#B reacts to what A has done but A is also being influenced by B's prior interactions

[hesperisms]

// The Alphabet of Sylus

"You should know very well that I adore you. There is no love purer than mine."

// summary: my attempt at the lewd Alphabet A-to-Z of Sylus.

// content warnings: 18+ (mdni), the whole thing is lewd, says so on the tin.

// a/n: goes without saying, but these are just my personal headcanons around Sylus. yours may be different and that's A-OK.

likes, reblogs, comments are always appreciated!

A // Aftercare (what they’re like after sex): Sylus knows he can lose himself a little during sex and get a bit rough, which can hurt because he's so big. Because of this, his aftercare is immaculate - it's so important to him to make it up to you afterwards. He will wait as long as you both can stand it to pull out of you, because sleeping inside you is his favorite place to be in the whole universe. He'll get up and draw you a steaming hot bath scented with fragrant oils and then come back to carry you bride-style and lower you into the tub himself. He'll slide in behind you and snuggle your back against his chest, soaping you down and kissing any marks he left on your throat.

B // Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner): Sylus' favorite body part isn't really a body part per se, it's his voice. He loves the effect his voice has on you, how the tiniest little thing whispered can set your pulse quickening and your cheeks flushed red. His favorite body part of yours is your wrists...he loves the delicate strength to them, the way they flex when your fists are wrapped around the butt of a gun, but he cannot get over how easily they melt under his palms when he traps your hands over your head.

C // Cum (anything to do with cum, basically): Lucky for you because he's so well-endowed, Sylus is an oozer. He leaks a lot of precum and it's very pale, almost translucent. When he cums, it's somehow always so hot that it feels like it's searing your body, branding him onto you and leaving a deeper mark each time. He tastes slightly sweet with a slight edge of muskiness to him.

D // Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs): He knows the intimate details of your shared lifetime together; your past experiences, and while in this timeline you surprise him a lot, what never changes is the way your body reacts to his when you're alone together in the dark...

E // Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?): Sylus has had dalliances before, but they were people attempting to sleep their way into his good graces for his influence and power. You're the first time he's had a relationship that is more than just physical, where he actually cares about you emotionally. Due to the nature of his previous relationships, he can tend to be a selfish lover and be a greedy with his affections.

F // Favorite position (this goes without saying): Sylus loves you in a mating press, your knees up over his elbows or his shoulders, getting as deep inside you as he possibly can, right up close nose to nose with you staring into your eyes as he bottoms out inside you.

G // Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.): Sylus mocks you all the time, but never in the moment. When you're being intimate with him, trusting him with your body and your pleasure he takes it incredibly seriously. He treats you like his matriarch, his other half, and he wouldn't dream of doing anything to ruin those moments with you - he banks them away in his memory for when his work needs to keep him separated from you.

H // Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.): Sylus is impeccably groomed and wears a cologne with notes of cedarwood, pomegranate, tangerine and a slight hint of musk. It's a dominant, masculine smell with just the slightest smoky sweetness to it and it reminds you of his kisses after he's been drinking gin fizzes and smoking cigars. He waxes, preferring to just rid his body of hair quickly and be done with it and to be honest, he kind of enjoys the momentary sting of the wax strip.

I // Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect): It depends on if you're just having sex to satisfy a need, or if he's seducing you to satisfy his longing for you. If it's sex for need, he's dominant, confident, strong; he'll wrap his strong hands around your throat while he pounds you down into the bedsheets and love every second of your screaming his name. If he's having a moment of weakness and is lost in his memories of you and longing for his beloved? There's no one more gentle, he'll caress your cheek, peck kisses across your eyelids, cradle his arms around you like a cocoon until you feel like the two of you are the only things that exist.

J // Jack off (masturbation headcanon): Being somewhat long-distance with you, Sylus will masturbate with you, whether you know he's joining you or not...If you're home alone, playing with yourself in the dark and Mephisto reports back? Sylus will tune in through his cameras and watch you, trying to time it so that he cums with you. He's also open to phone sex with you when you engage and if you send him teasing pictures of yourself fresh out of the shower or lying around naked in bed pouting that you miss him, he'll send you back videos of him rubbing himself hard through his pants. He's shameless about his desire for you.

K // Kink (one or more of their kinks): Sylus loves to cum inside you, it's all he wants to do, he hates wearing condoms (though he'll never argue if you insist), and he loves mirror sex, whether it's sitting behind you with his legs locked around yours to keep your thighs spread, forcing you to watch as he pleasures you or just catching his own reflection and the way his hips clench when he's getting close to release, he loves it...it's probably an offshoot of his voyeurism from his time spent watching you through Mephisto's eyes, but he's addicted.

L // Location (favorite places to do the do): Sylus will take you any where, any time that you'll have him. He'd bend you over Jenna's desk in Unicorns HQ if you asked him to, but it has to be on your terms.

M // Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going): Sylus gets incredibly turned on by your trust and submission to him, any time you're in a situation where you're putting yourself in his hands, he is fighting the urge to run with that consent and go wild exploring every inch of your body and marking it as his. Every time he's intimate with you, he's re-branding you, re-claiming you as his.

N // No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs): Sylus would do just about anything you asked him to sexually if you were genuine with your request, he's very emotionally mature and honest with you so if you came to him with a request to try something, he'd do it for you, but he draws the line at sharing you. No threesomes, no cucking, you are his and his alone.

O // Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.): Sylus loves to eat your pussy, but he can be very intense and when he loses control it can be overstimulating and too much; it rare that he'd only eat you out, he's normally always got his fingers inside you at the same time, trying to stretch you and prepare you for his size. He's too big for you to suck properly, but he's fine with you jacking him off while you lick and suck on the tip because he's incredibly sensitive.

P // Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.): The pace Sylus takes with you depends on the situation and the mood that you're both in; if you're both just horny and filling a need he'll be fast and rough with you, but if he's really in his feelings making love to you he'll be very slow and tender with you. Because he knows he can lose control he's very careful to let you set the pace, but he can't help but have a little smug satisfaction if you need his help to make it to the bathroom afterwards because your legs are too shaky.

Q // Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.): They're not his choice, because Sylus likes to stay inside you until he's ready for another round and pick up right where he left off on pleasuring you, but if you beg for a quickie, he'll acquiesce and give it to you.

R // Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.): Sylus is very open to experimenting with you if you want to ask for something and he's prone to high risk behavior with you; he could care less if he got you pregnant, because you're his and he wants you forever, so he'll happily cum inside you as many times as you let him - he doesn't care if you're taking a pill or have an implant, that's irrelevant to him and his desire to be with you.

S // Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?): He's in peak physical fitness, so he can last. Each round with Sylus is a solid 20-30 minutes of intense sex, unless you tap out sooner because you feel like he's bruising your cervix and even then, he'll swap to going down on you and using his hands on you instead.

T // Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?): After hearing you moan his name via Mephisto one night, a black wooden box appeared at the end of your bed one night. Sitting inside it on a bed of decadent red velvet was a polished black glass dildo suspiciously matching Sylus' exact size, right down to the veins. You'd blushed furiously when you realised, wondering how he could have commissioned this for you with a straight face, but it doesn't stop you from using it when he's away on business trips.

U // Unfair (how much they like to tease): Sylus loves to edge you; every single session he edges you on at least 1 orgasm, he can't help himself, the way you beg and plead to cum just sounds so delicious to him and he loves the control.

V // Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.): Sylus can get vocal, he growls, he snarls, he purrs your name so seductively in your ear and he talks you through your pleasure, constantly asking you to voice for him that you're loving what he's doing to you, or telling you how good you feel wrapped around him.

W // Wild card (a random headcanon for the character): He knows you think he has a terrible singing voice, but nothing makes him happier than when he's lying inside you still and you're drifting off to sleep in his arms and he's singing you a soft little melody of a lullaby.

X // X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes): ...come on now, we've seen this man. Sylus is as caked up in the front as he is in the back, there's no need for an xray this man has never hid his size a day in his adult life; he's a shower, not a grower, he's 7 inches soft, 8.5 inches hard and girthy - it takes Sylus using 3 fingers on you to stretch you out ready enough to take him.

Y // Yearning (how high is their sex drive?): Sylus has a very high sex drive because he's very testosterone-fueled, but he's respectful enough to hold himself back to match your personal drive; if you give him the means and opportunity though, he will make sure you don't leave his bed except to eat or pee for an entire weekend.

Z // Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards): Falling asleep inside of you or with you on his chest is the only time Sylus finds it easy to fall asleep quickly, but he's still an apex predator; he sleeps lightly and only after he's seen you fall asleep first and knows you're safe.

