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allforhee · 9 months ago

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*ੈ✩ — 𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐀 𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐒! (TEASER) | LEE HEESEUNG

୨୧ pairing — secgen!lee heeseung x journalist!fem!reader

synopsis: decelis high's academic weapon, future valedictorian, model un prodigy especially in the crisis council, and top-notch secretary-general of the mun club, lee heeseung has it all. from earning constant "best delegate-s" left and right, no one dared to go against his stances in any debate. until a student like you transfers into decelis high. as a soon graduating senior, you were a newbie to press. but with your endless love for writing, you'd managed to steal the hearts of your peers. it was your first mun, and you didn't expect much. but when heeseung finds out about an article you've wrote about his arrogant performance in a recent committee session, he is set to strike you down.

୨୧ genre — high school au, secgen!heeseung x press delegate!reader, academic rivals to lovers, dumbasses in denial, rivals in public but lovers in secret

୨୧ warnings — a lot of model un terms, cursing, hurt no comfort, heeseung makes fun of the reader a LOT, reader is feisty and could care less but she lowkey has parental issues, featuring all the other enhypen members, huh yunjin, and jang wonyoung

୨୧ word count — tbd

୨୧ release date — tba

୨୧ author's note — my baby! i love muns and as a press girlie myself, i had to make an mun-themed fic for my boy. mind you that i don't really understand the ACTUAL muns (unsc, who, etc.) cause i highkey don't want to get involved i just like writing!! this teaser is kind of short and sweet cause i know that the actual fic will be LONGER! so excited for you guys to read my works and what my imagination has to offer!!!!!!! enjoy this lil teaser. press 4 fanfic writers arise!

𝐋𝐄𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐔𝐍𝐆 had it all.

the walls of his room were littered with delegate lanyards from conferences across the globe, "best delegate" certificates framed all over his house (and a couple crumpled up inside his desk to fit the space), and a collection of trophies that stood in every nook and cranny.

no one at decelis high dared to go against him. whenever it was, whether it was moderated caucus or unmoderated, he'd always have his country or character's placard raised high, ready to speak, or leading whatever bloc was being formed.

it was no doubt that no one has ever beat him. it was no doubt that he was decelis high's mun club's secretary-general. and those who chose to go against him either get crushed in fear or knew when to step back.

even with his "best delegate" status, he wouldn't have gone far without his best mates, park jongseong, sim jaeyun, and park sunghoon.

park jongseong or jay, most known for his cold stares in the debate room, ready to make a delegate tremble, would always chair crisis. he was decelis high's deputy secretary-general alongside heeseung. and although being heeseung's best mate, he never favored him when it came to awarding. it's just that he was naturally talented.

sim jaeyun, known for his popular slogan around the school; "jake it till you make it!", was the strongest when it came to knowing what a country or character believed in. his research skills were like a pirate on the hunt for lost treasure, he had all the facts, the data, and the proof to back up any stance. whatever heeseung needed to know, jake already had his back.

and park sunghoon. even though he was the quiet one of the bunch, his position papers never ceased to appeal any chair. even if he wasn't as strong in speaking out during committee sessions, his fingers were his weapon. the guys would always ask him why'd he chair press and not join in the heat with them, he'd always answer with a simple, "my words are stronger than my actions." where jay would always respond with "isn't that the other way around bud?"

the four were unstoppable when it came to model un. lee heeseung was unstoppable. he was. until you came along.

back to my masterlist?

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isleofdarkness · 4 months ago

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Can we have a complete list of all their allergies, including how they discovered them? I imagine on the Isle, someone has died from a severe allergy at least once & nobody ever noticed because they just revived due to the barrier (May Beast rot in Hell).

Oh no, it's so much worse than being revived. See, Isle kids can only die every other Thursday, when Thanatos is allowed to do his job on the Isle. Until he comes and frees their souls, they're just trapped in their bodies. This is why cremation is so popular- a soul can't be trapped in a body if there's no body to be trapped in.

Allergies are a terrifying thing on the Isle. A lot of kids have died to allergies, and those who survive adverse reactions usually don't even know what triggered it, because they don't know what they're eating half of the time. And for the people who had a sibling who died of an allergic reaction (Spider used to have an older brother, Worthless, who died of anaphylaxis,) it's even more terrifying because they know that there might be lethal allergies running in their family, but since they have no idea what triggered the episode that killed their sibling, they have no idea what to avoid in case they might also be allergic to it.

Jay is allergic to cats, mildly. He's always known that cats can cause him to feel weird, the allergies test just confirmed that it wasn't all in his head.

Mal is allergic to iron and holy water, as in anaphylaxis. She's always known- it's a fae thing.

Rose and Ace are both allergic to latex, on the more severe end of moderate. It's not lethal, but uncomfortable to say the least. You do not want to know how they know this.

CJ is allergic to dairy, on the more severe end of moderate. Her anaphylaxis hasn't been life-threatening so far (her throat swells but doesn't completely close,) but it isn't fun. This will not stop her from eating ice cream. She's known since she was around eleven, when it started. Harriet didn't know until CJ was twelve because CJ didn't think it was that important.

Harriet has allergies to dairy, soy, beef, and some legumes and seeds, though her reactions are on the milder side of moderate. She knows because her father has the same allergies and he confirmed that her symptoms were definitely allergic reactions. (None of hers have been tested due to distance issues but she figures if it walks like a duck)

Harry is allergic to peanuts and some beans. It was worse when he was little, but he's grown out of it a bit and his symptoms are relatively mild. He's also got a severe poultry allergy (allergic to consuming poultry, not the birds themselves,) but they think that's probably not "real" and it's just his immune system freaking out after his recent near-death salmonella experience from chicken, and it'll probably go away after a while.

Claudine is allergic to poison ivy. As in she gets an allergic reaction even if she doesn't touch it, even from just the pollen in the air, and she gets a pretty severe allergic reaction- two Epi Pens and 911 and ambulance immediately levels of severe. She learned this during a walk outdoors at Xavier's school, when the pollen from poison ivy caused her face and throat to start swelling. CJ was with her and recognized an allergic reaction, and thankfully she had the Epi-Pens prescribed for her own allergies with her. The reaction kept going once the epinephrine had worn off so she needed to be intubated and put on some serious anti-allergy medications, but she was fine.

Gil is severely allergic to most shellfish- allergic as in two Epi-Pens, 911 immediately, intubation, and as much as a two-week stay in the hospital because the reaction can fuck with his lungs and cause things like pneumonia or bronchitis. He's even allergic to non-crustecean shellfish (like clams and abelone,) and allergic to some types of saltwater fish (like swordfish, even though he's never even seen a swordfish,) though those aren't quite as severe. He found this out while eating dinner at the institute- Remy had made a seafood gumbo from New Orleans, Gil had some, and the reaction was pretty much instant. Thank the gods there were multiple doctors in the room.

Mischa has a mild nightshade allergy- potatoes and tomatoes, mostly, but other members of the family can cause issues if ingested. He just thought his stomach didn't vibe with potatoes, but no, he's allergic to several things. He discovered this during the allergy tests.

Andi is allergic to birch and, because of that, is also allergic to several types of fruits, most of them stone fruits. It's not a severe allergy- Benadryl bad, not Epi-Pen bad- but it still sucks because she likes apples. This was discovered during the allergy tests

Malcolm is allergic to pork, which is fine by him because he doesn't like pork anyway. He's also allergic to cats, which he's far more bothered by, but both allergies are minor irritants.

