#I didn't even plan this initially but it's what came out when I started organizing scenes

[tobiasdrake]

Fun Fact: As Saiyans go, Raditz isn't just weak; He's a talentless hack. Nappa is much more talented at martial arts, but his skills are undermined by him being a complete fucking moron.

Raditz is our introduction to the particularities of the Planet Trade Organization - or, well, the Saiyans since the PTO didn't quite exist as a concept yet when he showed up.

Toriyama only came up with the PTO later in the arc. It's honestly kind of funny; Vegeta's referred to as the "Strongest in the Universe" a couple times in this arc because the idea for Frieza doesn't exist yet. The original plan was that the Saiyan race are the ones doing planet gentrification on their own initiative, but they were almost all wiped out by a meteor so if we take out Strongest in the Universe Vegeta, we'll put an end to it.

So all this stuff like the spaceship pods and Scouters that was original Saiyan equipment and methodology got retooled into being PTO equipment and methodology.

But I digress. We meet Raditz and he's unlike anyone we've seen before. He immediately starts shit with Piccolo because they're both assholes, and we see how he operates.

He has a little doodad that reads off someone's "Battle Power" into a flat, easily digestible number that even a child could understand. This is the industrialization of martial arts, simplifying it into something that can be replicated and mass-produced.

It's the difference between teaching swordsmanship lessons in your dojo versus handing someone an AK-47 and telling them to go shoot the enemy.

This is the key distinction between the Saiyans and Earthlings, that made Goku - A Saiyan raised on Earth engulfed by their martial arts philosophy - so formidable. The Saiyans and by extension Planet Trade's culture is built on capitalist efficiency. Their warriors are carefully measured, analyzed, and matched with suitable challenges. They aren't trained. In fact, Vegeta scoffs at the idea of it.

They're battle-hardened.

They measure their fighters and quantify their abilities into a number, then select the right target that matches that number. Those warriors become stronger through fire and frenzy, rather than by studying principles of martial technique.

Consequently, upwards mobility doesn't seem to be a thing. Nobody in the PTO got to where they are by working hard and improving themselves. Every single one of them is naturally gifted, coasting by on whatever privileges their birth afforded them. Especially Frieza.

They aren't practitioners of an art. They're cogs in a machine.

Raditz believes these distinctions made Goku weaker.

He has no idea. The limitations of the PTO's methodology is a recurring theme in the Saiyan and Namek arcs.

Raditz is a low-class Saiyan. By virtue of being a Saiyan, he's still unbelievably powerful compared to the terrestrial races of the worlds he's sent to. But power is all he brings to the table; He's an unrefined juggernaut who coasts by entirely on Big Number Go Brrrrr. Philosophically, Goku is unimpressed.

Coming from Goku, that's a pretty sick burn. He's already lost to Raditz once; He knows how Big Number this guy is. But he can't bite his tongue at Raditz's oversimplification of his art.

As a fighter, Raditz delivers what he promised. All he has going for him is Big Number Go Brr... but it's a really big number.

Raditz is impossibly strong, impossibly fast, and his basic-ass ki blasts are impossibly powerful. The gulf between Goku and an adversary has never been so huge before.

And yet, for all his power, he is repeatedly startled and befuddled by Goku and Piccolo's training and technique. These weaklings are breaking out abilities he didn't even know were possible.

Raditz watching Goku power up the most basic ki concentration technique on Earth and exclaiming "WHAT IS THIS SORCERY!?" really tells you everything about the PTO's methodology, doesn't it?

Raditz falls for every trick and every shenanigan that these guys have spent their careers honing, forced to rely solely on tanking attacks with his tremendous Numbers.

This dipshit hasn't even trained the weakness out of his tail.

Goku was fifteen years old when he trained his tail and eliminated this vulnerability.

Raditz is less proficient than Goku was as a child. This isn't even the PTO's flaws manifesting through Raditz, either. Nappa and Vegeta trained their tails.

"LOL What kind of a useless clown doesn't train his tail?" ~Nappa, probably. Oh, wait. No. Actually.

~Vegeta literally.

Raditz is limited by the philosophy of the Planet Trade and he's also on the weaker side of Saiyans, but he also sucks even without taking power levels into account. He brings absolutely nothing to the table. He reads someone's number to tell him in advance if they'll fall down when he punches them, and then he punches them if the number tells him he's clear.

Raditz isn't a fighter. He's a bully with a gun.

For his part, Nappa is a more advanced version of Raditz. His Big Number Go Brr is even bigger than Raditz's and he's familiar with more advanced techniques beyond "Throw this ball of ki at your face".

As a front-line fighter, Nappa is unbelievably tough. Blow after blow and attack after attack, he never gives as much as it feels like he should. No matter what they do to him, he keeps getting back up and coming back, more bloodied and bruised than ever but ready for another round. He is unbelievably resilient.

Fighting Nappa feels like an exercise in futility. You're going to have to kill this man to put him down because he'll accept nothing less. Even when Goku takes the field, he finds himself at a loss with Nappa's absolute unwillingness to take the hint and lose consciousness already.

Nappa is a brick wall. Goku only finally manages to end this by breaking his spine so he can't keep getting up again.

That is what Nappa brings to his table. Though it's worth noting that his Sisyphean endurance is something Vegeta shares as well. It's not unique to Nappa. Fights with Vegeta are every bit as much of an ordeal as this bout with Nappa was.

Saiyans are hard to put down.

Nappa's biggest weakness, however, is simple: Like Raditz, he's coasting on his brute strength. He doesn't pay attention to what's happening around him, and is easily blindsided by sudden attacks from other fighters in this brawl.

Or baited into incredibly poor decision-making.

For all his Saiyan might, the Earthlings would have killed Nappa well in advance of Goku's arrival, if he didn't have Vegeta to watch his back. I'm half-convinced the only reason he trained his tail is because Vegeta told him to.

Nappa is very much a follower. He does what he's told. He's honestly a better Saiyan than Vegeta in the sense that he. Like. Cares about other Saiyans? His kneejerk reaction when Vegeta suggests taking Earth's Dragon Balls is that he wants his friend back.

And he's filled with eugenic fervor for the glory of the Saiyan race when he finds out what mixing Saiyan and Earthling physiology can do.

Fun little side note: "Super Saiyan" was originally the term used to describe Gohan's hybrid abilities before it was recontextualized to mean something else on Namek.

It's honestly interesting to look at their interactions and realize that Vegeta is a cruel, monstrous, selfish bastard even by Saiyan standards. Vegeta is uniquely wicked within this culture of for-profit colonizing murderers.

But Nappa defers to Vegeta every time. Vegeta tells him, "No, you're wrong," and Nappa pivots to supporting whatever Vegeta just said instead. Nappa obeys.

But he doesn't listen. Vegeta and Nappa were following the action while Raditz was fighting Goku and Piccolo. They saw all of the strange anomalies that occurred, that Raditz couldn't comprehend. Vegeta spends this time thinking about what this means for Earth and re-evaluating his assessment of the foes to come.

And he adjusts accordingly. From the moment they arrive at the fight, Vegeta pegs overreliance on the Scouter's readout for the vulnerability that it is.

Like. He says this. He acknowledges that he understands. And not five minutes later:

BUT THE NUMBERS, VEGETA

THE NUMBERS SAID NO

Even then, Nappa flat-out ignores The Numbers if he doesn't like what's printed on them.

Nappa and Vegeta both disregard the printout this time, but in different ways. Vegeta observes that Earthlings suppress their ki, presenting a smaller number than their true ability. So when the Scouter says 5000, that means Goku's true level is likely well beyond that.

Nappa observes that Goku is probably weak so that's stupid and you're wrong.

Nappa just does things. He doesn't think or pay attention to what they're doing. He destroys a city as soon as they arrive, and Vegeta immediately lays into him for what a fucking idiotic thing to do that was.

He's a beast on a chain, barely restrained by his deference to Vegeta. Powerful, seemingly unstoppable, but needing Vegeta to hold his hand and walk him through the higher concepts of combat and martial arts.

An absolute fool. But a Saiyan elite fool.

[jinisnuggets]

ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕜'𝕤 𝕄𝕪 𝕃𝕒𝕤𝕥 ℕ𝕒𝕞𝕖

Pairings: Vampire Roommate Seonghwa! X Fem!Reader

Word Count: 1.7k

Genre: Angst, Some fluff, Smut, Vampire AU

Warnings: Seonghwa vampire!, Yn has an ex, bit suggestive, brief mention of cockwarming, big dick seonghwa, swear words, quick sex.

Synopsis: After a long day of knowing nothing about Seonghwa, you arrive back home in disappointment only to be greeted by one of your roommate's deepest… darkest… secrets…

Seonghwa and you have been roommates ever since college, you really can't complain about it, Seonghwa has always been such a kind person and he always did anything for you.

He never questioned you and stayed by your side every moment, he was such a sweetheart. Food was always ready when you came back from work, the dishes were washed and organized in their place, and the house was sparkly clean. How could someone just be so perfect?

***

"Seonghwa?" You called for the 3rd time in a row.

You were starting to grow concerned as your roommate didn't answer your calls, you texted him but you were left unread, you even called him but the phone went straight to voicemail.

Was he perhaps out somewhere where service was bad? Being the weekend, it didn't make sense for him to be at work, you both were off on weekends so if one of you wasn't home it meant there had been plans, but you guys always told each other so why hadn't he said anything this time?

The more you thought about it the more your head spiraled, your head hurt.. just nothing about the situation made sense, absolutely nothing added up.

You texted Seonghwa what you were originally gonna tell him in person but couldn't as you couldn't get ahold of him. If nothing bad happened to him he'd see the message eventually.

"Hey Seonghwa, I don't know when you'll see this but I left some food in the fridge, I have plans with the girls today and will be out for a while. I'll see you later at home."

You put your phone in your bag and sighed, knowing your roommate would text back immediately after reading the text, so you didn't bother to silence your phone like you normally did, you made your way out and picked up all of your friends.

Of course they questioned you about Seonghwa who they normally referred to as your "boyfriend". You didn't end up telling them that you hadn't seen him that morning, but instead just said that he has been good and everything was normal between you two, although the more you talked about him the more concerned you grew.

"You know Yn, I sometimes feel kinda off about him." One of your friends said as you looked in the rearview mirror to look at them.

"What do you mean?"

You said in a calm voice, half shaky from fear of what they were about to say.

"He just sometimes seems odd, when we hang out at your place he normally doesn't come down until an hour or two later to greet us. His hair is always messy and he looks tired, he's out of breath and sweaty, we also normally hear loud sounds coming from his room."

Your heart stopped as you listened to your friends words, everything added up to one thing. Messy hair, tired, sweaty, loud sounds. What did this mean? Was Seonghwa seeing someone? How had you never noticed?

You felt your chest tightening as you started to come back to reality. It felt difficult to accept the fact that Seonghwa might be dating someone already, someone who wasn't you. It's all you ever imagined…

___________

You met Seonghwa in college, when you were both assigned to a dorm together, your first initial thought of him was how handsome he was, how could someone be so gentle and perfect?

You guys became best friends quickly, you guys stayed up playing games, building Legos, watching movies, everything seemed ideal. Although you had a boyfriend at that time, Seonghwa was like your older brother who you loved dearly, you guys were just friends. That's what you thought all up until your boyfriend dumped you.

