#and really if any facts actually ever line up with them that's just a convenient background bonus
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here-there-were-dragons · 4 months ago
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any argument about this sort of thing that relies on placing some sort of magical moral value on concepts like "humanity" and "the meaning of art" is utter pseudoreligious nonsense. there's plenty of actually worthwhile arguments people could use sitting right there in reach, but everyone seems near pathologically averse to use them because apparently arguing about What Makes Things Real Arttm (aka "let's try to hyperdefine art to be some quasispiritualist thing that can only be done by humans and is a "quality of the human soul" or something somehow. fuck them animals and hypothetical aliens and infuriatingly often disabled humans we consider less than people, amirite?"), and also yelling at and about disabled people a lot, and on several occasions unironically making the claim that artists are more important and valuable to humanity and society than blue collar workers, is somehow more important
it's not 'AI art has no soul' because soul is subjective and creating art is not necessarily a divine spark of inspiration, sometimes human made art is empty of feeling and meaning and that's okay.
it's not 'AI art is ugly' because human made art doesn't need to be pretty, it's still art, no matter if you're starting or if you intentionally make ugly things. It's still okay.
The problem, with AI art (besides the copyright theft, the environmental issues, the artists losing their jobs..)
The problem is that
AI art lacks INTENT
When a human makes something, every part of the creation is a decision made. Why this line, why this color, why this word, why this stitch, why this note.
They may be good decisions, bad decisions, it doesn't matter. The end result is something with thought, and this is why we appreciate art. There is the surface, and underneath, there is an ocean of decisions made by the artist.
AI art has no intent.
Yes, they will type prompts for a general idea. And they will pick a result.
But there is no thought about poses, colors, lines, backgrounds, details, negative space, lighting, texture, framing, etc.
Becoming a good artist means to understand these decisions and align them to make the result you want.
AI art will pick through millions of those decisions made by other people and will stick them together without meaning or reason, so they lose their intended purpose. This is why people think AI art is empty, that it has no 'soul'. Because there is no thought process behind it.
We should stop comparing human and AI art by using words like "better" or "worse". People will always have different opinions.
But as a human, I am more interested in things made by other humans, because I can observe all those tiny decisions, I can relate to some, be surprised by some, dislike some, it's all good.
Art is people communicating.
AI art has nothing to say.
#really this is just another point in my long-growing oceanic bucket of evidence#that humans innately when presented with Options for how to conceptualize and handle a situation#will always without fail deliberately-on some unconscious level-pick whichever one allows them#to justify the most bloodthirst and hatred directed at other people#ideally on the flimsiest and most ill-defined conveniently nebulous shifting pseudo spiritual grounds#even when *presented with actual evidence that can be used in favor of their opinions*#people still en masse will go out of their way to choose the stupid reasons#because those are the easiest to warp and twist and redefine to define people out of the ingroup however you like#and really if any facts actually ever line up with them that's just a convenient background bonus#my position on this whole ai thing is increasingly just bitter omnidirectional doomerism and certainty that no matter how this goes#and no matter who or which tribe of idiots “wins”#it can't possibly end even slightly well#i'm not looking forward to either possible future#and certainly not looking forward to the sort of people and prevailing idealogies i'll likely be sharing either one with#it would be too much to ask for the reactionary techno-luddites and the dumbfuck tech excecutives to just go fistfight eahcother on the sun#and leave our computers operating systems and the concept of copyright the fuck alone#because clearly neither of them can be trusted near any of it#if openai went bankrupt tomorrow and the concept of copyright was disbanded overnight that would be lovely#but we don't get to live in either of those futures. just the one that's the combination of all the other Worst ones#time is an entropic path that only leads downwards and history is nothing but a long and bitter defeat
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hhmnya · 15 days ago
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ㅤ ꢾ꣒ㅤㅤ CROSS YOUR MIND──PSH.
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resumen 。。 he crosses your mind, but do you ever cross his?
( 성훈 ) femreader ㅤㅤ✦ㅤㅤ 2165wc exbf!hoon actress!r exes to ? ㅤ──ㅤ w not proofread, reader is lowkey an overthinker lol.
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you haven't thought about sunghoon since you were nineteen. okay, that's a lie—you've definitely thought about him since then. you’ve thought about him almost every second since you’ve parted ways.
it was hard not to when he’s currently in one of the most popular kpop groups right now. you hear his music, you see so many ads of him (hince really needs to stop for your mental health), you see his performances, you have to greet him when you’re at the same events and cross each other’s paths. all of these things have built up and you think you’re at your breaking point.
you’re glad he’s successful, that he’s living the dream that he wanted, you just wish it was far away from you. it’s not fair that both of your dreams were to be in the entertainment industry and it’s not fair that the both of you achieved them. you love acting and you’d never give it up but you can’t help but resent it a little bit because of its role in your break up.
sunghoon had just debuted and you’d gotten your first big role. obviously it proved to be too much for sunghoon to handle because he broke up with you a few months into his career. you’re both successful now, yes, but you can’t help but think that you could’ve been successful while being happy with him.
you love your job but, god, you hate that it forces you to be around sunghoon. it’s awful to be around the man who broke your heart—the man that you still love—and it’s the only downside of your job that you’ve discovered.
despite still having some underlying feelings for him, you don’t think you’d ever go back. the heartbreak your teenage self went through was too much and for what? for someone who doesn’t bat an eye when he sees you while you’re tripping over yourself? you just don’t think that it’d be worth it.
not that you think he’d ever ask for you back.
you think about the fact that you haven’t had a proper conversation with him since the break up and it makes you cringe. it’s awful because here you are thinking about him while he’s probably having fun with his members, your relationship most likely an almost forgotten memory.
walking in a convenience store, you pull your mask up higher and greet the worker quietly. you don’t see any reason to be this careful about your identity but your manager insists that if you’re going to be going out late at night you should at least do this much.
you walk through the aisles, noting your usual snacks. you were craving chips but now that you’ve see your options, you want something sweet now. you’re too focused on figuring out what you want and that causes you to crash into someone’s (firm) chest. the stranger’s hands grip your waist to steady you and you feel butterflies in your stomach for the first time in forever.
great. you even haven’t seen the person’s face and your heart is already racing. barely five minutes ago you were thinking about sunghoon and the fact that you still love him, yet here you are.
maybe you’ve moved on without realizing it.
you doubt it.
you look up and see that they’re—he’s wearing a mask similar to yours. unlike you, though, he’s wearing a cap that obscures your view of the top half of his face. he clears his throat and the sound brings you out of your thoughts. you let out an embarrassed apology before pulling away.
he responds with your name.
you blink, unsure of how to answer him. you’ve never been recognized so close to your home and definitely not when you’re deliberately hiding your identity. you’ve been told what to do in this kind of situation by your company but it’s different when it’s actually happening.
“i’m sorry?” you make your expression into a confused one. you deviated from the set of lines your company gave you for situations like these but it’s not like they’re here anyways so who really cares?
“it’s sunghoon.”
oh.
oh.
“huh?” you’re sure sound smart—you bet you look it too.
he laughs softly and it makes you wish he didn’t have a mask on his face. you don’t have to wish for long because a second later he grants your silent plea and pulls his mask down.
it’s definitely him.
“you’re her right? it’s sunghoon,” he repeats, “from.. enhypen.”
“i am.” you inwardly cringe at the awkwardness in your voice, “..um, why?”
he seems surprised at your question, hesitating for what feels like forever, “it’s been a while.”
you last saw him at the MAMA awards in osaka. that was five days ago. true, you didn’t exactly speak for long but you still greeted each other. you push away the annoyance bubbling up in your chest. it really hasn’t been that long.
“yeah.”
you both stand there awkwardly for a few seconds; you’re looking everywhere but him, sunghoon’s looking only at you. his intense gaze gives you goosebumps and you want him to stop. he hasn’t looked at you like this since you were dating and you hate the feeling that a simple look is bringing to you.
“i should—”
“can we—”
the two of you speak in unison.
“go ahead.” you give him a tight smile even though you know that he can’t see it.
“can we talk?”
that is the absolute worst sentence a man could ever say to you, especially when he’s your ex boyfriend. you have no idea what he possibly needs to talk to you about considering you haven’t been in contact at all. you think that maybe you did something to offend him. that thought doesn’t make sense, though, so you get rid of it.
“we’re already talking.”
“just– a real conversation.” after a beat, “please?”
he sounds serious but you shouldn’t agree. it’s late and you’re tired and you’re sure you’ll do something that you’ll regret if you allow him to talk to you. you know it’s not a good idea, so why is it that five minutes later you’re unlocking the door and inviting him into your home?
silently guiding him to the kitchen, you can feel your chest practically caving in. why on earth would you allow him into your house? are you insane? what if someone saw and dating rumors get spread around? what if you accidentally just ruined both of your careers? what if he really doesn’t care about and wants nothing to do with you?
you pause. you need to get a grip—it’s just sunghoon. there’s no reason for you to be overthinking so much, it’s not like you split on bad terms or have an unresolved hatred towards each other. it’s a little uncomfortable, maybe, but nothing bad is going to happen.
it’ll be fine.
after quickly collecting yourself, you grab two glasses and fill them both up with cold water. you pass sunghoon his before taking a drink of your own, attempting to soothe the dryness in your throat.
