#NO ONE who would be exempt got a contract

[rosetinted--clouds]

I have learned things about my, now old, job that make me want to take down a whole government department 🙃🫠

[eileenslibrary]

hi can I request

zhongli dating xianyuns daughter(reader)(well not blood daughter but, shenhe and ganyu are called her daughters) it starts during the days that he's still an archon, xianyun orders the reader to keep the geo archon company or should I say serve him, and they developed their feelings towards each other. Since zhongli is an archon he sees ganyu and shenhe as a little children that xianyun is taking care of, but the reader is an exemption since he sees her as a beautiful woman at age reader is also immortal (electro vision holder)

Dainty

Pt.1

(GIF Is Not Mine)

Dainty pt. 2

Zhongli x F! Adepti Reader

(skin color, height, body, and facial features not mentioned or described in this work of fiction, made for all readers who align with she/her she/they)

Warnings: OOC Zhongli, Blood, Death, Near Death, War, Violence, Arguments (Mentioned/Described), Betrayal/Abandonment From Parental Figures/Home, Nudity, A Little Angst In The Parts Speaking About War And Readers Back Story.

“A proper woman” “A polite lady” and “A sweet girl” Is what you grew up in all your life, all you knew, all you wished to be. Up until you weren’t, up until ‘The Incident’ you were scorned as an outcast. Thrown out for being the ‘Odd’ one simply because you stopped playing house, abandoned, and left for dead, the weakest of the pack. You broke from the abusive chains of your village and ran until you stumbled on the muddy ground you stayed there for days laying on the wet ground dying from starvation and the cold, a light makes you crack your eyes open as an electro vision drifts down to you, you use your remaining strength to grasp the glowing orb “I get my vision when I’m dying, great” you huff.

 The days continue until one day a soft ‘Plump’ makes you open your eyes a white crane with blue feathers stands before you a small fish in its beak you stare at it watching as it tears it into smaller pieces you open your mouth for it to put the fish inside your mouth as you chew it and swallow it down. This repeats for a while the bird would come and feed you fish and let water drip down its beak into your mouth, then huddle on top of you to keep you warm until you have enough energy to walk. You watch as it flies away when you stand then lands a few feet from you, you follow it as it leads you to Mt. Aocang “Beautiful crane why do you lead me here?” you question, the bird shakes its head and begins striding up the mountain forcing you to follow you until you reach the very top. You collapse when you reach the top “I fear I cannot go any farther” you whisper before your eyes close. You awake to a woman with red-rimmed glasses washing out your hair, “W-where am I?” you ask her “My abode” she hums continuing to wash your hair your eyes widen as you realize “Adeptus Cloud Retainer” you say trying to sit up, but she stops you “Rest you are still sick” she whispers pouring hot water into the jade bath you were laying in “Why did you save me?” you ask “What was I supposed to do? Let you poison my lake with your deceased body?” she says sternly. That was what you got as a ‘Warm Welcome’ in your new home, but Cloud Retainer eventually warmed up to you and took you in as her own. She trusted you enough to let you meet Morax “She is mortal” He hums looking at you “And what of it?” Cloud Retainer defends looking over her shoulder as you wade into the pool letting the fish swim around your feet “You are one of my dearest friends and I would hate to see you grieve her death” He sighs his gold eyes watching as you feed the koi, “Are you saying I should abandon her!?” she raises her voice slightly Morax widens his eyes not used to seeing Cloud Retainer’s emotions slip “No, I was thinking of making a contract to turn her into an adeptus” he says sipping on his cup of tea Cloud Retainer whips her head to look at him “Really?” she says in disbelief. He nods his eyes following as the young woman places her hands into the water and a koi happily swims into them to eat the food in her palms. Cloud Retainer calls you from the pond you look up and wade out of the water, your white dress soaked from the mid-thigh down. Morax looks away at the transparency of the cloth clearing his throat “Yes Mother?” you question noticing the tears in her eyes “Rex Lapis and I have been talking, and we are thinking of making a contract so you can be immortal” she hums taking your hand in hers your eyes light up and you pull her into a hug she makes a “Hmph” sound when her head hits you shoulder, but she reciprocates. After a while of reading and understanding the contract and what it entails you got it signed and Morax bestowed a little of his power on you to make your life eternal. But the contract entailed that you were to accompany Morax everywhere he goes, give him anything he needs, and be his loyal servant. 

Years passed as if in a mere blink of an eye, you noticed how Morax was cold with you at the start only talking to you when necessary “Bring us tea” he commands going back to his conversation with Streetward Rambler and Guizhong “As you wish” you hum “You needn’t be so harsh on the girl” Guizhong scolds Morax just grunts Streetward Rambler shakes her head “What were those blue prints you needed me to look over?” he directs the conversation to Guizhong “Oh yeah! Here” she says remembering why she was even here handing him her idea on a new device, but he steals glances in your direction your beautiful white and green robes glimmering in the sun. You sulk as you listen to them banter, waiting for the water to finish boiling, steeping the tea perfectly as you’ve done thousands of times before. Walking over to the table and placing down cups pouring the tea into each one “Enjoy” you hum walking away “Where are you going?” You still at Morax’s words “Ah. . . I was gonna go sit down?” You say as if questioning yourself looking back at him, Guizhong and Streetward Rambler look at you expectantly “What Morax means is for you to come to sit with us” Rambler explains patting the stone seat next to her your eyes widen a happy glint shining in them you find your seat between Morax and Streetward Rambler. You sit between them sitting quietly but content nonetheless just listening to them discuss topics. Morax watches as you sip your tea quietly his eyes tracing over your beautiful features. You meet his eyes giving him a questioning glance “Is something wrong My Lord” You whisper he shakes his head and goes back to his conversation.

The war is tedious but you fight hard, friends and foes falling everywhere you look. You refuse to shed tears and show weakness to anyone who may take advantage of your blind spot, defending your god with a stone heart, letting your sword cut through anyone who would dare try to lay a hand on your god. Static runs through the air as you let the electro flow through your movements like wine from a bottle, effortless, graceful, swift, and solid as you slice through armor as hard as the strongest steel. A cold expression striking fear into the weaker gods who thought you were an easy target, you reek of dirt, blood, and death. Your armor splattered in other's blood as if it was forged in a slaughterhouse. Your only relief was returning to your camp and seeing your friends and god, but one day someone close didn’t return “Rex!” you rush up to him “Where is Guizhong, why isn’t she with you!?” Your eyes search wildly for the god of dust he stays silent pushing past you into his makeshift home, you stand there eyes wide as you sink into the ground hand over your heart, the soiled ground wet and red. Morax closes his eyes when he hears your armor and sword clink as you fall to your knees and let out a scream painful sobs following after, his tears falling as he wishes he could have saved her for your sake.  

[stereax]

Waivers: The Basics

Having noticed that many of my mutuals, as well as hockeyblr at large, are unsure of what exactly the NHL's waiver system means and how it works, I've endeavored to write up a little bit of a primer on waivers to make it easier to understand. Meet me under the cut to learn more!

What are waivers?

Put most simply, waivers are a process that occurs when a team says to a player, "We don't want you in the NHL anymore, we're sending you to the AHL". Because of the CBA's (Collective Bargaining Agreement) Article 13, before they can do this, they have to put the player on the waiver wire, which is essentially a 24-hour-long period where any other team that wants that player to play for them in the NHL can claim them. The purpose of the waiver wire is to ensure that teams don't unfairly stash NHL-caliber players in the AHL, thereby paying them lesser salaries (this is the most important part - AHL salaries are generally about a tenth of NHL salaries) and not allowing them to play NHL games. Players that may not be getting a fair shot on one team can move to another, where they can be used more effectively - for instance, Eeli Tolvanen was waived by Nashville, picked up by Seattle, and now plays a key role on Seattle's third line. In fact, he scored Seattle's first-ever goal in the playoffs!

What happens once a player is put on the waiver wire?

If another team claims the player, they are claimed on waivers and are transferred to the other team. Notably, the other team must have the appropriate cap and roster space necessary to claim the player. An example here is Kasperi Kapanen, who was placed on waivers by Pittsburgh and was claimed by St Louis. His cap hit of $3.2m may have been prohibitive for other teams who could have wanted to claim him.

If multiple teams try to claim the player, the player goes to the team that submitted a claim which is the worst in the standings - if it's before November 1st of a new season year, it goes to the team that finished worst in the standings the year before, but if it's after November 1st, it goes to the team that is currently worst in the standings. Take Lassi Thomson, who was placed on waivers by Ottawa and claimed by Anaheim. If, for example, Toronto also submitted a claim, they would not have been awarded Thomson, as Anaheim has the worse standing.

If no other team claims the player, they clear waivers. When they do so, they can be reassigned to the NHL team's affiliate AHL team. Notably, not everyone who clears waivers is immediately reassigned - a player who clears waivers can stay with the NHL team instead (for example, if another player just got injured). They can be sent down to the AHL at a later time - they do not have to go through the waivers process again if they have played less than 10 NHL games (cumulative) or been on the roster for less than 30 days (cumulative) from the last time they cleared waivers. This can be used to a savvy GM's advantage to avoid putting players on the waiver wire.

Why is everyone getting waived right now?

At the beginning of the preseason, every player with an NHL contract, whether it be one-way (NHL only) or two-way (NHL and AHL), is invited to that team's training camp. This places them on the NHL preseason roster for that team. As training camp goes on and players get cut, they then must pass through waivers to go to the AHL. Unless, of course, they're waiver exempt.

What is waiver exemption and why is it important?

So you might already have noticed an issue with the waiver system - it's terrible for younger players. If solely the waiver rules we've discussed above existed, every player being sent to the AHL would have to go through waivers. This would include prospects who are signed to an NHL ELC (entry-level contract) but didn't make the cut for the season. Obviously, this is bad for teams - imagine drafting players who you know will be good for you in 2 or 3 years and then losing them all to the waiver wire. This is why waiver exemption exists.