Those cold words that you cried over for so long, but no matter how many days and months you cried, Seonghwa was always next to you, gently rubbing your back and encouraging you as you cried. He never stopped you, all you remember is his deep, soft voice saying everyday:

"Cry all you want, I will be here every moment of it.."

You realized during those hard times how much you loved Seonghwa. He wasn't like a brother, he wasn't just a best friend, he was like your boyfriend to you… since those days, you looked at Seonghwa, all you could think of is the reason why you liked him, everyday he was a reminder to you, on why you fell in love with him.

His kindness, gentleness, everything about him was just perfect, he never argued, never yelled at you, never got mad at you, all he ever did was listen and encourage you. The more you thought about it the more he seemed a bit too good to be true…

Now, hearing all the possibilities, your head starts going blank. How could Seonghwa already have a love interest without you noticing? Your heart broke into a million pieces as you closed your eyes and accepted the truth.

"Yn? Are you okay?"

Your friend questioned in a concerned pitch, feeling uneasy by your sudden silence.

"Yeah, I'm fine… so what's the plan?"

___________

As you clicked open the front door and entered the house, you were uneased by the sudden wave of silence.

"Seonghwa?" You called, half expecting a response from the familiar voice, but nothing called back to you.

You suddenly started growing angry, how could you have been so stupid to have never noticed something so obvious? How could you have been such an idiot to think that someone you were so close with would feel the same way as you did? How could you have been blinded the entire time by a lie..?

You walked upstairs, making your way to your room to pick up some clothes so you could take a warm shower, but you couldn't help but grow curious to look inside Seonghwa's room, the door was closed.. you walked closer to it, just when you put your hand on the doorknob you hesitated… would Seonghwa be mad if he figured out you looked in his room? You put all of your thoughts aside, squeezed your eyes shut and threw open the door.

Immediately, you felt a wind of cold air, shocked to see the window was wide open, the light of the moon illuminating the room, no one… no one was to be seen, but you felt as if there was another presence in the room with you.

You turned around, maybe it was all your imagination… and you were just being paranoid… after all, you weren't in the right mind at the moment.

"You're back?"

Frozen… at the familiar voice coming from behind you… You grow afraid to look back..

Seonghwa's room is in the second story of the house… No one was in that room with you just a few seconds back…

"I thought you took a while… I didn't end up having time to prepare dinner tonight.. what if we order something instead?"

A hand was placed on your shoulder, cold… so cold… this hand didn't feel like a living human's.

"Yn?"

"You… where did you go… today…?"

You couldn't hide the fear in your voice… fearing for his response… slowly turning around to face him..

"I was just enjoying the sun…"

Messy hair.. tired.. sweaty and out of breath.. perfect…

Seonghwa was smiling… he looked pale… really pale…

"Are you okay? You look like you've just seen a ghost.."

His calm, soft voice grew from comforting to terrifying…

"I think I did…"

Seonghwa's expression changed from a smile to an upset look, he suddenly looked mad…

"I'm not a ghost… Yn…"

You walked backwards.. as he moved closer to you..

"No- Not you….!"

You hit the back of the wall, Seonghwa was dangerously close to you…

"But I'm not alive either…"

Laughs came out of his mouth when you noticed… his mouth…

Fangs…

Fangs that he never had before…

Seonghwa grabbed your arm, so tight that it hurt… he dragged you over to his room and locked the door..

"Seonghwa… what are you going to do…?"

"You know too much.."

You now suddenly felt threatened, like if Seonghwa was about to kill you…

Seonghwa took out his phone and softly spoke.

"What would you like to eat today?"

You looked at him confused, but clearly uncomfortable.

"We can eat something simple like ramen… like the old days…"

Every word he said made a chill run down your spine..

"I'm not going to hurt you… you can speak."

…

"Well then…"

***

"Fuck!"

How did this happen? You were being pressed up against Seonghwa while he was inside of you, absolutely destroying your insides.

Seonghwa was still well put together, his hair was messy yet pretty, he still had his shirt on while his pants were half down, but he had completely tricked you…

"Princess, would you mind bending towards me?"

You went from fearing for your life to Seonghwa's length being pushed inside of you harshly..

"Seonghwa..~ please… calm down I'm sorry~!"

"It's gonna take more than an apology to make up for this princess..."

He suddenly fastened his pace while pushing his full cock inside of you. Fuck he felt good, you'd be lying if you said that you had never imagined doing this with Seonghwa, you have and for years.. but imagining it is not at all similar as reality, Seonghwa was big, like huge, not just that but his girth was almost unrealistic, nothing like you had imagined.

"Seonghwa! Stop!"

You yelled, clearly not actually desiring him to stop but actually the complete opposite. After he was in you couldn't imagine him being out.

"Hwa! I'm so close! Stop!"

"Be good and cum for me princess.."

He whispered in your ear before biting it..

That's all it took for you to obey him immediately, he knew you were embarrassed but he quickly went down and licked it all out of you.

He slipped his cock out of you which made you let out a small whimper of pleasure, Seonghwa placed his dick on your stomach before allowing himself to let it all out too.

Seonghwa leaned down and kissed you, you felt all his emotions through one simple kiss, all of this was worth it after all. He slipped his dick inside of you and let himself lay down over you.

Ding Dong-

"Get up… food's here."

[fraternum-momentum]

killing stalking ramble belowww

!! tws for mentions of sa/rape, murder, abuse, etc. !!

(REALLY REALLY long, around 2k~ words. just be warned. also tmi in some parts.)

THIS IS NOT AN ANALYSIS !!!!! it def gets analytical in some parts, but i feel like i would need to reread ks a couple of times for me to feel confident enough to do a full blown analysis for it. these are just my thoughts that i want to get out of my head. really rambly for the most part, and separated into sections mostly for my convenience buy also to get my thoughts a little more organized.

what do i think about it?

it's great ! i really love the more thriller-ey aspects of it, esp when seungbae was investigating the whole thing. how he's trying to piece together everything and switching in between pov's was so so cool. love love love how extremely tense everything is, like ooo is he gonna get caught? is he gonna get killed?

ACAB but seungbae is the only police officer i'll salute to 🫡 (bc he's not real LMFAO)(and also he hates the police despite being one so)

season 1 is a great intro and it rlly gets u hooked, rlly went in super hard with the whole torture stuff. came in guns blazing n stuff. rlly rlly intense. the whole thing with jieun is just so sad man,,,,,,, like she was rude and all and she was an kind of an asshole to bum but i don't think she deserves to die over that 😭,,,,

there's also already a lot of foreshadowing and future callbacks planted into it. it makes me wonder how much planning went into the story :0 !! even early on it's pretty clear that sangwoo sees his mum in yoonbum, that's why he kept taking care of him after abusing him. he said ‘i love you’ out of the blue and bum thought he was talking to him and sangwoo replied ‘i was talking to my mom’. i mean, it's literally spelled out by the author in one of the qna's. i will be amazed if u didn't catch that somehow.

anyw season 2 is my fav because of reasons stated above. the tension is rlly great. when seungbae finally trespassed which led to the confrontation at the basement scene to when they were doing the interrogation was rlly rlly good. it shows how competent of a manipulator and a quick thinker sangwoo is. throughout it my heart was beating so fast i was so nervous JQHSHQ

seungbae rlly tried to pull through but unfortunately the people didn't believe him so woo and bum got away SCOT FREE,,,,,,, which caused seungbae to lash out on woo, then got laid off. DUDEEE i was so saddddddd, i mean i saw there were like 40 eps left so i knew he wasnt going to succeed but STILLLL i was cheering for him ykkk?

ep 34.

kinda tmi and i hope to fucking god it's not weird or anything but i can see myself in yoonbum.

LISTEN ok. not like the perverted stalker aspects. more of the whole jwhhr fuckk idk how to describe it without sounding pathetic or whatever but a while ago my brother and i had a talk about being careful with people bc of how bad my whole self esteem is and how easily i would be to manipulate and just how depressing my whole demeanor was or whatever and this scene in ep 34 where yoonbum was being interrogated by seungbae kind of left me a deep impression on me

i've def have asked myself something similar to this, idk maybe had talked to someone abt it when i was drunk as shit. but it i kind of started wondering if i would do that in his position. if i don't get any better, could i end up like him? eeeeeqjdb idkk its something i don't want to dwell on much but it's been at the back of my head ever since. i don't know. it's scary.

season 3 is more focused on characterization and developing the "relationship" between bum and woo. vv sangwoo centric. it deals with his past trauma and how it affected him. seeing how his childhood was initially and then the eventual reveal as to what really was happening in those scenes was so good. kind of shows how you never truly know what's happening behind closed doors. and it shows the extent of the abuse, how unstable his mother was, and how emotionally manipulative she was to sangwoo when he was a kid. then her eventual death in which she managed to gaslight him into thinking he killed her. at least, i think its implied that she drove the knife into her neck. and now, even when she's gone, her presence lingers and haunts him. quite literally too because its eventually revealed that her corpse was INSIDE THE FUCKING HOUSE.

i love how the dynamic turned from a dependency to a codependency. it's like watching a fire slowly spiral out and it becoming an huge shitstorm. it's interesting seeing that sangwoo needs bum too. right after he accidentally called bum 'mom' while they were having sex, that's probably the lowest he's been in, even begging yoonbum to not go and stay with him at home bc he's been so paranoid lately. even now i'm still not sure if bum was actually fucking the girl or if it was all a figment of woo's hallucinations.

there's a lot of particular scenes that i want to dedicate a small paragraph to but i don't want to make this longer that it alr is qkdh they're not anything life changing plus the implications are p clear anyway so,,

ending is insane. at first, i was kind of glad that bum seemed to be healing. like he was getting therapy, there was a person who was taking care of him, seungbae seems to be monitoring him regularly. i mean, he was still paranoid and stuff about being caught as an acomplice but he was fine for the most part. well, at least that was i thought until he started asking where sangwoo was and i kinda went oh no,,,

idkkkkk is it bad that i kind of felt bad for bum when he didn't get to see sangwoo for the last time? i mean, i want him to just move on with everything and heal but it was pretty clear he was still vv attached to woo so idkkkkk?? maybe its just me needing to have some closure or something? i was so sad that yoonbum didn't even get the chance to be truly happy in his life. even in his happiest moments with sangwoo, it was all just a skewed perception of love.

yk even if seungbae didn't go to woo's house one last time for that final confrontation, i feel like their codependent relationship would go to shit either way. but ahh,,,,,, bum deserved so much better,,,

seungbae my goat 🫡

small part abt him bc he's my fav

seungbae is interesting,,,, bc he def has violent tendencies much like sangwoo. i.e. lashing out at woo, wacking a guy out with a scanner (who, luckily, turned out to be a wanted criminal), hitting the guy who killed his father with a the golf club, dreaming and fantasizing about violently killing that said murderer multiple times, and probably more that i can't remember.. maybe a ‘two sides of the same coin’ kind of situation??? idkk

there's literally a part where seungbae said so himself that he and sangwoo were similar, immediately following it by saying that it was a dangerous thought. i think having a stable figure in his life (chief officer) helped him a lot. if he didn't have him, i feel like he could've easily ended up like sangwoo. all around green flag tho :3

my complicated feelings abt it:

idkkkkkkkkkkkkk like this is a thriller and it depicts a clearly abusive relationship but the fact that it feels so fanservicey to me feels so wrong to me ???????? like shit. i only started reading it bc i thought 'oh wasn't this bl or something? i don't remember lol. but sangwoo was hot, i should go read it' and proceeded to get my ass blasted with this is absolutely insane.

