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screentonescast · 2 years ago

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Screen Tones, a Webcomic Podcast

Show Notes

The Numbers Game

Release Date: September 14, 2022

Featuring

Renie Jesanis - She/They , www.kateblast.com

Christina Major (Delphina) - She/Her, www.sombulus.com

Ally Rom Colthoff (Varethane) - She/They http://chirault.sevensmith.net/ http://wychwoodcomic.com/

In This Episode:

Today’s topic is about how stats, analytics, and other metrics can affect the creative process.

Before we get started, here’s a quick rundown of the different kinds of numbers you might run into while you’re making or reading webcomics!

Follower Counts

What is this? - How many people are signed up to see your content automatically

Where do you see it? - Webtoons, Tapas, all the social medias (Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, TikTok)

How this metric is helpful - It's a talking point I guess, you can have little contests when you get to a cool number or if you're close to a cool number

How this metric can be flawed - On any platform where your content is not locked, you don't HAVE to be a follower to see someone's content, in fact almost all social media by default will throw people's posts around that you DON'T know about, so there CAN be a lot more people looking at your stuff than just your follower count.

On the flip side followers don't always give you comments, money, or loyalty; sometimes they're not even there! Followers can be fake/bots/people following you for a contest/inactive accounts following you. So I think it's important if you're slipping into a mindset that follower count equals how many people "care" about your content that that is not the case. It's really more reflective of what tactics you OR (more likely) the platform are using to sign people up to be your follower.

If you find yourself wanting a higher follower count, just try and think of the reason you want this. What kinds of problems do you see it solving, how do you think it'll change your experience to get more followers? Because I guarantee you there is some different thing you want to be paying attention to, driving follows in and of itself does nothing and can actually hurt if you're a company who's incentivizing people to follow too many people all at once and they get overwhelmed by all that content.

Views/Traffic

What is this? - How many people have viewed your content or clicked on any links you put in that content

Where do you see it? Webtoon, Tapas, Google Analytics if you have your own site, you can also see it if you click the little bar icon on a Tweet

How this metric is helpful - It shows you how many browsers have loaded your content

How this metric can be flawed - They're better than Follower Count for sure, but still not 100% indicative of your quality. You might be making a kind of story where it really reads better to visit every few months and catch up, which will show as fewer views. Temporary features can bloat view numbers. Views can come from negative sources/trolls who are dunking on you/the ol' ratio. Views are also not an indication of who's PASSIONATE about your work or who would spend MONEY on your work. I know a lot of people who really don't get many views but they make a lot of money because the few people that ARE reading their work really love it, and I know a lot of people who get tons of views and really don't have a bead on monetizing it.

If you find yourself wanting more views, you probably need to be looking at personally appealing to your circles, getting involved in new ones. One thing my buddy Star does is fanart for things that are thematically similar to her comic Castoff, and if they take off, just including a "I do more stuff like this on my comic which you can read here!". DON'T DM people or put them on your mailing list without their consent, listen as much as you talk, but yeah, probably need to be dropping your link in APPROPRIATE spaces a little more.

Comments

What is this? - How many people are writing out their thoughts in the spaces you're providing them

Where do you see it? - Bottom of comic updates, responses on social media

How this metric is helpful - I love comments, it's really a nice way for people to express what they're enjoying about your comic, they can be so uplifting and make you feel very appreciated

How this metric can be flawed - Comments really do need to have good moderation tools and be closely moderated because a lot of us nerds on the internet are NOT social butterflies and might say awkward or incendiary things, and when that happens the comment section becomes not a very fun party to hang out in. You also might have an interface that isn't easy to SEE where the comments are. Comment culture is very different on personal sites versus Webtoon and they can be kind of rude if the reader is younger or doesn't know the author reads the comments, OR MY PROBLEM RIGHT NOW, you might use Disqus and be CONSTANTLY PLAGUED BY PORNBOTS.

If you find yourself wanting more comments, again, asking people to leave comments every so often, posing a question in your author notes, and again, reminding people that if they like your stuff you want to hear from them can go a long way! Showcasing the comments you've gotten that you like and want of is also nice! And saving screenshots in a folder or in a special place on your Discord server is a fun time too. I started doing sort of a yearbook treatment that includes all my favorite comments at the end of the year and it's really a nice way to preserve that uplifting feeling.

Ratings/Votes

What is this? - Star ratings on a 1-5 scale, supposedly reflective of opinions of your comic

Where do you see it? Webtoon, Tapas, Goodreads, TopWebComics, storefronts sometimes like Amazon

How is this metric helpful? - Presumably helps a reader decide if a comic is popular and if they should buy or read it, boosts you in the algorithm a LOT

How this metric can be flawed - Some systems penalize you if it's not the right KIND of comment (Instagram it needs to be like 5 words long I think?) People don't remember to rank things, even when they like them! It can really mislead you into thinking your comic is bad when it's probably not. Negative ratings can be based on totally random or subjective things like if the person is allergic to your font choice, if the system isn't working for them, if they misread your description and thought you were trying to do something you weren't, votes can be trolls, and on Webtoon/Tapas, there's no way to tell "okay out of 6000 people who gave this 5 stars, one is saying it's bad". It's very unqualified data and it's not gonna help you FIX anything if there IS something that's less effective about your comic. And we're storytellers, so we're naturally problem solvers, and that can be a really dangerous train when that ONE guy out of 6000 says there's a problem, because part of your brain is going to go "PROBLEM TO FIX MUST FIX PROBLEM" or "I DID A PROBLEM?? NOOO I AM AN AWFUL PERSON" or both.

If you find yourself wanting more positive ratings, I think asking for 5-star reviews is something you hear about a lot, and I do think if the platform you're using ranks things numerically, that's worth doing every so often. Don't get pushy or demanding with it, just let people know that it does actually tangibly help you and it's a free thing they can do if they're enjoying your stuff! A lot of times people just need reminders! For TopWebComics, I made a quick URL at sombulus.com/vote that'll take you right to my voting portal, I upload new incentives there every week, and I have announcements scheduled out on Twitter every week and at the start of the month when the votes reset to remind people that it helps boost my comic in the rankings.

Likes/Shares

What is this? - Someone clicking the thumbs or the upvotes or the hearts or the Toots to say they enjoyed a thing, and someone clicking a different thing to share that post with someone else

Where do you see it? - Webtoon/Tapas, social media

How is this metric helpful? - Boosts you in the algorithm a little, gets your stuff spread to other peoples' followers

How this metric can be flawed - Ratios can actually mean people are taking it out of context, very rarely results in clickthroughs or sales unless you reach a viral critical mass, very non-commital support, you could be posting at a weird time of day or flooded out by worldwide news current events/drama, of which there is so much these days. You can also feel like posting frequently takes a lot of work and time that you don't have and it's just exhausting.

If you find yourself wanting more likes/shares, try scheduling things so far in advance that you forget you even put them there. I love this because if a post DOESN'T get any attention, I forget I even made it, and if it DOES, then it's a pleasant surprise. You can also ask sometimes if you have something urgent, just say a little "share this with your friends!" line on the tweet. Don't abuse this but it can definitely work out. Also in social media, reshare old content after a while! Nobody cares!

Some people use Likes as kind of either a read receipt or a bookmark, which can sometimes artificially mess with the numbers on this particular metric.

Revenue

What is this? - MONEY! Money that you make from ad revenue, sales, Patreon or Ko-Fi subscripts, tipping in Tapas, etc.

Where do you see it? - You typically gotta set up a shop or campaign somewhere or seek out a publisher (I think we're gonna have a whole other episode on allll the ways you can do that)

How is this metric helpful? - Money can be exchanged for goods and services, both of which I enjoy a lot

How this metric can be flawed - Money is only a metric of if you've made a product that is sellable and you've successfully convinced people to buy it, which is an extremely different skill than making a good comic. Just making a comic and printing a book is going to lead to a lot of books in your closet gathering dust. Online comic sales for me have been exceedingly hard, I don't make a lot of side comics or other projects, there's just a lot of distracting things online so I really depend on things like limited time crowdfunds to move my books online. I've also seen this one a million times where people will ask their followers on twitter "which of these things would you buy", their followers vote, but then they put it in their store and those people suddenly have no money.

If you find yourself wanting more money, don't we all? But also you really do have to experiment a lot sometimes to find products that are sellable, and how to present them. You need clear compelling pictures, you need to make a regular habit of mentioning that you have stuff for sale, also helps if you have NEW products to appeal to the people who want to give you MORE money but they already have all the stuff you sell. The number of people who are willing and able to give you money is probably small, but the good news is that repeat customers are very much a thing, so look for ways to encourage repetition from the same people as well as reaching new ones.

With that out of the way, it’s time for our first question!

5:00 What role have numbers and statistics played in your webcomics journey? Has it changed over time?

13:09 How do you use the statistics you have access to in productive ways while working on or marketing your comic, without letting them have too much influence?

28:16 Now the numbers game can drive even the most hardened webcomic veterans absolutely batty. Do you have any more advice on survival to share with other creators to navigate the emotional landscape of stats and numbers?

Thanks for Listening!

Have a comment? Question? Concern?

Screen Tones Cast:

Ally Rom Colthoff (Varethane) - She/They http://chirault.sevensmith.net/ http://wychwoodcomic.com/

Christina Major (Delphina) - She/Her, www.sombulus.com

Claire Niebergall (Clam) - She/Her, www.phantomarine.com

Kristen Lee (Krispy) She/They https://www.ghostjunksickness.com/

Megan Davison - She/Her, https://www.webtoons.com/en/search?keyword=megasketch

Miranda Reoch - She/Her, mirandacakes.art

Phineas Klier - They/Them, http://heirsoftheveil.fervorcraft.de

Rae Baade(Rae) - they/them, https://www.empyreancomic.com

Renie Jesanis - She/They , www.kateblast.com

#show notes

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jocasta-nightstrider · 1 year ago

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@error-i-dunno-what-went-wrong hi!! I hope it's okay to tag you (if not just let me know and I'll delete this!), but yes, Balance has a sequel! The sequel's called The Zone of Adventure: Imbalance, it's a 3-episode miniseries set 10 years after the day of Story and Song. The basic premise is that our four main heroes ("Taako", Magnus, Merle, and Davenport) are dragged out of adventuring retirement by our DM Aabria Iyengar to stop one last Big Bad who has a mission to kill Them Specifically for reasons you find out in episode 2 lmao. It's a very very VERY good sequel, too!! It's honestly my absolute favorite part of the Balance universe!!!

I put "Taako" in quotes a lot, because in the sequel "Taako" changes a LOT about themselves. I'll try not to get too spoilery, but the way Justin plays out his subplot in the series is basically one big transgender allegory, intentionally or not lol. Their new chosen name is Jocasta Nightstrider, and that is what I will continue to call them because it's clear being "Taako" was really bad for their mental health. Jocasta ended up changing their name, clothes, voice, and how they dress, and sets off to start a new life where only the people closest to them ever knew their deadname, completely starting from scratch to build a life that they have control of and isn't ruled by the debilitating expectations everyone expected from him before. I can't say much more than that because that's MAJOR spoilers, but that's the basic gist of who Jocasta is! They're very very very very important to me :]

A lot of people never actually knew there was a sequel- the series was hosted exclusively on YouTube due to it having video to accompany it, and since most people listen to The Adventure Zone on podcast-specific sites, it never really went anywhere. The incredibly small fandom for it just kind of fizzled out within a week of the final episode airing. There was just too few people talking about it or making content of it to keep it alive. It's um. It's mostly just me nowadays. It gets pretty lonely in the tags, but I understand why Imbalance never really took off. Just posted in the wrong place at the wrong time, I guess. I still post stuff about them in the hopes it'll convince new people to see it, and because my interest in it has stayed very high for the almost 2 years since it released (that's hyperfixation for ya lol), but I'm content staying in my little corner of the internet making silly doodles of an unknown series for the rest of time if I have to lmao, this blog is purely because I love Imbalance and it doesn't really matter if anyone else does or not, I guess.