Waiver exemption, to keep it simple, is a protection that certain players have that means they do not have to go through the waivers process to be reassigned to the AHL. The specific details of waiver exemption are a little complicated - let's take a look at the table to make it make more sense.

This table is either/or and is defined by the age when their NHL ELC was signed. A skater who signed their ELC as an 18-year-old is waiver exempt for either 5 years or 160 games played (including playoff games) at the NHL level. A skater who signed at 21 is exempt for either 3 years or 80 NHL games. Goalies have different requirements than skaters because they generally take longer to develop and don't play as many games.

There is a fairly common misconception that all players on their ELCs are automatically waiver exempt. This is false. The second a player hits the amount of games played for their age, they are immediately no longer waiver exempt. Usually, this doesn't occur until after the ELC is over, as most ELC players deal with injuries and healthy scratches, as well as not generally being given the reins to play on the NHL roster for the entire season. One notable example that disproves the "ELC means waiver exempt" conception is Dawson Mercer from New Jersey. Mercer signed his ELC as a 19-year-old in December of 2020. He has played all 82 games in the past 2 seasons (2021-22 & 2022-23) plus 12 playoff games for a total of 176 NHL games played. Under the games requirements, he is now no longer exempt from waivers, despite having one whole year left on his ELC.

For the 25+ category, upon playing a single NHL game, the player is waiver exempt for that entire season and that entire season only. Andrei Kuzmenko from Vancouver is a good example of that - last season, he signed his one-year ELC with Vancouver as a 27-year-old and could have been sent to the AHL at any time without going through waivers. (He was not, needless to say.)

There is one very important exception to the table: if an 18- or 19-year-old player plays 11 or more games with an NHL team in a single season, their waiver exemption is automatically cropped. For that season, and the next two, the player is waiver exempt, but after that, they are no longer exempt. This extends to the next three if the player in question is a goalie and not a skater. (To make it easier to understand, it's as if they jumped into the 20-year-old category.) However, 18- and 19-year-old prospects generally only play 9 games maximum at the NHL level in order to allow for the entry-level slide, allowing the contract to "slide" forward a year, letting teams keep the player on the ELC for an extra year and thus save money.

Are there any other ways a player can play in the AHL without going through waivers or being waiver exempt?

Yes, actually! There are two main exceptions - they're for conditioning loans.

First, what is a conditioning loan? A conditioning loan is a short-term reassignment to the AHL. There are two types of conditioning loans: the standard conditioning loan and the LTIR conditioning loan.

A standard conditioning loan, specified under the CBA 13.8, occurs when a player agrees to head down to the AHL for a few games to "wipe off the dust" on their game, so to speak. They're often used by players who have ended up as perennial healthy scratches on their NHL teams, so that they're able to jump in if there's an injury or other issue. Standard conditioning loans can last up to 14 days. One example of a standard conditioning loan is Shane Wright, who was sent to the AHL by Seattle very early in the season for conditioning, partially to bypass the requirement that the NHL has with the major junior CHL that would have required him to go back to the CHL were he officially reassigned from Seattle. Another is Nathan Beaulieu, who was sent to the AHL by Anaheim in January for a four-game stint.

An LTIR conditioning loan, specified under the CBA 13.9, occurs when a player coming off of LTIR agrees to head down to the AHL for a few games to "wipe off the dust" on their game, so to speak. These loans can only last 6 days or 3 games, whichever comes later, and the idea is to be able to figure out whether a player is able to return to form or requires more time to heal properly. For example, Travis Dermott was sent to the AHL by Vancouver in December to evaluate whether he was back to form after a concussion sustained in the preseason. He played one game in the AHL, then drew back into Vancouver's lineup for eleven games before going back on IR for the rest of the season due to the concussion repercussions. Notably, a team can only use one LTIR conditioning loan for each time a player is on LTIR.

What is emergency recall and why does it make a player waiver exempt?

Emergency recall occurs when a player on a team's NHL lineup is injured and the team can no longer ice a full squad because of it. (As a reminder, each team must carry 12 forwards, 6 defensemen, and 2 goalies. Usually, teams keep an extra forward and defenseman around as a healthy scratch in case of injuries, but some teams are pressed against the cap and cannot carry extra players.) In this case, they can call an AHL player (or multiple, at times) up on an "emergency" basis to fill in during the time that the NHL player is out. Once the NHL player is healthy again, the AHL player can either be transferred to a regular recall or gets sent down to their AHL team again. One example here is Akira Schmid, who was bouncing back and forth between Utica and New Jersey on emergency recalls every few weeks because Mackenzie Blackwood, one of New Jersey's two goaltenders, was constantly getting hurt.

It makes sense, then, why emergency recall would grant a player temporary waiver exemption status - it would be awful to have to recall a player from the AHL, have them in the NHL for a little bit, and then have to send them through waivers and get claimed when your roster player is healthy. However, if an emergency recall player plays in at least 10 NHL games, he loses his waiver exempt status under emergency recall (other forms of waiver exemption still apply).

What are unconditional waivers?

Unconditional waivers are different from regular waivers in what they do. Passing through unconditional waivers does not send you to the AHL. Instead, they are used by teams that want to buy out or terminate players' contracts, completely giving up their rights to the players. Players placed on unconditional waivers are almost never claimed because of this - only two players have ever been claimed off unconditional waivers.

Okay, hold on - what's the difference between a buyout and a termination?

A termination occurs when a player's contract is terminated. The player severs all ties to a team and does not continue to be paid by the team. The team does not incur any cap penalties from termination. There are two main types of termination.

The first type of termination is mutually-agreed-upon termination. In the case of Filip Zadina, who was recently terminated by Detroit, he made it clear that he would refuse to report to the AHL after being sent down on regular waivers. The team and Zadina then proceeded to terminate the contract so that Zadina would be free to negotiate a contract with another NHL team instead of playing for Detroit's AHL team, and so that Detroit would not incur any cap penalties from buying out Zadina. Another example is Lukas Sedlak, whose contract was terminated by Philadelphia when he made it clear to the team that he wanted to return to Europe to play. Philadelphia put Sedlak on unconditional waivers, terminated the contract, and Sedlak soon returned to his native Czechia to play for Pardubice.

The other, rarer type of termination is for material breach. Material breach termination is exemplified by Alex Galchenyuk, whose contract was terminated by Arizona after they became aware of the intoxicated driving incident involving Galchenyuk. Essentially, material breach is used when players are acting illegally, either against the law of the United States/Canada, or against the terms of their contract. The reason these terminations are so rare is twofold: Not only are hockey players generally going to try to avoid breaking the law, when they do, the player's association is usually going to investigate and file appeals and the like to try to secure their players the highest possible settlement despite the termination (and set a precedent so other teams are not encouraged to terminate contracts for material breach).

On the other hand, a buyout occurs when a player is released by a team, but the player continues to be paid by the team as per their contract. The team incurs cap penalties from buyouts - 1/3 of the contract value if the player is younger than 26 at the time of the buy-out, 2/3 of the value if the player is 26 or order. This penalty is spread across double the years left on the contract.

An aside - this is also where the idea of a "buyout-proof" contract comes in. A buyout-proof contract contains most of the salary being paid in the form of signing bonuses, which are paid in full even if the contract is bought out. (These contracts are also considered "lockout-proof", as, again, the signing bonus must be paid even if there is a lockout and no hockey is being played.) As an example of this, take a look at Auston Matthews's extension:

If the Leafs try to buy this contract out, they'd have to pay Matthews the entirety of the signing bonuses as well as 2/3 of the base salary, making the cap savings incredibly marginal and just not worth it to buy out. Thus, it's buyout-proof.

Is that everything I need to know about waivers?

I think so! If you have any other questions, please drop me a line in my inbox or via DMs - I'll be happy to explain more to you! :D

[hazbin-hotel-6-3]

Spoilers / theory about season 2

I just saw a supposed leak that alastor soul belongs to Rosie. So now I will Analyse if it could be true, how it could work storywise and what the future could hold.

This next bit is all just known facts and theorizing based on story telling.

First what speaks for Rosie being the one in control:

- alastor loss against Adam was a bit senseless. He was winning the whole fight until that moment where he asked what happened. While it makes sense for Adam to be more powerful, if alastor truelly were the underdog in the fight would he have antagonized Adam like that or seemed so clearly in control. alastor mocked Lucifer but only with Charlie’s protection. I don’t think he is stupid enough to challenge someone he knows is more powerful than him if he doesn’t have a way to win or stay save. It is a popular Theorie ( especially with the wings unclipped bit ) that Alastor power got cut short by the one owning his soul. So Rosie, who should be one the battlefield, saw that alastor was winning against her will, could easily be the one to down grade him.

- she is the only one who can touch or mock him without him protesting

- Alastor called her the most powerful overlord ( this side of the hexergone )

- just because you own someone soul doesn’t mean you have to be evil to everyone else or disregard the owned one completely. Rosie kindness to Charlie and friendliness to alastor could still be true and would not speak against a contract

- just because Alastor was gone for 7 years doesn’t mean it was on Lilith orders. Rosie could have told him to start looking for her what could resort in the same time frame.

- Alastor being in the hotel could actually happen because of his own free will ( get a contract with Charlie ) and he could frame it as him looking for Lilith by getting closer to the princess.

= a few things speak for Rosie being the one in control and the rest is at least not contradicting itself. Except for these points:

- Alastor is easy to read. Even if he always smiles if he gets annoyed or angry we can tell and yet he seemed happy with Rosie which makes no sense if he hates his contract.

- why would he bring Charlie to Rosie? Rosie was not getting anything out of this meeting and seeing her pawn admitting he wants to guide the princess and agreeing to this is a little reckless of her.

- why can alastor refuse her offer when she told him about a soul ready for making a deal

This could work however if Rosie was roo.

