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justanotherspeck · 1 year

Text

s1 my beloved

transcript below the cut:

CASPAR: Anyway, this is Midnight Burger. I’m Caspar.

AVA (Outside): FUCK. YES.

CASPAR: That’s Ava, she’s always here.

AVA: (Outside) NICOTINE, GET IN ME.

CASPAR: And this is a... diner.

GLORIA: Are you sure?

CASPAR: The huge murder beast is having a coffee break

ZEBULON: For our marriage is made strong by a singular truth.

EFFIE: That divorce is an abomination.

ZEBULON: … And that we love each other very much.

EFFIE: Yes, also that.

THE EX: You can’t let that stand in the way of true love.

LEIF: Honey, you lay eggs.

THE EX: Why do you keep bringing that up?!

LEIF: It’s an important detail!

GLORIA: Do you ever feel like Leif is almost too relaxed? He goes with the flow no matter what, it’s weird.

AVA: Oh yeah? Watch this. Hey, Leif?

LEIF (In the kitchen): Yeah?

AVA: I’ve been thinking about it and, I don’t know, I still feel like a hot dog is a sandwich.

[POTS CRASHING.]

LEIF (In the kitchen): For fuck’s sake!

MARY: Can you help me?

CASPAR: What’s happening?

MARY: The officer outside, he’s been looking for me for days. I’ve managed to avoid him so far but now that’s him outside. Can you hide me somewhere? This desperate plea is brought to you by Arby’s. Arby’s, we have the meats.

---

LEIF: This Molotov Cocktail is brought to you by communism!

[BOTTLE SMASHING]

EFFIE: Yes, yes, of course. Our Lord is a God of peace.

ZEBULON: Indeed.

EFFIE: Unless you’re a merchant outside the temple, then look out for the chokehold of Jesus.

ZEBULON: Honey!

CASPAR: Ava, what are you doing?

AVA: I’m getting this jug of moonshine and going out in the parking lot to watch a fist fight. Suck on that, Stephen Hawking.

CASPAR: Oh, no. What are we going to do without all the essential work you do around here? Who will do the incredibly hard work of being an asshole to people?

AVA: That’s not work, that’s how I relax.

CASPAR: Well you must be really relaxed.

---

STEVE: We had come upon a binary star system. I looked upon these two stars rotating around their barycenter and my thoughts turned to my wife. We were like these two stars, locked into an eternal dance only due to chance and gravity, unable to recall a moment where we chose each other and unable to escape this rotation. Knowing that to move closer would obliterate us both.

CASPAR: This went from fun idea to Russian novel real fast.

STEVE: Hello, my friends. I am about to go on a date.

CASPAR: Yeah, we heard... uhhh nice work, buddy.

LEIF: Go get ‘em, tiger.

STEVE: I have no idea how to go on a date.

CASPAR: Oh.

LEIF: Shit, okay, uh...

CASPAR: Um... Ask her about her job.

LEIF: Yeah, her life in general.

CASPAR: Listen a lot.

LEIF: Don’t try and be funny.

CASPAR: Try sharing a secret with her.

LEIF: If she asks you to do something illegal, it may be a test.

CASPAR: What?

LEIF: Really gauge the situation at that point, is she kidding or does she actually want to do crimes?

CASPAR: What are you talking about?

LEIF: This is good advice.

CASPAR: Where, the Pirate Isle of Tortuga?

EFFIE: Caspar, thanks for being with us today.

CASPAR (Whispering): So great to be here, go fuck yourself.

CASPAR: Gloria, we’re going to have to go.

GLORIA: Oh, man. Okay. Guys, gather round.

[HEARTBREAKING MUSIC]

CASPAR: What the hell is that music?

[WOLVES WIMPERING]

GLORIA: V, Jungkook, Jimin, Suga, Jin, RM, J-Hope. I want you to know that I love you all very much. But I have my own pack, and I have to go run with them now.

EFFIE: (Fighting back tears) It’s... so hard to hear her say goodbye to the wolves.

ZEBULON (Also crying): I didn’t realize she named them after the members of BTS.

CASPAR: We should get one of those signs that says “This many days since an accident”.

LEIF: Yeah, except ours would say “This many days since your sentient radio quoted the Egyptian Book of the Dead, switched personalities, or steered you into a supermassive black hole.”

CASPAR: ...That’s way too long for a sign, Leif.

GLORIA: Yeah, Leif, that’s—

CASPAR: As a straight white male you know one thing about me: I’ve watched a lot of History Channel.

GLORIA: Okay, I’m thinking a chair, some rope, and I’ll pour hot coffee on her, let’s do some Guantanamo shit.

JANE (Overlapping): It’s no use, guys.

GLORIA: Did the doors to the diner just lock?

CASPAR: They did. Effie, what in the Amityville Horror is happening right now?

JANE: Does having you kidnapped maybe count as a romantic gesture at all?

CASPAR, narrating: In Ava’s defense, she was unilaterally putting everyone in danger... That doesn’t make it better, does it?

AVA: I am going to rip your balls off!

CASPAR: Oh, don’t threaten me with a good time.

#midnight burger #midnight burger podcast #podcast recommendation #i love them all so much #also #i finally figured out audio transitions #was not that hard #but also #this took me way longer than i thought #writing. voice acting. dynamics. all so good.#who else is doing is like midnight burger #i mean actually who is bc i need to know. none of my podcasts are updating/updating frequently and im losing it #lord knows if i'll do this for any other season tbh #i also was tempted to animate this but i ran into two problems: motivation and lack of skill #so it'll stay in my head lmao

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mortyvongola2-0 · 4 years

Text

Motivation

Pairing: Sylvain x F!Byleth

Genre: Oneshot, smut

Word Count: 3.9k

Warnings: Student teacher relationship, descriptions of sexual acts, 69, oral sex, pinning, Sylvain is 19 so its fine, a tiny bit of a size kink.

