#THE UNITED STAND U ARE THE PROBLEM

[killa-trav]

my head is so fucking hot oh my god

[nothingweirdhere]

just had to block some ppl for playing trans men vs trans women oppression olympics on my dash during pride month

[lurkiestvoid]

You're being targeted by disinformation networks that are vastly more effective than you realize. And they're making you more hateful and depressed.

(This essay was originally by u/walkandtalkk and posted to r/GenZ on Reddit two months ago, and I've crossposted here on Tumblr for convenience because it's relevant and well-written.)

TL;DR: You know that Russia and other governments try to manipulate people online. But you almost certainly don't how just how effectively orchestrated influence networks are using social media platforms to make you -- individually-- angry, depressed, and hateful toward each other. Those networks' goal is simple: to cause Americans and other Westerners -- especially young ones -- to give up on social cohesion and to give up on learning the truth, so that Western countries lack the will to stand up to authoritarians and extremists.

And you probably don't realize how well it's working on you.

This is a long post, but I wrote it because this problem is real, and it's much scarier than you think.

How Russian networks fuel racial and gender wars to make Americans fight one another

In September 2018, a video went viral after being posted by In the Now, a social media news channel. It featured a feminist activist pouring bleach on a male subway passenger for manspreading. It got instant attention, with millions of views and wide social media outrage. Reddit users wrote that it had turned them against feminism.

There was one problem: The video was staged. And In the Now, which publicized it, is a subsidiary of RT, formerly Russia Today, the Kremlin TV channel aimed at foreign, English-speaking audiences.

As an MIT study found in 2019, Russia's online influence networks reached 140 million Americans every month -- the majority of U.S. social media users.

Russia began using troll farms a decade ago to incite gender and racial divisions in the United States

In 2013, Yevgeny Prigozhin, a confidante of Vladimir Putin, founded the Internet Research Agency (the IRA) in St. Petersburg. It was the Russian government's first coordinated facility to disrupt U.S. society and politics through social media.

Here's what Prigozhin had to say about the IRA's efforts to disrupt the 2022 election:

"Gentlemen, we interfered, we interfere and we will interfere. Carefully, precisely, surgically and in our own way, as we know how. During our pinpoint operations, we will remove both kidneys and the liver at once."

In 2014, the IRA and other Russian networks began establishing fake U.S. activist groups on social media. By 2015, hundreds of English-speaking young Russians worked at the IRA. Their assignment was to use those false social-media accounts, especially on Facebook and Twitter -- but also on Reddit, Tumblr, 9gag, and other platforms -- to aggressively spread conspiracy theories and mocking, ad hominem arguments that incite American users.

In 2017, U.S. intelligence found that Blacktivist, a Facebook and Twitter group with more followers than the official Black Lives Matter movement, was operated by Russia. Blacktivist regularly attacked America as racist and urged black users to rejected major candidates. On November 2, 2016, just before the 2016 election, Blacktivist's Twitter urged Black Americans: "Choose peace and vote for Jill Stein. Trust me, it's not a wasted vote."

Russia plays both sides -- on gender, race, and religion

The brilliance of the Russian influence campaign is that it convinces Americans to attack each other, worsening both misandry and misogyny, mutual racial hatred, and extreme antisemitism and Islamophobia. In short, it's not just an effort to boost the right wing; it's an effort to radicalize everybody.

Russia uses its trolling networks to aggressively attack men. According to MIT, in 2019, the most popular Black-oriented Facebook page was the charmingly named "My Baby Daddy Aint Shit." It regularly posts memes attacking Black men and government welfare workers. It serves two purposes: Make poor black women hate men, and goad black men into flame wars.

MIT found that My Baby Daddy is run by a large troll network in Eastern Europe likely financed by Russia.

But Russian influence networks are also also aggressively misogynistic and aggressively anti-LGBT.

On January 23, 2017, just after the first Women's March, the New York Times found that the Internet Research Agency began a coordinated attack on the movement. Per the Times:

More than 4,000 miles away, organizations linked to the Russian government had assigned teams to the Women’s March. At desks in bland offices in St. Petersburg, using models derived from advertising and public relations, copywriters were testing out social media messages critical of the Women’s March movement, adopting the personas of fictional Americans.

They posted as Black women critical of white feminism, conservative women who felt excluded, and men who mocked participants as hairy-legged whiners.

But the Russian PR teams realized that one attack worked better than the rest: They accused its co-founder, Arab American Linda Sarsour, of being an antisemite. Over the next 18 months, at least 152 Russian accounts regularly attacked Sarsour. That may not seem like many accounts, but it worked: They drove the Women's March movement into disarray and eventually crippled the organization.

Russia doesn't need a million accounts, or even that many likes or upvotes. It just needs to get enough attention that actual Western users begin amplifying its content.

A former federal prosecutor who investigated the Russian disinformation effort summarized it like this:

It wasn’t exclusively about Trump and Clinton anymore. It was deeper and more sinister and more diffuse in its focus on exploiting divisions within society on any number of different levels.

As the New York Times reported in 2022,

There was a routine: Arriving for a shift, [Russian disinformation] workers would scan news outlets on the ideological fringes, far left and far right, mining for extreme content that they could publish and amplify on the platforms, feeding extreme views into mainstream conversations.

China is joining in with AI

[A couple months ago], the New York Times reported on a new disinformation campaign. "Spamouflage" is an effort by China to divide Americans by combining AI with real images of the United States to exacerbate political and social tensions in the U.S. The goal appears to be to cause Americans to lose hope, by promoting exaggerated stories with fabricated photos about homeless violence and the risk of civil war.

As Ladislav Bittman, a former Czechoslovakian secret police operative, explained about Soviet disinformation, the strategy is not to invent something totally fake. Rather, it is to act like an evil doctor who expertly diagnoses the patient’s vulnerabilities and exploits them, “prolongs his illness and speeds him to an early grave instead of curing him.”

The influence networks are vastly more effective than platforms admit

Russia now runs its most sophisticated online influence efforts through a network called Fabrika. Fabrika's operators have bragged that social media platforms catch only 1% of their fake accounts across YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, and Telegram, and other platforms.

But how effective are these efforts? By 2020, Facebook's most popular pages for Christian and Black American content were run by Eastern European troll farms tied to the Kremlin. And Russia doesn't just target angry Boomers on Facebook. Russian trolls are enormously active on Twitter. And, even, on Reddit.

It's not just false facts

The term "disinformation" undersells the problem. Because much of Russia's social media activity is not trying to spread fake news. Instead, the goal is to divide and conquer by making Western audiences depressed and extreme.

Sometimes, through brigading and trolling. Other times, by posting hyper-negative or extremist posts or opinions about the U.S. the West over and over, until readers assume that's how most people feel. And sometimes, by using trolls to disrupt threads that advance Western unity.

As the RAND think tank explained, the Russian strategy is volume and repetition, from numerous accounts, to overwhelm real social media users and create the appearance that everyone disagrees with, or even hates, them. And it's not just low-quality bots. Per RAND,

Russian propaganda is produced in incredibly large volumes and is broadcast or otherwise distributed via a large number of channels. ... According to a former paid Russian Internet troll, the trolls are on duty 24 hours a day, in 12-hour shifts, and each has a daily quota of 135 posted comments of at least 200 characters.

What this means for you

You are being targeted by a sophisticated PR campaign meant to make you more resentful, bitter, and depressed. It's not just disinformation; it's also real-life human writers and advanced bot networks working hard to shift the conversation to the most negative and divisive topics and opinions.

It's why some topics seem to go from non-issues to constant controversy and discussion, with no clear reason, across social media platforms. And a lot of those trolls are actual, "professional" writers whose job is to sound real.

So what can you do? To quote WarGames: The only winning move is not to play. The reality is that you cannot distinguish disinformation accounts from real social media users. Unless you know whom you're talking to, there is a genuine chance that the post, tweet, or comment you are reading is an attempt to manipulate you -- politically or emotionally.

Here are some thoughts:

Don't accept facts from social media accounts you don't know. Russian, Chinese, and other manipulation efforts are not uniform. Some will make deranged claims, but others will tell half-truths. Or they'll spin facts about a complicated subject, be it the war in Ukraine or loneliness in young men, to give you a warped view of reality and spread division in the West.

Resist groupthink. A key element of manipulate networks is volume. People are naturally inclined to believe statements that have broad support. When a post gets 5,000 upvotes, it's easy to think the crowd is right. But "the crowd" could be fake accounts, and even if they're not, the brilliance of government manipulation campaigns is that they say things people are already predisposed to think. They'll tell conservative audiences something misleading about a Democrat, or make up a lie about Republicans that catches fire on a liberal server or subreddit.

Don't let social media warp your view of society. This is harder than it seems, but you need to accept that the facts -- and the opinions -- you see across social media are not reliable. If you want the news, do what everyone online says not to: look at serious, mainstream media. It is not always right. Sometimes, it screws up. But social media narratives are heavily manipulated by networks whose job is to ensure you are deceived, angry, and divided.

Edited for typos and clarity. (Tumblr-edited for formatting and to note a sourced article is now older than mentioned in the original post. -LV)

P.S. Apparently, this post was removed several hours ago due to a flood of reports. Thank you to the r/GenZ moderators for re-approving it.

Second edit:

This post is not meant to suggest that r/GenZ is uniquely or especially vulnerable, or to suggest that a lot of challenges people discuss here are not real. It's entirely the opposite: Growing loneliness, political polarization, and increasing social division along gender lines is real. The problem is that disinformation and influence networks expertly, and effectively, hijack those conversations and use those real, serious issues to poison the conversation. This post is not about left or right: Everyone is targeted.

(Further Tumblr notes: since this was posted, there have been several more articles detailing recent discoveries of active disinformation/influence and hacking campaigns by Russia and their allies against several countries and their respective elections, and barely touches on the numerous Tumblr blogs discovered to be troll farms/bad faith actors from pre-2016 through today. This is an ongoing and very real problem, and it's nowhere near over.

A quote from NPR article linked above from 2018 that you might find familiar today: "[A] particular hype and hatred for Trump is misleading the people and forcing Blacks to vote Killary. We cannot resort to the lesser of two devils. Then we'd surely be better off without voting AT ALL," a post from the account said.")

[spaceistheplaceart]

Body Swap - The Exorcism Part Two

wanted to do a bit more but ough i am TIRED... this took a lot out of me lmao but i hope y'all enjoy! lmk what u think in the tags/replies/asks :)

masterpost

previous

(Please Reblog! Leave a comment in the tags! They make me very happy :)

SUMMARIZED ID: Reigen and Mob are shown the client's living room, it is in disarray. Reigen begins investigating the room, but begins to feel the presence of spirits... They keep a sharp eye out, as something moves about the room quickly.

FULL ID UNDER CUT

START ID:

(This is a body swap, so I'll be referring to the characters as who they actually are but keep in mind that Reigen is in Mob's body and vice versa.)

Mob watches Dimple fly leave, then goes inside Hiroto's house by shutting the door.

Cut to inside, Hiroto is opening a door for Mob and Reigen. Reigen has his hands on his hips. The client says, "This is where it's been happening." The room inside is moderately sized with a triple pane window on the far left wall. There is a fireplace, a couch, a ripped up armchair, two carpets- both rumpled and one torn, a doggy bed, a toy train, some balls, a tipped over coffee table, some askew and fallen paintings, some shelving units, and a chest of drawers on the right hand wall that has upon it multiple knick knacks. A drawer is missing from it and laying on the floor. There is a book with some pages torn out as well. All in all, it's a room that has seen some damage.

Hiroto lifts a nearby painting, showing three long scratches that were seen previously in the comic as a flashback. "See?" He says, looking at Mob. Mob looks at the scratches, somewhat narrowing his eyes. "Hmm..."

Reigen steps in, leaned over with his hand on his chin, looking at the scratches. Hiroto looks down at him, a little surprised. Reigen asks, "Hmm... have you noticed any strange smells?" "Smells?" The client repeats.

