#I do want to write a short story showcasing them one day

[kikizoshi]

I don't think I'll ever be able to properly explain just how utterly, unabashedly cool and awesome Pushkin and Lermontov could be as Ability Users. Just... the confidence. The prowess. The power. The absolutely iconic entrance. Their power as Ability Users would be unmatched, and I think it's a bit of a shame I can't draw to properly show it.

[thankskenpenders]

After a recent interview where Iizuka said it was possible for IDW characters to show up in the games, I've seen some discussion about how the characters need to be introduced "the right way" for people who don't read the comics. And, like, this is obviously true to some extent. You want to convey why people unfamiliar with them should care about these characters, instead of just assuming everyone already knows who they are and their whole backstories and everything. (Anyone who's watched Disney+ Star Wars already has some easy examples of times where they were like "you guys already know this character from the cartoons, right?" and casual fans were completely lost.) But I think people are overestimating how much work this would actually take, especially people who argue that the characters need full-blown reintroductions in the games that depict their backstories all over again and treat them as characters Sonic doesn't already know

I think it's easy to forget that not everyone who plays Sonic games has played every Sonic game. Kids especially. Every single major recurring character in the games debuted before today's generation of Sonic kids was born, and as such every new game is someone's introduction to those characters. The games with the introductions for the Chaotix, Blaze, Silver, Omega, Cream, the Babylon Rogues, Fang, Mighty, Ray, etc. are straight up not available at all on modern hardware without resorting to emulation. To many people picking up Team Sonic Racing or Mania or whatever, those characters are already some random characters Sonic apparently already knows from some previous story. These are not things that every single person who picks up a new Sonic game is intimately familiar with. And yet the games don't feel the need to stop and recount their entire backstories every time they appear.

Also, like, even if you have played every single game, Sonic already has a long history of introducing new characters with little to no fanfare, often treating them as characters Sonic has already met. Core characters like Tails, Amy, and Metal Sonic were really just dropped into Genesis era sequels with no explanation for people who didn't read the manual (i.e.: most players). Sonic has a kid sidekick and a girl who has a crush on him and a robot duplicate now, just roll with it. The modern era would continue to do this with characters like the reimagined Team Chaotix, or Orbot and Cubot, who just appeared in the games one day with no setup. We got along just fine.

(This is to say nothing of the nature of the creative medium the IDW characters originate from, where every new comic arc is treated as somebody's first and supporting characters are periodically given reintroductions to get newer readers up to speed. We've been over Whisper's backstory multiple times now.)

Again, obviously I do want characters like Tangle, Whisper, and Surge to show up in the games with compelling introductions that do the characters justice, but I think people are overthinking how much effort that actually takes. You do not need a whole elaborate adaptation of Whisper and Surge's backstories in the games just for them to have a cameo. You can have Sonic already know them, and if the details are even relevant you can convey that stuff in other ways - brief exposition in the dialogue, context clues, in-game character bios, new stories that showcase their important character traits without 1:1 recreating the stories that have already been told, out-of-game promotional videos and animated shorts like the ones they did to get people up to speed on who the hell Fang is, etc. This is pretty basic stuff when writing for a long-running multimedia franchise.

[elyvorg]

Kieran Part Bonus: I AM SO PROUD OF MY BOY

And now for my really actually final analysis post about Kieran, covering both the epilogue and also his scenes in the League Club room once you’ve finished that. Somehow both of these relatively short pieces of content still managed to be packed with delightful nuance showcasing both how Kieran’s still struggling with his issues and yet also how much he’s grown since his main arc. They are absolutely lovely and fill me with so many warm happy feelings about my boy.

Honestly, it’s remarkable, not just from a Pokémon-writing perspective but as a piece of fiction in general, to have this kind of satisfying follow-up for a character arc. Usually once a character’s arc reaches a resolution, their story just ends there, and we don’t get to see more of how they’re processing what they’ve been through and learning to grow further in the aftermath. So it’s a really wonderful breath of fresh air to get to see something like that for once here with Kieran! The Pokémon writers absolutely did not have to make the epilogue and postgame content focused on showcasing this, and yet they did. I am, once again, pleasantly boggled by how much they cared about doing Kieran’s story justice. Just, wowzers, man. There really is no more appropriate word for my amazement than that.

(This is an epilogue, if you will, to my previous two analysis posts discussing Kieran’s character arc in The Teal Mask and The Indigo Disk! Reading those before this is probably recommended.)

Before even getting into things that are strictly from the epilogue itself, can I just say: I really love that Kieran took a mental health break from Blueberry Academy to give him some time to process things? (Okay, the game only calls it a “break”, but let’s be real, it is for his mental health, and this is Good.) It just makes me very happy that the writing acknowledged that he’d probably need something like that after what he’s been through instead of going straight back to business as normal at school – and in an in-story sense, it’s lovely that Kieran realised he needed this and didn’t try and force himself to just keep going as if nothing had happened. He’s starting to learn to take care of himself and not push himself way too hard!

Making new friends

The first lovely sign of Kieran’s growth that we see in the epilogue is that, not only does he want to catch up with you, he also wants to meet your friends from Paldea! He must have spent some time during his break thinking about the fact that you mentioned you had friends from there.

And the thing is, with Kieran’s insecurities, it would have been so easy for him to slip into a mindset of “your friends are probably way cooler than me, why would you need me”. But instead of letting himself get caught up in that jealousy spiral again, he fought against it and did the healthy thing of asking to meet them himself. Hopefully he can become friends with them too and then he’ll have nothing to feel jealous about! He outright says when he meets them, “Any friend of [yours] is a friend of mine!” Look at him go. (Arven should take notes on how not to act insecure about one’s best friend having other friends, because damn, Kieran’s managing to be more well-adjusted than him now.)

All this is also just a sign that Kieran’s hoping to try and make more friends in general. He’s such an introvert that he must have figured that’d be easier for him to do with people for whom he has a mutual friend to get to know them through. Plus, if they’re your friends, then he already has a guarantee that they’ll be good and nice people. Way more manageable for him than trying to approach complete randos.

And really, it’s such a huge remarkable thing for Kieran that he is trying to make friends now. Friends, plural! This is the kid who used to be so lonely and shunned by others that his big dream was to one day be like the ogre who, according to him, doesn’t care that it’s all alone. And maybe then, if he managed that, he’d be able to befriend the ogre – just that one other person who is also alone and outcast. It never even crossed his mind to try and imagine that one day he could be confident and worthy enough to just… have some human friends. That wasn’t even an option in his head – it was “learn to not care that he’s alone” or nothing.

And yet look at Kieran now, actively reaching out to try and make new friends! I am so proud of him.

Learning to ask for help

Soon after you meet up with Kieran, it becomes apparent that something is Very Wrong with his sister. According to Kieran’s account, it was shortly after he sent you the letter that Carmine became possessed, so it’s not that the letter was secretly a call for help in which he couldn’t bring himself to admit the actual problem.

And even now that you’re here… Kieran wasn’t going to tell you about this problem at all until Carmine happened to wander up and start mochi-dancing in front of you. He tries to play the whole thing off like it’s totally normal and she’s definitely just… excited to see you???, even though he has to know that doesn’t make any sense at all. On some level this is just because it’s really scary to admit to himself that something is very wrong and he doesn’t have a clue how to fix it. But it’s also because… he still doesn’t feel like he has the right to ask you and your friends for help.

This is one of the ways in which Kieran’s issues and low sense of self-worth from before are still lingering and have not just been magically, instantly fixed. While he may be making a conscious effort to fight through his insecurities to try and make more friends, he hasn’t started consciously tackling everything that was holding him back just yet. It seems like he imagines that asking your friends for help, these people he’s only just met, would just make him a burden on them and maybe spoil any chance he had of actually becoming their friend himself. (Although, even if you’d come to visit him alone, I suspect he’d still struggle to ask even just you for help, simply due to his old ingrained mindset that he’s not worthy enough to deserve it.)

Happily for Kieran, your friends are all good people who instantly unthinkingly offer to help without him even needing to ask them! Kieran’s sheer surprise and gratitude when this happens is so telling about his insecurities for why he didn’t feel he could ask, but it’s also lovely to see him starting to realise that his instinctive way of thinking about this is mistaken. Welcome to having friends, Kieran, this is how it works actually! Most people are good and will be happy to help out a friend in need! It’s okay to need help sometimes!

There’s another very innocuous line that I find interestingly telling about Kieran’s mindset regarding this. When you’re all at the community centre wanting to use the TV, Kieran laments that it’s stuck playing the tourism ad because the caretaker hid the remote, so Arven immediately suggests you all look for it. And Kieran reacts, in surprise, “Why didn’t I think of that?” It reads as largely rhetorical, but… it’s a good question.

Why didn’t Kieran think of just trying to find the remote? Because he’s spent so long stuck in a mindset where, if things are bad for him, it’s just what he deserves for being weak and there’s nothing he can do about it. His response to his problems during the main storyline was to completely separately fixate on making himself Stronger so that, in theory, problems would just stop happening to him entirely. It never occurred to him to try and just face and deal with his problems directly – at least not until the climactic battle with Terapagos, which was the first time he ever found the courage to take such an approach – so the notion to do so still isn’t quite habitual in his mind just yet.

Hopefully Kieran asking why he didn’t think of that wasn’t quite so rhetorical, and he was reflecting on it himself a little when he said it. He ought to realise that actually, taking action to directly solve his problems is a good thing and something he should strive to do more! He has already begun to do so in some ways by reaching out in an attempt to make more friends, at least.

Solving the problem

Kieran sure does get a lot more practice at Directly Solving Problems thanks to the events that go on to occur that night, doesn’t he. I love that the epilogue’s plot, while ostensibly just there to give players an opportunity to catch Pecharunt, is also a narrative that exists to let Kieran get to be a hero alongside you.

It’s somewhat low key, but Kieran definitely gets pretty freaked out about everything that’s happening. Which is really perfectly reasonable – though the effects of the possession are incredibly silly, it’s still got to be genuinely frightening to see people he knows getting controlled against their will by some unknown force, especially when this includes his own family. (One detail I love is that the game uses that lack of a highlight in his eyes during certain lines to communicate the fear he's feeling and trying not-so-successfully to hide; it’s a small thing, but it works so well.)

Once you’ve fought off his possessed grandparents, Kieran starts to panic, convinced it’s only a matter of time before it gets him (even though the evidence of how exactly the possession occurs is right there if he’d just stop to think about it for a moment). On some level, he must still have this sense that, if it can get all these people he looks up to, surely it’ll get him too who’s so much weaker than them. His inferiority complex is still there and affecting him, especially in this stressful situation.

Good thing Kieran has you by his side, the strongest coolest friend ever whom he knows he can rely on! If you hadn’t been there to reassure him and snap him out of it, he really might have lost himself to his panic. Or he might have just not even tried to battle the possessed people and do something about all of this in the first place – see the earlier point about how him facing problems directly is still not instinctive to him. He’s able to do so here, but a lot of that is probably thanks to being able to follow your lead. Still, this is bound to help him get better at doing so on his own in future!

Kieran’s also still a bit too liable to feel like things are his fault even when they really aren’t. He blames himself for not warning Arven and Penny about the mochi in time, even though he was literally about to do so when Pecharunt showed up and sniped mochi directly into their mouths. That can’t be called Kieran’s fault at all! He tried! (And, hey, it’s not like you made any attempt to warn them either.) But he still feels responsible for it anyway.

And he’s also still rather defeatist when it comes to facing Strong Opponents in battle. Kieran couldn’t defeat Nemona earlier in the day, so when it comes down to facing off against her in order to get to Pecharunt, he just feels like he can’t do it, end of. Really, that’s not necessarily the case – since this is an emergency and not a friendly battle for sport, there’s no reason you have to beat Nemona in a fair 6-on-6. Anything to get past her will do; the two of you could have taken her on in a 12-on-6 double battle, perhaps! Kieran did not need to momentarily feel useless in this situation, but he did, because not being able to win against someone still equates in his mind to being No Good At All. Kieran, nooo.

Happily, the narrative provides Kieran with something else to do with himself while you fight Nemona so that he is very decidedly not useless in the slightest – fighting off the entire town’s worth of people behind you??? That is equally as necessary as taking down Nemona, something without which you’d never have managed to get to Pecharunt, and it must take some incredible battling skill to be able to hold off that many opponents at once. Like, dang, Kieran. I really hope he’s able to reflect on this in the aftermath and realise how incredibly strong and cool that was of him, because it was.

(He was holding his own one-against-many, just like he always admired Ogerpon for doing!)

Kieran’s fear and pessimism also show through just a tiny bit as you’re fighting Pecharunt at the end, when he reacts to the fact that you were able to damage it. Apparently he was afraid that this thing would be completely invulnerable and it just wouldn’t be possible for even someone as amazing as you to beat it and stop the curse. Yikes, that must have been a scary thought. But still, it all worked out in the end! Kieran’s learning that even when things are scary and feel overwhelming, by facing up to them and doing his best, it’ll usually turn out okay! Especially because he’s not alone and has friends by his side to support him now.

And, hey, one way or another, it seems like the events of the epilogue did help give Kieran that last little push he needed to decide to go back to Blueberry Academy! I imagine he was already thinking about doing so – he is actually a very stubborn and determined person at his core, so I don’t think he could ever have been considering just giving up on it – but all of this probably helped give him the confidence to make that leap. The thought of apologising to everyone for how he acted must still be incredibly daunting – but, he’s begun to realise that he can face scary things!

His old Kitakami team

During the epilogue’s battles, I was absolutely delighted to see Kieran send out Poliwrath, one of the Pokémon he used in Teal Mask but not in Indigo Disk – because this is proof that he’s been reconnecting with the Pokémon friends he left behind back then! As it turns out, the rest of his team for these multi battles is the same as his Champion team, with only the Polis switched, but even so, Poliwrath’s presence is enough to be a promising sign for all of his old Pokémon friends.

And this gets further confirmed by his dialogue with Arven in the clubroom! Arven asks Kieran which of his Pokémon he’s closest to, and he mentions his Hydrapple (which has been with him since it was an Applin), his Poliwrath and Politoed, his Yanmega, and his Furret! This accounts for all of the Pokémon Kieran had in his Teal Mask battles up to the third one, after which he started to fixate hard on getting stronger to prove himself to you, so these are likely all of the Pokémon that were friends of his from the start. And he still considers them friends now, which means he reconnected with them all and apologised as necessary for any leaving them behind/thinking they were weak/etc that he might have done! Yes good, Justice For Furret was had, I could not be happier.

(Okay, we never saw the second Poli back then, but the way he talks about both Polis together suggests they’re a pair, so I imagine they were both his friends back then, too. He also never used Applin against you before evolving it into Dipplin – which is fair, Applin is very not good in battles – so the lack of us seeing another Poliwag/whirl is probably because he felt he needed to use a diverse team that didn’t have two of the same species. He doesn’t have to battle with all of his Pokémon for them to still be his friends, after all! He still doesn’t battle with most of them now in the clubroom battles either, which use his same Champion team, but that doesn’t stop them from being his precious pals!)

(On the other hand, since there is no sign nor mention of them in the postgame, I suspect that, like Cramorant before them, his Gliscor, Shiftry and Probopass from the final Kitakami battle got released. Kieran would have only had them for like a day or two during the events of Teal Mask, since he only caught them after he fixated on getting stronger, so I doubt he’d grown very attached to them during that time. Still, that’s okay, because hey, he did make them stronger, which is probably all they ever expected from him when they joined his team.)

Nemona is Good

One extremely delightful aspect of the epilogue and beyond is Kieran’s interactions with Nemona. It turns out that her outlook on battling is exactly the kind of thing Kieran needed to help regain a healthier view on it himself!