But yeah! That's the basics, and who Jocasta is, and why I continue to run this blog! If you wanted to watch it it's pretty short, only 3 episodes so it's not a super long commitment. If you skipped over the liveshows there's gonna be a few jokes/npcs that might be referenced without much other context, but all the other liveshow-based stuff has enough context within Imbalance itself that it shouldn't be too disruptive. Uh, here's the link, if you want it! Thanks for putting up with a bit of a ramble, lol! I appreciate it!

You ever think about how Kravitz Nightstrider, The Grim Reaper and Hunter of The Risen Dead, and his paramour Jocasta Nightstrider, once one of the Seven Saviours of the Universe turned Fate-Defying Warrior, sound like they would be such cool fucking characters.

And then you listen to the series and they're both absolute fucking dorks who use dumb stupid fake accents that they're both really into for the other person and they bicker about doing the dishes and they have a fluffy little pomeranian together and they fell in love over tentacle hentai and drunk pottery class and have been happily together for over 10 years as of the sequel. And they're one of the best fictional couples in existence also

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ear-worthy · 2 years ago

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What Makes Podcasting So Unique?

In the last year, almost every news outlet has reported an astonishing number of podcasts in existence. Although reports of three million are common, these clickbait articles fail to realize that the number of active podcasts is substantially lower, maybe slightly over 400,000. According to Apple Podcasts, there are about 250,000 active podcasts and about 70,000 in actual podcast feeds.

By contrast, there were 449 movies released in 2022, with 2018 being the recent high-water mark at 873. In TV, 2022 saw about 600 scripted TV shows aired on broadcast or streaming. That number will certainly decrease in 2023 and probably 2024 as the streaming bubble has been popped by impatient investors who are suddenly demanding profitability for the huge expenditures made to produce streaming content. Amazon's Lord Of The Rings: Rings Of Power cost $715 million. How many Dr. Pimple Popper type shows could you film and release for that amount of money?

So it already seems obvious that we have our first answer to the question posed on the article title.

What makes podcasting so unique? First and foremost, it's the sheer number of active podcasts. Yet, podcasting offers so much more to its listeners.

In this article, I'll confine myself to three of the many reasons why podcasting is such a unique and splendid medium.

There are subjects covered in podcasting that are not in other media.

You can consume podcasts while engaged in other activities.

There is an intimacy and immersive quality with podcast listening that is hard to duplicate

Let's begin with one of podcasting's most enduring strengths.

1. There are subjects covered in podcasting that are not in other media.

In the last five years, movies have been about superheroes and fantasy worlds. Those two subjects have captured 75 percent of all the gross revenue of movies released since 2018.

It's not a stretch to state that "movies do not come close to depicting the breadth of the human experience."

For TV, we have a multiverse. One with shows on 90-day fiancées, bitter housewives with swollen lips, and home renovation addicts. Then we have the TV broadcast dramas that are dominated by a law enforcement theme: Police, Forensics, FBI, CIA-adjacent. Streaming TV has the most diverse and actively creative media universe.

Then we have podcasting. The scope of subjects covered is too numerous to mention. Here's the short list: adoption, suicide prevention, sewing, astrology, the publishing industry, climate change (2,000+ podcasts), food history, Billboard chart history, Employee Communications departments, classical music, public speaking skills, happiness (500+ podcasts), nutrition (1,000+ podcasts), entertainment news, kids news, science, whiskey, Hollywood history, and more true-crime dramas than you can imagine.

Clearly, niche media is a signature offering for podcasting to listeners. Just to be clear, there is a distinct difference between niche and fringe. Niche is a guy in Nebraska with a podcast about the history of muscle car engines. Fringe is a podcast from a bunch of like-minded losers who are deluded enough to believe that they are superior to anybody. To them, their eventual takeover of the country is inevitable. Fringe people are about blame and hate. Niche people are about loving an activity and camaraderie.

A perfect example of a niche podcast is WhiskeyCast, an 18-year-old podcast about whiskey. I am not a whiskey drinker, but listening to several episodes about whiskey blends, upcoming festivals, whiskey news, and testimonials from whiskey lovers was enlightening and energizing.

2. You can consume podcasts while engaged in other activities.

I don't know about you, dear reader, but I'm not good at watching TV and doing much else. How can you watch The Night Agent on Netflix while cleaning the house and possibly follow what's going on? I watched Game Of Thrones with my phone off and shades drawn, and still missed some of the family drama and political intrigue.

Listening to podcasts offers a similar frictionless experience to audiobooks. It's no secret why audiobooks have been the fastest-growing segment of the publishing industry for the last decade. You can listen to a book while you drive to work, take the train, clean the house, take a walk, workout, reorganize your sock drawer, or just wait for stuff like in the doctor's office, checkout line, or any queue.

People are busy. Today, 23 percent of all households are managed by a single parent. That is the definition of busy, with little time for luxuries like sleep and relaxation. Yet, podcast listening slides seamlessly into the hectic lives of those solo parents.

When the pandemic hit, and people stopped going to work, there was an initial dip in podcast listening. However, that dip lasted only a few weeks, and podcast listening rebounded to levels higher than before the pandemic, even though many people stayed at home. I guess the case can be made that people stuck at home wanted to escape their families, so they donned earbuds or headphones and tuned them out with a podcast.

Podcasts offer us the convenience of listening during our busy days when we are engaged in other activities. For some, podcasting listening can be therapeutic.

Listening to podcasts also stimulates our brains in ways that TV, movies, TikTok, and YouTube cannot. When we are consumers of audio and video, our brains are force-fed the entire sensory experience. When we consume audio only, our brains are tasked with constructing images that coincide with the words being said -- as in podcasts or audiobooks.

3. There is an intimacy and immersive quality with podcast listening that is hard to duplicate.

First, let's acknowledge that reading is an immersive and intimate experience. It's the reason why reading books is centuries old and still going strong despite the naysayers. Podcasting is only two decades old and still losing its baby teeth.

Some media thrive on their social interaction. The movie theater experience is inherently a social mixer, with people reacting to the movies on the screen, and the reactions of the people in the theater.

TV was designed as a family experience in the late 1940s and 1950s, since most households only had one television set. Since TVs now replicate like rabbits in households, and people now use phones and tablets as reception devices, TV has become a more solitary activity.

Recent Podtrac studies have revealed that podcasts are predominantly listened to via earbuds and headphones. In essence, podcasts and streaming music inhabit the same psychic universe in society, separating people from the external world.

The days of gigantic speakers in people's homes blasting music from vinyl records have been replaced by wandering humans hermetically sealed inside private listening devices while the outside world goes about its frenetic and violent business.

One warm spring day, I washed, waxed, vacuumed, tire-shined, and silicone-sprayed my Hyundai. The task took two hours, and during that time, I listened to three episodes of the Drilled podcast by Amy Westervelt. During that time and the task, it was just me and Westervelt, as I considered how the enemies of climate change are so powerful and unscrupulous. As my car began to look more presentable again, I reveled in the private world that I inhabited with the podcast, its host, and my car.

I have a friend who works in downtown Philadelphia and takes the train to work every weekday from South Jersey. Her routine is the same: In the morning, she listens to The Daily podcast. At night, Marketplace. To her, those two podcasts soften the harsh edges of public transit.

******

You're probably wondering why I bothered to write such an obvious piece extolling the well-known virtues of podcasting.

Here it is. At least two of those aforementioned reasons that make podcasting so unique are in danger.

First, Spotify and other large companies threaten to crowd out the niche aspect of podcasting with the podcast version of TV lookalikes -- the Chicago, CSI, and Law & Order franchises. Spotify does offer some quality podcasts, but a lady in rural Georgia discussing macramé is beyond their corporate scope. And podcasting needs people like that woman.

Second, video podcasts threaten to transform podcasts into more of a TV / movie media consumption activity where simultaneous activity while podcast listening becomes difficult or impossible. Sure, you can watch /listen to a YouTube video podcast on your public transit commute if you don't mind peeping eyes. If you have the leisure time -- or you're quiet quitting -- you can certainly consume video podcasts.

But watching several people talk to one another with headphones on is not the remarkable video experience that warrants a transition to the "see-able" instead of the "hear-able."

Finally, the real heroes of podcasting are not the most visible people like Joe Rogan, Ashley Flowers, or certainly not Steve Bannon.

Podcasting's roots are decidedly populist. It's your next-door neighbor with a podcast on home repair tips. Or your niece with a podcast on women's soccer.

Podcasting is people you've never heard of -- Matt Gilhooly of The Life Shift, Kyla Sims of Infernal Communications, Robert Peterpaul of The Art Of Kindness, and Evan Stern of Vanishing Postcards -- excelling in their sonic worlds and trying to make the world a better place.

#podcast #podcasting #digital media

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franzis-frantic-thoughts · 2 years ago

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thanks for the updates from Maddie and Twitter! I can’t believe whats going on. The relaunch of Magnus in combination with stopping so many cool ongoing shows is so weird

You are very welcome! I actually revived my Twitter account to be able to check regularly for new posts, either from Maddy or others. There doesn’t seem to have been anything new in a few hours now, even if I personally missed it, I’d have heard about it via one of the multiple discords I’m on.

Yes, RQ has made incredibly strange decisions this past year (or even beyond that) which leave me as a fan - and highest tier Noble - incredibly frustrated.

When they shut the discord down, they said they’d reevaluate six months later. RQO recently “celebrated” its first death day. Personally, I don’t want RQO back. But I would have liked to have that promised reevaluation.

The reason the discord had to be shut down can apparently also be traced back to shit communication between RQ and the team of volunteer and unpaid mods.

When Chapter&Multiverse, Trice Forgotten, and Cry Havoc (Ask Questions Later) were announced in late 2021, they were projected to air within the first half of 2022. Instead, only C&M aired “on time”, Trice has a change in director and was delayed until summer, and Cry Havoc has now been pushed back until 2023. It’s great that they don’t want to burn out their cast and crew, but they’ve also been releasing Enthusigasm episodes twice a week and C&M main campaign and specials in parallel earlier this year. Clearly, someone didn’t think their schedule through properly.

Instead of making sure their new shows are taking off, they instead drag TMA’s corpse out of its grave. I love Magnus as much as the next person, it was an incredible show. Writing, acting, soundscaping… but the way RQ keeps pushing it into the limelight and down our throats to the detriment of their other shows (formerly only RQG and STL, but now even more shockingly also new shows like C&M and Trice), has fostered a real resentment towards TMA in me and others.

When the transcripts were put out, after literal years of delay, they were - and still are - full of errors, inconsistent, or incomplete. There have been no responses to feedback given via the appropriate feedback form, there have been no responses to emails, and there have been little to no corrections made to the transcripts, whether for old shows or new ones. Transcripts are Accessibility tools and should fulfil certain standards. Apart from that, the quality of these transcripts offends me on a professional level. RQ has referred to an agency multiple times in their updates. That agency clearly didn’t work to professional standards and RQ didn’t have any quality assurance process internally either. What an utter waste of (my and other patreons’) money.