This actually works name wise ( both sounding similar and the meaning of a rose is good looking but having thornes. Those Thornes symbolism are common in religion. ). She even has a similar design being the only lady with a fedora. We also got confirmation that Rosie was not a human soul. If roo was free to perform evil it would make sense for her to be an overlord. Not too much attention from Lucifer but enough to get her influence out. She has a whole town under her control and alastor gets ride of the once she doesn’t like or increase her territory, without anyone noticing. Her sending alastor after Lilith or his hate for Lucifer ( since he created her ) or even her manipulating skills or alastor unusual power would all add up.

I really hope this is the case because if Rosie is just a normal overlord it would make alastor seem pretty weak. We love him because he has such power and legend behind him. So if he was a slave to someone not powerful enough in the hierarchy ( below princess like stolas or sins, kings of hell ) it just wouldn’t feel right.

The only other exemption I could tolerate if Alastor was on his own powerful enough but got tricked into a deal because he was new and Rosie reminded him of his mother. Basically she saw that he was stronger than her so she spent time manipulating him into trusting her so she could use his power for her own benefit ( like alastor is technically doing with Charlie ). This would give alastor some sentimental side and a reason why he is so closed off and not ready to show his true emotion to others. Since he got tricked once he fears getting tricked again. The lack of power I am afraid of could be done by showing us that Rosie is the one in control but it gets mentioned or even shown ( if the contract breaks this season ) that alastor is stronger than her. But I doubt this theory since in the clip alastor asked Rosie to fix his staff.

Even if Rosie is roo I hope this was a prank leak or get changed since I really liked Rosie and alastor relationship before this.

[keepthedelta]

everybody read @topnotchquark's addition to my post because it's literally perfect.

f1 is a sport where the drivers so rarely have any agency in their exits. they chase the dream so hard for so long, even after they've been successful that almost none of them get to leave because they genuinely want to. for so many of them, chasing the dream of f1 glory ends up being a slow, brutal, painful, often humiliating slog in midfield or backmarker teams until they finally cannot take the losses anymore.

michael schumacher was the greatest of all time by a literally ridiculous margin when he first left f1, and he left it as a genuine competitor who fought to the end. when he came back for his second try, he got beaten by a teammate for the first time ever, and achieved a single podium in three years. he was eventually manoeuvred out by mercedes management who left him no way or time to get another seat if he wanted one, and discarded him for the next great talent, lewis hamilton.

sebastian vettel left a team that adored him and prioritised him to fulfil a childhood dream, and when ferrari decided that he wasn't worth it anymore, they prioritised his teammate and then fired him for a driver who had never even won a race. the highlight of his final years in f1 was a single podium, and winning grill the grid. i'm not sure that that particular trophy will be of great comfort to him.

fernando alonso left formula 1 after trying and failing to recapture the glory of victory so many times. even now, he is racing in a sport where he hasn't won a single race for more than a decade. now, as he faces retirement for a second time, he has to consider making it to the podium a great achievement, where once it would have been a sub-par weekend.

daniel ricciardo was once considered a genuine contender for a world championship, but he got beaten by a younger, stronger talent, made a series of career mistakes that ultimately resulted in him being fired, and has come limping back to the junior team, knowing that he will never be considered a championship contender again, and at best he can hope to be max verstappen's second driver.

even lewis hamilton is not immune to this. he is statistically the most successful driver of all time, and yet the team with which he won six titles did not want to give an indefinite extension to his contract because they lacked faith in him and the car and would rather set themselves up for the next generation of talent than spend money on an aging driver potentially past his prime.

no driver, no matter how great, is exempt from this. and nico, who grew up in this world more than almost anyone else, knew exactly what could happen, and decided that he didn't want that life. he married vivian because he loved her, and had a child with her because he wanted a family with her. and once he had his championship, he decided that what he wanted was away from the track, and to this day i don't believe he has a single regret over it. i don't know that you can say that about everyone else

[jmdbjk]

So I'm writing this because of a convo with my bestie who said:

"Ferg, have you considered writing a blog addressing the wrong headed assumption that the members were "forced" to create the Festa content that we got today? How the people pushing that agenda are not looking at what was happening in their lives at the time said content was filmed. They always want us to have pictures and music at Festa. They WANT to create that content. If they were "forced" it wasn't by the company, it was by the calendar and the government. With no (military) exemption, they understood that the only time to come up with OT7 music or pictures was before mid December (2022). And drilling down, the only time was in October. RIGHT when they hit the final acceptance that they would all start enlisting and the foreseeable future was actually not foreseeable at all. Their hearts were extra heavy that within a few weeks they would say goodbye to Jin. Yoongi was dealing with severe writers block and, I think, feeling guilty that he was going to miss his deadline for the first time EVER. RM was working toward the release of Indigo. Kookie was looking at heading to Qatar. Yada yada. So with all that....they had to try and look light hearted. They didn't. The anxious vibes come right off the screen. We all feel it but many are not interpreting it right. You know, the ones who already are quick to blame everything on the company."

Or the ones who only view everything through a shipper or solo lens and say the guys hate each other.

The members, who filmed this video months ago, filmed this with pure sincerity and love for us knowing they would not all be available to do anything for us for their 10th Anniversary Festa in June 2023. How must that have felt to them? To know that their milestone 10th Anniversary would not play out like they had envisioned way back in 2020? They thought they'd start enlisting by the end of 2020 and be finished with MS by now, so they'd be together in 2023. They had to try to come up with something spectacular for us and for themselves so that 3 years after that hot mess, we could celebrate with them. They deserve to celebrate themselves as well, they worked so hard over the past ten years.

Its the end of 2022. They looked a little tired. We know 2022 had some heartbreaking moments for them. By this time they were juggling their own projects AND the Busan concert preparation.

Hobi was ever-present sunshine, yet maybe he had a lot on his mind? Was he already thinking about his next projects and starting to contemplate an earlier than planned enlistment? We know Yoongi was trying to put finishing touches on D-Day. We know Jimin was working on at least one collab as well as his own MV concepts and promotion activities for Face and working out details for his fashion ambassadorships. Tae was busy exploring new things with fashion brands and tv shows. RM was finalizing his Indigo promotions. Jin was about to announce his enlistment plans. JK was prepping for Qatar. And here they were thinking ahead to June 2023.

I think they filmed this Festa video within days of the Busan concert. Either before or after. Remember we had a VHopeKookMin live right after the concert. I would also venture to say they also filmed this the same day as the Festa photoshoot (Love Myself campaign promo released end of November 2022):

Yet they still thoughtfully planned and executed things to be released for Festa. Concepts were conceptualized and the company took it from there and we see they've done a great job procuring deep-pocketed sponsors.

I don't understand the whole "they need to go start their own label" mindset either. I've already said it several times... they already did that, it's called BigHit Music. If BTS don't re-sign a contract its because they are retiring from releasing music. What IS plausible is a member or two starting an independent label for other up-and-coming artists so they can write and/or produce for them... all still under the HYBE umbrella.

During this solo era, I want to say things like "I think we can all agree ... [insert almost anything]" but I can't say that these days because, in my opinion, the fandom (on Twitter and other soc med platforms) has fractured into so many different factions who seem to spend a lot of time pitting themselves against other parts of the fandom for everything and anything they can find to nitpick, criticize, compare and compete with, to be angry about, that no one agrees on anything. This member is better than that member or ... and this one galls me... the company is forcing them to do this or that OR [insert member's name] sabatoged [insert other member's name].

Twitter Army yelling at Weverse Army "YOU'RE NOT DOING IT RIGHT!" Who designated Twitter Army as the dictator of all things BTS?

People berating others for not streaming the music, or trying to humiliate followers into streaming 'CORRECTLY'. The conspiracy theorists–don't get me started on that. The dissatisfaction with how the solo projects have rolled out. The constant comparison and competition of which member has the most streams in a certain time frame, who has the most songs on the chart for the longest, fastest, more countries, more collabs, more awards...whatever... It's all "my way or the highway/[member name] is the best" and it is really disappointing and tiresome to see the enormous waste of energy.

And if you are still reading, I am totally on board with what another blogger said the other day about how the entire Kpop fandom has this Kpop culture mindset deeply rooted in their way of thinking. It colors their view of EVERYTHING: that artists are treated badly by their record labels/entertainment companies to the point of being physically abused, artists are not paid well, artists are forced to do things and play roles... adhere to strict rules, etc.. because that's how the oldest companies started and some are still operating today (looking at you SM Entertainment).

That "business model" may have been "the way" in the beginning of the kpop industry because no one stood up and called them out on it. So people have come to think EVERY entertainment company operates that way when we've been shown and told over and over by many HYBE employees that its a great place to work. MANY people OUTSIDE the company, staff and other people in the music industry including other artists are blown away at the innovation and forward thinking of the company and we've even heard the members themselves say that they love their company.

Of course no company is perfect, there will be mistakes made, bad decisions, wrong projections, etc. but out of all the entertainment companies, BigHit, Bang PD and BTS have strived to change the system from the start and our own "fans" are being brainless shitheads and talking trash.

Also, HYBE can't come over here to the United States and start auditioning young people for new groups if they are operating like SM Entertainment. That shit ain't gonna fly over here. You'll have a lawsuit in a blink of an eye as soon as someone gets a whiff of sexual harassment or physical abuse of a minor. A carefully built and protected reputation would be ruined, not just Hybe's but BTS's and every other artist under Hybe's labels as well.

Yes, some things we've seen make us scratch our heads... the tight back to back release of Jimin and Yoongi's work had us all wondering what happened. Yes, Jimin's very abbreviated promotion period for Face was frustrating and disappointing. But no one knows what went on behind the scenes. If neither Jimin or Yoongi comes out and tells us what happened then I will just move forward like they are. If either of them made a mistake, we might not ever know of it, but they will correct it going forward. If the company was the one who miscalculated, they too will correct that in the future. We can call it out when we see it happening but there is no reason to dwell on it. I don't see anything positive or productive about the continued pointing fingers to blame, holding grudges and continuing to speak negatively when it's plain the members of BTS love us, work hard to show us that and deserve only to see our love reflecting back at them.

Ok so I've ranted long enough.