“so.. um, what’d you want to talk about?” you say as quietly as you can but making sure he can still hear you.
“i watched your show.”
“oh my god, you didn’t.” you hide your burning face in your hands out of pure embarrassment. he’s the last person you wanted to watch that stupid show—it wasn’t bad, your character was just.. unique and you had to do a lot of embarrassing things. things that no ex boyfriend should be allowed to see even if it is your job.
“why? i wasn’t supposed to?” you can envision the grin on his face and you swear you can hear him stifle a laugh.
“i looked stupid half of the time. that’s.. wait is that what you wanted to talk about? my show?” you look up, staring at one of his moles to avoid eye contact.
“no, i don’t– i’ve just been thinking about you.” he takes a step closer and you take two steps back. his face falls at your reaction and he whispers your name so fondly that it nearly makes your heart stop. “is that bad of me to admit? i think about you all the time. it’s pretty hard not to when you’re practically everywhere right now.”
“sunghoon.”
your heart rate has probably jumped up by a couple hundred at this point. the same situation you never expected to happen in this lifetime or the next is happening right now. he’s saying the things that you’ve been thinking, the things that you hoped he had felt too and you don’t know what you’re supposed to do with that.
“say something.” his voice comes out quiet and desperate. it feels like he’s begging you without any of the actual begging.
“i don’t know what to say.”
“do you miss me?”
you do. you can’t look him in the eyes and deny that fact because, god, you really do miss him. what’s the point of being an actress if you can’t act like you don’t miss him? so rather than making up some half-assed lie, you deflect, “aren’t you busy?”
he steps closer, trapping you between him and your kitchen counter. you should’ve moved somewhere more open so you could’ve avoided this. “so you didn’t?”
staying silent, you choose not to answer him. honestly, you’re scared of what he’s going to say next. you don’t know what you’re going to do or how you’re going to react—whether you’ll scream or cry, laugh or kiss him, you don’t know and that’s what scares you. this moment is forcing you to face all of the conflicting emotions you have for your ex boyfriend and you don’t know if you’re exactly ready for what you might realize.
“i miss you. i want us to try again.”
and the way that he says your name almost has you throwing yourself into his arms, but you stop yourself. you have to think rationally about this—as rationally as you can with him this close to you.
“you can’t just say things like that, sunghoon, we broke up. you broke up with me.”
“i was stupid and i don’t know why i would ever ruin what we had. let me make it up to you, please.”
“we were nineteen, it doesn’t matter anymore."
it does matter and you know he knows that you’re lying. you can see it in the sad smile that he’s wearing.
“it matters to me. do you really not think about me? i don’t cross your mind ever? am i the only one that’s glad we bumped into each other?“
he raises his hand like he wants to touch you, but he hesitates and drops it back down to his side. you wish he didn’t. you wish he’d just pull you into his arms already so that you can forget all of your teenage angst.
but he doesn’t and he won’t. not until you give him something to work with.
you reach your hand out, grabbing his. it’s cold against your skin and you squeeze, finally meeting his gaze, “i didn’t say that.”
“so give me another chance. i swear i won’t fuck it up this time. like i said; let me make it up to you. i swear on everything that i’ll be better this time.”
“i don’t know, i’m just so confused right now.”
he lets go of your hand and you’re scared that you said the wrong thing but he doesn’t give you time to overthink it. a second after he pulls away, his hand finds its place on your cheek, the familiar sensitive has you subconsciously leaning into his touch.
“give me one month to win you back, okay? if you want nothing to do with me after that then i’ll leave you alone forever.”
you barely process his words, distracted by the small circles his thumb is rubbing against your skin.
in all honesty, you were stupid to think that you could ever deny him. you’ve always known that deep down you wanted him to come back to you and you knew that you would forgive him.
the reason for your break up was understandable, no matter how much it hurt you. you know that you can’t lament over your past relationship forever, especially now that you know he wants to try again.
“just one month, okay?” his face visibly brightens at your response and you think you can see his body become lighter right in front of your eyes. he rests his forehead against yours, mumbling his thanks towards you. you don’t think you’ve seen him this happy in a long time and it’s contagious. for the first time all night, a smile finds its way onto your face.
you get to have a second chance with sunghoon and maybe it’ll be a good ending and maybe it won’t, but at least you get to try.
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anna's note. this is ass IJBOL erm happy late.. birthday sunghoon 😅😅 this was supposed to come out days ago obviously but i got lazy.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ click4more.
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seokgyuu · 7 months ago
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Coming back home for the summer hasn’t been fun in ages. Thankfully, that is just about to change when you lay eyes on Matthew who, according to Taerae, isn’t into older girls. Never backing down from a challenge you decide to approach him anyways - making yourself younger than you actually are and calling Matthew “oppa” more times than probably necessary.
Pairing: Seok Matthew x Fem!Reader
Genre: Comedy, Smut
Word Count: 5.2k
Warnings: Reader is actively lying to Matthew to get into his pants, loads and loads of usage of the word “oppa”, alcohol drinking (idk in what country this universe is, they call each other with honorifics but they kind of are in the states because i made the drinking age 21…. just don’t pay it any mind ok, it’s porn disguised as a funny story) , this work contains adult content! MDNI! Smut warnings under the cut!
Playlist: Hot in Herre - Nelly (you’ll get it), Yeah - Usher, Murder on the Dancefloor - Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Break Your Heart - Taio Cruz, Durch den Monsun - Tokio Hotel
A/N: thank you sm @xscoupsx for the perfect header & divider!!! absolute masterpiece i am still staring at it. finally got this worm out of my brain!!! take this with a grain of salt, it's all fun and giggles. Tags: @cheolism, @the-boy-meets-evil
When you get home that day it’s his number on your phone (that he saved as ‘matthew oppa’ of course) that pops up asking if you made it home safely. It’s Taerae’s number that pops up to let you know he’s blocking you. Giggling, you fall down onto your bed, your slippers hanging off your feet threatening to fall off any second, but instead of caring, you open up instagram. You find him quick and easy, Seok Matthew followed by Gyuvin and Taerae and Hanbin and basically everyone you know in this small town. How come you’ve never seen him before? 
Smut warnings: oppa kink, sexting, masturbation (f&m), unprotected sex (booo!), blowjob, cumming in mouth, lmk if i missed anything!
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“Forget it. He’s not into older girls.”
Taerae is sipping on his milkshake watching you watch his former classmate and friend Matthew. You’re in the mall in Taerae’s hometown which also happens to be your hometown. You’ve left for college around a year and a half ago and coming back here never truly excites you anymore. Or at least it didn’t use to. Now, looking at the young man outside of Mikey’s Milkshakes handing out flyers with sweat dripping down his temples, you think that just about changed. 
“He doesn’t know that I’m older,” you shoot back, sucking on your own straw and enjoying the taste of peanut butter on your tongue.
“You look older, noona.”
A napkin hits Taerae’s forehead. It was you. You threw the napkin. He just chuckles and shakes his head
“No, you don’t get it. Matthew is… weird. Like he has this whole thing where he hates when people call him cute. He gets all upset and tells them he isn’t cute, he’s Woohyun oppa.”
While you do cringe, you also find it quite interesting. You’ve heard of this before - younger guys who didn’t like to be younger. He was Taerae’s age, so freshly 21 and attending the local college with Tae, which meant if anything he would have to go for girls 18 or 19 and, come on, they surely couldn’t please him like you! 
“How convenient,” you smile in a way that makes Taerae shiver in something close to fear, “I’ve always wanted to try calling a younger guy oppa.”
“You’re horrible,” Tae comments, shoving his milkshake away from him, “horrible and crazy. He is never going to fall for you being younger.”
“Really? Want to make this interesting then?” The evil grin on your face certainly means nothing but trouble. But it’s summer and this town is boring as hell with nothing ever happening. So, why not? Taerae shakes your hand, betting against you that you, in fact, will not succeed to bed Matthew. It’s not just pride that’s on the line but also free milkshakes for the rest of the summer. 
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You somehow convince your friend Gyuvin to act like you’re his same age cousin from a different town. As it turns out he also knows Matthew. How does everyone know this guy but you? And why has no one ever mentioned to you how they have an extremely attractive friend who just so happens to have an oppa kink? 
It’s honestly a mystery to you how Taerae didn’t think you’d be able to pull off being a 04’ liner. You can pretend to be way younger than you are! You don’t look like you’re twenty-three! Matthew is eating out of your hand by lunch. He listens to you attentively and everytime you call him “oppa” he seems to melt into his chair. 
When you get home that day it’s his number on your phone (that he saved as ‘matthew oppa’ of course) that pops up asking if you made it home safely. It’s Taerae’s number that pops up to let you know he’s blocking you. Giggling, you fall down onto your bed, your slippers hanging off your feet threatening to fall off any second, but instead of caring, you open up instagram. You find him quick and easy, Seok Matthew followed by Gyuvin and Taerae and Hanbin and basically everyone you know in this small town. How come you’ve never seen him before? 
