#and I understand why I am the way I am sometimes. generally a positive thing. | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

bonny-kookoo · 2 years ago

Text

Jungkook

𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄 | Wake up call

Sometimes you only really cherish things when they're taken away from you.

Tags/Warnings: Alien!Jungkook, Human!Reader, dystopian AU, space/Sci-fi/cyberpunk-esque, Enemies to lovers, Angst, Violence, Drama, romance, adult, angst, potentially triggering content, Hurt and comfort, JKs dad, major injury, angst, comfort, fluff

Length: 4.3k words

There is no taglist for this fic.

-> Masterlist

⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──👽── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅

It's pitch-black when you wake up, and it takes you a moment to realize that it's simply your eyes needing to adjust to the lack of light.

You instantly sit up in Jungkook's main resting spot, only to realize he's missing- instead standing at the main control screen, tapping away with his eyes reflecting the light of the screen in front of him. At a call of his name however, his face snaps towards you, the alien hybrid instantly walking towards you to cover your shoulders with a heavy blanket, before he sits down in the nest with you, clearly in a fight-or-flight state. "What's wrong?" You ask, and your sleepy voice and clearly drowsy state make him feel awfully protective over you-

and that's only partially due to his whole hormonal fiasco going on.

"We're passing a re-fueling station." He tells you, hushed and low in tone. "But the scanners show way too many ships in the area, so I'm trying to move us around." He offers as an explanation, unknowingly sitting closer to you, hands searching for any sort of physical contact with you before he just throws his pride out the window and moves to have you sit on his lap instead.

"Maybe it's just crowded?" You wonder, unsure why this is worrying him so much. But he shakes his head.

"Something's off." He simply denies, eyes focused on the large windows in the front of the ship, offering a wide view of whatever's going on in front and frontal sides- one of those windows being the one you're currently sleeping at. "I don't trust this." He shakes his head, arms slowly wrapping around you as he waits for the autopilot to steer the ship safely past the refueling station.

"Maybe it's.. you know?" You wonder, looking up at him- but he shakes his head.

"I'm.. I would've-" He sighs. "No one can really help me with my instincts because I am.. currently the only human-Bolku hybrid around, so not even Jin's mother can really.. help me understand what's going on with me." He shrugs, holding you in a relaxed, but almost clingy way. "I've simply decided to just.. take your words to heart, you could say." He tells you.

"What do you mean?" You ask, leaning into him a bit as the screen blinks with something- Jungkook looking once, before he puts his attention back onto you, apparently not alarmed by whatever message just popped up.

"You said the only life I can control is mine." He reminds you. "So I'll just.. let whatever I'm feeling run it's course, and learn to control my life instead of trying to just.. hiding in a vacuum." He explains, large ship coming into view in the distance, a few other's as well in close proximity. This catches Jungkook's attention, as he moves his body into a straighter position to properly catch a glance at the ID parts of the ships- required by law. It's typically a flag of the respective planet or organization, combined with a letter-number Identification, similar to a license plate back on earth.

And suddenly, Jungkook tenses up, eyes focused solely on one particular ship it seems like, as it passes by slowly. You're not sure what's wrong, when there's another warning tone, this time making Jungkook growl a little to himself as he gets up to walk towards the control console, tapping away.

He's scanning everything back and forth before he curses, slamming his hands onto the control board, jaw clenched, before he puts some different commands in, ship shifting, starting to steer in a very specific manner that makes the generators underneath your floor rumble in a new rhythm.

"I thought we were skipping this one?" You wonder, but Jungkook grimly shakes his head.

"We can't." He sighs. "I tend to forget that.. this ship is so old." He mumbles, clearly upset.

"It'll be fine." You try and reassure- and he looks at you for a good moment, before he grimly nods to himself.

Hoping that'll be the case.

⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──👽── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅

Jungkook is usually very much at ease when it comes to situations like these. He clearly knows his way around and is aware of how to act and what not to do in certain situations- year long experience giving him the necessary confidence to properly keep his job going.

But this time, he's on edge- never letting you out of sight, and even having checked multiple times before leaving the ship that the tracker on your new collar works perfectly just in case. He's also made you wear some of his clothes- says it's got something to do with other alien species' staying away from you if you smell like him, and in your eyes, it makes sense. Maybe his whole hormone-issue is just making him a little overprotective.

You understand that, somewhat. And you have to admit that his clothes are very comfortable to wear.

But something you also notice, for the first time, is what he's warned you about in your room, days ago. How everyone who knows his father will look at you with a certain sense of judgement- and this time, it seems like almost everyone seems to know him, because the looks are everywhere. It doesn't bother you too much- but you can feel with the way Jungkook's hand tightens around yours that it does affect him.

"Can we go eat something while the ship refuels?" You wonder, tugging on his hand to gain his attention, trying to pull his mind away from the admittedly tense atmosphere around you. He nods after a moment, nodding towards the employees currently attaching the giant tubes to the ship, before he walks away and towards the food section, numerous different small restaurants cooking quickly for customers sitting and standing close by.

"What do you want to eat?" He asks you, who's already scanning the pictures as best as you can- still not very good at deciphering the intergalactic standard writing. You should really learn it sooner rather than later- it's got to be annoying to read everything to you, after all.

"Uh.. can I eat this?" You ask him, pointing to a specific food covered in crispy fried dough- not because he pays for it, but because he also knows what humans can and can't eat.

Now this fact makes finally sense to you- because as someone who's partially human, Jungkook has to look out for certain foods as to not upset his stomach. For you, the consequences are much more severe, however, so he instead walks up to the counter to ask, just to make sure. The man behind, an alien with scars all over his face as if burned at some point, looks down at you, then at him, before he scoffs.

"She ain't gonna die from it." He says, but Jungkook is clearly not satisfied with an answer like that.

"I asked if it's safe to consume, not if she's gonna die from it." He challenges almost annoyed, a few close standing customers already clearly interested in the small scene.

"And I told you what I know. I don't usually have to feed 'em." The man replies, slamming down his large cleaver into the wooden counter in front of him, cutting a piece of meat in half.

"She can eat it just fine." A voice chimes up, deep and a little scratchy- and multiple things happen all at once.

First, people start to make room, averting their gazes as if an accident just occurred, and someone blasted their guts all over the place.

Almost at the same time, Jungkook pulls you close to him, shielding you in a way from whomever just talked behind you, body hiding you away like he needs to protect you from something.

And then, you poke your head around a little, catching a glimpse of the man.

He's clearly a Bolku with his tall build, even a good hand or two taller than Jungkook, body bulky and muscular, though the face shows the time this man has been alive. There's horns on his head curving backwards, and his eyes are what's the most prominent about him- small, halfway opened, but sharp in their gaze and a deep orange-y red, the color of pure confidence.

A shiver runs down your spine when you realize the small similarities you recognize however. This has to be Jungkook's father.

"Make two servings. I'll pay." The man orders, and the cook eagerly occupies himself with his job to flee the scene, quietly preparing the food. "Snatched a taste of human love, haven't you?" He laughs to himself, now having caught you peeking around Jungkook's arm, his eyes staring you down so much that you can feel your skin crawl.

"We're leaving." Jungkook mumbles to you over his shoulder, hand holding yours as his father chuckles lowly.

"Already? Your ship is barely halfway fueled." He says, sitting down at a table. "And the poor little thing must be hungry too. Aren't you?" He adresses you, but Jungkook hisses back towards you.

"Don't talk to him." He commands, and you nod, before you lean up towards him to speak closer into his ear.

"I'm not that hungry." You reassure him, and he nods, moving to walk away with you-

when suddenly, out of nowhere, someone tugs you away from Jungkook's hand, collar being pulled so roughly it causes you to violently cough from your throat being pushed together forcefully.

Jungkook shouts, but he's held back as well- whoever has you in their grip is bringing you closer to Jungkook's father, who inspects you from his sitting position. "Pretty thing." He comments, using his cane to tap at your thighs. "Healthy body. I wouldn't be able to resist either." He jokes, making who you assume to be his crewmembers laugh while you hold onto the front of your collar to help yourself breathe. "Ah, your mother needed one of those too. They always try and run off, don't they?" He comments, making Jungkook struggle.

You've never seen Jungkook's eyes shine in such a violent shade of red- almost as if his eyes are going to spout flames any second.

"I assume she's not for sale?" He wonders towards his son, who spits onto the ground right in front of his father's shoes, probably as a non-verbal answer. "Figured." The man says, pulling back his boot before he looks at you. "I'll be taking her anyways."

"She's registered under my name!" Jungkook argues. "I'll be sending out a patrol the minute you have to leave-" He argues, and his father laughs loudly.

"Your name means nothing in this system!" He barks back. "You have no worth, you bastard. Be happy I'll let you leave once your trash-pile of a ship is refueled." He warns.

You're starting to become tired fighting against the strong hold of whomever got their hands on you- causing your to breath harder and harder, oxygen not reaching your brain as well, causing you to become dizzy- and it's something Jungkook notices, because of course he does.

And another thing he realizes is that he knows you're in distress long before he spots the blinking red light of your collar, signaling something wrong with your vital signs.

And before you can do anything else, the edges of your eyesight begin to darken like a vignette filter, Jungkook's terrified gaze the only thing you can make out before you pass out, becoming limp in the hands of whoever is holding you.

⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──👽── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅

You're glaring at the man in front of you, refusing to eat anything that's offered.

He's already needed a large patch on his hand to cover up the aggressive bite you placed there hours prior after he tried to touch you- but he's intelligent enough to not try it again, it seems like. He thinks you're easy prey, probably- and that's what you used to be, and what you would've been if he'd been the one to find you back then.

But you belong to Jungkook- and Jungkook made you want to fight for your life, just to get back to him.

"Do you even know who he is?" The man in front of you speaks, trying to intimidate you with his gaze, but, for some reason you're not sure of, it doesn't work. "He'll abandon you the moment he finds a proper partner to mate with." He scoffs, and you just keep staring at him.