Read it on AO3

Sylvain groaned and threw his head back in his seat. “This heat is killing me,” he whined. He brought a hand up to fan himself a bit, though the action seemed to do little to prevent his impending heat stroke.

“Go get something cold from the kitchens then,” Ingrid tsked at him. More then tired of his whining. She brushed the side of her Pegasus thoughtfully. Sylvain noticed a slight flush to her pale cheeks, no doubt also suffering in the heat wave consuming Garreg Mach.

“But Ingrid, if I get up, I’ll get even warmer.”

“Then hush! I’m tired of your incessant whining,” she huffed. The redhead sighed, taking the hint. He put his hands up and stood.

“Sorry, sorry, I’ll leave. Try not to miss me too much.” He didn’t have to see it to know that the blonde had rolled her eyes at him. A playful smirk crawled onto his lips and he began to make his way toward the dining hall. Sylvain waved his greetings to the friendly gatekeeper before noticing his favorite teal haired professor down in the market, buying some supplies from one of the merchants. He changed course and began to walk toward her. “Hey, professor,” he called, raising an arm to wave.

“Oh,” she turned to look at him, her face as expressionless as usual. “Hello Sylvain.”

“Mm, that’s a lot of supplies there. Need any help with that?”

“Okay,” she responded with a nod. “Thank you.” Byleth handed him an armful of random trinkets that she had bought. Sylvain glanced down at everything, lots of boxes of tea and fishing bait, but other oddities as well. Coffees, stuffed animals, jewelry, snacks, and other things.

“Hey, professor?”

“Yes?”

“What’s all this stuff for anyway?”

“Most of them are gifts for all of the students,” she said nonchalantly. It took him aback a bit. He’d remembered receiving one or two things from her in the past, but he hadn’t realized she gave things to everyone. He bit back the soft smile that threatened to overtake his expression.

“Anything for me in here?” He wiggled his eyebrows at her teasingly. She blinked up at him, her own arms full of knickknacks.

“No.” Her tone was dry, and her expression hadn’t changed. Sylvain felt the disappointment creeping through his system. Why hadn’t she gotten anything for him? Had he done something wrong? It was childish, really, the jealousy that he could feel bubbling in his stomach, but he couldn’t help it. His face scrunched a bit in displeasure, but his breath hitched at the small smirk he saw grace his professor’s lips. “No need to be so disappointed, Sylvain.”

“Disappointed? Me? Never,” he tried to play it off, smiling widely and laughing. “Come on, professor. You know me better than that.”

“Mmm,” she nodded, that darned smirk still on her lips. She was beautiful, truly beautiful, no matter her expression. He had always thought so about her, and he probably always would. He hated it.

“Anyway, where to?”

“My quarters,” she said plainly, that teasing expression finally gone.

“After you then.” He bent at the waist playfully, one arm extended, ushering her in a manner that suited Dimitri more then him. After she had passed him by, the redhead easily followed her. It seemed she had forgone the cape today, as well as her usual tights and black armor. Instead, she wore her usual form fitting shorts and a black undershirt that had a very tantalizing window, revealing her usual amount of cleavage. He wondered if she had dressed down due to the weather as well.

For most of the walk, his eyes were glued to her ass and the perfect sway of her hips. He wondered whether she would be soft and pliant under his touch, like most of the women he slept with, or hard and lean from the muscles she so obviously worked hard to strengthen. When they reached her room, he was still thinking about her body under his, still wondering how she would feel, stretch, move, and if she was a screamer. He wouldn’t mind if she was, in fact, he quite liked the idea of his stoic professor falling apart on his fingers, his mouth, his cock, and screaming his name for all of the monastery to hear. “Thank you, Sylvain, you can put those down on the bed.”

“Oh,” her voice had pulled him out of his imagination. “Sure, no problem.” He made his way over to her bed which was still messy. A huff of amusement left his lips, of course she wouldn’t be the type to make her bed. What kind of mercenary had time to clean up like that? The redhead set the stuff down easily before turning back to her. He rubbed the back of his neck and almost cringed at the sticky sweat he felt there. “Hey professor?” She hummed in a questioning tone to let him know she was listening. “I’ve been trying to get better with the hand to hand combat lately, would you mind tutoring me a little bit? Maybe later today if you have the time?”

“That’s not like you,” she muttered with an almost imperceptible pout. “Why the sudden interest?”

“Just in case, it’s better to be prepared for anything, right?” He really just wanted to spend more one on one time with her, and he knew she wouldn’t go for anything else if he asked. She always catered to her students, tutoring and mentoring them at her own expense. She continued to stare at him in thought, then turned and checked a small booklet she had on her desk. Byleth gave a small nod to herself before turning back to him.

“Alright, I have a bit of time before curfew tonight.”

“Great,” he sighed in relief. “Even a little bit of time will be extremely helpful.”

“I’ll meet you at the training grounds tonight then.”

“Right, thanks professor!” With that, he ran off. Sylvain needed to find some other girl to work off his lust for the professor before their training session.

The redhead paced back and forth anxiously. He had, in fact, found a random girl from the village that had let him fuck her, however, imagining the professor while doing so had only worsened his curiosity. Sylvain continued to wonder what his professor would be like in bed. Had she ever slept with anyone before or was she still a virgin? Either was fine by him, but he needed to know. He heard the doors to the training grounds open and he turned to see the object of his thoughts.

She looked flushed, her pinks a dusted a light pink, her jagged locks stuck to parts of her forehead and neck, her ample chest rising and falling at a faster rate. He gulped audibly. “Everything okay? You’re looking a little flushed.”

