying that A: Jack figuring things out happened long before Tom arrived, perhaps it wasn't even Tom who he saw Joey meeting with at all (it would actually make his confusion at seeing them meet in the sewers make more sense if perhaps it was not just his boss, but also a fricking steel tycoon… All Nathan Sr. would need to do here to incriminate Tom instead of himself is edit the dates and a name), and B: Nathan Sr. orchestrated the events of DCTL to look like either Tom's incompetence or Joey's poor planning was the reason the pipe burst and infected Sammy, but, in actuality, Nathan Sr. sabotaged the pipes like he sabotaged the things he did in TLO, in order to disappear Sammy – start and supply his ink addiction – for trying to help Joey (both obviously also providing further evidence that Nathan Sr. editing Mr. Gray/Grey and all those other extra Gent employees into history)?? And… did Jack just sink into obedience because he didn't wanna get disappeared, too (in which case, the tune change is similar to Tom's between DCTL and TLO), or did Joey tell him he should go into hiding to protect him (in which case, the tune change is him leaning on Joey's Illusion of Living coping mechanism to make the fact he needs to stay in the sewers more bearable)???

“[Sammy] stared at me longer this time. Then he started to laugh this laugh that was all breath and no sound. Almost like wheezing. ‘Art Department. Okay. Okay, gofer for the Art Department, answer me this: Why are you guys storing ink in my sheet music closet? And why is JOEY running a pipe through my closet that's apparently filled with ink?’ A pipe? With ink? That definitely didn't sound normal, but then again, I had no idea what was normal for an animation studio. ‘I don't know.’” ~ Daniel “Buddy” Lewek, Dreams Come to Life, pg. 48 (emphasis added)

(The comments on seeming “innocuous strangeness” and theme of brushing questions aside return… Also, whose voice do we know by its distinctive wheezing? 👀👀 Wilson literally just commandeered Sammy's mouth, didn't he?!)

“I want to tell about Sammy. About when he disappeared. I want to get to that part of the story. But the thing is, we only notice someone is gone when time has passed… . . . Three days after that, when enough time had passed, but not so much that people really noticed it, Toby from accounting mentioned that Sammy hadn't come in for his paycheck. Again, us workers only knew anything about this because Mister Drew himself was storming around the building, angrily muttering about it. Interrogating folks he met as he went. I didn't feel like the rage matched the situation, but then I figured maybe he had something more on his mind than just a missing music director. . . . But then things took a turn. I remember coming to work and the police were outside and the studio was shut down. I remember being told by Richie that someone had broken in and messed the place up. That they were looking into a possible burglary. I remember Mister Drew rushing from his car and shouting in the detective's face something about sabotage. How seeing him shout like that was worse than seeing Mr. Schwartz lose his temper. Than seeing even Sammy lose his temper. It was jarring and a little scary. Especially compared to how he usually seemed.” ~ Daniel “Buddy” Lewek, Dreams Come to Life, pg. 193-194, 194-195, and 196 (emphasis added)

(Wilson seems to be highlighting an important part of Buddy's story for him, again…! 👀👀👀)

Was Joey so seemingly excessively upset by Sammy's disappearance because he was worried that Nathan Sr. might've taken another friend who was genuinely trying to help him away from him, changing the narrative around the situation, just like he did with the Henry leaving situation?! Was he not shouting about the “burglary” being sabotage, at all, but exploding because he now had confirmation that the whole weird situation was his “good friend” Nathan Sr.'s handiwork (honestly… why would he assume sabotage straight out of his car and what would this “burglary” even actually be sabotaging? How does this make sense as a response to the situation outside of the context I'm proposing? It… doesn't… Making him explode like this in front of many people even fits Nathan Sr.'s Classic Abuser Villainizing Their Victim M.O.)?! Could the lack of music in the shorts have been a hint at both how Nathan Sr. edits the Ink Dimension to be joyless and torture Joey in particular and how he punishes anyone who reaches out to/for help all along?!?! And… could Nathan Sr. have straight-up orchestrated Buddy's death, as well, besides forcing Joey to make up a story about how it was his own plan the whole time, because he realized Joey liked him?! Was the incident where Joey tricked Buddy into paying for a fancy dinner to make Nathan Sr. think he only saw him as a pawn when he started suspecting he'd done something to Sammy, but it didn't work?! Why was Buddy sat where he was (at… Henry's desk… which was being kept somewhere nobody wanted to sit, like Joey didn't want anyone going near it…) and Bendy locked up somewhere that this kid who people knew tended to stay late after work (just like Henry…) would hear him (recognizing, because he was under the pipes all the time, that this was a new and unnatural noise), let him out, and be blamed for unleashing the Ink Demon?

“It was because of the pipes. I know that now. My little corner of the Art Department that no one wanted to sit in… . . . So the pipes making the odd noise as I sat and worked in my corner that night really didn't even make me blink. Didn't make me look up. Until they did. . . . I stood up instinctively. This wasn't the furnace feeling frustrated. This was something else. What it was, though, I had no idea. Well, the thing I did know was that it was none of my business. So I sat back down and focused on my paper. That's when the moaning started.” ~ Daniel “Buddy” Lewek, Dreams Come to Life, pg. 139-140 (emphasis added)

Nathan Sr. took Joey's goodies away… drowned his kittens in ink because he kept disobeying/failing to obey to satisfaction… I get the feeling that, when Joey confronted him about Sammy being disappeared, Nathan Sr. said something like: “don't give me that look. This is just what happens when you don't behave, you know that. I felt a little bad doing it, I did enjoy his music… Oh well! Life goes on…” and it seems like he made sure the soulless Bendy took Buddy out extra poetically, because he could see Henry in him just as much as Joey could… so, he knew that death would hurt his “good friend” the most…

“[Mister Drew] grabbed me under my chin and held my head still. I tried to shake him off, but his grip was like a vise. He brought up his other hand and held me tighter. He came even closer and looked at me hard in the eyes. His scent was powerful. I'd never really noticed that before. But now for some reason I could smell him clearly. It wasn't just cigar smoke and pomade. I could smell his hors d'oeuvres from the party. I could smell whiskey and champagne. I could smell the city air and the heat of the day. His sweat. His madness. . . . Just because something is unbelievable doesn't make it not true. Remember that, Dot. Oh, please, above all things, remember that. . . . ‘The soul. But how do I get a soul? Sammy lured those people down here… I thought I could use them, but the ink had infected them for days. There was no soul left in there. I needed someone real. Someone good. I never thought I'd be so lucky as to have you, Buddy. But this was meant to be. This was the plan all along. That's why you were sent to me. When I came here, when I saw you—in the clutches of that beast—I understood your purpose.’ No. That's not my purpose. I felt anger rise in me, and I pushed his hand off my shoulder finally. I stayed where I was, white-hot rage now energizing me, making me almost afraid to stand up. Of what I might do. ‘I saved your soul, Buddy. And you saved me. You’re going to save Bendy.’ I didn't do that. My purpose was saving Dot and the others. That was my purpose. He couldn't and wouldn't take that away from me. My purpose now and always would be to protect the world from this beast. This machine.” ~ Daniel “Buddy” Lewek, Dreams Come to Life, pg. 287, 293, 294, and 295 (emphasis added)

Was Joey literally trying to tell Buddy that Nathan Sr. had plotted his demise because he knew he cared about him?! And was that comment about unbelievability a message from Wilson about the whole Nathan Sr.-and-his-puppets situation?!?! Which makes me think of… Okay, these next couple thoughts may be more of a headcanon than a legitimate theory, but I've had this weird, nagging feeling ever since I first read DCTL that I'd just totally discredited when I first heard Nathan Sr.'s voice, and I'm wondering if I shouldn't have… cause this line in The Mug and The Maiden, “two characters have died already, surely a third wouldn't hurt anything? Are you perhaps just reading this story because you want to see who will get the axe next? You're a little warped, do you know that?” is most definitely speaking of/to Nathan Sr… Any of y'all remember that scene in the elevator as Buddy was arriving at Joey's party? I wonder if my initial, gut reaction that the man with the southern accent who tried to get Buddy to join him in making fun of Joey (honestly, it seemed like laughing at the poor man was the one-and-only reason he was even there) and his wife who seemed done with his B.S. – both of whom mysteriously vanish after being introduced in a similar manner to Allison, like they might be important later – were actually Nathan Sr. and Tessa, except they were in disguise so that Joey wouldn't realize Nathan Sr. had come to watch his dominoes fall… until it was too late. Susie and Sammy already died (or “died”), surely another of his toys dying (or “dying”) tonight wouldn't hurt anything… but oh, goody-goody gumdrops, whichever will get the axe next? 👀 I also had this weird feeling when I first read TLO, before Andrew told Constance his name, that he was was going to be Nathan Jr… and I still felt like he might somehow be involved with Nathan Sr. – maybe a spy or something – until he just sort of got unceremoniously kicked from the story and nothing really came of him except adding more fuel to the raging inferno that was Constance's anger… I wonder if Nathan Sr. enlisted his neglected Favorite Son™ as Constance's Keeper? 👀👀 Back to things I'm more sure about, hm… that scene I just quoted sounds an awful lot like a certain scene at the end of BATDR…

Wilson: …All of the factors must be perfect. *Machine chamber rotates from the one containing the painting of Shipahoy Dudley to an empty one* The right design, the right science, and… *saw blades pop out of the chamber walls* the right soul. Audrey: What? Wilson: At last your purpose is revealed, Audrey. This is why you're here! With your soul inside him, my creation will live forever. Audrey: Stay away from me! You're insane! Wilson: Come now, Audrey! Part of you knew this was your path. Leave yourself behind… and ascend! Audrey: I thought you said we needed to save your father! I thought you had a plan to send me home! To make everything right! Wilson: I lied… My father is beyond hope. Perhaps you know him: Nathan Arch, owner of ArchGate! Industrial genius. Business tycoon. For years I've lived in his reaching shadow. He always had time for the grand creatives of the world, the “doers” as he called them! He knew only the best! The biggest thinkers! How could his lowly son ever hope to compete with that? But now, thanks to you, I can. Audrey: *Clenches fist* *tries to use her banishing powers on him* Wilson: *Catches her hand before she can* No need to struggle. My signal prevents you from using those devilish powers of yours… and more importantly, *catches her other hand before she can hit him with the Gent pipe* keeps the Ink Demon from getting in. It's time to die, Audrey… *starts dragging her towards the machine* and live again… as a god! Audrey: *Hits him with her pipe, continues struggling, and gets her right hand free* No! Not this time! ERRGH! *Hits him much harder, frees herself from his grip and pushes him into the saw blades*

More evidence that both Joey and Wilson's evil plans were actually Nathan Sr.'s all along?? He's done this before, to Susie, Sammy, Buddy, Henry, Allison, Grant, and who knows how many others through Joey (and, I mean, y'know, he's probably why Joey tried to sacrifice himself at all… I wonder if the reason his soul failed to merge with Bendy, the reason it was purportedly Joey's fault Bendy was soulless, was because he came to his senses at the last second and fought back like Audrey did), now he's trying to do it to both Audrey through Wilson and to Wilson through Audrey… This series is so filled to the brim with narrative parallels, it's astounding… And my. Gosh. I. Hate. Nathan Sr. More. And. More. The more I think about it all… Anyways, honestly, the whole Sammy and Jack situation would explain:

Joey's comments on Sammy and Jack seeming to secretly hate each other in TIOL: maybe he added that in so that, if one of his friends was caught by Nathan Sr., then maybe the other wouldn't be (clearly it didn't work, unfortunately)?!

