the art of losing

adam shank. 20. asu junior. comp sci major.

[sydneyandersen]

Type Two in Brief

Twos are empathetic, sincere, and warm-hearted. They are friendly, generous, and self-sacrificing, but can also be sentimental, flattering, and people-pleasing. They are well-meaning and driven to be close to others, but can slip into doing things for others in order to be needed. They typically have problems with possessiveness and with acknowledging their own needs. At their Best: unselfish and altruistic, they have unconditional love for others.

Basic Fear: Of being unwanted, unworthy of being loved

Basic Desire: To feel loved

Enneagram Two with a One-Wing: “Servant”

Key Motivations: Want to be loved, to express their feelings for others, to be needed and appreciated, to get others to respond to them, to vindicate their claims about themselves.

[adamshank]

TEXT ✉️% DAHLAM

Dahlia: Like a superhero mission? Then shouldn't you WANT to keep your identity secret?

Dahlia: Still a good song, and at least I can pretend he's singing to me lol

Adam: But your teammates know your real identity! Like how the Avengers know that Iron Man is Tony and Captain America is Steve and like, THEIR REAL NAMES.

Adam: It's an okay song! I liked it better before someone told me that Delilah was just a random girl he thought was hot from afar!

[adamshank]

TEXT ✉️ツ CANDAM

Candi: Nope. Done. It's your name in my phone now :) I just need a cute picture to go with.

Candi: Aw, look at you, so cute with your rotating menus. Don't go out of your way for me, I'm sure you got some other girl more deserving of this special treatment.

Adam: Can the picture be of a tomato so that if anyone finds your phone they don't know it's me? 😇

Adam: I'm sure I can't! First of all, have you MET my friend Candi? She's kind of amazing! And second of all, the girl I like doesn't like me :(

[adamshank]

TEXT ✉️# MADAM

Maya: People touch my head more than you'd think, I guess! Colorful hair seems to do that :-P it wouldn't take long at all to be POPPED. I personally don't go around thinking people look "yummy" but it must be possible - snack is a term now for a reason lol. Good idea, AuraTube has a lot of hidden gems. My favorite thing is accidentally finding a whole movie on there lol.

Maya: They probably didn't think it was THAT intense, wasn't it on a kids show? They sound like valid reasons to ME, just hearing how people did it at all sounds exhausting lol. Guess we gotta look for the set! I want to see you put your money where your mouth is.

Adam: Maybe they think your hair's lucky? Or... I don't know, I'm not a hair toucher so beats me why they'd do it! I don't know if yummy is like a sexy thing or just like, someone's so cute they remind you of a cupcake or a sprinkle cookie, I'm not sure! Oh yeah! Although you have to be careful with those, have you ever found one that's like... the movie, but it's on a static picture of an Asian family watching TV and the TV screen is tilted and that's where the movie plays?

Adam: People looked like they were almost drowning! And they were rolling fake boulders at them! And apparently making them lift REAL silver! Also the temple looked kind of small, I feel like people ran way farther than that in elementary school P.E.! The only real excuse to me is anxiety about the Temple Guards, they were terrifying!

[adamshank]

TEXT ✉️☎ QUADAM

Quincy: Oh gosh, it would be stressful if I DIDN'T get messages or social media notifications lol but I'm curious. What kind of games do you think I'd like?

Quincy: Lol I just, like, have accidentally seen some WAY gross porn for my favorite things before so I'm kind of like... maybe that's just the Internet? Idk LOL I've been jaded, I guess you can say.

Adam: Really? Do you ever like... disconnect and take time for just yourself? Or like, wish you could because people hurt your feelings on social media? PEOPLE ARE MEAN THERE! Um... I don't know, is it rude to say the Kardashian one?

Adam: Oh no! I always hear people say it's out there and I guess I've seen the Master Chief f*cking Cortana before and Pokemon with people boobs but I've mostly avoided it!

[adamshank]

TEXT ✉️ø CASDAM

Cassie: I don't take pictures or play games! And I don't think I've ever tripped or sprained my ankle either lol it's not like I'm running races against nobody out in the Woods. When I'm outside in nature, that feels safer than anyplace else and so far it has been. No need to be plugged in there. I would recommend it but I know that it's not for everybody.