Some of the TMA transcripts were apparently taken down this week for maintenance, which was ridiculous timing that made people think it was related to the ARG. Again: shit communication.

They’ve lost so many great people in the last two years: Auto and all the mods, Bryn, Mike, now Maddy. I didn’t listen to RQ podcasts, because they were RQ podcasts. I listened to them, because I enjoyed the content and creators. If the creators leave RQ, I’ll follow them to their next endeavours. Go check out @re-dracula for Karim, Jonny, Beth, Alasdair, Sasha, and Ben; @thekilda for Alasdair, Ben and Sasha; @faustiannonsense for Alasdair, Ben, Tim, and Jonny. I hear Mike is in Tiny Terrors. Sasha and Jonny create TTRPGs. Jonny just published his second book. Also check out everyone’s streams (I particularly enjoy Bryn and Auto struggling to solve puzzles together) and individual patreons and kofis.

Sorry this reply turned into a rant. I’m just fed up at the moment. I’ll go to bed and probably feel better in the morning.

#franzis thoughts #rusty quill #maddy searle #rqg #tma #stl #chapter and multiverse #trice forgotten #Faustian nonsense #super suits #the secret of st kilda #re: dracula #tiny terrors

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accio-victuuri · 3 years ago

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cpn : iceberg and other things ❄️🧊

let’s see what’s going on. again— for turtles only. ✌🏼this not real.

So the CPN is, it’s from Yibo. this is not the first story of sharing/giving each other clothes but this one stood out cause it’s not GG’s style. We thought GG was just showing off this really cool jacket only to find out almost 3 years later that he used it for an OOL interview. Some are saying he was coaxing Yibo, while I do believe they are not the jealous/possessive type of couple, this year was rough. If you are a believer of the CPN that Yibo visited the OOL set then you’ll know where this reasoning was coming from.

It’s also interesting to see what was happening in that timeline was pretty intense for both of them. So Web giving this and GG wearing it as a source comfort is somehow logical. 👇🏼👇🏼 They were both deep in the chaos that was Untamed promotions + other individual projects— stretched thin because everyone wanted ( and still do to this day ) a piece of them. 2019 was wild bro.

Now let’s move on to some points that stood out with this joint interview:

• The part about his humor, this is not the first time he said this. He also mentioned it in a jade dynasty promo interview.

“I encountered my life’s greatest failure on this set. i really used to think that i was funny, but in those exchanges we had, i lost horribly.”

It makes you wonder what crew he joined that made him think that he is funny. Where he can just look at someone and they don’t even need to speak— then they will laugh. Yibo just gets him. They get each other. In their own little world.

• The part where they pick A or B. it’s so weird that GG chose dog instead of cat. How about jianguo? This got BXGs thinking if it was the time where they thought about getting a dog. I’ve heard multiple versions of this rumor, even one where it said they temporarily took care of one. That would be cute, a cat and a dog— but they are both too busy that it won’t be possible anytime soon. 🥲

• Also him choosing horror movies over art films, is not a surprise. but it only adds to the cpn that he was the one listening to that himalaya horror podcast. 😂

Other things:

• The selfie background again. I feel like, we will only get more information as more content is released with this set. We haven’t even seen it on the drama yet. In one of the behind the scenes video, you can see what’s on the table. It’s not the dog and the rabbit which GG shared. If you’ve been following GG long enough it should be clear in the personal photos he shares: you’ll see what he WANTS you to see.

• this is funny, GG finally won rock paper scissors! 😂 cause he was never able to win Web.

• galaxy brain kadian. 28. Love Bo. 🤍

I have accepted the fact that I might have to make CPN posts more frequently because of the 2019 timeline this whole show was on. i’m not even trying too hard, it’s just there. lol. Little clues that we picked up before and we’re seeing it in a new light because of more information. I am personally fascinated by the small things we find so it’s all fun. 🤍

sources:

https://m.weibo.cn/7627509869/4744279677730959

https://m.weibo.cn/2359504980/4748003913500985

https://m.weibo.cn/detail/4748122288297649

#bjyx #yizhan #all of this is cpn #clowning and cpn bye #don’t roll your eyes too hard

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rantrambles · 3 years ago

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Ever get so upset you make a Tumblr account to vent?

I haven’t even listened to The Penumbra Podcast yet but it’s on my list because it’s insanely popular and the cosplays I’ve seen are hot as hell (A+ to all the cosplayers I’ve seen you’ve done great work). Now, with the recent news surrounding the podcast, I’ll wait till it’s done if I ever do get into it. I’m Asian and part of the LGBT community but I’m not nonbinary so I can’t say much about the trans represention in the art but I wanted to add my two cents on the matter as a person of color and someone examining the situation from the outside. Also, before I get deeply into it, I’m not the only person of color with opinions on this matter so if people have their own frustrations and criticism with the racism in The Penumbra Podcast and/or the new artist they hired, definitely listen to them too. These are my own personal opinions, and I’m sure other people will disagree and that’s fine. We’re all going to have different views on this so bear that in mind. Also, feel free to correct me or add anything if I’ve missed some information. Here’s a great breakdown of the whole situation for those that don’t know what happened. Finally, I was very hesitant to post this, but I felt it was important because I make a statement at the end on how race should be presented in a podcast format so if you are interested in making a podcast and want to have a diverse range of characters, please skip to the end to read those thoughts.

I’ll start off by saying, I’m not even that upset with the new artist that The Penumbra Podcast hired. I know that statement alone is controversial but I don't personally know them, and I’m not going to judge who they are as a person by a few pieces of art they’ve made. They are the least of the problems that I have here. Since the announcement and the backlash, I’ve been scrolling through the artist’s Instagram account and I can tell why people find the designs offensive, but I’m also comparing the designs to the artist’s other work, and I honestly believe that’s just their style. They’ve exaggerated the features of just about every character they’ve made, regardless of race or gender. From what I’ve seen the sharp angles and overly round curves in the anatomy that make some of the character’s features more jarring are how they prefer to draw. I’m sure they’re capable of drawing more realistic proportions but for the most part they’re art aims to call attention, be bold, and create distinguished features. Not inherently a bad thing on its own.

And yeah I’d understand the issue if this were a scenario where the artist heard how these characters acted in the podcast and thought “hey, obviously this character is a black woman because they are super strong and therefore must have big muscles, no other woman could look like that” or “hey, this character has to be Asian because they act super seductive sometimes better draw them as such.” But from my understanding the race was already decided by previous official artists and a general description of the characters were already generated by the audience, similar to how The Magnus Archives leaned towards drawing scrawny Jon with black, greying hair and dark skin. The new artists couldn’t really change those features even if those features aren’t described in canon because a depiction that strayed too far from popular fandom interpretation would make the character’s unrecognizable to the fanbase.

I think the reason this became such a big issue for most people is because the new Penumbra artist used their exaggerated art style when making these characters and people of color and nonbinary folks already see themselves drawn as these exaggerated caricatures all the time (with those images being used to further discriminate against them). I’m sure the artist didn’t mean for their art to be offensive, but that of course doesn’t change how it was received.

According to some, the poses and expressions the artists chose did not fully represent the characters entirely and only served to further perpetuate harmful stereotypes, and I’ll have to take their word for it because I still haven’t listened to the podcast so I have no idea how the characters act. But again much of the criticism is based on the one line-up and doing a deeper dive into the artist’s work I managed to find artwork that was much less offensive. Here some art where Vespa is depicted in a non-violent pose and one where Vespa is in a threatening pose but not an overly violent one. Here is Peter drawn in a non-seductive pose. Hopefully, the artist truly does keep the criticisms in mind as they work on the new official art. I’m just not the type of person that wants to get the pitchforks out and cause this particular person to lose a job they seemed really excited about over their old character line-up, especially when that person is also part of a marginalized group.

Again, that’s just my opinion on that particular artist. Those who are offended by their art are still valid in how they feel, and the artist should absolutely take their criticism to heart to better how they represent the characters.

What I’m more upset about is that I think The Penumbra Podcast should never have released official art for their characters in the first place and that’s their mistake that they refuse to own up about. They have made it clear that the story was never meant to portray characters of colors, a fact emphasized by the fact they hired mostly white actors from the start. They only started releasing art of the characters to get a profit. And the thing is they know what they did was wrong. All I had to do was search Penumbra Podcast racism and there is a note on their website saying that they archived some old official art.

“We have discontinued all Penumbra merchandise that uses the original character designs, and in the meantime, any profits on the sales of that merchandise will go to the For The Gworls project. We also realize that the depiction of these characters as POC, while not appropriate for us to use in our marketing and merchandise, has nonetheless become personally meaningful to many POC listeners. For that reason, and because we do not wish to distance ourselves from our mistake, we are keeping these images on our website for archival purposes. Though we do want to make it clear that many of the main/featured voice actors are white and that we did not write the characters to represent any specific POC experience, you are, as always, free to imagine these characters in any way that you like.”

I went to their shop and they still sell posters and pins with the character’s faces on them, but they are donating it to a good cause so hopefully that stays the same. However, I still find it a little uncomfortable that they are still selling character merch and have plans to continue selling character merch. They have no right to dissuade the fans that already found representation in the characters, but they also have no right to profit off the representation that was built, regardless if they made the story.

Let’s compare this to another piece of popular media. I love Avatar the Last Airbender and, I liked the ATLA voice actors just fine but there should have been more people of color doing voice acting behind the screen too. The voice actors for that show were mainly white too, however, the creators knew that they would be making poc characters. That’s what makes the difference. Did they still choose to go with mostly white voice actors? Yes. Could they have done better and pay more people of color? Also yes. But I’m not as furious at them because they did their research on the cultures they were basing the ATLA world off of and intentionally gave us a show where Asians could see characters that looked like them represented on the screen. The Penumbra Podcast did not do any of that. Again, they openly admitted that it was never their intention to make the character’s people of color when they made the podcast so that goes to show no research was made to properly represent specific cultures. The color of the character’s skin in their official designs therefore became more of aesthetic choice rather than representation, and it wasn’t even their aesthetic choice to begin with!

Race isn’t a color you can just throw onto the character because you feel like it. So I want this to be a lesson to anyone that wants to make a podcast: if you want to include poc characters please do some research into the cultures you plan to represent the way you would with any other form of media. Just because the audience can’t see the characters and just because it’s harder to smoothly introduce the character’s appearance doesn’t mean you’re allowed to be lazy on how you present the characters. Do research before you start writing the first episode and take the time to hire poc actors. Hiring poc actors is actually the least that can be done to show representation. Also, since the audience cannot visually see the race of the characters on a podcast and it can’t typically be described the way you would in a book, you’ll have to be creative. It’s not my job to say how, but my suggestions would be, before the fans come up with their own image of the character, you need to establish race in the first few episodes or release character profiles on a website so that the fans know you canonically intended the characters to be of a certain race even if you aren’t able to mention it in the actual podcast. If you are unwilling to do any of these then the best route is to avoid stating race at all and allow the audience to build their own representation into your form of media. However, once this happens, you are not allowed to profit off popular fan interpretations. You lose all rights to create official art or images of the characters. You cannot use “we have a diverse cast of characters” when you market your story. It doesn’t matter whether you created the content or not, you did not create the representation for those minority groups.