Joey describing Jack as an attention-hogging showman when all of his audio logs show he was very introverted, didn't much care about getting credit, etc: maybe he wanted to create this image of him so that Nathan Sr. wouldn't notice him if and when he went into hiding?!

Why Joey put a pump switch in Sammy's office: maybe he realized Nathan Sr. was catching on and wanted to make him think he didn't care about him while also getting Sammy to start hiding like Jack?!

Why Sammy made the comment he did to the (sepia!!) newspaper in the Employee Handbook that most people interpreted as meaning he was always a villain and on Joey's side in a bad way when he, himself, clearly didn't like being ordered around and under a tight schedule: maybe he, himself, was also trying to throw Nathan Sr. off the scent of rebellion (also, this means we have even more evidence of Nathan Sr. A: letting rumors spread to punish Joey, and B: creating Decoy Villains through manipulation/etc. all the freaking time)?!

Now that we're all chewing on that food for thought, back to the music. 😝

Sepiatone: You were all my gold that has been never sold, giving life for art is going to be told, with a new name but an old soul, playing the old remastered roll, backing to tracks forgotten, all is fresh not rotten Grayscale: But there was just one creation, couldn't ever imagine, it brought my needed retaliation, for the artistic salvation *Two-Joey chorus repeats* Grayscale: Never-ending cycle started the suffering revival, the offspring has survived, angels and demons darkly revived, the vision brought a very costly decision, *obvious Joey silhouette appears* how great it is to feel the artistic *Joey silhouette flickers out of existence* catharsis, thaaa— Sepiatone: —aaat feels like I'm living, Sepia Joey: losing what I've been dreaming is what I'm fearing, but the true god of conceptions know, when from the spotlight he should go Grayscale: Anyone know? I'm! Still! Here!

*Wheezes* Did you just further confirm all my theories on how the version of Joey's story that everyone knows was written by Nathan Sr. (while simultaneously nudging us towards the idea that the Memory of Joey is straight-up Nathan Sr. in disguise and reinforcing that the End Reel is his creation and the resets are part of his plan to torture everyone), there was only ever one studio it's just that reality and people's memories have been modified and re-modified beyond recognition, Joey intended for the Ink Dimension to be salvation for those who've suffered in life and the victims of Nathan Sr.'s machinations but Nathan Sr. hijacked his creation, twisting it from a heavenly paradise into the hellish prison he, himself, now relishes and doesn't want to lose control of and consequently it was a good thing for Bendy to crush the Memory of Joey?? And possibly also drop a hint about the explanation of the events of TLO provided by The Mug and The Maiden before definitely reinforcing that the real Joey (who mused about ascending to godhood in TIOL and, if he's really Bendy now, has been described as a “deity” by Wilson, and has definitely been described as a “Dreamer” throughout the whole series, therefore “the true god of conceptions”) has been pushed outta the spotlight by the Memory of Joey and using Bertrum's line to simultaneously confirm that Bertrum also became a personification of part of Joey's psyche (his desires for the respect of others and praise for his work, hatred for anyone who belittles him and desire to upstage them in retaliation) and that Real Joey's soul is indeed still here inside Bendy???

Sepia Joey: Hey, do you hear me now? Gray Joey: After all these years, vision's still in the minds Sepia Joey: You'll breathe when I allow Gray Joey: Even dried-out ink is still drawing new lines Sepia Joey: I left for you my legacy Gray Joey: All consumed by fear, inky atmosphere Sepia Joey: Take my hand, that's the destiny, let's spin the last gear, I'll miss you my dear

Did you just also confirm that even the long-dead are still modifying the Ink Dimension for various purposes, simultaneously confirming that many of the new audio logs/memos/side stories may indeed have been made up by the souls of the series' scapegoats/etc. in attempt to call our attention to the discrepancies and reveal the truths and that Nathan Sr. – as the person who seems to be doing most of the reality/memory modification – might indeed already be dead, which would mean his soul would indeed be the true “new evil” in the Ink Dimension?! I'm vibrating again, omigosh…

The rest of the lyrics were all lines from the artist's previous Bendy songs ending on a lineup of posters of each one, which I'm thinking is probably further confirmation of theMeatly's repeated statements that all established lore is still 100% canon, and then did you notice… that while all the other posters only include drawings of cartoon characters, the poster for Legacy is a drawing of Bendy and human Joey as he looks in Archgate's documentary banners, haircut and all, and we see the Joey shadow puppet's shadow looming over it before the shot fades to black??? 👀 He's practically screaming in our faces that the Memory of Joey/Nathan Sr. is not supposed to be here and is the real villain!!

Whilst we're talking about there being two Joeys, one of whom is clearly heavily connected to Nathan Sr. for history rewriting purposes… Did anyone notice that, in his letter at the beginning of BATIM, Joey says that he “needs” to show Henry something… Then, in the monologue in his apartment at the end of BATIM, the subtitles (which are what I transcribed the quote from in my original analysis/theory, by the way. In case anyone was wondering. I have auditory processing issues, sue me) say he “needs” to show him something while the voice actor says he “wants” to show him… And then, when the Memory of Joey tells the version of Henry's story that's definitely, 100%, undeniably a blatant Nathan Sr. lie, at this point, he says both verbally and in the subtitles that he “wants” to show Audrey something… 👀👀 “Need” suggests there was a genuine need, and therefore that the “Joey called Henry for help” option would be correct, whereas “want” suggests he wanted to show off something he was proud of or something, and therefore that either the “Joey lured Henry in to murder him” or “Joey created Fake Henry to be tortured” options would be correct… Sounding like the subtitle mismatch was not a mistake, but actually a hint at the transition from Joey's Truth to Nathan Sr.'s Lie, to anyone else? Like maybe Henry remembered that his old friend was supposed to have said “need,” and he was confused as to why he was saying “want,” now?? 👀👀👀

This song was illustrated by someone kept anonymous in the video description, who I think we all know is the same person who did the visuals for that first highly suspicious song, despite him saying that Desolate Hallway would be his last project (if you couldn't already tell just by looking at the style, the crucial hint in the comments returns):

First things first, it's suspicious that this song is titled “Black and White,” considering Joey and Freaky Teeth Bendy's heavy ties to grayscale. I think this song is straight-up Bendy/Real Joey explaining his side of the story to us.

Grayscale: Ooh you're outta luck! Somebody's pulled the rug, and everything you've known has bid farewell, now demons run amok, this land from which you're stuck, the heavens pray this fresh hell treats you well, oh no… Sepiatone: *Whisper that shakes the screen like it frightened the singer* No

Frick, that was Joey despairing that his baby girl's been dragged back into the Ink Dimension and praying for her to be safe and Nathan Sr. interrupting him to say that she won't be, wasn't it?

Grayscale (w/ sepia drawing of Audrey): One moment drew with ink, the next I feel it coursing through my veins, I look around to see, reanimated dreams, that festered into frights that never drained Sepiatone (drawing of Audrey): This portal to the past, has morals I could pass, these monsters justify the wrong, in hopes to find their song, knowing it's already gone Grayscale (w/ sepia drawing of Audrey): Catch you in the credits, captivation to this black and white, just don't feel right, yeah, when the shadows grimace, all it takes is an *highlights with a golden glow* enlightened eye, *back to grayscale* to see that I don't belong

This could be Audrey singing about getting sacrificed to the ink machine… or it could also be… Joey describing the day his human body died and he woke up in his cartoon world that was warped from paradise into prison by Nathan Sr. and he was never able to fix… He's also describing how Nathan Sr.'s manipulation and abuse fudges up his victims' consciences, using empathy to make them believe they'll be relieving suffering, creating great art, and/or achieving greatness, so that they think they're in the right committing atrocities… and how he didn't want to continue the cycle of abuse/trauma with his daughter… He even seems to be pointing us to the drawing at the end of the credits – which I'll come back to at the end of this analysis – saying it's unfair that he's the only one who can see his truth in the grayscale, and asking us to look at his story through a new lens…

Grayscale (drawing of Dapper Bendy): Oh can't stop for breath, in a world that leaks with death, I stick out like a stain that won't wash out, creatives always said, work can't go to your head, but never said that they'd go for your throat

He's literally confirming that Nathan Sr. sees him as one of the “stains ready to be cleansed away” *cough liabilities in need of disappearing mafia-style cough* in Wilson's “none of this ‘makes sense’” rant, confirming that this rant was indeed a riddle trying to tell Audrey about Nathan Sr.?? And then seems to be quoting something Henry and others might've said to him when he/they noticed that the studio chapter of their lives seemed to be changing him, and then explaining what it felt like when Nathan Sr. started villainizing him, causing people who he thought cared to turn against him…?

Grayscale (camera pans over to show a drawing of Freaky Teeth Bendy in a mirror behind Dapper): A cartoon made to dance, had finally got a chance, to never be erased again, now I have been condemned, to the marks from my own pen, catch you in the credits, captivation to this black and white, just don't feel right, when the shadows grimace, all it takes is an *highlights with a golden glow* enlightened eye, *back to grayscale* to see that I don't belong

He's confirming that he thought he'd escaped Nathan Sr.'s clutches only to find himself trapped in them again by his own creation?? And then back to pointing us to the credits of BATDR, saying it's unfair that nobody else can see his truth, and asking us to look at his story through a new lens…

Sepiatone: Passion amassed all our pass time distractions, to fight for their rations and live a tortured life, but the reels just repeat, lost the chance to redeem, when corruption’s defeated, remembrance always dies, yet even when memories fade, your legacy carries your fate, the devil may reach for my heart, *highlights with a golden glow* but I don’t belong to the dark

This sounds like he's describing what Nathan Sr. did to all his victims now trapped in what should've been their salvation, again… Confirming again that the End Reel and the Memory of Joey are evil and it was good for the Memory of Joey to be crushed and bad for the loop to restart… And then we seem to have Nathan Sr. bragging about the fact he's turned Joey's baby girl against him, so he won't win even if he kills him??? But then what seems to be Audrey providing her much more positive side of the story, that she's trying not to lean on her dad's maladaptive coping mechanisms… I'm coming back to that, I'm coming back to that. I'll wait.