You don't believe anything this man is spewing- in fact, you're not even properly listening, rather trying to think hard of a way to escape this ship- entire layout foreign to you, since you didn't wake up until you were already on the ship. The only thing you know is that the entire interior intimidates you with it's perfect polished metal walls- something about Jungkook's old and somewhat worn down rooms and halls just makes you feel at home.

Or maybe it just feels like that because you fell in love on this ship.

So the minute you're left alone again after he insults you in Bolku language you don't understand, your brain is running at lightspeed.

Vents are out of reach, but maybe if you could push some of the furniture you could reach it- but someone might hear, and catch you in the act, making this whole plan incredibly dangerous. It's risk against reward after all- you're no use to anyone if you're dead. So you look around once more, checking out everything-

when you spot another vent, small but definitely in better reach than anything else. And the best thing is that once you're in there, there's no way anybody can reach out or crawl in behind you. The only issue?

You don't know where it leads. And from looking over Jungkook's shoulder at the general layout of his ship, you know that some vents lead straight into machines- and you're honestly not ready to be boiled alive.

Your decision however falls onto all or nothing- so you undo your collar at the emergency clip Jungkook had shown you, in case they're tracking you that way, before you crawl under the bed where the vent is, cover easy to remove as you crawl inside. It's tight, not much room and definitely not enough space to turn around now, as you move slowly, having left your shoes behind so that your socked feet don't make too much sound.

On the way, you can spot some vents you have to crawl over slowly, showing you numerous rooms of the ship. A kitchen, another prep room it looks like, multiple storage spaces, and then-

bright lights, clearly leading outside.

You crawl faster the moment you hear machines starting, finally able to see the drop-

and it's not only high up, but right next to a small engine that's clearly about to start if the radiating heat and slowly glowing metal were anything to go by. So either way- you're gonna get cooked alive, or you'll break your spine falling down.

You've got nothing to lose.

Safe to say you do end up cracking something- but the adrenaline is enough to push you through the pain, legs running faster than you ever thought you could as you make your way through the ship station, searching frantically for anything familiar so you can find your way back to Jungkook. If his father stayed true to his word, he would be allowed to leave- and you don't know how long you were out for, so you might already be too late.

Or would he wait for you?

You're searching around frantically when you can spot the familiar ship- large cargo door slowly closing, metal wall lifting, as you shout Jungkook's name as loud as you can- even though you just know he probably can't hear you.

You don't know how you manage even after tripping painfully so, but you reach the lifting cargo door just in time to jump up and lift yourself in-

when you feel warms in the back of your shoulder, something almost crawling down your back, the same feeling in another spot lower on your back, and in the back and front of your leg. It takes a good moment for you to slowly calm down, ship's door closing behind you, as the engines start, before you realize what's happening.

You've been shot by some sort of weapon, multiple times. And the feeling of something crawling, was simply your own blood.

It's ironic how you find yourself seeking at least some sort of warmth yet again under the blue plastic tarp- similar to how you first snuck onto this ship. But the tables have turned- and now, it seems like you'll find your end here too, between all the cargo and dust and by now familiar scents and sounds.

It could be worse.

Just like the first time, the large metal door hisses as it opens loudly, and once again just like the first time, you hear boots on the floor. But this time, you're not scared- this time you know who it is, and you find comfort in that.

Tarps are lifted. Cargo is inspected.

And then, the dark blue one you're hiding under is pulled back- but this time, he's not holding a gun, or a grim expression, or anything alike.

This time, he drops harshly to his knees as he pulls you close to him, holding you, uncaring of your blood staining his clothes.

This time, he wants you to stay.

⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──👽── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅

He's got you in his nest, while he steers the ship angrily, intercom blasting the sound of his father trying to get through his mind. But Jungkook is filled with nothing but rage and that need to finally break free from the shackles this man had put him in all his life.

"I saw her drop, kid." He laughs. "Stop trying to chase ghosts, you'll kill yourself too trying to move that thing any faster!" He jokes, spits at the old ship Jungkook has owned for years now. But what he doesn't know, is that sometimes, newer isn't better. Because this is a ship build during the third interstellar war-

this thing is meant to last.

And withstand.

So Jungkook lifts his face, eyes locking with the one's of his father moments before he lets it happen-

ramming right into the smaller jet ship painted white, causing sure damage to his own ship- but it's clear that whatever happened to his own, is nothing compared to the large gashes and dents in the exterior, communication cutting off as he watches the smaller white ship slowly lose engine after engine, fuel leaking without any gravity into the galaxy, fires burning out, until everything is quiet-

the wreck left behind him, just like his past.

Jungkook doesn't even check if the autopilot is really properly working- he only cares for you now, who's still breathing shallowly in the nest he slept in with you before, bandages already letting your blood seep through. He's not trained enough in human health to properly help you- he's unequipped as well, which just makes this all the more worse.

He can't help you. No matter how bad he wants to.

All he can do is wipe the sweat off your forehead before he holds you close again, curling up around your body, trying to hide you away from everything. When he heard you call, it felt odd- like a sound only in his thoughts, not clear, but definitely present. He didn't know at first what had happened- only when the security check signed to him that something was wrong in the cargo room down in the bowel of the spaceship did he check-

finding you yet again, just like the first time.

But this time, he's holding you in fear. He's not sure if he can even do anything if he reaches a destination- human health is something not everyone has enough knowledge in, and even if that's the case, the chances of finding a still practicing doctor for you are slim to none at the moment.

It's so horribly unfair.

He finally accepted not only himself but you- and now he's gonna have to watch you leave after all, the world taking yet another thing away from him, as if his childhood and adolescence wasn't enough. No- apparently his future is on the menu next, to be devoured with every breath you struggle to take.

The intercom rings, and Jungkook doesn't care for it- simply swipes his hand over the panel near the window to accept it, Yoongis surprised voice ringing out- tone changing quickly as he notices the blurred scene of Jungkook and you in the corner, transmission a little choppy due to the damage to the ship.

"I received an emergency signal- are you there?" He asks with urgency, and Jungkook just hums a reply. "Jungkook, what happened?" He worries, ship slowly coming into view of the large side windows, light blue paint flaking off the metal casing of the small ship.

"We ran into him." Jungkook mumbles, running his hand over your head in a soft manner, relishing in your warmth for as long as it's there. "He tried to take her- she snuck out.. got in last minute." He explains. Yoongi exhales a breath.

"Thank god-" He starts, but Jungkook wasn't finished.

"They shot her." He hums, voice emotionless, eyes a pale grey. "Now she's dying." He chuckles softly, looking down at you- you look like you're merely sleeping, resting against his body. "He's taking everything from me even past his lifetime." He scoffs.

"I'm tugging your ship to the nearest outpost- it's Aon, we should make it in less than half an hour max." Yoongi urges, saying something to what Jungkook assumes must be his human partner. "We have medical supplies on board. Is she still bleeding?"

No answer. Jungkook fails to see the point of one.

"Jungkook!" Yoongi barks. "Did you at least wrap her wounds? Anything?" He tries to find out, but the Bolku hybrid stays quiet- too mesmerized by sight of your eyes moving behind your closed lids. Your lashes are long. Soft. How come he's never noticed that? "Jungkook you gotta give me something to work with!" Yoongi whines almost, successfully connecting to Jungkook's autopilot, initiating the system to follow Yoongi's ship that's not in front.

Jungkook sighs. "I wrapped her up.. the best I can." He shrugs. "Now I'm letting her sleep."

Yoongi sighs. "What was she even shot with?" He wants to know, but Jungkook doesn't know. "Alright, I guess that's the only info I'll get out of you at this point." He mumbles to himself, before he cuts the intercom for the moment, quietly leading the ship to Aon- a small outpost set on a large meteorite, meant for simple refueling of smaller ships and temporary stay for some stranded people who didn't make it to the next bigger planet.

It's not much- but it'll do.

The only problem arises when Yoongi enters the ship and wants to look at you together with a doctor he'd found on Aon- because Jungkook just won't let anybody close to you, mind having slipped entirely now in the prospect of you being in such distress. It takes several people to remove the rather feral human hybrid from you, his eyes basically scanning every little move anyone makes as they check on you, everyone's nerves slowly relaxing. "Humans are truly odd in those things." Someone says, as he uses all four of his arms to properly put some bandages and patches onto your wounds. "They just sleep it off it seems like." He laughs, finishing up the patch on your back before he leaves you alone- and nods to the people holding Jungkook to let him go.

He immediately rushes back to you, tugging you closer, holding you tightly as you whine a bit in complain in your sleep, turning over to properly hold onto him as well.

"She'll be fine." Yoongi reassures, much to Jungkook's eyes turning round with wonder at that promise. "Humans are.. weird when it comes to ion guns." He shrugs. "It's just mostly tissue damage, some scratches here and there- but she'll literally sleep it off, like he said. She'll be fine- she just needs rest." He offers, causing a reaction he's not seen in years from the younger alien.

He cries, bitterly so-

but this time, it's tears of relief and happiness.

⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──👽── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅

"No no no no- come here." He scolds, pulling you close again to have you sit down on his lap at the main control console.

Jungkook is not letting you do anything whatsoever, even though your wounds are healing well. He's also become, while still moody as ever, incredibly touchy. As if that scare had flipped a switch and showed him how quickly you could be taken away from him again, it seems like he's decided that there's really no reason anymore to take things slow or be afraid of anything.

"Hey Jungkook?" You wonder, leaning your head back against his shoulder to look at him. He hums, not looking away from the control screen in front of him, and you giggle, still a little sleepy and low on energy due to all the medication you're taking. "I like you." You say, and this time, he chuckles-

turning his head to press a kiss against your cheek-

because he finally understands what you're trying to tell him.

He finally gets it.

⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──👽── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅

#bts imagine #bts fanfic #bts fic #jungkook imagine #jeon jungkook x reader #jeon jungkook imagine #bts jungkook imagine #alien jungkook #alien!jungkook

559 notes · View notes

bobutterfan01 · 5 months ago

Text

old married couple au

soo... this au won the poll, i am a little late, but the post promises to be long (i hope this is a good thing for you. because for me it is). i'll give you the exact dates and all that, because i feel better when everything is accurate. well you know

they got together in 1998, 6 years after pb began acting in "mr peanutbutter's house". it's just that bojack suddenly realized that his life seemed quite brighter with pb by his side, and that he was attached to him, and was no longer under the yoke of his homophobic mother, and decided to, well, give it a chance (same with pb, but less thoughts and worries). one day they somehow kissed, after a while discussed it and made their minds to "try" (no one really believed that this relationship would last long). and well they just... stayed like that. never broke up. feeling absolutely comfortable together and eventually not even considering ending the relationship or anything like that.

they got married around 2009, a year after the ban on same-sex marriage was lifted in california (at that time they had been dating for about 12 years). the show begins in 2014, respectively, at that time they had been together for 16 years, and had been married for 5 years.

as mentioned in another post about this au, they still have the same problems, but bojack has much less regrets behind his back, which is why his guilt and trauma are far from as strong as it was in original. he gets annoyed with pb when he is too positive about everything again, and pb gets annoyed with him when he tries to drown out problems with alcohol - substance abuse is still the case, but to a lesser extent. discussing feelings for them was initially a huge problem (because both are not good at it, and pb also tends to deny any negative emotions), but over time they somehow learnt how to work with it. they often screw up, but they try to get better, really. i vouch for them. they're doing their best your honor

they completely understand each other, to the extent that one can sometimes predict what the other will say verbatim. they have 10001 local jokes. while classics are more gentle and calm, these ones rather give the impression of that old flighty married couple who make fun of each other and initially you may not even understand why they are still together at all and how they tolerate each other... of course can also be super sappy sometimes, there's no doubt, since they're both lowkey a bit romantic - especially pb, boj often just plays along with him

both do films. bojack, unlike his classic self, still stars in some movies, but does it less often, because he is mostly disappointed in this field already; pb loves his career and accepts all kinds of offers. sometimes they star together in the same works (half of such cases end up with both of them being kicked off the set in disgrace)

by the way they like to throw parties in honor of each other! it's kinda their tradition. both try to make it as lavish and luxurious as possible, eventually turning it into another competition.

they live at bojack's place, yeah (it's just that bojack's house is familiar and i like it more lol. can also help to distinguish them from classics if it matters)

relationships with others:

princess carolyn is still bojack's agent, but at least now she doesn't have to dig him out of all sorts of troubles every single day. she has to dig out them both (but not that often) (something like attacking the postman or saying nonsense that will ruin your reputation. or setting a fire in the house because someone got distracted by tv), especially when pb becomes her client too. they are generally on good terms

at one of the halloween parties they also let todd stay at their place because they think he is a poor gay boy who was kicked out by his parents (pb persuaded bojack). he sleeps on their couch, but he can put things in the closet. he was once offered a guest room, he stayed in it for a couple of days and returned to the previous place because he likes it there more.

pb and todd are in the most positive relationship possible and quickly find common ground, while todd's relationship with boj is not the easiest, but good. pb tries to smooth things over whenever bojack gets annoyed with todd and treats him not very well, so overall they even have a bit of an idyll at home. many misadventures still remain there (like disneyland or halloween in january), but often bojack is also involved in some way (not by his will). todd's their son <3

i also like to think that boj still hires a ghostwriter for his biography because he wants to raise his popularity and take on the acting career more thoroughly. he and diane become friends as a result too, some arcs with their joint participation are preserved, some are not, depending on which ones. however this time there are no hints of a romantic relationship for understandable reasons

so in general, as i said, this is the original with minimal settings and with a pleasant (for some of us) bonus in the form of bobutter. suggest ideas and ask if you are curious about something! thanks for reading! <3

#old married couple au #bojack horseman #mr peanutbutter #mr. peanutbutter #bojack #bobutter #bobutters #bojack x mr peanutbutter #my art #my post #au #todd iguess #todd chavez #i made a meme with him!!!

50 notes · View notes

kamidukki · 2 months ago

Text

Tokyo Debunker: Towards the Annivesary

⚠️Warning: long read

⚠️Disclaimer:

1) Despite the seemingly endless stream of complaints at the beginning, venting is not my purpose in writing this. I intend this to be a personal reflection on playing Tokyo Debunker (TKDB) in general. Therefore, I'll try to be as civilised as possible, even when writing about aspects of the experience that I dislike the most.

2) This post also mentions other joseimuke games -> Twisted Wonderland (TWST), Akuneko (AKNK), Yumekuro (YMKR), etc.

3) I mostly watched the reactions of the JP fandom on X/Twitter, so if you find that some opinions don't match what you usually see in the international fandom, that's probably why.

I'll start by summarising TKDB's existing problems, things that mostly will stand out to a new player. Almost everything I'm going to say has already been said by someone else, and this video by RoseEmber on YouTube has succinctly pointed them all out, and people have mostly forgotten/forgiven it, thanks to the highly intriguing plot, it seems?

Still, I'd like to say them in my own words, so here they are.

1) Right off the bat is the use of artificially generated images as backgrounds. I have no way of being 100% sure that they're AI. In the unlikely event that they were drawn by actual human artists, this suspicion will turn out to be nothing more than slander. What started the suspicion for me was that the general atmosphere of the backgrounds reminded me of images created in Midjourney, which I have observed is often used/preferred by Japanese AI users as an image generation tool. What added to the suspicion was how the company handled calling out. What cemented my stance on the use of AI art to be abhorred in TKDB is a particular background: Rui's bar. I wouldn't have known its origin if it wasn't for RoseEmber's video. In my opinion, the company really shouldn't get away with this and should replace it with another completely original background.

There's no way they can afford to change just one background, I know. If they change Rui's bar, I am sure people will protest and demand that they change everything to human-drawn backgrounds. I have no objection to that, although I have little more to add. I'll come back to that later.

Anyway, the decision to use artificially generated images in Tokyo Debunker will always be the biggest setback and irony, considering it's one of the most localised joseimuke games (in several languages, no less). International fandom, from what I have observed so far, is far more merciless when it comes to this particular issue, so the effort that goes into localisation is wasted in the face of blatant act of cutting corners.

2) Next is something I find neither positive nor negative, but still a problem: the advertising. Now, the company behind TKDB is notorious for its aggressive, deceptive, flame marketing tactics. I find the ads hilarious myself, although I understand why people were so keen to get rid of them from their Twitter timeline. They're gory sometimes, and if you put headphones on, the music is disturbing. The comments I read often mentioned how persistent the ads were, despite having been flagged as uninteresting. I don't know how they got there, and I never got them on my TL, so I went out of my way to YouTube to see how annoying they were. In addition to the above, the fact that the ads DON'T REPRESENT the game at all is what gets me. Like... it's half funny, half upsetting. I mean, what the hell, dev? Your potential users are not looking your way because of this unnecessary circus. (Again, the RoseEmber video gave me some valuable insight into the ad issues).

3) Next: Character design. The said design includes their characterisation, not just what the eye can see. This particular issue puzzled me at first, but unlike my discomfort with Rui's bar BG, or the BG in general, I've come to the decision to let go and enjoy. Anyway, here are my two cents about the characters.

I don't even play A3, but the moment I saw Towa, Misumi's image immediately came to mind. Jin and Haru, if you're familiar with Hypnosis Mic, will remind you of the MCD duo. Tohma's personality shouldn't be as evocative as Twst's Jade, but, well.

Once a suspicion starts, it floods.

Kaito, the guy from Kimetsu no Yaiba (whose name I've forgotten as I don't follow the series too closely). Hyde, the guy from Jujutsu Kaisen. Moby, Koro-sensei from Ansatsu Kyoushitsu.

Having made it so far into case 61, I can say I look at them with zero negative feelings now, helped by the fact that I've found that they're not just cheap rip-offs. Their inspiration may be borderline imitation, but they're so damn well made that I can't get angry.

All but one: Haku.

He leaves me with mixed feelings, as I can't get over the fact that he's a borderline rip-off the way I can with other characters. Haku, as most players probably already know, is 'inspired' by Mikage of Yumekuro, a game which sadly ended its service in September 2024. I can imagine that people who see Haku before Mikage will find him a better version than Mikage. I don't blame them. Still... Mikage is a very distinctive character, and even though I am not a big fan of him myself, I still find him endearing because of those characteristics. His mannerisms, his character voice (he uses omae-san like Haku!) and his personality in general. They're designed to be laissez-faire characters who prefer to avoid trouble, quiet but mysterious in a way that draws players in emotionally, kind and competent in a way that no one else can be. As if that were not enough, Haku belongs to Hotarubi, a dormitory that evokes traditional Japan, while Mikage belongs to Tokohana, a guild with strong Japanese aesthetics and sensibilities. Since Yumekuro stopped its service, it feels like Mikage died and was somehow resurrected as Haku in TKDB...

Okay, enough sap, back on track.

4) Worldbuilding is next. OK, we can get straight to the point with this one. A game where the player has to live in a rundown building of a certain prestigious school on a tiny island with seven dorms where the fourth years have to go off campus or something... Hmm, sounds familiar. Yeah, no surprise, Twisted Wonderland. A game where the player has something to do with a mysterious ring and demon power with its shady contract system? Akuneko. I'm not as offended by this as I should have been (you know what they say, copying from a paper is plagiarism, but copying from so many to make it your own is research or something), but I won't blame TWST and Akuneko fans if they find this part problematic to the point where they refrain from continuing to play or even trying the game.

5) Finally, the gacha. Hmmm, I really can't say. I don't dislike the system in general, and I'd like to thank the people who spend more than I do, because it's thanks to you that the game, or any game with a similar system, can continue. Yes, yes, problematic, predatory practice, I'm aware of that. I'll come back to this later.

Okay, that's all for the less savoury aspects of Tokyo Debunker, I guess?

