#and by acting skills i mean lack thereof

[howdoichooseablogname]

buddie au where they get together after the episode of hotshots they're cameo in is released

theyre watching it and curious on what people think, if they were noticed. they have a small cult following shipping them and like 10 works on ao3. this is, like, a month or two after the episode is released

the two of them read all of them (half are explicit) and can't look at each other in the eyes. it takes bobby asking about what's going on between them that gets them to confess

they never realized they could be together and it made them realize they actually love each other

it ends with them getting together and possibly accidentally making waves online (the fics of thier characters triple over night)

[seokgyuu]

After your flawless job-interview, Seokmin hires you as the newest addition to his company. Just that, once you start, it seems like you’re not who you previously portrayed to be. Instead, he finds himself faced with mini-skirts, push-up bras and gawking co-workers, not to mention your absolute lack of work ethic. Obviously, he needs to fire you! Just that, when he tries to… you simply don’t let him.

Pairing: Boss!Seokmin x Employee!F!Reader

Genre: Porn with the smallest bits of plot, workplace “romance”, Smut MDNI!

Warnings: Morally gray characters, Seokmin is obviously reader’s boss and shouldn’t be fucking her, power imbalance, reader gets objectified a lot, but she enjoys it, reader is… acting very dumb (on purpose), Smut warnings under the cut!

Word Count: 3.7k

A/N: Hi everyone!! welcome to this little work of… filth! Making my return with a Seokmin fic just felt right (also I just could not stop thinking about this). Please let me know what you think with a reply or a reblog, it would mean the world to me!! also a big thanks to @shadowkoo for making this AMAZING banner and to @bitchlessdino for beta-ing!!

tagging: @okiedokrie, @inkchwe, @shinysobi, @gyuhanniescarat, @haologram, @beomcoups @wongyuseokie, @the-boy-meets-evil, @multi-kpop-fanfics (just some of my fellow dk enjoyers)

Smut Warnings: oral (m receiving), face fucking, praise (good girl, etc.), degradation (whore, etc.), unprotected sex, titjob, breeding, usage of the word “Sir” in a sexual context, tell me if i missed anything!

His phone rings. The Harry Potter title music is playing, letting him know it’s his sister calling. He can’t pick up, or well, no, he can, considering his hands are free, but he probably shouldn’t.

Having talks with his employees about having to let them go is Seokmin’s least favorite thing about being the boss. He never wants anyone to feel like they weren’t good enough or couldn’t live up to any expectations, but sometimes… sometimes it was inevitable.

Like with you.

When you had first walked into your interview, you impressed him with your sharp tongue and your witty humor. Your resume looked perfect for the job, and your previous experience was exactly what he needed. He hired you the following week and deemed his decision a good one - until you showed up for your first day.

See, before anything else, Seokmin is simply just a man. A man with eyes and needs and desires.

The mini skirt barely covered your backside, showed off your legs and those perfect thighs you had hidden from sight before. Your dress shirt would have been fine for the office if only it wasn’t… half open. Or at least open enough to see your breasts almost falling out of your push-up bra.

He knew back then that he should say something. Tell you that this wasn’t appropriate to wear to work. But he didn’t. For the same reason, his mostly male staff began coming into work more punctually, more eagerly and stayed for even longer hours.

It was a mistake, he thinks now, not to say anything to you on your first day. Or any other day after that.

A mistake or the single best decision he had ever made.

Truth be told, he’d never called you into his office to discuss his decision to let you go if it was only about the clothes (or lack thereof) you wore to work. No, he was fine with the clothes, more than fine, actually, if you took just one look at the amount of tissues discarded in his office’s trash can.

But… you lacked certain skills he had thought you’d easily have, considering your previous jobs. You struggled doing, in his opinion, the most basic tasks, and more or less let the others do the work for you. The work he paid you to do. Instead, you sat at your desk all day and played Solitaire or scrolled on Instagram.

The two of you almost never interacted, mainly because he was scared to say the wrong thing or stare too long at your breasts he couldn’t stop thinking about anyway. When it did happen that he had to talk to you, it mostly went with him going back to his office with a raging boner and a guilty conscience.

One time, he brought back some prints from the copy room, only to find out you had been the one to print them. When he asked around the room and you were the one to raise your hand and get up from your chair he almost choked on his spit. You made your way over him, your tight dress hugging every single one of your curves, the slit in the side showing off where your stockings began, the neckline down far enough for him to see the lacy material of your bra once again.

“Thank you, Mr. Lee, Sir,” you smiled at him, your fingers touching his when you reached for the pile of papers. He felt like you shot him and as a result, he shot a huge load of cum into one of his tissues when he was back in his office.

Then, he met you at the coffee maker one time, witnessing you eat a fucking banana in one god damned bite. He couldn’t believe his eyes when you basically deepthroated the fruit all while looking directly into his eyes. He popped a boner right then and there.

All in all, it was safe to say the woman he had met in the interview was gone and he had absolutely no clue why or how he had let you fool him that day you met.

A part of him was angry at himself for letting it get this far, but he couldn’t deny that with every glimpse of your exposed ass and tits, with every encounter like the prints or the banana, he decided to give you one last chance to prove yourself. So far he had given you about 151 chances and you’d screwed up all of them.

Which is how he ended up calling you into his office.

Which is how you ended up sitting in front of his desk on one of the comfortable dark red armchairs, your legs crossed, yet another mini-skirt rising up far enough for Seokmin to at least imagine he can smell you. The shirt you were wearing was tight and cropped and your blazer was lazily hung over the back of the armchair.

“So, Y/N,” he began, shifting on his seat and trying very hard not to look at your tits, “do you have any idea why I called you in here?”

You shook your head no.

“No, sir, I don’t. Did I do something wrong?”

Sir. Oh good lord, Seokmin had to swallow down the pathetic moan he feels creeping up his throat.

“Well,” he cleared his throat, “I have noticed that you’ve been handing your work off to Chan a lot. Soonyoung as well, and while I understand you’re the newest employee, you have been here for almost five months now, Y/N, and I did expect you to already, you know, do at least a certain amount of work by yourself.”

Your eyes widened the more he spoke, your pout prominent once he finished.

“I’m sorry, Sir, truly! They always offered to help me and I just- I just didn’t want to disappoint them,” your voice strained, almost sounding like you were about to start crying. Seokmin felt his heart speed up.

“I understand that. But still - it must make sense to you that-,”

You jumping up from your chair made him stop mid sentence. He watched how you stalked over to him, your big eyes staring him down with something he couldn’t pinpoint even if he tried.

“It does make sense, Sir, and I want to apologize. I can do better, please don’t fire me.”

Seokmin was frozen in his chair, his seated figure looking up at you, almost panicking when he realized how close you were. If he raised his hand now, he could touch your thigh, could let it slip higher, could-

“Please, Mr. Lee, I’d do anything to keep this job.”

Which is how we get to… now.

His phone is still ringing on the desk, but he’s still nowhere near answering it. He is too focused on your mouth around his rock-hard cock, on the way you look up at him with watery eyes, on the way your hand is fondling his aching balls.

You dropping to your knees might have been the single most hottest thing he has ever seen before. Or well, maybe this right now tops it. Your tongue is flat against his shaft, dragging it along his veins, licking up all the precum that doesn’t directly land in your mouth. You suck on his tip, tease his slit, and moan when you take him all the way.

And Seokmin? He thinks he might have just entered heaven. His hands are itching to touch you, to push you down and fuck up, to lose control, but he doesn’t. Instead, he watches you with his mouth dropped, with his heart going at triple speed in his chest.

This is wrong. So, so wrong! He shouldn’t let you suck his cock as a way to keep your job, for god’s sake!

Once his tip crashes against the back of your throat, his mind goes blank, and all the thoughts from before disappear. They make room for new thoughts instead, thoughts that finally allow him to do what he wanted to from the second you had walked in on your first day.

The groan he lets out causes you to drip into your panties. And the way his hands now find the back of your head almost makes you come. Your eyes roll back for a second, before you bring them back to look at your boss.

Your extremely hot, perfect boss who took so fucking long to bring you into his office. Who could not take a hint at-fucking-all.

He begins to thrust up into your throat, letting out moans you wish you could record and replay as many times as you wished. His cock is big, just as big as you had hoped it to be. He’s veiny and perfect and his angry red tip is going to become your favorite thing to suck on. He tastes salty and sweet and bitter at the same time, melts on your tongue, and gets you to clench around absolutely nothing.

“Fuck,” he cries out when he picks up his speed, nails digging into your scalp as he continues his hard and fast thrusts, his cock beginning to twitch, his balls tightening dangerously. You need him, want him and almost demand him to come down your throat. To give you everything he has to offer. You press your tongue harder against his shaft, cheeks hollowed out, and you can feel his orgasm nearing with every passing second.

“I’m gonna- fu-fuck, I’m gonna c-come!” His cry is almost taking you over the edge too.

Seokmin sees red and white at the same time, opens his eyes, and stares down at you with his pupils blown and his cock finally emptying his seed inside your awaiting mouth. It almost breaks him, seeing how you swallow all of his cum like a pro, never breaking eye contact.

Breathless, Seokmin slowly gets down from his high, watching how you lick up his cock, your eyes twinkling with mischief, giving his tip a small kiss before finally leaning back, batting your eyelashes.

“So tasty, Mr. Lee. Now, should I get back to work?”

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

It kind of becomes a thing. At the beginning, Seokmin calls you into his office and you suck his cock, make him come, go back to work. All while still wearing your skimpy outfits to work and doing the minimum requirements to not be a complete waste of Seokmin’s money. Even though he figures with a cold shiver running down his spine, it seems like he’s paying you for something totally different now.

You’re enjoying this to the fullest, having a right out blast. Not just because you get to have Seokmin fuck your throat every other day, no, but because of how he looks at you. When you met him that first day at the interview, you already knew you wanted him. Knew he was going to be your next little project. So far you had never failed, and you sure as hell weren’t going to start now.

Working at the company for five months hadn’t exactly been your plan, though. Five months until he finally called you into his office. Five months of you choosing the most outrageous outfits, knowing every single man in that office wanted a taste of you, but only wanting one of them to actually act on it.

“Holy fucking hell, yeah, just- just like that,” he’s leaning against the wall behind his desk, you back on your knees, his cock hitting the soft inside of your cheek over and over again. He’s holding onto your hair with one hand while the other is pressed against the wall next to him. You lick and suck and fuck his cock against your cheek, drool running down your chin. You’re painfully wet, throbbing, and needing him to finally put his cock in you.

By now (3 weeks after your little blowjob-job started) you know his tells, can sense when he’s about to come. So, when you hear that first little noise, you let go of his cock with a plop and get up. Seokmin’s eyes open and he looks at you, visibly confused.

“Wha-,” he begins, but you just take a step forward and crush your lips against his, your hands grabbing his face.

For the first few seconds, Seokmin doesn’t really grasp the situation. You’re kissing him. He begins to melt, his hands somehow finding their way to your waist and when you lead him back, suddenly seated on his desk, his mind goes blank. You want him to fuck you. Want his cock to go inside that probably sweet tasting pussy of yours. He moans into your mouth.

