#also will stops using as many metaphors after he’s cured

[notfernintheslighest]

will definitely went from only hearing metaphors about animals shitting in the woods, to what ever the fuck hannibal was talking about, and given many of will’s responses only answer one part, i’m pretty sure he was also unsure of what the homosexual nonsense hannibal was talking about meant either

[gay-disabled-characters-showdown]

LGBTQ+ Disabled Characters Showdown Round 3, Wave 2, Poll 6

A character being totally canon LGBTQ+ and disabled was not required to be in this competition. Please check qualifications and propaganda before asking why a character is included. 

Check out the other polls in this wave and prior here.

Eda Clawthorne-The Owl House

Qualifications:

She has a magical chronic disorder which has flare-ups, is mitigated by taking medication (potions), and has similar side effects to many real disorders such as fatigue, greying hair, and physical impairment (drains magic, a natural ability of *most witches). Unlike in other stories however, her condition is NOT ever completely cured. It does evolve and become more manageable over the course of the story, but she still experiences symptoms from it. Eda also loses one of her arms later in the story. She does get a replacement hook, but it is never shown whether she has a functional prosthetic or not. Most likely, she only has one fully functioning arm after this. As for being queer, she is in a relationship with a nonbinary person and is all but confirmed bisexual (has a secret box with the bi flag on it seriously why else would she have this). Also the owl house has a Lot of queer characters in it and I mean. just look at her. I would be surprised if she wasn't queer somehow.

Bisexual, and has a curse that affects her day to day life

Bi & lost arm and has a chronic illness metaphorically

Propaganda:

Has canonically dated both men and a non-binary person. Her curse affects her ability to use magic (and at one point outright stops it), which is very important in witch life. Said curse also causes her body parts to fall off sometimes. Many have said her curse is like a metaphor for depression but really it's more like a magic version of a physical disability (although I wouldn't be surprised if she actually also had depression).

Uuuuh she’s great and stuff idk I can’t propaganda well sorry

Ballister Boldheart-Nimona (Flim)

Qualifications:

He has a boyfriend (and then they have a sort-of-breakup but they're back together by the end) and he has a prosthetic arm.

He’s gay and missing an arm.

He’s explicitly gay, in love with a man. He loses his arm then builds himself a prosthetic while on the run like a badass.

His boyfriend cut his arm off :( he uses a prosthetic now.

His arm got chopped off after being falsely accused of killing the queen, he spends the rest of the movie with a prosthetic metal arm. His arm was also chopped off by his lover, Ambrosius Goldenloin, during said false assassination.

His boyfriend cut off his arm

Canonically has a boyfriend and built his own prosthetic

Qualifies by both being canonically disabled (amputee) + canonically gay

Propaganda:

Please plz plz vote for him

His boyfriend cut off his arm. He made himself a prosthetic. He used his arm to block someone’s sword. He kissed his boyfriend. He has sad wet cat eyes, which isn’t relevant but still. He has them.

He’s so GOOD even though he’s having like the worst day ever (specifically talking about movie but webcomic also applies). He has the biggest wettest eyes how can you not root for him????

People love him! He kinda looks like a sad, poor little cat. A real soggy wet kitten man.

Let's see. He and Ambrosius are lovers, or at least boyfriends, from the moment they're introduced. Ballister gets his arm chopped off by Ambrosius during the false assassination. Ballister spends the rest of the movie trying to convince Ambrosius and the kingdom of his innocence, with a metal arm replacing his missing one. It originated the phrase "Arm Chopping is not a love language!" Did I mention he's a main character too?

Is a science nerd, built his own prosthetic arm with his non-dominant hand, accidentally adopted a trans chaos demon of a 1000yo being

A knight, Nimona's best friend and father figure of sorts, but the plot mostly revolves around him- Ballister is framed for murder and has to hide while trying to figure out who framed him and how to prove he's innocent. Nimona becomes his sidekick (he didn't want one, she just showed up at his place one day like a very chaotic stray cat) and together they form a great duo against the corrupt government. This is complicated by Ballister's ex Ambrosius, who accidentally cut off Ballister's arm and is a bit brainwashed by government propaganda. Oops. You should watch Nimona it's great 💞🦈

The qualifications and propaganda paragraphs correspond, @foulfirerebel is the fifth submitter, and there were at least 7 others.

[incorrect-lightlark-facts]

The rest of the sticky notes:

- Kind of fucked up that the dreks used to be people. Fortunately they were Nightshades so it's okay.

- I love the idea of Nightbane as a potent drug with healing properties when processed correctly, because I'm a scientist. The metaphor for Isla as "both curse and cure," however, is incredibly forced. Also not a strong enough motif to justify having the book named after it.

- Please please please stop with the segues into the flashbacks. It reads like a fifth grade essay I'm begging you

- Being able to teleport everywhere kind of kills the tension and urgency

- All Of The Spicy Scenes Are The Same

- Also if the book is allowed to have this many straight-up sex scenes, I kind of feel like they should also be allowed to swear, or at least use less tepid insults. Isla calling Grim a bastard or a son of a bitch would soothe my soul

- I want to scruff Grim like a kitten and toss him in the ocean. He's still not a good character and he has no personality and he's awful. Every time I feel a shred of warmth for Grim I have to remember that it's because my version of him is so unrecognizable against canon that I probably need to start from scratch again just to be able to call him the same character

- Cleo ily never change (but also shoehorning in a dead son just to give her a reason to side with Nightshade is so bland I'm losing my sense of taste)

- GRIM MENTIONS GODS. WHO ARE THE GODS.

- And They Were Married (Oh My Unnamed Gods They Were Married)

- Is. Is this a normal amount of sex scenes for a YA novel.

- Some of this feels like borderline retconning (eg. Isla surviving being shot through the heart in the first book not just because of the Heart of Lightlark but also because of the ill-defined power of the love bond)

- No training montage for Isla learning to steal Grim's powers :(

- There Are Hot Air Balloons. The Event Is Called The Launching Of The Orbs.

- EGG CAMEO

- Grim and Isla have a moment where they both gush about everything they've learned about each other, and it's nothing. It feels like they don't know each other at all, but of course we're supposed to find their relationship heartwarming and intimate

- Am I going to have to make a spicy sideblog for this oh my god

- Pointless baby dragon. Did I zone out at the wrong time or did nothing become of that?

- The Terra fight is also nothing :((((

- Just like the first book, so many bombs are dropped at the end of the book because simply resolving the existing plot threads isn't enough I guess. Anyway the founders of Lightlark came from another world and created Lightlark in its image like reckless teenage gods but anyway GUYS there are HOT AIR BALLOONS

- Unearned final battle. Book once again lacks the guts to kill a major character and expects us to be moved by the deaths of interchangeable background cast members

- Damn crow-caller is right this REALLY aggressively sets up a third book. I'm wondering what middle book syndrome looks like for something like the Lightlark Saga and whether this is it

- This book was Not Good. It feels like poor fanfiction of the first book and I cannot stress enough that I enjoyed every second of it no matter how frustrating it was. Thank you Ms. Aster I owe you my life

[adamwatchesmovies]

Antiviral (2012)

Writer/director Brandon Cronenberg follows in his father’s body-horror footsteps with Antiviral. Weird and unsettling, you won’t see anything like this one anywhere else.

In the near future, celebrity worship has taken a new form. Avid fans of people like Hannah Geist (Sarah Gadon) want a part of her inside them, want to feel what their idols feel. Some eat cloned celebrity meat. Others get the viruses that make their favorite celebrities sick injected into their bloodstream. At the Lucas Clinic, Syd March (Caleb Landry Jones) sells pathogens to his clients and makes money on the side smuggling these exclusive commodities on the black market. To bypass his work's security measures, he incubates the viruses within himself. When his latest acquisition proves fatal to its host, he must find a cure before it's too late.

The very concept of Antiviral gives you the willies. What’s worse is that it doesn’t seem THAT far-fetched. We live in a world where you can very easily feel like you’re a part of a stranger’s life because you see everything they do. Going to a restaurant so you can eat the replicated flesh of someone you love - even though you’ve never met them - is extreme… but is it more invasive than looking at a leaked sex tape? How many degrees of unhealthiness separate getting a celebrity pathogen from taking a stranger's advice as gospel when it comes to products you should buy, apply on your skin or eat? The people of this world are eating human flesh and making themselves ill because they WANT TO.

Psychologically, the concept gives you the creeps but Antiviral doesn't stop there. Psychologically, it's sick. Physically, it's also sick. Admit it, you get a little squeamish when some medical professional shows you a needle but at least deep down you can feel comfort knowing that this small moment of unpleasantness is for the greater good. You relive that discomfort over and over while watching this film. You see how ill Syd becomes. You can imagine yourself in his shoes thanks to that one time your arm became inflamed after a flu shot. We've all been bedridden with a dreadful cough, thinking we were dying. He's actually dying.

Then there’s the actual plot. What’s worse than willingly giving yourself the same herpes variant some attractive lady contracted? getting some new disease you didn't realize was lethal. Now, this isn’t a pandemic film. We’re not scared that Syd will accidentally cause the end of humanity - this future has measures to prevent diseases from spreading to people who didn't pay. What’s chilling is that this disease might not be natural. Syd was never “meant” to contract this thing that’s in him. More and more, we begin to suspect this bug was manufactured. If it was, for what purpose? In addition to body horror, this is what I’d describe as a "terrify-inc." film; a story that shows how unscrupulous and dangerous big corporations can be when all they care about is money while the government regulations protect them rather than us.

The metaphors in Antiviral are not subtle and some of the characters might be thin but at what it wants to do above all, Antiviral excels. One look at Caleb Landry Jones in those clinically-white rooms and you’re filled with unease. Every shot of a needle penetrating the skin, of blood, mucus, saliva or slime fills you with a new sensation but getting an injection isn’t new… it’s just that something has changed. The ending, in particular, makes you feel a whole lot of “ick!” I mean that in a good way. (On Blu-ray, October 24, 2021)

[spinningbuster98]

Mega Man X6 Ending

The final stage is little more than the boss rush + the final boss thankfully. It’s got some pretty creepy and atmospheric music though.