His profile isn’t private which means you didn’t have to follow him to stalk his 103 posts, but you still do. It saddens you that you can’t comment things like “you look so good, oppa” or “woah, that color looks so perfect on you, oppa”, but you digress. Sucking on a popsicle from the freezer, you scroll through his feed, seeing that he definitely hasn’t been this hot for a long time. There is a ringing in your ear and you try to lose it by scratching it. What the hell? Back to Matthew, please! Just last year he looked like a teenager freshly hitting puberty and now? He’s buff and handsome and just thinking about what might be under that shirt makes your thighs press together. Perhaps you have a serious problem because when you spot the highlight saying “gym” with the flexing arm emoji, you are already halfway down with your hand to touch yourself. 
His gym pics are a goldmine for your dirty fantasies and thoughts about the man you’re planning to seduce. There is one where he flexes his arm and grinning while winking into the mirror he’s taking the pic in. Then there is the one where he is sitting on the bench press, leaned forward with a half smirk, his tight tank top leaving nothing to the imagination. The shorts he’s wearing make you feel dizzy and as you imagine what his cock would look like and what he would feel like inside of you, you begin to circle your clit with your thumb, throwing your head back as you continue your fantasy. Matthew and you on that bench press, his strong arms holding you down as he fucks into you mercilessly. 
A ‘ping’ disrupts your session and you open your eyes, looking down to see he had texted you again. It’s almost comical - you thinking about him fucking you and touching yourself to that thought and him texting you a “it was so nice to meet you” message as if you weren’t thinking about him fucking your brains out. 
Sighing, you pull your hand out of your panties, wiping them off on your shorts and decide to text him back. 
matthew oppa: it was so nice to meet you
you: you too, oppa <3
matthew oppa: hehe
matthew oppa: so, what are your plans this week? 
you: hmm, not much… why?
matthew oppa: oh well, i was wondering if maybe you’d wanna go to a drive in with me?
you: ohh, like watching a movie in a car?
matthew oppa: yeah, exactly!
Now, this is where your current horniness decides to take over. Licking over your lips you sink deeper into your pillows, your slippers completely fallen off now, your legs spreading slightly as you stare at the screen, thinking about how you can make this guy jerk off to you right now without sounding too experienced. 
you: well… i would love to see you again, oppa, but…
matthew oppa: but…?
you: my friends… they told me some things about drive ins you know
matthew oppa: huh? what things?
you: uhm… like that when you go to a drive in with a boy… well you know 🙈
matthew oppa: oh
matthew oppa: y/n you don’t have to worry
matthew oppa: i won’t do anything you’re not comfortable with, oppa promises 
you: that’s nice of you to say, oppa💕
you: but… what if i want something you’re not comfortable with? 
matthew oppa: what do you mean?
you: it’s embarrassing 🥺
matthew oppa: you don’t have to be embarrassed with oppa, yn 
you: ok if you say so…
you: it’s just that i know we only met today but
you: i just can’t stop thinking about you
matthew oppa: that’s cute 
matthew oppa: oppa can’t stop thinking about you too, if that makes you feel better baby
Baby. You bite down on your lip. As much as it makes you cringe it makes your pussy wet, the way he speaks and reacts, how he addresses himself as ‘oppa’. You wonder if maybe your need to get laid is taking over the intelligence you usually inhabit. 
you: really? 🥺
matthew oppa: yeah
you: are you also… thinking naughty thoughts, oppa?
matthew oppa: oh
matthew oppa: are you thinking naughty thoughts, baby?
you: idk… 🥺
matthew oppa: you can be honest with oppa, baby, i would never judge you
you: i am thinking naughty thoughts
matthew oppa: like what?
you: saw oppa’s instagram… your gym highlight
matthew oppa: you liked it?
you: a lot 🙈
matthew oppa: how much did you like it, baby?
you: so much that i got all wet… down there
You want to die and at the same time you don’t think you’ve been this wet (down there) in ages. Not the dude from the semester end party who had fucked you in the smallest bathroom known to mankind and most certainly not Jiwoong last summer. You wonder if anyone has ever made you this wet without even physically being present.
matthew oppa: fuck
matthew oppa: you got wet just from my pictures? you like oppa that much?
you: i do… it’s so embarrassing
you: stared at you the whole day today… now i want you to do bad things to me, oppa
matthew oppa: yeah? what do you want me to do?
you: wanna get on my knees for you and have oppa fuck my mouth 🙈
matthew oppa: shit… got my cock so hard from just reading that, baby. 
you: does oppa wanna fuck my mouth?
matthew oppa: fuck yeah. your mouth and your wet pussy baby
you: i’m so wet oppa, so wet for you 🥺
matthew oppa: can i call you?
He ends up calling you before you can respond his raspy voice on the other side of the line already telling you he’s getting off. What follows is just the two of you simultaneously masturbating while telling the other dirty things you wanna do to each other. He tells you how he wants to fuck you (his main fantasy seems to be you on all fours and him behind you drilling into you like a sledgehammer) and how you need him to fill you inexperienced pussy.
Obviously you don’t say that, you just hint at it. Matthew wants to be an oppa, he wants someone younger who looks up to him - especially in a sexual way. So, of course you’re gonna lie to him and tell him you’ve only had sex like twice and both times had been five minutes tops and you also had never had a guy make you cum or cum inside of you. All of these are lies. Your body count has gotten to a point of you not even remembering anymore and the amount of plan bs you had taken should probably be illegal. You’re not responsible when it comes to fucking and you are well aware. Matthew, though, doesn’t need to know this. 
When he cums with your name on his lips and you cum begging for him to fill you up, you call it a night. 
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The drive in idea doesn’t come up again. You worry for a day that he might have lost interest. Then, you hear from Gyuvin that the drive in had to close because there was a fire and Matthew has just been swamped with work. You deem that as a good enough reason for him to leave you on read for approximately two seconds before it starts to piss you off. Thankfully, summers in your hometown promise extreme ragers every weekend to which you are sure Matthew will come too. At least you hope he does.
Out of all people, Jiwoong is the one to throw the first big rager of the summer and even knowing that Jiwoong could very easily blow your cover, you decide to go. With your sluttiest little dress and some skimpy underwear on, Taerae only sighs when you get into his car.
“You will give the man a damn heart attack,” he comments as he turns out of your parents driveway. You chuckle.
“Let’s hope that happens after I win that bet against you, Taetae.” 
“You truly are a horrible person. Lying to get into someone’s pants? Shouldn’t that be below you?” 
“Dramaqueen.” You roll your eyes and pull down the visor to open the small mirror and check your make-up. 
“I’m just saying,” Taerae continues as he stops at a traffic light, “watch out. If he finds out you’re lying chances are he’s gonna be mad.”
“Come on. I’ve lived in this town my whole fucking life. If anything it’s kind of his fault for not knowing me.”
It is odd. How he has apparently been in Taerae’s class all this time and neither of you knew each other. But then again, how were you supposed to know everyone? You don’t see Taerae looking at you with the biggest side eye. And even if you had, you probably wouldn’t have cared. 
Jiwoongs house is huge. His parents are both lawyers or whatever and you remember vividly how one of Jiwoong’s friends wanted to hit on you, some small unremarkable guy you had already forgotten the name of, and how Jiwoong saved you from him, getting your pussy as a thank you. In his parent’s room. You wonder if they ever found out.
There is already loud music playing when you get to the house, Tae parking his car in the last available spot on the street. Getting out, you try your best not to flash the people walking past you and Tae chuckles when you land on your heels a little shaky. You decide to ignore him and just start walking towards the door, him right behind you. Right at the entrance you already spot Gyuvin with Ricky and Gunwook and you raise your brows when you spot a red cup on the latter’s hand.
“It’s coke, noona, I swear!” He says the second you reach him, showing off the contents of his cup by tilting it slightly. Clicking your tongue you nod in approval, moving on to the other two. 
“Technically,” Gyuvin says, his own cup suspiciously close to his chest and far away from your glaring eyes, “you are the same age as us tonight, so…,” he seriously tries to talk him out of this. You put your hands on your hips and look at him, Ricky, his cup, Ricky’s cup. The two share a gaze before sighing and finally handing the cups to you. You smile triumphantly.
“Very good. Thank you, boys.” 
“Aaaand these are for me, thank you very much,” a voice startles you, taking the two cups from your hands. Your look to your right and see Taerae grinning widely.
“What? If they are underage, so are you, bestie.” 
Waving with his occupied hands, Tae goes inside humming along to the music. You groan and roll your eyes, knowing full well you did this to yourself but also hating Taerae because this was obviously all his fault.
“Now, now. We can all have a wonderful time without alcohol!” Gunwook smiles widely and if he wasn’t so adorable you might have punched him in the stomach. Instead, you just sigh once more and walk into the house, leaving the three boys behind.
Inside, there is a big crowd of people gathered in the spacey living room and your eyes are already scanning your surroundings for Matthew. While you really want him to fuck you (like so much you literally thought about not wearing any panties just for him. Then you put on your dress and realized there was no way in hell), you also need to stay in character. You are innocent, shy, a young girl who needs her oppa to show her the ropes. Perhaps, you are even a little insecure because he left you on read for two days, who knows?
It doesn’t take long to spot him. And when you do, you are suddenly thankful Tae took the cups away from you because you for sure would have dropped them. It’s almost comical that Nelly’s “Hot in Herre”starts playing right this second. 