“Take me, Mr. Lee, please, need your cock in me, need you to fuck me,” you whisper into his ear, biting his earlobe after and sighing in relief when he immediately moves to get your panties off of you.

“Fuck, fuck, you’re so hot.” He kisses you again, wild and uncontrolled, your panties now landing on the floor. You part your legs and grab his cock, bringing it to your awaiting entrance. There is no stopping the moan that escapes you once his tip slips in, your teeth sinking into his bottom lip harshly. He licks over your teeth, feels his mind fog up, no thoughts just you, you, you.

Then, he’s fully inside of you. Twitches, groans, kisses you harder. And fucks you like a god-damned beast.

The pace he sets is brutal and you’re lucky it’s after hours so no one is at the office anymore. They for sure would have heard the way the desk is bouncing against the floor with every thrust as well as your high pitched moans, and Seokmin’s low growls.

He fucks you like he owns you and you live for it. His cock drags along your walls, fills you like he was made for you, hits your sweet spot over and over again as if he’d done this thousand times before.

“Fuck, yes!” You basically scream, your body falling backward, only his strong hands holding you up as he speeds up once more.

“God, shit, how are you so tight, baby?” He moves to kiss your neck, licks over the salty skin, revels in your taste, in the way you shiver under his touch. You wanna scream and cry and mark his body with your mouth and nails - and so you begin to pull on the hem of his shirt, which he gladly helps you to take off completely.

He’s built like a god. Wide shoulders, bulked up arms, abs like they were painted on. You let your nails drag over his torso, finally sliding them to his strong, muscular back. When he pushes into you even more, his lips not getting enough of your own, you dig into his flesh and hear him hiss. Still, he doesn’t stop. If anything, he goes even harder. Fucks you til you scream his name while experiencing the most intense orgasm of your life, milking his cock of all he had, cum filling your pussy to the brim.

After that it spirals.

He fucks you every chance he gets. He is addicted to you and your pussy. Whenever he needs you, he gets to have you.

He bends you over his desk during work hours, drilling into your pussy like a mad man while pressing his hand over your mouth to make sure no one notices. He comes inside you and stuffs it all back in there with his fingers, pulls your panties back up and sends you out to continue your work day as before.

When lunch time comes around, you meet him in the building’s cafeteria and he drags you to the nearest supply closet to fuck your mouth and then your cunt, telling you what a good little slut you are and how well you always take him.

He sends you pictures of his hard cock after work, begging you to come to his place and bounce on him - but you never do. It’s a game for both of you. No fucking outside of work, no dates or anything like that. He gets to keep fucking you and you get to keep your job - easy as that.

Just that… you’re not really bad at your job. Seokmin is slow to figure that one out, you realize.

When your seventh month at the company begins, he is so focused on getting his cock inside of you, he doesn’t even notice you’ve stopped handing off your assignments to your colleagues. You’ve actually grown quite fond of this job and the team - and Seokmin for that matter. Not that you want to admit that to him, or confess that you’ve been playing this part of the dumb girl with the slutty outfits simply to get his attention.

“I love when you get to the office with no panties on, gods, you’re a dirty little whore.” Seokmin’s hands are on your ass while you bounce on his cock. He’s sitting on his desk chair, admiring the view of your tits as you fuck yourself on his cock. His dirty words make your pussy flutter around him and you whimper, your hands braced on his shoulders.

“Mhmm, only a whore for you, Mr. Lee,” you moan, biting down on your lip. There is no chance you’ll ever grow tired of seeing the way he looks at you when you fuck. His hooded eyes, his red lips dropped open. His cheeks flushed and his hair a mess.

You enjoy being on top, enjoy watching him watch you, setting your own pace until he can’t hold back any longer and wraps his arm around your waist, pushing you down so he can fuck into you at his desired speed.

“That’s right, you’re my whore, your pussy belongs only to me.” He squeezes your ass cheeks and moans when you clench around him again, thrusting his hips up once. You can tell he’s about to lose control, about to hold you down and fuck you senseless. There is nothing quite as hot as Seokmin losing his composure.

Just two days ago, you teased him by being flirty with Soonyoung all day. Seokmin had not thought of himself as possessive, but somehow when it came to you…

Safe to say, he fucked you against his office door two minutes after your last encounter with Soonyoung, simply shoving up your skirt and ripping off your panties, his cock deeply buried inside of you the next second. He fucked you so hard you couldn’t properly walk even the day after.

“Yes, Mr. Lee, my pussy belongs to you, I am yours, Sir.”

You bounce on his cock quicker now, throwing your head back when his hands move to your breasts, taking them both into his hands and cradling them. His fingers press onto your nipples, squeezing them between his thumb and forefinger, pinching and teasing you. With every touch of his, you feel yourself nearing your high.

“You’re so beautiful, always so good for me, isn’t that right?” He breathes out, licking his lips as his eyes are glued to the way your tits look between his hands.

He fucked them a few days ago, your tits. Had you kneeling between his legs, squeezing them together as he fucked his cock between them with the lube he now stored in his bottom drawer. They had felt amazing around him, but nothing compared to your cunt, to its warmth, to its tightness.

“Oh- oh! I’m- I’m gonna come, Mr. Lee! Please, can I come?!” Your orgasm is so close, is ready to crash down on you and when Seokmin moaned out a yes, you let it happen. Waves and waves of pleasure erupt in your body and make you fall forward against his chest, his hips now beginning to thrust up, his moans turning more and more desperate.

“Good girl, such a good girl, fuck- I’m gonna fill you up, yeah? Fill you up with my cum, breed you like my own personal whore, hm?”

Your nails dig into his skin desperately as he fucks you fast and hard, his right arm now around your waist, pressing you down while he uses you for his pleasure, crying out your name when he comes - white hot cum landing inside your spent pussy, painting it the colours of his affection for you.

Seokmin fucks both of you through your orgasms, whispering sweet nothings into your ear, kissing your lips passionately when his hips still. You kiss him back, arms wrapping around his neck, your high still present in your bones.

“You’re perfect,” Seokmin mumbles against your lips and you smile, kissing him again, fingers brushing through his hair.

For a while, you make-out just like that, him still safely buried inside of you, some bits of your combined releases dripping down onto his chair.

Only when Seokmin’s phone rings do the two of you part. You give his cheek a small kiss before climbing off his lap and looking for your underwear, all while you put your dress back into its place. Your boss watches you, wishes he could just do this all over again instead of answering his phone. Reluctantly, he takes the call and watches how you wave at him, panties back on and clothes and shoes back where they belong. He waves back, greeting the business partner on the other line.

And when you leave his office and close the door behind you, when none of your co-workers even pay you any mind, you realize that maybe you like to keep it this way for just a little while longer.

[thebomb-thebird-andtheburntbitch]

"you'd like me to what?" zhongli had been enjoying your company in silence for a spell before you had blurted out a request you wished he would fulfil for you.

"show me how to fight with a polearm." zhongli had not yet divulged the information about him being a god to you, and as far as he knew you hadn't known just how much physical power he possessed. so why ask him?

"may i ask why you've chosen to come to me with this request? i'm afriad i am quite at a loss."

"well, you go out with the traveler on occasion, right? and they're super strong and it's not like you go on leisurely walks among the hilichurl invaded mountains of liyue." before zhongli could even try and rebuttle, you keep going. "and truthfully, if you go out into the rolling hills with the traveler covering you everywhere you go, that makes you look kinda bad you know."

"bad?" his voice pitches and recoils slightly from your words.

"making them do all the work while you sit back and do nothing! that certainly would paint a bad picture if you keep going out there willingly and don't learn. so! you must know something."

"hmm," he hums, wordless agreeing with a small furrow to his brow and a sweat on his neck. though your scenarios were purely hypothetical and very untrue since he does carry his own weight very well, it still wasn't a picture his wanted you to paint of him. "perhaps.. you're correct. but, then why would you request training specific to polearms? could you not ask a local millelith for aid?"

"i could i guess," you deflate and he almost cracks right there. "but hu tao said you were definitely a better choice in regards to what i'm looking for."

zhongli feels a deep sigh in his chest at the mention of the current director. yes, this does have her written all over it. if she wasn't looking into ridiculous ways of promoting the business of death, she was snooping around in zhongli's love life- or lack thereof since you were not his significant other much to her displeasure.

"last i check however, you were already very skilled in other means of combat. why the sudden interest?"

"isn't is a good thing to broaden your horizons? that's what childe said anyways."

you've also convened with childe it seems. lovely.

"you really should disregard anything those two say." his voice is normal as he speaks, but the dryness of it makes you laugh. he wasn't joking, but he smiles at you regardless.

"well, i'm not going to pressure you!" you get the sense that his questions were a very very polite way of stalling you from a rejection. "if you dont want to, childe did offer since he said he's mastered every form of combat aside from archery." zhongli felt his brow twitch.

"i also wouldn't recommend getting too frivolous with childe. kind though he may act, he is still someone to be cautious of."

"because he's a fatui?"

"partially." also because he'll easily vie all of your free time from this point onwards until he leaves liyue if you go to him for training. zhongli wouldn't get to enjoy your company like this anymore if you do run to childe, and that idea alone makes his chest itch. "i accept your request."

his calm agreement makes your face light up and your eyes shine with such excitement he feels antsy. strange how strong the urge to kiss you grows when you look at him like he had just hung the stars.

zhongli is lucky the next time you see childe and tell him that zhongli will be training you with polearms, he's seated up in the higher shops of liyue's red-fenced architecture. the strained, yet begrudging look of disappointment to cross the harbingers face is a perfect appetizer to go with his fresh cup of tea.

as is the smug look zhongli shoots him when childe feels the burning gaze on his skull and looks up once you saunter off. zhongli takes pleasure in knowing he is a being who is and always will be above childe, both in his current fenced in seat above his head and higher status of being. a mere fatui harbinger has nothing on a god, gnosis or no.

zhongli was untouchable by many, in many ways. you however, all you had to do was simply ask and he would do whatever you wished.

besides, he hadn't forgotten what childe tried to do to his nation where all his beloved people and you resided. and his memory, much to childe's misfortune, is very good.

[lisa-russell]

My SIDE ORDER Agent Theory Stuff! Plz Reblog!

It took me while to put this together, so pleaze i would love to hear your theories or thoughts on this and every reblog means more inkfish get to see this....

I wanted to point out a reasonable explanation as to how four may have gotten involved with the dlc.

(And i was also greatly disappointed by the lack thereof an actual uncorrupted vr of them...why even Agent 3s model and part in S3s heromode got updated!)

I made an art collage using in-game renders and some of personal screenshots of my playthrough to make this awesome Thang!

Also please kindly reblog!

A Soul's Data is corrupted by a Twisted Sense Of Order. Minds falling into its grey abyss of deceptive peace.

Like Puppets pulled by strings, memories and mind chained locked behind a firewall of colour consuming Greyish blight.

Only four Souls can free the rest, a rainbow rising to wash away the black tide, bringing with it the Ebb and Flow of sweet melody...

Hijacked Security System Avatar.

