#I honestly hate to be THAT guy but I truly do not trust non blacks especially after this

[louisianimal]

The thing about being black in this country (especially being from the south) I’m not shocked at the results of this election because so many of my peers (age 25-40) hate back women either out loud or subconsciously. I’m just going to fight to keep my peace of mind through whatever hell this elderly Oompa Loompa bout to put us through.

[edenfenixblogs]

I don’t think most non-Jews understand how disappointed we are in the left right now. How completely abandoned we’ve become. How our contributions to progress for other groups have been erased or disavowed or hidden. How the actual tangible things that Jews have contributed to black rights and civil rights are being ignored. How we’re being told we contribute and have contributed nothing.

How we are being told that the world has been kind to us when it never has. As if my mom didn’t grow up getting called a Kike and getting beat up for being Jewish. How I thought I had friends until I caught them saying “xyz was beautiful until Jews showed up.” How people told me I was pretty “for a Jew.” How I grew up hearing stories about bombs being set off in Israel in buses and markets. How I couldn’t even go two weeks without hearing that and how nobody cared and somehow, every time that happened, the whole world became more hostile to me for some reason.

I just don’t understand. I don’t understand what leftists are doing. Or why. I hate that I have to say—of course, I support a free and self determined Palestine (which I truly do)—in order for you to decide I’m worthy of care and support.

We showed up for you. All of you. And the entire movement is abandoning us at best or targeting us at worst. Celebrating our deaths. Saying we deserved it. How are we supposed to trust you ever again? How are we supposed to feel safe ever again?

A very few select people who are in my life have taken the chance to actually learn about and dismantle their own unconscious antisemitism during this time. And I’m eternally grateful for them. But most people haven’t reached out at all. Most people are still sharing hateful things that could get me hurt and they don’t care. Most people Reblogging my posts are still Jews. Because we are alone. And it sucks. You need to be as loud about antisemitism as you are about Palestine or you’re an antisemite (unless you’re Arab/Muslim/Palestinian—I totally get that these groups are also doing damage control in their own communities just like Jews are).

But we are all in tremendous pain right now.

This moment will pass. And when it does, I will remember how many people let me down. I will remember that when I needed support more than I’ve ever needed it in my life, people fucking vanished. They pretended violence against my people wasn’t happening. They ignored and rewrote the history of Israel to suit their own narratives.

You don’t know what it feels like to be hated this much for opposite things. PoC hate us for being too white. White supremacists hate us for not being white enough. Europeans hate us for being middle eastern. Middle easterners hate us for being western/European. Everyone hates us for being settlers but continually kicks us out of their countries so that we have to settle somewhere else.

I saw a post going around from a Black person who said that the reason he and his fellow black activists go protest for Palestinians instead of fighting antisemitism (as if it’s a binary, which it’s not) is that Jews don’t show up. Muslims and Palestinians do. And honestly? Fuck that guy. Heather Heyer died standing shoulder to shoulder against racism in 2017. [CORRECTION: When I first wrote this post I was under the impression that Heather Heyer was Jewish. I want to correct to avoid spreading misinfo. She was just the first (and incorrect) Jewish civil rights activist I thought of. However there are plenty of other actual Jewish civil rights activists to choose from. If you have reblogged this post from me, please feel free to add a link to the permalink version of this post with my correction to your reblog.]I have devoted substantial time and effort and money that I don’t even get paid a lot of because I don’t get paid a living wage. I have continually reached out to PoC people in my life of all religions to ask how they are doing and what I could be doing to help more—both for them personally and how they would best like me to help their community. I have elevated their voices at every opportunity. And not one person I checked in with has done the same for me or for my community.

And it’s bone chilling. It’s awful. And it’s even worse knowing that when it’s over, people will want to go back to normal. They won’t apologize. They won’t self reflect. They’ll just live their lives, maybe a little more aware of how much they hate us and completely indifferent to the harm they’ve caused us. How disposable they made us feel. And the thing is…it’s not hard for you to know. You just have to ask.

Too many people are cowards. Too many people care about looking good than actually learning something or making the world better. And to those people: you should be ashamed of yourself.

I don’t have any hate in my heart. Truly. Not a drop for any group of people. But I have a tremendous lack of trust that anyone would actually lift a finger to keep me safe.

[verytiredblob]

My reviews on Manhwas

Alright so, recently I've began to fall into the great Manhwa hell, as if I didn't have enough fandoms.

But I neither have friends to chat about this with, nor a Discord chat where I can fanby about it, so I just decided to throw it in here.

These are both Manhwas I recommend and my opinions on them. If there are any spoilers, They will be striked through and in blue for anyone that wishes to avoid them (if anyone even reads this lol).

1. The Villainess Reverses the Hourglass (악녀는 모래시계를 되돌린다)

Premise: Aria was a terrible person and was sentenced to dead by being beheaded. In her final moments, she discovers her step sister, Mielle, actually manipulated her during her entire life just so she could get Aria killed. She then is beheaded, and wakes up in the past, in her child body. So now, she must work to both survive and get her revenge on her sister.

Lovely story, and my first Manhwa. The art is simply stunning, and all the characters are very flashed out and developed. Aria (MC) is the pettiest person alive and I'm here for that.

Also, I noticed a trend where, even though the manhwa has "Villainess" in the title, the MC is usually a total angel. Well, not here. Aria is egotistical and a total Diva, she has her goals and one of them is her revenge and by all that is sacred she'll get it.

Mielle is a great villain, she has grown a lot in her own pettiness and tactics since she was a child, and I really like that. Also, watching her suffer for being a terrible person is delightful.

The Male Lead (Asher) is also really cool, I like how he's both witty and friendly, and how much he truly admires Aria and her achievements.

The side characters are also pretty good, and they get a lot of focus because of their interactions with the main cast.

Again, The art is S T U N N I N G. Look at this:

Literally all panels are drawn like this or better, I'm in love.

All in all, an awesome read, 10/10, I love this a lot.

2. The Monster Duchess And Contract Princess (괴물 공작가의 계약 공녀)

Premise: Leslie's life was terrible, and always centered on her big sister, Eli. After a failed attempt of her family to grant Eli her sister's skills and knowledge, Leslie searches for the feared "Monster Duchess" in an attempt to survive.

Another one with incredible art AND incredible characters. Leslie is an absolute angel, and seeing her grow as a person is awesome.

The gender envy I feel with the Duchess is unbearable, she's utterly perfect. And the entire family is so dotting and loving and sweet, my little grinch heart can't take it.

She's perfection, really.

The plot keeps getting more and more mysterious, and I'm here for it!

I love each of the main characters a lot, and even the villains are well done and fuel your hatred.

Also, Eli Sperado and her Dad can choke on those black flames for all eternity.

Another 10/10, although I must warn anyone that wishes to read this that the translations sometimes are very spotty and messy, so it can be a bit annoying.

3. I'll be the Matriarch in this Life (이번 생은 가주가 되겠습니)

Premise: Firentia was a girl that died in Korea in her past life, and was reborn into an influential family as the illegitimate daughter of the third son. Her life was pretty terrible, with in the end, her family ending up in poverty and disgrace because of her uncles and cousins, while she was exiled from the family. After another accident, she wakes up in her past, now with a goal: Become the Lombardi matriarch and stop the other family heirs from bringing it to ruin.

Awesome art and Awesome plot number 3! This is so good, genuinely. Firentia is such an awesome plotter, and her goals and actions are very well developed.

The Male Lead is my baby and I shall protect him, and the side characters? Utterly stunning.

The twins are the cutest fucking shit, seriously. Like, look at these two?? I'm dead. Although, all the children are very, veeery cute.

I like how Firentia subtly manipulates things around her to get what she wants. It's similar to Aria, but she's much more mature and knowledgeable, and has a much less petty goal.

Guess what? 10/10. Yeah, I know, I'm terrible at grading, sue me.

4. The Twins Siblings' New Life (싸��둥이 남매의 뉴라이프)

Premise: Arien and Arjen were a pair of twins that died in Korea, and were reborn again as twins and as the Emperor's illegitimate children. Now, with only each other to trust, they must do their best to survive.

My current obsession. I really like this one. The art is not on the same level of pure Awesome like the ones before, but it's pretty good nonetheless.

The plot is pretty nice, but I must warn you: DO NOT expect them to act like adults. Honestly, just forget they're meant to be reborn in this world. They're just normal children and that's it. They act like children, and they think like children. Honestly, I think the author just wanted to make this story about them as children and their producer went and said to make them reincarnates because that Isekai shit is popular nowadays (And to justify they having memories of their newborn days). Seriously, just ignore it, the experience reading will be much better.

Other than that, the story develops nicely. The characters are all very good and the plot is very mysterious. I am holding myself back to not spoil anything, aaaaa.

There is also only one another thing that disappoints me: Arien is very clearly the MC. The story is told by her eyes and we only know what Arjen thinks or feels when he says it 9 or by subtext). I really wish it was more balanced, because they're both different people and have different perspectives, and also I really like Arjen.

I have absolutely no idea where this plot is gonna go, and honestly? I like it. It's very rare when I don't know how things are gonna develop because of other stories, so it feels very fresh.

The brothers are freaking awesome. I was so scared they were going to hate the twins and be petty, because of other manhwas that are like that, but they're so loving and sweet?? All hail these idiots. Also, Daddy is the biggest dumbass of all, this poor clueless man.

An 8/10, because of the complaints above. Still a good read, and I really like it, even with it's defects.

4. I'm A Stepmother, But My Daughter Is Just Too Cute! (계모인데 딸이 너무 귀여워)

Premise: A seamstress dies of overwork in Korea, and wakes up in the body of Abigail, the vain Queen, and the evil stepmother to the princess Blanche. Yes, It's like she stepped into the world of Snow White, and she must now do her best to live and.. Dote on Blanche with toys and dresses as much as possible?

Again with the awesome art and nice plot. Why are there so many manga with awesome art?? I'm so envious.

May all hail this crispy, delicious art.

Abigail is a whole mood, and I enjoy how she is inserted into the life of someone who had already lived and had a reputation. Her actions baffle a lot of the characters, as do her motivations, and I'm here for it.

The King has also an amazing backstory that's very tragic and yikes. I enjoy it, really. Not something you see in men's backstories that much.

Also, I'm kinda saddened by the fact the MC and the king are bound to become an actual couple. They would be such good platonic friends stuck in a political marriage. I was robbed, y'all.

Abigail greatest ambition is to get to design a dress for Blanche and have her wear it, and you know what? Good for her! Sometimes, it's good to have an MC that is not plotting against world at large.

Also, her mirror? Verite is simply perfect, I love this guy. I non-jokingly ship him with Abigail more than her with the King.

Blanche is a sweetheart, she deserves to be in my "adopted children" wall.

For now it's more of a Slice of Life than anything? But I also don't know what happens in the novels, so I'm just going to wait.

For the current lack of a grater plot, this gets a 7/10. Still pretty good and entertaining, especially for when you just don't feel like trying to understand deep plots with lots of elements.

5. Beware of the Brothers! (그 오빠들을 조심해!)

Premise: Another one of those "I lived my life and then wake up in the past." Hari was adopted by this family after the death of their only daughter, and although her parents love her, her 3 older siblings very much don't. She lives a miserable life in their hands, and when it's the night before she is to get married and finally escape her brothers, she wakes up in the past, and has to deal with them all over again.

Another nice art one, and the background characters are very nice, as is the MC.

But for me, it has a big problem. And that problem is the main ship. It's Hari with her eldest brother, Eugene. Even though they are not related and yadda yadda yadda, they were raised as such, and thus it bothers me. Also, Eugene is as plain as white bread and just as generic when seen as the Male Lead.

I ship Hari with Johan, even though I know it's not gonna happen, Ugh, the pain..

For me, the main point in this is Hari's relationship with her other siblings and the other background characters. I'm here for that wholesome sibling interaction. Her relationship with Erich, specially, is awesome. I love these two so much

It also kinda lacks a plot? Other than the relationship development and their story as a family, but again, I have no idea how they will develop this.

Also, pet peeve? Why do they keep using Oppa instead of translating it properly as brother? I get honorifics and stuff, but it's so annoying.

I give it a 6/10. Good characters and good relationships outside of the bloody incest thing, and it's a good enough way to pass the time.

There are two more that I've read, buut it's like 4am and I'm sleepy as all hell, so I'll just add it in a reblog or attached post later, and I plan on doing this for other future manhwas as well.

Do you have any recommendations or comments or just wanna talk about any of these manhwas? Hit me up!

[pastelwitchling]

🚨 PLEASE DO NOT SEND ME YOUR SPECULATIONS/RANTS 🚨

Now, with that out of the way, let’s talk about 3x02.

Oh my gooooods, this episode, guys. This post won’t be nearly as long as last week’s (Edit from future Rin from half an hour later; it is indeed as long as the last one), but there’s quite a bit to unpack here, so let’s get started.

First, Liz. I skipped every single one of her scenes 😂 I am so bored and completely uninterested with her work in LA, and her relationship with Heath. I feel like these past two episodes, and this episode in particular, she really has nothing to do anymore with Roswell. Everyone has some role to play, but she has this whole separate storyline going on somewhere else. She just doesn’t seem to have any integral part of the story this season. So yeah, every time her and Heath came on screen, I just skipped until it was over.

Second. Y’all. I could not bring myself to skip any other scene. Everyone’s storyline was interesting enough to watch, everyone was so fascinating. I even legitimately enjoyed Maria’s scenes! (Save for the one with Michael catching her, but I really enjoyed her reaction to him! I like that they’re giving them their old banter back with none of the “romance”, if that’s what you can even call it.) I really enjoyed everyone’s scenes. There’s such a clear improvement with the writing so far (gee, I wonder what changed), and I really hope the rest of the episodes are as good and even better than this one was.

Max looked so good this episode, his smiles and laughs at the beginning -- MY HEART 😍 I’m so proud of him for having written a manuscript, and maybe it also just makes me really happy because he and I connect so much now 😂 He’s a bookworm who’s written a novel, I’m a bookworm who’s written a novel -- I just love it very much 🙈❤

Hate me all you want, I don’t care, but I thought the Wyatt and Rosa scenes were extremely cute. If the show goes in this direction of truly redeeming Wyatt, I could totally ship them. I really, really enjoyed them, they were very cute to watch. I swear, I had this smile I couldn’t help the whole time like, “Aww!”. Obviously, I want Wyatt to be properly redeemed, I want him to be an actively better person, and I want Rosa to firmly decide that he’s good first, but if they do redeem him, then I’m all for this, I really loved it 🥰💗

Michael is the Dictator’s son?! I’ll tell y’all honestly, I thought Mr. Jones was actually the Dictator, and I was really shocked in the best way. This is how you surprise your audience. Not shock for the sake of shock, but shock that is relevant, that makes sense in the story, that makes people want to keep watching, not stop. What a brilliant turn of events, and you know I had a fic planned the second it happened which will hopefully be coming soon. No promises, but I’ll do my best.

And finally, we get to my Alex. Yeah! Alex is in this! I love how the general consensus has just been shock that he’s in it at all 😂 (Hell of a job, PR team, I can see you’re really on top of things 👍🏻.) I will confess though, I was a little worried about that when I found out, just because we know that Alex has to miss two to three episodes, and I’d hoped to get them out of the way early on, but it’s Alex, so you know, the world’s a better place for it.

Alex is officially Black Widow, and I don’t normally do this, but I 👏🏻 CALLED 👏🏻 THAT 👏🏻 PLOT 👏🏻 LINE 👏🏻. The way the Black Widow movie had inspired me to write about Alex, the way I just envisioned Alex as I was watching in that theater, the number of fics I wanted to write but didn’t because I was done with aus. And then the number of non-au fics I ended up wanting to write instead. Nevertheless, it doesn’t matter because I 🌝 called 🌝 it 🌝. Here is the fic where I called it. I’m very proud of myself for that one, and even prouder of the writers for recognizing what I’d already known since the Black Widow release date.

Words cannot describe Alex’s beauty this season. In the diner, in his cute suit, in that white-tee, the scene when Ramos (who I guessed was the one conducting the psych eval the second I saw him, by the way) opens the door and the lights come back on, the purse of his lips, the way he studied the Lockhart Machine (did anyone else just immediately think of Gilderoy Lockhart when they heard the name?), when he said, “No. I’ll take this one,” like the freaking badass he is?!!! 😍

I really enjoyed this episode. Admittedly, I am worried now that Liz is back since it seems like every time she’s around, they focus too much on social issues as oppose to the actual story going on, but I’m holding out hope for the best. I had a lot of fun, I don’t trust Mr. Jones at all, even less after the way he talked to Isobel. I’m really hoping the writers don’t take the typical route of doubt gnawing away at her and then making her help Jones despite it being the obvious worst thing to do. I’m also a little frustrated malex hasn’t interacted yet, but I’m sure it’s coming, and, according to Vlamis, in a really, really good scene. I’m choosing to keep faith that these writers know what they’re doing.

Gods, could you imagine if these people had been free to work on season 2 without constant interceptions from CAM? How different life would be. Alas, there’s no use lamenting the past. I just know that I’m eager for the story to move forward, and as Alex had been, for the first time in a long time, I’m hopeful.

[youandthemountains]

Karate Kid/Cobra Kai survey

No one tagged me but i wanted to do it bc i wanna talk cobra kai and nothing is true, everything is permitted, know yourself & follow no one etc. etc.