“Hilda dragged me into the sauna with her,” she responded and walked toward him. “Sorry I’m a bit late.”

“The sauna huh? Its been so hot today, I can’t imagine getting hotter, let alone on purpose.”

“Mm, it is hotter than I like it to be when I go to the sauna, but she insisted that I needed the relaxation.”

His brow furrowed. “If you’ve got too much going on, you don’t have to train with me like this.”

“No, I’m fine,” she grabbed two rolls of knuckle tape from a bin of supplies by the weapons wrack. The young woman handed one of them to him before standing a bit away from him and flicking her wrists back forth, applying the tape evenly and with expertise. “I find training relaxing anyway.”

“Alright, then.”

“Show me what you know,” she commanded, and he nodded.

Sylvain wasn’t much for training, he found it exhausting and it took too much effort. He never understood Felix, Dimitri, and Ingrid’s obsession with it. But when he got to be so close to Byleth he could feel her breath mingle with his, he could get behind the idea of it. The teal haired professor taught more by example than by instruction. She would always critique when she needed to, but most of the time she would spar with or watch her students spar.

She easily dodged another of his fists and slid her foot underneath his. Sylvain lost his footing and fell to the ground, he grunted at the pain that blossomed from the back of his head at his rough landing. He reached behind him to check and make sure he wasn’t bleeding. “Dang, you really don’t take it easy, do you?”

“You aren’t focusing, Sylvain.” She frowned at him, her fists on her perfectly shaped hips. “If you aren’t going to take this seriously, then I’m not going to waste my time.”

“I promise I’m taking it seriously,” you’re distracting me, “the heat is just, distracting.”

Byleth continued to pout and Sylvain started to sit up. “I’m sorry professor we can-“

“Let’s make a deal then.”

“Huh?” He looked at her, incredulous.

“So you won’t be so distracted,” she said, a playful smirk on her chapped lips. “If you win this next match, I’ll give you whatever you want.”

“And if you win?”

“You have to start actually trying in class.”

“Whatever I want, huh? Are you sure?” She gave him a silent nod. He rubbed his chin before standing to his full height. Sylvain knew it’d be difficult to beat her, but the offer of whatever he wanted was too tempting. “Alright, you’ve got a deal.”

As soon as the match started, he was on defense. She came for him, hard and fast, no holds barred. Obviously, she was better at hand to hand then him, but he couldn’t give up. There had to be some way for him to win, for him to get what he really wanted. He was fueled by lust, and he almost always let his lust win. Sylvain knew she had a weak spot, he’d seen her rub her left knee a few times after training sessions, she even wore a knee brace with her armor to keep it protected. For only a moment, he glanced down to see if she was still wearing said brace, and that moment earned him a swift punch to the gut.

It had been worth it though; he had noticed that she wasn’t wearing it. Without thinking much more about it, he leaned forward and went to hit her side, while she focused on the incoming punch, he used his weight to his advantage and swept his leg out, knocking her on the back of her left knee and causing her to stumble. Sylvain continued to press his weight forward, eventually pressing it into her and causing the two of them to fall. Byleth landed on the ground, the redhead on top of her, straddling her torso and pressing the side of his forearm against her neck. They both panted, her eyes wide as she looked up at him, obviously she had not expected him to be able to win.

“I win, professor,” he breathed out, droplets of sweat rolling down his unclothed arms, he had changed into the lounge wear earlier in the day to keep cool, and falling onto her own sweat soaked neck.

“Well done,” she said after steeling her expression. “Though, that kind of trick won’t work very well on an opponent you know nothing about.”

“Hey, all that matters now is that I won,” he said with a smirk, removing his arm but keeping his straddling position. “So now you have to give me what I want.”

“Fair enough,” she muttered and tilted her head to the side in curiosity. “What do you want?”

“You.”

“Wha-“ he cut her off with a hard kiss. He almost groaned, he had wanted to feel her lips, to taste her for so long. Unlike his usual trysts, her lips were chapped and inexperienced. She tasted like sweat and saltine crackers, but he wouldn’t have had it any other way. At first, she didn’t respond, but then she started to give in. That surprised him the most. Did she feel as attracted to him as he did her? Byleth wrapped her arms around his neck and when he licked her lips, she arched her back upward, her chest meeting his, and he ground his hips down toward her own.

She gasped at the feel of his semi-erection against her, and he used the opportunity to pull her tongue into his mouth and suck on it lightly. When she gave out a soft whimper, he shivered and felt himself throb in the confines of his trousers. Once he couldn’t stave off his need to taste more of her any longer, he began to trail wet kisses down the side of her neck. “Sylvain,” she let out breathily. “We can’t-“

Again, he cut her off. This time, by sucking on the junction between her neck and shoulder. He felt like he couldn’t get enough of her salty sweet taste. “We could get caught,” she tried again. He ignored her and placed his hands at her sides by the hem of her shirt, waiting there for permission. “We really shouldn’t.”

“But professor,” he began between nips to the delicious column of her neck. “You said I could have whatever I wanted.”

“My quarters,” she muttered. Sylvain lifted his head from her neck to look at her face. His stomach filled with butterflies and his chest tightened. Byleth had a dark blush on her face and refused to look him in the eye, she was nibbling at her bottom lip, the only indication of her sudden shyness. She looked adorable. “We can continue in my quarters, we’re less likely to be caught there.”

The redhead smirked to hide the genuine smile that threatened to show, “Whatever you say.”

Much to Sylvain’s chagrin they walked to her quarters at an even pace. He walked throw the door frame first and she followed, closing the door behind her and then standing there quietly. The redhead assumed the worst, she must be backing out, he thought. He put up his walls once more and gave her a tired and disappointed smirk. “Chickening out?”

“No,” she replied, without hesitation. “But, before we go on, I’d like to request that this doesn’t become a onetime thing.”