I bet a lot of you know by now, that if Order won, it would have been most likely Agent 4 who we would've played as. Or so the more popular theory goes.

Here are my notes and observations!

Yah may have to tap the images and zoom in on the text sorry 😂

As you can clearly see, I think they ended up as the main head of the Security System and the the other victoms pulled in acted as backups.

Just take a look at this below!

As yah can see, I feel like 4s Soul Data was caught and forcibly Corrupted via greyscaling or was in the mid-process of that.

Just look at the ink their Avatar its....completely grey and colourless. Same with the other Greylings surrounding 4, those who I think are skilled and talented TurfWar Pro's and Grizzco Veterans.

I feel like the masks also represent the fact their Soul or *Mind* is being messed with.

[damnfandomproblems]

Posting a compilation of replies to Fandom Problem #5796.

Anon:

"Don't you think that minors would be more polite if..." No. No I don't. I was a minor in fandom. I also grew up at the dawn of the internet age and had internet safety pounded into my head from the age of 10 onward. If I interacted online at all outside of viewing and reading, I knew better than to be an asshole, because the internet has always been an adult sphere. I saw other minors get well deserved internet smackdowns for acting stupid online. If the kids are in actual kids spaces, then fine, leave them alone, that's their space. If they're on Xitter or Tumblr.com or A03 and acting the fool? No. You're in an adult space, interacting with adults, and those adults aren't there to cater to or coddle you. Which media the adult in question happens to like is irrelevant. You came into our spaces and started throwing a shit fit because you, a minor, didn't like what you, a minor, saw in our, adults, adult spaces. Most of the time we don't care if you're being cringe and having fun. Go, have fun, be cringe be free all that. Some kids are great and here to learn and have fun and are able to actually read the fandom room and know how to act like a respectable human while also having a good time. But if you're being antagonistic and hateful because you literally just are not mature enough to handle/comprehend what's going on in the space, then you don't need to be in the space at worst. At best, sit down, hush, and learn rather than running at the mouth about how you hate x y z thing because eww icky or you think it's problematic to your current pet social issue that doesn't even have anything to do with it. Kids are some of the biggest natural bullies out there. Kids being assholes to each other isn't just a trope, it's why secondary school/highschool was hell for so many people. Adults aren't all assholes, we're just better at calling kids out on their bullshit and don't have the patience for the "but I'm a minor" nonsense. Being a minor doesn't mean you're free from consequences, but some of y'alls parents clearly never taught you that. They aren't puritans, they're being idiots because they literally have no concept of fandom history and are just parroting nonsense that's been spoon-fed to them by other idiots. And rather than question things like anyone with critical thinking skills should be doing they take it all at face value and believe their own poor understanding or lack thereof is gospel, and everyone suffers for it, including other minors who also don't know better.

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Anon:

Fandom isn't just for minors though. Adults are allowed to be in fandoms even if it is uncomfy to minors. Adults are allowed to make NSFW of fictional characters in fandom if they want to. If minors don't like it, they can just ignore it. If minors want to be respected, they should also respect adults in fandom spaces. Complaints like "adults shouldn't be here" or "you are an adult, go get a job instead!" does not make you any better.

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Anon:

I agree with this tbh. Like adults are the ones making things unsafe for minors in fandom spaces. YOU are the ones who approach minors unprompted. Minors are just minding their own business in fandom, then you all come along and bother everyone.

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Anon:

I agree with this post, cause like... the ones doing the most harassing are adults. I am a minor, and it makes me feel unsafe in fandom spaces. Especially when I see adults drawing nsfw of characters who are MINORS! aging them up does not excuse that gross and creepy behavior. Just stop and give us a space where we don't get pushed into a corner and called annoying. Leave our fandom spaces!

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Anon:

When I was 17 so technically a technically still a minor I would have to keep my age off of all my blogs and accounts because so many other minors have ruined being younger in a fandom space. Literally just having my age up affected my numbers and how seriously I was taken. Y’all are not innocent though stop playing victim there are valid reasons why people don’t like you. Tons of younger kids these days are entitled overly sensitive and somehow both pretentiously “woke” and super disrespectful at the same time. So yea saying this as someone with pretty recent memories of being a minor online so many of you are actually insane and people not feeling comfortable around you is completely valid especially when you’re typing stuff like this up as your best defense. Especially with darker or NSFW stuff you don’t have to look we aren’t shoving down your throat you chose to be here just look away.

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Anon:

I see people getting mad about Fandom Problem #5796, but that kind of is just proving the point? You all act like the minors are the biggest problem in fandom, but you are the ones constantly inserting yourselves and making it about you. I see adults say things like: - "Fandom wouldn't exist without adults." - "Who do you think created fandom? Not minors!" - "Minors wouldn't have content if it weren't for adults." All are ignorant of the idea that minors are the foundation to fandom. Fandom would not exist if it wasn't for minors being interested in it and starting groups for people to join. Often times, the best artists and writers in the fandoms are THE MINORS. Adults make the space uncomfortable by inserting themselves and putting NSFW fics and art of minor characters. Then they get pissy when a minor points out it makes them uncomfortable and go "stop invading our space!" You are the ones trying to push minors out when we just want to have fun! Just leave us alone! -A minor

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Anon:

Of course, 5796 has a corollary: "To the minors who constantly complain about adults in fandom being mean to them: don't you think adults would be more polite to minors if said minors didn't make fun of them, didn't treat them like shit everywhere they went, didn't blame them for all the problems on the internet, didn't publicly shame them for minor social faux pas, didn't call them "pedophiles" for anything from liking an icky ship to saying two words to a minor in passing to just existing peacefully in a space where a child might theoretically be present, and didn't try to gatekeep them out of fandom spaces that were literally made by and for them?? And don't give me that "well we just want to be safe! 🥺" Bs. Because if that were in any way true, then y'all would be listening to the safety tips that the adults are giving you, not using them as a scapegoat for anything bad happening in fandom and generalizing them as these eeeevil predators who just hate children." It doesn't matter what your age is; if you refuse to behave in a given space, then you won't be welcome in that space.

[bangtanficsforyou]

They Reject You (Hyung Line)- Part One

Pairing: BTS x Reader 

Warnings: small mentions of alcohol, there might be curse words here and there.

Genre: angst (but it's not that bad, i think?)

A/N: If you enjoy my writing and wish to support me, consider joining my patreon!

Jin

"That's cute," Jin quips.

"Huh?" You say in a questioning tone. Not understanding what exactly he is commenting on.

"The guy preparing dishes for the girl, even though he sucks like really bad at it." He replies with an amused smirk playing on his lips.

Your eyes drift back to the screen for a brief moment to see the said guy now mistaking sugar for salt.

"I mean, dude is trying, so yeah, it is cute," you agree with a nod and take another scoop out of your ice cream tub.

"If only he had my cooking skills." He boasts, leaning back slightly as his smirk turns cocky.

"You went from complimenting the lead guy to complimenting yourself, real quick." You quirk a brow at him, letting him know that you totally intend on calling him out.

"Does that surprise you?" He ask, quirking a brow of his own, in return.

A soft smile appears on your lips. "Considering that it's you, no, it really doesn't."

He nods at you to agree with your words. "Hey, but it's true though. I am a great cook and my girl would be really lucky to have me as her man."

Something about the phrase my girl rubs you off in the wrong way. Maybe it's because when he speaks it like that, your brain comes up with the image of someone faceless being all coupley with him. But that's the thing, you don't want that person to be faceless, you want it to be you.

"So you'll cook for your girlfriend?" You ask trying to keep your tone playful to hide the way your stomach is currently churning.

He looks at you as if you have asked the most ridiculous question and as if the answer to that question should be obvious. "Duh, that's like one of my top date ideas. To cook for the girl I love and wooing her with my skills."

You hum in response.

Does he ever think of you that way? Is the person faceless to him as well? Or does he have someone he likes already?

"Jin," you call out, not thinking straight and acting solely on the emotions that are coursing through your veins. Perhaps, you have had enough of bottling up these feelings and of not having a clue where you stand.

He responds with a hum before glancing away from the screen to look at you.

"I have feelings for you."

For a few moments there's only silence except for the noises from the TV and in those few moments you keep your eyes locked with his, simply because you're far too anxious to move even in the slightest. Plus, having your eyes on him allows you to notice every emotion that plays on his face.

But the longer the silence stretches, the more your heart sinks.

If you were to go by his reaction, or lack thereof, you know, that whatever words he's about to speak, will only break your heart.

Jin closes and opens his mouth a few times, searching for a reply. He just wants to say something, anything that will break this awkward silence.

"You can just be honest with me, you know?" You say, adding a light chuckle at the end, in hopes that it will make him feel comfortable enough to spit out whatever it is that he wants to say.

Thankfully, it seems to give him enough courage.

"I just, haven't ever thought about us like that and your confession caught me extremely off guard." Jin sighs. "But I'm glad you confessed, I can imagine how tiring it can get to keep your feelings to yourself. I just hope now you feel a little lighter and I really don't know what's the app–"

He is cut off by a something small hitting him right across the face. When he realises that it's a popcorn and that it's you, who has aimed it at him, he stops his rambling and looks at you with a confused frown.

"You don't have to ramble so much," you snort.

"I just don't know what to say," Jin for some reason looks disappointed with himself. "Just give me sometime?"

You shrug, pretending to be totally unbothered. "Don't worry about it. Take all the time you need."

With that you turn back towards the tv screen, and rewind the movie a little bit because you have no idea how the plot progressed in the last ten minutes. Jin takes the hint that this conversation is over, at least, for now and resumes watching the movie.

However, you can feel his eyes swiftly move to your face every now and then, just to make sure you're okay.

Any other time, you'd have appreciated it and cooed at how sweet and caring he is, but right now, you honestly hate it.

Because even though he didn't directly say it, you understood what he meant. He does not know how to turn you down.

You understood it the moment he said that that he has never thought about the two of you like 'that'. As someone who knows what falling in love feels like, you know, picturing yourself with the person you want, is something that happens automatically. It's just a part of the process.

But it never occurred to him that way because he never really found himself falling for you.

So for the next twenty minutes, you pretend to be slowly falling asleep to avoid any sort of interactions with the man sitting a few feet away.

Min Yoongi:

"You're late," that's the first thing Yoongi says when you take your seat. Rightly so, you think. Afterall, you're half an hour late and had it not been for your text you're pretty sure Yoongi would have left by now.

"I'm sorry, there was too much traffic," you lie hoping he buys it.

He nods but a part of you thinks he doesn't completely believe it, yet chooses not to question your words.

Instead he hands over the menu to you. "What would you like to order?"

"I will just have the usual, I guess," you reply not bothering to skim through the menu.

"Well then," he dings the bell, notifying the waiter that you both are ready to order.

Once the waiter has noted down both of your orders and is gone, you find yourself glancing around awkwardly to avoid his eyes.

"How was your Sunday?" His deep voice greets your ears and you mentally curse out loud.

"It was just another Sunday," you shrug, not bothering to keep up the conversation because honestly, you're scared as fuck to exceute your plan.

Okay, that sounded very spy like but it's not that serious.