Despite all the problems, it turns out that Tokyo Debunker has raked in money in numbers that Romeo would approve of. It ranks fairly consistently high on the joseimuke games list.

It's obvious that one of the many reasons for this is its harsh, harsher than other games, gacha rates, which has probably encouraged players to keep pouring money in. Is it the biggest reason? Probably yes. Is it the only one? No, it can't be. I have some faith in humanity that the majority of people won't spend money just because a 2D character has a pretty face.

For me, and for a lot of people whose opinions I've spied on X/Twitter, the most important reason they're hooked on Tokyo Debunker is the highly intriguing plot, so let's start TKDB's good points with that one.

1) Again, highly intriguing plot points. Masterful execution. Engaging delivery. TKDB has no event or personal story (only chat) like other games, but its main episodes are done right on so many levels that I have nothing but praise for the writer(s) and the people in the production staff. I can only confirm that @/sakugintani (X/Twitter) is the writer of episode 13, but it looks like it's safe to say that they're all written by actual human writers...? At least I hope so. I think there's a problem with the music being used... I don't know the details, so I won't put it in the problems section above. Instead, I just want to point out how well the background music they chose for the scenes and events in the story fit together. I do find a small problem with the SFX, that the volume is not consistent, but it's too small a problem to pay attention to.

2) Interesting, wide range of characters. Despite what I said about the designs? Yes. An imitation of classical painting will still sell for a high price, as it turns out. They're written pretty decently, whether it's as individuals or their personal relationships with each other.

3) Localisation. Just wow. Really commendable that they employ actual translators of many languages and then allow players to switch languages with the simple press of a button. I mean, I love Twisted Wonderland, but it's really disappointing that they have separate apps/servers for separate languages... Something to do with the copyright thing or something? Akuneko, Mahoyaku and Bungou to Alchemist have no official English localisation, while Touken Ranbu's is finished. Anyway, this part in particular is the very opposite of a deal breaker for me.

(On a related note, I played TKDB because Minami (@/sakaimii on X/Twitter), who's part of the TKDB English loc team, posted about it. I don't know her personally, but I followed her because she used to work on the unofficial translation of Mahoyaku (mahoyakueng.wordpress). I find her (and her team's) work enriching and delightful. Glad to see the same for TKDB)

What else? Uh, I can only think of three... Well, that's just my personal opinion anyway. People may find other discouraging/encouraging aspects that I haven't listed here. There are some aspects I have deliberately left out, such as the UI, the raid system, etc., simply because I have no opinion on them at all.

The overall gameplay experience generates mixed reactions, ranging from boring / too idle, with the case impossible to solve without SSR cards, which becomes increasingly true as you progress through the levels. I have no problem with idle games, quite the opposite in fact. The reliance on SSR cards, on the other hand, is a hindrance to the enjoyment of the game.

Now, why am I writing all these things out, especially when most of them seem to have been left behind?

Because I want more people to get to know Tokyo Debunker. I want more content, I want to see it talked about, I want to read and interact with other people as it progresses, and I want to see the game itself flourish for a long time.

Sadly, that's going to be quite difficult if a lot of people are put off as soon as they start. I've already seen so many people driven away by the AI images (rightly so) and even before that by the adverts. I read one JP user commenting that no matter how much they liked TKDB, it wasn't something they could boast about or be as open about as other games because it made a lot of people feel uncomfortable.

At this point, I think there have been a few murmurs here and there along the lines of "the ads suck, but the game is actually great!" I can only hope that this will help people to try Tokyo Debunker and like it.

STILL.

It will leave us with a very undesirable situation if the player base grows but none of the problematic aspects change for the better. If a game with AI images and borderline rip-off elements does well, it will only encourage other companies, especially the smaller ones, to follow in the same footsteps. That's why I hope that the company is seriously considering a change, especially in terms of proper advertising and images of human artists (since nothing can be done about the rip-off aspect).

Am I asking for too much? Probably. Who knows. I don't have any insiders to ask about the company's financial situation and whether or not my request will put a dent in their wallets. My instinct is to say no, it can't be? Surely it must be in their budget by now to hire human artists to create backgrounds and real advertisements?

Then again, who knows. A game like this costs a lot. Potential users usually don't want a company to cut corners, especially if it's so sharp that it puts an end to someone's livelihood. From a business point of view, however, some corners have to be cut, because if they aren't, the other option is EOS, because it doesn't make enough profit, maybe not even enough to cover the cost of production. There are some Joseimuke games that had to end before they even reached their first anniversary. The obvious solution is to cut corners where it hurts as few people as possible, if possible none.

How?

I don't know 😭

One solution that immediately comes to mind is not to have the story fully-voiced, but even I can find myself protesting at the prospect of this ill-conceived solution.

Now about the gacha in TKDB. I mentioned how hard it is. Specifically, you need to pull 500x to get the pity/guaranteed SSR card featured in the banner. In TKDB, a single draw costs 200 gems, but 10-draw cost 1,980 gems. If you want to reach the 500 count, does that mean you have to do the 10-draw 50 times? I haven't had a chance to test this, but I think it's safe to assume that's the case (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!).

50 pulls of 1,980 gems will cost you a total of 99,000 gems (100,000 if it is a single pull, but why would anyone do that). If you buy from the regular gem shop and choose the most expensive option, 5000 gems for 10,000 JPY, you will have to part with around 198,000 JPY. Convert that into your local currency and that's the estimated price of a single SSR card of your choice.

Okay, you don't have to spend that much, I know. TKDB regularly gives out a decent amount of free gems, and they have several back-up shops that, if you use them wisely, will give you more valuable gems for your money. (They are a little overwhelming, by the way).

I'd like to do a detailed comparison with TWST, Mahoyaku, Akuneko for the mercy system in each of these games, but let's save that for another article.

The fact that you need several SSR cards to solve the case and unlock more chapters seems to be a deal-breaker for some people. The more cases you solve, the more impossible it becomes to play without SSR cards. At the moment I'm playing on two servers, one where I pull once I've collected 1,980 gems and the other where I do the opposite. On the latter, I'm actually able to get to case 53 with just a single SR Darkwick Chic card and 8 R cards (the casual outfit ones). It's starting to get too hard, though. It's not a walk in the park when you're f2p in TKDB, unless you're very lucky.

(On another note, I have heard that TWST is just as tough for some people who struggle a lot to get through OB combat, especially book 6? I don't remember having too much trouble with it, so I can't really compare it myself)

As I said, I don't have any particular negative feelings about the gacha system, provided it's done properly. In theory, it's a good system that allows people to contribute according to their own financial situation. It allows all players to enjoy the content equally, while the company still makes a profit. However, it needs to be done in such a way that if a company gets carried away and consumed by too much greed, there will be nothing but resentment.

With the system that TKDB has in place now, I can only hope that existing players don't get tired before management can focus on and implement improvements to the overall system and UX, and the only way to do that is to keep the current level of excitement generated by the main storyline steady, even increasing, while applying a fix where it needs one.

Alright, I've said my piece. That's all I have to say, I think.

To close this long, somewhat anticlimactic writing off, I would like to wish TKDB a long and successful journey. I hope that all honour students will be able to see TKDB grow into something better as we walk with it ❤️

#tkdb #tokyo debunker

36 notes · View notes

miraculouslbcnreactions · 2 months ago

Note

You know? I really, really love your blog and your posts! I can't say that I'm in love with the show anymore, and if I'm honest with myself, I think that I'm on the salt side of the fandom. But like, I also enjoy a bit of sugar? It reminds me of what could have been.

But, sometimes, I feel that sugar fans are hard on salters/disappointed fans... Like, I'm afraid of asking their opinion about a negative aspect of the show, just to understand their pov, no matter if I try my best to be polite. And I get it, they have a right to enjoy the show and I am not entitled to get an answer from them, but its a side of the fandom that I'm afraid to interact with even if I enjoy some of their fanworks.

Yet, you are so patient and I feel that you understand (or try your best) both sides + the writers' and try to find a middle ground while affirming your perspective. You are so respectful even though you might not agree with some askers.

So, thank you for being you and making this blog! The world needs more people like you <3

Thank you so much for the kind words! I'm glad that I come across as respectful. I certainly try to!

I started this blog because I needed to vent about some things. Writing stuff down is a really good way to get your mind to stop pestering you against your will and I highly recommend it, but I didn't feel comfortable doing that on a blog more openly tied to my fan creations because there really is this vibe that you need to either love the show or get out. No middle grounds allowed. As if the show has to be perfect for you to be allowed to engage with it. That's not a healthy mindset for anyone to get into especially if you want diverse and interesting fan creations in your fandom. The more people feel like they have to fit a certain mold to be welcome, the less creations you get.

It's one thing to request that your personal blog be sugar only or to not want to engage with more critical posts, but to act as if people aren't welcome in any part of the fandom unless they only talk about good things is not how you get a fun and active fandom. It seems like people are legitimately scared of saying anything bad about Miraculous, but canon has a lot of things that aren't great so the sugar fandom is dying off because the only options are to shut up and be welcome or talk about what's bothering you and be kicked out. A single salty post can get you thrown out no matter if you're usually pretty positive or neutral about canon. It's weirdly culty and not my cup of tea. I like talking about media and you generally can't do that if you're only allowed to say positive things.

A while back, I joined a fandom event to meet other fans and one of the rules of the event discord was "no salt" and so people just... didn't talk about anything to do with the show. The only activity the server saw was the question of the day and occasional writing question even though episodes were actively airing at the time. It was a really depressing experience that perfectly showcased why "no salt" is an okay rule for a personal blog, but a terrible rule for any sort of group setting. It just kills people's ability to talk if they're constantly policing what they say.

