#i hate downloading videos from facebook though because i can get never get them in the original quality

[sunglassesmish]

prettiest man ever fr

#my gifs #misha collins #i found the youtube video for this but it had a banner thing that cut off the bottom of his face #so i checked the description and luckily they had an unobstructed version on facebook #i hate downloading videos from facebook though because i can get never get them in the original quality #long post

[ivdiaries]

So earlier, I watched "Bangbang Con" one of BTS' Festa celebration for their 10th anniversary. It was my first ever BangBang Con as a baby army. I laughed, danced, sing, and cried a lot earlier but overall I really had fun.

I've only been an army for a year now, but this is my 2nd Festa since I started stanning them around May 2022, and was able to witness June 2022 Festa where I thought they're going to break up as a band/will be on hiatus. (TW: June 2022 Festa dinner)

I really did cry that time during their June 2022 Festa dinner even though I was a fan for a month then, because I thought they're breaking up for good - only to realize that they have to embark on their journey as solo musicians, even only for a little while, then to complete their mandatory military service, and hopefully come back stronger together by 2025.

I never really expected this from myself though because when I was younger, I wasn't really into anything KPop. I don't hate it at that time don't get me wrong, I just didn't see myself liking it plus I always thought I'll never understand korean anyways - but fast forward to now, I can read hangul (I only understand the translation of basic words, I still have to learn the language yet), and a big simp for Bangtan Sonyeondan (also known as BTS).

(L-R) Kim Namjoon, Kim Seokjin, Kim Taehyung, Min Yoongi, Park Jimin, Jeon Jungkook, Jung Hoseok

As soon as I got into KPop which 2 of my bffs highly influenced me with, I started collecting their merch such as albums, photocards, photofolios - I am a big Jeon Jungkook bias (my biases are Jungkook and Yoongi, bias wrecker is Taehyung) to the point I even bought this exact Nike Jordan shoes he was wearing from their PTD concert!

I also downloaded important KPop apps such as WeVerse, VLive (we miss you), Stationhead, BTS In The Seom (which I am very much addicted to before) - voting apps even! I also bought fan merch items such as shirts, jackets, bucket hats, and bags. I attend cup sleeve events sometimes, then I got into Twitter BNS (I don't really sell though, I only buy/trade photocards), and the most vital part of all KPop life - STAN TWITTER. (Yes, the profile below is my stan twt account)

Yes I am on army stan twitter. It is the best and the worst part of being a KPop stan. Most days they love you, most days they hate you but on both days I'm paid though HAHAHAHA.

My friend who has been a KPop stan ever since she was a little girl told me not to enter stan twitter because it can really be toxic - which is true as I've witnessed it already. But one of the perks of being on stan twitter is that it feels like a community, a safe space for you to declare how much you love and adore your ult bias group (mine being BTS), and just tweet your appreciation towards your fandom/favorite group. Also, to support them by voting, buying, and streaming their old/new releases.

Yes, there are days where in stan twitter can be too much, but at the end of the day it's still a safe space for me to express how much I appreciate my idols without being judged by people who hates KPop or people who aren't really into it.

So, going back - I watched BangBang Con earlier and I cried a lot because I realized how much I love BTS. I already know BTS way back, but I didn't become a fan until last year. I do feel some regret not knowing them when I was younger, but you know what they say, you meet them when you need them the most.

The relationship between me and BTS may be parasocial, but BTS did help me a lot. So let me tell you how I met them.

Last year, around May, I started using Facebook reels whenever I get bored watching KDramas or any series in particular. I deleted my TikTok app then so I decided to just watch through FB reels just to get me entertained until I have the energy to continue watching whichever series I was watching at the time. I stumbled across BTS videos a lot but I always scroll up because I wasn't a fan then.

Until I came across a clip of this VLive of Taehyung, Jimin, and JHope eating (this was after their Permission To Dance concert in Las Vegas) on FB reels laughing on a "Yoongi, marry me" comment.

The "Yoongi marry me" line has been a long standing inside joke of BTS. At first, since I wasn't really familiar with any of the members, when JHope read the comment and the maknaes (youngest) laughed while they were eating, I really thought he's Yoongi - until I was able to memorize their features and names, I realized that Yoongi isn't even on this Ppyong live.

I slowly became interested then with BTS. Whenever I scroll through my FB reels or Instagram reels, a lot of BTS clips from their shows such as Bon Voyage, DalBang (Run BTS), In The Soop, Bangtan Bomb, and etc. were already plaguing my account. Not until I saw this POV edit of Jungkook using PSY and Yoongi's "That That" that really got me locked into BTS.

Since then, I already became a hardcore Jungkooker - saving his photos and videos left and right, trying to get to know details about him by researching about him - but mostly I got to know him by watching clips on Facebook/Instagram reels.

Since most of Bangtan videos and clips are really funny, whenever I get curious as to what happened to the whole thing - I immediately search it on Youtube. Until my friend told me to watch "Run BTS", bangtan's variety show. At the time, it was only available on VLive, but you can watch it now in Youtube ;). Since I started watching DalBang, I fell in love with the tannies more. VMinHope opened the door, Jungkook closed it, but BTS locked it.

Until then, I became one of BTS' biggest fan. There was never a day where I don't talk about BTS or go crazy about them especially when they release new songs. I always see to it that I'd buy their new albums (of course I save up for it or make sure I still have extra money to buy one), and watch their content - maybe not on a daily, but whenever I have the time or whenever I feel like it.

I'm not being OA, but BTS really did help me heal a lot. I know I did all the work, but the tannies really became my inspiration to do better and be better. I know they're just 7 men from South Korea who doesn't even know I exist, I wasn't even there when they debuted in 2013, I can't even attend Min Yoongi's AgustD tour in Bangkok at all because it got sold out immediately, I haven't watched them (OT7) perform live, I do have 10 years of content to catch up on - but the more I got to know bangtan, the more I adore them. The more I listen to their songs and understand the meaning behind each lyric, the more I love them.

I cried a lot while watching BangBang Con because they made me feel like I have them to lean onto. When the world seems to big and wide and I feel alone, they make me feel that I'm not alone. When my emotions get the best of me, they can turn all those feelings around.

I may not see them or touch them or even talk to them, but I hope they know how many people they've saved. And I'm one of them.

BTS will forever hold a special place in my heart. Yeah, I may not have been there during their debut in 2013, I may not have experienced their HYYH era, or Wings era, or HYYH era, or Butter era - but as Yoongi said, "don’t feel regretful that you weren’t there since our debut. the day when you first met us, is the day we debuted."

Bangtan Sonyeondan saved me and healed me. And I will forever be grateful for them.

Borahamnida! Apobangpo! 💜

[tesshlyons]

Tess Lyons First Social Media Class Blog Post

I would describe social media as a tool that was first started as a way to connect with your friends and stay up to date with people electronically. The idea you could wish your fifth grade best friend who you haven’t spoken to in two decades a happy birthday seemed pretty intriguing. With one like, one click, you were considered buddies with strangers or folks who used to occupy your life. Now however, I’d say that social media is a marketing tool more than anything else. One can’t scroll on TikTok, or Instagram or Facebook or Twitter or any other social media site without seeing an ad; majority of the time an ad that’s targeted at them. Social media is perfectly diabolical in that way. You like a video about smoothies, boom an ad alerting you that the Ninja 3000 is 2% off today and today only!! Every marketable thing from Tv shows to clothing lines to the Ninja 3000 have social media pages, and that’s because it’s the most useful place to get that information out there. People don’t watch the news anymore, they get a ding from Twitter notifying them that Joe Biden is in some serious hot water surrounding documents. It’s wild how impactful this alternate form of media is but also incredibly impressive seeing, as previously mentioned, we all signed up for the idea just so we could stalk our work crush and pretend them liking our tweet means them liking us personally. So in short, social media to me is a new wave media, marketing, and surprise surprise social life saving  (or killing) tool. 

I’m the social media manager for a boating app and a local magazine so my time on social media is spent attempting to boost the two as much as I can. Being 21 I also have my own social media profiles. Why I’m so adamant about the idea that social media is a marketing tool is because I have first hand experience frequently marketing my magazine and the boating app, but also marketing myself. Maybe that sounded alarming. Not marketing myself but marketing my photography, which I do so I suppose marketing myself works though I will admit it felt strange typing that.  I started my photography account when I was 15 and have accumulated a decent following. I’ve gotten jobs through it and everything. I look at social media not as a fun-interactive-scroll-mindlessly device, I look at it as a way for me and the pages I manage to garner a larger audience. 

My strength with social media is that I was essentially born into a world with it. My formative years were when Facebook had already been around for quite a bit, and Instagram was the hottest thing around. Essentially if you didn’t have Instagram and Snapchat your opportunities to make friends were lowered. Exchanging numbers was a thing of the past when I was around 12. People didn’t want to text never mind call, people wanted to send each other goofy selfies using the gauntlet of snapchat filters. People wanted to admit crushes in the comment section of their overly filtered posts, ignoring each other in the classroom the next day. It was survival of the fittest. Either you conformed and downloaded the app, or you were left in the dark not knowing who went to showcase cinemas to see the fault in our stars and not knowing if you had been snubbed an invite to that cry fest showing. Social media is an appendage to me that I’ve been using for over a decade. That’s my strength. I didn’t grow up and then have to learn how to use it, I grew up using it. 

Being a social media manager I want to get better at statistics or learning the more technical side of utilizing social media. I don’t just want to know something works I want to know why something works. I’m excited to learn more from this class, despite my rather obvious dislike for social media. Hate it or love it its a useful tool that’s with us to stay, mine as well learn as much as you can. 

[guidemitten07]

Since you can't rely on the internet at the top of a mountain, I ensure my kids are prepared for travel when they are with me.

Yes, I was there.. My kids are terrible at this. download songs from soundcloud They believe that the wifi on the top of the mountain is not very strong. Even though it's not huge but the mountain isn't out of the range of mobile networks. My kids have to search for better internet connectivity while my wife and I set the camping spots in small areas. We're hoping to stay for at least one day. The small brook is nearby and provides water for our camp. Yes.. My wife also is unable to camp without sufficient water. Therefore, we always carry our own.

While my kids check their Facebook profiles while I take in the view. It's not a lot, but it is bordered on all sides by hills that are larger. To be near mother nature We visit this hill every once in the blue moon. While I really take pleasure in these excursions however, it's not my goal to lead these trips. My wife insists on doing this. Maybe she is aware of how much I enjoy being out in the wilderness. My children are a totally different story. The hate the fact that Internet occasionally stops working. The interruption to streaming music could be due to something that is in the clouds, or perhaps magnetic movements. This can be really irritating to me because I usually get caught up in the. After several trips during which there was no WiFi and regular internet on our phones kept falling between being in and out of service, we decided to prepare. We, i.e. my wife and I, were prepared for the event that our kids won't be able to access the internet for longer than 10 minutes. Two sources of endless entertainment were created, even if the Internet is not accessible while we are camping. One was a tablet full of music videos and the current chart-topping songs. soundcloud to mp3 playlist Our most-loved Youtube mp3 tool helped us to extract songs and convert them into MP3 files prior to downloading them onto the tablet. It worked with playlists too which made it quick, even though it was sounding awful long.. Plus most songs we already had on my laptop, so it was just an issue of copying several files. If someone were down or feeling bored you can listen to music, view videos, and lucky for us all, listen to sounds with blue tooth headphones. You think that's great? The item is silent. The second tablet was mostly filled with shows and cartoons that we downloaded from Hulu and Netflix apps that offer offline storage to watch later. The quality may not be the best however it's something, we have several seasons of Breaking Bad there, and a lot of cartoons like Family Guy and Disenchantment. It was very entertaining. The process was very easy to use. Just install the apps to activate downloads for offline viewing Download episodes, then mark them to download. Tablet 2 was brought in 1 or 2 trips after tablet 1, but when it finally did join us in The Wild, there was no stopping my kids from using it and watching shows. I made some DIY videos, including building a tent for fresh fish, and skinning them. Things you would never do in a city. Some of these videos I downloaded off Youtube then converted them into mp4 and downloaded onto my tablet. It's much simpler to have video on the tablet while you're working and you don't want to wait for video to stream right, you need it right there.. Download the video to your tablet before the time is up, so do not waste your time doing this. These 2 tricks have kept my children occupied during the last 4 family camping trips. Even my children don't mind going out because they know that tablet 2 will be with them to help to pass the time. They will also bring the tablet home whenever they're ready. It's all I ever wanted, and I've never been happier.

#mp3 sound cloud #soundcloud mp3

[pokemoncreepypasta]

Tarnished Gold

[STORY SOURCE]

Early this morning, I was browsing the emails I had gotten during the night; a few Facebook updates, a little spam, a newsletter, and an email from a sender with the name "NO MORE". The address was "Hope_abandoned". The subject? Tarnished Gold. I was intrigued. 

I opened my email to find a wall of text starting simply with, "I hear you're in the market for creepy Pokémon things... Here's one for you. Enjoy." 

And then, I began to read...

Being someone who isn't nearly as computer savvy as someone from this generation should be, I know very little about what technology is capable of. Aside from email, IM, and the occasional download of something otherwise unobtainable for me at the moment, I have about the same amount of knowledge an eighty-year-old might possess about the electronic world.

For example, and for the sake of this tale I'm about to recount, I was totally unaware that someone is capable of hacking Pokémon games to make their own sub-story of the world, even less so that it was possible to make a physical copy of the game in a real cartridge.

However, I happened to learn about this in one of the most disturbing ways possible.

When I was younger, Pokémon Gold was my very first game from the ever popular franchise. I became very attached to the little creatures and my character (named after myself even though the character was male) and often fantasized about the adventures we would go through had a preset storyline not been in place.

That isn't quite important, though.

What is important is the fact that I never truly let go of my childhood fantasies, the memories I had from that first game were far too cherished to set free. As such, I still have my old Gold game, complete with a total abuse of the copy glitch. I refuse to restart my game though, as I'm afraid too much of the old magic would be lost.

I wanted to play a whole new game of the version that I recall being the happiest with, but older cartridges are rather hard to find outside of the Internet nowadays. The most my local flea markets have are GBA games... hardly any being Pokémon.

Fortunately for me, my grandmother still fully supports my long-standing love for Pokémon and often buys boxes of cards, toys, video tapes and other items she comes across during her frequent visits to local auctions. Granted, very little of these things she gives me are in good condition; long forgotten items stowed away in a musty basement after the phase in their owner's life had passed hardly ever are. But, as gifts from a dear relative, I cherish them as if they were made of gold... pun not intended.

Most recently, she gave me a box with a brand new video tape containing episodes from early on in the first season, several hundred battered and well used cards, and a game cartridge with no label.

The cartridge was the familiar metallic gold color of the game I had been looking for. Even though the label had been removed, and a large red X drawn in sharpie in the place where the sticker should have been, I could easily tell what it was... What other game had that color?  You can imagine my excitement for finally finding another copy! I hate ordering things online, so this was a rather big relief. I thanked her profusely and promised I would play it as soon as I got home, which I did.

Getting started was difficult, not because the game was faulty, but because I had sold my GBA to my little brother several years ago for some of his better Pokémon cards... Once something belongs to him, it's difficult to get him to lend it out to me. Such is sibling relations, I suppose.

After much bribery, I finally got my hands on my former GBA and quickly inserted the vandalized game. 

Chills ran through my body as the opening "movie" for the game began to play, sending a wave of nostalgia crashing over me. It was good to see it again.

The game opened normally, the pixelated image of Ho-oh flying through the sky beneath the title presented itself before leading into the normal selection screen. 

The person who owned the game before me still had the game on file, but I cared very little for what someone did before me. Considering the condition of their things, they must have been very young. I was bound to be met with a team full of Pikachu with ridiculous names.

I started a new game.

It was here that I realized something wasn't quite right with the game. The normal intro involving a Professor introducing you to the world of Pokémon didn't play out. Rather, it went more like this:

It started out with a black screen, which was quite familiar considering that’s how the Gold, Silver, and Crystal games begin. But, instead of the normal "What time is it?" dialogue, I was met with…

"………..……"

"… POKéMON are nothing more than tools." 

"Use them, and throw them away." 

"…….."

The black screen faded away, revealing an empty area at night. 

It looked familiar... I vaguely remember it being a route in an earlier part of the game, but since I’ve been away from the game for so long, I couldn’t place it.

In the silence of this scene, the sprite of your rival, henceforth noted as Silver, walked in from the left. He moved a little slower than normal as if he were hesitant about something. 

Once he had moved to the middle of the screen, he stopped and turned back to look at where he came from, turned towards where he was going, and turned back towards where he had come once again.

For a moment, he stood there simply staring towards the left side of the screen before a dialogue box popped up beneath him saying nothing more than, “…”. 

After that, he turned back around yet again, only this time, he continued off to walk off screen.

The scene faded away to be replaced with Silver standing in the place where you first officially see him, just outside Professor Elm’s laboratory. 

It was clearly in a slightly later part of the game than normal as the professor and his assistant exited the lab and went their separate ways. 

The assistant seemed to leave the town, and Elm walked further downward off screen, which I assume that meant he left for his home and remained in town. The character of Gold was nowhere to be seen.

After that small scene, it stayed on Silver. I thought the game had frozen for a minute, but I finally realized I was able to move him. Honestly, I was a little excited. Silver was, and always has been, my favorite of the rivals, and it was an interesting thing to be able to play as him.

I moved him a little further downward to see if I was able to explore, but it stopped me each time I moved one step away from the front of the lab. 

A dialogue box popped up that said, “I can’t leave yet…”, and it backed me up a step. 

I moved back up to the place he had originally been standing and moved into the window. It worked much like a door as it allowed me to enter Professor Elm’s lab.

Aside from the regular equipment, bookshelves, computers, trashcans, tables, all that, the lab was empty; which was to be expected since the employees had left just a moment ago. 

On the table was a single Pokéball. 