[zweiginator]

ooh maybe law student patrick has to go to some fancy event his dad is sponsoring or something & invites reader so he’s not stuck by himself while having to schmooze all night. plus it wasn’t too bad of a deal on your own end since you’d be able to meet a bunch of prominent business people who could help your own budding career.

but then patrick’s dad spots the two of you & immediately starts belittling the fuckkk out of him. telling you he’s never brought a girl to one of these things to meet his family. makes a comment about how the girls he usually hung around were ditzy and vain, that he’s shocked patrick was playing nice with someone so much smarter and more hardworking than him, especially a girl. an ambitious, pretty little thing like you would be great for his firm a few years down the line.

idk how reader would react, but pat would definitely storm out and drag you out with him. his dad might think you’re eloquent and impressive, but patrick can change that in a matter of minutes when he gets you bent over and reminds you why he’d invited you there in the first place.

((i did not mean to yap this much lmao im so sorry))

oh 100% because i think patrick's relationship with his father (and family in general) is so complicated. his father's love for him yo-yos all the time. when he got into law school his father was ecstatic. when his first semester grades came back he was ashamed to be associated with his son. he would never be a partner with B minuses and Cs. that just wouldn't do.

and i think he resents you for a million reasons. one, you are self-made. you didn't need your father's wealth and influence and connections to get you into yale. you did it all by himself and patrick is threatened by that, because he knows he wouldn't have even thought about law school without his father's pushing. so in that sense, he feels like a fraud and a sellout, just existing to appease his family legacy and not actually doing what he wants to. and often times, he wonders how it would have felt to stand up to his father and tell him he wanted to play tennis seriously. professionally. whenever he had brought it up in the past, his father would roll his eyes. make jokes. that wasn't a job, he said. that wouldn't find him a good wife or give him grandchildren. that certainly wouldn't suffice for the zweig name. his son being a so-so tennis player.

he also resents you with how you came into school with a clean slate. nobody knew who you were, who your family was. no reputation preceded you. you have so much resilience but patrick constantly feels like he is battling himself and his family, the expectations of him that are only mounting.

so when patrick's father invites him to a firm gathering, he tells patrick to be charming and respectable. don't come alone and bring someone who is also charming, respectable. his father knows that patrick sleeps around, that he can't keep a girlfriend to save his life. so he's adamant about that last part.

patrick brings you. it only makes sense. and everyone adores you. you're dressed in an impeccable gown with beautiful earrings you saved up for. your handshake is firm and your smile is infectious. you're a natural. you're charismatic. patrick has never seen his father so proud of something his son has done. but that something is you, not his own accomplishments.

patrick feigns a smile all night. tries to butt into conversations, but everyone is so focused on you, what you have to say, your story and upbringing. your perfect grades.

"if only patrick had this much natural motivation!" his father nudges you. patrick's jaw ticks. just another fucking dig at him.

and then the kicker. your father gives you his phone number, the contact information for his firm.

"my business card." he hands it to you. "i'm not sure if you've secured a summer position yet, but we have a great retention rate with interns becoming attorneys at the firm and eventually partners. i think you'd be a perfect fit."

you shake his hand firmly and thank him. this opportunity is huge. and regardless of what you've heard about the zweig family--patrick's father really is smart and hardworking and charismatic. you see where patrick gets it from.

but patrick is just staring ahead of him, his lips pursed. he had been attempting to bring up the possibility of being a summer intern for his father, which he had vehemently refused speaking about for months. and now you come along with vanilla perfume and cherry red lipstick and you have the position secured.

and patrick knows you're smart and capable and deserving. but he really fucking hates you right now. he wants to make you feel dumb. and maybe he should feel bad when he says he feels sick and asks you to come to the bathroom with him.

he pulls your dress up around your waist and fucks you like a whore. hand splayed on your lower back and one yanking your hair. you can't think coherently, you can't say a word. you just hang on and listen to the lewd slaps of skin against skin. of patrick's taunts. this isn't what a respectable girl does. a respectable career woman doesn't fuck her boss's son in the bathroom like a fucking slut.

maybe it makes him feel better to know he can hold this above your head.

[megabuild]

as a bdubs fan, what are your thoughts on his team kill in last life/how that affected his relationships going into later seasons? 🎤

i think the reason a lot of people struggle with this is that many of us (myself included!) are still deeply into the idea of the characters being wholly separate from their creators, but you can't really talk about bdubs' killing of tango without acknowledging bdubs the man's love of doing whatever will tell the best story. it's why he doesn't kill etho as the boogeyman, and it's why he kills tango and lizzie when he does- those decisions are conscious choices as a narrator that he knows will make more drama and incentivize people to react in more interesting ways. this carries onto other controversial decisions of his, like "betraying" impulse at the end of 3rd life, and his behaviour in double life.

a lot of smarter people than me have made commentaries on how this sort of decision-making would relate to c!bdubs and i'm not going to attempt to try and get on their level but it's something that i feel the need to mention, because otherwise bdubs' decisions (particularly in last life) are often confusing and unstrategic to those who don't watch him. because yes, obviously, looking at him as purely a character with no awareness of what's going on outwith the story of a closed death game is going to make him look callous and uncaring. if you strip away all of the overarching narratives that lead to his decisions- for example, impulse being disloyal and betraying others all throughout 3rd life only to get his comeuppance at the end, or much of tango's story throughout the whole series being tied to him being dehumanised, objectified, and treated unfairly- then they do appear cruel and unwarranted. but at the same time, looking at bdubs' character purely as a narrative force with the omniscient ability to further other storylines doesn't lend to a lot of interpretations (even if this was done very literally in limited life by not having individual episodes and spending much of his time doing "boring" tasks to assist his team).

something particularly interesting about bdubs is how his behaviours aren't really called out except by those who perceived him as having wronged them (impulse and tango), as opposed to say, bigb and pearl, who despite only having "wronged" a select few people have worse reputations across the server. i don't know enough about bigb or pearl to hazard a guess at why this is but it could be due to the people they've crossed having more respect or influence- i can't speak for impulse but tango in particular is not taken very seriously, so the last life kill within the series is almost a joke, not a genuine threat. couple this with, for example, pearl having won and placed highly in dl/sl respectively, while bdubs' pvp is often not fantastic (though again this could be a choice on his part- see the liml skizz fight) and it can be easier to see why she could be perceived as a threat while bdubs is not.

so how does it affect his teams going forward? well, from last life onwards, one could say that the only people bdubs has teamed with are those who either a) have good reason to trust him regardless due to prior experience (cleo, etho) or b) those who have little other choice due to being perceived similarly as untrustworthy (scar, pearl). one could also say that it hasn't actually affected his teamups that much because bdubs was already dismissed as a liability from the get go (see: widow's alliance in 3rd life) and so, coupled with tango's habit of making bad decisions and being dehumanised, his kill in last life was seen less as his fault and more tango's fault for making the foolish decision of continuing to stay in the alliance. so bdubs' reputation remains as poor as it was initially and doesn't take the hit that bigb or pearl's did! it's a similar situation to scar or jimmy, but with the difference that bdubs is seen as just that bit more capable, along with the fact that rather than being an inevitable danger to himself (though he is fully capable of that) he's an inevitable danger to others, whether he wants to be or not.

this is all a bit of a nothingburger ramble not least because most of his alliances repeat (the only standout one being the mounders in secret life which has been wiped from my memory entirely) but i hope it at least makes sense.

[invested-in-your-future]

What restrictions have you set for it?

Oh that one's easy.

Two sets of rules. First its the specific restriction of what I'd be using. Then things specific to V4 and onward that I swore I would never bring up or use.

The Basic set of Rules:

V1 - V3 stays the same - Everything from the first trailers till the end of V3, including the post-credits scenes, is still exactly the same. Even if its the subplots that did not work or I don't like. It is what it is, it happened the way it did. Build upon past mistakes instead of trying to "perfect" things.

Song Lyrics from the first three volumes stay - things being written still have to take into account the soundtrack lyrics (only from those specific volumes that stay), just like one would have done when theorycrafting back then.

Keep the overall "idea" of the setting mostly same as V1 through V3 - which means that its still "Somewhat contemporary" vibe of the setting and the setting is "somewhat grounded" (with exception for rule of cool) with things that could be considered "magical" being limited and ambiguous enough as to not break that suspension of disbelief. Which means the idea of magic is still limited to what's connected to "Maidens subplot". Remnant is a world built on science and myth and while there’s something in the root of it all, the best part about this setting for me was always the fact that there’s very clear limits to the world and world-building. It was the world where “magic” was a far-away fairytale that "might" have existed but majority of the world probably never was ever going to care about it or be impacted by it. It was a world after terrible strife and multiple very human very normal wars, where kingdoms were built on quite grounded and contemporary ideas with very human conflicts that sometimes might be influenced by something "out there", but would still wind up being about here and now.