My rule of thumb for this kind of thing is that people are ALWAYS allowed to disengage from a conversation that's upsetting them and that you should respect people's boundaries for their personal spaces like blogs, but that you do need to grow a backbone if you want to be in bigger fandom spaces. You're going to see shit you vehemently disagree with, but in most cases, the way to deal with that is to go do something else and let the people have their fun. If a post of yours starts getting a bunch of upsetting replies, turn off the notifications. Block the blogs. Curate your corner of fandom, don't curate fandom as a whole otherwise you get something like Miraculous. I've never seen a fandom so afraid of critical thought as Miraculous seems to be. I don't know if it's because it's younger or actively airing or what, but it's weird. It's totally cool if someone just wants to turn off their brain and have fun with it, but it's not cool to get mad that other people want to talk about the very real problems with the writing and the messaging.

#ml fandom salt #anon ask

52 notes · View notes

zenkindoflove · 9 months ago

Text

I have a new hypothesis about why the ACOTAR fandom is so weird.

And I think it's because there is a difference between the people who enter this fandom as shippers and the people who enter because they like the romance genre*.

I think many life long shippers enjoy romance. Maybe they don't always seek out the genre but they see romance in whatever media they are engaging with and they take those characters and put romance spins on them even if those characters aren't from a romance story. You ship because of a feeling. You see a dynamic or maybe you think about what a dynamic could be and then suddenly you're pulled in. Like falling in love. But you're falling in love with the idea of a couple. How that couple ends up becoming in canon is independent about how thinking about them together makes you feel.

I think romance readers aren't necessarily shippers*. They enjoy reading romance in a romance canon but they don't necessarily ship in the way shippers do with obsession and devotion regardless of what the canon says. They ship because they see that this couple is good together and it does make them feel squishy inside. Similar to a shipper. But they weren't necessarily going to see that until the canon actually played it out. To me that is responding to a romance plot as the author intended.

And maybe that is something different than shipping. I know for myself, I can read and watch romance and feel pulled in by the love I see but I don't "ship" them in the way I have shipped my OTPs with the level of obsession and devotion and need to construct my own head canons and fanon.

And I think that is a big issue when people from different backgrounds try to talk about shipping and the ship war in ACOTAR if they aren't coming from a similar experience. As I discuss a lot on this blog, there is history and culture behind shipping. And shippers have developed a common language to discuss shipping in a way that respects others shipping habits while also maintaining your devotion to your own ship.

It seems like those who are in this fandom because they enjoy canonical depictions of romance only are often confused by people who are taking characters into their own fanons and playing around with them or are devoted to them regardless of what the canon validates or not.

If you are used to shipping generally it seems very weird for people to say things like "I ship this because they're end game" or "I'll stop shipping if they don't end up together". Because shippers tend to not ship because of end game. They would LIKE end game because having canon validation is great. But it is not necessary (I also am tempted to make a whole post defining the differences between canon vs. fanon vs. end game ships because I frequently see the ACOTAR fandom using these terms incorrectly).

I think sometimes we are talking across each other and not to each other because we don't share a common cultural understanding of fandom or approach to shipping.

*obviously people can be both. Maybe the first couple you shipped is because you got into a romance series. But the point is that shipping at its heart comes from a feeling. How thinking about these characters together makes you feel squishy inside. And that can exist with or without canon. Shipping canon couples does come with many rewards, and canon can validate and be positive feedback on your shipping feelings, but you don't ship because they're end game. You would ship them regardless because you saw something special in their dynamic and whether the canon gets it or not isn't going to stop you. I like reading romance but I find romance in any genre because my shipping brain never stops.

#acotar #acotar fandom #fandom shipwars #elucien #gwynriel #elriel #tagging all the major shipwar ships #also i want to reiterate there is no right or wrong way to ship #this is me trying to make sense of how shipping and fandom is mkre mainstream than ever #and i see lots of people not understanding the nuances in shipping culture who are new to fandoms through acotar #fandom wank

82 notes · View notes

purple-dreams9 · 8 months ago

Text

If Thea was Theo, a controversial opinion

I want to preface this post by stating that this is not meant to change anyone's mind or opinion. I am not here to tell you to like a character or to ship a certain ship. You are free to hate Thea, write her off your fics, ignore her existence, and ship Kevin with the milkman if you so desire. This is also not an essay. Instead, think of it as the thought dump of someone munching over it for days.

This all started with a conversation about Thea with a couple people on a Discord server. I've been mostly neutral about Thea, not understanding the overall hate but not knowing much about her either. It led me to read Nora's most recent post about Thea, the replies and the "Why do you not like Thea?" poll, and I've seen plenty of Tweets about her, too.

In general, I noticed one main element when people explain their stance: it is not because Thea is a woman and people want to ship Kevin with male characters. The real reason(s), branched in different directions: the age gap, the lack of building of her character, how little she shows up/how little we know about her/the feeling of her being shoo-ed in out of nowhere as Kevin's love interest, and her attitude (inc. her lack for communication with Kevin after he left the Nest, her comment to Jean in TSC, etc.)

I have been in many fandoms for over a decade, some with more prominent mlm ships, and to be honest, none of those reasons seemed to truly justify the dislike of Thea to the degree she is disliked in the fandom as a whole, especially as the romantic interest of a main character. It seemed to me that most of it is rooted in the desire for Kevin NOT to be straight, but to be gay and be with a guy (or bi, but I see more people using "gay" for Kevin. And some prefer Aro/Ace Kevin, but these fans are a bit more quiet and subdued with their headcanon.) See, even taking Thea out of the equation, there are no popular mlw ships for Kevin with characters from canon, and even in fanon ships the counterparts are mostly (if not all) men.

That got me thinking: "What if Thea was Theo? How would that change how fans interact with this character, even if her personality was the same? What about the relationship with Kevin? Would fans approach the ship differently if he had had Theo as a boyfriend instead of Thea as a girlfriend?"

Of course, it is all hypothetical. For one, a big part of her character is that she is a woman of color (note that I am not black, so I am in no position to talk about how her race plays out with her character) in a predominately male and white team (violent cult) that had to fight her way to the top. It wouldn't quite have the same weight or the same background if she was a male. For two, I am aware it would bring another discourse to the table, that of the "predatory gay men stereotype" (even though there was nothing predatory or "grooming" in their relationship, but that conversation is not for this post.) I am sure plenty of fans would still hate the Kevin/Theo ship, and Theo himself.

Still, I allowed myself to picture it. I read, once, that women used to ship male characters together because female characters were underdeveloped and were not interesting. I wondered if this applies to fandom as well, how certain fandoms prefer to develop and grow male characters.

Things like "lack of canon information about Theo" would not be an issue. Fans are very good at filling in the blanks and building a character from the few spare parts given by the source. This also applies to "there is almost no interaction with Kevin" because let's be honest here, guys, ships are sometimes made from nothing. Rarepairs exist, and even ships like pre-TSC Jerejean can explode in popularity.

With how big of a part Kevin plays in the books and how big his shipping fandom is, if Theo was a thing, I truly believe we would have seen him bloom in fanon spaces. He would have given space and opportunity to grow, change and develop both as a character and in his relationship with Kevin.

The "forbidden relationship" trope and the possibility for angst would have fans foaming, fics working around Theo's past and how he had to fight his way to the top would be written, AUs where he leaves the beliefs of the cult behind and reunites with Kevin would also exist. We would see stories about how his and Kevin's love story played out before and after Kevin left the Nest (at least one primarily focused on the notes they used to pass each other in secret). His mean comments and bitchiness would be ignored, played down, understood, forgiven, or found charming (like Andrew's throughout the series, or even Abby's in TSC.) In a few words, he would be more present and less disliked.

AFTG is a predominately queer fandom, and there is nothing wrong with wanting representation, but I also think it's necessary to use the same scale for female and male characters that are romantically or sexually involved with more popular ones. It's fine not to like Thea, but also to sit and think: would I asses a male character in the same way? How would my view of them change regarding their gender? Just food for thought, I guess.

Again, this is not a call to action of any sort. It is just me, rambling and putting my thoughts down. I can't see different realities so this is basically all fiction. I wanted to take it out of my brain, hear what others think and that's it. Ship what makes you happy. Create what inspires you. Curate your experience. All that being said, Id love to hear your thoughts, but I wont debate anyone's opinion because that's truly, not what Im seeking.

This got longer than I intended so I'll end this here. If you made it, thanks! I hope you have a nice day.

#all for the game #aftg #thea muldani #kevin day #aftg ramblings #nora sakavic

73 notes · View notes

yuurei20 · 1 year ago

Note

Hi there! Quick question, How does Idia feel about Leona?? to me, they have such weird dynamic. They don't like each other but they don't outright hate each other either, but sometimes it feels like they're totally fine with each other?? Is this just a respect thing??

Hello hello!! This gets into character analysis which is definitely not my strength, so I reached out to one of the most knowledgeable Idia-analyzers I’ve ever seen ( @frost__tw ) who was so kind as to collaborate with me on this response, and I am forever grateful ♡

Also: agreed! Their dynamic is particularly fascinating because they are both complete opposites and extremely similar, simultaneously:

Both are housewardens, near the same height, canonically attractive, unusually intelligent, very sarcastic, enjoy chess, are from important families, keep others at a distance, often complain about having to go out of their way to do things they are uninterested in, have brother issues and won’t put effort into things they have predetermined to be impossible, which ties directly into how they are trapped in situations they can’t do anything about due to the circumstances of their birth.

And we also have their recently introduced titles (on JP server): “Ambitious King” and “King of the Underworld.”

It is difficult to pinpoint exactly how Idia feels about Leona, possibly because he doesn’t know very much about him (which is possibly because Leona doesn’t want him to).

During Book 6 he assumes that Leona isn’t suited to a leadership role, for example, despite how people who actually spend time with Leona say otherwise.

The two overlap in Idia’s second birthday vignette, where Leona gifts him with an artisanal chess set and the two pause the interview to play together.

They seem to mutually agree not to mention who won the game, and it may have been a draw.

We see Idia categorize people and generalize them into character tropes (from anime/manga/games) throughout the game, and based upon Leona’s appearance/outward behavior, Idia may labeling him as the scary top boss of the Savanaclaw hooligans (re: their Halloween vignette together) in his mind.