"Yes, like something rotting or damp. Spirits can sometimes carry over scents from their bodies, and that helps us determine which kind of ghost it is." Reigen says, gesturing with one hand while pointing upwards with the other. Hiroto shrugs, smile askew. "No, I haven't smelled anything strange..." He turns to Mob. "What do you think?"

Mob stands in the middle of the room, looking up. "Hmmm. I... don't feel anything." His speech bubble is overlapped by Reigen's, "AHAHA!!!" Reigen laughs, moving to Mob's side and resting one hand on Mob's arm, smiling wide and nervous as he explains to Hiroto: "They must be so weak that my Master is having a hard time picking up on them, but I can sense something in this room... ah, I can sense weaker spirits-- you know. I take care of them for my Master."

Mob gives Reigen a deadpan look. "Is that all you do?" Reigen's smile dims and he sweats.

"Al... right. Well, I'll leave you two to it... I've got to run to the store for a bit..." Hiroto crosses his arms. "And those ghosts better be gone when I get back."

Reigen waves a hand dismissively, using his customer service smile. "Don't worry, Mr. Hiroto, we'll have your spirit problem taken care of in no time!"

Hiroto begins to shut the door. He smiles nervously. "Sure thing..." He leaves.

After a moment, Mob looks down at Reigen, who is now crouching and looking at the scratches. He joins him on the floor.

Reigen says, "Hm... This guy could have a mouse problem. Or termites, possibly... hopefully not."

"I don't think mice could tip over chairs, Master."

"True, but the dogs could chase the mice and knockk over the chairs...." Reigen holds up a finger, his eyes are shut as he lectures Mob. "Always rule out the probable, Mob! Then, you can start looking for the less probable." Mob looks unimpressed.

Reigen stands up, hand in his pocket. "You do have a point, Mob. Although I hate to admit it... This could be a real hauntiiii-IIING!" His speech transitions into a yelp as his back straightens and eyes go wide. The background of the panel is dark with white wisps darting across it. Reigen crosses his arms and glares off to the side, his hair floating up due to his psychic abilities. He shudders. "Do you think the client would notice if we turned his A/C up? It's freezing in here!"

"I'm not cold." Mob responds.

Reigen grits his teeth and narrows his eyes, still tense. He's shivering. "Huh? It's freezing! Are you anemic or... something? Sensitive to cold?"

"No, I think the cold is probably the spirits."

Reigen flinches, then looks off to the side, smiling nervously. "Oh! Yes! Yes. The spirits! I recognize it now. Uh... you don't feel anything, do you?"

"Nope."

"Great." He puts his hand to his chin in thought. "What do you see, then? Anything?"

"Master, I don't have powers right now, remember?"

Reigen stares at Mob, his hair floating up due to his powers again. The background is dark and shadow-y, with the colouring of Reigen being all white. He's pale.

The next panel is of a similar style, dark and silent as they both look at eachother.

Mob angles his head down, looking at Reigen through his bangs and sweating slightly. "... Because we've switches bodies, I only have your powers right now... not mine?" The panel colour is lighter, and Reigen's hair calms slightly.

"Right." Reigen says, sighing and turning away from Mob, arms crossed. The panel is nearly white again, like normal. Mob is looking to the side, too, eyes downturned with a sweat drop on his cheek.

A view of a model train set, turned over. The carpet is rumpled and there is a painting sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall. Reigen speaks, "I definitely feel something in this room... but I don't see it. Keep a sharp eye out, just in case. Even if you're having trouble with my powers, I'm sure you can still pull something off."

Mob and Reigen stand back to back, glancing around the room. Then something 'wooshes', represented by a panel with a dark gray background and white lines flowing across it with the text 'woosh' on it.

Reigen startles, turning to look at the far side of the room. There is nothing of note there. He sees only the window, the couch, and the chair.

END ID.

[shakirawastaken]

dsmp if... they were teachers!

they are all high school teachers 

dream: stats - gives his class random stats facts about each exam they take - “the median was 25.8% and the mean was 50% and the mode was 72% andt he t-test showed the results were statistically significant” - wears a green button up formal shirt . every day. with different shades of green  - tries to tame his hair every morning but we’ve all seen that shit. its a mess its so fluffy - you try to fix it in the morning but by the time he gets to school its fucked - “whats the probability mr wastaken’s hair is gonna be tamed today? i bet 5 dollars on 13.2%” “...i hear you guys you know” - is always 20 minutes early - never more than that tho - speedruns grading tests  - if a kid is slacking in class, he makes sure that reflects on his grade - he has this big project each year where he asks all the kids to make a project that relates stats to their real life - his favorite thing ever - he’ll come home and be like “dear, tubbo had this amazing idea, the kids are so innovative”  - tearing up cause his students - best friends with sapnap - u make him a lunch every day and he just trades it with sapnap - everyone thinks hes in an affair with george but he tells them everytime that he has a lovely s/o at home  - one of the teachers everyone has a crush on  - is always standing at his desk like in front of it and leaning back - does not use the whiteboard he just has slideshows  - the room is sparsely decorated - its mainly old projects that people did - has a wall with all the cards and stuff kids gave him, its behind his desk 

sapnap: pe/ basketball + football coach - bro - he’s the type of coach/teacher that when he has one of his atheletes in his class he’s RUTHLESS - “pick it up tommy!! is this how you’re gonna be in the game on friday!!! i hope not!!” - jokingly ofc - if ur not one of his athletes he’s nice dw  - still makes everyone call him coach tho - how on earth do u spell athletes i think that’s right - will let you sit out if he can tell ur hurting - knows when a kid is faking it - BUT if you use the “im on my period” trick he doesn’t even question it - “coach im on my period” “okay ur good sit out for today” - likes giving romance advice for some reason - “coach :((( jared blh blah [insert problem]” “omg okay here’s what u do” - pretends he’s in a relationship with karl (u know about it ofc) - so when u show up to one of his games and kiss him all the players are like - “YOURE NOT DATING MR JACOBS” and he just laughs and kisses you again - wears shorts or sweats with a tshirt no matter what - “im a pe teacher fuck professional”  - makes fun of dream for like no reason  - his favorite unit is the flag football unit and his least favorite is the line dance one - but uses it as an opportunity to play country music and visit his roots amen - just imagine sapnap teaching u line dancing HAAHAH okay im done here 

george: comp sci - doesnt give a shit about lesson planning - shows up, glances at the syllabus and just jumps into it - it ends up working in the end - believes in a work to learn method - he doesnt teach, he assigns projects and helps the kids out - so if the kid is like comp sci EXPERT they can just pop off and george doesnt have to worry - but if the kid struggles a bit heres there to help :] - the whole room is blue cause thats all he can see - he looks so uncomfortable when he wears like long sleeve button ups so you unbutton the first one every morning before he leaves  - refuses to wear casual clothing to school ever  - unless its pajama day ayeeee - once he was teaching the whole class how to download something or some shit and forgot to stop sharing his screen  - so he went to text you he was like “doing good love? see you later :]” - and everyone was like - “MR NOTFOUND??” and he was like “wot.” “YOURE NOT DATING MR WASTAKEN??” “no ofc not mr wastaken is ugly” - cue the sounds of breaking glass from mr wastaken’s room  - he has a tv on display outside his classroom where he showcases his student’s work - for his final he just gives them a theme and says “go off” - they could make a video, a game, a simulator - whatever they want - 1) its less work for george 2) its more entertaining - once made them all code valentine’s day gifts for you - you teared up ngl  - seems like he doesnt care but wants all his kids to succeed - is REALLY good at being patient and helping a kid out but loses all that patience when it comes to other teachers (sapnap, quackity)

karl: chem - absolutely loves the science goggles look. has them on his head always - also lab coats with sweater vest period ahh period uhh  - only doesnt give a second shit about any other science but chemistry - loves lab days like on GOD - the man lives for the one lab where u put sticks w diff elements in the fire and watch the fire change color - guys i swear im a stem major - sapnap comes to watch that lab everytime. every period. even if he has a class - knows sapnap pretends to date him and reciprocates it all through the year - but theres that one kid who remembers his “get to know me” slideshow at the beginning of the year where he had a picture of you two - “mr jacobs..i dont believe ur dating coach sapanp” “whaaaat, pshhh, u lying” - makes so many chemistry jokes with you - “hey baby i think we got chemistry” *giggles manically* “why did you say that” “its literally my job”  - cue a thumbs up from u and an eye roll from him - genuinely loves being a teacher tho - the interaction he gets with students >>>  - he loves the feeling when a student comes up to him after class or even after theyre finished with his classes and go “hey what you taught me really helped” - loves it when a student keeps in contact with him, making him tear up and shi

quackity: spanish - this one was quite..obvious - chaotic teaching style, it doesnt work for everyone - but ITS FUN - lives on teaching through games - kahoots, quiz, scavenger hunt, anything to get out of a slideshow he’ll do - and he figures it out - his quizzes and tests are generally harder than what the games cover but hes a fair grader like he gets that he made it harder - LMFAO HAS A UNIT WHERE HE TEACHES FLIRTS AND SHIT IN SPANISH - brings u in to teach - LMFAOOO “hola amor” “hi?” “what does that mean class” “hi love” “wtf” - laughs maniacally  - also this scenario - “hey mr q can i get extra credit for this” “for what” “ *student swears agressively in spanish*”  “....yeah ill give u some points dont tell principal phil” - jokingly pines over both coach sapnap and mr jacobs - “guys coach sapnap *heart eyes* and mr jacobs *heart eyes*” “please just teach us spanish” - but everyone knows its a joke and ur it for him - he LOVES the food unit - he borrows the kitchens from the home ec room to teach people how to make traditional spanish foods - but GODDAMN he cant cook  - so it ends badly - also he has a thing on his wall for the fifa world cup where its like an elimination thing - face painted his face the mexican flag when the game happened - was this close to cancelling class when mexico was out

wilbur: theater  - i wish he was MY theater teacher in high school - one of the only non-toxic teachers - wears a long ass coat i forgot the name - TRENCHCOAT. for dramatics. its giving severus snape  - always wants to put on musicals but phil said  “you can only do one musical per year” - does that tik tok trend where he has a wall of musicals and rips one off each day and the last one standing is the one they put on - tries so so so hard to get the rights to hamilton, doesnt obviously - so he does stuff like in the heights, dear evan hansen, etc - IF A KID WRITES A MUSICAL AND APPROACHES HIM YOU BEST KNOW HES ALREADY SAYING YES TO PUTTING IT ON WITHOUT A SECOND *THOUGHT* - he loves supporting his students in stuff theyre passionate about even if it isnt music/theater related - once went to the schools water polo game cause one his student mentioned offhandedly in class that they didnt have anyone coming - tommy is his teacher’s assistant person  - he runs the improv lessons while wil observes him teaching - “okay kids youre all aliens and ur abducting mr soot” “tommy..” - its so funny when theyre together  - rumor has it theyre brothers along with mr blade and phil is their dad - “class please, philza minecraft is not my father.” “okay son” “PHIL WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE” - brings u in one day with the excuse of teaching them how to be in love - in reality just has a whole class sing a long to disney love songs while u sit there like why am i here - you pressure him to put on shows YOU want to see - “wil put on high school musical” “nO! WHAT AM I in high school thats so basic” “yes. you are in high school. technically” - puts on high school musical - HES THE TEACHER WHO SHIPS KIDS TOGETHER in the form of making them play love interests  - its giving mrs darbus from high school musical - i was in high school musical i played sharpay 

lmk if u want to see more members as teachers!! :D and what else u want to see period sorry it was so long okay BYEEE

[tashacee]

do you think aspect!wild would’ve tried hunting wolfie had he met him under different circumstances? 🤔 i was watching something with puppies & that question came to mind. been giggling ever since the image came forth HAH.

Wild probably would have been freaked out lmao - wolves aren't exactly friendly in his era and while i don't go out of my way to hunt them (they're friend shaped!) i would if they got too close.

Imagine. Wild has been travelling alone for a few days in this strange new world, and he can't take the Aspect off. He finally finds a nice hollow tree stump or something to sleep in, figuring he's safe.