It’s one thing for fans to build their own inclusivity into a form of art like a podcast, but it’s another thing for the creators who never worked to make the representation happen to take advantage of the representation that the listeners built for themselves. Thank you for attending my TedTalk.

#the penumbra podcast #podcast #race #the magnus archives #diversity in podcasts #diversity #tpp #tpp fanart

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rosielav · 2 years ago

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I keep trying to finish Wolf359. I'm still on episode 57. I tried to shut off my brain, ignore the dumb idiot voice telling me it's not gonna be worth it, it's gonna suck, I'll be sad, blah blah blah. And it didn't help. It just *feels* different at this point, like how things always feel when they're going to end soon.

This is a main reason I like consuming content that is currently in production and/or being released. I don't know exactly when it'll end. I don't know what bonus content will be available. I know nothing more than anyone else who is currently listening. That's not true with content that is complete. There will always be someone out there who listened when it came out, who got to experience the finale in real time, who got to donate to the patreon and get bonus content and exclusive things. There will always be people out there who got the experience I'm missing out on, that a lot of people will never get, because it's already over.

I definitely don't want to be cynical about it, and will continue to try to listen! I think my podcast experience has been almost exclusively ones that were still releasing content when I started listening. I started listening to TAZ: Balance before the Stolen Century arc came out. I got to experience all three parts of the finale, as they came out, the second they came out, listening in real time with other TAZ fans as the events unfolded. I got to cry at the same time hundreds or thousands of other people were crying, for the same reason. I got to find out the ending at the exact same time as other fans did.

So anyways. If anyone read through all that, and has a currently airing podcast they'd like to recommend, I'd love to hear some new ones. Honestly would love some comedy/dramedy, maybe even a period piece :D or, just tell me about your fave podcast! I love an info dump :)

#wolf 359 #It's a great podcast #But I am just struggling so hard to finish for all the reasons above #I know it's a great podcast and I know people say its their fave of all time #Which means the ending has to be fairly good #But my idiot brain is like naaaaaah it's all gonna suck and feel weird so why even bother the good part is over #Pls give me other podcasts to enjoy that are still producing and airing content #Like the Amelia Project #That one is still going and I love it desperately #I'm actually relisten ing rn bc I don't know what else to listen to

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ameliapodcast · 3 years ago

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You know the mood where you just feel like playing that one song on repeat, or refuse to watch or read something unless you replicate something with that EXACT condition?

That's part of the reason I wasn't so keen on audiodramas in the beginning, since my only exposure to audio as a storytelling medium was radio plays, something I loved listening to.....only while travelling in a car. (Since that's the only place you can listen to radio which matched the vibe perfectly, I don't know.

It was slow, but last year, on the way to a relative's house for the holidays, we'd reached a stretch of road where the frequency from either place wasn't available, I believe you call those blind spots? In any case, nothing but static.

I'd just about had it by then. My sister loves podcasts, and even though I lost interest, Wolf 348 was my first podcast. (I know that's wrong, but I don't remember the exact number, as it was almost a year ago that I'd stopped, plus I didn't like it much.) She'd found out about this podcast recently, and wanted to check it out.

We'd both figured that the stereo was the best place to test it out, and after a bit of fiddling around with the Bluetooth, we'd managed to connect the podcast. It wasn't a very long trip, all things considered, but the duration was made somewhat simpler. It's like when you find the perfect song, after a fair amount of searching. (Okay, I didn't search as much as my sister, of course, but still, second time's the charm, apparently.)

The humour was top-notch and the story.....don't get me started. In any case, I know what I'm plugging into my stereo from now on. The only thing missing is a cup of cocoa, but hey, you can't win 'em all right?

I've been following the feed for a short while now, and every alternate Friday, I've almost made it a ritual to connect in the Bluetooth(something I'd normally never do) and listen to the latest episode. As you might've guessed, this is one of three podcasts I listen to rather religiously, so thanks for releasing this perfect bit of content, this small slice of heaven-as-an-audio-drama.

Happy new year!

#ameliastories #pickypodcastlistener #carstereo

Listening to audiobooks and podcasts on a long car ride is just the absolute best. My parents used to put on an audiobook for a long drive when we went on vacation, and it worked in keeping me still every single time! Also, you can have cocoa in a car! You can use one of those fancy travel mugs, like you're a client on the way to the interview?

In any case, thank you so much for sharing! We are happy you came around to fiction podcasts, eheheh!

- Intern

#14 #ameliastories #pickypodcastlistener #carstereo #the amelia project

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ma-lark-ey · 4 years ago

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I'm making this post the disclose my current opinions on the Dndads discourse and how frivolous its become.

I would like to preface with one thing;

This post contains content of grooming and manipulation, as this has been the main discussion in this fandom and the issues. I am speaking from my own personal experience, as a former victim of grooming who only recently escaped my abuser. I will not say their name, those who I feel comfortable knowing further information on this already know.

this is my trauma, and I am speaking from my experiences. This is one of the hardest possible topics I could touch on, and I beg anyone who still cares to listen, whether I change your mind or not. Listen.

I've wrestled with my support of this podcast for eleven weeks now. Maybe longer. Since before the discourse became a major thing. I've wrestled with this since episode 34 was released, and I need you understand that.

I need you to understand that I believe the hosts have done what they can to fix these issues. And I genuinely do not see what people still want from them. I will address each topic one at a time, and if I touch on things lesser than others, please understand that this discourse triggers a trauma that I underwent less than a year ago. a trauma I am still processing.

1. Grant, and his over sexualization.

The jokes revolving Grant and his sexual orientation or exploration were sometimes in very poor taste, I am not that blind. I will not defend them or say they weren't as bad as they are. But here'd what people have to think about when we talk about this; Those jokes are already in the episode. They cannot be removed, and the best the hosts can do about that is avoid that humor in the future. Humans are not perfect, and humor is ever growing part of a person, its always a tossup of if a joke will land or not. These did not, and they have not made these jokes since they got called on it.

On the Discord claims about them discussing his porn history, I can say nothing on that. I've seen no sources or proof that that happened. I won't make any opinions or comments on that until I've seen concrete proof that these conversations happened.

2. The Unsafe Discord.

They're Discord is no longer unsafe. Blanket statement, no discussion open. Here's the thing and here's where I'm going into my personal experience; Discords minor precautions arent up to par either. The DnDads hosts have made their 18+ channels, they've made the Discord clear to not be a totally kid friendly place and has tried to separate adults and minors. But they genuinely can only do so much. Minors can easily bypass these guidelines, and that is where we get to the whole grooming argument.

As a grooming victim, this is not the slippery slope people make it out to be. And adult fans,,this is where I'm telling you to sit down and shut up for a minute. Listen, for just a moment. I know I'm "just a kid" but, I've lived the possible outcomes you've thrown out. I lived that experience, and I lived. I survived, and the way you talk about it is so invalidating to me its absolutely disgusting.

I'm prefacing this with this may sound ineloquent, and not as "pleasant" as I usually like to sound. Because with this I expect people to listen. Its not in the public ass Discord server where you should watch out for the child. Its if you see an 18+ individual actively DMing that person, and this minor speaking about this person as if they're a major part of their life.

I need you to understand that I was genuinely wary of one of our own community members when I first began speaking with them, because of this trauma. I wary of ALL of our community members. I didn't share my other socials with people in this community unless I knew their content first. There have been multiple times I've stopped myself from messaging who I will call "My Annus" because of this trauma I've endured.

And I'm sorry, but Waterdeep genuinely has no precautions set in place to separate adults and minors that the DnDads Patreon does not. You cannot act like saints and villainize them, when they adjusted and became you. Then either both of you are saints or both of you are demons.

Children interacting with adults is always a bit set back at first. But I've been groomed. Twice. And you people act like its obvious, like it can happen so easily. And it does, it happens easily. First its them texting you so much you feel overwhelmed, then its them becoming someone you rely on. Someone who makes you pity them.

And its not gonna be people who are SIGNIFCANTLY older. (i.e, I feel much less worry interacting with 30 year olds than I do 18-22 year olds.) Because the adult people that feel 'more understandable' to be friends with cause their just barely adults? they tend to pry harder. They can get away with it. Thats just fact. The people who say "Oh I'm eighteen, but I just turned eighteen" I'm always the wariest of. Not because I'm convinced they're bad people or whatever, but because both times; my abuser was one of those people. This was two different people as well.

And thats what the adults of this fandom won't address. That its not the slope they've made it out to be. Because then they have to retract statements they made, and a lot of people, minors and adults, just don't have the humility to do that.

The only advice I can give to people in the server, who are worried for the minors. These are the only signs I can give you, and this is from my experience or the experience of other survivors I've spoken to, and I'm by no means saying this is concrete.

Abusers tend to be /just/ enough of an adult to be considered on, but not so old that it'll be considered weird for them to befriend a minor. The age gaps I see most often are 14/19 or in that kind of range. They'll go for the lonelier or newer folks, the ones who haven't built their group in the community and are just entering. The ones looking for their place in the hierarchy. If you want to help protect us, you watch like a mother bear when a new minor joins.

A lot of us don't realize its happening until its too late, and by the time we realize the situation we've fallen into its too late for us to get ourselves out. The majority of us have weak wills and a fear of conflict.

3. What the Hosts have done in response.

I honestly, genuinely think the hosts have done a lot of steps in the right direction. And in recent episodes? man, they've tagged their shit better than the McElroys, and no I'm not reaching there.

Honestly, they kind of did before to, on topics they knew were really rough for some people.

When they warned for the Willy Stapler stuff, I was grateful. They warned me I may be triggered by Ron and Willy's dynamic before I was forced with it. The McElroys had a scene with grooming in Grad, and I wasn't warned. I couldn't mentally prepare myself and I had a minor reaction to it. And thats not at all to shit on the McElroys, anyone who knows me know I love that family more than anything. That they saved me. Thats just a statement I need you all to understand.

The Hosts aren't "ignoring us" they're listening to us. They genuinely are. They saw we wanted content warnings, and they gave us some of the best content warnings I've seen. They've content warned episodes I didnt see reason for content warnings.

4. The Transcripts.

Look, this is beating a dead horse at this point. I, personally, have debated beginning to transcribe episode. I know they said they will, and I trust their word. But thats all we can really do, right?

I've transcribed things myself before, guys, and thats hard. and it takes time. and knowing them, they'll want to get all the current episodes up at once, and thats gonna take a hot minute to get down. And we can go into "Well why didnt they transcribe from the beginning?" and well, that's because transcribing just wasn't a thing until recently? Like again, going back to MBMBAM and McElroys, they don't even have all of TAZ transcribed last I checked (I believe their transcriptions go from Grad-Stolen Century, and anything before Stolen Century doesn't have one yet. I may be wrong on that.)

I will not speak on the other grievances and issues people have brought up in the show. The topics I covered are the only ones I feel comfortable speaking on on a public platform, where my words can sway opinions.

There is no TL;DR, because as I said in the beginning; if you can't read this, you aren't listening well enough nor willing to actually discuss the issues you have. You're looking for something to be mad about. Period, end of discussion.