Being without one at the moment, I walked over and took it.

A dialogue box popped up and said, "Obtained TOTODILE.", but no "item get" music played… 

Apparently, stealing wasn’t condoned even by the game. 

After pressing "A", it gave me the option of naming the Pokémon. I picked "yes", as I love naming these things. 

As it took me to the naming screen, another dialogue box popped up, interrupting the naming process.

“Don’t name it! You’ll only get attached.” 

“Don’t love it, use it.”

It was clearly the "voice" of the same person who spoke in the very beginning… I found it odd…

The naming screen faded away, leaving me in the empty lab. 

I quickly tried to leave through the front door, but was stopped by Silver saying, “Not through there…” 

Again, he backed up and I exited through the window I had come in from.

As if things weren’t strange enough as they were, when I left New Bark Town to begin the adventure and stepped into the grass, it was nearly impossible to get a random battle to start. 

Normally, I go out of my way to avoid them later on in the game, but during the beginning, it was something I enjoyed to get my Pokémon to level up… Being unable to find something to fight was a little frustrating.

After several minutes of walking back and forth in patches of grass, I finally encountered a Pokémon. A Sentret, nothing out of the ordinary. 

But when I sent out my Totodile and chose the only presently useful move he had, Scratch, the Pokémon fled. 

I was rather confused. Wild Pokémon never ran away so early in the game. 

After a few more tries, all with the same outcome, I continued on to Cherrygrove.

Just before I entered the city, I recognized the small area as the one Silver had walked through in the beginning. 

After entering the city, I bumped into Gold, who wordlessly challenged me to a battle.

His Pokémon, a Cyndaquil, was already a slightly higher level than mine. I was still stuck at level five, while he was already at level seven.

And, even though I had the type advantage, he beat me. 

Before whiting out, his sprite switched out with the Cyndaquil’s… He looked disappointed.

After exiting the Cherrygrove Pokémon Center, (I hadn’t used it prior, but it was apparently the only option I had), I walked back to the place he had challenged me only to find I was unable to battle him at this point again.

The game was getting a little annoying by now. I had no money, Pokégear, or Pokédex, and I was unable to battle wild Pokémon. 

Fortunately, once I entered Route 30 onward, there were other Pokémon trainers in which I could battle and easily beat…

Though none of them seemed eager to speak to me after I had won.

By the time I entered Violet City, my Pokémon's level was still too low to take on the gym leader. 

But with the money I had won from the trainers I fought before, I was at least able to buy some potions, so I felt I was set.

The lesser trainers of the gym were easy enough. 

I was only forced to use two of my previously purchased potions and I leveled up once. 

Though, as I took on the gym leader, he proved to me too much and I lost yet again. 

Upon winning, he did the very same thing Gold had done…and he looked disappointed as well.

When the battle ended, I didn’t white out, rather I had to endure a lecture about treating Pokémon correctly from the leader. 

Once he finished speaking, I received a one-worded option: "Steal?"

I chose the only option given to me, "Yes".

Silver backed up one step and slammed into the gym leader, kicking him backwards. 

Another dialogue box popped up telling me that I had stolen the gym badge, TM31, and $500.

After that, I whited out.

This is how it continued on for the remainder of the game. 

While I was able to defeat lesser trainers on the paths to cities and in the gyms, I constantly lost to the leader and was forced to steal their badges. 

The "steal" option also worked on people who would normally give you items in the game. 

This is how I was able to obtain key items such as the Itemfinder, the bicycle, the water pail, HMs, and many more…

They refused to give me anything otherwise.

Anyone I spoke to either refused to talk, greeting me only with “…”, or lectured me a little on how to properly treat Pokémon…

It was beginning to get that way with Nurse Joy as well. By the time I had progressed to Goldenrod City, she’d scold me anytime I whited out.

Pokémon continued to avoid me as well. If I wanted to better my team, I had to hope that the Pokéballs I used worked the first time. 

What was stranger about random battles is that, even if I locked the Pokémon in battle with Mean Look, the Pokémon passed out. Literally. 

After my first attack of Mean Look, (if I got to the first attack that is, sometimes the Pokémon had a higher speed than mine), before I was able to choose another, the Pokémon would faint on its own.

The dialogue box proclaimed, “[POKEMON] forced itself to pass out!” and the battle ended.

The only thing that seemed to go normally for me was the battles with Team Rocket. I always won against them and they always treated me like a punk kid getting in their way.

The rest of the game up until a certain point isn’t entirely important. Aside from win, lose, and steal, everything was more or less normal. 

While my Pokémon matured slowly due to frequent losses, they did grow to like me a little as I began giving them haircuts and other little things to boost our bond. 

The last I checked, the person who rated their happiness, (one of the very few people who spoke to me normally), said “It’s quite cute.” 

I know you must be thinking that this isn’t disturbing at all, and that I should just accept the fact that this is simply a hack made to tell Silver’s side of the story… Well, I did and it was, but I’m not quite finished yet.

Continuing the process of win, lose, and steal, I had finally made it to Kanto and ventured into Viridian City. The second I stepped foot into the city, the music cut off. I thought for certain that this was simply a glitch in the programming, that I was now to walk through a soundless game. But as I stood there for a moment, a very faint noise picked up and faded away.

I was now sure that the music had messed up, like it was trying to play, but couldn’t. But as I stepped back into the route I had just come from, the music picked up perfectly…it was only Viridian City that was silent.

I was now curious, so I stepped back into the silent city and began to explore. 

There wasn’t a person in sight… No one out in the open, no one in the houses, not even anyone in the Pokémart or Pokémon Center. 

The city was entirely empty… just the silence and the occasional soft noise which I still hadn’t identified.

As I walked towards the gym, the sound grew a little louder. I figured the noise was coming from the inside, so I entered. 

There was no one there either, but that was to be expected. The gym was always empty until much later.

The noise didn’t play in here, but it was still dead silent.

I walked up to where the gym leader normally stood and, as I walked past the spot and into the brink wall, (I do that sometimes, I like the noise), I was transported to another room… The wall had hidden a set of stairs. 

This place was silent as well…but the noise began to play yet again. It was much louder this time. Just a bunch of random, high-pitched noises…but it sounded like screams.

By this time, as you could well imagine, my heart was pounding…I don’t take screaming, or things that sound like screaming, very well due to an unfortunate experience with a very graphic haunted house when I was three years old… but I digress.

Regardless of my pounding heart and shaking hands, I explored the room…which was tinted in a muted red much like everything was in Pokémon Red. 

The room followed a sideways zigzag pattern and the “screams'' came at random, some short, some long and drawn out… It sounded as if someone was being tortured.

As I continued down the zigzagging hallways, I came across several disturbing images; sprites of NPCs without their heads, as well as heads without bodies. 

Anytime I tried to examine the bodies, Silver simply said, “Don’t look…”

The bodies and heads became more frequent as I went on, clogging up the hallways and leaving only a small path for me to follow… and the screaming became more frequent.

The screen began to flicker as I walked, just like it would if one of my Pokémon was poisoned…but none of them were. 

Just in case, I checked the status of my party. 

None of them were poisoned, but their health was going down. 

In an attempt to heal them, I picked a super potion out of my bag and used it on my Feraligatr.

A dialogue box popped up and said, “It won’t have any effect.”

Now I was disturbed, I knew none of this was supposed to happen. Regardless, I continued on, hoping that if they all fainted from this, I’d be taken back to a Pokémon Center and things would return to normal.

… It was stupid of me to assume that…

I continued along the morbid path, the screen flickering in and out. Finally, Silver stopped as the dialogue box popped up telling me that all my Pokémon had fainted… 

But it didn’t say what I had hoped…

It said "ALL DEAD."

By now, I was ready to cry, but I couldn’t stop myself from trying to get to the end of this disturbing experience… 

If I didn’t do this now, I’d just be tempted to try it again some other time…

Finally, I reached the center room, which was now tinted a deep red… I assumed this was to simulate the fact that the room was filled with blood. However, there were only a few bodies scattered around it. 

In the center, there were a few live figures, a man, a Pokémon, Gold, and another Pokémon I could only assume was his Typhlosion.

Gold’s Typhlosion attacked the man’s Pokémon, but it was quickly struck down, with its sprite first turning red, then grey, then disappearing… The man’s Pokémon had killed it.

Silver’s sprite stepped forward on its own and the man finally acknowledged he was there.

“GIOVANNI: Ah, son, you’ve made it.” 

“Come to see your rival’s demise, have you?”

This caused Gold to turn around to look at Silver. 

The only thing he said was “…”

Silver continued to move on his own. He approached the man and kicked him backwards…which obviously enraged Giovanni.

“GIOVANNI: You’re going to help him?” 

“HA! You’ve become just as weak as the others!” 

“If he seems worth saving to you…”

“Perhaps I should show you that there’s no sense in getting attached!”

“MEWTWO, take care of him!”

Mewtwo obeyed its creator’s command and approached Gold. 

I’m still uncertain of what it actually did, but it struck Gold, causing a scream much louder than before as the sprite of Silver’s rival lost its head and faded to deep red to grey.

“GIOVANNI: I told you long ago, SILVER, POKéMON are nothing more than tools! People are, as well.” 

“Use them and throw them away once they've served your purpose.” 

“MEWTWO, kill him!”

The Mewtwo didn’t obey this time; Giovanni’s words must have angered it. It turned to him and actually spoke.

MEWTWO: …You’re no longer useful…

It struck Giovanni just as it had done Gold and Typhlosion, but the scream Giovanni produced was much longer than any other I had heard…Mewtwo was torturing him.

Finally, the scream faded away into nothingness and Giovanni’s sprite did just as Gold’s did… leaving only Silver and Mewtwo alive in the room. As Mewtwo turned to face me, I knew that wouldn’t last for long.

MEWTWO: …Not useful…

It struck me, initiating a battle in which I was totally unable to participate. 

My sprite was in the place of any Pokémon. 

My health was full, but I knew it wouldn’t help. 

I chose to run, but I couldn’t…

I chose to attack, but I had nothing to use…

I just had to stand there as Mewtwo used Psychic on Silver’s defenseless image.

Even with the sound turned to a low level, the “scream” coming from Silver was disturbingly loud. 

Even as the battle screen faded away, the scream lingered until Silver’s sprite turned from red to grey, which I now assume symbolizes the coldness of death… 

Silver, along with Gold and everyone else who had been unfortunate enough to wander into this place from Viridian, was now dead.

The screen faded to black, all except for Mewtwo’s sprite, which remained in the center of the screen. 

My paranoid mind immediately made me think it was somehow going to turn on me next, but the words "THE END" simply faded in just underneath it and the screen cut to black, taking me back to the opening sequence.

I’m still unsure why this was made, why someone just shoved it into a box to sell, and why I happened to find it… But I can assure you that I’m swearing off all randomly found games… Either it’s new, or I’ll never risk touching it again.

The game I just described has slipped out of my possession since that first playthrough… 

I have no idea where it is, but I hope it’s rotting in a dump somewhere.

#pokepasta #pokemon creepypasta #Tarnished Gold #trainer silver

[repentantsky]

9 Things I’d like to see at E3, 2021

So E3 2021 is a thing. It’s gonna be all digital, and several companies have already signed up to join, sounds like a good deal, but the question is, will it be what we normally expect out of E3, or will it be more like Summer Game Fest Last Year, where everything that looked like it was gonna be great, but just turned out to be okay? Who can say, but I have some...suggestions, that might make it better, along with some game announcements, that might make it all it should be cracked up to be. 

9. No low quality, at home interviews during the main show 

E3 has had a history of doing interviews during game shows to try and break pace a little, and keep people from being too excited, only to potentially be let down later. However, possibly the worst problem with Summer Game Fest last year, was the at home interviews, which broke pacing during game announcements in a way I can’t imagine was on purpose, and for many, was the time to take a bathroom break, or simply look away for a while. It’s important of course to hear from developers about their projects, and they can divulge some interesting information about games, that either puts something confusing into context, or is accidently leaked, but when we watch shows about game releases, we want to see the games. Interviews should be held in between shows, or better yet, the days following the conferences themselves. 

8. Nintendo finally talks about the big three 

While it’s safe to say Nintendo has done some banger numbers over the last year espeically, due to better console availability, which I never thought I’d say about Nintendo but here we are, it’s also safe to say that fans have been waiting for literal years on Bayonetta 3, Metroid Prime 4, and Breath of the Wild 2. While some have been more patient than others, and of course I understand there’s a flipping pandemic going on, Nintendo told us far too long ago about these games, or the restart of their development, and Breath of the Wild 2 was promised to at least get an update this year, and E3 seems like the best place to do it, especially after their last direct, one that was more than a year in waiting, and left so many people disappointed. And this is coming from someone who had literally only hoped to be excited about one thing, and it didn’t happen The future of how they present games, almost feels like it’s in question after such a show, which did not justify itself, so hopefully, they can finally let everyone walk away happy, and talk about the projects that have been generation the most excitement, for literal years now.

7. Space things out better

You might now know this, I only made one list about it after all, and literally no one reacted to it, but I’m a huge wrestling fan, and one of the promotions I watch, is WWE. Now, WWE is about to launch WrestleMania, their equal to E3 in a lot of ways, and are splitting it up over two days, and that goes for their third brand NXT as well, because they have a history of making the show sometimes 8 hours long. For fans of video games, watching The Game Awards, which can be two to three hours long, is arduous, and tiring, and E3, can also have that same effect. I remember in 2019, I literally fell asleep watching Bethesda’s conference, because I was so tired trying to write about the previous shows in between them, never mind actually watching them, that I was burnt out. Since E3 is going fully digital this year, and everyone is going to be in that same boat, it would be nice if we didn’t have too many shows, spanning over a near 12 hour period, which was happened before, making people stay up late to enjoy what they want to, or you know, work, which is free promotion for whatever gets announced. Spacing the shows out to no more than three a day, and giving people enough time to get their thoughts together, would just be really nice. 

6. Devolver Digital, tries a different style

Look, I don’t hate Devolver Digital’s approach to talking about games at E3, but what I do hate, is them telling the same jokes over and over again, and expecting everyone to laugh, because you know, it’s so funny when something that’s already been said, or shown, is modified ever so slightly for years on end. I’m not saying they can’t still tell jokes, please do, E3 is as much a good time as it is stressful depending on who you are, so the change of pace can at times be a lot of fun, but the last time they had a “conference”, it was a slog, and generally left me feeling annoyed, and I can’t help but feel I’m not the only one. They want to be different, I say that’s great, but they need to do it in a way that for one, is actually different, because their style has become a cliché in and of itself, and where they don’t spend time talking about fake games, because it’s hard to know at times what’s real and what isn’t. I honestly thought the last time they did one, the final game they talked about was just a play on the “one more thing” trope conferences have, and when I later realized it wasn’t, I never got that first sense of hype, and so lost interest, and that’s not a good business model. We don’t even know at this point if they’re going to declare for E3, and since it was announced late, it might be too hard to get a show at all, but if they do show up, or even when they next do a conference, it would be nice if they considered this line of thinking.

5. Drop the “Exclusive Online Portal” idea

Yeah I don’t know what the ESA was thinking with this one, but they mentioned that E3 will be streaming from an exclusive online portal, and not only do we not know what that means, but no one flipping cares! We’re all going to watching it on YouTube, Twitch, or dare I say it but it’s possible, Facebook Gaming, and any other platform is completely useless. We are all tired of hearing, download a new program to do a thing you can already do on other platforms, PC gamers especially, stop releasing new flipping launchers and...sorry, that’s for another list in the future perhaps, but the point stands. You might get streamers to download, or go to whatever site they need to, to watch the shows, but everyone else, is either going to watch those streams, or as it often happens, watch the highlights at a later time, so to add a potentially extra step to that process, is just not going to go anywhere, and since E3 will be free to watch, it’s not like this is going to be a good way to make money, unless you do plan to do the following...

4. Throwing flipping ads at everyone between shows or otherwise

Look, I get it, even an online show that’s going to be talking about games costs money to make, and so money must be made by other means, many of which are not available to the ESA without people actually being present, but the thing about E3 is, as much as we all love it, it is one massive ad, and even though it’s an add we like, it’s not one that needs too many ads thrown at it beyond what it already has. There are other, less annoying ways to make money, like having products from the games announced be available at a store online that people can access, that sees them getting part of the profit, or something of that nature, but this portal that was mentioned, seems like a place where the ESA can just throw ads at people all day, and that just seems like a horrible idea. A lot of people don’t see E3 as an ad, even though it absolutely is, and blowing away the smoke and mirrors that it’s not, by throwing countless ads at people for the sake of trying to make money, might be the end of E3 as we know it. 

3. Don’t spend too much time talking about games that are coming out close to the event, or just came out

Like I said, E3 is one big, massive ad, and for the most part, that’s totally alright, but E3 also has a habit of sneaking in little bits talking about games, that are coming out during the week of, or very close to the shows, to the point of being annoying. Most of the time these ads are short, show nothing new, and generally kill the pace of the conferences on display. While it’d be one thing to try and shadow drop a game this way, because we all love a good shadow drop, we really don’t need ads for games like FF7 Intergrade, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, or flipping Mario Golf: Super Rush. We know those games are coming, we are paying attention, give us a little credit, and save that for games that could use the push like Neptunia: ReVerse, Legend of Mana, or maybe even Scarlett Nexus who actually in way, has to compete with Mario Golf. This might be more a developer problem, and E3 itself might actually have little to no control over this, but whoever does it, needs to do it right.