“Oh?” Sylvain was surprised, both by her request and by the fact that she wished to continue, his traitorous heart pounded excited in his chest. She nodded in response. “You mean you want to?” He trailed off.

Again, she nodded, but this time she was the one to kiss him. He responded eagerly, pliantly complying to her rough and roaming hands, her chapped lips bruising with force against his. Her hands reached for the hem of his blue lounge shirt, and he helped her tug it off of his torso. Once his chest was bare, Byleth’s deft fingers began exploring. The redhead responded in kind, assisting her in the removal of her black top. Sylvain bit back a groan at the sight of her naked breasts, and she moaned when he reached up and began tweaking her nipples.

She forced him back, pushing him to lay down on her bed. Not giving him too much of a chance to fix himself, she straddled his waste and ground her clothed cunt down on top of his swollen member. Sylvain threw his head back with a hiss, his hands flying to her hips to encourage her to continue. He could feel her heat through her shorts and wondered if she was even wearing any smallclothes. “You’re still wearing too much,” she grumbled and began tugging at his trousers. He was all too happy to oblige.

He exposed himself to her, now free of his pants and smallclothes, and he smirked at her obvious attentions. “Like what you see?” He teased and brought one of his hands to stroke along his own cock. She nodded boldly, unabashed, and began to remove her shorts as well. The redhead was right, she hadn’t been wearing any smallclothes. “I know I do.”

“You’re very attractive, Sylvain,” she said softly. Byleth brought her hands up and kneaded at her large breasts, she let out a soft sigh of satisfaction. He trailed his hands upward, running them along her sides, barely touching her flesh. Goosebumps rose on her skin and he watched her shiver. She removed her hands and let his hands take their place. They were soft, probably the softest thing on her body, and so very perky. Her nipples were sensitive, he realized, after rubbing her left nipple in rough circles and hearing her breath hitch.

One of his hands trailed its way back down her body and cupped her ass, giving it a playful smack before grabbing a cheek and jiggling it roughly. She squirmed, and he leaned his head forward to suck on her now neglected nipple. The hand on her eyes slowly slid undo her, making a line from her plump cheeks to the lips of her vagina. Even before spreading those lips, he could feel the slimy wetness collected on them. Sylvain let out a dark chuckle, “I didn’t know sparring got you so worked up,” another tease.

“Only with you,” she whispered.

Sylvain’s heart skipped a beat and he pressed his forehead between the valley of her pillow breasts and let out a heavy sigh. “Why’d you have to go and say that, professor?”

“It’s the truth,” she said. One of her hands reached down to play with his hair gently. “And while we’re like this, call me Byleth.”

“Okay, Byleth,” he responded, his entire being feeling lighter than before. His cock twitched and he decided to lay back down against the bed. “Turn around and sit on my face.”

The teal haired professor nodded and turned. She knew what he was asking for, and he let out the loudest groan yet as he felt her small hands wrap around his aching cock. “You’re bigger than I expected,” she muttered, more to herself than to him. He chuckled before grabbing her hips and forcing them down on his face roughly. Byleth squeak in surprise.

Sylvain licked a trail across her pussy lips, already enjoying the taste of her leaking fluids. He brought a hand down and spread her open. For a moment, he leaned back and admired her twitching pink opening, leaking with slick and begging for his fingers, his tongue, his cock, anything of his to fill the empty space. She whined in displeasure, but he was done observing. He blew on her entrance gently, it flinched and pushed more fluid out, a minute amount dripping down onto his face. “Sylvain,” she whined again, stopping her ministrations to his penis, trying to encourage him.

“You’re beautiful, you know?” The redhead licked a stripe from the tip of her clit down to her entrance where he swirled his tongue and pulled back. “Absolutely gorgeous, and you taste better than expected.”

“So taste it some more,” she implored, then leaned her head down to give small kitten licks to his tip. He groaned and unconsciously bucked his hips upward, trying to force himself into her warm mouth. Byleth wrapped one of her hands around his base, the other grabbed at his balls and began massaging them gently. She squeezed the base of his shaft, almost too hard, before taking his tip into her mouth. With a grunt, the redhead took the hint.

Sylvain wasn’t much for oral sex, always preferring the real deal, but he would be lying if he said he didn’t want to taste Byleth’s cunt forever. She moaned around his cock, the girth of him stretching out her lips and causing saliva to dribble down her chin and onto his pubes, he wished he could see it better. His tongue attacked her clit, pressing against it and flicking back and forth, giving it an occasional tug and suck. His hands, very thankful for their large size, grabbed each cheek of her ass and spread it apart, opening her lips wider for him to devour.

Another moan wracked her and tingled down his cock. He shivered. The redhead brought his tongue again to her entrance and began lapping at it eagerly, enjoying the seemingly endless slick that leaked out. One of his hands came down to assist his tongue, a digit toying with her clit while his tongue slithered into her vaginal opening. She quivered and fell further onto his cock, pushing his head to the back of her throat. He closed his eyes at the sensation.

Her throat pulsed around him, gagging a bit and trying to force him out of where he didn’t belong, but his hips started bucking once more, forcing her to take him in, all of him. Sylvain lost focus on his quest to make her cum and began to focus on himself instead. Much to her dismay, he began to flip them, wishing more than anything to see her take him in her throat like a horny teenager. She whimpered but complied, now kneeling in front of him while he sat on the edge of her bed. His hand, the one not soaked in her slick, went and tangled in her hair, assisting her in her bobbing and keeping her from removing him from her throat. “Fuck, Byleth, you look so good sucking my dick.”

She closed her eyes, the smallest moan escaping her. There were tears beginning to well up in her eyes as he pushed deeper into her throat. “You’re getting off on sucking me off, aren’t you? I can tell,” he grunted, moving her head faster as he began to feel his impending climax. “I could taste it. You would gush into my mouth every time I hit your throat.”