Grayscale (w/ sepia drawing of Audrey): Catch ya in the credits, captivation to this black and white, just don’t feel right, when the shadows grimace, all it takes is an *highlights with a golden glow* enlightened eye, *back to grayscale* to see that I don’t belong Sepiatone (drawing of the Bendy): (Oh no), to see that I don’t belong, (black and white, it don’t feel right), to see that I don’t belong

Let's do some more examination on the fully animated version, which seems to provide further insight:

The beginning seems to be confirming that it's Bendy singing for the majority of the song, though it tries to make it look like the “no” is coming from Bendy… highlighted by a switch to sepia, as if we're only seeing it that way because our perception has been altered. Then it seems suggested that it is Audrey who's singing the “one moment drew with ink, the next I feel it coursing through my veins,” except… “I look around to see, reanimated dreams” is accompanied by what looks like footage of BATIM Chapter 2… which is weird… and suggests that maybe we're seeing Henry and/or Joey's memories… *Stares at my notes on Audrey's parentage* Then, “that festered into frights that never drained” is accompanied by all four Butcher Gang members appearing around Audrey… *Stares at my notes on reality editing and children of the Machine* And then “this portal to the past” is accompanied by a shot of the “again & again, around & around” hidden message from BATIM, “has morals I could pass” a Bendy statue from BATIM, “these monsters justify the wrong” a Searcher wrenching a door open to attack, “in hopes to find their song” a Lost One throwing herself against a wall and looking sad, “knowing it's already gone” Dapper Bendy looking at the toy train in his lap all alone…

The first chorus, “catch ya in the credits” is accompanied by Audrey and Dapper Bendy doing a handshake like they're already best pals and teammates, “captivation to this black and white, just don't feel right” the pair walking together to the library in BATIM where Henry saw his first vision that wasn't triggered by passing out from a magic-induced headache or doing something you don't do in a normal playthrough (which suggests that this might've been a point where the script was changed), “when the shadows grimace, all it takes is an enlightened eye to see that I don't belong” Audrey looking at a copy of TIOL (I probably don't have to reiterate, but I'm gonna: the biggest source of info on Nathan Sr.'s abusiveness towards Joey), then Bendy narrowing his eyes and looking over at a projection of the hidden messages from Henry's cell in Allison and Tom's hideout, *stares at my notes on these being evidence that Henry and Allison's story retcons are blatant lies* followed by shots of Carley the fourth Butcher Gang member, several Lost Ones who seem to be sitting at school desks in front of the ink messages Grant scrawled all over the walls of his office in BATIM, *stares at my notes on how the children of the Machine seem to be tryna tell us that Mr. Gray/Grey is being written into the story as a decoy villain partially through highlighting how Nathan Sr. changed Grant's story to fit this pretend history* Porter (one of the most critical parts of arousing suspicion that he and Heidi aren't Audrey's siblings, the Memory of Joey/Nathan Sr.'s just tryna make Real Joey look bad), an empty music studio, and Wilson with the invisible ink messages “who is the man behind the monster?” and “you bring death” behind him, which suggests that… maybe a large number of the secret messages we found in BATIM, even ones we thought were just jokes (as many assumed The Mug and the Maiden was), were… being used as riddles by him… Omigosh, guys, read these in the (general) order we encounter them with the idea that – no matter who actually wrote them – Wilson could be using these to talk to us/himself, tell stories, etc. in mind (there's actually way more that sound very, very him, but Tumblr's image limit, so I'm only putting highlights from the beginning and ending here):

This feels like a description of the events of DCTL (especially considering the fact that Wilson used the widow – a “she” – in The Mug and the Maiden to symbolize Nathan Sr. Secret messages relating to Twisted Alice could very well be being used to talk about him… I wonder if Twisted Alice's line “I see you there. A new fly in my endless web” in BATIM was a reference to Nathan Sr., as well? Seeing as Wilson used the King Widow and Lord Amok to tell us that the Memory of Joey is either Nathan Sr.'s puppet or Nathan Sr. himself)…

And then a description of Joey's guilt spiral and calling Henry for help only for his dearest friend to be murdered by Nathan Sr., then Allison trying to be there for him and also getting murdered by Nathan Sr., but Joey being blamed for both incidents just like every puppet always gets blamed for everything that Nathan Sr. orchestrates… Y'know, all that stuff with Sammy and now with Henry's secret messages would explain why it was specifically Henry's axe and seeing tool and a record in the contraband display case, wouldn't it—? Did the Keepers put them there under the Memory of Joey/Nathan Sr.'s orders, or was this another of Wilson's attempts to call our attention to what he was trying to say (“guys please I'm trying so hard but my effing dad keeps silencing me, I'm literally begging you to look into Sammy and Henry for the love of all things good”)…?? Mm! I'm vibrating, again. Anyways, “a cartoon made to dance, had finally got a chance, to never be erased again, now I have been condemned, to the marks from my own pen” is accompanied by a shot of Dapper Bendy gripping his head and looking at Audrey in distress as he melts, then reemerges from the puddle as Freaky Teeth Bendy, the hidden message depicting the soulless Bendy's monster horns and claws that should be around the Bendy clock in Boris's hideout in BATIM behind him…

“*Panting* When you animate, it's so much more than just motion. It's a way of life, an art, a passion. *Crazed giggle* Each tiny movement is an *growly* emotional trigger to the audience. Get it wrong, and you will lose them. You must live the characters to draw them. You must feel the motions in your mind. *Pitch raises to be like the giggle again* Act them out around your room. Today, I'm a clock, a dancing timekeeper. *Giggles again* Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock. *Giggles* Watch my movements. *Growly* See my frames of animation! I have so many characters to animate yet. Thousands of frames to go. *Giggles again, but sounding on the verge of tears* But for now, I'm just a clock. *Giggle, sniffle* Tick tock. *Giggle, sniffle* Tick tock. *Sniffly gasp, leading into a crazed laugh that almost sounds like sobbing* Hahahhaha!” ~ Bill Danton, Bendy and the Dark Revival, “Dancing Clock” audio log

Oh, honey… Danton (sorry, sweetie, I gotta refer to you with your surname to avoid confusion) is a personification of the part of Bendy/Real Joey that's in agony playing the villain again postmortem, unable to free himself from Nathan Sr.'s sadistic script even now and, worse, made the key to the resets, isn't he…? Oof… Then, the second “all it takes is an enlightened eye to see that I don't belong” is accompanied by a shot of Wilson and Betty followed by shots of the Memory of Joey in red lighting, Henry in green lighting, Twisted Alice, a Keeper, and the Bendys in black-and-white before they're swallowed by sepia lighting.

“But the reels just repeat, lost the chance to redeem” is interestingly a cut from Bendy saving Audrey from bleeding out on the floor after killing Shipahoy Wilson for ripping her legs off to… the Memory of Joey (I checked, that’s definitely his watch and pinstriped suit) standing looking at Norman’s projector head that we use to reset the loop… *Stares at my notes on the Memory of Joey wanting the cycle to continue being a very bad sign* Ouch, the “when corruption’s defeated, remembrance always dies” line being accompanied by Henry and Audrey-in-Bendy’s-body nodding at each other before resetting the loop hurts so bad… Y’know… now that this brings it up… the parallels to the soulless Bendy saving Henry from the Projectionist only for him to go after the End Reel… which Bendy stole from the vault and hid in his Throne Room… Is this saying that Real Joey was trying to break the cycle through Bendy by making him steal the stupid reel (which might suggest that the reason Henry had a vision when Bendy saved him was because Norman wasn't supposed to be able to see him and Joey briefly connected to Bendy to rescue his friend, now that I think about it), the audio log that came with it was basically the Memory of Joey before Nathan Sr. died and was able to physically manifest in the Ink Dimension…

“It's simply awe-inspiring what one can accomplish with their own hands! A lump of clay can turn to meaning… if you strangle it with enough enthusiasm. Look what we've built! We created life itself, Henry! Not just on the silver screen, but in the hearts of those we've entertained with our fancy moving pictures! But… when the tickets stopped selling, when the next big thing came along, only the monsters remained. Shadows of the past. But you can save them, Henry! You can peel it all away! You see, there's only one thing Bendy has never known: He was there for his beginning, but he's never seen… The End.” ~ (The Memory of??) Joey Drew, Bendy and the Ink Machine, Chapter 5

…created in order to push Henry to reset the loop while making Bendy look like the villain (and indirectly confessing to orchestrating the deaths of so many – Henry included – under his true identity [Nathan Sr.] and what he was planning on the Ink Dimension coverup for Henry's death being?? Please tell me everyone's seeing that line's similarity to Wilson's “None of This ‘Makes Sense’” riddle, the epilogue of TLO, the “Wilson Trying to Make Audrey Into Shipahoy Dudley” scene, and the “Joey's False Confession to Buddy” scene), just like how he did to Audrey coming in with his love-bombing her and making Bendy look like the bad guy for crushing him?? I— holy— woah… oh my…

Audrey: I'm scared. I don't know what's happening. The Memory of Joey: The past doesn't define you, nor the present! In the end, all those years ago, Joey Drew finally succeeded! He created… life. But Audrey, you're so much more than that. You were his family, his daughter. My daughter… and I love you so very much. The Ink Demon: Be quiet. The wretch is mine! The Memory of Joey: Remember who you are, Audrey. Remember! The Ink Demon: Your words are wasted! The failure of Joey Drew dies here! . . . The Ink Demon: *Crushes MoJ with their right hand* Audrey: Noooo! The Ink Demon: *Throws MoJ in the ink* The future is sealed. *Puts their right hand on the floor and does nothing else, as if he just wants to rest* Audrey: *Turns their head to look at the End Reel* The Ink Demon: What do you think you're doing? Audrey: *Picks the End Reel up with their left hand* I'm starting over. The Ink Demon: What? Audrey: This… is the end.

This scene was literally Real Joey fighting to claim his daughter as his effing daughter and break the time loop cycle while Nathan Sr. sneakily directed her attention and affection towards himself to save both his own skin and the accursed cycle!! 🤯 Nathan Sr. has fricking manipulated the script so much— this makes Danton's audio log twenty times more upsetting…!

The “your legacy carries your fate” line is interestingly accompanied by a shot of Audrey and Shipahoy Wilson, possibly alluding that they could fight against Nathan Sr.'s machinations together? And then Audrey says the “but I don't belong to the dark” line back in her office, and the door behind her opens to reveal Dapper Bendy in a grayscale version of it before we're pulled back into the sepia where we see a shot of the soulless Bendy from BATIM for the “catch ya in the credits” and Freaky Teeth looking around like something's wrong for the “captivation to this black-and-white just don't feel right” lines.