Each of the leads has to have a character arc - In some cases like Blake, that would mean having to think up something new altogether. Would be weird for something called "RWBY" to have nothing on the said R, W, B and Y right? So whatever goes has to be focused on them. While other characters exist and can have stories and arcs, in the end of the day its their story and their journey first and foremost.

What would NOT be used:

Relic McGuffin Subplot - Because honestly? Its just all around ehhh and a very tired trope (ex: if you reviewed at least ten D&D RP sessions you would find something like that being used in more than half) and there already are enough things going wrong within the setting that I don't really get why they needed this? I guess it allowed the writers to basically just...not need to think up why characters are in one specific location or the other? And in some cases as a convenient exposition plot-device? And the story already has plot threads of powerful items/locations, there's no need to THIS. Also "let's go on the hunt for magic RPG Plot Items" is kind of...crass right after all the trauma and war and probably the most "grounded" end to a volume that was Fall of Beacon? So yeah, N O P E.

Salem's Evil Doom Council of Very Evil - again why does the story need this? Why does an Ancient Evil with an army of eldritch monsters at her disposal need a bunch of stereotypes? Why do we need another set of henchmen for Salem? And honestly? Whenever they would show up my brain would just start up playing the Bad Horse segment from Dr Horrible and...no. I literally expect bunch of background henchmen start singing "The evil league of evil is watching so beware" whenever Cinder's group reacts to anything there. More factions and interests in the world? Sure, but Salem does not need this and it kind of feels detrimental to how her side was portrayed in V3? The scary thing about the bad guys is not the numbers, its all the manipulation and planning that ends up working because of human nature.

A lot of V4 and onward characters - Kind of self explanatory, but since a lot of those characters are kind of one-time one-note appearances tied to specific subplots, there's not really any reason for them to be there anymore? And quite a few are kind of completely redundant. RWBY already has more than enough characters it forgets to use past their first appearance already. Doesn't mean no new or returning characters though. Just very likely not the RWBY-proper V4+ ones.

The RWBY-proper version of Menagerie and the subplot there - Because honestly I have absolutely no idea what the writers thought when doing this considering how out of touch it feels. WF subplot is already very shaky and filled with unfortunate implications in the first three volumes already. There's absolutely no need for a season long subplot filled with padding that leads to Blake delivering the equivalent of a twitter rant about how "achshually marginalized communities are as bad as literal bigots because... uhhh... burning and looting". Not to mention the fact that they basically made Menagerie be literal equivalent of rich people resort with Blake's family owning a literal freaking castle. Like you literally could just not touch WF Subplot at all past V3 and it would end up being BETTER than what was there.

Salem and Ozpin backstory from V6 and everything connected to that - so yeah got to just kind of throw all of that away. Whoooooop. Gone. "Gods did it"? Gone. Ozpin's big secret that is supposed to make everyone angry but is kind of tamest most toothless revelation ever? Gone.

The Curing of PTSD via Fear of Rats. - I have already written pages upon pages about this with how extremely vile pretty much every aspect on how Yang's trauma is handled in V4 is so I won't repeat myself.

[lizziethat]

I hated how they made Sarah look in s3 for hooking up with Topper. They really made her look like she has no character development. We were robbed of Sarah and JJ boding time, i think that could've been so good. Like the fact they they were at that point in the same pickle, no money, no food, no family. Not even just that, they could've done so much with the both of the characters, maybe helping JJ kinda heal his trauma or maybe even she helping him with his feelings for Kie. The possibilities were really endless and it would've made both of them actually progress from where they were at that point... What do you think, i would like to here your opinion on this, what would you liked to see or to happen there?

I think what they were going for with Sarah is ...she's a teenager who made a mistake at a really hard time. John B. made mistakes too. Coming back was hard for all of them, so they all fucked up. And on paper, it sounds okay. But when Sarah's mistake is always the same one, and it never even made sense when she made it the first time, it's a little ugh. To me, she was sacrificed at the altar of plot -- and the desire to keep Topper around, which again, who needs him? The actor is lovely and all, but I've been done with Topper since Season 1. And it's sad that she was, because the Sarah Cameron of the finale? The one fighting for even before that John B? The one who hugged JJ, and who had those quiet moments with Kie? That Sarah Cameron is pretty darn amazing.

As I was watching the first time, I was really hoping the show was going to give us Sarah and JJ bonding. I think that was a missed opportunity. I think it should have started on the island, honestly. No one can convince me JJ didn't see the bruises on her neck after they got to the island and got flashbacks to Luke. And JJ might not be someone who likes putting his pain out there for everyone to see, but Sarah is one of them now. So I think he would have reached out, even without words. And the season did give them more of a familiarity with each other, which -- one month on that island with just 5 other people will do that. So yeah, they're close. It was right there, the parallel. Right. There.

Storytelling-wise, the reason why I didn't think we got it was -- Sarah would have been a good influence on JJ, and JJ would have probably made it so Sarah didn't go to Topper, just because she didn't need to. The writers wanted the Topper drama, and they wanted Jiara angst. There would have been much less angst if someone had just told JJ what an ass he was being. What I would have done would have been, if we needed to keep Topper (still not sure we do), then bring him in as JJ and Sarah are spending some time together, have him misinterpret things maybe and pull his Topper thing -- momentary angst, but also nothing that is OOC, and to keep the Jiara angst, just have JJ turn the convo Sarah wants to have about Kie into a conversation about their respective fathers. It would have been cathartic!

That's just spitballing, but my point is....there were ways to keep the angst for Jiara and even the momentary Jarah drama without doing my girl Sarah dirty, which I think they did. There were even ways to have her make an actual mistake, react really badly to John B. keeping secrets, go back to her Kook life -- hell, bring Rafe into it, anything is better than Topper!! I would rather deal with messy Cameron family drama than him.

Justice for Sarah Cameron 2k23. And Sarah and JJ actually bonding the way it makes sense for them to in Season 4.

[golbrocklovely]

Nobody cares about Sam the way they do Colby, they can pretend to but they don’t. Thats the answer to Colby getting shitted on for any little thing while Sam sometimes does stuff to get people talking and they don’t . Sam subtweets,throws shade at times towards Colby,Kat and other influencers and no one bats an eye.They pretend they don’t see his comments and all the man has to do is delete and not answer anyone that comes at him. He talks about the most disconnected, privileged stuff, some reply and it lands on deaf ears because he doesn’t react and keeps going like no one said anything. He’s blocked people on twitter recently because they brought up his hairline and his flakiness and although those people spoke out, no one cared. Colby has proven time and time again that what people say gets to him, and the bad thing is he responds to it so that feeds the haters and fuels the fire. Its like they get a rise out of getting a reaction from him. As long he keeps feeding into it, they will use anything against him to get a reaction out if him. Its a sick game.

i have a bit of a controversial opinion about sam's fans that i'm gonna save for a later date bc highkey i don't feel like getting into it rn lol

but as for what you said, i think to some degree there are a lot of fans that see sam as this sage, older brother so they listen to him but don't actually take in what he's saying. i think a lot of that has to do with fans being younger and or less experienced in life. so they hear what he's got to say and agree with him outright bc to them he's lived more life. he's more successful and has done more than them so why not listen to him?

but then some of us older/more experienced fans look at what he says and just kinda… blink at it. like, yeah i guess what you said can be true, but that's also not how most ppl's lives work.

i also believe that sam comes across as calm, cool, and collected emotionally and generally. so fans that don't feel that way about themselves think "oh i have to listen to him bc i want to be like that myself." when in reality, sam is a workaholic, emotional mess who's scared of losing his youth but pretends to know what he's doing and constantly works to the bone bc he can't be stagnant long enough to be left alone with his emotions/thoughts.

he's good at hiding all that, for the most part. but if you read between the lines, even for a second, you see the seams falling apart.

i also think you are right about why ppl hate on colby more; colby tries his best to apologize. he interacts with those that hate him, and that in itself garners more haters. they want a reaction and they know they can get one from colby. sam, bc either a) he doesn't care enough to interact or b) doesn't think he did anything wrong, ignores those that send hate his way. he doesn't apologize, he doesn't hash it out. he just says what he wants, and if ppl hate it, he deletes it and never brings it up again. now, idk if that's any better than what colby does, but it definitely works in sam's favor. bc half of the shit colby has been called out for, sam has ALSO done. but bc he doesn't try to fix it or be apologetic, no one remembers it.

as for sam blocking fans, i wish snc would block more of them tbh. some fans go too far, regardless of if they were just trying to be playful or silly or whatever. some say mean shit, so they deserve a block. you don't get to go on a public platform, @ your favorite creators and say mean shit to them and think you can get off scot-free. you ain't besties with them. they don't KNOW YOU. so what you think is a joke just comes across as hate.

and for all the things to yell at sam for, making fun of his hairline (which is something he has made apparent is a sore spot for him) is fucked. to said fans that did that, you deserve the block.