It's the year 2021 and you're obsessed with The Karate Kid. How are you feeling?:  it's cringe as hell but you know what!!! in @deputychairman's fine words, the cringe is the point!! i am so thankful i finally watched the karate kid trilogy, has been a net positive in my life!! love an earnest weirdo who tries and won't be bullied into submission!!! love making an effort to understand why people are the way they are!! also esp after watching the macchio torture porn movie with the oddly comforting 90s commercials, i do get why you get stuck on a past that made more sense to you even as it makes you progressively more incapable of engaging with the world as it is now.

Did you grow up with TKK or are you new to the series?:  I had heard of it, and heard of Miyagi-isms but had never watched it bc honestly I associate 80s movies with my brother and his girlfriend insisting I watch a ~classic~ and being bored out of my mind. But I wish I had watched this one then!

We gotta do the basics. Favorite character:  Lol well, I think this comes as a surprise to no one, but Daniel, Mr. Miyagi, and Kumiko

Favorite ship:  Lawrusso! Although I've enjoyed reading well-written version of Daniel/anyone, it all depends on the writer. I feel weird about ~shipping the youths but I think Samtory & Sam/Aisha & Aisha/Tory are all delightful. Also Daniel/Johnny/Amanda has got some of the best writers in the fandom writing for them.

Underrated character: OH where to start - Kumiko my beloved, Chozen (sorry I'm a stubborn Chozen stan I have no idea when and how this happened I just think there's so much unused potential there), Miguel (I feel like he gets lost in all the other characters storylines, like he's a vehicle for everyone else's stories while his own storylines just kind of sputter out), Chris (he switched sides and is one of the only characters who was never comfortable with the instinctual aggression at Cobra Kai and pretty immediately apologized but he gets like no story? classic), depending on which fandom we're talking about, Aisha, Sam and Tory (but honestly they're great characters and people really and truly find any excuse to hate a teen girl. Yasmine and Moon I get because they're really non-entities as characters, they literally just exist to be the Mean Girls and then wrestled into submission as the Hot Girlfriends.) Shannon - I feel like she gets constantly dunked on or written as this evil party girl, but I think she's interesting! Robby clearly loves and trusts her despite how tumultuous it was growing up with her and she did absolutely mistreat him through neglect, but when help was offered to her via rehab she took it and made an active effort to engage and try and apologized for her mistakes and embraced change. I think that's really hard to do and really admirable, and I love that she still kept her feistiness and sense of humor throughout.

Underrated ship (don’t say therapy, lol):  Underrated ships are my raison d'etre! Some of my favorite non-lawrusso Daniel ships:

Daniel/Chozen - my white whale, I know he had sexual relations with that man. I just know it.

Daniel/Kumiko - not super underrated but they're the most tender star-crossed missed connection, I really think they're the kind of love where you're comforted just knowing that there exists someone in the world that really knows you

Danielle/Ali - thanks to @iamtheremin's fics, I'm eternally craving the lesbian karate kid. god. icon.

Daniel/Jimmy - fully thanks to @klovenhooves writing it beautifully, the concept of them as tennis partners progressively drawn to each other lives in my head rent-free

Johnny/Daniel/Shannon - also thanks to @idontknowkaratebutiknowcrazy's great writing and WHAT a threesome. Gives you an absolutlely delightful peek at what Johnny/Shannon were like and they combine the full force of their Party Blondes on an unsuspecting Daniel. incredible.

Daniel/Ruben - thanks to @ted-imgoingmad's fascinating new fic, just unbearably heartbreakingly gentle with a Daniel that's trapped in a different toxic relationship

Samtory - thanks to lesbianbean's incredible series!!! Honestly I had not thought of it before but then she went all galaxy brain on us and woof. and then of course @cobra-sigh just made it better and better

Wax On, Wax Off or Sweep the Leg?:  sweep the leg just because I'm stronger with my legs than my arms.

Which of Daniel’s dumb little outfits is your favorite?:  he's a fashion icon, how's a girl supposed to pick just one. the powder blue ruffled prom suit is just, absolute king shit. the black tank top & hachimaki with the shirt tied around his waist? butch icon. the soft comfy sweatpants from KK3? it's what he deserves.

Character from the films you most want to return, who’s not Terry Silver: Mostly everyone's come back already haven't they? so, Jessica and Mike Barnes. oooh Freddy Fernandez - I'm curious about the only guy who was kinda friends with Daniel.

Scene that lives in your head rent-free: from Cobra Kai? bloody unhinged Daniel shooting Johnny a wide-eyed look just before murdering his abuser and the little nod he gives Daniel back, and also the way Daniel's soften and when Johnny joins forces with him against Kreese.

From TKK - Daniel sitting next to Mr. Miyagi and comforting him after Mr. Miyagi's father died and giving him the most upset, sympathetic, and loving look in the whole series while Mr. Miyagi silently tears up. I love them so much

Will Anthony LaRusso ever be relevant?:  Lmfao I fully think the writers have completely forgotten he exists. Did they cast a different actor for him in s3 or did he just grow and look totally different?

You live in The Valley and are forced into the karate gang war. Which dojo do you join?:  No gang wars! I join Topanga and the love and peace kid. We've already learned the gang wars never actually solve anything, just kick the can down the road!!

What’s your training montage song?:  I cannot think of any hype songs at all right now

It’s the crossover event of the century! Which TV show are you combining with Cobra Kai for an hour-long Saturday night special?:

uhh Leverage because that's what I've been watching. They're tipped off about the corrupt DA in Encino and eventually find out about this gang war funded by DynaTox and join forces. Let's go steal a high school karate tournament!

Tagging: @firstaudrina @keybladeofsteel @issa-wasteland @deputychairman @miyagifangdo @leohtebewunden @jknip2 @bobakick @childishzombiejellyfish @mindlessbehavior2011 @likethegardensofbabylonn @banzai-larusso @jenpsaki @anicety @shewritesdirty @dancinbutterfly @padraigendragon

[misterbitches]

hi! this is long as shit i’m sorry. i hope it makes sense. i ahve adhd and like 5 million learning disorders so this is just word vomit cos there’s so many words in my brain. my b.

i’ve had such a tough day so thank you for replying and sharing! @yeedak​ 

i was thinking about what i wrote and i meant to clarify that as well. some cases are fine for both parties and it’s not like you weren’t consenting and it seems like you were happy! same with my friend who was dating a 20 yr old. if they’re happy you know i’ll clown on ‘em but yea. so for anyone that sees these posts your relationship with your partner who is older or whatever. i’m some dumb girl on the internet okay. ill side eye older ppl tho

i think a lot of people feel the same way you do now (me included.) it feels really good at the time but alter we can see the dynamics playing out. i’m 29 now and i think aging is just such a huge process. it’s wild how you at 31 are a totally different person, right?

and the US racism is probably some of the worst ever in its iteration because of slavery which started from europe etc but USA is so fucking unique bc of columbus bringing slaves here and displacing indigenous peoples or hispanola and because america is so influential the way it views race, particularly with black people as objects, has so deeply permeated into the current historical psyche globally. it’s fascinating to track how necessary anti blackness is to the flourishing of america but also the world at this point. also want to point out how fuckign scary sinophobia is here especially for covid. one is a straight historical line (black ppl + the US) and the other had to be manufactured and to continue to exploit the non-white americans and keep antiblackness in tact.i could go on about this all day. the pain of this place is immense.yet as bad as it is here, this is still the only place i truly feel safe as a black person. because of the unique experience we have in america and through the diaspora especially because we are veyr much ocncentrated here. it would be nice to like move to norway and have some alleviation financially or get free healthcare it’s just not feasible if no one looks like me. it’s fucking tough. 

i hope you don’t hate it here though and people treat you with respect. but as you know being a woman and jewish and an immigrant....shit is tough. the USA is a hellhole. :( america is so deeply tainted and desperately bad because it was founded on strife and blood and there’s no way to reverse that and what this country did in turn when it gained enough power and could capitalize off of the colonial forefathers. this is why we hsould all luv revolution!!!

HOWMEVERRRR 

boy oh boy oh BOY OH BOYYYYYYYY. well wlecome to the world of BL lmao especially as an adult with some obviously deep perspective just given your background. it is a fucking mess and it’s a hard mess to like but it pulls you in. i approach it like i do with soap operas since these are essentially telenovelas, you know? just like the drama at a billion. but the tricky part of that is like....what parts of it do we understand for critiquing? because so many of the shows are so bad at being like good pieces of things to look at just production wise and story wise. but i feel like these shows ask us to take them seriously, so why shouldn’t we take the content seriously? and this is being primarily peddled to young girls. 

i bring this up often but i read this thing about yaoi and the interest younger women/girls have in BL and its fascination with pederasty essentially. this component i think is key when we talk about who gets affected by these things the most. society in general is bad 4 girls bla bla we know lmao but in “more sexually conservative” societies it may be harder for these girls to feel safe even expressing normal emotions romantically and sexually and particularly with guys. some people hypothesized, and i think i agree with this hypothesis, that they can live through the casualness of BL. they don’t feel threatened because they can put themselves into the shoes of the other character. oftentimes, the more feminine or the younger. this was in conjunction with the age gap aspect (they say pederasty as well because there’s unethical age gaps that r gross and that is indeed what we would at least call a touch of sexual abuse if people dont feel like calling it an obsession with youth and power and uhhh young ppl and perhaps kids) where maybe girls could see themselves in these situations as the person being saved, loved, taken care of, and sadly also sexually active and penetrated. 

i think that’s just one aspect of it but i do think there’s validity in who gravitates towards it. i cannot imagine seeing this stuff and not getting enough information as a young kid, i sure as fuck know i didn’t!, and seeing these things and you look at it with 0 critique because you’re young and you may have no interest in it or you simply cannot understand what is wrong. no one is teaching you these things and these shows confirm it. and it is wild how intrinsic patriarchy is to BL although in its existence it also can’t be in line with patriarchy given the nature of two [cis] men!

it begs the question about the replacement aspect. is it just so girls can put themselves in these characters shoes? if so then that means we believe that gender is so interchangeable within our relationships and interactions and that doesn’t seem right. there’s more to lgbtq+ than just existing; it’s finding ways to communicate, finding a family, safety, your people, being a free person. there’s a lot to gain and a lot a lot to lose. and a gay man is also not a woman because those are also two distinct experiences.  especially in societies that have a more hidden aspect to sexuality (idk how to word this bc the BL industry would NEVER survive in america but in a way there’s a more “progressive” look at homosexuality but it’s still fucked up because we live in a Society, you know? at the same time look at what we are doing to trans kids. literally waging war so it’s bonkers how we all collectively have some real progress happening but at the same time not at all. the concept of ‘ladyboys’ and the frequency we see trans people in thai shows is wild and something that we absolutely do not see here in the US. still, none of these groups feel safe or are getting better material conditions in either place. we just show the ways we can try and tolerate oppression witout eliminating it imo)

to me it is clear: it’s money. which most things exist to make money so. but also who is the audience for these shows? and they have to market towards them. all that said all hope is not lost there are some decent shows. it’s just like regular media on TV though where it’s so fucking saturated as an industry that it’s literally sifting through garbage. and there are some days when you can handle the trash and others where it really fucking hurts to watch the violence, the rape, the manipulation, the violations, the stupid messaging. i have never seen more people trying to do mental gymnastics and seeing if things were “technically rape” than in teh BL fandom and that is so fucking sad.

i came into these shows at 28 with almost 0 clue of what as media BL was like esp as media that countries can use as soft power with the revenue. but i realize like...i’m 29 now and so many people don’t have a sizeable, though not huge, amount of life experience. and i wonder for people on the internet who are usually searching for something if they spend so much time on it like what a 15 year old girl thinks. what a 20 year old girl thinks. 

it is incredibly problematic and so awful but there’s also some rewards. if you haven’t i would definitely watch i told sunsset about you which i don’t think i’m going to finish and i doubt i’ll watch the second installment (watch this be a lie) but when i say some fucking impeccable storytelling and art? phew. now that is a fucking piece of media that works. it takes from moonlight heavily and you can see like...the artistic dedication is there and the story makes its world and sets up its stakes extremely well. 

i think because this is marketed towards much younger people too they know they dont have to try as hard. but they SHOULD because then you can have a fucking masterpiece like that. i think even this prolific gay thai filmmaker (who is like solidly against the government) who is so respected (and who i like a lot! if u wanna know i can tell u lmao but the films are very uhhhhhhhh “artsy”) would like i told sunset about you. i wish more people had budget like that and also just cared about the stories. it’s the fucking magic of art to figure out what you can do but there is very little incentive honestly. idk i am very pessimistic. there are days when it’s really a great pick me up and distraction but it is never a place i would love for to feel seen or heard but i’m more of the mind of i never trust the mainstream until they prove me wrong ;) 

or i never trust the mainstream and i still buy into it anyway and then cry when i don’t like what i see adn i yell “BOO GET OFF THE STAGE!” when an old man won’t leave a teenager alone

[seriouslyhooked]

Wonderwall (A CS AU)

AU oneshot based off of a reader request for the song ‘Wonderwall.’ Story takes place in the modern world where Emma and Killian re engaged. Emma is celebrating her bachelorette party and Killian shows up with his friends and plays a song in a bar. Cuteness ensues as does corniness and a lot of fluff. Rated T. Available on FF Here and AO3 Here.

A/N: Sorry to my reader for the crazy time delay on this – it took so long for my muse to really speak to me, but now that she has, I hope it’s what you wanted. Thanks everyone for reading and hope you enjoy!

He is totally going to lose it when he sees me.

The happy thought ran through Emma’s head as she took one last look at herself in the bedroom mirror. She couldn’t contain her smile as she pictured her fiancé’s reaction to this outfit. Every single day Killian made her feel like the most gorgeous woman in the world. He only had eyes for her, even when her wardrobe of choice was a ratty tee and sweatpants. There had never come a time he didn’t want her, and every time he told her she was beautiful she knew he spoke the truth. But tonight… well tonight she was dressed in something way sexier than some dusty sweatpants.

This dress was made for sin, at least that’s what Ruby said when she and her friend stumbled upon it at the mall. It fit every line of her body to perfection, and hugged her shape in a way no other dress in her closet ever dared to. When Emma tried it on in the store she knew it would be perfect, and with the heels she was wearing the effect was even better than she’d hoped. She purposefully hid the dress away for weeks, keeping it out of sight of Killian, knowing that tonight was the perfect night to don this grand surprise. The dress was short, red, bold, and sexy. It was over the top, but Emma figured that made it appropriate for the bachelorette party that awaited her. This was supposed to be her one last night of freedom, right? But that silly thought had no bearing on her dress of choice. No, for Emma, this was all about her husband to be, and the way that he’d get when he saw her. This was a push for more, a challenge laid down without debate, and her cheeks flushed at the thought of how he’d respond to that.

She’d pictured his reaction a number of times. Imagining in her mind the way Killian would switch from the gentle man who loved her dearly to a man without control made her heart leap in her chest. To the world, Killian was perfectly put together, with a good job and a kind heart, but since the beginning of their relationship, Emma brought another side out of him, one that was passionate and dominant and exquisitely irresistible. She was practically on fire, her whole body humming with anticipation thinking back to the last time she’d provoked him like this, but the best part (or maybe the worst, depending on how one looked at it) was that they didn’t have time to truly act on all the feelings this dress was about to prompt. She was getting picked up any minute, and though Ruby was hardly known for being on time, she was never late when there was a party to be had. At most, Emma and Killian would have time for a stolen kiss or two, but despite the torture of having to wait, the anticipation all night long would make the payoff all the sweeter. Emma wet her lips at the thought of what was coming tonight when she got home, but ultimately she had to move. Torturous as it might turn out, she needed to see him, and when she emerged from their bedroom and found him waiting for her in the living room, she knew all of this was totally worth it.

“Bloody hell.”

The curse from her man made Emma laugh despite the flutter of her own want at seeing him splayed out on the couch. He was always so hot – thus the whole locking him down and marrying him plan she had going – but as he stood up, shocked at her appearance and clearly starving for her touch, Emma felt a jolt of something. They said lightening never struck the same place twice, but it always felt that way when she was with Killian. Ten years together and that burst of energy never wavered. If anything it was getting worse. They’d been inseparable in college when they first met, but now they were so wrapped up in each other they’d grown in tandem on every level. She craved him all the time, and by the time he was on top of her, hands wrapped around her in a possessive hold she was edging towards desperate.

“You like?” she asked, but it was a rhetorical question. Of course he liked if his roaming hands and hungry eyes were anything to go off of.

“Like is not the word I would use,” Killian growled out.

“Which word would you use?” she asked, her voice breaking slightly as his fingertip ran along her pulse point.

“Love,” he replied, growling out the word. “You cut quite the figure in this dress, Swan, as you well know.”

She didn’t bother responding because she did know. Instead she turned in his hold, giving him a better view and the groan he let loose sent her body buzzing. Damn, why did tormenting him have to backfire like this? Her teasing plan only tempted her to call off the whole damn party.  She could do that, right? It was supposed to be for her after all, surely she should call the shots.

“Hate too, though.” She looked back over her shoulder with a raised brow, seeing his eyes focused on her ass before he looked back up. “I certainly don’t like the idea of anyone else seeing you this way.”

“Are you jealous?”

“Insanely so. But you know and I know exactly who you’ve worn this for,” Killian said, sounding far more level headed than she expected.