And yeah obligatory mention to how X6 has a seriously awesome soundtrack, probably the most diverse in the franchise. Most Mega Man games tend to stick to a single genre, usually either rock or techno. X6 is mostly rock but also throws in jazzy pieces, relaxing tracks like Rainy Turtloid, Shield Sheldon’s sounds pretty magical, Metal Shark Player is oppressively atmospheric and Gate 3′s creepy.

Honestly Zombie Sigma might just be the most interesting thing that has ever been done with the character, which is prety damn sad on its own (Insert obvious joke about how he’s a nice metaphor for the state of the X series at this point)

People always say that he’s easy but honestly his second phase is a mess with all the shit he just flings at you, it feels like the best way to win is to just tank hits and keep hitting him back while also destroying as many of his minions as you can in order to make them drop health to keep you going.

Like before the ending differs depending on the character who beats Sigma

I hate X’s ending.

I know it may seem strange, but it really does piss me off.

I don’t like any of the endings of the X games because they usually just amount to the characters angsting over how “the cycle of violence keeps going ì, when will this war ever end blah blah blah” and it’s just another example of the X series using useless angst that won’t really go anywhere for “deep” storytelling.

On paper I should prefer what X6 gives us here, as it’s a more upbeat, hopeful ending about how the characters won’t give up and will try their best to rebuild the world and stop whatever threat will come their way. These tend to be some of my favorite kinds of endings: the light at the end of a dark tunnel

However in this case it doesn’t work for 2 reasons:

1) It’s too cheery given the situation: Gate was Alia’s friend turned mad, she’s seeing his corpse right there and yet she’s all smiles like she doesn’t give a shit

The same applies to X, y’know the pacifist who’s all about not wanting to use violence and wishing he could solve things peacefully? Why is he all smiles as he drags the corpse of his friend’s former colleague around?

2) This isn’t ACTUALLY a happy ending if you ask me. It’s actually a pretty cynical one. This wasn’t supposed to exist. This whole game wasn’t supposed to exist and only does in order to keep milking the series down to the last drop, so when the characters act all cheery and hopeful about how they will “fight for the future” and stuff it doesn’t feel like a message of hope to me, it feels like Capcom quite literally telling us “yeah there are more games on the way and we’ll keep making more ‘till this cow’s a dried up husk of its former self. have fun!”

Oh but then we get to the REAL juicy one! Let’s take a moment to talk about Zero’s ending!

So on its own merits there aren’t any real issues with this ending: Zero decides to go into stasis for a 100 years in order to have the Maverick Virus inside his body analysed so that scientists can find a cure. It’s basically a tie-in to the then upcoming Zero series.

However many issues arise as soon as you remember that X7 and X8 later became a thing.

And Zero is in both of them.

This makes no sense

The most common (and likely) interpretation is that this ending takes place many years into the future at the very end of the X series. However there are issues even here.

It just makes sense logically for this ending to take place not long after X6 because...Zero now KNOWS he’s a carrier. He know that he’s a danger and doesn’t want to create problems for the world.

If we go by the interpretation that this ending takes place way later we have to assume that it took Zero YEARS to figure out that “Yeah maybe I should let scientists study me instead of running around the world with this Virus inside of me”, which not only makes no sense for the other characters, who seem to have no issues with this and never bring this up again (sans some small mentions in X8), but it’s also nonsensical for Zero himself, since he’s always shown himself to be perfectly ok to sacrifice himself for the greater good, ever since X1!

Some people take this to mean that, evidently, X7 and X8 cannot be canon, compounded by the fact that they’re not rererenced in the Zero series.

Guys.

No.

Them not being referenced means very little, characters like Alia, Signas, Dynamo and Gate are also never mentioned across the Zero games, so the likes of Axl and Lumine never being mentioned doesn’t immediately make them non-canon

Besides everyone knows that some last minute changes had to be made to the story of the Zero series in order to accomodate for the retcons introduced by X6, such as Zero being resurrected and Sigma still being around, so why should X7 and X8 be so impossibly non-canon or whatever, given that they’re far less convoluted plot-wise? If there’s a game that they could’ve easily written off as non-canon that’s X6, given its retcon-riddled plot and the fact that it was the first game to have absolutely zero input from Inafune, and yet X6 is 100% canon to the Zero series.

I’d much rather keep X7 and X8 as canon rather than imagine a split timeline like some fans do. ‘Cause that’s what the series needs right? A Zelda timeline.

So how do we explain all of this mess?

Well here’s my theory:

How does the Maverick Virus spread?

Yeah it can spread via airborne means like we see in X5, but how does it jump from robot to robot?

Because we never really see this happen do we?

I mean Zero has been a carrier ever since before X1 and yet, depsite the Zero Official Complete Works claiming that he’s been unwillingly spreading the Virus while working as a Hunter, we never see anyone being infected by him, and he’s constantly in contact with a lot of people! Alia, Signas, fuck, Colonel and Iris! And yet none of them has ever been infected!

The only time Zero has ever infected someone was with Gate, who came into contact with one of Zero’s remains, seemingly some of his internal components, and maybe Sigma when the latter fractured his head gem.

My theory is that the only way for the Virus to pass between Reploids is if one comes into contact with an infected Reploid’s interior mechanisms. It’s kind of like how real life viruses spread to other hosts through contact with infected liquids like blood or saliva. This would explain why Zero is still able to work as a Hunter with no issue, since there would technically be no issue being in his presence, and the Virus would only get a chance to infect another if he were to bet injured.

This is still problematic though since his work literally requires him to fight and get injured pretty much every day, so he’s still a danger and there should be a plethora of safety measures: what happens when he returns to base all damaged? Does he get put in quarantine? Does he have to wear a robotic face mask? Since the Virus can even infect simple machinery like we see in X5′s intro how the fuck do the Hunters even repair him without someone or something, even simple equipment, getting infected? Does he NOW get to repair himself?

Sighhhhhhhhhh.......

[jennifersminds]

hey libra! (it's libra right??) i already loved your elejah abortion fic but now that i've watched s4 and have context of the whole Cure nonsense that everyone was fighting over... like it's an even better fic now you did such a good job <3

if i didn't know better and expected anything from the vd writers i'd actually have thought the cure was just a metaphor for abortion and elena & rebekah's struggles was the metaphor for abortion rights lol. either way s4 is actually so chillingly relevant to 2022 society because it was literally so many episodes of just women being constantly stripped of agency and denied a choice by male characters :/ like at least elijah's motivations were pure even tho i disliked that he got to make the decision for a grown woman and "test" her... and klaus would have been genuinely inconvenienced by silas's manipulation and abuse if rebekah had been given the cure so i guess that's like, semi okay? (but also he was always selfish and mean when it came to rebekah regardless of whether he experienced harm to his well being or not)... and the salvatores were just awful lol like that torture ep made me so uncomfortable especially how elena seemed fine after having just experienced hours of abuse from her exboyfriends

anyways sorry for word vomiting but i love your writing and keep up the good work!

I adore word vomit thank you, allow me to spew my own lmao

(my names Charlotte btw, libra's my star sign but it was the first thing in my bio for ages so it's an easy mistake to make x)

My animosity towards the cure is unmatched, not just because I hate it as a concept and everything it turned the characters into but also because, like that fuckin little AI mf from t100 it refused to exit the show with any grace.

I'm currently working on storyboarding more of what did you bury? (my love letter to no humanity Elena + American Gothic) and there’s just so much wrong with s4 it’s honestly hard to know where to begin. The torture episode is horrifying for so many reasons but it also provides one of the most interesting and heartbreaking looks into Elena’s psych because it lets us actually see her rage at the Salvatore’s and honestly might be the last sighting of in- character Elena Gilbert we ever get.   

Like people can disagree if they want but as far as I’m concerned anything an emotionless vampire says is the truth (at least their truth) they have no humanity, no care and no reason to lie. This is especially true for Elena in the torture ep, and it’s awful. 

Plus what it reveals for the salv bros, both of them use this torture as an outlet for the frustration Elena’s caused them since she was forced- by them- to turn off her humanity (I mean, we been knew they were abusive but this is definitely the most outright moment). Also like- Caroline, Bonnie, Matt are just... fine with this. Like yeah Caroline leaves because she doesn’t wanna hear it but no one makes any move to stop it or question if this is really the way to go. (Bonnie get’s a pass here bc she’s being mind controlled and Elena ripped her throat open but- everyone else...)

The actual scene of her turning it back in is genuinely the most upsetting in the show to me. It’s like every subtle manipulation and mistreatment from the first four seasons turned up to 11 and its disgusting. Just seeing her, this fuckin eighteen year old girl that has lost everything, lose the last remaining thread to her childhood, to her life before the salvatores arrived. And the way she just shatters while they watch- this moment that’s horrifying and awful and they won’t ever let her go and she knows this and it means nothing to them. It’s just a tactic, something she’ll get over because she has no choice but too.

I hate it. (this hate being what made me write plastic crown in the first place lmao)

But yeah the whole things gross and this didn’t really build off your point even though I completely agree. 

As for the Elijah/Rebekah/Klaus aspect, I do find the test situation to be more about Elijah insuring Rebekah is actually prepared for what taking the cure would mean. Still a bit icky and codependent but it’s the Mikaelsons so I don’t expect much else. I do love the energy of 

Klaus: I’m being tormented !! Elijah: Sounds like a you problem bestie, I need to pose and go daydream of making out with emotionless doppelgängers ttyl xx

like yess king, give us (the plot) nothing !

[radishreader]

If the "infertility epidemic was the first round of fire in the pronatal campaign of the '80s, then the "birth dearth" was the second. At lest the leaders of this campaign were more honest: they denounced liberated women for choosing to have fewer or no children. They didn't pretend that they were just neutrally reporting statistics; they proudly admitted that they were seeking to manipulate female behavior. "Most of this small book is speculation and provocation," Ben Wattenberg freely concedes in his 1987 work, The Birth Dearth. "Will public attitudes change soon, thereby changing fertility behavior?" he asks. "I hope so. It is the root reason for writing this book."