He wakes up to something in his face. Something wet and cold.

He opens his eyes.

NOSE? NOSE IN FACE? WHY? WOLF NOSE? PANIC! PANIC!

Wild makes a shriek! and does that cat thing where he jumps a mile in the air, back arching and fur standing on end. It's incredibly dignified. Honestly. Promise.

And wolfie just stands there like.

*head tilt* u okay there frend?

Cause Wild smells like Hero or something.

And Wild's up a tree, hissing down at this weirdly calm absolute UNIT of a wolf.

So Wolfie, sweet, sweet silly boi that he is. just. lies there. gets comfy. maybe wags his tail.

Wild has MAJOR WTF face.

Finally he comes down cause like. Sitting up in a tree all day won't solve your problems, sadly (i have tried). And it's only then that Twilight is like 'oh hey i could transform that could fix a lot of the confusion'

and that's how they meet

[ashmp3]

You get it!!! Like idk who fumbled in the a&r team but this one should have been the title track. This song literally changed my mind on dream and opened me up to check out more from them(I liked them just fine before but my heart was with the other units). They sound like they've evolved with this one. It also fits the themes a lot more for what they were showing in their mini movies. Not being caged/locked up, breaking free...like HELLO?? What about smoothie says all that??

I do stand by unknown being the supporting track though Mark was right for that one 🤷‍♀️

LITERALLYYYYYYYY i remember when i listened to the album for the first time i liked it thee second it started. the chorus is SOOO good like haechan u will always be that man for meeee and u are so right with the themes like they facked them up 😒😒😒 i dont know like i know people have problem with dreamies but i am #notlikeothergirls about it idk comes with being nctzen since sm rookies like those are still my dudes and box actually reminds me of some of my fav songs by them like dreaming or stronger or 119 or quiet down. But more matureeee oh i am listening to it again its going on a loop idgaf. and i like unknown too it reminds me of a song svt performance unit would make which is a compliment. airy and sparkly

[molinaesque]

hi so i was reading one of ur posts (tysm btw i love anyone that dissects raphael) u said this:

"If you look at Raphael's ambitions and how much it has consumed and plagued him for centuries, he has technically failed over and over and over (his inception by itself is seen as a failure by his own kin)"

can you elaborate on that? where can we see these ambitions? and what do you mean by his inception being a failure? this is so very fascinating to me and i'd like to learn more!

Hey there! Glad you enjoyed the post!

Okay, so I realised that post would be more clearer if you had exhausted almost every possible line of dialogue or notes from Raphael and know about some of existing D&D lore. So, my bad on that part.

We know about Raphael's ambitions and primary goals through his dialogue in Sharess' Caress and the epilogue. This would be The Crown. We know he has been coveting this for a very long time. As to how we know why this is so important for Raphael because he tells you The Crown has immense power. If you know about how the hells and the devils work with their system and hierarchy, having power = more standing = more freedom (as in freedom to do whatever you please). Raphael tells us that he has been at this for 1000 years. I see those failures being the Crown being stolen away by his father first and then by a soul who was supposed to be under Raphael's charge (this is Gortash). Beyond that, basically him obsessing over the Crown and not being able to find a way to gain it ONLY UNTIL Tav and co comes along (along with The Dead Three bringing the Crown back in play) can also be seen as a failure of sorts, because he STILL had to wait for fate to play its part, so this was still beyond his agency. His diary entries also give a really good insight into how much this goal has plagued him for a long time.

As for his inception, cambions are seen as a result from an unholy communion. That's not really the problem per say, but rather who is involved that makes the cambions. In Raphael's case, he is more powerful and noteworthy from most typical cambions because his devil half is from an archdevil, Mephistopheles. His other half though is a mortal human, which is not looked upon fondly. Raphael's unique position however (being practically a prince and heir to the most powerful devil besides Asmodeus) is trumped over by his situation and circumstance of being Mephistopheles' son. Mephisto, in the case of Raphael, does not treat his kin highly. In fact it seems he acts as if he does not exist. On top of all this, devils in the hells climb up the hierarchical ladder to become more powerful. Raphael if he were just a plain devil would have a better time doing so. So not only is he stopgapped by his own father despite being of the blood of an archdevil, he is also held back by his other half of being a mortal. It's a very unique predicament and it's completely out of Raphael's hands... UNLESS he can find the means to get out of it himself. Thus, power = more freedom. He plans to become Archdevil Supreme so that he doesn't have to answer to ANYONE. Besides that, he wants to instill more order and control in the Hells by uniting it under one banner and end the Blood War. There are MANY things to go over why this is insane, but that's another topic for another day.

Hopefully, this clears things up a bit! It always is much clearer in my head to explain until I lay it out in text and realise, "oh god i need to provide so much context", so sometimes details get lost in translation. 😅

[daedalusdavinci]

22, twobat. heard u were talkin SHIT

22. While someone demeans your lover, standing up for them. Either in word, or by physically placing yourself right in front of them as a protective barrier. im thinking about emotional dysregulation and a strong sense of justice and how bruce is the reason alfred lost all his hair. in the words of karkat vants: anger can be a love language. alksdjnfsldjknfs i am NOT editing this

You get in fights for him. You've been getting in fights since no one gave your parents a chance to, something in you quick to snap and your fists faster than anyone could stop. You don't know how many strings Alfred had to pull to keep you from being suspended in middle school, but you know it was a lot, because he used to pick you up with a sigh written in the lines of his face, white gloves hiding the tension in his hands on the steering wheel. Sometimes he tried to argue with you about it. You never folded, because you were certain you were right.

Your school records are a mud-stained mess of arguing with teachers, getting in between a bigot and a victim, and the crack of your fist against someone else's jaw. You grew up stocky and angry, and you never had a problem taking things outside so someone else didn't have to. You think a part of you still feels like if you take on every fight yourself, no one else will ever have to get hurt. Regardless, it means that the college you get into isn't near as prestigious as everyone expects of you, and you know Alfred had to grease a lot of palms to do it. You think he's hoping maybe you'll keep your head down for a few years, and the intellectual challenge will be enough to keep your fists steady.

But then you meet Harvey, and he's simultaneously everything Alfred wants for you and everything Alfred doesn't.

He's optimistic in a way you aren't, level-headed and determined, but filled with the same drive for justice you are. Unlike you, he got in with scholarships and smarts, and he tells you stories about the kind of lawyer he's going to be one day, and the way Gotham will change. He flips some kind of switch in your brain, and your plan for the future starts to take a slightly different shift, accommodating for a world where you're not the only one who cares. He motivates you. He challenges you. He makes you better, and you think Alfred would like the person you become when you're around him.

At the same time, Harvey's a brown kid struggling with some kind of disability you'd never heard of before you met him, and the privileged fucks around you can smell it. So you get in fights. You're so quick to snap to his defense, putting yourself between them and him because you've never done anything else in your life, and Harvey tells you he's sick of patching you up, because you're bleeding again and he thinks it's his fault and he's trying to make you laugh.

It works. It always works when it's Harvey.

In later years, they'll call him Apollo. He's the handsome white knight who brings light back to Gotham, and he'll find it embarrassing and flattering all at once. You'll tell him you think it's apt, and he'll shove you, laughing like you told him a joke. But in college, he's the sun you orbit your world around, warming you when nothing else will.

The dean calls Alfred after you land a kid in the hospital. He doesn't need hospital treatment, but his friends don't know medicine like you do, and they panicked. He'll be fine. Alfred still calls you, cold, clipped anger in his voice, and you feel like you're eight again, angry and muddy and past the point of reason, the crushing feeling of a meltdown spiraling past what you can handle. Alfred tries hard to be a parent, and he tries to be a butler, and you're his kid and his spoiled charge, and this isn't the first time the two of you haven't nailed the impression of a functional family unit. You fight.

Med students aren't supposed to hurt people. Med students aren't supposed to snap and beat the shit out of other students. Med students aren't supposed to have meltdowns, no matter how crazy the workload is, no matter how much injustice happens in the medical field alone, no matter how much injustice your best friend faces at the hands of people you're supposed to view as mentors. Med students aren't supposed to recognize themselves in the textbooks. The dean is threatening you, and you're supposed to shape up.

In a few days, you still haven't gotten over it. Alfred isn't talking to you, you're not talking to Alfred, and a call from Leslie only makes things worse. You don't go out of your way to pick fights, but you don't need to, because people seem a little afraid to say anything after you sent that kid to the hospital. Harvey tells you it'll blow over with a grim confidence that you take seriously. It sounds too much like he's speaking from experience.

Then, someone makes a comment about your parents. It's not a particularly interesting comment- you've heard much, much worse over the years, and they've lost a lot of their effect. It stings- it's cruel- but you brush it off. You're in enough trouble already, and you've never cared about standing up for yourself the way you do about standing up for others.

Harvey's fist snaps out before you know what's happening.

The kid is flat on his ass, gaping up at you both, and Harvey is brimming with rage. "Shut the fuck up," he says, thick and growling. "You'd be fucking lucky if your parents loved you half as much. They probably only sent you here to get rid of you."

"Harv!" You grab his arm, tugging his attention back to you. You're torn between shock and worry, but worried for him, and what this will mean for him once the stupid kid reports him to the dean. You think for a terrifying moment that he could get expelled, and selfishly, you don't know what you'd do here without him.

You can tell he's furious, but he lets you drag him away, ushering the both of you away from the scene before things can escalate further. You stand in an abandoned stairwell and Harvey's fingers clench and unclench in your sweater as you hold his arms, giving him time to breathe.

"You didn't have to do that," you tell him quietly.

"Shut the fuck up, Bruce," he scoffs. His gaze flickers up to your face, thumb grazing the bottom of a bruise that's purpled in the past few days. You didn't get out of that fight scot-free, but no one ever cares about that. Except Harvey, who always cares. "You don't get to talk to me about when I should or shouldn't stick up for someone."

You don't have anything to say to that. The words all dry up in your throat as you stare at him, caught on the heat of his touch, the soft brown of his lips, and the determination in his face, like he'd do it all over again. You've never met anyone who understood you the way Harvey does, who matched your drive for justice and inspired you so completely. You look at him the way an astronomer looks at the stars, struck by their beauty and complexity- understanding, and yet endlessly wanting to know more, to know everything, to hold something you don't think you ever can. "Okay."

Something pricks embarrassed in his face, eyes shifting away suddenly. You think his cheeks are a little darker, but it's hard to tell.

You'll think about that moment for years. For years, when you hold his face and try to figure out how to tell him all the ways you love him, and when you watch him become the hero you always knew he could be, and when you watch him fall, holding his hand in the hospital and meeting his eyes across a rooftop, you'll think about what it was like to be so young, trying to put words to the way you wanted to press your lips to his. You tell him, once, that you think you're always going to see that little college kid in him, and he laughs at you. His laugh has turned raspy after years of smoking, and the shake of his shoulders makes the chains rattle, but it's the same laugh. "Maybe it's better that way," he says, grinning. "We were two of a kind, back then."

"Three," you correct.

His grin turns a little more sincere, a little more embarrassed. He says his words like a tease, but it's only to lighten the truth. "We thought the sun shined out of your ass."

"That's just the light reflecting off of it," you say, and he laughs again. You still love his laugh.

These days, you fight each other. You don't think it'll ever stop you from loving them both every bit as much as you did then.

[anarchywoofwoof]

if the United States is around in 2050, the history books printed by Prager U found in every school will explain that the Native Americans voted to give their land away to American colonists. they'll have pictures of Native Americans in the most stereotypical indigenous garb imaginable lining up at the ballot box next to white people . it'll explain that voting is how we've always solved our problems in America and that it has been a long-standing tradition since America was founded in 1492. and of course, all of the Native Americans who left their land relocated safely to their new homes in the Global South and that's why everything there is so chaotic today.

the fucked up thing is that despite how utterly ridiculous and stupid as this sounds, it's probably an entirely realistic part of some kid's homeschool curriculum. i bet you could get 20% of Americans on board with this version of events.