[dojae-huh]

hi:)! i’m a new nctzen,i found out about nct maybe 3 months ago? so i don’t really know much about anything haha. Anyways,since i found this blog,i have to say my perspective of jaedo has changed; mostly bc i used to be a dotae/taedo enthusiast,but some of the things i saw recently have made me question that. So i wanted to ask if there’s any timeline that you might’ve done in the past that could make me see things a little better,or,if you don’t mind,could you tell me more about the confession period? I’m really intrigued by that. Also if it’s not too much,I wanted to ask about the johndo fall out,do we know when it happened? From the recent content it seems as if they’re closer than ever,and I also think part of that is bc when Ty inevitably goes to military service it’s going to be quite hard on dy🥺,so he’s going to be relying on jn A LOT I feel like. Anyways sorry for the super long ask,have a great day!

Hi, welcome to the fandom.

I suggest you form your own opinion about the boys by watching official content (YT shows on NCT channels and appearences on programmes like Weekly Idol) rather then listening to the fans on twitter. I've noticed that even me, who is a very stubborn person, get my perception of idols changed due to influence of others (the annoyance from the stans is transferred by association on their bias). I have to do "reality check" and correct my view of an idol from time to time, get rid of the accumulated slime of prejudice.

I do have a post with a timeline of sorts, however, I won't be able to find it now. I'm certain JaeDo got together in Spring of 2018, probably in May. I strongly suspect Jaehyun confessed during the last days of 2016 and was initially rejected. I think it because Doyoung was in denial about his orientation and was spooked. He took half a year or so to think about the ordeal, then another half a year to weight in all the options, and a few months to become certain about his final decision and find the right moment for his own confession.

Jaehyun once said he is the type to tell his feelings straight out, to confess. He probably chose the end of 2016 because: a) Doyoung became a fixed part of 127, the future together in one unit was guaranteed, b) Jaehyun turned 20 (Korean age), he became an adult, so could demand to be treated as a grown up, seriously, and not as a child (you will see fans talking about Jae being the original nest baby, the first maknae, he was Do's cute dongsaeng), c) some Doyoung's actions/words could have made Jae be positive Do is also into boys.

The confession period has its own tag. The list of tags is in the header.

I don't follow any Johnny or JohnDo accs, so I don't notice the changes as quickly as with JaeDo. It is mostly other fans who alert me about changes with other neos and I start paying close attention to see for myself if their suspicions are true. Doyoung had a fall out with both Ten and Johnny around NCT2020. We don't know the reason. I can't tell if it was a one big fight or things worsened over time. Johnny and Doyoung promoted in different teams, so didn't interact much. The tension became apparent during 2021 and 2022 lives and programmes. The way they interacted and reacted to each other changed, the comfortable easiness to their rapport dissapeared. Johnny succeded in making Doyoung forgive him by the end of 2022. Currently they are back to how they were in the past, they even do lives together.

Most neos fought at one point or another. Even TaeDo. Doyoung even consulted a manager what he should do about him not getting along with Tae, and got a reply "deal with it, you will work together anyway".

I don't think JohnDo has anything to do with Tae. Doyoung doesn't rely on Johnny emotionally the way you suggest. He is "the oldest brother" in the unit. JohnTaeDo never formed a close-knit trio of their own. It was always JohnTae/TaeDo/JohnDo. If anyone, I expect Do to rely on Haechan as support more in the upcoming years when he will be the leader of the unit.

[blixarchiviumofwishes]

You can't escape it.

The behavior I will call "human reaction to circumstance", is everywhere. It cultivates the way you think, respond to situations, evaluate them, etc, and the same for those around you. Of course everyone is different, and has been brought up and impacted differently by their surroundings.

What I find intriguing is an individual's response to a certain situation. Let's look at a few examples.

Joe is a teenage boy, just about to start his senior year of private highschool. Joe is well liked by his teachers, and earns good grades. He is also an athlete on the school baseball team. During the final game of the season, Joe strikes out, leading his team to a crushing loss, or so he views it. Joe's Coach tells him not to be bothered by it, he can try harder next year. However, the teenager beats himself up about it, saying he should have done better, he shouldn't have missed the pitch, and that it's all his fault, despite there being several strikes during the game.

Tyler is an older man searching for work. He's single, with only a widowed mother to take care of. Tyler has sent in multiple applications to many firms of varying fields. He believes he can master any field if someone just gives him a chance. When a few of his forms are rejected, he picks himself up and tries again.

Ann is a working mother of three, and has been married for ten years. She is very lenient with running her household, which leads to messes around the house, and her children leaving work undone. She makes several attempts to train them how to be responsible with the help of her husband, but the children always revert to their bad habits, leading to arguments and punishment.

I apologize if these examples are unrelatable or bland.

After reading the scenarios, ask questions. What led Joe to react to the team's loss the way he did?

Why did Tyler respond the way he did after getting rejected?

Why is Ann blatantly hypocritical?

"Human reaction to circumstance" defines how and why these people reacted the way they did. The University of New Hampshire provides a means of understanding this phenomenon with a simple acronym.

A - Activating event (usually imprinted in the memory): what happened in either of the subjects past that may have influenced their interaction with the people and circumstances around them?

It's possible Joe's parents have very high expectations of their son, and have strict boundaries on what is success and what is failure. Living under such conditions would either put Joe under constant stress, or desensitize him from their demanding mindset.

It is possible that Tyler was taught at a young age, either by more experience, or his parents that life won't always work out, and that he must keep trying, even when everything seems to be going wrong.

It is also possible Ann's parents never paid attention to their daughter's uncaring attitude when it came to cleanliness, and she, as a result, unknowingly passed it on to her children. Since her parents never saw a problem with her messes, she doesn't realize she's the reason her children are messy the way they are.

B - Belief: religion often has a part in how devoted a person is to success, or traditional values, such as persevering and cleanliness (or lack thereof.)

C - Consequences: How the figures presented deal with their situations based on what they've gone through in the past, and the events, good or bad, that follow as a result.

It all stems down to the mind. The mind is easily moldable, especially during vulnerable periods of our lives. Combined with your personality (influenced by experience to a degree) this creates this psychological reaction.

Thank you for reading, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask, I'll do my best to answer.

Please don't quote me, I'm not a trained Psychologist.

UNH PACS. “What Triggers Your Emotional and Behavioral Reactions?” Psychological & Counseling Services, 15 Feb. 2023, www.unh.edu/pacs/what-triggers-your-emotional-behavioral-reactions.

[ataraxiasflame]

HotD Thoughts:

Though I’ve enjoyed parts the first two episodes of season 2 (Tom Glynn-Carney and Emma D’arcy are absolutely killing it), I have still felt generally underwhelmed by many choices that were made and I think it really comes down to a clash of the original source material vs the narrative perspective that the show has taken.

One of the reasons I love the book is because of the varying perspectives and biases that influence all the events and the ability to enjoy all the characters since you get contrasting perspectives of everyone. I had really hoped that the show was going to keep that essence from the book, and that we would see a more balanced portrayal of both sides of this family, but after the first 2 episodes, it’s clear that it has rather gone the route of good (TB) vs bad (TG), and that most of the changes have been done in favour of TB.

I’ve said before that I don’t mind changes to a show if they are done to enhance the characters and the plot, but personally, I feel like the changes that are being made are mostly in service of making TB look better, rather than enhancing the actually scenes or characters that are being changed.

Because many of the changes that have been made have had significantly more negative responses so far (which was 100% the intention of the showrunners). For instance:

• I actually didn’t mind the way B&C played out (without Maelor and the element of choice) and I think Phia was phenomenal in this scene, but ending this scene with Alicent & Criston Cole completely overshadowed the horror of what Helaena and Jahaerys suffered, and it instantly breaks the temporary sympathy you have for TG (the online reactions calling them hypocrites and blaming THEM speaks volumes to what most people reacted to in that scene).

• Another example is the Aemond brothel scene. This scene makes sense on paper. There’s no denying that his character has clear issues with regards to his mother, that he is dealing with guilt regarding Luke’s death and clearly has no one to turn to, so Aemond seeking comfort, even if he has to pay for it, does not shock anyone. But there are so many ways this scene could have been portrayed differently where the emphasis would have been on his inner conflict, his own trauma etc, but instead the showrunners (as with B&C) didn’t want sympathy for TG to be the forefront of this scene…so instead they made the scene jarring and uncomfortable through the positioning/filming angles of Aemond and by including the shot of the milk. (Again, the online bodyshaming reactions and comparisons of Ewan Mitchell to Voldemort speaks volumes for what the showrunners wanted people to remember of that scene.) The real essence of the scene should be about what drives this character into the arms of this specific person and how this might/will influence his role in the war, but instead it became about the ‘Homelander vibes’. Don’t tell me that wasn’t intentional.