I don't say that to act like I'm some authority on this, or some higher being above all of you for "being forgiving." Because, frankly I don't forgive them. I will continue to support them for making steps in the right direction, and upping their game. But, I won't forgive them for their jokes or the brief lack of precaution in the server. But, I will move on and I will support them. Because, as a victim of the problems people brought up in those situations, the steps the took are the best ones they could have. And I am grateful for that.

If other survivors read this and disagree, you're perfectly valid in that. We all went something, and it effects each of us differently. My heart goes out to you, as well, I know how isolating and genuinely terrifying those experiences and situations can be.

To those who aren't survivors and have read this; I beg you to think about this.

I am open to discussion further on this, but to an extent. There are some opinions I hold in this message that I will flat out tell you to not debate me on, not because of anything other than what I said in this post was hard enough to me to say.

Thank you for your time. EDIT: I implore anyone reading to the read the notes on this post, more information and discussion can be found and all of it is just as important.

#dndads #dndads discourse #discourse #dungeons and daddies

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fandom · 5 years ago

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Fandom Spotlight: MuggleNet

MuggleNet, the #1 Wizarding World Resource Since 1999, is dedicated to honoring the magic of the wizarding world by providing reliable, fun, and informative news and content to fans—all while fostering a welcoming, safe, and engaging environment. They currently produce six podcasts, have published three books, and organized two large-scale live events. The next series of events, MuggleNet Live! 2019: Into the Pensieve, will be held October 4th and 5th in New York City. The site is run by over a hundred fans from eleven countries and thirty-one states, ranging in age from fifteen to fifty-four, all of whom are passionate about making it the best it can be. Read all about the fandom and its future from seven of them!

20 years is a long time on the Internet. What’s the biggest way you’ve seen the fandom change on the site?

In the mid-2000s, when the books and movies were in their heyday, the site was all about speculation. In addition to news on book and movie release dates, filming updates, and changes made by J.K. Rowling to her website, MuggleNet’s most developed section was what is now known as The Quibbler, where individual authors regularly wrote columns theorizing about what might happen next. MuggleNet itself even published a book called What Will Happen in Harry Potter 7? After the final book was published in 2007, and the final movie hit theaters in 2011, the fandom had to make a choice: move on or adapt. Of course, then came Pottermore, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Resort, Fantastic Beasts, The Cursed Child, etc. MuggleNet has been there throughout it all. We still write about the original book and film series, of course, but we also cover a whole lot of news on the expanded world of the franchise, and we maintain a plethora of sections on the site which explore subjects like Muggle quidditch, the Studio Tour, and the theme parks. —Felicia, Managing Editor

Real Talk. Books or Movies?

The movies are accompaniments to the books. They’re appetizers—satisfying enough, but if you want something filling, you'll choose the books every time. There’s a level of depth and detail to the books that cannot be captured on-screen. When you watch the movies, you’re being presented with someone else’s vision of the books, which can be restricting. When you read the books, the possibilities are as endless as your imagination: How you picture each setting, each character, is up to you. You get to create your own world. —Victor, Creative Editorial Manager

Which moment in the series made you a Potterhead?

I became a true Potterhead when I revisited the books in high school. For me, it was the climactic scene of the final book. Harry and Voldemort face each other in the Great Hall with the whole cast of characters lined up around the walls listening in stunned silence as Harry explains how Voldemort has underestimated love, the most powerful source of magic, and that this is his downfall. Evil finally defeated, the joy and grief and exhaustion following that moment left me completely in awe. That's when I realized how powerful and important this story about a boy wizard was. That's what keeps me coming back to Hogwarts again and again. It's because of deeply emotional, profound, and beautiful moments like that one that my love for Harry Potter goes beyond simple appreciation or enjoyment. Anyone who loves Harry Potter for any reason can be a Potterhead, of course, but I became a true Potterhead when I understood all the things that make Harry Potter timeless. —Richa, Creative Editorial Manager

What’s the most memorable Harry Potter experience you’ve had at a Comic Con?

The moment the trailer dropped at SDCC 2018 during the Crimes of Grindelwald panel: the room transformed, and Grindelwald’s speech in the tomb, performed live, started booming out over everything. My jaw absolutely dropped. The anticipation at that moment, the promise that was held there…it was something to behold. —Alison, Staff Coordinator

What’s your dream Harry Potter cosplay?

My dream cosplay is an obscure one: Bob Ogden from The Half-Blood Prince. Frock coat over a striped bathing suit with spats. —Meg, Copy Editing Coordinator

How do you see the Harry Potter fandom continuing to evolve?

I see it going through cycles of division but always coming back together. There will be things that push fans away, but I think that at the very core, fans will continue to LOVE Harry Potter, and generations from now, we’ll see new fans discovering it and reviving the love for it, too. Some will grow out of it, but it will continue to be loved, just maybe not in the same way as before. I will say, I’m super scared for the day they try to remake the series. That won’t go over too well! —Eliza, Content Team Manager

What do the next 20 years look like for MuggleNet?

As much as I wish I had Seer abilities to know for sure what the future holds for MuggleNet, I am unfortunately a Muggle. I don’t know where the franchise will take us after the remaining three Fantastic Beasts films, which are currently slated for release over the next 6–7 years. Will we see a Quidditch Through the Ages adaptation? Will there be an expansion of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter? Those are just some of the possibilities that we can currently imagine. At the pace they are producing content and expanding the world, we could be at this for another fifty years! What I do know, without a doubt, is that we will be here producing amazing videos, editorials, podcasts, and everything in between, all while continuing to be the #1 Wizarding World Resource Since 1999. —Kat, Marketing Director

#TumblrNYCC #MuggleNet #spotlight

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bibbykins · 5 years ago

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Heliophilic Rain and His Pluviophile (M)

Yikes, it’s been a hot minute. That’s my bad. I have been having it a little rough with my job and so I’m in the process of finding another one and that among a billion other things is slowing me down. Which makes me wonder if I were to open commissions if anyone would be interested? I also would like to add there is a scene that could be triggering so proceed with caution, please. Either way, thank you for your patience as always, and I hope you enjoy!

Pairing: (Soft) Yandere! Yoongi x Reader Genre: Smut/Fluff

Word Count: 8.5k

Warnings: possessiveness, yandere tendencies, anxiety, unspoken threat of sexual assault, slight violence, oral, penetrative sex, cock warming, toxic relationship (he's yandere ya kno)

Summary: He was the rain just as you were the sun, both too transfixed with watching each other to get any closer. Few things feel more refreshing than drops of fresh rain on heated skin or the warmth of the sun on a gloomy day. It would be a shame to not indulge in the natural wonders of the world before you.

“Her voice was like the wind. I could listen until it was all that filled me. I could listen until she swept me away into the vast ocean of her presence. I would drown if it meant I would drift back to her. Her voice was like the wind. No matter how much I tried to catch it, I would get carried away. Suddenly, I wasn’t in Kansas anymore. Suddenly, home was wherever she said it was, so long as she did so with that voice of hers.”

“His voice was like the tap of rain against a window. He was asking me to go out to see him, but there was something beautiful about the way I knew he wasn’t referring to me specifically. I was a mere onlooker to his presence. Even so, I would catch a cold if it meant I could reach him, even for a moment. I thought this, knowing I would never have the guts to go outside. I made peace with this until the taps on my window turned into knocks on my door.”

——-

The office had an industrial-chic style about it, filled with neutral tones and the clanging of chains for no other purpose except fashion donned upon its employees. The color palette was gloomy and soothing, just how Yoongi liked it, an aesthetic that his employees gleefully shared with him as well. Each morning, Yoongi would look out his office and admire his growing business, eyes never lingering on one place too long, he loved all of the office equally. This much rang true until he couldn’t tear his eyes away from your form.

“She’s like a breath of fresh air, isn’t she?” Hoseok placed his hand on Yoongi’s soldier as he watched you through the glass doors of the conference room you were currently introducing yourself in, “Don’t be too hard on her, she’s competent and hardworking, okay?”

Yoongi could barely hear his friend as he lost himself in the way your eyes crinkled from a genuine smile adorning your face. You were his new host to one of the podcasts his company picked up. From the merger with Hoseok’s company full of his college friends, Yoongi went from popular podcast host and semi-popular producer to a CEO of Min Productions, famous music artists in production and performance, who oversaw the production of music and several podcasts on several topics, and you were what he had initially dreaded.

From the merger, came money, but what also came with it was Namjoon, the PR head of the company Hoseok was a part of, being able to choose one of every five talents for Yoongi to build up, hopefully into fame. Yoongi had just reached his fifth host, the podcasts he chose mostly consisting of music commentary or general life talks from people with aesthetics aligned with his own. However, from the sea of neutral colors and low voices partaking in casual conversation came you.

You were a perky college senior with some light in your eyes still. You were a rare find and had no set style ranging anywhere from pastels to the grunge he was used to seeing, but what never changed was your smile. Your teeth made an appearance at least 10 times a day, judging by the third smile you had just flashed the crew in a two-minute time frame.

Your podcast, however, oddly betrayed your attitude. You ran a sex and lifestyle podcast where you asked questions most people were too shy to throw out into the world pertaining to the unspoken social rules of casual dating and sex. It was interesting, yes, but it didn’t align with the brand Yoongi had been building judging by the synopsis.

The fuss he made to Namjoon ended as soon as he sat down and listened to a podcast of yours.

—–

“I have a formal complaint I would like to file!” You proclaimed as Yoongi found himself listening to your most recent podcast, “Why the fuck can’t I get a sugar daddy my age? It’s almost like… like my age demographic consists mostly of broke-ass college kids living with their parents, in a dorm, or like ya girl, an overpriced apartment and not rich as fuck for no reason. Fucking whack, I’ll say it.” He unwittingly cracked a smile at your charm and sarcasm, “I spent one day on sugarbaby.com and had to watch vanilla straight porn at the number of wrinkly dicks I saw instead of profile pictures. That’s like the most boring porn. So here comes a Patreon plug for the brainwashing I will conduct on myself in case I saw anyone’s grandfather’s penis.” You had an unabashed charm about you that urged him to listen more, maybe just one more episode.

Yoongi found himself listening to your entire discography, even the less promoted music you released once every blue moon, which wasn’t half-bad. However, he couldn’t find a picture of you, most likely because you posted under the alias Sugar Sun. The only pictures of yourself being from behind.

“On this episode of men are trash: men are fucking trash. Hello all, Sugar Sun here, and let’s talk about my day,” Yoongi could feel his intrigue grow, as you kept releasing, your delivery became less forced and more natural, “I don’t talk much in class, believe it or not. I’m a stuttering mess and like two people know my name at my big ass university, so when I do talk and my shit hole of a lab partner yells at me in the middle of a presentation to speak up, I cry, in front of the class. But do I stop the presentation? No, I’m fucking frozen with fear, so I just continue with my tears and the presentation. Bitch, what the fuck I looked like a middle school drama kid doing a monologue in front of her math class for no fucking reason.” You took a deep breath, “In conclusion, I’m sensitive and men are trash. Now, to the podcast.”

You had gained more traction with your commentary on romantic life and general comedy, catching Namjoon’s attention, “Hello again, double S here, with a special announcement. I got like, an actual company to sign me! Wild, I know! I’ll get paid and have meet-ups and stuff, which means you lovely listeners will get to soak in my face and talk to me in person and really experience why the only orgasms I’ve had are self-made!”

—–

“Yoongi!” Hoseok tapped his shoulder, snapping him out of his trance you put him in.

“Sorry, she’s just-”

“Be nice,” Hoseok warned.