[playmiya]

i need your ushijima bridget jones smau like i need air, hope all is well and best of luck

truly bless u for reminding me that existed you've singlehandedly given me the motivation to post mwah (snippet below descriptions of drinking & smoking, slightly suggestive)

25th December

Alcohol units: 5

Cigarettes: 2

Dear Diary,

Have ended up in the same position as last year. Currently hiding in attic like bum version of Cinderella from mum who is trying to force me into hideous reindeer sweater, but also hiding from guests who will undoubtedly ask me the most singularly annoying question about my love life. Aunty Sato will try to set me up with investment banker relatives from Yokohama, and I will once again be sent on a date where they will make a face when I say I live in Shinjuku. Must not resort to drinking away problems otherwise younger cousins will think am alcoholic—

"[Name]!", your mother exclaims, abomination of red and green tucked under her arm. "There you are."

You drop your diary to the ground, blabbering a silly excuse. Your mother smiles, clearly not listening.

"Anyways, dear, why don't you change into this, hmm? Everyone's waiting for you downstairs, and Aunty Sato's got a great boy in mind for you," she cooes, thrusting the sweater in your hands and walking down the stairs. You stare, slack-jawed at the door, and sigh, unbuttoning your shirt. Another failed Christmas.

Every wintertime, you promise yourself you won't be in this position. Tottering down the stairs in a lumpy sweater, looking forward to filching a cigarette from your dad and consuming your body weight in champagne to numb your ears to the drivel you're going to hear from family from all ends. Drivel surrounding your love life, arguably the worst kind of drivel there is. It would be fine, you sniff to yourself, as you almost trip over a Lego fire truck dropped by one of the younger cousins from your father's side, if I wasn't so single. This is your twenty fifth year rocking up to these parties woefully alone, and with each passing year, you find it more painful to bear your family's take on this very pertinent matter. 

"Thank you," you grin sweetly at a circulating waiter, as you smoothly pick up a flute of champagne and down it in one gulp. A pleasant fizz begins to bubble in your stomach, and as you approach the living room, you inhale to prepare yourself. Cries of your name ring through the air as you force a smile, making eye contact with relatives you haven't seen in a year. Wrinkled smiles greet you back. You hold yourself back from making a sour face, and instead make a beeline for your father, perhaps the only person who understands your pain in this room.

Not one for social gatherings, he's leaning against the staircase and surveying the room impassively with a glass of wine in hand. Ooh, goody, wine, your brain celebrates, and you must remind it of the alcohol tracker in your diary. 

"[Name]!", your father greets with a fond smile, slinging an arm around your shoulder as you pull him in for a bear hug. Living in the city gave you few opportunities to see your parents, save from an odd weekend lunch, and you missed your father sorely. "She's roped you in too?", you groan, feeling the poke of Christmas bells on your arm as you stand next to him, taking a sip of his Rosè. Delicious. 

"Every year," he sighs, and there's a jingling sound as he takes a swig of the wine, courtesy of the many baubles your mother's sewn onto your father's garishly white sweater. You fall into easy conversation with him, updating him about your awful job, your friends and their increasingly responsible and committed relationships and any repairs needed for your apartment. It's only when your stomach grumbles embarrassingly loudly that you consider going and navigating your way to the buffet table with minimal interceptions. 

You're ladling Aunt Kaminari's famous katsu curry into your bowl, when you're sure God personally steps in to teach you a lesson about greed. Reaching for a gluttonous second serving, you feel a large, warm hand on top of yours. You instantly retract your hand, feeling like a ginormous bear just snuck into the buffet when you look up to meet the olive green eyes of possibly the most massive man you've seen in the ugliest Christmas sweater possible. Towering above you, a literal hulk stares deep into your eyes with an unnervingly irritated expression. You very nearly whimper and contemplate falling to your knees and apologising for ever crossing his path til he quirks his head to the side, and the cow wearing a Christmas hat embroidered onto his jumper jingles thanks to the bell on its cap. 

When he speaks, you feel like you're going to fall to your knees for other reasons. A deliciously rich baritone, with the slight twinge of the posh accent of many private boarding-school educated boys fills up the room, but it's surprisingly soft. 

"I'm sorry. I notice you there. Would you like some curry?"

"That's a nice cow!" 

25 December

Alcohol units: 10 

Cigarettes: 5

Dear Diary, 

Currently feeling like I should never speak again and go on the silent meditation retreat to the country side that Kuroo keeps telling me about. Met absolute dreamboat of a man at PARENTS CHRISTMAS PARTY OF ALL PLACES and said "THATS A NICE COW" and RAN AWAY when we touched hands. Mother dearest later rang me to say that he was one of Aunty Sato's newest prospects, a professional volleyball player who just moved to Tokyo and was also rather confused at my behaviour (I don't blame him). Spent the rest of the evening bribing opportunistic cousins to bring wine and entrees to my room (They may have had a couple of sips making those trips. Omg am I encouraging teenage alcoholism??? Anyways, I did that and I turned out fine so all's well that ends well I guess). Left the house after I was sure everyone had fucked off, including Greek God at Curry Station. Did a little bit of stalking and I now know his height, playing number and the fact that his name is Ushijima (* comment was not intentional). God robbing me of my voice in front of gorgeous man is probably my punishment for vomiting at neighbours doorstep yesterday night, isn't it? Feel like killing myself. Ooh, dinner invite from Keiji for drinks tomorrow. Will probably not kill myself anymore. 

[rhythmantics]

what the FUCK do you mean you wrote two of the best prototype fics AND drew some of the best art. illegal

seriously though i am in love with your characterisation, especially of all three mercer siblings. frankly your version of dr mercer is the best ive seen in the entire fandom lmao

Thank you! I'm really glad you're enjoying that terrible bastard of a man. Dr. Mercer enjoyers unite. We love this evil skinny twink

Thoughts about Mercer sibling characterization + themes of the game (under a cut because it's VERY LONG):

The thing I try to stress when writing Doc Mercer (hereto referred to as "Xander") is that yes, he is a narcissistic, vain, arrogant bastard of a man, generally irredeemable, with extremely loose and/or nonexistent morals and a terrible personality.

However, [PROTOTYPE] is a game where most of the characters are some level of fucking awful and monstrous, but their motivations are still explored, and sometimes even still justified. I mean, Alex eats people. Randall was on his way to nuke Manhattan. Blackwatch regularly laughs at being able to murder innocent civilians. A powerful moment in some of the WOI's is Blackwatch gleefully discussing killing people, while the visuals show a camp on a rooftop where the survivors have written a big "NOT INFECTED" in a bid to not be murdered by Blackwatch.

Still, there's nuance there. Alex may grow a conscience and save New York, but he's still, you know, a walking viral apocalypse that both eats people and enjoys it/thinks it feels "right." Blackwatch murders all the people they want, but at the end of the day, they ARE the line that stands between humanity and viral apocalypse. And Randall might even be justified in nuking Manhattan if it means taking Alex out, because - you know - walking viral apocalypse (and for all Randall knows, ZEUS only killed Elizabeth to establish his dominance as hive queen supreme). I don't see why Doc Mercer should be exempt from that nuance, but he so very often is.

So that as my starting point, what do we know about Doc Mercer? Well, mostly from the PRIMA guide, we have his backstory. This backstory is so hilariously awful that I legitimately don't think I'd believe you if you told me he wasn't supposed to be sympathetic.

Xander's mom is thrown in jail right after he's born, no other family is willing/able to take him in, so he's thrust into the foster care system (no father is EVER mentioned, ever)

To make matters worse, Dana's bio mentions that she moved "to New York" to follow her brother, implying that they aren't NY-born, which further implies that they're from NEW FUCKING JERSEY LOL (it's only like, an hour's bus away from Columbia U, where Xander went to college)

Xander is kicked around foster care system like a hot potato until mom is released from jail. Seems like she either got pregnant right at the end of her stint, or right as she got out; he's 10 when she regains custody of him, but 9 when Dana is born.

Dana's bio says "[Xander] was the only parent figure Dana ever knew." It also said their mother had "drinking problems." Xander raised Dana to the degree that she literally doesn't even see her mom as a parent.

"For [Xander], foster care was better." Yikes. That's definitely an implication of abuse (if the parentification weren't enough). What kind of abuse? Well, they're often bundled together, but we can make a Strong Case for extreme violence at minimum, given the following:

What was mom in jail for? A 9-year sentence implies a second-degree crime, which, uh... take your pick: aggravated assault, aggravated arson, theft of an item more than 75k$, armed burglary or burglary that results in injury or threats of injury, unlawful possession of a firearm, sexual assault. Yikes

Bio outright describes it as living in "abject poverty," so with the fact that he was LITERALLY the only parent Dana knew (a role he was forced into starting at the age of TEN), as soon as he was legally able, he probably had to take on a job in addition to school and childrearing.

Given the "abject poverty" angle, I find it doubtful that he was able to leave home until he graduated, especially given that a commute from Jersey to Columbia U could be as short as an hour. Since he graduated from his PhD at the age of 24, that means he was Dana's parent until she was fifteen. 3/4 of her life by the time of the game.

Needs to be stressed: this man changed her diapers, warmed up her formula, cooked meals for her, helped her with homework, taught her sex-ed and what puberty was, helped her get her first job, taught her how to apply for college. He is, for all intents and purposes, Dana's father. (Put a pin in that!)

Like... holy shit! This is a sympathetic character! I don't know how anyone would be able to read that in isolation and not feel bad for this guy. I mean, this is a person who has literally ALL the trauma. Like, he's in the 99th percentile of worst childhoods in America. This boy has collected PTSDs like they are pokemon.

The PRIMA guide literally says that, at the end of all that, he "trusted no one, had no friends, cared less and less what others thought of him," and was an "impatient, dark, tortured person" with a history of burning bridges. "Forever paranoid," "morally ambiguous," and "teetering on the border of sociopathy" are also used to describe him, and - yeah, of course! I mean, did you SEE his backstory? Holy shit.

And what really fascinates me about this is that, even under those circumstances? He was probably the best parent he could have been to Dana. She literally sees him as one, stuck around NYC for five years because he was just that important to her, and trusts and cares for him so deeply that she's willing to risk her life for him/willing to forgive Alex ranting about how eating people "feels right."

Some people argue that he was using Dana as a pawn, or manipulating her, etc. etc., and I really dislike this take (though, of course, everyone's entitled to their own HCs etc., especially because a lot of the PRIMA stuff was clearly rewritten by the time of the game's release). First, I think that a working college girl with a fiery personality like Dana would not have stuck around for FIVE YEARS if she didn't feel like Xander deserved it - and given that he was also ghosting her for those five years, any manipulation he had her under would have worn off. Like, it's REALLY HARD to gatekeep gaslight girlboss someone if you're no-contact with them. Also, are you trying to tell me that an eleven-year-old boy was looking at a literal 2 year old going "yes... I will raise her to trust me absolutely... as a tool for me to use in the future... and then completely ignore her calls for 5 years!" C'mon.

But the second, and more important, reason I don't agree with that take is that I feel like it strips Dana of agency and reduces her to this almost damsel-like role. Nah, man, even if Xander was not her brother/dad, she would have risked her life to help him out. Why? Because she's a fucking anarcho-socialist journalism student, that's why!

Her PRIMA bio is really interesting in that regard; I feel like the game didn't show off well enough just how awesome Dana actually is. She's studying journalism at NYU. You may have heard that her job is "writing tabloids," but that's such a simplification/misunderstanding of the text! We actually have the titles of the publications she writes for, and they are: "Everything You Know Is Wrong", "Bathsheba", and "The Military/Industrial Complex Report." Even just from that small glimpse (and the fact that she calls Blackwatch "goose-stepping motherfuckers"), I think it's evident that she's got some deeply anti-government, anti-military, anti-fascist beliefs.