[Public Service Announcement: if I don't talk enough about your favorite member, or if I don't say things you want to hear about whatever is your hill you chose to die on, there is a block button way up there and also this nifty thing you can do called "scroll" that lets you ... wait for it... scroll! past my blog post so you don't have to expose yourself to my words. Its not that hard. Really. Otherwise, its all on you.]

[rederiswrites]

Ok, I swear, this one's for the people who DON'T follow K-pop, and only know BTS as some Korean boyband that uses a lot of autotune. Just to highlight some things I'm currently enjoying the hell out of from their careers. Lemme start with some context.

So in Korea, Idol is a job above and beyond just performing onstage. You are meant to be a product. An object for adoration, specifically trained and cultivated to create the sort of parasocial relationship that sells out shows and merchandise. It is fucking rigorous. It usually involves substantial economic hardship unless and until you're one of the handful of groups that makes it big. It's also blatantly predatory, and idols are chosen when they're literally kids, at most 18 usually.

Your contract with the label frequently specifies that you're not allowed to swear, smoke, date, or generally do anything not squeaky clean anywhere you might be seen, which, since they've got cameras shoved up your ass and bolted to your bed, is everywhere. Merely touching a person of the opposite sex can set off a whole scandal and get you (or the poor unfortunate you breathed near) a huge pile of hate. They're also perfectly aware that they're "just" idols, just boybands or girl bands, to a lot of people, and not considered serious musicians, even in their own country.

Idols also have a pretty short shelf-life. Korean beauty standards are, as far as I can tell, even more youth-obsessed than in the US. The oldest female artists are like, 34. There's like, one woman over 30 for every twenty under 20. Men's careers often founder on their mandated military service, which is roughly two years (depending on branch). They've got to serve that by the time they're 30.

BTS got extensions, because they're a statistically significant percent of the entire South Korean GDP. But now the elder members have got to do their service, no way around it. Kim Seokjin (Jin) went in a couple months ago, Jung Hoseok (J-Hope) a few days ago. So the group is on hiatus, there's no helping it.

That was the background. What happens now is the fun part.

The Korean government played politics, bouncing back and forth on "should idols big enough get exemptions" for years, specifically namedropping and using BTS as a political toy. BTS themselves didn't comment on any of it, and played their cards very close to their chest and said nothing about their military service. Then they did a huge concert in Busan, Korea, where they resurrected an old rap cipher which involves chanting "Fuck you I don't care, you can't control my shit", performed it with such fire that it looked like they were legit about to start a riot, and then the next week announced that they were going on hiatus and Jin was entering the military.

Since then, let's see: nearly every member has at least posted a shirtless photo, and the three youngest members have done entire photoshoots (and in one case a music video) shirtless. Jimin released a single titled "Set Me Free"--not terribly subtle--and a photoshoot he made a point of saying he'd designed from the ground up, which is SOAKED in queer symbology. I have to emphasize that these choices are all MUCH more significant than they would be in the US. Min Yoongi put an entire album full of rage and violent imagery and painful intimacy and swearing, and smoked and shot people and performed self-harm in his music videos. J Hope released an album full of dark driving rhythms utterly unlike his previous work, and broke sales records as a solo star at Lollapalooza, even while still singing and rapping primarily in Korean.

Some of the members are quieter, clearly a bit unmoored without the thing that has shaped and dictated their entire adult lives, but they're also shrugging off the idol image with deep relief. Namjoon is philosophizing and being extremely frank about mental struggles and crying on camera. Jungkook is having regular almost uncomfortably intimate lives, where he just sings along with the music or folds his laundry or even just smiles sleepily at the camera for a while. Who the hell knows what Taehyung does. Exactly as he pleases, probably, but definitely while wearing thousands of dollars of fashion and looking like the prince of the dark sidhe.

I was looking forward to this. Not to the military service, of course. As a non-Korean, I'm well aware that it's none of my damn business, but of course I don't like it. But I was looking forward to these guys slipping the leash and having lives and careers beyond the chains of idolhood. And it's been pretty awesome so far.

[zot3-flopped]

I have a lot to say on the subject of why Harry was behaving as he was in the last two or three years of 1D. (That Letdown blog is so biased, obviously, she’s ignoring so much.) It all depends on how you really, truly view all of the people in the band, maybe excluding Niall, who seemed miraculously exempt from all rancour but also interest.

I see Louis as a disruptor, a nasty little man whose idea of fun is to harm people and laugh about it. Lazy and untalented. Louis fans see him as a soft and vulnerable sweetheart with a vast intellect and sense of integrity (literally incredible to me). I see Liam as his sidekick, a young man who’s said openly he doesn’t know who he is, who followed Louis in his antics, but who worked hard on stage. I see Zayn as a person who isn’t temperamentally suited to being famous, talented up to a point, but not a giver in any sense. Fans of Zayn want him to be a musical genius with an off-the-scale talent but the fact is he’s just a somewhat good singer who unrealistically joined a boy band that got bigger than he could cope with, and anyway ended up sour because they weren’t going to be able to do r’n’b (can you imagine how pathetic it would have been for them to try).

Then I look at Harry, who must have been seeing everywhere, day after day, that he was the one with ‘it’, that he was the beating heart of the band - and he was looking round at these young men who were fucking about, disrupting stuff, taking advantage, staying unrealistic. So of course he planned to get out of 1D, which let’s face it wasn’t going to last because boybands don’t. But he never hid it, he did a lot in plain sight: building his relationship with Jeff, learning to write songs with others, changing his style, never socialising with the others, and of course being up front about not wanting to sign another contract. His fans were aware so the band was aware.

I just don’t see how any of that means he was underhanded about it. It could not have been more clear. That’s just the stuff we know about. If you think Louis is a little baby boy who deserves the world, then you must think Harry was being cruel - but to accuse him of being devious is to misuse that word. If you think Liam and Zayn deserved the most because they’re good singers, then it looks unfair that Harry wins all the time, but it’s a misunderstanding about what makes entertainment.

It’s my opinion that Harry took everything in, got the piss taken regularly by his bandmates, hated how they didn’t nurture themselves personally or professionally, wanted more for himself, knew he could deliver it. He wasn’t going to sacrifice that opportunity for the sake of a few people who would never, ever thank him for it. He worked out his contract and is only ever complimentary about his time in 1D. He made a couple of jokes/comments about Zayn but never about the others, and is on the record as saying multiple times that he enjoyed his time in the band, that there’s a strong bond between them, that they are in touch still (not sure I believe that actually but we do not know). Letdown mod seems fixated on him saying that he felt some shame and anxiety about contracts, but that doesn’t negate anything he’s also said. We are all capable of negative feelings whilst also appreciating the good in something: if we are emotionally mature, that is. In any case those aren’t the words of someone who is shitting all over his time in the band or slagging off his bandmates.

TL;DR if you are unrealistic about who 1D were as people, you might also be unrealistic about why at least 3 of them were not good to work with. It’s been years now, it’s been established that everyone knew what Harry was doing if they only had eyes to see: he wasn’t hiding it, and he was actually allowed to not sign another contract, people do that all the time if they don’t like their job.

👏👏👏👏 Agree with every word.

[wildandmoody]

got done cleaning, for whatever reason thought i would be okay to watch a clip from the This Is It movie, and then immediately got sad, upset and angry all over again too much so to write my joke ramblings from the other thing down.

Sad most obviously because most of the clips from that movie are from literally 2 days before michael died, Upset because everything leading up to the concert series was still happening despite michael's health and mental condition rapidly declining and many of the people close to him seeming to know it, and Angry because michael's higher-ups apparently brutalized him into continuing with it.

The severely fucked up circumstances around This Is It would serve as the basis of a separate essay all on its own, one that I'm certain has already been written, and one I would have to brush up on some upsetting knowledge to write myself. But it's all so fucked up. Michael said himself that he didn't want to die like so many other Black artists before him forced to work themselves to death for contract and financial reasons, and then that ended up being exactly what happened to him

It's the kind of Upset that's like. yeah i think it can count as a Black Generational pain bc not even the biggest Black artist that will ever live was exempt from being treated like a dog on account of being Black and an industry artist. It's the same story over and over again for generations of Black artists and entertainers especially in this country, and who knows how long it will continue so long as the industry continues to exist the way it does.

[vrtlkm]

OC Character Profile

Name: Laline

Species: Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk Moth

Gender: Female

   As you can tell from the species name, Laline is a bee mimic. She came to the kingdom of Hollownest in hopes of making her fortune in trading, as she heard the market in Dirtmouth was beginning to become profitable once again. 

   Though her main plan was to sell necessities to the builders and tradesmen rebuilding and restoring Dirtmouth, soon after arriving she found a much more profitable venture. Before arriving, she had heard rumors about the controversy surrounding moths and had already planned to masquerade as a bee. After she got settled in Dirtmouth and went down to explore more of Hollownest, she heard about the Hive. She also heard about the tensions between these two kingdoms and how the Hive very rarely sold any of their excess honey to Hollownest due to how heavily taxed it was. However, this tax would only apply if it came from the Hive directly, a third party seller would be exempt from this. The Hive had attempted this before, but had too many instances of the sellers trying to cheat them or trying to make more profit by watering down the honey. They also found that sales were lower and bugs were not willing to pay as much for honey not sold by a bee due to having less trust in it being authentic.   

   After gaining an audience with Queen Vespa, Laline proposed a contract between her and the Hive for her to sell the honey for them. The license she obtained that allows her to sell in the Kingdom does indicate that she is not a member of the Hive (this was only asked because the bug making her license assumed she was a bee) so she gets around the tax. Queen Vespa was intrigued, as no other potential seller had been willing to enter into a contract and the terms that Laline was proposing were fair. It was agreed by both parties that there would be a month trial period before the contract would be finalized a signed, but this ended up occurring after two weeks. Laline is a brilliant trader and she is one of those rare people who can haggle fiercely without leaving behind any hard feelings. In her hometown, it was often said that she could sell a bug their own shadow and they would leave happily, feeling as though they made an excellent deal. 