“Like sunshine.” Yoongi could feel the air enter his lungs as you sat down with a smile, “Like, what the fuck, Hobi?”

His friend blinked, “Woah, shit, what?” He stifled a laugh, “You know, there isn’t a no-dating policy, right?”

“I’m well aware.” Yoongi rolled his eyes, “But there will be if anyone tries anything.” He spoke nonchalantly and Hoseok choked on air at his friend’s obliviousness while the glass doors of the conference rooms were opened, you pouring out from it, waltzing to Yoongi and Hoseok.

“Hello, Mr. Min and Ho-Mr. Jung, I’m Y/n, or Sugar Sun, thank you for this amazing opportunity.” You bowed as Hoseok shook off his bewilderment for just a moment to give you a small bow with Yoongi.

“I look forward to spending more time with you.” Yoongi spoke in his regular gruff voice, the same one that proclaimed to have your hand in marriage just moments before, “I find you’ll be a breath of fresh air to the company.”

“I also look forward to seeing how your podcasts go, you have a photoshoot in a couple weeks, right?” Hoseok smiled warmly at you as you beamed back to him. Yoongi swore the whole exchange was blinding.

“I do! I’m a little nervous, since it’ll be my big face reveal, and I don’t know how well I model.” You giggled and Yoongi found his new favorite song the moment you did.

Yoongi had a tendency to do this, whether or not he wanted to. He was a passionate man. He craved love and could see it coming from a mile away. Despite being one of the seven main heartthrobs of his college campus, he almost exclusively stuck to serious relationships, and he meant it when he said serious. Yoongi was a little, to put it lightly, obsessive. He was a jealous boyfriend, but he did his best to try not to be too overbearing. He was also excessively protective, and the women he dated were grungy free spirits who enjoyed the chase when all Yoongi wanted was to catch them then hold them for the rest of his life. Despite being blinded by his own passion, he could still see when it wasn’t going to last, having accepted to never find a girl to accommodate and sedate him when needed. However, when you looked his way, or he heard your voice, it was something more than a need being filled.

You felt your heart leap out of his chest, trying not to fall into Yoongi’s hands when you first saw him, and here he was, nonchalantly giving you an inkling of a smile. Maybe it was the lack of a solid fuck or a relationship, but you were definitely breaking some HR rules in your mind.

Suddenly, you became aware of the content you dished out. You talked about your sex life often, and he knows you’re inexperienced and terribly horny. You internally punched yourself in the face. He probably thinks you’re so weird. Yet, here you were, a huge fan of Agust D and now Min Yoongi was staring at you.

Yoongi smiled, “Don’t worry, I’ve had my experience with a face reveal or two.”

You returned his smile, remembering the day Agust D revealed his face. The whole world stopped, and you only fell deeper when you looked at his eyes, “I-I remember, I’m a fan.” You looked down shyly before facing him again.

“Funny, I am a fan of yours.” He spoke lowly as Hoseok had long walked away unnoticed.

You giggled stupidly, “A fan?” Your sunny smile beamed at him. He had always preferred rainy days, but if this was what the sun looked like, he could get used to being a little warm here and there, “I can hardly believe it.”

“I’m gone a lot and yet, your voice has a certain factor to it that draws people in. ” He mused as his eyes trapped you, “I wonder where you’ve been all my life.”

Just like that, the bubble popped. The chimes came to a screeching halt. The rose-tinted glasses were abruptly ripped off of your face. The magic cleared, and you were left with the realization that while you had damn near counted every interaction, no matter how minuscule, and he hadn’t cared to remember you until now.

“Here’s my personal cell,” He hands you a pristine card with silver numbers, “Call me if you need anything, and I mean it.” You take the card with a quaint smile that deflates

He’s never noticed you until now, of course. The answer to his thoughts was that you’ve been right here.

Before Yoongi could register the chill in the air without your smile, Hoseok came back, “Hey Yoongs, let’s go, we got a flight in a few hours.“

“Right.” Yoongi breaks eye contact with you.

“Have a good flight!” You smile, not as wide as before, and Yoongi sees it.

“See you Tuesday, y/n!” Hoseok waves.

“Don’t be late!” You giggle and as soon as they both are out of earshot, Yoongi grills him.

“You know her?!” Yoongi snaps as he enters the town car.

Hoseok blinks at him, confused, “Duh? I thought that was a given.” Upon seeing his friend’s puzzled face remain, Hoseok’s eyes went wide, “Holy shit, you don’t remember her?!”

The older male blinked in confusion, “I’ve never met her before?”

The younger businessman threw his head back as he placed his hands over his face in frustration, “She was in our forensics class and our history class last year’s fall semester and the year before!” He was exasperated, “Remember the super genius sophomore?”

Yoongi racked his brain. Last year? He had been dating some angsty theology major. How could he have let himself be blinded by a temporary fling when the love of his life was right there? He could kick himself at this moment. No wonder your smile faltered, you had remembered him, “Liar, you can’t be serious.”

“Dude, she tutors me to this day in history.” Hoseok deadpanned, “All she requires is I buy her meals that day.”

“How often do you guys have study dates?” Yoongi grits out as his friend snorts at the notion of it being a date.

“Your possessive is showing,” He snickered, “My girl is all I can see these days, no matter how cute y/n is.”

“I will end you if you touch her,” Yoongi doesn’t hesitate, “Especially with the way you treat girls,” His face scrunches in disgust before he grumbled, “But how often?”

“Every other Tuesday.” Hoseok smirked, “And you mean used to treat girls.”

Yoongi huffed in agreeance.

—-

“Hello, party people.” Your voice entered Yoongi’s headphones as he leaned back on his hotel bed, “Sugar Sun here, in my bedroom. We’re calm, we’re casual, it is a Friday night and this one goes out to my fellow homebodies.” You switched off to play a song. Part of the contract you signed was that you are allowed to go live whenever you liked to encourage and tend to fans. You explained it was almost a tradition for you to set aside a Friday night in once a month for your fans and Yoongi found in comforting as he lay alone.

Your taste in music was so unbelievably cute, he couldn’t help but smile at the lo-fi song, “And we’re back, hello all here and all who are joining as I speak. Today I took a tour of the studio my actual podcasts will be recorded in and holy shit, they seem to actually take me seriously as a personality and even artist, so expect some tunes soon.” Yoongi smiled at this, you don’t even know your potential, “I’m looking at the chat now to see if there are any questions, and- oh, yes, I did meet my boss. Yes, the iconic Min Yoongi. He is as dreamy as they say, but I have actually met him before.” Yoongi sunk a little further in shame, “Did he remember me?” You read from the chat, “No, of course not. I’m a voice, but no one will know me if I don’t use it.” You sighed out and he felt his heart clench. He was such a fucking idiot. “Which I don’t much beyond this mic. Am I scared to say this now that he’s my boss?” He held his breath a bit, “No, I doubt he’s listening. He said he was my fan, but he could just have said that to be a nice guy.” You laughed, a hint of sadness evident, “What a fucking disaster I must seem like if he were to, huh?” The sadness in your voice more prominent, “If he is, hi Mr. Min, please erase this from your memory, as well as my sophomore haircut.”

The live went on as normal and Yoongi drifted to sleep to the melodious sound of your voice for the remainder of the flight. However, even in his dreams, you were just out of reach, and he couldn’t begin to put into words how much it killed him.

—-

You don’t know how you got here. You looked around at the shabby setup. This "photography studio” looked a lot, and you mean a lot, like it was a half-assed school set not long ago. You scoffed, throwing your hands up incredulously when you caught sight of a black couch. You really hated your manager.

The jackass was assigned to you and you were too scared to say how uncomfortable he made you. He treated you like a child, but the way he looked at you was too adult for your taste. He was constantly texting you and asking for photos of your face, which you were constantly rejecting. To top it all off, he wants you to call him Big Brother, not Oppa, Big Brother. You opted for Big Bro instead, since he won’t give you his name. No, to top it all off, he booked your photo shoot with a “friend” of his to “save the company money”. He asked you to show up in a dress no longer than your knees and you felt dumber and dumber as time went on for doing so.

You stood in the middle of this studio-warehouse apartment waiting for this great photographer to show up. As you stood here, your initial thought was “how fucking ridiculous is that” but the longer you were there and the more you studied the ropes that were no longer as well hid, something in your stomach began to turn.

You were in actual fucking danger. This situation could not be a funny story if you didn’t live to tell it. Your eyes darted from different red flags in the room. A spot of dried blood scratches on the cheap wallpaper, bare plaster marks against the beige wall, a poorly-concealed camera you hadn’t noticed until now. Your chest squeezed when your phone vibrated.

You could get out of here! All you had to do was send an SOS.

Hoseok: Good luck in the photoshoot from my other half and I!

You smiled lovingly at the snapchat from the male, the more permanent girl in his life with a smile on her face and an encouraging thumbs-up. They were evidently on a date, finally, so there was no way you could call them to come get you. You would hate to bother them.

Mr. Min: Let me know how the shoot goes.

You faltered over the message. He was professional as ever. Would he think less of you if you abandoned a shoot like this?

Yoongi agonized over the three dots that stared him down. He had to remind himself to blink as he watched the minutes tick by that felt like hours. What the hell were you typing?

It had been about a couple of weeks since you’ve been under Yoongi’s company and all had been normal. Your routine was the same, and so was his. Except for this time, you two would exchange polite texts on what the other would do.

Sugar Sun: Great song as always!

You would always send exclamation points or some sparkle emojis, even a sun here and there. Yoongi found himself unable to shield his cheesy grin at the texts you sent him. You were always the first person to praise his new work. He found himself craving your praise more and more, but he forced himself to remain professional.

Mr. Min: Loved your live.

He always used punctuation despite using fragments which somehow added an aura of professionalism that he effortlessly radiated in person. Nevertheless, you would always send back a sparkly thank you which made Yoongi melt. He prided himself on not overstepping boundaries by attempting to control your professional life. His self-restraint proved quite strong as he held himself back from taking you out to lunch or giving you special treatment. This restraint was put to the ultimate test when he found out you were assigned Hyungin as your manager. He was an unfortunate employee with constant reports that would ultimately be rescinded by the female employees.

He was a disgusting piece of shit, Yoongi deduced. Hyungin was the brother of the management agency contracted by his company, per Namjoon’s damn insistence, and he was itching for that contract to end, and soon. Yoongi had to physically hold himself back when he found this information out, trying to respect you by not meddling or keeping tabs on you.

His resolve was a very thin string that was tugged and tugged as the days went on with Hyungin having total control over your schedule and an excuse to contact you 24/7. You were a strong girl and had not made a report. He had to respect that.

Your lip began to twitch, a movement you quickly halted as you shook the fear off. Maybe you were overreacting. Maybe you were being stuck up. You weren’t like Yoongi, maybe you had to photoshoot in shabby places.

You: I’m kind of scared…

You shook your head, erasing the message and locking your phone. You huffed, it was 30 minutes past the scheduled time. Surely you had the right to leave? You heard the back door open and could feel the bile lurch in your throat.

Something was very wrong. You were not overreacting. There were several heavy footsteps and as they thudded through the warehouse, nearing your reaching form, you could not deny the quaking fear that traveled through your veins like electricity.

One? Two? No, four sets of steps. The uneven rhythm proved as much, too many for a measly photoshoot. Too many for you to take on all at once. The correct amount to hold you down. The correct amount to-

“Little sis, are you here?” A sickening voice called out and you realized the steps stopped with only his continuing.