Furthermore, Dana is like... kind of a terrible person. Here's a great excerpt from her bio that I feel like isn't talked about enough (emphasis mine):

"She owes money all over town, and somehow manages to sweet talk friends into lending her more. She's a hustler, good at manipulating people. Like her brother, she's narcissistic and evasive. When she doesn't like someone she'll go out of her way to make sure they know it - particularly if they push the point. She's disrespectful, foul-mouthed, and not afraid of a fight. This all serves her well when she's neck-deep in a story, but in real life, her kind of behavior only makes her one thing: enemies. In short, she's her brother's sister."

Guys, I am not normal about that last sentence. It's phrased the same way as "she's her mother's daughter" or "she's her father's son." Like. Oh my god, Xander is basically her dad.

But back on topic: Dana is characterized as a BADASS BITCH who doesn't take shit from ANYBODY and is ALREADY anti-government. She literally calls the Blackwatch shit "the story of the century." She would have taken that case on even if it weren't her brother presenting it to her, no manipulation necessary.

AND she knew the risks. I've seen it argued that Xander's to blame for "tricking" her into investigating something that put her life in danger, but I think that's unfair to him. First, I think Blackwatch would've investigated and/or disappeared Dana either way, given how trigger-happy they are. Second, she knew the risks - that's why she was using her friend's penthouse apartment as a safehouse. She was prepared to risk her life for this story; BW just moved faster than she anticipated and ambushed her at her apartment.

(And, also, like, just as an aside, we don't know if she had permission to be in her friend's place, and given her PRIMA bio, she probably didn't, like she just full-on broke into her friend's really nice apartment LOL probably even chose the friend with the nicest digs LOL)

This also serves as such an interesting glimpse into not only her and her brother's relationship, but her brother's characterization. We already know that Xander possesses good social skills to some degree, given that he has a girlfriend who was willing to risk her life for him (she went back to the lab to get something for him, which is how she got caught - let's ignore for now the ethics of dating his subordinate); he also climbed the ranks at his job, rising to Associate Director (McMullen's direct subordinate) sometime within only five years.

Dana's bio, however, confirms it. Every description of her personality becomes associated with Xander with the phrase "she's her brother's sister." Xander is a hustler; he's manipulative and gets people to do what he wants. Xander is evasive, disrespectful, and lets people feel it when he doesn't like them. Xander makes enemies. BUT.

Even in the midst of all that - his paranoia, the fact that he's having a freak-out because his coworkers are being "silenced," and that he ghosted Dana for five years in an effort to leave the past behind him... who does he trust to have his back? Dana. I need you guys to understand. He doesn't go to Dana because she's an easy tool for him to manipulate. He goes to Dana because he's scared for his life and she is the only person he trusts. I think there's a reason Alex latches onto her when he learns she exists, and part of it is definitely because the scaffold he's built on, the original Dr. Mercer, viewed Dana as unconditionally trustworthy. The feeling is mutual.

And just in case you needed some sort of in-game proof? He has at LEAST two photos of Dana on his foyer wall. Legit. Go back and rewatch that cutscene when Alex walks into Xander's apartment. He has 2-3 photos of Karen... and 2-3 photos of Dana. He's been ghosting Dana, but he keeps photos of her on his wall, where he sees them every day, right next to where he works. One of the Dana photos is also the only photo that Xander is not in. I just... he loves his sister. He's just too mentally ill to be normal about it and keep in contact.

So, we have here pretty much Xander's ONLY redeeming quality: cares about his sister! That's it. That's all he's got. Let's talk about some other irredeemable stuff.

So far, I've talked a lot about the PRIMA guide, but now I'm going to talk about what's in the actual game, because it's quite interesting, and I don't think all of it made it into the fandom zeitgeist. It's too bad, because this one major fact really adds a shitton of nuance to this character:

Xander was out of the loop.

Xander did not know anything about Hope, Idaho. Xander did not know that Blackwatch existed. Xander didn't even fucking know that his human test subjects were deliberately infected. Within day one, Alex knows more about the conspiracy surrounding Blacklight than Xander ever did. And we know exactly how much he knew about the virus because he mailed Dana a laptop containing everything he was able to find, and it pretty much got as far as "MOTHER is named Elizabeth Greene" and "Hope, Idaho existed...?" We have a WOI where Randall expresses concern over even giving Xander access to MOTHER, and a WOI where Xander is pissed the hell off when he finds out that their human subjects were not naturally infected. He didn't know!

That suddenly casts his role in Blacklight's production in a much less nefarious light. Look at this job from Xander's point of view: You're a 24 year old who completed an 8-year college run (undergrad and PhD) in six years, WHILE raising a teenage girl and probably while working, too. At graduation, you get offered this insanely cushy job, with a threat that you'll be blacklisted from the industry if you refuse (this literally happened to Dr. Ragland, according to his PRIMA bio). It's a top-secret government job. The government's not great, but you have loose morals, and it can't possibly be worse than Albert Einstein building the atom bomb. So. Whatever.

(On top of that, they're already lying to you abour what the project's purpose is. Xander states he "didn't know" what he was working on until he "figured it out," and there's a WOI where one employee raves that the virus could be used to cure every disease on earth. It seems there was a general vibe that they were probably working bio-weapons, but no one knew FOR SURE, and a contributor to Xander's meltdown is the fact that his research results just... vanish. He doesn't know what they're being used for.)

Plus, holy shit, the pay. Xander is making, like, seven figures by the time he's 29. He lives in an apartment on the Upper East Side (where Gossip Girl takes place lol). The average price for a one-bedroom there is, like, 4000$ a month. This man spent 24 years in brutal poverty; the money matters to him.

On top of that, the stuff they're doing at GENTEK? Of course, it's stomach-turning, but it wouldn't clock as inherently unethical. Xander's fury at learning that MOTHER was a test subject, and not naturally infected (as he's been led to believe), implies that they were NOT infecting people at GENTEK. The bodies we see in WOI, their test subjects, were already infected by the time they got there, supplied to GENTEK with a cover story, that the virus was one they'd found naturally, and that these people - whose brains were fried by the virus - were just unlucky victims of random happenstance. Furthermore, making viruses more dangerous is legitimate virology. It's called "gain-of-function" experimentation, and while it is controversial (for obvious reasons), it's still something you would potentially be doing at an above-board lab.

That means that, prior to Penn Station, the worst Xander can be accused of is being a bootlicker, class traitor, who knowingly worked on WMDs for the US government. And yeah, that is monstrously evil, and Albert Einstein is a monster by that metric, but it's a level of evil that's matched or surpassed by almost every other character in the game. Dana and Ragland are the two exceptions, maybe Karen too, depending on whether you think her low hierarchical position absolves her of any sin. McMullen and everyone at Blackwatch are all more culpable than Xander. They're the ones giving him orders - he's the low man on the totem pole!

And his reaction upon realizing how deep the rabbit hole goes? It's not asking to join up with the evil side. It's not going out to do a terrorism (even if that's how it ends up). It's blowing the whistle. His first instinct is to go to his sister, the anti-government, anti-military journalism student. And as he spirals into panic and anxiety, it's to escape the city, while warning someone - probably Dana - to "get out of there". Even McMullen says, when Alex confronts him, "you were always so smart. You were ready to give up all our secrets. [...] We were trying to figure it out -- you just wanted to bring it all down." The class traitor was about to redeem himself. His motivations might still be selfish - to punish the people who lied to him, to save his own ass - but he's not a cartoon villain.

It's only after he's cornered, staring down guns, realizing that all his efforts were futile, possibly even realizing that Dana is next, that he smashes the vial. AND EVEN THEN... I think we're supposed to understand why he did it. Not sympathize, necessarily, but... look at his life. Abandonment, abuse, parentification. Skipping meals to make sure Dana can eat. Running on a sleep deficit because homework has to be done after helping Dana with hers after coming home from work after going to school. His wealth and girlfriend are hollow victories when he can't trust people enough to make friends. He loves his sister, enough to keep her photos on his foyer wall, but can't bear engaging with her as an adult on equal footing. He thought he'd finally caught a break, only for it to turn out to be a death trap from the start. Yes, choosing to smash the vial was an irredeemable action, a selfish, vindictive, and evil choice; however, I don't think he could have chosen differently. Dr. Mercer was not necessarily intended to be a sympathetic character (although he was), but he was certainly, bare-minimum, intended to be a tragic one.

It seems like the game went through several rewrites, and those rewrites confuse a pretty major plot beat: does the virus Xander releases at Penn Station burn itself out, or does it go on to become the main virus on the streets of Manhattan? This question, and where you personally fall on it, is really important. And that's because... if the virus burns itself out in Penn Station (which apparently the writer confirmed on Twitter, but there's evidence in the game to suggest the opposite), then that means Xander has one of the lowest body counts in the game.

Yeah, you heard me. Let's say the virus burns itself out in Penn Station. How many people would that even be? A few thousand? In 2009, Penn Station served about 300,000 people per day. That is really busy, but obviously, not all of those people - or even a majority of those people - are going to be in the station at any given time. It's probably a number around four digits. Um, how many people does Alex kill over the course of the game, again? Obviously, the in-game kill counts can't exactly be trusted, because you can rack up millions depending on how much you fuck around, but it's generally agreed that he's in the tens of thousands, between all the military bases he destroys, civilians he eats, and soldiers he cuts through. Randall has been confirmed to have ordered the glassing of both Hope, Idaho, AND Two Bluff, Arizona, with an attempt on Manhattan. (Cross also mentions a Kentucky in one of the cut lines, implying there's more cities and casualties than we even know about.) There are 1.6 million people living in Manhattan in 2009, so Randall was about to kill, like, a thousand times more people than Xander.

It also means he never put Dana in danger. If it's a virus that burns out on its own, he - the person whose work was "years ahead of his nearest competitor" - would know that it wouldn't reach her. And it would make sense if it burns out, too, because it's a bio-weapon. Not a great bio-weapon if it causes a a whole-ass apocalypse! And I also don't think it's fair to blame Xander for Alex letting Elizabeth Greene out of her cage, because by that point, 1) Xander is dead, 2) Dana sent Alex there, 3) Alex is a fully sapient and independent being who is not under Xander's orders because Xander is dead. I mention this because I've literally run into people who believe that the virus burned itself out at Penn Station, BUT ALSO that Xander releasing the vial directly put Dana in danger of infection AND that Elly's rampage is somehow his fault. You can't have it both ways!

That's actually why I don't believe that the virus burned itself out. Narratively and thematically, it's much better if Xander did release his virus knowing that it might cause a full-on apocalypse. That does make it so that he risked his sister's life (although you can argue that he figured she was as good as dead, anyways, given that they'd tracked him down - I don't, since I think he was too busy panicking and being sleep-deprived to be thinking about that), and it DOES make the entire ensuing tragedy his fault. And the reason that this is important is because of Xander's role as a "father" to Alex.

Here's something else that's important to note, which I often see overlooked: Alex places the blame on the shoulders of Randall, not Xander. "You bastard," he says after he's eaten Randall. "You could have stopped all this - you let it happen." Meanwhile, here's what he actually says about Xander: "what Mercer did is beyond forgiveness," and at the end of the game, "Alex Mercer. This city suffered for his mistakes, for what he did at Penn Station. And whoever he was - that's a part of me." We aren't supposed to think he's unilaterally evil without nuance. Pretty much everyone, Alex included, has done things "beyond forgiveness" in this game. We're instead supposed to ponder what it means to be derived from his stock.

What is Alex's characterization? To be frank, Alex is a dumbass baby. I know that this is not necessarily popular, but I genuinely believe that it's intentional. There are literally cut lines from the very first mission that REALLY drive home that this poor guy has NO IDEA what's going on. Begging people to stop shooting at him, thinking to himself "where's a place with a lot of people?" (honey, you're in NYC), and generally going "what was that? how did this happen? what's going on? what? huh? what?"