“When the shadows grimace” comes with a shot of Shipahoy Wilson, “all it takes is an enlightened eye to see that I don't belong” a shot of Tom pointing behind us where we turn to see Allison Angel and then Henry. Then, that final “to see that I don’t belong, (black and white, it don’t feel right), to see that I don’t belong” line is accompanied by shots of Audrey falling down the elevator shaft like a rabbit hole, Freaky Teeth touching her shoulder and head, and, finally, a shot of Audrey in front of the cork board from Joey's apartment with the items from it that correlated to the ones used to turn on the Ink Machine (including another copy of TIOL!!) floating around her…

Anyone notice that this drawing from the credits of Daddy and Daughter drawing together in their apartment is the only one that's in black-and-white? I dunno about y'all, but this all feels a little too on-the-nose to just be a coincidence…!! 👀

And, finally, everyone probably already knew about this one, but I think it's important to look at this official BATDR song through a new lens:

“Come what may, I'm watching over you, when darkness comes closing in, I'll turn that black sky to blue, I'll always guide you, protect you, I'll never forsake you, you know my heart is always true, so no matter the odds, what lies between us, I'll always be here for you, lost in the shadows, I'll be your light, shining your whole life through, so no matter the odds, what lies between us, I'll always be here for you

I'll always guide you, protect you, I'll never forsake you, you know my heart is always true, so no matter the odds, what lies between us, I'll always be here for you, lost in the shadows, I'll be your light, shining your whole life through, so no matter the odds, what lies between us, I'll always be here for you”

…Fudge nuggets, y'all got me crying, again. 🥲 This is supposed to be a song that our potential Cyclebreakers can sing to each other, including Allison and Tom as pictured in most of the video, Joey and his baby girl as that Bendy-and-Audrey drawing in the middle might be implying, and so on, isn't it? 😭💕 *Deep breath* Anyways…

In conclusion: I do think BATDR is the end of the original story.

I feel like future games will probably focus on what on Earth happens when the children of the Machine move on, what with Gent's return teased in the post-credits scene. But at any rate, while maybe the final story might not have been quite what they originally planned and has changed a few times while BATDR was in development limbo, I wholeheartedly believe that Nathan Sr. is still very much the true villain of the entire Bendy series so far. He's just sticking to what he's good at and staying the heck behind his beloved curtain, pulling everyone else's strings… And I know I said in my initial reaction that the default ending didn't feel like the true one due to all the things that didn't make sense, but now that I've put all my other thoughts into words and mulled things over more, I wanna leave you with this thought:

“We’re ALWAYS free to choose. To believe what we want to believe. But when you step back, when you really look at where you've been, and the things you've done, your past will come… to devour you. *Bendy's growl echoes in the backround, as if another memory*” ~ Audrey Drew, Bendy and the Dark Revival, intro (emphasis added)

“You must be really lost to be asking me for help.” ~ Henry Stein, Bendy and the Dark Revival, Chapter 4

Audrey: Dead end! Now what? Henry: Need some help? Audrey: Henry! You came! Henry: Some battles are worth fighting for… Even a million times. Come on! I found a projector up ahead! Run for it! The Ink Demon: This realm is mine… and the cycle will continue! Audrey: Well then, we'll just have to do better next time.

“My father once told me, that just because we’re born of darkness… doesn’t mean we belong to it. We’re always free to choose. And here, at the very beginning, there’s a choice to make. My father’s cartoon world was now mine. To rule, to watch over, and to protect. I can make the cycle more bearable for my friends inside. But as for me, I’m the first of my kind. Born of ink, but living in flesh. Joey’s world is escaping into ours. So, what’s next? Who can really say?” ~ Audrey Drew, Bendy and the Dark Revival, outro (emphasis added)

I… don't think the default ending is about all the other ink creatures literally escaping into the actual real world with Audrey— except for her fellow children of the Machine, who already exist in-between the two worlds, belonging to both and neither, thanks to their ghostly origins, and consequently can cross over just fine if they so desire. I think it's much more about her choosing to A: acknowledge and accept the Joseph Dempsey (aka Dapper Bendy) part of her dad's story – that while he made mistakes, he did in fact love her and was trying his best to make sure she'd have a better life than he did – remember the memories that she'd suppressed through her dad's Illusion of Living coping mechanism and allow herself to grieve for him and embrace what's left of him, B: possibly get the truth of what Nathan Sr. did to Joey, Wilson, and everyone else out into the world?? That's another copy of TIOL that she's holding!! And C: reject (or “banish away,” as Bendy/Real Joey said in his “The Beginning” and “Something Familiar” memos) what she, like her father, thought was her only option for survival – becoming a monster – after seeing the creature she became torture and eventually kill a being with the face and voice of her loved one (making her realize that this was just as bad a road for herself as it was for him), and to break the cycle of trauma/abuse by taking control of, especially, the real-world memory part of her father's creation (mayhaps it's actually another of those “many wires” mentioned in A Theory about Spaces? It's not quite the real world, but it's also not truly the Ink Dimension…) to make the fact that they're all still trapped in the loop more bearable. Even if they still have to relive many of the events we've seen, maybe she can eventually figure out how to do things like let Henry visit Memory Linda (yes, she gets the honor of dropping the “the” and “of” in the moniker), who may still exist within the Real-World Memory Space, and so on. Maybe she'll even be able to get through to Wilson, someday, and they can rule the Ink Dimension together?

It's not perfect, they're all gonna be affected by what happened to them forever, like trauma survivors in real life. But they're gonna manage. Those who are willing are gonna do what they can and make the most of what they have, do their best to heal and move on. Honestly, even if there isn't a secret Grayscale Ending (which I do still really hope there is— Wilson and Joey deserve better than they got in the default ending and I want so badly to make Nathan Sr. face more-permanent justice)… I think that's a pretty beautiful way to have handled it.

To Read the Original Analysis/Theory: Part One • Part Two • Part Three • Unexpected Part Four

#bendy and the dark revival #batdr #the mug and the maiden #batdr theory #batdr spoilers #dreams come to life #dctl #the illusion of living #tiol #bendy: the lost ones #bendy: tlo #bendy spoilers #lyric analysis #film analysis #game analysis #book analysis #cw: abuse #nathan arch sr. #nathan arch jr. #wilson arch #allison pendle #joey drew #henry stein #audrey drew #buddy lewek #bill chambers #constance gray #brant morris #sammy lawrence #jack fain

[pnkq]

The entire history of Eddsworld based on my knowledge of nothing: alright, so pretty much in 1992, Wayne’s World was made and you’re probably thinking, what does that have to do with eddsworld? But I have answers for you, my friend. This guy Edd who was only like 4 years old at the time made a comic called Edd’s World, with correct grammar because sure. Then timeskip like 7 years later and kaboom Eddsworld begins. But it’s like Edd’s World cus sure. And then Edd meets this guy named Matt and friendship ensues. Then the first Eddsworld animations are made but they’re just GIFs about characters dying and stuff like that. Then in like 2001 Edd joins Neopets and makes a guild or something called Edd’s Kill-a-thon but that gets changed to just Edd’s World later on. And then Edd’s World comics start getting made. But digitally this time. Cool. Then in 2002 Edd gets flash which will be important later on. He makes a lot of stuff on flash and it’s pretty cool so yeah. Then he makes his first ever game, Interactive Stickfaces. Nice. But then the Edd’s World comic ends and there’s a cartoon called four-limbed freak but that only lasted like 4 episodes. Then he makes more stuff. And in June 2003 he joins Newgrounds, which is cool as well. Then more stuff is made by Edd. Like a lot of stuff. BUT THEN SOMETHING INTERESTING HAPPENS!! So basically Edd meets Thomas, or just Tom. Nice. Now there’s like 3 people. But then in November 2004 Tom and Tord like officially join. Tord came in like somewhere not 100% sure. 2006 bad shit happens. Like Edd gets cancer and Tord gets suicide threats but Tom and Edd joined Youtube so cool. Luckily in 2007, cancer ends. 2008 Tord gets sick of this shit and leaves. 2010 WTFuture releases which is apparently Edd’s favorite Eddisode. Nice. But then 2011 comes along and Edd gets cancer again. Shit. 2012. Tragedy. Edd makes his last ever animation: 5ever. Edd dies from leukemia in March. Then Tomska gets diagnosed with depression. Edd’s funeral happened. Tomska hires another guy to voice Edd and another another guy to animate. This is the start of Legacy. Well now that that terrible year of 2012 was over we got 2013. More animators, that’s pretty much it. 2014. Fun Dead comes out, and that’s like the most popular one. Then in 2015 Mirror Mirror comes out but that’s not really that important. AND THEN IN 2016 The End comes out and everyone’s hopes got way too high and they thought Tord might come back. Spoiler: he doesn’t he just leaves again. Then a ton of people leave, including Tomska, the voice of Edd, and the animator. So pretty much now we have: Matt and Edd’s family. That’s all. 2020 and George Gould (Edd’s brother) voices Edd now. 2022 and another Eddisode comes out in over a year. 2023 and Eddsworld gets their own Youtooz but woops nevermind it sold out. And that’s pretty much it because I don’t see us in 2024 yet, you? 

#eddsworld #history

[a-la-rascasse]

Happy birthday NIGEL MANSELL!!!!!!!!!!!!! (08/08/1953) 🦁⚡

“I think life is full of challenges and problems. I don't believe that anyone is perfect. We all make mistakes. It's not a bed of roses, and you have to work real hard at it.”

Nigel Ernest James Mansell was born in Baughton near Upton-upon-Severn, but grew up in Hall Green, Birmingham. He was the third of four children: Michael, Gail and Sandra. His first approach to driving came early when, at the age of 7, he drove an Austin in a field nearby; but something that fed Nigel's need for speed and curiosity towards motorsport was definetely witnessing Lotus driver, Jim Clark, win at the 1962 British Grand Prix. Subsequently Nigel started driving karts, where wheel-to-wheel battles were the ordinary, young Nigel started crafting and developing his driving skills.

After gaining a good amount of succsess, he then moved to race in the Formula Ford series, which turned out to be very challenging: his father disapproved his son's choice to race, he had to sold a lot of his personal belongings to be able to finance his career, he resigned from his job as aerospace engineer and suffered a broken neck in a accident during a qualyfing session. After being hospitalized, the doctors told him that he had come perilously close to quadriplegia (condition that after an injury can cause the loss of use of the four limbs) and that he would be confined for six months and would never drive again, but Nigel had other plans: he sneaked out of the hospital by telling the nurses he was going to the bathroom, and later returned to racing; despite the injuries and financial issues, he became the 1977 Formula Ford champion. From 1978 to 1980, Nigel raced in Formula Three, but in 1979 he had a seriuos accident that left him with broken vertebrae. But that did't prevent him to attend some tryouts with the Lotus team, hiding the extent of his injury with painkillers.