Cassie: Okay! What is that?

Adam: How do you remember stuff? Or how do you get a map to get back if you wander too far? And sometimes there are acorns and roots and stuff that are ankle attackers! You can turn your phone off but still have it in case of emergencies or in case you find the Loch Ness monster and need to take a picture!

Adam: A dragon who flies around collecting gems and saving people in villages with your fire breath!

[adamshank]

TEXT ✉️ ✘ RADAM

Riley: Okay so we start with the lesser violent ones and work our way up! We! can! do! it!

Adam: What's! Your! Definition! Of! Less! Violent?

[adamshank]

Text | CLAUDAM

Claudine: No plans that I know of! I'll be completely free

Adam: Okay, well you've got plans now! Even if you wander away from Auradon City I guess I could always send you the file to test out, I just wanna see your face!

[adamshank]

TEXT ✉️⁇ ZODAM

Zoe: Then sober up and make things right, Shank!!!

Adam: HOW? WHOW? I RUIENED EVERYTHING< I KWNWEED YOU TO COME SAVE ME SOZE!

[adamshank]

princessxymarley‌:

It felt nice for Marley to finally get her mind off the things that’d been with her since the beginning of February. She was tired of thinking about how she should be with Dylan and how maybe just maybe things would go her way. It wasn’t until then that Marley realized how drained she’d actually been. The game was illuminating and she always enjoyed hanging out with Adam, he was always able to put a smile on her face. “So how often do they update because that would be totally cool to see! Especially after I’ve just seen this cute heart, I definitely want to see all the other cool things they’re shaped as!” Marley didn’t seem to notice Adam moving in closer to her to help her play the game. “I can throw it again?” She asked, squinting her eyes to get a better look at the figure on the screen. “I got you now!” She shouted as she swiped her finger in its direction hoping it’d catch this time. It was no big surprise that she got so caught up in the game what with her competitive spirit. Plus she didn’t want to lose while playing someone else’s game, that would be super embarrassing, especially after that person referred to her as their lucky charm. 

"Usually every couple of  months!! They’re always change screen to match whatever holiday’s going on, and they toss in a few new events and then new Pokemon and stuff when they do that, too. You should have seen it at the beginning, it’s come like a zillion miles since then!” Adam had to reign himself in; he didn’t want to blurt out a million facts about the game and how to play it and bore Marley away. After all, she’d been out here by herself for a reason -- maybe she’d even been planning to meet someone else, although now it felt like it was too late for Adam to ask her that. If some other guy did appear to give Marley the perfect Valentine’s Day, he’d skirt away with his tail between his legs, embarrassed for thinking maybe he could hang out with her for a while... but until then, she seemed happier than she’d been when he found her, and Adam wasn’t in a rush to go anywhere. “Awesome! Now look, click that button there and then click appraise -- you can see how good of a heart fish you just caught. I’m gonna bet it’s a wonder Pokemon, but we won’t know for sure until you ask the Professor,” he beamed.

[adamshank]

TEXT ✉️% ADLEY

Marley: Yeah and Monopoly is SUCH a long game too! omg a virtual Trouble game?? I'd have to see that.

Marley: Oh yeah! I invited literally everyone! It was like a birthday party/February/valentines celebration!

Adam: Well whenever I design one and get it in Beta mode you can totally play it! Especially since it might never GET past Beta mode. You know... copyright and stuff.

Adam: It's kind of awesome how much you love February. Most people don't give it enough credit for how cool it is, since it's so short and it usually flies by.

[adamshank]

[adamshank]

princessxymarley‌:

Marley was thankful that Adam hadn’t questioned her appearance. Talking about things may have made this day a lot harder to go through. Marley stopped her music and put her phone in her pocket with her headphones. She took a closer look at his screen. “Oh my gosh! It’s so cute! It’s a little heart!” The little creature on his phone delighted her. It reminded her of why she loved Valentine’s day and February so much! The celebration of love. “Are you kidding? This looks totally fun!” She grabbed the phone from him when he handed it to her, turning and holding the phone in different places to watch things move on the screen. “This is so crazy. I’ve never seen a game like this!” She laughed and shook her head, swiping her finger on the screen to see what it did. “Oh! The ball flew! Good luck? Me? I don’t know, I’ve never played this before.” 