2. Xbox needs to stop lying, and go big

I love Xbox, I really do, for whatever reason it’s become my go to place for physical indie games, and whenever I want to play a shooter, I start thinking green, but in their conferences, Phil Spencer has a tendency to oversell what Xbox is going to show, by talking about how many games are going to be at the show, or by constantly mentioning how Xbox is more powerful than it’s competitor consoles, like it does any good for the bottom line of the company. I don’t want to hear Phil say they are going to show off 80 games during their show, and have half of them be ports, or shown off in a montage. Doing that means everyone has to go look up a large portion of what they actually announce to learn anything, and that’s no fun. I don’t want montages during E3 at all, and while I’m at it, Xbox espeically needs to bring in the big guns. I’m talking Halo Infinite, Gears 6, the next Forza game, and maybe, finally, a Japanese exclusive title that will get people really hyped. Xbox might just have free reign over the show on the day they present, but another show that has extremely mixed opinions like in 2019, might not be the best thing ever. 

1. GET. SONY. 

Obviously we know that Sony and the PlayStation brand haven’t been associated with E3 for a while now, and I get it, it’s kind of hard to justify going down to L.A. every year, when an online digital show, saves a whole bunch of money, and can get people just as hyped as if they had been there, but this year, everything is online, and Sony’s State of Play’s have been a mixed reaction as a whole. Taking them to E3 not only sets up more hype for them, but it also gives people something they really need right now, something close to the norm, with all of console developers, showing off their best. E3 2019, just felt weaker, and too safe without Sony there, and last year was a total, long winded disaster because of Summer Game Fest. If the ESA is really going to go for this, and give it an earnest shot, and give us the best that they can, they need Sony to show up and blow our minds with, I don’t know, God of War 2, Spyro 4 (hopefully) and a new IP or two to really get the show to being considered one of the best. E3 will probably be alright regardless of if they are there or not, but if they are, the chances of it being truly great, go up in spades. 

And that’s my list, did I miss anything else you can think of? Let me know in the comments below, like this list if it interested you, reblog it if you love it, and have a wonderful day. 

#e3 #e3 2021 #e3 2019 #sony #playstation #playstation 4 #playstation 5 #xbox #xbox series x #xbox series s #xbox one #nintendo #Nintendo Direct #nintendo switch #Bayonetta #bayonetta 3 #Metroid #metroid prime #metroid prime 4 #zelda #breath of the wild #breath of the wild 2 #devolver digital #ads #twitch #youtube #summer games #summer game fest #halo infinite #gears of war

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #428

“there’s more money in tragedy, more net worth in self-pity  /  so you’re doubling down inside of your screen, hiding behind attention you seek”

Have you ever told someone, besides family, that you love them and meant it? Yeah. I've told friends that platonically, and I've said it to two people and romantically meant it. Are the blankets that are on your bed now made by someone you know in life? No. Have you seen all The Lord of the Rings movies? I haven't even seen one. How many boyfriends/girlfriends have you had in 2014? I had one. Can you walk in heels? I mean I can, but I don't like to. What does your mom say about the pictures on your Myspace? First the '14 question, now this... I don't think Mom ever had a Myspace, but I can answer for Facebook. She's always the person to "heart" react them and say something about how "beautiful" I am or something. ;x; What was the last thing you and your parents argued about? Idr. Do you feel your life is at its best? Fuck no. There better be better times than this. What do you worry about the most? The most? That's hard to say... but probably my career future. Or really just the future in general. Have you ever let someone be your everything? "Everything" still feels like an understatement. He was my source of happiness, a massive part of my own identity, and my promise for a better future. It was so, so unhealthy. Think back to the last person you kissed, how many times have you cried in their arms? Two times, I wanna say? What are some things you do when you’re mad? I get snappy and try to isolate myself to cry it out. How do you feel about your hair right now? I hate itttt. It's getting too long and just boring. I'm hoping I can get up with my hairdresser soon for a trim. What’s an interesting fact about you that not many people know? Uhhhh... I guess that I was a dancer for many years. I feel like I don't really fit the general "aesthetic" of dancers, so people have definitely been surprised to find out I was one. Do you do anything embarrassing when no one is home? No. Just because no one ELSE is there, I'd embarrass my damn self lol. If you had the chance to move to a completely different state/county, would you? Fuck yes I would. Could you ever be friends with someone that broke your heart? It's funny, because that's what the traumatized, overly-attached part of me wants (at the bare minimum), but my common sense knows that's dumb as fuck. I could never healthily be friends with him. Are you scared of fireworks? No, but others are terrified by them, so keep that in mind. Does anyone know every little detail about you? No. You woke up one day and discovered that you were only able to see in black and white… as well as one other colour. What colour would that be and why? I guess red? It sounds morbid for it to be the first thing my mind goes to, but that way, I'd be able to see blood and therefore be able to detect a symptom of danger. What is your favourite soundtrack for a film/video game/television show? (Though feel free to name as many!) Silent Hill 2 and Shadow of the Colossus have fucking LEGENDARY soundtracks. What is your favourite Pokémon? Ninetales! I also really love Espeon and Umbreon, too. And Charmander. And Pikachu. And Skitty. And... well, too many, ha ha. What is something your best friend of the opposite sex does that you can’t stand? He calls me "kid" a lot. Is the last book you read a really well-known book? It's not world-famous or anything, but it seems relatively known by teens/young adults. At least, I follow a lot of artists who make fanart for it. Do you have anything besides just songs downloaded on your iPod? No. When at the beach, do you spend more time on the beach or in the ocean? In the water. I hate the beach itself. Do you have any siblings you absolutely despise? Why do you despise them? No. Have you ever babysat before? Did you enjoy this job? Yes, and no, not at all. Have you ever busted a window before? Why did you bust it? No. Do you still get scared watching old horror movies? You watch them alone? Horror movies pretty much never scare me, never mind old cheesy ones. I don't mind watching them alone. Do knives scare you? Is it from watching scary movies? I'm terrified of big knives, and it has nothing to do with movies. It's a fear that started after Mom stopped me from a suicide attempt where I was going to slit my throat with one. They just radiate danger for me. Have you ever tried to sing opera? Did it work out for you or no? No. What was the last piece of furniture you purchased? I've never bought any furniture, and I don't recall the last thing Mom bought. Have you ever broken up with someone for a reason other than lack of feelings (ex. moving away, etc.)? Yeah; we split because we were essentially two shaky towers leaning against one another. We have to learn to straighten ourselves up independently before that relationship even becomes a "maybe" again. Has anyone ever told you that you are too picky when it comes to the people you date? What about not picky enough? Neither. Was there anything unusual or unique about your birth? Nothing really, besides being born in an icestorm. My birth itself was totally normal, as far as I know. Mom considers it pretty extraordinary though because according to her, I took one look at her and smiled so big. Says a lot about our relationship now. What was the best conversation you’ve had recently? *shrug* What is the next book you are going to read? The book that comes next in the series I'm reading. Who was the last person to do something nice for you? My mom does nice things for me every day, like making dinner, letting me live under her roof... a lot of stuff. Is there any artwork in the room you’re in? Yeah, some of my stuff. Have you ever made out on a couch? Yeah. Someone asks you what you want; what do you say? Happiness. Direction. What was the last thing you complained about? Just being incredibly sore. The gym's kicking my ass, but it needs to, so I'm fine with it. How do you feel when you hear other people complaining? It depends on how frequently and about what. It can become overwhelming sometimes, especially if it's over something truly trivial. Has your name been in someone’s Facebook status lately? No. Do you own any Sims games? Which ones? I have the original animals one, as well as the African animals one (which I surprisingly like less). What was your first job? I was a sales associate at GameStop. Do people praise you for your looks? Yeah, definitely not. Do you like your eyes? No. I wish they were bluer and wider. Tell me what your back pack looks like: My last one was a galaxy texture. What celebrity do you think is hot? HMMMMMMMMMMMM I DON'T KNOW????????????? NEVER SEEN ONE IN MY LIFE O: O: O: Last movie you saw in theatre: The The Lion King remake. Has someone you were dating ever cheated on you? No. What’s the cutest thing someone’s ever done for you? I'd rather not dig through the memories to find what I'd consider the "cutest." What was the last thing you heated up in your microwave? A chicken pesto bowl for lunch. Did you ever watch Phil of the Future? Occasionally, but I was never big on it. Do you have an online game that you play often? I play World of Warcraft pretty much daily. Do you prefer regular or electric toothbrushes? Electric. What was the last thing to piss you off? Truly piss me off, I'm not sure. When and where was the last time you took a picture of yourself? Months ago in my room. I want to take a new one to update my Facebook profile pic, because I think I'm ready to return there. Who was the last person to pay you a compliment or praise? The first day at the gym, Mom told me she was extremely proud of me, and it meant a lot. I truly think I can stick to this, and it's a fucking phenomenal feeling. What’s one thought you have regarding the subject of love? It can be the most beautiful thing in the world, yet simultaneously has the capability to be one of the most painful. Do you think that it’s possible to fall in love at a young age like eleven or twelve? Who am I to say, honestly. I lean towards no because at the age of puberty, you're really all over the place with your hormones and emotions, and I just don't know if it's possible for two pre-teens to have the maturity level to grasp what it truly means to be in love with someone. But again, what do I really know? Everyone is different. Are sex and sexual activities something you enjoy? Yeah sure, if it's something I'm in the mood to engage in and I'm in love with the person. What’s an interesting fact about the state in which you were born? We're the home of Pepsi products. I know, of course I would share a fact about soda, ha ha. What’s one aspect of your life that did not turn out as you expected? Where I am now as far as "adult development" goes. I don't drive. I don't have a job. I still live with my mother. I could go on and on... By this point, I definitely expected something much, much different when I was younger. What was the last event to cause you any sort of heartache? Hm. I don't know. What was the worst phase you’ve ever gone through? *shrug* What excuse did you use most often to skip school? There were times I'd pretend to have a really bad cough. I could fake a nasty cough, man. Are you shy about singing in front of people? Very. Honestly, do you put your elbows on the dinner table? Yes, because why the fuck would that matter. I don't get how something so simple and harmless is "bad manners." Have you ever taken a picture in a public bathroom? No. Yes or no: corsets? I. FUCKING. LOVE. CORSETS. UGH I wish I could pull one off, omfg. In your opinion, is money the root of all evil? All evil? No. There are some horrible crimes people can commit that have nothing to do with money. Do you own a pair of overalls? Ew, no. I hate overalls. What is the best game to play while in the car? Uh, idk. Has a movie ever made you jump in fear? I'm sure at some point. Jumpscares are hard to be unfazed by; it's just a natural reaction to something sudden. Yes or no: pickles? Bro I LOVE pickles. Yes or no: strawberry ice cream? Ugh, no. Do you know what your mom’s favorite movie is? No, actually. Are you a role model to anybody? No fucking way I am. Do you know how much you weighed at birth? Somewhere around six or seven pounds. Look outside the nearest window. What can you see? From where I'm at, I can just see the shed. What are you interested in that most people would be surprised to know? Cutesy, pastel stuff, probably. How many bathrooms are in your house? Two. Do you prefer stripes or polka dots? Polka dots. Are you considered a very sensitive person? Very. Have you ever told someone you never wanted to speak to them again? Yes. What’s the weather like today? Is it nice enough to go outside? It's hot as fuck outside. You will NOT see me outside today. What does your last text message say and who is it from? It's just a thumbs up emoji from the woman who works at my psychiatrist's office. She schedules my phone appointments with him. Do you listen to any podcasts? How do you listen to them? No. Why did you leave your last job? It was WAY too fast-paced with lots of responsibilities that I just couldn't handle. Have you ever eaten at a restaurant and left without paying? No, that's awful. What’s your favorite scent of air freshener? Probably something floral and subtle. Are your hands and feet in good condition or could you do with a mani-pedi? Ugh. I pick my fingernails off badly, so they're a mess rn. I also DISDAIN my feet because they are horribly callused from when I used to walk like crazy. It's so weird how I can exfoliate the area and scrub (... and sometimes tear) them off, but they're pretty much immediately back. When was the last time you played a board game? What did you play? A couple years ago with Girt and Sara, I think. We played Scrabble. How old were you when you first became sexually active? Do you mean like, doing anything sexual? In which case that would be 16. I woulda been 16 or 17 when I actually lost my virginity, though. Do you know anyone who has been through a divorce? A load of people. Does anyone not know somebody? Have you ever done a juice cleanse? No. Do you have to pay for parking in most places in the town/city you live in? No. That's a foreign concept here. It's one of the very alien things I experienced in Chicago; I don't really think I knew it was a thing (save for massive attractions, like Disney Word and stuff) before then. Can you hear lots of traffic from your house? Does it bother you? No. We live in a cul-de-sac, and our road is further into it, away from the main road.

#survey #surveys #random questions #lyrics: ''thoughts & prayers" by motionless in white

[roguish-gallery]

Rogues + Internet/Social Media HCs!

Hello!!! this was requested by @geniusbee I struggled a bit with the initial prompt, so I kinda broadened the question, I hope you don’t mind! Once I got the ball rolling with this one, it was super fun to work on! Thank you again for your request!

If anyone wants to, feel free to send me send me more requests! I’d love to do more of these!

Everything is under the Read More bc this got LONG AS FUCK. (Slight TW for sexual references!)

Bane:

Doesn’t use social media. point blank

He’ll surf the web mostly for research or for communication purposes, but that’s mostly it... That being said sometimes he DOES look up stuff for fun because he’s a naturally curious guy who had limited access to education for the first 20-ish years of his life. It sends him down a rabbit hole of researching weird shit and sometimes you’ll catch him up at 4:00 am looking up how bread was made in Ancient Rome or what Cock and Ball Torture is bc he heard Joker say it once and he’s never EVER fucking heard of those words strung together like that before

Also… his fingers are simply too beefy for most keyboards. Dude tryna sit down and send Scandal Savage some fun cookie recipes she could try with her GF like

 Catwoman:

Not a lot to say here but tbh she probably has the most normal internet habits of everyone. Helps to promote cat shelter’s web pages, and will use some light hacking to find the locations of fur factories and animal abusers but that’s mostly it?

If she isn’t already an influencer, she has definitely considered it. Will sometimes post selfies of her wearing stolen jewelry just to flex. Has a legion of simps.

Clayface

Unknowingly gets into kin drama without trying to

He has... so many theather blogs, musical blogs, and obscure film blogs... someone help him... somehow he regularly adds shit to ALL OF THEM. 

He’s that one bitch who hoards all the canon URLs and there’s nothing you can fucking do to stop him.

Harley Quinn:

Her computer is slow and buggy as shit because she’s got so many viruses from trying to download flash games. Edward refuses to fix her computers at this point because he knows it’s a lost cause.

She vlogs sometimes, actually! And she’ll drag her hyenas or any of the rogues/batfam/GCPD she’s hanging out with atm into it.

She likes to go onto anxiety or depression forums and anonymously leave nice, helpful advice :)

Joker:

Mostly on the dark web, doing… things that you do on the dark web...

If he’s ever on the clean web I promise it’s only to start kin drama or to dm fucked up shit to random people he finds.

Has been known to catfish when the mood strikes him

Also? He jumps onto RP forums and either plays the SHITTIEST Batman, or an eerily accurate Batman.

Killer Croc:

He likes looking up funny videos online!!! Also! Art tutorials!!

He likes to post his artwork online under a pseudonym. He doesn’t expect anyone to really pay attention to his work, but it’s always a very pleasant surprise when someone likes or leaves a nice comment on his art.

 He genuinely cherishes all of his followers and the kind interactions he shares with them.

Mad Hatter:

It’s just hat porn and hentai. I’m sorry.

Mr. Freeze:

Normal internet habits tbh. Doesn’t really go on the internet that often because he doesn’t particularly care about keeping up to date with what’s happening.

He used to have a Facebook where he’d post pictures of himself and Nora, but he can’t really do that anymore due to obvious reasons.

Penguin:

Lightly dabbles in dark web shit (for business purposes) but otherwise he’s like an old man on the internet. Checks the stock market and shit. Responds to his emails in a timely manner. He keeps track of everyone’s internet presence but that’s mostly because he enjoys drama and he doesn’t want to be out of the loop in case Eddie starts something again and he needs to know WHY Jervis and Pamela can’t be in the Iceberg at the same time without trying to kill each other.

He REFUSES to make a social media account for the Iceberg Lounge!!!! It is too classy for that!!!

Other than that, though… don’t tell anyone… but he keeps some tabs open on some 🥺🥺🥺 some bird forums and uh 🥺🥺🥺 m🥺🥺🥺 maybe some blogs he has that are all about Jane Austen and Star Trek: The Next Generation 🥺🥺🥺🥺 n-not like he LIKES Star Trek, though!!

Also in Batman #448 it shows that him and Batman canonically play chess with each other online and you know what? That’s cute as hell so I’m gonna say that they still do that.

Poison Ivy:

Surprising no one… she mostly blogs about botany

Will ONLY go onto other parts of the internet to like and share Harley, Selina, or Waylon’s posts and THAT'S IT!!!!

She is not above getting petty in the comment section!! If she finds a video of some clown over-watering their ferns she will absolutely let them know and she will not be polite about it.

Riddler:

Canonically has the best hookup and 100% is the most active online. Like yeah he does a lot of hacking shit but he uses the internet for legit stuff too.

PURPOSEFULLY looks himself up and will argue with anyone who talks smack about him on literally any of the search results. He WILL remember your username and he WILL publicly mock you for it when he freezes your laptop or when he takes over the broadcasting waves in Gotham again.

You KNOW he has a social media account for everything. He WILL talk about how smart and sexy he is and he WILL get around any attempts made to get him blocked, suspended, or banned. 

“You fool… I have 70  A L T E R N A T I V E  A C C O U N T S”

He is the self-proclaimed tech-guru of the Rogues. He WILL harass you if you are using the wrong web browser or if you have TOO MANY FUCKING TABS OPEN FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU.

He calms down somewhat once he becomes a P.I. He’ll take selfies at crime scenes and livestream himself when he’s finding clues or chasing someone down! He’s absolutely obsessed with it and he gets super popular. He knows that he shouldn’t broadcast himself solving crimes... but... the clicks... the views... his stans...

Enjoys gaming and modding whenever he has free time.