Byleth moaned again, louder this time, one of her hands reached down and began to play with her clit. She sucked on him harder.

The coil in his gut tightened exponentially at the sight. Sylvain would have to burn it in his brain. His favorite, normally expressionless professor, with his cock in her throat. He could see the bulge in her throat where resided. His free hand rested against that spot and she whimpered while he bit his bottom lip. His cock throbbed and he felt it through her neck. She looked blissed out, tears running down her cheeks, nostrils flaring in attempts to suck in air, lips stretched wide around him and drool mixed with his precum leaking down her chin. Her cheeks were flushed, and goddess he couldn’t get over the bulge he made in her throat. He added some pressure to it, she choked, and he came. Hard.

Sylvain felt bad, he really did. Normally he’d give a warning at least, or pull out, but he couldn’t help it. He was so high off his orgasm that he didn’t pull out of her spasming esophagus until he had sent all of his semen down into her stomach. Once he was out she coughed and gagged, gasping for breath and cradling her throat. “Byleth, I’m so sorry, usually I last longer but-“

She held a hand up telling him to stop. He waited for her to calm her breathing, his now semi-hard dick sticky with his cum and her throat coating. The professor took one more deep breath. “Its fine. I liked it.”

“What? Really?”

She nodded, and gave him a small smile. “Besides, next time is my turn.”

“I can get you right now-“

“We have class in the morning, don’t be late. Do well enough, and we might just cum together next time.”

He smiled, “That’s some good motivation right there.”

#fire emblem #fe3h sylvain #fe3h blue lions #sylvain jose gautier #sylvain x reader #sylvain x byleth #f!byleth #fanfic #sylvain fanfic #smut #the peen gets touched #mortyvongola2-0 fic #sylvain needs more love #sylvain smut

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tumblunni · 5 years

Text

Supes was my FAVE part of STC honestly!! He's such a cool plotline and its awesome that they even added a plotline at all to something that has barely anything to it in every other continuity. In STC super modes werent just a thing anyone can do when collecting all the chaos emeralds, it was some sort of fluke curse that hit sonic in particular the first time he collected them and he didnt even need them to transform again after that. But the side effect of unlimited access to super sonic is that it also comes with its own sort of sentience? Sonic couldnt transform at will, Super would just sorta come out whenever he wants, usually when sonic experiences extreme anger or trauma and it like..weakens his containment, i guess? The writers took the name chaos emeralds very seriously, in this universe theyre very dangerous as well as just powerful. Super Sonic was sort of the personification of this energy in living form, not necessarily literally evil but functionally so? Like he was just a completely wild lawless beast who did everything for the fun of chaos, with no concept of right or wrong. The only connection he had to those concepts was the darkness that existed in the heart of the person he was created from. so for example there was one time when they wrote Supes manifesting in a tough fight and indeed defeating the boss badnik, but then he doubled back and tried to attack the innocent animal he just freed from its power core, simply because all he knew was that sonic always worried about not hurting them when he fought, and he was tempted to see what it was like. (In this continuity 'roboticization' wasnt magically transforming flesh into metal but just cyborg stuff.) They did some VERY dark stuff with the concept of an empty hearted chaos creature whose only motivation was "fun" at any cost. And it worked so good as a contrast because regular sonic in these comics was a giant asshole who secretly had a good heart and was just grumpy AF. Contrasting him against this figure who was hyperacrive and funloving IN AN EVIL WAY SOMEHOW. What an amazing idea!!! And the whole concept of having a super move that has the side effect of potentially hurting the ones you love or even murdering innocent bystanders...WOW that had some good tension to it! And was a way better explanation for why sonic cant just use super sonic all the time, instead of just losing the chaos emeralds at the end of every game and having to collect them again.

Oh and they also did something EVEN COOLER with Supes later on!

THEY ACTUALLY TURNED HIM INTO A GOOD GUY

There was a point where some sort of magic mcguffin cured sonic of the chaos curse, but it was by literally removing it instead of destroying it. Super started off as a disassociative identity that would appear in times of stress, developed into more of his own person, and now he actually got his own separate body and a chance at living his own life. And the most interesting fact is that Super-without-sonic was like..inherantly good. He didnt even get redeemed he just...wasnt evil at all. This is when we got the nuance that he was never really an evil person but just this morally neutral chaos figure. And now he was removed from the chaos he had his first chance to be himself and he was just this innocent amnesiac good boy who goddamn deserved better than what he got! He was still as hyper and fun but now more mellowed out and able to fully understand what was happening around him and form his own opinions on stuff. And he ended up sorta adopted by a duo of kind older sibling animal folk who worked at a random jazz cafe, and they helped raise him witj more of a sense of morals and generally it was just THE MOST AMAZING TURNAROUND EVER! And it was so cool because he still kept the same more scary appearance they gave Super Sonic in these comics. Wild pupilless spiral eyes and fangs! But now looking adorably confused and the most unscary scary boy ever! And he struggled with doing the right thing and controlling his powers. If he used them too much he'd get caught up in the twisted 'fun' of chaos and start forgetting all the individuality he'd developed. The call of his chaotic energy was hard to resist even though now he understood that what he'd been doing was wrong and he just wanted to stay far away from all the fighting and live with his new family. There was a really depressing chapter where he was forced to use his powers to protect the cafe and for a second it gave you a hope spot that he'd finally learned to control them. He ran up adorably to his family, babbling mile a minute about how "hey hey did you see i did it i did it i was so scared but i didnt hurt anyone im so happy im....so....happy..." And he finally cracked mid sentence of celebrating that everything was okay. And cos the problem had already been solved, out of control Supes didnt have anything else left tp destroy except his own home and everyone he loved. And he just woke up hours later with all their neighbours terrified of him and chasing his family out of town. And they were still protecting him even though he'd horribly injured them! This led to him eventually feeling like he was too dangerous to stay with them and he had no hope of living a happy life. So he ran away and started wandering the wasteland far away from everyone, vanishing from the plot for years. And then depressingly his last appearance was him revealibg that he was dying from some never before mentioned chaos disease, like if he didnt use his powers he'd just decay away and vanish so there really was no hope at all. And then the series got cancelled and he never got any sort of resolution :(