Being so impressed with Nigel's skills, Colin Chapman decided to give him a trio of F1 starts. Nigel made his official F1 debut at the 1980 Austrian GP, but a fuel leak in the cockpit that developed shortly before the start of the race, left him with painful first and second degree burns on his buttocks. Despite being unlucky on his other two races too, Colin Chapman suprisingly signed the young British driver, after Mario Andretti announced he would move to Alfa Romeo, making Nigel an official Lotus driver, joining the Italian driver Elio De Angelis in the team. After Colin Chapman's sudden passing in 1982, Peter Warr took over in the team, but he and Nigel never really got on, so this lead Nigel to sign with Williams for the '85 season. In the first year with the British team, he would go and score his first win at the '85 European GP. Through difficulties Nigel scored many other wins with the team, but when in 1988 Williams had a terribly unreliable car, an opportunity arose when Ferrari offered him a seat for the '89 season. Nigel became the last driver to be personally chosen by Enzo Ferrari before his passing. There were a lot of mechanichal changes in the sport that year, so Nigel was hopeful to have a competitive car by 1990, but unfortunately it revealed to be the opposite: the car was extremely unreliable and furthermore, his relationship with his french teammate Alain Prost, got worse and led to the Bristish driver to leave the Scuderia, only to return to Williams for two whole seasons. 1992 would be a very special year for Nigel since he would go a win the much coveted World Championship title. The following year, after a public disagreement with Williams, Nigel retired from F1 and moved to the US to race in the CART series, but would later make a come back, driving once again for Williams in 1994 and the following year he moved to McLaren, only to retire definitely from F1 after a series of disagreements with the team.

Despite leaving Formula 1, Nigel competed in many other motorsports; still to this day he makes appereaces at various motorsport events, like it happened recently at Goodwood.

For eleven years Nigel was a Special Constable on the Isle of Man, and later in Devon after retiring from Formula 1.

Nigel was a keen golfer and reveald a desire to compete in the British Open. In 1988, he briefly took part in the Australian Open.

His innocent-looking appearence, calm voice and nice sounding accent are all in pure contrast with his fierce, daring and aggressive driving style and determined nature. Inspired by these characteristics, the Italian Tifosi nicknamed him as "Il leone" ("the lion"), underlining even more Nigel's fearless driving style.

#nigel mansell #classic f1 #f1 #formula 1 #retro f1 #f1 1970s #f1 1980s #f1 1990s #f1_bdays

[dailyunsolvedmysteries]

Creepypastas guaranteed to keep you up at night

1. The Slender Man - A classic. Typically, the Slender Man preys on children and those who become obsessed with his existence, though no one knows exactly what happens to the bodies since no one has ever escaped from an encounter with him.

2. Candle Cove - Some adults rediscovered their favorite show from the 1970s, Candle Cove, on a television forum in this creepypasta. Slowly, their memories of the show grow darker and more disturbing until one of the adults asks his mother about the true nature of the show. The forum format of the story adds a spooky realism to the tale, also making it easy to recreate and share on other boards

3. Anasi's Goatman Story - Based on a Native American legend, this creepypasta was originally found on 4Chan's paranormal board /x/, where some of the best creepypastas can be found. The story follows a teenager who goes down to Alabama to be with his extended family. While he, his cousins, and their friends are camping out in the woods, they see a strange figure — the Goatman — jerking and spouting gibberish as it follows them. They spend the rest of the night in fear as the Goatman slowly infiltrates the group, terrorizing the teens into a frenzied state of paranoia.

4. The Russian Sleep Experiment - Shortly after World War II, five political prisoners are subjected to an experiment in which they have to remain awake for 30 days in a tank filled with an experimental gas. As with most science-gone-wrong stories, the test subjects begin to lose their minds among a number of other gruesome symptoms. The horror does not end when the experimenters try to save their subjects — far from it.

5. Jeff the Killer - His origin story involves a fight that resulted in a chemical burn on his face and caused him to suffer a mental break. Soon after, he murdered his family and disappeared into the night to make guest appearances in your nightmares. 

7. BEN Drowned - As the boy plays, he captures the strange occurrences in the game and real life until it ultimately culminates into a full haunting. The narrator and BEN's fates are left up to the reader's imagination, but the tale implies that a happy ending is not in the realm of possibility. 

8. Persuaded - After a massive oil spill, all those touched by the substance begin to viciously attack other creatures, causing mass panic across the country. The nameless protagonist holes himself up in his apartment, waiting for the screaming, violent horde to come crashing through his door and tear him limb from limb. If only that had actually happened, instead of the two day-long nightmare that really unfolds.

9. Smile Dog - The creepypasta deals with an image posted on an old bulletin board system back in 1992 called smile.jpg. Those who saw the image either disappeared or died, save for one Mary E., who the narrator goes to interview. What he eventually learns is that some things, even simple pictures, are better left as mysteries than dealing with the horrifying truth. 

10. Annora Petrova - Annora Petrova was one of the most promising figure skaters in the United States, until she discovered a sentient Wikipedia page about her. After trying to selfishly alter her fate by editing the page, her life spirals out of control in the most unexpected ways, until she is a friendless orphan (which isn't even the worst part).

#creepypasta #creepypastas #creepy #scary #horror

[vinnival]

I automatically gave in

TMC: Golden Clouds AU

September 15th, 1992.

Mark Heathcliff is dead.

Through the three-day dungeon room, wisps of shimmering gold trail and circle around.

January 15th, 2009.

Jonah Marshall is dead.

Back in the basement, wisps of shimmering gold float down the stairs.

Sarah's always taken time to watch the sky above- sometimes it's a bit unnerving- like something malevolent is staring back- but most times, and the reason why she admires the firmament at all, is because of the moments where she feels something benevolent is staring back; and if she looks hard enough, she can still see the cloudy shape of—

———

The basement is dark.

The only light comes from the TV placed in the middle of the room- like a lure trap.

"Jonah...? You there?" A boy croaks into his walkie.

No response.

He tries to will himself to move, to get away from this thing staring at him, but his brain is too fascinated and his limbs feel too sluggish.

It's no use, it feels like he's getting lost in his own hea

-—the TV cuts out, throwing the room into complete darkness. Adam suddenly jolts, as if freed from whatever shackles had him bound to the floor. He looks around warily.

Still darkness.

He knows the stairs are nearby, though- oh, yeah. He has a flashlight. He flicks that on—

and nearly chokes when he spots a weird cloud-like anomaly gathering along the stair steps. Shining his light on it gives a golden sheen- unlike any type of cloud he's seen before; but they sure are clouds! He blinks.

"...what is that," he mutters to himself, curiosity completely mowing down the need to get away from this house. Again...

The golden wisps seem to rustle, settling on the bottom-most steps. A low static sound fills the darkness, along with a sudden migrane blooming in Adam's head- ow!

Adam reaches up to massage a temple, hissing... the TV behind him tries to flick on again,

Almost as if on cue, though, the migrane subsides completely, and that TV is back off.

Adam keeps his flashlight on the gold anomaly, watching as it moves a bit into the air, and then back up the stairs.

He follows.

Follows it through the house, back outside, where the chill bit his nose and fogged his breath. Yet, he didn't feel too cold.

There was more of it out here, yellow, tendril-like smoke, trailing around the house, blanketing the yard in a sea of gold. And at the end of the driveway ahead stood what looked like a pillar of fluffy cloud, about his height. Adam tilts his head, narrows his eyes.

The clouds coalesce, forming together like a puzzle with all the pieces in place, and right as the figure turns enough to get a glimpse of Adam- it dissipates.

The fog clears, no trace of it left in sight. The cold is suddenly much more biting, but Adam isn't shivering because of that.

He shakily grabs for his phone, blinking away the shock. Call... call Sarah, yeah...

When she sends him to voicemail, he clears his throat.

"Hey, Sarah. The job... turned out bad... I- I think I just saw Jonah's ghost."

———

little kickstart to the a

sarah 🤝 adam

THE CLOUDS

#your run of the mill Ghost AU BUT just a bit different #i already have a regular jonah ghost design. that one is different to GC AU though #this is based off of jjba btw. the golden clouds when a main character dies and all #im insane #TMC GC AU #golden clouds au #mark heathcliff #sarah heathcliff #adam murray #jonah marshall #i've also got a GC!Dave in the works too !!

[itcamefromthetoybox]

Here to Sniff Flowers and Shoot Predacons

“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” toys are finally out, and I for one couldn’t be happier! I am so freaking pumped to talk about the different figures from this line, especially since so many of the characters are from “Beast Wars,” my introduction to “Transformers,” and a show near and dear to my heart. So what I’m thinking is that we’ll look at one figure from several of the different sets of figures so that we can get a general idea about this line of toys. And, because I love the character’s original version from “Beast Wars,” we’re starting with “Beast Alliance Beast Battle Masters Rhinox!”

For those of you who don’t know, “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” is the sequel to the hit movie “Bumblebee,” the best movie in the “Transformers” film series and one you should definitely watch if you haven’t done so yet. While that movie took place in the 80’s, this one will be taking place in the totally radical year 1992. Not much is known of the plot as of this moment, which means there isn’t much I can say about the film’s version of Rhinox either. He’s a Maximal who turns into a rhinoceros, and that’s currently all I got. I could tell you tons about the “Beast Wars” version of Rhinox, but that’s because his show came out when I was a kid. This guy? Nothing’s out yet, so I can’t tell you anything about him.

The “Beast Alliance” line of figures, though, is something I can very much talk about. The focus in this line is figures that interact with robot animals, which become weapons and/or armor for the larger toys. It’s where a lot of the movie’s toys are and where we’ll be spending a decent amount of our time with the toyline. It’s made up of three sublines, with “Beast Battle Masters” being what we’re looking at today.

“Beast Battle Masters” are a series of transforming robot animals that become various weapons which can be held by larger figures. The animals themselves lack a robot mode, even if the character the toy depicts does have one, which makes sense because they’re smaller figures and engineering can only do so much without costing a crapload.

Rhinox, despite being a smaller figure, is very stocky. His mold is built to show off just how strong a rhino made of metal would actually be, which is VERY strong. His body’s sculpted in a way that really lets us see the armor plating the character has, which helps contribute to his powerful looks. Most of Rhinox’s body is covered in an rocky brownish color, with touches of metal paint on his shoulders, eyes, mouth, and neck. His steel-grey limbs and the sculpted wiring around his ribs really help drive home the fact that this is a machine and not an organic animal, but none of it takes away from the rhino shape. It’s very clear when looking at him what Rhinox is supposed to be.

Fun-Sized

Rhinox transforms into a gatling gun that can be held by most figures and has a pretty straightforward transformation. You split open his butt and wrap it around his body, rearrange the legs, and Bob’s your uncle. …Good Lord, that last sentence makes me sound like a serial killer when taken out of context. THIS BLOG DOES NOT CONDONE MUTILATING RHINOCEROSES OR PEOPLE. Anyways, the gatling gun looks alright. It’s not great-looking, and from the wrong angle, looks like an ass with a gun sticking out of it, but it’s alright. The legs can get in the way of certain figures holding it, so I’d recommend fiddling with the legs to make him fit in figures’ hands. Also, the gun barrel is removable, since it’s held on with friction tabs, but I’d leave it so as not to wear down the connections.

The Butt-Gun of Doom

Rhinox has limited articulation. His legs are held on by ball joints, but lack any joints themselves, so there’s not much going on there. Since his entire design revolves around turning into a gatling gun, there’s not much room for anything else. His shape impedes any real movement.