Ivy is allergic to most imitation animal products- fake leather, fake fur, imitation gator skin, it all causes skin reactions (she does not know what would happen if she ingested it, does not want to know, and why would she ever need to worry about that she's not about to eat pleather.) She's on a few topical ointments to help the skin recover in case of accidental exposure. She's always known (runs in the family,) but now she's learning which ingredients she's allergic to so she can avoid other things that use them.

Veronica and Carlos (and probably Diego, but he can't get tested yet due to distance issues) have the same allergies

Joss is allergic to chlorine. It's mostly a skin reaction but it can be a more serious allergic reaction if she were ever to consume enough chlorine for some reason (like if she were to drink too much tap water, which had chlorine in it.) She's figured it could be a possibility because it's a common allergy in part-merfolk people, so she asked to be tested.

Claudine, Tara, Polina, Nikita, Giles, Gordon, and Mora are all allergic to alpha-gal (red meat allergy.) Polina and Nikita don't have major reactions but the rest can. The Isle has a major tick problem. This was all discovered during the allergy test.

#the darkness speaks #anastasia0614 #descendants #descendants au #isle of darkness #original character #descendants oc #swearing

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aotopmha · 8 months ago

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The FF14 community has a sarcastic saying along the lines of "great community btw", which is used in cases whenever someone or some group of awful people pop up doing something shitty and which I find annoying.

I think it is really obnoxious because having a great community does not mean there will never be any awful people in that community.

Especially when you get an award for stuff like having a great community – something that in many spaces is usually based on popularity or earned via nebulous committee vote.

That's just not how people work. And putting that strange standard on every single person in that community is really unrealistic.

In fact, I think it would be creepier if occasional assholes didn't pop up. Actual cult behaviour entails a situation where nobody is frustrated, critical or says anything bad about each other ever.

And this is doubly so for stuff that is popular.

We have 30 million accounts in the game now. Do you honestly expect not one of them to be made by an awful person?

The second frustration I have is tying social media with the community. Yoshi-P and his team, don't, even in fact, straight-up can't really, moderate what happens on social media, on Twitter, Reddit, Discord etc.

And as far as I know their official accounts keep it pretty basic and chill.

So, a lot of the bad stuff is just the nature of social media and the internet.

Now, this actually does not mean the dev team bears no responsibility because what they can do is minimise the poison within the game itself.

FF14 is probably the cleanest multiplayer community I've been apart of ever. The most I've gotten is generic insults in French.

The lack of gamerwords in my 3 months of time surprised me the most, and so did the occasional actual compliments. We just either talk about the game or what issues there are with us doing the mechs or disband when stuff isn't working out and time is getting wasted.

But I also know many haven't been as lucky and some of the security features were dated even by the time the game re-released back in 2013.

The friendlist is a mess because it doesn't block properly, and I know stories of people who had to go to another region to escape their stalker.

The GMs, while preferrable to any automated moderation, still don't catch everything, sometimes for years, especially whistleblowers who signal stuff in specific codewords and technically aren't breaking the rules.

Unjust massreportings can happen.

Reporting can be clunky and from what I've explored is hidden behind some menuing instead of just being an open option like in many other online games.

So they kinda can't control Twitter or Reddit at all and they can't change human nature, but I think they can modernise a bunch of the social tab.

I also haven't experienced the game as a non-sprout/at endgame yet, which I'm told can make a difference. Part of the reason why I find the game so rewarding is because you find so many different experiences and opinions in just Duty Finder and you just sometimes get to talking with them about the game and then various other things.

Recently, many gathered to honor Akira Toriyama in many of the data centers and people were just kind of talking to each other about DB and other series.

And I've never seen anything like this in any other MMO or any multiplayer games. I know it happened for Kentaro Miura, too, when he died.

So clearly, the social element is a huge part of the identity of an MMO, so if they mean they're improving the MMO in the MMO, I hope this also includes the social tab features.

#Final Fantasy XIV #Final Fantasy 14 #FF14 #FFXIV #FF #Final Fantasy

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idontwanttospoiltheparty · 5 months ago

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question as i’m a bit new to the bug fandom – is it common to focus mostly on dissecting paul’s most wacky statements & comments, or is this done with the other Beatles too. idk, it seems to really be the case with any of his interviews, but ive read interviews from George for example where he says some pretty weird things but haven’t been discussed here. really not with the same fervour as with paul’s comments? Is it because of the mclennon factor and trying to find hidden meanings behind his words? I just think they were all weird haha!

Anon, I just laughed reading this – not because you're wrong but it's always amusing to see stuff like this pointed out by newcomers.

Also welcome to the fandom!! :))

I think your observation is largely accurate and it comes down to multiple factors:

Paul is one of the two more famous Beatles

Paul is by far the most interviewed Beatle (both by virtue of being part of Lennon-McCartney and also having been alive [and in the public eye] for much longer than John)

In relation to the above-named factors, Paul is also the Beatle most preoccupied with the history of the band, I'd say. So you'll find a fair amount of Beatles "meta-commentary" from him.

This results in Paul off-the-bat being the most "covered" Beatle in terms of breadth of interviews. Now, add onto that:

Yes, people on tumblr are definitely favouring McLennon-tinged quotes over most other things in relation to the band

Paul, as opposed to John, is more popular on tumblr specifically (we had two polls last year showing Paul and George are pretty neck and neck in terms of being the favourite; they each took about a third, while John and Ringo shared the other third equally)

I feel like there used to be more coverage and commentary in that vain of John quotes, but given there's just less material there, covering a much shorter period, and the fact John's popularity is moderate on tumblr these days, it just isn't as much of a thing anymore.

With George, I can't say I've ever seen many people picking apart his quotes in that way, though you're right, he's said some weird stuff. (Lol, throwback to that time he expressed it would have been more meaningful if Elvis had killed John instead of a "nobody") Why specifically, I don't know. I think George fans are somewhat more hesitant to criticize him because they generally (and justifiably) don't feel he's been given his due so they don't always wanna be "that person".

Also, it serves the "John and Paul were absolutely, abnormally insane about each other" narrative a lot to paint George and Ringo out to be normies.

#ask #anon #paul #meta

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sistersgrimm13writes · 4 days ago

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With a few hours of sleep between my last post and now, I want to talk about some of the trends that I'm seeing from some popular liberal talking heads and from the mainstream media as a whole regarding Kamala losing to Trump.

- While misogyny and racism certainly played a part in her loss because some people really do just suck, she did not lose primarily because she was a woman or a person of color. That is not the lesson that we should learn from this and should not be a reason to not run a woman/person of color in a future election. We should not give the Democrats this out to use when talking about this loss.

- Gen Z did not move en masse to vote this election cycle and those that did voted pretty predictably along gender/racial lines that we've seen in previous generations. The radicalization of young men in this country by the far right is an issue that isn't talked about too often and absolutely has to be addressed for there to be meaningful change. Keeping young men angry enough with the current institution that they would actively vote against their own best interests in order to dismantle that institution is useful for the right and the current ruling elite. The Dems have to learn to combat this through effective education and actual policy that benefits the younger generation. But they also have to figure out how to invigorate young people to vote as a whole and the best way to do that is to run on popular policies that actually address current issues that young people are facing. We know what those policies are (higher minimum wage, rent caps, ways to make homes obtainable, etc) and need to run on them instead of "vote blue no matter who" and licking the boots of moderates and the right.