Matthew has his hair styled up, a few strands falling into his forehead, his face so perfectly on display you want to place kisses all over it. And as if that wasn’t enough, there is a white sleeveless shirt on his muscular body that lets everyone know he is buff and proud of it. 
Fuck. You need him. Like, right now. 
No one has ever looked that fucking delicious, you decide. He is the yummiest person on this planet and you’re gonna have him. 
For a few moments, you only watch him. Watch how he talks to someone you don’t know, how he nips at his cup, how he laughs at a joke. It’s a miracle you haven’t started drooling. People keep on walking around you and only when one nearly runs you over, you decide to move closer to Matthew. So far, he hasn’t seen you. 
Biting down on your lip, you wonder how you could best catch his attention without going right over to him. The solution presents itself in the form of Hanbin standing leaned against the wall with a cup in one and his phone in the other hand. 
Showtime. You grin to yourself. Then, you get into character. 
“Hanbin oppa!” You squeal, loud enough for Matthew and the girl he is talking to hear. And when Matthew sees you, sees the way you beam at Hanbin, he feels a sting in his pride. His eyes burn into you, making you feel hot all over. 
Hanbin, on the other hand, is more than confused. Mainly because you’re older than him and just called him oppa. 
“Uh, what?” 
“Play along, or you’re dead,” you say with the same enthusiastic beam as before, your voice lowered for only Hanbin to hear. He clears his throat and nods. He knows not to mess with you and your antics.
“S-sure, uhm, whats up?” 
“Trying to make Matthew think I wanna fuck you instead of him,” you laugh loudly, as if he had said something funny, your left hand slightly hitting his shoulder, while the other twirls a strand of hair around your finger. Hanbin’s eyebrows shoot up.
“Right, Tae mentioned you were doing that.” He shoves his phone into the back pocket of his jeans and watches you with his brows still raised. 
“Don’t judge me, Sung Hanbin. I remember very well how you tried to get with Katie last summer and literally told her your dad invented fucking Microsoft.”
“Is it my fault she didn’t know Bill Gates?” Hanbin defends himself right away and you chuckle. 
“No. Is it my fault Matthew’s into younger girls?”
Hanbin stays silent for a beat, the song now changing to Usher’s “Yeah” and you wonder what decade you’re in.
“Fair point. But then again I’m just confused becau-,”
“Y/N!”
An arm is wrapped around your waist the next second, an arm you’ve been fantasizing over for days now. 
“Oppa, hi,” your eyes are basically hearts staring up at him. Hanbin thinks he’s very likely stuck in a simulation.
“Hyung,” Matthew smiles at Hanbin, but even someone blind could have figured out it wasn’t an actual smile, “I think Hao hyung is looking for you. Better go check on him, yeah?” 
Hao hyung  definitely isn’t looking for him. Hao hyung is upstairs with a cute boy and a cute girl and Hanbin is well aware. Taking this as his leave, he nods at both of you and leaves you to your idiotic game. 
“Hey,” Matthew now looks at you, eyes softening only slightly. 
“Hi,” you repeat yourself, biting down on your lip.
“I was hoping to see you here.” 
He moves closer to you, your back hitting the wall and his other hand tugging a loose hair behind your ear. 
“Did you? I thought maybe you weren’t interested anymore after we, you know….” You truly deserve an Oscar for the performance you’re giving. Matthew licks over his lips.
“After you came so good for me on the phone, you mean?” His eyes bore into yours and your panties are seemingly swimming away. 
“I- I, yes, after that.”
“Of course oppa is still interested, baby. Oppa just had a lot of work, oppa is sorry.”
He leans closer to you, both hands now on your waist and you can feel the growing tension.
“Oppa..,” you whimper when he is right there, so close to kiss you. 
“Oppa has been thinking about you and your tight pussy all week, will you let Oppa fuck her?”
You moan when his hands creep around and squeeze your ass. 
“W-We didn’t even r-really talk!” You cry after, but Matthew just chuckles, his lips hovering over your own. 
“We can still talk after, doll. Now I desperately need to sink my cock into you, ‘am already so fucking hard.” 
And then he kisses you. Kisses you hard and so full of lust and desperation your knees give in. He pulls you closer against him and you can feel he didn’t lie. He is hard. You decide not to give it too much thought as of why. 
Instead, you part from him, breathlessly and grab his hand to take him to the one room you know for sure won’t be occupied. 
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Matthew’s hands are all over you. Groping your boobs one second, then they are back on your ass, all while Murder On the Dancefloor blasts through the house. Desperation radiates off of him and you bathe in it. Bathe in the way he drags your dress up and touches every second of skin he frees. His lips chase yours in haste and you wrap your arms around his neck, letting him push you towards the large bed in the center of the room. 
“Shit, you’re so hot,” he whispers against your lips and you suck his tongue into your mouth as a response. You know he’s already hard. Can feel it when you press your hand against his crotch. He moans and kisses you harder, tongue continuously slapping against yours like he needs to prove a point. 
Your back hits the bed seconds later, his thigh pressed between yours against your clothed cunt that’s already throbbing with want. 
“Want you so bad, oppa,” you cry out, hands fumbling with that god forsaken muscle shirt that has got your pussy wet the second you spotted him in it. He rips off his body the next second and you sigh in absolute bliss. Immediately, you move to touch his toned torso, his defined abs, his perfect shoulders. Fuck, he is incredibly hot. 
“Yeah? Want oppa to fuck you, hm?” His voice is deep and raspy against your ear and you nod rapidly, moving your hips against his thigh. Matthew chuckles, hands back to squeeze your tits, causing you to arch your back against him. His touch feels intoxicating, already got you addicted. It’s the way he is still oh so desperate for you. His kisses are sloppy and his cock is hard against you, his hips moving for any kind of friction. A part of you wants to take your sweet time with him, put him in your mouth, have him come undone on your tongue. Work him so long until he can fuck you for real. But there is a party downstairs and people will eventually notice you’re gone. 
“Put it in me, oppa, please, please, please.” 
He groans at your begging, his head nodding as if in trance, quickly ridding you of your panties and himself of his pants. You watch with a heaving chest how he doesn’t even fully shove his jeans and briefs down his legs, how they pool there at his ankles as he gets on his knees and flips you over. You gasp in surprise, another enormous wave of lust overcoming you when he pulls you up, your ass in the air, the perfect position for him to fuck you like he wanted to. 
Matthew is surprised he isn’t foaming at the mouth with you in front of him like this. His eyes are glued to your glistening pussy, his cock hard against his stomach. Grabbing his cock, he jerks himself off a few times before guiding himself to your entrance - only to stop just before he breaches you.
“Shit, I don’t have a condom,” he curses. You look back at him.
“Just pull out, Matthew, please.” 
In your impatience you forgot to call him “oppa”. For a second you’re worried but he is too distracted by you wanting him to fuck you raw he doesn’t even notice the missing honorific. 
Without any more hesitation, he finally sinks into you, his thick head stretching you out just the way you hoped it would. Your fingers grab the bedsheets, eyes falling shut as you get used to the way he feels, inch by inch. And, shit, does he feel good. 
Matthew is scared he’ll come right away when he bottoms out. His cock has never felt more comfortable inside anyone before. Almost as if he was made to fuck you and only you. Thankfully, he doesn’t immediately shoot his load and instead begins to move. And really, he tried to start slow and steady, he really did. But he’s just a horny dude, in the end. His thrusts are rapid and hard and you feel like you’re high. Your thoughts are empty, there is only him and the way he fucks you like an animal. All you feel is your rising orgasm, your pussy squeezing him over and over, your moans getting louder and louder. Matthew isn’t quiet either - both of you seem like you’re harmonising as he fucks you from behind with gluttal moans escaping him every few seconds. His eyes are rolled back and his hands are around your waist, holding you so hard you’re sure there will be marks later on. You are more than ready to welcome them. 
“You- You take oppa’s cock so fucking well, fuck,” Matthew is so close to finishing, you can feel it. 
“Oppa fucks me so good! Don’t stop!” You push your hips against him and he gifts you another one of his melodic moans that have you gushing over his cock. He curses under his breath. 
“Yeah, I can feel how much you like oppa fucking you, such a naughty girl, aren’t you?” His nails dig into your skin and you cry out, his dirty words doing exactly what they are supposed to: bring you close to the edge.
“Ngh- Oppa! Gonna c-cum!” Your mouth hangs open, drool landing on Jiwoong’s parent’s bed. Matthew’s head is spinning and he does his best to keep fucking you exactly like this. He wants you to cum before he does, wants you to cum on his cock, wants to feel you squeeze and clench around him. Wants your release to be the finishing touches for his. 
And when he leans slightly forward, his arm creeping around you to press his thumb to your clit, you can feel the knot tighten and finally explode. 
You’re cumming hard around his cock, vibrating around him with nothing but utter pleasure. You keep calling for him, tell him to keep going, to fuck you through your orgasm and he manages to pull out of you just when you deem yourself satisfied. Quickly, he jerks himself off, ready to finish on your ass, when suddenly you are right there, your mouth around his tip, catching his spurts of cum that shoot out the second he feels your lips around him.
“O-oh, f-fuck! Yeah, t-take all of oppas cum! Fuuuuck!” He pushes you further down his cock, nose in his neatly trimmed pubic hair, more and more strings of his cum gushing down your throat. You swallow every last bit, even lick him clean when he pulls you back, his eyes meeting yours. 