Instead of hounding women into the maternity ward with now-or-never threats, the birth dearth theorists tried appealing to society's baser instincts--xenophobia, militarism, and bigotry, to name a few. If white educated middle-class women don't start reproducing, the birth-dearth men warned, paupers, fools, and foreigners would--and America would soon be out of business. Harvard psychologist Richard Herrnstein predicted that the genius pool would shrink by nearly 60 percent and the population with IQs under seventy would swell by a comparable amount, because the "brighter" women were neglecting their reproductive duties to chase after college degrees and careers--and insisting on using birth control. "Sex comes first, the pains and costs of pregnancy and motherhood later," he harrumphed. If present trends continue, he grimly advised, "it could swamp the effects of anything else we may do about our economic standing in the world. The documentation he offered for this trend? Casual comments from some young students at Harvard who seemed "anxious" about having children, grumblings from some friends who wanted more grandchildren, and dialogue from movies like Baby Boom and Three Men and a Baby. ...

Wattenberg's birth dearth slogan was quickly adopted by New Right leaders, conservative social theorists, and presidential candidates, who began alluding in ominous--and racist--tones to "cultural suicide" and "genetic suicide." This threat became the subject of a plank in the political platforms of both Jack Kemp and Pat Robertson, who were also quick to link the fall of the birthrate with the rise in women's rights. Allan Carlson, president of the conservative Rockford Institute, proposed that the best way to cure birth dearth was to get rid of the Equal Pay Act and federal laws banning sex discrimination in employment. At a 1985 American Enterprise Institute conference, Edward Luttwack went even further: he proposed that American policymakers might consider reactivating the pronatal initiatives of Vichy France; that Nazi-collaborationist government's attack on abortion and promotion of total motherhood might have valuable application on today's recalcitrant women. And at a seminar sponsored by Stanford University's Hoover Institution, panelists deplored "the independence of women" for lowering the birthrate and charged that women who refused to have many children lacked "values."

These men were as anxious to stop single black women from procreating as they were for married white women to start. The rate of illegitimate births to black women, especially black teenage girls, was reaching "epidemic" proportions, conservative social scientists intoned repeatedly in speeches and press interviews. The pronatalists' use of the disease metaphor is unintentionally revealing: they considered it an "epidemic" when white women didn't reproduce or when black women did. In the case of black women, their claims were simply wrong. Illegitimate births to both black women and black teenagers were actually declining in the '80s; the only increase in out-of-wedlock births was among white women.

--Susan Faludi, Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women (1991)

[seratlantisite]

Disability in The Owl House - like it's not even a metaphor guys :D ! Luz Eda Lilith Bump and Hunter are genuinely disabled and its so good.

Luz and Hunter are both congenitally disabled - they were born without the magic bile in their hearts. Luz because she's human and Hunter because his family just doesn't have it, even though they are witches. And that's something he feels shame about but it doesn't stop him, he doesn't waste away in bitterness of what he doesn't have. His uncle gave him an artificial magic staff but he's been researching on his own how to manage, he's been trying to discover disability aids for himself. Luz too, literally the entire show is about her working to discover how to make magic for herself when she shouldn't be able to because she wasn't born with the same parts. And I cannot describe just how amazing it is that the story is about her creating it for herself - not someone able bodied handing her something they made in their benevolence, but her making it herself. Not totally alone with no help, Eda had no idea how to teach Luz at first, but she was sure it should be possible so she pointed Luz towards the witches of the past. Eda didn't discover the runes for Luz but she was there helping and supporting Luz. Luz's independence and agency in this journey is preserved without isolating her and it is just so good and important.

Eda is degeneratively disabled. She was born with magic, was quite the brilliant child prodigy but she gained a curse that was steadily eating away at her magic. that shit sucks and it's scary but she was still here, still living her life. And when her magic was gone but she was still here with a life she still had to live Luz was there with her adaptive magic, ready to teach her a new way to keep living. And Eda is finding her own way to use it that suits her best, she hasn't given up any of her individuality. Plus her medication! This show has such a good message about medication. The potions she still needs to take even after her magic is gone which none of the characters looked to as the perfect solution or some 'dangerous substance' like, no. your meds are important even if they aren't the cure, especially if you have to keep taking them for the rest of your life. that's good for you. eda says take your meds people!

Lilith and Bump are... I once called this traumatically disabled but maybe spontaneously disabled is better? Bump has one eye permanently closed and a scar down the other so it's a safe bet it happened in an accident. Lilith chose to sacrifice her magic to stave off Eda's curse which doesn't have a mundane equivalent but she didn't wake up that morning knowing it would happen. Bump has a seeing eye familiar and I love that. That is what he made for himself because witches make their own palismen based on themselves. Lilith is learning Luz's adaptive magic too, and what I extra love about it is Lilith and Eda each put their own spin on how they use it, so the three of them still feel unique in their magic now, they are each finding what works best for themselves and helping each other develop this technique.

All this to say - not only are so many main characters disabled in a bunch of different ways but the entire show is about their agency and their community in their disability and it is amazing.

p.s. Eda is literally the only person i have ever seen who you can actually call Differently Abled lmao like her curse took her magic and made her a badass harpy lady?? i love it jfkds. like she is still very much disabled but now she also has claws and wings like good for her XD

p.p.s. when eda tried to walk away from the couch but forgot she had taken both her legs off and face planted? i laughed WAY too hard because i've literally done that before and i WILL do it again lmAO (i mean it hurts but its such a specific MOOD to see represented. i just lost it lol)

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

Any update on Go Princess Precure?? Also curious too know your next series, with a vote towards Healin Good Precure

As for my next series, I’m still torn between Mahoutsukai and Healin’ Good, though I’ve also heard good things about Fresh and Yes! Precure 5.

I’ve been busy with other things, but I just finished Episode 30 a week ago and decided to stop there for now, since it was the end of a major story arc. Right now, I think the show’s gotten even better with the way the story’s gone so far.

I like how there were some focus episodes for the three Cures to obtain new Dress Up Keys (the transformation trinkets I forgot to mention last time) that all focused on them reaffirming their dreams and desires

We learn more about Minami’s past in Episode 16 and her affection for marine life (mainly a dolphin who saved her as a kid), coincidentally tying into her Cure form.

Kirara learns to loosen up a little bit in Episode 17 when modeling thanks to her mom who manages to piss her off enough to get daughter to rant about her so the day of an important fashion show, she’s calm enough to focus.

But my favorite of the three and favorite of the series so far is Episode 18, where we learn more about the book that inspired Haruka to want to become a princess in the first place when she talks with the author about why she never wrote a sequel where the Princess of Flowers met a prince mentioned in the original. It’s really interesting how the author herself said it’s up to interpretation by the readers (based off the initial fanart kids sent to her when it was first published), which is like how so many fandoms come up with their own versions of popular stories, like people in the Miraculous Ladybug fandom do.

The next major story arc where the team has their final encounter with Twilight is also really good, and we also get to see Kanata and Haruka interact for the first time in person. The scene where they first meet is just so precious, with the two playing up their roles as prince and princess almost like an in-joke.

Kanata in general is also a really strong character. The dude has no powers and keeps fighting monsters on his own, and the fact that after losing his sister (who obviously turns out to be Twilight), Haruka (whom he gave her primary Dress Up Key to as a kid) is the one to help him get his hope back and motivate him to keep fighting while he in turn inspires her to become a princess is a great plot development. 

Granted, I’m not sure if they’re supposed to be romantically coded or not given Haruka reminded Kanata of his sister and Kanata looks a few years older than Haruka, but I love their interactions regardless... It’s just too bad he was kicked out of the plot at the end of Episode 22 and wasn’t even mentioned since. I get that they had to focus on a new character, but given she was also connected to Kanata, you would think he would at least be mentioned more.

The new character in question and Twilight’s true identity, Towa (get it?), ends up becoming the team’s fourth cure, Cure Scarlet. She was brainwashed by Dyspear to do her bidding and her initial disappearance was enough to drive her and Kanata’s home, the Hope Kingdom to despair so Dyspear could take over, and even though it was out of her control, Towa still feels awful for what she did, and even after becoming a Precure, doesn’t feel like she should even work with the other three, much less enjoy herself while people are suffering. Much like Yuri, recovering from her trauma drives her initial character arc with her getting to know each member of the team (including the fairies and Yui), culimating in a great character moment in Episode 28. As she breaks free from Dyspear’s grasp, she rises up like the metaphorical phoenix her powers are based off.

And yeah, while all that’s deep, that’s not the point. The point is that she has AWESOME FIRE POWERS THAT SHE USED TO CRIPPLE DYSPEAR IN HER FIRST FIGHT!

Yeah, I have a bit of a soft spot for characters with fire powers (mainly Zuko, Ultraman Mebius, Mick Rory, Blaziken and Shoto Todoroki), so I instantly warmed up to Cure Scarlet’s motif, and yes that pun was very much intended. Even putting that aside, her little redemption arc is still really engaging, and it’s interesting to see her come into her own as an individual after being used as a tool for most of her life.

Admittedly, she does get a fair amount of screentime in almost every episode she’s a part of (barring one Haruka-centric episode), but the writers seem to acknowledge that when Lock becomes the main villain for the arc, and more focus is given to the core three in defeating them using the power of the Hope Kingdom’s castle they turned into a music box. I swear it makes more sense if you watch it.

But yeah, I think the show’s second third is even better than the first, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it ends.

[frobin]

Hi! Ok, I know it isn't very related to Frobin (except if you decide to mention them in the answer), but I am curious about your opionion on this thing. If the end of One Piece have someone of the Straw Hat crew that can die, who can be? OBVIOUSLY I hope nobody, that this thing doesn't happen, but never say never. There're people who say Luffy to recreate Roger's connection. Someone else Usop (but I miss the reason). Or Jinbe, who has also some problems and enemies from previous experiences?

Hey there anon!

No worries about asking questions. This is a FRobin blog but it's also a One Piece blog so it's fine to ask all kind of questions about One Piece. Even though I wouldn't consider myself much of an *expert* so everything I write is very much influenced by my own impressions.

But you're asking for my opinion anyway so that disclaimer is not necessary in this case. XD

---

Okay, first of all: I'm no fan of death flags. I never see them and when I read about them I feel like people pull them out of nowhere.