- The Harris campaign was terrible. Worse than the Clinton campaign because Trump was an easier candidate to beat this election cycle. He is a shadow of his former self, in poor health physically and mentally, and a proven fucking loser. A large part of this was her blatant disregard and even contempt for Pro-Palestinian voices and the unwillingness of the party as a whole to give a singular inch regarding the genocide of the Palestinian people. Even without that in play, she refused to talk about the failures of the last four years of Biden, of which there were many, and instead said that she would change nothing after a very unpopular presidency. She backed many people, who were already disillusioned with the current administration, into a corner by promising to do fuck all about the systems in place that people overwhelmingly didn't like in the first place.

There is so much to learn for the Democratic Party following this election but if we let them say "oh it was because she was a person of color", "it's because she was a woman", and we refuse to acknowledge that this election was not only winnable, but more so than the previous two elections, we are fucking doomed.

There will be more to learn as exit polls continue to update and we hear from more people post election season, but for now...

Organize. Organize. Organize. If you can, unionize. Keep pushing local activism and bolster your local organizations. Don't let this break your resolve for change. There is a better America, there is hope for a brighter future for our young people and the queer community, but at this point we have to admit that nothing will change unless we can come together in a great enough number to force it. I know you're tired and disheartened and scared and angry. Be those things and fight anyways. Do it scared, do it angry, and remember that there are millions of people doing it with you.

#election 2024 #us elections #do it scared #do it angry #please be there for each other and for your community #there isnt anyone else who is going to be there for us #force them to change #unionize #organize

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deanthe · 9 months ago

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//vent I really need to get this off my chest. After Splatoon 3's final splatfest comes to a close, I'm probably going to stop interacting with the Splatoon community as much as I can. It's been four years since I've gotten truly into Splatoon, (that's a complicated, yet much nicer story for some other time) and while I don't regret it by any means, it's definitely been an exhausting ride, and I kinda want to get off of it before I barf.

Getting the most obvious thing out of the way, the way Nintendo has been handling Splatoon 3 has been really disappointing. It has far more improvements than flaws, but this game has had some really bizarre decisions made with it compared to the first two games. Maps, kits, ETC... I'm not gonna delve into the specifics, you probably already know what I'm going on about. Secondly, while what I just said still holds true, I feel like the community reactions to these changes have been... a bit too much? Like, yeah, splatfests are imbalanced. Maps have been bad. (up until Drizzle Season 2023, at least) But these problems have been absolutely blown out of the water. Fucking, death threats have been sent to people who join the Shiver's teams. Despite the whole appeal of the Splatoon community being a place of self expression and lack of judgement, a lot of Splatoon subcultures really... aren't that great. Being deadass, competitive Splatoon is boring, and its players are super rude and annoying. I don't like to generalize, but I've yet to interact with a single comp player I enjoy talking to. Every single one I've met has tried forcing me to play a certain way, no matter if I'm even fucking playing with them. I was harassed for using sticks. In a B- lobby. Back when I was new to Splatoon 2. The hacking scene is a dumpster fire. The main person who's created the most well known and fun Splatoon hacking system is a piece of shit, for one. For two, have you even touched the first game anytime after 2017? Yeah, it's full of hackers. Can't play turf war for 15 minutes without having to sit there and not play the game because someone is hacking and getting away with it because Nintendo doesn't moderate the servers anymore. The Coroika fandom is if you took Splatoon fandom and infected it with My Hero Academia fans. Yeah. Are any of you familiar with Splatoon Florida? It was an old parody account on Twitter that I used to own that got popular SUPER fast. Could not handle it. It spawned nearly 50 clone accounts based on the other 49 united states, and I had even gotten impersonation accounts pretending to be me and saying really, really awful things. This paired with the queerphobia I faced and hatemail in general stacked on top of my mother having multiple strokes and almost dying at the time, pushed me over the edge, and I deleted SplatoonFL after someone told me that they hoped my mother had another stroke and died. Now, I feel like shit for name dropping people in my vent, as it's been awhile since most of this garbage has happened and I don't want to seem petty, plus this isn't intended to be a callout post. But I really do feel the need to let this shit out of my system, and frankly I'm tired of watching these people be appreciated while remembering what they've done to me, small and insignificant or not.

Theecorner, AKA Danniee, banned me from their Discord server after I loudly expressed distaste for jokes being made about Dream, as I was one of Dream's victims and felt very uncomfortable bringing him up. Keep in mind that insinuated that I did not enjoy the conversation multiple times.

Pufuu had made a Twitter post with a screenshot of our DMs. I was irritated that he had kept making fake Splatoon leaks with zero indication of them being concepts, and he thought that was wrong. A couple Tweets before this, ironically, he boasted about getting another annoying fake leaker to block him.

Caitlin Koi had acted aggressive towards me after I expressed concern for her after a seizure which, her seizures are very much real and very dangerous, though I should mention she also uses them as an excuse to be an asshole and guilt trip people.

Vaqeii. Fuck you. (He has very few actual fans, I just wanted to express my hatred towards that fucking slime since he's also one of the Splatubers who had traumatized me.)

I'd like to restate that I don't regret my time in the community one bit. I love it here for the most part. It's just gotten far too much, and I'm. Frankly a little bit done and ready to move on. I'll try to keep strong and stay for a bit so I can enjoy the rest of Splatoon 3's update cycle with my friends and the people I enjoy being around. After that though, unless something happens to change my mind, I'll be gone after that.

Knowing the current state of the Splatoon community, I wouldn't be surprised if I started getting harassed again for this post. Hell, wouldn't it be hilarious if THIS vent post got screenshotted and edited to be about Roller Coaster Tycoon, to? Yeah, that was a thing that happened. No, I haven't forgotten about that. You know who you are. Real fucking proud of you, I am.

#splatoon #splatoon 3 #vent #splatoon 2 #octo expansion #side order #nintendo #nintendo switch.#transphobia #queerphobia #death threats #harassment #seizures #stroke

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dojae-huh · 2 months ago

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yeah i’m waiting for the day doppus become a toxic fandom. So far big accs that i see are either neutral or borderline bad. No accs are keeping doppus in check. It’s kinda hard cause the big accs are individual, not a fanbase. I felt like right now doppus are kinda high cause doyoung success is only very recent, maybe 2 or 3 years? So it’s easy to make him the underdog.

Doyoung isn't and wasn't the "underdog type" of idol. At least not since 2018 and "Boss", when his "glow up" happened. He always was on TV, had duets, OSTs, released covers, had enough lines in NCT songs. He was in the middle of rankings in popularity, an eyesore for the fans of the "ace type" neos.

In the past few years Doyoung joined the ranks of "visuals" and added more "jewels to his crown" (tv roles, the musical, awards, BA, now a whole concert). Which, I think, made him more attractive for that kind of fans who like to follow evidently popular idols, where it is easy to brag about the said idol's achievements. (For example: once a brand chooses an idol, and his face is plastered on giant billboards all over Asia, there is no more need to defend his looks, feel bitter seeing words like "your bias is ugly").

In addition, those fans who would hesitate in the past to brag too much about Doyoung, be obnoxious about him, can now do it, feeling they can win in an argument with the bundle of Do's achievements (awards, solo's success) that they can brandish and shove into the face of the enemy.

Thirdly, the fans of "ace" idols feel threateaned, become more agitated and attack Do's fans more often. We got a new category for comparison: solo album, its promotion, its success. Taeyong was the undisputed ace of NCT (the leader, the face, the visual, the rapper, the songwriter, the producer, the main dancer... you know the list), And now he is in the army, he didn't get a long concert tour, Do's fans dare to talk about Doyoung being the co-leader. Meanwhile the fans of "underdog" idols also become bitter more often and blame Doyoung as well (the "SM's favourite" narrative). Which, in turn, make Do's fans more aggravated and more prone to retaliation, prompt the more neutral fans (127zens) to become solo fans ("us vs them" phenomenon).