His feelings about his own battling skills are still very all-or-nothing at the beginning of the epilogue. When Nemona excitedly declares that she’s heard he’s really good at battling, Kieran’s pretty dismissive of that idea. He couldn’t beat you, therefore that means he’s Not Good At It, right? (Kieran, no.) He also says that Nemona “destroyed” him once they’ve battled – but based on the fact that she has nothing but praise for how good he is, I very strongly suspect that he actually gave her a really tough fight, and he only framed it that negatively because losing at all still makes his inferiority complex blow things way out of proportion.

Happily, delightfully, Nemona tells Kieran exactly what he has always needed to hear this whole time, which is that it shouldn’t matter whether you win or lose, because battles are fun either way! And with a moment to reflect on that, he agrees… yeah, they are, he had a lot of fun!

We’d heard from Drayton that Kieran was always a kid who’d deeply enjoyed battling, from the very beginning. But it seems that somewhere along the way he’d stopped loving it so much, at least when he’s the one battling - probably because he’d often lose, which would trigger his inferiority complex and make him feel bad. We only saw a small glimpse of his passion for battling ourselves at the beginning of Teal Mask, mostly when he watched you battle his sister, and a little bit in his own early battles with you, but he still felt bad over losing, poor kid.

But with Nemona’s help, Kieran’s been able to remember just how much he always loved battling and can just enjoy himself with it again! In your clubroom battles with him, he has a line just before he Terastallises where he says “these feelings never change” – and though he doesn’t specify what feelings he’s talking about, the one thing about Kieran that has never changed this entire time, even if he sort of lost sight of it for a while along the way, is the thrill he gets from battling! He also says in another line that he’s “having a blast” – which is phrasing that Nemona uses that Kieran never has before, so apparently he picked that up from her? Aww. I am so glad he could meet her; she is exactly the breath of battle-loving fresh air he always needed.

Kieran’s clubroom conversation with Nemona is also very good and helps him let go of his all-or-nothing mindset a little more. Nemona praises him for how quickly he climbed the ranks of the BB League, which he insists is meaningless because he pushed himself unhealthily hard and then still couldn’t beat you in the end. But Nemona helps him reframe it and think of it as: he was incredibly dedicated, and it must mean he really loves Pokémon and battling, which is true! This has to help Kieran view his training arc in a more positive light instead of focusing on the negative aspects like his toxic obsession and lack of self-care. Hopefully if/when he starts training hard again, he’ll be able to feel better about it and not associate it with all the bad things, thanks to Nemona! (But also, Kieran, please remember to not neglect self-care again, that was bad. I imagine he has indeed got the message about that, since the way he talks about that aspect in this conversation seems tinged with regret.)

Carmine is Trying

Another thing we see in the epilogue – admittedly only a small glimpse near the end, but it’s something – is that Kieran’s relationship with his sister seems to have gotten a little bit healthier? They each make equal-opportunity Sibling Banter jabs at each other, and Kieran doesn’t slump and shrink and look so defeated when she bites back against one of his. There’s probably still some ways to go here on their dynamic becoming completely truly healthy, but it’s definitely progress from before, which is good to see.

I think Carmine really must have reflected on her role in Kieran’s breakdown and is trying in her own fumbling awkward way to do better by him now. A delightful sign of this is one of her scenes in the clubroom, in which she resolves to be less protective of Kieran, even if it’ll make her lonelier without him around as much. That’s exactly what she needs to do! After all, this whole thing started because Carmine couldn’t bear to let her brother endure even the tiniest amount of badfeels that would have come from learning he happened to miss out on meeting the ogre. Carmine has realised on some level that she needs to have more faith in Kieran and his ability to endure and get through stuff on his own, rather than trying too hard to protect him from everything ever, which just results in coddling him and stifling his possibility for growth. She still does want to look out for him from a distance and be able to help if he really does need it, but she’s trying not to overdo it any more. Yes good, I am proud of her too.

Reconciling with his schoolmates

I said already in the Indigo Disk post that it’s incredibly brave of Kieran to resolve to apologise to everyone he hurt and make amends, and this is still true. That has to have been so scary, but he went and did it anyway! It seems he even apologised to the people who cared about him, such as his sister and Amarys, for worrying them with his behaviour – which also means he has managed to comprehend the fact that people cared about him, even back then when he was at his most unlikeable.

And by the sounds of what he says in his clubroom scenes, most people took his apologies well and are talking to him like normal now, which has to have been such a relief. It means a lot that Kieran wasn’t expecting anything of the sort and apologised anyway despite expecting backlash, simply because it was the right thing to do – but hey, most people are nice and can probably tell he was decidedly Not Himself during that time and are willing to put the past behind them! Social interaction isn’t quite as scary as he’d used to think, it turns out!

Even then, some things are still a bit weird, and with how far-reaching his impact as Champion was, Kieran’s bound to keep having to deal with this for a while. There must keep being more people he was a jerk to that he still hasn’t apologised to yet, people being intimidated by him because they don’t realise he’s changed, constant reminders of some of the hurtful things he said and did back then. Making amends is going to be a pretty long-term thing, but Kieran is putting in the effort to do so all the same, because it’s the right thing to do, and he is so brave.

Someone who is making this harder than it needs to be is Drayton, because of freaking course he is. He still insists on rubbing in the “ex-Champ” thing, even though Kieran has made it clear he does not appreciate being called that (of course, he no longer minds that he’s not Champion any more, but the fact that Drayton insists on constantly reminding him of his past self has to sting). On the one hand, Drayton is still concerned about Kieran in his own way, because he does effectively ask if Kieran’s eating better meals now, but on the other hand their entire clubroom interaction features him deliberately dodging Kieran’s genuine attempts to just engage with him in an effort to make amends, and, geez. This is exactly what he wanted from Kieran all along, and yet he is somehow still not satisfied. Seriously, Drayton.

At least Drayton is the only one of the Elite Four to be like this, and the others seem to be on good terms with Kieran now! Look at Lacey insisting that the past is in the past when Kieran acts confused that she’d want to help him after he was such a jerk to her. (Someone needs to take notes there, Drayton.) And it seems like Kieran’s got another good friend in Crispin, who’s in the same class as him! Our boy is making so many new friends and it is wonderful.

Of course, his insecurities are still around, and he’s still a little too liable to assume he’s doing something Wrong in social situations, as we see in a couple of his clubroom interactions. That one with Arven about his Pokémon is an example, as Arven phrased things as if he expected Kieran to have just one single closest Pokémon buddy, and Kieran seemed to feel bad that he actually had multiple candidates and couldn’t pick – but happily, Arven reassured him that it’s cool to not be able to choose, too! And in Kieran’s interaction with Crispin, he reflexively apologises for not having watched the latest episode of a show, but Crispin calls him out on the apology, and Kieran is able to question himself as to why he apologised and conclude that he didn’t need to, because it’s not like Crispin’s going to mind.

He is learning! He does not need to feel like he has to perfectly match his conversation partner’s expectations in order to be their friend! Kieran’s approach to his own issues has become so healthy and filled with self-reflection and growth, and I am so proud of him.

Friendship with you

Kieran is also able to be a whole lot healthier about his friendship with you, now that you’re properly friends again after everything! Possibly my favourite completely innocuous line in the epilogue is when he casually mentions that you and he became friends during the school trip to Kitakami. This is actually huge, because Kieran had spent so long utterly convinced that you couldn’t possibly have meant it when you called him a friend back then, not after the lie and all of his issues about being too weak to deserve it. But now, he’s been able to reflect on that and realise… of course you meant it. Of course you always wanted to be his friend, right from the very beginning! It wasn’t on purpose of you that he got left out of meeting Ogerpon at all, because you’re a good person and you wouldn’t do something like that, and he never actually deserved that after all.

(Perhaps sometime during his break, he had a proper talk with his sister about what happened and why she lied, and Carmine finally got to fully express that you and she never meant to hurt him and shun him with that.)

Kieran is still not over his idolisation of you, mind you. He reacts to you being the one to find the TV remote of all completely mundane things with “Wowzers! ‘Course you found it first!” – which, really isn’t a wowzers or an of course? Your magical protagonist powers do not and should not extend to this, and yet they still do in Kieran’s head. But even though he still views you this way, Kieran is so much healthier about it now. He’s no longer bitter and jealous and beating himself up for not being as perfect as he thinks you are, since nobody is (not even you, not really) – instead, he’s just so incredibly thrilled that he actually gets to be friends with someone so cool!

I really love that the devs went and gave Kieran a new losing animation for his clubroom battles, too. His previous ones always had him being varying levels of upset about losing, but not any more! He just stares in wide-eyed awe at your amazingness, and then breaks into a big smile and thanks you for the battle, because he still had great fun even though he lost! And he’s able to freely admit that he looks up to you because you’re so strong, or, in an optional line in the epilogue, he admits that he’s jealous that your friends are all really good people. He still has those feelings, but he’s able to healthily express them now without letting them twist him into something harmful.

It seems like he’s still a little insecure about if he deserves to be friends with you, though, based on a few small things. When he asks you for a trade in the clubroom, he appears hesitant to ask, as if he’s not sure he has the right to, and if you say no – even though there’s every chance this is just because you want some time to decide on an appropriately special Pokémon to give him – he slumps, probably having had his sensitivity to rejection triggered. And even once you’ve traded, he can later ask if you’re absolutely sure he can really keep the Pokémon you traded him, because he can’t quite believe he could get to have such a cool gift from you of all people. Aww, Kieran. Hopefully his hypothetical future interactions with you will help squash this insecurity of his further, because he deserves to feel comfortable in his friendship with his best friend!!!

Ogerpon

Another seemingly-innocuous but extremely good line in the clubroom is that Kieran can ask you if Ogerpon’s doing well and say that he thinks she’ll be pretty happy with you. He says this in a completely casual way, with no hint of bitterness – which tells us that he’s no longer jealous that you caught Ogerpon! It makes sense that he wouldn’t be, because he doesn’t need her acknowledgement any more like he used to think he did in order to feel worth something. He’s already got acknowledgement and self-worth and happiness now for so many other reasons, after all! So he can just be selflessly happy for Ogerpon that she’s found a trainer she can feel safe and happy with too, without being irrationally preoccupied over what she thinks of him.

It is interesting to see in this dialogue that Kieran initially calls her “the ogre” before correcting himself to “Ogerpon” – apparently, he’s only quite recently made an effort to shift what he calls her in his head. It’s true that in his reaction to her in the Champion battle, he did indeed just call her “the ogre”. It’d make sense that he didn’t actually work to shift his mental idea of what to call her during his Indigo Disk arc, despite knowing her species name, because the name “Ogerpon” likely brought back too many painful reminders of everything that happened in Kitakami. It was probably easier for him to just stick with “the ogre” and try to forget anything had changed. But he’s okay with what happened now!

And maybe Kieran trying to make a habit of using her name now is a sign that he’s started to realise that Ogerpon is her own individual who’s not quite the same as the mental image he always had of what “the ogre” was like? Maybe. It’s hard to be sure. Unfortunately the epilogue/postgame can’t do much with Ogerpon because it’s always optional for her to be on your team or even in your game at all (since you could in theory have released her or traded her away). But we can at least hypothetically imagine that in Kieran’s continued interactions with you, he’ll get the chance to hang out with Ogerpon a little and come to understand her better. It certainly seems now that he’d be able to hang out with both you and her without feeling uncomfortably jealous, which is a good start! (And Terapagos is on the list of ‘people’ he owes an apology to, so let’s imagine he gets a chance to do that, too.)

Moving forward

The “climax”, such as there is one, of Kieran’s mini-arc of scenes in the clubroom is him excitedly telling you that he’s had the BB League drop him from their rankings. Although your character seems a little bewildered by it (they are still a bit of a social dumbass), this is in fact an extremely good thing for Kieran! He’s taking a step back from the competitive side of things for the sake of his mental health, so that he can untangle himself from the toxically-obsessive mindset that he was in back when he was only focused on winning! Look at Kieran doing all this good self-reflection and self-care, it is so lovely to see. He doesn’t even seem to view this as any sign of him failing, either – he’s just comfortably acknowledging that he needs to do this for now for his own sake and there’s no shame in that.

Kieran seems pretty sure that he is going to want to get back into competing once he’s cleared his head a bit, but he’s already so much more casual and healthy about it! He says he’s going to shoot for the Champion title again, and even if you respond with a friendly taunt of “You still won’t beat me!”, he takes it so well. He’s genuinely okay now with the thought that he might never quite be good enough to beat you – he just wants to have fun trying. Look at how far he’s come!

In the meantime, while he sorts his head out, he just wants to spend time with his Pokémon (who mean a lot to him as far more than just sources of battling strength!) and his human friends (whom he has so many of now???) and figure out what he really wants to do with himself from here. Good for him!

Kieran’s still just a kid, and seeing him already learn how to grow from his mistakes and face up to his lingering issues and be just so emotionally healthy about things now is such a promising sign for wherever he’s going to end up in future. I love that the epilogue and these postgame clubroom scenes put so much effort into showing us this about Kieran now, reassuring us that he really is going to be okay. I truly could not be more proud of or happy for my boy.

[hanjisungs-bigtittyg0thgf]

Kinktober Day 10: Overstimulation with sub!Jisung

Trigger warnings:

Content warnings: names (miss, baby, baby boy), overstimulation, restraints, femdom, toys, ji almost cries (how cute)

Summary: Your sweet submissive boyfriend has gotten himself in trouble and now you have to deliver his punishment.

Word count: 0.9k

A/N: hi all 🥰 after much consideration, i’ve decided to repost my kinktober 2022 stories. i had a great time writing these a couple years ago and want to share them again now that it’s been a while and i’ve had time to fall in love with them again. i hope you all enjoy! and by all means, feel free to send a message or comment here if you’d like to be part of the new tag list!

Tags: @bahng-chrizz

Smut below the cut

He sighed contentedly as you tied his hands together above his head, dick twitching at the thought of what came next. “You sure are relaxed for someone in deep shit, baby.” You remarked and he pressed his lips together sheepishly, averting his eyes.

You wasted no time in tugging his shorts and underwear down in one go, watching him squirm when the cool air hit his dick. You took him in your hand and teasingly blew on the tip, admiring the way he fought to hold still. You tightened your grip and gave a gentle tug, waiting for his reaction. When nothing came, you thumbed over the head and pressed the pad of your thumb against the slit, drawing out the choked sound you knew he’d make. “Much better.” You paused and caught his eye. “Tell me what you want.”

“It doesn’t matter what I want.” He murmured as he tried to recover and you rewarded him with a kiss to the tip as your hand began to work his length. “It’s entirely up to you, miss. That’s how punishments work.”

“That’s right, baby. Tell me again what you did wrong?” You gave a squeeze on the upstroke and he whimpered, face screwing up in pleasure already. He wasn’t prepared for what you had in mind…

“I sent you a dirty video while you were out with friends…” He mumbled, hiding his face behind his arm. You hummed in response and released his dick, scoffing at the distressed sound he made. He didn’t argue despite how badly he wanted to as you backed away and reached for something you’d tossed on the bed.

“That’s right. And what happens when you do things like that?” You asked as you strapped a bullet vibrator just under the head of his cock.

His head shot up from the pillows, a panicked look in his eyes as he watched you. His mouth went dry but he forced himself to mumble out some sort of answer before you cut the vibrator on. He immediately let out a loud whine as his head fell back onto the pillows.

