#[ but also i'm so picky with new muses; it'll be fine. ]

[araneitela]

Alright, I've been mulling on this for most of the day, and unless a night's sleep changes my mind, I'll be working on returning (remaking) a very old multimuse of mine, that used to be over at iniziare. The blog will be entirely remade, and I'll post it here when it's done!

For those wondering, it will for now house: Guizhong, Yelan, Kafka and Arlecchino. Time to finish up that other WIP theme for this, I suppose! See you guys on the flip-side of this brighter future.

[chiimeramanticore]

Part of the Band - Chapter 7 - Keep Your Enemies Close

Chapter summary: The gang goes to band practice. Dook learns a secret. The status quo is changed. A/N:

howdy! I'm back! I contemplated giving y'all a soft fluffy chapter between the last chapter and this one but ultimately decided against it, so this one's another doozy (the next one will also be a doozy but then it'll calm down for a while I promise lmao) tw in this chapter for a brief mention of parental death and for descriptions of physical violence (unrelated to the parent death)

Chapter word count: 1,767 <- Chapter 6 - Chapter 8 -> Read it on AO3!

"Hey, Beach Bear, what's this?" Dook asks, picking up a CD from the floor of the car.

"Ah– That's, nothing," Beach Bear says, snatching it from him and tossing it in the back row.

Dook cranes to look at it. "B... Ballroom... Dancing," he reads– scrawled sharpie onto the front of the case. "Isn't that a song?"

"Yeah," Beach Bear says. "It's, ah, it's nothing special. Don't worry about it."

"Well, if you're gonna be this picky about our listening choice, I'm not sure I should put on the radio."

"Nah, the radio's fine," Beach Bear says, flicking it on for him.

Dook turns to look out the window. "I'm glad the weather's warm today," he muses.

"Yeah," Beach Bear agrees. "But I don't expect it to last long. We still got a bit until spring comes."

"What's the point of winter?" Dook asks.

"Christmas," Beach Bear suggests.

"Yeah, but after that. What good is there? You gotta sit through January and February–"

"New Year's and Valentine's Day."

"New Year's doesn't count. That's literally the first day of January. It's basically still December." Dook pauses. "I think we should move Christmas to January."

"Oh yeah?" Beach Bear glances at him curiously.

"Yeah," Dook says. "Nobody these days cares about Thanksgiving anymore. As soon as Halloween ends, people just jump straight to Christmas. We put Christmas in January, people still get a whole month to think about Christmas and let Thanksgiving have its own month. And we also don't have to sit through January with no holidays."

"Tom Thumb Day."

"That doesn't count either!"

The car pulls into the now-familiar parking lot of the music store.

"What if we came up with a new holiday just for January?" Beach Bear asks as they exit the car. "Something that really gives Christmas a run for its money."

"Yeah, like, uh," Dook starts, "uh, Christmas 2 or something."

"Yeah, like Christmas 2: Back and Jollier Than Ever," Beach Bear adds. "Santa's back... and he's out for revenge!"

"Nah, we need a different mascot," Dook says. "Like, uh, the elves or something."

"Yeah," Beach Bear agrees as they enter the store. "Worker's rights and all that."

"Maybe they've unionized," Dook says. "To celebrate, you gotta give a gift to your favorite blue collar worker."

"Specific," Beach Bear says. "It's like the perfect combination of Christmas and Valentine's Day!"

The two head toward the back room.

"Hey guys," Dook says as they enter.

"Where's Fatz?" Beach Bear asks.

"He called. He said he was having car troubles," Billy Bob says. "He's still coming, he'll just be late."

"Fine by me," Beach Bear says. "Why don't we all get warmed up?"

·–—–·

"Alright, we all ready?" Beach Bear asks. He looks over at Queenie. "You can sing standing up, you know."

Queenie doesn't budge from her spot on the couch. "You can play guitar standing, too."

"No, I can't," Beach Bear says.

"Billy Bob can," she says, pointing at him.

"Billy Bob's got a smaller guitar," Beach Bear says.

"Do y'all want me to sit down?" Billy Bob asks.

"Nah, ignore her," Beach Bear tells him. "Let's take it from–"

"Ignore me?" Queenie says. Beach Bear sighs.