Now, would I recommend “Beast Alliance Beast Battle Masters Rhinox?” Absolutely. He’s a fun little figure who goes great with bigger figures. My plan is to actually get the larger Rhinox figure with a robot mode and have him hold this guy. While there will be a re-release of this toy that will come with a figure of Wheeljack, it’s gonna cost a lot more and has a lot less paint, so this is the better Rhinox if you’re not interested in that Wheeljack. Rhinox and the rest of his subline are available at mass retail for about $7-$10, and are fun little toys that kids will really enjoy. This is JS signing off and wishing you Happy Toy Hunting.

#transformers #toys #toy #transformers toy #transformers toys #beast wars #rhinox #transformers rise of the beasts #rise of the beasts #rotb #transformers rotb #review #reviews #toy review

[princewished]

☯

The final scene where Aladdin has one wish left and uses it to set Genie free, 1992 or 2019 version.

send me a scene from my character’s canon and I’ll drabble it from their POV!

status: always accepting

how about both. both is good

                                                           1992 Is this how a heart feels when it’s breaking?

Gazing at Jasmine’s face, he knows that the misery he sees there is a reflection of his own. He can feel the grief of it seeping into every limb; it pulls him down into icy, dark depths, a familiar ball and chain. Tears gather in her eyes, and Aladdin dips his head towards her, watching her devastation and wishing he could soothe it.

As though reading his mind, Genie pipes up from behind him. “Al, no problem, you still got one wish left! Just say the word and you’re a prince again!”

With a last lingering glance at Jasmine, Aladdin drops her hand to turn to Genie fully, the ache in his chest swelling. “But Genie,” he manages, “what about your freedom?”

“Hey,” Genie says with a modest little shrug, “it’s only an eternity of servitude. This is love.” Gently, he reaches out and pushes Aladdin and Jasmine together, heedless of the way Aladdin is wincing. “Al,” Genie says, “you’re not gonna find another girl like her in a million years. Believe me, I know, I’ve looked.”

Jasmine’s face betrays her. Hope blossoms, warm and tentative, her eyes brightening with trust. Trust, the same trust he’s demanded of her time and time again, the same trust he’s somehow managed to keep intact until now. 

For a split second, he’s overwhelmed by desire, a hot flood of wonder overtaking him. He could have this; he could have this and have it be permanent. He could have the truth and the princess, the best of both worlds, everything he could have ever dreamed of and more.

... But he’d still be living the lie.

The desire fades. The wonder goes cold. And, as he knew when he’d opened his eyes at the very ends of the earth, he knows what his decision is.

His surety doesn’t make this any easier. The crack in his chest widens, a cavern opening, sorrow in its purest form. In that moment, he knows it could only be heartbreak, for only that could hurt so badly and still be the right thing.

“Jasmine, I do love you,” he tells her, reaching out to take her hand, to stroke one perfect cheek, to let her gather him close one last time, and watching as the hope fades from her eyes. Everything is agony. Everything is as it should be. “But... I’ve gotta stop pretending to be something I’m not.”

The sadness on her face is forgiving, and that’s what makes it the worst thing in the world. She presses her cheek to his palm, brows creasing with her own grief, and says, with painful tenderness, “I understand.”

He closes his eyes, swallowing the lump in his throat. Takes a deep breath. Then, voice strong, he turns to Genie. “Genie, I wish for your freedom.”

“One bona fide prince pedigree coming up,” Genie grins, moving with flair. Aladdin can see the moment the words hit him: Genie freezes, fake grin dropping, shock replacing it. “What?”

“Genie,” Aladdin says, beaming as he thrusts the lamp forward, “You’re free!”

The lamp vibrates; floats in midair; heats up. Magic overtakes Genie, his shackles clattering to the ground. The lamp follows, hitting the floor with an innocuous, metallic clang.

Reverently, Genie picks it up. He’s so stupefied that it takes denying Aladdin another wish to fully allow the truth to sink in.

The joy that succeeds this is infectious, and Aladdin’s heart, a heavy thing, lifts to see such happiness. Genie’s laughter is jubilant, his elation impossible to contain as he bounces around. Words stream from him like a dam burst, the dreams of ten thousand years finally able to be realized. Free at last and off to see the world.

Off to see the world.

The pride of keeping his promises is still there, still present, but a shadow lurches in front of it, that ache in his chest flaring again. Aladdin has seen so much; gained so much. And yet somehow, he knows with absolute certainty that when he goes back to his life he’ll feel lonelier than ever before.

Genie’s chatter abruptly stops. It takes Aladdin a minute to realize it’s because Genie has spotted his face, and as he musters a smile he gives a self-depricating huff of laughter, trying to blink the mist from his eyes.

“Genie?” he says, and it comes out small, bashful. He runs a hand through his hair, unable to shake his sudden emotion, the way his voice warbles traitorously. “I’m gonna... I’m gonna, miss you.”

“Me too, Al,” Genie says, voice soft and semisweet. He sniffles, sinking to put his hands on Aladdin’s shoulders. “No matter what anybody says,” he promises, tears in his eyes as he draws Aladdin into his arms, “you’ll always be a prince to me.”

Tucked against his best friend — the first person to believe in him, to treat him as something other than dirt, to bother looking closer and who liked what he saw — Aladdin sniffles and smiles. He’s unable to articulate how much this means to him.

Not around the feeling of his heart breaking.

                                       ______________________

                                                           2019

This is how a heart feels when it’s breaking.

“You don’t need to thank me,” Aladdin says, gently removing the Sultan’s hand from his wrist. Very carefully, he doesn’t look at Jasmine; he doesn’t think he could bear seeing her and still have the strength to say what he needs to. “But... I hope you accept my apology. I’m sorry, to... the both of you.” Summoning the dredges of his courage, he turns his gaze up at her, drinking her in — the tears in her eyes and the strength on her face, the way her sadness saturates the air around her.

His heart makes his mouth move, quiet and earnest. “Especially you. You deserve... so much.”

“We all make mistakes,” Sultan Hamed murmurs. It’s a benediction, a plea on Aladdin’s behalf, and though he appreciates it, he doesn’t deserve it. Instead of gracing it with an answer, he turns to go, unable to stand the way his chest quivers.

“Aladdin?” Jasmine calls, then hesitates.

That’s okay. She doesn’t have to say anything. She’s been so brave, so kind, so true throughout all of this. The least he can do is be brave for her now. “I hope you find what you’re looking for,” he says, the hurt in his chest the heaviest chain he’s ever had to bear, and she looks at him for a minute, dark eyes wide and knowing. Then she nods.

It’s clemency. With it, Aladdin can go in peace.

Well, almost. He still has one bit of unfinished business.

Plucking the lamp from the ground, he makes his way up the steps to where Genie waits. This is how a heart feels when it’s breaking: it's the emptiness in his chest and the weakness in his limbs, the way grief makes a warm nest beneath his ribcage. His heart is breaking, split two ways, neither for himself.

Neither for himself.

“Ah ah ah, no long faces, a'ight,” Genie tuts, and the tone is just light enough to bring a reluctant smile to Aladdin’s face. “I got an idea, all right? This is your last wish.”

Unbidden, his eyes seek out Jasmine. Jasmine, still beautiful, radiant even after everything, a light in the dark. His heart would call out to her if she didn’t already possess it; all it does now is throb lightly, a reminder that’s warm with sorrow and love.

“... riff on that a little bit!” Genie is enthusing. “All right, here’s what I’m thinking!”

The idea is laughable, and that’s its intention — to make Aladdin laugh, to lessen the blow of losing her. Aladdin smiles skeptically up at Genie’s grin, unwilling to be swayed but grateful for the attempt.

“No? Okay, all right, I hear you loud and clear, all right, but this is what you need!” With a puff of blue smoke a thick scroll appears in Genie’s hand, unraveling to reveal itself a mile long. “The governing laws of Agrabah by royal decree, okay, aaaaand yeah, here it is!” Genie stops at one scribbled portion, stabbing a finger as he reads. “’Must marry a prince’. Right? But you say the word and this law just kinda, like, goes away.” Genie waggles his fingers for effect, excited by his own solution. “And then you and the princess are in it, together, forever.”

Aladdin glances at Jasmine again, but only lingers for a moment. Hope sparks, sputters, and dies all in a single instant. He knows what the right thing to do is. 

Even still, he’s curious; wants to know... well, just to know. “You can just make the law disappear?”

“Pfft! Please,” Genie scoffs. “Like it never existed!”

Aladdin does smile, then. He can’t let Genie down, especially after all of this. Genie didn’t even make mention of his freedom. Maybe he thought Aladdin forgot about it, even after everything. As though Aladdin doesn't owe everything to Genie — his love. His life. 

Never had a friend like him.

Genie takes his silence for agreement. “All right,” he says, grinning and rubbing his hands together. “Last wish, let’s get it.”

Last wish.

Aladdin’s smile widens. “Okay,” he says, and huffs a breath, nervous in spite of himself. “Last wish.”

Last chance. 

He’d never take it. He knows now he was never going to. Genie was right about wanting more with the more he had, but Aladdin was right, too, at the very beginning. That’s not me.

That’s not Aladdin; that’s Jafar. And look at where it got him.

“Genie,” he starts, and Genie cracks his neck, puffing up, grinning, still grinning; happy for Aladdin in the way Aladdin once accused him of not being.

“All right, I’m ready, here we go!”

“I wish...”

“Third, and final wish!”

“I wish,” Aladdin says, and his heart, split in two, both halves beating for two different people, settles. “I wish... to set you free.”

Genie takes a deep breath, arms spread — and falters.

“What?” He frowns. Then he stares with open-mouthed confusion as his shackles unclick from first his left wrist, then his right. His boggled mind seems to finally catch up with what’s happening; as the magic around him fades, he looks to Aladdin with wet eyes, shrinking until his feet are on the ground, morphing until he’s back in his human form. A disguise no longer.

“Wait,” he whispers, befuddled, looking from his bare arms to Aladdin and back. “Am I...?” 

Aladdin gently smiles at him.

“Wait,” Genie insists. “Wait, wait, wait, um. Tell me to do something.”

“Uh,” Aladdin flounders. “Get me some jams.”

“... Get it yourself?” Genie winces. When nothing happens, he throws a dawning smile Aladdin’s way. “Get your own jams!”

The smile dims, falters. Genie tilts his hands, an invitation, and Aladdin seizes it: he lurches forward and shoves himself into Genie’s arms, hooking his chin over Genie’s shoulder and squeezing. Genie’s broad hand rubs his back, up and down, and he has to bend to fold Aladdin entirely into his hug.

“Thank you,” Genie whispers, wrecked. “Thank you.”

Aladdin blinks away the wetness in his eyes. “No,” he corrects with another squeeze. “Thank you, Genie. I owe you everything.”

He presses his lips together to stop them from quivering, bites down on his tongue, and when he pulls away he’s tentatively composed, at least enough to smile again. Trying to go for some levity, he reaches out to punch Genie’s arm. “What are you gonna do now?”