So I don't think any of the Strawhats will die before or even while the big end fight. Also it's not like they will reach their goal and then just drop dead (don't forget the dream are very different too but more about that later). Like what kind of life would that be?

Also we can't forget that Oda still believes he is writing this story for 14 year old boys. So, even though death is and will be a theme I don't think he will kill off the main crew.

That would not be very clever story wise and is not how to tell a story about adventure and fulfilling dreams for young boys.

Right now it's very "fashionable" to let characters die for shock value. But the more it's done the more annoying it becomes and less of a shock and Oda won't stoop so low to use this kind of element. Why do I think that?

So far we had three deaths in OP and they all shocked us a lot. But they were also used as motivator for other characters. Whitebeards death was a motivator for a whole new Generation of pirates, as well as his crew to try to save Ace and his little brother. Ace's death was a launch of character development for Luffy, Sabo, Garp and even Sengoku and probably more. Pedros death was a motivator for Carrot and other Minks. (Even the fake death of Pell was a huge motivator for Vivi. Interestingly compared to other deaths his sacrifice did not stop the war, which would have been an adequate impact. So him coming back alive actually makes sense.)

But look how few and far between they are. Of course there was more death but the important ones are kept as those.

Why am I talking about that? Who would benefit from a Strawhats death?

Literally no one. They are all already motivated to go until the end for each other. It's more likely that a death would cause Luffy to just give up, him becoming catatonic again.

Who would Luffy fight for if he even loses one of his crew mates? Or maybe two?

If I were a Marine I would try to make Luffy think that his friends are dead and then catch him but that is beside the point.

But for One Piece, a Strawhat death it would not move the story further. There is no additional motivator needed and that would be the only reason to kill one of the crew.

Killing a Strawhat makes no sense in my opinion.

A death would only make sense after they reached their goal.

So it is possible that we see the Strawhats die but long after the story came to an end, them reaching Laugh Tale (if that is the end). And yes, I think all of them will die of natural causes and/or sickness. Most of them at an old age. I think Luffy, Zoro or Usopp being the firsts because of the trauma their bodies had endured would make most sense.

I hope that answered your question anon... and anyone who does not want to read even more about my nonsense can stop here.

But let me break down why I think that all Strawhats have plot armor against death flags, behind the read-more.

-> It is very important that I think the huge clash with the Blackbeard Pirates, which will be the end fight, will happen right before Laugh Tale. And Laugh Tale is the end-goal and the end of the main story. (I MIGHT BE WRONG!!!)<-

Everyones own story can only end after they reached their goal so let's look why I think that these dreams give the Strawhats Plot Armor.

Luffy: Become the king of the pirates. That means he has to reach Laugh Tale. I often hear that Luffy will die early because of the parallel to Roger. That does not mean he won't reach his 40s or 50s. Even after reaching Laugh Tale Roger lived a bit longer and even had time to "make a child" so, killing off Luffy in the end fight makes no sense. So maybe dying after the fight, on Laugh Tale? That could happen and would be the earliest death of any Strawhat imo.

Zoro: Become the strongest sword fighter. That means he still has to kill Mihawk. I don't think Mihawk will go and look for Zoro. So, Zoro has to survive and then return to Mihawk and have his duel. No sense in killing off Zoro. I am 100% sure that he will survive until then.

Nami: Drawing a world map. For that Nami has to travel the world many times more. After they reached Laugh Tale, Nami has only finished part of her dream. She has to visit all of the Blues, travel the Grand Line and the New world multiple times. Drawing a Map of the world will take a lifetime. Her dream will take the longest to be fulfilled.

Usopp: Become the great warrior of the sea. Now here we have a dream that is not really tangible. Usopp will be a great warrior as soon as he realises that he is one. In my opinion he already managed to become a great warrior. Time and time again he has shown how amazing he is but this is all about his own self image and so hard to grasp. This actually makes Usopp the most likely to have a death flag BUT we can't forget that he still has to return home and tell his stories to Kaya and the Usopp pirates. It's part of a promise that is only secondary but for me it's enough to think Usopp too is safe until he did that.

Sanji: To find the All Blue. Sanji thinks that the All Blue is something physical. We can't know that and if it is physical we can consider that it's maybe a part of the New World near the Red Line where all seas somehow come together. So again, until Sanji found that place he hasn't fulfilled his dream. And since I think that would be BEHIND Laugh Tale, again I think Sanji is safe. Alternatively the All Blue is just a metaphor for something completely different but I can't hink about what.

Chopper: To cure all illness. Here too, this is something that takes time. Chopper is still only at the beginning of his career of being a doctor. Finding a magical cure for every illness that exists is not something that just happens. Logically he would need to talk with many other medical experts and together they might be able to find it. When and how and if that happens is impossible to say but again that would be something that would fit best in the time after reaching Laugh Tale.

Robin: To find the truth of the void century. Right now we figure that she will find that at the end of their travel, on Laugh Tale. Maybe it will happen earlier in case the Strawhats storm the World Government. Either way she will learn the truth. But that will not be the end to her. After learning the truth it's up to Robin to bring it to the world, to write it down, to teach, to make people understand that they can't erase history and that they have to learn from it. Again, that is something that takes time and so, truly fulfilling her dream.

Franky: To travel the world in the ship of his dreams. Again that is a vague dream. But it would mean to at least return to Water Seven, so that Sunny has traveled the world once. But even then it's only been a small part of the world and traveling the world would mean to visit at least every of the seas. So far, Sunny had been in two to four, depending on how much you take the movies into account. But to fulfill Franky's dream he needs to survive a bit longer and so does Sunny.

Brook: To meet Laboon again. This is simple. But for that Brook has to reach the end of the New World and then get over the Red Line again. What he will do after that is hard to tell. But again, the Red Line is behind Laugh Tale and so I'm sure Brook too, has to survive... even though he is already dead YOHOHO!

Jinbe: Equality between merfolk and humans. Again this is something that is no easy feat and will probably take more than one generation. Also it is not only up to him and more to Shirahoshi and the World Government. This dream is about teamwork too, but who could be a better ambassador for the merfolk than him? Losing Jinbe would be a huge backfire for the cause. Jinbe too is safe in my opinion. If you have reached the end of the post, let me tell you again my headcanon about FRobin: After the main adventure Franky and Robin return to Water Seven where Franky helps to turn W7 into a boat and after that is done, they travel to the island where Ohara used to be and there they rebuild the island. More people return and it again becomes a hub for scholars and history.

[moodymaudy]

Lean, Xanax and depression / Part 1.

It goes by many names: dirty sprite, purple drank, syzzurp, lean… Since the 90’s, lean (a mix of promethazine, codeine -cough syrup- and Sprite) has been a very common drug among rappers. Glorified by rappers like Lil Wayne, Juicy J, and Mac Miller, this drug is still very popular despite having caused the deaths of many famous artists, like Pimp C (2007), A$AP Yams (2015), Lil Peep (2017), and Mac Miller (2018).

We may understand the use of that drug as a stronger way to escape reality than weed. The codeine present in the cough syrup has a strong effect on your mind and your body, as it is indeed an opioid.

That syzzurp creates a real addiction. ScHoolboy Q acknowledged it and talked about the effect of that drug on him -and like Lil Wayne, he said that when you stop drinking it you will experience a horrible stomach pain. Lil Wayne also stated that because he was proud of everything he created while being on lean, he feels that he has succeeded and therefore he doesn’t want to stop.

The problem with the romanticizing of drugs (any kind of course) is that it makes it sound cool and it entourages listeners to try them, maybe as an experiment at first, but an experiment that can become an addiction and leave lasting effects on your brain and body, and can sometimes even lead to death. We all know how rap music has become popular and how more and more young people are listening to it - a young audience may even be more easily influenced by what the artists say in their songs.

The Future released a full album named after lean, DS2 (Dirty Sprite 2), 2015- in which he praises the effect of lean.

A$AP Rocky’s Purple Swag, 2011, a tribute for purple drank but also purple haze, as the chorus insists ‘everything is purple’.

Lean goes hand in hand with a cool, smooth, soft, relaxed image of the rapper -you don’t deal lean.

The thing with lean is that it’s legal (at least used to be, but you can still find it on the ‘underground market’), you can buy cough syrup and add some pills to it… And that will brings you your high!

I think the problem isn’t only that one can be influenced by the cool lyrics of a song about drugs, but what is linked to it is also the persona of the artist. As some people in our class have been stressing, artists should use their image to influence and raise awareness in people’s mind. Is lean associated to a particular rap genre? Actually no, or not really. One can find some recurrences of cloud rap or trap. If acid may have its particular rap genre (acid rap or psychedelic rap), I think that the purple drank isn't a style, a fashion (like cocaine could also be), it isn't linked to a specific set of kind of music or look but to a mind set, a fragility of the mind, and maybe a desire to escape reality -but isn't it what drugs are for?

But if lean has been on the charts since the 90’s, Xanax is climbing its way among the new popular drugs.

Xanax: another ‘legal’ drug, usually prescribed by your doctor if you have anxiety or other mental illnesses. But Xanax acts like a kind of metaphorical opioid -a ‘heart pain killer’.

What does these two drugs have in common?

-They’re legal -at least not as demonized as cocaine, heroine, crack, or some other drugs have been. (Weed will be one of my other post ;))

-They can ease your inner mental pain and anxieties.

-They somehow both embody the deep problem rooted in our society. When mental issues are viewed like a weakness and not like a serious problem that may find a cure with psychiatric monitoring.

Somehow it isn’t surprising for rappers -usually seen as powerful badass figures- to prefer to get high with opioids than talk to someone about their feelings. Somehow they have a mask to keep even if they probably undergo a lot of pressure from the music industry.

But there are also many rappers who advocate against the use of lean and xanax, because of their own experience and the impact these drugs had on them. From Chance The Rapper, to Ty Dolla $ign and Isaiah Rasahd. For more details about, I invite you to read this article.