ok i'm gonna be completely honest i've always hated fanservice, so it's a completely biased take from me. like idkk it ruins the vibe of a scene. can't a good show just be a good show without all the panty shots and the weird ass angles?????? like okay, yeah, i literally draw porn but that doesnt mean i want porn/sexual in everything all the time.

like i get it. the sexual aspect of this is a necessary and integral thing. it's clearly there to depict that there's an imbalance of power. how sangwoo being on top feels more in control whereas when he's in a position of submission he gets angry or scared (a trauma response) and it's another aspect of abuse that a lot of characters experienced and it's all shown. but i think my issue is, when its with woo and bum there's like certain part to it where i'm just kinda like,,,,, you know that feeling when you feel like a sex scene in a movie is kind of going on for way too long? and ur just sitting there mildly uncomfortable by it and aughggyvh idkkk its weird,,,,,,, like should i keep watching or is this integral to the story???? am i going to miss any details or something anyone would say ?? and idk???????? like when bum or woo was sa'ed by adults they didn't depict it in such a,,,,,,, romantic?? light???? i'm not sure what to say but i feel like there's a difference in ambience and pacing and shit in a bunch of the scenes esp in season 3 but i guess it's bc they're in a 'relationship' ?????? idkk

in a way i can understand why they would present it like that ??? i'm probably reaching, but maybe it's to directly put the viewer in yoonbum's shoes and kind of see how sangwoo manipulates bum? like we as the viewer become victims ourselves of sangwoo's charms ????? maybe that's why it was psrticularly uncomfortable for me ??????????? dude idk,,,,

but like,, i've played btd/tpof before but i don't seem to have any problems with it, and that's literally torture porn or whatever but for some reason i draw the line at this apparently ????????

and i’ve thought about this really hard bc it was driving me nuts as to what the difference was. but maybe its bc it's kind of romanticizing it ??????????????? tbh i'm still not entirely sure. eh whatever i don't want to make it a big problem.

oh but fray, you draw noncon, dubcon, and gore ! arent you fetishizing it as well ? how is that any different ?

(this part is kind of tmi too) i think there's a fundamental difference between what i'm doing and having a cnc kink and depicting actual sa in a story.

no one is saying sa is not bad. for some people it's how they deal with the trauma they endured and for others its simply just a fantasy. cnc, in a real life setting, both parties are consenting and recognize that it's all just roleplay, if anything is out of the line you can opt out of it with a safeword and it's CRUCIAL that this safe word is respected. in a game like for example, dol, you can manipulate it into however you like. there's also cheats where you can just remove encounters altogether irrc. you're the one in control of the narrative.

i've had rape fantasies before (i play dol, don't be so surprised) but that doesn't mean i want to be fucking assaulted when i go out at night. and idk maybe like in ks it depicts all the gruesome and tragic parts of being abused, whether it be emotionally, sexually, physically, etc. and that's why it feels wrong framing it in that manner ????

idk my views about it aren't completely black and white. dude idfk i'm not an expert in anything. at the end of the day i'm just some random person who read killing stalking and just has some thoughts about it. anyw that's all 👍

[clairdelunetarot]

Initials : SB

Age : 18 yrs, 10 months

Rising sign: Aquarius (according to vedic astrology)

Your question:

How can i improve my focus and love for studies? My cgpa is stuck at 7.5 out of 10, and i feel burnt out whenever i think about studies. My goal to be a rank holder with a cgpa above 9.5

What can SB do to improve their focus and love for studies?

I didn't even start to shuffle but after reading your context and as a tip, if you want to radically raise your score considering that your current score is 7.5 out of 10, you will end up shooting yourself in the foot. You should be more practical and rational about your current situation. Setting such a high bar for yourself without even being able to get out of 7.5 is not the best solution. You should focus on reaching a 7.8 and if you want to be ambitious, maybe an 8. It is not bad to dream big! At all. But you should take small goals, go step by step. When you get to 7.8, set a goal to get to 7.9 and so on. In other words, set realistic goals babe. 

But that's not what you came for, let's see what the cards say: You have a spread that is mostly pentacle suits. They reinforce what I told you: be more practical. To be more specific, be more practical in your daily academic routines. One of them could be what I told you. Currently you feel that you lack more interest, you have apathy and you are dissatisfied with what you are achieving. But I see you mostly in a cycle. You may be comparing yourself to others (big mistake if that’s so). Although you are not quite deep in this cycle at all. The fact that you have sent an ask to get out of it confirms that there is a part of you that wants to get out of it and WILL get out of it. The obstacle you present is one of disappointment and sadness because you are not able to establish a solid foundation to improve your academic performance. You feel you don't have the stability you should and you refuse to see another point of view. But your best solution is to establish what I told you, a better routine. Start with a study schedule that suits you. If you can't stand 40 minutes in a row with 25 minutes of rest, make it fit you: 10 minutes of study followed by 8 minutes of rest. Are you a visual learner? Draw your notes in a notebook. You struggle with organizing? Create a study plan beforehand. What are your strengths? Are you good at retaining information at longer periods? Then instead of 40 minutes try 55 minutes of studying. Stop focusing on comparing your achievements with others, it should be comparisons with your own self. No more looking at how much your classmate scored versus you. Look at how much you scored versus last time, is there an improvement, what things did you feel helped you and what things did you notice that didn't? If you feel that feeling of wanting to compare yourself imagine a yellow bubble around you and every time you want to compare yourself to others you repeat to yourself in your head: "This progress is mine, no one else's. I'm working on me, and what I'm doing is mine. I am working on me, and on what I can achieve, I am not going to compare myself". You repeat it as many times as necessary while you imagine yourself expanding that bubble until you feel a sense of tranquility. The more you say it with more trust in your words, the more easily the bubble will expand. And then focus on what you can control in that moment. If you’re not that spiritual, try the CBT technique: challenge your thoughts. Thoughts create emotions -> emotions influence behavior and behavior influences thoughts. It is a cycle. There’s a free Harvard course for this! Be mindful with yourself and learn how to improve that resilience against burnout. And by all means, create smaller goals that will help you build your confidence little by little. A simple “Let’s finish this homework first” and then going to your teacher and asked them what you could have done better makes a huge impact. That’s how the burnout can stop too. Do not go thinking that by the next semester you are going to have a 10. You must go little by little but consistently. Do not give up. Nurture this slowly. Because that's the only way you're gonna make it.

[sashaisready]

Chapter Seven

Lee Bodecker (The Devil All The Time) x Femme Reader

A year after the sudden death of your husband you find yourself at a loose end, unsure what to do next. You're also learning about your sexuality - your hidden desires and fantasies creeping out now you're no longer playing the role of the good wife. A certain Sheriff in town could be the one to awaken something in you.

Series Masterlist

Chapter 8

Lee was due any minute and you were feeling butterflies in your stomach with the nerves. Yes, you'd done some very intimate things together so you shouldn't be anxious about seeing him, but that had all been very spontaneous and organic – not pre-arranged or planned. Him coming over to your house felt like a different kettle of fish.

You weren't sure if he would've eaten during his shift or if he'd stop home to get a bite first, so you'd cooked him some extra chicken from your dinner just in case. If he was hungry, great, if not – no harm done, you'd stick it in the icebox and have it for lunch tomorrow.

It had been so long since you had entertained a man in your home that you didn't really know how to anymore. You had some white wine chilling in the fridge and you'd picked up some beers at the market in case Lee preferred that, the first time in a long time that you'd bought beer for a man.

And because it was Lee...and because of the nature of your 'relationship', you had dressed for the occasion.

You'd dug deep into your closet to find a suitcase of all the lingerie you'd worn to woo Arthur during the early years of your marriage. You had rifled through it all, feeling twinges of sadness that this time was over forever. Eventually you came across a few sets you'd impulsively bought from a high-end boutique in the city when the physical aspect started disappearing from your marriage. A desperate attempt to show Arthur what he was missing. He found the bag under your bed before you'd even put it on and told you it was unnecessary, you didn't need to dress up like a whore for him. You felt embarrassed, hiding it back here until now, ashamed that you'd made yourself look so desperate in front of him.

It was a red brassiere and matching underwear set, complete with garters and stockings showing off every inch of you. The top presented your breasts perfectly, pushed high in the air. The briefs clung to your ass just so, rounding it nicely and giving it a peachy shape. The garters and stockings lengthened your legs and were sexy without looking cheap.

You had admired yourself in the mirror, slightly taken aback to see yourself like this again. It had been a long time since you'd actively tried to look desirable in this way, for a man's eyes to consume you, and it felt good to be back. You smiled bashfully back at yourself.

If this was how a whore looked, you could imagine worse things to look like.

You'd flung your matronly old dressing gown over the top and tied it closed. It was floor length and hid everything. A wicked idea you'd had while getting dressed – Lee would initially see you and think you'd gone for slovenly comfort – only to see what was lurking underneath when you chose to do the big reveal.

The doorbell went and you rushed to answer it, beaming to find Lee standing on your porch holding a carnation.

"Evenin', babydoll" he purred, handing you the flower and kissing you chastely on the cheek.

"C'mon in Lee, and thank-you" holding the petals to your nose. You glanced out at the driveway but couldn't see the cruiser.

"I parked a few streets away" explained Lee, as if he could see you thinking. "Didn't want your neighbours talkin'".

You smiled at his thoughtfulness and ushered him in. "I have food if you're hungry?"

Lee shook his head, following you to the kitchen. "I'm good right now, sweetness. But maybe later. I'll take a drink, though?"

"Sure, beer or wine?"

"Beer suits me just fine".

You took a bottle from the fridge and poured him a glass, watching him out of the corner of your eye. He had come straight from the station and was still in his uniform, his shirt creased slightly with all the tell-tale signs of a long working day, his soft tummy bulging slightly over his pants. But he looked good, just like he always did. You realised you were shaking slightly.

You passed him the glass and he thanked you, sipping from it slowly as he leant against the wall and watched you thoughtfully.

"Looks like you're dressed for bed already" he commented, pointing at your dressing robe.

You tried to hide your smirk, fantasising about his face when you finally took it off.

"Mmm. Well I like to be comfy at home, yknow?"

He smiled, striding towards you. You knew where his hands were going and what he'd find. You were practically vibrating with anticipation now.

Sure enough he left his beer on the counter and went to you and his hands curled around the sides of the gown, sneaking in to touch your flesh as he leaned over to kiss you. You could taste the yeasty flavour on his tongue from the beer. His brow furrowed slightly and he broke the kiss, confused at what his fingers were touching.

This was your moment.

You pushed him away slightly and took a step back.

"Hold on Lee, I'm sorry I'm feeling warm. Let me take this off real quick".

You untied the gown and tugged it off your shoulders, letting it fall to the floor around you, unveiling the scarlet set underneath. You took a step forward and stepped out of the pile, your hands on your hips as you looked to see his reaction.

Lee's mouth had fallen open agape. For maybe the first time since you'd known him, he was speechless. His eyes bulged out of his head as he scoured your figure.

"Do you like it? I thought it would be funny to make you think I was just wearing my old robe and then-".