Scarecrow:

He hasn’t been in a classroom in years but if you looked at his internet habits you would think he’s still teaching psychology at Gotham U. Responds to emails responsibly (but NOT on weekends or after 10 pm!!)

Probably wouldn’t blog these days, but when he was younger he had a page where he would discuss his psychology work.

He mostly uses the internet for research or to order chemicals but he’ll often get swept up in some inane message chain with Harley and Eddie and he HATES IT.

He has like two dozen tabs open on his computer because he forgets about them and even though some of the tabs have been there for so long that he GENUINELY can’t remember why they were there, he keeps them because it makes Edward break into hives every time he tries to watch what he’s doing online. Giving Edward Nygma anxiety sweats is easy and free and should be done often.

Two-Face:

He uses incognito mode… whenever he needs to google embarrassing questions…

He likes to peruse the dark web but sometimes he enjoys hopping onto r/legaladvice and r/relationships and reads that shit like it's the Sunday paper.

If he’s bored or is having a bad mental day, he likes to look up all the Google doodle games that Google keeps archived. they’re all really cute and are a lot of fun to goof around with whenever he’s wanting to play something light and quick!

#headcanons #rogue gallery #Edward Nygma #Harley Quinn #Jonathan Crane #Oswald Cobblepot #Bane #Selina Kyle #Basil Karlo #Harvey Dent #Waylon Jones #Pamela Isley #Victor Fries #Jervis Tetch #the joker #dc comics #dc headcanon

[purplesurveys]

1252

A - Appearance.

What are you wearing? I have a gray turtleneck and brown shorts at the moment.

What are on your feet right now? I never wear anything for my feet when I’m at home.

What color are your fingernails? I say this a lot on surveys but mine are never painted. Nothing against them, I’ve just never felt the need to spend on something like my nails.

What does your hair look like right now? I have apple hair at the moment to temporarily get rid of my bangs, which I am more than sick of at this point.

B - Best Friend

Who is your best friend? Angela and Andi.

What was the last thing you two did together? The last time I saw Angela we went to the BTS pop-up store. I haven’t seen Andi since January, but when we hung out that evening we just had Korean barbecue and we also parked somewhere in UP to just talk about life in my car. My breakup had been fresh at the time and back then I just needed someone to whom I could vent.

What is (s)he doing right now? I’m sure Andi’s doing something with Leigh, maybe having a video call or something since I think they tend to have one every evening. I’m not sure what Angela’s up to but considering her replies have been a bit slow tonight, I guess she’s somewhat busy at home.

Are you talking to her/him online right now? Angela just replied to something I sent her around 15 minutes ago but the exchange wasn’t meant to be a full-blown conversation, if that’s what you mean.

C - Crush.

Who is (s)he? Eh, I don’t have a crush these days; too obsessed with work to figure out what I find attractive lmaooooo. I do have a main celebrity crush and I might just cite them instead so that I can at least fill this section out. 

What does (s)he look like? Curly hair; mismatched eyes; moles underneath his right eye, on his nose, and on his lower lip, and the widest smile I’ve seen on any person.

What was the last thing you two talked about? He’s a celebrity crush...

Does (s)he make you smile? Yes.

D - Dad

What’s your dad’s name? Edgardo.

What does he do for a living? He’s an executive chef for a luxury liner company. He hasn’t worked in a year and a half due to the pandemic and has stayed in the country this whole time, but we’ve *very* recently been informed that he can go back abroad in around two weeks! Of course it will suck letting go of him again after having him back for such a long time, but I’m just glad the family can finally be on track again, financially speaking. It had been something I’ve been worrying silently about.

What was the last thing you two did together? Had dinner last night, but we did that with the whole family too. We don’t really do things that’s just the two of us.

Do you get along better with him than your mother? Yes.

E - Ebay.

Have you ever bought anything from ebay? No. I’m not sure we have eBay here anyway.

Do you just shop around when you’re online? I don’t really shop ‘around.’ I usually have an idea of what I want to get myself, and it’s just a matter of finding the right shop from which to buy.

Do you know anybody who is addicted to it? I know a couple of co-workers who love shopping, like Gabi.

Have you ever sold anything on it? I’ve never tried selling, but I’m actually in the middle of doing something for the very first time – I’ve decided to get into trading! I got my BTS Butter album yesterday but didn’t get to pull the photocard I was vying for – the pull I got, though, was of the most popular member, which means it would be a very easy trade. I put the trade offer up the other day and I finally got a match yesterday.

F - Facebook.

When was the last time you logged on? Like five minutes ago. I constantly check it.

How many friends do you have? Just checked and it says I have 686. I wanna get rid like half of them though.

Do you hate when your facebook chat messes up? Hmm, that doesn’t really happen.

Who was the last person to leave you a wall post? Angela.

G - Google.

Do you Google everything? Yeah, I think I look up a random item or phrase at least once a day. Doesn’t hurt to learn a new thing each day. :)

What was the last thing you Googled? The K-Pop group g.o.d., since my teacher mentioned them in our Korean lessons earlier.

Would you ever trade Google in for Bing? No, I haven’t used Bing in like 12 years.

What do you Google the most? Synonyms, I think, since I’m constantly writing for work.

H - Hair.

Do you like your hair? It’s a love-hate relationship most days because I hate how thick and frizzy it can be...but I recently had mine trimmed all the way up to my neck and for some reason it’s taken on a wavy form, which I didn’t expect to come out at all. And I’ve found that it actually suits me quite a bit, so I’m enjoying my hair for now.

What color is your hair? Black.

What does it look like right now? Slightly damp since I took a shower not too long ago.

What kind of shampoo for you use? Just a normal Dove one.

I - Ibuprofen 

When was the last time you took ibuprofen? I don’t think I’ve ever taken it? I usually take paracetamol...idrk the difference either. Do you rely on it for everything (cramps, headache)? I only ever take medicine for headaches/migraines.

Are you so thankful people made it? I mean sure, I’m glad there are those who have been able to create products that can instantly relieve pain or discomfort, but I’m not obsessively grateful.

Do you have any right now? I don’t think we have any.

J - Jobs.

Do you need a job? Nah, I already have one.

Where do you work? Media/PR industry.

Where would you work? I wouldn’t change jobs/industries. This is where I wanted to end up in, and I’m really really glad and fortunate to have landed here on my first shot, right out of college, and during a pendemic.

How much money would you like to get paid? An additional P5k (~$100) would probably be more satisfying, but considering my parents aren’t the traditional Filipino parents who suck 100% of my earnings right out of me the second payday comes, I’m able to enjoy a substantial chunk of money to myself, give them a portion of my earnings, and still be able to save.

K - Kissing.

Who was the last person you kissed? That would be my ex.

Will you next kiss be a mistake? I have no idea when that would be and with whom it will be shared, so I won’t be able to give you a definite answer.

Do you kiss someone everyday? Other than my dogs, nah.

Who was your first kiss? The aforementioned ex.

L - Love.

Who do you love the most in your life? My best friends. I’m also doing a whole lot better in the self-love department these days, so that too :)

Have you ever been in love before? Yeah.

Does it make you so happy when you feel the feeling of love? Sure. It feels light and comfortable, especially when it’s shared.

Why is this word so hard to describe? Because everyone feels love differently. < There we go.

M - Mom.

What is your mom’s name? Abigail.

What is she doing right now? She was watching The Good Doctor the last time I checked on her like five minutes ago. It’s her latest obsession.

Where does she work? She works in the food and beverage department of a 5-star hotel in the city.

Do you two shop together a lot? I rarely do my shopping with either of my parents.

N - Netflix.

Do you have Netflix? Technically, I guess. My dad pays for it and we have a family account.

If not, what movies would you order? I don’t think I’ve ever ordered a movie before. Before streaming on Netflix, I just used to get illegal torrents lol.

Do you rent a lot of movies? I’ve never rented a movie. Was too young for it, I think.

Do you have the tool where it just downloads to your tv? No.

O - Ohio.

Is this the state in which you live in? I don’t even live in the US. Never been there either. < Same.

Is Ohio State your favorite football team? I don’t like football.

Did you know Ohio Is For Lovers? I’m not familiar.

Have you ever been to Ohio? See first answer in this section.

Q - Quitting.

What was the last thing you quit doing? Practicing on Duolingo. I had an extremely short period of using the app again a couple of months ago, but I lasted all of two days hahaha I had been trying to get back on learning Korean, but I enrolled in official lessons not long after that anyway so it didn’t make sense to continue the stages in the app.

Do you need to quit talking to someone right now? Nope. The people I’m talking to right now in between this survey are all welcome conversations.

Would you ever quit school? That wasn’t an option for me and I never would’ve done it anyway. 

Don’t you think quitting is stupid? No. Sometimes it can be the strongest thing you can do for yourself.

R - Reading.

What was the last book you read? Does my Korean lesson textbook count hahaha...if not, I haven’t really read anything in years.

Do you own a lot of books? I do, but they are all books from my childhood and teenage years. It’s been a while since I last updated my bookshelf.

Do you have a library card? No, haven’t had one since Grade 1.

Have you ever read a book that changed your life? Without Seeing the Dawn was pretty influential to me, but I dunno about ‘life-changing.’ I need to read more to find the book that would have that effect on me.

S - Safety.

Do you always wear your seat belt? I do these days. I didn’t really practice it when I used to drive to school, whoops. Always forgot to do it.

When riding a four-wheeler do you wear a helmet? I rarely get to do that.

Did you ever wear knee pads and a helmet when riding your bike? Nah. I can’t ride a bike either. Do you always think safety first? In COVID terms, yeah. I have a face mask and shield on as soon as I find myself outdoors.

T - Talk

Who was the last person you talked to? Reena. Who are you talking to right now? Nobody. It’s just me, this survey, and some music in the background.

Who did you last talk to before you went to bed last night? Angela and Reena, if I’m not mistaken.

Do you need to talk to anybody right now? No, I’m good.

U - US ARMY

Do you support it? I don’t know enough about it to have a bold opinion, considering I’m not even from the US and it’s been a while since their army has had any strong contact with my country.

Do you know anybody who is in the army right now? I think one of Angela’s uncles has a high position in our national army.

Don’t you ever wonder why their camo doesn’t match anything? Not really.

Would you ever go to the army? No.

V - Virgin.

Are you a virgin? Nope.

When did you lose your virginity? I was 18.

Do you wish you would’ve waited? Nah, it felt right when I did it the first time; and I maintain that stance now even though I’m no longer with that person.

Do you think you could have stayed a virgin until marriage? I could. Sex isn’t a big deal to me.

W - What.

What are you doing right now besides this survey? I’m also listening to mono. and taking bites from my doughnut every now and then.

What are you craving? Spicy tuna salad, but it can wait. Andi got me my favorite truffle baked macaroni because it’s CM Punk day today :D :D and that’s able to satisfy my savory cravings for now.

What do you need to buy? Shelves.

Why are you taking my survey? I’ve mentioned this before but I like categorized/themed surveys, so alphabetical ones are always fun for me.

X -Xanax 

Do you know anybody who is addicted to Xanax? I don’t think so.

Have you ever taken it before? No.

Do you even know what it is? No, actually.

Have you ever suffered from anxiety or depression? I’m sure I have.

Y - Yourself.

Name. Robyn.

Age. 23.

Do you smile a lot? Sure, I’d say that’s common these days.

Z - Zebra.

Are you addicted to zebra striped? Not really.

Do you own anything zebra striped? Nah. I have some stuff that come in black and white stripes, but not zebra print. Is anything on any of your websites zebra striped? No.

#survey #surveys

[rinnnyxr]

Have You Ever…

-

I’m listening to music right now. A friend came over to my house today. My mom is going back to school to get a degree. I’m going to see a movie this weekend. My high school has (had) a lot of pep rallies. I hate it when glue-sticks get all gross and goopy. I would love to be on the game show “Jeopardy!” I have seen and loved the movie “Pineapple Express.” My parents aren’t going to be home tonight. In one of my classes today, I got a pop quiz. Going to sporting events bores me. I love South Park. I have seen a play or musical on broadway. I know what “mugging it” means. The last thing I had to drink was water. I worked out today. I use shower gel to clean myself in the shower. I know someone who can speak/write in Japanese. I have taken a college class. Something embarrassing happened to me in a game of truth or dare. I know what “IHOP” stands for. I need to charge my cell. I am/was in the marching band. I’m wearing long sleeves right now. I’ve seen the movie “Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny.” It irritates me when people use incorrect spelling/grammar. I listen to Britney Spears. Currently, someone is avoiding me. I think Nair is the worst thing ever. I love Indian cuisine. My favorite flavor of Mentos is strawberry. It’s snowing outside. I get a ride from my parents to school. I absolutely hate where I live. My favorite band has a “the” in front of it. My fingers and toes get really cold all the time. I have an odd sense of humor. Breakfast cereal is the shit. When I was a kid, I took fruity vitamins every day. I ate a cookie today. I love ridiculously large purses/bags. It’s so annoying when people don’t text back. I wasn’t born in the same place that I live now. Someone in my family is in the military. I just want to throw my computer out the window. I’ve purchased something today. I count birds sitting on power lines. I should be doing something else right now. I’ve stayed in a hospital overnight before.

-

Words I say a lot umm | like | dude | okay | alrighty | awesome | amazing | man | aww | great

Things I do a lot drink caffeine | talk | take surveys | make surveys | eat | forget things | move around/fidget | listen to music | procrastinate

Things I rarely or never do have sleepovers | party | talk on the phone | watch TV and movies | stay up really late | take boring surveys | end relationships

Things I plan on doing today Playing piano | eating more food | babysitting | hanging out with my boyfriend/best friend | going for a walk | trying to have a good day | relaxing

Foods/beverages I love pasta | meats | Arizona tea | coffee | caffeine, in general, | mashed potatoes | cheese | pickles | crackers | fruit juice

Things that sound fun to me target practice | long walks | eating out with friends | longboarding | concerts/shows | amusement parks | having people over for dinner | camping for a whole weekend

Things that don’t sound fun to me staying at home and watching TV all day | laying on the beach tanning | going shopping for a full day | going to school all day long | sleeping half the day away | walking across town

Things I love wearing band t-shirts | dresses | Converse | plain skate shoes | shorts | jeans | cute underwear, bras, and socks | bracelets | t-shirts with random designs

Some bands I listen to Metallica | Megadeth | Children of Bodom | The Misfits | Motionless In White | Slipknot | Avenged Sevenfold | Bullet For My Valentine | Exodus | Guns N’ Roses | Mastodon | A Day To Remember | The Devil Wears Prada | The Word Alive | Attila | Dethklok | Escape The Fate | Five Finger Death Punch | Fear Factory | Kataklysm | Lamb of God | Pantera | Marilyn Manson | Opeth | Pink Floyd | Van Halen | Motley Crue | Aerosmith | AC/DC | Led Zeppelin

Other random facts about me I have shot a real gun more than once before | I could talk about music for hours on end | I have a hard time sitting still, but enjoy being energetic | I am extremely impatient | I get very emotional | Music doesn’t stop me from crying because I am so emotionally attached to it that it makes me want to cry more | I have serious trouble picking favorites | I hate lying | I find beauty in things not many others around me can see | I think gargoyles are awesome

-

There are 4+ people in my house right now. I countdown to exciting events. I can’t live without my iPod. I go to the mall for more than twice a month. I have a photo album. I take random pictures 24/7 to put on my Myspace. I’m ¼ black. I have more than 5 pets. I don’t care what anyone thinks of me. I’m always confused. I can never wear all black. People say I look like my mom. I have big eyes. I have many different hairstyles. I’m not a morning person. I know at least one person with the name John. I download ringtones on my phone constantly. I sit in the back of all my classes. I live in NJ and have never been to the Jersey Shore. Big sunglasses are sexy. I’m definitely not a cat person. I have no life. I go to school with someone from my family. One of my friends looks like one of my cousins. I’m using a laptop. ^ I didn’t buy it myself; it was a gift. My most recent ex is single. I tend to overthink things a lot of the time. I’ve never cheated on anyone. I know a few people my age who have children. ^I’m not ready for children yet. My current hair color is my natural color. I’m feeling kind of guilty about something right now. One of my best friends is gay. I sometimes get messages from random people on Tumblr, telling me that I’m beautiful. ^I don’t really agree. I like the underwear I’m wearing; it’s pretty. Sometimes if I get too upset or stressed out, I start to feel ill. Someone of the opposite sex is on my mind. It took me months to get over my ex. I always use conditioner when I wash my hair. I’m blood-related to the last person I talked to. One of my best friends is engaged. If my ex phoned me now, I would be quite surprised. ^But I’d answer. I used to love “The Wizard of Oz”. I like 90s music. The last person I kissed has told me that they love me. ^But I don’t think they meant it. I haven’t been out drinking for ages. I had a really weird dream last night. My birthday is less than a month away. I really want cuddles; I wish someone would hug me. I want to see someone. ^But the person I want to see is too busy. I have lots of friends on Facebook that I don’t really talk to. I was sad when Whitney Houston died; I like her songs. I don’t really regret anything; there’s no point. I never drink milk. I hugged someone of the opposite sex last night. I hardly ever use Skype/video chat. When I checked Facebook this morning, I had some unread messages. I have a crush on the last person that Facebook messaged me. People say I look like my dad. I’ve had a panic attack before. People can always tell when I’m upset, even though I try not to show it. My sleeping patterns are kind of messed up. I’m currently wearing something black. I think Rihanna is pretty. Only a few of my friends use Tumblr. I don’t think I would ever go back to my ex. ^I’d still like to be friends though. My last beverage was hot. Today was a bit boring; I hope tomorrow is better.

[girl4music]

My review of the XBOX Series X

So I’ve had nearly a full week with the XBOX Series X and here is my honest opinion on my experience with it and this is my initial review of it. I’m not gonna talk about the technology or go into anything about the console’s hardware too deeply. I will talk about the features and benefits it offers. Going into some things that work and don’t work as well as promised by Microsoft and XBOX. Finally, I will talk about all the bugs and issues that I experienced and found most annoying. Most of which have already been identified and reported. 