It never took much to get him worked up and he was showcasing that for you, dick twitching as he fought to hold still. “So sensitive…” You sighed and reached out to run your fingertips down his toned stomach. His muscles jumped at your touch and you chuckled as you allowed your nails to drag along his skin, earning another pathetic sound.

It had only been two minutes when he started to tremble. “Please, miss, I’m sorry. Can I cum?” Jisung begged, voice high and whiny as he writhed around on the bed.

“I never said you couldn’t.” You shrugged, adjusting the vibrator and admiring the angry red head of his cock. “Nothing’s stopping you.”

He let out a pathetic cry as he let go and came across his belly. His back arched off the bed and he pulled against the restraints, making the headboard rattle as he tried to jerk away. Instead of turning the vibrator down or off, you cranked it up even higher and listened to him practically scream.

“So responsive…” You teased, reaching out to trail your fingertips along his surprisingly pale thighs. “So, so pretty.” You sighed and gently squeezed just above his knee before straddling his waist. “You’re not getting a break until I see fit, baby boy. Do you understand me?” He nodded frantically and you reached between your bodies.

He tried to shrink away at first, afraid you were going to torture him more, but relaxed into your touch as best he could when you swiped your fingers through his cum. You brought your hand towards your face, eyes locked on his release that covered your fingers before shifting to his face. He instantly opened his mouth and stuck his tongue out expectantly, breathing harsh and fast as you pressed your sticky fingers to his tongue. He let out an appreciative hum as he closed his lips around your fingers, the sound morphing into a muffled whimper when your ass brushed just against the tip of his dick.

He sucked harshly on your fingers and you pressed down on his tongue while your other fingers gripped his jaw, making him gag slightly. You rocked back against his dick again and he squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to calm himself. He tried to move his hips away from you but you didn't let him. The sound that ripped from his throat made you want to toss everything aside and forget about the punishment in favor of using him as a fuck toy to get yourself off. You almost gave in but his second orgasm shook you back to reality and out of your daze.

He was squirming, trying to get away as the vibrations became almost too much to bear. He managed to force your fingers out of his mouth and let out a loud cry. “Too much- please take it off, it’s too much!” He choked out. His plea fell on deaf ears initially but when you saw tears spring into his eyes, you gave in and turned the vibrator off as you moved off him. His hips bucked involuntarily as your fingers came into contact with his cock when you reached to remove the toy and you cut your eyes at him as you forced his hips back down. “Sorry! ‘M sorry, miss-” He yelped as you finally freed him from the toy. He opened his mouth to thank you but you cut him off.

“Don’t think I’m done with you, baby. I’m just giving you a little break.” You warned as you reached up to make sure his wrists were still secured to the headboard. “I haven’t even had my fun yet.”

He shuddered at your ominous tone and nodded slowly. He was fucked.

<-d-9 | d-11->

[queenendless]

💜❤️‍🩹Because You Live (Toji Fushiguro x Adult!Fem!Reader)❤️‍🩹💜

A/n: It finally happened ... wtf? Blame Sage's Rain on YT and his Toji video for making me feel so bad for Toji.

Its my first time writing just Toji stuff and it may not be the best but I got inspired and needed to put something out so there!

Also why is Because You Live by Jessie McCartney seems like the theme for Megumi's parents? Listen to it while reading this if you want.

Credit to yeagernx on Pinterest for these edited pins.

DON'T PLAGIARIZE, STEAL, COPY, TRANSLATE MY FANFIC CONTENT. REBLOG, LIKE AND FOLLOW INSTEAD PLEASE AND THANK YOU.

Toji's rough heart pounded against his sturdy chest.

In their small urban apartment family room, his giant burly form leaned against the archway as he peered down, his narrowed eyes softening at the sight before him.

The decent sized TV screen played lowly in the background, showcasing a random movie, serving as the only light he used to move through the room. The family room's floor was draped with comforters and blankets of the plush variety. Many fluffy soft pillows accompanied them. His two kids noggins used you as their personal pillow.

Tsumiki's cheek nuzzles your side as she squeezed her white dog plushie in one arm while Megumi was tucked against your other side as he pinned his black dog plush between you and himself.

You were on your back, your mouth slightly agape, as you softly snored, drool trailing down the side of your mouth.

Toji snorted out a dry chuckle.

For most of his life, he was the Invisible Man.

To topple the society that his family prided on to the point of abusing and torturing him over for not amounting to their standards and beliefs, he became the Sorcerer Killer.

After losing his wife; the first love of his life that made him believe he was worth so much more than what his family's hatred conditioned in him, he felt himself succumbing to those very demons of his former life.

Barely able to sustain a suitable life for his son; his blessed gift from his late mother.

Having a daughter now to add to the family bundle; her mother dumping her on him when she had the chance then bolted.

Taking any job he could to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table, stuck in a shitty neighborhood with no other options.

So how …

How did you wind up smack dab in the middle of it all?

From an infamous disturbed creep stalking and following his kids on their way home from school one afternoon to you reporting the incident before as his attempts to nab Tsumiki resulted in Megumi's shadow technique nearly swallowing the bastard alive when you knocked them out by a smack with that stray metal pipe you scrounge up by the litter around.

Tsumiki trusted you, feeling indebted to you for saving them. A skeptical Megumi didn't sense the same inkling of dread from you that the now arrested man had.

But when you saw Toji Fushiguro stroll up through the apartment door, he was a bit baffled to see you in their cramped living room, sitting on the floor while braiding Tsumiki's hair as she and Megumi watched anime on their small TV.

You were smitten by the giant burly man as you explained what occurred and the short version of your backstory.

Your father bailed on you and your mother recently passed away in her sleep, which forced you to sell the only home you've ever known. Wandering the streets with all you could take with you. Saving two kids you didn't know at all but knowing a monster when you saw one that day.

Toji offered you to live with them as thanks for saving his kids when he couldn't as well as in exchange for watching over them when he was out doing whatever money making task was available to him.

Why would he take a chance on you, a practical stray?

Well …

Obviously he had Shiu do a background search on you over the phone that very same day to double check your story. When it all does check out, he feels a bit of weight lift off his broad shoulders.

Plus …

He saw glimpses of his first love in you.

Even your smile gave him glimpses of his late wife. But you weren't her.

He thought no one could fill in the void she left behind.

Making it that much harder to live the simple life and raising kids that he felt was out of his element.

But at that moment, seeing your relieved overjoyed smile breaking out across your face when he said you could stay, it already began filling in the cracks his heavy heart bore.

He noticed the endeared affection you bore in your gaze for his rugrats as trickles of sunset hit your figure through the slips of the blinds and curtains.

He wouldn't admit it straight out at the start of this new journey, but you glowed like an angel.

Over time, as days turned to weeks then turned to months, those hard kept emotions within him became unbridled at the seams.

Walking his kids to and from school, making their lunches, cleaning up around the place, finding part time jobs here and there that helped pay the bills, being greeted warmly by you every time he came home, finding you winding down after tucking the babies to bed.

One late night of such endeavors leading up to it found him spotting you laying on the couch, partially awake to the sound of his heavy footsteps when you felt warmth overtake you as he kissed you tentatively on the lips.

Watching your e/c eyes fluttering open up at him made him want to press further. To feel you slowly, tenderly returning the kiss only drove him to get down on his knees as his burly arms wrapped around your waist, pressing his strapping chest against your soft chest, submerged in your sweet scent and you drowned in his overwhelming warmth.

Your hands weaved up those sculpted arms and brushed his nape to his shivering delight, your fingers curled through his hair, bringing his face in closer as your heavy sighs and flustered whimpers made the growling beast want to nip on those lips before his tongue clashed with yours, swallowing you whole.

In his once clouded, now desperate eyes, he didn't want to let you go. To him, you're beautiful, inside and out. Literally, the beauty to his beast.

“I want you, angel. Be mine.”

You could barely think coherently as you pulled away from those addicting lips of his.

“Only when you quit the gambling and get your act together. Help me find a better place to raise them. Be there for them … do it for them … please?”

Unlike Shiu's stern lectures on quitting his gambling routines because he was just that bad at it when it comes to luck, the way your pleading eyes and pouting lips made a long forgotten sensation rise in him.

The willingness to forsake his pride.

To do what was best for all instead of dwindling it all away.

What was best for his kids … what he wanted … if you wanted that too —

“Okay.”

His deep, breath stealing kiss made your toes curl and your form fit perfectly with his own as he laid down with you, moving about until he laid flat on his back with you splayed out on top of him on your tummy.

On that night, he gained a new light in his life, cocooning you in his brawny grasp, nodding off together on the couch.

In this cursed world, he had been giving a new blessing.

A second chance.

Flash forward back to the present.

In your new shared apartment; finding one with help from Shiu, in a safer part of the urban setting, just a stroll away from the kids school, and with a great view of the now starry sky.

Brushing back your loose hair strands, your quiet whimper at the sensation made him smirk before kissing your forehead. “Hey.”

You yawned a bit. “Welcome home.”

“Now what's going on here?” Toji asked as he grabbed the remote to turn off the TV.

“Slumber party. Fushiguro Edition.” You mumbled, knowing his superhuman hearing could pick it up.

Toji snorted before ruffling Megumi's head gently. "Ya want to get them to bed or …?”

“Too comfy … and sleepy … to move.” You quietly whined.

“Then make room for Papa Bear, Mama Bear.”

You giggled at his gruff response, cradling Megumi as Toji carefully lifted Tsumiki out of your grasp to lay her on his chest instead of having her crushed between you both. With his veiny giant hand resting on the small of her back and his other jacked arm wrapping around your shoulders to bring you flush against his side.

Seeing Tsumiki smile and snuggle into his chest made you softly cooed to which a blushing red Toji shushed you despite his grinning face.

“Go back to sleep, you.”

You leaned in to smooch the scar on the side of his mouth. “Night Toji.” Using his shoulder as your pillow now, you easily fell back asleep.

The moonlight trickled through the gaps of the curtains, serving as the only light now. Eyeing his small family in his hold, Toji felt himself unwinding, his sleepy head plopping against yours.

He pressed a drawn out kiss to your forehead, yawning as well, welcoming a good night's rest. With all of you.

“Night … Y/n.”

[scrunglepaws]

Tried to fit all my fic ideas on one page, but I still forgot some because they're like... scrawled on random pieces of paper all over my house/in different notebooks/ect. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I tried!

The little branchy-offy things are prequels/sequels of that particular series. Bleeped out things I thought might be spoiler-y to ongoing series. Things with * are super WIP-y titles because I dunno what to call them.

More ramblings under the cut! (Nothing spoilery for the ongoing series; just vague things!)

No Heroes Zone // - I have a lot more generalized worldbuilding, character notes, ect than actual stories. The story ideas are mostly vague/short... Though, I suppose I could stand to write some super short fics. - The exception is an angsty sonighty fic that's basically done, but I just have to fill in all the inbetween, connecty bits. And decide how sonighty-y I really want to go with it. That ship came outta nowhere, I tell ya. - NHZ is really mostly Tails (and Metal) angst, tho. The other day I was thinking about how he tries to latch onto Shadow and even Metal in the absence of having Sonic and was like "Wow, Tails, clingy much? What are you, Nine???" then I felt really bad. T-T; He just misses his brother...!

Kaleidoscope // - The name of this fic is based on an art piece I've been wanting to do for forever: A kaleidoscope of Tails/Nine/Mangey, looking at each other and seeing them each from their own perspective. Because that's the theme of the whole story, funky scifi weirdness aside. But uh, 1) didn't have a decent digital art program for a bit and 2) I'm not good enough at drawing the subtle differences in their appearances to really make it hit how I wanted. Also 3) Tails looks basically the same to all three of them, lmao. - "Mangey Remembers" is Mangey's backstory and "Loneliness*" is... Less of a backstory for Nine, more of a brief showcase of his character in general. Because we already know Nine's whole deal from canon. Same reason Tails doesn't have a backstory- he's supposed to be canon Tails. - "Starless Sky" and "Ruination*" are both poteeeential sequels, but I'm not set on doing them. Ruination would just be a short, noncanon "what if?" bad ending for the heck of it.

Someplace AU (Aquarius) // - Also halfway calling it Aquarius for now because I ended up continuing the first part of the story under that fic name.

- It was originally more focused on Sails, hence Someplace being a play on No Place. But now it's about equally Kit and Sails. I ended up getting SO MANY effing ideas for these dudes, man. ;w;

- "Hollow Existence*" isn't a specific story, but just a sprinkling of scenes/backstory bits that detail why Kit is the way he is. Mostly his relationship with Surge growing up.

- "Sails' Tales" is likewise a collection of random Sails backstory bits. I have a lot more specific/fleshed out things for him, though. BUDDY, did I have fun with the No Place lore. Also, his relationships with Catfish and Black Rose are so cute... ;A;

- The bits to the right are basically going to be chapters in Aquarius. They're vague enough not to be spoilery (other than the blipped ones...)

- "=D?" is a sequel that I'm very excited about. Probably shouldn't say much beyond that.

Everything Else // - CaveTails is a Journey to the Center of the Earth-esque silly, silly thing. That could maybe become a bit more serious? BAsically, I was thinking "Huh, kind of weird that my main kittails fic is with Sails. That'd be funny if I did ones with Nine and Mangey, too. Just for the lulz. Especially the Mangey one." This is the Mangey one. xD Except he's sort of like... Tails AND Mangey at the same time, character-wise? So? :? Also, potentially some wholesome Sonic+Tails moments because I weirdly haven't written any of those yet.

- "Kids" is just a continuation of that goofy Tails Doll+Cream oneshot. Just small ideas for another chapter or two. Cute friendship, fluff, and lots of comfort to make up for the hurt in the first chapter. :3;;

- "Alien*" is what it says on the tin. I have a couple different ideas for how it could go. One of them boots out Silver entirely and had Metal in his place. xD But I might have enough material to write an alien Silver AND alien Metal fic. We'll see whenever I get around to it. :3

- "Nine's Shadow*" is something I've wanted to write ever since I made that joke oc, Stales the Fox aka Zombie Tails variant from the Grim. Probably just a oneshot (or a few short chapters) fic that mostly focuses on Nine being "all alone" after the ending of Sonic Prime.

- "Why is Babies?*" is the second idea I had for a fic. It's just Shadow being awkward and not knowing how to look after a chunk of the main cast that are suddenly tots for unknown reasons. It's very lighthearted, comedic, and cute. Originally a Shadow+Metal fic until I learned more about Eclipse and just HAD to include him. Dude is literally a struggling single parent in canon, how could I not include him in a story about his brother going through something similar? xD Also, I might call this fic "Rascals" as a reference to that one Star Trek episode with a similar premise. Because! Star Trek. 8D

- "The Fifth Element" ... I have put off posting anything about this fic idea for so long because I'm EMBARRASSED IT'S SO STUPID AND CORNY DON'T LOOK AT ME,,, In case you're totally lost, the 1997 film of the same name is my. Favorite movie. So naturally, this was my first idea for a fic. It's so all-over-the-place tonally, though. Obviously, got a LOT of silly, especially the parts that follow the movie almost exactly. But I also added a lot of original bits that help flesh out the characters' relationships. The protag is Shadow, who is very, very soft and introspective in it. Which, like, how did that happen??? But I love it. Metal is his co-lead and is mostly goofy because he's a fish out of water. Sonic is VERY, VERY goofy like goddamn (he's Ruby Rod- if you know, you know). Then there's just the silliest shit ever like Silver. Silver is Shadow's cat. It's stupid, but it's also fun, and maybe even matters to the plot. You don't know. Blaze is the president. Dr. Starline, Surge, Eggman, and The End are in it. Tails has the smallest part of any of my fics, but I think I cast him well. I need to stop now or I never will. Don't look at me. xDD

~

But yeah, as I said, I forgot a lot of other ideas. A few more (still forgetting some, I'm sure): - "Creature from the Black Lagoon" ft. kittails - Steam Powered Giraffe-vibes 50's thing w/ Tails, Cream, and automatons of Kit, Surge, Metal, Belle, Gemerl, ect - Tails Doll trying to be a Real Boy(tm) - Kittails-focused folklore AU with Kit as a kelpie and Tails as a normal mobian. Bunch of other people as fae creatures and villagers, including Starline as the main villain. - Maybe a whispangle oneshot from the above au (Tangle is a mobian, Whisper is. basically a magic wolf? xD) - Knuckles/Tails role-swap

[narrans]

My Borrowed Son | 16 | Friends and Curiosities

Chapter Sixteen | Friends and Curiosities

Parker couldn’t believe it. Within such a short amount of time, he suddenly had a dozen followers and friends on his page.