• Unfortunately I have also seen some leaks for episode 3 and 4 which I’m honestly hoping were fake, but given that they make sense after what we’ve seen in episode 1 and 2, it wouldn’t shock me. They do confirm my point though that many changes are not being done to the benefit of the source material but rather to the benefit of TB and the desire for gratuitous shock value.

What it comes down to is this: as someone who really enjoyed the book, I don’t believe I will truly enjoy this show as much as I originally had hoped because the showrunners have taken the source material and are ‘making it their own story’. And that’s fine. Hoping that a show will stay true to the book is not unreasonable but it’s also fair to be somewhat underwhelmed when great source material is changed and the changes don’t quite hit the same.

And you know what, the author said something similar only a few weeks ago.

Will I still watch? Probably. I know there is a lot that I’m not going to enjoy, but I will always appreciate (and in many cases, prefer) the characters the way the were written in the book, despite the incredible acting we’ve seen from the actors.

[cylee126]

Writing For New Media experience

Under our lecturer, Mr. Teddy Zabalerio, we have absorbed a way of teaching that we have never experienced before. It was a journey I wasn't expecting, but I coped to it with the help of the people around me.

a. How was your journey in the course writing for new media?

It was a great start, I've been wanting to be literate and learn the fundamentals of being an effective writer and media content creator. My classmates have offered reports that discussed the importance of laws that can protect works, the relationship between the influencers and audience, marketing strategies, and so on.

b. What specific experience in the course made impact to your view of the media platforms and the their dynamics?

Making the podcast stayed with me till now, as it was just done recently and remembering how we dissected the topic, observing how the fans should react and the detail of the imprint she has done to the media. Putting what we've learn in classes in an output that'll make ourselves experience and exert the knowledge we have gained. A great specific of what I'm saying is considering the target audience and how to capture their attention. Being precise and direct is a must, creating a connection, impression, that'll last long in the audience.

c. What can be your contribution to new media writing according to what you have learned in the course?

New media writing should be expecting my content that will have an impact to the viewers. I will create to entertain, adding the fundamentals and principles that I've made known. Contributing the lessons, will help create an environment where information served as exactly as it's needed, not overstepping one's rights, and valuing the creative process and journalism. Helping my co-content creators in reminding the value of their work, is what I am also intending to do. Educating them from time to time, specially if injustice was presented.

[hosojokelogo]

The Future of Personalized Advertising

Personalized advertising is one of many different marketing strategies that brands use to reach potential customers. These include media planning, public relations, product pricing, distribution, sales strategy, and events, among others. The key to success in all of these areas is the ability to personalize campaigns for each customer.

Whether you’re running a small business or a large corporation, your marketing efforts should always be focused on reaching the right people with the right message. When done well, personalized ads can help your brand stand out from the crowd and make your business more profitable in the long run.

Targeted Ads In recent years, personalized advertising has become a popular tool for marketers. Using data about consumers, like what websites they visit, their interests and demographics, personalized advertising allows businesses to display relevant ads to specific individuals. While this can be a great way to boost engagement and increase your sales, it’s important to keep an eye on privacy concerns.

Influencer Marketing Creating relationships with influencers can be an effective way to connect with tech website design idea your audience. This type of marketing is especially useful when you are trying to build a loyal following. It’s important to work with influencers that have a similar demographic to your target market and are trustworthy.

Facebook’s ad platform offers a number of ways to target influencers with their own audience or lookalike audiences. The first is influencer engaged audiences, which are based on the followers of an influencer who already shows interest in your brand. These users are the ideal targets for influencer ads, as they are highly likely to interact with your ad.

The next step is to create lookalike audiences, which are based on the same demographic and interests as your influencer’s engaged audience. When you techogle.co set up a lookalike audience, Facebook finds users with similar demographics and interests to the ones that have shown interest in your influencer’s content in the past.

Retargeting Personalized ads are a great way to reengage with existing customers. They are also very effective at overcoming cart abandonment, which occurs when a consumer shops around but doesn’t purchase the products they initially wanted to buy. Retargeting can help businesses reengage with consumers who abandoned their shopping carts and re-engage them with new offers, deals or products they may have overlooked.

It’s a good idea to A/B test your personalized ad designs and messaging to find the most successful one for your brand. In addition to being more engaging, personalized ads can also lead to higher transaction rates.

However, consumers aren’t always happy with the types of personalized ads they see online. They are concerned with how companies collect and use their data, and they have a lot of questions about online surveillance. They also think that ad personalization can create echo chambers, which limit diversity of thought and amplify negative messages. As a result, some people are turning away from personalized ads altogether. This is an unfortunate outcome, but it can be avoided by being mindful of what your customers are willing to give you and how they react to the information you share with them.

[thedreadvampy]

Like it's something about. the idea that gayness is a universally visually readable thing. like. it feels like how homophobic kids just diagnose people with Gay. like the idea of a gaydar that's so big a part of the straight relationship to gayness

like that this person was framing it as an unlikely surprise that someone who looked ~normal~ would be gay, I guess?

like. I didn't look further into this tiktoker, we were watching videos on Sam's phone, but I would guess they were in some way queer based on how they approached the question. and the Gay Diagnosis was being done with the sense that being gay was the Good Answer. but being queer doesn't prevent you replicating fucked up ways of approaching queerness, you know?

and like yeah a lot of queer people flag their queerness in subtle or overt ways. a lot of queer people are visibly GNC or have specific queer affects or dress in ways influenced by queer subcultures. but a lot of queer people also don't? and that's not an attempt to Pass As Straight it's just. the presentation that's right for them (or it's the way they have to dress for work, or for the society they're moving in).

like gay people are still people with a broad range of styles and aesthetics and interests, being gay isn't a subculture in and of itself. it's at the centre of a lot of subcultures, but subcultural presentation or outward gender nonconformity aren't the defining aspects of gayness - being gay is.

and it's not a "oh being GNC/dressing a certain way/these specific affects have nothing to do with being gay" bc obviously they do and that is good and cool! again I am making the dyke jacket FOR A REASON. but also like. you're not OBLIGATED to present a certain way.

and this habit of like. trying to clock queer people. trying to identify us not by relevant actions (like dating ppl of the same gender or talking about our identity openly) but by affect and aesthetic and like. how we hold ourselves. how we dress. how our bodies look. how we interact with friends. like, by how we live every tangential part of our lives. as opposed to how we self-describe, who we openly date, or what we share with you about our sexuality and gender...idk I feel like that connects to some Not Great consequences.

if someone wants you to know they're queer, they will tell you (and the athlete the video was about has told us! she has a girlfriend and talks publicly about being gay!) and I think it's a) dodgy as hell to make a game of publicly guessing who's gay but also b) like. it gets you in a weird headspace to start taking things like 'gay people have undercuts and forearm tattoos and straight people have long hair and cardigans and high heels' as gospel rather than at most as very silly jokes. (which again. this video was a joke for sure. I'm just interested in why I've reacted so strongly)

I think it's kinda like the 'mlm belong in dark academia wlw belong in cottagecore' thing...it feels very like taking a very hegemonic binary, and doing it again but Woke This Time.

saw a tiktok this morning where someone was playing a game they called "gaylimpians" or something where they tried to get the audience to guess if a female Olympian was straight or gay

and I have not been able to stop thinking about it bc it was SO FUCKED in ways I am just responding to viscerally bc I'm like is this misogyny or homophobia or a Secret Third thing

bc like the stuff they were pulling up considered of "this outfit's gay. she's got lots of muscle, that's gay. she doesn't have any tattoos, that's pretty straight. oh she's wearing a dress at a wedding that's super straight. this photo looks oppressively straight cause she has long hair and makeup and a cardi." and. no joke. "Oh small hoop earrings at the beach that's giving bisexual"

and I know. I KNOW. that it's a joke. and I KNOW about flagging and dressing gay (I am literally tagging my current project "Dyke Jacket"). but it's just SO gross to me and it's like itching at my brain why I'm reacting so strongly.

[prophaetia-a]

being a psych major rly makes me a better person i can’t lie

[loopy-froots]

Childhood Friends

Brahms Heelshire x afab!Reader

Author: @loopy-froots

Word Count: 3261 (WOW wtf…)

Slight request by @leahromanof : small age gap (Brahms is 26-28 and the reader is 20)

Summary: The Reader grew up very close to the Heelshire family, as their parents were business partners with them. However, after the fire incident, Brahms and the Reader took some space from each other. While the Reader knew Brahms was still alive, they didn’t know under the circumstances he was. When a sudden tragedy strikes their family, the Reader is left with no home. The Heelshire family offer their home with welcoming arms, but much has changed between all of them since they have last seen each other.