First up, be aware that I am coming from an XBOX 360 as my last XBOX console experience so I may say stuff that applies to the XBOX One as well.

1. BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY AND AUTO HDR: Microsoft promised that the XBOX Series X and S would work right out of the box with 1000’s of gaming titles across 4 generations. This promise holds up… However, they do not run anywhere half as well as they also promised they would. They do run better than their native platform, that is true. But it’s not a groundbreaking difference. And AUTO HDR doesn’t really work with most games that never had it to begin with. It makes the colours and textures look really odd and you don’t get that nostalgic feeling of playing an old legacy title because of the “updates”. Which is something I was very much looking forward to. It’s pick your poison I guess. You can either have a legacy game running better and looking greater on a platform that can take the graphical fidelity and framerate boosts, or have a full reunion with your beloved legacy games from your childhood. You can turn AUTO HDR off via the main console settings, but this still doesn’t really give you the latter. Not in my personal opinion anyway. It’s not disappointing as it’s not something I really expected. I just would have liked to have it. Nostalgia >>> Shiny any day.

2. QUICK RESUME AND LOADING TIMES: The XBOX Series X (can’t speak for the S) has significantly improved on speed thanks to the custom lightning fast and functional SSD. So much so that you can now travel between multiple games fully loaded up on the SSD within the time of a few seconds. However, quick resume is not only useful to be able to play between 3 or 4 games (more according to YouTube influencers who have tried and tested this out far more than me) in one sitting. You can also effectively use it to save your game. Or rather… Replace save states IN a game. What quick resume allows you to do is keep your game saved at ANY point, and completely SHUT the console down and UNPLUG it for several days (or longer, again, never tested it that far) and then PLUG it in and switch it ON again, and come back to exactly where you left off in the game. And I do mean EXACTLY WHERE YOU LEFT OFF!

For example; you could be in an all-important boss fight in ‘Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla’ and be so frustrated with not being able to beat this boss after trying many times. You could indeed just pause the game, come out to the dashboard, turn the console off and walk away from it all…. And when you came back to have another go at it, you would not have to restart the boss fight and just carry on with where you left off in chopping down their health. I did this several times because I suck at boss fights… And every time, this worked and it was the strategy that got me through them all. So a little cool off time is more than affordable with the XBOX Series X. And if you hate boss fights, suddenly you won’t hate boss fights as much anymore if you do the same. It makes a world of a difference to your experience. Believe me, quick resume is a literal life-saver.

To add to that, you also benefit from much quicker load times both with booting up the games and in-game fast-travelling or level-entering. Instead of 5 minutes waiting for a game to boot up into the main campaign or wherever,… It will take at most up to 50 seconds for the most power-taxing of games. 'Grand Theft Auto 5' for instance, known for it’s notoriously long boot into story or online mode… Now only takes 10 seconds from the company title advertisements to get into the area of the game you want to play. It is so fast that you do not have the time to read the tips and tricks dialogue that takes up the screen during the initial loading. It’s honestly a quality of life you never even knew you needed or was missing until you had it.

3. BUGS AND ISSUES: Being that I bought the XBOX Series X at Launch (November 10th), I very much expected it to come with a plethora of bugs and issues to discover and be witness to as a consumer and user of newly developed and released hardware and software. And these bugs and issues have already been identified and reported to Microsoft and the respective console and game developers. Bugs where you cannot play games that offer 4K at 120 hertz (4K/120fps) without visual and audial distortions or even without turning the game off altogether. I particularly had trouble with this in trying to play ‘Rise Of The Tomb Raider' 20 Year Celebration edition. Once I downloaded it from the XBOX Store fully, (which took a LONG FUCKING TIME, we’ll get on to that in a bit), I immediately tried to play it and because my display settings were set at 4K/120 because I have a TV that supports that setting, it was having all sorts of problems in booting up. There was all this distortion happening on screen both visually and audially that I thought my ultra high speed HDMI cable that came with the console was broken or faulty. I also remember specifically that it kept turning my Game Mode on and off rapidly and I didn’t know how to stop it avoiding a full reset of the console. This game was the worst for it but it also happened in other games I tried to play too. Including those I had as physical disks.

Speaking of… I did not encounter the “black/blank screen of death” issue other next-gen XBOX consumers and users did where you would enter a game disk and be met with a black or blank screen. BUT I did have trouble with downloading the “updates” for the games I had bought physically. I expected the games I downloaded digitally to take a long time to download fully, but I figured that it would be much quicker for the “updates” for physical games. This was not the case, and for some games, it actually took LONGER. I don’t know why this happens or if it can even be fixed in a firmware update, but it has put me off buying games physically for it, which is certainly not a good thing for store game retailers. And I’m someone who actually cares about that and would want to help them out as much as possible since they are a dying breed. But if it takes longer to download physical games than to download digital games, I’m not sure I can hold up that promise. The time it takes to download is a major frustration for me. I’ll be leaving my console on for long periods of time doing nothing but downloading that I otherwise wouldn’t. And I’ve got to say right now that I am glad I do not have an OLED TV where this would be much more of a problem due to burn-in risks. I would highly suggest anyone who is buying a new TV for their XBOX Series X or S with all the bells and whistles to not buy an OLED for this reason. Leaving an OLED TV on with a display picture that never moves for hours at a time would severely decrease it’s life and usage capacity. I recommend a Samsung QLED TV instead. That’s what I’ve got. I bought their Q95T 55inch 4K TV for gaming alone and it has not disappointed in the slightest. But I won’t go into why it’s the better TV to buy for next-gen gaming since this is not a TV review. You can look that up for yourselves at your leisure.

Another issue the XBOX Series X has is with its sharing image snapshots and video clips feature. The new controller for the console has a dedicated share button and that works really well. I’ve had no problems with it capturing the content that I want to share. But sharing to social media and to XBOX Live itself is the issue. And this happens with video clips more so than image snapshots. For some reason, when I go to share a video clip to Twitter, the load bar moves forward partly but then it immediately stops and gives me a black/blank screen. And sure enough, when I go to check my Twitter on my phone, it has not posted the video clip. And trying to share it to XBOX Live first and then share it to Twitter from my phone via the XBOX app doesn’t work either. The same issue applies here too. Black/blank screen when trying to share it to XBOX Live. Snapshot images also has this issue but every once in awhile it will allow you to share to both XBOX Live and social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Twitch ect…) whereas it will not allow you to share video clips at all. This is an issue Microsoft are aware of and are apparently fixing in a November firmware update at the end of the month. To what degree they fix it though is the real question because this feature is buggy as hell. So much for promoting and hyping up that dedicated share button on the controller, eh Phil Spencer and Co?

Well, that’s it. That’s been my experience with the XBOX Series X so far. Of course the pros of quick resume and loading times cut in half far outweigh the cons of faulty 4K resolution at 120 hertz gameplay and buggy sharing content features. I say do not let that put you off buying this fantastic piece of hardware because those bugs and issues can be fixed easily. The extremely long downloading for digital and physical games might not though and you might want to reconsider buying a next-gen XBOX console if you have an OLED TV. Or if you have the console already but not the TV to get the most advantages out of the console, consider buying a Samsung QLED instead. Thank you.

#xbox series x #microsoft #next-gen gaming #phil spencer #review #backwards compatibility #auto hdr #quick resume #loading times #bugs and issues #downloading #digital #physical #games

[that-one-girl-behind-you]

Illicio 4/?

Part 3

Trigger warning for some very lightly mentioned domestic abuse and sexual assault (molesting of a minor). During the first POV.

“Come on now, don’t go picking fights with any more entities.” Gerry gives his shoulder a little push as the bus rolls to a stop. Jon complies, but he turns to face Gerry as soon as he hops on the street with him.

“Excuse me? I don’t pick fights with-” Jon’s massive lie fades off into indignant blustering when Gerry wraps a hand around his right wrist and brings his hand up to eye level, giving it a little shake with a raised eyebrow. “W- well that’s different, have you met Jude Perry?”

IV

Nighttime at Jon’s flat is a strange ritual.

The first variable is whether or not Gerry will be staying, which has been happening more often lately. On those nights, Jon usually grabs the first thing that catches his attention from his bookshelf and sits on the coffee table or the carpeted floor -all of Gerry’s teasing about his ‘old lady sofa’ doesn’t stop him from hogging it for himself- to read aloud.

“I thought you didn’t sleep anymore,” he says whenever he looks up from the pages and finds Gerry stretching out mid-yawn.

“I don’t need it.” Gerry’s voice gets hoarser and more relaxed after these naps. “But the experience is still nice.” Which must also apply to the many times Jon’s seen him picking at a bag of crisps or sipping a cup of coffee.

Jon doesn’t mind. He enjoys his reading, and it’s nice to see Gerry at ease; Jon doubts he had many chances to just sit back and take a nap before, and it’s… it’s nice to feel like he’s a safe space for someone.

“If you’re going to doze off anyways, we could move to-” Jon stops himself a moment before finishing the thought, after catching the arched eyebrow and the amused glint in Gerry’s eyes. “Nevermind.”

“No no, by all means ask me to your bed, Jonathan.”

Jon sighs, “I don’t know why I even bother, Gerard.” Gerry scrunches his nose at the name and Jon rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling. It never feels like Gerry’s making fun of him, and it makes him miss Tim -the Tim from before, when Jon hadn’t ruined everything yet- a little less.

On the days Gerry’s not around, though, Jon has to find other ways to keep himself distracted from the hunger.

It took him a while to notice, probably because the statements were all he needed for a while. The warehouse worker had been an anomaly, something Jon tried not to think about. He’d been out purchasing some groceries, compelled another random shopper on accident, and it had been just his rotten luck that the man had a story to tell.

Then, the day after Melanie’s… impromptu surgery. Jon had read statement after statement trying to relieve the ache of the wound on his shoulders, but each had brought only the feeling of a cool breeze on a burn; enough to lighten the pain but not doing anything to heal him.

He’d thought the stroll would clear his head and it had almost done so, until he’d seen her. Long brown hair falling over her shoulders in loose ringlets, a wrinkle of worry on her brow and a birthday card signed by all her co-workers wishing her a great day tomorrow.

The scalpel wound had been covered in new skin by the time he’d gone back to the institute, and Jon knew he’d be seeing Zaida Mossen in his dreams.

Sometimes he watches TV, picks a documentary and tries not to Know the next piece of information before the narrator says it on screen. One time he tried looking at old photos on Facebook, but he ended up Knowing his primary school best friend is now trapped with three kids and a woman that beats him every other night, and that his secondary school teacher got away on a technicality after he was found molesting a student. He closed the app before he could come across a picture with Georgie or Tim in it.

Overall, he avoids sleep.

The nightmares were just that, before the Unknowing. He could focus on the fact that he didn’t want the visions and he’d wake up soon enough, to try and drown out Naomi Hernes’ screams. To ignore the resigned, sad gaze of Karolina Gorka when she lay down next to the old man crushed by the chair. He can’t do that anymore.

Tonight Jon is tired after days of Knowing little details unwillingly, and sustaining himself only on old, stale statements. He sits on the edge of his bed and looks through the window to wait for the sky to lighten outside, because he knows if he lays down he will sleep, and if he sleeps he will See.

Dr. Elliot’s fear tastes of desperation. He’d been respected, an expert on his field, he’d only taken the class as a favor. Now he holds out an apple spilling endless teeth around him, begging for someone to take it. He knows they all think he’s mad.

Helen Richardson -the real one, one of Jon’s biggest screwups- has an aftertaste of madness, which makes sense considering the entity that claimed her. She’d been so scared of losing her grip on her mind, because she’d always been so sharp, so… consistent. Sometimes she looks at him over her shoulder before she opens the yellow door.

Tessa Winters has a flavor Jon recognizes well. She regrets clicking the link and downloading the file, and she’s scared she started something without an end, something that will keep tormenting her forever. She has never watched the video again in real life, but every night she tries to turn off a screen in which Sergey Ushanka’s gums bleed around the chewed up glass.

They know he’s watching them. The new ones scream at him for help, the older ones have given up. Both reactions bring Jon a feeling of bliss before he looks up at his patron and the cycle starts again.

“Hey,” comes Gerry’s voice as Jon’s bedroom door creaks open. “Ready to- oh. Didn’t know you were sleeping, I- are you alright?”

Jon blinks up at the ceiling, confused. The pillow is soft below his head, he feels replenished, and he Knows of at least three other people between here and the Institute that he could hunt down and add to his archive.

The edge of the bed sinks beside him, and a curtain of Gerry’s hair shields Jon’s face from the rising sun as he leans over him.

“Jon?”

“I’m- it’s alright.” Jon’s voice is hoarse from sleep too, but where Gerry’s is pleasant and calming, his sounds like he’s been gargling on gravel. “Just nightmares, is all.”

The corner of Gerry’s lips twitches into a side smile, but his eyes are sympathetic.

“That’s our bread and butter, isn’t it?” he asks. The punishing sunlight hits against Jon’s eyes when he stands up, the bed bouncing back a little at the lack of pressure. “Let’s get you to the Institute, some statements will make you feel better.”

The bedroom door closes behind him, and a long, tired sigh blows past Jon’s lips.

————————————————————————————————————————

Gerry counts seven members of the Church of the Divine Host on their way to the Institute. Funnily enough they stand out like sore thumbs in daylight, even without him using his Sight. The closed eye pendant makes something in his stomach coil with irritation, but he ignores it. He knows perfectly well by now that this is the Beholding rearing up at the perceived slight. For larger than life beings of cosmic horror, the entities are pretty much just angry cats swatting at each other very ineffectively.

Jon gives off a little grunt; he’s much more ensnared in than Gerry, so he supposes it makes sense.

“Come on now, don’t go picking fights with any more entities.” Gerry gives his shoulder a little push as the bus rolls to a stop. Jon complies, but he turns to face Gerry as soon as he hops on the street with him.

“Excuse me? I don’t pick fights with-” Jon’s massive lie fades off into indignant blustering when Gerry wraps a hand around his right wrist and brings his hand up to eye level, giving it a little shake with a raised eyebrow. “W- well that’s different, have you met Jude Perry?”

“Yeah, and she gets along fairly well with other avatars. Even Gertrude never went around looking like she stuck her hand in a deep fryer and Perry hated her guts.” The burn scars on Jon’s hands are silky smooth when Gerry runs his thumb along the skin. They feel like his own. “If she did this to you, I’m going to go out on a limb and say-”

“I did not compel her,” Jon interrupts him with the most pompous, offended voice. Gerry gives his wrist a little squeeze, grinning. Jon sniffs, and Gerry can see the corner of his lips twitching. “But I did try a whole lot.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less from you,” Gerry cackles, letting go of his hand. “But you’re right about the Dark. They’re growing bolder, I think we’re going to get a visit sooner rather than later.”

Jon gives him a side look with a curved eyebrow.

“We?”

“Well yes, who else is going to lull me to sleep with his dulcet tones and extremely specific facts about the Russian Revolution?” Gerry rolls his eyes. “If the Dark comes for you, they come for me.”

Jon doesn’t say anything to that, but he looks extremely pleased for the rest of the walk to the Institute. It’s very endearing, Gerry thinks with a smile as he watches him descend the stairs into the Archives.

“Oh my God.” Gerry turns at the sound of the voice, and finds Melanie shaking her head at him.

“What?” Gerry figures if anyone here is going to get offended at his lack of manners, it’s definitely not going to be the woman that was a death away from becoming a physical incarnation of violence.

Melanie rolls her eyes. “Nothing. You’re going out?”

“Yeah?”

“Okay. I’m going with you, you’re going to explain some things.” She doesn’t wait for an answer, moving towards the front doors instead. Gerry blinks a couple times, trying to process the turn of events, before he follows after Melanie.

They end up at a little park a good way away from the Institute, and Gerry can’t help but notice that with every step Melanie takes away from the building her posture relaxes, and so does the ever-present frown at her brow.

“So… What is it that you wanted me to explain?” Gerry asks after they’ve sat down against a tree trunk, away from any passersby. They must make a terribly stereotypical sight, a cute little couple out on a date instead of a woman on a mission and her hostage.

Melanie looks up at him, her dark eyes especially striking behind her brightly colored bangs.

“What am I?” She asks. Then, like the thought just occurred to her, “I’m not like him am I? I mean, I didn’t- I can’t heal from statements or make people tell me things or-”

Gerry shakes his head. “That’s an Archivist thing, and there’s only one of those.”

“So I’m what? The Assistant? Because that’s a pretty lame title and I don’t care for it.” Melanie gives him an unimpressed stare, and Gerry chuckles under his breath. Either she’s very likable, or he just has a soft spot for blunt people.

“Nah. If anything, you were going to become an avatar of the Slaughter,” he says, gesturing at the bandaged spot that he knows is under her trousers. “I call them wielders, but the Beholding is really the only one that has titles for its avatars. I think that’s why no one likes them, too presumptuous.”

“Them?” Melanie asks, “aren’t you one too?”

“Not really,” says Gerry, feeling a shudder run down his spine. No thanks. “But I’m marked by the Watcher, just like you.”

Melanie takes a deep breath, clearly trying to keep her patience. “Didn’t you just say I was an avatar of the Slaught-” she gives him a furious glare, when Gerry slaps a hand over her mouth.

He pulls it back before she can decide to bite a few fingers off. “Don’t go proclaiming that stuff. These things take that seriously and Jon didn’t almost get himself killed so you could invite the Slaughter in again.”

Melanie rolls her eyes. “Fine. What does ‘being marked’ mean then?”

“Well, just that really. It’s when an entity had a grip on you at some point, usually because you ran into an avatar or a monster,” Gerry shrugs, twirling one of his rings around his finger just to have something to do with his hands. He doesn’t like talking about these things too much; too many years playing database for the hunters has left him very wary of people who want his knowledge. “Some marked people get abilities, like me. Some grow into full avatars, some don’t. It really depends on the person, and whether or not the entity thinks they’re a good fit.”