Sure, he didn’t know them personally, but everyone was welcoming and polite – two things he was eager to report to his mom when she expressed concern. The miniscule boy also made sure his mom knew he was being safe, not giving out too much personal information, and that the topic of his condition hadn’t even been brought up.

One person commented on his profile picture being interesting, which was a picture of Parker standing in front of his computer screen, but he just explained it was a background and that he wanted to showcase the platform he was publishing on. Karl was the kid’s name, and evidently he and Parker were the same age.

All in all, Parker was pleased with his interactions and the people he was meeting. Lots of them had advice and things for him to check out, and he liked all of the things he was seeing.

There were sketches of space and vast mountains as well as the everyday interactions. There were hundreds of stories from writers just like him.

It felt nice. It felt like some kind of community with people supporting and helping one another. A sense of satisfaction filled the young teen every time he checked his notifications and saw he was getting the chance to meet someone new.

“Just look here, mom,” said Parker eagerly as he showed his mom the latest post he made. “It has almost fifteen likes!” He looked up into his mom’s features and saw her beaming with pride.

“That’s so great, Parker,” she complemented. “Are you going to post your latest story from Mr. Tamplin’s class?”

“I… think so. I don’t know yet though. It doesn’t feel done,” he replied, feeling his cheeks getting warm. The latest story he came up with for Mr. Tamplin’s class was a fiction fantasy story about a sprite named Tal’el. It essentially was his backstory for the Dungeons and Dragons campaign he and his friends started.

Basically, he was a small fairy-like person who was a poison master for his people until he decided he wanted to go out adventuring and exploring. The Dungeon Game Master said it was fine if he played a smaller character, thankfully not questioning why he would want to do such a thing and found a special class for him to play as.

The story actually won a young adult author award for his class and Parker had Mr. Tamplin to thank since it was he who tutored him through his writing slumps. He was now refining it for his literature class.

“Well, don’t be scared to post it sweetie. You’re such a great writer and can do whatever you set your mind to,” encouraged his mom. “Now before you get sucked into checking your notifications, finish your homework and get ready for bed. You have a long day tomorrow.”

“Yes, momma,” Parker replied, rolling his screen back into place in the main area. The structure walls rumbled as his mom closed the outside walls to his home. It was hard to believe it had been a whole month since he “moved in” to this new space.

Parker loved it, in a weird way.

Not to sound ungrateful, but having his own space to roam around, especially in a space that felt suited to him, made him feel just a little bit normal. He liked that he was usually at eye-level with his mom instead of having her loom over him. Just the thought made him shudder involuntarily, and he wasn’t sure why.

It made him feel guilty every time the sensation seized him.

But, now was not the time to dwell on that. It was time for bed.

Parker walked into his room and rummaged through his dresser to find his oversized space t-shirt and elastic band sleep shorts. Then, he went back to the computer and finished submitting his assignments. The words filled the page and Parker hoped that his paper on the evolution of technology was going to be good enough to get him the grade he needed.

Parker’s other assignments were a breeze. Math was simple enough and the biology project about documenting the growth of plants was going smoothly. It was his other project, his story for his literature course, that he was worried about. It was his same story that he was using for his channel, but it was more a mild fear of rejection and lack of perfection.

His online friends liked it, but would his teacher? His followers?

Parker sighed and leaned against the wall before slinking down further into the chair. His eyes focused on the blinking line in front of him as he stared at the end of the fifth chapter he had been editing. Something about this story felt particularly personal, but Parker remembered hearing once about how writers put more of themselves than they’re aware of when they’re making characters and stories.

Perhaps this was just part of that feeling?

The teen sighed and stretched when, suddenly, his lights flickered up above him.

Confusion injected itself into his mind as he stared at the wired lights on the ceiling. His eyes flicked over to the wall switch.

Perhaps just a fluke?

The notion was dismissed when the lights flickered two more times, all of his lights dimming and glowing systematically.

Something raised the hair on the back of Parker’s neck. He felt like he was on pins and needles, the anticipation of a drop while suspended in mid-air. Cautiously, the curious teen stood up and walked over to the switch, examining it closely.

It was still up and wasn’t jiggling or loose.

The lights flickered again.

It felt like he was in a spooky movie, of which Parker had only ever seen one in his life along with a couple of older “thrillers” like Alien and Jaws. Even those movies were censored because his mom didn’t want him to get too spooked.

Was there something wrong with the plug?

Parker glanced at the window at the back by the stairs and, just for a moment, he could have sworn he saw something.

It looked like the quick flick of a shadow.

It was quick and Parker wasn’t even sure if he knew what he saw. He did just step out of his room after all, and he had been staring at his computer screen, which he knew sometimes made shadows appear when there weren’t any.

He held deathly still, his entire body locking up like a perfect figurine. His body fell naturally into the position as he slowly crouched and laid his hand against the floor, as if he could detect any trembling or motion.

He didn’t get a chance to investigate for long though. Before he could make his way to the stairs in his crouched position, there was a knock on the table that made Parker nearly jump out of his skin.

“Parker? Are you going to bed soon?” Parker’s entire body shivered as he pushed himself upright and heaved in a few deep breaths. Every nerve in his body felt electrified. While his heart continued to thrum rapidly, he cleared his throat and called over his shoulder to his mom as the sides of the walls began to open.

“Y-y-yeah, mom. I’m ready for bed,” said Parker. He glanced up at the lights stayed on without the slightest hint of a flicker. The walls opened fully and, instantly, Parker saw his mom’s brow furrow quizzically.

“Everything okay? You look a bit pale,” she said. The maternal instinct in Amanda kicked in and she reached forward and pressed the tip of her finger against Parker’s forehead. He shied away from it, which was typical teenage behavior, but something else felt off about Parker that Amanda couldn’t quite place.

“Y-yeah. I’m fine. I just…” Parker stopped short. It felt like something physically squirmed in his mind, preventing him from saying something about the shadow and the lights. He shook the notion loose, confused as to why this instinct flared up in him, and proceeded with his thought. “I just saw the lights flicker and got spooked.”

“Oh?” Amanda replied as she glanced over and looked down at the power strip that fed electricity into Parker’s Place. Nothing looked off about it to her, but she still knelt and glanced around the ground.

Still nothing.

“Well,” she sighed as she stood and walked back over to the front of Parker’s tiny home. “I don’t see anything. It looks like it’s all plugged in, but we’ll check on it tomorrow. Okay? For now, it’s bedtime.”

“Yes, momma,” replied Parker as he walked up to the edge and accepted the kiss on his torso that his mom gave him. With that, Amanda smiled and watched as Parker curled under the blankets, forming an almost imperceptible lump in the bed. “Goodnight momma. I love you.”

“I love you too, Parker. Sweet dreams my love.” Amanda closed the walls and secured them tightly before tiptoeing out of the room and to her own room to turn in for the night.

Just in the other room, Parker laid there with his heart still fluttering nervously. Everything in him was still on edge, and the curiosity of what was going on with his lights was really bothering him. Parker enjoyed a good mystery or puzzle, but he generally liked ones he could solve.

This one wasn’t solved yet.

For what felt like a couple of hours, Parker tossed and turned in his bed as a mixture of homework assignments and curiosities about the power outlet swirled like a mist in his mind. The more the young teen thought, the more it annoyed him that he didn’t have the answers.

He had had enough.

Parker pushed himself up and decided to go and check out the source of the flickering lights. If it was a cable going bad or possibly the breaker being loose, he needed to get a new one as soon as possible. It would be terrible if he was in class and his power went out. His mom said they would do it in the morning, but Parker knew himself; and he knew he couldn’t sleep if he didn’t at least go and see it for himself.

He couldn’t afford to not check it out with his presentation tomorrow.

The teen stepped noiselessly through his house and exited the front door. As he walked around, he noticed a few things that just seemed, in a word, natural.

Sound was amplified. The darkness in the corners of the room seemed brighter. He could feel every tremble in the desk from his footsteps.

As he made it outside, a choice presented itself to him. For a moment, he considered going down the climbing line he installed himself on the backside of the desk.

But he knew if he slipped on the rope and got hurt, which he never did, his mom would make him take down the line.

He decided to risk it.

It was late. She was asleep. Parker was as sure footed as a goat and knew he would be fine all the way down. The temptation was also too great for the teen to resist. Plus, it would be a lot faster.

There was something about the experience that was, in a word, liberating. The free fall. The catch. The feel of the rope in between his fingers.

It felt natural.

The urge to climb and fall and hide never failed to fascinate parker. Whether it was something his condition genetically programmed him to do so or if it was some personality trait he possessed, he didn’t know.

What he did know was the sensation was addictive and he was itching for a good climb.

Parker snagged the line in between his fingers and leaned over the edge of the desk. There was a mild sense of vertigo that swelled inside him, but he loved it. The weightlessness seized him as he let himself slip over the edge, hands and feet firmly in place and secured on the line.

The line burned against the teen’s palms and against his legs as he quickly descended. It felt like something a secret agent would do, and it felt epic.

The moment Parker’s feet hit the ground, he felt himself instinctually look around and crouch low. Silently, he stepped across the planks of wood that constructed the floor and walked toward the power strip that was only a few feet away. The whole thing was four times Parker’s size, but he navigated through the wires with ease.

His hands worked quickly to check the buttons and reset panels, and the teen could find nothing wrong with any of it.

Perhaps something is up with the electrical cover in the wall? Parker wondered silently. He jumped over the stiff cord that led to the wall and approached the trim on the wall which had small notches in it, so he didn’t need to snag a ladder.

As he approached, Parker noticed something by the very base of the electrical cover that made his hair stand on end.

It was a drill bit.

Flat head.

It was a tad bit rusty, and Parker didn’t recognize it from his mom’s kit that she used to help construct his space. He approached and picked it up, realizing it wasn’t as heavy as he thought it would be. In his hands, it was about twice the size of the drill that his mom used, and he realized he could probably carry it around easy enough; but where did it come from?

I don’t think this is mom’s drill bit. How’d it get here?

Parker glanced up at the electrical cover and felt his heart skip a beat as he noticed the screw for the wall socket was protruding from the wall ever so slightly.

His entire body was shaking now, but he wasn’t sure why.

Had his mom messed with the electrical cover with some old tools that she forgot about?

It didn’t seem like her.

Parker stepped up on the trim, balancing precariously and using the cord to stabilize himself, as he pushed on the very bottom of the electrical cover.

With almost no effort, the piece wiggled free and the screw clattered to the ground. The end looked a lot shorter than the others. He knew because he helped his mom replace the covers a few weeks ago.

The young teen took a few deep breaths to calm himself before he dared to peek inside. Engulfing darkness belonging to the wall consumed his vision. There was something exciting and enticing about the darkness in front of him.

It felt, in a word, familiar.

But why?

Parker felt his head beginning to throb as his mind stirred some fragmented memory, but it was hazy and distant.

What really set the teen on edge, however, was when he dared to push himself up onto the ledge to peer better into the wall and noticed something else that made his insides fill with nervous energy.

There was something that looked like a pencil mark. Two lines with a triangle on top followed by a little check mark on the inside. To Parker, it looked like a kid’s drawing of a house with a check mark inside of it.

Was this something his mom did?

Or was this some kind of construction mark?

What was this?

What did it mean?

The teen stared at the marks and then back to the darkness of the wall. Just like the shadows of the room when he stepped out of his house, the looming abyss of those narrow spaces between the walls didn’t seem very dark. It almost seemed inviting.

There was something about that confined space between the drywall and the studs and exterior boards that made Parker feel like he was back in his space. It was familiar.

But why?

Parker hadn’t realized that he had been learning forward to the point where he was barely hanging onto the edge of the electrical cover and leaning into the walls. It took the sound of his foot skidding against the wood and nearly tumbling headfirst into the space in front of him.

Startled and shaken, Parker pulled himself back out of the entryway into the walls, forced the electrical cover back onto its perch, and hurried back to his room. He was in such a tizzy, the young teen didn’t even realize he had gone straight to the secured line he left and climbed up it in record time, ignoring the staircase mere feet away.

His little feet barely made noise as he scurried back to his room, securing the door and slipping under his covers without so much as a squeak.

Parker’s mind was racing. What was that he just saw? And what was that weird draw he had toward the walls?

Hopefully, his mom would have the answers.