Your plan is to confess to Yoongi.

Yoongi is the man you're engaged to.

The man you're engaged to because getting married to him, would be extremely beneficial to both of your father's companies. The man with whom you have gone on ten dates so far, because although, arranged, you two should get the oppurtunity to get to know each other before marriage. The man for whom you've found yourself falling, just after the third date.

When you put it like that, it does sound as intense as being a spy. Because even though the two of you have been on dates and are about to get married, Yoongi isn't someone who's emotions can be read very easily.

You don't even know if he enjoys your company or agrees to go on the dates with you just because he feels like he has to. He doesn't make you feel unwanted but that doesn't mean you feel particularly wanted either. It's somewhere in between. Which is confusing as fuck, to be honest.

But it's not like all that matters. You both are getting married eitherways, so the bare minimum you can do is to be honest about your feelings for him. That way, you'd let him know where you stand in this arrangement.

You have told yourself that just because you found yourself falling for him this quick doesn't mean he'll too. If his current feelings for you, turns out to be platonic, you'll be okay with it. But that doesn't mean that a part of you does not hope for him to reciprocate your feelings.

And it's because of your 'plan' to confess, that you were late by half an hour. You just kept pacing in your office and lost track of time.

But now that you're here sitting infront of him, and staring at him, you realise that there's no point in stalling.

"Actually, I realised something this Sunday," you say.

He quirks a brow that lets you know that you've got his attention. "What that realisation might be?"

You sigh, feeling your nerves take over. "That if we're going to get married, we should be honest with each other."

His curious expression turns into that of a confused frown. "What do you mean?"

You chew on your lower lip before taking a deep breath in hopes that it will provide you with the courage you need to just let the words out. "I like you."

Yoongi's face remains neutral but you don't miss the glimpse of surprise that flashes through his eyes. That surprise is enough to tell you that he wasn't expecting that.

He remains silent for a few moments and you let him be. Before he can speak, the waiter comes with the food which breaks the tense atmosphere.

Thanking him, you take your portion of chicken on your plate, when Yoongi starts speaking.

"Thanks for being honest with me," he says it softly and in a tone that lets you know that he means it. It also lets you know that there is a but coming. "But I guess I have been too stuck in my head to let myself relax and feel anything."

There we go.

You know you said that you'd be okay with him turning you down but now you don't feel okay at all.

It hurts.

But you guess, you should have seen it coming.

It doesn't help that from the very moment, you realised your feelings for Yoongi, your brain had been imagining you two being happily married and being in love with each other. Basically living with each other like any other couple who marry in normal circumstances.

Your hurt must have been visible on your face because as soon as Yoongi notices the effect his words have, he starts fumbling with his words.

"Look-What I mean to say–"

You chuckle, albeit a fake one, to put him at ease. "You don't have to explain yourself, it's okay."

Yoongi looks unsure but figures he doesn't know what else to say. Which is why he ends up asking, "are you sure?"

You nod and give him  smile, hoping to reassure him.

As you look back at your plate, you find yourself wondering what this marriage is going to be like. It's not exactly loveless, but then that love isn't reciprocated. You find yourself panicking extremely, when you think of the both of you living together.

Fuck, what's worse is now he's aware of what you feel for him. You two would pretend to be happily married to the rest of the world and be awkward when away from the public eye.

What the fuck have you gotten yourself into.

Hoseok:

It's weird now that you have confessed to Hoseok, your dance teacher.

You know when the term "teacher" is used in a sentence like that, people usually frown. But you'd come to your defense and say, that there's nothing frown-worthy here.

You're twenty two and he's twenty six, both adults and belong to the age group where you both can make your own decisions. Plus, it isn't the usual teacher-student scenario here. Although, you and Hoseok started off with him being your teacher, gradually the two of you became friends.

Hence, it's fair to say he isn't just your teacher.

It's when you started to get to know him outside of the four walls of your classroom, that you started to fall for him. How could you not? He's a literal sunshine. A person who can light up anyone's mood and someone who's presence feels so warm and bright.

You've honestly, never met someone like him before.

You think he should have seen your confession coming but the surprised Pikachu face he made upon your decaration of love, told you that he clearly did not anticipate that.

The whole confessing thing went fine. You were scared, yes, but you did it. What isn't fine, however, is how he is yet to give you an answer.

But it was you who had asked him to take as much time as he needed and to not feel pressured. But after seven long days, you're getting antsy.

Which is why, once the class is over, you linger until everyone else is gone. Once you notice that there's no one else and just you and Hoseok, you head towards him.

You tap on his shoulders to make him aware of your presence.

He turns around and upon noticing that it's you, he gives you one of your sunshine smiles. "Hello."

"Hey," you return his smile and greet him back. "If you don't mind, can I talk to you about something?"

He nods without missing a beat and you honestly love how this isn't awkward at all. Although, by the look in his eyes, you think he has some idea what you want to say. "Did you think about what I said last week?"

Hoseok gives you a nod again, and this time his smile turns apologetic. "Yes I did and I'm so sorry for not reaching out to you any sooner."

You wave your hand in the hair dismissing his words. "Don't apologise, it's obvious that you'd need your time to gain some clarity."

"Thank you so much for being so understanding." He feels relieved to hear your words but sighs when he realises what he will have to do. "But I think I'd rather us be friends, I'm sorry."

Ouch.

You chuckle. "Again, there's nothing you have to apologise about. Thanks for letting me know."

With that you give a tiny little wave and head for the door.

"Wait, you're leaving?" He queries, not expecting you to just leave.

You smile at his question. "Although I'm like totally cool, I still need some time away to let it sink in that the guy I have been crushing on for months, just turned me down."

Hoseok feels bad when you put it like that but he knows you're right. "I get that, I'm sorry–"

"Stop apologising, will you?" You say in a light tone letting him know that there's nothing that he should be worried about and that you're definitely not upset about his rejection. When you notice that his expression has softened, you offer him one last smile before heading out.

When the warm air greets you outside, you feel a bit of melancholy. It's just your mind that wonders how beautiful it would have been had you got the opportunity to call Hoseok, yours. How lucky would you have been had you got to see the side of Hoseok that he reserves only for the special someone. How you could have easily fallen in love with him and would have cherished him.

But alas, you don't think that you'll get the chance to do any of the above.

You just hope whoever, gets to do those things with him, they cherish him and treat him right.

Namjoon:

"I have feelings for you," you slurr, the evidence of alcohol heavily present in both your breath and words.

Namjoon, the person your words are directed at, completely freezes. He blinks a few times for you to say something like sike! gotcha but when you don't, he lets out a nervous chuckle. "You're drunk, you probably don't even know what you're saying."

"Just say that you don't feel the same. Don't try to educate me about whether I'm drunk or not," you whine in complaint. "I anyway saw you making out with that girl a few minutes ago."

Namjoon's expression changes when he realises that although you're saying this in your drunken state, you very well know what you're talking about. Were you really confessing to him? Right now? At your brother's birthday party?

"Hey, c'mon we can talk about this later." He says trying to keep his voice gentle so that he doesn't sound as panicked as he feels.

"No, I need you to say it to me." You reply, voice as firm as it can be in your drunk state. "I need you to say that you don't feel the same. That would help me get over you."

At the end of it, you end up looking like a child throwing tantrum with a pout and a sad yet annoyed frown on your face.

Any other time Namjoon would have cooed at the sight but right now he's too concerned about not making a scene and gain unnecessary attention.

His eyes do a quick scan of his surrounding and when he makes sure that so far the two of you have managed to not draw attention, his eyes drift back towards you and he speaks in a hurried, hushed tone. "I don't think this is the right time to talk about this. Especially not in a room full of people."

"You're deflecting from the topic," you huff and cross your arms. "There's nothing too difficult about rejecting my confession. Just say so and we will be done."

"Can we do this later–"

"No we can't," you cut him off and stomp your feet in anger. "You don't know how much it hurts everytime you treat me as just your best friend's little sister. I know you'd never see me like that but seeing you make out with someone else was a whole different level of hurt."

Namjoon's features soften when he notices that now your features have turned that into of heartbreak.

"I understand what you're trying to say," he says his eyes now on the floor. "But still, I think that this is a conversation that should be saved for later."

You get closer to him, your eyes visibly fuming with how he refuses to take your words seriously.

"You tell me that you don't feel the same, right to my face or I'm not moving an inch from here." You grit the words through your teeth.

Namjoon sighs and you're standing so close to him, that you feel his breath hit your face. "Is that what you want?"

"Yes," you reply without missing a beat with your eyes fixed on him, refusing to move an inch. It's your drunk mind's attempt at registering everything so that you don't forget it when you wake up tomorrow. You need to remember this so that you can put a stop to this one sided pining for once and for all.

"Well then, I don't feel the same." He whispers the words so slowly and so gently, that had it not been for your undivided attention, you'd have missed it.

But you don't.

The words have you flinching even though this is very much what you had asked for. You take a few steps back and nod at him, letting him know that you're satisfied with his answer.

You don't look up at him as you leave the hall and ultimately, the party. You think you hear a voice calling your name and you think it might just be Namjoon's but you don't turn around to confirm your suspicions.

Right now, your utmost priority is to reach your apartment and let things sink in.

[ai-the-broccoli]

Luka is actually kind of like Klavier Gavin, I think

(messy informal comparative analysis)

this might feel like a little bit of a jarring comparison to some, because Luka is kinda remembered by many fans for his fucked up-ness (largely because he takes on an antagonistic role in alnst and is involved in the death and/or harming of major characters that many fans have emotional investment in), while Klavier is often known/remembered as the nicest rival prosecutor in AA.

so. now I get where that impression regarding Klavier comes from, and in fact I think it IS kinda true afaik, but you know what I gotta say something. Klavier very well might be the nicest prosecutor indeed, but imo this really isn't necessarily because he is actually extremely really nice all the time, but rather because the other prosecutors are really fucking mean on average lmao. the majority of them routinely physically assault the defense attorney in court so like. yeah! technically, Klavier is much nicer! in that he doesn't physically attack others in court, doesn't hold a strong personal grudge against the defense (even when he technically could've found a reason for it) unlike several other prosecutors, and cares about finding the truth more than various others prosecutors and is willing to work together with the defense toward that goal.

all of that however doesn't mean he's actually super super nice. I do not say this out of dislike for Klavier; he is one of my favourite characters in AA, and this is part of what I like him for. he definitely acts significantly "chiller" than the other prosecutors, but in terms of niceness or the lack thereof, he has his moments too. most notably, the time when he was very callous about Wocky's presumed upcoming death, as well as Klavier's behaviour during some trials in Turnabout Serenade. in general he can be callous and/or even slightly sadistic at times, and often, the more stress he is under, the more the latter tends to show. on a related note, Klavier is also fairly manipulative* imo, as in he is quite capable of stringing the scenario in the courtroom along to his will.