“That was insane,” he says, helping you sit up fully. You grin and pull him down into a kiss he is more than happy to return. 
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With your clothes back where they belong, the two of you walk out of Jiwoong’s parents room only to run into… Jiwoong. A mad Jiwoong. Who has a girl with him. A girl who looks more spooked than she should considering she came up here with Jiwoong for probably the same reason as you and Matthew did.
“Oh, hey!” You chirp and Jiwoong looks from you to Matthew and back. 
“”Oh, hey”? Are you fucking with me?” 
“Pretty sure I was just fucking with him, oppa,” you counter, thumb pointing over your shoulder and at Matthew who awkwardly lifts his hand in a wave. Jiwoong groans. 
“Would you give us a second?” He says to the girl and the girl rolls her eyes but finally nods, making her way down the hallway and back downstairs, where Taio Cruz’s Break You Heart is most definitely making the people lose their shit on the dancefloor.
“Yo, hyung, sorry, I know this is your parents room and all, but-,”
Jiwoong raises his hand and Matthew stops speaking. 
“Frankly, I don’t give a fuck, thank you very much. I am more interested in what the fuck this is.” 
He points between you and Matthew and the two of you share a look.
“What- what do you mean?” You ask, continuing to play innocent. 
Jiwoong blinks.
“Are you- are you for real?” 
With being so focused on not understanding what the fuck Jiwoong is on about, you fail to see Matthew using his hands to gesture to Jiwoong to stop talking!
“Jiwoong oppa, what is your problem?” You ask, crossing your arms. 
“My- what my problem is? Jesus, Y/N, just last summer you turned Matty down and instead went to fuck me and now this?”
“What are you talking about, what Matty, wha-,” 
Matty. Matt…y… Matt….hew. Oh.
You remember. Remember the friend that had hit on you, the small unremarkable guy that you couldn’t even remember the name of when you tried. You hadn’t been mean to him, just politely said no and while he did take it as an answer, he still tried to make conversation. Matty. 
Slowly, you turn to Matthew, your mouth hanging slightly open. He is red as a beet and one of his hands is rubbing his neck awkwardly. 
“You- you are Matty?” You ask. After another beat of silence (not really silence considering there was still a party going on) he nods.
“Yes, that would be me.”
You are dumbfounded. Flabbergasted. In shock. Your arm flies to Jiwoong’s shoulder to hold yourself steady.
“But you are- you are so-,”
“You told me you saw the gym pics, didn’t you?”
Oh yeah, you did. 
“You know I am not younger than you?”
“Younger than him, wha-,” Jiwoong chimes in, but neither you nor Matthew pay him any mind.
“Yup.” He pops the “p” at the end and you feel like you’re about to faint.
“So… everyone knows…. you know?” 
“Yup,” he repeats.
They are playing fucking Tokio Hotel downstairs now. 
“Right. Right, sure. That- uh, my bad.” You stand up straight again, letting your hands run over your dress. 
“Noona-,” Matthew starts, but you hold up your hand. 
“Let’s not. I need to let this sink in.”
You walk down the stairs and of course Taerae is leaning against the frame of the big arch, grinning from ear to ear. There is no way of knowing how he even fucking knows what just happened, but he does. When you finally get your hands on your first drink of the night, you are sure the bet was all part of the plan you were so kindly left out of. 
Later, when you spot Matthew with Hanbin and Gyuvin and your eyes meet, you tip your cup at him. Well played.
“If it makes you feel better, he probably would have had you call him oppa during sex anyways,” Ricky says from next to you and you close your eyes. 
This is going to be a long summer. 
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sk3tch404 · 8 months ago
Text
Late Night Hanma Blurb
A/n: Thought abt this during an itty-bitty road trip today. Smoker Hanma does smth to the chemicals in my brain. Forgive me for any lengthy bad writing. I've had a long day and I just wanna yip yap about one of my fav crazies 🙇
CW: Hanma can give two shits about your lung health but chooses not to when he feels like it, intimidation, threats of forced drug usage, sometimes forced participation in violent activities, thoughts of lovers suicide/murder(?), and whatever other yappin I put in here.
Hanma who smokes a fuck ton and doesn't mind giving you the good ol' second-hand effects of it, but absolutely detests you doing it on your own.
He snatches the stick from your mouth and holds it up and away from you with a small grit in his teeth. Hanma glares down in some curiosity but clearly squints in irritation.
"The hell is this? Don't tell me I'm being a bad influence on you now. If I catch you with one of these again, I won't let you off the hook so easily. You got it, Y/n?"
When you retort, telling him it's no different from when he does it and it is your own choice whether he likes it or not, he merely scoffs with a tilt of his narrow head. Throwing down the cigarette, the sound of his sneaker stomping and scraping it out against the pavement echos through the air with an annoying presence. Shuji demands the rest of your stash with a looming stare that can only put you into a state of sinking discimfort.
"Come on, don't be stubborn. Ya know, if you wanna do it so bad, why don't you try the whole pack? Mine too since it's a shitload better than that cheap stuff."
Reluctant on suffocation and early lung cancer, you begrudgingly hand over your smokes to him. Hanma smacks down on the box with an evidently loud shot of noise and slides it out of your palm--- pocketing it. He stretches out narrow smile as he leans down towards you.
"See, now it ain't so hard to listen."
He's still ticked off by the fact you think you can do whatever to your body without his permission, but since Shuji is so generous, he'll let you learn from your mistakes. See, he can be nice.
Don't test him though. Next time you're caught defying his selfish wishes, he's beating you down with degrading language and probably also beating whoever was involved. The convenience store employee that sold you the cigs, vape, or maybe even chewing tobacco? Yeah he's taking out his held back frustration on them. Bro is jumping over the counter and tearing their shit up.
Avoiding him because of his brutal and honest-to-God psychopathic personality? Now that's just cruel. Shuji is dragging your ass by the back of your shirt and pushes you to his motorcycle. The leopard print on the back of the bike makes you wanna barf every time you see it, but you got to keep it down if you wanna have enough energy to deal with him. He'll take you out no matter where you are at in that point of time and make you remember who he is; who you think you're messing with.
"Y/n, how many times do I have to tell you? Aim for the nose. That's easy for amateurs like you. Actually, lemme show you how to really deliver a jaw breaker-"
Yeah, he'll show you just how bad it can get with some random thugs on the street. You should be grateful with how gentle he's treating you. Instead of ending up with facial fractures, you have nice dates and thoughtful gifts. He's even teaching you a few tricks. How lucky can you get?
"I'm all done. Shit, I'm starved. Let's go grab a bite to eat, kay?"
Hanma thinks the only way you'll ever keep paying attention to him is if he keeps you and your actions in line. If you go off doing your own thing, his usually unmoving heart can't just stand there and watch you slowly leave him. Despite the negativity be brings into your life, he actually gets really fuckin anxious when he doesn't know or understand what you're doing. It's so troublesome how you make him feel. Yeah, being bored as shit is bad, but seeing you, the only thing that could ever bring him down to his knees unwillingly, slip away with nothing but disdain for him? Fuck no. He won't accept it. Shuji would rather kill you and then himself than have to bear the strange feeling of pain, or what other people call heartbreak, by his lonesome self.
Should he ever say he loves you, that would be the point of no return for the both of you. His hands have you tight in his clutches. No way out, no way back in for anyone else.
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velvetvexations · 24 days ago
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Still hung up on that “culturally appropriating transfems” nonsense but since im in a bitter mood let’s talk about “”””appropriating”””” niche in-group signifiers. Let’s talk about the prevalence of “girlthing” as a new transfem-exclusive self description, about the “all trans girls have a secret other gender they only reveal to other trans girls” thing, about the “binary trans woman is a dogwhistle bc no transfem is truly binary” posts. Let’s talk abt all those paired with these people’s absolute disdain for ever associating themselves with nonbinary people. Nonbinary people just describing ourselves are obviously doing so to make transfems seem ‘less cool’ bc our genders couldn’t possibly be about US, but then they turn around and make post after post about how nobody outside their little group has ever known the depths and nuances of gender. But don’t you dare insinuate they’re not 100% fully woman nothing else. They’re only nonbinary when convenient to shut us up but never when they have to support us. And you can tell how performative it is bc any transfems who dare to describe their not-fully-woman gender in a way that doesn’t adhere to the pre-approved little memes gets immediately excluded or misgendered bc “girlthing” is basically just girl but “male woman” is hatecrimeing them by proxy. It’s so fucking blatant that only one group here treats gender identity and presentation outside the binary as purely aesthetic virtue signalling and it’s not the ‘TME genderfucks’ lmao.