First thing in the morning, he would ask her. She would make everything better, right?

~~~~~^*^*^*^*^~~~~~

Continue

Previous

Beginning

[queerlilchinchin]

Chinchin's WiYS Stream Official Post

This is the official post announcing my Write in Your Style writing stream.

--

Hello, everyone! Welcome and thank you for your interest in my Write in Your style writing stream.

Stream Description:

To start off, let me describe to you what I envision this stream to look like. Twice a month (every 1st and 3rd Tuesday), I will be getting on my writing streams. Probably somewhere around noon Pacific Standard Time. I will be starting the streams with that stream's strip of writing, then I will read the last stream's submissions.

Of course, I've got to start somewhere, so the first stream will be announcing the start of the streams as well as giving the first prompt. I will be doing livestreaming on twitch, which will then be downloaded and posted on youtube and tik tok. You are welcome to join me on my livestreams. I will open the stream up to questions at the end. It can be questions about the prompt or the concept or whatever else pertaining to the streams.

How to submit writing:

I will likely be making a new blog for it, though I already have a lot of blogs. This blog will be mostly for asking questions about the streams and gaining more interest in them. You may also submit here if you don't wish to e-mail yours to me, which will be the other way. Any submissions left via comments will not be used simply because I don't want to make it easier for others to steal your writing or risk anything like that.

Stream Start Date:

The streams will officially start beginning of December, so the 5th will be the first stream (unless something happens to prevent it starting on time).

Days of the week that the streams occur may change due to my life circumstances being kind of up in the air right now. I'm looking for new work, so my days off may change.

How writing works:

I've had some questions about how exactly the writing part will work and how long you all will have to write. As the streams are bi-weekly, you will have nearly 2 weeks to submit your writing. They will be short pieces of writing, so it shouldn't take terribly long to finish them.

For now, it will only be my original writing that will be used, but as time goes on, I may open up the streams to other writers who wish to also submit their own writing for the original writing for others to rewrite in their own styles.

You may write them however you wish to. It just has to be the same story as the original put in your own way (don't turn a romance about a valkyrie and a demigoddess into a horror about the two characters). You're just recreating the writing, just like draw in your style.

Who can write:

Absolutely anyone is more than welcome to write. I will be reading your submissions for now, but as I figure out the features of streaming, I may open up the floor to writers reading their own writing if they wish. I will also be giving credit in any form you wish (if you just want your name or your tumblr blog or your Wattpad/AO3 accounts linked).

Stream Account Links:

Gotta link you guys to the accounts that will be posting the streams!

YouTube

Twitch

TikTok

Blog

@wiys-streaming

Ending Statements

WiYS streams are really a way to showcase and remind writers that we all have our own style of writing, even if it seems like you don't. You are capable of taking a story that was already written and make it your own (not that I'm encouraging copying, but you know what I mean... hopefully). Being a writer can be really disheartening sometimes, especially when you feel like your ideas aren't original, but sometimes the most unoriginal ideas can be home to the most incredible stories. Cliches are/were popular for a reason. Tropes become tropes for a reason. People love what they love and if they love the thing that you are making that is so "unoriginal," they will love your writing.

Don't forget that originality is not synonymous to good. Or creative. You can write something "trite" and make it incredible. I hope that this new stream will remind writers of that. :)

Thank you for your time and if you have questions, please feel free to send them to @queerlilchinchin.

WiYS "tag me to everything" taglist: @nerd-in-distress, @jvten, @steh-lar-uh-nuhs (fyi, tumblr won't let me tag your other blog or I would have), @aether-wasteland-s, @mjrino, @cheezyratz, @accountusername, @perasperaadastrawriting, @mrblazeflappybird, @forthesanityofstorytellers, @mangofen, @bigwipscholar, @pluttskutt, @doublegoblin, @crazytechpersonzreal, @sitiart, @ashesinthewritten, @achildweanedonpoison6, @quotidian-oblivion, @world-of-my-imagination, @marmeegle, @alesseia

WiYS "tag me to important stuff" taglist: @distortedwhite, @lyssentome, @ah0yh0y, @grollow, @perlen-gold, @saltysupercomputer, @vshushmshu, @lordkingsmith, @gummybugg, @quisyop, @enne-uni, @cometkov, @shado48, @cryscal, @mary-is-writing, @elizababie, @squintclover, @schmem14, @foursixtwonineoh-pieces-of-lego, @wakkoroni

[s-milesart]

workin on the next B team member,,, the read more might be filled with... notes. *distant thunder sfx*

The Penitent Patrician.

"I was always the most… physical of my sisters and brothers. I would, perchance, wager I could take a punch better than them."

Born with a silver spoon in her mouth, she traded it in for loose teeth and a split lip. 5th in line for a mining maganate’s empire of dirt, she knows how to navigate the cloak and dagger of the upper-class and rough and tumble of the lower blocks.

oh god

notes.

see, one little hole in lucille's plan is that they really can't deal with the nobles of the lands. not a single nun or priest living at The Abbey can tolerate em. much less postulate to em to ask pretty please "can they not be a giant fuckhead during the end of the world please thanks."

they don't know what the fuck is in that rich people water, but fuck me these people are borderline sociopathic. see, this is where our penitent patrician comes into play.

she knows these kinds of people. she was RAISED to be one. unlike em, being a more worldly person requires a bit more than buying up trinkets and baubles of dead societies and heartsink events.

you can't buy a heart, after all.

so see, this is where she comes into play. by the time she enters the story, she's actually 2nd in line for the family business. lo and behold, the other 3 siblings have perished from heartsink related fallout/monsters. {ashlung, getting your caravan destroyed, and died being a hero.]

father's not doing to hot, and so when his flake of a daughter comes rolling back with the Sisters of The End, [Lost Beacon knows about them by now. they really are the only people trying to stop the Heartsink, for good.] father's a little surprised. half expected her to be drowning her short-comings with ale.

The Abbey needs funding. the donations have been very generous, but actual funding would solve right quick the shortcomings of the Sisters.

Better training grounds, city repair work, funding for research and faster rollout time, everything. [think about why XCOM needs funding to fight the aliens! money makes shit happen.]

long and short, I have the stories set up into two parts kinda sorta. Chapters, and Encounters. chapters move the story and build character, encounters spill blood and reinforce characters and themes.

I want side-missions. rich fucks like people that can get shit done. they also like the skulls and trinkets of bad shit out there. they'll pay if The Sisters can get some shit done. something small that I can sketch out during the slow days of me writing heartsink. [btw almost done outlining part 1, part 2 and 3! i have so much written for part 1 it's almost done for the art stage!]

something that'll allow me to showcase more of the world and it's people. more monsters and how the people deal with/cope with their existence.

[the-californicationist]

Just read through the chapters for The Window..... do you have plans on updating at all? Asking for a friend. No pressure!!

Thanks for being so kind with your ask, anon. I appreciate that, big time. Short answer: yes! Finished before October is the plan.

Long answer?

Let’s talk about The Window.

The Window makes me have really mixed emotions. It’s beloved. One of my most popular fics, plenty of comments and kudos. It has fans. It’s also the sort of story I’ve always wanted to write. I love the dynamic they have. I identify strongly as pansexual and polyamorous in the most foundational sense of the term. Truly free love. And I think the way that the 141 interacts with the reader serve to showcase what those types of interactions look like in my prototype of what poly/amorous freedom might look like. They rely on each other, respect each other, and they physically engage with each other without bias. It’s idealistic and utopian. It’s the most indulgent thing I’ve ever done (almost).

However.

The way that it has been written is not the story I wanted to tell. This piece was meant to be a one shot. It wasn’t meant to have a plot, and the plot that it does have is just laziness on my part. I wanted to write something else. Another poly fic, but I wanted backstory. I wanted conflict. I wanted context. I wanted character development. But I wanted those things in a true multi-chapter fic. Not in this one-shot.

This is my own fault.

I thought I could shoehorn it. I thought I could just casually move past the complexities I wanted to add and write it as a series of vignettes. None of these subsequent chapters were meant to exist. It’s a cheap imitation or counterfeit of what I wanted it to be, and it sucks that I allowed myself to indulge in it without taking pains to construct the chapters in a way that I knew it needed.

My problem is that, at the time, I was excited that readers were excited. I was getting piles and piles of asks and DMs every day. I deleted so many, but I wanted to dive in and explore with them. I was excited too. But, I wanted to be in the story that I envisioned, and not in this one shot. And I thought I could be satisfied with this revisive version. But that was a mistake. My mistake.

The truth is that it’s done. The fic is already finished. It has two more chapters to be uploaded, and then I will probably delete it on tumblr and orphan it on AO3. I know that everyone who was so excited with me in the beginning will be disappointed with the ending I’ve created, but I’m finding it hard to even open the file. I just don’t want to upload it because it’s something I’m not proud of, and I’m hurting my own feelings because of it.

So I’ve been avoiding it. When I had a family member pass away earlier this year, I used that as an excuse to put it on the back burner. Then, I leaned on my other WIPs to avoid it this summer. Every time I open my GDrive, it sits there mocking me in some sort of smutty rendition of The Cask of Amontillado; evidence of my own crime.

All that to say, it’ll be done before September ends, because my October writing schedule is buckwild.

Sorry for the big wall of complaining. I just wanted to be transparent.

[thankskenpenders]

It's a bit late, but I figure I have to touch on the big news from today, which is that for an (early) April Fools celebration Sega went and released a free visual novel about Sonic getting murdered

Here's a thing you should know about me: I am deathly allergic to ironic visual novels, and the related trend of announcing dating sims (which are synonymous with the medium of visual novels as a whole to many people) on April Fools

Aside from an incredibly small selection of titles that have seen wider success, it feels like much of the game industry is only willing to acknowledge visual novels as a punchline. And said jokes about dating sim stereotypes have been done a million fucking times by now. They're parodies of parodies of parodies. Even when these prank dating sims actually go and get made rather than just being a few fake screenshots, it feels like it's just because VNs are seen as cheap, disposable entertainment compared to "real" games. Companies can afford to commission some bullshit like the KFC dating sim and write it off as a marketing stunt. And it works. These games will get widely reported on for being so ~wacky~, while devs pouring their hearts into doing sincere, interesting work with the medium of visual novels are usually out of fucking luck. It's so, so tiring. The fact that this happens like clockwork every year has made me come to dread April Fools Day

So imagine my surprise when The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog drops out of nowhere and it's actually one of my favorite Sonic games in years

Aside from the intentionally tongue-in-cheek, attention-grabbing title (and Sonic doing the Family Guy Death Pose), there isn't an ounce of irony here. It's just a straight up whodunnit VN set on a train, albeit a lighthearted and pretty easy one. It's still a Sonic game, after all, and Sonic games are for kids. But it's so clearly made out of a place of love, both for the characters and for murder mysteries, rather than being a parody that's constantly winking at the camera and going "haha, isn't this absurd that this even exists at all?" Forget that. This wants to tell a genuinely good little Sonic story. Not to mention how gorgeous all of the artwork is throughout, with character illustrations from IDW cover artist Min Ho Kim (AKA deegeemin)

Like, for real. I've wanted the Sonic games to explore the supporting cast more for years, and I can't believe the game to finally do it is a murder mystery visual novel released for April Fools. This might be one of the best showcases of the cast... ever, in the games? The script from Ian Mutchler is so, so great, with fun and cute moments for everyone involved. And, smartly, you see the cast through the eyes of a new character (I named them "Blorbo") who isn't necessarily familiar with things like Blaze being a princess from another dimension, making this a surprisingly valid way to introduce people to the supporting cast. I'd say more, but it's a short game, so I think everyone should just go out and play it if you haven't already

There is still part of me that wishes a Sonic visual novel like this could've been greenlit for release any other day of the year, rather than being yet another April Fools visual novel. But regardless of the excuse they used to make it, I'm extremely happy that this exists

[smolwritingchick]

The Bangtan Gal Chapter 69- GAYO Daechukje & GAYO Daejejun

Chapter Summary: JenKook shippers finally catch Jungkook staring at Jennie when they film Season's Greetings. Jen takes fans to church with her improved vocals and Aliee inspired high note during a secret collab with some of her fellow 97 Liners. (Jungkook fluff!)

Words: 7,000+

Author's Note: Ironically, the V, Jimin and Jungkook hide and seek video at the end of this chapter was the reason I wanted to make this story years ago back in 2016. I asked myself what if a girl was with them? And funny enough, I switched it up and let this be where the most crucial moment happens in the story. I like how things came full circle. And I don't regret taking a break from writing and editing every single chapter so far, deleting and adding things. I like how things have come about. Stay tuned :) Thank you for sticking with me to this point.

------

After opening presents, Jennie decided to check out BTS’ Seasons Greetings which they filmed. She enjoyed filming for it and loved the photoshoots and her outfits.

They had filmed in Yangpyeong to shoot this year’s Season’s Greetings. After Jimin had done his shoot first, Jennie was dressed as Princess Tiana in her yellow waitress outfit. While she watched herself posing on the screen, she felt so giddy. She loved being Tiana and chuckled when she watched the Maknae Line trying to distract her with funny faces.

“She is too cute.” Hobi took some photos of her

After posing around, she then changed into Tiana's green dress.

“I feel like a princess.” she twirled around.

The photos of her being Tiana went viral and even got to Black Twitter and the Cosplay community which gave her even more exposure and followers on Instagram. It touched her to see her photos as Tiana be received so positively. 

“Ah, Jennie, she looks so pretty.” Jimin smiled

Sitting on the couch, Jennie read, “A quick interview...”

‘Any regrets for the year 2015?’

“Hm...nah, not really. Whatever mistakes I’ve made, I learned from them and moved on. No regrets for 2015.”

‘What is your goal for next year?’

“I want to rap. I’ve been learning thanks to Suga but I’m not sure if I’m ready to showcase it yet. That’s a goal for 2016, that I would love to do. And also to be more charismatic on stage, getting the crowd moving. I want to be a great performer and be able to have the ability to stand on the stage and the crowd gets hyped with just looking at me. And another goal is to continue to improve my vocals.”

‘2015 was a tough year. Say a word to yourself.’

“You’re improving every day. Keep going.”

‘What will you be like in 10 years?’

“Hm...2025...I'd like to be married by that time. I also just want to be happy and make sure I’m enjoying life while still being successful with Bangtan."

After the interview, Jen watched Yoongi’s photoshoot as Jack Frost. He looked so adorable with his white hair and blue contacts. After he was done, she chilled with him on the couch and he fell asleep with his head on her shoulder. Soon after, she had placed her head on top of his to take a short nap.

Of course, when you nap around the members, they’ll mess with you, so Jungkook, Hobi and Jin were taking funny photos and laughing at how they didn’t get caught. 

“Wow, so y’all really took photos of us?” Jen murmured as she continued to watch what was happening on the screen. 

When they moved to the next destination, she watched Jungkook laugh while he messed with Jimin’s hair. She thought it was one of the best things she had ever heard and it brought joy to her heart, hearing him so happy.

When she walked past J-Hope, Jimin and Jungkook trying to harmonize, especially with J-Hope’s little high note, Jen commented sarcastically, “That was beautiful.” and the three boys burst out in laughter

Walking into a room, she was joined by two female stylists who shut the door and helped her get changed.

“I’m wearing that?” she pointed to the black lace dress with the open back. 

When they had giggled and said yes, Jennie was here for it and became excited. This had to be her favorite outfit by far. After getting her hair and makeup done, she put on the dress and checked herself out in the mirror.

“I love this so much.” she beamed.

When she walked out, Jungkook had been occupied, taking photos for his individual shots. But when his attention turned to the door and he saw her, he had to do a double take. He immediately stopped posing with the red guitar and opened his mouth to stare in awe. He couldn’t even concentrate, anymore. She looked gorgeous.

Just wow...