“And the Eye doesn’t think you are?”

“I don’t really care about knowledge as much as I care about using what I know to help people. I’m also marked by the End, but again, not a match.” He gives her a disappointed pout, and her mouth twitches. “There’s really no limit to how many entities can mark you, other than your bad luck I guess. Jon has like ten marks on him.”

“Ten?” Melanie arches her eyebrows. “Why so many?”

“A week ago he only had nine,” Gerry gives her a pointed look. Sure, she wasn’t herself back then, but he still remembers the small, exhausted grunts of pain as he helped Jon peel the blood soaked shirt off.

Melanie looks forward and her lips purse in a way that could be either sheepishness, or an attempt at holding a smile back. Knowing Melanie, he doubts it’s the first one.

“Well, I couldn’t eat solids for two days after,” she says in the end, and Gerry rolls his eyes.

“You were going to kill him. For real.” He hadn’t even thought before throwing the punch, because the only thing in his mind had been getting her away from Jon.

“Okay, okay,” Melanie waves a hand as if trying to bat the topic away. “I’m sorry for stabbing your boyfriend.”

Gerry doesn’t bother correcting her, just like he didn’t that night at the break room. As long as they don’t figure out his relationship with Jon is truly parasitic, they can think whatever they want.

There is, however, a lie he will call out. On principle. “No you’re not.”

Now Melanie smiles for real, even letting out a little huff of amusement.

“No, but I know I should be sorry. That has to count for something, right?”

————————————————————————————————————————

Basira hates a lot of things about the Institute.

For example, how she can feel herself changing with every word she reads on the damned books she can’t put down to save her life. How she’s trapped inside the building, and the only time she really braves the outside is when she goes and outruns whatever monster of the week is waiting for her because she feels Elias has something to tell her. How the building seems to have been designed with the sole goal of making its inhabitants as unnerved as possible.

She hates every corner and every brick, every dark room where the light switch is placed just out of reach when you first walk in, and how it always feels like someone is watching-

“You were there,” says a rough accented voice, and Basira freezes on her spot. The light switch is three more steps to the right, she knows this room, she can-

A large hand wraps itself around her neck and pulls her away from the door. The door closes behind her, and Basira no longer knows how far it is to the light switch. She’s never been in this room- is this a room?

“You’re not doing that. We’re friends, you and I. We don’t need to see each other.” The voice evokes a sense of familiarity within Basira, but something inside her is screaming at her, a primal urge to fight or flee. “Don’t you remember me?”

“I do not know you,” Basira says dryly, and the voice laughs in delight. A man, she’s pretty sure it’s a man… unless it isn’t? Maybe it’s a woman. Or neither. She should- she knows this person.

But didn’t she just say the opposite?

There’s some steps behind the door, so there must be a door. If there is a door, and there are steps… Then there has to be other people. People she knows. People who are real. Is she not real? If she knows this person, and they’re not real, then maybe she isn’t either.

But… but no. She has to be real, because she opened the door. Doors are real. They go to real places -most of them at least- and that must mean this is a place, and it’s real. If it’s a place, then she can… Basira frowns, feeling like she’s at the edge of something, if she could just…“This is a plac-”

“Don’t say a word.” The hand tightens around her throat. It doesn’t feel like any human hand Basira has touched before, only Basira suddenly isn’t so convinced she has touched any human before. Or perhaps she has and they all feel like this. Does she not feel like this because she’s not human?

The door opens, and the tenuous light that makes its way into the room is enough to chase away the shadow of uncertainty in Basira’s mind.

This is the Institute, she’s Basira Hussain, and she’s in danger. That’s all she needs to get to work.

“Jon, don’t turn the light on,” she orders, her voice calm and steady. “Go and find Melanie, quick.”

It isn’t until she gives the order that she remembers Melanie no longer has the bullet, and Elias’s stupid voice comes to haunt her. You lost Melanie.

“It’s alright Basira. I know he’s here.” Jon’s voice is like she’s never heard it before. No warmth, no hesitation, no sign of the man that measures his every word to try to not hurt anyone, and ends up doing so anyways. She can barely see his silhouette where he’s profiled by the light behind him, but she can see his eyes emit the eerie green glow they had that night by Melanie’s bed.

“So what are you doing?” she asks.

Three steps. Click.

Jon looks at some point behind and above Basira’s shoulder.

“I imagine he’s here to deliver something.” Jon’s words are punctuated by a low thrumming static. “Let her go.” Basira can feel each word vibrate with power, and the hand around her throat starts trembling as the creature fights the compulsion

It’s enough for her to twist out of its grasp. She doesn’t go stand by Jon, but moves in his general direction until she’s closer to him than she is to the… thing.

It looks like a man. It has all the parts. Skin, face, hands. It is not a man.

“Is- the deliverymen,” she blurts out the realization as soon as it comes.

“Deliveryman,” Jon says by her side. Once again she’s taken aback by the coldness of his voice, and the way his eyes are fixed on the being. “Which one are you?” he asks, and the glow from his eyes pulsates once as the static rises.

“ ’m Breekon,” the thing says immediately, then takes a step backwards. Jon takes a step forward and vaguely in Basira’s direction, and she realizes he plans on stepping between them.

“And where’s Hope?” The static in his voice remains, and the thing squirms a little more, clearly uncomfortable.

“Hope’s gone,” says the monster.

'Tell me about it,’ thinks Basira, before she takes a deep breath.

“And what? Are you here for revenge?” Hope turns to face her as she speaks, and stays silent. Jon gives a tired sigh, and repeats the question. It takes a few more seconds, like the fact that Breekon isn’t holding eye contact -if it even has eyes- delays the compulsion. It’s not enough to stop it.

“Yes. Like when we- when I put the mutt in the pit,” it says, and gives something at his feet a little kick. It’s only then that Basira sees the rough wooden coffin with its rusted chain and the scratched warning on top. “It knew where it was going, I think. It was scared of it. Never seen a hunter scream like that.”

Breekon gives a dark chuckle, and Basira feels molten hot rage spilling from her stomach, prickling at her eyes. Of course Daisy was scared of the fucking thing, she saw it in her dreams every other night, Basira would know. Her hand itches for her gun, but Jon’s voice comes before she can even begin reaching for it.

“Easy, Basira.” It’s not compulsion per se, and his voice does get softer when he spares her the quickest glance, but Basira still bristles at the words. What right does he have to ask her to hold back and be reasonable, when he’s been trying to corral Martin into talking to him whenever he’ll stand still for long enough?

“Daisy’s in there?” She asks instead, just to confirm. She cannot go into the coffin, her mind’s clear enough to push the desperate thought away but… but she needs to know.

The monster turns to her again, and huffs in what she guesses is amusement.

“Answer her,” says Jon calmly, businesslike. Breekon shudders.

“Nikola should’ve killed you faster,” it says, and Basira gets the feeling he’s trying to stall for time. Probably just to get on their nerves, because what is there to hide when he’s already told them? “Sure. Whatever’s left of it at least. Go find it for all I care.”

“Why are you here?” Jon asks again, taking another step between Basira and the deliveryman.

“Hm. Dunno. ’S not much to do without Hope around,” the monster shrugs. Out the corner of her eye Basira sees Jon stiffen. She remembers Daisy doing the same at times, freezing like a hunting dog with prey in its sights. “We’ve always been together.”

“…Jon?” Basira reaches out to touch his shoulder, but he doesn’t react. The glow in his eyes is brighter now, and Basira’s pretty sure he’s stopped breathing. The static in the room gets louder, and she snaps her head towards Breekon, her hand now firmly on her gun. “Get out.”

“Make me.”

“Stop.” Jon’s voice reverberates all the way through Basiras’ bones, and she and Breekon freeze.

“Jon, what are you doing?” Basira doesn’t try to touch him again. His form appears too sharp somehow, like those pictures that are so high quality they seem unreal, and his eyes look glassy and green as Breekon squirms under his gaze.

“Wh- stop. Stop it.” Breekon moves strangely, like he’s trying to take a step back but he’s stuck to the floor. Basira has a flashback to the butterflies and moths pinned to cork boards at her secondary school, their wings spread wide and their bodies exposed for everyone to look. She shudders. “Stop looking at me!”

“No.” Jon’s voice echoes inside Basira’s head, and her vision goes white. She has the briefest sense of satisfaction as she hears Breekon scream and gasp, and she’s aware only part of it is bitterness over Daisy. The other is some sort of instinctive pleasure; she guided Jon here, the Archivist needed this information and she found Breekon for him to See, she- she scowls. That’s not her.

That’s not her at all.

The room reforms around her piece by piece as she shakes her head and her vision clears. She sees Breekon’s heel disappear behind the door, before Jon is stumbling towards the closest desk.

“Get me-” he starts to ask, but Basira’s already offering a pen with movements that aren’t entirely her own either. His eyes are back to normal, but Basira only stays for long enough to see him start scribbling on a notebook page, before it becomes too much.

She makes sure not to turn her back to him as she leaves.

————————————————————————————————————————

The thought is almost too weird for her, but Melanie finds herself enjoying the little excursion. She does wonder why no one -nothing- has targeted them yet, but she doesn’t get attacked when she’s out with Helen either, so maybe the monsters are just opportunistic bastards and don’t like to risk it when the odds aren’t in their favor.

Gerard is very easy to like, for someone so infuriatingly fond of Jon. Melanie finds herself thinking they could’ve been friends, if they’d met under different circumstances.

As things are now, she’s far too aware of the way his eyes keep drifting towards the Institute, even though they’ve walked far enough that the building is well out of sight and behind several twists and turns.

“Are you feeling him?” she asks when they finally climb to their feet after a few hours of fear talk. The question is somewhat awkward in her mouth; she doesn’t like Jon, but Gerard does, and she’s decided she likes him enough to not want to offend him. The desire to not hurt still feels foreign in her mind.

“Mm? Oh. Not really,” Gerard shrugs, looking down at her. “I don’t know? I just know where he is. Like the general direction.”

“Hm. That would’ve been useful last year, he got kidnapped like three times.” Melanie pats the back of her shorts to get rid of any dirt and grass that decided to come up with her.

“Did he now?” And yeah, the urge to maim someone is back with the fond little smile on Gerard’s face. “And he has the gall to say he doesn’t get into trouble.”

“Well, he does. What now?” she asks, opting to only bump his shoulder with hers instead of punching his arm. This guy can be as infatuated with a supernatural disaster as he wants, and she won’t feel any strong way about it. No violence here, no siree, Slaughter who?

“Well… we go back, I think? Unless you have more questions.” Gerard looks at her as he shoves his hands into his pockets. Melanie deflates a bit; it is a nice day, and she gets very few chances to leave the Institute.

They do end up going back, but Melanie makes a point of stopping for ice cream on the way back. Gerard gives in suspiciously quickly, and Melanie finds herself liking the guy more and more.

Her phone buzzing with an incoming text from Georgie as she’s handed her double caramel scoop only makes this an even better day.

“That’s a big smile,” Gerard comments as she taps away at the keys. She looks up at him disbelievingly, but there’s no indication he realizes how much of a hypocrite he’s being as he calmly sucks on his cherry ice lolly.

“The nerve.” Melanie rolls her eyes. “It’s my- a friend.”

Gerard bites off a chunk of the ice lolly, and it does more to convince Melanie that he’s not human than the fact that he walked back from the dead.

“Sounds complicated.”

“I’m trapped at Spook Central because of her ex boyfriend, it is complicated,” Melanie mumbles. Georgie’s one of the few good things left in her life, and she’s determined to keep her away from this horrible, horrible circus. “Besides, not all of us get wingmanned by an eldritch entity.”

“She’s Jon’s ex?” Gerard arches an eyebrow as he leans forward to try and peek at Melanie’s phone.

“Do you have selective hearing or something?! Get back!” She punches and shoves at his shoulder until he retreats with an amused smile. The act doesn’t leave a taste of metal in her tongue, she’s surprised to find. Or a craving for more, harsher action. It only feels… companionable. Almost playful.

Melanie had forgotten what it felt like to be friendly with someone.

She’d never say it aloud, but if she counts Georgie and this guy -and even Martin whenever he’s not being a bitch and a half because he’s on a Secret Mission- Jon doesn’t have terrible taste in people.

There’s a man coming out of the Institute, and Gerard’s arm shoots in front of her chest to stop her just as she realizes it’s not a man at all.

“Is that-”

Gerard nods. His frown melts away after he looks at the building again, head tilted as if hearing a sound Melanie can’t register.

“Fuck,” Melanie mutters under her breath. Of course this would happen now, after the bullet is gone and on the one day she decides to go out. “There’s another entrance at the back, let’s-”

“They’re alright.” Gerard sounds thoughtful as he watches the creature stumble its way into a side street. “Beholding marks don’t suit the Stranger well, it seems.”

She looks up, and the smile on his face looks dangerous, somehow.

“Jon?”

“Did a right number on it.” There’s a hint of dark pride to his voice, a polar opposite to the ridiculously soft demeanor he usually adopts when it comes to Jon, and Melanie finds it that she much prefers the absurd fondness to whatever this is. Basira’s words from a few weeks back play through her mind, and she remembers she still doesn’t know what Gerard is. Or why the Eye brought him to Jon. “Go check on them, I’ll finish it off.”

“I’ll come with you,” she decides in a split second. “I can still do it.”

Gerard turns to look down at her, and whatever it was that made her stomach knot in worry is gone so fast Melanie wonders if she imagined it in the first place. There’s a dubious frown on his brow, and his mouth, still dyed red by the stupid lolly, is pressed in a tight line.

“I don’t doubt you could,” he says after a moment. “But I don’t want you to. Don’t invite it back in, remember?”

She does, but she also doesn’t trust the shadow that passed over him not a minute ago.

“Then I won’t do it. But I- I need to watch,” she tries again. “Or I won’t be convinced it’s gone.”

Another long moment of Gerard measuring her up, before he finally nods.

“If you need it,” he says, leading the way into the side street the monster took. Melanie follows with careful steps.

She likes Gerard, but she’s not naive enough to forget she’s been wrong before.

————————————————————————————————————————

When Basira walks into the windowless room, Elias is reading a celebrity gossip magazine, and she wants to rip his eyes out

“Good evening, Det-”

“Drop it,” Basira interrupts, and Elias’ thin lips curl into a smile. Her hands curl into fists, to keep from wrapping around his neck. “Breekon came to see us yesterday. He brought-”

“The coffin, yes.” Elias nods. “I must admit it was quite pleasing to see you work with Jon so seamlessly, Basira. But I suspect you’re not here for my praise, are you?”

Basira advances on him until she’s looming over his sitting form, and she bristles at the calm look he aims at her.

“I hope you’re not so surprised to know Miss Tonner is alive?” He arches a carefully shaped eyebrow. Of course this bastard uses jail to catch up with his beauty routine. “Surely you know by now that the Eye rewards those who are loyal.”

So that confirms that.

“That’s what Keay is then? A reward for Jon?”

“Oh, he didn’t tell you?” Elias tsks in disappointment, shaking his head. “One would’ve thought he’d learned to be honest to his team by now.” His poison green eyes focus on Basira’s face again. “Well, I guess it can’t be fixed… Despite my best efforts, you never did bond.”

“Shut up!” Basira snaps finally. Bond. Like they’re a cute little group of misfits in a TV show instead of an armload of hostages. Her right hand digs into Elias’ hair, grabbing a fistful and tightening as she pulls back until his neck is twisted at a very awkward angle. “How do I bring her back?” Elias smirks again. She tightens her grip until she feels a few hair strands snap. “I am not in the mood for your games.”

“Always so direct,” he says in the end. “But as I said, the Eye rewards its own. Let me give you some leads, Detective.”

#jongerrymartin #j/g/m #jonathan sims #martin blackwood #gerry keay #vit writes #illicio

[lovemesomesurveys]

Are you ready for this jelly? I don’t think you’re ready for this jelly. 
Which month is your favourite? October and December. 
Are you a vegetarian? Nope. 
Dark, milk or white chocolate? White or milk. Dark chocolate is gross. 
Tea or coffee? Coffee, duhhh.