* reminder that this is a morally neutral thing btw. in a general/wide sense, "manipulativeness/manipulation" isn't actually this really rare sinister evil thing that is only done by malicious parties. actually, a hell lot of things that nearly everyfuckingbody does (consciously or unconsciously) on a regular basis are acts of manipulation, technically, in social and interpersonal settings.

anyway back to the point. what's relevant here is that typically, people are more likely to develop a tendency to manipulate to a degree that is above average and/or otherwise different from the typical/socially accepted forms of manipulation, if there has been a need and/or a desire for it. this goes for, for example, some children who grow up in hostile, controlling, neglectful, and/or otherwise toxic environments, where they learned to manipulate as a survival skill and/or defense mechanism.

... which I do think is the likely case for both Luka and Klavier. when you look at it, both of them kind of have like. covert control freak tendencies? this is despite the fact that they always act totally Chill and Charming as long as they can

for Klavier, his chill-dazzling-and-charming persona very visibly slips at various points starting in Turnabout Serenade, not only when he's away from the courtroom (when he more actively acts out) but also sometimes when he's in the courtroom too -- like, he visibly shows a moment of stress/anxiety every time he learns of information he has not been able to obtain/expect before, and stuff.

for Luka, there's also the moment in Round 7 where Till gets distracted when he finally sees Mizi in the crowd, and the stage thus stops playing out the way Luka has expected, and Luka is shown to be annoyed by that.

when you look at it, both of them very much kind of are control freaks. they're Performers in every sense of the word, and like. the ways they act on their respective "stages" (for Luka, the literal stage; for Klavier, both the literal stage, and the courtroom, which is a different stage of his. and kind of in life in general if you view him that way, but to a lesser extent. here I'm talking about his court cases and stage performances.)? They both meticulously pre-plan their "performances" -- that's why they're able to pull it off so calmly, coolly and seemingly effortlessly -- and they really do not like it when something completely unexpected disrupts their plans.

see Luka's interview for instance:

7. How do you calm your nerves on stage? I think ahead about how I would handle a possible problem situation. You never know what will happen on stage, so it’s important to have a solution in mind. That’s how you keep your heart rate under control – again, I have my father’s training to thank for this. (laugh) 8. “Luka is unlike any other ALNST winner” – this seems to be the popular opinion. What do you think sets you apart? ALNST is a survival competition, but what’s more important is the performance itself. Focusing solely on the performance and putting on the perfect stage is what every participant should have in mind.

Luka is annoyed to see Mizi suddenly appearing to distract Till because he probably has not prepared for a way to counter such an incident, and now his perfect stage is ruined.

also. earlier I mentioned the (mild?) sadism exhibited by Klavier at certain times (especially when he's stressed out) and this is also seen in Luka's behavior and. again. this is also kinda about control, because when you mess with people like that, you are reinforcing a feeling of control over the situation and the other people, which is exactly why Klavier mostly kinda does it when he feels like everything is out of wack and his life is messed up and slipping out of his control.

e.g. in Turnabout Serenade (aka Klavier's Terrible Horrible Very Bad No Good Night + its aftermath) he deliberately manipulates the conversation so that Apollo accidentally does the work for him, of proving something that makes the defendant seem more guilty/suspicious rather than less, and Klavier delights in doing so.

compare Luka who likes to mess with his opponents' mind during the performance, and laughs at Till when Till begins to have traumatic flashbacks due to Luka's manipulation

in Klavier's case, it makes sense from a psychological perspective that he will have such control issues if we consider Kristoph's influence on him; Kristoph is shown to be very controlling and manipulative in general as well as to Klavier (incredibly strong red flags during their onscreen interaction). in that case, while I think it's likely/possible that Klavier's control thing is multisourced, it's safe to assume that his background with Kristoph, where he was placed in a situation where he had a distinct lack of anatomy / where someone else had an unhealthy amount of control over Klavier's life, is a key reason to it.

In a similar vein, nearly every single aspect of Luka's life is highly controlled by his alien guardian Heperu, except for Luka's performances. this does make it natural that he would opt for total control of everything to have power over what he can, on the stage where he is performing, the only place where he has a sense of anatomy.

...and yeah that's all I think. this isn't a very comprehensive analysis or anything, I just had a thought and decided I should write it down lol

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

Give it to Me

Summary: In which Jonathan doesn't feel right taking the camera. Giving it back stirs something in Jonathan.

A/N: It could be a a one shot but if you guys wanted to leapfrog what you might think happens next in the reblogs, I wouldn't mind. Leapfrog: in which a person writes a little something off someone's story in a reblog for someone else to write a little something. I don't know if leapfrogging is a thing, but I would love it if it was. Would it be leapfrogging or leapreblogging?

Jonathan stared at the camera in Will's hand. He should feel happy that he was given a new one after Steve broke his other one. Steve had gone too far, hadn't he? He hadn't actually cared about Nancy or how she felt. All he wanted to do was to make Jonathan look and feel bad. He wanted to show everyone who was in charge. Jonathan shook his head. Maybe that's what he wanted to tell himself to make him feel better about what he did. It had been clear as day that Steve had been concerned about how Nancy would react, and he had gotten angry for her because she had been in shock. . .too stunned for words. It should have been Nancy to break his camera, and Nancy should have slapped him. No, Jonathan didn't deserve this camera. Not only did he betray Nancy in such an utterly fowl way, but he also betrayed his skills as a photographer.

"Jonathan?" Will asked.

"I need to go back in," Jonathan said and took the camera from Will. "Take this back. Come on."

"I can stay in the car for a few minutes, Jonathan," Will sighed.

"Will, please," Jonathan said softly.

"Fine," Will rolled his eyes.

He got out of the car with Jonathan and followed him back into the house. Jonathan could see Ted and Karen in the kitchen with Holly. Ted was holding her, and Karen was trying to get something out of her mouth. Holly was cackling. Apparently, she had eaten something she wasn't supposed to again. Will watched from the hallway, amused by the scene. While his brother was distracted, Jonathan slipped into the living room. Nancy was cuddled up next to Steve. Jonathan pushed away the jealous pang in his chest and stood in front of them.

"Oh, hey, Jonathan, did you forget something?" Nancy asked.

"Here," Jonathan said and handed her the camera.

"That's a gift," Nancy said in surprise.

"It's something I don't deserve," Jonathan said. "What I did. . .it was messed up, and I crossed a huge line. What's even worse is that I made up so many excuses and placed the blame on other people. . .but the truth is that I had plenty of time to stop and not do what I did. All I could see was you guys having fun when my brother was lost. . .It made me a little angry at first. . .then I realized that I was just jealous. . . I never had any friends or did anything like that. I suppose it was my fault because I pushed people away, and I used my camera to do it. I shouldn't have done it, and I want to earn it back. All of it," Jonathan said. "I'm apologizing to both of you, because you both deserve it."

Jonathan caught their eyes. Both of their looked at him softly and full of meaning. Nancy's eyes were a wide, beautiful blue that threw him off so much sometimes that he had to look anywhere else. He never noticed how beautiful Steve’s were until now. He always assumed that they were just brown but no. . .they were actually mostly a dark forest green with brown surrounding the iris. It reminded Jonathan strongly of the woods. Steve was looking at a curious realization as if he had just had a thought, and he wasn't sure why he did. Jonathan realized then that he wasn't that much different than Steve, and he wondered if Steve was thinking the same thing he was.

They both had fucked up. Steve, with his actions, or lack thereof, and words at the Hawk. He knew then why Steve had said those things. He had acted out of jealousy, out of hurt. . . Much like Jonathan did in the woods with Nancy. . . Jonathan had fucked up by taking those pictures, and he waited outside of Steve’s house for Nancy to come to her senses but there had been a part of him that wanted to follow her up the stairs. . . To watch or maybe, they'd let him be a part of whatever it was they were doing. When Nancy had told him that it wasn't okay what he had done, he wanted to continue to not take accountability for the photos because then it would mean something else. Instead, he yelled at Nancy and accused her of being like all the other girls Steve had dated. He had spent so long behind the camera that he had forgotten that people weren't just photographs. There's more to them than he had ever thought.

"I forgive you, Jonathan," Nancy said and pushed the camera back towards him. "You more than made up for it."

"I just - I haven't forgiven myself yet," Jonathan said and placed it on her lap.

Steve stood up, smiling at him. He held out his hand at Jonathan. He wanted to shake his hand. Jonathan stared at his hand longer than he should have. Steve cleared his throat, and Jonathan tentatively took his hand.

"Thank you, you saved my life. . .in more ways than one. I don't think I ever would have realized that there were more important things if it hadn't been for you and Nancy," Steve said. "And I forgive you, too."

"You give us too much credit," Jonathan blushed. "You made the choice to walk away from those assholes."

"It's not a big deal," Steve shrugged.

"Okay, now you're just fishing for a compliment," Jonathan said and Nancy laughed.

"Well," Steve said. "You know, you're welcome to hang out with us any time. . .could definitely use a friend like you."

Jonathan realized they were still shaking hands. . .well, they were holding hands. Steve had started rubbing circles into his skin with his thumb, and he made his eyes bigger, pleading with Jonathan.

"Why? So, I can sit around and watch you two makeout?" Jonathan asked.

"Well, if you're into that," Steve smirked. "You might want to ask Nancy if she'd be up for that."

"I am," Nancy smiled.

"Are you sure you don't want to take the camera?" Steve asked.

"Give it to me when I'm ready," Jonathan said.

"Give it to you when you're ready?" Steve asked, laughing.

"Yeah, what did I say that was so funny?" He asked as Nancy giggled. "Yes, give it to me when I'm ready."

"You're not hearing it, are you?" Steve laughed again.

"What's so funny about you giving it to me?" Jonathan asked.

Nancy bent over, laughing. Steve’s eyes twinkled with mirth as he gazed affectionately at him. He released Jonathan's hand and gave him a kiss on the cheek, much to Jonathan's surprise.

"Well, it looked fun when Nancy did it," Steve said. "And it was."

"I still don't get it," Jonathan muttered.

Suddenly, they heard a loud sound from the kitchen, Holly cackling, and Will bursting into laughter.

"HOLLY! THIS FIGURINE IS NOT SOMETHING YOU EAT!" Mike screamed. "DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG IT TOOK ME TO PAINT THIS?!"

"You should be more worried that your sister almost choked on it!" Ted yelled.

"Michael!" Karen scolded.

"If she wasn't so cute, I'd - !" Mike start to yell.

"Do nothing!" They heard Holly taunt.

"I think that's my que to leave," Jonathan said. "Will!"

Will came back into the living room, laughing.

"Mike had freaked out because he couldn't find his d&d figurine, and it turns out Holly was hiding it in her mouth," Will said.

"Wasn't gonna eat it, Mommy!" They heard Holly yell. "Just hide it!"

"Why?!" Mike asked.

"You are a meaniehead!" Holly said.

"Yeah, time to go," Jonathan said. "Good luck with that."

"Thanks," Nancy said laughing.

"Bye Steve, bye Nancy!" Will exclaimed.