But you didn't get to finish your sentence because Lee tackled you to the ground, unleashing his hands and tongue upon you before you could even catch your breath.

He pulled his head up, carefully studying your heaped body beneath him.

"Sorry 'hon, did I hurt you? I just..just...you look..." he could barely find words as he launched back onto you, pinning you to the kitchen floor under his heavy torso as he pawed at you.

You giggled. "I'm fine, I'm just glad you like it..."

"I like it, alright" he growled, his hands running over the fabric, fingers fiddling with the garter strings. His eyes were glowing with excitement.

"You always find a way to surprise me, huh sugar?" his voice low and full of intent. "You're keeping this on all night. No arguments, now".

You nodded sagely, closing your eyes as he ran his hands over your form, enjoying the sensory juxtaposition of lace and flesh along his fingertips. You were delighted that your lingerie had the desired effect. More than you could have ever expected.

Lee was caught off guard once again. He couldn't believe you had been under his nose all of this time.

"How about we take this upstairs?" he whispered as his tongue met your ear.

You flinch briefly, thinking about the bed you shared with Arthur for so many years and if this was a final step too far, to desecrate it with another man. Another man who was not even going to make love to you in it, but tear you apart in as many sordid ways as he could come up with. Was that an insult to Arthur? An affront to his memory?

But thoughts of Arthur and your resistance began to melt away as Lee's tongue ran along the shell of your ear, his teeth nibbling on your lobe. You could feel the goosebumps rising and your brain taking a step back.

"Third door on the left, I'll meet you up there" you whispered back to him.

You'd never seen him smile as wide as he did as he peeled himself off you and bounded up the stairs two at a time. It made your heart soar.

You perched up from the floor, shifting your weight onto your elbows and glancing down at your lingerie clad body. You were perspiring from how Lee had felt you and he had barely started yet. You couldn't quite believe you were doing this, despite the fact it kept happening,

But you didn't want to stop.

You exhaled, pouring yourself a quick glass of water, taking a moment to compose yourself before ascending the stairs. You couldn't deny this is what you wanted.

As you pushed open the door to your bedroom you were horrified to find Lee already stripped and settled in your bed...reading your book.

You gasped and your stomach dropped, sprinting towards him and trying to pull it from his hands but he easily fought you off, smirking as he turned the page.

"Found this lil' masterpiece tucked between the pillows" he chuckled. "Guess I understand how you come up with this stuff now, huh buttercup?"

"That's private" you said anxiously, "give it back, Lee".

Your face burned with shame and you desperately tried to swat it away from his grasp. He firmly grabbed your wrist with one hand and moved the book into the other, pulling you against his torso and incapacitating you.

"Why don't we read a bit together, huh?" he teased. He was clearly loving this, shaking his head in disbelief and smirking.

You stayed silent accepting defeat, turning your head away and screwing your eyes closed. Despite all the many sordid acts you had done with Lee, this felt far more exposing. You were embarrassed that your secret had been revealed.

"I mean we gotta try some of this" muttered Lee, turning the book upside down to get a better look at a particularly crude illustration.

He noticed your discomfort and silence, craning your head to face him.

"Cmon sugar, how about page twelve?"

But you pulled away, to your horror your eyes were beginning to glaze with tears as your shame grew. Lee suddenly sat up, his smug expression softening.

"Hey...hey...I'm just playin'. What's wrong?"

You shifted uncomfortably, finally managing to seize the book from him and throwing it to the floor.

"I'm...I'm not a pervert" you tell him defensively, an angry edge to your tone.

Lee choked slightly in disbelief. "What? Who said you were?"

"I know you think it's funny, that I read dirty books. But I'm not some sex crazed maniac, alright? I just...like it. Doesn't make me a whore."

Lee peered at you, confusion stretching across his face. "Hon...I didn't say you were. I already told you I don't think of you like that. Why do you keep sayin' it?"

You immediately feel small, embarrassed to be having this conversation with him. Your lingerie now feels vulgar, tacky, a symbol of your wantonness. Arthur's disapproving face flashes into your mind.

"You know...Arthur said wives should behave like ladies. And I guess...this isn't being a lady" you said softly, gesturing to your under garments and pointing to the book.

Lee scoffed. "I know you loved him an' all but I very much disagree with your late husband".

You turn to him hesitatingly. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. I mean its sexy when a girl you're with is enjoyin' it as much as you are. And just look at you! Christ. The idea of you readin' that stuff and touchin' yourself is..." he trailed off.

Your eyes meet and that familiar pull between you is back again. Lee looks like he could devour you whole, his jaw clenched and his nostrils flared. You realise this is the first time you've seen him with his shirt off and you take a second to look over his body. His belly is pudgy, but you like it. The rest of him is broad and strong, but his tummy softens him. Your lust soars.

He pulls you against him and groans as the lace of your brassiere rubs teasingly against his bare chest. You kiss him deeply with your arms around his neck, hooking him into you. His words had comforted you and put your mind at ease and your mouth thanks him wordlessly for that.

He gently wraps his arms around your torso and lowers you onto the bed so that you lay flat, your feet towards the headboard. He runs a hand along your body from tip to toe, carefully circling the intricacy of the lace like braille. You know you are dripping wet already solely from how he looks at you, like you are the most desirable woman on earth.

He dips out of the bed and retrieves the book from the floor, sliding it into your hands.

"Read me some" he commands firmly.

You giggle, thinking he's teasing, but his solemn eyes show he isn't.

"Read me some, and show me what you do to yourself when you read this book" he explains, moving your panties to the side and exposing your pussy.

You now understand the instruction, nodding as you open the book to one of your favourite chapters. Lee's penetrating gaze watches you carefully and you feel exhibited, flustered to be doing something you only do privately for an audience. But it's also intoxicating, your heart is pounding with excitement.

"Okay, but you can't touch until I say so" you purr back at him.

Lee grins fiendishly, his hand already venturing into his own underwear as he watches the show.

You begin to read aloud, one hand clutching the top of the book and the other at your cleft. You spread your legs as widely as you can. As you read your fingers find your clit and you begin to rub softly. You insert the tip of a digit into yourself and then begin to spread your arousal across your folds, lubricating you fully and allowing your circling to speed up.

It feels good immediately, tingling, the pleasure prickling across your body. At first you ignore Lee's presence, concentrating on the words and how your fingers feel on yourself. As your climax builds, you peek over the pages at him. You gasp as you see he is pumping himself in his hand, practically panting. His eyes shine in the dim light of the bedside lamp as he watches you hungrily.

You bite your lip as your attention turns to his cock, and you think about how much you want him inside you. You're practically salivating thinking about how good he'll feel when he's deep within.

"Keep goin'" says Lee firmly, his voice cracking slightly as his hand thrusts over himself.

You carry on reading, now desperate for Lee. You realise the sooner you give him what he wants the sooner you can have him. You begin to increase the pressure on your nub, your fingers frantic across yourself. Your entire body writhes and rocks and you mewl softly between words, the bed shaking rhythmically underneath you. The sounds of Lee's groans find their way to your ears.

"Feels so good" you murmur.

You toss the book to the side and lock eyes with Lee, your cries becoming louder as you buck intensely against your hand, the other moving to clutch at your breasts and across your hard nipples. He exhales deeply, his gaze stuck to you like glue.

Your stomach knots as you finally fall off the edge and you cry out, your body stutters and shakes as your climax hits and you are momentarily on fire, dizzy from the sensation as you ride the waves.

"Now" you manage to utter to him.

Just as you wonder if Lee has finished too he springs up and suddenly he's on top of you, frantically burying himself within you as he pants. The urgency is so overwhelming that he's clumsy, initially missing your entrance before forcing his way in. You moan, sensitive from your orgasm and still high on the serotonin, but relieved he's finally here.

Lee lifts your hips upwardly and suddenly he's deep inside of you, his balls nestled against your ass as he thrusts erratically. His hands are all over your breasts, your stomach, your waist – sampling all of the delights of you.

"Sexiest thing I've ever seen" he grunts between thrusts. "Watchin' you touch yourself. Watchin' you come. I'm gonna think about it over and over".

You can only whimper back at him as your second orgasm hits and you're too drunk on the intensity to form any real words.

"I'm gonna come" he growls.

"Yes. Fill me up" you murmur, dazed. "Fill me all the way up, baby".

He cries out, spurred on by your dirty talk and ejaculates deep inside you, painting you with white strands. You feel the warmth seeping within you, strangely comforted by the sensation.

He collapses on top of you and you savour the weight of him. It feels comforting, safe. You can feel his rapid heartbeat against your chest and hear his hot breath in your ear. You both lay like that for a little while until he rolls off and you are both on your backs side by side, staring at the ceiling, suddenly exhausted.

"You never have to be embarrassed in front of me" he tells you, suddenly very tender. His hand finds yours and holds it tightly, his thumb rubbing against your fingers. "I would never think of you as a whore".

You nod shyly, taken aback by his words.

"I'm sorry if your husband ever made you feel like that" he adds.

You chew your lip, it feels wrong to hear Lee talk about Arthur. But you are grateful for the reassurance.

"He just...liked his wife to be his wife" you explained. "I guess he thought there are girls you fuck, and girls you marry".

Lee nodded. "Well...he weren't wrong about that. But..." he thinks for a moment. "Sometimes it can be both".

You smiled, closing your eyes for just a moment as you realised the weight of your exhaustion. You had intended to get up, get washed up, get under the covers...but it never happened. You and Lee fell into a deep sleep side by side, undisturbed until the morning sun peeked through the drapes.

[coffyao]

can't wait no more

link to my ao3:

Summary:

this story is purely inspired by this amazing fanwork by babykiwi :) https://www.reddit.com/r/KillingStalking/comments/1dgn65i/yang_seungbae_x_oc/ and the title was directly inspired by jhene aiko - wait no more. listen to it when you get the chance, I'm a huge, huge jhene aiko fan! anyways, I just couldn't appreciate this fan-piece with my eyes only, I had to write something for it asap!! hope you enjoy it! :D I also made a playlist as well for the fic as well if you would like to check it out! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0UlMaRqEvfR0isDN5HZbQX?si=ae38cd36680f47dc

Saturday evening, 8:00pm.

She opened her apartment door.

"hey," he said.

"hey," she replied back.

He handed her a bouquet of multi-coloured roses, where it came in deep red, sunset orange and white. He always knew what she liked.

She took him by his hand, and led him to her living room, contemporary and spacious. it was only lit up with singular candles on the table, followed by the huge windows that showed the sky coming into twilight dusk, encapsulating that it was a prosperous summer. 

They both sat down, and he took in the savoury and sweet dishes that laid before him, unsure what to eat first.

"you did a amazing job," he said, and she took a spoonful of her own tiramisu, beckoning him to try it.

"now, open your mouth, okay? its your favourite..." 

He opened it, and she fed him the layered dessert, home-made and as always, flavoursome and had just the right amount of coffee and cream in it. she had always been a exceptional cook.

"like it?" she asked, putting the spoon back into her plate.

"always. I always do..."

"I'm glad..."

---

Saturday evening, 8:30pm

"you can have seconds if you like," she said, not quite satisfied that he had adequately eaten.

He'd never been the type to eat in huge quantities anyway.

"its okay, I'm quite full anyway..."

she nodded, and leaned forward. 

"so, how has your week been in general?"