In order to bring this post to an end and introduce my next post, I want to do a brief presentation on Henry AZ (a Juicy J’s progeny/protégé) who isn’t really famous, but deserves to be in my opinion. Since his beginnings he’s dealt with the themes of depression, anxiety, loneliness. I know he isn’t the first one, but there is this breadcrumb trail in all his songs, that raises awareness and invites his listeners to fight against it, to wake up and take back their destiny into their own hands. In the first song of his latest album Asking For a Friend, Out By Nine, he stresses how people takes drugs to feel better but that isn’t the solution.

To be honest, his music plunges me into a very deep and nostalgic mood…

In a following post I’ll study another song of the same album Headphones, whose music video came out about a year before the release of the album.

[gay-disabled-characters-showdown]

LGBTQ+ Disabled Characters Showdown Round 4, Wave 2, Poll 6

A character being totally canon LGBTQ+ and disabled was not required to be in this competition. Please check qualifications and propaganda before asking why a character is included.

Check out the other polls in this wave and round here.

Eda Clawthorne-The Owl House

Qualifications:

She has a magical chronic disorder which has flare-ups, is mitigated by taking medication (potions), and has similar side effects to many real disorders such as fatigue, greying hair, and physical impairment (drains magic, a natural ability of *most witches). Unlike in other stories however, her condition is NOT ever completely cured. It does evolve and become more manageable over the course of the story, but she still experiences symptoms from it. Eda also loses one of her arms later in the story. She does get a replacement hook, but it is never shown whether she has a functional prosthetic or not. Most likely, she only has one fully functioning arm after this. As for being queer, she is in a relationship with a nonbinary person and is all but confirmed bisexual (has a secret box with the bi flag on it seriously why else would she have this). Also the owl house has a Lot of queer characters in it and I mean. just look at her. I would be surprised if she wasn't queer somehow.

Bisexual, and has a curse that affects her day to day life

Bi & lost arm and has a chronic illness metaphorically

Propaganda:

Has canonically dated both men and a non-binary person. Her curse affects her ability to use magic (and at one point outright stops it), which is very important in witch life. Said curse also causes her body parts to fall off sometimes. Many have said her curse is like a metaphor for depression but really it's more like a magic version of a physical disability (although I wouldn't be surprised if she actually also had depression).

Uuuuh she’s great and stuff idk I can’t propaganda well sorry

Roronoa Zoro-One Piece

Qualifications:

He's canonically visually impaired and implied to be gay in the live action!!!

as for him being queer, nothing is confirmed unfortunately but it is common for fans to interpret him as gay and transgender. the gay interpretation comes from him not showing a lot of interest in women and having a lot of very shippable moments with other men, as well as some moments in the recent live action. the trans headcanons come from his backstory, where he helps his best friend Kuina deal with the internalized misogyny she got from her father dismissing her as a swordswoman because of her gender - it would make the story a little cooler if zoro has had to deal with this misogyny himself. (Same person, different tumblr ask)

Propaganda:

hes such a guy. he's green. he doesn't know directions. he sleeps 20 hours a day. he's a feminist. he's suicidal. he was crucified. he's a 19 year old alcoholic. he has the biggest tits out of all the straw hats. he's even gay

[haloshornsinkstains]

Other Side [Songfic, slight Dabi x F!Reader]

While I’m working on Kinktober stuff and my head is a mess, here have a songfic that wouldn’t leave my damn brain for the past few weeks after I saw an animatic based on this song (The Other Side from The Greatest Showman). It just works? Also, apologies on the quirk, I was rewatching Bungou Stray Dogs and <3

CW: Female reader, alcohol, swearing, mention of unwanted groping, Endeavour is a dick... otherwise, pretty SFW

You groaned, pressing your head against the bar and gesturing to the bartender for your usual. Hearing the glass set down beside you, you looked up and smiled, taking a long drink. “Thanks Ryu.” The bartender smiled sympathetically. “Boss still a dick?” “The biggest flaming dick in Japan.” You grumbled. “They’re still keeping me on office duty. I break one creeps jaw and they trap me inside. Mirko punched a reporter and she’s still a top hero.” “Hey, it could be worse. You could be not working under the number one hero.” “No, that makes it worse.” Ryu frowned. “How?” “I hate him. I always hated him.” “Then why don’t you just leave and work for someone else.” You scowled at your glass, left hand leaving dents in the wood of the bar where it rested. “Not allowed.” “Bullshit. And stop denting my bar.” “Truth. Believe me, I’d leave if I could. But I can’t.” You sighed, lifting your hand from the wood apologetically. “Sorry Ryu. If I left I wouldn’t get to be a hero any more, even if all I do is paperwork I worked my ass off for this.” Ryu shrugged, spotting another customer signalling him out of the corner of his eye and smiling apologetically. “Sucks I guess. I’ve got people to serve, shout if you want a top up.” “Believe me, I will.”

You heard a glass set down next to you, the unmistakable heat of a body taking up the seat to your right. "Hey there princess." The voice was gravelly but so familiar. "Nope. I've had more than enough Todoroki bullshit for one day." You growled, staring daggers at your drink.  "Sorry, you must be mistaking me for someone else." You turned, narrowing your eyes at the man sat next to you. "Dabi. You remember I've known you way too long to fall for your bullshit right? And I am so not in the mood." Dabi went to lift his glass, only to find it stuck to the bar, your skin giving off a faint red glow. "Come on princess, I only want to talk. We can bitch about that asshole like old times." You sagged a little, the glow fading and his glass suddenly much easier to lift. You knew he wanted more than to just talk, Dabi's talks always came with attempts to recruit you into the league or, if he was drunk or high enough on adrenaline, his bed. But he was an old friend, and one of the few people more than happy to join your Fuck Endeavour and Fuck The Hero Commission rants. Shaking your head you gestured to one of the darker tables in the back, this might have been a very shady bar but Dabi was well known enough now that even here someone might be dumb enough to try to call the pros. And you liked this place too much to see it turned to ash. 

  You both settled into your seats in the back, you nursing your whiskey with a frown. "So what did dear old dad do today?" "Existed?" You huffed. "Bitched me out for not downplaying the damage caused in one of his 'rescues' while I was writing his reports for him. Which turned into more general belittlement of my attitude, abilities as a hero, quirk… basically he covered all the bases." "You know they'll never let you leave there right? You'll be doing paperwork until you die." Dabi drawled, you glared at him. "They're keeping you there because you're too dangerous to them, you know too much and you were caught sympathising with a villain. He hates you, he won't hesitate to put you down at the first sign of defection. You're trapped." "I didn't sympathise with a villain. I just didn't disagree with all of his ideas regarding the behaviour of heroes. I didn't exactly agree with his methods, I liked Ingenium plenty thank you very much." You grumbled, swirling the amber liquid in your glass. “He was friendly, and fun.” "Still… you hit like a truck when we were kids, I'd love to see what damage you can do now." He hummed, eyes flashing bright for a second. "You could be very dangerous. So they lock you up in an office doing filing for a man that hates you like a good little minion." "You're alarmingly eloquent today." You took another sip, setting the glass down and closing your eyes with a deep sigh. "I worked my ass off to be a hero, why would I want to throw that away?" "Oh, so you enjoy being his little secretary?" Your eyes flashed, skin glowing red as his chair creaked under the sudden strain of the gravity increase. Dabi just smirked, that stupid smug look that told you he knew he'd won. "Just listen to my proposal?" You sighed, the oppressive pressure dissipating in an instant as you waved at him to continue. Maybe he'd put a new twist in the spiel this time.

"Right here, right now I put the offer out I don't want to chase you down I know you see it"  “We do this on a near weekly basis, you have quite literally stalked me to this bar, if that’s not chasing me down what is?” You scoffed and shook your head, eyes flicking to the bar while you debated how many more drinks you were going to need after this. "You run with me And I can cut you free Out of the drudgery and walls you keep in So trade that typical for something colorful And if it's crazy, live a little crazy" "Well at least you acknowledge your league is entirely batshit." "You can play it sensible, a king of conventional" "Conventional? Really? I'm wounded." "Or you can risk it all and see Don't you wanna get away from the same old part you gotta play 'Cause I got what you need, so come with me and take the ride It'll take you to the other side 'Cause you can do like you do Or you can do like me Stay in the cage, or you'll finally take the key Oh, damn! Suddenly you're free to fly" You drummed your fingers on the table, honestly the bird metaphors were a bit weird but he was starting to sound like he had a point, which was…. Alarming. You needed to shut this down fast or you’d break.

  "Okay, my friend, you want to cut me in Well I hate to tell you, but it just won't happen So thanks, but no I think I'm good to go 'Cause I quite enjoy the life you say I'm trapped in" Dabi scoffed. "Really? Didn't sound like it five minutes ago." You shot him a glare. "Now I admire you, and that whole show you do You're onto something, really it's something Don't you know that I'm okay with this uptown part I get to play 'Cause I got what I need and I don't want to take the ride I don't need to see the other side So go and do like you do I'm good to do like me Ain't in a cage, so I don't need to take the key Oh, damn! Can't you see I'm doing fine I don't need to see the other side"

Dabi laughed, gesturing at the dingy bar and the glass in your hands with possibly the most judgemental look on his face you’d seen in years.  "Now is this really how you like to spend your days? Whiskey and misery, and parties and plays"

You sighed again, but your shoulders were sagging now and he knew he was winning. You couldn't pretend you enjoyed this any more, restrictions and abuse breaking you down into someone much easier to tempt and mould.  "If I were mixed up with you, I'd be the talk of the town Disgraced and disowned, another one of the clowns"  You huffed, waving a hand vaguely in his direction.  

"But you would finally live a little, finally laugh a little Just let me give you the freedom to dream And it'll wake you up and cure your aching Take your walls and start 'em breaking Now that's a deal that seems worth taking But I guess I'll leave that up to you" He stood to leave only to find the gravity of your quirk forcing him back down. He knew then that he had won, they'd turned a hero. Shigiraki might take some convincing but that didn't matter right now. Your resolve was crumbling.