He was trying to surprise you.

“Come on, dear, let’s get to know each other.” You could hear the predatory smirk on his face and you choked on a horrified breath as the fear pricked your skin and pierced your lungs.

You were choking on your own horror.

“Come out, come out,” He called and you were frozen, absolutely fucking frozen.

Run.

You stood up, breaking into a sprint that was a hair too slow. You felt a calloused, obscenely rough handgrip your forearm with a vigorous force and you screamed. He was squeezing, and at this rate, your bones would surely snap, “Not so fast, little girl.” He stood next to you, breath pungent with halitosis. From peripheral vision, you could see his five o'clock shadow and you realized the size difference and the lack of camera. You couldn’t stop screaming, mimicking every cell in your body that seemed to yell,

RUN.

Just like lightning, you struck him with your head, harder than you knew you could stand. His nose gave you an all too satisfying crack and his grip loosened enough for you sprint again, this time more than quick enough to keep going. You heard the clamoring of footsteps and eventually, all you could hear was the sound of the wind as you turned corners you had no familiarity with, running until your legs could no longer carry you.

Your legs finally shook you down to your knees in a part of town you barely recognized. You had passed through here once before as a freshman in college sight-seeing. It was a tourist spot and you exhaled on the sidewall as people stepped around you.

You heaved a breath that you swore you had been holding for hours with a small victorious smile. Your eyes scanned the area of regular people and your hands shaking brought attention to the purse you thankfully still had.

Without thought, you ripped it open, using your phone to call the first person you could.

“Y/n?” His voice was gruff, as if he was whispering whilst trying to talk normally, “Is everything okay?” He seemed confused, you had never called him before.

“Can you… uh…” You faltered after realizing the strangled sound you made, voice raw from the screams you let out, “…please come get me.” You nearly whispered.

“Send me your location, I’m on my way.” Yoongi didn’t miss a beat before adding, “Stay where you are, don’t go near anyone.” He ended the phone call and you followed his directions, dropping your pin. You sighed in relief as you took refuge on the sidewalk, draping the cardigan in your bag over your shoulder, securing it around yourself.

Yoongi shot up from his office chair, looking at his employees mid-powerpoint. His marketing team turned into ice at his gaze. His eyes were much darker than a moment ago, and his jaw was like stone, “I have an emergency to attend to, we will proceed at a later date.” The room nodded stiffly as their boss walked out, all of them unaware why, having been too scared to even try to listen to his phone call.

Never in Yoongi’s life had he sped so recklessly. You were 10 minutes away and something was wrong. Your voice had never sounded so vulnerable. He had never heard it that quiet before. You were in a plaza of popular building, and if you had a photo shoot today, this would not be near any studio at all. His blood boiled at the thought of anyone taking away your light.

He slammed on the brakes when he caught sight of your shrunken form on the sidewalk, your head jerked up at the sound as your entire body jumped. Why were you so scared? Your face had a small streak of makeup on the side of your face and his skin only flared as you scurried into the car and Yoongi began driving to a more familiar side of town.

“Please don’t take me home.” You pleaded, unable to face him due to the shame.

Yoongi chose not to prod, for the time being, only nodding in response as he drove. He could see you stare out the window at the passing building and he watched your shaking for curl into the car seat. He settled on this resolve of leaving you alone all the way up to the inside of his apartment until your lip quivered as you plopped down on the couch, eyes unwavering from its spot at your feet. Then, you began to cry. No, not cry, sob, sob your hardest and just like that, a single tear snapped the ever-thinning string of restraint he had left.

You were pulled into Yoongi’s chest as sobs racked through your body, you clutched his shirt as you soaked it with tears of fear, relief, joy, and you couldn’t stop. Hell, you could barely breathe. Even so, Yoongi held you as his expensive dress shirt crumbled under your grip and stained with your mascara and eyeliner proving not to be as water-resistant as you hoped. His grip was unwavering and when a hand went to stroke your hair, you could feel oxygen reach your lungs again.

“It’s okay.” He breathed, “You’re safe now.” He fought the urge to clench his jaw again as you gripped his shirt harder.

Your breathing began to even as he whispered soft words into your ear until your eyes couldn’t cry anymore. The both of you stood there for what felt like an eternity, clinging onto one another as he felt the softness of your cardigan against his hands. You eventually broke the silence with a meek, “I’m so sorry."

"Why is that?” He spoke softly, his last intent was to scare you.

“I ran away from the shoot, and I know it’s not professional but…” You shivered, “ He didn’t have a camera.” Yoongi could kill somebody, “He had three other guys with him.” Someone, no, all of them are going to have to pay, he concluded. Nobody involved would leave the ordeal with their lives intact. They would lose everything for trying to take his sunshine away, for making your light falter, for even a moment.

He ripped himself from you, to sternly meet your eyes, “Do not apologize for the swine you encountered.” Your eyes only reflected sorrow, “You’re alive, and that is what matters most, okay?” You nodded.

“You’re not mad at me?” Your voice cracked against your will as you looked up at Yoongi, eyes glassy and begging for reassurance.

He visibly softened, “No, Sunshine, I could never be mad at you.” You nodded in understanding, “But will you let me fix this for you?”

Maybe you should have known from the beginning. You looked at Yoongi, so eager to be your saving grace, eyes intense with intent, and yet his touch was so soft. A man in love was a dangerous man, you once read in a book. Yet, never in your life have you craved such a man before, and if Yoongi’s rage mixed with infatuation could measure close to love, you would take it. He was powerful, he was kind, and he was pleasing to the eye. He was offering you the world in that one question.

“Please.” You cast your pride aside, “They don’t deserve mercy.” An angry tear went down your cheek, “I’m so tired of trying to brave it, doubting myself, denying myself any chance of help.” You could feel the tear trickle with hot fury, “I’m so fucking sick of relying on myself.”

Yoongi was quick to catch the tear with the softest hand you’ve ever felt, “I’m here now.” He spoke with the utmost confidence.

Your relationship with Yoongi from that point for the next couple of months was interesting, to say the least. You had somehow moved in upon his request, him rationalizing it by saying they knew where you lived. Granted, he wasn’t wrong. Hyungin knew where you lived, but within two weeks he and the monsters you encountered were promptly locked in a very dangerous maximum-security prison. You decided not to dwell on how they took such a shitty deal with a well-deserved long sentence.

Some things were above your pay grade, and you made peace with it.

Even so, he didn’t stop there. He could no longer stand on the sidelines anymore. That line blurred beyond recognition the moment he held you in his arms. He was essentially your new manager, stating he owed you at least that much after letting you fall into the hands of such a monster. Thankfully, the releasing of official statements and press conferences were received well. The victim-blaming for the nature of your podcast kept to an obsolete minimum. Your face still had not been released upon your request and you were able to move on, the media no longer covering the story as the sentencing was sealed.

The months passed in a flurry of Yoongi being awfully vague each time you asked about his personal life. He was constantly home outside of work, which you didn’t mind, but you didn’t want him to put his social life on your accord. You also had much less confidence in his infatuation for you then you did a couple months ago. Every time you tried to make a move, which meant a small brush of physical contact, he was not responding. The last time he gave you affection was the hug during your breakdown. The most you got out of him were a couple of head pats.

Like that did anything for you.

For crying out loud, you ran a sex and lifestyle podcast with no sex from the hot man you lived in the same home as.

Hell, the most emotion you see from him is the purest politeness you have ever encountered.

“Hello my listeners, welcome to the obligatory virginity talk.” Your voice was crisp in the mic as Yoongi laid in his bed, headphones in, listening to the newly released podcast. He was still a loyal listener, despite you living in his guest bedroom. He still could not get enough of your voice. If anything, he craved you more and desperately held himself back. He loved having you with him, but never did he think he would have to turn to rubbing one out during your more racy episodes or when he heard you pleasuring yourself in the dead of night.

Not even his thoughts could satiate him with you right there, and yet, out of reach.

“It has come to my attention that many of you think I’m a virgin, not that it’s an insult..” He could hear the smile in your voice, “Alas, I am not, but that doesn’t change my hand being the most impressive thing my pussy has seen, I’ll tell you what.” You giggled at this, “No, I take that back, my magic wand is my BFF.” Yoongi shifted, wondering if you had your toys in your room. He had sent for all of your things after all. God, he could already feel his dick hardening. How pathetic you make him at the very thought of you fucking yourself silly, eyes rolled back, vibrator against your clit. He huffed, shaking away the thoughts, “ Anyhow, let’s talk trends I am late to, rare, I know, but what’s this whole spelling coconut with your hips riding someone business?” You pondered, “I haven’t ridden someone in a good while, and my dildo can’t tell me if it feels good, so I’m at a loss here.” You sighed almost longingly, “God, I miss getting fucked, but also romanced,” You groaned, “It’s been a rough as fuck dry couple of months, which didn’t bother me for a while considering… you know, but the world keeps turning and I stay alone but moving on…” You droned and Yoongi went into overdrive.

Did you seriously want to fuck someone? Like someone else? You were living with him now, why would you feel the need to have relations with anyone else? His fists clenched at the very concept. You couldn’t be talking for show, you were say too genuine. Before he could even stop himself, he marched over to his bedroom door, ripping it open.

Only when he did had did he realize that you were in front of him, hand raised to knock on the door, “Oh, hey.” You gave him a smile as you slowly retreated your raised arm, “I was just gonna see if you wanted to watch a movie with me?” Every so often you both would have a movie night in which you would try to understand his feelings with small touches and ultimately fail. Nevertheless, you enjoyed his company. Today, you were buying into an article’s advice and watching a scary one. Not that you were terrified, but you were a jumpy person.

At this rate, you couldn’t tell if you were horny or just wanted affection.

Both, probably.

Your crush on Yoongi had only worsened throughout this whole experience to top it off. He was hot and kind who could blame you? And yet, he never made a single move as if he had no interest. God, what if he didn’t have any interest?

Your heart sank for a moment, “If not, I think I was gonna try to go out-”

“No!” Your eyes widened at Yoongi’s panicked tone when he cleared his throat, “I mean, I want to watch a movie, so you don’t have to go out.” He muttered and you nodded slowly. He could not have you going out, not after what he heard. You were craving other people. He couldn’t bear the thought.

“O…kay…” You smiled a bit, “Well, I picked a scary one if you think you can hang.” You gave him a sly smile before going to make popcorn.

He smiled as he watched you prance to the kitchen. You were so beautiful and fun and everything he’s ever needed. All that was left was for you to be his, but he didn’t want to scare you away. He had to be a gentleman. He had to wait for the right time. That’s what Jin, Jimin, Jungkook, and Taehyung said. The only issue was that he had no idea what the hell that meant.

“You know, Mr. Min-”

“Yoongi.” He was quick as ever to correct you, “Please.” He sounded more desperate than usual and you nodded.

“Right, well I was just going to say that you have absurd taste in snacks.” You said with a chuckle, “All I ever see in you cupboards are coffee.” You wistfully sigh, “I need to go grocery shopping.”

The sound of you being so domestic-made Yoongi break into an ill-concealed smile as he settled onto the sofa, setting the oddly scary movie you chose up, “I can take you on Saturday.” You nodded when you finally found a bag of chips and sat next to the man of your affection with a cushion between the two of you.