Adam couldn’t help the way his whole fact brightened watching Marley experience the game for the first time. Two of his favorite things -- introducing people to new games, and Marley herself? It was hard not to feel enthralled by the sight. “Yeah! They have lots of fun shapes, there’s one that’s like an ice cream cone, too, although it’s not on the game yet, it’s coming in a later update.” Vanillish always made his stomach rumble a little bit, but Marley didn’t need to know that; right now, he was more interested in seeing her joy as she tilted the heart shaped Pokemon this way and that. “Yeah! The technology on this game is pretty awesome, it’s the closest we get to like... actually being in the Pokemon world. But you’re doing awesome!” he told her, hovering just close enough to smell whatever shampoo she used and swallowing, hoping she didn’t think he was too up in her personal space. “It didn’t catch this time, but that’s okay -- he didn’t run away, see? So you can try to toss another ball at him!”

[adamshank]

TEXT ✉️☎ QUADAM

Quincy: I do but I always forget it in my 'longer days' purse! I guess I could buy yet another for my 'school days' purse and a third for my 'nsicellaneous day out' purse but it isn't a necessary expense lol in the slightest. It's way easier not playing those games tbh. I get distracted enough by my phone without them.

Quincy: People on the Internet are pervy which means for everything that exists, there's a porn version and tbh I'd way rather my sister accidentally see her fave half undressed than see the porn.

Adam: Sometimes all those messages and social media notifications can be stressful and you just need a happy distraction instead! Are you sure I can't recommend some games you might like?

Adam: Huh... okay, I guess I didn't think of the worst case scenario like that!

[adamshank]

TEXT ✉️# MADAM

Maya: Because Gushers eventually pop, don't they? The idea of having a giant juice-swollen head eventually bursting is not a fun one lol. And what if people tried to... lick me because they wanted to taste me? Yeah, no thanks lol. And that sounds like something you'd have been so into, oh my gosh. I almost wish I'd seen it now.

Maya: What are you talking about? They gave tons of reasons! By the time someone got there, they were already worked so hard that they were out of steam, and it's heavy because it's silver! Maybe it's just one of those things that you wouldn't understand unless you tried to do it yourself. Is it too late to get onto that show lol?

Adam: They don't pop on your own, you have to pop them with your fingers or your tongue or your teeth! Do people touch your head a lot? LOL that might happen though, but you can look yummy even without a fruit head, right? Maybe we can find old episodes on AuraTube!

Adam: Reasons that feel like excuses! They should have trained better before they entered such an intense competition, I'd never throw a rookie into an intense online gaming tournament! I don't think that's on air either anymore, but maybe the set's still up somewhere?

[adamshank]

TEXT ✉️ø CASDAM

Cassie: I guess that's true. I usually leave my phone inside when I go outside though lol. There's no real need for it out there, you know?

Cassie: IDK! DON'T START CONVERSATIONS ABOUT BIRDS DYING?! I'M SORRY I CAN ONLY THINK OF PREVENTATIVE MEASURES UMM WE COULD TALK ABOUT VIDEO GAMES THAT HAVE CUTE ANIMALS THAT ARE ALIVE, DO YOU KNOW ANY OF THOSE?!

Adam: Whaaat? How do you take pictures? How do you play games? HOW DO YOU CALL FOR HELP WHEN YOU TRIP AND SPRAIN YOUR ANKLE?

Adam: Spyro!

[adamshank]

TEXT ✉️% DAHLAM

Dahlia: Okay, yeah as a username it's fine. But would you really use your real name in a game?? Honey, that ain't safe, you don't know who's out there!

Dahlia: It doesn't, and I would be ever so flattered if someone took the time to write one, but it ain't gonna make or break the name for me.

Adam: It's Auradon! And the gaming community's like, a family! I don't want to LIE to them! How can they trust me on a mission if they can't even trust that I'm who I say I am?

Adam: There's Hey There Delilah... they got close, but no cigar!