Jonathan walked out of the living room towards the front door. Smiling, he could still feel Steve’s lips against his skin, as though it had left an imprint there. . .burning its way deep inside of him. He touched his cheek as though he was trying to touch Steve’s lips with his fingertips. Yeah, he and Steve weren't so different. They both strived to do better, not just for Nancy, but for each other as well. They both knew what it was like to be alone and to feel lonely all at the same time. In some ways, Steve kept people at arms length in the same way that Jonathan had done, except instead of a camera, it had been Tommy and Carol. Fuck. Goddamnit. Not only was he hopelessly in love with Nancy, but now it seemed like falling for Steve Harrington, too. Shit, maybe that had always been the case. . .maybe that's why he had been so deadset on admiting that Nancy actually wanted to sleep with Steve because he didn't want to be honest with himself about wanting to sleep with him too.

"Jonathan?" Will asked.

"Oh my god!" Jonathan exclaimed. "I just got it! Steve! Seriously?!"

He heard Steve and Nancy laughing loudly as he finally left the Wheelers. Assholes. He laughed all the way to his car.

[sodaa-enby]

no i dont know anyone that plays dnd sadly :( what do you mean by character sheet? /genq

ok this is goingt o be a long read. jusr a warning . im about to explain dnd fully to you.

VERY LONG POST YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

!!!!!NEW DND PLAYERS OR PEOPLE WANTING TO PLAY SHOULD READ THIS!!!!!! ITS USEFUL I PROMISE AND PROBABLY EASIER TO READ THAN THE OFICCIAL BOOKS. IT ALSO HAS AN EXAMPLE

the basic things needed for dnd are a DM, some dice and a player. the dm is like the storyteller- they act all of the npcs and run and prepare your story. you would be the player and you only have one character to take care of which you rp and play as.

the dice are used to randomly determine things like attacks, damage, and how well you can do stuff. dice are named with "d"and the number of sides they have- so d10 would be a 10 sided dice, d4 is a 4 sided dice etc. a standard set has dice with 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 20, and 10 sides. the most commonly used dice is a d20 or a 20 sided dice.

so when ur playing dnd the thing u make first is a character sheet. this contains information about the characters general appearance and their skills and abilities. most of them look like this (its quite complex but hopefully i can explain it)

im going to use this character as an example cause im sure this post will be useful for other people as well :)

so this is the character nat

and here is a blank character sheet (linked is a fillable pdf)

and here is the sheet that has boxes which ill be using to explain

when you make a dnd character you have to pick a class and a race.

your race is basically What you are so it could be something like human elf dawrf gnome etc. from what ive seen of ur character she would probably be an elf or an aasimar (people with holy/divine blood which explains the wings and halo). your race gives you certain things like a speed, special moves/abilities (like flying) and specific things you can do. throwing your halo or using your feathers as daggers would be considered a race ability because it comes from your genetic makeup and body and has nothing to do with things youve learned.

the next thing you choose is a class. a class determines more of what you can do that isnt based on how youre born (well. sometimes it is). some examples of classes are fighters(they. fight), wizards (who get their magic from study) and druids (they use the magic of plants and the earth). the character nat is absolutely a druid because these guys' main thing is plant magic, creature summoning and healing which sounds like her from the description. as you progress in the game, you gain levels in your class and become more powerful.

you write your class and race in the yellow box

the rest of the yellow box:

background

backgrounds are short descriptors of what your character has already lived through. they can give you minor bonuses that are different for each one but they are very situational

alignment

alignments are a measure of your characters morality or lack thereof. tthey are often not used by DMS and im pretty sure the rules are being changed in the next edition so i wont go into too much detail but heres a link to a website that explains them

experience points

every time your character kills a monster or completes a goal they gain a set number of exp. at certain amounts of exp the character gains a level which means more abilities and spells etc. the levels in dnd can range from 1-20, and most players start at level 1.

all of the classes + their main abilities (and linked info) are:

barbarian (uses their emotions and rage for powerful attacks), bard (casts spells through performance, usually singing. also inspires others), cleric (gets their magic through worshipping a god), druid (gets their magic from nature), fighter (they fight), monks (devoted to life in a monestary. they are incredibly fast and hard hitters, and mostly martial artists), paladins (they get their power from an oath to a cause), rangers (hunters, sometimes use nature magic too), rogues (bounty hunters and criminals who use stealth to get their way), sorcerers (people born with magic in their blood), warlocks (people who make a pact with an entity for power), and wizards, people who have spent their days studying and mastering spells.

so. the things in the red box are called ability scores.

they are a number from 1-20 that demonstrates how well you can do certain things. 10 is an average score, 1 is incredibly low, and 20 is very high. each number from 1-20 is given a modifier. for example, 10=+0, 20=+5, and 1=-5.

heres the full table:

1= -5

2-3=-4

4-5=-3

6-7=-2

8-9=-1

10-11=+0

12-13=+1

14-15=+2

16-17=+3

18-19=+4

20= +5

the different scores are:

strength (how strong you are) strength rolls are usually made to lift things or complete athletic feats. a character with high strength would be. well. strong

dexterity (how agile and stealthy you are) dex rolls are used when youre sneaking somewhere trying something acrobatic or stealing stuff. a character with high dexterity would be fast, not clumsy, and have very good reflexes

constitution (basically how strong your immune system is) you might roll for constitution if you walk through a hot desert or drink lots of alcohol. a person with high constitution would have lots of stamina and be able to endure quite extreme climates. they also wouldn't get drunk easily.

charisma (social skills and character) cha rolls are made to persuade, influence or rally people. a character with high intelligence probably has a large social circle and may friends.

intelligence (general knowledge and logic skills) int rolls are made to decipher codes, recall patterns and understand other languages. a character with high intelligence might have an extensive vocabulary and good memory, and theyd probably know many languages.

wisdom (perception, gut feeling and alertness). a character with high wisdom would notice small details, have good instincts and be able to provide good insights.

so if you had a character with a charisma score of 15 the modifier tied to it would be +3. these are important cause you will regularly have to roll for things, and the bonuses are what you add to these rolls. for example- you try to do something with your character that is charisma based (persuading someone to let you into a hotel etc etc) and you roll a d20 (20 sided dice) and add the number tied to your charisma score, which in this case is plus 3.

the next things (in the green box) are called skills.

theyre basically more refined versions of abilities, and you can pick 3 of them that you get an extra bonus with. usually your dm (the person who runs the game) will tell you to roll with skills instead of ability scores. so if you want to do the same thing as before (persuading someone to let you in to a place) youd roll persuasion instead of just charisma. if you dont have the skill of persuasion you just add your normal modifier but if you do you get an extra +2 as well as the normal one.

the purple box has some important small things

first up is your HP which is basically just a measure of your health. if this is decreased to 0 you drop unconscious. when you create a character you roll dice to create your characters HP

the next thing is your speed (pretty self explanatory this shows how fast your character is). speed is a measure of how far you can move in one turn or 6 seconds and its mainly used for combat.

the last thing in this box is your armour class. this is a score that shows basically how hard you are to hit. if someone wants to attack you they have to roll higher than this number on the d20 otherwise it misses. this number can be increased by wearing armour, but the base number is 10 plus your dexterity modifier

next up: light blue box

this box contains space for you to flesh out your character. personality traits are, well- personality traits, and ideals are things your character might strive for or want to achieve (for example a character with the ideal of freedom might advocate for oppressed people and try to help someone running from the law because they think everyone deserves to be free.). Bonds are things, concepts or people that your character has an attachment to in some way. bonds are usually very relevant to the characters backstory- for example the bond of a character whose town was destroyed might be something about how they want to avenge the raiders and find any survivors. flaws are also pretty self explanatory, but they are sometimes hard to play. A flaw should be something that influences the characters choices but also lets them develop.

more will be explained in another post about spells and combat but this is the basics for now :)

[latenightcinephile]

Film #920: 'The Unknown', dir. Tod Browning, 1927.

Keeping track of the films on the list is often a complicated task, especially when you're trying to find films years in advance of any opportunities to watch them. The master spreadsheet I keep has about two dozen films that are still marked 'UNKNOWN' in orange, and ironically Tod Browning's The Unknown was among them for over a decade. Fortunately, a restoration was undertaken in 2022, and you can now find the Criterion version easily accessible.

Silent film is a fascinating subject after a century of sound pictures. It operated with a very limited palette of techniques, and as such needed to make the most of what it had available. People often complain that silent films are too 'theatrical', but the lack of synchronised sound meant that a silent film in fact had fewer tools at its disposal than the theatre did. While modern films can use realistic sound (or its lack thereof) to punctuate, draw attention to or minimise particular moments of a film, in silent films these tasks had to be shifted onto an actor's performance or onto the film's musical score. Even the use of a score was not foolproof, as theatre musicians would have to compare the requested music with what they had available. A larger toolbox available in contemporary cinema has evened out the workload, and it's less common to see a modern film rely so heavily on, say, performance. Tod Browning's film, though, is a stellar example of how films from before the advent of talking pictures honed these elements - to the point where you almost forget that you're watching something with no audible dialogue.

The star attraction of a circus in Spain, Alonzo the Armless (Lon Chaney)'s main act is to use his feet to throw knives. He is smitten with his partner in this act, Nanon (Joan Crawford), who is also the daughter of the circus ringmaster, Zanzi. Nanon has a fear of being touched or held by men, which means that she easily finds solace in her friendship with Alonzo, and spurns the advances of the strongman, Malabar (Norman Kerry). Eager to further draw Nanon into his clutches, Alonzo encourages Malabar to display his strength to Nanon more and more. The situation is complicated when it is revealed that Alonzo actually still has his arms - he hides them in a corset to make his act more sensational. Alonzo's friendship with Nanon infuriates Zanzi and, after an altercation, Zanzi discovers that Alonzo still has his arms. Out of rage and fear, Alonzo strangles Zanzi to death. Nanon sees the strangling (and in particular, that the culprit has two thumbs on one hand) - but doesn't recognise Alonzo - and her fear is exacerbated. A cursory police investigation doesn't find the culprit, and when the circus moves on, Alonzo and Nanon stay in town, with Alonzo hoping that he might be able to draw Nanon's affections more.

Before long, Nanon embraces Alonzo - an act that alarms Alonzo's friend and servant, Cojo, who worries that Nanon will see through the deception. Realising that he is so accustomed to hiding his arms that he can get by without them, Alonzo hatches a plan to have both arms amputated, which will conveniently hide any evidence that it was he who killed Zanzi. He blackmails a doctor into performing the surgery, and hides from Nanon for the period of his recovery. During this time, ironically, Nanon overcomes her fear of "men and their hands", and kindles a romance with Malabar. Together, they plan a new theatrical show, built around Malabar's strongman skills.

When Alonzo has recovered, he visits Nanon and Malabar at the theatre (hilariously, Nanon notices that his torso is a lot thinner than it was before). They reveal their engagement to Alonzo, and describe the centrepiece of their new act, in which Malabar uses ropes to tether two horses running on treadmills in opposite directions. Alonzo is driven to hysterics by the news, especially because it was delivered in a way that got his hopes up tremendously, and plans to disrupt the performance so that Malabar is maimed in the process (as Malabar cheerfully admits, if a treadmill stops suddenly, "the horses would tear my arms from my body"). During the show, Alonzo locks away the technician who controls the treadmills, and abruptly slows the treadmills, panicking the horses. Nanon tries to calm the horses down to prevent them killing Malabar; Alonzo then pushes her to safety before he is fatally trampled by one of the horses. With Alonzo out of the picture, Malabar and Nanon can finally spend their lives together in security.