With Jennie, her back was to him, talking in front of the camera filming her spinning around to show off the short black lace dress. 

“You know what? Out of every outfit I have worn, this is my favorite. Like, look at this dress! The stylists hooked me up! I look great! Who am I going home with today?” she joked.

ARMY on Tumblr, who had already made posts and gifs about BTS Seasons Greetings 2016, had finally caught Jungkook. They caught him staring at her in the background while she spoke on camera. He had been sitting down at the time, taking a break from his shoot so the camera crew could check out the photos so far. He was just watching her, longer than usual.

At one point he had to take a walk for a moment to control himself. 

Fans had commented:

‘It took forever to find this moment but CAUGHT!’

‘Don’t @ me, he was clearly staring at her ass XD’

‘His face is priceless! What he concentrating so hard for?’

'He better get in line!! We all want her! She fine as hell! I know she can fight but can Jungkook fight? Cause we all want Jennie lmfao'

'SHE IS MOTHER!! MY GAWDDDD! HER BODY IS BODYING!'

'There is just something about this woman right here...'

'MA'AM!'

'Waiiiiiiiiiitttttt!'

'LMFAO did you see his hands twitch like he wanted to grab her!?'

'Jennie is growing too fast! Slow down baby girl omg!'

'It just doesn't make any sense how fine she got over the years!'

'She is so fine for what!?'

'I love her so bad! Nobody is doing it like her. The face card! The BODY!? She is gonna eat every time!'

'I bet you if she saw the way he was staring at her she'd fold. Cause shit I would! He staring HARD!'

'Just give me three and a half minutes, maybe even four!'

‘Ooh, Jennie watch out. My international playboy senses are tingling. I think it’s safe to say that you are clearly wanted by the Golden Maknae.’

‘She said who am I going home with today, I think Jungkook wants to take her home, ahahaha’

‘Haha, that’s probably the biggest behind he has ever seen, and he just doesn’t know what to do XD’

‘Uh oh, somebody collect this boy!’

‘Jungkook, whatcha staring at my boi?’

'Lmfao Jungkook can not handle all that. There is no way'

'Do you know how strong Jungkook is? Yes tf he can handle that! He'd pin her down in a heartbeat!'

'Agreed. He can use his strength on me if she don't want him. I volunteer as tribute!'

'I hope y'all know that Jungkook is not the pure little baby y'all think he is.'

'War of hormone 2.0!'

'I love when she wears bodycon clothes! It hugs her body so nicely! I don't blame him for staring, she looks amazing!'

‘Ayooo he really is staring hard. Kookie, you’ve been caught!’

‘I love how he tried to look away when he finally noticed the camera. You already got busted XD’

‘Guys...I’m actually here for this. If he likes her or something, I hope he shoots his shot very soon’

‘Jungkook, you ain’t slick.’

‘He looks like he about to pounce, hahahah’

‘Jeon Jungkook you have excellent taste. Please risk it all. Our Golden Maknae has become a man.’

‘JenKook shippers rejoice! I am so here for this! Look at how he looks at her! I see love in his eyes, I’m screaming’

‘She is a whole woman! Looking like a snack! I think he got up from his seat to restrain himself, I’m cackling’

‘Is he OK? She got him in a trance, lol’

‘He was so focused on her that he didn’t realize he was also in the shot’

‘This is tea! Haters are pressed! I love it. There is no denying that he’s into her.’

‘Seeing this gives me hope’

‘Pretty sure he enjoyed the view, lol’

‘I hope Jennie sees this on Tumblr, soon. I know she lurks on the BTS tag. Let’s get these notes to a high number. Keep reblogging and liking’

‘My boi is ready!’

‘And she has no idea! That’s the crazy part! Someone look at me like that when I’m not looking.’

‘That’s some...intense staring Jungkook. Care to explain?’

‘Hol’ up, I know this man wasn’t checking out our girl and tried to be slick when he noticed the camera.’

When Jungkook was back taking photos, he kept getting distracted by her. 

“Jungkook-ah! Look at the camera. Focus!” the staff called out, amused. 

They knew exactly what was going on. They thought it was cute to see him like this.

Turning around, Jennie found herself watching him. The hair, the suit, he looked fine as hell if she was being honest. This time, Jungkook had caught her watching and smiled. She had smiled back and looked away, feeling her cheeks flush.

“Jennie! Where is the rest of your dress?” Jin exclaimed, pointing at the exposed back.

“This is the dress.” she laughed

“Oh, my goodness. Why do you do this to me?” he asked the stylists who giggled at his dramatic complaining.

“Let’s have Jungkook and Jennie together.” The staff requested. 

As soon as JenKook heard that they would be taking photos together, their mood was boosted as bright smiles were on their faces. With his red guitar in his hands, Jen had her acoustic guitar and they stood back to back, posing for the camera before doing various other poses. If anything, it truly looked like they were dating based on how close they were and how they would look at each other.

While watching the season’s greetings video, Jennie recalled how handsome Jungkook looked in that suit. They made a great pair for that photoshoot and their chemistry was off the charts.

She continued to watch as the members were involved in a quiz. She remembered failing miserably. But it was hilarious to see J-Hope get the shorthand of the stick. Poor Hobi.

--------

Seeing all the JenKook posts from Season’s Greetings, an ARMY created a Tumblr post called:

‘Why I ship JenKook, want them to date, think they could be dating right now and support Jungkook liking Jennie’

Yeah! I said it! All you haters are pressed! It’s no denying that Jungkook likes our beautiful black queen and I’m here for it! I’m here to state the facts and make haters more pressed because I’m petty like that. So, let’s get started! Block me if you want idgaf, there is no other ship in Bangtan that is more friggin obvious than JenKook. Not BamJen, not Jennie and Hayoon (JenYoon), not JenMin, not Taennie, no other damn ship with Jennie is more obvious and more real than JenKook. FIGHT ME!

ARMY is back on their investigation habits and this time it involves our beloved Maknaes. The Golden Maknae and our Miss Bangtan. It’s been a few years since Jen arrived and was introduced as a member of the group. Some were skeptical but over time people have grown to love and support her. AS THEY SHOULD and stop getting so damn pressed when someone black is in K-Pop or associated with someone in K-Music.

Now, over time Jungkook’s demeanor has changed when he’s around her. Let’s start with some major points ARMY has caught. And if there are points I missed, which I know I did, add them to the thread.

Number One- Their Rookie King kiss! This was just the cutest thing. Remember their heads were pushed together thanks to the members when they were playing the pepero game as a punishment? I’m sure we all kind of freaked out when Jennie said “Let’s play” when Jungkook felt bad that she was stuck with him in the game. Our babies looked so adorable that day and Jennie also revealed on After School Club that Jungkook was her first kiss. FIRST KISS GUYS! It wasn’t Bam Bam! It wasn’t Jimin! It wasn’t Taehyung! It wasn’t any of your ships! It was Jeon Jungkook! Look at the video for the receipts!

Number Two- Jenkook during the of course game on Rookie King episode 8. This has to be one of the most underrated JenKook moments. I loved them bickering. They seem so competitive but have soft spots for each other. When Jungkook said, “...but you and I both know you can’t stay mad at me forever.” I nearly died because Jennie couldn’t fight that growing smile on her face. Soooo cute. And then when he said, “...you liked our kiss.” I was like ohhhh where did this confidence come from? He even said on After School Club that he wasn’t sorry for being her first kiss and Jen only wished that she was a better kisser so their kiss would’ve been more enjoyable. GUYS! This man is not sorry for kissing her! And this woman said she wanted to be a better kisser for him! Um hello!

Number Three- American Hustle Life, when Jungkook ignores the guys and notices Jennie first at the restaurant. And following that interview, they both talked about their friendship. Did you see how happy they looked talking about each other? “Do you know those friendships where you don’t even remember how you guys became such great friends? To be around someone who you click with so easily and that can make your day, that’s how I feel about my bond with him.” Same Jennie, same. My heart is full!

Number Four- Who can forget their sexy war of hormone dance? This broke the internet! I swear I thought they were dating, their chemistry is off the damn charts. From the music video to performing live, just how he LOOKS at her makes me freak tf out. I know Jungkook was always on cloud nine when he got to dance so close. Your favs will never have that so stay hating on JenKook! They are here to stay!

Number Five- JenKook on Running Man. Look at how protective they are of each other. Have you ever noticed how they always stick together and find their way back to each other? True love! And Jungkook with his offense and Jen with her defense makes them a dangerous duo. They aren’t called the Golden Duo for nothing. It’s wise to be on the same team as them tbh. And remember their famous “I got you.” and "I got you, first." line during their couple episode together? I died of happiness! Best Marvel couple ever!

Number Six- Their adorable dog! Tony! Whenever they’re away on schedule, Tony stays with Jungkook’s parents. But omg the fact that he gave her the dog because he remembers her mentioning she wanted a Jack Russell Terrier is so adorable. They are wonderful parents to the cutie. One happy family. Their photos with Tony are just the best. I love it when they bicker about who Tony loves more, too. I can just imagine Jungkook walking up to Jennie and Tony sleeping on his bed. Hahaha, I bet that is already happening!

Number Seven- When Jen came back to continue filming BTS NOW 2 after she had that scary pineapple allergic reaction, Jungkook RAN, not walked, RAN to hug her and he was the first one to spot her. Come on! The feels! Soulmate goals! It was like he knew she was coming before he spotted her as he turned in the direction of where she was arriving.

Number Eight- The tension escalator! Their height difference is so cute. Do you see how he LOOKS at her!? You can’t deny that he thinks she’s pretty. I really thought he was going to kiss her when he lifted her chin and pressed his forehead down on hers. And Jennie looked so nervous! I truly believe that she was hoping to kiss him.

Number Nine- During ISAC, when Jungkook was whispering strategy in her ear during women’s wrestling. Like I know it was just innocent talking but having him whisper in her ear like that, omg how can she be so calm!? Unless she wasn’t on the inside. And guess who was there for Jungkook at the end of the finish line during the 400m relay? Jennie! And he ran up to her and they fell down hugging! Ahhhhh!

Number Ten- During Jen’s V-Live when she was showing off the smartie factory and Jungkook joined her. Look at how he stares at her! And look at how she smiles at him! How happy she gets when he’s with her! Look at these receipts! Look at these screenshots! Look at these gifs! My ship is here to stay! Screw these other ships! It is nowhere in comparison! Like, his big smile is so cute. And peep how jealous Kook got when Jen read comments of ARMY shipping her and Shawn Mendes. Come on now, he likes her! Or they’re probably dating right now, and we are just seeing the signs! Something is going on ARMY. Someone likes someone!

Number Eleven- THIS at season’s greetings! He was clearly staring at her in that dress! And he was mesmerized by what her momma gave her! As he should! HE GOT CAUGHT staring at her ass at Season’s Greetings! He even got up to walk away to restrain himself! I just know he was trying hard to calm himself down! My boi wants her bad! Look at the screenshots that ARMY took! It’s there, it’s game over, you cannot win this argument. All you haters get so bent outta shape when idols, especially male idols show interest in Jennie and say that she’s pretty or take photos with her. But no matter what haters think, our girl remains unbothered and continues to rise with Bangtan. Deal with it!

The moral of the story is...something is going on and I don’t think they are just friends. I think that they either like each other or are probably secretly dating. ARMY, what do you think? You think Jungkook might shoot his shot? Let’s hope he does.

P.S- Jennie, if you come across this on Tumblr, OMG, I love you, you are amazing and gurl! Get your man!

-------

Backstage at KBS Gayo Daechukje, Rapmon was absent due to an unfortunate accident during rehearsal. Jen was bummed and worried since he would have to sit out of the performances but he seemed to be doing just fine.

It was also Taehyung’s birthday and the members surprised him with a cake. Jennie had created him a birthday box based on the anime that he has been watching as of late and he giggled uncontrollably, excited about it.

When he opened the letter, it read:

Ahhhh my baby Tae Tae! Happy birthday my boy! Those nights when I was lonely when I first came here, you were there and showed me all around Seoul to get used to my surroundings. If it wasn’t for your kindness, I’m not quite sure where I would’ve been when I first arrived at Big Hit.

You have changed my life for the better when I stepped foot here. Your vocals give me LIFE. Your deep voice is a blessing and your lines for our songs have got to be my favorite no matter how short or long they are.

Your silliness is one of the main things I love about you. You always know when to make me laugh and boost up my mood. Your love for Bangtan is unconditional and I thank you for being there whenever we’re down.

Hey, by the way, have you considered trying out for a K-Drama? Your acting skills are really good. Like, have you seen yourself when we filmed I Need U, RUN and the prologue? I hope you do something with acting because I would love to watch you in action. I’ll be your biggest fan always. Your daily dose of weirdness is always appreciated too. You are quite the character, my friend. And your cute boxy smile makes my heart fill with joy. Keep smiling, I love seeing it.

Also, thanks for always dancing with me at these awards shows. I can always count on you to turn up with me. How about we turn up at the Seoul Music Awards, too? You down? Hahah! You better be! Let’s hope that you can finally get into Cypher soon! I love you very much Tae. I’ll always be your Ennie.

Love,

Ennie <3

Taehyung immediately embraced her and gave her multiple kisses on the cheek. “Thank you so much, Ennie. I love it.”

“I’m glad. Happy birthday, Tae Tae.”

As the show went on, Jennie was already dressed for BTS’ performance and hung out with some of her idol friends. Jungkook, dressed in his outfit for his collab with Zion T, went to find her. He was nervous and she was the first person he thought of that could give him that extra strength to go out there and perform.

He soon found her talking with Bam Bam while GOT7 looked on with heart eyes.

‘Let her decide.’ was what he had talked to Bam Bam about. They had a full discussion about their feelings for her and Jungkook’s competitive nature came by as he told him that he wasn’t going to lose to him. The two held no grudges against each other and would remain good friends no matter what.

As much as Jungkook didn’t want to give up on her, if she did choose Bam Bam, then as long as she was happy, he’d be happy. He would never force her to love him. He could never do that. But something in him had faith that things would work out in his favor. He was going to fight for her until the end.

“Kook! Hey, ready for your collab?” she waved as he greeted them.

“Actually, can you be there with me?” he requested.

“Yeah, of course. I got you.” she turned to Bam Bam who smiled and nodded. “I’ll see you later.” she grabbed onto Jungkook’s arm, walking with him near the stage.

“Ah...I think I’m about to lose this battle.” Bam Bam murmured to Jackson as he watched them walk away.

“What?! Why you think that?” Jackson exclaimed

When JenKook stood by the steps, the stylist tended to him as he talked in front of the Bangtan Bomb camera.

“Thanks for being here with me. I really needed you.” he smiled at Jennie.

“Always.”

“Do I look okay? Ah, I’m so nervous.”

“You look great. Don’t be nervous. Everything is going to go smoothly. Just go out there and do what you do best. I’m proud of you, Kook.”

She looked on ahead as Jungkook’s gaze lingered on her. Moments later, she caught him. 

“All right, you look like you really want to tell me something. What is it?” she chuckled. “Like you really want to tell me something important. Like you have something that you really need to say to me, so what is it?”

“Watch me out there, okay?”

“I will.”

“Is my face okay?”

“Jungkook...” she rolled her eyes.

“Ah, why am I ugly?” he checked his face out from the Bangtan Bomb camera.

“Boy, you look fine as hell. Relax.” she blurted out causing him to turn and grin at her.

“Really?”

“Yeah. You’re not ugly, you’re far from that. So, stop saying that, mkay?” she kissed his forehead since his hair was parted. “I’ll be right here watching. Have fun up there.”

As they heard the last performance before him, Jennie was in awe of ALi’s high note and gave Jungkook a quick hug as he walked up on the stage to perform.

She smiled softly as she watched him sing. He looked so handsome in the sweater and his voice was undeniably gifted. She couldn’t get enough of his voice and his duality was insane.

After the performance was over, she quickly wrapped her arms around him, giving him multiple kisses on the cheek.

“That was amazing!” she beamed.

“You really think so?”

“Yeah! You two were great up there! Come on, you gotta get changed.”

As soon as Ailee was on stage to perform Mind Your Business, Jennie ran backstage until she was able to get a glimpse of the performance. A Bangtan Bomb was filmed of her jamming out and singing along, watching her in admiration. But then she had to rush back and get to her position for BTS’ performance. Jimin had a dance solo for Butterfly and then they performed a jazz remix of Dope and then Run.

For the next night, at MBC Gayo Daejejun, BTS performed I Need U and Run. They were also given the honor of covering Shinhwa’s Perfect Man. Jennie remained in the back, dancing powerfully and on beat with the rest of the guys. A smile came across her lips as she watched Jimin from behind. He put so much effort into this cover, she was proud of him.

He was really going hard and it surprised her as even his voice growled while he sang. She knew he was about to go off when he took his jacket off. 

After the performance, she hugged and praised him after the performance which made him feel great about himself as he giggled. When they did their final rehearsal, he kept rambling on how he thought he got wrong but thanks to her words, his doubts went away.