Favourite colour? Pastels, rose gold, coral, mint green, and yellow. 
Was your last kiss meaningful? Yeah. 
Last movie you watched? On TV I just watched The Parent Trap. In theaters I recently saw The Invisible Man. 
Do you like anyone at the moment? Not in the romantic sense. 
Do you want any tattoos or piercings? Nah. I don’t think I’ll ever work up the nerve to ever get a tattoo.  
Do you genuinely hate anyone? Besides myself, no. 
Have you broken the law this year? I don’t think so. 
What are you looking forward to? There isn’t anything coming up. 
Last time you cried? A few days ago. 
What colour eyes are the best? Blue and green eyes are gorgeous. I’m quite envious. 
Favourite movie? I have many. 
Are you ready for a child? I don’t want kids.  
Last thing you ate? My leftover pizza from yesterday. 
Do you smoke? No. What are you going to do after this? Probably another survey. Or read. 
What’s your favourite word? I can never think of one when asked this. 
Was today a good day? Quite boring. It’s weird cause majority of my days are the same, I do the same things. Usually I’m okay with doing my usual things. Some days they just don’t cut it, though. The day just seems to drag extra slow. I also feel extra tired and drained. 
Are you happy with your life right now? No. 
What are you listening to? An ASMR video. 
Cats or dogs? Dogs. 
What was the last movie you cried at? I don’t remember.  
Do you want to get married? No. 
Last place you slept other than your own bed? Hotel bed. 
You’re getting drunk, what do you drink? I don’t drink. 
One movie you want to see? I want to see the new Candyman.  
What do you think of Justin Bieber? I like some of his music. His more r&B sounding stuff. 
Is there someone you can tell everything to? Ya’ll. 
Is the closest saturday going to be a good one? Today is Saturday and I already described the day I’m having. 
Have you ever moved house? We’ve moved a few times when I was too young to remember. We lived in the same house from when I was 5 to 22 and then moved to the house we live in now. 
Most money you’ve ever had at one time? A couple thousand. 
Do you swear often? No. 
Coke or Pepsi? Coke. 
Brown bread or white? I like both, assuming by “brown bread” you’re referring to wheat. 
Mars or snickers? Snickers. 
Should weed be legalised? Yeah, and it is in a lot of states now. 
Favourite TV show? I have many. 
Could you last in a relationship for over a year? I think so. Assuming it was working out and I was happy in the relationship. 
What’s your favourite quote? Blah. 
Where were you when you last cried? In my room on my bed. 
When was your happiest moment? Times in my childhood. 
If you were made prime minister for a day, what would you change? I don’t want to be. I don’t want that kind of responsibility. 
Do you believe in ghosts? Yes. 
How late were you up last night? Until almost 6AM. 
Do you still dress up for halloween? Nope. It’s been a few years since the last time I dressed up. I’m over that. I don’t go anywhere anymore on Halloween anyway. 
When was the last time you drank beer? Like 8 years ago. 
Are you the same person as you were last year? In a lot of ways. Unfortunately. 
Are you thinking about someone? No. 
Do you fall for people easily? I did tend to fall for people easily. Man, it’s been so long since I’ve had those kinds of feelings for anyone. 
Do you like the smell of petrol? Yes. 
What would you like to be doing right now? I don’t know. 
Would you be bothered if your boyfriend/girlfriend did drugs? I absolutely would. 
You’re randomly given £100, what do you buy? I’ll make that $100. I’d probably just save it, honestly. 
Have you ever made anyone cry? Yes. Not intentionally or purposefully, but yes. 
Would you delete your facebook if they removed ‘notes’? I removed notes a long time ago. I didn’t care. 
Which past era other than this one (70s, 80s, etc) would you like to visit? The 80s. I also think it’d be cool to visit the 90s as an adult and see it from that perspective. 
Are you a morning or a night person? I’m barely a person. 
Do you like thunder & lightning storms? Yes. 
Last time you threw up from drinking? 7 years ago. The last night I drank was the worst night I ever had from drinking. After that, I was like I’m sooooo over this. 
Do you have any nicknames? Steph and Sis. 
Do you enjoy dubstep? No. 
Do you have a Twitter account? Yep. 
Do you wear glasses? Yes. 
Are you a different person now than you were last year? You basically asked this already. 
Would you rather get your tongue or lip pierced? Neither. I did used to want a lip piercing when I was 16, though. Of course I was too big of a baby. 
Do you get sea sick? Yes.  
What’s the weather like outside? It’s been raining today. 
If you could have any animal as a pet, what would you have? I love having a dog. 
Which of your friends knows you best? My mom. 
Plans for this weekend? Didn’t do anything today. Tomorrow much of the same. 
Are you a fan of sparkly toes? Sparkly toes?  
Do you listen to any radio stations? Nope. My family all play their Spotify in their cars. 
Do you download music illegally? I haven’t done that in over 10 years. 
Do you look at the keyboard when you type? Nope. 
Have you been out of the country before? Just once when I went to Mexico. 
Hugged anyone today? No. 
Do you drink every weekend? I don’t drink at all. 
Do you have any scars? I have a lot of scars. 
Is your profile private? My IG and Facebook are. 
Is it okay to kiss people if you’re single? As long as the other person is single, too. 
Could you live without your phone? I mean yeah life would go on, but it would suck. I don’t even use it for typical phone purposes like calling or texting all that much, I use it mostly for the apps. I prefer the app versions of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Spotify. I also go on Instagram and Snapchat a lot. And I use the Kindle app to read a lot of my books. 
Do you have a weird food combination you like? e.g. Pombears with Nutella The one that came to mind first is scrambled eggs and ranch. 
Do you like Ke$ha? I like a few of her songs. 
Have you ever cried at a book? Yes. 
What’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever done? Oh, that’s a long list that just keeps getting longer. 
Would you ever get a tattoo on the inside of your lip? Noooo. That sounds super painful. 
Can you sleep in total darkness? No. I sleep with the TV on for that reason and for the sound because I can’t have it completely quiet either. 
Current mood? Bored, hungry, tired, blah. 
Do your parents allow you to date? I’m 30 years old. I can’t use that excuse for why I’m still single, ha. 
Has anyone ever spelt your name wrong? Yeah, they’ll put an F instead.  
Do you use smiley faces on the computer? Yeah. 
Is there someone who you can spend every minute with and not get annoyed? My doggo. 
Do you have a bad temper? No, but I do get irritated, frustrated, and overwhelmed a lot. 
Think of a random person, and give them a message here, no names: Nah.

#personal #text #survey #surveys

[eldritchsurveys]

671.

Do you use wide ruled or college ruled notebooks? >> I always preferred college-ruled, like it was a hard rule for me when I was young. I refused to use wide-ruled paper. It was anathema. I still don’t care for it, but I don’t use paper much anymore, period, so it doesn’t matter.

On a pair of jeans, which pocket do you most use? >> The back right one, I guess, because I usually have my phone in there so I go in and out of it a lot.

Do you have a class ring? >> No.

What about a letterman jacket? >> No.

Do you still have a piggy bank? >> I don’t recall ever having one, tbh.

Is it actually shaped like a pig? >> ---

What is the name of the hospital you were born in? >> It was called Elizabeth General Medical Center when I was born, but now it’s been folded into a citywide system of hospitals all using the name “Trinitas”.

What is the legal drinking age of the country you live in? >> 21.

What type of internet browser are you using? >> Firefox.

What's your favorite search engine? >> Unfortunately, it’s Google. All the shit I hate about Google is the same exact shit that makes it so good as a search engine.

Are you a "Master Googler"? >> I don’t really know what that means. Honestly, it doesn’t take much cleverness to get what you want out of Google -- other search engines, on the other hand...

Do people often buy you photo albums when they don't know what else to buy? >> No. No one even uses photo albums these days.

Have you ever literally lent someone a shoulder to cry on? >> No.

How long do your showers typically last? >> Between five and ten minutes, usually skewing to the shorter end. I really just don’t like being in there, so I got real efficient at it.

What is the most annoying accent you've ever heard? >> ---

Have you ever seen a mariachi music video? >> No.

Have you ever watched a movie with the commentary? What about the subtitles? >> I’ve never watched a movie with the commentary on, but one day I might like to try that with a movie I’m already well familiar with, just to see if it’s interesting. I always watch things with the subtitles on, if I can help it.

What are your thoughts on re-constructive surgery? What about plastic surgery? >> I mean... they’re good things for people who want/need them? I don’t know what kind of opinion I’m supposed to have.

Or should people learn to love their flaws? >> Oh, that’s what you mean. No, I don’t think “people should learn to love their flaws” is an appropriate attitude for me to take. Especially since it’s not like I’m a paragon at unconditional self-acceptance or anything.

Do you style your hair regularly? >> I don’t style my hair at all.

What does your laundry basket/hamper look like? >> It’s round and purple.

Do you have a favorite word? What is it? >> There are words I like more than others, but I don’t think I have a favourite one or anything.

McDonald's sweet tea: Yes or No? >> No.

When was the last time you had a papercut? >> I don’t remember. I almost gave myself one earlier today, putting some papers into my tote bag.

What was the worst Halloween costume you ever had? >> ---

Is violence ever really the answer? >> Sure.

Do you have a favorite brand of pen? >> I don’t think so.

Do you enjoy the smell of sharpies? What about gasoline? Or even chlorine? >> I enjoy the smell of the first two, in moderation. Not chlorine, though.

Have you ever sung in a choir? If so, what section were you in? Bass, Tenor, Alto, Soprano? >> I was a soprano as a child, shifted into alto as a preteen, and I think now I’d be most comfortable as a tenor.

Did you ever pronounce bologna how it's spelled? >> Yeah, to be silly.

Are either of your parents in the medical field? >> No.

What about educational field? >> No.

Can you cry on cue? Do you wish you could? >> No, I can’t, and I don’t really care to.

Do you prefer gold or silver jewelry? >> Gold.

Have you ever shaved your arms? What about your stomach? >> No to arms, yes to stomach.

Facebook or Myspace? Which is your favorite? Or is there another one? >> I mean, only facebook is even relevant now. I don’t like it, though. I prefer to socialise here or on Discord.

Have you ever made a friendship bracelet? >> I don’t think so.

Have you ever been sledding on a real wooden sled with metal runners? >> No. I’ve never been sledding, period.

Are you allergic to any particular animals? What about foods? And medicines? Or are you one of the lucky ones who don't have any allergies? >> I am one of the lucky ones, yeah.

Did you or anyone you knew get swine flu? >> No.

Do you think that people caused global warming? Or is it more of a natural earth cycle thing? >> I think it’s a little of column B and a lot of column A.

Do you watch Curling during the Olympics? >> I don’t watch the Olympics.

Is bright red lipstick classy or trashy? >> It’s just lipstick.

Do the potential lovers you pursue typically have tattoos and piercings? >> ---

Do you like your teeth? Have you had any work done on them? >> I mean, they’re fine. They serve their purpose. No, I haven’t had work done on them.

Do you know what a lobotomy is? >> Sure.

Have you ever put ranch dressing on pizza? >> No.

Do you remember the purple and green colored ketchup from the 1990s? >> Ha, I do.

Have you ever taken a dance class? >> When I was a child. I wouldn’t mind taking one now, but I can’t afford stuff like that.

Do you ever actually buy CDs anymore or do you just download music? >> I just use Spotify. I’ve chosen the path of least resistance.

Who is prettier? Jennifer Love Hewitt or Megan Fox? What about Ellen Degeneres or Mariah Carrey? >> None of these people even cross my radar when it comes to aesthetically pleasing faces.

Have you ever been to failblog.org? >> No.

Do you own a guitar? >> No.

Do you pop your knuckles? >> Sometimes.

Do all of your photos in yearbooks usually turn out looking terrible? >> All of them did until senior year, weirdly enough.

Did you have uniforms at your high school? >> No.

How often do you dust your room? >> I don’t. I probably should, but it just never occurs to me.

Do you ever use Febreez? >> No.

Have you ever been to Japan? What about Germany? Or Mexico? >> No.

Does your family ever take fun vacations? >> ---

Where was the last place you went on vacation? >> New Orleans.

Have you ever seen a castle in real life? If you said no, please note that the castles at Disney parks count. =D >> There’s an apartment complex near me called the Grand Castle and it’s just the most plastic-toy-castle looking thing I’ve ever seen. Hold on, here’s what it looks like...

It looks fake, or like one of those photos that plays with perspective and scale, where it’s actually a Lego castle or something. But nope, it’s an apartment complex. smh. Anyway, no, I’ve never seen a legitimate castle in real life.

Do you remember the first book you read by yourself? >> No.

Did you ever read R. L. Stine's Goosebumps books? >> Yep, I read a lot of those as a kid.

What about Lemony Snicket's "A Series of Unfortunate Events" books? >> I didn’t even hear of those until I was grown.

Have you ever seen a nun in public? >> Sure. One time back in the day, Sigma and I ran into a couple of nuns on Eighth Avenue and Sigma talked to them for a solid hour. They were... very accommodating.

Have you ever heard of a musician named Priscilla Renea? >> No.

Have you seen the Austin Power's movies? >> I think I saw the first one. This was a long time ago, though. I couldn’t sit through five minutes of one now.

Do you, or did you ever, have a Gameboy? >> No, I’ve never had one.

Are you sitting in a rolley chair? >> Nope.

Were you a Nancy Drew reader when you were younger? >> I wasn’t.

Do you think Twilight is losing lots of original fans because of the movie? >> It didn’t appear that way to me, but I also wasn’t in the fandom so I wouldn’t really know for sure.

Do you think Zombieland was like an American version of Shaun of the Dead? >> I mean, in the sense that it is a comedy film about zombies, sure, why not. But really, they’re just in the same subgenre of movie, is all. They’re their own things.

Have you ever ice skated? What about roller skated? >> I’ve done the latter but never the former.

Do you have a video camera? What about a digital camera? Webcam? >> There’s a camera on my phone, and there’s one in both my computers but I never use those.

What is your preferred instant messaging service? >> Discord.

Do you enjoy being in photos? Or do you prefer taking the photos? >> I prefer taking them.

Know anyone named Gus? >> Sparrow’s former cat was named Gus.

Do you know anyone who seems to break EVERYTHING they touch? >> Nope.

Are giraffe's weird animals? >> They are and I dig it.

#surveys #survey #random survey

[lysyuta]

;Truth or Dare (04)

dream (ft. lucas) halloween au

words — 3,889

warnings — cursing, spooky stuff

summary — you and your friends love a good spook, but when you all download an app that seems take over your life, you all get a little more spook then you were hoping for this halloween.

October 21st, 2:25 p.m.

It’s been 2 days and neither you, nor your friends could delete that damn app from your phone. You found yourself trying to delete it almost once every hour, but they all resulted in failed attempts.

You just wanted this thing to be gone already.

It was Sunday afternoon and you sat in your living room with your brother, a blanket wrapped around you. The two of you were watching a show on the television, and Jisung continuously comments on the show, trying to get you to make conversation with him. You had been pretty quiet since yesterday after Donghyuck left your house. You hadn’t been talking much to your parents, or your brother. You could safely say that you were still in shock from the events that happened only two days prior.

“Are you alright?” Jisung asks you, causing you to look at him. “I’ve been meaning to ask your earlier. You just look so depressed. And you barely talk to me or mom and dad.” He explains, hoping to get an honest answer from you.

“I’m okay, Ji—“ “Don’t lie.” He cuts off your sentence. “You’re not okay. You’re acting so different.” He sighs. “And you always have conversations with me when we watch shows like this. I’m not used to you being so...quiet.”

You didn’t know what to say. You couldn’t tell him about what happened. You couldn’t drag him into this.

“Did something happen?” Jisung asks after you hadn’t answered his previous questions.

You shook your head. “Nothing happened, Jisung. I’m okay, alright?” You responded, dismissing him by looking back towards the television.

“I know you’re lying.” He speaks, but you don’t look away from the show, even though you’re not really paying attention. When you hadn’t replied, Jisung picked up the TV remote, turning it off. You rolled your eyes, finally looking at him again.

“Why do you always do this?” He questions you. “You never tell me anything. Whenever you’re mad or upset and I come trying to help you, you just dismiss me and you don’t tell me anything.”

“It doesn’t concern you.”

“You’re my sister. If something’s wrong with you then I should know. I should be able to help you. But you’re not letting me!”

“Stop talking to me like I’m younger than you!” You tell. “I don’t tell you things because you’re too young and I don’t want you getting involved in everything! Why can’t you just leave me alone?”

Without saying another word, Jisung got up from the couch and stomped upstairs to his room, visibly angry.

As you heard his bedroom do slam shut, you sighed, tightly wrapping your blanket around yourself.

You hated yelling at your brother like that, but it was the only way to stop him from prying. You didn’t want him to be a part of all of this. He couldn’t. It was too dangerous and too risky.

You sat there, too busy thinking about other things to remember that the television was off, and you were sitting in complete silence. You kept thinking. Although you had said you wouldn’t use that app anymore, why could it never leave your mind? Why were you constantly thinking about it?

You were instantly pulled out of your thoughts as your phone started ringing, causing you to jump slightly.

You picked up your phone, seeing that Haechan was requesting to video chat with you, joined by Jaemin and Renjun. You instantly picked up, not missing a chance to have some people to talk to.

When you answered, the screen on your phone split into 4 boxes. In one you saw Haechan, who was sat in front of his bed, with a game controller in his hands. The next one was Renjun who was also sat with a controller. The third one was Jaemin, who was sat by his computer. And the fourth one was you.

“Did you guys seriously call me, just to make me watch you play some game?” You asked your friends. “Oh? Did you think we were calling you to actually talk to you? Very funny.” Renjun jokes, causing you to roll your eyes.

It wasn’t uncommon for them to call you, just for you to watch them play video games. You didn’t hate it because they were doing something that was fun to them, but you didn’t particularly like it either.

After one of the rounds in their game had ended, Haechan looked at his phone before speaking. “Y/n, you look like you need some fun in your life.”

“And those bags under your eyes are big enough to carry groceries.” You retorted, causing the other two boys on the call to laugh.

“Y/n, tell Jisung to get online. I need him on my team so I can win.” Renjun says. “Hyuck is doing a terrible job. He keeps dying every ten seconds.”

“No way.” You tell him. “Me and Jisung just got into an argument and he’s really mad at me, so I’d rather not talk to him.”

“Oh god. What did you do now? Why are you always bothering him?” Haechan questions you.

You rolled your eyes. “Why do you just assume that I did something? What if it was him that did something to me?”

“Because Jisung rarely gets mad. It’s only when you bother him that he gets upset. What was it this time? Did you call him a little boy? You know he hates that.” The boy continues.

“What—That’s not true!” You defend yourself. “And no. It’s because he was upset that I’m always keeping things from him. But can you blame me? I didn’t want to tell him about what happened before because I don’t want him to get involved. This is some really scary shit, you know?” You explained.

“Understandable.” Renjun comments. “But, stop treating him like a ba—“

“I don’t treat him like a baby!” You speak over him before he could even finish. “Why does everyone always say that? Just because I don’t want him to do certain things doesn’t mean that I’m babying him.”

“Everyone always says that because you’re always babying him. He’s 16, y/n. He’s not a child.” Renjun points out. You groaned, not listening to him before getting up and going upstairs to your room.

“Renjun has a point.” Jaemin speaks up for the first time since you picked up the phone. “He’s not five years old, y/n.”

“I know he’s not. But—“

“Then stop treating him like he is. He’s only a year younger than us.”

“How can you blame me for not wanting him to be a part of all the stupid things we do? Was I supposed to tell him about how some demon thing is haunting all of our phones and mysteriously hurting people? I’m sure he’d completely understand.” You say sarcastically, rolling your eyes.