“You,” Emma agreed before adding “and me. I mean it’s kind of awesome. Or it would be if you’d give in and kiss me already.”

No sooner had the words left her mouth then he grabbed her, pushing her back against the side table behind them and kissing her senseless. The kiss was all passion and heat and frenzy. Emma couldn’t tell which way was up, lost as she was in Killian, and as his hand moved up her thigh, headed straight for where she wanted his touch most she sighed. Now this was exactly what she wanted. Passion, pleasure, love. It was all so heady. She arched closer, pulling him in by his shirt and –

A loud knock sounded at the door followed by. “You lunatics better be fully clothed. The party has arrived, and she brought her spare key.”

Now the string of curses that Killian let loose were so much worse than the initial ones at seeing her and again Emma laughed. God she was so caught up in this she forgot the essential part of her plan – all of this was about the long game. They were going to wait, even if it damn near killed them.

“I promise I am going to make this up to you tonight,” she said, pressing a final kiss against his lips as she slid off the table and tried to get her dress back into place. She ran her fingers through her hair which was already everywhere, and she thanked god for this ultra hold red lip stain she had on as she checked in the nearby mirror before looking back at Killian.

“There will be a lot happening tonight, love. You can trust in that.”

Emma shivered with delight at his words, and she loved the way he stepped back to her, holding her close. He may still be vibrating with need for her, but he was gentle and reserved, a gentleman again, with a beast playing just underneath the surface. As the door swung open he pressed one last soft kiss to her lips before they both turned to see not just Ruby, but Anna, Elsa, Belle and Tiana as well.

“Gang’s all here,” Killian joked as Emma’s college friends descended, but Anna replied with a shake of her head.

“Not quite. The guys are right behind us but let’s just say some space was necessary.” Emma’s friends all looked to Elsa pointedly and as if on queue her dear friend turned scarlet red.

“I know, I know. I’m sorry. It was an accident.”

“What happened?” Emma asked aloud and everyone just shook their heads again.

“Let’s just say that the warning we just gave was not given at her and Liam’s house.”

“Bloody hell,” Killian muttered as he laughed lightly. “My brother willl have plenty to say about that.”

“I’m sure he will,” Ruby said moving forward and grabbing Emma’s hand. “But, alas, it’s irrelevant because we are going out for a night on the town. It’s going to put your party to shame.”

“Seeing as my party starts the moment Emma gets home, I highly doubt that.”

The reactions to that were mixed between Ruby feigning a haughty disgust and Belle and Anna thinking that was adorable. Emma just rolled her eyes and pressed a kiss to his cheek before whispering that she loved him and she’d see him soon. From there things moved very quickly to a crazy party bus and a few bars. It was honestly non-stop and only at the third place they went to did Ruby even let them sit down instead of only dancing and drinking.

“Jesus, I am getting too old for this,” Belle said as she heaved herself into the booth, letting out a sigh of relief when her legs weren’t holding her up anymore. “How did we do this like 3 nights a week at school?”

“Ruby,” the others all responded at once as Ruby let out an almost maniacal laugh as she flipped her flawless black hair over her shoulder. Then she pulled out her compact to check out her make up and smiled.

“God, I know it’s a little egotistical to admit this, but I look damn good tonight. Penises and all.”

The words tumbled out of Ruby’s mouth with a fierceness of conviction and the level of sass that always came five drinks into any night out. Ruby was a firecracker in any state, but five drink Ruby was a totally different breed. There was no telling where this night would lead or who it would lead to. Because with Ruby it always led to someone.

“Nobody looks good with penises,” Belle said as she scrunched up her nose in distaste. Emma giggled in the face of the brunette’s displeasure, mostly because Belle had a real point. These necklaces were tacky and graphic and ridiculous, but hey, that’s what bachelorette parties seemed to be about.

“Is that a challenge?” Ruby asked, her finger waving in the air with added flair for effect. The others in their party all groaned.

“Oh now you’ve done. You challenged her. God, you just had to challenge her,” Tiana lamented.

“I didn’t mean it!” Belle said with a hiccup as she drank more of her gin and tonic. “We obviously look great. No need to do something crazy to prove it.”

“But this party could use a little crazy, don’t you think?” Ruby looked to Emma who knew better than to argue. She only shrugged and Ruby grinned, pivoting to look out at the sea of people. “New game – all the single ladies have to find someone to kiss in the next ten minutes. Losers are buying diner food, and bitch I am hungry so it’ll cost ya.”

“Oh God, Ruby, please no!” Belle, Anna and Tiana shouted. Emma and Elsa only exchanged a glance that silently said how grateful they were to not be grouped in this mayhem.

“Tiana gets a free pass because I don’t want Naveen to kill me when he finally gets his shit together,” Ruby announced, hinting at a man Emma had only met a few times, but who was definitely interested in Tiana. He and Tiana worked together at the hospital, and he was supposedly cocky and brash and unbearable, but Tiana was starting to falter on her previous assumptions as he turned out to be a damn good doctor and a seemingly good man underneath all the bluster and facade. “You gotta be careful with doctors. They know how to kill you and make it look like an accident.”

“Ruby,” Tiana said, her hands coming over her face from both the embarrassment of being called out for her and Naveen’s ‘will-they/won’t-they’ tension, and from Ruby somewhat besmirching their line of work. “You know we’re not like that.”

“Sure, sure, that’s what they all say,” Ruby said with a wink before dismissing this. “Also Elsa can sit out too. You know I usually say everyone’s single til there’s a ring, but Liam is scrappy and he could take me in a fight.”

“Liam is not going to fight you,” Elsa said before reconsidering. “But yeah, definitely better if you don’t mention that you tried to get me to make out with a stranger.”

“Who would need to make out with anyone after what we saw earlier,” Belle quipped drunkenly and Anna groaned aloud.

“Stop, please I was just getting over that. It never happened, you hear me? We are never talking about this again.”

“Fat chance of that. I’m totally telling Emma, but after the game,” Ruby proclaimed. “On your marks, get set, go!”

As if they were actually in a race, Ruby hurried away into the crowd but Anna and Belle were not nearly as eager to follow. Emma felt for them, and she offered the only mildly helpful advice she could think of. “You know the best way to not have to play this game is by distracting Ruby with someone really good for her to kiss.”

“Ooh, that could work,” Belle said eagerly before scanning out into the crowd and frowning. “She just doesn’t make it easy though. I mean she literally has no type.”

“Well she does, but it’s not about looks, it’s all ‘energy,’” Anna said fake emulating a zen pose and drawing a laugh from all of them. “Oh wait, she looks good! Like that girl she dated junior year, remember?”

“Maybe…” Belle said, though not convinced enough to stop scanning the crowd. “How about him?” she nodded to a male bartender, who was admittedly good looking, but perhaps a bit too put together for Ruby’s taste.

“No. God this is hard. Shit, I’m going to have to kiss a stranger,” Anna said, lowering her face into her hands in defeat.

“Maybe not,” Emma said as her gaze landed on their friend across the bar, who was in no way even playing the game, instead she was standing on the stage meant for live music, chatting with the band and pointing at the microphone. “What is she doing?”

“She wouldn’t,” Elsa murmured, suddenly in awe at what may be happening. The others looked just as dumb struck, but Emma didn’t get it.

“Wouldn’t what?”

“Good evening everybody!” Ruby said into the mic, looking as happy and carefree as could be. Emma had to admit, her old friend had a lot of charisma, but she also had a penchant for creating trouble, and right now could be one of those moments. “My name is Ruby, and as you might have guessed from the dicks I’m currently rocking, I’m here supporting my friend Emma as she decides to tie the knot.”

The response from the crowd was mostly the congratulatory cheering of people already rocking a strong buzz, though there were some more bitter responses thrown into the mix. Emma was too dazed to really process though, because she had truly no idea where Ruby was headed with this.

“I swear to God if she tries to call us up on stage I am out of here,” Belle said her face white as a sheet in the face of Ruby’s playacting.

“Full out sprint, flash of lightening, Olympic style running,” Anna agreed. At that moment Ruby looked back to them, and she no doubt saw their hesitation. In the face of it she grinned, and Emma had to admit it was a little wicked. She was totally toying with them all, but finally she revealed her plan.

“But we’re not just here for drinks, ladies. We’re here for a show.”

“What the hell is she talking about?” Elsa whispered and then they all saw them – Killian, Liam, and Graham (who everyone in their group already knew) as well as Killian’s two other friends from childhood who flew in for the bachelor party, Will and Robin. They all took over for the band and Emma’s jaw dropped.

“Ladies and gentleman I give you… wait did you come up with a name?” she stage whispered.

“Don’t bloody need one. Can barely play music, so fuck it,” Will said with a grin waving over at their table but Emma was caught in the site of Killian. He was here, and he was coming to the mic as Ruby passed it off. Immediately he looked at Emma, smiling at her and speaking only to her.

“This one’s for you, Swan.”

When the music played it took a moment for Emma to decipher what it was meant to be. Will was right, they were clearly rusty, and it was clear none of them had ever played together before, but then Killian started singing and Emma knew right away what this was. She covered her mouth to somewhat shield the giggle, but it couldn’t be helped. This was a classic song that she and Killian had listened to over and over again when they were younger, and seeing him up there singing, and truly holding his own despite having no real musical training, Emma was fascinated and amazed. This couldn’t be real, but it was, and seeing him up there, putting himself out there just to make her smile in front of all of these strangers stole another piece of her heart she didn’t even know she had to give.

“Do you like your surprise?” Ruby asked and Emma just nodded, not knowing how to put her feelings into words.

“Why are they doing this?” Elsa asked, blushing as Liam’s voice joined Killian at the chorus.

“Are you complaining?”

“No,” Elsa admitted.

“If you must know, Killian and Emma had their first dance at the spring semi to this song. He mentioned it a few weeks ago, and then he told me he wanted to crash the party. I told him fine, but the price was a performance.”

“You didn’t,” Emma said, flashing her eyes to Ruby for a moment before she was compelled to look back at her fiancé. Damn he looked hot, and his voice… well she’d forgotten how good of a singer he was. He sang at home of course, but right now, looking like sin and singing just for her… she clenched her legs together trying to conceal just how much this affected her.

“Of course I did. I didn’t think he could pull it off. Liam’s hot for Elsa, so I guess maybe that makes sense, but how much money do you think he’s paying the others? Ten grand a piece? I mean Graham of all people? He can’t stand us.”

“Graham wants to marry you and make a dozen little Ruby’s with you,” Emma said easily, having no filter between the alcohol she’d consumed and the amazing display she was witnessing on stage. “He just avoids you so he doesn’t have to watch you in huntress mode.”

“Wait… are you serious? You’re kidding, right?” Ruby asked, and for the first time ever Emma saw her friend look crestfallen. Was that interest in her eyes? Oh my god did Ruby feel the same way?!

“Holy shit you like him!” Anna screeched, pointing a finger at Ruby.

“No it’s worse – she loves him,” Tiana said with shock emanating from her every pore. “You really didn’t know about him?”

“No,” Ruby said shaking her head as if trying to make sense of it. “You’re sure that he wants me?”

“That man has wanted you forever, Ruby,” Elsa announced and they all agreed.

“Well okay then.”

Everyone went back to watching the performance, though Emma had been watching the whole time, not daring to look away. It was impossible not to stay focused on Killian through all of this, and in truth it was all so cheesy and ridiculous that she felt fit to burst. She couldn’t help but love this. This sappy, over the top thing was just right for her. She loved being in love with this man, and she lived for the feeling of his claiming her. This might be a somewhat silly way to do so, but tell that to her heart which was clenching in her chest as her whole body flooded with warmth. Her thoughts wandered from amusement and awe to naughtier places very quickly, and by the end of the song she was jonesing for a get away with her man. The place was filled with kind cheers and rowdy applause, but Killian just jumped down from the stage and headed towards her, pulling her in for a wordless kiss that lit her up inside and made her forget that they were out in a very public space.

“I can’t believe you did that,” Emma whispered as they came apart, looking into his eyes as she ran her fingertips across his jaw.

“I’d do anything for a moment with you, love. You know that.”

She did know that, and despite the break from tradition, Emma found that she loved this change in plans. It was so much fun to hang out with her friends tonight, but when Killian and his friends blended in, they didn’t miss a beat. Everyone was happy and enjoying themselves. There was some requisite teasing about their apparel (because despite Ruby’s insistence, penis paraphernalia was not the best accessory), and a few heated exchanges (most notable from Ruby and Graham who mysteriously disappeared for a while only to return hand in hand), but mostly there was just fun and good humor. Emma loved that, and found herself thinking how blessed she was to have this life and to share it with this man who she loved dearly.

“Nearly ready to head out, Swan?” he asked reading her mind a good while later when the lateness of the hour was starting to wear on her. But all it took was one look at her fiancé and the heated promise in his eyes for her to rally.

“Yeah, I’m ready.”

And so, with a few merry goodbyes to all their friends, and a renewed sense of urgency to get back to their apartment, the two of them headed out towards a glorious night and a beautiful life together that was happy and healthy and whole.

……………………

Today is gonna be the day That they're gonna throw it back to you By now you should've somehow Realized what you gotta do I don't believe that anybody Feels the way I do, about you now Backbeat, the word was on the street That the fire in your heart is out I'm sure you've heard it all before But you never really had a doubt I don't believe that anybody Feels the way I do about you now And all the roads we have to walk are winding And all the lights that lead us there are blinding There are many things that I Would like to say to you but I don't know how Because maybe, you're gonna be the one that saves me And after all, you're my wonderwall Today was gonna be the day But they'll never throw it back to you By now you should've somehow Realized what you're not to do I don't believe that anybody Feels the way I do, about you now And all the roads that lead you there are winding And all the lights that light the way are blinding There are many things that I Would like to say to you but I don't know how I said maybe, you're gonna be the one that saves me And after all, you're my wonderwall I said maybe, you're gonna be the one that saves me And after all, you're my wonderwall I said maybe, you're gonna be the one that saves me you're gonna be the one that saves me you're gonna be the one that saves me

Post-Note: So there we have it – just a little teasing, flirty, fluffy fic for today. We have literally endless amounts of stories like this in this mixtape collection, but every time I find myself thoroughly excited to write a love story for these characters. Crazy to think how long it has been since the show ended, but somehow I know that my muse still has many more stories to share. Thanks again for reading, and I hope you’ll let me know what you think! I love to hear from you all, and if you have songs you want included (or if you feel I need a gentle reminder because I have taken an age and a day to write your prompt) let me know!

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9,Part 10,Part 11, Part 12,Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24,Part 25, Part 26, Part 27, Part 28, Part 29, Part 30, Part 31,Part 32, Part 33, Part 34, Part 35, Part 36, Part 37, Part 38,Part 39,Part 40, Part 41, Part 42, Part 43, Part 44, Part 45,Part 46,Part 47, Part 48, Part 49, Part 50, Part 51, Part 52, Part 53,Part 54,Part 55, Part 56, Part 57, Part 58, Part 59, Part 60,Part 61,Part 62, Part 63, Part 64, Part 65, Part 66, Part 67, Part 68,Part 69,Part 70, Part 71, Part 72, Part 73, Part 74, Part 75,Part 76,Part 77, Part 78, Part 79, Part 80, Part 81, Part 82, Part 83,Part 84,Part 85, Part 86, Part 87, Part 88, Part 89, Part 90,Part 91,Part 92, Part 93, Part 94, Part 95, Part 96, Part 97, Part 98,Part 99,Part 100, Part 101, Part 102, Part 103,Part 104, Part 105,Part 106, Part 107,Part 108, Part 109, Part 110,Part 111, Part 112,Part 113, Part 114, Part 115,Part 116, Part 117, Part 118,Part 119,Part 120, Part 121, Part 122, Part 123,Part 124, Part 125,Part 126, Part 127, Part 128,Part 129,Part 130, Part 131,Part 132,Part 133, Part 134, Part 135, Part 136, Part 137, Part 138,Part 139,Part 140, Part 141, Part 142, Part 143, Part 144, Part 145,Part 146, Part 147, Part 148,Part 149, Part 150, Part 151,Part 152, Part 153, Part 154, Part 155, Part 156, Part 157, Part 158,Part 159, Part 160, Part 161, Part 162, Part 163, Part 164,Part 165, Part 166, Part 167, Part 168, Part 169, Part 170,Part 171,Part 172, Part 173, Part 174, Part 175, Part 176,Part 177, Part 178, Part 179 , Part 180, Part 181, Part 182, Part 183, Part 184, Part 185, Part 186, Part 187, Part 188, Part 189, Part 190

[wild3flow3r]

Chapter Nineteen

November 6th

Lorelai never imagined herself in a long distance relationship. For years she believed that it would be nearly impossible for those types of relationships to work out. But now, she goes to bed every night hoping hers will work out in the end. Both she and Harry were giving it their all. They texted each other throughout the day constantly, updating the other on even the smallest of things that had happened in their life. They set up video chat dates so they could eat meals together, although it was usually when Lorelai was eating breakfast and Harry lunch. Neither of them have been able to travel to the other at all since their reconciliation in August, but it didn’t deter either of them.

“What’re you doing tonight?” Harry asks her during their video chat this morning. It’s eight in the morning for Lorelai, so Harry is on his lunch break now. The morning was the easiest time for them to catch each other.

“Will probably just come home and get some takeaway. You?” Lorelai props her phone up onto her bathroom counter and then puts some toothpaste on her toothbrush.