   Queen Vespa and a few other members of the Hive are aware that Laline is actually a moth. She was very upfront with Vespa about this. Vespa has no problem with Laline allowing other bugs to think she is a bee. The Hive has never had any issues with the moth tribe themselves and Laline looking like a bee improves their honey profits. Also, Vespa does find some humor in the idea of pulling one over on those stuck up aristocrats in charge of the Hollownest trade markets as well as the Pale King.   

   Laline is a very charismatic and friendly bug. She has many acquaintances and friends, though has very few close, intimate friends. This, of course, is mostly due to her current deception. She is aware of moth culture and was raised in its practices. Before coming to Hollownest, she knew more than the average bug about bee culture, but is learning even more due to her relationship with the hive. She quite likes her current life in Hollownest, though she does find it annoying how often she needs to explain to bugs that there are bee species that live independently and never become members of hives.    

Below is a picture of the bug I based her off of:

[cathkaesque]

Hello! I’m very pleased to announce that the Very Big Very Cool investigation into farmworker conditions is now available to read! You can download the full report here. There is an extremely tl;dr summary of its contents below the cut:

To give an extremely tl;dr summary of its contents: the report is focused on conditions for soft fruit (strawberries, blueberries etc) farm workers recruited via the Seasonal Worker Visa in the UK. The SWV is a temporary migration scheme which covers the migration of 57,000 workers now. Workers recruited in this scheme may stay in the UK for a maximum of 6 months, and only work in agriculture, and not come back for another 12. The 6 recruitment agencies the government has contracted to run the scheme act as the visa sponsor for the worker. They are the ones who decide which farm the worker works at; if a worker requests a transfer to a different farm, it is the recruitment agency that says yes or no to this. Workers pay for visa applications and travel costs, meaning they arrive with up to 1,000 euros of debt when they come to work in the UK - assuming the law has been followed. The visa scheme creates an indebted workforce tied to its employer, with a very limited amount of time to work hard enough to pay off the costs of migrating. We then demonstrate how these structural faults in the scheme translate into terrible working conditions for farmworkers via a series of worker testimonies. This includes an essay on the work process on a Scottish fruit farm from a researcher who went undercover for a season, and an extended interview with a Nepalese farmworker on how he was recruited to come work in the UK.

On the farm, the working day was extended to ridiculous lengths on one hand, with 14 hour days with no rest days off (the farm would tell workers they were exempt from working time legislation). On the other hand, if workers didn't meet their picking target of 16kg of fruit an hour, they would be sent back to the caravan and could potentially face having a disciplinary unpaid day off. With huge debts workers could not afford to not be earning. The picking target is meant to be when a piece rate bonus kicks in (workers are meant to be paid by the hour, but due to the sanctions for not meeting targets the reality is it’s a piece rate system), but this bonus was rarely paid. Wage theft was systematic and wages were rarely paid in full. Time for setting up was also never paid. Most interestingly there were lots of moments where workers kicked off against these conditions. For example, on the researcher’s first day, all the Bulgarian workers went on wildcat strike because they hadn't been paid their bonuses; the Indonesian workers attempted a strike against the racism of their supervisors; a group of Nepalese workers at another farm were transferred by their recruitment agency when they refused to work any longer. Most workers used to come from Ukraine on the SWV before the war, but now workers come from a whole host of different countries, mostly central asian and south east asian countries where UK recruiting agencies have very little experience. AG Recrutiment, the main one, subcontracted to lots of Nepali and Indonesian agencies when they couldn't source workers from Ukraine. The interview with the Nepali worker talks about how third party brokers have come to control the labour market in Nepal: they are the ones who go out to villages and inform workers of the availability of the visa. They will approach a potential worker, tell them they have connections to the recruiting agency, and say they'll get them a place if they give them £2,000 and their passport. They'll ask for more money to bump them up the queue (there's so few places! you've got to pay to get through!), or for additional documents, english classes, etc, that are not really needed. Meanwhile the broker is applying to the scheme in the worker’s name using a fake email account. The interviewed worker ended up paying £4,345 to third party brokers and it was impossible for him to earn enough to pay it off while also supporting family in Nepal. The worker also talks about how other migration schemes have taken a lot of measures that the UK could adopt to prevent this from happening. 

These bits are the highlight of the report and show something I really wanted to get across, that workers are not just passive victims of exploitation or just inputs into the system that we are short of. These are people with their own agency and ideas on how to improve things, who aren't taking what's happening to them lying down. To understand who benefits from this exploitation, we undertook a value chain analysis which breaks down the share of the price of a punnet of strawberries between the worker, the farmer, and the supermarket. From the (extremely complete) annual accounts of a farm in Kent, we estimate that 54% of the final value went to the supermarket, 26% went to the farm, and 14% (gross) went to the workers. When you take into account visa costs, travel costs, food and subsistence costs, rent payments to the farmer, this is reduced to 7.6% in retained earnings. This figure is further reduced if third party broker fees have been paid. For fees of £1,700 (the lowest paid by Indonesian workers) the share of retained earnings reduces to 2.2%; for fees of £5,000 (experienced by these workers) workers lose money coming to the UK, retaining -5.5%. This ultimately translates into wages which are lower than the UK thresholds for absolute poverty. Workers stay on average in the UK for 17 weeks before having to return home, and earn on average £5,494 (gross) during that time. This of course doesn't account for wage theft. We made this (super cool) graphic to go along with it.

The final chapter looks at strategies for organising workers in a similar situation, the tomato industry in Florida. In Florida, farmworkers organised themselves into the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. By teaming up with consumer groups such as students, the CIW managed to force 14 major supermarkets and fast food companies to sign agreements with them. These agreements mandated that buyers pay extra to fund wage increases and work with farmworkers to enforce standards on working conditions. Buyers pay an extra 1-4 cents per pound of tomatoes, which are paid as a bonus. This has resulted in a 25-50% wage increase for workers. Buyers also commit to not source from farms which violate the terms of the agreement until the CIW has been able to work with them to bring them back up to standards. The threat of market sanction has meant that issues with wage theft, third party broker fees, sexual assault on farms, and forced labour have been massively reduced. These policies aim to reverse the tendency within buyer led supply chains, where farms compete with one another to meet the demands of supermarkets for cheap produce, resulting in very tight margins for growers which growers then resolve through intensifying and degrading working conditions.

The report ends with a series of recommendations, which demand that supermarkets pay extra to fund wage increases and compensation for defrauded workers, the government moves away from temporary migration schemes and works with current and former farmworkers to develop new approaches to seasonal labour migration, and that a farmworker organisation is established to provide immediate support for workers taking action and to campaign for better conditions.

Yoooo my Very Big Very Cool investigation into farmworker conditions in the UK will launch next Monday, if you would like to hear me talk about it tune in 5pm GMT on here :)

[spiceseal]

✦✦✦✦KINKTOBER/FLUFFTOBER MASHUP✦✦✦✦

October 9: Monster Fucking. Kink. Prompt day 13

Incubus!Suguru Geto x Fem!College student Reader

Ivy's Mashup List. And Kinktober list.

Mentions- Suguru is a Demon. There’s a brief mention of a blood but nothing sexual about it. Summoning demons. Size difference, cockwarming, tummy bulge, excessive amount of cum. Uh female anatomy. Reader develops a crush over time and Geto enjoys her. Lots of talk about him being pretty. Praises. A little sad towards the end for Reader but it ends on a happier note.

Word count- 2100+ (ITS ALOT )

Notes- my first jjk fic!! :3 I gOt too into this one. Might be self-indulged but I think he’d be a pErfect incubus <3. I did start a drawing for thisss fic but I’ll have to post it later cause I want to post this now. No beta reader cause I don’t have one. So enjoy!

Suguru Geto was a highly sought out Incubus. He was flexible, adaptable; able to change sizes, or parts of him just for those dumb enough humans who summoned him. He could even alter his appearance to mimic someone else if his clients wanted. With each time, a human would summon him more often, the more he fed on their soul and soon would completely own it. At the end, he would eat their hearts out. Causal demon treats.

However, there was an expectation for a few humans that were exempted from that cruel fate. In your case, you were special. You accidentally summoned him when you were trying to summon a completely different demon. At first, you apologized profusely and made a blood offering as an apology. The notion made him laugh but he accepted the apology. Because of your slip up and your offering not being enough to satisfy Geto’s demonic hunger, he kept popping up in your life (completely out of his control too). Due to his summoning spell, the contract wasn’t completed.

He had been waiting for the day that you would need to relieve your lustful desires. Geto was beautiful and his charm would work on anyone. He was adorned in jewelry and gold, he hardly wore any clothes. Well a sheer cover for his waist for “decency”. But with his toned body and sculpted features, you should have been on your knees, begging for him to ruin you. But you never did. So Suguru waited for you to cave into his seduction but instead, you took pity for him. You were unaware of the terms and conditions of that summon spell nor did the demon didn’t flat out tell you either. Gradually, he took advantage of the situation. You allowed him to relax at your home whenever he was forced to be in the realm of humans with you. You were starting to spoil him with comforting things and your company when you went home from work or school. The desire to taste you and find out exactly how to make you cum dwindled but not by much. The curiosity lingered in the back of his mind until one late night. A night that made you special.

You could barely focus on your midterm paper. You sighed shakily at your desk. Geto was about to prepare to go home (finally). He glanced at you and raised a brow. Before he could ever speak, the scent hit him. It was a very familiar smell. It almost made the demon purr.

He watched your fidgeting body and legs. You kept squeezing your thighs together and crossing them. All that sexual frustration was building up inside of you. What luck! Geto walked towards your desk, he towered you whether you were standing or sitting. “Are you alright, Y/n?”

You flinched and looked up with a flushed face. You looked so embarrassed and adorable to him. The sight of you struggling could’ve made him drool.

“I’m fine, I just need to take a cold shower to refocus. Nothing to worry about, this paper is just a lot of work to do.” You reassured him and yourself as best as you could. Geto bent down beside your chair. You stared at the demon and felt your face get redder.