“Hey,” Haechan starts. “We starting doing stupid shit when we were like ten years old, and look at us. We’re fine. We’re smart.”

“Fine? Smart? If your definition of smart is being stupid enough to download a demon app, then sure. We’re super intelligent.” You speak, once again, sarcastically.

“Well, your protectiveness, or whatever you want to call it, has successfully gotten Jisung mad at you, once again. So it’s up to you to keep treating him the way you do, or stop being so uptight about things.”

“I am not uptight!” You defend yourself.

Before Haechan could speak again, Jaemin speaks. “Somi is requesting to join the call. I’ll add her.” He announces.

Jaemin clicks a button and a 5th box is added to your screen, this one having Somi inside of it.

“Hey So—“

“Y/n, what the fuck?” She immediately speaks. You could tell by the tone in her voice that she was angry.

“Woah. What did I do?” You asked.

“What did you do? Oh, I’m sure you know what you did, y/n. Delete it. Delete it right now.” She says.

What was she talking about?

“Delete what? Somi what are you talking about?” You questioned, genuinely confused.

“Don’t play innocent. It’s on your Facebook account, y/n. Stop being a bitch and delete it. Now.” She tells you. “Somi, what happened?” Jaemin asks. “Check y/n’s page.” She responds, causing all the boys to do what she says.

With utter confusion in your face, you put down your phone and pick up your laptop, opening Facebook so you could see what the hell Somi was talking about.

Clicking on your own profile to see your posts, you finally see what was on your page.

“Y/n...what the hell did you do?” You hear Renjun’s voice, not looking at your phone as you looked at the posts that were on your laptop screen.

Posted 5m ago:

Somi made out with Seungmin twice while she was dating Jaemin.

“What the hell?” You whispered. How did this get on your page? You didn’t post it. “Guys, I didn’t post this.” You say, picking up your phone.

“Stop lying! Who else could’ve posted it? It’s on your account. Now delete it.” Somi speaks, anger still apparent on her face. “Why would you even post that? Are you trying to make people hate me? Are you jealous of me because I can get guys? Is that it? I think it is.”

“Seriously. I didn’t post it!” You say. “I would never.”

“Then who did it?” She asks.

“Somi, trust me. I don’t know, but it wasn’t me.” You continued to defend yourself.

“Oh, save your lies y/n. You’re trying to get back at me because that stupid app said that I was the one who told Minho to break up with you. Was making out with my boyfriend not enough?” The girl accuses you. “You’re the only one besides Seungmin who knows. And I’m pretty sure he didn’t hack into your account and post it. So I know it’s you!”

“Wait—it’s true?” Jaemin asks, his eyes widening. “You made out with him? Twice?”

“Jaemin...baby…” She trails off. “I was drunk at a party. It was a mistake.”

“Twice, Somi? You just happened to be drunk at two parties and make out with Seungmin? While we were dating?” He asks. “And you couldn’t even tell me?”

“You didn’t tell me that you and y/n made out!  And you two weren’t even drunk then!” Somi defends herself.

“Don’t try to turn this on me! We weren’t dating when that happened. But we were dating when you made out with Seungmin, twice. That’s no mistake, Somi. You cheated on me.” Jaemin speaks. You could see how upset he was. You felt so bad.

“Guys. The post was made seven minutes ago.” Haechan starts, interrupting the couple’s argument. “Y/n has been on video chat with us for twenty minutes.”

“So what? She could’ve still posted it.”

“I couldn’t have. I was talking to them the whole time. And I just opened my laptop when you told me about it.” You explained.

“So it wasn’t y/n. She couldn’t have posted it.”

You deleted the post, hoping that not many people saw it when it was up.

“I’m gonna log off guys. I need to take a nap or something.” Jaemin speaks. He was so hurt.

“Bye Jaemin.” You all waved bye to him before he logged off the call, only 4 boxes on your screen now.

“I’m gonna go too. Bye guys.” Somi also logs off, leaving you, Renjun and Haechan.

“I can’t believe this.” You said, laying down on your bed while holding your phone up to your face. “This is ridiculous. So, someone hacked into my account and posted that?”

“It’s possible.”

“But who else knew? Somi only told me. And of course, Seungmin knows, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t him. So who did it?” You asked.

Before anyone could answer, your phone received a notification—from the Truth or Dare app.

Time to play. It’s Y/N’s turn.

“You guys got that too, right?” Renjun asks as both you and Haechan nodded.

“Ignore it. We can’t play that anymore.” You tell them. “We’re just going to leave it alone until it leaves us alone.”

You hoped it would leave you alone soon.

October 22nd, 5:41 p.m.

You sat in the pizza shop with both Donghyuck and Mark across from you. Donghyuck offered take you out for pizza in order to get your mind off of everything. You gladly accepted, hoping that it would distract you from the things that were going on.

“Would you shut up? I’m not a scaredy cat!” You defend yourself at the accusation that Mark threw your way.

“Are you kidding me? Remember that haunted house we went to two years ago? You held my arm the whole time and screamed until we got to the exit.” Mark chuckled.

Haechan’s eyes lit up, smiling. “I remember that!” He exclaims. “Y/n was about to pee her pants! She was so scared.”

“I was not!” You groaned, reaching across the table to hit your best friend on his shoulder as he recalled that embarrassing memory. “I was like twelve. Don’t blame me for being a little scared.”

“You were sixteen!” Haechan and Mark point out at the same time, both laughing as you hid your face in your hands. You couldn’t help but to laugh a little also.

“Sometimes I wonder how you and Jisung are even related. He’s so fearless while you’re literally scared of everything.” Mark says. “He was dared to eat like ten packets of extra hot, hot sauce last night and he took it like a champ. You should’ve seen his face. It was iconic.”

Wait...dared?

“He did what? How do you know?” You asked, your protectiveness kicking in.

“It was on Lucas’ snapchat story last night. Let me show you.” Mark fishes out his phone from his pocket and goes to show you the video. When he turned his phone towards you, you watched as your little brother downed all 10 packets of hot sauce, his face turning a bright shade of pink when he was done, before smiling and laughing along with the other people who were in the room.

You snatch Mark’s phone out of his hand, paying closer attention to the video. Looking at the time that it was posted, you saw that it was posted at 11:57 p.m.  

Did Jisung sneak out last night??

You watched the rest of Lucas’ snap, it being filled with him along with Jisung and two other people, doing crazy dares. Lucky for you, the dares weren’t extreme.

But one picture caught your eye. It was a picture of Jisung as one of his friends, who you remember by the name of Chenle, drew something on his face. Both boys were sat on a couch, with a coffee table in front of them. On the coffee table, you could see Jisung’s phone, which was open and on the home screen.

On his phone, you almost didn’t believe what you saw. One of the apps was...Truth or Dare.

The same app that you couldn’t delete from your phone. The same app that caused your friends to get hurt when they didn’t tell the truth. The same app that was currently making your life suck.

Why did Jisung have it on his phone?

You quickly showed the picture to Haechan and Mark before explaining to Mark everything that had happened to you all after you had downloaded the app.

You looked at the picture for a while. You almost couldn’t believe it. You hoped it wasn’t real.

What if the same things that were happening to you and you friends were happening to Jisung too? Did he and his friends play the game often?

You suddenly felt a wave of worry hit you. You were so worried for your little brother. What if the app was hurting him?

“Maybe you should call Jisung and make sure he’s okay. Where is he now?” Haechan asks you.

Your eyes widened as you remembered where you mom told you that your brother was going after school.

“He’s at Chenle’s house! Oh my god! What if they’re playing that game now? What if they’re getting hurt?” You asked, picking up your phone.

“Y/n, calm down. Think positively. He’s probably fine.” Mark tried to assure you as you dialed Jisung’s number, pressing your phone against your ear.

The phone rang a bunch of times, and you couldn’t help but worry more. “Answer. Please answer.” You whispered, hoping that your brother would pick up the phone.

But he didn’t. You just got his answering machine.

You called him a few more times, and he never answered.

Jisung always answered the phone, especially when it was you who was calling. So why wasn’t he answering now?

You couldn’t help but assume the worst.

“Mark, what time do you get off?”

The boy looks at his watch before speaking.

“Ten minutes. Why?”

“Drive me to Chenle’s house.”

October 22nd, 6:31 p.m.

You knocked on the door of Chenle’s house, knowing his address from all the times that you’ve come to pick up Jisung from here. When there wasn’t an answer at first, you knocked again.

You were about to knock for a third time, but the the door opened. Chenle stood in the doorway. He was a pale boy with his hair dyed a lime green color.

“Is Jisung here?” You asked the boy. “Uh—Yeah.” The boy speaks, visibly nervous.

“Can we come in?” You asked, referring to yourself and the two boys that stood behind you. “Um—I—uh—“ Chenle stutters.

“Stop being so nervous. We don’t bite.” Haechan speaks up from behind you. “I know. I just—“ Chenle starts, but you cut him off.

“Are your parents home?” The boy instantly shakes his head. “Jisung and I were just playing a game. We’re not doing anything weird.” Chenle defends himself.

“You sound guilty.” Haechan comments.

The younger boy sighs before opening his door wide enough for you all to come in. “Jisung! Your sister is here!” Chenle yells, closing the door as you all entered.

As you got inside, you looked in the living room to see your brother sitting on the floor with his phone in front of him. He looks up at you, raising his eyebrow.

“Y/n, what are you doing here? I told mom I’d be home by eight-thirty.” He asks as you step closer to him.

“You snuck out last night?” You asked, not answering his question. “And you didn’t let me know?”

“I didn’t—“

“Do you know what could’ve happened to you? You could’ve gotten hurt or something! What if you got kidnapped? Why wouldn’t you tell me that you were going to go somewhere?” You ask.

“You always sneak out with Haechan and the rest of your friends. And you never tell me.” Jisung points out, standing up from his spot on the floor.

“That’s because I’m older than you! I don’t need to tell you when I—“

“Stop using that against me! Are you happy that you’re old or something?” Your brother asks you, causing the boys behind you to chuckle, and you give them a death glare, shutting them up.

“I’m trying to look out for you!” You tell him.

“By being over protective and trying to stop me from having fun? That’s looking out for me?”

Your jaw dropped. Why was he talking to you like that? He never does.

You bent down, picking up his phone (which was unlocked), and looking at it.

“Why do you have this app?” You asked him, pointing at the Truth or Dare app.

“Are you kidding me y/n? You’re questioning me about an app? A game that I play with my friends? What? Am I not allowing to play games now?” He asks you.

“Jisung, if you’ve played this game then you need to tell me, right now.” You say before Jisung snatches his phone from your hands. “It’s just a game, y/n!”

“It’s not just a game, Jisung! You can’t have that app! It’s not safe.”

“Am I supposed to delete it, y/n? Well, I can’t. And neither can Chenle. And neither can Lucas or Jungwoo. We all downloaded it and now we can’t delete it. So, I guess your plan to protect me or whatever isn’t going to work.” Jisung explains.

It happened for him too. He couldn’t delete the app, just like you and your friends.

You turned around, looking at Chenle, who stood beside Haechan. “How many times have you guys played it?”

The boy shrugs before speaking. “I don’t know. Maybe five times? Or more?”

Your eyes widened. “Five times? Are you kidding?” And the boy shakes his head. “And what happens if you guys don’t tell the truth? Or if you don’t do the dare?”

Chenle stayed quiet, looking down at the floor. You looked at your brother, who also didn’t answer your question.

“One of you, answer.”

“If we don’t tell the truth then we get a shocked.” Chenle finally answers.

“That’s it?”

“Well, I told a lie earlier and…” he trailed off. “And?” You asked. The boy suddenly lifts up the sleeve of his shirt, revealing bandaid on his arm that had some blood showing through it. “The light went off, and when they turned back on, that was there. Something cut me.”

You turned to your brother, stepping closer to him. “Did anything happen to you?”

Lucky for you, he shakes his head. “I always told the truth.”

You sighed in relief.

“Both if you need to stop playing. And tell Lucas and Jungwoo to stop playing too.” You tell them.

“What? No!” Jisung retorts. “It’s fun! When we played at Lucas’ house last night, we got to do so many fun things. And plus, Lucas and Jungwoo are going to think that we’re losers if we stop playing!”

“Jisung, are you serious? You’d rather be at risk of getting hurt than being called a loser by someone like Lucas?” You asked.

“I’m with y/n on this one.” Haechan speaks. “It’s not safe. Especially not for you guys. Look at what happened the Chenle. Something worse could happen.”

“But—“

“But nothing.” You say. “Both of you, stop playing. I know you can’t delete it, so just don’t open the app anymore, okay? Promise me you won’t.”

“Fine. I promise.” Jisung says. “I promise too.” Chenle says.

“I’ll talk to Lucas and Jungwoo.” Mark says. “I’ll tell them about everything so they’ll stop playing too.”

You, Haechan and Mark had stayed with Chenle and Jisung until about 8 when Chenle’s parents had gotten home.

When you got home, Jisung greeted your parents before going into his room and closing the door.

You wanted to go into his room and talk to him about everything that was going on, but you didn’t know if he was mad at you or not, and you’d rather not find out at this moment.

Instead, you go into your room and rest, hoping to clear your head of all the bad things.

Before you could fall asleep, your phone buzzes with a notification.

Connection completed.

Park Jisung and Zhong Chenle have joined your game.

#nct #nct dream #nct 127 #nct u #nct imagines #nct dream imagines #nct fanfic #nct fanfiction #nct dream scenarios #mark lee #huang renjun #lee jeno #lee donghyuck #lee haechan #na jaemin #zhong chenle #park jisung #lucas wong #wong yukhei #nct scenarios #nct halloween #nct u imagines #nct u scenarios #nct 127 imagines #nct 127 scenarios

[thysurveys]

832.

Are you a dreamer or a do-er? Dreamer. Do you think people get what they deserve? Most of the time. Does it take a lot of physical pain to make you cry? To an extent, I think. Name the strangest game you’ve ever played (video game or real game): I don’t think I’ve played any strange games? Do you like sitting in the front, back, or middle of the classroom? I think I usually sat at the back, or middle. I don’t think I ever sat at the front.

Do you ever see commercials for restaurants that aren’t even in your area? Not really? Do you know anyone who has been struck by lightning before? Nope. Which is better: living where there’s lots of tornadoes or lots of hurricanes? Well, neither are “better”. They’re both horrible. Would you pay if your dog needed an operation? If I had a dog, of course? If you’re a girl, what’s your favorite color of eyeliner? Black. Have you ever overflown a bathtub? Probably. Yeah. Why did you ignore the last person you ignored? I was busy. What’s your favorite pizza place? I don’t really eat pizza. I don’t mind where it comes from. What’s at the top of your to do list in life? Buy a house, have children. Do you ever eat leftover pizza cold? Yeah. Where are you the most ticklish? Feet. Would you put your life in danger to rescue someone? Yeah, I would. When you’re wanting a midnight snack, what do you normally get? Whatever’s in my pantry. Which cartoon character would you want to keep as a pet? No idea. Do you like marshmallows? Sure. What is your favorite flavor of candy cane? I don’t like candy canes. Do you have any shoeboxes full of old photos/letters/other memorable stuff? I do. When was the last time you felt seriously embarrassed? I don’t know. I feel like it was a little while ago now, but. I don’t know. Have you ever liked a song, looked up the lyrics to it, then hated it? Nope? What’s your favorite Christmas song? Anything by Michael Buble. Did you like the show Invader Zim? Not really. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve seen in a grocery store? No idea? Do you prefer to pull off band-aids slowly or quickly? Quickly. Have you ever met any bands/band members before? No. Do you enjoy riding around town looking at Christmas lights? Yeah! What states have you been to in the past year? Victoria, Arizona and California. Have you ever sleepwalked? Yeah, I remember I have once before. What’s your favorite superhero movie? Spiderman. Do you struggle with acne? Mild acne. I used to suffer with it a lot, but it’s better now, thankfully. Around what year did you start using the internet, anyways? 9, 10? Maybe even 11? What did you do for your 16th birthday? No idea Have you ever fostered an animal? No. What’s your favorite form of exercise? Walking. Strength exercises can be challenging and fun sometimes? Do you have a back pack in a shape of an animal? Nope. Do you still take hot showers when it’s hot out? Yeah, but not the same amount of hot as I would in winter. What’s your favorite type of cake? I don’t enjoy cake as much. Name something you thought was cool when you were younger but don’t now? I can’t think of anything in particular. What was the last song you downloaded onto your computer? I don’t download any songs. I use Spotify. What color are your headphones, if you have any? Black. Do you honestly like The Beatles or are you just conforming? I don’t mind them. I’m not conforming, though. What was the last video message you received on your phone? Never have. Who did you last talk to in Facebook chat? Aaron? I don’t talk to anyone on Facebook. When writing $ sign, do you draw one line through the S or two? Two, I think? Do you feel bad for people your age who have never had a significant other? I don’t feel bad if they don’t feel bad. But I do if it’s something they have trouble with. When do you plan on moving out? If you’re already moved out, how old were you? I’ve already moved out. I did when I was 19, but last year I moved in with Kevin’s mum (and Kev), and we’ve recently moved back out again. Would you kiss the last person you texted? I already have lol. What do you think of guys wearing colored skinny jeans? Not my style, but you do your thing. Where do you normally get your hair cut? At a semi-local hairdressers.  Would you trade last names with your best friend? No. Would you ever get blonde highlights? Yeah, I have before. Will you go to your high school reunion? Maybe? Have you stayed up past 3 in the morning this week? I’ve been sleeping awfully these past few nights, so. Sort of. Do you ever not speak to someone because you’re afraid you’ll annoy them? Yeah all of the time. Personally, do you think you have a nice smile? Nope. What animal have you always wanted as a pet but couldn’t have? No clue.   

#surveys #survey #question #questions #quiz #personal #bored #misc