There's also needing Ragland to suggest to him the novel idea of breaking both spines on the leader hunters, and following Phone Voice into a death trap, and then still listening to Phone Voice a second time, not to mention how awkwardly he shrugs his way out of Karen Parker's hug, or how he's constantly pushing himself all the way into Dana's personal space/startling her/disappearing while no one's watching. There's a point where his brilliant plan for getting McMullen to land is to disable some infection detectors... while standing ankle-deep in biomass... looking up at McMullen. He's just, ah, ehm... not the sharpest tool in the shed. If you replay the game with that in mind, it... yeah. I mean. His first instinct upon being attacked by helicopters is to go up onto the roof of a building, where he is surprised by... more helicopters. Who left this child unattended? Where are your guardians.

I know I'm exaggerating - Alex does show remarkable flexibility and adaptability and on-the-fly problem-solving sometimes - but when the PRIMA bios and McMullen repeatedly stress that Xander is clever, manipulative, a schemer, a hustler, "so smart," it really highlights how... straightforward Alex is in comparison. You cannot tell me that Alex, as he's presented in-game, is "a lateral thinker - plans within plans."

And the interesting thing is, this actually seems like a fairly late-stage change! The original PRIMA guide blurb for "The Prototype" seems to suggest that he is actually an amnesiatic Dr. Mercer, not a wholly separate entity. It goes on and on about how "The Prototype" is cool, calm, dry and witty, always in control of his body, etc. etc., but that really doesn't match the in-game characterization at all (he's consistently characterized as awkward, unsure of himself), meaning that I think this is more proof that a characterization as "fucking idiot dumbass baby" was intentional.

Sampling of cut voice lines:

"Ghost Twelve, Ghost Twelve... oh, shit, that's my callsign..."

"Aw, I hate D-Codes..."

"They think I'm dead. Perfect. I can't wait to see the look on McMullen's face."

"I need to get somewhere with a lot of people... somewhere where they can't just keep firing at me."

"Where is there a lot of fucking people? Where?" (girliepop you live in NEW YORK)

"Just remember! This was your idea!"

like. cmon, man.

That being said, Alex is not innocent. He starts the game without a conscience, easily and effortlessly killing people, instinctively eating them, too. He's quite literally built upon two existing minds - the people-eating virus, and the sociopathic misanthrope. I think this is why he defaults to shoving people and has no option to put them down gently - he's filled with Xander's rage, his hatred, and his casual cruelty. One of his earliest lines is this: "revenge was the only clear thought in my head. The only one I could call mine." LITTLE DOES HE KNOW. He continues. "I wanted to find out what happened to me. The reason. Someone to blame. Someone I could punish."

And now we get into a major theme of the game, my thesis: [PROTOTYPE] is about family. It's about nature vs. nurture, it's about the cycle of abuse, and it's about how the people who raise us, shape us. Xander is the "father" of this story; he's consistently placed in that role relative to Dana, and Alex directly inherits his genetics, his appearance, his name, and even his initial personality from him. And as for the mother... there is literally a character in the game named MOTHER.

Alex is, in a very literal way, the child of Xander and Elizabeth Green. He was born out of a fusion of their DNA - the virus infecting Xander's body. Elizabeth also literally says "I am your MOTHER" in their first meeting. And as if that weren't enough, Elizabeth's relationship to Alex directly mirrors Xander's relationship with his own mother: the first thing Elizabeth does is abandon Alex, and when she returns, it's only to threaten Dana's safety and torment him. Xander himself becomes a mirror to his own absent father, disappearing before he ever got to know his son. This is the cycle of abuse, the tragedy that occurs when someone who was abused becomes trapped by it, and has no ability to operate outside its confines, perpetuating the pain that was inflicted upon them.

However... something's different. Alex is not left alone to suffer like Xander does. He has Dana - a parental figure who loves him unconditionally, whom he loves unconditionally in turn. And she is the impetus for his ability to change, the one who most directly molds his burgeoning consciousness. His interactions with Dana are brief, but even in those brief interaction, she teaches him empathy ("my god, [Elizabeth]'s just a girl. What kind of fucking monsters are these people?"), kindness/mercy ("whoa, whoa, whoa. [Ragland]'s a good guy"), and trust ("look, no matter what, you're still my brother"). Let's go back to our pin. Xander is Dana's "father" also... and he was the best one she could have had, given the circumstances. Dana represents breaking the cycle. Dana represents Xander's single redeeming quality.

In other words... the key difference between Alex and Xander is that Alex has an adult figure in Dana that he can trust and rely upon, something Xander never had... because Xander was that for Dana. Xander broke the cycle. That's the one good thing he managed to do.

Now, we know that lots of rewrites happened, that final boss stuff got shifted around, and things got moved into a sequel hook, like Dana's fate or PARIAH's whole deal. However, I think we can almost piece together what it might have been if we follow this thematic line of thinking. Because here's something quite interesting: PARIAH... is in foster care. A child who kills everything he touches, abandoned and trapped, a monster, whose only use is as an agent of evolution, a direct parallel for Xander at his worst - this tortured man who "found solace only in his work", for whom foster care was better, who teetered on sociopathy and didn't care. Randall represents the government, the system, that put him there - the first ones to ever screw Xander over. So if we assume that the final boss was originally PARIAH, and Alex still needs to eat his way through Elizabeth and Randall to get to him, then an incredibly interesting thing happens when we view that sequence of events from this thematic perspective.

Alex would triumph over MOTHER, the government, and Xander's worst. The crystallization of the fleeting love within Xander's heart - the one redeeming facet of Xander's personality - would overcome his abusive mother, the cold-hearted system that forsook him, and even his own worst traits, the monster he was molded into. Quite literally, love would win. And I think this would have even tied in to curing Dana - that this would become a major facet of Alex's motivation - that he'd need PARIAH in order to cure her, or something like that. Dana - kindness, empathy, and love, breaking the cycle of abuse - becomes the impetus for Alex to change, to become a better person, to grow a conscience, to trust others. I think that's the central theme of this game.

Xander's shadow looms large over the entirety of [PROTOTYPE]'s story. There are more themes than just family, but it's the one I wanted to highlight, because I think it's the one most central, most core to the game's emotional experience. At every turn, you can feel the ghost of Xander - not just because Alex is literally wearing his corpse.

I'll restate here the relevant parts of Alex's closing monologue:

"I looked for the truth. Found it. Didn't like it. Wish to hell I could forget it. Alex Mercer. This city suffered for his mistakes, for what he did at Penn Station. And whoever he was - that's part of me."

Xander is Alex's father - the person from whom he inherited his base nature. But Alex is able to grow beyond that - to trust others, to love others.

"What have I become? Something less than human. But also something more."

Xander was so tormented by his past, by his abandonment, neglect, and abuse, that he was unable to face his sister. Terrified of the pain of abandonment, he chose to abandon her rather than risk being rejected when she became an adult. And yet, he loved his sister. That's the nuance of this character, the legacy he leaves. One of cruelty, but also one of kindness. Both are inherited by Alex - it's fair to say that everything Alex is has been shaped by Xander, his father. The bad... but also the good. And it is because of that miniscule, faltering, fleeting "good" that Xander was able to procure, that Alex is able to rise above what Xander became.

TL;DR: It would be appropriate, both narratively and thematically, to call Xander "daddy".

[theeniebeanie]

hello, this is your unofficial excuse to completely tell us absolutely everything there is yo know about your ocs, for i cannot find any background information on them here and im so incredibly interested !!

(are they dating each other? whats the relation to the canon characters? relations with the virtual singers at all?? do they have thier own unit?? where do they reside? stuff like that!)

-vanitas

hello yuri community. I am about to Rant. This is the Mikitena Masterpost. My pet girlfriends who have every disease.

Mikiso Saito (the purple one):

Created first! They/them lesbian, autism and ADHD ridden because they are just like me, for real. Seventeen years old as of ensekai canon, eighteen in jpsekai.

Despite being nonbinary, they do like feminine terms like girlfriend and other similarly feminine words. They are very against she/her pronouns, though. They also have some gender dysphoria because of their feminine figure, but they don’t mind it as much as they used to.

Naturally purple-haired, the cyan streak is dyed. This is because they are abnormal about Rui Kamishiro and had no idea how to speak to him and chose the most normal path of trying to look like him to get his attention. It works. They are friends.

Friends with another friend’s (@kenderlike) pjsk oc, Mikuo. This is lore-relevant because Mikuo is the one who gives Miki relationship advice (neither of them have ever been in a relationship at this point in time.)

Originally went to Miyamasuzaka, transferred partway through second year. Used to be classmates with Haruka and Saki, did not speak to Haruka because they were intimidated Minori style. Saki and Emu are their best friends prior to transfer, they still remain close.

They move to Kamiyama midway through their second year when their parents move - very stressful. Miki struggled a lot to make friends when they were in elementary and part of middle school, since they struggled a lot with social cues and other elements. This meant they were alone for a long period, which has left them with some problems they haven’t quite gotten over, however they don’t surface that often.

Miki ended up awkwardly standing on the rooftop and hoping Rui would speak to them for about a week, which eventually works. The reason they were so strange about him is because they were so truly enthralled with his performances in wxs, which they are a huge fan of thanks to Emu. They’ve been to every show besides the one that went poorly in the main story. They eventually befriend Nene and Tsukasa as well, though they’re somewhat afraid of him at first due to his volume - they get over it quickly enough.

Emu-type rich. Both of their parents have high-paying jobs, so they’re rather well-off. They don’t actually understand the value of money, though, and will casually buy expensive gifts for their friends and get extremely startled when they get emotional over it. Eg, buying Atena (we will get there) a real silver necklace with diamonds worth thousands since to them that’s pennies.

Extremely clumsy. Trips and falls all of the time. Somehow has never felt any embarrassment over it.

World’s most loving person. Can and will hug everyone they meet. Also very hyper, bounces all the time. Quite literally jumps with joy.

On the flip side, goes nonverbal when they’re troubled. This is distressing to them, especially when they haven’t told the person they’re talking to that it happens. Not always - when they’re particularly upset or going through a depressive episode, it’s a fifty-fifty coin flip. They have cards, though - in school, they have a system where when they are at different levels of functioning, they put different colored cards upright. Nonverbal is orange.

Not great at school - average grades at best. They try so hard, though.

Absolutely adores pressure - both giving and receiving. They squeeze their friends, they get squished on demand by their friends and family and girlfriend.

Atena Amane (the not purple one):

!! tw mentions of drug use, abuse, suicidal ideation and attempt, very brief mention of SA - will be a warning when it comes up !!

If you couldn’t tell from the warnings, Atena is Fucked Up. She/her bisexual autism ADD.

Kamiyama student. Sixteen years old as of ensekai canon, seventeen as of jpsekai canon. Skipped a year of school when she was relatively young so she’s quite ahead, still gets relatively high grades.

Almost every Kamiyama student knows about Atena because she’s surrounded by rumors. She has a reputation and is called names which are unkind and demeaning at best - they don’t bother her, but they bother Miki.

Atena serves somewhat as a parallel to Miki, in that they’ve both experienced loneliness due to the opinions of others. The difference is that Miki can’t handle solitude, where Atena thrives in it. She can’t be hurt if she isn’t attached to someone.

She’s very poor. Her father got sick when she was nine and died when she was eleven, and her mother, Yui, works multiple jobs to keep the house running. Atena is responsible for cleaning, buying and cooking food, and other household responsibilities. Her mother is only home on Friday evenings, otherwise she comes home way past 1-2 in the morning and she’s gone by the time Atena goes to school in the morning. This further adds to her isolation, especially as she’s an only child.

Drug use warning: After her father’s death, at age twelve, her first girlfriend and her split up, and the constant trouble eventually led to her smoking weed to cope. On top of this, she picks up casual drinking, as well as dating practically anyone that would look at her.

Abuse and SA mention warning: This doesn’t go well for Atena - she ends up in many relationships that vary from boring to emotionally and sometimes physically abusive. Her halting point comes at age fifteen, with her last casual relationship. To avoid going into detail, she’s hurt badly while intoxicated.

Suicide mention warning: After that instance, she makes an attempt which thankfully is unsuccessful, though the reason this upsets her more than anything is seeing her mother's face. She decides to avoid people in general from that point on in order to not hurt her mother further after the death of her father, not wanting to leave her mother entirely alone.