He knew it all too well. And so did you. You were entranced by his perfect face. He was so handsome. His long hair looked so soft. His eyes had a warm gaze. The dark brown color made you melt. He smelt good and looked like his skin was too smooth to be real. You glanced at his lips before looking at his eyes. You had always found him attractive but you always tried to push those feelings away since he was there doing a job. But you couldn’t hold back anymore. “You should let me help you ‘refocus’. I’ll be better than any old cold shower and a toy. Do you want my help?”

You nodded without hesitation before leaning forward and desperately kissing him. The action caught him off guard but it showed how desperate you were for him. He cupped the back of your head and kissed you until you felt dizzy. His tongue licked over your lips briefly. With each kiss, you felt yourself getting wetter. Geto opened an eye to see you rocking your hips at nothing. He hummed in amusement before placing his hand between your legs. His palm was pressed flat against you. You whined against him and despite knowing you’d never do this, you were grinding your hips against his hand.

Geto pulled away from the kiss to watch you hump his hand through your pants. “Y-you tease..!” You pouted at him and desperately held onto his wrist to get more fiction or pressure or anything. Your hips were no longer moving in a good rhythm. He laughed before standing up. You were about to protest and beg but he practically picked you up like a doll before setting you on the bed. “Don’t worry, I won’t tease you… for right now.” Geto removed your clothes. He licked his lips as he stared down at your nude body.

He flicked one of your nipples just to watch it harden. Geto cupped your breasts before squeezing them and rolling his thumbs over your nipples. The demonic man was completely enamored with your chest and honestly enjoying the action. You on the other hand, had a build up of a need to cum immediately. You bit your bottom lip before glancing at his waist. “I don’t think I can wait through foreplay..” you mumbled to him.

“Ooh? Alright then.” His voice was enough to make you melt. It was deep and suave. He never sounded upset or annoyed with you. “Do you have a preference on how you want me to look? I can sound and look like anyone you want.” He asked as he removed the coverall from his waist. The sheer fabric did hide specific “details” but his toned thighs and the sight of just how large he was, snapped you into reality. Even his cock was pretty. It made your mouth water and your heartbeat quickened.

“Holy shit.. I-I want you to look like you.. I like you for you..” you said after swallowing hard. You kept admiring his body and how amazed at how every inch of him was perfect.

Geto chuckled before pushing you to lay down. He sat between your legs and prodded a few fingers into your needy hole. “Will you let me try to fit it all in?” He cooed at you, you nodded without much of a thought. The action caused you to blush darkly and your mind wandered if it would even fit. Despite those thoughts, you replied.

“You can do whatever you want to me..” Your words were music to his ears. Almost in relief, Suguru grabbed your legs and pressed his hands on the back of your knees. To him, you looked delicious, with your body exposed and legs spread for him. As much as he was dying to taste you and tongue-fuck you, he obeyed your wishes.

You assumed you were going to be in pain for the sheer size and girth of that. Maybe it was the fact that he was incubus and could make it painless? Something you’d have to ask him later. Your body still reacted to his touch. But he took his time with you, to stuff you full of his cock. Geto wasted no time to drown your voice out with his lips. His hips movements were slower as he ease you into it more. The sounds he drew out of you with each stroke were memorizing.

Suguru found the way that your body reacted and adjusted to him was beautiful. Your legs trembling, your warm fluttering walls clenched around his length in just the right away. Your hands clung desperately to his back, and the way you whine for his lips to be on yours. The way his cock gave you a stomach bulge. The fucked out expression on your face. It was all too much for him. It was almost like a human was seducing for him for once.

You tried so hard to hold off on your orgasm but the way he was ruthlessly pounding you and his moans sent you over. You cried out in pleasure and tried to cover your face in embarrassment from coming so fast. Feeling your gummy walls clench around him made him groan out. Nonetheless, Geto praised you. “Don’t hide from me, Y/n. You looked so pretty coming on my cock. Please do it again for me, beautiful. You can do that, yeah?” You nodded quickly at him.

Sadly, you couldn’t last as long as he wanted all night. Your orgasm and your body sensitive sky rocketed from him fucking exactly how you liked it. Being in a post orgasm hazy, you let him lazily cockwarm you and pump you full of cum.

Geto was spooning you, he pressed kisses against your neck as he held your thigh up. His cum was dripping and oozing out of your cunt as he tried to fuck more into you. His other hand was squeezing and pinching at your nipple. You couldn’t really remember the sweet praises he mumbled into your ear. But all you knew was that you were completely in heaven. Geto thought your attempt to keep up with him was sweet.

In the morning, you woke up sore, sticky, sweaty and alone. On top of that, your midterm wasn’t done either. A part of you was sad that he was gone. A part of you was thankful since he wouldn’t have to be there while you cleaned up. You did your best to carry on as normal but you were left bed ridden for a while. The next few days, he didn’t show again.

You were craving his touch but ultimately, you missed him too. He became a part of your daily routine. You debated on summoning him again. While contemplating, you decided to read the passages about him and his contract. Giving up your soul and letting him eat your heart out outweighed the need to see him again. He was a demon after all. So… you gave up on him. Or at least try and hope that someone would be able to satisfy even half of your sexual needs like he could.

When that failed, you gave in and summoned him once more. You sat on the floor across from the summon circle. You glanced up to see Suguru Geto sitting before you. You smiled at him before inviting out of the summon circle.

Geto was more than pleased to see you again. He had been waiting on you to bring him back. He thought- well he hoped that you would have summoned him back immediately. But you didn’t until that moment. Quickly, he crawled over you and pressed kisses against your lips.

You pressed your hand to his chest to stop him. You stared up at the man to take in his features again. This time looking at the one that specifically made him like a demon. His pointed ears, the horns, tail, the cat like claws? He was massive and despite his charm, was deadly. You frowned and looked into your eyes. “Are you going to kill me after I cum?”

“What-?” He laughed at the first thing you decided to say to him. Geto quickly realized the very concerned look on your face. “To answer your question, no. I can guarantee your soul won’t be mine and I won’t kill you. Unless you ask me too.” That only seemed to bother you more from his perspective.

“Does that mean I’ll never see you again?” Seeing you look sad or almost hurt was troublesome for him. Normally, he would've lied and given the person false hope. But for whatever reason, he couldn’t do that to you. He couldn’t pinpoint why he couldn’t. Whether it was because he liked what you had to offer or that he liked you didn’t matter at the moment. Whichever reason seemed to fuel him to be honest.

Geto simply chuckled and shook his head. He cupped your face with one hand, “I promise, this won’t be the last time you see me. Maybe not as often as before, but don’t worry about that now. I’m here, aren’t I?”

You couldn’t help but smile at his response. “Okay, yeah… you’re right.” Geto returned a smile before kissing you once again.

Some visits were definitely horny and other visits were softer. Suguru Geto made an exception for you. He cherished your soul in a different way <3

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hi! You said recently that Octavinelle is the dorm that gets mischaracterized the most out of all and I was wondering how exactly that mischaracterization by fans looks like? I'm curious and on the other hand would also like to avoid writing them in an ooc way so maybe you could give some points on what to avoid so that we can write the Octatrio better? Thank you in advance!! :D

[Referencing this post!]

***Before I begin, I just want to make the disclaimer that everyone is allowed to interpret and to write fictional characters however they wish. This advice is only based on my OWN interpretation, and that interpretation is based on the behaviors I have observed of these characters in canon.***

I’ll try to keep these points short! If I covered every little mischaracterization in the gandom 💦 we’d be here forever, so I tried to just focus on the main ones I saw.

Azul

His issues stemming from childhood should not be oversimplified or resolved quickly. He also does NOT like sharing about his past self. Most of the reason why Azul is the way he is today is because he wanted to reinvent himself as someone strong, smart, and capable. It is fair to say that he was deeply traumatized by his experiences as a victim of bullying, and that it is something he is extremely insecure about. (Something I want to clarify: Azul was not bullied JUST about his body, but also about his speed and intelligence; most people tend to focus on the body aspect.) Azul won’t open up to others so easily on the topic, and he certainly won’t “get over” his insecurities in an instant. He’s professional and comes off as amicable, but those are just fronts for how guarded he is.

He isn’t greedy just for the sake of a punch line or a joke. There is a reason for his greed: it’s an easy indicator of success. He, in part, accumulates wealth and power because it helps to quell his insecurities. That’s why Azul loses his cool when Leona destroyed his contracts in episode 3--those indicators of his success, of his “growth” from being a pathetic crybaby octopus, were suddenly taken away from him. People tend to focus on his greed for comedy or as a core character trait without maybe considering WHY it is a large part of who he is. It’s like how Ruggie has to be frugal because he comes from an impoverished background; Azul is greedy because he has something to prove, and an ego to protect.

He’s not a crybaby (at least, not as big of a crybaby as the fandom makes him out to be). This point is… complicated? Yes, Azul has his moments of weakness and breaks down, but he has been actively trying to move on from that part of him. He has been working hard to make a new identity for himself. At one point, Floyd even remarks that Azul is “no longer” the crybaby octopus he once knew—Azul has changed from who he was back then, he just retains some of the same insecurities. But so often do I see people focus on and even romanticize the sad, crybaby side of Azul, even though he has been shown to get annoyed or defensive when reminders of it are brought up, even though he doesn’t want to show that part of himself even to the twins (his closest confidants).

Jade

He’s not smiles and service at all times, he’s sometimes got something up his sleeve. A lot of the time I see Jade interpretations as “oh, he’s polite but he’ll occasionally tease you”. I don’t think that it’s necessarily wrong, but I so rarely see Jade written where he is actually being clever, outsmarting others, or getting involved in an underhanded scheme. This can mostly be chalked up to the fact that writing such things (and writing them well) can be difficult, as you’d have to be vague enough about what Jade’s doing so as to be inconspicuous to the audience, only to lead up to that big “ah-hah” moment when all is revealed.