So yeah! Two different flavours of intriguing plot with this guy! Its such a shame the series didnt last long and he faced some of the worst of the side characters falling out of focus as they ran out of budget

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novatoastmasters · 5 years

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Being part of Toastmasters teaches you how to prepare a variety of different speeches, of varying lengths and with different skills emphasized. A typical speech is 5 to 7 minutes long. There is also a part of Toastmasters that helps you practice impromptu speech giving—the beloved (or dreaded) Table Topics, where you only have to talk for at least one minute. This can be harder than it sounds. Each part of Toastmasters helps you practice a different skill, and each meeting gives a member a chance to try a variety of roles with different speaking goals. It never occurred to me how big a factor the room is when it comes to learning how to become comfortable with public speaking. Our first meeting in July found us at the home of Kay Culver, our Sergeant At Arms. I will have to admit my mind started to race a bit because since I had chosen to be Toastmaster of the Evening, my goal to run a formal (or typical) meeting seemed challenging in Kay’s beautiful and very inviting great room. Of course, people give presentations in homes all the time. Politicians running for office do. A home renovation salesperson will use the space given. Knowing how to present well in different scenarios is important. Kay’s home presented the perfect opportunity to practice speaking in a different sort of environment. The theme of the meeting was Dog Days, a period where the sun is at its brightest and summer is at its hottest, between the Fourth of July and mid-August. True to the theme, it was indeed a very hot day, yet even with traffic delays for a few club members, the meeting ran on schedule. For the inspirational opener James provided a quote from Henry David Thoreau: “What a man thinks of himself, that is which determines, or rather, indicates his fate. We look around us and see a lot of dust, and it is said to dust we shall return. But all matter (animate and inanimate) is made up of dust and tiny particles of things. We’re the sum of a lot of those, but also of our thoughts. We can make many different things out of those thoughts.” The evening proceeded with the prepared speeches. The first speech was an Ice Breaker (in other words, a first-time speech) by one of our newer members, Laura Young, entitled “It’s Good to be Young.” There’s nothing like a good play on words to rustle up interest in the speech and the speaker. This type of speech is meant to introduce the speaker to the group and provide an opportunity for the speaker to explain her or his reasons for joining Toastmasters. Originally from the Baltimore suburbs, Laura attended Virginia Tech and University of Virginia, and spent most of her life around the Washington DC area. She’s had a career in information management and is the mother of two sons (now 13 and 15). She is quite passionate about her volunteer work. Formerly she worked with the Nottingham Elementary PTA, and now does work for Doorways for Women &Families. Laura is moving onto the next chapter of her life, and is now in search of a career that feeds her passions. Joining Toastmasters is part of that process. The second speech, by John Hanlin, was a Motivational Strategies Level 3 speech entitled “What would Dr. Travis Bradberry say?” Travis Bradberry is a well-known author on emotional intelligence in the workplace. The inspiration for this speech came after John experienced a very challenging recent business trip. In addition to problems with economy parking, checking his bags, and getting bumped from his flight, John found no relief when he sought help from customer service. To turn the situation around he applied the lessons he learned from Dr. Travis Bradberry: Save getting upset for when it really mattered (namely, because worse might always happen, and until a solution presents itself, you just have to do the best you can). After a short break, a member of the club started the second half with the Joke of the Evening. Xiao Kelly entertained us with a funny story about her father-in-law, who likes to use a lot of profanity. He would always follow it with the phrase “excuse my French”. As a child, her husband heard it so often that when he was in a class and heard someone ask the question “does anybody here speak French?” he raised his hand yes! This got everyone in the mood for the Table Topics portion. Table Topics Master Liz Weist kept with the animal theme of the evening, asking the following questions to the following people: (1) Do you have any “dog days” stories from the outdoors, camping or hiking in heat? Cris Birch told a summer story about camping in Vermont, when the thermometer read 114 degrees, and being in sleeping bags was like being in a sauna. (2) “Cat night” is on 17 August, a night when cats are supposed to be exceptionally yowl-y, and it is said witches turn into cats. Do you have a “cat night” story? Janine told about her cat Midnight, a seriously dedicated watch cat, and his spanking of a dog (but not on 17 August) (3) Real bear hugs are fascinating to watch, and human bear hugs are wonderful as well. Tell us about a bear hug you have experienced, or an encounter with a real bear. Patrick told a story from camping in Pennsylvania in 2013, and spotting a bear that he and his friends tempted with chicken gizzards, leading to a beary humorous ending. (Patrick needs to do Joke of the Evening next time, he is quite punny.) (4) Rabbits: have you ever done something really “hare brained”? Xiao said that when she gets really fatigued, she gets hare brained. People join Toastmasters to learn how to speak with confidence in public situations. Each speech follows a specific format with a specific goal. However, the best way to improve your speaking skills is to receive thoughtful and helpful feedback on a speech you have just given. The evaluation portion of each meeting is the most valuable part of the program. Liz evaluated Laura’s speech. James evaluated John’s speech. While those evaluations were directed to Laura and John, there were many recommendations and pointers that I felt everyone in the room could benefit from. At least I know I was taking it all in and making notes. The evening ended with Club business and with a discussion of plans for the future. July is the start of the new year for Toastmasters clubs and we were all encouraged to aim high. If you are interested in checking us out, shoot us an email and we’ll be on the lookout for you.