But he is able to overcome his initial flight response in this birthday vignette once Leona procures the chess set (one of Idia’s personal interests).

(This is part of the reason why Idia’s stutter is such an important part of the character: he stutters when he panics, but then speaks smoothly when he becomes passionate, which the characters even comment on in the game (Ortho calls it his "go off switch" on EN, and his "heat up switch" on JP).)

(Recreation of this trait varies by scene on EN.)

Leona is difficult to read because he will insult the people he likes and respects just as readily as he does those he does not (something that we see Jamil come to understand in real time during Book 6), so trying to work out his true opinion about anything can get into conjecture.

They also do not overlap particularly often, which gives us less to work with, but his teasing of Idia in the birthday vignette is not dissimilar to his teasing of characters like Jamil and Vil. Whereas they understand Leona’s humor, however, Idia may not.

What we know for a fact is that Leona has canonically complimented Idia for being both intelligent and powerful during Spectral Soiree, and this may have been a parallel to Terror is Trending when, extremely impressed by Savanaclaw’s Halloween set, Idia asks, “Did Leona use his magic for it?”

Idia also comments on Leona’s power during his evaluations at STYX, saying, “I already knew Leona was tough and could handle whatever danger comes at him…”

I think you are correct, and it is a respect thing!

They are both aware of the other’s familial situations and strengths and, in any other circumstances, they might get along well. But their personalities are just too different, they frustrate each other in every conversation they have, and whatever positives the other person has might just not be enough to outweigh how obnoxious they find the other to be.

We learn from Vil that the rule at NRC is “the weak obey the strong,” and the Housewardens at NRC seem to take this literally, with Idia, Leona and Vil all being constantly torn between sincere annoyance and grudging respect. The three referring to others as “spudlings,” “normies” and “herbivores” is another interesting overlap that they share.

(Despite being even more different than Leona and Idia, Leona and Vil repeatedly find common ground in allying against Idia.)

(In a parallel to this, Leona and Idia find common ground on the subject of Malleus, with Leona saying, “It’s a pain when the majority forces their opinion on you,” which is an opinion Idia seems to share.)

Thank you so much for this question, it was wonderful to dive into!

Overall, Leona and Idia seem to share a mutual undertone of “I know you’re the best at what you do, but I can’t stand you. I acknowledge that you’re intelligent, capable and talented, but please go be that somewhere else,” which ties directly into a comment from Yana’s 2023 interview:

“Since the characters in the story are villains they do not admit defeat, but they will admit, ‘Hey, you did pretty good.’ Even if they don’t like each other, they will recognize each other’s abilities.”

(And thank you again to @frost__tw for all the amazing insight! ♡)

#twstask #Leona Kingscholar #Idia Shroud

234 notes · View notes

wooahoe · 3 months ago

Text

fresh off the boat — rocket line + uji + aerie oneshot

fob/fresh off the boat adj · sometimes-derogatory phrase or term used to describe immigrants who have arrived from a foreign nation and have yet to assimilate into the host nation's culture, language, and behavior, but still continue with their ethnic ideas and practices (paraphrased from wikipedia) <- very common in asian american circles — “you know eunyoung, right? she’s such a fob!” twinkie noun, slang · an ethnically korean (or east asian) person who is whitewashed; refers to being “yellow” on the outside but “white” on the inside; typically used in a joking manner but is generally a derogatory term; banana is also used in the same manner — “she tries to hide it, but we all know she’s such a twinkie! have you heard her accent? she doesn’t sound korean at all!” aerieverse mlist — 🎧 saranghey❕dory’s playlist

cw: author is lowkey a twinkie ㅠㅠ, swearing in general, konglish (both romanized and not), angst(?), discussion of race and culture, alcohol consumption, sexual innuendos and insinuations, very very self indulgent !! aerie is sometimes referred to as “shroomie” + variations of mushroom-related nicknames (i thought it was cute cuz aerie = fairie = mushroom circles? bro idk), 1.4k-ish words

a/n: IM WORKING ON THE SERIES I SWEAR❕here’s the aerieverse 미국 line in the meantime

this fic is very much based on my own personal experience (at least aerie’s part, not vernon’s cuz i’m not whasian) and i felt like josh and vernon would be the perfect people to rant to about this sort of thing (uji’s my bias there’s no justification for him). I AM NOT TRYING TO BE A 검머외 PLS UNDERSTAND 🙏 also based off of my rant from this post

— ✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡˚

aerie lee was having a relatively shitty day.

the party that chan had convinced her to go to had turned out to be far too loud for her liking, and after one too many ‘sorry, i’m here with my soulmate’s, she was left alone in a house full of asians, alcohol, and her thoughts. which, unfortunately for aerie, tended to spiral easily, especially when she was already uncomfortable and not allowed to drink.

after about five hours of pure torture, she managed to get a very intoxicated seungcheol, jun, mingyu, soonyoung, and chan back to a very disgruntled minghao and seungkwan with the help of an only slightly tipsy hansol, before driving back to her own shared apartment, where she, joshua, jihoon, and hansol lived.

once she stepped through the front door, she immediately kicked off her boots, tossed her purse onto the counter, grabbed two drinks from the fridge, and flopped onto the couch dramatically.

hansol laughed at her position, taking a seat next to her and raising an eyebrow quizzically.

“was the party really that bad?”

she sighed, and took a long drink from the bottle in her hand before sending a muffled groan into the couch cushion.

“what’s wrong?”

“have you ever felt like you’re not actually korean enough?”

at this, joshua and jihoon emerged from one of the bedrooms, both thoroughly disheveled, one looking slightly confused and the other worried. joshua shot a questioning glance at hansol, who shrugged, raising an eyebrow back at the elder’s appearance, getting up from his seat and making his way to the kitchen.

“have you been drinking?” joshua asked.

“what happened to hi, hello, how was the party?” hansol questioned.

“그런니까. and what the fuck were you and hoonie doing while we were gone?” she added, doing a once-over of both of them, a slightly incredulous look on her face.

jihoon crossed his arms and rolled his eyes, pink beginning to spread from his ears to his cheeks. “hi, hello, how was the party, we were studying. answer the question, rin, because what kind of question was that?”

she snorted, taking another sip of her drink. “studying my ass, it’s three in the fucking morning, why are either of you up?”

joshua shook his head endearingly, and scolded her lightly.

“it was nothing like that, hoon was helping me go over something and we got sidetracked. but seriously, aerie, what do you mean by that? and why are you sitting like that? are you sure you’re not drunk?”

hansol’s laugh and his ‘sidetracked’ is crazy! could be heard from the kitchen.

aerie laughed before replying, “no, josh. i’m sober, i swear.”

he looked over at her, furrowing his brows. she was laying upside down on the couch, with her legs hooked over the top and her head hanging down near the bottom.

sober, indeed.

hansol, coming back from the kitchen with a pair of beers, a coke zero, and a package of girl scout cookies, let out a snort. “we were literally at a frat party with the hyungs and channie, like, twenty minutes ago. sober, my ass.” joshua pressed a kiss to his temple in greeting before accepting a beer.

“yeah, sol, and i was the dd. so no, i’m not drunk. not even tipsy.”

“you literally have two sojus next to your head,” jihoon retorted, taking a seat next to her upside-down head.

she swiveled her head to the side opposite jihoon, and sure enough, there was a pair of peach sojus sitting at the base of the couch, right next to her ear. one of them was empty; she’d somehow managed to finish the whole bottle before the older two had sat down in the living room.

“oh.” she let out a huff, and then waved her hand around flippantly. “just answer the damn question.”

joshua, who had taken a seat on the floor opposite hansol, let out a quiet sigh, and took a large swig of the drink that the younger had handed him before meeting her gaze.

“what happened at the party, shroomie?” he asked, tone gentle.

she raised an eyebrow before maneuvering her body so that she was sitting upright, and slid off the couch to lean against jihoon.

“왜? what makes you think something happened?” she scoffed, bringing the drink to her lips.

jihoon set his cola down and flicked her forehead lightly.

“yah, why else would we think something happened? it’s not like this came out of nowhere.”

she frowned, pouting a little (most likely from the alcohol, or perhaps spending a bit too much time with seungcheol), but stayed quiet, sipping her drink.

hansol, who had stayed silent for most of the conversation, spoke up.

“yeah, when i was younger, i kinda did. not as much when i was living in new york, but after moving to hongdae…it was kinda hard, y’know?” he bit into a samoa before continuing. “i mean, my mom’s genes definitely came on stronger than my dad’s, and surprising people with your ability to speak korean wears off after the first few times. but i guess i never really felt…not korean? like, english isn’t hard for me, but korean has always been a little easier for me, and i’m more used to the culture in korea than i do here.

“but i don’t feel, y’know, not american either. i guess after a while i stopped caring about what people thought.”

joshua nodded, then tilted his head to the side, as if considering his words.

“i think i felt that after coming to korea, too, for the first showcase that we did. it’s not like i couldn’t speak korean, but it’s a little daunting. almost nobody called me jisoo at home, and so for everyone to start calling me that once we got to seoul…it felt a little awkward. like i was pretending to be someone that i wasn’t.”

jihoon hummed in agreement.

“it’s weird when you’re used to being called a certain name and then all of a sudden you’re being called something else.”

the three of them shot him a confused look.

“ji, your name is korean,” joshua said, tilting his head in confusion.

“yeah, but going from jee-hoon to 지훈 was kinda 이상해. having everyone pronounce my name properly was 이상해.”

aerie snorted.

“when we came back home, though, i went back to being joshua. and that probably would’ve been weirder if you and hansol hadn’t called me josh during the trip,” joshua finished.

aerie hummed, staring at her drink again, as if processing everything her boys had told her.

“are you okay?” jihoon asked, placing a hand on her knee.

during the conversation, joshua had moved to lay on his back in front of the two, with hansol shifting to lay his head against aerie’s thigh and his legs on top of joshua’s, the drinks and cookies long forgotten.

she merely hummed again, and ran her hand through hansol’s hair before responding.