Fourthly, you know I dislike all these "doppus", "vals", "tyongfs" monikers. They help the fragmentation of the formerly united fandom. Once a group of people gets a name, it can easily segregate itself from the rest. And once its segregated, the hierarchy and self-preservation games begin. Now, if you want to be a "doppu", you have to follow certain rules, agree with other "doppus", even if you have your own opinion. You can see its effect on Lin. She was the most neutral fan (at least publicly), but nowadays she twits more and more often like bitter solo stans do. The opinion of others influences her and slowly changes her own behaviour.

Don't rely on big accs or fanbases to do the job of a moderator. Participate yourself in maintaining the health of a community, insist on a better sophisticated culture. You don't need to "dedicate your time" to it, just take a stance and act here and there to improve the situation in small ways, don't "pass" and "let it be". Support with likes or replies those fans who say positive and healthy things. Correct misconceptions. Check your own behavior and don't get into arguments with other solo stans, don't retwit or subtwit their verbal attacks on Do, don't blame other NTCzens and solo-fans for everything, don't blindly agree and follow the opinion of bigger accs, think if you really share their POV, or you feel the urge to side with them because you are "a doppu". Don't write negative twits, share more of your joyful feelings (from the songs, from the concert, friendships with other neos). Look for moots who make your time in the fandom enjoyable. Don't be afraid that your opinion will be challeneged. Antis get bored and leave those who don't show them attention. Your person of interest is Doyoung, not other fans.

Of course, it applies to Jaehyun, Haechan, and all other neos.

Learn from the best, not the worst.

#ask me away #food all around chips all around #doyoung is my bias

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observeowl · 1 year ago

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Her Assistant | Chapter 19 - The Principal Decided On It

Summary: After losing her family, Natasha Romanoff builds her company from the ground up. During the rise of her company, she decided she needed an assistant, one that works in her office and her house. That's when she saw your resume. After working five years for her, how was it like working for her? Or more importantly, how things progress?

Series Masterlist

Natasha POV The bell rang, and Clayton started the ceremony. "You will never betray me and always be moderate. Let's swear to Saint George that we will maintain a relationship that benefits each other until the day we leave this school. I request that you become my fag, Natalie Rushman."

I was kneeling down on one knee and said. "I humbly accept." Clayton presented me with a pin that I'm to wear at all times in school so others know of my title. I pinned it on the left of my lapel before standing up again. We exchanged a few more words before I left the room and got attacked by a swamp of students congratulating me.

"You really got the dorm's pin!!" // "Congratulations!" // "That's wonderful, Rushman."

"T-Thank you." I laughed along with them, slightly overwhelmed by the attention.

"Heyyy!" I turned my head up towards the sound and was sure it was, Thor. "You got quite popular, Nat. I'm happy to see that even a gloomy lady like you was able to make friends." He shouted from the second floor. This guy... can never learn how to keep his mouth shut.

---

I relaxed in my chair and heaved a sigh of relief. I felt like an opera singer, my energy drained from entertaining people.

"You were able to get rid of Keller and reach the position you were aiming for. I think your plan is going well." Y/N said as she helped me hang my clothes. Indeed, with the pesky minion out of the way, it was easier to get into the inner circle.

"But the final goal is still far away. Fury's order is to find out why Derrick Arden and other students shut themselves up in this school and stopped contracting their families... however..."

"We have yet even to see the shadow of them. This is definitely suspicious." Y/N continued my sentence. I waved for her to come closer instead of standing so stiffly. It was fag time, and Y/N had finished the request that I was given, so we were in my dorm resting. Jones wasn't going to be coming back so quickly.

"But this place is bound by its rules and I can't even investigate normally! It's like being a prisoner!" I grumbled, this lacked the speed that I was excited about.

"Isn't that why you're trying to get closer to the ones who make the rules? In a much more peaceful way than usual, I would say." I nudged her shoulder playfully at the insult. "Sorry."

"Yeah well, I'm still just the fag of a prefect's fag. I can't participate in the 'Midnight Tea Party' organized by the principal. Anyway, I am finally able to get into the P4's circle. I'll try to find some information about Derrick." Surely this is where things start to look up.

"The person who probably has the best information about Derrick is the prefect of the dormitory he moved into. Violet Wolf Dormitory."

---

"VIOLET!" Greenhill screamed from the awkward position he was in, with his cricket bat on his belly and body bent in a U-shape.

"Until I'm finished drawing." Violet said with his usual absence of energy.

"But when is that?!" Greenhill desperately shouted. His limbs were trembling from the position he was maintaining. Even his gym body is struggling to keep up. With the situation with Maurice Keller over, I was currently at the Swan Gazebo hanging out with all of the prefect's fags. It's not every day that they come here to relax but at least once a week from what I've experienced.

"Every year, when we get close to 4th June, the students of Green House start getting restless." Redmond said as he was mocking Greenhill's fag for saying that it would be a good exercise and training.

"Hmph, it's the same for the Red House." He tried to defend himself.

"Every time we get close to 4th June, the student's grades get worse because they're anxious."

It seemed like I was the only one who didn't know what was going on. Noticing the look on my face, Harcourt tried explaining to me. "There's the dormitories' cricket tournament. It's our school's traditional tournament, it's been held for over a century."

"At least try to remember the school events." Bluer scolded once again. I didn't intend to stay long.

"It's a grand event that happens once a year. Even the President watches the boat parade of the winning dormitory." Harcourt said.

"The dormitories of this school have been very competitive. So, of course everyone gets tense around this time." Alex Milford, Greenhill's fag mentioned.

"I hate the students of the other dorms, I can't wait to crush them all!" Fred Grant, Violet's fag shouted excitedly. His energy contrasted with his prefect, who was still not drawing Greenhill. His drawing is amazing, truly, but Greenhill has been in his position for almost half an hour.

"I also dislike that lots of people come to the school." Violet said as he was shading something.

"I thought outsiders weren't allowed to enter?" I asked. The school was famous for maintaining its prestige and their visitors' enquiries were strict.

"There are two events to celebrate the eve and the end of the tournament. On these two days, the students are exceptionally allowed to invite their family and important acquaintances to the school's dining hall." Clayton kindly explained.

"A-are you finished?" Greenhill asked while stuck in his position.

"Hmm, not yet." Violet answered. I took a peek at his drawing. Violet had started another art piece. This time, he drew Redmond with girls surrounding him. Don't me wrong, his drawing is great. Being able to draw so quickly with such details is amazing, but shouldn't he actually be drawing Greenhill?

They began talking about their siblings. Harcourt has two older sisters, while Bluer has three older sisters and four younger sisters, the only boy in the household besides his father. The rest immediately took pity on him. "One sister alone is already annoying." Grant said as he shuddered at the thought of having more than one.

Moving on from one topic to another, they began discussing who would support who. Would they support the long-time reigning champion, Green House, or will they support the Red House, full of good-looking men and ladies? Blue House sadly always lands in the last position, being more academically inclined than athletically. Seriously, 90% of them were wearing glasses.

"The eve and the end events are made to cultivate the players' spirit towards the cricket tournament!!" Greenhill got up from his position and said enthusiastically.

"I said, don't move." Violet threw a piece of charcoal towards Greenhill.

In the end, he never drew the model. As an artist, he's really skilled though... What's with this weirdo? Normally I'd never want to have to deal with someone like him. But I have to talk and be friendly. "Violet, are you going to dance too?"