"well..."

And like they always did when they saw each other, they engaged in their usual small talk, asking what another did, but it never bored her once. She loved how passionate he was about his job, and his occasional grumbling and groans meant that he could be vulnerable with her, and that's what she liked about their relationship the most.

"that guy was a bit of a asshole..."

and that.

when they first started dating, he rarely swore when he was around her, but after six months, the curses that came out from him were as natural as his altruistic nature, and how kind he was towards her.

 from the beginning, He always respected her need for slow pacing.

but, as of recently, she's seen the way he's been looking at her.

More than the appreciation and love that he has for his girlfriend, there were times when he stared at her more than usual, and when they were alone together, he'd always seemed like he was lost in his thoughts. 

like he was planning how to make the next move.

"so I was..."

"seungbae."

"y-yeah?"

she crossed her legs, and tapped a singular finger on her bottom lip.

"can you kiss me...please?"

she didn't want to wait any longer.

"...okay."

he moved away from his chair, she turned her body around so she could face him, legs still crossed and slightly amused at how flustered he was, but that was yet again, another part of him that she liked.

but, despite his usual shyness, He leaned in and pressed his lips against her, gentle as she expected he would be, but more confident in his initiation of it.

despite that, she still wanted more.

as she stood up, she used her to push his head forward, deepening their kiss, and used the other to drag the collar of his shirt, up until their bodies clashed against the wall, and he pulled away from her lips, breathless, and extremely taken aback.

"hey you...do you..."

you silly man.

she took off her top, and leaned back so he could fully see her cleavage, hoping that it would spark the assertiveness that she now needed in him, and how she wanted it taken out all on her.

 when he got to see this side of her, he was suddenly struck by how beautiful she was, and realized that her calm demeanour hid away the same wants that he also had for her. 

he didn't want to wait anymore, either.

as he unbuttoned his shirt, she also unzipped her trousers, and he placed his hand on the wall, hesitant, but more than willing to satisfy whatever she wanted from him. whatever she wanted...he will freely give it to her.

Saturday evening, 9:00pm

"...are you sure about this?" seungbae asked.

"...yes, I am," she said, and she held his hand, more surer than she ever would be.

__

[nokikissa]

just some nerd shit thoughts and lamentations about dnd podcasts I listen to

I'm like so disappointed, there's one podcast (Cast Party) that's first season was like among one of my favorites I listened to, it was one of the ones where I got excited when there was a new episode!

Then at one point they started doing like side campaigns with different dm on the off weeks, and I didn't really care for those, assumed it was probably just me not vibing with the different dm's style...

But now they've started a season two with the same dm as first season, same player + two new ones, and I'm like multiple episodes into that and...

I don't care for it.

I think I'll drop out of listening to that one.

And that's rare for me, I've listened to and continued to find enjoyment of like The Adventure Zone which is like a poster boy for dnd podcast people liked the first season of but dropped out afterwards based on how many people I've seen say as much lmao.

And anyway it kinda bums me out! I used to be so excited when there was a new episode of the podcasts, like put it on top of the listening list type material. And now its like there's a new episode and I'm kinda just hmmm well is there anything else to listen to :/

And that got me kinda pondering about like what is is that I'm not vibing with that? And that reminded me of how in one of the The Adventure Zone Q&A episodes after they had done the mini campaigns after the first season Griffin talked about how it was kinda hard in the sense that they had just come from multi years campaign with a lot of like high stake/big moments in it and like the first instinct was to be all oh yeah more of the big moments and so on but those big moments worked cos they were built from all that came before, you can't just immediately aim for those things, and they felt that they came to some of the mini campaigns with kinda too thought out characters, you gotta leave space in the characters for them to grow and get build during the campaign.

And I kinda feel that's the issue with the new cast party season to me. Everything feels I dunno, too thought ahead and planned with the characters and plot?

Like almost every podcast the best season is the first one where everyone is like "Hey we decided to give this a shot, let's see how this goes" and the premise of the season is like initially pretty simple and characters are somewhat easy to explain and understand, but then as the season goes on and everyone finds their footing more convoluted stuff gets added on top of the simpler initial stuff.

Like The Adventure Zone started with three adventurers joining a secret organization hunting and destroying dangerous corrupting magic artifacts, Dungeons and Daddies started with group of stereotypical dads and their kids being transported to magical realm and needing to find their way out, and well even first season of Cast Party started out with group of hollywood actors and film crew gets transported to magical realm and need to find their way out. Simple. Easy to understand. All of them did add more convoluted and complex plot but that came gradually.

But second season of Cast Party I dunno how to exactly explain the plot simply? Something something group of people in a fantasy world start having memories of people in real world and they all have same symbol on their hand idunno? I'm not sure what's going on in it, it feels too convoluted from the get go for my tastes. And that doesn't hook me in.

And also 6 players is too much imo my sweet spot player amount for dnd podcast is 3-4 players 😞

Does this post have a point? Not really, just me whining that it's a bummer I don't like the second season of the podcast even tho I tried to get into it.

Annoyingly this means I'll need to find new shit to listen to I guess auugh.

Or maybe I'll just do a millionth relisten of Taz Balance.....

[world-of-wales]

Is India really going to be renamed as 'Bharat'?

Aah you are gonna get me banned from here and red listed by the Indian govt 😭😭😭 buckle up, this will be a long one

So, bharat is already a name for the country. It's the Indian hindi name. So the constitutions Article 1 says 'India that is Bharat shall be a union of states.....' so it's already a name.

Now the government seemingly had no problems with the name ' India' before this month really. Infact in 2016 some conservative nationalist had gone to the Supreme Court petioning that we need to change the name since 'India's a foreign name, colonial etc etc' and back then, the same government had said no need to change it, it's the choice of the people. You wanna call it India you can, or if you wanna call it Bharat you can.

Now it's just rumors at this point but the people have been saying pretty much that the government is going to change the name. Media houses have hyped the rumor up. Celebrities have jumped in etc. Full on political storm at this point.

So the issue comes from the fact that the opposition basically all the opposition parties came together and formed an Alliance for the next elections happening in 2024 and they named themselves I.N.D.I.A. And since the day they formally decided to come together, it's only been political drama. Now you can easily guess where this thing about changing the name has come from. It's nothing but blatant insecurity.

The ruling party is not doing well there's been a lot of issues of their own doing. They're losing state elections. They've lost a lot of momentum due to their mishandling of a lot of things especially the Civil War situation in the state of Manipur, the way they have used religion as a way to divide people all across the country, the very high inflation, the basically non response to the environmental crisis - sinking of Joshimath, flash floods all across the country this monsoon, the washing away of roads, buildings collapsing like a house of playcards basically in the state of himachal. The government's Covid response? Disgusting.

Then there's a lot of other problems like for example the Indian wrestlers were protesting against the chairman of their federation. He's a bjp mp and the atheletes were accusing him of sexual harassment and the government didn't respond for a long time. He resigned but he still an MP in Parliament by the way.

Then the controller and auditor general (CAG) the one who actually audits the govt accounts, all the expenditure on the Indian treasury etc. They've actually released reports saying that a lot of the developmental projects have used excess money than what they were supposed to have used as per the initial estimates so that's another thing. Also there's very little press freedom, almost non exisitent freedom for activists. There's very little transparency especially when it comes to things established by this government.

They also tend to also put the laws in the constitution on the back burner and do their own thing as per their own whims. Don't even get me started on the kind of expenditure they are doing for the G20 summit happening right now. And the other things surrounding it in terms of organization etc, just search about what they've done to the low income areas of Delhi during this time on the internet and you'll find out

These are just a few issues, there's a lot more and I'm not putting them here since it's already turned into an essay. But safe to say that M*di and his govt would have had very stiff competition in the elections next year because a large population of the people are just not interested in their whataboutry now and want the real tangible things to be done on ground in terms of Healthcare, planning, education etc.

And if they actually do it, change the name I mean then it is basically a last ditch by the government to get their ardent supporters back on their side, give them a shot of nationalism and make sure they vote for them next year.

Legally speaking article 1, which I mentioned above it can be amended but till what level can you amend it? That's what I'm unsure about and I have been researching for the past few days, so still in the process of it. Because the thing is that the Indian constitution is both rigid as well as flexible. Basically means that, you can amend the constitution but you can't encroach upon or you can't change its basic structure like the main tenants which make it the document that it is. So I'm not particularly sure over how much the first article be amended to facilitate this name change. It's not even a name change really it's the deletion of one of the names.

The name which is basically what everybody knows the country as. If they do change it then it would be nothing but a political gimmick but also it will be a waste of a lot of taxpayer money. I'm honestly scared to calculate how much it would cost and what all would need to change from people's legal documents, to names of state institutions, their documents, the public sector firms, educational institutions etc.

Another issue is the language, Bharat is the Hindi name and a lot of states might not accept given the fact that their local languages have always been given a lower position as compared to the North Indian Hindi. Then there's the history attached to it the name India and the govt will be basically bulldozing all that has been associated with it if they delete it.

Now people who've never actually opened a book up in their lives say that this is a name given by the British so it's our Colonial Legacy etc, but the thing is the name 'India' is actually related to the ancient Greeks who used to trade with the people of the indus Valley civilization. Locally the indus river was known as 'sindhu' and they in their own language translated it to 'indus' and thus, the word India came into being - the people who lived on the indus Valley were thus called 'Indians'. And then this name India given by the Greeks was later exported to other western cultures etc. So not a colonial Legacy after all.

A lot of other things also but the gist is that the name change/name deletion situation is a very slippery slope to go down.

Once again saying that it's just rumors at its point, but I won't be surprised that they are thinking it. the government is known to take pretty significant and often rash decisions without any prior information to anybody. Still it's just rumors till now.

[pointedly-foolish]

tell me about your OC an GO!

helppppppppppp when you just ask me like this ,, i suddenly forget everything i know about my own prefect....

well..... first of, shameless plug: i made a sideblog where i post more stuff ("lore") about my prefect (and rb art/fics from other ppl). for now i just have the profile done but one of these days i plan on making like a post on relationships, backgrounds etc mayb even fake card illustrations n voicelines 😳😳

well... what is there to say about him? he's pretty "plain". i guess i can give you a lil peep behind the curtains?

name

to distinguish yuu from other prefects or even the canon (in-game) mc in conversation, i call him yuu stranger, in reference to the stranger (entity) from the magnus archive.

because yuu, despite being super unremarkable and indistinguishable in a crowd, is a little freak that induces the sense of uncanny valley in ppl from twst.

stranger is not his surname (although the mistake is easy to make when you see "yuu stranger" out of context).

it's only later that i started called him yuu h., with h. being the initial of his surname.

yuu h. is an alias.

backstory

saw a theory going around, though i didn't save it so i can't really attribute it to a person, but it mentions something about mc having an ancestor who came from twisted wonderland. so it gave me an idea for my own prefect.

not sure if it's something i'll stick with, but i had a thought of yuu having some great-great-great-etc-grandparent who's from twst who got isekai'd to the real world (?).

because of this, yuu has situs inversus (his organs are positioned in a mirror image of normal human anatomy (they're inverted)).

but after arriving in twst, his organs are the right way around like everyone else.

he inherited an old shell necklace from his family, which used to belong to the ancestor who was from twst. you could hear the crashing of waves from it, but since coming to twst, the shell started playing soft music.

i toy with the idea that the yuu-ancestor (magicless human from the great 7 era) was romantically involved with a mermaid (back when it was deeply taboo and animosity between the species was high).

wouldn't it be great angst to imagine the yuu-ancestor was suddenly isekai'd, and that mermaid sat by their secret meeting place waiting for them forever?

also, trivia from the aforementioned profile bcause idk what else to say wwwww

anyway ! thanks for asking hahaa it was nice getting to ramble about my oc 😂

(i kinda want to reblog oc ask games on my blog but hngggg convinced it'll flop bcause 😂 i don't nearly have enough clout to have ppl start being interested in my oc wwww)

[catflowerqueen]

Looking back on it, I'm wondering if Lunar's "rebellion" against Eclipse didn't actually start before October. Specifically, I'm thinking it started that one day where he first offered an apology to Sun for how he acted during their first formal introduction--the day he told Sun about Blood Moon.