“it’s just…i don’t know. nobody ever uses my korean name except for, like, jeonghan; everyone just calls me 애리. which isn’t, y’know, a bad thing, but…” she sighed, reaching over jihoon’s lap to grab her soju, “몰라요. and my korean is pretty…well, it’s not ass, necessarily, but my accent is so terribly american that junnie can barely understand it. i’m literally a twinkie at this point.”

hansol frowned. “who told you that?”

“nobody.” she took a sip of her soju before pursing her lips and opting for a cookie instead.

“shroomie.” she looked up and saw the three of them staring at her.

“what?”

“who the hell called you that?” jihoon asked, frowning.

“nobody, hoon.”

“then why—”

“it’s just frustrating.”

joshua nodded, reaching over to squeeze her hand.

“it’s like i’m…stuck. not entirely american, evidently, because i’m too asian, but not fobby enough to be fully korean. stuck in this weird limbo, y’know? i’m 외국인 wherever i end up.”

then the four of them fell silent, the only noise being joshua’s hum of agreement.

“is this because the showcase is coming up?” hansol asked.

“응, 맞아.”

“괜찮을 거에요. 안게 될 거야.”

“그렇게 바라요, 우지야, 그렇게 바라요.”

— ✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡˚

a/n: bro i love samoas so much…

20 notes · View notes

copperbadge · 11 months ago

Note

Hi Sam. A potentially stupid question. Image descriptions for screen readers. Do they work the same way for audio and video? As in are they needed or helpful? I'm finding conflicting answers when I search for this.

Not at all a stupid question! I think sometimes it can vary by community, to be honest.

Screen-reader users, visually impaired folk, and others for whom IDs are particularly relevant, feel free to chime in; I'm going to ramble and you likely have more useful stuff to say. Remember to do it in reblogs or notes, as I don't post asks sent in response to other asks.

I'm not visually impaired, and I don't use a screen reader and thus am not really able to speak with firsthand authority. In the past, when I've asked, I've heard that in-post text is better than alt-text for images; even if that stops being the case, I prefer to use in-post text because there are people who aren't screen-reader users who also like the IDs. I do too, actually. And generally I've heard that video as well as image should be described. I don't do straight audio generally, but when I do, if it's a song I don't bother because the title is there and lyrics are googleable, if it's speech I like to see/give a transcript.

I like when videos have descriptions especially, because I am almost never in a position to play a video I see on my dash. If the video doesn't autoplay I don't want to hit play because then it will load with audio and I'm usually either a) somewhere I can't have audio or b) already listening to something and unwilling to turn it off. If the video autoplays it's muted, but if it's audio-heavy there's the same issue. So if someone posts a video without a description/transcript, unless it has captions, I can't engage.

There are a lot of guides out there for how to write IDs and I kind of think, based on conversations I've had, most of them are bullshit by people who don't use screen readers. In my experience, which is not universal but is relatively comprehensive, people who can't see an image often do not want a precise objective description as we're instructed to provide.

There's a great essay that touches on this, Against Access, where the writer, who is Deafblind, talks about how he doesn't want a diagram, he wants an emotional evocation.

Why are you telling me, telling me, telling me things? Your job isn’t to deliver this whole room to me on a silver platter. I don’t want the silver platter. I want to attack this room. I want to own it, just like how the sighted people here own it. Or, if the room isn’t worth owning, then I want to grab whatever I find worth stealing.

I've had people get shitty with me about putting "feelings" into my IDs, but the majority of people for whom those IDs are necessary have told me they like it because, for example, saying "She looks like she's about to commit violence" is a subjective opinion but conveys something that "A woman is standing with arms upraised and a frown on her face" does not. And if you're describing an image but there's not a ton of meaning to it, describing it in clinical detail is wasting time. A paragraph describing a fortysomething white guy and all the clothing he's wearing and the room he's in is not as helpful, on occasion, as simply saying "This is a photograph of me in my bedroom." It depends on context, which is your call to make, and the only way to get good at that is to do it.

But again: this is my experience with my readers, and even John Lee Clark, quoted above, doesn't speak for his whole community. So I would suggest that the best way to get an answer for this is just to ask your readers what they'd prefer. If you have friends who use screenreaders, ask them. If you don't, or if you don't get a response from your readers, I would do what you feel is best until someone tells you otherwise, and then be gracious and discuss it with them so you can better understand their needs. In my experience, when someone is genuinely trying to make a more welcoming space for disabilities -- as opposed to making virtue-signal attempts to Be The Perfect Ally -- they get a lot of slack when they don't get it exactly right. It is better to make a welcoming space for people to feel safe telling you that you fucked up than it is to pretend you're never going to fuck up.

So yeah, as someone who is more or less fully sighted, that's my two cents, but if you really want to know what your readers want, you know...I'd ask them. :) Good luck, either way.

#disability #image identification #lord knows I'm not perfect with mine #but I like to think generally I'm responsive to need instead #which is more important

63 notes · View notes

abyss-seer · 7 days ago

Text

GOT 7 BamBam general astrology read, with love life predictions 💚

On the occassion of birthday celebration of Kunpimook Bhuwakul, better known by his stage name BamBam from Got 7. I felt a nudge to do an astrological read. So here goes nothing for you guys.

His Sun is in Bharani nakshatra. His Venus is beautifully placed in this same Venusian Nakshatra as well. From internet, I found his timing was 10:25 am but who knows? Anyways finding love is always hard for this man, the sun being in conjunction with venus, is beautiful combo but takes away the patience, nurturance and given how close his sun and Venus are (in the same nakshatra) , bro's love life is always a fleeting one. Given how he has a mercury venus and sun conjuction in the same sign. Mercury keeps on fleeting, takes him from one flower to another. Given how the Venus is placed after Mercury, don't worry this man will settle down eventually but it requires true love. Or you will find him catching nectar everywhere. Now his spouse needs to be someone intellectually interesting and someone very powerful in a position of authority. Sun venus and Mercury conjunction gives a smart, efficient and authoritative spouse or lovers to a native. Some say mercury venus conjuction is a Laxmi Narayan Yog, Some say its a conjunction of multiple or open relationships or indicator of cheating. This conjuction is a huge indicator of LGBTQIA2S+ typa love story. So trust me when I say they can find a lover or a spouse who needs to be in authority position or just like them to lock their a$$ down 😉 Since Venus and Mercury conjunction aren't in the same nakshatra it isn't a Lakshmi Narayan Yog but the venus following the mercury is a good sign of loyalty. Relationships in his case would be more about fulfilling his personality then expressing his emotions as moon in Shatabhisha, talking about emotions being misunderstood or misconstrued in private life sometimes due to full exposure of emotions to the public and media. He can have a really hard time deciphering their emotional or inner mental state, mercury retrograde signifying problems in communication or thinking at times. Literally the light bulb meme. I think this person's love language ( given retro mercury conjuct venus) is hard to understand. Once they solve their communication issues, or stop overthinking their emotions, they might shut themselves off often. As moon in Shatabhisha is a very very private placement.

Given how he is ending his Sade sati phase plus going through a saturn return. This year might be the year where he starts recieving the reward for his hard work and the efforts he put 5 years from now. Pretty much a maturing phase, may face a lot of difficulties if lessons not learnt.

My personal fav might be the trine of mars and venus, with both mars and venus being in Venusian Nakshatra, a very passionate and beautiful individual, passionate about the things he loves and desires.

Atmakaraka is placed in Dhanishtha, famous for its entertaining qualities, a morally just person, a good placement to serve as a teacher in entertainment industry which I think he is. In Chuang Asia Season 2, He is a mentor of mamy contestants

So yeah Amatyakarka being in Venus talks about someone who has a good potential for teaching art and entertainment tactics to their students. Idk why I am channeling "Vicious vibes" but the Venus and Jupiter, that means the Atmakaraka and Amatyakarka are both in square in his chart, often talking about the difficulty one faces in when prioritising the traditional vs the modern practices of learning or teaching. If utilised and balanced properly, he can not only create new systems of learning and teaching but also identify those aspects in others. So pretty much someone who faces problems with the traditional ways especially when it comes to the expression of art.

Now let's talk about Rahu in Uttara Phalguni, if settling in one place forever was a dream, this placement takes the cake.

One of the interesting things I find about his chart is mercury being in Ashwini, the nakshatra of Ketu, and then saturn sitting on Revati, the nakshatra of mercury, and then that mercury retrograde it makes you wonder how come the planet of speech and communication being in detriment can result in a musician. I think this is where language difference, comes in, plus mercury retrograde can also signify a multi tasker big time!!!! Like not everyone can be a multi tasker, not everyone can speak so many different languages (inherently or from childhood or from young age, given how Ketu and the mercury in Ketu nakshatra's qualities comes through(inheritance or legacy) ,he has definitely gone through memory crisis or language crisis as a child, venus and sun , one signifying the liquid money other the legacy we will leave behind for next generations to come, mercury retrograde conjucting them talks about a lot more multitasking than an average person.

Mercury retrograde with Sun might make him look a bit more dumber than others, same can be said for his lovers. He might choose someone very similar to him, often overlooking the hard part of having a communication, often trying to find someone likening to himself and his personal goals and personality.

Sun Venus conjuction also gives a very purva Phalguni-esque feature, people might find this person very much child bearing oriented, they might fiercely adopt the idea of having kids or bearing a progeny. To many people's dislike, I would like to say, yes in this case, given how jupiter in Dhanishtha is squaring this venus in Bharani. This man might risk his own career's fate for tempting PDA's sorry not sorry, he's a freak, (mars venus trine) and he will show it regardless sometimes much to the dismay of his own morals and values. Sorry fans but the day this guy goes in a serious relationship, you will be crying with the PDA's he does with his spouse. Yup, and expect big announcements with drum roll for his children.

Channeled song for this read,

youtube

Shhhhh!!!!! Scandalous......