"I hate it. It makes my head spin."

"I see..." End of the talk

I'll have to change my strategy. It'll be a bit tough.

"I'm really looking forward to June 4th! But it's hard to fight against the other students when you're friends with them. Fighting against Violet House will be hard, since I have a friend there."

"Is that why you came last time?" Grant asked.

"Yes. His name is Derrick Arden."

Instantly, and I mean instantly, the mood changed. Violet dropped the charcoal he was using to draw. The chatty discussion from earlier stopped, and the rest of the prefects sat up a tad bit straighter.

"Did you say, Derrick?"

The moment I mentioned Derrick's name, the atmosphere between the P4 changed. Their eyes widened slightly as they looked at me.

"Derrick Arden, that's the governor's only son, isn't it?" Milford questioned. I nodded my head. "I'd never expect you to be acquainted with the governor's son. I heard he's quite rebellious, and his parents couldn't control him, so they sent him to this school."

As soon as I mentioned Derrick's name, the P4 were obviously startled. But the fags aren't concerned? Let's try and press this a little further. "Derrick wrote to me that he was in the Red House. So I was surprised to learn he had transferred into Purple House after he entered the school."

"That's because it took us a while to notice his true personality." Bluer said.

"He was my fag for a while... excelled in everything he did." Redmond said.

"Yes... he certainly was, but..." Greenhill hesitated.

"In any case, he was weird." Violet ended the conversation.

Weird? Neither the governor nor Fury said anything about it.

"I see... Purple House has many weirdos... I mean, students who excel at certain arts, after all. What was Derick's speciality?" I decided to ask. Learning more about his personality would help me in figuring out what he would do.

Bluer continued reading his book while saying. "Well, it's hard to say in detail, but most likely... memorising."

"Cricket." Greenhill said.

"Poetry." Redmond said.

"Embroidery." Violet said.

What? He excelled in all four houses?

"Anyway, the principal decided on moving him. There are no mistakes in the principal's commands. The principal's decisions are absolute!"

It may be a tradition and all, but even the prefects don't know the reason... I can tell by their behaviour. The P4 are hiding something! But if I ask more questions, they will suspect me. I'll pursue it no further.

---

After the break with the P4 and their fags, it was finally time to return to the school curriculum. I'm not sure if I prefer talking to the P4 or learning about things that I already know about, but I know I prefer staying in my own home.

Speaking of which, I haven't seen Y/N for a long time. I wonder what she's doing.

After asking Jones about Derrick and the other students I was suspicious of, I realised they were all transfers to Purple House about half a year ago, and no one has heard of them since. It seems like Jones has more info than the P4. I should have asked him in the first place.

"Why do you care so much about the other dormitories?" Jones asked.

"Why don't you care about them?" I asked back.

"Well, the principal decided on it, you know." Even he is full of the principal.

Seeing more success with the students, I decided to ask around. Some said he was a fast runner, but others said he was an expert dancer. He even won prizes for his artworks and was famous for his manuscripts. I received different answers from different people. But all of them said he got transferred because of the principal's decision when I asked the reason why.

If he was doing so well, why did he disappear all of a sudden? Also, just because 'the principal decided on it', no one seems to question his change of dormitories. Aren't you with your friends today?

Your POV I was walking around with the Vice-Principal after a long day of work. If the principal was missing, the next in charge would be him, Johan Agares.

"Derrick Arden... you say?"

"Yes, I was just wondering, since he hasn't attended in quite some time." I asked in faux concern.

"You're quite attentive to students from another dorm."

"It doesn't matter what dorm they are from. All students are important." I decided to talk a bit about him before moving to ask why he was transferred to another dorm but he told me the same thing everyone else did. "Could he have stopped going to school due to the shock of having been relocated?"

Before he could reply, he slipped on the first step and rolled all the way down. "Mr Agares! Are you okay?" I rushed down the steps and helped him up. "Blood. I'll take you to the infirmary."

"No no it's alright." He rejected my offer and walked away with blood flowing down his face.

After light's out, students were meant to be in their dorms, but wardens like us are able to be in the library searching for books that we didn't have time to in the day. "Hey, Y/N-" I pulled Natasha closer and covered her mouth before another figure entered the library.

"My... what could it be at this hour?" I asked Bluer when he walked it with his torchlight. He was stunned before looking left and right seeing nobody in sight. "Are you looking for something?"

"No... excuse me Miss Y/L/N." Bluer said as he turned to leave the library.

"I'm sorry for being rough. It seems like you were tailed, you see." I let Natasha come out from her hiding spot behind the books. She waved it off before straightening her clothes.

"Sniffing around got me nowhere. No matter what I asked, they all just said 'The Principal decided on it'." Natasha told me with a huff.

"The staff were the same."

"Even there..." She grumbled. "We're getting nowhere like this. Since we're stuck, all that we can do is to use every means we have to come into direct contact with Derick!"

Seeing the evil smirk and her eyes, I knew she was up to something no good. Her track record has never been impressive.

"Let's go."

"But there would be punishment for walking around late at night, you know?"

"Only teachers can punish students, right? Miss Y/L/N."

Third POVNatasha led Y/N to the entrance of Violet House. The eerie dark colour accentuated by the night reminded her of the first time she was here.

"How do you mean to meet with Derrick? Students are not allowed into other dormitories. It'll be a big problem if you are caught sneaking in."

"Don't be ridiculous, if I can't find them, I'll draw them to me." Nat flicked the lighter and took some dried leaves from the floor before throwing them towards the dormitories to the best of her abilities. "Do you know of Weston College's 87th school rule, Miss Y/L/N?" Nat asked as she watched the flames rise and spread.

"In case of an alarm such as fire in the school or one of the dormitories, all students should rapidly seek refuge in the school gardens and have the prefects take a roll call." Y/N recited from her memory. "If this is found out, you will be dropping out for sure, Rushman. However, as the best of SHIELD, this is exactly what I expected."

"As Bluer said, it's important to memorise the school rules."

"They're coming." Y/N pulled Natasha away and helped her climb the trees as the students started rushing out of the burning building.

Cheslock (Violet's fag) was shouting, rushing everyone to get out of the building and move to safety. After a few seconds there was still no sight of Derrick and his friends. The burning was doing its damage on the building and there would hardly be any survivors if they were to be left behind.

Y/N and Nat waited anxiously to see if there were any stragglers behind that took longer to escape. Eventually, an explosion occurred in one of the rooms and Natasha clicked her tongue and told Y/N to save them and put out the fire.

As the rest of the P4 arrived at the scene, the roll call was just about done. Nat could hear that the fags told Violet everyone was present. Derrick wasn't inside the building?

Now that attendance has been taken, they moved their focus on putting out the fire. "Guys! Take the hose and put out the fire!" Y/n was seen pulling the hose from its place and passing it off to one of the students before turning it on and water was seen splashing out and it required more people to control the hose.

"Thank you Miss Y/L/N, the students hardly remember where the safety equipment are." Greenhill said when the fire had been put out.

Natasha POVDerrick and the rest have disappeared. The P4 are keeping their lips shut. The only means we have left is to contact the principal, but the only ones who can meet him at The Midnight Tea Party are the P4 and their fags. Maybe I should just have Clayton killed and take his place... no, no.

Suddenly I heard Jones talking to his friends about the Cricket Tournament, they were wondering if it would be canceled due to the arson. But of course, tradition is absolute, the tournament will proceed as usual.

"They say the Principal will be present too. So we shouldn't slack on the cheering either, even though Blue House doesn't stand much of a chance."

The Principal will be there?