#Publicspeakingforintroverts

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topicprinter · 6 years

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Hey /r/Entrepreneur! I am Rich, from Failory, where I weekly interview failed startup founders.Today I published an interview with Justin Anyanwu, founder of Eventloot, a failed software as a service business.It is quite a long interview, with lots of precise questions, but I think there are lots of lessons. Especially one: Ask for feedback to your customers and build a product based on it. Last things to say is that Justin, after this big failure, took advantage of his failure and built a profitable fitness app and a great budgetting application! These are some of the stats of the business:In business for 3 years and a few monthsTeam: 2 co-founders and 2 freelancersMoney spent: +$20,000Facebook ADS: +$1,000Paying customers: Around 5MRR: $80 Hi Justin! What's your background, and what are you currently working on?My name is Justin Anyanwu, I am 34 years old. I am based in Raleigh North Carolina. My background is a bit of a mix. I got my masters in Computer Architecture and my bachelors in Computer Engineering and Electrical Engineering. I did a bit of coding in college, but I didn’t pick up coding until I started working on personal projects.A few years ago, I built Eventloot, a SaaS platform for wedding planning professionals. It was inspired by the idea that most wedding planners at the time were using Google Docs and Google Spreadsheets to manage weddings for their clients. So, my partner and I decided that we could offer planners a solution that reflected the convenience of cloud-based SaaS products.‍ What were your job duties at Eventloot?I was the co-founder and CEO of Eventloot. As a developer, I helped my partner who was the architect with development. But my other role involved customer acquisition, marketing and business development. What was your business model?It was simple. A monthly fee to use Eventloot. Wedding planners will pay a monthly fee to use Eventloot to manage weddings for their clients. What motivated you to start Eventloot?I’ve always wanted to start my own business. At the time, I was already running an Anime lifestyle brand. We sold graphic tees and posters. But I quickly realized that it wasn’t scalable. The profit margins were not enjoyable and the need for inventory made it hard to consistently realize a certain level of profit. I started gravitating towards software after I met people who were making a livable wage off their software assets. And considering that their profit margins were much higher and also the fact that their expenses were a little more manageable, it was too tempting to resist not considering. Another thing I loved about the idea of Eventloot is the fact, that if we got it running properly we’d basically have a system for recurring income that didn’t require us to trade our time for money. Eventloot just happened to be an idea I came up with after I ran into an event planner who told me she still used spreadsheets and email to manage her events. It could have been anything depending on the type of person I ran into that day.‍‍ What part of your background defines you, and possibly led to starting Eventloot?I am a software engineer by trade. I don’t consider myself to be a great software engineer. But the one thing I can say about myself is that I have become fairly resourceful due to my experience with starting entrepreneurial ventures. I know where to find the right freelancers to help us achieve a goal.‍‍ Before Eventloot, what were you doing?Before Eventloot, I was running an anime lifestyle brand (I still am) and I had a day job (I still do). My day job involved writing software that ran on Point of Sale systems. ‍ ‍Did you have any failed or previous businesses?Before Eventloot, I built a trading platform for college students while still in college. It was a massive failure mainly because we didn’t code it in a scalable way. It was written in PHP and HTML with an SQL DB. That’s not the problem, the problem was that we wrote almost everything in two-three files and we wrote all our queries by hand. It was awful whenever we found a bug that needed fixing.‍ Did any big life events lead to starting Eventloot?Not really, Eventloot is just a product of my desire to be my own boss. And that desire started after I sat in on a group of NCstate alumni talking about how they started their own company. How did the idea come to you?Eventloot came to me after talking to an event planner who was trying to invite me to a valentine’s event she was organizing. It was after asking her how she managed her business that I realize that there might be an opportunity there. How did you build it?This was our very first foray into creating software as a service. In the beginning, we tried to do everything ourselves. 1) We tried to rig together a UI, which was basically stitched together from various CSS designs on other sites. I highly recommend that no one should ever do that. It is the least useful thing you can do. 2) After our very first disastrous version, we realized that we needed to hire experts for certain parts of the project. For example, we outsourced the UI design to a freelancer we found on Fiverr. We hired a number of AngularJS freelancers to handle the frontend for us. 3) We met at Starbucks to code whatever feature we had agreed that the platform needed.‍‍ How long did the process take?Quite a lot - 3 years.‍‍ Who was involved?My partner and me. And 2 freelancers we hired. What resources/tools did you use?Bizspark credit from Microsoft. This allowed us to use Visual Studios Enterprise. Free Azure hosting for the platform. Starbucks as our office. How did the initial product look?The one thing that we did right was the design. A lot of our prospects commented on the design. Some wished it had a more feminine look. But most people felt it was much more contemporary than our competitors.‍ Did you run into any obstacles in this process?A lot of the obstacles were more mental. The feeling that we might be making a big mistake with how we’ve tackled the project. The feeling that we might be in a crowded market or that our customers might be too difficult to sell to. We simply pushed forward.‍‍ Did you enjoy the process of building it?Actually yes. A significant chunk of the journey was a lot of fun. The sense of purpose and ambition. Waking up every day knowing that you had something interesting to work on. That was a lot of fun. Also, the comradery that I built with my partner. How did you approach pricing your product?We bounced between charging based on the amount of effort we put in which would have put us at $30/month. And pricing it strategically to undercut the competition at roughly ($9-$10)/month. We settled on $20/month.