Warnings: 18+ ONLY, swearing, slasher x reader, smut, virgin/unprotected sex (masc and fem), abusive parents (fem), insecurities (on both parts), slight age gap (6ish years?), a slight size kink (if you squint?), etc.

Author’s Note: I wasn’t too sure what to write for the age gap so I hope this is good enough!!! I also threw in a lot of personal needs I’ve been having, so I hope y’all don’t mind! Feel free to let me know your thoughts!!!

~~~

*2nd Person POV*

You couldn’t believe this was happening. You were finally going to see your beloved childhood friend, Brahms Heelshire, again after close to ten years of separation. You wished this was not under these circumstances, as you never intended to cause your family such turmoil.

“Y/n! Come in, why don’t you?” Mr. Heelshire exclaims as he opens his front door. He must have seen you walk up their driveway. You can see Mrs. Heelshire inside, but she shares a concerning expression. Trying to brush it off, you step inside and am greeted by the warmth of the house. It was a terribly chilly winter day, and the walk there exhausted you.

“Come, dear! Let me get you a cup of tea to warm you up! You look rather frozen!” Mrs. Heelshire snaps out of her funk and laughs al0ng with her husband. Their jovial attitude makes you feel rather welcomed and loved.

“I cannot thank you enough, Mr. and Mrs. Heelshire… I… I’m terribly sorry that this all happened… especially so suddenly…” You look down with embarrassment.

“Nonsense! We’re always happy to have you, Y/n! Our home is yours!” Mr. Heelshire smiles at you, but you get a somewhat urgent vibe from him. You’re not sure how to feel about it, but you figure since they’re being ever so kind you were in no position to question.

“Now, dear… why don’t you tell us exactly what happened… Perhaps we may help with your parents’ situation?” Mrs. Heelshire gently suggests, but you shake your head in disagreement.

“Unfortunately, I’m not sure that’s possible… you see, I recently came out to my parents as non-binary… they’ve never been overly supportive of that kind of stuff, but I knew I couldn’t hide myself any longer…” You explain shamefully.

“Oh my… that is a rather difficult predicament, hm? However, we want you to know that we fully support you… in fact, our own Brahms considers himself genderfluid,” Mrs. Heelshire shares, which honestly makes you feel less alone.

“Really? I… I had no idea… Thank you, but speaking of which… where is Brahms…? Does he still live with you?” You wonder.

“Oh, um… yes… he does, but he’s grown to be rather… timid… so he doesn’t always come out when people are visiting…” Mr. Heelshire explains swiftly, and you try to understand. You don’t fully know what he’s been through, so who are you to judge his social anxieties?

“That’s alright. Well, I just hope he knows how excited I am to see him again…” You confess, causing a surprised reaction from the Heelshire couple.

“Really? Well, that’s certainly wonderful! I’m sure he'll become more open to meeting you after he gets used to you being in the house…” Mrs. Heelshire states with a gentle smile, and you nod your head in agreement.

With that, you are then taken on a tour of the house. You’re shown areas you can and cannot wander to, and you mentally note each location that’s off limits. You’d never want to make the Heelshires uncomfortable, despite how curious you were. They show you to your room, which you immediately recognize as Brahms’ childhood room.

“Oh wow! This looks exactly how I remembered it!” You giggle.

“I’m glad you’re fond of it still, as Brahms insisted you take his room for your own… comfort…” Mr. Heelshire shares, but something tells you he’s not entirely being honest. However, you ignore the feeling bubbling up in your stomach.

“Well, feel free to unpack your things dear. As we mentioned before, we are planning on going on a trip within the next few days. So it will be just you and Brahms for a while…” Mrs. Heelshire reminds you, and you shiver slightly for some reason.

“Oh, yes… Well, I hope the two of you enjoy it!” You politely respond.

~~~

“Goodbye, dear! And remember, follow the rules and you’ll get no trouble from our dear Brahms!” The Heelshires bid you farewell and leave in their cab. Closing the door, you sigh in relief.

“Alright, follow the rules… I can do that… it’s the least I can do since they were so kind as to let me stay for a while…” You motivate yourself.

“Y/n…” A sudden familiar, childlike voice echoes through the house. You looked around to see who it came from, but you saw no one. It had to be Brahms, right? Who else could it have been, but where was he?

“B-Brahms?” You sheepishly call out. You hear no answer and suddenly feel quite stupid. Maybe you just heard the shifting of the house or imagined someone was calling your name?

“Alright, focus… first things first, making some lunch… hopefully he’ll come down to eat with me…?” You hope. You could’ve sworn you heard another childish giggle somewhere, but you try to shake the skittish feeling building up. You quickly make whatever you feel like for lunch, desperate to finish so that you can call Brahms down to eat.

“Um, Brahms? I… lunch is done… if you want some?” You yell throughout the house, but you hear no answer. Finally feeling defeat, you turn back to the kitchen and notice that one of the plates of food has disappeared.

“How did he get to it without me noticing?” You ask out loud. Every instinct within you tells you that something was wrong, but you tried your best to give the man some time to adjust to the new living situation.

“Y/n…?” In the middle of eating, you hear a now more adult version of the voice you heard earlier. You drop your fork in surprise and frantically look around for the source. You then see a tall and scruffy looking man standing at the end of the dining room. He was holding the plate that is now empty, and you figure that must be Brahms. He was very odd looking, in all honesty. He wore a porcelain mask that resembles the type of little dollies you used to keep as a kid.

“Oh, um… h-hello, Brahms…?” You try to be friendly towards him, despite the creepy feeling you got from him already. However, him not answering causes the suspicion to form again.

“Um… did you enjoy the meal I made for you?” You try to spark a conversation, but Brahms nonverbally nods in response.

“That’s good! I’m… glad…” You smile awkwardly at him, but his masked face remains expressionless. You shift uncomfortably in your seat, and Brahms notices the tense state you’re in. He begins to step closer to you, and sets his plate on the table. Sweating profusely, you wonder what he’s doing. He steps closer and closer to you until he’s directly in front of you. While you sit, he towers over you. You’d never admit it, but he’s very intimidating. However, you try your best to be polite.

“Is… everything alright, Brahms?” You ask innocently. He just stares at you, though, never saying a word. When you were about to get up and try to walk away, he grabs your arm and pulls you into him.

“B-Brahms…?!” You exclaim as he squeezes you in his broad arms. He’s rather warm, but trembling. Your heart relaxes when you realize he only wanted a hug.

“Y/n… nice to see you again…” He finally peeps out. Your cheeks heat up, but you lean into the embrace. The two of you just hold onto each other for a few moments, enjoying each other’s presence.

“Good to see you, too! I was worried you were upset with me for coming back after such a long time…” You try to pull away and look him in the eyes, but his grip keeps you there.

“Mm, no… not upset… lonely…” He breathes into your ear, sending a chill down your back. He was… lonely? That makes you feel bad… really bad… how could you leave him like you did after the incident?! It wasn’t completely your fault, as you parents were the main reason you stayed away. They told you what a dangerous person Brahms was, and they forbid you from being influenced by him in any way.

Additionally, your parents never liked how fond the two of you seemed towards each other, despite the slight age difference you had. Brahms was only six years older, and to you it didn’t matter for terms of friendship. However, your parents saw the attraction Brahms had towards you right away. As children, it only developed into a little crush, but the older the two of you got the more obvious it became, to the adults at least. You seemed quite oblivious to his attempts to woo you, as you had just thought he was being friendly.

“I…I’m sorry, Brahms… I should’ve… I wish I’d have… I’m sorry…” Tear well in your eyes as you look down from his gaze. Your focus then shifts to the ever growing bulge in his pants that you hadn’t noticed before.

“It’s alright… happy you’re here now…” Brahms strokes your hair with his free hand, and he leans into you. You feel him stroke your neck with his nose, seemingly trying to get a reaction out of you. Completely frozen, you felt unsure of what to do. All of the sudden, your head’s ideas clicked and made you realize the years of yearning he’d been doing for you.

You’d be lying if you said you didn’t still have feelings for the boy you grew up with. You always admired how protective he was of you. You never admitted your affection towards him, though, as you thought he might react negatively. To you, the age difference acted as a barrier, but to him, it seemed he didn’t mind in the slightest. All he’s ever known was his love for you, despite the age gap. However, is this still the same boy as before? You probably barely knew him anymore. Then why were you getting so flustered over this simple interaction?

“Brahms?” You look back into his eyes with a curious glint. What was he planning with you?

“Hm?” He nonchalantly answers.

“Are you…?” You start, but then feel too embarrassed to finish.

“Yes,” He agrees without needing you to explain. You feel him jerk his hips into your stomach softly, desperate to get some friction between the two of you. As intoxicating as he was being, you still felt unsure of your stance with him.