You really couldn’t say what the movie was about, you had only seen it between the gaps in your fingers all while Yoongi watched it with a straight face. When it ended he said a short goodnight as always, except something in you, lurched out.

“Actually, I think I may go out after all.” You swore you followed your mouth’s lead as opposed to the opposite. You just said shit and had to go along with it. Fuck, you didn’t want to go out. You wanted to stay home and be scared that there was a ghost in the closet, but now you had to get ready and shit.

“Why?” Yoongi stopped, hand gripping his door handle much harder than usual.

You were taken aback by the question. It was valid, you supposed. But was it? How do you even answer that question? “Well, it’s been a while since I've… ya know…” You clicked your tongue, suddenly too shy to say,

“Had sex?” It was so blunt, and his eyes pierced through you and yet, you could feel your core tingle.

You were nothing but a sputtering mess, “W-W, I-I, Mr. Min-”

“Yoongi, y/n.” He spoke through gritted teeth as he stalked over to you. Despite the unconscious steps back you were taking, the couch brought you to an abrupt stop.

“R-Right, anyways, I-” You shut your mouth when Yoongi hovered over you with his presence alone.

“Say it,” He glared daggers into your form, “Say my name.” Before you could even open your mouth Yoongi groaned, slamming his hands on the couch on either side of you in frustration, “God, why do you want other people when I’m right fucking here?” Your mouth was agape at this, “I’m so sick of holding myself back.” He cursed, body pressing against yours.

“What do you mean? Other people?” You mustered and Yoongi let out a chuckle void of humor.

“I listened to your podcast about wanting to be with someone and getting romance and…” Yoongi seriously thought you had been referring to anyone but him? Him? Seriously? The hot man in the place you live? You couldn’t stifle your laugh which caused his rant to falter, “How is this a laughing matter I am-”

“So fucking dense.” You giggled, “I’ve wanted you to at least look my way for the past three years, and you seriously think I want to be with other people?!” You sighed, “I live with you for fuck’s sake, and you won’t touch me!” Now, you were letting your frustrations out, “I brush your hand, I touch thighs with you, I-I scare the shit out of myself hoping you’ll at least hold me!” You heaved a breath, “And all you do is stay still!” You let out a frustrated yell, “The most attention I got from you was when I was almost attacked, is that what I need to do to draw sap from a fucking rock?!”

Yoongi flared at this, “Don’t ever think about putting yourself in danger.” He pointed at you, “I couldn’t take it, and I can’t take you not being honest with me, I thought you never noticed-” He was being a hypocrite, but he didn’t care.

“How could you say I don’t notice you when you straight up forgot I existed until this year?!” Yoongi was the one dumbfounded this time, and you took your chance to push past him, “I will go out tonight because I deserve-”

You couldn’t even breathe the next syllable before your back hit Yoongi’s bedroom door, his hands pinning your wrists above your own, the man breathing heavy. The air was thick with frustration as he gave you a stern look, “You deserve the world, I know,” The anger in you began to dissipate at his sincerity in his words, “And I am so in love with you, that I don’t think I’m worthy of giving it to you,” Your breath hitched at this, “But I don’t care anymore, because I would sooner kill someone before they put their hands on you, I’m sure you know I mean business, Sunshine?” You nodded, every cell in your body springing to life as Yoongi drew his lips closer to you, “So?”

You blew out a shaky breath with an equally shaky smile, “L-Love me? I-"

"Say you love me, and I’ll do it.” He was more rushed this time, urgent almost, “I’ll stop holding back, and I will give you all that you deserve and so, so much more.” He was almost pleading.

What the fuck do you know about love? What does it look like? Sound like? Is it the way Yoongi smiles at your dumb jokes in the morning? Is it the way his voice sounds through the walls as he practices newly-written lyrics? He was a good man to you. He was an attractive man. He could give you the world, and all he wanted in return was your love. Could all of this be love? Could it be the way he’s made you feel the past couple of years, especially the last couple of months?

Well, why the hell wouldn’t it be?

“I love you, Yoongi.” You breathed against his lips and he didn’t miss a beat in closing the gap so not even air could come between the two of you.

Electrifying all over again, but so, so different. This wasn’t fear. This was lust lighting a fire within you that Yoongi only stoked further as his silky tongue tangled with yours in a flurry of repressed emotions and endless unspoken confessions. His mouth attached to your neck and you let out a moan, quickly going to cover your mouth.

He ripped your hand away almost instantly, “You’re rarely this shy when you’re in your room, why deny me your sounds now?” He growled against your ear and the pure sex in his voice only made you moan louder. He was the rain you had admired from afar, but now he was pressed against you, and holy shit, were you getting wet.

“Yoongi, I don’t know if I can wait, I want to cum so fucking ba-ah!” You yelped when his hand went to cup your sex under the long shirt you always wore. You were on your tippy-toes, too sensitive to press your full weight onto him.

“Such an innocent-looking girl with such a nasty mouth.” He squeezed you in his hand and watched in glory as your eyes rolled back, “Since you’re a fan, I’ll be nice.” He teased as he got onto his knees, dragging your panties down with him to the floor.

“Oh shit.” You let out a breath that was quickly stolen when his tongue pressed against your entry. He lifted your leg, placing it over his shoulder as his mouth lapped at your clit and you lost yourself in the feeling, moaning mindlessly.

“You taste like deliverance.” He mumbled against your pussy and this only made your eyes roll back at the eroticism in his words. You couldn’t even keep track of what he was doing anymore.

All you could do was feel. His tongue fucked you into oblivion as he held your hips still, determined to make you come with his mouth, and his mouth alone. He let out a lewd suck and you quivered at the sensation and action. He knew how to play you and please you that you did. His tongue entered you again and he let out a delicious moan which vibrated against your folds, “Fuck, you sound and feel so fucking good!” You cried out as his tongue made thick strokes against you that only sped up expertly as he moaned into you, “Can I cum, Yoongi?” You asked, a smart girl, he concluded. He smirked against you, full intention to deny your request until, “Please, my love, I want to cum in your mouth like a good girl.” You begged pathetically and he couldn’t refuse you. You had him wrapped around your finger and hardly knew it. He got to work quickly, tongue entering you again only to flick upwards and you groaned at this. Groans were quickly replaced by increased screaming as he stiffened his tongue and licked all around your sex. You began to scream his name like a mantra as you tighten around the muscle and came the hardest you ever had.

You slumped against the door, chest heaving, “You okay, baby?” The nickname from him elicited a tired smile. You looked down at the man, lips glossy as he licked them. He sat back on his calves and you wasted no time in diving at him on the floor.

Before he could react, you gripped him through his sweatpants and smiled when you realized he was rock hard, “Can I please ride you?” You looked up at him through your eyelashes and he knew he couldn’t possibly say no.

“Your wish is my command, sunshine.” He growled when you straddle him as he sat, legs spread and back against the back of the couch now. You gave a less than innocent smile as you reached for his member, delicate hands wrapping around him, only to pull it free and closer to your entrance, “Condom?” He questioned.

“Pill, I need to feel you, fuck.” You panted, against logical judgment, but it was lost when you pressed the head against your own entrance, “Shit.” You ground against Yoongi as his head lolled back.

He could hardly handle it as your hips twirled, the tip just outside your entrance. Finally, he had enough, and with strong hands pulled your hips to fill you to the hilt. Your mouth popped open in shock and pure masochistic delight as the pain only added to the high of lust Yoongi gave you, “Sorry, baby girl, I knew you would feel so fucking good.” He emphasized this with a thrust up, “Plus, I could hardly resist being deep inside you immediately.” He growled in sadistic pride as your face twisted in pain and pleasure.

“Hurts so good.” Your hips moved spastically, chasing another high with Yoongi deep inside you. Not once did you lift your hips. You wanted to stay full, and Yoongi was more than happy to oblige, “So good, I wanna stay like this.” You moaned out as he sucked on your neck, hands going under your shirt to grip your breasts with a fevor you craved.

“You feel like heaven.” He grunted against your neck as he littered it with hickey after hickey. You were his and the way you squeezed around him and clawed at his shoulder only spurred him further.

Yoongi could feel himself twitching inside you and this only made you gasp as you gleefully squeezed around him, “Yes, yes,” You sounded like a prayer to him, “Cum inside me, I need it.” You were nearly screaming as he began to thrust into you at a rapid pace.

“Yeah? You want me to paint those pretty walls white, hm?” He teased you despite the strain in his voice, “Fuck it right into that pretty pussy of yours, no mine.” He grabbed your hips, working your body for his own high, “This is my pussy, isn’t it?"

"Yes, it’s all yours, Yoongi!” You yelled and with that, he groaned as he came, ropes of cum that you could feel as his hips made good of his promise to fuck it into you. You milked him as you squeezed tighter before coming undone as you came with a scream that sounded like the next symphonic masterpiece to the fucked out man inside you.

You huffed a small chuckle against his neck as your curled your form around his, “So needy.” He teased as he went to remove himself inside of you only to be met with a squeeze from you that made him curse, “You’re gonna kill me, I swear.”

You giggled, “I like how you feel inside of me.” You shrugged before shivering at the empty feeling only to gasp when three fingers were shoved into you. You wiggled in glee, “Fuck.” Your breath hot against his neck.

"You just like to be full, huh baby?“ You nodded shyly, "You’re perfect.” He chuckled as he used his other hand to stroke your back.

—-

“Announcement time, my dear listeners” You spoke in the studio, trying not to sound like it was through gritted teeth. You counted your blessings that you were alone, “As you know, your dear old Sugar Sun has promised a face reveal and I-Min Yoongi!” Well, mostly alone. You heaved a breath as you came against his mouth for the third time.

The man between your legs looked up at you, eyes way too innocent, “What? I’m waiting for my part.” He spoke nonchalantly despite the wetness on his lips.

“I’ll never get there if you keep making me cum and start over.” You glared and the man shrugged, “I got far enough, right, babe?” You pouted and watched his resolve crack, “Honeypie?” You pleaded and he faltered, “Love of my life?” He grumbled as he sat up next to you in front of the mic.

“Fine, go ahead.” He licked his lips.

“…and I decided to go a step further.” You smiled as the man next to you held your hand, “I will be doing a photoshoot to reveal my face and my collab partner to an upcoming song and my boyfriend…”

You looked to him, eyes twinkling, “That would be my cue.” He placed a quiet kiss on your head, “My name is Min Yoongi or Agust D as some of you may know, and I look forward to my career and life with this little piece of sunshine.” You giggled at this.

“So cheesy.” You gave him a bright smile nonetheless, “Crazy news, I know, but I secured the fucking bag, my dear listeners, he’s never getting rid of me."

You were joking for the most part, but you didn’t know how right you were. You would not be away from him any longer. You were his sunshine, his little songbird, and his world all at the same time. He needed you like he needed to breathe. Now, you were his. You were his sunshine despite the rain he embodied. The rainbow between the two of you was too intoxicating to even bear the idea of giving it up. Even for a fraction of second. You were his. Every moment, minute, second, everything would be together. He was yours now and forever just as you were his. Blissfully and eternally in love.

"I’m too crazy to let go now.” You laughed as he kissed your temple affectionately.

So was he.

Buy me a ko-fi (it would make my day)

Masterlist

#yandere bts #yandere yoongi #bts fanfic #bts smut #yoongi smut #bts oneshot #bts yandere au #yandere bts smut #bts #bts fluff #yoongi fluff #min yoongi

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