Her history with relationships leads her to being entirely closed off and extremely blunt - she speaks directly with no sugarcoating, entirely monotone. She also panics when touched due to her history, and does especially poorly when squeezed or hugged without warning.

She is intrigued by Mikiso, who’s unapologetically kind and (in her opinion) abnormally respectful of her boundaries, as they obey her rules to a T. They start dating after a while, and over time with a lot of patience and reassurance she begins to unlearn a lot of the negativity she had associated with “love.” They learn to love together, in a sense - Mikiso never having been in a relationship, and Atena never having been in a truly good relationship.

Miscellaneous general trivia:

Mikiso is ambidextrous - leans more towards naturally left handed. However, after developing their crush on Atena, who is exclusively left handed, they purposely started using their right hand more. Their writing and coordination is far messier, but they don’t care as it means they can hold hands with her while doing things. Atena does notice this one day, when she catches them, doing something with their left hand, but she doesn’t argue when they stutter that they’re ambidextrous.

Atena has a dented, sticker-coated black DS lite her father bought her for her tenth birthday. It’s hanging on by a thread, but she refuses to replace it. She plays Nintendogs religiously, as well as playing tons of cheap, third party games she finds in stores or is given or that she “found” in exes’ houses. She is forbidden from playing Mario Kart, however, as she gets angry and throws things when she loses. This, for some reason, does not happen with any other game.

Atena is an incredible chef. She is also an absolutely horrible baker. The reason being, she takes recipes as a suggestion rather than gospel. This works in cooking, not baking. This led to an occurrence when making bread where she put far too much yeast and accidentally created something sentient. Mikiso sobbed when Atena killed it because it was alive and they felt sympathy for it, where Atena wanted to put it out of its misery. After this occurrence, she was not allowed to bake unsupervised.

When Mikiso wanted to talk to Atena for the first time at school, they fell flat on their face after they misjudged the distance between their back and the wall and they lost their balance. This is the reason Atena didn’t outright ignore them, as she was intrigued by the fact that they simply stood up and acted like nothing happened with no semblance of embarrassment. This is also why Atena realised she found losers very very cute.

Upon being told by Mikiso that they loved Atena for the first time, she had a panic attack. After talking about it, though, she learns that things aren’t going to change because of it. She also refuses to tell Mikiso that she loves them, as she wants to be one hundred percent certain that she feels the same and know for a fact that she means it. Mikiso finds this very sweet.

Atena is learning how to love herself through learning to love and be loved by Miki.

Atena acts “normal” around her mother - is not blunt and smiles widely. The first time Mikiso ever witnessed this, they were horrified. This also isn’t discussed again after - think Emu being afraid of Mafuyu’s fake smile.

They aren't in a unit - they're just two guys, really. Mikiso actually does have a solo sekai called the Ship Sekai (or pirate sekai affectionately - named such because the virtual singers appear only after being Downloaded Legally. They don't have a huge goal, or anything - they're literally just friends with vocaloids, and it rules. Because I like it.)

Mikiso 's birthday is June 21st, Atena's birthday is November 16th.

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Below this line I added their relationship charts with the main cast - there's probably more lore I haven't mentioned. I think about them a LOT. I painted them for my art final, wrote a story about them on my English final, I draw them everywhere. I have separate white day AU lore for them that I haven't even touched on. I have white day card edits. I have so so much. I could genuinely talk forever about them, I am so serious. Please please please if you have more questions please by all means, ask away. I will answer everything.

-------------------------------------------------------

[kiiyunz]

⠀⠀  (  5:55 Ꮺ  )  ⠀KIHYUN lives his life on a fast track,  spreading his infectious laughter and constant high-energy wherever he goes.  he’s always on the lookout for the new trends to follow,  the new music to listen to,  the new restaurants to try out.  smooth and malleable,  he’s able to rearrange himself with ease to fit right into whatever everyone else is going with at the time.  being the life of the party and standing in the spotlight is a luxury he usually enjoys whenever he’s given the chance to,  and bringing joy to the faces of those he loves makes him happier than anything.  he exists purely in the moment and lives off of the feeling of excitement coursing through his veins—despite that not always being a good thing.

  ⠀(  版 001  ᜊ  FILE  )

STAGE NAME⠀KIHYUN    ( 기현 ) BIRTH NAME⠀IM KIHYUN    ( 임기현 ) ENGLISH NAME⠀KADEN IM NICKNAMES⠀KEY,  KYUN(NIE)  (all)⠀╱⠀KD  (mark, chenle)⠀╱⠀KIKI  (hendery, johnny)

AGE⠀TWENTY-THREE    ( 23 ) DATE OF BIRTH⠀4 MARCH,  2001 ZODIAC SIGN⠀PISCES CHINESE ZODIAC SIGN⠀SNAKE

NATIONALITY⠀SOUTH KOREAN ETHNICITY⠀SOUTH KOREAN PLACE OF BIRTH⠀YEONGDEUNGPO,  SK HOMETOWN⠀DANGSAN,  YEONGDEUNGPO

HEIGHT⠀178 CM    ( 5’10” ) WEIGHT⠀58 KG    ( 128 LBS ) BLOOD TYPE⠀A PIERCINGS⠀LOBE,  SNUG,  HELIX  (left)⠀╱⠀DOUBLE LOBE,  AURICLE  (right) TATTOOS⠀SPIDER  (hip bone, right)⠀╱⠀FIGURE 8  (inner wrist, left)

FACE CLAIM⠀MYUNG JAEHYUN    ( BND ) VOCAL CLAIM⠀CHOI JIUNG    ( P1H ) RAP CLAIM⠀ LEE HEESEUNG    ( ENHA ) DANCE CLAIM⠀CHOI JIUNG    ( P1H ) SPEAKING CLAIM⠀MYUNG JAEHYUN    ( BND ) KNOWN LANGUAGES⠀ KOREAN  (fluent, mother tongue)⠀╱⠀ITALIAN  (proficient)⠀╱⠀ENGLISH,  JAPANESE  (conversational)

GENDER⠀CIS MALE    ( HE ╱ HIM ) SEXUAL ORIENTATION⠀BISEXUAL    ( UNDISCLOSED ) RELATIONSHIP STATUS⠀IN A RELATIONSHIP    ( est. 2023  UNDISCLOSED )

OCCUPATION⠀IDOL YEARS ACTIVE⠀7    ( 2016—PRESENT ) YEARS TRAINED⠀3    ( 2013—2016 ) LABEL⠀SM ENTERTAINMENT GROUP⠀NCT UNIT ⠀NCT DREAM     ( 2016–PRESENT )⠀╱⠀NCT U    ( 2018–PRESENT ) POSITON⠀LEAD VOCALIST,  LEAD DANCER DEBUT DATE⠀25 AUGUST,  2016

REPRENTATIVE EMOJI⠀🕷️ INDIVIDUAL FANDOM NAME⠀ LOCKS TWITTER⠀NCTsmtown⠀NCTsmtown_DREAM INSTAGRAM⠀KYUNIIZ  ( PBLC )⠀WEBKKI  ( PRV )

  ⠀(  版 002  ᜊ  PERSONALITY  )

with a keen eye for detail,  a good eye for both what the people want and whatever problems his friends may be facing,  kihyun can be considered a generally good person to be around.  he’s everywhere and nowhere all at the same time,  an ebbing and flowing tide that can go from livening up a dampened mood with ever-enthusiastic and always-sunny disposition to sitting quietly and doing his best to provide whatever advice a struggling member of his may be needing when they confide in him about the things that’re on their mind.  he lives for the adrenaline of idol life,  the instant rush of endorphins that he gets from the performances,  the practice sessions,  the photoshoots,  the concerts—so much so that sometimes he gets swept up in it all,  loses focus and stumbles;  starts to skip out on responsibilities,  sneak off and make excuses all while searching for the next dopamine hit.  his friends have usually been there to keep him in check,  but it’s still something he needs to work on.

when kihyun feels,  it’s almost as if he feels all too much at once.  everything is at an extreme,  turned up to the max.  when he was younger he used to flare up at anything,  temper rising and falling erratically,  but now that he’s grown his temper is almost completely in check,  and his anger is a very rare thing to bare witness or be victim to.  he tries to be empathetic with all of his friends,  doing his best to support them when they’re going through a rough patch or having a fight of their own with another member,  but as soon as a problem  (however minor)  is brought up against him he switches off,  uninterested and unwilling to talk it out properly.  he’ll be flighty and avoidant,  deciding to simply push through the uneasy feelings in the pit of his stomach or attempt to escape it altogether by removing himself from the space of the person who has grievances with him whenever he’s able to—no matter how big or small the issue is—rather than sitting down and talking through it to resolve the rift.  this habit of his has never gone as far enough to permanently fracture his relationships with any of the other members,  but in the past it’s come close..

in the moments where kihyun himself isn’t feeling the best,  he’s not the most eager to let anybody know.  similar to his approach to conflict,  he prefers to breeze over any lingering feelings of inferiority or insecurity and pretend they’re not there—either hoping they fade away with time or coping with them in ways that most wouldn’t consider the healthiest.  bottling everything up  (although it may seem like an odd thing for a ‘hyper-sensitive’ pisces to do)  is by far one of his worst habits,  but as he grows more he’s making more and more of an effort to work on it—that effort of course being assisted by his closest friends,  the members themselves.  where he would usually pick more detrimental things to help him cope with whatever he was feeling inside,  kihyun now tries to pour it all into a creative outlet—namely music,  or dance.  he’s come far from when he was thirteen and desperately looking for reasons not to drop out of the company altogether,  and in the future he hopes to go even further.

  ⠀(  版 003  ᜊ  BACKGROUND  )

born on a cold morning on the fourth of march two thousand and one  ( 04 / 03 / 2001 ),  kihyun was the first child of a young mother struggling to make ends meet  (and who would later be labelled a ‘prostitute’ in rumours spread in early twenty eighteen,  seeing as their small flat was nestled right outside the infamous ‘capital alley,’ a known red light district—rumours that would never be addressed by sm and left to be speculated about)  and an unknown father,  who kihyun never heard of again except in spiteful passing remarks made by his grandmother,  who lived with them in their two-bedroomed apartment.  despite their living situation,  kihyun was mostly a happy child at home,  always appreciating the love he was given,  the roof over his head,  and the food on his plate that he rarely had to go without.  problems only really started to arise when he started at school.

school and kihyun did not get along in the slightest.  making friends wasn’t the problem—he was a social butterfly if you’d ever seen one,  drawing people in like magnets with a smile and a joke whispered behind his hand that had a way of making people feel as if they were special,  as if all of his attention was focused on them—it was the education itself.  the lessons were too hard;  words swimming off of the pages,  numbers twisting themselves up into unintelligible shapes and floating off into the air around him,  and none if it seemed to stick.  kihyun loathed it from the start,  and it only seemed to get worse as the years went on.  on the fifteenth of september two thousand and nine  ( 15 / 09 / 2009 )  his younger half-brother seonmin was born—to a father that,  although wasn’t his own,  he was able to get to know;  but a man his mother still wouldn’t commit to,  still wouldn’t marry,  someone who he only got to see from time to time,  and suddenly there was one less person to talk to about the words that made his head ache and the numbers that made his eyes water.  he became a lot closer to his grandmother in the years following,  moving from his mother’s bedroom to hers and cuddling close to her in the evenings when she let him stay up far later than he was usually allowed with a wink and a finger to her lips as she switched the tv channel to the music shows.

from the very first night he saw the idol groups,  the men and women dancing in all their perfectly synchronised glory,  hair perfectly styled and no blemishes to be found,  kihyun was hooked.  he had found his dream.  one that,  from the looks of it,  had far less of all the numbers and letters he hated so much.  his mother  (and baby brother,  even if he couldn’t understand a word)  had burst into laughter when he told them of his newfound goal,  but kihyun was adamant,  and his grandmother had faith in him too.  he started to learn all the words,  memorise all the steps,  until every day after school he was dancing around the apartment belting out SHINee and f(x) songs until his throat was hoarse. he knew what he wanted to do,  and where he wanted to go.  sm entertainment was the company that housed most of his favourites,  some of what people called the ‘greats’ in the industry at the time,  and so that was where he set his sights.  he was going to get in,  and  (hopefully)  get famous.

a late afternoon in april twenty thirteen  ( 10 / 04 / 2013 )  was when he did it.  he got a leg-up from one of his friends out of the school gates and ran all of the way to the train station,  paying for a train ticket with the pocket money he’d been saving up for months.  he asked around for directions until he finally found the place the audition was being held,  did all of the things the vaguely frightening people dressed in their business casual asked him to do,  tried not to feel too much like a circus clown while he was performing,  and then held his breath when it was over.  and by some miracle conjured up by the stars above,  kihyun managed to make it through.  he tried not to cheer aloud out of fear the option would be taken back when the company told him he could drop out of school to fully focus on training if he so wished,  neglected to tell his mother he’d been accepted for a little while in fear she wouldn’t approve  (and was pleasantly surprised when she only told him that she’d better be seeing him on tv in a few years time),  high-fived his grandmother with a wide grin on his face,  and packed up the little things he had to make the official move to seoul.  there he trained for three years,  until he was finally told that  (along with seven others,  seven fast friends he was glad to have made)  he was set to debut.  nct dream,  their subunit was going to be called,  and the rest was history.