‍‍ Did you launch/publicize your product in any way?That too was a first for us. We spent roughly $600 on Facebook ads. That got us nowhere. It was very difficult to properly target for event planners or wedding planners. At least we knew our conversion rate was awful. So, I spent more time sending out emails to planners on WeddingWire. That was a lot more rewarding. If nothing else we learned why prospects wouldn’t join or what it would have taken for them to join. Which were your marketing strategies to grow your business?We spent a lot of time scanning WeddingWire and theKnot. We’d harvest emails of planners from those sites and send out personalized emails to each one. That was a lot of work. What tactics worked?Emailing planners, we found on the sites I mentioned. How did you approach these tactics?We had to script a scraper to obtain the emails from the sites. What didn't work?Facebook Ads. Awful ROI. Oh yea, 1 on 1 meetings with prospects was just as bad. A 1-hour meeting with a planner just to get $20/month? Will never do that again. Have you found anything particularly helpful or advantageous?Sometimes a mix of sweat equity and ingenuity goes a long way. So rather than just running ads or having 1 on 1 with planners, I found a middle ground. I obtained a ton of emails and I took the time to create a customizable email based on the recipient. Which were the causes of Eventloot failure?Poor planning. We didn’t talk about our customers about what they wanted. We made assumptions about what they needed. For instance, we assumed that all they needed was a platform that tracked their events on a calendar and stored contact information and may be sent emails on their behalf. We didn’t plan for onboarding either. Most of our users were coming in with a massive collection of contact info and data. We didn’t plan for how they could import this information.‍ How did you find your business problems?Problems started occurring the moment we went live and users would sign up and never come back. How did you realize you were going to fail?After 3 years of working on the platform and we started getting feedback from users that showed that we hadn’t built the core functionalities they needed. For instance, the average wedding planner has helpers/employees. They mostly wanted to be able to create separate accounts for each helper and give them the ability to collaborate on the platform. What did finally provoke the shutdown of Eventloot?When one of our legacy competitors quickly updated their platform with contemporary design patterns and technology stack. At which point we lost what little leverage we had. That combined with the fact that we’ve been coding for 3 years with nothing to show, we were quickly demoralized. How did you shut it down?We sent an email to all our users and shut down our azure hosting. It was quite uneventful. Only 2 of users cared. How did you feel when you close your doors?Relieved. For a while, we knew it was over. And it was no longer fun to work on it. So, closing the doors was just finalizing something we already felt. Which were your biggest mistakes and challenges you had to overcome?Building the platform quickly and cheaply. Using the .NET stack, I found was too clumsy a way to build the platform. At least I found that was too inefficient. Maybe because of the complexity of learning each component in the stack. My current project is using MeteorJS and MongoDB. Took me less than a month to learn. What obstacles did you have?Convincing prospects to sign up. Keeping my partner’s spirits high.Your personal and your team disadvantages. Were there any disadvantages in the market of Eventloot?Event planners are very busy. Wedding seasons make them virtually unreachable. The profession is not exactly established. There’s a range of commitment in that community. Some planners do it for fun others will quit in a couple years and then there are those that have an army of planners working for them. Did you have any disadvantages in comparison with your competitors?Our competitors were either very established or well-funded. Did you commit any mistakes?Building Eventloot without consulting with a customer. Initially building without designing the platform on paper. Did you make any mistakes that cost you time and/or money?We didn’t talk to the people we were building Eventloot for. As a result, we spent a lot of time building either the wrong thing or something they didn’t need. Hiring subpar freelancers initially and then having to find a replacement to redo their work. Were there any things that could have been made in a better way?Build Eventloot with MeteorJS and MongoDB. Roll out with an MVP that had core functionality that was absolutely useful to a planner. Consult with an established wedding planner at each stage of developing the app. Any missed opportunities?Working with wedding planners early on.‍ Which were your expenses? Did you achieve some revenue? In the end, how much money did you lose?So as for many lost, it was around $20k. We spent it hiring UI designers and front-end coders. Regarding the time spent, it was 3 years. Lastly, our MRR was only $80. If you had to start over, what would you do differently?If you could talk to your former self before Eventloot, what would you tell him? Know who you’re building your product for. Understand what they really want. Plan before you write even a single line of code. What do you wish you spent more time on?Talking to customers. What do you wish you spent less time on?Marketing. We weren’t ready to start marketing. We should have taken an incremental approach where we could at least satisfy a small number of users and a gradual scale from there. Marketing a failed product was a waste of time and money. Were you worried about anything when starting that at the end you realize doesn't matter?Yes, Trademark and incorporation. None of that matters until you have a clear path to profitability. Which are your favorite entrepreneurial resources?Here are a few websites:UI8: Pretty helpful with figuring our UI flow or buying a template.Fiverr: Find affordable work, at least while you’re in your infant stage.IndieHackers: It helped me embrace coding again. And I get to learn from other people on the same journey as I am. In short, it’s an amazing community. ‍I really like these books:Inc Magazines: They keep me inspired. And they usually make for a great read on long flights.Entrepreneur Magazine: Just like Inc Magazine, they make for a great read on flights.Purple Cow by Seth Godin: It helps me embrace creativity and staying true on the mission on my project. It especially helps me avoid the tendency to use money to solve all my problems. ‍Regarding tools, here are some great ones:VSCode: Excellent IDE. You could also use Sublime.Bitbucket: Great user experience as far as Code Repos go.Macbook: Mac because Windows is god awful. ‍And some podcasts:IndieHackers: See above.SideHustle School: It keeps me inspired about going solo. SideHustle showcases people making decent monthly income from their side projects. Quite inspiring. ‍ Where can we go to learn more?You can follow me on Twitter or on the Indie Hackers community. We have a fitness app that we’re now working on. This is showing some great promise. It 's called Lazyjar. I am also working on a budgeting app, that focuses on Food and grocery spend only. Is called Grub Jar. Thanks for reading!Read this interview on Failory here!

#/r/entrepreneur #reddit

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