Now, obviously, we know this is something Eclipse didn't actually want him to do, since he was apparently fighting Sun to come out and only stopped when the damage was already done and Lunar had retreated into Moon... but I'm starting to wonder more about the reasons he chose to do so in the first place--especially since after the fact, Eclipse seemed madder about Lunar's initiative and attempts to offer active help to his plans more than the Blood Moon thing.

Based on a lot of his and Eclipse's conversations--and even some things Lunar said to Sun--Lunar seemed to have been primed to hate Moon, specifically (remember that big blow up fight he had with Eclipse about Moon being flawed, but not actually all that bad? And Lunar taunting Eclipse about being afraid of Moon, when Lunar himself really had nothing to lose or fear if Moon came back out?). So I'm fairly sure that it was a huge shock to him when Moon not only tried to make a deal with him, but then actually kept to his own terms and promises even when he knew Lunar couldn't/wouldn't give him what he wanted in return. And then even beyond that, he actually let Lunar out into the physical world of his own volition, no strings attached.

Which is where I'm starting to see some of the strings of rebellion come in, because I'm thinking that he might have just stopped at the apology to Sun if it hadn't been for Sun's own actions that day.

Namely that Sun not only accepted the apology, but then actually asked Lunar to actively help him do something--something Eclipse never did. Furthermore, the thing he wanted help with involved cleaning and organization--something eerily similar to what Eclipse also wants (evidenced not only by his actions in the most recent lore video, but also the fact that we have seen him actively try and clean up the daycare during at least one October episode). And even though he got a little upset when Lunar couldn't get it up to his standards, he still thanked him for trying.

Sad as it is in hindsight, but that was probably one of the best days in Lunar's life up to that point. He got to be in the physical world and play as himself, rather than as an attempt to mimic Moon, and then he got to be actively useful and helpful to someone (or at least attempt it).

So I could see mentioning Blood Moon to Sun as being a split-second sort of decision specifically because he now actively liked Sun and Moon. And he was maybe even starting to be hopeful at that point that all four of them could join together as a singular family unit--or at least have Sun and Moon as friends. Or maybe just that he thought they could be swayed into "reason" since they'd proven to not be as bad as Eclipse made him think.

And its kind of sad that all it took was some basic civility, since Sun, at least, very clearly did not actually like Lunar all that much back then.

[checkeredshorts]

Yuletide 2022 and Another Toku Holiday Special 2022 are over! This was my first time writing for a gift exchange so I was pretty nervous about it. I didn't write any treats this year, unfortunately. (Pay no attention to the fact that the reason why I didn't have time for treats is because I was working on finishing 30 drabbles for Ace and Z before I even started my assignments.) Maybe next year!

For Yuletide, I wrote a Kamen Rider Den-O fic about Deneb and Yuuto:

For Another Toku Holiday Special, I wrote a Kamen Rider W fic about Shotaro, Philip, and Akiko:

Remarks/notes are below if you're interested!

General:

So uh, I was kind of terrified when my assignments came in because I was hoping to get matched on the Ultraman offers that I felt a lot more confident with. I offered Den-O and W, but these are literally my first two attempts at Rider fic. So yeah, terrifying! Honestly, they came out pretty decent for a first try, especially the W fic.

I only realized after the fact (and by after the fact, I mean as I write this) that my bias for male tsunderes was on full display here. I had so much fun writing out Yuuto and Shotaro's grumpy but ultimately good-hearted sides.

From Then On, It Was Known as the Sakurai Special:

See, I was trying to be organized with this one. I made an outline and everything, and that's something I usually don't do even though I know I should. I only figured out what kind of outline format works for me after this was already finished. Oops. I also realized pretty quick that there was no way I was going to get this thing done on time if I stuck to my outline and I REALLY did not want to have to default on my very first Yuletide. I had to chop out a lot more than I might have if I had all the time in the world to work on it.

Airi and Ryotaro were going to appear instead of only being mentioned. Airi in particular is a difficult character for me to get a grip on, so it's probably for the best that I ended up scrapping their parts in the story. The original plan was to have Deneb put on a disguise and ask Airi in person to teach him her recipes with Ryotaro trying in vain to get him to reconsider, but again that would have made it way longer and it also would have taken the focus away from where I wanted it to be. I really wanted Deneb and Yuuto's relationship to take centre-stage here. Doubly so because that's what my recipient asked for!

The title came to me pretty quick. Even now I kinda want to brag about it. I'm a sucker for alliteration, and I also love titles that only make sense in retrospect.

This is Not Sunset Boulevard:

This one on the other hand, I had no outline for. I had a general idea of where the story was going to take place and what was going to happen, but other than that I totally winged it. It turned out better than it had any right to, honestly. I was lucky enough to get hit with several bursts of inspiration that I managed to write down before forgetting. I was aiming for a comedic tone over a sweeter one but I'm still not sure if I pulled it off. It made me laugh while writing it, at least!

Shotaro, Philip, and Akiko have a fun sibling-like dynamic that I really love, so once I got over my initial nervousness I had a lot of fun with this one! (When I first ventured into KR fandom I was shocked to see how many people hated Akiko when I always thought she was an essential member of the cast. I really wanted to do her justice here as my own way of combating that. Seriously though, she's great! Hikaru Yamamoto has great comedic timing too!) I was a little worried about leaning too hard into that sibling dynamic and not having enough fluff because that's what my recipient asked for. That's where the sweeter ending came from.

This title gave me a little trouble. My first idea was to look for titles of noir movies and see if I could glean any inspiration from that. I settled on Sunset Boulevard because it's a noir movie and Sunset Boulevard really sounded like it could be an area in a theme park. I keep wanting to imagine Shotaro being very disappointed that the Sunset Boulevard being referred to was, in fact, not the movie.

[pqrachel]

Well I just posted my organized Blanksford timeline (now pinned), and noticed some gaps. There's deliberate way I could figure those out but where the fun in that... let's get weird.

I'm gonna pick a few characters and randomize a year on the timeline for them, and whatever I land on I need a new story moment or perspective on an existing moment from that character. Don't exactly know how this will go but let's give it a shot.

Characters: Taylor, Madi, Gabby, Aeri, Artemis, Jake, Ultra-Dude and/or Off. Wheeler, Pyress, Twin, Blaine. I'll roll a d10 for character and then a d12 for year.

Long ass bunch of Blanksford moments below the cut.

*First roll: Madi in Y:12. So far the only canon event is the friend group going to the skatepark. I don't even want to commit to the Year 12 super that I made years ago in Splash. So for now lets keep it away from the super drama, maybe a family moment... Madi's an only child and her parents are divorced. Maybe her mother has finally met someone new and wants Madi to meet them. Madi's mom Zuri is 46 years old at this point and has been divorced for a little over a decade. I assume Zuri's been dating or meeting people in the meantime, but this is the first time it's been special enough for them to want Madi to meet them. I'd need to make a new character since I don't have any background characters close enough to Zuri's age. But Zuri lives in D-City, just like the main friend group does at this point so I feel like once it goes well Madi would be seeing them more often. Zuri's bi so whoever this is could be any gender, but I think I'll save the character creation for later...

-

*Next roll: Twin in Y:1. Not really sure too much of what to do with this one, but Twin (or Cathryn before they came out and changed their name to Charlotte to avoid their mother) was born in Blanksford. This is before they or their mom got their powers, but they'd be living in Blanksford around this time, not even started upper school. I do have it planned for Twin to attend upper school in Abbadon, but I didn't really have a planned transition for that. So maybe around this time once Ultra-Dude got his powers and proved the Blanksford Broadcast to be true. Twin decided to escape this, but their mother didn't want to leave. So Twin decided to start looking to apply for upper schools outside of Blanksford, so that as soon as she finished mid school, she could get away from the city. Later on once Y:2 came around and Technic was terrorizing people, Twin furthered her want to leave and finally got accepted at ABUS. She moved into her dorm early to get away before the Y:3 emergence event happened, and even though Ghost emerged and was generally good. Twin still felt good about not taking that risk and leaving the city early.

-

*New roll: Blaine in Y:2. Blaine is Madi's SyVoice companion from "Madi's Story". He wasn't really as alive as he was after getting her macrotech installed, only really existing as a therapy chatbot that Madi's parents paid for after their divorce. I initially put him here hoping to think about what Madi might do with them as she grows up, if she keeps paying for their functionality, stuff like that since I haven't used him at all outside of that one story. But let's roll with this and see what I can come up with. The SyVoice chatbots are basically just generative chatbots with various purposes. I made the character Blaine a few years ago, when the idea was more novel than they currently are and the ethics behind how they exist currently weren't well known. I think in the Blanksford story though they could be something different. It takes place in a more advance future so maybe their chatbots have gone past the evil tech information pollution and have some sense of sustainability and hope going along with them. I do think Madi chooses to keep Blaine around after the upgrade trial period because of how much the SyVoice app helped her after her parents divorce. She was just a kid and already had so few friends in school, so having a chatbot able to talk to her and help her through things definitely meant a lot. Maybe for a specific moment like these prompts I've set up are asking for, maybe something specific happened that caused her to turn to the therapy app again. At this point in the timeline Aeri (who was one of Madi's tutors at this time) had started Upper School herself and would have less time to tutor Madi. That'd probably be an event that caused Madi to talk with the app a lot more.

-

*Dang that's a good roll: Jake in Y:8. So Jake is Gabby's ex. They started dating in Y:1 and moved to Blanksford together in Y:3 following Ghost's influence hoping either one or both of them might get lucky and get powers. Gabby did get them in Y:6 but later in Y:7 after Gabby stopped being as involved with the Supers Wing, they broke up because of a little bit of jealously regarding Gabby getting the powers and not him, as well as the fact that Gabby wasn't even using their powers with the Supers Wing. I don't really know why I put Jake on here, but yeah let's figure out what he got up to after leaving Gabby. I do think he stayed in Blanksford still hoping to get powers of his own, which doesn't happen as far as I have planned. This is only a bit after the break up of their 6 year relationship, so he probably he isn't handling it super well. Probably gets a little sad every time new powers roll out and he doesn't get them. Maybe he gets over that eventually, but as of Y:8, there's no way he has. He's roughly 25, out of upper school; lots of people have left Blanksford with everything that's happened with Artemis, so he probably finds his own place in Blanksford for relatively cheap, maybe he's doing the mid-20s bachelor thing. I don't know what he went to school for but after 7 years of upper school, he's probably found a job or an apprenticeship of some kind. I think mechanic or biker of some kind fits rather well. And with the majority of the vehicles being autocabs and autotrucks, anyone building or working on their own manually driven vehicles could be in higher demand.