"Can we not do this, just once?" he asks.

"No," she says. "You're being a jerk for no reason."

"Wh– All I said was to ignore you! I wasn't being serious!"

"It doesn't matter if it was serious or not," she says, standing, "You should apologize."

"Oh, now you can stand," he remarks.

Queenie's eyes go alight. "You are such a disrespectful little shit," she says. She speaks soft and harsh, like she did back in that alley. "I make the effort to come to band practice every week- on time, unlike you– and I have to drag my sister here every time too, and all I get back is you being rude?"

Beach Bear sighs sharply. He's still sitting casually, but his voice carries some tension. "You sound like my mother," he says.

Queenie doesn't give anyone a chance to register what Beach Bear's said before she smacks him straight across the face.

"Mini–?" A voice calls from the corner. It's Mitzi, looking worried.

If Beach Bear had had any hint of amusement left on him, it's gone now. "Is that how it's gonna be?" He stands, causing Queenie to step back a bit. He's the tallest in the room, and when he's angry, he comes off near-scary.

Dook looks to Mitzi. "Come on," he says, taking her hand. "Let's let them settle this." He leads her out of the room.

"W- wait," she protests, "I wanna see if Mini is okay."

"She'll be just fine," Dook tells her. He kneels to meet her, though he ends up being a bit under her eye level. "You know how they are," he says. "They fight all the time. They'll get it out of their systems and it'll be alright."

Mitzi shifts, unsure, but doesn't argue any further. "Okay," she says.

"Do you like coming to watch band practice?" Dook asks, trying to change the subject.

Mitzi nods. "Yeah," she says. "I like watching y'all play. I like hearing Mini sing, too."

Dook smiles. "That's nice. She's got a nice voice, doesn't she?"

"Yeah. She taught me some of her songs, y'know."

"Oh, really?" Dook says. "I didn't know you liked to sing, Mitzi." She's usually so quiet during practices, he sometimes forgets she's even there.

"Sure," she says. "I'm not as good as her, though."

"I bet you are," Dook tells her. "I bet you could be even better than her, if you wanted to. Maybe one day you'll be in the band with us."

Mitzi smiles. "Thanks, Dook."

A noise is heard from inside the room– something falling? Something being thrown? He's not sure.

"...Mitzi, can I ask you something?"

"Okay."

"How come Mini always brings you to band practice?"

"Well, 'cause..." Mitzi pauses, as if this is an obvious answer. " 'Cause nobody'd be watching me at home if she left me."

"What about your parents?" Dook asks. "Can't they watch you?"

Mitzi shakes her head.

Dook pauses. "Mitzi... where are your parents?" He asks carefully.

"Mm... Mini says they're somewhere better now," she says, and it's clear she doesn't fully understand what that means.

Dook doesn't know what to say. He pried too far, he knows. That's why Mitzi's always here, he realizes. That's why Queenie is always so...

He hears her shouting from inside the room. They're far enough that he can't hear what she's saying, but it's clearly not gotten any better in there. Mitzi watches him expectantly. He's paralyzed.

"I– I, uh," he starts. "I'm gonna go check on them. Stay right there."

He stands and moves back toward the door, listening before he chooses to go in.

"I'm so sick of your shit, Mini," Beach Bear says. "I don't care what you're going through, it's not an excuse for you to ruin things every time you're with us!"

"You don't have any right to talk!" She shouts back. "You don't know what it's like!"

"You think I don't know what it's like?" He laughs. "Are you serious? Maybe I don't know what it's like to be such a manipulative bitch–"

"Both of you need to cut it out!" Billy Bob says.

"Stay out of this!" Queenie snaps.

"Don't shout at him like that!" Beach Bear says.

"Why do you care?!"

"Because I actually care about this band!" he says. "I've been trying to keep it together for once! Unlike you, you just try to sabotage it every chance you get!"

"Sabotage it?! I'm keeping you in check!"

"I don't need to be kept in check!" He raises his voice more now. "I need you to respect me! You've never respected me!"