This is a relatively brisk summary of the plot, but it's put in greater context when you realise that the film is only about fifty minutes long. There's a small pile of things in the plot that make no sense - why does Alonzo, who is certain Nanon would come to forgive him for having arms, elect to have them both amputated, and not just remove his extra thumb? Why doesn't Alonzo come up with any explanation for his absence while recovering? - but the film moves along at such a breakneck pace that there's no time to properly question any of them before the next complication arises. Characters are also very fond in this film of saying the most on-the-nose things imaginable, partly as a way of dispensing with any long and realistic exposition. It doesn't take Alonzo long to realise his plan at the end of the film, mostly because Malabar outright says the plan aloud for him. Nanon unintentionally rubs salt into Alonzo's (literal) wounds when she says "I used to be afraid of Malabar's hands, but I love them now."

This excessiveness is one of my favourite elements of The Unknown. It operates in both directions - the excess of comedy becoming farce, and the excess of violence. When the performance with the horses at the end of the film goes awry, Browning cuts rapidly and close, drawing attention to the strain on Malabar's shoulders through close-up shots (and the version of the soundtrack used in the Criterion release piles on the kettledrums at this moment to underscore the tension. It feels like we're moments away from witnessing some terrific gore effects, even though those would be decades away when the film was produced. There are moments, though, where the emotional effect is deflated through farce. The moment Zanzi discovers that Alonzo still has his arms, Alonzo deals with this by... immediately hiding his arms behind his back. These moments sell the horror even more by contrasting them against the absurd.

Lon Chaney's acting is the heart of this film. It's the thing that lets us look past the absurdities of the plot, and buy into the emotional veracity of the film. Although many of the scenes of more fine motion were done with a stunt double, Chaney learned to manipulate things with his feet for wider shots, and it's deeply believable. Audiences at the time would have known that Chaney was not a double-amputee, but the opening scenes of the film sell this so well that the audience I was with murmured in shock when his arms were revealed. Chaney throws the whole of himself into the more emotional scenes, too, so that the intertitles are often superfluous to understanding the direction of a conversation. The performance has to carry a lot of weight throughout the film, too: Alonzo is a murderer and a con artist, driven to extremes by unrequited love, who then descends into hysterics when it is revealed that his extreme measures were unnecessary. In two minutes, he needs to go from hope that Nanon might intend to marry him, to shock that she has fallen for Malabar, to frenzied laughter when he realises he has had his arms chopped off for nothing. Are the emotions overplayed? Sure. But they're in proportion to the scope of the film, and Chaney has an ability to move between these emotions lightning-quick without being abrupt.

Browning does something really interesting with this film, though: he uses the cinematic tools to play into his themes. The best example of this is in the scene where Alonzo realises his plan to have his arms removed. Lost in thought over the idea that Nanon might reject him when she discovers he murdered her father, he absent-mindedly lights a cigarette with his feet. Cojo laughs at him, commenting that he's forgotten he has arms. Alonzo recoils at this, but in Chaney's performance, you can see the plan form (a slight widening of the eyes, a twitch at the mouth). A shift happens here: we move from a dialogue-heavy sequence to one where there are no intertitles at all. Alonzo continues to speak, giddy with realisation, but what he is saying is too horrifying for the intertitles. Cojo's expression turns to shock, and we do get an intertitle when he says "No, no, Alonzo! Not that! Never do that!", but the act itself cannot be spoken, or even written. In the very next scene, Alonzo and Cojo visit the surgeon, and once again there are no intertitles to describe the actual plan - the closest we get is a single ambiguous gesture Chaney makes at his left shoulder. You can sort of make out the words in the movement of his lips, but the audience never receives the confirmation of what has happened.

I find this fascinating. Usually, silent films don't have the luxury of holding anything back - they have to be repetitive and clear to the point of redundancy. Here, Browning has taken something shocking but admittedly rather mundane, and turned it into a taboo strong enough to abolish one of the tools normally at his disposal. The performances in these scenes, from Chaney, John George as Cojo and John St. Polis as the surgeon, are all so strong that it's easy to misremember the film as more explicit than it actually is. As a result, the film is far more subtle than a lot of Tod Browning's other collaborations with Chaney (ten in total), and probably the most restrained of all of Browning's horrors.

The Unknown is a genuine work of art, a film that moves from merely using its elements to portray a story to using its elements to enhance the story. I don't think it's quite like anything else from the silent era. Is it stagey and melodramatic? Yes, but those aren't bad things, and I'd argue they're necessary to make the film's more subtle elements work. This is a film that's well worth seeing; a little Halloween treat that I'm really glad has been rediscovered.

[insufferableprotagonistpoll]

Propaganda why Caillou is insufferable:

Horrible, whiny, mean (I know they're like three but that's no excuse)

He's the absolute worst bratty child I've ever seen in a kids show, his voice is suuuper annoying.

You know and I know why, he's the poll's icon for a reason.

Propaganda why Elena Gilbert is insufferable:

I wouldn't have such a problem with her if she didn't get others involved. Liking two people at once isn't a problem. Stringing them along is a problem. Constantly hanging around people that she knows is actively trying to kill her/want her dead or their relatives is so stupid like don't do that maybe. Having people stop what they are doing and dropping everything(especially if it's important) because she is in danger/trouble. Making people have to make tough decisions, sometimes affecting other people, and then not even offering up an apology about it(looking at you season 3)

The first 3 seasons made her so bad!! I understand the trauma but stringing along 2 brothers was ridiculous. Like, make up your mind and stop toying with their emotions. And then everything was about her! Every time she was in trouble, everything had to be put on hold to find her and help her and sometimes she wasn't even grateful about it and would end up in stupid situations again and again and again. Lowkey, she's the reason why Bonnie has been through the wringer, especially in the 3rd season. But as the seasons progressed, she did start to warm up my cold little heart

have you seen the show? she has little to no common sense, no standards, makes the most boring choices for every scenario, and isn't a good person. the show acts like she's a golden child when she's really just a boring child. dating adult men. who stalk her. and her biggest personality trait is saying ""Stefan!"" and ""Damon!"" when she experiences any emotion. idk man Nina Dobrev did NOT get the role for her acting skills (or lack thereof) that's for sure

[minobe-household]

so i believe i mentioned minobe's illness here and there, but the thing about it is that i can't really think of a way to make it clear with my usual wacky storytelling. or asks, since yuuto — the one who Has it — actually doesn't even know much of it herself. her parents never spared her the details, they just told her something was wrong. and also THAT has a lot to do with her family relationship which is a whole nother can of worms. so i'm just doin this shit infodump style.

when she was born, most of her vitals were starkly low. her parents thought this would mean she was to die whilst in infancy, but she stuck through almost exactly like that of a typical child. (cont under cut so i don't annoy the fuck outta people who don't wanna scroll through it)

essentially, her body runs off of a 'bare minimum'. just about enough that she'd be (comfortably not fucking unconscious) able to move and all. which still isn't a very good look, but it meant she was still able to take up work with her family. though an important part of this is how that affects her functioning as she grew up.

on a positive note, it makes it so that she is capable of exerting herself further before experiencing exhaustion and such, so it may provide some extra edge in some cases. her strength and speed are both quite good in this regard (probably comparable to that of the pillars, but i can't quite scale her with them since it varies a lot and at a pretty big deal o range), and her stamina is bordering inhuman entirely.

also because of this she has a surprisingly good compatibility with total concentration (although she doesn't use total constant as it's kind of something she utilizes as a diversion tool with her breathing style). however, this requires she warms herself up before being able to reach these points, adding onto her more non-offensive fighting style early on.

as for its downsides, she is extremely susceptible to conditional factors such as illness or environment. and while she does get some extra leverage in skill, inactivity following it, as well as just in general, can take a bad toll on her. it might explain why she acts so different in the day compared to during missions... and also why she didn't do as much work in her household...... :^)

note this also applies to the demon slayer mark. especially so. when it activates, she's a huge force to be reckoned with - although due to the conditions it requires, it takes a lot more work out of her to awaken it. and the second it goes away... with the sudden change in bodily state, i think it's safe to say it's not gonna look pretty. think like a drug withdrawal but like... all of them. at once. and you don't get to die from all the damn drugs in your system or lack thereof.

i haven't really thought about if her condition makes any change to the mark's curse. of course, whether it actually is legit isn't really like... confirmed considering the only account being with himejima and kokushibo's interaction (iirc i might be forgetting something) but in the assumption it does exist it may push the 25 limit a bit closer, or even further, i don't really know. probably the former lol

[jellybeansconghosts]

I’m bored and thinking thoughts so have this messy piece as I try to find a foothold in the personalities of cod men that isn’t just what they act like in smut (Not trying to hate on Smut I just don't think/know if that should be my main source outside of the games)

Imagine being in the zombie apocalypse by yourself, barely surviving and on the brink of losing it. The only upside to this all is a strange immunity to a zombie’s bite, the couple bites on your arms still itch, veins more pronounced around them, but you still have a clear mind…as clear as it can be when in an environment like this.

You’ve given up on trying to make friends, either finding people who have less than kind intentions or people who try to “mercy” kill you the moment they notice the bites, not listening to any arguments that they’re clearly healed and you’re no threat. Recently you’ve found shelter in a little gas station, snacking on what hasn’t been ransacked already, sleeping behind the counter as you hope this place will keep you secure for at least another day or two. Zombies sometimes wander in but they leave you be, almost blind to your presence, after a while they’re somehow a safer sight than other humans, at least you can tell a zombie’s intentions, you can predict their thoughts, or lack thereof.

It’s dreary, and taxing, but you get by fine.

Until one day you meet a soldier, the first encounter is a little rough, as any encounter in this situation is bound to be, his skull mask scared you half to death, but you go from barely surviving on your own to having some mildly off-putting man help take at least a little of the burden of survival. Sure, providing for two is a little more annoying, being even more mindful of supplies, the constant fear of weighing him down and being a burden isn't the best thing in the world, but it's company. It's a break in the solitude that could have driven anyone at least a little insane.

It's a bit of extra safety, having someone watching your back, especially someone who's actually capable, even if he at times gets snappy due to the difference in survival skills, you have someone looking out for you. And when he notices the bites, even if he too jumped to a conclusion he actually heard you out, even if you did have to reassure him multiple times that you wouldn't suddenly turn rabid when he wasn't watching, that you didn't mean to hide anything from him but were too scared to mention it, everything worked out in the end. You have a buddy, even if he's a little scary.

[nova-starcutter]

based on your answer to the fight to the death poll and this blog’s theming i am gonna go ahead and guess that your discord icon is something to do with the lor

whats the deal with magolor anyways

1. Yeah, it’s one of my favorite frames of any cutscene ever.

(Just as a little bonus before I get to the second part of your ask, that little “Lor gets unexpectedly close to the viewer for no apparent reason” sequence is actually what made me headcanon her as nearsighted. Originally it was just a “soft” headcanon that I had no intention of entirely subscribing to but nowadays it’s actually become one of my favorites.)