(Same anon who sent the ask about the hypocrisy of so many of these blogs loving nonbinary memes when it suits them but being wildly exorsexist and hostile to any notion of solidarity with non-transfem nonbinary people, wanted to emphasise that this isn’t a transfem-specific issue, just a really obnoxious pattern with a lot of these TME/TMA people and that I don’t believe this is “”””culturally appropriating”””” nonbinary people or anything. I would actually agree that the line between binary and nonbinary trans identities is blurry for many of us! Hence why the double standards going around frustrate me so much! Sorry for the rambling I hope this made sense)
I'm torn because I don't think it's great to do what they do and insinuate their non-binary identity is superficial or fake in some way but it does really gall me how they rake me personally over the coals for calling myself a male woman while doing this shit. Ultimately they are non-binary if they say they are and we shouldn't be trying to prove they're the ones doing non-binaryism wrong, but the way they treat others is startlingly hypocritical, not because they're more fake but because none of their beliefs about "TME genderfucks" stems from any real viewpoints on being non-binary to begin with. It's all just purely a combination of bigotry and insecurity, and statements like "no trans woman is binary" make that extra clear when it's mostly people who do not in fact identify as non-binary that are having these tantrums.
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valentoru · 6 months ago
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|| Limitless ||
[PROLOGUE.]
SYNOPSIS: Gojo Satoru, a big time artist, who’s known for leaving a trail of broken hearts in his wake wherever he goes. And you, the lead guitarist of an upcoming band, who’s absolutely certain that no one will ever love you. Through an accident in which you happened to kiss Gojo in a frantic state, you both decide, via convenience alone—and zero regard for both of your managers—to pull a fake dating stunt what could go wrong? Any press is good press…right?
PROLOGUE : MASTERLIST : NEXT
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If you were being honest, you had been in the fence about this whole band thing to begin with. Not because you didn’t like music, or couldn’t play any instruments—you definitely could. In fact, music was your thing—but rather you didn’t want to do it because of the press. They always said any press is good press, but is it really? Their opinions mattered to you, no matter what anyone said, putting yourself of a pedestal was rather daunting.
The idea of being at the forefront of media all the time shook you to your very core, yet when you’re friends came to you, with the “brilliant” idea of starting a band you, found yourself slapping on an far too fake grin and agreeing.
But that same night it had all hit you like a 16 wheeler, you would be put in the spotlight, every move would be deeply analysed yet now you had no choice, and backing out wasn’t in the question. Luckily for you though things hadn’t really taken off.
Well, that was until a few years down the line, you had had one big hit and that was it, everything did a tenfold from there.
But it all seemed to feel a bit better, understandable, after The Night.
The Night when you met The Guy.
The Guy who’s name you never actually got.
The Guy who—as you haphazardly stumbled through foggy eyes into an, or what you thought was, empty room—quickly asked you, “out of curiosity, is there a reason why you’re in this office?”
You squeaked. You tried you best to make out who it was, but you couldn’t really tell. The dark lighting of the room made his hair appear blonde, maybe even sandy-brown and he was tall. He was really tall. And his voice was deep, strong, dreamy. And that’s it. That’s all you could tell.
“Is this not a bathroom?”
“Nope.” It was precise, the way the “p” popped out of his mouth, perfectly.
“Oh. Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Really?”
“Fairly, since when I came in here there was no indication it was, and since being in here I doubt they’ve installed a toilet and plumbing.” Well, the man had a point.
“Oh I’m sorry you—you were probably doing something.” You gestured vaguely to where the desk was, or where you thought it was at least.
“Yes, I was, are you okay?”
“Yes, why?”
“The fact you came into this office crying looking rather frantic.”
This man really had to stop talking like he was Gojo Satoru himself. After all, this was Gojos house you were in, yet you were sure this man can’t have been Gojo, though you wouldn’t know, you only had pictures to go off, besides you and Gojo had never met before which is why when the whole band was invited to this party you were positively baffled.
“Not crying, actually,” a lie. “they’re just tears, not sad tears. You know?” Another lie. A contractor had just told you, you and your band would never make it. And while, you knew he wasn’t right, and you wanted to believe he wasn’t right you still found your eyes prickling with tears. The tears that threated to fall down your face, sloppy and messy, felt like small little rocks, or gravel had been lodged into your eye lids. That was probably thanks to the slightly expired contacts you were sporting tonight.
“I do not.”
You sighed, slumping back against the door. “It’s my contacts, they expired a little bit ago. There weren’t ever that good to begin with, and I did take them out for a while but, I need them to see.”
“Expired? You put in expired contacts.” His voice seemed to go up just an octave as though he was personally offended by that statement.
“Yeah, the stinging will go away soon.”
“Oh so you’ve done this before?”
“Yeah.”
“How long have they been expired.”
“I dunno, a couple years?”
“A couple years? They expired longer than a year ago?”
“Expiration dates are for the weak.” You heard a small laugh, though was it really small? The man was massive. Any sound he made was loud, rumbling deep in his chest.
“Why didn’t you get new?”
“Contacts are expensive.”
“So are eyes.”
Once again, he had a point.
The breath he let out was shaky, as though he was trying his best to compose himself.
“Have we met?” You quickly asked, filling the awkward silence which seemed to attempt to throw itself over you.
“No.”
“Oh. Were you at the last contractor party?”
“Nah. Not really my scene.”
“Oh? But the free food?”
“Yeah, wasn’t worth the mingling.”
Oh you had him placed easily. He must be one of those, the ones who got everything handed to him on a silver spoon. No one, who seemed to be like you—an upcoming musician— would turn down free food. After all, it’s not like it pays a good penny to be unknown. Though that was all changing recently, after the band had a big hitting single release.
“Oh, so you must be pretty popular then?”
“Nah, I wouldn’t say that.”
“Well why turn down free food.”
“I guess you have a point.”
You chewed the inside of your cheek closing your eyes tightly again to dull the pain. It would be useful if you could see the man in front of you.
“How long have you been in the business?” The question was very hit and miss. Some people took deep offence to questions like this, you still had no idea why. You sucked in a quick breath.
“Seven years, give or take.”
“Oh.” You exhaled all too quickly.
“Why’d you ask?”
“Just curious, really.”
“Ah, okay.”
That awkward silence began to creep back into the room. Wedging between you and The Guy.
“So,” this time he was the first to break it, “why do you want to be a musician?”
A dumbfounded “Huh?” Was all you could say, and judging by the stifled laugh that threatened to pass his lips, your facial expression couldn’t have been any better.
The question wasn’t hard to answer. You’d answered it lots of times with ease, but for whatever reason this time, it felt loaded. Loaded and heavy. Like this one question alone was rivalling your whole entire existence.
“Well?” He pried.
To be honest, you answer to this question had always been a light hearted “because it’s cool.” Or “because I want to be rich.” and then it be done, moving swiftly past the question, but as you’d quickly realised, this wasn’t like that. No, this question had so much weight to it, it felt like a sucker punch to the face.
“I guess, I always found myself—” you took a deep breath—were you really going to be honest with a guy you’d only just met?— seems like it. “Well, that’s probably not the way to phrase it, what I mean is I always promised my mom I would make something of myself, and I’m going to do that I guess it’s just a bonus I get to do that with my friends.”
“Oh so you’re in a Band?”
“Yeah.”
“Cool.”
For whatever reason you felt your face warming at this. When did you ever seek validation off of strangers?
The silence he was giving you almost felt like ridicule of some sort and you couldn’t help but prod at the answer you had already given. “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that being in the eye is something to take lightly. I really don’t. It’s just that, well, I guess influential people these days aren’t trust worthy, almost like they do it on purpose getting people, kids, to believe in them then do something problematic. It’s dream shattering, you know? I just want to be someone people can actually depend on.” You let out a shaky breath, nodding your head. Fully satisfied with your own answer.
Yet, he still remained silent.
You couldn’t help but prod again, quickly opening your mouth. “Do you—”
“Really? And you’re sure you can remain credible?”
Did it suddenly get hot in here or what?
His interrogation had your gripping, fighting, begging for the cracks of insecurity to not show through, for the flood gates to not break.
“Yes. I do. It’s something I needed as a kid, now, I’m older and wiser to know, no kid should grow up without an idol, someone who shapes them so meticulously, so carefully, who genuinely is a good person.” You retorted maybe all too quickly. Your answer genuine under his penalising gaze, which you still couldn’t see, but could only feel. “What do you think thats not a good reason to be in this industry?”
“No, it’s a perfect one.”
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TAGLIST(14/50): @bbmsxlene @lunavelha @satoryaa @tranzumaki @k-kkiana @luvkvni @lysaray @kalulakunundrum @arysbruv @shuuji71 @stillnotherapy @catobsessedlady @colortheoryrocks @minzxec
© valentoru all rights reserved- do not publish my work on other platforms, plagiarise or translate.
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nickel156 · 4 months ago
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IS RHYSAND MORALLY GREY?
OK, let’s get into it, because this idea that Rhysand is sooo morally grey? Yeah, not buying it. Let’s be real—he’s not a morally grey character, he’s just framed in a way that gives him a pass for a lot of his questionable actions. When you actually break it down, Rhysand is pretty black and white, but the narrative does a fantastic job of dressing him up as “complex” to make readers feel like his actions are more nuanced than they really are. Spoiler: they’re not.
His Actions Are Consistently Justified by “Good Intentions”
One of the biggest indicators that Rhysand isn’t actually morally grey is how everything he does, no matter how manipulative or controlling, is framed as being for the greater good. His decisions, whether it’s drugging Feyre or making her wear revealing outfits under the mountain, are always given this neat little justification. “He was protecting her,” “He had no choice,” “He was trying to outwit Amarantha.” A morally grey character wrestles with the consequences of their actions—Rhysand doesn’t. We’re told, over and over again, that what he did was necessary, and that alone is supposed to excuse him from criticism. That’s not moral ambiguity—that’s convenient narrative framing.