"The Principal is busy, but they say he'll definitely attend the tournament on June 4th. And it seems every year he invites one player that did well in the tournament to The Midnight Tea Party." Jones said, I didn't even realised I said that out loud. "The Principal chooses the student who shows play befitting of a gentleman every year. But there are eleven people in a cricket team so it's hard to be your dorm's representative."

What he said was true, I'll have to compete with the upperclassmen to even get a spot on the team.

"Rushman!" I turned my head to see Clayton. "I'd like a word."

Following him to a quiet corner, he announced that I was selected to be part of the cricket team. "What?! Really? I mean... What an honor, but why me?"

"Our dorm is different from those muscleheads. In that, we specialise in strategical play. The brains and guts you showed in covering Maurice Cole's injustice will certainly be of use to the team... Is what the one who strongly recommended you told us."

"Who is it?" I asked.

"Miss Y/L/N."

I ran as fast as my legs could take me. There were people in the hall surrounding Y/N but I'll just have to do it. "Miss Y/L/N! Thank you for recommending me as a player!" I said as I crashed into her.

"Because I think you will surely show us some wonderful play." Y/N said as she caught me. Using this as an opportunity, I hugged her tighter. With this case going on, I haven't been able to show her the love she deserves. "I'll see you later tonight." She whispered next to my ears inconspicuously.

---

3rd June.

One day before the tournament begins. The college held a ball for the students and their parents. Everyone had a great time drinking and snacking as they waited for the ceremony to begin. Everyone except me.

I have no idea who started this tradition. Mr Agares would announce the House Colour, and the players were required to wear their costume and parade out.

Starting with the Greenlion House. They never let any of the other dorms overtake them in overwhelming physical ability or team effort. The ground shook as they stormed their feet to announce their appearance before the door opened for them, wearing medieval armour and holding torches.

Moving onto Scarlet Fox House. The second place dorm that was on Green House heels until the end last year with their charming and beautiful play. The door flew open and flower petals scattered through the sky. They wore a red robe like some sort of a poet and held the lighted candles. I mean, what's with their feathers on their hats. Everyone's eyes turn into heart shape.

Suddenly, the lights went off before a match was striked. The Violet Wolf House. They confuse their opponents with their unforeseeable tricky play. Clearly so, they didn't even use the door to enter, hiding amongst the other guests. The black robe made them seem like they were trying to resurrect the devil.

Lastly, Sapphire Owl House. Their physical ability aren't as good, but they aim for an opening to win with their game making strategies. This ridiculous outfit that I'm wearing. What is this? Harry Potter? Holding an owl on each of our arms like some kind of a scholar. Even the guest's reaction was the most tamed.

The P4 gathered at the center big cup (kinda like the Goblet of Fire). Each house was holding a flame. "Light the flame of St. George!" Mr Agares shouted.

"All of us players vow to keep to the tradition of Weston College and fight fair and square until the end." The flame grew bigger and the crowd cheered, raising their glass in celebration.

"And with this, I declare... The 2023 school year's dormitory Cricket Tournament is open!!" The claps were heard again with whistling this time as people were starting to get more comfortable with the atmosphere. "I'm sure there will be some fierce competition tomorrow. So please enjoy tonight's festivities till your hearts' content." He stepped off the podium but as he descended the stairs, he fell down and several went forward to help.

The Houses reverted to their characteristics. The Red House mingled with the guests, easily holding conversations with those they met for the first time. While Green House was trying to get as much protein as they possibly can before the start of the tournament. Blue House tried to head back to their dorm to finalise their strategies but was eventually stopped by Bluer's seven sisters surrounding him.

From amongst the guests, I heard there was only one time in history where the Blue House won. So much for trying to be the student befitting of a gentleman. This was going to be an uphill battle.

"I'm sorry to have kept you all waiting. We will now decide the competition roster by drawing lots." Mr Agares returned to the podium to gain the attention of the guests.

The opponents were decided 'fairly' by drawing lots. But our opponent has already been 'decided'.

"Well then, will the drawers, the House Masters come forward!" Y/N and the rest of them stepped forward with each of their hands in the bowl.

The pre-festivities? Don't be ridiculous. The games have already begun. I don't believe in miracles, that's why I'll snatch my victory by force!!

#natasha x reader #natasha romanoff #natasha x you #my writing #Her Assistant #natasha romanoff imagine #natasha romanoff fanfiction

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ericaportfolio · 2 years ago

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The City of Hello Puppets (So Far...)

Due to popular demand, here are my thoughts on what the home city/town might be like in the world of Hello Puppets! I might update this post occasionally when we get more lore details, new games, content, etc. Pardon if I had any grammatical errors if I missed something to fix while writing this since this post is the first draft of what I listed.

Location: So we have no idea or any confirmations where Hello Puppets takes place world-wise. Where the studio is, the city is definably not in California. In an ask with @phantom-of-the-ruckus, we wonder if the city might be in the east New York area, or a Southern Eastern state. If a Southern state with religious references and the college, I think the city/town is a moderate area with a Christian population of those raised in the religion or those who became born-again Christians, and a population of college students. I think the biggest clue to where the studio is located is to look at a tree in one of Anthony's photos with Riley kidnapping an Average Joe having a night walk. The suburb in the picture is a grassy area with a large tree, maybe an Oak tree (picture below). A tree mainly found in the eastern half of America from Texas to Maine. It seems like back in the day, the city made its profits from producing goods for food like meat products and other necessities. However, since the HQ fire, it formed a homeless population meaning the former HQ is in a bad spot in the city/town where it isn't safe to go.

Handeemen HQ: I believe the original purpose of the studio headquarters before Mortimer’s Handeemen moved into the building was a factory or plant near the city hospital of the time, Sacred Mercy Hospital. From Riley’s wing, probably a meat plant. I’m not sure how Owen got the building in the first place, but his dad helped pay for it. The HQ includes the studio, offices, locker rooms (probably left behind by the original owners the cast/crew kept in use), and an FNAF's style party restaurant for the audience went to eat and for any kids visiting having birthdays. There is also a laundry mat which makes me think other businesses were renting in the building too. People living there at the time were just Owen. Then there was the fire, and the possessed Handeemen took over the HQ, where homeless people went missing.

Sacred Mercy Hospital: On one of the stolen hospital beds in the HQs, the beds state the name of the hospital the stolen medical equipment came from, Sacred Mercy Hospital. Sacred Mercy Hospital might be the main hospital for the city if the hospital is still functioning. I believe the hospital is near the HQs because back then, if there was an accident in the factory turned studio, an ambulance would rush over and take the injured to the hospital from there. It made it easy for Riley to go over to steal the equipment. If the hospital there isn't functioning anymore, it made it easier for Riley to steal as much equipment as possible. If still functioning, the old equipment was getting thrown out, but the doctors working there noticed the old equipment got stolen. If the latter and there is a sequel game in the future, if Host makes allies in the hospital, the doctors of the time during the robbery and Host could connect the dots that could help progress the game.

College: The City College that Host, the Editor for the college paper, and maybe Owen went to for school.

Restaurants and Entertainment: This section is for other businesses in the area we know about so far.

Italian place (restaurant): A restaurant that Owen mentioned he went to once on a date.

Chinese place (restaurant): A restaurant Owen called to order food once.

Movie Theatre: The theatre that was having a preview of Dream Warriors.

That's all I could gather for this week. I'll be updating this as time goes on. If I missed something, please let me know so I can add it. Thank You!

#hello puppets #hello puppets midnightshow #hello puppets theory #hello puppets owen #hello puppets host #hello puppets editor

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justabitsp00ky · 1 year ago

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Victim #1 Original Image - Found media!