She watches the way Harry’s shoulders slump down. A frown slowly etches itself onto his face. “It’s Isabel’s Winter Recital tonight, and she’s been begging me non stop for the last two weeks to attend. Everyone will be there, Gemma said she invited everyone.”

Lorelai sends him a sympathetic look with the toothbrush in her mouth. Finally after she rinses, she says, “You don’t have to talk to them if you don’t want to Harry, no matter how many times they try to force it. Just stick with Gemma and Zachary the whole time and focus on Isabel.”

Harry nods. He’s still extremely upset with Laura and Xavier, and rightly so. He hasn’t given either of them the time of day since he found out. Usually, he skips the family events he doesn’t really have to attend, but he’d feel terrible if he missed birthday parties and concerts, especially when they’re for his niece and nephew. According to Harry, the few times he’s been around Laura and Xavier, or really Laura specifically, she tries to corner him so that he’s forced to listen to her. Usually Gemma or her husband Peter can help him escape, but the one time there wasn’t anyone around to help him he had told his mother he hated her. Harry felt guilty about that now, but she’d pushed too hard too soon instead of giving him the time he needed.

“How are things with Zachary going?”

“We’re… better. He’s a little more helpful with the firm and everything. He knows what he did was fucked up, and he knows I won’t really ever forgive him nor do I think he would change anything that he’s done. And not that either of us will forget about it, but we’re just going to move on in our lives and turn over a new leaf, I guess.”

Harry’s been going to therapy for the last two weeks. He was so hesitant to start, and it took Lorelai almost a month to convince him to just try one session. She saw the way everything was tearing him up inside, and with her on the other side of the world she wanted him to talk about it properly with someone. He really took to it, and now he goes twice a week. Lorelai is already seeing the small improvements he’s making, especially on the Zachary topic. Before, he had no idea on how to feel with Zachary. He was a man Harry hated for the entirety of his life, a man he believed to be his father, and then suddenly he was the only person in his family Harry felt like he could truly trust. That takes a toll on a person.

“Well tell Gemma I say hi, and congratulate Isabel for me. I’m sure she’ll be amazing.”

Harry leans his chin on his palm. “I’ll film it for you.”

Lorelai nods, a smile gracing her face. “I can’t wait to see it.”

Harry stays silent for a moment. His wide green eyes scan up and down her face slowly. “I wish you could’ve been here to see it yourself.”

Lorelai smiles, but it’s a sad one that’s hard to keep on her face. “I know. I wish I could be there too, babe.”

Harry sighs, letting out a storm of feelings with that one breath. “I miss you, Skipper.”

“I miss you too. I’ll be home for Christmas though. You sure you’re family is okay with you missing their big party this year?”

“Gem and the kids were a bit upset, but as long as we go to their house for New Year’s then they’re okay with it. Besides, I really want to see what it’s like to not have to wear a suit on Christmas Day. There’s pictures of me at ten months old wearing a onesie designed as a tuxedo.”

Lorelai shakes her head, small giggles erupting from her at the image of baby Harry. “You have to wear pajamas all day, the Sterling’s won’t have it any other way.”

Harry grins but then his watch beeps out an alarm and a frown steals the smile away. “I’ve got a meeting in a few minutes.”

Lorelai nods. “That’s okay. I’ve got to leave now anyways if I want to make it on time.”

“I’ll text you tonight.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

With one final wave, Lorelai ends the call. Her heart always aches as soon as her screen turns black. The silence always seems too much in her apartment after one of their calls. Lorelai presses her palms against her eyes as if to wade off the tears she feels coming on. Once she’s calmed down, she grabs her purse and leaves.

***

Lorelai has found Brian to be more tolerable after the last month of so. He could still be terribly annoying, but he had started being nicer to her. It was relieving, actually, because now she had at least one person in this office who would talk to her besides Mister Cunningham.

“What’re you doing tonight, Sterling?”

Brian has taken to walking Lorelai out of the building every night. He’d stay as late as her, although he had been doing that before his mood change, and start packing up as soon as she would.

Lorelai tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “Sleep, honestly,” she replies. Exhaustion always hit her once she stood up from her desk every day to call it a night.

“Why don’t you come to the bar with me?”

“I… What?”

“Some others from the marketing department will be there. We can grab a couple of drinks and watch whatever game is on.”

Lorelai’s steps falter, but only momentarily. This is what she wanted in the beginning, hadn’t it? To be included in the small things so that she wouldn’t be so alone? And even if she has Harry back, she’s still alone in this city. Without much thought, Lorelai replies with a simple, “Yes.”

The bar is only a few streets away, close enough to her apartment even that she knows she’ll feel comfortable walking home even if she drinks enough to get past tipsy. There are three men and two other women waiting at a table for them. Brian introduces all of them to her, but their names blend in with the sounds of the crowd.

Lorelai sticks to Brian’s side for most of the night, seeing that he’s the only one she really knows. She’s on her second drink an hour later when she feels the effects of the alcohol start to take place. It’s a nice buzz though, one she hadn't felt in a long time. Brian wraps his arm around the back of her chair, but Lorelai doesn’t even notice it. She’s too focused on the Football game on the screen just as most of the other people in the bar are. And honestly, she’s having a lot of fun.

She starts her third drink when her cell phone buzzes on the counter in front of her. Lorelai takes her eyes off of the television screen to see Harry’s name pop across her cell phone. Lorelai clicks the message open. He’s sent a video, presumably of Isabel singing, and then a picture of himself with Isabel and Danny, their faces all squished together to make sure they all fit within the selfie. Finally, a text message appears.

They both say hi and that they miss you loads. X

Give them big hugs from me xxxx

Bell’s says not to worry too much about missing her concert. She’ll give you a full rendition of it on New Years.

Tell her I can’t wait <3

The bar surrounding Lorelai breaks into loud cheers, frightening her so much that her phone slips out of her hands. It lands on the floor, and before she’s even gotten the chance to get it, Brian leans over to pick it up himself. He smiles at her when he hands it back, but he can’t help but to take a peek at her lit up screen.

Brian’s eyebrows raise. He probably sees the picture. “You got a family back home that I don’t know about?” He teases, although he treads lightly just in case it was true.

Lorelai shakes her head. “It’s just Harry with his niece and nephew,” she clarifies, as if Brian should know who Harry is.

“And Harry is your… boyfriend?”

Lorelai hesitates. They haven’t given each other the official titles back yet, but they had promised to be exclusive when they decided to give what they have another shot. Finally, Lorelai nods. “Sort of.”

“Sort of? So that means I’ve still got a chance?”

Now Lorelai frowns. “A chance at what?”

“I… well… Never mind.” Brian looks back up to the television screen, his eyes tinging just the lightest shade of pink.

“No Brian. Tell me. A chance at what?”

“Well… You’re attractive Lorelai. And I think you’re funny, and you’re unbelievably good at your job which makes you even so much more to me. I thought, well, I thought you would think of this as a date.”

Lorelai stares at him with an eyebrow raised. “A date? With your marketing friends sitting right next to us?”

“I know it’s shit, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be considered as one.”

“I don’t consider it as one.”

“Well why not?”

“Because I have Harry! I’m with Harry!”

“Not really if you’re only ‘sort of’ his girlfriend.”

“The labels are complicated right now, but that doesn’t mean me and him aren’t all in on this relationship.”

“Then where is he right now? Why aren’t you with him now?”

“Because he’s in London! It’s kind of hard to get to him right now.”

Brian shakes his head. “He’s all the way in London? You’d rather be with a guy in an entire different continent then with a guy who can sit right next to you every night?”

“I’m not going to be here forever, Brian! Just a few years to build up my resume, and then I plan on finding a job back in the UK.” Lorelai’s been thinking a lot about this since August when Harry had come to visit her. She could last a few years separated from him, but not forever.

“You could run Cunningham’s company. You could become the CFO when Walters retires in two years. You’d give all of that up for him?”

“There’s no guarantee I’ll become CFO. Cunningham is more likely to give it to you. You’ve got more experience, you’ve been working with the company longer, and we all know Walters likes you best. And besides, there’s more than just Harry back in England. My entire family is there, and god I miss them so much too. I would never make a decision like that based off of one boy, I’d make it based off of what’s best for me. And going back to England in a few years, that is what’s best for me.”

Brian rolls his eyes. He obviously wasn’t taking this rejection well. “You’re making a mistake, Lorelai.”

Lorelai stands and grabs her phone and purse. She doesn’t even spare the rest of her party a look, although she knows they’ve been staring at her and Brian for a while now. “And you’re being an arsehole, Brian. Worry about you own goddamn life, and stop taking so much interest in mine because you will never be a part of it.”

Lorelai storms away from Brian and the bar, taking large steps back to her apartment. She just can’t believe him. What made him think he had the right to say those things? He knows nothing about her, her life, or her relationship with Harry. There’s nothing he could say that would make her second guess her decision. She’d tell Harry all about it, but first thing in the morning when she hadn’t consumed a few drinks first. Because that’s who she and Harry were, adults who could communicate with each other, especially now after everything.

[xuijia]

Grenwich Falls

Grenwich Falls- What happens when a an unknown comes into the crossfire of a werewolf pack? No one is familiar with each other and no one trust each other..

GOT7/BTS au: non-idol, college students, werewolves, other wereanimals, and a few unknowns.

Warnings: Future chapters may contain smut, angst, fluff. Trigger warnings will be given when appropriate. 

Main characters from each group will mainly consists of 94 and 97liners. 

Chapter 1: The Meeting

Chpt 2

Word count: 3.2k

You knew what you were and you knew the chance you took coming to this university. People like you remained low and separate from others preferring to stay away from cliques that could never really pinpoint what or who you are. But you were tired of running tired of being a nomad with no claim to any space as your own and sure you could turn back to your parents and live life back in your small town with them and your little brother but what good would it do? They weren’t like you either. So after leaving home at 17 what else were you supposed to do now that you were 20 and truly unestablished. You did what everyone else did that was your age, went to college. For the past two years you had taken online courses at a university so you could roam from place to place exploring the states all the way from the west coast to the east but you missed companionship. After all that was a vital part of human nature to crave the company of other humans no matter the smaller percentage of that which was in you. It was however much greater than those of the other wereanimals.  

So here you were moving into your apartment a week before the fall term was about to start with two werewolves as roommates and oddly a human with a strong were scent. She was marked, you figured that was the only way the other two females would have willingly chose her as a roommate. From what you knew werewolves didn’t associate themselves with non-wolves. This you had learned from your parents as they warned you that of all the were animals; “dogs” as they called them had the highest ego, traveled in the largest packs and thought that they were the superior of the were communities. Heck, there were even fully exclusive werewolf universities but none for your kind but yet here they were.

“Hi, my name is Andrea”, one of the girls extended her hand to you acknowledging your presence and company as a housemate.

She was cute, a description you’d normally never associate with a were but you could tell she was fierce as her hazel eyes lit like fire as you extended your hand to her in return. She was taking in your scent no doubt as you had done the same but like most reactions you’d receive her nose scrunched and she viewed you through slanted eyes with uncertainty. It made the hairs on your neck stand as your instincts immediately wanted you to become defensive. The other were girl took note of the exchange and rushed to Andrea’s side eyeing you warily.

A tiny sniff battle ensued as both girls slightly lifted their noses to the air and looked between each other as if gauging your scent. You knew what they wanted to ask but they dare didn’t because throughout all were animals you never asked what kind of were a person was. It was simply bad manners and left an ill taste in everyone’s mouth. That was the one mutual rule that all communities shared; unless said were voluntarily divulged their breed you’d ought to never ask. Of course most thought this rule didn’t apply to werewolves because they were proud to be wolves, travelling in packs, the stereotypical brute build and biker gang mentality wasn’t exactly overfitting when it came to their kind. And if you couldn’t judge from their aura they had no problem telling you just what they were.

“Ugh I absolutely hate when you guys do that!”, the blonde girl exasperated.

She was short and bubbly typical girl next door look, definitely not the type to be mixed with werewolves. She literally couldn’t be taller than 5’2 and the baby pink skirt she wore with her white and yellow striped crop top practically screamed “Eat Me I’m Cute and Cuddly!” You couldn’t help but wonder why or even how she….

“Seriously why don’t you two just piss on the floor and mark your territory” She huffed interrupting your thoughts. “I mean seriously you knew this school would have other were animals, why are you being so weird?”

“Alicia if you weren’t dating my brother I’d seriously bite you right now”, the other girl barked. She was about your height maybe a little taller. With dark brown hair that almost mirrored black and skin so bronze you’d think she was made of copper. Her eyes were most alarming they were gold like literal molten gold.

“Don’t worry Natty, I can take it. Your brother bites me all the time”, she lowered her voice giving the girl a seductive wink.

Natty you now knew her to be scoffed in disgust and faked a choking sound as she went back to your shared living room dragging her bags of clothes off to what you assumed would be her room. Returning your eyes to Andrea you noticed she was still looking at you skeptically. No doubt ruling out which animal you couldn’t be. “Your scent is different”, she said dropping her stance and bouncing into the kitchen.

You were taken aback this was going to be harder than you thought. At least for the moment they weren’t being aggressive but you could tell you guys wouldn’t be besties anytime soon.

Because you were the last to arrive you were subjected to the smallest room but luckily for you it had a better layout as your room was the only one with a walk-in closet in its bathroom. Loosing yourself into unpacking your stuff and trying to make the space feel as comfortable as possible you decided painting these drab off-white walls were a must. You quickly decided to take the day tomorrow to go to the nearest hardware store you could find and add anything to the walls to make it more lively.

“Hi new roomie!”, Alicia popped in making herself comfortable right on your freshly made bed. “We are going to get some food and hangout at a couple of the pack members house, you down?”

“Liss! You can’t just be inviting people to hang around the pack that aren’t pack this isn’t how it works!” you heard a booming voice from across the hall yell. To which you quickly put together as Natty from her tone earlier.

“Ignore her. It’s just some pizza and beers”, the blonde girls said rolling her eyes and facing you again.

You were about the politely decline before another head popped in your doorway and said “yah join us it’s pretty casual and I doubt you really know anyone here yet”.

Again you were about to decline but your stomach answered for you. A growl ripped from your belly that would have made you embarrassed had it not been for the cheerful claps from Alicia and her beauty pageant grin “I will take that as a yes!”

The two girls scurried from your room with Andrea turning back to take in your appearance. You weren’t dressed to impress per se but you didn’t exactly look homeless. What was expected, after all you knew you’d just be moving boxes all day and organizing your new space. So for that occasion your purposefully bleached high school football team shirt and your rather worn yoga pants sufficed, but not for this occasion apparently.

“err you might want to change”, she said grinning sheepishly at you giving off an obvious shrug that stated ‘first impressions’.

After changing all three girls were waiting for you in the living room seemingly dressed as if they were going to a club. ‘Casual my ass’, you thought to yourself. Each one of them had on some form of a mini skirt and tight shirts. You looked down at your apparel. You didn’t’ own club clothes it just wasn’t a part of your wardrobe. The skinny ripped jeans you wore exposed a great deal of your thighs but it still wasn’t drastic and your long sleeve off the shoulder striped mustard yellow and black top didn’t meet the obvious dress code.

“Should I change again?” you asked incredulously. Honestly you would have just rather stayed in and ordered takeout alone. But however this was the whole point of coming to college to interact with other people.

“Umm it’ll do”, Andrea got up circling you. “Nice ass”, she said grabbing her keys and heading for the door.

“Let your hair down”, Alicia commanded as she walked towards you with a tube of red blush tone nude lipstick.

You did as she said letting your honey curls fall from its messy bun and drape around your shoulders. She applied a light coat of lipstick and ran her fingers through your hair fluffing out the flat part that your scrunchy had caused. That’s when you could smell it. The scent, his scent whoever he was the were had a strong presence and it was all over her. She was marked alright her own smell was almost indistinguishable mixed with his. Most human don’t have strong odor usually they’d smell like whatever they had been around that day. You could tell she liked lavender and you could also tell she hadn’t been lying about the bites. Whoever the werewolf was he had claimed her and bitten her in and out of his wolf form.

“You’re really pretty”, she admired giving you the once over again. A car horn signaled that your little encounter was taking too long.

The drive to the pizza place was rather short and the time it took was spent listening to Natty and Alicia banter between each other. You didn’t know much about either of them but you could tell they were fond of each other and that this relationship wasn’t a newly established one either.

The pizza plaza had a cool vibe and when you guys walked in you could immediately smell the scent of many werewolves, a few werefoxes, a couple of werelynx, and what seemed to be the pungent smell of a werepanther. For some reason you could never find yourself to adjust to their unique odor. But Surely enough just as you could smell them they could smell you. A couple of wolves in the corner all turned their heads to your direction. The cool thing about your nature was you had the ability to tone down your scent and even take on the scent of whatever were was around you if there were multiple ones. Unfortunately, also for you in order to do this you had to calm your nerves and walking into a room of unknowns wasn’t exactly helping and considering it was only days away from a full moon everyone’s scent was magnified so there wasn’t much you could do to mask your own just yet.

Wedging yourself behind the two wolves you tried to block your body and keep your head down as they walked further into the plaza reaching some stairs. The smell of wolves was getting stronger and you could now see this was a pack exclusive room and you were not welcome. Vibrations were running through your body and a slow hum was starting that sensed danger but yet no reaction was coming from the three women ahead of you so you still followed suit.