Even the people he likes and cares for are not exempt from his underhandedness. This is mostly something I’ve observed in fics of the romantic variety. Jade’s usually written as nothing but extremely nice and gentlemanly to his S/O, and that feels... off? Jade doesn’t hold back from being snarky to Azul and Floyd (the two characters he is closest to in canon), from laughing at Floyd getting beaten up on their first day of school by Riddle to embarrassing Azul by forcing him into a compromising situation where he has to dance in front of a bunch of strangers. Jade DOESN’T always have malicious intent in what he says and does, but that doesn’t mean that he won’t use others for his own amusement.

He’s not emotional. I don’t mean “he’s not emotional” like “he’s a robot”, I mean that he’s not emotional in that Jade is secretive and hides his true emotions from the public eye. Furthermore, he likes to have control, and that extends to his emotions and how he expresses them publicly. You won’t find him crying or losing his temper so easily. He doesn’t even lose it when Azul Overblots; he DOES express some concern, but not to the point of completely losing control of his emotions.

Floyd

He isn’t dumb. DLABIFBAFIBFAQWRGJVQ I GENUINELY DON’T KNOW WHERE PEOPLE GET THE IMPRESSION THAT FLOYD IS STUPID FROM. The game has made it clear several times that Floyd is extremely talented, but that if he isn’t in the right mood, he just fucks right off and doesn’t try. He’s like Leona--Floyd CAN be really smart, but he doesn’t always put forth the effort to put those smarts to use.

He cannot be contained. There’s kind of this notion that just being around or with his loved ones will clear Floyd’s mood up. There’s also a sentiment that Floyd can be... controlled? In truth, Floyd doesn’t like being restrained, he just wants to do whatever he wants to. Someone telling him to calm down or to cheer up won’t magically make it happen. We are given a few instances in the game when Azul and/or Jade (the people Floyd trusts the most, to the point where he use their actual names instead of nicknames) straight up say when Floyd gets in a mood, it’s sometimes easier to just not deal with it altogether and just let it blow over with time. 

He CAN hurt you. Floyd’s really cute, but it would be remiss to think that he would never hurt a fly. His “squeezes” can be dangerous (episode 3 even opens with Floyd “squeezing” a mob student so hard that they pass out), yet I see so many fics that undersell the danger they pose. Heck, it feels like most fics just interpret “squeezing” as innocent hugs without really acknowledging the other side of it... 

Ultimately, it comes down to BALANCE. No character is entirely soft or entirely cruel; to write them well, you must be able to delicately juggle the two, just as TWST has.

I can’t really give writing advice in this aspect because it takes time and practice to get right. The best I can say is to reference official materials as often as you can, and maybe ask yourself questions as you’re reading their dialogue to get yourself to think deeply about it. “Why is he acting this way?”, “Is he telling the truth? If not, why might he want to be hiding it?”, etc.

[visage-of-hell]

Ah, there it was. Subtle, but it was there. It was enough to assure her that there was something there, despite his insistence otherwise. And honestly, why wouldn't she think so? If his 'thousands of deals' had even a kernel of truth to them, it was silly to think that each and every one of them had all gone the way he had hoped. Powerful as he was, at the end of the day, he was a mortal soul--if even the mightiest beings in creation could be flawed creatures who erred ... someone like Alastor was not exempt. For the moment, though, she didn't press it, merely mouthing a wordless 'oh' and nodding slowly. There would be chances to revisit this line of conversation another time. For now? The very last thing she wanted to continue thinking about was 'deals' and 'contracts'. Even if just for a night, she wanted to pretend that everything was still the way it was before accepting that accursed invitation--the illusion of normalcy. "Got anywhere y'need to be, Smiles? I'm kinda over all this shit, t'be honest. What does a fella like you do for fun, mm?" Well ... she already knew some things that tickled his fancy ... buuuuut she hoped those weren't going to be the first things that popped into his mind. Surely he would be able to pick up on why she was asking such a question, right...? With as much of a mess as her thoughts were that night, she didn't trust herself to be able to distract herself on her own ... and she knew that it would come off as too suspicious if she approached any of her employees with the sudden desire to just 'hang out'. For better or for worse, the Radio Demon was her only remaining companion for the moment.

She didn't articulate it aloud, but inwardly she was almost glad for the Radio Demon's disinterest in more modern forms of media. It meant that should Valentino ever decide to make that demoralizing video public in any meaningful way ... she'd at least be able to rest assured that Alastor would never lay eyes on it. One less source of shame she could rely upon in a situation that already left her feeling as though her hands were tied. "First and last time I ever go behind enemy lines like that. Especially alone. That was real fuckin' stupid of me..." With a low sigh that trailed off into a rumbling growl, she glanced over her shoulder at Alastor with a slight raise of one brow. A thoughtful expression was rising up through that sour twinge of self-loathing as an idea seemed to flit across her mind. "...You're awfully knowledgeable on the subject, though. That just because you're always makin' deals, or is there a smidgen of personal experience mixed up in there...?" She couldn't shake the feeling that there was something about the way he felt compelled to intervene ... how this was the subject of choice for him to feel the need to impart wisdom--to educate ... It all just felt off in a way she couldn't really put her finger on. She was no fool, though--the likelihood of getting a straight answer out of a demon like Alastor was nil to none, but that wasn't the point. There were still truths to be gleaned by however he chose to respond.

[kainscape]

Slashers with an S/O who talks in their sleep

@chibizombiebehindyou: Could you do the slashers (including Asa and Jesse) with a reader who talks in their sleep?

A/N: Decided to do this in a short prompt type of writing piece so I can practice writing short stories without going way overboard

A/N: okay maybe it’s not as short as I thought but hey, it’s not over 2 pages- yeah no it’s pretty lengthy 💀 and it’s not proofread ‼️

Bo Sinclair

It was a consuming and bone-breaking job that the Sinclair brothers did. Therefore, sleep was never guaranteed. But, with you? You decided on your own that you would keep yourself awake to see Bo come home in one piece. He always brushed your worry off as your so called obsession with him. After a few times of butchering your sleep schedule, it wasn't long before you were fast asleep when Bo retuned home. He made his way up the stairs, shedding his boots at the top. Discarding his mechanic coveralls, he was left in a stained but washed grey t shirt and his boxers. He had heard some quiet mumbling but didn't really look into it. The noise had vanished as he pulled back some of the old cover, slowly resting his body beside you. You had looked dead asleep, your body contracting slow and steady breaths. Exempt your mouth moving and forming words. He smirked, realizing you were taking in your sleep. He had some assumptions about it when you would ask questions with no reasoning. He wasn’t too worried. He propped himself up on his elbow to look over at you. “What do you mean you didn’t see it?! It was as big as your ass dude!” That���s something he’s never heard before. He couldn’t help but genuinely laugh at your behavior, shaking his head until he heard his name. “Well, Bo, what else do you want me compare it to, your dick!? Yeah right.” His face deadpanned, furrowing his eyebrows. He scoffed, turning over dramatically as he rolled his eyes. He faced away from you, biting the inside of his cheek. In the morning, he might tease you or ask questions around what you said. Either way, he’s not bothered by it.

Vincent Sinclair

It had been a long day for the boys and you within Ambrose. What a better way to go to sleep cuddled up together and arise later in the day by Bo? Of course, you were always first within the bed, already dead asleep and dreaming of whatever your mind wander to. Vincent kept awareness of where the creeks were in the floorboards, avoiding them so he could peacefully lay in bed next to your sleeping form. Yet he heard some prominent mumbling coming from you, serving closer and gently easing up the blankets to slip in. He had removed his mask already, carefully turning to face you. You had your arm over your eyes, mouth open and moving from incoherent sentences. But one was clear as day, “I’m convinced Vincent uses Gucci conditioner and shampoo, my god.” You mumbled a few after that but he was utterly confused. Why were you talking about that weird brand you had showed him once, and why did it correlate to your dream?? He shook his head gently, scooting closer and resting his arm across your waist/stomach, pulling himself against your form until he fell asleep to your rhythmic breathing. Sometimes, he’s entertained by your night time conversations.

Lester Sinclair

Your boyfriend had a fairly easy job compared to his brothers, but when there were visitors piling up after one another, it took a whole lot longer to come back home to you and your shared bed. The frogs and cicadas were a whole lot louder than usuals, but it was like a lullaby to you by now. Which queues the small mumbling escaping your mouth. He was quiet when he came, but of course, Lester wasn’t the best at silence. Luckily you were to lost in your dream to realize he was already snuggling in beside you. He had took notice of your nonsense sentences from time to time, not that it bothered him. If anything, it was an entertaining thing to listen to before going to sleep. It gave him a sense of what your brain really thinks of. “Lester… if I dressed up as roadkill… would you pick me up too?” He tried so damn hard to stifle his laugh, his body almost shaking as you formed a stupid grin on your face. Lester took in a deep breath, biting the inside of his cheek as he buried his head into the side of your neck. “Sure, hun’” he was sure to keep his words to a hush, taking note to your shared silence. There was a comfortable coldness that covered your bodies compared to the blistering heat outside. What a way to end the day.

Will Graham

Go to work, panic, panic some more and get no sleep. This was Wills routine even with you trying to hassle him into bed. He was always focused on something, or just simply to stubborn to let himself rest for once. But tonight, he had one hell of an excuse. Jack had kept him for a lot longer than both of you would like. But you knew what you signed up for when you accepted to go on a date with Will. You figured out after multiple nights of fruitless attempts at staying up and waiting for your boyfriend, you just gave in and went to sleep on your own terms. This gave Will the opportunity to overthink in peace without the guilt of making you worry. The job had took a huge toll on his physical capacity, leading him to shrugging off his clothing while he made his way to the side of the bed. He rubbed his eye, yawning as he lifted the blanket to the new queen bed you guys had bought, giving more room for dogs and the two of you. He stopped his motions, watching closely as you turned your body towards him. You were mouthing words but they were quiet and blotched. Will slowly slid underneath the covers, feeling his body sink in the end to a relaxed position. He had took not of your sleep talking, not bothered by it. To be honest, he likes to hear what you would say when you weren’t conscious of it. “I wish we had one of those stress powered lightbulbs…” A very quiet and short chuckle made its way out of you, “of course it’s for you, you could probably power Russia with how much stress you have.” And with that, he scoffed and turned the other way, mumbling to himself before attempting to sleep.