Oh this image. This image used to haunt little me when I first learned about the M A R I O rom hack. To say it was a creepypasta wouldn't entirely be accurate. For those not in the know, on the rom hacking website, SMW Central, a rom was uploaded that was a bit unusual, as one of the moderators, Adam, play testing would find- and he would post his reactions as he played along. The rom had no music, and all text boxes were replaced with messages such as "I hate you" and "This is the selfish way out". After defeating the first koopaling, the game would show Mario with the Yoshi egg outside of the castle and blowing up, like usual in the game. Only, instead of the Yoshi egg thanking Mario, the text box read, "Victim #1. Eyeballs were unable to be found. The victim was found laying on her carpet. Causes of death unknown, hand marks with unidentifiable fingerprints were found all over the corpse." Along with the rom, was a text file, and when converted would show this image.

Except, that's only the most popular use of the image, and also how the image came to be known as "Victim #1". The image came far before the eerie rom hack, and actually originates from a 4chan post.

And it was a start to an ARG. The among things like sound files that gave hints to their debut album's themes, the biggest hint is the file name was actually found to be a Myspace ID for an industrial metal band called Common Man Down, with the lead singer being Jordan Davis. As it would turn out in another post, Jordan Davis revealed he made this entire ARG simply to experiment with his creative ideas. So, that's cool. He would also explain that the image was heavily distorted and edited in Gimp. So he'd be able to give us the original image he used, right? Well, no, unfortunately. Of course it was lost to time, and this image wasn't even supposed to "blow up" in the first place. All he could offer was that it was a Japanese girl in makeup from a black metal type of photoshoot that he found on google way back when, he just cropped and edited it "to hell".

Eventually, a discord user by the name of G O D had found the image, without much of a known explanation for how they found it, to which the image was forwarded to Jordan Davis, and he would confirm with "Holy Fuck ... I can 100% say yes, this is the original", finally ending the 14 year search for the image. Finally here it is.

It turned out, it was a person cosplaying the singer Kyo from the band Dir En Grey. The image does completely match up, as you can see the shapes of the fingers line up with the placements of the shadows on the "Victim #1" image, what bit of hair isn't cropped out follows the same shape, and most notably the makeup under the eye matches with the mass of darkness below "Victim #1" eye.

As someone who was scared by the M A R I O "creepypasta" (actually, it was a small piece to a larger ARG that was made out of spite because the creator made a rom that was poorly received) when I had watched a Youtuber talking about it, finally seeing a close to the image has been greatly satisfying. From theories of a real corpse to a photoshopped mango, to a Fatal Frame ghost, it's nice to see that all along it was just some spooky looking cosplayer, and all with the confirmation from the guy who made the edit. For some time, the creepiest part to me wasn't that it was a pretty shocking image, but that there wasn't a very clear source on what the original image was. Younger me can finally be satisfied.

#creepy mystery #creepypasta #mario creepypasta #victim 1 #internet mysteries #photography #long post

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traegorn · 6 days ago

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Oh boy, here's a doozy.

Things have shifted far enough that Trump/Vance is actually more left than the alleged left

This is easily verified as untrue, but let's see what ridiculous points you try to use to back it.

what with their aims of ending war in Ukraine (thus derailing the current gravy train the military-industrial complex is riding)

Their solution to "end the war in Ukraine" is to withdraw aid and allow Russia to invade. It's literally pro-Genocide. So we're already starting out with the dumbest take possible. Not looking good for you.

introducing tariffs against China and, in time other popular outsourcing havens to bring manufacturing home (because of both security issues and the fact that an economy comprised of unskilled labour service jobs is going to generate anything but poverty in an economic race to the bottom as your domestic consumption dies) *and* he pinned the blame correctly on the bankers and international corporations for a lot of fuckery that is afoot, rather than the usual Republican rhetoric about pesky neo-marxists.

Tariffs are just going to make things more expensive for the working class and no one else. That manufacturing isn't coming home. It'll just move to countries other than China where it's still more profitable for major corporations and the supply chain.

Look, I can break this down further, but it's clear we're dealing with someone who has fallen down right wing talking points so badly that any discussion is useless. They think the GOP, the party where folks want to remove bodily autonomy and are mad about women voting, is somehow "left."

Whether you agree with me or not, if you believe a word this person says, I don't know how to talk to you.

I've said this before, but no one moves left in the general election. When a block of voters says they're not going to vote for their candidate, Democrats tend to believe them. So they decide to go court the people who they think will vote for them. That's why you've seen the Harris campaign trying to court moderate Republicans who might be iffy on voting for Trump a third time.

Leftists don't win by allowing extreme right wing candidates to win the White House. Instead you keep pressuring Democrats during their term and it works. Like Biden is continuing to work on forgiving student debt even though he doesn't have an election ahead of him. Because they know that what he does reflects on the future of the party. To really move the party left you need to focus on local and state based races -- get involved with your school board, city council, and state level governments. Get leftist candidates to run, and get them into office. That's how you drag a party over politically, and how you reform it. It's also how you move the national political discussion towards your cause.

We know it works because that's exactly what the Republicans have been doing for 50 years.

Voting doesn't end this game, it's the start of it.

And don't listen to weirdos who try to tell you Donald "Finish the Job" Trump and JD "Incel Couchfucker" Vance are somehow leftist.

This is the thing with the "I won't vote for Harris" supposed leftists.

None of them will tell you how allowing Trump to be elected helps.

Because they don't have an answer.

Because they don't really care about anything other than how they personally feel.

Actual leftism involves making pragmatic moves. The public will for revolution doesn't exist, and we live in a two party system. If you want to fight that system, great. There are things like ranked choice voting and the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact we need to be fighting for. But those are fights that have to happen year round, at the state level, and not just in an election year.

And in the meanwhile, you vote defensively and strategically, in an attempt to save as many people as possible.

Saying you aren't voting for Harris isn't taking a stand against genocide. It's putting your head in the sand and admitting you care more about your own comfort than making a difference in the world.

Why aren't you getting involved in your local politics? Why aren't you running leftist candidates at a local level, so you can move them up in the system and eventually move the political discussion left. You want to know why politics have moved right? It's because the right wing has been doing that for decades.

Your refusal to participate won't save a single life.

It only means you're abandoning everyone else.

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ratralsis · 1 year ago

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Hurt your darlings

Today I want to talk about something that I think is often misunderstood in writing. I'm not an expert in it myself, but I still want to talk about it, because I'm just that kind of stupid.

I think it's important to hurt your characters as much as you need to in order to make your story interesting, and then cut it out.

Let me explain.

It's easy to go too far, and it's easy not to go far enough. You have to find the correct amount. You have to know just how badly to hurt them, and that's not always easy.

It's easy to torture the villain. Frankly, it's easy to torture your heroes, too, if you're that kind of person. But you need to know how far is too far, because at some point it just becomes silly. It'll make you lose your audience. People don't like seeing their main character get hurt for no reason. It's just excessive, sometimes.

I'd feel weird giving examples of this, because I"m not a media expert, and I'd have to look at something popular, at least moderately, and point to it and say "This work is bad, it's not as good as what I think it could have been," and nobody wants me to do that, because people out there LIKE the things that I don't like. So I'll avoid it, but I think you can think of examples on your own if you try.