Later, the members were filmed for their Happy New Year greetings.

“ARMY! Let’s hope for another year of happiness and success.” Jen smiled. “Not much longer before 2016 is here and I have great hopes for it. 2015 was a rush. So much has happened but you guys make us who we are. If you can, try some smarties! And I hope to portray a more awesome version of myself this coming year. Listen well and keep watching me, mkay?” she waved.

After filming, Jen tweeted, ‘Er...I’m freaking out about this performance. I hope you enjoy it. I’m really nervous. I hope I don’t disappoint you.’

This got ARMY pondering if she would be doing a collab with someone. Keeping it hidden from the members, Jennie was set to collaborate with her best friend Hayoon, Jimin from JYP who is always hosting After School Club and Jihyo from Twice. They were all 97 Liners and they were given the opportunity to cover Little Mix’s About The Boy and have fun thinking about what they wanted to do for the performance.

Jimin had picked the song since they were offered a choice of which song they wanted to perform. They thought it was a good idea to not do something as popular as Bang Bang by Jesse J, Nicki Minaj and Ariana Grande and whatever other popular English songs are out there.

“So, you wanna sing about boys? Who has you in your feelings?” Jennie had joked around with Jimin

They’ve been practicing at Source Music, where GFriend is, to keep away from everyone else. Jennie suggested that the performance should let them show off who they are as performers and have fun. And she also had to step up her game because each one of these ladies has great vocals and she wanted to make sure that she kept up.

They worked very hard for this moment and Jennie was even given the opportunity to DJ for the song. So, she created her own twist to the song to get the crowd moving. While the rest planned to dance in the front on stage, she would be in the back for a while, mixing the song. When they discussed line distribution, they chose her to do the high note which Jen actually wanted because she wanted to take a risk. After spending weeks practicing the song and their choreography, they felt ready.

There were some struggles when practicing but practicing with the girls made Jen get closer to each of them. There were times when she felt overwhelmed and cried because things weren’t going well, but then after a while, things were falling into place and they finally got the performance down. Each of them had helped create the choreography for the dance. They wanted to do a dance break as well to show off their fierce side, their cute side, and their sexy side. And since BTS and GFriend are great with synchronization in dancing, the four girls worked very hard to make sure that they could accomplish that.

This was actually what Jennie wanted to do with Amity. Be creative and do various performances for fun while each member has time to shine, including dance breaks. But at least she could now do it here when she was able to collab with other female idols.

They were ready to show that the 97 Liners were a force to be reckoned with and they were proud to be able to represent the 97 Liners with this performance. They hoped that everyone would enjoy what they had to offer.

Jimin suggested that they wear similar outfits. Jennie wore knee-high boots with jeans, a black mesh crop top and a green bomber jacket that was zipped. The others wore different colored mesh crop tops and bomber jackets such as pink, blue and yellow.

When it was time, the girls held their hands in a circle and went for a group hug. Walking on the stage with the lights dimmed, Jennie placed her purple headphones around her neck while preparing to DJ. The performance would start on her cue.

After hearing the crowd scream and cheer when the group was announced and the lights went on, Jen exhaled. She gave a nod of approval to Jihyo, Hayoon, and Jimin when they glanced back at her.

Let’s hype the crowd and show them not to sleep on them.

“Hey, ladies, I don’t think they ready for this one,” Jen announced and pulled up her sleeves. 

Jihyo, Jimin, and Hayoon had started off singing in acapella

Something about

Something about the boy

Something about

Something about the boy

Once the funky music came in, Jen went right to work, getting hype with the girls as they clapped their hands to get the crowd moving.

“Whoop! Hey! Come on!” they had all yelled in excited voices.

Listening to Jimin sing, Jennie nodded her head to the beat, occasionally following the choreography from the booth while she focused on the rhythm.

It’s the verse in my head

The words that make me stutter

The swag in my step

The change from gray to color

Jen smiled and glanced up at hearing Hayoon sing, No need to try, He’s just right. 

She loved how her voice would flow so heavenly like that. It was sweet and fit great with the song. All their voices went well, equally balanced.

I won't stop until the boy is mine

He got me good

I’ve got it bad

He got me feeling like a girl gone mad

As the chorus came on, the girls performed the choreography fiercely, exciting the audience.

I know he’s playing my heart and I ain’t got no choice

There’s just something about the boy

When the camera had panned to her, Jen grabbed her mic while moving side to side like the others, singing lowly, “Something about, something about the boy. Something about, something about the boy. Something about, something about the boy.”

“Whew...” Jungkook exhaled and shook his head in disbelief when he watched her from backstage. 

He tried his best to keep his cool but watching her, he began to struggle while his eyes were glued to her whenever she appeared on the screen.

She would always say that she fakes acting sexy on stage but it truly looked like she knew exactly what she was doing based on those alluring stares. And the way she was dancing and moving those hips, she was having the time of her life on that stage while DJing.

“Where did all of this come from? Was that a sexy smile?” Jin called out.

“She learned that from us, hahaha.” Hobi laughed.

“I think we’re becoming bad influences,” Namjoon added with a chuckle while dancing to the song.

“Ah, she’s grown. Let her be sexy.” Yoongi shrugged as they watched her jam around.

He’s got that something

I can’t let nobody tell me no

Also, with the fancams of Jennie, people noticed how she would watch proudly whenever she heard each of the girls sing. And there was also a lucky fan cam that made eye contact with Jennie and shot them a smile and wave.

Something about, something about the boy.

Jihyo and Jimin took over the rest of the verse while Hayoon sang ‘About that boy’ under them, while Jen prepared for her part to come up. Those vocal lessons were about to pay off tonight.

Singing soulfully, Jen sang out, “I know you like to play it slow. But I’m running out of tiiiiime. It’s like I lost my self control, ‘cause you are the one. And you know what you’ve done. My poor heart’s come undone.”

Taking a deep breath, she sang, slowly throwing her head back, “Baby please~!”

The high note sounded like an Ailee high note instead of going with what the note was supposed to be. It was unintentional but Ailee was on her mind as she kept singing and she couldn’t help but belt out the note. She kept it there for ten seconds as loud cheers and applause were heard. 

While a Bangtan Bomb was filming Bangtan’s reaction to Jennie performing, Jimin and Hobi fell dramatically to the floor and then continued to watch in amazement while holding onto each other.

Taehyung stood there startled with his eyes widening when he heard the high vocal range. “Wow~!”

Yoongi raised his eyebrows and did a double take before smiling proudly.

“Waaaaaaaa.” Hobi looked on.

Namjoon nodded impressively as he heard the soulful high note. Ailee was the first person he thought of that made Jen want to sing the song like that. It made him smile.

Jin placed a hand over his heart, shocked at what he had heard. “Ohhh mah God, where did she learn this!?”

Jungshooked, the Golden Maknae pointed his finger up high as he heard her high note and then started clapping with a proud smile. Although they weren’t dating just yet, he already felt like a proud boyfriend. He had only hoped that Ailee was nearby to at least hear her and see how much Jennie admired her.

The members noticed how the vein on her neck was visible and that she was really using her lungs. Somebody must’ve done something to make her go off because although it wasn’t the high note the original song was supposed to be, everyone loved it and it suited her more.

Fans were freaking out on social media:

'SING JENNIE! YES BISH'

'WHY ARE YOU HIDING THESE LUNGS!?'

'I didn’t know she can hit it that high'

'SING! SING! Ailee are you watching!?'

'GOD-DAMN'

'I see why she was so quiet during the Perfect Man cover. She wanted to shine with the girls, ahahah.'

'Are you serious? Is she serious right now?'

'Yo...'

'I cried.'

'DAMN, I didn’t expect that'

YASSSSS! HIT THAT NOTE! Show them!'

'I prefer her singing that Ailee type of high note instead of the original note anyway! I loved this!'

'I wouldn’t call it an Ailee high note, this is a JW high note as she made the verse her own.'

'I hope Ailee watched this'

'What the fuck!? I didn’t know your voice got that high!'

'My wife!'

'AILEE I really hope you notice her soon!'

Ending the note, Jennie breathed in and exhaled softly. “Woo!” she responded and shared a soft laugh with the girls. 

Removing her headphones and getting out of the booth, she took out her bun and unzipped her jacket, strutting with her head up high to meet with the rest of them. Ruffling her hair, she stood next to Jimin and turned to the girls as they all smiled.

“Ladies, let’s show them,” Jihyo announced.

The lights dimmed and the music came back on with a beat change. The girls started off with a fierce dance break as the crowd screamed and cheered loudly, fan chanting their names. The lights came back on and they broke into two groups. Jihyo with Jimin while Jen paired herself with Hayoon. Jihyo and Jimin started dancing first. The duet dances were supposed to be fun, so they were dancing cutely and laughing with one another.

Jen and Hayoon began an adorable game of pattycake and then a fast-paced hand game of Numbers while Jihyo and Jimin cheered on in the background. Jennie and Hayoon were struggling not to laugh as they tried to concentrate. Hayoon ended up winning the game when Jen messed up and they all cheered and high fived.

Hayoon turned to the front to perform a silly dance and then pointed to Jennie. Looking around, Jen shrugged and began to perform Jungkook’s silly meme dance, shaking her hands, and swaying side to side. The dance certainly got ARMY screaming because it had to do with BTS.

Bangtan backstage began freaking out and started shaking Jungkook.

“She’s so extra.” Namjoon laughed, throwing his head back.

The Golden Maknae let out a boyish laugh. “I love you...” he murmured, shaking his head as he watched the screen. “You are just...incredible...”

After their cute dancing, the girls transitioned into dancing sexily as the crowd continued to get hyped. One by one, each girl had a solo dance by standing in front of the rest to perform while the rest followed her movements from behind.

After the dance break, Jennie ceased the sexy persona and broke out into a cute smile before the four of them finished the song, blowing the audience away. They were greeted with a loud round of applause and cheers as the girls embraced and headed backstage, celebrating their successful performance.

Other fan comments included:

'JenKook shippers get fed once again! She really did Jungkook’s meme dance, I am so happy!'

'SLAY! MY! LIFE!'

'WIG IS GONE! I’M BALD! SHE IS EXTRA AF AND I LOVE IT! GO TF OFF BITCH!'

'BITCH! BITCH! GIRL! How dare you!? Don’t play with me!'

'You’re just gonna do this to us!?'

'WOO!'

'Stop sleeping on my bias!'

'WHAT AND WHO caused her to go tf off because they need to do that again!'

'JenKook shippers, somebody check on Jungkook and see if he’s alive XD'

'I am so done with you, you were nervous for what Jennie?! That note!'

'That was not Jennie. That was JW right there. JW did not come to play!'

A gif reaction post was also posted, “Me when Jennie sang that high note!”

“Me when Jennie gave me life with her booty shakes!”

Walking backstage to where BTS was, Jen was immediately bombarded with various questions and comments.

“What was that!?”

“And so you decided to hide this from us because!?”

“Who taught you how to look sexy in front of the camera!?”

“I wanted it to be a surprise.” She laughed as they continued to praise her efforts. “How did I do?”

“Amazing! That was awesome!” she happily heard them yell.

“So, nice meme dance you performed out there. Who taught you that?” Jungkook teased and nudged her.

“I observed from the best.” she smiled and popped a smartie in her mouth.

----------

As soon as 2016 came around, Jennie was almost done packing to leave to go home for a few scheduled events. Bangtan was in a hotel around this time and she had gone to V’s room to ask if she could use his shower. Disappointed but not surprised, Namjoon used all the hot water and she refused to take a cold shower.

Once she was done showering, she went back to her room to continue packing and made sure she had everything. 

Meanwhile, Jimin and Jungkook were filming a Bangtan Bomb in V’s room. The two stood in front of the mirror with Jimin holding the camera while Jungkook ruffled his hair.

“Hello everyone, the Maknae line has gathered and we plan to film something really fun today,” Jimin announced.

“Hair.” Jungkook grinned and started to mess up his hair

“There was someone who suggested their opinion of how we could play together and have fun. He’s a very important person in this plan.” he shifted the camera over to the two beds. 

“But he’s sleeping.” he set the camera down on the bed that was next to the one that Tae was sleeping on. “What do I have to do if he sleeps, everyone?”

All of a sudden Jimin jumped on top of Tae, to try to wake him. 

“Are you sleeping?! Are you sleeping?” he started thrashing around to try to wake him up. “Is it okay or is it not okay to sleep?”

He started hitting him with a pillow and burying it on top of his head, smacking the pillow. “Oh hello~” he laughed and got off of him once he felt him awaken.

Moments later, Jungkook and Jimin sat on the bed with Tae who had on a white hoodie as they faced the camera. 

“Sitting here like this-what are we doing?” Jimin laughed.

“Hello. It’s been a while since you last saw my bare face, right?” Taehyung asked, looking at the camera, and putting up two peace signs.

Jimin followed suit. “Aye yo, what up?” he spoke in English before going back to Korean. “This is my bare face.”

“It’s ugly right?” Jungkook grinned

“I have a pimple right now.”

“Let’s choose the game we will play after gathering together like this,” Jimin suggested.

“We’ve already chosen, though.” Taehyung pointed out

“I remember it,” Jungkook added

“Originally, you’re supposed to do it like this. You’re supposed to explain it first.” Jimin giggled.

“Oh, then let me think about it a little.”

“Let’s do it again. Ready, cue.” he snapped his fingers with Tae. “Hey guys, guys.”

“What should we do today?” Tae asked.

“I say we should decide on what game to do today. The game we’ll do today...what do you think, Tae?”

“I kind of think that someone should be “It” the person who became it would cover their eyes with a ribbon and catch the other people, like a game of zombie, I think.”

“So you’re saying we should play a game of tag with someone’s eyes covered?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah, you’re quite smart.” he high fived him.

“Because all the hyungs are sleeping, right now. So the Maknaes-“

“Should play quietly,” Jimin remarked. “What do you think?” He turned to Jungkook

“That’s good,” he replied.

“Hm...we’re missing a Maknae!” Jimin exclaimed. “Where oh where is our Jennie? Have you seen her? We need our Bangtan girl! How we miss her so!”

“She’s about to leave, remember?” Taehyung brought up. “She was just here to use the shower because Hyung used all the hot water.”

“Wait I thought she was leaving tomorrow night. She's leaving tonight?!” Jungkook exclaimed, freaking out.

“Yeah.”

Jungkook groaned and fell back on the bed while Jimin stopped filming and turned off the camera. He needed to see her before she left.

While Jungkook was contemplating, Jimin and Taehyung glanced at each other knowingly.

“She’s about to leave, Jungkookie,” Jimin spoke.

“I know...” he murmured.

Jimin let out a soft laugh, “You know, at first, we were all hyped and trying everything to get you two together. We thought of various ways for you to confess to her. But confessions aren’t perfect and like the movies. You should just go to her, right now. Before she leaves,"

Jungkook glanced at him and exhaled as his heart rate quickened.

“We know that there are many reasons why it’s hard to confess our feelings for someone. Especially if you’ve been friends for so long. We fear getting rejected.” Taehyung added. “Like we found the person who we really like but we have that fear of the possibility of them not returning our feelings. We get that. And then we fear that we could lose the friendship and things get awkward and you end up not talking like you used to. But at the end of the day, you never know unless you take that risk.”

“She may need some time to think and process after you tell her your feelings but don’t lose hope. Just tell her how you feel. Tell her everything. You have so much inside of you that you need to let out.” Jimin cheered on.

“You are Jeon Jungkook! The Golden Maknae! Do you realize how amazing you two will be together? How adorable you two will be? Think about how you guys were in Running Man!”

“You told Bam Bam to let her decide but I honestly think that no matter what, she’ll choose you because we see something that we hope that you two will see when you tell her your feelings. Now get out of here, no more stalling.” Jimin kicked him off the bed while Taehyung laughed.

“We’ll play hide and seek and film it after you come back.”

Jungkook got up and nodded. “Okay.” 

He went to change into a pair of jeans, and a white shirt and placed a beanie on his head.

“She left her lotion in the bathroom. Bring this to her.” Taehyung handed him the bottle.

“Oh, and expect to get carried away in there.” Jimin began giggling, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Ah, I don't think that will happen," Jungkook replied.

“I dunno...you say that now but emotions will run high and sometimes you get so passionate that you get carried away.”

“I’m sure things will be fine. I just...hope she takes my words well.”

“Just be honest with her. She should know how you feel,”

Once the Golden Maknae left the room, the 95 Liners began jumping around in excitement before hugging.