Entering the room, you saw about fifteen different wolves in the room a mix a male and female though mostly male.  Two pool tables in the center occupied two guys each, both of the brute and rather tall stature.

“Baby!”, Alicia squealed running and jumping into the arms of a guy that scarily resembled Natty. He was rather on the skinny side with long legs and thick lips that made his smirk tilt into a smile as he caught her and immediately enveloped her into a hug and kiss.

A guy much broader but about the same height greeted the new guest but quickly caught your scent and turned his eyes to you. You swore you thought you saw them change color slightly going from brown orbs to a highlighted silver as his shoulders squared towards you. His face remained calm but you could feel his power his instincts immediately alerting him that you were not something he was familiar with.

“Who’s she?” he addressed the other three not taking his eyes off of you. His nostrils flared as he was still detecting and processing you. Much to your dismay you could notice the others doing the same. What you really noticed was that the tone of his question was not asking for your name but what you were.

A slight silence persisted as your eyes never left his stance, you knew better than to make steady eye contact with him but yet your heart rate began to slow so you knew he could sense it and was less alarmed. You had to calm yourself because your nature could be equally as aggressive as werewolves but in this room that would not be a good move for you. You tilted your head finally meeting his gaze again but this time holding it. His eyebrow quirked up a smirk pulling at his lips. Ordinarily from another werewolf this would be a challenge to the alpha but your aura gave him no intonation that that was your intention. Of course it wasn’t it wasn’t in your kind’s nature to challenge another alpha for dominance. One because it wasn’t a desire to be a pack master or leader over anyone. You tried your best to make this aware to him and everyone in the room changing your aura into that of a subordinate human.

“Jinyoung. This is our new roommate”, Alicia spoke up but quickly all four of you looked from each other realizing you never properly introduced yourself.

“Y/N”, was all you said smiling sweetly at him meeting his gaze again. At this point everyone in the room was looking at the two of you. Of course you knew they could smell you and at the moment your instincts hadn’t quite subdued the danger feeling so you were not even attempting to merge your scent with one of theirs as camouflage as it would just alarm them more.

Another couple of seconds went by and finally he smiled back at you relaxing and leaning against the pool table a cue in hand “well welcome y/n”, he said.

The tension in the air visibly relaxed and the activities presumed as before you entered. Usually you would have no problem wandering around on your own. That was the nature of your kind what you felt most comfortable doing but right now you wanted to do anything but. You were thankful for Alicia beckoning you over to her and the guy practically entangled around her body. Even for you this seemed peculiar. Usually wereanimals weren’t that infatuated with humans.

“This is my boyfriend BamBam, he is also Natty’s brother which I’m sure you’ve figured out by now” She was gleaming as she looked up to her boyfriend but his eyes were trained on you. He seemed friendly enough and you could tell he had power though obviously not like Jinyoung and not even as much as natty, but he was still a strong wolf.

He finally nodded towards you cracking a smile, canines on full display “Well Liss, you always find interesting company don’t you?”, he said nuzzling her nose causing a schoolgirl giggle to escape her throat.

The rest of the night went by pretty smoothly Liss as you now realized everyone called Alicia and Andrea who had begun warming up to you slowing took you around the room introducing you to everyone. For the most part they seemed welcoming though cautious of you, which you couldn’t blame them. You ate pizza and laughed with some random guy and girl but made sure to limit yourself to two beers for the sake of controlling your ability to mask your scent which at times was all but present. Still though you could feel eyes on your back the whole time and you had to put an effort into keeping hair from standing up in alarm. Jinyoung was watching you just observing you along with another guy with almost an equally aggressive power as Jinyoung. He caught your attention you couldn’t help but to stare back at him as he looked to you. His loose brown hair was neatly styled and his muscles were apparent beneath his black shirt and black pants he was shorter than the other two mean but that did not hinder his strong aura at all. Frankly you also thought him beautiful though a bit intimidating as you took in his scent not once did his eyes leave yours.

Finally, he caught your gaze his eyes burning into your own and his face set in hard line making you both feel at ease. That much was apparent you could tell he was holding back his power and for some odd reason you could tell he knew you were doing the same.

“You shouldn’t be here”, you heard a voice whisper in your ear. His breath tickled your ear and you turned to meet his smirk. He was halfway joking with you finding your confused face amusing. He handed you a red cup which contained water much to your gratitude. You took a sip cheeks feeling flushed.

“You’re making the pack leaders uneasy”, he grinned even harder. Was he flirting with you? You decided to play along finding the tall handsome guy very attractive and you couldn’t deny his scent was appealing to you.

“What makes you think that?” you batted your eyelashes taking another sip of water and grinning just as widely as him.

“Umm” he mused pretending to think “must be because you’re so attractive”, he said circling you admiring you from all angles and adding “plus you’re… Different.”

“Am I?”, you said flipping your hair. This of course wafted your smell closer to him and you saw his adams apple move down his throat as he swallowed. He was definitely affected by you as much as you were affected by him.

“That you are” he said moving his body closer to you almost touching you. For some reason you couldn’t figure out why your body felt like it was on fire. Was it him or the approaching full moon whatever the reason that and the beer was making your scent even stronger.

“I’m Jungkook by the way” he said finally closing the distance and putting his hand on the small of your back on the exposed skin. He felt the shock, causing his pupils to dilate and you realized what was happening. He was coming to his heat and for some reason you were magnifying it.

You heard a cough from beside you and immediately Jungkook dropped his hands from you and took a step back. “We need to get going”, Jinnyoung said commanding the wolf to follow. The other guys followed and slowly everyone started to disperse from the scene as the night had now approached 2 am. You couldn’t help but notice the guy from earlier staring at you again but this time when your eyes met his he looked away and followed his pack master and Jungkook out of the room.

Alicia noticed the little exchange and scoffed at his behavior “That was weird, he’s never done that before”.

You looked down at her and lowered your voice “Who is he? Why does he feel so strong?”.

Andrea was now at your side staring at the space he had disappeared from “That’s Jackson, and he is strong, very powerful. He was almost our pack master”.

[staliasjeronica]

Riverdale 3.02 Thoughts *Spoilers*

- poor Archie... BUT OMG FALICE YESSSS “This feels right doesn’t it?” That’s because it is right ❤️❤️

- Bughead... is cuddling/probably had sex... in Dilton’s bunker? I don’t like kink shaming but uhhhhh their kink is... 😬😬😬

- YES MR. ANDREWS QUESTION EVERYTHING!!! Let Archie see his dad, his two friends have already abandoned him smh but if it’s been three weeks... Archie has been in isolation for three weeks? Bby 😭😭😭

- Awww, V... and although I’m still bitter about Betty being a total bitch and not apologizing to Veronica, I’m glad they’re friends again. Now we just need Jughead and Archie to do the same since it’s always just been the couples who hang out together. ALSO V has a dress code, and imagining Sweet Pea and Fangs in it makes me wanna cry mY SWEET PRECIOUS BABIES

- Jughead: “of course we’re calling it a speakeasy” ummm tf you mean??? That’s because it IS a speakeasy? Jughead is your random hate (or secret love) for Veronica showing? I can’t tell.

- JOSIE AND KEVIN. JOSIE AND KEVIN. JOSIE AND KEVIN. JOSIE AND KEVIN. JOSIE AND KEVIN. JOSIE AND KEVIN. JOSIE AND KEVIN. JOSIE AND KEVIN.

- 6-4-2 as the password for the speakeasy? I wonder if it means something. And if Stonewall was close enough... what is the actual password?

- REGGIE!!!! The speakeasy looks fucking amazing. I’m speechless!!! Also Veronica and Reggie bitchessss yeahhhhh!!!! If she hired Sweet Pea and Fangs to serve drinks I’ll scream because I love them with my whole being and if they can finally have a job that gives them money, then it’s different than doing crimes and ultimately a better situation for them. Plus I’ve done this in my Sweet Pea story so it’s cool to see me doing something right lolol but ooh mocktails that’s nice I’m glad we’re not gonna delve more into an unrealistic Riverdale

- VERONICA’S FACE AT REGGIE WHEN HE SAYS “NOT YET” IM

- AWWW JOSIE IS SO FUCKING CUTE (also Reggie we see that proud smile you cute fuck) SHE’S SO FUCKING HAPPY TO HAVE A PLACE TO FIND HERSELF AND HER SINGING. So hopefully we get apologies for what happened last season with the milkshake and horrible poster... STILL I can’t wait to see this friendship grow because it BETTER if she’s gonna be singing at La Bonne Nuit

- Kevin bby!!! “As long as I can sing every now and then” I fucking love this so much? It’s funny how this is muchhhhhhhh more exciting and entertaining than the stupid cult/farm story... probably because Betty isn’t a part of it (because we all been knew she’s injected into every fucking plot and it’s so annoying and unneeded)

- Penny... get the fuck out of here. Just... no. You came here looking to give her protection? Well then leave bc she has the Serpents ❤️❤️ they love her for giving them a safe haven now that her father took over The Whyte Wyrm. Also I just realized that they covered Penny’s Serpent decal on the back with a Ghoulie one... so they DO have a decal on the back of their coats or whatever but we have never seen them until now.

- NO JOAQUIN!!! LEAVE HIM ALONE. I’ll jailbreak him myself you leave that precious serpent alone!!!!!!!!!

- but what the actual FUCK is the point of this stupid prisoner fighting? Like??? Why can’t anyone be what they actually are? Poor Archie, being once again manipulated into doing what other people want. Please tell Joaquin what he did for him so they can become closer because I just... This is BULL FUCKING SHIT... also Baby Teeth looks a lot like Dane DeHaan lmao

- CHERONI (idk their ot3 name of Cheryl, Toni, and Veronica lol) ALL TOGETHER WOW!!! PRESIDENT BLOSSOM AND FIRST LADY TOPAZ!!!! I don’t care if that’s just because of the recent presidency issue that Veronica gave to Cheryl, I fucking love it and I am HERE for it! “And Sweet Pea and Fangs should definitely be in attendance” I have died. Goodbye. Sweet Pea and Fangs NEED to know that she specifically asked for them okay bye

- wow that was a lot of time without seeing Bughead and it was fucking refreshing. “Evelyn was helping me, she visited me in the hospital.” “Was that her idea, or her dad’s?” See Betty... this is why no one likes you because when someone is in need you skip directly to your agenda (when Cheryl faced her father as the black hood and Betty immediately asked if it was her father instead of asking if she was alright like a normal person). Oddly how do Jughead and Ethel have more chemistry than Betty and Jughead? Also “but just you” after she side-eyes Betty I’m living. OMG “sorry, Betty, but you’ll never be worthy no matter how hard you try” it’s like Ethel is one of us omfg she just fucking obliterated Betty!!! I bet you Shannon is being bullied about this episode too smh 🙄🙄🙄 but I’m surprised Betty didn’t go into unneeded bitch mode on Ethel mmhm... “and I’m in need of some series peer support” IF ONLY YOU WOULD ACTUALLY GET HELP! But you know that if you did they would tell you that you and jug are too co-dependent and need to break up

- SHIRTLESS REGGIE FUCK YEAH THANKS VERONICA! “Reginald” fuck me up mami!! Omfg no Penny get your disgusting Jingle Jangle away from this amazing, non-criminal establishment!!! Of COURSE Sheriff Minetta... but if Reggie is used to selling it surely he knows a way to hide it. Of course not that much but... he should be quick at thinking of getting rid of it, right? Why didn’t V show him around Pop’s first? Like we know she was set up to get caught but like... it would stall

- Sheriff Minetta is making it 2000% obvious that he’s looking through the boxes he knows is filled with Jingle Jangle... like at least don’t act like you’re working for Hiram lmao Jesus you suck. BUT OMG REGGIE’S SARCASTIC ASS SALUTE WHEN HE’S LEAVING I FUCKING LOVE THAT

- If the empty classroom means the “farm needs some time to catch on” then why the everloving fuck would you waste money on pizza, let alone three boxes of pizza?

- poor Archie... but wouldn’t you want to treat your “tapped” well? So that you can bet on them? Jesus Christ fuck OFF! When Veronica Lodge hears about this... shit will go down. Archie knocked that guy down in two hits holy fuck. ARCHIE GETS POP’S AND SHARES IT WHAT AN ARCHIE THING AWWW

- CHONI BEING CUTE GIRLFRIENDS!!! CHERYL LAUHING!!! PHOTOGRAPGER!TONI!!!!!! CHERONI But I honestly don’t know how I feel about “Serpettes” but since it came out of Veronica’s mouth... suddenly I am in love with it. Cheryl Blossom in the king’s throne... we know who truly deserves to rule over the Serpents 👑❤️ That look between Toni and Veronica hell yeah! Honestly please get into a three-way relationship. In Sense8 they did that and it was the greatest thing — EVERYBODY loved it. Let’s do that here please! “Antoinette” bitch I’m dead

- this team up is so fucking great. Of COURSE Sweet Pea and Fangs we’re right, they’re the (true) KINGS.

- If there are certain levels you need to “attain” to meet a leader... you’re in a fucking cult people. Also then why didn’t Evelyn say anything? And Betty’s face is all like “you traitorous bitch” when she finds out lol.

- They know everything Betty has done? Umm why the FUCK don’t you tell Jughead since that’s the only way he ever finds shit out about Betty? He needs to know that she fucking cheated on him? I mean the cult is creepy af but if they tell Jughead (even though they said they keep everyone’s secrets) he couldn’t possible stay with her... right?

- LMAO JUGHEAD HAS TO KISS ETHEL. But honestly... why does that kiss seem to have more in it than when he kisses Betty? ☠️☠️☠️ it’s probably bc I hate Bughead (and dislike Betty a lot) but still... I feel nothing for this pairing as well but I just find it funny that he has kissed two girls while he’s dared Betty (but both are a part of a game). Oh Ethel tried to kill herself after kissing Jughead... Jesus I know it’s Jughead but come on... also does that mean she could have possibly killed Jughead??? Like??? Imagine how that would have been — instead of dying for the Serpents he died because he was trying to figure out gryphons and gargoyles.

- VERONICA CONFRONTING AND STANDING UP AGAINST HER FATHER FUCK YEAH!!! But Ronnie even if you do have copies... TAKE THEM WITH YOU SO HE CAN’T DO ANYTHING. Your dad is, sadly, smart. You know this.

- aww Archie... HE’S IMAGINING HIS DAD I’M

- damn Betty looks fucking good for the opening of V’s speakeasy! For a sec I thought she was wearing her serpent jacket (😷😷) but turns out it’s just a robe but her hair is bomb. “I trust them more than I trust you, Betty” wow everyone’s attacking Betty lol like I get it bc it’s Betty but damn Alice...

- Reggie is a SNACC bye. CHONI REALLY DID THAT COOL HOT HAND HOLD HUH!!!! V really called Choni her favorite power couple... I’m also gonna take that as low-key shade for Bughead because we all been knew that anyone Choni, and anyone Veronica is with is much better. “THANKS BABE” wow fuck me upppppp Cheryl!!!!

- lol Jughead the manual will probably be gone by tonight bc of plot convenience (also Betty does look good uGH YAS) But Betty your attempt to be cute with Jug isn’t working bc that fresh aid isn’t gonna come off. You should know this???

- SWEETVEE BITCH. I don’t care what they were doing I love the hand touch, bye. Like I know she was PROBABLY asking about protection or something but yes fuck me up! But veggie thooo

- Hiram we don’t want your probably-wired picture of Veronica from your office. “If only you could see how a legitimate business is run” YES BITCHHH. But don’t let him in!!! VERONICA WHY? I know you probably secretly crave his approval and shit but NO NO NO NO NO

- SWEET PEA’S HOLLER FOR JOSIE! God he’s so into her but she only wants a summer fling 😭😭😭 even thoufh she apparenly has a romance later, which means it’ll be during school and therefor, probably going to hurt Sweet Pea 😭😭😭

- also SWEET PEA AND FANGS WITH THOSE FANCY ASS CLOTHES. They own me bye

- Josie YES we love a queen (and Archie baby... you’re such a sweet person for thinking of everyone but yourself first and I admire it bc same but what is your endgame?) Sweet Pea must be internally screaming at Josie’s movements and the song itself bc I know I am.

- oh no I really hope my theory that Archie breaks up with V bc all of thinks about is Hiram isn’t true... but Archie you could have held onto those glass pieces what the FUCK

- Archie destroying the entire cell is also same because when I get angry I legit turn into the hulk and throw shit around... oh damn mad dog! He hid a weapon, I miss Wells Jaha xD what a smart fucker

- wow it’s almost like I knew exactly that someone would find the manual. Of course I didn’t really expect FP and Alice (Betty didn’t say where it was hidden though, but then again their kids are stupid enough to hide it at Jug’s place) Jesus FP don’t hold Jughead like that

- Betty??? “Why are you here, what are you hiding” why tf do you think

- how about everyone comes clean, Betty? You’re the child so literally stop acting like you’re superior

- I just realized how good Jug looked in that tux. Him with Veronica in that purple dress? Would be so fucking bomb

- Why is she still staying with Hiram? Like because of their feud you’d expect her to leave? Like Fred would probably love the company, or Cheryl. Get away from that manipulative fuckhead!

- PEEP JOAQUIN IN THE BACKGROUND. Baby, his arm 😭😭😭

- Archie wouldn’t escaping be bad? Like yeah you’d get out but you’d also be a fugitive? And watch, if it does happen, it’ll be right before someone magically finds a way to get him out.