But there are stories where I think the hero doesn't get hurt enough, too. I think these are easier to find. Stories where you think that the hero's character arc feels cheap, or unearned, or like they didn't struggle enough or have enough trouble getting what they wanted. This can be hard to nail down. I once watched a movie with my mom where, at the end, the main character fucking died, and she said that it felt cheap because his death meant that he got away with crimes he'd committed earlier in the film. But he was fucking DEAD! Didn't matter to her. Wasn't good enough for her!

So there's no satisfying everybody, alright?

I like giving weird examples that illustrate what I'm talking about, and today I think I'd like to draw from episode 17 of the now-obscure anime Re:CREATORS, in which the grizzled detective from a Cyberpunk manga (made up for the show) points a gun at his creator (also made up for the show), a thin woman who smokes a lot and struggled to make it as an author for years before finding success with his story, which wasn't even his story, it was his partner's story.

As far as I'm aware, there isn't an official English dub of the anime, so I'm going to just directly quote the English subtitles. It's easier than trying to translate it myself, especially since the detective's creator speaks a dialect that I've never been good at.

He's alone in the room with her, gun raised. He was going to kill her, but she pointed out that if he did that, then he wouldn't be able to ask her anything at all, and, knowing she was right, he has something needs to say.

"I don't care whether or not you're the creator of my world. However, there are some things I can't excuse. This might not be important at all to you, a god, but there is one thing even the tiniest piece of dust would never be able to forgive. You planned it, and you wrote everything. You're responsible for everything. That's why I want to ask you why…"

She cuts him off. They say, simultaneously: "Why did my daughter have to die like that?"

His creator smiles at him.

"I only have one answer. Because it made the story more interesting."

Angry, he shoots her, in the stomach. She falls down, thrown by the impact.

"Devil… I thought you were a god. Can't you at least show some mercy?"

Blood on her lips, she replies. "Why do you think I created your world? To give you peace? That's not why, you fool. It's for the readers. I write whatever makes it more interesting. I'd write unhappy things. I'd even kill people. I'd even turn the world upside-down."

The scene goes on. It's a good scene. It ends kind of silly, but it's a good scene.

Some people will say that about the show as a whole. I can't really argue, I suppose. Personally, I thought the ending was pretty interesting, too. But there's no accounting for taste.

But the point made by the detective's creator is important.

"It made the story more interesting."

That's the only thing that matters when a story is being written. What makes it more interesting? Every sentence needs to be written to answer that question.

It's not a deep thought, wondering what a creation would do if it met its creator. It's not a parallel to humanity and our gods. Fiction is fiction. I've never once been afraid of what my creations would say to me if they met me in reality, because they aren't real.

But I just recently finished posting a story where the main character falls in love with a young woman whose family is unknown to her, whose biological mother died shortly after she was born, and whose one and only sister was killed in a drunk driving accident where the heroine herself was the driver.

Why the fuck did I do that? Was that really necessary? Did that really make the story more interesting? Did I put her through all of that because I thought it was fucking interesting?

Yep. That's why.

I'd take everything from Marigold if I thought that it would raise people's interest in the story by a single hair. I'd torture her for years. I'd put her through hell. There's no upper limit to how much I'd hurt her if I thought for one second that it would get one more person to read and enjoy the tale.

I posted the story of Daisuke and his daughter Mikoto last year. Daisuke literally did die in his story, and he went straight to Hell when he did, and he knew he would, because he'd died earlier, and been resurrected, and it had been made clear to him when he was that there was no escaping that fate. He went to Hell with a smile on his face and the love of his daughter in his heart, because I thought it made the story more interesting.

And you know what? I'd take away that love if I thought that were more interesting.

It wouldn't. That's the only reason why I didn't. The only reason I didn't hurt them more is that it wouldn't have been interesting.

In the novel I'm writing, there's not one, or even two, but three main named characters who lost their homes and their entire families in a war that ended ten years before the story takes place. That's excessive, isn't it? Too much death. Too much suffering.

No. I think it's just right. The point is to show how it affected each of them differently, after all. One of them fled from society and became a hermit for ten years. One endured humiliation for ten years for the sake of returning to her old life. One became a killer who hunted down everyone he could who he thought was affiliated with those who'd hurt him.

And that's important. You have to hurt your characters if you want an audience to care about them. Everybody's been hurt. Everybody's had bad things happen to them, even children. But it can't be minor. It can't be only as bad as the things that have actually happened to your audience, or else they might shrug and say that they're doing alright, so why aren't the characters? It's got to hurt your audience, too. Audiences want to be hurt, and they want to find a way to feel better eventually, too. It's a famous quote from Dave Filoni: "People always say they want things dark, but if you don't have a plan to draw people out of that and show how these people overcome it, then you just leave your audience in despair."

That's important, too. They have to overcome the despair. You can't only hurt them. They have to get out of that darkness that you put them into, at least, your heroes do. It might be okay to hurt the bad guys until they die, depending on how bad they were. But the good guys? It's better to give them some kind of happy, or at least bittersweet, ending, if you want your audience to care.

It's okay, for example, for your hero to die in a heroic sacrifice if that saves the world and then you get an epilogue where you see that the world is a better place. It's less okay for your hero to die in a heroic sacrifice that doesn't accomplish anything.

And you might think that makes it bad for, say, a character to die randomly in the middle of a battle. But it can be, if it makes the story more interesting! If it puts pressure on the surviving characters, or if it raises the tension, then it's okay.

It's an obvious thing, right? Tension is the key. You need to have tension in the story. If you think that the story won't ever resolve happily, if you think that the story is only ever going to be downer after downer, then you won't keep reading. But you also won't keep reading if you think that there won't ever be any downers at all.

In Marigold's story, the story itself really doesn't have as much tension as I'd like for it to. It's a weakness in the story itself, and if I were to ever rewrite it again, I'd love to add a chapter or two in there to make you wonder if Kevin and Marigold are going to break up or stay together. That kind of tension is important in a romance story. In this one, the tension is introduced and resolved in each scene, and the stakes are never terribly high. All the bad stuff that happened to her happened in the past, before the story began. It's background trauma!

Her dad arguably has it worse: his wife and one of his four kids died. But, when we meet him, he acts pretty cheerful at first! That's because people are resilient. I once had a job where I worked with a woman whose son was a utility worker. One day, she left work because she got a call and found out that her son had died. He had climbed up a telephone pole and was working on it when he was electrocuted. He left behind a wife and two-year-old daughter. A month later, that woman was back at work, acting the same as ever, talking and laughing with us. Because that's what people do. The pain she felt would never go away, of course. But she can't spend her entire life with that pain in the forefront of her mind at all times. It'd be too much to bear! It's no way to live!

So Henry's a happy guy, five years after his kid died because his other kid drove drunk. Because to dwell on what's gone wrong would be too much.

I could've written him that way. I could've written him as a depressed, miserable little wreck of a man. But nope! He's fine! He acts fine!

Because that's the limit. That's how much I felt like I needed to torture him. He's had enough time to deal with his trauma. Marigold hasn't. It wouldn't be interesting if she'd spent the last five years in therapy processing her emotions and getting over the trauma of her past actions.

That's really all that matters: how much trauma and torture and pain is interesting? If you can figure that out, you've got it made, friendo.

And I ain't gonna sit here and tell you that I did. All I can do is write to my own tastes and hope for the best. And let me tell you, as someone who's been writing online for twenty years, IT AIN'T PAID OFF YET. SO MAYBE DON'T LISTEN TO ME OR ASK FOR MY ADVICE.

Alright, that's all for now! My next writing class starts Sunday, so I'll probably be quiet here for a while! Maybe in about two years or so I'll have a finished book for you to read! Maybe you'll read it!

#ratralsis writing #long post #text post

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