"You–"

"You've always been like this," he continues. "I don't think you've ever been a good person, Mini. The shit you've done to me, what you've made me think was okay... I feel bad for your sister. I feel bad for the rest of the Wolf Pack, wherever they are now. I feel bad for your parents."

Queenie says nothing, but Dook is pretty sure he hears her try to hit him again, followed by a short struggle. Furniture scraping on the floor... footsteps... a thud... Queenie yelps.

"Listen to me." Beach Bear's voice is much quieter now, but no less tense. As if he's just inches away from her now. "Don't come back here."

"Wh– Are you kicking me out?" Queenie says. "Y- You can't do that. I'm your singer."

"I don't care," Beach Bear says. "We'll find another singer."

She scoffs. "Who are you gonna replace me with, huh?"

"Someone better. Anyone. Mitzi, if we have to."

Queenie laughs, and he hears him hit her again.

"You're not taking me seriously," he says. "If I ever, ever see you again... I'm going to do what I should've done a long time ago. What I would do now if there weren't people watching."

"You don't mean it," she spits.

"Do you wanna find out?"

Dook opens the door.

Beach Bear has Queenie pressed up against the wall nearest the door, one hand gripping her under the jaw. They've both been roughed up, Queenie with a noticable claw mark across her left cheek. Billy Bob and Looney Bird stand near the back of the room, also a bit ruffled, both worried but unsure how to intervene. Furniture has been knocked over, the rug bent over itself and ripped in a couple areas. The place is a mess.

Beach Bear lets Queenie go, but doesn't move back to let her leave. He immediately softens at the sight of Dook.

"Dook, I..." he starts, but doesn't know how to finish.

"Mitzi's outside," Dook says, unsure what else to say. "She's... she's fine."

"I'm leaving," Queenie says, pushing Beach Bear aside with an arm. "I hope this band crashes and fucking burns."

She pushes past Dook, and walks toward Mitzi.

"Mini?" Mitzi says.

"Come on," Queenie says, ignoring her. She grabs the girl by the wrist and they leave the music store together. Beach Bear moves to the door of the room, watching them leave.

"...I'm worried about her," Dook says softly.

"...We can't do anything," Beach Bear says. "I've tried."

Dook looks at him. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," he says, avoiding eye contact. He looks... sad. Tired, maybe. Dook isn't sure how to help him.

Beach Bear turns back to the others. "I'm sorry," he says. "You guys can go home. I gotta find us a new singer."

[clubwnderland]

Adminnie's Notice — ✨❤︎

Kia Ora everyone, hello!

It's been a while since I've been around, right? Most probably didn't notice or care and that's chill but I've been on vacation for the past month and have only really able been able to sit down and do anything like... yesterday? But while I was drafting up some stuff to reblog, I noticed that there have been a few admin notices and issues spoken about so I'm just going to make a post that'll get added to my rules for future reference.

Remember this is stuff I've been feeling for a while now and is all to make sure my experience here continues to be fun — not forced.

— Interactions

As we've all probably noticed but have definitely been going on for a while, interactions have become... one-sided. I do try my best these days to interact in some way with posts, I have some struggles which I'll address later, but I've noticed that whenever I post something (not an ask game), interactions are low unless it's a thirst trap. This is particularly discouraging because while I understand that the muse I post may not interest everyone but if I post a thirst trap for that same muse, it'll get more interaction in comparison to a regular update.

I don't really like posting thirst traps every week, I may do it once a month but it's not really something that I really have time to do as I like to have specific photos and that takes a lot of searching as I am picky.

Also, I've noticed that when I tag some people — and they tag me — the posts and interactions are either ignored or they don't interact with my stuff but will interact on their own. I don't actually understand this and this goes back to my rules about effort — if you aren't going to give equal engagement, please don't tag me. I remove people who don't interact with anything I post each month because I would rather not waste time tagging someone who ignores my stuff.

There are people who will only interact with a certain muse and this is something I do as well, if I have a connection with a muse(s), I will interact with only them and this is absolutely okay. If you are wanting to interact with one muse only and/or start a connection — please let me know. I don't bite!!