He’s Always Positioned as the Hero:
Let’s not pretend like Rhysand is ever in real moral conflict. His choices are presented as tough but necessary, and we’re rarely, if ever, given a moment where he actually grapples with the darker sides of those choices. Even when he makes questionable decisions, we’re spoon-fed reasons to believe he’s ultimately in the right. That’s not grey. That’s just a hero with a darker aesthetic. Compare him to actual morally grey characters who sit in their discomfort, who make selfish choices or hurt people without always having noble intentions behind it. Rhysand? Nah, he’s just the guy who always ends up looking like the hero, even when his actions should be called out.
His Morality Never Comes Into Question:
A true morally grey character is someone whose actions challenge not only the other characters in the story, but the readers too. We should be asking ourselves, “Is this person really doing the right thing? Should I be supporting this?” But with Rhysand? There’s never any real doubt. Even when he manipulates or controls others, we’re reassured that it’s all part of some grand, noble plan. His friends back him, Feyre forgives him, and the narrative never holds him accountable in a meaningful way. There’s no real complexity here, just a character who gets away with being controlling because the plot tells us to forgive him.
Everything Bad He Does Is Framed as a Sacrifice:
Rhysand is never portrayed as doing bad things because he wants to, or because he’s selfish, or because he’s flawed in a way. It’s always framed as him making a sacrifice for the greater good. He does bad things, sure—but the narrative works overtime to show us that he had to do them. When you’re constantly being told that a character’s questionable choices are out of necessity, you’re not being shown a morally grey character—you’re being shown a hero who occasionally has to get his hands dirty. Big difference.
He Doesn’t Struggle With His Decisions:
What makes a morally grey character truly compelling is when they struggle with their own decisions, when they recognize that they’ve hurt people or crossed a line, and they aren’t sure how to feel about it. But Rhysand? He’s remarkably comfortable with all of his decisions. He doesn’t dwell on whether or not what he did under the mountain was wrong; in fact, he hardly ever reflects on it at all. It’s presented as a burden, sure, but it’s a burden that’s neatly tied up with a bow: he did what he had to, end of story. He’s too comfortable in his righteousness to ever really be morally grey.
He’s Too Perfectly Framed as a Savior:
Let’s be real, Rhysand’s character arc is too neat and too perfectly framed as “Feyre’s savior” for him to be truly morally ambiguous. Every time he’s at risk of being seen as a villain, the narrative bends over backwards to remind us that he’s actually the one who saved Feyre, saved Prythian, saved everyone, really. A morally grey character wouldn’t be positioned so neatly as the savior figure. They’d be somewhere in between—someone whose actions could be seen as selfish or harmful, even if they had noble intentions. Rhysand, on the other hand, is always one step away from being a full-on white knight, cloaked in black and purple.
The Lack of Consequences
A true morally grey character faces the consequences of their actions, both externally and internally. But Rhysand? He rarely, if ever, suffers real consequences for the morally dubious things he’s done. Everyone either forgives him, rationalizes his behavior, or never holds him accountable in the first place. Where’s the moral ambiguity if there’s no fallout? If the narrative is bending over backward to redeem or justify every action, then there’s no real grey area—it’s just a hero getting away with questionable behavior.
In conclusion, Rhysand isn’t morally grey—he’s a hero painted with darker shades, but still a hero through and through. The narrative bends over backwards to excuse his actions, frame him as the savior, and justify all the harm he’s done as “necessary sacrifices.” There’s nothing morally grey about that; it’s just a case of good PR for a character whose dark side is polished up so much that it doesn’t even feel like a flaw anymore. If you want morally grey, look elsewhere—Rhysand is just a dressed-up hero, no matter how much the fandom wants to pretend otherwise.
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cottonlemonade · 11 months ago
Text
Not Enough
word count: 2537 || avg. reading time: 11 mins.
pairing: Oikawa x chubby!Reader
genre: angst, hurt, lots of pining
warnings: Oikawa is not kind to himself - at all!, mentions of sports injury (reader), self doubt (Oikawa), like… one suggestive line
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> Oikawa met you when you became a part time coach for Takeru‘s volleyball club a few months ago
> originally you just wanted this job over the summer before starting university in Tohoku to make some extra cash but… now…
> your friends often asked why a 90min train ride each way for one somewhat low paying job was so important that you couldn‘t look for something else closer to university or ask for an extra shift at the café you worked at
> but besides the fact that you really grew to love the kids over the summer you also, foolishly, wanted to see this one guy who always came to cheer on his little nephew
> you knew it was simply going to stay a secret crush
> he didn’t really seem like the type of guy who would go for a chubby girl like you, but that was okay
> so once a week you would take the train from Tohoku to Sendai, using the commute to catch up on readings and going through your notes - heart racing, cheeks flushed and quite frankly, mind a little too fuzzy to concentrate on any kind of academics
> „y/n-senpai!“, the kids greeted you enthusiastically when you walked through the doors of the gym, swarming you immediately like the excited puppies they reminded you of
> after ruffling some hair here and giving a high five there, you looked around, eyes searching
> you always found it a bit sad how little their parents seemed to care because none of them ever stayed long before or after training - at least when you compared it to him
> he stood in the corner of the hall, absentmindedly rolling a ball in one hand while he made sure Takeru‘s jacket was neatly folded on his bag with the other
> Oikawa really notices you the first time when he is looking through his latest pictures of Takeru
> you are in a lot of them, somewhere in the background, encouraging your pupils, laughing when one of them randomly cartwheeled or clapping when they improved on a technique
> he doesn’t think much about you outside of those two hours each week when he sees you and it takes him a few tries to remember your name if he was honest
> but Takeru never shuts up about you so without noticing, you also sneak into his mind more often
> whenever they go to the convenience store before training to get some water, Takeru insists on getting a milk mochi for you (your favorite treat)
> this happened so often now that at this point Oikawa already grabs one without thinking
> and so he found himself one night looking at the newest snapshot of his ever growing photo roll
> during the last training session Takeru had served a perfect ace and Oikawa had almost lost his voice from cheering so loudly
> his nephew had insisted on taking a photo with the trainer who made it all possible and so there you were, smiling into the camera, imitating Takeru‘s little peace sign
> you were pretty cute when he thought about it
> the next few times he actually starts talking to you about something other than Takeru and finds he really enjoys making you flustered
> the blush on your full cheeks, the way you avoid his eyes and laugh softly is just about the cutest thing he has ever seen
> in no time he suggests to Takeru to arrive a little earlier than usual, the nephew eyeing him suspiciously
> “If you’re going to be creepy to y/n-senpai, I won’t help you.” (cue Oikawa’s dot eyes)
> in the middle of October you suddenly stop coming to the trainings though and instead the kids are greeted by a grumpy elderly man
> „Where is y/n-senpai?“, the kids whine
> „How should I know?“, the man just gruffly replies
> with each following week Oikawa‘s disappointment about not seeing you is only matched by Takeru
> Christmas was approaching and you decide to head back to Miyagi to hang out with some old school mates and spend the holiday with Saeko, her being one of your closest friends
> the winter break also meant that a training camp was coming up
> Karasuno, Nekoma, Furukodani and Aoba Johsei were on the menu
> the official camp activities were over for the day but a few people decided to continue training matches 3 on 3
> the captain of the Karasuno team kept checking his phone, Oikawa figured it was probably to monitor if they could make it in time for dinner in the cafeteria
> Daichi then suddenly grins and Oikawa overhears him telling his teammates he has a surprise for them
> Tanaka, Nishinoya and Hinata are immediately intrigued and wonder what it could be - food being the most prominent theory
> then the door opens and a loud voice calls „Ryuu-chaaaan!“
> “Ugh, you call my sister a surprise?“, Tanaka grumbles
> Oikawa was ready to set the ball for Iwaizumi when he notices a second girl appear, waving happily
> “Y/N-SAN!“ Nishinoya calls and runs towards the girl
> Oikawa does a double take
> it‘s you, how can you be here???