"Well it's intriguing, but to go would cost me greatly So what's in it for me?" "Freedom. You want to punch the next guy who touches you inappropriately through a building? The League won't question you for a second, and there's no paperwork." You shook your head. "You'll have to raise the price a bit more than that." "Its a big fuck you to Endeavour?" "That was weak even for you. Dick has hated me since I was, what, five? All I’m doing is giving him an excuse to come after me. He'll be after my head as soon as I leave, and as much as I’m loathe to admit it we both know he's powerful." "You get to spend all the time you want with your favourite childhood friend…" his smirk turned wicked and knowing. "No one to stop you, no questions, no hiding in the corner of a dingy bar. And I guess Shigaraki is okay.” "You play dirty, you know that right?" "Well, I am a villain." Rolling your eyes you knocked back the last of your whiskey and stood, holding out a hand to him. "Well, guess I'm pissed off enough not to care any more. Congratulations Touya, you win." Grinning Dabi took your hand, ignoring the use of his old name in favour of pulling you in for a hug. “Oh, you’re going to be amazing Princess.” “I’ve always been amazing.” You chuckled. “Take me to your leader before I change my mind.” Dabi grinned. “As you wish.” “And no burning down my favourite bar!”

The pair of you stepped outside, Dabi sending a quick message on his phone that was shortly followed by the appearance of a swirling black void. "No wonder I've never seen you on the subway." You joked, though your fingers tightened anxiously around his. "Time to move up in the world princess." He chuckled, tugging you forwards into the void. "You know I don't like...holy shit." You stepped out into a different dingy bar, several faces snapping up to look at you as you appeared. Dabi was a comforting presence at your back. “No more corners of dingy bars huh?” You murmured, shooting him a sideways glance. "Hey Dabi, what's with the midget?" You bristled. "I am not a…" "Shit, that's a pro!" The villain speaking launched at you, intent to kill flashing hot in his eyes. Already irritated and more than a little on edge you activated your quirk, watching him fall flat on his face as overwhelming gravity pulled him down. Dabi had crumpled to his knees behind you, the others struggling to move.  "Princess."  You just growled. "She's with me, with us." Dabi continued. "Princess?" With a huff you released your quirk, watching warily as the villain who'd gone to attack you pushed himself to his feet. Dabi's hand on your shoulder made you flinch but his grip was strong, somewhere between restraint and support in case wide scale use of your quirk had taken it out of you. It was hard not to appreciate the gesture, even if you felt fine. "Meet Graviton. She's… an old friend." "I didn't know you could make friends." Your head snapped around at the sound of the voice, focusing in on Shigaraki sat at the bar, watching you from between the fingers of the hand on his face. "I've got more than you creep." Dabi snapped back, fingers digging into your shoulder. You tipped your head back a little, raising an eyebrow at him.  Shigaraki scratched at his neck, eyes never leaving you. "Why is she even here? She could be a double agent."  You couldn't hold back the laugh that bubbled out at that. "Hah, no." "Why are you here?" You were glad for the dim lighting, the constant attention making a blush rise on your cheeks. "I had a really bad week, and Dabi asked nicely. Even said please." As much as you tried to be nonchalant you couldn't hide the slight tremble in your voice. Shigaraki scoffed and you finally looked away from him. "I'm sick of being stuck doing paperwork because the Heroes say so. I worked hard to get my license only to be told I'm not allowed to do anything except sit in a cage with someone I hate. Guess I finally had enough. I was told you'll let me use my power." "And she really wants to punch Endeavour in the face." Dabi added cheerfully. "Oh yeah, that too." "I trust her, and you should know by now I don't drag in just anyone." "Shigaraki, she could be useful. She has inside information and that power was impressive." The black void behind the bar spoke, startling you a little and pulling a quiet chuckle from Dabi.  "Fine. Make yourself useful, if you try to betray us I'll kill you." Shigaraki huffed, standing from his seat. "Kurogiri, I'm going back to my room." "Welcome to the League [name]."

[f-117-nighthawk]

Playlist Update Part 2: Electric Boogaloo

Part 2! Here lies Endless War, Dystopian Fiction, and Filaments. EW hasn’t changed much, DF has a bit and it's all INFECTED's fault, and Filaments has more than three songs finally. My explanations for these aren't quite as fleshed out (partially bc there's less in my head to flesh out with and partially because these aren't nearly as set in playdough as the main playlist. more like set in syrup)

Part One

In chronological order:

Endless War

Dark Matter is here because it always is, twining through everything else.

(Don’t stop, don’t think, don’t look back/You’re a bolt of lightning in the sky now/Don’t stop, don’t think, don’t look back/I’ve pulled you in, nowhere to hide now)

I Am the One links into Eater of Worlds as sort of the aftermath, sort of during Apocalypse 1992. Our Fifth General has her realization about [REDACTED] far, far before Team Voltron does because she’s there in the thick of it during Through Apocalypse Skies.

(I am the one/I hold the dreams from fallen heroes)

(We are gods, we are monsters/We create to devour/Not for love but for power/What’s a life worth in the end?)

(From the caves beneath Dundee/Ancient hermit arrives/A messenger to the war in the stars/Korviliath is nigh!)

The Truth Beneath the Rose is from the perspective of our last (and first) Blade in the aftermath of Through Apocalypse Skies, as she realizes just what she helped create. Also… kinda connects to a song in the main playlist, but not very obviously.

(Blinded to see the cruelty of the beast/It is the darker side of me/The veil of my dreams deceived that I have seen/Forgive me for what I have been, forgive me my sins!)

Raise Your Banner is The Fifth General’s newfound resolve as she starts collecting allies against Zarkon’s empire.

(Wake up/I’m defying you, seeing right through you, once I believed in you/Wake up/Feel what’s coming deep within we all know)

Obey is a bit of a weird one. It’s in the same vein as You Keep What You Kill in the main playlist, but it’s more specifically about the creation of the first Druids and how Haggar uses them against the Fifth General and her team.

(Obey, we're gonna show you how to behave/Obey, it's nicer when you can't see the chains)

Silver Moonlight is cracks forming in The Fifth General’s new set of alliances and her desperate and occasionally rash attempts to get them to believe in her goal. Not just the main one to take down the empire, but the one that will allow them to do that.

(I’m impatient, but it’s colors that I need/Too many shades of grey, I cannot breathe/The dreams I have ain’t tainted, I need you to believe/The only way to make them real, oh)

Endless War is the title track, connected to Holy Ground and I’d Rather Burn as a specific event but also sort of encompassing the Fifth General’s motivations throughout the series. She’s “hunting a miracle” that is also those colors from Silver Moonlight, and then the end of Endless War kicks in with Holy Ground, and the Fifth General’s final stand in I’d Rather Burn.

('Cause you’re fighting an endless war/Hunting a miracle/And when you reach out for the stars/They just cut you down/…/Is it worth dying for?/Or are you blinded by, blinded by it all?)

(You got inside my head, I want you out/'Cause I’ve been betrayed on holy ground)

(Won’t let you take my soul away/I’d rather go to the stake/I’d rather burn)

Empty Eyes is [long spoiler beep]. (and yes! I found it on Spotify finally!)

(I don’t know where I’m going/In search for answers/I don’t know who I’m fighting/I stand with empty eyes/You’re like a ghost within me/Who’s draining my life/It’s like my soul is see-through/Right through my empty eyes)

Dystopian Fiction

Dark Matter is on here because title track, but also it does end up with effects. Especially by the end… and of course, the Thing that is Wrong With Earth.

(Don’t stop, don’t think/Move up, don’t blink now/On your knees pray for rain/Don’t breathe when you take your aim)

The Human Condition is the Éskhayklos manifesto. A warning of the end times. The condemnation of the parasites. The reveal of the only cure. The final extinction cycle. Also their new image song, as Cross the Line got moved.

(We have the cure for the disease/Locked down inside us/When all is dead, then we will see/We are the virus)

INFECTED is the Éskhayklos’s slow, well, infection of the Sol Federation, and their descent into full-blown terrorism. (And yes, I know the actual lyrics have ‘he’. Shhhhhh. It’s a STARSET song, it’s about a Shirogane, even if it’s sort of from Cascade’s POV)

(Here's a challenge for all mankind/The preacher man is warning of the end times/The weatherman agrees but she don't know/So she's got to go now)

Who Will Save You Now here is about Sam, and the aftermath of Here to Save You, in addition to its referenced role in the main playlist.

(Alone with this vision/Alone and blind/Go tell the world I’m still alive)

Codebreaker is Adam’s song! But here it’s also in conjunction with Cross the Line as the final Éskhayklos mission before...

(Codebreaker can’t you find/Can you read between the lines of code?/Tell me all that you know/How far down the hole does it all go)

(Cross the line, redefine, break away unbent, unafraid/Together we stand in the dark/Seeking the light and what is right, together we cross the line/Our journey will come to an end and then our human cause will be/Justified)

The Day the Earth Collapsed

(How much time has been elapsed/Since the day the earth collapsed?)

Dystopian Fiction is the title track for this part. With the events of The Day the Earth Collapsed, the Garrison and our heroes on Earth are at their lowest point. It really is a piece of dystopian fiction, between [spoiler] and [spoiler]. They’re fighting for something that, at that point, must seem like ‘superstition.’ And also: “Nobody can shoot me down, not just yet” is about Adam bc Fuck Canon. Even if he does, technically, get shot down.

(I’m a dead man/In the wasteland/I’m a soldier fighting for superstition/Under searchlights/In the long nights/We’ve been written like dystopian fiction)

World on Fire and The Reckoning are the two of their subset that make it over here because they’re the two that happen before the result of This is a Call can come to fruition, and are more focused on our Earth heroes anyway.

(Sent by forces beyond salvation/There can be not one sensation)

(We’re all alone, walking in twilight/The night has been long and so many have fallen/Feel no remorse, light will be breaking/Our freedom is worth it all)

Filaments

Filaments is still in flux but does have way more solid than it did. Like, you know, most of an ending. I just don’t really know how they get from A to B yet.

Dark Matter is here because, well. A) Title track, B) yes, it still has effects. It’s the overarching theme, after all. Filaments sort of has a subtitle itself, which is ‘The Undoing,’ after the other part of the lyric that the subtitle of the main playlist comes from. It’s about undoing a past mistake (that wasn’t obviously a mistake until much later) and reconciling the events of Your World Will Fail.