— NSFW/Multi-Muse Posts

Something I've noticed a lot is that there are a LOT of NSFW-based posts which is fine but it gets... boring? Maybe that's just me but I do enjoy learning about characters and what they do so when I'm only being tagged in NSFW posts, I never really know how to interact after a while. I don't mind being tagged but from now on, I'll only be interacting (as opposed to a support reblog) with NSFW posts of bots that I already have a connection with or ones that I want to form a connection with.

Another thing that I've been really struggling with is multi-muse/one-liner posts. While people can do what they want and I will not tell someone what to do — I really do struggle to interact when there are too many muses on a post and they only say one random line that I don't really know how to engage with. If I already have a connection, I interact with that muse specifically but if I don't... I support reblog. Again, I like seeing these character developments or what people get up to but sometimes having 20 muses on one post with one-liners gets really overwhelming for me.

This is just so people know why I support reblog a lot of posts these days and only interact with certain ones. I do try to interact as much as I can but I do get overwhelmed and so in future — just know this is why I may not interact.

— New Bots/Tags/OC's

Being away for a month, I've seen a lot of new bots pop up and disappear. I don't know why but it gets very very confusing on who is actually active and around to tag. I see a lot of bots who look like they are from the same admins and then get abandoned within a week of making their first couple of posts or ones who are made to ONLY interact with certain people but will tag everyone and then drama ensues over ‘jealousy’. I understand that motivation dies sometimes but damn— so I tend to support new accounts more than interact as I don't want to start interacting straight away and like concepts etc. and then they gone within the week.

This comes into the topic of my taglist. I redo my tags every month, I check who has been interacting with my posts, who is active/not active and who tags me. So my tags can be changing a lot, which is very time-consuming but I do it so that I'm not tagging dead accounts or people who just ignore tags from other people. If you aren't interested in interacting at all, please let me know and remove me from your tags! BUT if you want to interact more, maybe start a chat (friends are welcome too, doesn't need to be romantic/NSFW! Let's build our characters together!), please let me know too!!

Also, just a fun little insert here but I've noticed that OC's get ignored a lot still. I don't understand why this is or why there is so much hate surrounding OC's when at the end of day — all of our characters are essentially OC's and the ONLY difference is that we are using idol/celebrity face claims and their real name. I understand some hesitance behind it all but OC's deserve love just as much as everyone else.

— Inactive Chats

This is the last time I'll address this specifically so if an issue arises in the future, I have said it so much I'm a broken record. I will be deleting chats that have been inactive or ignored for three months without any communication. I've had a few people tell me that they are going on hiatus etc. and all that is absolutely fine because that's communication but I also know that some of my chats are dead or being ignored and I used to reach out all the time but I don't feel like I should do this.

I don't expect replies every day, or every week, but if you are active and haven't been engaging/replying in months then I'll take it as you no longer want the connection and will delete the chat. It is upsetting because I do love writing with everyone I have but this now means that if you ignore my muses, I will just end things without warning since you've been ignoring them without communication.

If you are wanting to change the direction, plot or anything of the like — please reach out so we can work out things as I know sometimes motivation for certain things can die or it gets too domestic and repetitive. If you don't want to continue, please let me know too — there are never any hard feelings. And to those who have spoken with me about stuff, don't worry about this at all as we've talked about it already!

— Misc.

I've had some asks sent recently so I just want to address them in one go. — Yes, I am absolutely 100% open to connections with the same admins/bots. I do try and form a friendship with those I write with and so it makes it easier to communicate and I mean... I have 20 muses so it isn't going to hurt having more than one connection going. — Yes, I'm absolutely cool with new people coming in to talk to the muses or to just send a starter. I will be making some starters for the muses that you can either reblog or just reply to in a chat. I know not everyone like dash so I'll work with you as long as you communicate with me. — No, Irene is happy in her relationship with Chris and they are perfectly fine. I am aware that they used to be a lot more active and this doesn't mean anything so please stop trying to cause drama where there is none. She is NOT interested in anyone else so please stop trying to get in between them by saying you can treat her better. Thank you. — Yes, I do have muses who are more active than others. This is due to the engagement and interest that people have shown and the more they are interacted with, the more they will come out otherwise they stay with those who talk to them. — Yes, I will be making posts soon! I just need to get through the museterviews and then I'll be starting a small Halloween event before getting back into things fully again!