“I’m not sure I want to… I mean, this is so soon… don’t you think?” You try to reason mainly with yourself to try and stop this from happening. With that, Brahms stops and pulls away from you with a pout.

“No?” He questions with sweet eyes.

“I… yes…?” You try to stand your ground with yourself again, but it’s no use. Brahms’ heartfelt pleading turns you to putty in his hands.

“Please?” He begs. With that, you finally agree, and he’s onto you. Groping all up and down your sides, front, and back, he feels every inch of your body as if he’s desperate to find something in you.

“Brahms… wait…?” You stop him again, realizing you hadn’t seen his actual face yet. You politely ask him to remove his mask, but he visibly slumps.

“Why…? You… don’t want to see me…” Brahms insecurely explains, but you shake your head.

“I do! Please…?” You whine as he continues to feel up your back. Brahms hesitates slightly, then agrees. With that, he slowly removes the porcelain from himself. This leaves his bare, burnt, and uncertain face into your view. You’re unsure of what to say at first, as your feelings are conflicted. However, you quickly decide to go with what your heart felt.

“You’re so handsome, Brahms…” You confess with a sheepish smile. He doesn’t respond, though, almost as if he’s debating what to say as well.

“Mm!” You moan through a sudden kiss he placed on your lips, making Brahms smile to himself in the kiss. He loved the way you reacted to his touch. He quickly realized you were feeling the same towards him, and that gave him the confidence to continue. You rapidly grew a certain heat in your pelvic area, but the feeling was still unfamiliar to you. Only on the rare occasion did you allow yourself the pleasure, but you felt guilty for it every time.

“Slut… whore… useless daughter…” Your parents’ past words radiate in your head, and a panic washes over your body. Brahms senses your inner conflict again, and stops once more.

“Y/n…?” He gently asks to see if you’re alright. Tears well up in your eyes as the guilt of disappointing your parents consumes you.

“I’m sorry, I just… my mom and dad would be so upset… I just feel so… lost…” You admit, and Brahms wipes your cheeks with his calloused hands.

“Mm, screw them…” He chuckles darkly.

“But…” You try to argue, but he shushes you instead.

“They’ve never been good to you, Y/n…” Brahms shares, and it confuses you at first. They’ve always given you food, shelter, and anything else a child would need.

“But they… they mean well…” You try to reason it out, but he still disagrees.

“I’ve been watching, listening to how they treat you your whole life, Y/n… the way they scream at you, gaslight you, disappoint you… that’s not love… that’s abuse…” Brahms whispers with a broken heart for you. The pain of realization hits you, but you try to muffle your cries with your hands over your mouth.

“I’m so sorry… I know how hard it is… but I… I want to love you… really love you…” He kisses the top of your head sweetly. His words fill your heart with hope that you might not be miserable the rest of your life.

“Really…? I mean, I would love that… but I don’t want to force you into anything…” You self doubt yourself.

“Absolutely. I mean, hell… why do you think I was doing all of this?” Brahms wonders, and you suppose he’s right.

“Yeah, true… I’m sorry, I just feel bad… but thank you, I’d love to… y’know…?” You admit with a shy grin, which he immediately returns.

“Good,” He smirks and kisses you again. This time, the kiss was much more desperate for the sweet result. Brahms shows no mercy for you this time as he begins biting your lips. Your little gasps invoke a strong sense of pride within him. He was making you feel this way, and he alone would make you feel good.

“Hm,” His deep voice rumbles in his chest. Your eyes flutter open and shut, unsure of how to go about this situation. Squirming around awkwardly, you then feel Brahms grab your waist as he lifts you up and onto the table.

“Ah! Brahms...?!” You yelp in surprise.

“Take off your shirt, Y/n.” He demands, already sliding his hands underneath. You timidly follow his instructions, removing your shirt and bra from your body. Brahms looks down from your face and onto your breasts. He adored them, so he ran his hands over them as he gave each nipple a cheeky pinch.

“Oh, Brahms…” Your eyes close in bliss, but he snaps your attention back to his eyes.

“Look at me,” He suggests sternly.

“O-okay…” You do as he wishes and stare deep into his icy eyes. He’s tender and gentle, but he still makes you feel so small next to him.

“You’re so pretty, Y/n… I’ve always loved you…” Brahms brushes a stray lock of hair out of your face, giving him a better view at your beauty.

“I have loved you for the longest time, too, Brahms… I just never knew how to tell you…” You try your best to express your feelings, but your past experience with doing so has never been easy for you. Each emotion you shared ended in an argument with your parents.

“I’m so glad… please…” Brahms pleads, leaning his forehead against yours. He didn’t have to finish for you to understand what he wanted.

“C’mere…” Your sudden burst of trust hits the two of you like a train. Brahms roughly attacks your neck with his lips and teeth, nipping at all your sensitive areas. Exploring each and every inch, he scopes out which areas you like best.

“Mm, Y/n…” He whimpers, rubbing his needy cock against your body. You had neglected it for far too long, and you wanted to give it some love too.

Lowering your hand down to his member, you stroke him through his pants. Pre-cum leaks from his tip and soaks through his underwear slightly. His moans fill your ears with sweet misery. The lack of being inside of you was killing him, but he wanted to take things slow for you.

“Ah, Y/n…! Please! I’ll be a good boy!” He begs you to allow him entrance, and you agree. Instantaneously, he pulls his clothes off and prepares his painfully hard cock to slide into you.

“Oh! You feel… so tight…!” He didn’t tell you, but this was his first time as well. The first feeling of being inside of someone, especially when that someone is you, was the best feeling he’s ever felt. He couldn’t help himself but pump in and out of you. He tried his best to go slow, but his selfish excitement got the better of him. However, you were far from upset by this.

“Ah! D-don’t… stop…!” You plead with him, and he obliges. Slapping his body into yours in a rhythmic motion causes you to quickly feel that coil in your stomach tighten around him.

“F-fuck…! You’re gonna make me…!” As quickly as it started, your love making ended. The two of you came together simultaneously, and everything felt perfect to you. However, Brahms felt a wave of guilt.

“I… I’m sorry… I wish I had lasted longer… and I shouldn’t have pressured you into this…” He goes on and on about all the things he could’ve done better, but you then stop him with a chaste peck on his lips.