  ⠀(  版 004  ᜊ  PERSONAL&  )

MBTI  ⠀ESTP-T  ( TURBULENT ENTERTAINER ) POSITIVE TRAITS  ⠀bold,  original,  practical,  observant,  excellent people skills. NEGATIVE TRAITS  ⠀sensitive,  conflict-averse,  poor long-term planner,  unfocused.

LIKES  ⠀his fellow members,  travelling to new places,  dancing,  singing,  fashion,  shopping,  accessories,  music,  street food & street art,  manga,  bungeoppang,  cherry pepsi max,  blueberries,  goldfish,  lego,  songwriting. DISLIKES  ⠀bugs,  cooking,  green tea,  reading,  puzzles & brain teasers,  waking up early,  sci-fi movies,  crime shows,  maths. HOBBIES  ⠀playing football,  playing pool,  collecting albums & vinyls,  collecting photocards (particularly of his members),  (trying to) learn new languages,  music production,  playing the drums. PHOBIAS  ⠀atychiphobia (fear of failure),  astraphobia (fear of thunder & lightning).

HABITS  ⠀constantly repeating new words or phrases he’s recently learned (usually in a foreign language),  doing tutting combos with his hands,  snorting while laughing,  cracking his knuckles,  sneaking up to his fellow members in an attempt to scare them,  rubbing at his eyes,  clicking his tongue,  playing his music too loud,  idly tying his drawstrings into knots he can’t get undone. KNOWN FOR  ⠀his tendency to break away and wander off from the rest of the group to go and explore on his own (even while filming),  him holding up the others while he poses for fansites (particularly at the airport),  his constant featuring of the dreamies & other members on his instagram,  his spontaneous fit checks,  his music recommendations (his lives are more of a radio hour than anything),  his love for pda & need to cling onto whoever he’s closest to,  his tendency to try and answer a question in a few short words but end up going on a tangent.

FAMILY  ⠀mother  (  임요미  born 23 / 10 / 1981  alive  )⠀╱⠀grandmother  (  임중안  born 01 / 07 / 1958  alive  )⠀╱⠀half brother  (  임선민  born 15 / 09 / 2009  alive  ).

ᶻ  his favourite music genres are dance,  rap,  and pop.  his favourite artists are azealia banks,  michael jackson,  exo,  f(x),  and gsoul. ᶻ  kihyun is a known lyricist,  and has contributed with lyrics on multiple albums  (both within nct and,  on occasion,  for other groups also).  he currently has twenty seven  ( 27 )  writing credits under his name. ᶻ  in the future he hopes to contribute more with production & composition.  currently he does it mostly for fun,  as he’s still learning.

ᶻ  inside the group,  kihyun considers himself closest to chenle,  mark,  johnny,  hendery,  jeno,  and niko. ᶻ  outside the group his friends include cléo of stray kids,  giselle of aespa,  matthew and hanbin of zerobaseone,  and sohee of riize. ᶻ  he currently shares an apartment with jisung,  having recently moved out of the dorm together. ᶻ  a member he wants to get closer to in the future is yangyang  (and if he could switch units,  he’d choose wayv). ᶻ  his role models include key of SHINee,  and d.o. of exo.

ᶻ  fashion is a subject he’s been interested in for a while,  and he’s coined the nickname ‘assistant fashion evaluator’—johnny accepted him as his ‘apprentice’ with pride. ᶻ  his interest in italian stemmed from his mother’s love of both the country and the culture,  and he grew up watching old italian films alongside her even if he could never understand a word. ᶻ  his favourite movies are the bling ring,  time to hunt,  and the con artists. ᶻ  kihyun has slated his ideal type as “someone who shares my sense of humour and can sometimes buy me nice things.”

[milkbreadtoast]

still on my reread of early twsb and... the inn mini arc is so good/important... i didnt realize how much when i first read... but like... (ch 46 thoughts IM PLAGUED BY THE #YESSAYS AGAIN)

the MC trio's personalities are all SO diff and up till now theyve had a lot of friction and only rly interacted together bc they were kind of forced to... But despite their stark diffs one of the main thing that unites them is they all have the same strong moral compass... like their morals r in alignment. They all can't stand seeing injustice... and their diff personalities give them diff approaches to solving the (same) problem; diff strengths filling in what the other lacks... but they have the same goal/their hearts r in the same place... I rly think this is the strongest thing that binds them together🥹 theyre all good kids...

This inn mini arc is the first time the MC trio r all united in thought and working together completely of their own volition (while they showed teamwork before, it was still in situations where they were basically forced to be together, e.g. training lessons or punishment)

But here they witness the same event and they all feel the same rage at the injustice and put aside their differences to make a plan...

yeseo's had a lot of misunderstandings/misreadings of cedric's behavior and saw him p unfavorably up to this point but thats slowly starting to change... im just gonna drop some liveblogs here skfjd

(+ u wouldnt think much of it but the fact that he observes they all make the same expression "at the same time" means he's glancing at each of their faces...)

the fact that hes constantly checking cedric's reactions + trying to read what he's thinking/feeling in the moment... yeseo's empathy is 1 of his strongest traits imo and this an example of how he extends this to everyone (including the guy who he has thought of as a huge jerk all this time + is trying to avoid)

(and this is something I RLY rly love about yeseo... even w ppl he tries not to get close to/doesnt particularly like he still cant help but empathize with them? like even way before this when he concludes cedric must be entering the tournament to help his "son" who is in pain... and reasons that he must feel angry seeing chris freely mooch off yeseo's ether bc his "son" suffers from ether depletion... and when the 3 are assigned to clean the portal as punishment, and he's waiting outside w ced... notes that "he looks serious even from the side" and blurts without thinking "um... it will be okay, your royal highness." "...i am talking about Sadie." all these are examples of him extending empathy to cedric/thinking of him sympathetically (even tho he has the wrong idea)... He doesn't have to, but he does anyway, because that's the kind of person he naturally is... I really do think his strong empathy is 1 of his most prominent chara traits. 🥹❤️‍🔥)

🥹... this moment is rly cute skfjsn but yet again!! another small ex of him trying to understand what cedric is thinking on some lvl and relate/connect w him (EVEN THO ITS ALL SUBCONSCIOUS... AND HES THINKING THIS IN LIKE A LIGHTHEARTED JOKEY WAY... STILL TRUE)

(^the fact that he describes how cedric's eyes look means that he looked over & checked cedric's reaction in this moment, even tho ced didn't give a verbal rxn like himself & christelle...)

^^^^^🥹🥹🥹..!!!! AAAAH... also i talked mostly abt cedyes here but he definitely grows closer w christelle bc of this too (and the 3 of them as a whole)... and again its bc their morals r in alignment here + he's starting to understand what kind of ppl they r... but its ESP important w cedric bc he never rly thought of chris as a bad person? but up till even just the day before he's thought of cedric as being a huge asshole... witnessing all these tiny little moments that together signal a (gradual) turning point in how he views cedric makes me WANT TO FUCKING SCREAMMM AAAA!!!! AAAAAAAAH.

[greatwesternway]

How did Pioneer and U-505 start talking? What made U-505 allow himself that friendship?

It's important to understand that U-505's not denying himself friendship in being stand-offish. And this is also not related to the rules he has to observe as a war machine because Pioneer is a civilian engine.

U-505 allowed Pioneer to start teaching him English within a month or two of his arrival in May in 1960. Up until then, U-505 had gleaned a few words on his own, but he'd been set up outside by himself since 1954 and the museum would have someone who could speak German talk to him if needed. He didn't need to speak to the visitors really so it just wasn't something he'd ever sought to learn.

But having Pioneer installed next to him... trains are social machines. They work closely with one another and they talk. And Pioneer was built to be especially talkative as Burlington's flagship engine.

But moreover, the reason U-505 made the effort is because he admired the way Pioneer took to preservation.

It was obviously a much different scenario for U-505, since his preservation is not one celebrating his existence and it also involved the loss of his sea-worthiness. In that regard, Pioneer was in a much better position. Still, he struggled, as most engines do, with the change in duties. It's why early on in his letters to Pilot, before he realizes he's been rescued from scrap and is grateful to be at the IRM, that Pioneer says that preservation can feel like a demotion. It's hard for an engine to have to come to terms with the end of his service life.

The way Pioneer responded to this, though, was to set those feelings aside and put his best effort into being a good and engaging exhibit. As we've said, he's already got a lot of transferable skills to do this, but U-505 had never seen a machine like this. He didn't know much English, but he could still tell that Pioneer was trying very hard to adapt and not to complain or be ungrateful.

Pioneer would sometimes talk at U-505 just to entertain himself or to make a gesture at including him in conversation with his cars, but U-505 made the first actual attempt at talking. He asked Pioneer, in very broken English, how fast he went. And Pioneer told him; 112 miles per hour. Then Pioneer asked U-505 how fast he went. Which U-505 could not tell him because his speed is measured in knots. They got their guides to help the next day.

Things would have been quite friendly in the yard by now if it weren't for 2903.

See, the problem is, 2903 is wartime build. Because light metals were needed to build airplanes, all that railroad works could get was heavy metal. Too heavy for diesel motors to carry. So they made the 2900 class fuck-off big steam engines instead. Unfortunately, because steam is very costly to run and maintain, this meant that 2903's service life was incredibly short compared to most engines, only 11 years. He is resentful of the effect the war had on his service life and U-505 is a very broad target for those feelings.

He also did not take to preservation as well as Pioneer did, being that he is literally Just Some Guy and had no expectation of ever being put in this position. Having watched Pioneer's transition to preservation work comparatively, 2903's refusal or inability to meet the job left U-505 with a poor impression of him. What little English U-505 had at his disposal could be used to toss a glib barb or two 2903's way.

2903 (and 999 when she joins the yard the next year) hassled Pioneer a lot for fraternizing with an enemy unit. It doesn't bother Pioneer because it's not that serious in the grand scheme of things. U-505 does not like being a source of trouble for him though and regrets that Pioneer got put in the yard with him first.

This is the reason why he's reluctant to entertain 727. It's not that he doesn't like her or isn't flattered (if bewildered) by her attentions. It's that he thinks she's better off not getting herself involved with him. It hasn't done Pioneer any favors.

But by the time 727 arrives at the museum, 2903 has been moved to the IRM, 999 has been away for a couple years for refurbishment, and the social dynamic in the museum has changed for it.

It's actually 999 that convinces him to give in. Asks if there isn't something in his prize rules about having to accept when an American wants a smelly old boat for reasons she couldn't possibly fathom. There's not - 727 isn't a war machine - but it says something that 999 is trying to find a justification for the idea.