Anyways, I wanna shift my focus from Got 7 to other groups. Can you guys, please suggest me some kpop groups? I am planning on a girl group next. Any suggestions? Grateful for your interactions. Thank you so much. Take care bye👋🏻

14 notes · View notes

catadromously · 1 year ago

Note

please tell me more about the alterhuman thing in your recent post (whether your experience or things in general) if you are comfortable! i would love to know more. i know very little about it other than some brief descriptions from impersonal online sources, but the way your blog mentions tiny things here and there like blurring human/animal divisions, or conscious/nonliving or even tangible/conceptual things makes me feel seen, so i imagine the alterhuman topic would not be so foreign a concept to me or other tumblr users in this sort of niche :)

no indeed! alterhumanity is a term encompassing nonhuman identities of all sorts; most well-known are probably the -kin people with specific creature identities, but the umbrella is wide. my experience is not otherkin and I have no specific nonhuman being to point to. I'm simply nonhuman in general. I just am. I'm an Entity, Creature, Visitor, Other, and have been my whole life.

alterhumanity can also involve partial (or, uh, altered) human identity, and thus, like a fair few other alterhumans out there, I see myself as partially - or at least functionally - human as well! I understand myself alongside "disguised as human" or "chosen human" or "caught between worlds" narratives; as long as I can remember I've felt this ... almost painful seen-ness and protectiveness over those sorts of characters when I encounter them in fiction. I think the best label description of my alterhumanity is generally nonhuman and Chimera or Chosen Human archetrope. archetropy my beloved...

now I do know exactly why I'm like this, and yes, it is the autism. big shocker. I'm sure I'll see some fellow autistics nodding along when I say that for many and multifarious reasons my experience of the world, through most of life, was not conducive to the formation of a human self-identity. simple as that. that's psychological alterhumanity for you, babey! sometimes it's felt practical, sometimes deeply painful and othering, but now, after a whole damn lot of Stuff and Happenings, I find it freeing. I've made the choice to embrace and embody my alterhumanity and my position as a Visitor and Chimera to the human sphere. I like it here. I'm here to stay, in my Other self, in my beloved improbable human life. I am cringe, yes, and I am free.

sometimes I run across people complaining about alterhumans (and especially -kin) as some kind of deeply embroiled online-exclusive microphenomenon, and I have to laugh a little. you know, all of these people probably already know someone like me, just out here chugging along in our normal-ass lives, being creatures. we're elders and children, we have families and friends and careers, we can be super obvious about our identities, or nonchalant, or secretive. we're everywhere!

if you've got an alterhuman in your life, say hi to them for me today, ok? tell them an internet stranger wants them to know they're never alone in this.

#call and response

90 notes · View notes

lurkingshan · 2 years ago

Note

Just saw your tags on turtle’s post and would love to hear more of your thoughts on Cheum

Oh, boy. Okay, I guess we’re doing this. So, when I think about Cheum I am usually making this face.

And embodying Oprah what is the truth.gif, because I think she is incredibly underwritten to the point of incomprehensibility. I think the term I used with @so-much-yet-to-learn to describe the writing for Cheum was "a void of characterization.”

By which I mean, I don't understand anything about her. I don't know what she wants or what she cares about. I don't know anything about her relationship with April. I don't know why she is friends with these guys or which she has real bonds with, if any. I don't know why she does things or whether I am supposed to see her as a neutral observer, a voice of reason, or another chaotic shit stirrer. I've seen some confusing messages from the creators about her that don't track with what I'm seeing on screen, so I find it hard to parse their intent versus the impact of what she is actually doing in the story.

But what I can tell you is that based on what I've seen, I don't like or respect her, and I certainly don't see her as in any way better or above the other characters in this story. Let me sum up what we've seen of Cheum over the course of the story:

She is mean to her friends, making lots of catty, passive aggressive remarks that dig at their sore points and taking sides against each of them on a whim

She pushes Mew to date Top and then to forgive him for cheating, to the point of ignoring Mew's stated wishes to conspire to help Top get back into his space

She somehow makes Ray nearly getting arrested all about her and in general gets overly involved in the boys' drama before turning around and berating them for causing her stress

She is judgmental and shaming about gay sex, making Boston out to be a predator for having a lot of sex and leveling a homophobic attack against him by claiming he took advantage of her "straight" brother

She lacks grace and humility and doesn't admit it or apologize when she is wrong, sticking to her bias against all evidence

And we have seen precious little in terms of positive attributes to balance this. We haven't seen her show up for any of the boys as a true or loyal friend. She seems reasonably good at school and conscientious about the hostel project, but we don’t get much there either. She's not even fun! Her function in the story is to be an antagonist to each of the boys in turn, even as the narrative seems to sometimes be suggesting that she is outside the drama.

It all reads very confused to me, and I can't say with any certainty how much of it is intentional and how much is just failures of writing and editing. She's not getting enough screen time for a confident read on who she is, and what she does get feels half-baked. At this point, I think it's safe to say Cheum is just a poorly executed character who has little purpose besides being the token lesbian in the friend group.

#only friends the series #only friends cheum #thai bl #shan answers

170 notes · View notes

havenesc · 16 days ago

Note

Hi haven

I wanted to let you know that rancher au Jason has rewritten my brain chemistry so badly that it knocked me straight out of a different hyperfixation and I am now playing Gotham Knights again after several months

What's your favorite aspect of rancher au jason, and how it allows him to heal?

hi sage!! thank you so much for sending this ask, this is such a very sweet thing to say!! brought a big ole smile to my lil face :'))

(the jason rancher au)

this is a REALLY good question. there's a lot of aspects about jason that i enjoy, even not necessarily positive traits. he's paranoid and snaps like a cornered dog. he can be abrasive and bullheaded. i want to write a jason that can be believable in dc generally, so those traits are the same for what i like about mr. jason peter todd in general, but specifically the thing that i think i really like about jason and what serves the narrative really well for this particular AU is how he longs for connection with other people.

jason todd is not a lone wolf, though he would like to make everybody believe that he is better off left to his own devices. even in canon, he is seeking out -- sometimes in extreme, unhealthy, ineffective ways -- people. their approval, their love for him, so on and so forth. it's why he keeps coming back to this damn city. it's why he has the outlaws. like, obviously, he's a popular character and DC makes money when he shows up, so they're not going to let him leave gotham or bruce or any of that (and i don't think the character would want to give up gotham), but at his core, he is a guy who places his self worth and validation in his relationships with people. the night he leaves gotham, he is fairly sure he's been severed from a lot of those relationships he's relied on.

this leaks into everything he does. he would still have a solid work ethic regardless of if he was looking for approval, but it's that need for approval and acceptance that elevates that already-present trait. at the end of the day in rancher, he is working a job. he needs to do well at that job to keep his cover. it would be really easy for him to just put his head down, stay in his lane, and learn what he's supposed to and do what he needs to, but he doesn't. he can't. mclaren offers him this job from a good place in his heart and tells him he has a good head on his shoulders and jason isn't actively aware of it, but he has no idea when the last time anybody said something like that to him was. it's not even true in his eyes, sure, but someone said it without having to be asked for it. and i think that sets a tone for him moving into this role.

it's why he tries to fit in with the hands -- he can't not try to make a connection with the people in close proximity to him. he's always indirectly reaching out, trying to be something to someone. as it stands, all the hands are really close to each other and have been working together for a while by the time jason shows up, but it's not a hurdle, just a fact.

they're fairly nice to him, even when they are really not sure where the hell mickey found this guy and they have really low expectations. he may be prickly, and they will correct him and put him in his place, but they do it without fanfare. it's just something that needs addressed. they address it. they move on and everybody benefits. he can have his understanding of social cues and interpersonal relationships restructured -- the batfamily does not have "normal" standards for either of those things -- without it being a death knell or a blowout fight. and because he wants that connection, and he wants at his core to have people he cares about and to feel like people care about him, he's going to adapt. he's going to ease into a different way of communicating with people he knows, and in some way, loves. jason is a big ole hearted guy.

as far as healing goes, i think he also puts a lot of faith into what the hands have to say as he grows his relationships with them. obviously he's lying through his teeth about who Jayce Thomas really is, which is a problem, but it doesn't fully prevent him from slipping up and dropping hints of Real Lore as he gets further comfortable with them and they begin to understand the quilt pattern that makes up who he is and why and they would weigh in on that. he will always kind of put his self worth in other people, i think he would need like. ACTUAL years of therapy with a licensed professional to actually unlearn that. which this fic he isn't getting LOL -- but he is getting feedback that he is, at the end of the day, a guy worthy of respect and love. he's loyal. he's a damn hard worker. he's an empathetic softie underneath all the bitchisms. he's their buddy jayce. he's their city boy social experiment. they'll rag on him nine ways from sunday for taking a cheap fall off a horse but god forbid anybody else say shit about it.

the current narrative in comics (and even in dark legions which i'm ashamed to admit i play on my phone to pass time) is that jason was always doomed to be a villain in some capacity. a street level thug at bare minimum, had bruce not "saved" him from his destiny of crime. and there is an element of that in play as well in rancher au -- that all the things jason does can be attributed to the fact that he might be falling into a life he was always "meant" to. bruce takes personal investment in this "rehabilitation," and jason not following his values and falling in line is grounds for not only severe correction, but REINFORCEMENT of this ideology. some people in the narrative actively think it would be better if he stayed away; some people never had a great relationship with jason, and it is indeed a product of his actions. so for jason to go completely out of his element to a fresh page in the book, to a place where his ghost is not haunting his narrative, where he can unlearn his behaviors that are just a byproduct of living vigilante life with batman as his antagonist, and be told something completely different? to be told, indirectly by people who want to be close to him, that he's a good guy and capable of doing good things outside of bruce's influence?

i could keep going but yeah. it might not fix him and it's not about fixing him exactly but it would definitely heal him in some way, i think.

#jason rancher au #sorry this is so long!!!!#i just started going and i don't even know if i articulated it how i wanted but yeah.#at the end of the day jason is a guy who longs for people to love and be loved by idk

19 notes · View notes