(I am the keeper/I am the secret/I am the answer/I am the end)

Filaments is the title track of this part. It’s… a little hard to explain without giving away the entire plot but it’s about the connections between different parts of the universe, and some fall-out of Cosmic Vertigo and Louder Than Words.

(These glowing filaments/Conducting this enchanting/Sarcophagus that’s holding us)

Starlight is, again, Adashi song, and this time the happy part

(Don’t leave me lost here forever/I need your starlight and pull me through/Bring me back to you)

Carry Me Home is its eponymous fic.

(Carry me home to the morning light/carry me home before you wave me goodbye/Oh, carry me home…)

And then we get to the new part. Know that stuff in Carry Me Home about “The record skip that only [Keith and Krolia] can remember”? Yeah, Prognosis is a huge step to figuring that out.

(How long is the body beholden?/How long 'til we run out of road?/Deep down in the black of the ocean/Fading from the glow)

The timey-wimey ball gets tossed around more in Blackstar. Partially due to [REDACTED] and a certain terrorist’s reemergence, but also due to Prognosis-related stuff

(They'll let you try/To reverse everything/Don't waste your time/Sing Hallelujah 'cause you can't change anything)

Eon straight-up plays Calvinball with the timey-wimey ball and gets the Paladins stuck in a groundhog-day situation, and the only way out? Isn’t good.

(If time's a song, I won't wait for its reprise/I am done wishing farewells and goodbyes)

The Art of War and Centigrade are the beginning of the end. The Art of War is Cascade finally showing his true colors, and the Sol Federation not having a good time. Centigrade is the other side of it, Team Voltron having a realization of just what they’re going to need to do.

(I can remember all the days of violence/I can remember all the days they fought for rights/When men united all by fear and interest/I mustered them with hopeful promises I've broken)

(What did you hope to find adrift and lost in time?/Is this the end ready to begin?/It's time to escape the fate of destruction, excavating within until salvation/No longer pretend the future's a lie from a past you cannot hide)

The Future is Now and A Theater of Dimensions are. Well. You’ll see. It’s a little hard to pick a lyric from AToD, I'll say that much.

(They said there was no way/But they forgot the black hole in the sky/Yesterday is nothing/I have half a life to rewrite)

(I’ve seen our freedom in the mist of time/The old signs I’ll follow and the day of relief will be yours and mine)

And then there’s Afterlife. Fitting to end on a UtA song, after everything, especially since The Immortal has repeatedly throughout DM been a metaphor for Voltron. Also fitting that it’s this one, considering the parallels between the end of The Immortal’s story and Filaments

(But with such power, think how you could rule/Hold to your promise to watch over those in despair/Why would you choose to serve when you could be master of all?/Be true to your honour and fight for a world that is fair!/Out of shadow, out of darkness, welcome to the light/As the day shines boldly over night/Follow me to finally be who you are inside/Open wide, embrace the afterlife)

[husheduphistory]

Mummy Brown: A Most Tragic Hue That Everyone Used

Millions of people walk the hallowed halls of the Louvre every year to see some of the most important masterpieces of all time with their own eyes. With 35,000 pieces on display there is a lot to take in, and among them is Interior of a Kitchen by Martin Drölling. The scene is tranquil, showing an illuminated country kitchen where a young girl works on her needlework, another woman sits in her chair, and a girl sits on the floor playing with a cat. The detail is exquisite, and although the view from the window is bright the majority of the scene is painted in varying shades of brown, and it is this brown hue that places Interior of a Kitchen in a unique category. Drölling painted the work in 1815, but his paint had origins in ancient times.

Interior of a Kitchen by Martin Drölling. Image via Wikipedia.

In the Medieval age medicine was still in its infancy, but one substance that was highly sought after for its medicinal purposes was bitumen. Referred to as early as the twelfth century, it was a substance believed to cure nearly any ailment. Bitumen was found naturally in the earth in the Middle East region, but rather than extracting it from the ground, it was believed that it could be obtained from another source, the long-dead bodies of ancient Egyptians. The Persian word for bitumen was “mum” or “mumiya” which lent itself to the word “mummy” and the black color of the wrapped corpses led people to (falsely) believe they were soaked in bitumen during the embalming process. It was impossible to extract the alleged bitumen from the mummies, so they ground up the dead ancient bodies and used that instead.

By the fifteenth century it was commonplace for merchants to visit Egypt and send large shipments of mummies back to Europe for an eager consumer looking to grind them up for medicine. At the time there were incalculable numbers of mummies at their disposal and according to Thomas Pettigrew’s History of the Egyptian Mummy the author writes, “No sooner was it credited that mummy constituted an article of value in the practice of medicine than many speculators embarked in the trade; the tombs were sacked, and as many mummies as could be obtained were broken into pieces for the purpose of sale.” After being lowered into the tombs merchants picked their new cargo and paid the inexpensive prices before loading their ships with bodies and parts that were doomed for the grinders of Europe. Once reduced to powder, the dead would be mixed into topical balms or straight into drinks to be immediately ingested. The demand for mummy medicine ran high with little to no consideration if the body was old, young, male, female, or cause of death. It was a trend that continued well into the 18th century.

Merchant selling mummies on the street. Image via rarehistoricalphotos.com. 

By the 1830s the general public became obsessed with all things ancient Egypt and relics from the time became highly desired collectible pieces with a mummy being at the top of everyone’s wish list. The ferocity in obtaining mummies sent people tearing into sacred sites and haggling with sellers on the streets who claimed the bodies they were selling were genuine. The monk Father Géramb stated in 1833 that “it would be hardly respectable, on one’s return from Egypt, to present oneself without a mummy in one hand and a crocodile in the other.” Once brought into the homes of Europe as unfortunate souvenirs the fascination with Egypt’s ancient dead manifested in mummy “unwrappings” or “unrollings” that began as scientific undertakings but evolved into public events that would often sell out. As the wrappings were unfurled those gathered would delight in the trinkets that would fall from them, the pieces of paper tucked inside, and the sight of the blackened body before them.

Flyer for a mummy unwrapping circa 1850. Image via medium.com.

Considering how Europeans strived to incorporate ancient Egyptians into their daily lives it is not surprising that they also made them a part of their art. With a shade resembling burnt umber, Mummy Brown was made by mixing white pitch, myrrh, and the ground-up remains of ancient Egyptian mummies. Beginning in the 16th century the paint became extremely popular with artists because of the unique pigment that could only be obtained from the mummies because of the specific  substances used in the mummification process.

The use of Mummy Brown reached its height in the mid-eighteenth to nineteenth centuries when it was used by such famous artists as Sir William Beechey, Edward Burne-Jones, Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Eugene Delacroix, and Martin Drölling who used the paint extensively in Interior of a Kitchen. What is unclear though, is if artists knew exactly what they were painting with.

One artist who was unaware of his paint’s dark origins was pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Burne-Jones. As recalled by his nephew, author Ruyard Kipling, his uncle was spending a day with fellow artist Alma Tadema in the 1860s when he learned that the pigment’s name was not a metaphor, that the paint he had been using was in fact made from ground up mummies. Deeply disturbed by this, Burne-Jones went into his studio and came back downstairs stating that if it was made from dead Pharaohs then the tube in his hand needed to be buried immediately and with proper honor. According to Kipling’s later account of the day, “So we all went out and helped – according to the rites of Mizraim and Memphis, I hope – and to this day I could drive a spade within a foot of where that tube lies.”

Edward Burne-Jones. Image via Wikipedia.

The origins of Mummy Brown were never kept secret, but over the centuries people seemed to forget that the color’s name was literal. As the facts of the paint’s origin came back into collective knowledge people grew increasingly uncomfortable with the idea of painting with ancient human remains. C. Roberson and Co., one of the leading colorists of the 19th and 20th centuries, included Mummy Brown in their catalog until 1933. It took just over three more decades for the production of Mummy Brown to be officially declared over. The reason was as simple as it was tragic, there were no more mummies to use for paint. As stated by the managing director of C. Roberson and Co., “We might have a few odd limbs lying around somewhere, but not enough to make any more paint. We sold our last complete mummy some years ago for, I think, £3. Perhaps we shouldn't have. We certainly can't get any more”

Tube of Mummy Brown paint. Image via artinsociety.com.

Today the color Mummy Brown is made from materials completely unrelated to human remains. While it is known when the production of the color was finally stopped, it is difficult to estimate just how many works of art were created using the paint. In an unfortunate twist, many of the artists active at the height of Mummy Brown’s usage painted scenes of ancient Egypt making it entirely possible that the sacred deceased of Egypt were taken from their tombs only to be ground up and used to paint them.

Sources:

 Ground Up Mummies Were Once an Ingredient in Paint by Rose Eveleth. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/ground-mummies-were-once-ingredient-paint-180950350/

 The Life and Death of Mummy Brown by Philip McCouat.

http://www.artinsociety.com/the-life-and-death-of-mummy-brown.html

 Was This Masterpiece Painted With Ground Mummy? by Kristen Romey.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/09/mummy-art-painting-delacroix-pigment-ancient-Egypt/

[wintaejk]

Jungkook’s FIC REC | OS 2

I had too many links on the other post. Here is the second part of my Jungkook’s fic rec but with others themes.

Again, all those fictions belong to the amazing authors who wrote them, not me. I want to thank them once more. 

(f) = fluff

(a) = angst

(m) = mature

magical au

— Trick or Treat: Howling for You (F) (M) — by @fortunexkookie​

The way your Little Red Riding Hood costume lured over a fuckboy in a half-assed werewolf costume was a little cliche, but god damn was he beautiful. He promised he had plenty of big things to show you, and you took him up on the offer, not realizing that you might’ve bitten off more than you could chew.

werewolf au | established relationship | +14k

— rottenfolk (M) — by @junqkook​

a look was as hazardous as chemicals, a kiss as perilous as poison; his eyes and lips felt akin to a cure, but he was purely venom.

faerie au | royalty au | +13k

Commentary - If there’s only one one-shot I could recommend you to read of all tumblr, it would probably be this one. For me, it is rare to acheive such a level of mastery in fantasy fictions. Writing is already complicated, but when you have to place the readers in an unknown universe, it is even harder.                         However, the real brilliance of this story is the end. Because the end is supposed to satiate the reader in a way or another, it is supposed to offer what all the reader craved: a sort of closure. But here we all are, waiting for a sequel, because this story will make you want a next episode. And that is the brilliance, because you will surely never forget a story with that kind of power.                         So those are some of the reasons why this fiction is for me a mix of art, smartness and excellence ; and also why you would be missing something huge by not reading it.