“You were perfect. Thank you,” You lovingly look into his eyes. He searches for any sort of regret, but when he finds none he settles into your arms.

~~~

MY REQUESTS FOR DRAWING AND WRITING ARE STILL OPEN!! FEEL FREE TO SEND AN ASK/MESSAGE WITH YOUR IDEA!!

[allamericansbitch]

My fav songs off the album are definitely the bonus 3am songs, I feel like they are so so much better and different than the original 13? The only ones that stand out to me of the 13 are karma and bejeweled, maybe sweet nothing too. The 13 song album kind of fells like red+1989 to me? It feels like an old sound. like it's promo for 1989 taylors version in a way. the 7 3am songs are so, different and i much prefer them.. What are your favorites what do you think/feel abt the album?

i've seen a lot of people say they prefer the 3am songs which is interesting. i think they definitely go more in depth and have a more familiar type of writing for taylor, in terms of it being closes to folklore and evermore writing that people loved. I feel strange saying which one i prefer because they both offer two very different things. I think the standard version is easier and more fun to listen to, i can already assume i'll listen to it the most out of the two, but the 3am version is more to digest and has more interesting things happening. preference will all depend on my mood at the time i guess.

i do think having both options really shows how taylor can do the fun pop with catchy melodies and easy-listening and then also do experimental, less structured, story-driven songs. i am really curious on like... why she chose to do one and then the other. like she separated what she did on folklore, with the whole album being catchy pop melodies but interesting storytelling and instrumentals. it combined those two styles but this time she separated them into two different albums... i would love her for to explain why just out of curiosity.

im gonna put my thoughts on each side/song under the cut because i have a lot of thoughts and this is the first time someones asked lol

(update: i said so much im so sorry lol)

standard:

i saw some people hating the production and i do not understand them tbh. i love this style i think it suits taylors vocals so well. i think her vocals are so good on this album and her falsetto on lavender haze and labyrinth is INSANE. but her lower register on maroon and anti-hero are amazing too.

people saying it's a blend of rep and lover confuse me tbh because those are like... my least favorite albums but i love this so idk what thats about. i dont hear rep or lover influence at all... both had very rough, clunky production and this has softer smoother production and the lyrics are wayyyy more mature...

one thing no one can discount is her ability to write interesting melodies and hooks and this side of the album proves that, every single song has a melody i love on it.

lavender haze: obsessed with the production and again her vocals are insane. the r&b vibe is everything to me. and the bridge is so cool i love how she delivers.

maroon: the CHORUS?? those lyrics are so good and the story is so cute, that chorus melody is one of her best of all time to me.

anti-hero: perfect single choice and the way she described it i didnt think it would be upbeat btu is slaps. the lyrics are so good and the bridge is really interesting to see people react to. fans who are used to getting the meaning of things fed to them like in some of her other songs are just like 'well thats weird!' but it's one of the saddest things shes ever admitted under the disguise of a catchy upbeat melody.

snow on the beach: lana haters we won. this song is sooo calm i love it. i dont love the 'weird but fucking beautiful' line that much... i feel like she couldve done a little better than that tbh lol. but it doesnt ruin the song for me. i lose my mind at the way she sings 'and it's coming down no sound it's all around' ugh its gorgeous.

you're on your own kid: i've watch two reaction videos so far and they both didnt like this song and want to jump through my screen and put them in a chokehold wtf. im obsessed with the warm, fuzzy guitar production and the chorus melody. amazing. how it just keeps growing in energy is amazing and the story is beautifully told. her highlighting always wanting to feel special and wanted and for people to like her is a constant in her life, and then turning that into needing to remember the good things and wanting to appreciate them. she nailed it. the bridge is just euphoric and deserves to be screamed live i need it.

midnight rain: this one had to grow on me a little but it's a vibe. the melody kinda carries it for me. the lyrics are good and the production being moody but having these moments of sparkling keys or sound being representative of how she was moody but he'd bring in happy moments is cute.

question...?: i think this might be my least favorite, it's still good but i have no idea what this girl is talking about to be honest. i feel like she should've expanded on it way more because it feels like i walked into a story when it was halfway done already, i need more context lol. but it's cute and the melodies make it fun vibe to. the bridge is the highlight, the melody is so fun and the thing jack does with dragging out the last parts of the line is so cool.

vigilante shit: if we ignore the first line it's great lol. i can see why people dont like it and i can see why people love it. i'm in the middle. if it went longer i probably wouldn't like it. i think it serves the story of the album more than just being an individual song. the bridge is my favorite part.

bejeweled: i dont think i liked this song when i first heard it, it was a little too cheesy for me but once i leaned into it i think it's fun and catchy.

labyrinth: everyone give it up for my boy labyrinth!!! this is amazing and her voice is so gorgeous. the production is amazing and that chorus is so comforting? obsessed with the way she sings the plane part. the outro is so pretty too.

karma: she's soooo fun!!! the people with a sense of humor really won with this one. 'karma is my boyfriend' is literally the best sentence. her being like 'me and karma are so tight doesnt that like... suck for you?' the biggest song on the album for sure. the party song.

sweet nothing: the cutest song. i think it's something the album really needed a moment of cute sincerity. the melody in every part is amazing and the fact she highlights that he always says she smart and has a beautiful mind made me want to rip my heart and use it as a tissue. that bridge??? the lyrics are amazing. those classic jack horns go beautifully as well.

mastermind: this one was another grower but i like it. i think its a perfect ending track. the second verse is my favorite lyrically. but also the bridge is heartbreaking and beautiful. the part when she says 'because i carreeee' and a bunch of harmonies come in is amazing.

3am version:

the great war: i think this one is my least favorite simply because it gets a little repetitive. and it's very long for a song that doesn't really change that much from the beginning. and it's a topic we'd heard from her... relating her life to a battlefield. i do like the line 'diesel was desire you were playing with fire'. she's a fun song but i dont think i'd play it intentionally, if it comes on shuffle i'll listen.

bigger than the whole sky: this one is good but it suffers form the same thing as great war, it's too long and doesnt really go anywhere. i think the production is gorgeous and the lyrics are beautiful so that helps a lot.

paris: she's cute and she's fun and the idea is so cute. the first verse is so funny i love it.

high infidelity: calcium harvest come get you juice. i love the way she sings 'do you really wanna know where i was april 29th' and that whole part. that whole refrain is amazing and probably my favorite part of the song.

glitch: i LOVE this one. it's so experimental and weird. i love that guitar and the way she sings and drags out the end of certain lines. the melody of the chorus is everything.

would've could've should've: this is the other favorite of mine. im so glad she finally told him to fuck off again he needed a reminder, he was getting too comfortable. obsess with the production on this one and how dark and threatening it is. within 5 seconds you know shes about to kill someone. this is also one that goes really long but she has a lot to say and she should say it!!! the best part of the song is basically the bridge and every part after that. GIVE ME BACK MY GIRLHOOD!!! IT WAS MINE FIRST!!! best lyric on the entire album.

dear reader: a cute ending as well and the production is amazing, very similar to labyrinth. i've seen a lot of people think this is taylor giving the audience lessons she's learned overtime... and that's scary because she's telling people what not to do lol. she herself reveals she's an unreliable narrator by saying 'never take advice from someone who's falling apart' and she is very obviously that in this song. so... no one listen to the advice. it's really clever though and an interesting subject for a song. i don't think she's ever done that so it's cool.

[kinardgo]

Is everything changes worth reading? I took a brief look a while ago but i didn't have the stamina for it.

this is a very complex answer to what is probably a pretty simple question but also i have quite intense feelings about this fic.

if you are easily triggered by discussions of rape or physical abuse, depictions of emotional abuse, and probably depictions of abuse specifically in a health care enviroment, this is not ideal for you. like just off the get go, this fic can be a HEAVY read.

that aside, i love EC. i love that it's SO long, i love what it's about, i love that someone truly took the time to do this degree of research and actually write this. i have a lot of feelings about fanfic in general but EC really encapsulates everything i love about it. i've done a pro and con list because a) i think it's handy to know what you're going into ans b) i love talking about EC.

(this is.... uh.... long) (no real spoilers, just some insinuations)

pros

one of the best depictions i have ever seen of the reality of mental illness. there's no fix. there's no quick solution. and even if there is a small hint of 'love fixes all', it never actually does. seb has ptsd, and he relapses several times. he gets frustrated over it. it's incredibly imperfect and actually, extremely real. recovery is portrayed much closer to reality than i have seen in almost any other form of media hands down. i suppose the downside to this is that the narrative of recovery can be quite arduous to read but as i'll discuss below, if you read EC the way i do (and assume others do) that's not an issue.

(also: recovery from physical injury??? miss georgia where did you get your medical degree i have to KNOW)

the attention to detail is genuinely?? insane?? and again, yes, having every detail mapped out (like, down to each overtake) can be a slog to read but it's so real. in other stories, if a character is eats toast instead of cereal for breakfast, chances are, there's a reason, but there's a real sense of the natural chaos of life in EC because characters have bad days and think random things and have preferences that never impact the story, they're just... there. this is probably not to everyone's tastes but i find it utterly fascinating to see all the aspects of people written down and documented and maybe mentioned?? a million words later?? it's such a strange way to write but it's SO effective.

speaking of: the characters are imperfect in a way that never suggests that they are morally evil. real people have awful thoughts, they think bad things about their coworkers and daydream about shagging the neighbour. in one scene, seb's parents react BADLY to a bit of news and it's awful and uncomfortable to read but it's never suggested that they're bad people for it.

oc's that i genuinely dont know are real people or not until i google it because they're so well developed.

THE SLANGGGGGG. fuck my entire ass, georgia_k either grew up in a british-german-aussie household or has done enough research to qualify them for an honourary doctorate from oxford. the consistent use of british slang from british characters and the way mark and seb slowly start influencing each others's language i am simply in fucking awe, tolkein is writing notes as we speak.

lewis hamilton characterisation that lewis hamilton himself could not write. crazy because he's a side character but they really nailed this dude in this fic.

cons

the quality of writing isn't the best (up to chapter 120 - this fic has been written over eight years so i fully believe and have seen the quality get better which makes sense because who doesnt improve over a decade and honestly my fics from eight years ago i would rather die than let see the light of day so this isnt really a criticism)

the characterisation of some of the characters is.... not to my tastes. mark especially. that being said, if you like martian and you like hurt/comfort, this would not be a deal breaker. it's not how i envision some of them to be, but it's very cathartic to read.

the sex scenes are...... also not to my personal taste. also why did georgia_k decide that seb cannot ride dick??? like he fully goes for thirty seconds then his legs give out fgdfgshsj sorry but why did they do that professional athlete so dirty like that

the way the pov changes either once every 1000 words or once a paragraph can be extremely jarring.

none of this negates the fact that this fic is longer than seb's ass in thicc, however, i encourage you to look at EC less like a book and more like a tv show with a million series. you really?? dont have to read the whole thing?? there are natural breaks in the narrative that you can very easily stop at without actually missing out on anything. my first read i think i got to chapter 100 and then lost steam. when i went back to reread, i only read up to the 'get together'. the next time, i skipped to another major plot point and started there. dont be intimidated by the length, be intimidated by how much you're going to be invested in mark webber's fictional house keeper visiting her son in canada over the holidays.

TL;DR: fuck yeah you should read everything changes

thank u for enabling my nonsense <3