- PEEP JOAQUIN AS A WHOLE SHOT AND HIS FUCKING EYE NOOO

- but now Kevin will have more reason not to be with him if Joaquin is a fugitive 😭😭😭 I just want Mevin to die off and Joavin to rise is that so much to ask??? However I am here for this Archie/Joaquin friendship

- BETTY AND JUG WHY ARE YOU IN THE BUNKER AGAIN?! Jesus Christ, ew... stop.

- Jug... being you, you should know it’s not over. Especially with how things go? Jesus...

- CHERYL YOU’RE NOT DUMB ENOUGH TO READ THAT. We all know Cheryl would look at it with wonder, read the title, and throw it away.

- also just because people have a manual for some random ass game doesn’t mean they’re gonna play it.

- Ethel’s worshipping that little bitch but she tried to kill herself for him... shouldn’t he be mad at her for failing since Jug saved her? How your loyalty to him works is so confusing ugh

- I’m stating now that if Cheryl, Toni, Veronica, Sweet Pea, Fangs, Josie, Kevin, Joaquin, Archie, or Reggie dies I’m sUING! The only children who don’t deserve anything bad happening to them better be left alone (but we been knew that only being Betty or Jughead will magically give you immunity, and everyone else is fucked). Touch my precious children and I’ll kill the devil himself so try me

[ace-octo-pix]

This is... going to be a bit long. sorry, mobile users. The ocs are listed by team!

SPLATOON 1 TEAMS

ROKA/OLIVIA/AGENT 3. A bit of a lovable goof, with caring too much for her little inkling body. Fierce in battle. Yes, she gets the scar in the OE arc, but the OE arc goes a bit differently in the story due to... reasons? yeah, reasons. She goes missing for a full year and that’s when Akim takes up the Agent 4 handle.

MINT TEA/PAIVA. A bit of a gossip, but also a wall of support. Wants to cheer everybody up, but is hiding issues of her own. Close friends with Roka. A possible ship with roka, as well. She’s the second leader of the team, and the only one in contact with Roka, right up until her disappearance. Oops. Literally the only one with a picture like this.

GLASSES/HENRIETTA. I did not know that the splatoon manga glasses was known as glasses, and this is awkward. and also full moon is a thing and AGH. anyway glasses. Seems to be a sarcastic little piece of shit, but honestly it’s just a front to her inner core. Of someone who likes to snipe and have fun. Wonder what caused her to be like that? hm.

Bandanna/Daphyne. She exudes an aura of edge, an aura of Not Caring... but she really does care... a lot more than she lets on. Will Fight anybody who disses her pals. Honestly a teen girl at heart. Loves black.

RETRO/AKIM/AGENT 4. A bit of a prick, but the kind of prick you know doesn’t mean his words. He’s kind of skilled in battle with his roller, which makes this W O R SE !! a big fan of music, and gaming, and also being gay. he makes jokes about that a lot.

SPECS/MARK: you know the stereotypical nerd? stays in a bedroom most of the day, tinkering around with stuff? That’s Specs! He likes to play video games with Retro, and... oh, look at that, another ship. Wow. Analytical!

SUNNY/GWEN. Similar to another person, she appears to not care, while caring a lot. Apathetic seeming, but able to come out of her core to care. Probably has a lot of interests from her girlfriend...

RAINY/SARAH. She’s fueled by a firey passion most of the time, but it tends to fizzle out quickly, and that’s how she and Sunny met, basically. Not pictured is the Traditional Headband she wears. Yes, she and Sunny are girlfriends. yay matching outfits.

PAINT! Er, she looks... not like this as much? Her gloves cover her fingers, and her hairstyle is the enemy octo hairstyle! In the ‘first game’ aka the first arc, she actually wears the paintball mask which covers her whole face, and also mains chargers. She just switched to brella in the second game. Shy, kind of nervous, but willing to put her foot down when push comes to shove. Er, she also has to be pushed to that point. Poor girl.

FISHFRY. A super out-there kinda kid. sorry, some ocs don’t have much personality. He will Protecc Paint with his life. Probably does research and field expeditions for her.

PEAKS. Proud of her role in battle, and probably the first one Paint trusted with the secret of her being an octoling, and the one best fit to break the news.

VECTOR. Full Attacc mode. Fueled by battle, loves to battle. Whenever Paint is taken off guard, she’s probably the one there to back her up.

ZEKKO. Leader of the Marksmen. Sorry there isn’t much about him. he’s definitely gay tho? Loves bothering the other players with his gun.

PANEL. A bit of a nerd, though he hides it behind his huge blaster.

SQUIDMARK. Reclusive? shows little emotion, but its definitely there.

CHECK. Loves the feeling of his hair. Probably more muscly than you would gather from his shirt.

SATIN. Loves this style and doesn’t get why people laugh at her scuba mask. knows what she’s doing in battle, but... not much outside of it.

CANCEL. Tends to ignore the outside world for her daydreams, even in battles, and still does well?? how does this team function

Ah, this is how they function. PARKA. Aka the straight person- well, they’re nonbinary and are hiding their ponytail in that hat of theirs. The person who sets the team straight and directs them in the right direction. Beakons help.

Zink. Just as odd as the rest of his team. He says his headband helps him, when it very clearly doesn’t. Or maybe it does and its just a hidden condition. Who knows? He’s just a bit bizarre.

BERRY. Leader of her team, she’s Suspicious of everything, and fierce in battle. Loves being Warm....

Olive. Er, he has the wrong ink color, and his eyes are blinking. It’s better like this instead of the WRONG PIECE OF HEADGEAR. Suave and cool, and yet constantly bickers with Berry. Ah, sibling culture. Super strong. A bit of a brat, but he won’t press on Berry’s anxious triggers. That’s Just Rude.

JELLY. Sometimes called Baby because of just how precious she acts. Will kick people if she has to.

SHRIMP. AKA... well. You know that headcanon that Pearl, Emperor, and Prince are siblings? Well, Shrimp’s their cousin. He’s got the short genes. He tries to compensate for it by being loud, and is often jokingly called Pearl’s cousin. Likes telling tales. That are often mostly true.

SPLATOON 2 TEAMS

HOOK/ATA/AGENT 8. A soft and kind soul, friendly and loves to talk more than take action, but when she takes action... whooo. she knows how to take action. If she’s angry, you don’t want to be around. Mostly quiet. Another possible ship with Roka.

YAMAGIRI/ADRIAN. Confident, and a bit cocky, but it’s mostly only a bit of exaggeration: he loves to stick to his ideals, and truly believes himself to be carrying those out to the best of his ability. Stupidly loyal to his friends.

TOOTHPICK/NOELANI. Two words to describe her: mom friend. Caring, worrying for everybody that crosses her vision, analytical to a stupid degree. Strong, so she can help throw her friends into a food cart so they can EAT FOOD. 

OCEANIC/VICTOR. A soft-spoken octoling, but is willing to do whatever it takes for his friends to Remain Happy, happy to shoulder their burdens. Hides his emotions under his big ol’ hat, though if you look under it, he’s probably a blubbering mess. Whenever angered, his voice seems to drop octaves and inflection. That’s terrifying!

BLOCKER. Oh my god, he’s a party animal. Oh my god. He likes doing memes and tricks, and, you know who this should remind you of? Aloha. Anyway, Blocker’s well known for his tricks with his brella, and his excellent dance skills... which also aids him in battle!

FUGU. He has a Big Ol Crush on Blocker, and I don’t think Blocker’s noticed yet. Oof. Kind of quiet and likes to observe before hopping into things, useful for a blaster with such a short range...? Awkward, but he’s trying to get better.

SEA SLUG. Constantly on the go, constantly moving, she’s gotta Go Go Go!! Hyperactive, probably can be seen stimming. Has an attachment to her gun.

LEAF. Seemingly hard-boiled, constantly huffing about something or other. She’s- she’s a Rider Tsundere, that’s all I can describe her as. Her friendships with Blocker the Party Master and Sea Slug have definitely Lightened her up. Still a little bit of a grump?

ARROW. Dependable. You can depend on him to tell you when you’re doing some Bad Shit, Stop That.

HOTHOUSE. A... a bit of a flirt, and a good punster. two things that shouldn’t be combined into one girl.

TACKLE VISOR. Keeps their face hidden purposefully, which hides their non-standard hairstyle. Rough and tough, a sneaky little bastard. You know, despite the TACKLE VISOR on their head.

MATCHA. A silly little guy. The oblivious one that somehow still manages to cooperate with Hothouse’s jokes anyway. May be faking obliviousness...

HICKORY. Such a casual guy. Him and Blocker are probably pals. Party pals. Would drink your soda on accident and then apologize.

DO-RAG. oh my god, look, it’s a lesbian. She loves to show off, and is super strong. Could probably lift her teammates above her head. Actually can’t see much without her glasses, they’re made for her weird-ass eyes.

REDLEAF. He looks like the type of guy who hyperfocuses on everything and has to be told to back off, but he’s not trying to be creepy. Soft. Would memorize your food favorites and cook it for you.

CLAMS. He. he loves being super fancy. Not because he thinks he’s above others, he really, really loves the aesthetic of it! He and Do-Rag fight over which splatling is better sometimes. And then help each other score dates.

EGG. Super silly, has probably eaten a raw egg whole on a dare. Easily dared into things, though this means she’s very resilient. Can and Will say silly things just to confuse people.

CARROT. Helps out with Egg’s jokes. Has shoved an entire carrot down her gut before. Egg and her were actually friends before they both traveled to the surface. They are... bad influences on each other.

RAINBOW: He’s a casual gay. I- uh. He’s super fun in battles, and is often the one daring Egg and Carrot to do things because he loves putting it on whatever the octo media is. Loves sandals, hates his toes feeling constricted.

CANARY. Oh my god this is a swamp gremlin. You know the meme versions of agent 4? that, times like 100. Jesus. This team is crazy.

SEASHELL. Doesn’t use the deco because her teammates described what the burstbomb and carbon did to people and she doesn’t wish to cause people harm....

JADE. he’s blue ba due be- i mean. he’s a good singer, but still learning the ropes of his new weapon.

DEEPSEA. A friend. The dad friend. Will tell jokes to make you feel better, but always a shoulder to lean on. Always will wear silly clothes too.

FORGE. ..... a guy of few words.... kind of like skull. doesn’t really talk much, but evidently is a good prankster and loves spicy things. Will tuck you into bed and then doodle on your face.

[redemptiionss]

Let me go over what I learned happened in s8.... this is just what I’ve learned from other people’s posts. Let me know I’ve gotten things wrong (and any further clarification would be appreciated, if you’ve seen s8)

Lotor’s corpse was shown onscreen shortly after flashbacks proving that he was a good person who grew up abused & brainwashed by his parents. His corpse was then used as a puppet by Haggar, his mother and abuser. Allura finally says that Lotor had good intentions after two seasons of not once showing regret or second thoughts on what they’ve done to him. Haggar tells her that Lotor was truly happy when he was with her. No remorse is shown, apparently nobody cares that they’ve murdered him. The fact that they created a power vacuum within the Galra Empire and caused the deaths of thousands of people all because they didn’t think twice before attacking & abandoning Lotor (aka the one who GENUINELY wanted to help bring peace & also the one who was literally the SOLUTION) to die in the rift, is never addressed or questioned. The Colony story that was the Plot in s6 was never addressed. I’m wondering what were the writers’ intention with Lotor?! It’s like they can’t make up their minds. They had people-- including those who he once most trusted-- slander and demonize him. Then they humanized him and showed us that he was a Good person who was abused and traumatized by his parents & tried not to be like them. Then they showed us a grotesque imagery of his corpse. Then they went all like, yup he was a Good Person all along who was “misguided” & he could have had a Redemption Arc, but whoops, he’s dead. His death was meaningless. It was without reason or purpose. All I’m seeing from this is a terrible message surrounding abuse victims. They ditched a story of hope, a redemption/vindication arc for a meaningless tragedy. Congrats. I can’t forgive them for what they did. I can’t.

Line from s6, from Lotor’s confrontation with Haggar, who’s kidnapped him and tries to get him to stay with her, but is rejected by Lotor. Lotor says this to her: “The end is near, witch. I know you can sense it. If you beg for your life now, maybe I will take pity on you when the time comes.”  This was CLEAR foreshadowing. But in the end? Lotor’s rotting corpse being used as a puppet. Then in the end, him immediately forgiving his parents & happily reconciling with them in the afterlife. What. The. Flippin. Heck. What was the POINT of that whole confrontation then? More importantly, what was the point of the whole colony plot?! It was the Plot of s6!! It was what led them to abandon & murder Lotor, which then led to a power vacuum in the Galra Empire & death of thousands!! & led to what happened in s7 & s8!!! The entire situation surrounding the colony plot was clearly Fishy as Hell, implied that there was a misunderstanding going on, that Lotor was likely going to get vindicated/redeemed, and also that Haggar had her nasty fingers in the PIe. But literally nothing came out of it. WHAT. WAS. THE. POINT. Clearly something happened behind the scenes between s6 & s8.

Somehow Zarkon comes back via Haggar & quintessence, but he’s Good guy Zarkon (aka pre-corrupted)? I’m not sure how this happened, but okay. I mean, if anyone could give me the full rundown on how things led up to this. He got a redemption arc. Hagerva got a redemption arc too.

I don’t have a problem with redemption arcs. I love them. I hate the whole Tumblr™ “you have to earn redemption” thing. Redemption isn’t something that is earned. Anyone can be redeemed-- even the worst person possible. However, in stories it HAS to be told well. It’s got to be meaningful. And frankly the main reason why I have a problem with them getting redemption arcs is because Lotor never got one while his parents did. He never got a redemption or a vindication arc. Zarkon and Haggar was allowed to have a voice, while Lotor was not. This just comes across as them somehow being More Deserving of a redemption arc than Lotor, which is honestly just bullshit.

Zarkon & Honerva apparently weren’t corrupted anymore when they got redeemed, so that.. makes everything they did over 10,000 years okay I guess? Since it technically wasn’t them? But like, they still did that. They got corrupted by the bad quintessence by their own direct actions, and then proceeded to commit genocide, enslave and conquer thousands of planets and people, and abuse their son. None of that has changed. I never thought that they’d get redeemed mainly because I didn’t think there would be any way it would be written well & that it wouldn’t have been able to be fit into the story’s plot well.

While Corrupted!Bad Guy Zarkon told Shiro that he was Too Weak and Unworthy to be the Paladin for the Black Lion, Good Guy Zarkon told Keith that he was a good leader & a good Black Paladin because of his Galra Lineage. Like.. uh, what? RACISM MUCH? I guess Keith didn’t say anything. What happened to him being the #1 Black Paladin!Shiro stan? Oh wait, he stopped back in like S3 or something.

This makes me think of that one Nightmare post I read months ago. It was basically “What if Shiro is not the Black Paladin because the Black Lion is racist against non-Galra?” [It cited that when Shiro was the Black Paladin, he had a Galra arm. & now that he doesn’t have a Galra arm, he is no longer the Black Paladin.] I thought it was utterly ridiculous and that it was the stupidest thing ever. But I guess being Galra is indeed what makes you great for the Black Lion after all. Oof. Wtf.

Apparently Shiro also barely had a meaningful interaction with... pretty much anyone, least of all Keith, who’s supposed to be like his little brother. This has been happening for a while even before s8. (I honestly hate that Shiro was reduced to just being mere plot device for Keith’s development and arcs. Don’t think I’ve forgotten how JDS & LM called him boring, wanted to kill him off permanently, but then was forced to bring him back, and how they pretty much got around that loophole by killing him off at least twice and finally pushing him into the background. Oh and they didn’t even give him a family either lol. WTF.)

Lance says his “I’m good at winning prizes” line at Allura. Wtf. It seems that the context is Allura asking Lance to get something for her, but I saw the screenshot and.. G R O S S. They KNEW what they were fucking doing, especially with THAT expression. *shudders* I like Lance, I really do. But I hate him for Allura. He became smitten with Allura the minute he saw him, and pretty much called dibs on her. Spent a majority of his time hitting on her while she reacted in distaste & discomfort, continually rejecting him or brushing him off. Showed jealousy and entitlement when Allura exhibited interest in other guys or when other guys seemed interested in Allura. [Lance, you do not own Allura. You’re not even with her, she’s not interested in you. BACK. OFF.] Even made fun of Allura’s Altean culture and heritage, and never once showed any signs of interest in learning about it. And I’m not even going to go over all the ways how they are not compatible with each other at all. A//urance literally plays into the trope that if the Nice Guy is persistent enough, he will get the Girl. The Girl is his Prize. Again, they KNEW what they were doing with that line. So that coupled with the imagery from S3-ish of Lance’s fantasy-- in which he is revered and praised by all, standing at the very top holding a big flag saying “Winner” with a dream starry-eyed Allura at his feet. Ugh, BARF.

A//urance happens. Apparently neither of them are very happy??? [and honestly it just confuses me why it even happened because there is such a stark difference between how Lotura & A//urance was written-- but I guess Lotura was just a stepping stone for the less well-written & clearly-forced ship after all? Tf.]

There’s some stuff about Hagerva breaking into alternate realities because she can’t cope with the fact that her son is dead, so she’s trying to enter her alternate families’s lives.