Jason Voorhees

Jason always makes sure you’re getting enough rest for your health. He’s adamant about you being your best self with a healthy body and mind. But, he’s never really surprised to see you up waiting for him time to time, honestly he can’t complain. He loves seeing you there in the cabin with the fire still going as you greet him with that beautiful smile. It’s truly warming for him. The rest of the nights, you’re always in the dark comfort of your shared room, resting atop the creaking bed and under the quilt blankets. The cabin door whipped open, quickly caught by the giant hand wrestling against the harsh winter wind. He tried his best to quietly close the door, pushing the lock in place he had added after a break in from a trespasser happened. He observed the room, laying his machete within the kitchen sink after shedding his jacket and laying it on the chair around the wood table. Expertly avoiding the creaks in the floor, he gently pushed open the bedroom door, slipping in without a sound. There was a severely dim light coming from the window, which shadowed over your face just right so he could see you. Jason had took off his boots while he listening to the common small talk from your sleeping form. You guys had decided to look in all the cabins, landing on the jackpot of a bigger bed so you could have more room. Therefore, it wasn’t a huge hassle for Jason to slip into the bed without the alarm of waking you. You were turned away from him, slow breaths from to body. The hockey mask laid on the dusty end table, facing up as Jason looked down at you. A small smile formed on his lips, listening as your talking grew a little more coherent. “Come on Jason, you got all that cake.. and you’re not gonna give me none?” His smile slowly faded, realizing what you meant by ‘cake.’ It ha mentioned before, especially when you went out of your way to slap his ass and look him in eyes to say, “a whole damn bakery back there..” Jason took it on himself to get used to it, not bothered by the comments. He shook his head, inching down so he could pull you closer to his chest, a very strong arm wrapped around you.

Michael Myers

There’s never a sleep schedule with the two of you. There’s times where Michael is out for days at time, retuning only when your asleep and unknowing. There are those very rare times like this one where you’re aware of Michaels presence in the bed while you drift of into sleep. He’s definitely not the type to pull you close or make a move to hold you, but he’s not going to push you away if you wrap yourself around him. Which is where you lay on his chest, listening to his eternally calmed heart beat as you knocked out. It had took a damn long time, but you achieved the privilege of seeing Michael without the infamous mask you grew accustomed too. His eyes usually zeroed in on the ceiling, waiting until he need to close his eyes came. But this time, he looked down at you shifting a bit in his chest, a few words spoken. “I really don’t know how people can’t smell you form your hiding places.. I can literally smell you before you walk in a room.. it’s not a good thing either.” His eyebrows furrowed together, trying to understand why you were composing about how he.. smelled. Yet here you are, your face completely shoved into his chest. He gave you an unimpressed eye roll, turning his head on the pillow for an attempt at some sleep. He found it rather amusing that you would speak whatever you thought without restrictions when you would sleep talk. Something to quietly tease you about.

Jesse Cromeans

He had already experienced your sleep taking, the cameras in his house capturing anything you did. Sometimes you asked questions or said random comments, all that made Jesse smirk or silently laugh. He had also taken notice to the earlier times you went to bed, your stubborn idea to stay up and wait for him dying down. He didn’t mind this, satisfied with your healthy sleep schedule returning. He set the tapes in a box for tomorrow’s checking. Jesse eased open the bedroom door, a small ray of light traveling across the room to reveal the bed you laid in. The black silk sheets covering your sound figure. He pushed the door back closed, taking off all his work attire to be left in his boxers and undershirt. He shimmied underneath the covers, slowly scooting closer to your body. Of course, there were some unconscious words to be shared. “I just realized I’ve got to sleep in every room…” there was some silence before you spoke again, “why?… look don’t even worry about.” There was humorous tone in the last sentence, one that felt oddly genuine for someone asleep. He shook his head, smiling while he took in your scent that comforted him. His hands caressed any exposed skin as the room fell silent, including his mind as you both shared a deep sleep.

Asa Emory

It wasn’t something he really cared to take notice about, never really sleeping at the same time as you due to his large amounts of work he took on. It was to the point he would drift off into a dreamless sleep on his desk. Not that you could really do anything about it with his stubborn view point, so you kept to yourself and went to your bed without him. Well, went to bed also meant brining a pillow and blanket down to Asas work place and sleeping the the chair. You just wanted to feel your boyfriends presence before you fell asleep. He only looked up for a few before looking back down at the scatter of papers, shuffling though some before writing. You made yourself as comfortable as you could get, sighing as you let your body relax. The sleep came easier than expected, the few sniffles sounding in the room letting you know Asa was still there. It was oddly comforting. A flash of worry did strike you, the worry that your sleep talking would annoy him, causing you to have to leave. But it was worth the few bits of it. Asa sighed, running his hand down his face as he battled the tired feeling back. Lending back in his seat, he crossed his arms while looking up to you in the leather chair. Without a warning, a question was asked out loud from you, “What color box would I get if I was one of your butterflies?” He tilted his head, furrowing his eyebrows before humoring himself by answering, “Red. To match the original one.” It seems like your dream had answered for you, the words quiet on your tongue as your chest arose slowly. Asa took in another breath before rising to his feet, walking over to you. He brought a hand up to your resting face, his thumb brushing your drink. What a beautiful butterfly you would be.

[hintsoftheredlightdistrict]

Very frustrated that I keep seeing people on here complain about 25th Bam's supposed plot armor when that's actually one of his main character flaws.

Like sure, he can withstand some attacks he shouldn't be able to, and he can punch well above his metaphorical weight class. If you're willing to read through this, I want to do my best to convince you of two things - first, that Bam has always been written with this intent in mind (i.e. that this is not a case of runaway power levels a la Dragon Ball) and second, that the themes of the story are directly served by Bam being OP (i.e. that much of the series' emotional weight is not just in spite of Bam's power, but because of it). I'll be talking about the current arc so if you care about spoilers this is your one and only warning

In order to illustrate the first point as briefly as possible, let's go over a bulleted list of some major moments in Bam's life, as well as some notes on what we can learn from these about Bam's desires and eventual conflicts.

Bam spends his early life in extreme isolation in a cave. He has one friend who occassionally visits, Rachel. As such, Bam has a strong desire for companionship and autonomy.

Rachel tells him not to leave the cave. I can think of three main reasons for this: 1) that Rachel was worried people outside would abuse or manipulate Bam, 2) that Rachel feared Bam's destiny would directly interfere with her dreams in some way, or 3) that the physical environment or the nature of Bam's resurrection prevented him from being able to survive outside.

Bam makes a contract with the Administrator on the 2nd Floor. The Administrator tells him that this contract - arguably the source of Bam's abilities as a Wave Controller - is a shackle. Bam's powers are thus suggested to come at the expense of his autonomy.

FUG manipulates the 2nd Floor testing process to separate Bam from his friends, essentially using them as hostages to make him participate as JVG, Slayer Candidate in their bid to commit regicide. Bam's power and his Irregular status are both explicitly cited in the text as reasons FUG interfered in his life and endangered his friends. Because Irregulars are not bound to the rules of the Tower, Bam is thought to be one of the rare few exempt from the rules of Jahad's immortality contract. This makes Bam's desire for autonomy tragic, because his unusual capability to act as he wants

Bam, as JVG, allows himself to be pulled into the newly-formed Team Sweet & Sour. His FUG mentor realizes how important it is for him to have these new friends and decides not to punish him for violating FUG's earlier command that he pass the floor test alone. From this point on he has three teams of people who are for the most part significantly weaker than himself who all want to climb the Tower with him.

Ok, this got much longer than intended already so time for the lightning round

Bam's initial motivation to be with Rachel

SIU deciding to have Bam basically unaware of, and uninvolved in, Horyang's recovery.

Bam initially rejecting Blue Thryssa's offer of tyrannical power

Endorsi's team turning against Bam temporarily in the Name Hunt Station

Bam's failed promise to save Deng Deng

Khun and Hatz's homoerotically-charged anxiety about the increasing possibility that Bam will simply become too powerful for them to keep up with him, and their desire to continue climbing the Tower with him as long as they can.

Here's a question about the bolded bits above - are these the strategic decisions of someone who intrinsically values victory and strength? Are these conflicts that Bam could have overcome through sheer power and durability? Does Bam's power lend itself to the type of life he wants to live?

This has been a lot, so let's return to the issue at hand: the idea that Bam is 'overpowered' or has 'plot armor.' As much as the phrase 'plot armor' irks me, I do think it signifies a real issue with how stories driven by a Main Character often struggle to make mortal threats the Main Character faces seem credible. I think this is actually one of the reasons for the recent ubiquity of power-fantasy based isekai - faced with the task of dangling the marshmellow over the campfire only to yank it out at the perfect golden-brown moment, some decide not to bother and just eat them straight from the bag instead. There is no 'correct' way to write a story, but in my opinion the most promising isekai authors often do what SIU has done with Tower of God - convert narrative weakness into strength by using the protagonist's invincibility and immense power as a catalyst to introduce conflicts that these superhuman traits cannot directly solve.

I'm sorry if you feel like Bam's power dulls the stakes of the story, but in my opinion these are the highest the stakes have ever been. He has brought some of his closest friends to war with Jahad's army, endangering their lives for the sake of one man - one of the guys responsible for threatening his friends to begin with, at that. Even if weaker characters like Shibisu manage to make it out of this thing without serious injury or death, they will be targets of Jahad's soldiers and assassins for the rest of their lives. Physically, Bam will survive and continue to grow stronger and climb the Tower after the Nest. But otherwise? I see no reason to believe the Nest will do anything less than humble Bam to an unprecedented degree.