-

But yeah that's a decent enough place to stop for now. Had fun and developed the characters and storyline a little bit.

[our-change-to-the-world]

My first ever CAS activity

By Dennis Fuster, a CAS apprentice.

As an IB student, CAS is a very important area throughout our journey, therefore, before my first CAS (Creativity, Activity and Service) activity I was very excited and also nervous, since I didn't know what to expect. The activity, organized by Interact (a CAS project at our school) in collaboration with Kilómetro Uno (an environmental project dedicated to raising awareness about pollution), involved a beach cleaning event aimed at addressing the growing problem of pollution while enjoying the sunset. This initiative not only aligned with the core values of CAS but also offered an opportunity to make a tangible difference in our local environment. 

Beach activity at Interact from last year.

The Action Plan

On the day of the event (September 10), we gathered at around 5 pm, at the designated beach area. After a brief introduction and safety briefing by the Kilómetro Uno team, we were equipped with gloves, trash bags, and other necessary tools. The team leaders emphasized the importance of sorting the waste into recyclables and non-recyclables, so we were divided in two teams, one would recollect the trash and the other one would sort it out accordingly (I was on the first team), they were also very clear about one instruction in particular, which was to only recollect the trash found in the less crowded area, the reasoning behind this was good enough, at least for me, since the goal was to address the pollution problem derived from the trash that came from the ocean, not recollect THEIR trash, and while I understand this reasoning I can't help but think that we would've made a bigger impact, had we also cleaned their trash.

When we began the clean-up (around 5:30 pm) we worked in pairs, my partner and I left for the beach and it quickly became evident how extensive the pollution problem was. We found a wide array of debris, from plastic and glass bottles, straws, plastic cutlery, a ton of styrofoam, even some curious things, like a big rusty pot or a wheel rim. While we were collecting trash, the sunset came, and I must say, it was a beautiful sight. I actually believe it felt even better than it normally would because of the fact that we were cleaning the beach, as if Mother Nature was thanking us for helping. 

By 7:20 pm approximately we had already filled to the top 3 trash bags, (I believe in total they were around 20-25 bags completely full) and the activity was coming to an end, we all gathered were the activity began and the Kilometro Uno staff gave a speech and thanked everyone who participated, but, they had one final activity, a raffle, where the prizes ranged from a dental cleaning, to a couple of beers at a bar, funny enough, I had the “luck” of winning one of the prizes, but since it was the beers, and I am a minor, I couldn't accept it.

CAS activity sponsored by Interact. Students cleaning the beach.

My Veredict

In conclusion, it was a nice experience in general, although something I noticed was a lack of organization from Kilometro Uno, since they stated the activity would start at 5, and end at 8, but there was about a half and hour of delay. However, just the fact of being able to help the environment and therefore our society, making a difference, it doesn't matter how big, and watching the sunset while you do it is just amazing, personally one of my favorite activities so far, and an excellent first CAS experience.

Word Count: 585

[tsukarysgrimoire]

Omega had been caught. Now she's alone at the Empire's hands, far away from her brothers. Tortured and used as a rat lab, she drowns into despair. Her only hope of escaping and return to her family is her cold-hearted estranged brother Crosshair, but he hates her. Or does he?

My main story, the one that most of the others flow from.

It all started with a simple idea: what if the Batch had hired a doctor to remove Crosshair's chip after rescuing him? Initially, my OFC, who didn't even have a name yet, was simply recruited for this purpose, and after forming bonds with the Batch and Omega, but especially Crosshair, decided to stay with them and travel the galaxy with them. Even at this embryonic stage, I was sure of one thing: it would be a Crosshair/OFC.

However, I quickly became frustrated with the lack of relationship between Crosshair and Omega in the series (I started my story long before Season 2 aired) and thought I'd like to see them grow closer as they travel together in search of their brothers. That's how I came up with the idea of Omega being captured by the Empire. And since the Empire is not known for its leniency, and Omega remained a mystery, she became the subject of their experiments.

That didn't take anything away from my OFC, she could still be a doctor, especially with Omega and Crosshair nowhere near their usual form. But instead of just being hired by the Batch and meeting Crosshair and Omega when they joined their brothers, I wanted her to spend time with them, to bond with them during the journey.

Crosshair's loneliness throughout the season, his isolation in an Empire where everyone hates him, his regrets throughout the season, his anger, his despair… everything about him touched me to the point of pain. In this story, I wanted someone to be there for him, someone to say "I'm with you and nothing will change my mind, I'm ready to follow you all the way to Hell if need be, nothing will ever hurt you again". I wanted someone to be there to put a metaphorical balm on his physical and mental wounds. I wanted him to heal.

When I started writing this story, I had a four-part plan in mind: the Empire, the Journey, the Batch, and a fourth part that I'm going to keep a secret for a while. XD As I write this, the story is at the beginning of the third part. So it would be easy to say that we are halfway through the story, but it doesn't work like that, I have a plan that I try to follow, but more often than not the story does a bit of what it wants. For example, I hadn't planned for the travel part to be so long. The accident and the independent station (chapters 25 to 35) were not originally planned, although I did have the idea that Omega would be kidnapped by losers who had nothing to do with the Empire. Sixt's confession about her birth was also supposed to come earlier, during their time on Nuthal, the winter planet, but while I was writing that part, the Peacekeepers suddenly appeared out of nowhere to play a role in two chapters (19 and 20), and I didn't have the space or time to talk about Sixt's origins.

There are still a few adventures left for us to live through together.

[ivanca]

I Went Above And Beyond To Get The Frontend Job I Wanted But It Didn't Work.

I was very interested in a job position in Europe that came with visa sponsorship. While browsing the company's website, I noticed their sleek CSS animations. However, one diagram stood out because it was static:

Seeing this, an idea struck me. They were on the hunt for a Frontend developer. Why not showcase my skills by transforming this static image into HTML elements with polished CSS3 animations? I saw it as a great opportunity to experiment with Figma, which I believed could assist in generating some of the required HTML and CSS. My strategy was to initially craft it in a 2D format (from top to bottom). After exporting, I planned to manually infuse a 3D touch, incorporating aspects like rotation and bevels. Creating the three lines that interconnected each square was undoubtedly the most challenging. Positioning becomes a tad complex with intricate designs in Figma, especially when layering one element over another. Yet, I must admit, Figma proved to be quite a robust tool. Here’s what it looked like at that stage:

I then attempted to export the CSS/HTML using a Figma plugin named "Anima". Unfortunately, it didn't quite hit the mark. Rather than creating individual HTML components for each square and connecting line, it compacted everything into a singular static image. This was a far cry from what I was aiming for. To provide a clearer picture: in Figma, I had primarily used two layers, one for elements with absolute positioning and another for those with relative positioning. The plugin merged the latter into one bitmap image. My persistence paid off when I realized that exporting the relative layer by itself worked perfectly. My subsequent task was to individually export the components and manually integrate them using my local code editor.

However, there was a minor hiccup with the borders. Since CSS doesn't natively support gradient colors for borders and the plugin didn't offer a workaround, the borders ended up looking quite blocky. This was especially evident with the circular elements at the bottom, as can be observed here:

After exporting the HTML I started by rotating the full container, but the big beveled cyan square needed to look 3D and not like a flat surface so I had to add create some additional HTML elements:

Then I animated it (on mouse hover) using it "scaleX" on the ::before and ::after selectors (the "bevels") and then "translate" on the big square itself (otherwise it wouldn't look like going down but stuck mid-air):

While I might have glossed over a few steps, if you're curious about the technicalities or you want to see it live here it is: https://replit.com/@IvanCastellanos/demo-css-animation?v=1

I even went the extra mile by creating a video on YouTube to showcase my entire process. However, despite my efforts, I didn't secure the position. The feedback I received was rather generic, stating, "[...]we don’t think there’s a good fit for the position you applied for". It makes me wonder: perhaps going the extra mile isn't always appreciated, or maybe it boils down to the individual reviewing the application. Nevertheless, it was a good learning experience.

If, by chance, you or your organization are scouting for talent, feel free to drop me a message at ivanca at gmail. My expertise spans JavaScript, TypeScript, CSS, PHP, and Python. And at the moment I'm open to opportunities for remote work or one that offers visa sponsorship.

[radish-club]

So now that I have finished, I am going to break down my prior knowledge point by point and see where I was right or wrong about my prior knowledge of Worm because being thorough is fun.

Side note: you may be thinking since I've been tagging my liveread posts as "wren wreads worm" that my name is Wren. Nope. I just liked the triple W plus the misspelling. Wren is the name of the robot girl in my profile pic. It was also the pseudonym I used back when I was active(ish) on the Parahumans discord (for the Pact and Pale chats).

Wren Wreads Worm: Where I Was Wright and Wrong about Worm

Big picture: there's alien entities called incubators shards who implant themselves in people and give them powers.

So so the alien entities aren't called Shards like I thought, they are called Entities and the Shards are just their fragments.

I was under the impression that there was, like, a bunch of these aliens that were doing their experiments on earth and each one was implanting themselves into humans. But nope, only really 3 of them important to this story, only 2 came to earth, and only 1 survived initial contact with the planet.

I am not sure how accurate the comparison to the Incubators from PMMM ended up being, but similar enough I guess.

Powers are triggered by traumatic events and are usually themed to said events. There is also an organization called Cauldron who tries to give powers in a controlled manner. Powered beings are called parahumans.

All correct here.

The main character is Taylor. She has the power to control bugs. She was triggered by being bullied in high school. She was shoved into a locker full of used tampons and left there. I don't recall if that was the specific trigger event or just one instance of bullying.

It was the specific trigger.

She wants to be a hero and thinks of herself as a good, well intentioned person but is so so stupid. She goes out to fight crime, and meets up with teenage villains (called the Undersiders??). Against advice of established hero(es) she goes "undercover" with teen villains. In doing so she gets deeper and deeper in. Does like bank robberies or some shit that go badly. People die. And so on.

All true. Though I didn't realize eventually she just fully embraces the villain thing and get outed as "Undercover" during the course of that. I figured kept up her plan to rat them out up until she defected and then started snitching.

At some point she officially joins heroes and there is a time skip but I don't know if these two things happen together.

Kind of?? Not really but close enough. The time skip wasn't all in one piece like I thought either. Just a few months at a time per chapter until it gets the last year, year and a half out the way in one go.

Halfwayish through the book there is a big fight with a creature called Leviathan in which several characters dies (and apparently the author rolled dice to see who would die, so it was possible even Taylor could have died in that fight).

So in my head, the Leviathan fight played a similar roll as what the Behemoth fight ends up playing. A big transitional fight between Taylor as Skitter and Taylor as Weaver.

The way I was figuring it, I think, was that all the Skitter crime boss stuff happened and gradually escalated in an intact Brockton Bay, but then the Leviathan wrecks shit and the experience lead Taylor to defected or something, I am not sure.

But no, it was towards the beginning, if anything. It is the arc that is the transition from Act 1 to Act 2 if you were to break Worm into 3 acts.

At some point in the story Taylor kills several people. These include an established hero (Alexandria?) by suffocating her with bugs and also a baby but for the baby she uses a gun.