There’s some stuff about Altea & Daizabaal being brought back. I.. don’t know. I’ve seen some people say that if those could be brought back, then why couldn’t Lotor & the others be brought back too?

Allura kisses Lance twice. Tells him that she’ll always love him. (lmaoooo what? okay sure) She transfers her Altean Marks onto Lance. (What. the. HECK?! THAT MAKES NO SENSE.) She then.... sacrifices herself? To save her Reality? To save all of existence? From what I’m hearing from other people, there was no real good reason for her to sacrifice herself. She then steps into the afterlife with her father, her mother, Zarkon, Honerva, and Lotor. There’s a legit outline of her [who is clearly defined], with Lotor at her back [who is not as defined], in the stars.

I cannot believe they killed off their main female protagonist & a princess. You don’t just.. do that in children’s media. I don’t know of any children’s media in which a princess dies. I thought she was untouchable. Not to mention there was absolutely no pay off for Allura at all aside from her being dead and in the afterlife reuniting with her family. She’s had to sacrifice everything every season-- her planet & her family was destroyed, then she lost her castle, her rank, her crown, her clothes, her people. I thought there was going to be an ultimate pay off for her in end, but no she even had to lose her own life. Really?! This doesn’t speak of Hope to me.

Lance spends the rest of his life with Allura’s Altean marks tattooed on his face. He’s a farmer, growing Altean flowers (???) and it’s implied that he never gets over her. I... just can’t. The bitter irony. In giving Lance what he wanted, the writers took everything from him. Much of his character, aside from growing in his role as a Paladin, bonding with others, and dreaming of being a pilot, also revolved around Getting Allura. He was never allowed to grow out of that. Now they’ve effectively erased his identity-- he no longer has an identity separate from Allura. That isn’t.... what his arc should’ve been. Also does the marks mean he’s Altean now or what?? You can’t just change races like that. Tf. If he has an Altean lifespan now, that means that he’s going to watch everyone he loves die. His infatuation for Allura has become his curse. And while it’s been implied that he’s worked on a farm before [look, it’s canon that he knows how to milk a cow. that’s enough of an implication.], that was never his dream. He wanted to be a pilot.. and now he’s just a farmer forever pining over Allura and growing flowers in her memory, or something. They destroyed Lance’s character.

Apparently Allura didn’t just transfer her Altean Marks to Lance, but also gave him Leadership over the Alteans. WHAT. THE. FUCK? So Lance didn’t just Get Allura & then is cursed by Allura’s selfish act, but he also gets Allura’s ROLE. They seriously had Allura sacrifice HER own leadership & give it to a boy who has NEVER once shown interest in HER culture, & has even mocked it more than once. THE. AUDACITY.

“Lance will get what he needs, not what he wants.” That implies that he was Not going to end up with Allura, seeing as she is what he clearly wants. So.. what is it then? Unless him being a lonely pining farmer for all of eternity was what he needed? Either they straight up lied or like I said before, something happened behind the scenes.

Keith apparently is leading Lotor’s Generals & the Galra now or something..?? WHAT? Why TF would the Galra listen to him? And I guess he gave a speech that was essentially Lotor’s speech in S5. EXCUSE. ME.?! Also apparently Keith now has magical powers and is a diplomat dedicated to spreading good will in the universe..?? So basically he was given Shiro’s position, and then Lotor & Allura’s ROLES. Ha ha ha.

There was a line from a crack-foreshadowing episode in s7, in which Lance says Keith “is the future”-- and a lot of people came up with the Emperor!Keith theory. I quickly concluded that it was total bullshit because it made ZERO sense within canon. It still makes no sense, but then again not much makes sense in s8 apparently.

Apparently Nothing is Really Solved. The Galra still need Quintessence to survive. The Quintessence Rift is closed, so there’s nowhere for them to get their quintessence. Lotor, the only person who had the solution, wanted peace, & intended on leading an Alliance between the Paladins & the Galra, is dead. Allura, who could’ve allied with Lotor to help the cause of leading the universe & Galra into an new era of peace, is dead. But Apparently there’s Peace now. Okie dokie.

I... don’t really know anything about Katie & Hunk. What happened to them?

 I can’t think of anything else right now. All I can say is that s8 sounds vile.

[malecsecretsanta]

Merry Christmas, @alecisgay!

Working at a sports store during the holiday season had to be one of the many things Alec absolutely hated. Too many people making demands, bratty kids pointing at everything they wanted and threatened to cry if they didn’t get it, the rude customers, the list went on. He couldn’t help but enjoy the Christmas music playing in the background and all the Christmas themed products they sold. He loved how at the end of October, him, Izzy and Jace spent the night putting up one or two thanksgiving decorations but bombarding the rest of the store with Christmas. Today, everything seemed to be going slow and his shift felt like it had been going on for 4 years instead of 4 hours. He still had 3 more hours to go and he knew the store wasn’t going to suddenly get packed with people, so he decided to spend his time doing inventory while his sister, Isabelle was at the register chatting up some nerdy guy with a sweater that had a bunch of stormtroopers on it. He could hear bits and pieces of the conversation and Izzy seemed to be chatting him up on her school life. Usually guys don’t seem to pay attention to her when she spoke about her studies, in fact, they looked surprised that she even knew that stuff. How could such a pretty face be so smart? Truly something that pissed Alec off. His sister was one of the smartest people he knew and she deserved to have someone who cared for her and what she did in life, not just for sexual endeavors. This guy seemed different though. He responded back just as enthusiastic even though he had no clue what she was talking about, he kept asking questions. Gonna have to keep an eye on this guy, Alec chuckled. 

He walked to the backroom and looked for the boxes of sports gear he needed to put out. It was mostly for the winter sports section, especially basketball, wrestling and volleyball, which seemed to be big sports for the schools around that area. He grabbed two boxes and walked over to the winter section. The boxes were covering his vision, so he had to rely on what he knew from walking around the store for so long, except he bumped into something. Or someone? He couldn’t really tell. Suddenly the boxes were on the ground and so was he. Disoriented at first, he simply laid on the floor and sighed, until a body loomed over him.

“I’m such a damn mess, I’m so sorry. Are you okay? I swear if I gave you a concussion, I really hope your store gives you good benefits.” Alec looked at the man who was looking down at him, his eyes staring back with intensity. This man was beautiful. His hair was messy, but the kind of messy that seemed intentional and not back at all. He had minimal makeup on, but it made his eyes pop and Alec could not stop staring. Shit. “It’s fine, really I’m okay. No concussion, just...oh wow” As Alec started to stand up, he held onto this man, and his arms were huge. HUGE. Those biceps could crush him and he would honestly be okay with this. The man stared back at him, now looking amused as this sports store employee slowly became more flustered by the second. “I’ll take that as a compliment, thank you, um,” he looked at the name tag and smiled. “Alexander. Beautiful name, for an even more beautiful man. I’m Magnus. Magnus Bane”. “Alec. Wait, you know that, shit, nevermind. Sorry I bumped into you and thank you for helping me. Um, see you around!” Alec walked away from the man, Magnus, as quickly as possible. He was a mess. He couldn’t stay there, he would probably continue to say stupid things and embarrass himself even more. He peaked at the register to see Magnus chatting with his sister and the sweater boy, now all three of them heavily engaged in what seemed to be a conversation about the holidays. Even when he spoke he was graceful. His hands moved when he spoke and his smile just automatically made Alec smile. A man like him should not have this kind of power. Even his clothes were elegant, even though it was sports attire. He wore black sweatpants that were a little loose on the legs but hugged his ankles, and a black hoodie, with a deep red strip going down both sleeves, along with black sneakers. Alec had the urge to just hug and him and cuddle, god this was getting weird. “Well thank you Isabelle, I hope to see you soon and tell Alexander I hope to see him too. I’m  afraid I have frightened him.” “Trust me, you’re fine, he’s just being Alec. You know, despite working here, interacting with other people is a rare thing for him. I’m sure it wasn’t you”. They said their goodbyes and Magnus left, the sweater guy leaving shortly after. “Alec he’s gone now, you can stop hiding behind the skiing apparel”. Alec came out, glaring at his little sister. “What happened over there? Come on he’s so cute and did you see those arms? I mean if I wasn’t going on a date with Simon, holy shit.” “That’s the problem. He’s too cute and don’t remind me of his arms. I just want to cuddle with mhis forever. Is that bad? I just met him”. “Well, maybe if you had asked him to go on a date or something you would have a chance at cuddles and other cute things.” Alec glared at her. This was probably going to be the only time he ever saw him. He knew nothing about Magnus and he didn’t even have a number. “I gave him your number so if you get a random text, it’s from Magnus”. Alec ran around the register and tackled Izzy in a hug. His sister was always saving his ass and he would forever be grateful for her.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! You saved my non existent love life, bless you!” He kissed her cheek repeatedly and until she started smacking his arm.

“Yeah, it won’t be non existent if you look at your phone, chop chop lover boy” Izzy winked at him and laughed. Alec took his phone out and had a text from an unknown number.

“Hi darling, it’s Magnus, the guy who almost gave you a concussion, which by the way, I’m still very sorry about that. How could I make it up to you?”

Alec couldn’t stop smiling. He can imagine what he sounds if he were saying this to him.

“Don’t worry about it, I’m really okay. I’m the one who should apologize. I just kind of ran off and didn’t even say goodbye. To make it up, I was wondering if you wanted to go grab a drink sometime?”

Alec’s shift was coming to a close and he went to the back room to grab his winter coat and hat. He was nervous. Was he being too blunt? Maybe he was reading too much into this and Magnus wasn’t actually interested in him.

“I’ll see you later Izzy!”

He heard a distant goodbye from the other side of the store and he was on his way. He was walking down the block when his phone vibrated. Oh god, he answered.

“I would love that. When would you like to meet up?”

Alec was giddy now. He couldn’t believe this was happening. Usually his dates were very one sided. Sometimes neither parties were interested. Alec didn’t know why but when he looked at Magnus he felt something shift, and he just needed to see him again. He was a terrible talker though, that’s probably why his dates never really went well. He was an awkward guy, he couldn’t help it, his hobbies were boring and he was always working or doing some volunteer work and Magnus probably has an adventure every day, who the hell was he gon-

*crash*

Alec was on the floor again. This time his landing was softened by the heavy snow yet the same pair of eyes from earlier met his.

“We must stop meeting like this, Alexander. It seems you are falling in love with me a little too fast. I mean, you do look great laying on the ground but I would rather see you lay elsewhere”.

Alec turned away and blushed. He was either really lucky or really stupid. Magnus grabbed his hands and pulled him back up and dusted the snow from his coat. Alec was flustered and he stuttered out.

“Are you, um.. are you, busy right now?” Magnus smiled, his hands on both of Alec’s arms.

“Not really, I was just shopping around.”

“Would you still want to go grab those drinks? With me, um yea, me” Alec was looking everywhere but Magnus. Why was this making him sweat? He suddenly felt a pair of cold hands on his cheeks and he stared at Magnus. So. Goddamn. Beautiful.

“I would love nothing more than to grab a drink with you. How about some hot chocolate? Ooh, I know this little shop down the block, with the-“

“Warm chocolate chip cookies.” They said at the same time. Alec laughed, leaning his cheek against Magnus’ hand.

“Let’s go then. Hopefully neither of us bump into any random people on the way there”. Alec glared at Magnus.

“Haha, you’re a comedian. I’ll remember that”.

That’s how the rest of their day went. Usually, Magnus waited until the third date to take someone to his home, but some things are meant to be and he wouldn’t trade the late night cuddle/make out session they had on the couch by the warm fire, with gentle snow outside for anything.

[bewarethebutler]

When You Come at the King, You Best Not Miss (The Holdout by Graham Moore)

This book could not get out of its own way. It has an intriguing premise, it’s well paced, and it has compelling characters. The plot is...solid as long as you don’t look too close. It also tackles an important topic: white liberals who, intentionally or not, position themselves as white saviors. The problem is, while it lays the groundwork for a unique and timely deconstruction of white liberalism, it never quite has the balls to truly tackle the issues in a meaningful way. 

The basic plot is that ten years ago, Maya (who is white,) was part of a jury that declared Bobby Nock (who is black,) innocent of killing one of his (white) students. Initially, all the jurors except Maya thought he was guilty, but Maya eventually managed to convince them all of Bobby’s innocence, predicated largely on her insistence that the system is racist and treating Bobby unfairly. After the trial, the whole world condemned the jury, and especially Maya, for finding Bobby innocent. Rick (who is black,) another member of the jury and Maya’s friend/lover, goes on to first publicly attack Maya’s character and then spend the subsequent decade trying to prove Bobby’s guilt. The jurors are all gathered together for a ten year reunion/tv special, with Rick insisting that he has new evidence to prove Bobby guilty. Before he can share it, Rick turns up dead in Maya’s hotel room, and Maya is accused of killing him. 

The interactions between Rick and Maya are the strongest part of the book. On a DnD character alignment chart, Rick would fall solidly in the Lawful Good category, while Maya is totally Chaotic Good. They’re both young and idealistic (they bond over Maya’s Obama ‘Hope’ pin,) and have a passionate relationship largely built from their mutual admiration of the other’s intelligence and morals. Then when the jury first votes, Maya is shocked to find that Rick thinks Bobby is guilty, and he is equally shocked to find that Maya thinks Bobby is innocent. Their relationship quickly dissolves, with Maya becoming the leading voice in the ‘Not Guilty’ camp and Rick the leading voice in the ‘Guilty’ camp. Maya can’t believe that Rick, a young black man, can find another young black man guilty in a system so stacked against him. Meanwhile, Rick is understandably upset that Maya assumes he must hate the system and support Bobby, because in her mind all black people should feel the same about law enforcement. 

Unfortunately, though much of the novel is told in flashbacks, Rick dies very early in the book. So instead of two people re-examining their opinions and relationships, we get the black guy acting as a sort of object lesson for the white girl. There are several points in the novel when Maya starts to interrogate her own (well-intended but condescending) assumptions about identity politics. But then inevitably the paparazzi show up, or someone is arrested, or we jump from the past to the present or vice-versa. It’s almost as if Graham Moore feared making his protagonist too unlikable, so he lays out moments like Maya assuming Rick will be equally outraged about a racist comment, but then never really does anything with it.

The closest the story comes to really challenging white liberalism is when Trisha, the only black person on the jury besides Rick, gets angry at Maya for assuming that Trisha will automatically side with the defendant because he’s black. It was a take-down that was badly needed and almost came too late, well after Maya has repeatedly scolded the non-white members of the jury for not seeing the case as an instance of racial injustice. When Maya tells the others how they should feel about being Black or Asian or Hispanic, the moment really makes you cringe...as it should. 

White liberals (myself included,) have an unfortunate tendency to overshoot the mark when it comes to allyship. We’re so eager to prove ourselves and support people of color that we assume every person of color feels the same way about issues of racial inequality. It’s a great set-up because Maya does it with the best intentions but we still understand she’s forcing Rick and others into her idea of what a Black or Brown person “should” be, a position born of the privilege of reading about Critical Race Theory without ever having personally experienced racism. 

And then...Moore doesn’t really go anywhere with it. In fact, Trisha changes her mind and sides with Maya shortly after calling her out, a decision born more of her uncertainty about the facts of the case than any real opinion about the situation. Trisha sort of drops her call-out without reaching a real point, which is fine, (the novel does a solid job of driving home the idea that it’s not the responsibility of people of color to educate white people,) but then when we switch back to Maya there’s never any indication that Trisha’s words made any kind of impact. 

Even worse, at the end of the novel we find out that Maya was actually right the entire time--not only was Bobby Nock innocent, but some of the parties involved in the case were deliberately using the myth of black men as dangerous to white women to get the verdict they wanted. It turns out Rick and Bobby should have trusted the white woman’s opinion about the racial elements of the case, even though they’re the ones who are being pigeonholed (Rick,) and stereotyped (Bobby). To add insult to injury, to a greater or lesser extent both Bobby and Rick’s murders result from their inability to realize they’re being manipulated by a white man.* *Yes, Rick’s death isn’t organized by Lou Silver the way Bobby’s is, but he’s only in that position because Silver used him to gather information and do the dirty work of his personal crusade. 

Honestly, the book’s treatment of Rick and Bobby might have been its biggest weakness. Even the set-up is weak: we never quite understand why Rick is so convinced of Bobby’s guilt he’s willing to spend ten years trying to convict him. It turns out he doesn’t have any new evidence, he just found a way to blackmail Bobby into confessing...for a murder Bobby didn’t actually commit. The way the novel presents it, the evidence against Bobby is pretty compelling (including traces of the victim’s blood in the trunk of his car,) but not air-tight. In fact, it’s not even clear why the public is so convinced that Bobby is guilty: it seems unlikely that many liberals wouldn’t feel the same as Maya, that Bobby is being railroaded by the system. So in the end, Rick, who is the closest thing the book has to a “moral” character (in the sense that he sticks to his principles regardless of others’ opinions,) ends up resorting to blackmail to try and “get” Bobby. 

Again, Rick’s obsession seems particularly misguided and hollow in light of the fact that Bobby is actually innocent. Similarly, while I wasn’t expecting Bobby to necessarily be grateful to Maya for the ‘Not Guilty’ verdict, I was genuinely confused by his animosity towards her. His life after the trial borders on Dickensian in its never-ending onslaught of misery, but that isn’t Maya’s fault. He’s almost annoyed that she pushed the jury to find him Not Guilty, even though, again, he’s NOT GUILTY. I think Bobby was supposed to serve as an example of how even if you’re found not guilty the system can still ruin your life, but since the alternative was life in prison the point becomes somewhat muddied. 