“He’s finally going to do it!” Jimin cheered.

“So, how carried away do you think those two will be?”

“They’re teenagers, it’ll probably be intense. Jungkook is always full of surprises. I just hope he tells us everything when he returns,"

"Yeah. For now, let's just hope for the best,"

------

Jungkook’s heart raced as he inched closer to her room down the hall. He felt like this was about to be the most selfish thing he was ever going to do. And she was nearly minutes from leaving to go back to America for a short while.

‘Please...just let me not mess this up. Let this go well.’ he thought to himself.

With each step Jungkook took, the more his heart raced. He was really going to do it this time. Tell his best friend his feelings that he had been holding in for a long time. But how will it go when he tells her his feelings and she leaves for her flight right after?

Part of him wanted to chicken out and go back to his room, but he needed to say this, now. This was long overdue and he needed to let it out this time. 

Deep in his thoughts, Jungkook soon realized that he was in front of her door. He knew she was alone so he wouldn’t have to worry about anyone interrupting them.

Swallowing hard, he aimed to knock but hesitated. The nerves were getting to him already. 

But he had to push through. 

He can do this.

[pupstim]

For the first time during a ghost attack Danny felt quite relaxed. His secret had already came out, everyone knew he was Phantom, his parents had accepted him and most of his classmates now respected him.

So when Skulker launched his biweekly attempt at skinning the halfa, Danny didn’t hesitate to jump up, preparing to transform and leap into battle.

Before either could even get out some banter a voice interrupted them. “Wait, Danny! Do the thing!” Dash Baxter had leapt up in his seat practically bouncing with excitement. All of the students were quite used to the attacks and had simply moved so they were out of the danger zone.

Danny paused, sharing a look of confusion with Skulker. “The thing?”

“You know where you shout all Going Ghost! and then bschew your rings show up and vwoom you turn into a ghost.”

Danny stared for a long moment to the jock as several other students chimed in wanting to see Danny say his motto. He heaves a sigh, as the students all wait in anticipation.

“Fiiineee… Going Ghost..” Danny sighs again, his rings appearing in a flash of bright light as everyone cheered around him. Danny rolled his eyes at his eccentric classmates before launching himself into battle against Skulker.

Still it felt nice to not have to hide.

====

Dannymay Day 30: Post Reveal

Another short story! Wow this one on time. I can’t believe it’s almost the end of the month haha and I’ve actually done every day of Dannymay more or less on time. I feel quite accomplished :)

This story was a real struggle haha, I kept wanting to write something with Danny and his parents, something light hearted and fun but idk post reveal just seems like I need to give it more words than just 250. I was also thinking of doing one with Ellie and showcasing how she and Danny gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss their way into everyone accepting that Ellie has always been there but then its revealed that she’s actually his clone but it was so convoluted I dropped it.

I’m quite happy with this even if it’s a bit more silly and doesn’t make as much sense as some of my other stories. I think that his classmates would endlessly pester Danny for his cool ghosty powers for quite a while.

About 221 words for this one so got a little bit close which is why I kept most descriptions short.

Thank you again to everyone who’s looked at my silly little creations. I know I don’t reply much but I am just nervous. I read each and every little comment and I’m giving all of you who accept it another gentle kiss on the forehead.

[sightoru]

𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐎... and happy new year!! I wanted to make a post showcasing some of my favorite things i've read this year, and thank you all for sticking with me as i transition from writing on tumblr to ao3!

I do want to do a separate shoutout for @mybigbangacademia and the wonderful people i met there! it was so great to be part of something that challenged me to write, and it was so great to work together as a community ! linky.

please let me know if you'd like to be removed or untagged as well! i really don't mind at all. I also wanna say this is for fics i've read THIS YEAR, regardless of when they were posted.

now without further ado...

𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒...

𝐇𝐎𝐓 𝐓𝐄𝐀.... by @dilu3 scaramouche x reader, tattoo au. this is so fucking good and i literally love everything about it.

𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐒.... by @eremikan natsuo, dabi, shigaraki, keigo x reader. it's written in a gorgeous way, very unique and i love the entire story. mari has a stunning way with words and it shows through the entire piece. i cant wait to see where it goes!! MIND THE TAGS!

𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐒... by @andypantsx3 andy is so incredible and i literally devour everything they write like a boa constrictor. the most canon shouto todoroki i've ever read, and im ngl im not a massive shouto simp??? but i am eating this fic up.

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐘 𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃... by @yeagerbombs CEO of canon zhongli. the pining and build up is incredible, i love readers personality in this as well!!! very elaborate and stunning and one of my favorite versions of zhongli i have ever read.

𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐔𝐍𝐏𝐔𝐑𝐄... by @katsukiskitkat literally some of the best world building i've ever read in my life, binge read everything in a day in my bed while i was clutching my phone and kicking my feet like a school girl. absolutely incredible.

𝐒𝐇𝐔𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐔𝐂𝐊 𝐔𝐏 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐌𝐀𝐃𝐄 𝐌𝐄...

𝐔𝐆𝐋𝐘 𝐂𝐑𝐘... soggy by @mintmatcha. this gutted me and i will never be the same again.

𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐘... study buddy by @sems-diarie , sem always does my baby izuku right (OUR baby) and this is just another one she did beautifully.

𝐇𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐅𝐔𝐋...dead young and fair by @j0succ turned me into a diluc simp??? its so stunning and beautifully written and everything about it made my heart ache.

𝐈𝐃𝐊 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐈 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐈𝐓... what doesn't kill me makes me want you more by @dottores / @twdottore im not even INTO TR (not for any particular reason) and yes i did have to look up what these dudes look like but it did not stop me from devouring this like a man starved.

𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐓𝐎𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐒...

@tteokdoroki 's the sinister six event, which combines my two favorite things: smut, and long fic. aali killed it last year, she killed it this year and if she decides too, she'll do amazing next year.

@anantaru's kinktober was a full course meal every single day of october. they're built different, idk how they did it but they did and i applaud them. raising my glass to them like that leonardo dicaprio meme.

@vampyrsm 's kinktober was nothing short of perfect. i've reread these like 4 times.

𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐆 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐒...

@hanmas nsfw + sfw + multifandom.

@spacelabrathor nsfw + bnha + sprinkle of dc + longfic

@haruchiyos dc + nsfw + multifandom

@oh-katsuki dc + nsfw/sfw + multifandom + longfic

@petrichorium nsfw + multifandom

@willowser sfw + bnha

@willowser-but-nsfw nsfw + bnha

@vagabondings nsfw + multifandom

@hawnks nsfw + sfw + multifandom + long fic

@saneminx nsfw + multifandom

@alhaithms nsfw + sfw + multifandom

@tinie nsfw + sfw + multifandom

@dearbraus nsfw + sfw + multifandom

thank you all for a great year!

[quinnkdev]

"Ants From Up There" - Analysis

The tragedy of pouring from an empty heart

Music by Black Country, New Road. Essay by Quinn K.

[I made this little text because I felt like writing something about this album, since I still think about it and listen to it a lot, to this day. Hope you enjoy.]

cw: toxic relationship dynamics, blood, weight-loss mention, drowning mention, cancer mention

To a lot of people, there's an undeniable pull to giving. The idea of committing to something - or somebody - greater than one's self is alluring to many. And in commitment of that kind, to give is normal; giving money, giving time, giving attention, giving possessions.

When we truly believe in something - or somebody - and want the object of our adoration to thrive, we'll give our hearts' contents away.

...To a lot of people, there's an undeniable pull to receiving gifts.

The contradiction is obvious, as is the problem - giving is finite, and receiving is infinite.

Black Country, New Road's sophomore effort "Ants From Up There" tells of a doomed situation like that. The Concorde Fallacy, named after the multinational Concorde agreement (more commonly known as the sunk cost fallacy) is primarily used in economics, but slots perfectly into place with the mental and physical drain of a painful, struggling relationship that flies using only one insidious fuel: Commitment.

Human beings can be addicting; when their favour is hard-won, it's all the sweeter when you do get it. It doesn't matter if the person you loved has categorically ignored you when you asked for their attention, belittled you and your boundaries, taken what you had until you were lacking, hurt you - If they smile at you, it's worth it. If they compliment you, suddenly, it's worth it. If they fuck you, it's worth it.

And you don't even see the tear-stained pillowcases in the wash; you don't notice your health declining, the weight you lose; you don't understand your friends telling you that the relationship is bad for you, because surely, “who I put this much care into must care too, right - right!?” All these warnings dissolve into an ambient buzz, background radiation; they become a hurt so familiar it grows unquestioned.

The song “Concorde” says it a little like this: You wouldn't even notice the relationship was killing you if it was a cancerous growth, diagnosed by a doctor. 

Human inertia dictates to keep doing what you've been doing. To keep worshiping at their altar, and, in the small gestures that are oh-so meaningful to you, be rewarded.

"Ants From Up There" showcases this short-circuit in the human mind with an arresting amount of immediacy, intimacy and nuance. It even acknowledges the most horrible part of it all: 

You do it to yourself. 

People can only walk over your boundaries if they’re violent - or - if you let them; and having trusted somebody who, at the time, you thought you had every reason to trust, can feel like your own mistake.

The muddiness of emotional truth is hard to divide apart - “Ants From Up There” doesn’t try to do so, but instead, pits one side of the relationship - the giver - entirely against himself. The album’s protagonist, Isaac (whose story, while likely autobiographical, I’ll treat as fictional so as to not analyse real people) is filled with self-loathing both over perceived personal inadequacies, chambered in a gun’s barrel pointed at himself, and a clear belief that his commitment to the other person - who’s nicknamed “Concorde” throughout the album - gives his impossible soul some kind of purpose, elevates him by virtue of his servitude of her ghastly better-ness.

When you treat a human being as better, as an object of worship, you're likely to be seen as an object in return: As useful, and disposable. The song “Good Will Hunting” examines this most closely, with a short parable of a hull breach on a starship, with “Concorde” taking the only escape-pod and filling it with things most important to her - leaving Isaac, the disposable, behind.

Isaac also believes that he, himself, is helpless - and to an extent, he becomes it, as he spends all energy he used to spare for self-care on caring for his relationship instead. In “The Place Where He Inserted The Blade”, Isaac not only fails to understand how to cook a simple meal after a recipe out of his interdependency on his partner’s approval and praise, but, on the metaphorical side, where and how he was hurt, what actually happened. 

“Good morning - Show me the place where he inserted the blade!”

Notably, he speaks of a “he”, rather than a “she”. Until the very final moments of the album, Isaac is incapable of conceiving that “Concorde” was capable of hurting him; he instead seeks the blame within.

—

Sometimes, I wonder if people on the final flight of the Concorde were sad. About the end of an era, or the end of a peace-project between several nations; the end of a commitment. In retrospect, I assume they probably weren’t - it was just a flight like any other, standard procedure. And after all, they were just passengers. Bystanders.

Maybe, the flight would have been more notable if it had ended with a crash.

Many relationships like the one portrayed in this album exist. They’re a dime-a-dozen, many people take too much, and many people give more than they can; and in some way, “Ants From Up There” seems painfully aware of this. It balances it out through this intense specificity and an emotional rawness that few - maybe no - other albums released in 2022 can match. And through being specific while simultaneously aware of the commonness of its story - interspersing more direct allusions to Isaac and “Concorde’s” relationship with abstract pieces about similarly-shaped situations between unnamed characters - it invites the listener in. It allows them to examine themselves in relation to that hurt.

There isn’t much to learn from “Ants From Up There”; it’s a tragedy. Though written in present tense, it’s been played, recorded, and pressed to physical media; it’s a done affair. Isaac’s life was forever changed by “Concorde”, and though he comes to the realisation of the magnitude of this hurt in the closing minutes of the finale “Basketball Shoes”, and purports some small manner of internal healing earlier in that song, for us, there’s nothing to do but feel for Isaac, and, in the way that his struggles mirror our own, be cleansed.

“Oh, your generous loan to me - Your crippling interest!”

Isaac screams this, tears pouring down his face, closing the album. To the last moment, even knowing his hurt, he feels he has taken from her, not that he was exploited. The name Isaac means “the one who laughs” in Hebrew; an irony like that is stronger than fiction.

If a lesson must be extrapolated for all this hurt to be worth something, I suppose it’s this:

No matter the heights of your altruistic love, no matter the depths of your self-loathing, eventually, you have to stop pouring from an empty heart, or drown in your own blood.

[torto-isemusings]

Ah, Common Sense Media: One Million Moms on a budget.

Home of one of the worst, most ignorant reviews of our beloved Incredibox I've ever seen (below)

One star from an Adult. A tough crowd these ones.

Join me, dear Reader, as I Torto breakdown the points of this review one. By. One.

For your entertainment, of course ;)

1) "Nobody will like this lackluster 'game'"

*hysterical, borderline-demonic hyena laugh*

But seriously, given the amount of fanart, mods, YouTube videos, and blogs dedicated to this game it seems like the word "nobody" implies whole swaths of people in the definition. *Sparticus voice* I AM NOBODY!

2) "The same man is copy-pasted at least 6 times"

Most people who complain about this haven't done the bare minimum of research to discover that, yes, they are all one man. That is, of course, Paul "Incredible Polo" Malburet, who voiced them all. It's meant to showcase what *just one man* can do with his (aptly named) incredible voice. Love you, Polo❤️

3) "There's really nothing to do but click on the men to produce lackluster sounds"

Say that to his adorable face, I dare you!

Risk being the target of Gallic Rage!

4) "Sure, there are different costumes but they do nothing to enhance the game"

OP must be really fun at Halloween parties /s. Repeat after me: "Costumes enhance *everything*!" Also, now that you've taken a shot at Paul, you can't resist taking a shot at Romain as well, how thoughtful. Love you too, Bily❤️

5) "There are no puzzles [or] prize wheels"

Okay, I'll give them this one. Even though the bonuses are kind of like puzzles, no puzzle just gives you the answer by hovering over the icon. However, I think this is one of the things that makes Incredibox so special: It's not about puzzles. It isn't one of those instant gratification, constant rush of dopamine games(which, imo, are on par with the "brainrot" section of YouTube). Just like writing your own music, you have to stew on it for a while, see what works, and most of all enjoy it! Experimentation can be fun!

6) "There's no way to customize the look-alike men -they're all in boring black and white"

First, see my rebuttal to point #2. Second, this just tells me you didn't play past Little Miss(which is all but confirmed later). LM is only the second version. Each version gets better than the last as the guys hone their craft. Even your oh-so-despised costumes get better! In Jeevan alone you have practically all the colors of the goddamn rainbow! At the end of the day, even though Incredibox is more about the music than anything else, the costumes are a neat bonus that keep things visually interesting. Long story short, if you want customization The Sims is right there.

7) "The game is so boring I quit after 1 minute"

While I'm pretty sure 1 minute is an exaggeration, this does pretty much confirm OP didn't play past Little Miss. Geez, even a goldfish would know you need to pay attention for more a minute to accurately assess the quality of a game.

8)"It takes about 25 minutes to load the game"

This one's just a flat out lie.

9) "The developer isn't even updating the game anymore...terribly outdated...stuck in 2019"

Patience, Grasshopper. The latest bonus for Wekiddy was released only 9-10 months ago. That isn't forever. I'm sure all three guys are working their culs off to get the third one out in a timely manner. Especially Allan, who I haven't mentioned yet. Love you as well, Al❤️

Also define "stuck in 2019"? What does a game have to do in order to be worthy of the 2020s, include a Covid-themed version?

10) "Forget about Incredibox and just get My Singing Monsters instead"

...you're lucky TV Tropes lists us as Friendly Fandoms, or I would get mad at that. I however won't because I'm mad enough.

And there you have it, Reader, my full thoughts on this godawful review. Tell me your thoughts in the tags, and if there was anything I missed💜