Genie looks around helplessly for a minute, at a loss. Then his eyes find Jasmine’s handmaiden, and the way his expression softens tells Aladdin everything he needs to know.

“Well, there is this handmaiden,” Genie says, starting forward, “who I would love to travel the world with.”

And, as Genie and Dalia paint the brushstrokes of their beautiful future together, Aladdin looks down at the old oil lamp in his hands, turning it over and running his fingers along the design. His best friend’s prison, now just a pretty trinket. Another little memory, like Jasmine’s hairpin tucked safely in his pocket.

He’s a thief, and so says nothing when he goes, stowing the lamp safely beside the pin.

And then he allows himself to hope, just a little bit, that they might come after him to get those items back. After all, he has nothing to lose.

#✧ ° ρєrнαρѕ уσυ ωσυƖɗ Ɩιкє тσ нєαr тнє тαƖє? | drabble · ° ✧ #OHMYHODDDD #me? emo about my own writing? it's more likely than you think. #✧ ° I'ƖƖ ιмρrσνιѕє | meme answered · ° ✧ #my use of commas was excessive but every once in a while you just gotta go buck fucking wild #ok to reblog

[toyahinterviews]

DIRECT LINKS TO THE INTERVIEWS

1979

CAPITAL RADIO, LONDON Mummy's Weekly 1979

1980

BACK ISSUE FANZINE 1980

TOYAH ATV DOCUMENTARY 1980

CAPITAL RADIO, LONDON Alternatives 1980

CAPITAL RADIO, LONDON Hullabaloo With Derek Jarman 1980

BBC RADIO ONE Rock On 1980

A LIFE IN THE DAY OF ... Sunday Times Magaine 1980

1981

RADIO TRENT, NOTTINGHAM January 1981

BBC RADIO ONE Talkabout February 1981

TOYAHZINE INTERVIEW By Laura Marsh 23.4.1981

SOUNDI, Finland (Translated) June 1981

BBC RADIO ONE With Annie Nightingale August 1981

PARKINSON BBC1 October 1981

BFBS RADIO December 1981

1982

RADIO 210, READING With Keith Butler 22.5.1982

BBC RADIO ONE Rock On - The Changeling With Richard Skinner 29.5.1982 BBC1 Get Set For Summer With Peter Powell 1982

1983

SOUNDCHECK Issue 1, 1983

BBC1 HARTY 8.3.1983

PICCADILLY RADIO, MANCHESTER With Timmy Mallet 1.9.1983

BBC RADIO ONE With Annie Nightingale and Sting 3.10.1983

BBC RADIO ONE With Janice Long 19.11.1983

WOMEN IN ROCK THE DAILY MIRROR ROCK & POP CLUB 1983

1985

BBC RADIO 4 Doing It Her Way April 1985

BBC RADIO ONE With Peter Powell 1.4.1985

RITZ NEWSPAPER MAGAZINE May 1985

1987

DESIRE AND MORE With Chris Limb 1987

1991

TONIGHT WITH JONATHAN ROSS CHANNEL 4 9.1.1991

WHUS RADIO STORRS, CONNECTICUT Sunday All Over The World 1991

RADIO MERCURY, SURREY/SUSSEX Ophelia's Shadow 1991

1992

BBC RADIO 4 In The Psychiatrist's Chair With Anthony Clare 2.9.1992

1993

THE LEAP INTERVIEW 1993

1998

RADIO VICTORY, PORTSMOUTH The Pulse October 1998

2000

BBC1 LIFE AND TIMES With Vanessa Feltz 2000

BBC RADIO 5 LIVE August 2000

BORDERS BOOKSHOP OXFORD STREET, LONDON The launch of her autobiography 5.8.2000

BBC RADIO 4 WOMAN’S HOUR Living Out Loud 29.8.2000

2001

BBC RADIO 2 With Richard Allinson 25.4.2001

2003

BBC TV LONDON With Tayfun Kadioglu 22.4.2003

2005

THE LATE EDITION ON E4 With Marcus Brigstocke 24.3.2005 CAPITAL RADIO, LONDON Diary Of A Facelift With David Jensen 4.4.2005

BBC RADIO 2 With Johnnie Walker 16.8.2005

2006

NET TALK RADIO Spiritual Tides With Ross Hemsworth 24.3.2006

NET TALK RADIO With Ross Hemsworth 28.8.2006

BBC RADIO NEWCASTLE With Julia Hankin 11.9.2006

FAITH & MUSIC ITV1 18.9.2006

CHANNEL 4 PROUD PARENTS With Beric Willcox 23.10.2006

2007

BBC RADIO 2 THE SARAH KENNYDY SHOW 7.3.2007

BBC RADIO 4 Personality Test 2.8.2007

2008

BBC RADIO DEVON The 80s Show With Richard Green 11.7. 2008

BBC RADIO LONDON With Gary Crowley 28 - 29.08.2008

2009

CELEBRITY BRIDES UNVEILED 2009

SHIELDS GAZETTE South Tyneside Summer Festival 5.7.2009

BBC RADIO WEST MIDLANDS THE PAUL FRANKS SHOW 29.9 2009

RADIO BORDERS With Hugh Brown 8.10.2009

2010

ABSOLUTE RADIO THE FRANK SKINNER SHOW 13.3.2010

PHOENIX RADIO, CALDERDALE Fadeout With DJ Cruel Britannia 3.4.2010

BBC RADIO GUERNSEY With Jim CatHart 14.4.2010

ISLAND FM, GUERNSEY WITH DJ Carl Ward 16.4.2010

CRMK RADIO, MILTON KEYNES The Vibe 12.9.2010

BBC HEREFORD & WORCESTER THE ANDREW EASTON SHOW At Malvern Theatres 14.9.2010

BBC RADIO HUMBERSIDE THE LARA KING SHOW 21.9.2010

PAUL AND LUCY’S BEST KEPT SECRETS PRESTON FM October 2010

BBC THREE COUNTIES WITH LORNA MILTON SHOW 4.10.2010

THE HOME CHANNEL Celebrity Fantasy Homes With Gary Roslin 5.10.2010

BBC HEREFORD & WORCESTER THE TONY FISHER SHOW 30.10.2010

BBC RADIO SHROPSHIRE With Keith Middleton 5.12.2010

2011

BBC RADIO WEST MIDLANDS With Mark Regan 25.1.2011

SANCTUARY EXPOSED AT THE HMV INSTITUTE BIRMINGHAM With David Davies 16.4.2011

WFMU 91.1 FM JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY Dark Night Of The Soul With Julie 17.5.2011

GAYDAR RADIO With Phil Marriott 14.6.2011

BBC RADIO HEREFORD & WORCESTER THE ANDREW EASTON SHOW 12.7.2011

BBC RADIO 4 SATURDAY LIVE Secret Life 13.8.2011

ABSOLUTE RADIO Rewind Festival With Martyn Lee 21.8.2011

GAYDIO The Loop With John Ryan 2.10.2011

BBC RADIO 6 STEVE LAMACQ MUSIC SHOW Good Day - Bad Day 21.12.2011

2012

TOYAH TALKS MONEY AND MORE The Sunday Times Magaine, Money Section 19.2.2012

BBC RADIO MIDLANDS THE LATE SHOW With Keith Middleton 1.4.2012

RADIO CHORLEY 102.8 FM AT BLACKPOOL PRIDE With Mark Jackson-Duxbury 9.6.2012

BBC RADIO LEICESTER 16.6.2012 SWITCH RADIO 107.5 BIRMINGHAM The Asylum With Wayne Evans July 2012

BBC RADIO WM BREAKFAST With Pete Morgan 16.7.2012

BBC RADIO TEES With Dave Llewellyn 27.8.2012

LOVE AND MARRIAGE A 20th CENTURY ROMANCE BBC4 2.10.2012

RADIO VERULAM, HERTFORDSHIRE With Chris Saunders 31.10.2012

BBC RADIO 2 STEVE LAMACQ’S ROCK COLLEGE 23.11.2012

BBC RADIO KENT THE MATTHEW DAVIES SHOW 8.12.2012

BBC RADIO WM BEV BEVAN MEETS 23.12.2012

MARLOW FM 97.5 THE ECLECTIC LIGHT SHOW Musical Milestones 24.12.2012

2013

BBC RADIO 4 RAMBLINGS With Clare Balding 28.2.2013

BBC RADIO SHROPSHIRE THE LATE SHOW With Keith Middleton 2.3.2013

BBC THREE COUNTIES RADIO THE ROBERTO PERRONE SHOW 15.3.2013

BBC RADIO 2 STEVE WRIGHT IN THE AFTERNOON 20.3.2013

EAGLE RADIO 96.4, SURREY With Stuart Provan April 2013

BBC RADIO MANCHESTER With Justin Moorehouse 1.4.2013

BBC RADIO DERBY With Andy Potter 12.4.2013

BBC RADIO LEICESTER With Monica Winfield 20.4.2013

BBC RADIO WILTSHIRE With Su Davies 22.4.2013

BBC RADIO HUMBERSIDE With David Burns 1.5.2013

BBC RADIO BRISTOL With Laura Rawlings 9.5.2013

BBC RADIO COVENTRY & WARWICKSHIRE With Vic Minett 20.5.2013

BBC RADIO ESSEX With Mark Punter 20.5.2013

BBC RADIO SOLENT With Alex Dyke 19.6.2013

RADIO NE1FM 102.5 NEWCASTLE With Jo Oliver 14.10.2013

THE BRIDGE 102.5 FM, STOURBRIDGE The Big Decades With Mark Spate 20.10.2013

2014

BBC RADIO DERBY With Andy Potter 29.01.2014

THE BFI DEREK JARMAN RETROSPECTIVE 12.2.2014

BBC RADIO 2 Sounds Of The 80s With Sara Cox 15.02.2014

BBC RADIO DEVON With Richard Green 15.03.2014

SOMER VALLEY 97.5 FM, SOMERSET MyPod With Don Chambers 24.3.2014

SOHO CREATE, LONDON Inspiration And The Blank Page With Robert Elms and Helen David 5.6.2014

GODMOTHERS OF POP Classic Pop Magazine, Issue 13 Oct/Nov 2014

2015

BBC RADIO LINCOLNSHIRE With Nicola Gilroy 19.1.2015

WCR 101.8 FM, WOLVERHAMPTON Music And Memories With Philip Solomon 2.2.2015

BBC RADIO SUSSEX With Allison Ferns 4.2.2015

BBC RADIO BRISTOL With Calire Cavanagh 9.2.2015

BBC RADIO WALES With Eleri Sion 12.2.2014

SEVERN FM, GLOUCESTER The Encyclopedia Of Rock With Bill Rieflin and Trevor Howard 13.4.2015