And then there’s the end. OMG, the end. First, credit where credit’s due, I didn’t see the twist behind Jessica’s disappearance coming, and it’s pretty interesting and well done. Her mother helped her disappear to escape her abusive father, and she now lives on a farm with a partner and a child. (Although, now that I’m typing this that does read as so idyllic as to be unbelievable, but the book presents it pretty straight.) Lou Silver genuinely believed Bobby Nock killed his daughter and arranged for Nock to be murdered. Maya wants to expose Elaine Silver, but doesn’t for the sake of Jessica’s child and Bobby’s child and the child’s mother. It’s not entirely clear how, but Elaine Silver implies that she knows Maya is lying to protect Bobby’s partner and child, and if Maya exposes Jessica Elaine will expose the partner and child. Whether or not she could actually do so is sort of up in the air. In the end, Elaine and Maya agree not to say anything, meaning the world still thinks Bobby is guilty (his death is set up to look like a suicide,) and Rick’s murderer will never be found. Elaine does express some remorse about how she used Bobby to make Jessica’s disappearance believable, but it’s very tacked-on. So, the book ends with two upper-middle class white women deciding that the potential emotional trauma for two mothers and their children must be avoided, even though it means throwing away everything meaningful about the lives of two black men. That’s...ick. So. Much. Ick. 

A major theme of the book is that no one can ever really know the full truth of a situation, even though we feel compelled to seek it out, and therefore the legal system is incapable of producing true justice. The book shoots itself in the foot in the final pages, though. Instead of a critique of the legal system, we end with proof of the larger problem: that white people are able to manipulate and discard the lives of black people with no repercussions. 

[smash-all-mirrors]

@nerdypenguintyphoon this is fun I don’t want to stop, I like guessing what you’d answer

1. Would you have sex with the last person you text messaged? It was me and I’m gonna say it’s a hard pass 2. You talked to an ex today, correct? No, I can say no with complete confidence 3. Have you taken someones virginity? I mean I had lot of firsts with you but I don’t think that is what the question is asking 4. Is trust a big issue for you? Too trusting I think 5. Did you hang out with the person you like recently? You like everyone or something so probably 6. What are you excited for? To visit me….in like 500 years 7. What happened tonight? um you rejected me a lot. lots and lots. And like nothing too exciting at night 8. Do you think it’s disgusting when girls get really wasted? I hope not  because we’re drinking together and like I’m super competitive 9. Is confidence cute? You always yell at me for not being confident so I guess you must like it 10. What is the last beverage you had? coffee 11. How many people of the opposite sex do you fully trust? trust for what??? I assume a bunch like you have zero trust issues so 12. Do you own a pair of skinny jeans? Yes, but I only know because you told me 13. What are you gonna do Saturday night? I don’t know, but like drunk driving probably 14. What are you going to spend money on next? coffee, like I swear you buy every day so like a safe guess 15. Are you going out with the last person you kissed? You will be when you get someone to kiss, but like kiss properly, like open mouthed 16. Do you think you’ll change in the next 3 months? I guess this question means like attitude of life choices but like I know you’ll change your clothes at least. maybe some more colours like purple or something 17. Who do you feel most comfortable talking to about anything? Your BFF I guess.  18. The last time you felt broken? When you got a 26 on your exam 19. Have you had sex today? Mentally masturbating all day I’m sure 20. Are you starting to realize anything? well you said that you no longer feel the need for a gf that much anymore soooooooo 21. Are you in a good mood? always 22. Would you ever want to swim with sharks?  No risk attitude 23. Are your eyes the same color as your dad’s? yeah why not 24. What do you want right this second? Better internet connection and on time train service and an open bar 25. What would you say if the person you love/like kissed another girl/boy? Wow I didn’t think you were straight 26. Is your current hair color your natural hair color? Yes 27. Would you be able to date someone who doesn’t make you laugh? I don’t know if you will ever get someone to date you since you’re so fussy 28. What was the last thing that made you laugh? Me. def 29. Do you really, truly miss someone right now? Uhhhhhhhhhh sure why not 30. Does everyone deserve a second chance? I dunno but you give everyone you know a second chance so does it matter if they deserve it? 31. Honestly, do you hate the last boy you were talking to? You probably didn’t them that well so no 32. Does the person you have feelings for right now, know you do? hahahahahaha no you never say like 100% sure they don’ know 33. Are you one of those people who never drinks soda? Yes. strictly soda free 34. Listening to? My voice 35. Do you ever write in pencil anymore? No only in pen and marker 36. Do you know where the last person you kissed is? hahahahahahahah 37. Do you believe in love at first sight? Probably you’re a huge fuckin sap 38. Who did you last call? Me, again. We spend a lot of time together 39. Who was the last person you danced with? …you dance too? What? I don’t know? Uni friends I guess 40. Why did you kiss the last person you kissed? Well you reminded me it was the graduation story but like yeah 41. When was the last time you ate a cupcake? You like never eat sweets so maybe it was Austria 42. Did you hug/kiss one of your parents today? You saw them so I hope so 43. Ever embarrass yourself in front of a crush? Yes, you embarrass yourself in front of everyone so like all of them def 44. Do you tan in the nude? yes it’s your fav activity /s 45. If you could, would you take back your last kiss? Probably 46. Did you talk to someone until you fell asleep last night?Yes omg learn to say goodnight and stop falling asleep on me 47. Who was the last person to call you? you test friends usually so like…me? 48. Do you sing in the shower? You sing everywhere so i would be surprised if you didn’t 49. Do you dance in the car? If you’re doing karaoke I guess it kinda makes sense? but like I imagine nor because you’re kinda self conscious 50. Ever used a bow and arrow? no you’re too klutzy please don’t 51. Last time you got a portrait taken by a photographer? a portrait???? I dunno like probably passport? 52. Do you think musicals are cheesy? You think everything is cheesy 53. Is Christmas stressful? Yes, 54. Ever eat a pierogi? Yeah they’re good, if you haven’t had one it’s a shame 55. Favorite type of fruit pie? mmm lemon? 56. Occupations you wanted to be when you were a kid? a professional bed tester 57. Do you believe in ghosts? They’re all over the old testament and like i never got if there was a difference between the holy spirit and ghosts you’re like the worst person to ask for some reason 58. Ever have a Deja-vu feeling? Yes. So don’t be mean 59. Take a vitamin daily? no, not at all 60. Wear slippers?Yeah isn’t that like super European thing? 61. Wear a bath robe? Yeah like you’re cold 24/7 and need a coat when no one else does 62. What do you wear to bed? did you buy non ugly pjs yet? 63. First concert? Rossinni ahahahah jokes i dunno that guy who plays 14 instruments or the choir thing? 64. Wal-Mart, Target or Kmart? Uhhh do you have any of those? You know what Wal-mart is for sure so that one 65. Nike or Adidas? the rhythm of the night 66. Cheetos Or Fritos? Dafuq is fritos omg 67. Peanuts or Sunflower seeds? Peanuts but not butter because that weird 68. Favorite Taylor Swift song? Uh you sent one once and I don’t remember was it the reputation one but it was like a parody and it wouldn’t load so I don’t know. I also don’t care about her at all and she can disappear forever and I wouldn’t care 69. Ever take dance lessons? let’s say no 70. Is there a profession you picture your future spouse doing? professional rock climber or something similarly exciting 71. Can you curl your tongue? Probably you make all sorts or strange r noises 72. Ever won a spelling bee? spelling bee? for spelling? I think this would be too much on the stuff you already do so 73. Have you ever cried because you were so happy? sure 74. What is your favorite book? fantasy…..fantasy….I feel like a stereotype saying HP though 75. Do you study better with or without music? with…..ooo,,,,uuu,,,t,ttt 76. Regularly burn incense? mmm no 77. Ever been in love? hahahahahaha all the time 78. Who would you like to see in concert? Justin Bieber 79. What was the last concert you saw? That french one? I don’t remember 80. Hot tea or cold tea? cold tea, specifically summer tea 81. Tea or coffee? depends why but coffee culture is huge for you 82. Favorite type of cookie? computer cookies 83. Can you swim well? sure yeah 84. Can you hold your breath without holding your nose? Is that like impossible for some people????? 85. Are you patient? hahahahahah yes def 100% except when you aren’t and want to be alone 86. DJ or band, at a wedding? Bands 87. Ever won a contest? Yeah….probably some awards too 88. Ever have plastic surgery? Nooo….? 89. Which are better black or green olives? why should anyone have to choose but green 90. Opinions on sex before marriage? Not for you but y’know  91. Best room for a fireplace? The room you are most frequently in to warm you up 92. Do you want to get married? Sure yeah sounds nice

questions taken from http://jreadhd.tumblr.com/post/162033692079/make-me-admit-stuff

[cc-hatredisland]

Trial. 01  {.When You Trust a Little Much.}

I couldn’t help but wonder how long everyone took to make their votes. For me, I felt like years were going by... and the longer I took, the stupider I felt, honestly. Eventually I drag Hanji’s picture to the culprit box. The weight I expected to vanish from my shoulders remained as it was and I sighed.

A handful of seconds pass and then... Patchnuki, well, it does whatever weird gesture its doing now, some kinda twirling, rolling around thing. Complete with a fit of stupid giggles.

“Wow. Wooow. You guys took forever! This is only the first murder! If you’re this stumped now, how are you gonna manage later down the line? The first one’s usually a freebie, you know? Like, you know. Reeeal obvious? Huh. Guess you guys really aren’t the brightest.“

“You have wasted quite enough of our time jabbering on. Move on.“

“How could I forget! Your creed is ‘time is money’ after all! Well, okay, prissy pants, I’ll get right on that.“

Patchnuki seems to clear its... non-existent throat before continuing on.

“Okay, so, I’ve got all the details here. Your votes are in, no need to tally or anything, I can see a consensus already... but man, wow, not even unanimous? You’d be screwed if I made you agree! Don’t worry, I’m not that cruel. I know you hateful kids can’t help yourselves. This much is juuust fine.”

“Now then. Are you curious who you’ve sent to the guillotine? Is it the killer? Is it some poor sap hit with a shoddy frame job? ... Only way to find out... drum roll, please!”

Upon not hearing a drum roll, Patchnuki seems to frown and then makes a rat-a-tat-a sound itself.

“Believe it or not, you voted for... Tadashi Hanji!“

All eyes go to him, even mine. That was... my vote too. Was I right? It’s really messing with my head. His eyes are closed and he’s looking pretty... calm, I guess.

“Wow, Hanji. That’s gotta hurt, like, ouch. Can I hear your feelings on this one?”

��... 3.2.”

“3.2?”

“Correct... yes, I shall give you a 3.2 of 100... and even that is quite generous.”

I really... don’t like that look on his face.

“How truly foolish and stupid do you all have to be... to not realise it sooner?“

“W-wait... wait, wait, wait right a second here! What are you saying, Hanji-kun?”

“He’s saaaaying...”

Something seems to roll around. Ahead of us, on a big monitor, we can see the source. Slot machines, whirring and whirring. It clicks once. A cartoon face of Hanji. Second click. Third click. Synthetic confetti sprays all over the screen, the sounds of victory blaring through every corner of the room. The cheerier it sounds, the worse I feel.

“You got the killer! Yep, that’s right, congratulations you little detectives! Rejoice! Tadashi Hanji was the one to kill Hinagiku Wakatsuki after all!“

“No! That’s-- that’s not right, you didn’t, you couldn’t have!″

“I surmised this before but... let me be frank. You are not very bright, are you?”

“Quite honestly... none of you are. How many questions did you all have? Yet, how many did you ask? How many of you settled for vague and non-descript answers? Did you ever consider the very simple idea that I might lie? Well. At least one of you did.”

He glances at Manabu he glares back, arms folded.

“... You actually have me wrong. I was... I didn’t trust you, sure. But I didn’t think you were a killer... not until...“

“Not until I killed.“

“Shall I tell you something good? Do you want to know the reason Wakatsuki-san did what she did? It is quite amusing. You were really spot on, Nagase-san. A little too spot on, some might say.”

“We had to kill the survivor. That was the order.“

“Care to extrapolate?”

“Why not, Kasahara-san? The vote is over; there is nothing more to lose. Your friend Anzai-san has been through this before. She could potentially ruin this whole thing. We did not know who it was at first... not until the secrets came out. So when we found out, I had Wakatsuki-san kill her. And well, then I just had to snip the loose ends.”

“It was amusing, really. Did none of you wonder why it was Ogawa-san’s weapon in the body? Do you not find the coincidence of her weapon being in the body... and then her being the discoverer... a little... convenient? Shall I explain how that worked as well? I knew. Ogawa-san always runs that route. After several months, even with a lack of memory... I was sure she would take the same route. I lured Wakatsuki-san with a private message... hid behind the door... with Ogawa-san’s stolen weapon, I stabbed her in the back. Poor thing cried. Never expected it. It is the saddest of crooks that forget to watch their back. After that, I put in the darts... and when that idiotic jock burst in, I simply hid back behind the door. It is quite amusing, is it not? To think you were in the same room as the killer this whole time...”

Silence fills the room. There’s a lot of confusion, apprehension... uncertainty.

“W-wait... stop, this isn’t funny... you don’t... why? Memories? Murder? I-I don’t get it, man! This isn’t normal! What the hell’s going on?!”

“T-th-this is... not f-fu-fun... anymore... I d-d-don’t like this...“

“To so thoroughly plan a cold-hearted murder... Hanji-san, I... how... how could you do such a thing? Don’t you feel anything?!“

“So... y-you’re not even going to deny it? You were not possessed nor coerced? Not forced nor desperate? This is truly who you are, Hanji-dono?”

If anyone seemed desperate, it was Buki herself. A whole bunch of voices joined in. Yelling, asking, pleading... but it was Buki who received Hanji’s attention.

“Are you truly surprised? How much did you know about me, anyway? How much did any of you know? I said it from the start: I hate all of you. I want nothing more than for you all to disappear. That is precisely why I helped set this game up.“

“S-s-stop... p-please... th-th-this is--”

“T-that’s...“

That vision haunts me again... the one I had when I woke up. Hanji, as he pushes me back into the darkness. That was... true, right? Of course it was. I just couldn’t remember why... I... why couldn’t I...

“Why can’t we remember anything? You said it yourself. ‘Several months’...“

I’m glad someone else formed the words.

“Hmm. I wonder.“

“... Your doing as well, I suppose.“

“Maybe it is. Maybe it is not. What does it matter? Memories will not save you. Nothing will. All I had to was remove one person... and you all began tearing at each other. It was Ogawa-san, it was Shiratori-san, it was Maki-san... without any rhyme or reason, you point the finger and yell, no care in the world. It was, shockingly, only Nagase-san that noticed even half the things I said.“

“Why... why d-do all this, Ha-Hanji-san, I just don’t understand...“

“...I hate that simpering noise of yours. You expect pity for nothing. It’s disgusting, how little you try. I want to try complimenting you, but, every time I try you just ruin it with that noise.“

He sighs deeply.

“It was pretty nerve-wracking the first time... but I had to prove myself.“

“Mother never saw it coming.”

“I do not believe father was even listening. Dispatching him was much easier. After that... a series of useless bitparts. Teachers, helping hands... disgusting adults who think they have it all worked out. Ha. They just got easier and easier to get rid of. Then... Wakatsuki-san herself. She never saw it coming. And now I must ask... what are you going to do about it?"

“... This game is over, Hanji-san. I regret to inform you - you lost.”

A harsh laugh.

“Yes, congratulations. I shall be sure to send you celebratory cookies at a later date. Is that all? Did you forget? I helped create this game. How do you beat someone who cheats all the rules? Another boon of the law system. Once you make the right friends, you fear nothing.“

“... You’re wrong.“

“Ah, yes, of course... some things, even with confessions, never change. And how, pray tell, am I wrong today?“

“You were set-up, Hanji. I don’t know who you really are and what’s going on... but something’s for sure. You weren’t expecting that note.“

“...”

“Sure... we may have been yelling all aimlessly at times but... that note, that wasn’t a part of your plan, right? And in the end, it helped us get you. So were you really supposed to ‘cheat the system’?“

“Ha. I cannot say why there is a change of plans. But it does not matter. You are powerless to stop me. I have all the control here. Not Wakatsuki-san, not my father and NOT my mother! Me and me alone! I masterminded this! And there is nothing any of you can do to--”

“Time’s up! Man, I thought you’d use your last words on something more touching. Guess there’s no bleaching black out of a heart. As promised, you guys won! So only the killer dies. Happy days!”

“W-wait-- this is some kind of joke, is it not? This is not how you said...”

“Hanji-san, you have been found ... guilty. How’s that for ironic?“

Before he can get another sound out, before any of us can react, the vicious, visceral sound of chains clanks into the room. They wrap around Hanji’s throat and drag him out of the room, screaming. I’d... I’d never seen him look so scared. That seems obvious but the idea of someone that in control being so out of his element... it was horrifying, This whole experience was going so fast my head was spinning and I felt like I was two seconds from fainting. The horrible metallic sounds can still be heard in the distance and then... nothing.

I guess... what, that’s the end of it?

As I’m mulling this over, the monitor on the northern-most wall lights up. And it was about to fill the room with a gruesome sight...

[Next] >> [Previous]