2. Ok so there’s a whole lot of ways that can be interpreted and it is almost 2 AM as im starting this so I’ll go with just one for now and elaborate on others if asked. Halcandra— at least the part of it where he lived— was hardly the sort of place anyone would reasonably choose to live in, let alone try to have a family or raise kids. Resources were scarce, dangers weren’t, and really the primary types you’d find staying there were those who wanted to live out their lives away from civilization, criminals hiding from authorities, and those who just wanted to be somewhere less permeated by the government’s influence and prying eyes. As a result, Magolor never really knew anyone close to his own age growing up, on top of just not knowing many folks aside from his parents to begin with. Though his upbringing was otherwise relatively positive— on good terms with his parents, well-educated, given opportunities to learn and practice various skills and hobbies, etc— not having peers to connect with and grow alongside did leave him somewhat socially stunted.

One of the ways this manifests is his maturity, or seeming lack thereof. He has the experience and knowledge to act like an adult at this point, but never really had the social cues to begin doing so. Like that guy in highschool who still acts like a 6th grader in senior year while everyone else has moved on to bigger and better things. Of course his perspective has changed after what he’s gone through, but he’s always going to act less mature than other Halcandrans his age would be expected to.

NOT 2 AM UPDATE: The above doesn’t mean he can’t convincingly act like he had a normal/actually existent childhood, the main indicator that he didn’t would just be that he never brings up his personal life back on Halcandra, definitely treats Kirby as his very first friend ever™️, and doesn’t really have a distinct hanging with friends mode vs interacting with peers/colleagues/etc. In other words he kinda treats everyone the same, exceptions being Lor and people he either actively dislikes or finds intimidating. This can definitely be offputting for some because often comes off as him not being genuine, akin to someone using their customer service voice at all times, but no he is in fact just Like That™️. It does certainly help him a bit when he’s actually scheming, given that his normal already comes off as dubious plottingcore, with the trade off that he’s always the first person everyone suspects when shenanigans are afoot. This guy can never win at Among Us

[bluegekk0]

So how exactly did Zote get into this AU? I feel like I see him in quite a bit of the artwork. I feel like none of the pale family wouldn't want to be around him, so is he just there and they can't get rid of him or is he like the one family member they all like to bully?

Well, if there's anything that brings together the family, it's trauma and emotional damage. And yes, Zote is extremely unpleasant, but I do believe there are things in his past that made him push everyone away and act like a jerk. And deep down, he's just as hurt as everyone else in the AU.

This might be a long one cause I also want to get into how each family member sees him, as I rarely get the chance to talk about Zote.

I guess I'll start with his past. I'm aware that he's 100% meant to be a joke character in the game, that much is clear from his portrayal, dialogue and his role in the game. But I think if you read into some of his precepts, they paint a pretty interesting picture. And yes, I'm also aware that he lies about himself all the time, but some of those are way too specific in my opinion. I'll start in the order of the precepts since that's how I wrote them down.

"Laughter spreads like a disease, and soon everyone is laughing at you." - sounds to me like he has some experience with being bullied. Looking at his fighting skills, or lack thereof, I don't think it's that unreasonable to think he would be a laughing stock for his peers.

"The past is painful, and thinking about your past can only bring you misery." - this one is a lot more vague, but it's clear that he doesn't have fond memories of his past.

"You can rely on nobody, and nobody will always be loyal." - if this is his mindset, it would explain why he's so unpleasant to everyone. He doesn't trust them, perhaps out of fear that they'll bully and make fun of him?

"Mothers Will Always Betray You" and "Fathers believe that because they created us we must serve them and never exceed their capabilities." - these two are, in my view, the heart of the problem. The way I interpret it, he was seen as a disappointment by his father, who wanted to control his life, and his mother did nothing to defend him. If you feel like not even your own parents value you, it's only reasonable that you'd grow bitter towards everyone. And in his case, he also deluded himself into thinking that he's better than what he's perceived as. Not the most healthy coping habit, for sure.

"Do not linger in the nest. There is nothing for you there." - and it's not surprising that you'd get the hell out of your home as soon as you could.

"If someone asks forgiveness of you, for instance a brother of yours, always deny it." - yeah, makes sense that he wouldn't want to forgive them. The brother here is most likely just an example, but maybe there's more to it than that?

I may be looking too hard into a meme character, but I really like the idea of him being an outcast that decided to cope with his trauma by being incredibly unpleasant and pushing everyone away. And it only makes sense that he'd find family in another group of outcasts that all cope with their own issues.

Now, I also want to mention that I don't see him as an old man like a lot of people call him. To me, he's probably in his species' equivalent of 20s. So still quite young, and thus with a lot of potential to heal and become a better person, which is an arc he goes through in the au. Albeit slowly, i mean, it's Zote after all.

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As for how the rest of the family sees him:

Holly is their closest friend, so i'll start with them. Before Vyrm moved to Dirtmouth, they didn't have any familiar face that would talk to them. They desperately wanted someone to acknowledge their presence, and being talked to was, to them, exactly what they needed. Hornet was still very distant, she didn't really speak a lot, and in general it felt like she ignored them. Grimm, while much more open to conversations, was busy - at that point, he and the Troupe were still slowly preparing to go elsewhere to finish the interrupted ritual. So Holly had to find what they were looking for elsewhere - and it just so happens that a very talkative bug was right there, in the town. Of course, he was only talking about himself and lying through his teeth, but Holly didn't mind that. plus, they related to his wish to love up to his father's expectations. And over time, the pair became good friends, to the point that even Zote began to act a bit less unpleasant towards them. He wasn't used to having friends, so it was definitely a struggle for him.

Hornet hated him at first. He was irritating, simply put. She responded to him with mean things, which would often end in arguments between the two. But as time passed, and Zote became a honorary part of the family, her attitude changed a little - makes sense, she does soften a bit over the course of the AU. Their current dynamic is a bit sibling like. Well, the kind where one bullies the other, but is equally as defensive if anyone else tries to do the same. They still bicker all the time, it's inevitable as their personalities clash with each other, but there is a degree of understanding between them. Hornet can see through his lies easily, and relates to his wish to push everyone away as a response to trauma.

Vyrm, similarly, can also relate to some parts of Zote's past, mainly the desire to live up to his parents' expectations and to prove himself. But at the same time, he does find Zote's rambling to be a bit much. He tolerates his presence and even acts friendly towards him, and he definitely sees him as a member of the family, but they're not very close. Zote is a bit afraid of him since he was the one who first found him in Greenpath, and he can't get rid of the mental image of Vyrm covered in blood, ripping an animal to shreds. Especially since he's right about the size of what Vyrm usually hunts.

Grimm sees Zote as entertaining. He doesn't exactly bully him, that's not his style and he does feel pity towards him, but he enjoys hearing him make stuff up about various things. His tales from his travels are particularly amusing to Grimm, as they're almost always completely made up. Grimm likes to "fact-check" him, which usually ends in Zote struggling to keep his narrative and giving up. But since he's part of the family, it means Grimm is still protective of him. Even if Zote himself finds him unsettling and is afraid of being left alone with him hahaha

I love the idea of Zote finally accepting that there might still be family he could belong to, he spent all those years thinking he's better than that, but deep down he really needed to be a part of one. It just so happens that he got "adopted" by a bunch of traumatized freaks, but maybe that's exactly the kind of family he needed

[greetings-inferiors]

Kouki Midori (HIS NAME IS LITERALLY MR GREEN LMAOOOOOOOOO) is one of the protagonists for my Personal Persona Project, Persona: Green. He’s an 18/19 year old first year uni student, average height, medium length hair, pretty average guy really. He’s kind hearted, with some trickster energy when he’s in a funny mood. He’s very empathetic, and loves hanging out with and interacting with others. He’s quite the optimist, too, believing that worrying about things only leads to too much worrying, and it’s best to move forward and tackle problems. This leads to a problem when he has issues which can’t be easily solved, in which case he tends to just… ignore them. He’s looking forward to his time at uni, being quite skilled at both the arts and sciences, though he intends to pursue solely the sciences. If only he had reason to, say, tutor someone studying literature (foreshadowing). He wears bright colours, like green and yellow, though his wardrobe is pretty basic once you get past the bright colour palette, shirts, jumpers, shorts, and trousers. He gravitates towards people that need his help, so the party members he forms social links with, Miyuki, Safie, Nenji, and Tsuneko, are all those that he can help find purpose and meaning in life, whether that be helping Safie find a passion in the human world, or helping Tsuneko cope with and live around her disability.

His persona is Arthur, of the Sun arcana, legendary king of England. He manifests as a knight in smooth, gleaming white and yellow armour, with a helmet in one hand and jewelled sword in the other, his hair flowing behind him. He is atop a steed, or at least half a steed, made of that same metal. His element is Holy/light, but he also functions as a healer. He maybe even buffs others, idk.

Kouki himself wields a sword, obviously. The foliage that lets him summon Arthur manifests as a wreath atop his head, that he slashes with his sword (because he just has to be that cool). His fighting style is strategic and graceful, fitting for the leader, and he’s ready to support his teammates that focus more on offence.

At the start of the story he’s just moved to a new city, when he notices a cough, and going for a check up, is informed he has caught a very early lung cancer, and that he should consider himself lucky he caught it so early, and so his chances of living are very optimistic with treatment. He has faith in humanity, having been shown kindness all his life, and he’s more than happy to repay that kindness to others, a belief goaded by a tad unprofessional doctor waxing poetic about humanity’s advancements when it comes to saving lives. Across his journey he sees both the good and bad in humanity, learning that while not everyone always are what they seem, everyone has the potential to do good, no matter who they are.

If I had to sum up his relationship with each of the party members:

Miyuki: The strongest bond on the team, he’s able to see through her walls and teasing and see who she really is. He’s determined to bring out the best in her, while not letting her off the hook easily when she messes up. He sees the best in everyone, but you have to put in work to be the best, y’know? He does genuinely really respect her, too, and finds her funny lol

Safie: She kinda forced herself into his life and is crashing at his place, but can see that she’s a lovely person, even if her grasp (or lack thereof) of humans, society, and boundaries can make it hard to get along. They’re practically siblings.

Nenji: They hang out at restaurants quite a lot, they just like to shoot the shit. Nenji is quite unconfident and Kouki helps him to come out of his shell and have confidence in himself, and stand up for himself.

Shin: Appreciates Shin’s professionalism and tactical combat style. Very much respects him in an academic context as well, constantly asking for insight into maths coursework, which Shin happily provides.

Yoshie: Kind of terrified of her, she acts quite manic around him. She’s a great fighter and her bubbly enthusiasm is great for the group, she’s just… a lot.

Tsuneko: He helps her counteract and live with her fatigue, and enjoys seeing her have more and more energy as the year goes on. Also enjoys listening to her rambling about whatever thing she’s interested in recently.

Johnny: Loves how enthusiastic Johnny is, and it drives Miyuki insane so he’ll go along with any of his antics. They have matching cowboy hats that Johnny bought for him.