All true. I was not aware of her first proper kill in Coil, I'll note.

It was Alexandria that she kills which, as I guess, was a big important event that happened that gets referenced throughout the rest of the book.

The baby killing, however, was NOT as big of a deal as I thought it was going to be. By a good margin too. Like I was imagining there was going to be this build-up over the course of several Arcs about some baby who was going to set off a chain reaction or be dangerous in itself in an immediate sense.

There was going to be debates amongst characters about what do do about it until Taylor finally gets impatient, tracks down said baby, and assassinates it. And then it would be this big awful thing she had done that would be held against her and make her reviled by many.

But no. There is build up in the sense that it is implied that the baby, Aster, COULD be dangerous. And it is implied that she might end up in one of Gray Boy's time wells.

But the actually shooting just kind of happens, with implied motivations, as opposed to explicit ones. And the chapters that follow are for Golem, Aster's brother, who is broken up about it at first. But after that, I am not sure if she is ever mentioned again.

I guess because goes straight into the Jack fight and then Scion attacking immediately after. And not that many people saw it happen. And Taylor is at the point where she is kind of past feeling emotion about such things.

But going on memes and jokes about Taylor's baby killing, I just thought it was going to be a much bigger deal than it was.

There is a parahuman with gold skin who was one of the OG parahumans back in the 80s.

I was both right and wrong here. DWMP is named Scion and he was a cape from the 80s, but he was not a parahuman.

I discussed this in another post, so I won't go as in depth here. Briefly back when I didn't realize there was just one single entity (for all intense and purposes) and shards of said entity but I thought the entities and shards were one in the same and were many in number, I thought Scion was just a regular human who got an Important Shard and also most of his memories wiped.

I don't remember his name but I do remember he is very Dead Wife Man Pain, so let's call him DWMP.

The DWMP aspects came from half remember stories about Worm my wife told me. She used that expression to describe Scion and I got memories jumbled and thought there was some car wreck backstory or something.

DWMP has a fateful conversation with a villain named Jack Slash. Slash convinces him to destroy the world. Maybe also other realities too??

He does have that conversation with Jack Slash and he does begin destroying the world because of it. I didn't know the Jack Slash connection would be broadcasted within the story itself, long before via Dinah's precognition. I thought that was neat and felt special and in on the secret (this is why I don't mind spoilers for stuff).

And yeah, he does attempt to destroy multiple earths in multiple realities, but that isn't really part of the conversation.

(or maybe the same conversation is happening on multiple realities with multiple Slashes and DWMPs??)

The same conversation wasn't happening in multiple realities. And there is only 1 Scion for all the different realities. So no idea where that part came from.

There's apocalyptic event and Taylor gets someone (Amy/Panacea, I think) to enhance/alter her power so she can jump between realities. She then begins to gather parahumans from differently realities into a team to come together and take out DWMP with the power of teamwork and a giant laser.

Correct about apocalypse and that it was Amy.

But see, I thought the power enhancement was the reality hoping itself. I didn't realize that she got the power to literally control people.

So here I was thinking the climax was going to be her jumping through realities talking to and convincing alternate earth capes to join her cause and then they were all gonna rally together and fight Scion.

What ACTUALLY happened was so so so much better. She becomes a monster and begins controlling people, namely other parahumans. She controls a portal making parahuman to help extend her range and forcible recruit literally 1000s of people to fight and die against Scion.

This represents culmination of her continually increasing unethical actions for the "great good" and the final betrayal of her previously held morals.

Basically the "power of friendship" is funny in retrospect since I meant it somewhat sincerely.

Spot on about the giant laser. There was a giant laser. It is was killed Scion in the end.

They are not able to save the world they are currently on but a portion of Earth's population are evacuated from their current reality to an Earth with no humans where Ward takes place. One of these two earths is called Earth Bet.

Earth Bet is the main earth for our purposes. It wasn't as thoroughly destroyed as I assumed. Like folks are still rebuilding and live there. I am not sure how much of the population is spread amongst the various worlds.

From what I understand the afformentioned humanless world (Gimel) is where Ward takes place mostly or completely but I can only imagine there is some crossing over.

No idea what happens in-between. If folks continue to live on Bet, and so on.

Taylor's fate is left ambiguous. She maybe dies, she maybe fucks off to another reality. Maybe she become meguca idk.

And this part annoys me. It's is not ambiguous in the way I thought.

Like at first its pretty unambiguous. Contessa shoots and kills Taylor, ending her narration. It's great, I like that.

But then you have that epilogue about her fucking off to the other reality. It's somewhat implied to be fake given Tattletale's dialogue and the fact that her (presumably) dead dad is there. But the phrase "Gold Morning" is used. And the whole thing doesn't feel "dreamlike."

I get that the author SAYS it's supposed to be just a dream that happens while she's dying (I think that's true, correct me if I am wrong). And while I like to think that is the case myself, what he wrote isn't very good at getting that across.

And it's not even that good of a chapter (Tattletale parts are fine) to justify it being there, even as a dream. I feel if the last we see of Taylor is her getting shot, that would have been great. The final epilogue stuff felt forced and I didn't like it.

Other Notes:

-Taylor goes by 3 names: Skitter, Weaver, and Khepri

Partially true. She briefly goes by the temporary name of Bug prior to Gallant naming her Skitter after the bank robbery. Also I did not realize how little the Khepri name gets used in book.

-There a suite of powers called the Alexandrian Package bc they are the ones the parahuman Alexandria has. I think they are flight, semi-invulnerability, and strength (or maybe one of those is energy blasts)

True but this term only gets mentioned once maybe twice in the Worm. Maybe it comes up more in Ward or Weaverdice or something.

-there is a character named Bitch whose power is turning dogs into monster dogs. Media calls her Hellhound to be less controversial and she hates that

True

-There are sisters named Victoria (Glory Girl) and Amy (Panacea) the former of who is the protagonist of Ward. Amy turns Victoria into a Cronenberg at some point. Their relationship and respective characterizations across both books is a point of great controversy among fans. To put it lightly.

True. Though I did think Victoria would be put back together again within the text of Worm.

There was a scene and her being presented to Amy (I am guessing) to be fixed while Taylor is being lead through her banishment portal, which was kind of out of place to be honest. Like, I know Taylor saw Cronenberg Victoria via the clairvoyant when searching for heroes but did she collect her? If so, why? And if not did someone choose that moment, immediately after the fighting finished to take care of this. It was an awkward moment.

-There is a character named Lab Rat who died(?) but he, in the form of one of his clones, comes back in Ward as a guy named Chris.

As far as Worm goes, the part about Lab Rat dying is true. And if I remember correctly, the thing he threw over the side of the oil rig was his clone. And I haven't read Ward but I am pretty sure said clone became the character Chris.

-Browbeat's fate was ambiguous, so him secretly being this or that character in Ward became a meme. Because the author hates fun memes, he went back and changed Worm so BB unambiguously died.

Not much more to say here. The death was changed to be unambiguous.

Numbers Man is hung

Described as wearing just a shirt and glasses. Surely, what the author meant was that he was wearing no pants because of his monster dong.

I know Brian and Alec die but not exactly how or when.

Both true, though the story really take it's time before confirming Brian's death. Not a criticism, just wasn't expected.

I think Danny dies too but I'm not sure.

It's never confirmed but heavily implied.

I'm pretty sure Lisa and Rachel make it to Ward but I'm not sure about Aisha. I don't think she dies though.

They all make it.

I know there is going to be a jailbreak at the Birdcage at some point but I don't know the particulars.

Kind of true?? But not in the way I thought. I thought the inmates mount a jailbreak and that is how Marquis, Lung, Amy, etc get out. But no, pretty much all the named inmates are let out to help fight Scion. Taylor breaks the remaining inmates out during her run as Khepri, if you want to call that a jailbreak.

Taylor loses an arm at some point

Twice actually. Once at the oil rig (along with her lower half) but gets it regrown. Then again when it is crushed by Sveta and then removed by Lung (at her request). That gets healed over but never replaced.

It may be a few weeks before I start, but I'm probably gonna finally read Worm here soon. May even do a liveread if I feel like it.

I already know several of the major plot points BUT I I'm probably wrong in many places (as I was with Pact).

So before I start, I wanted to write a synopsis of what I think I know about Worm. This way I can refer back to this post and see how much I got wrong, what major things I was missing, etc.

What Worm is About (by someone who hasn't read Worm)

Big picture: there's alien entities called incubators shards who implant themselves in people and give them powers. Powers are triggered by traumatic events and are usually themed to said events. There is also an organization called Cauldron who tries to give powers in a controlled manner. Powered beings are called parahumans.

The main character is Taylor. She has the power to control bugs. She was triggerd by being bullied in high school. She was shoved into a locker full of used tampons and left there. I don't recall if that was the specific trigger event or just one instance of bullying.

She wants to be a hero and thinks of herself as a good, well intentioned person but is so so stupid. She goes out to fight crime, and meets up with teenage villains (called the Undersiders??). Against advice of established hero(es) she goes "undercover" with teen villains.

In doing so she gets deeper and deeper in. Does like bank robberies or some shit that go badly. People die. And so on.

At some point she officially joins heroes and there is a time skip but I don't know if these two things happen together.

Halfwayish through the book there is a big fight with a creature called Levithan in which several characters dies (and apparently the author rolled dice to see who would die, so it was possible even Taylor could have died in that fight).

At some point in the story Taylor kills several people. These include an established hero (Alexandria?) by suffocating her with bugs and also a baby but for the baby she uses a gun.

There is a parahuman with gold skin who was one of the OG parahumans back in the 80s. I don't remember his name but I do remember he is very Dead Wife Man Pain, so let's call him DWMP. DWMP has a fateful conversation with a villain named Jack Slash. Slash convinces him to destroy the world. Maybe alos other realities too?? (or maybe the same conversation is happening on multiple realities with multiple Slashes and DWMPs??)

There's apocalyptic event and Taylor gets someone (Amy/Panacea, I think) to enhance/alter her power so she can jump between realities. She then begins to gather parahumans from differently realities into a team to come together and take out DWMP with the power of teamwork and a giant laser.

They are not able to save the world they are currently on but a portion of Earth's population are evacuated from their current reality to an Earth with no humans where Ward takes place. One of these two earths is called Earth Bet.

Taylor's fate is left ambiguous. She maybe dies, she maybe fucks off to another reality. Maybe she become meguca idk.

Other Notes:

Taylor goes by 3 names: Skitter, Weaver, and Khepri

There a suite of powers called the Alexandrian Package bc they are the ones the parahuman Alexandria has. I think they are flight, semi-invulnerability, and strength (or maybe one of those is energy blasts)

there is a character named Bitch whose power is turning dogs into monster dogs. Media calls her Hellhound to be less controversial and she hates that.

There are sisters named Victoria (Glory Girl) and Amy (Panacea) the former of who is the protagonist of Ward. Amy turns Victoria into a Cronenberg at some point. Their relationship and respective characterizations across both books is a point of great controversy among fans. To put it lightly.

There is a character named Lab Rat who died(?) but he, in the form of one of his clones, comes back in Ward as a guy named Chris.

Browbeat's fate was ambiguous, so him secretly being this or that character in Ward became a meme. Because the author hates fun memes, he went back and changed Worm so BB unambiguously died.

Numbers Man is hung