LORRAINE ITV1 13.4.2015

BBC RADIO DEVON THE RICHARD GREEN SHOW 23.5.2015

BBC RADIO 2 THE KEN BRUCE SHOW The Tracks Of My Years 29.6 - 3.7.2015

BBC RADIO 2 Sounds Of The 80s With Sara Cox 20.6.2015

BBC RADIO DERBY THE ANDY POTTER SHOW 31.7.2015

BBC RADIO OXFORD With Kat Orman 18.8.2015

MIX 96, AYLESBURY With Chris Maskery 29.8.2015

BBC RADIO 2 With Dermot O'Leary 5.9.2015

BBC RADIO WILTSHIRE With Sue Davies 2.11.2015

VINTAGE TV Needle Time With Neil McCormick 8.11.2015

2016

SKYHIGH RADIO With Ian Riches 20.1.2016

BBC RADIO LONDON With Gaby Roslin 4.9.2016

BBC RADIO LONDON With Jo Good 9.9.2016

BBC RADIO 2 Sounds Of The 80s With Sara Cox 16.9.2016

BBC RADIO WALES With Wynne Evans 12.12.2016

BBC RADIO HEREFORD AND WORCHESTER With Tammy Gooding 16.12.2016

2017

BBC RADIO OXFORD With Nick Piercey 27.2.2017

BBC RADIO 2 With Steve Wright, Martika and Paul Young 28.2.2017

THE MAIL ON SUNDAY EVENT MAGAZINE SHRINK RAP Inside The Head Of Toyah Willcox 6.8.2017

BBC RADIO 4 With Colin Paterson 6.11.2017

BBC RADIO MANCHESTER With Becky Want 31.10.2017

BBC RADIO WILTSHIRE With Jonathan Fido 22.12.2017

2018

BBC RADIO LONDON With Jo Good 23.1.2018

BBC RADIO 4 Woman's Hour With Jane Garvey 20.2.2018

BBC RADIO 4 Only Artists With Alice Lowe 7.3.2018

THOMPSON'S LIVE Arts and Performing Arts Podcast With Chris Goode 16.5.2018

BBC RADIO WM 95.6 The Other Side Of 5.8.2018

CLASSIC POP MAGAZINE Issue 44 September 2018

2019

BBC RADIO TEES Sounds With Bob Fisher 17.1.2019

BBC RADIO LINCOLNSHIRE With Carla Greene 31.1.2019

SDE (SuperDeluxeEdition) Sofa With Simon Darlow With Paul Sinclair March 2019

BBC RADIO ULSTER The Art Show With Marie-Louise Muir 26.3.2019

BBC RADIO KENT With Dominic King 27.3.2019

BBC RADIO GUERNSEY With John Randall 27.3.2019

BBC RADIO CORNWALL With David White 28.3.2019

BBC RADIO DERBY With Steve Jordan 28.3.2019

BBC RADIO WALES With Eleri Sion 29.3.2019

CELEBRITY RADIO With Alex Belfield 29.3.2019

PHIL MARRIOTT MEETS 3.4.2019

BBC RADIO HEREFORD & WORCHESTER With Tammy Gooding 9.4.2019

BBC RADIO LONDON With Jo Good 12.4.2019

BBC RADIO 4 Loose Ends With Clive Anderson 12.4.2019

BBC RADIO SUSSEX With Mark Carter 14.4.2019

BBC RADIO DEVON With Richard Green 20.4.2019

BBC RADIO SOLENT With Alex Dyke 23.5.2019

BBC RADIO DEVON With Richard Green 8.6.2019

BBC RADIO 2 With Jason Mohammad 30.6.2019

CLASSIC POP MAGAZINE Issue 52 May 2019

THE C86 PODCAST With David Eastaugh 14.7.2019

CLASSIC POP MAGAZINE New Romantics Special Edition November 2019

2020

BBC RADIO YORK With Adam Tomlinson 21.1.2020

BBC RADIO WILTSHIRE With Sue Davies 8.2.2020

TOYAH TALKS SOLO The Box Set Interview 28.2.2020

BBC RADIO SOLENT With Alex Dyke 3.3.2020

BBC RADIO HEREFORD & WORCESTER With Tammy Gooding 3.3.2020

BBC RADIO NORTHAMPTON With Bernie Keith 10.3.2020

BBC RADIO SCOTLAND With Rachel McCormack 24.4.2020

PEARLS OF WISOM #notgoingoutclub With Julie Peasgood 13.5.2020

CATtales 21.5.2020

OCTOPUS TV With Andrew Eborn 2.6.2020

LOVING 80's MUSIC With Helen Barnes 9.6.2020

MEMORY LANE 80's With Hayley Palmer 25.7.2020

CONVERSATIONS With Mark Curry 13.8.2020

BBC RADIO LONDON With Jumoke Fashola 3.10.2020

BRUM RADIO THE MRS BARBARA NICE & FRIENDS PODCAST (Comedy) 13.10.2020

CHERRY RED TV With Iain McNay 4.11.2020

TOYAH TALKS SHEEP FARMING IN BARNET With Phil Marriott 13.11.2020

TOYAH TALKS SHEEP FARMING IN BARNET The Box Set Interview 11.12.2020

2021

UNCUT MAGAZINE APRIL 2021

THE EVELYN GLENNIE PODCAST 5.5.2021

ROCKONTEURS PODCAST With Gary Kemp and Guy Pratt 21.5.2021

RTÉ ARENA With Seán Rocks 23.5.2021

REIGNITE With Cathy Grant 25.5.2021

BBC RADIO KENT With Chris Addison 26.5.2021

TOYAH TALKS BLUE MEANING The Box Set Interview 28.5.2021

PRIVATE LIVES PODCAST With Paul Robinson 11.6.2021

A WORD IN YOUR ATTIC With David Hepworth and Mark Ellen 15.7.2021

ITV UNSCRIPTED With Nina Nannar 23.7.2021

BBC HEREFORD & WORCESTER With Tammy Gooding 14.8.2021

BBC RADIO 2 With Steve Wright 24.8.2021

BBC RADIO WALES With Janice Long 30.8.2021

BBC BREAKFAST With Louise Minchin and Dan Walker 31.8.2021

BBC RADIO MANCHESTER With Mike Sweeney 1.9.2021

CLASSIC POP MAGAZINE Issue 71 Sept / Oct 2021

RECORD COLLECTOR MAGAZINE Issue 523 October 2021

BBC RADIO DEVON With Richard Green 18.9.2021

THE DYSPRAXIC HELP 4U PODCAST With Billy Stanley 10.10.2021

BBC RADIO 2 With Rylan Clark 23.10.2021

BBC RADIO SCOTLAND With Billy Sloan 30.10.2021

METRO 60 SECONDS 2.11.2021

ITV THIS MORNING With Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby 8.11.2021

OK MAGAZINE Issue 1315 22.11.2021

2022

MY TIME CAPSULE With Michael Fenton Stevens 24.1.2022

ON RECORD | IN CONVERSATION With Satnam Rana 12.5.2022

METROLAND MAGAZINE @ CHILFEST With Sue Archer 2.7.2022

CHOOSE 80s @ CHILFEST 2.7.2022

WOMEN'S HEALTH BREAKING THE TABOOS With Cherry Healey and Dr Dawn Harper 27.7.2022

HOW TO BE 60 With Kaye Adam and Karen MacKenzie 29.7.2022

RETROPOP MAGAZINE August 2022

LOUDER THAN WAR With Nigel Carr 9.8.2022

BBC RADIO 2 THE BREAKFAST SHOW With Gary Davies 16.8.2022

XS NOIZE PODCAST With Mark Miller 25.8.2022

BBC RADIO SCOTLAND THE AFTERNOON SHOW With Nicola Meighan 7.9.2022

TOYAH TALKS ANTHEM The Box Set Interview September 2022

2023

MY 80s PLAYLIST VIRGIN RADIO With Steve Denyer 5.5.2023

POP, THE HISTORY MAKERS With Steve Blame 8.5.2023

BBC RADIO MANCHESTER With Mike Sweeney 31.5.2023

VECTIS RADIO ISLE OF WIGHT With Nik and Kieren 18.6.2023

BBC BREAKFAST With Jon Kay and Sally Nugent 21.6.2023

ABSOLUTE 80s With Chris Martin 22.6.2023

BBC THREE COUNTIES RADIO With Babs Michel 24.6.2023

TOYAH TALKS THE CHANGELING DECEMBER 2023

All this and much more on the original site

The Toyah Willcox Intervew Archive

For dozens more interviews check out toyah.net's Press Archive

[multiverseofimagines]

Hi Gwen! Can I have a Stranger things ship?

First of all, I'm sorry for any grammar errors, bc English isn't even my second language 🤣

I always was "that one weirdo"

I identify myself as pan/demisexual and agender.

INTP, but I'm far from the stereotype. I'm nerd without social life for sure, but that's all.

I'm history student and artist. I can't paint too often, because I have no free time bc of the uni, but I love when my hands smell with oil paint, and how blank canvas slowly turning into something beautiful. I love thrift hunt. Most of the things in my place are really old, and probably hunted. It's difficult to find a free space in my room, because it's all occupied by plants, books, pet's supplies, and tonnes of vintage stuff. I would describe my style as mostly whimsygothic.

I'm 167cm tall, skinny, with long spaghetti limbs. I'm pale as frozen chicken, with many moles. I have messy dark auburn hair and big amber protruding eyes. One of the most noticeable things on my face, it's a big greek nose with small round glasses on it.

I mostly listen rock in different subgenres. I also love folk music.

My favourite movies are Orlando (1992) and The Wicker man (1973)

That's probably all

Thank you, and have a nice day ~~~

Of course! Here you go lovely ~

I ship you with…

Tell me you guys aren’t soulmates I DARE YOU.

Similar vibes all across the board, both intp’s, both of you are a little androgynous + queer and you both are very introverted people.

Thrifting dates 😭 going into the city and going to all the consignment stores and hunting for cool vintage stuff.

PAINTING HER !! Always painting her or things for her that she likes. She’s your muse. You don’t show her cause you’re terrified she will hate them but one day you leave your multimedia sketchbook on the table to go to the washroom and she’s nosy as fuck obviously and opens it to see herself in different variants of smudged oil.

Y’all fighting vecna together !! Literally would be so badass I can’t. You guys both nod at one another before the battle, both scared to lose one another but determined.

Coming out to each-other before you started dating. I feel like you would come out first, you would be so anxious and literally shaking at the thought of telling her and she just goes “ no way ! “ and at first you feel defeated like she is just gonna make fun of it, and your kind of like “ yeah- I knew you wouldn’t get it.” And she just goes “ wait what??? no- that’s not what I meant at all.” You sigh still a bit disappointed, but she looks at you with a much more serious look, and says “ have you seen me y/n?? Is it not obvious that I’m like- super gay?”

Heres a little moodboard, some pics that give me robin vibes and the outfits I can imagine you wearing based off your aesthetic. I did accidentally pick mostly fem options, I’m so sorry, I know you described yourself as agender, so hopefully this still suffices, I’m so sorry! And I picked the middle outfit in case your into a more “goth” whimsigoth. 💖 enjoy xo gwen

#my ships #stranger things ships #multiverseofimagines ships