— overdrive (M) — by @junqkook​

you thought meeting jungkook was just a coincidence, but the universe didn’t deal in coincidences.

vampire au | soulmate au | enemies to lovers | +13k

— Crescent Bound - Jungkook (F) (M) — by @parkhabits​

A pact bound by the moon. A secret kept only amongst themselves. Each of them experiencing their own cycles of heat.

werewolf au | friends to lovers | +12k

— Room 109 (M) — by @lavishedinjimin​

Having Jungkook as your apartment buddy was a lot to get used to. But with one early day, your heat comes up much stronger than usual, and you were desperate for an alpha’s touch.

werewolf au | roommate au | alpha!jungkook | +6k

— after dark (M) — by @seokoloqy​

Jungkook has served the royal family for generations, seen them live and die countless times. When it comes to you, he can’t watch you wither away too, but your lust for one another makes it harder and harder to stay apart.

vampire au | royalty au | knight!jungkook | +8k

— Life’s Blood (F) (A) (M) — by @littlenoona​

You produce blood cells at an increased rate when blood is lost, effectively, you cannot bleed out. This ability has served you well so far, even gaining you a rare friend, and you’ve made it your source of income, but it also has its downsides, one of which you’ve managed to avoid successfully, until now.

vampire au | +13k

— you come in waves (A) (M) — by @angelguk​

if jeongguk had a choice, he would destroy the sun. it’s not like he needed it for warmth due to his werewolf abilities making him a scorching radiator. it would also help his heart. because you look delectable in that stupid bikini.

werewolf au | friends to lovers au | 4k

— tell me your secrets (i’m all ears) (F) — by @jinpire​

You’re not afraid of Jeon Jeongguk. Even if he’s probably some kind of bear or giant cat shifter, and just a hint of his irritation had your instincts vibrating beneath your skin like a live wire. Your thumb brushed over the plastic dome of mini-Levi’s head, taking comfort in the cartoon scowl and dead eyes, the tiny grey sticks of his 3DM gear. Small could be pretty fucking powerful too.

shifter au | college au | bunny!kook | +6k

drabbles: nooks and naps - foxie moxie (don’t pull my tail) - look before you leap  - fluffles and kerfuffles

— Pomegranate Seeds (M) — by @taetaebaepsae​

Jungkook thinks he’s found the perfect new roommate, but little doesn’t he know you’re just aching to corrupt him.

demon au | roommate au | virgin!jungkook | +4k

other themes

— Every Kind of Way (F) (M) — by @taehyungforreal​

{Three little vignettes, three completely different experiences, same perfectly wonderful boyfriend JK.}

strangers to lovers  | established relationship  | +14k

Commentary - I remember when this fiction was posted. I read the teaser a few days before, and I was waiting for it. I remember the exact date of the release of this story, and let me tell you it never happens to me. But this is how much I liked this story. This masterpiece.                         This fiction is 95% made of smut. This is a warning if you don’t like that. However, what I like about Ashley’s works is that smut is not only smut (okay, sometimes it’s just pure filth but whatever). It’s not the first time I’ve read a piece of work of her and that I’ve been so thankful of reading her. Because the stories she writes are realistic. Sex is not always perfect. Sex is not always like in porn. Sex can be embarrassing. And this is why I love what Ashley writes, because she always have that realistic point of view on life. And sometimes it’s also nice to not turn everything into porn.                          What is very likeable - I said likeable? I meant loveable, sorry - about that story is also the three different stages of the relation of Jk and reader. This is also something I like about her writings. Life evolves, relationships evolve, and so does sex. So in this story, you will experience three different Jungkook. And it’s three reasons why you should read this fiction, three reasons why you will probably love it.                          One thing is sure, this chef-d’oeuvre will leave you wondering if your eyes have been burnt by the smuttiness or blessed by all the talent of this writer.

— tattooed two (ft. kth) (F) (M) — by @httpjeon​

your boyfriend’s best friend joins you for a night you’ll never forget.

tattoo artist au | established relationship  | poly au  | +8k

— Inkling (A) (M) — by @gguksgalaxy​

Jungkook is your brother’s boyfriend’s co-worker, they own a tattoo and piercing parlour. In other words, he’s tall, gorgeous, has his passion literally etched into his skin, looks incredibly good in a man-bun, and is semi-unattainable for you. Why? Well…you’re not entirely sure but him ditching right after a very heated make-out session sure isn’t a good sign. His extremely poor mood the next week sure isn’t either, but the only way to fix it is to face the beast head-on. Right?

tattoo artist au  | +17k

— Freak-quency (M) — by @taehyungforreal​

His eyes sparkle and he fights back a smile when he asks you why. “Is it because I didn’t give you something else to swallow like I said I would,” he questions, halfway through a much less subtle adjustment of his growing erection. Yoongi was right, he wants to be in trouble.

rockstar au  | established relationship  | +8k

— Boots (M) —

3000+ words of Ashley kinking on Jungkook’s boot. That’s it.

rockstar au  | established relationship  | part of Freak-quency  | +3k

— Heartbreaker with a Heart of Gold (A) (M) — by @filmflowersbangtan​

It was around this time almost three years ago when Jungkook moved to LA after his band got signed to a famous record label. He told you that he’d keep in contact with you. That he’d visit as much as he could. That he loved you. But about a month after leaving, he stopped texting and calling as much. And then a mere week after the band’s first EP dropped, Burning Rabbit was a sensation.

rocksatr au | ex lovers  | +3k

— Brother’s best friend (M) — by @lavishedinjimin​

In which Y/n owns a smut blog dedicated to her crush and brother’s best friend, jungkook. it was all fun and games until he finds out about it and acts it out with you.

brother’s best friend!jungkook  | +5k

— Sugarplum Elegy (F) (A) (M) — by @bymoonchild​

You know no bounds nor depth with Jungkook. While your fuck buddy loves sleeping in your bed and doing laundry for you with his favourite fabric softener, you are in love with a mysterious honeyed, velvety voice on Soundcloud. All’s fine, until you find out that the voice that metaphors your heart to a sweet sugarplum melody actually belongs to the boy who has been taking up a special spot in your bed and in your heart, strumming at your heartstrings all this while.

friends with benefits  | college au  | idiots to lovers | +17k

— The Kids Aren’t Alright (F) (A) (M) — by @sketchguk​

Sneaking around with Jeongguk during your Christian retreat is complicated when you’re both dedicated to your jobs as co-youth group counselors at your father’s ministry.

friends with benefits  | pastor’s kid!reader  | +10k

— Gym (F) (M) — by @hobiwonder​

Jungkook has a crush on you and has been watching you work out at his gym. One day you finally confront his obvious crush.

business woman!reader  | fratboy!jungkook  | older reader | +8k

— Gravity Check (M) — by @gimmesumsuga​

The one where Jungkook is your oh-so-handsome climbing instructor.

climbing instructors!jungkook  | strangers to lovers  | 14k

— The Monogamy Monologues (F) (M) — by @kpopfanfictrash​

The year? Some point after college. The occasion? Namjoon is getting married and the Rich Man’s Crochet Club has convened once again. Somewhere between the drinks and the laughter, everyone has the same realization: Jungkook has never been in a serious relationship. In the name of all that is holy (Overwatch and booze), the club’s mission is revived. Now though, their goal is much more perilous. Now, they aim to find Jeon Jungkook a girlfriend. (Part of The Rich Man’s Crochet Club series)

fuckboy!jungkook  | wedding planner!reader  | strangers to lovers  | +42k

— The Virgin Volume (F) (A) (M) —

This fic exists in the RMCC universe. It takes place before RMCC and is the story of how Jungkook lost his virginity. To quote Seokjin/Namjoon: “What Jungkook doesn’t know won’t hurt him and – let’s be honest – his story is hilarious. One pump,” Seokjin laughs, sounding like a hyena. “One pump and he’s done.” // Ducking his head, Namjoon tries not to smile. “It was a rookie mistake,” he protests, defending their friend. “Jungkook was overexcited and couldn’t control himself. He got better.”

college au  | friends to lovers  | prequel to TMM  | +6k

— everlasting (A — by @kimvvantae​

being able to love the same person forever is a blessing given from the heavens. to you, however, eternity has become a curse.

reincarnation au  | 18k

— Performances (M) — by @littlenoona​

The same handsome guy has been appearing at your performances and you become more and more interested in who he is - now you’re dancing only for him, despite a hall full of people.

strangers to lovers  | professional dancer!reader  | +6k

— Matching Hearts (F) (A) — by @gukwluv​

a drunk call to your ex boyfriend leads to a night of fun adventures that make you wonder why you even split in the first place.

exes au | +3k

— locker room talk (M) — by @minnpd​

You end up having a rather heated talk with Jeon Jungkook in the locker room when he announces he has been chosen for the audition you both participated to.

dancer au | enemies to lovers | fuckboy!jungkook | +5k

— not quite lovers (M) — by @junqkook​

hiring jeon jungkook as your personal assistant happens to have more than one perk.

workplace au | friends with benefits | ceo!reader | +15k

— By Its Cover (M) — by @gimmesumsuga​

The one where Jungkook makes a very bad first impression.

workplace au | enemies to lovers | 21k

— Mind in the Gutter (F) (M) — by @kpopfanfictrash​

Starting over is never fun. Especially not when you decide to take the phrase fully to heart; new job, new city, new coworkers and new relationships. When you are dragged to a happy hour by your new co-worker, Taehyung, you end up sitting beside a (very) cute, (very) shy IT worker named Jungkook. Several drinks later, he mentions he is in a professional bowling league with his friends and you rather enthusiastically invite yourself along. As time passes and you begin to grow closer, you still find it impossible to read Jungkook. Working in the same company and seeing each other so often, it is only so long before one of you snaps. But who?

workplace au | bowling au | strangers to friends to lovers | +18k