> Iwaizumi notices his gaze and follows it
> you and Saeko had been at a birthday party for a friend and you were the designated driver while Saeko is quite drunk hanging off of you
> you spend a few minutes catching up with the Karasunos (apparently you were a third year yourself last year and were the manager of the volleyball club because the girl‘s club didn‘t have enough members so you ended up playing with them after training)
> now it seems you are on the university team
> „How is your back?“, Daichi asked and you waved it off with a smile
> „It‘s there.“, you said vaguely, „But! I no longer walk like a Disney witch, so that‘s something.“
> the Karasuno third and second years laugh and Daichi put a hand on your shoulder, which for some reason had Oikawa tense his jaw
> when your eyes finally land on him, a rush of adrenaline surges through his body
> you smile and give a little wave
> Oikawa can feel Iwaizumi‘s eyes on him but ignores it
> the Karasunos meanwhile ask if you can come by again tomorrow and play with them
> „Uhm, I don’t know about playing but I'll definitely come watch, if you want. How is that?“, you offer diplomatically, the smile never leaving your face
> Saeko, by now half asleep, mumbles something about wanting to go to bed and you bow and say you should get her home
> with some last joyful goodbyes the boys return to their game
> „If I could die between her thighs, I would die a happy man.“, one of the Furukodanis says and Oikawa spikes the ball „accidentally“ against the back of his head even though he agrees with him
> the next day, as promised, you drop by to watch them play
> Oikawa grins to himself, very pleased indeed, when he hears a small gasp from the bleachers whenever he makes a particularly skilled move
> once practice is over for the day, the boys rush to get to dinner
> Oikawa hangs back in the changing room, deciding to get some more serves in before the others would return
> outside the gym though he is met with Daichi, Sugawara, Tobio and Hinata
> apparently the two third years trying to persuade the over-eager first years that sustenance was just as important as volleyball
> when Oikawa slips past them back to the gym, the door is still open a bit and the soft thuds of a volleyball can be heard
> Ugh, he was hoping to be alone for his training
> „You know, when I said „Let’s go get dinner, everyone.“ I really did mean „everyone“, Shittykawa.“
> „Come on, Iwa-chan, a few reps won‘t kill me.“, Oikawa gives his friend a cheeky grin and heads for the door
> he checks to see who is inside and spots you in a back corner trying to toss a ball against the wall but you visibly wince whenever you lift your left arm
> he recognizes this wince - immediately
> in frustration you spike the ball away with your right and bury your face in your hands
> after a few shaky breaths you straighten again, bending down to pick up another ball
> „Huh, what‘s y/n-san doing?“, Hinata pokes his head through the door and makes Oikawa jump a little
> the other dinner stragglers have now also come to watch
> „That looks painful.“, Tobio muttered
> Oikawa kicks off his shoes and begins to march over to you, but Iwaizumi grabs his arm
> Oikawa just shrugs him off
> „Someone should stop her, before she hurts herself.“, he says quietly, and jogs to you
> „y/n-chan…“, he says softly when he hears your little sobs
> he can clearly see you freeze for a moment, then a motion of you wiping your eyes before turning around, plastering a smile on your face but your eyes are red and puffy
> you look at him for a few heartbeats, before your smile slowly begins to fade „How likely is it, you‘ll believe me when I say it‘s allergies?“
> „Not likely.“
> you just nod and a new wave of tears is coming over you
> then you spot the handful of people gawking at the door and you give a quick bow to Oikawa before hurrying past him
> he sees you mumbling something to their others, only slipping into your shoes before leaving
> “Shouldn’t we go after her?”, he hears Hinata asking when he rejoins the group
> „Not all at once, that might overwhelm her.“, Suga says thoughtfully
> the next moment, the grey haired third year gives Daichi a little push
> „Why me?”, the Karasuno captain asks
> „Because we’re not the ones desperately in love with her.”, Suga declares matter of factly
> Iwaizumi gives his friend another one of his patented sidelong glances
> meanwhile Oikawa watches Daichi go after you
> and then turns to head back inside to train
> the hot shower does wonders for his exerted muscles, but little for his mind
> Oikawa rolls his shoulders, trying to relax but he can’t get the image of you crying out of his head
> and what happened when Daichi had gone after you?
> at least when he was practising he could pretend to focus on volleyball when really all he thought about was you and a possible confession slipping from the Karasuno captain‘s lips
> he turns the water off, steam enveloping him
> when had his crush turned into … this? Whatever this was.
> rubbing a towel aggressively through his wet hair he makes his way to his bag
> “You know I don‘t care about your love life.“
> the screech of horror coming from Oikawa echoes in the tiled washroom
> Iwaizumi stands, arms crossed in the doorway, glaring at his friend
> „Iwa-chan, you gave me a heart attack.“
> „Don‘t be dramatic.“
> “Then stop lurking around the showers.”, the setter says, back in his usual sing-song voice
> Iwaizumi closes his eyes in exasperation, a constant occurrence between them really
> Oikawa is rummaging in his bag for clean clothes
> “As I said, I don’t care about your love life. But… it would be nice for once to see you going after a sweet girl you actually like, instead of a random one that only wants you for your popularity.”
> the rummaging stops, Oikawa doesn’t look at him
> when he doesn’t reply, Iwaizumi sighs again, considering to throw hands before simply turning on his heel
> “Stupid idiot. Suit yourself, Trashykawa.”
> Oikawa straightens when the door falls shut, looking down at shirt in his hand
> his eyes wander to his phone
> a few weeks ago he had changed his lockscreen to a picture of Takeru, one where you were very clearly visible in the background, showing a little girl how to hold her fingers for a toss
> the picture appears inconspicuous to others, his nephew being the obvious main focus
> for Oikawa it was an easy way to look at your smile when his mind got cloudy
> he lets his head fall back and closes his eyes for a moment
> it would be selfish to confess to you
> you aren’t the kind of girl he could date for a few months and forget about when you inevitably dump him
> you deserve his full attention
> you deserve 110% of effort in a relationship
> and he knows he can’t give that to you
> he isn’t good enough to even suggest being your boyfriend
> plus, you only know his bright side
> the confident, witty, charming side he shows to everyone
> only very few people had ever seen him crack
> what if he snaps at you and you end up hating him for it?
> when his ugly - his true - self would rear its head and chase you away
> no, you deserve someone like Daichi, stable, reliable… good.
> he gets dressed, shoulders his bag and leaves the showers
> the sky is clear
> plenty of stars dotting the night
> his breath forms little clouds in front of him and he takes a deep breath of winter air
> then he spots you
> you are standing alone up by the club room, leaning on the railing, looking up at the stars
> without thinking he is already on his way up the stairs, his steps slowing the closer he gets to you
> he sets down his bag and shrugs off his jacket, gently laying it over your shoulders, you’re only wearing a sweater after all
> Oikawa turns and leans with his back against the railing, arms crossed, staring at his shoes
> “What happened?”, he asks, not quite sure which event he is exactly referring to - your injury or your alone time with Daichi
> after a small pause you tell him
> “It was in the first varsity tournament. I ran after a failed receive and couldn’t stop in time before … before hitting the wall.”
> Oikawa doesn’t say anything, he continues to stare at his shoes
> “I didn’t want to miss the game, I didn’t tell the trainer how bad it actually was… I was greedy and selfish. I wanted to play so badly. So… I lied and went back on the field, only making it worse.”
> you take a deep breath, steadying your voice again, before going on, “The doctor said it would take 6 to 8 weeks to heal. It’s been 10 weeks since then and I’m still in pain - too much pain to ignore.”
> when he hears your breath hitch again he looks up and sees new tears rolling down your cheeks
> and he pulls you into a hug, careful not to put pressure on your left side but hugging you closely on the right
> your face is pressed against his shoulder and he almost curls around you when he feels you returning his hug
> you fit so perfectly into him
> he still doesn‘t say anything, he just lets you cry, not planning to let go any time soon
> Oikawa doesn’t know how long he has been holding you when a phone starts buzzing
> you shift in his arms and very very reluctantly he lets go
> “It’s Saeko-san. I should really get going.”
> you pull his jacket off and hand it back to him
> “Thank you.”, and he watches you leave
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9w1ft · 7 months ago
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i wanna be LSK but… //
I’m so sorry anon, but I personally find it really funny when people hear the songs where taylor is working through her feelings of being betrayed by Scott B and attribute them to karlie instead.
It’s like finding a man holding a gun standing over a dead body and saying, hang on a minute… what if the real murderer is the victim’s gf… because two of her friends liked a gossipy tweet written by a known shit-stirrer!
that is to say, we know for a fact that taylor felt deeply betrayed by scott b, seeing as he’s verifiably the actual person who sold her masters to scooter, after treating taylor like family since she was very young. it’s pretty self-evident he deserves the level of vitriol in the smallest man who ever lived (besides the other descriptive details that link him to tsmwel, mtr etc).
as for taylor and karlie suddenly never being seen together again (seemingly drifting apart a whole year before the heist even happened, remember?), well she hasn’t spoken on that, so naturally we read between the lines in the songs to find out. some people have taken the masters heist songs to be about karlie, and ran with that. but others see karlie and taylor’s retreat into privacy reflected in songs under the ‘love blackout’ theme (especially around here, you’re on a longtime kaylor blog 🙈)
love blackout = the hints taylor has put out again and again that she intentionally distanced her public image from karlie’s because it was too dangerous to carry on as openly as they had at first. 2016 election sadness themes, secret love themes, all consistent over the years. all while writing new love songs that use callbacks to the rep muse, to yail even 🥺. as if taylor’s been using all the confusion and her masterful quill of misdirection to achieve her priority of protecting karlie. not protecting karlie’s public image and clout with swifties, which she doesn’t need to maintain her success because she was always successful in her own right! no, it’s all for Karlie The Person in their secret bubble of reality. all this showmanship, you know. the great war, hello!!!! too many songs to name where the kaylor chandelier is safely out of sight, but you can still see flickers through the boarded up windows ❣️
so forgive me for having a chuckle. to any anons who sincerely🛸want to believe, I’m just throwing it out there that there are plenty of us that never found the karlie-betrayer theory convincing at all. if you take a closer look at everything, the timeline of events and all the songs since, does it really make sense? (especially when there are so many shitty men in the mix who are more obviously to blame lol)
~ if you post, thank you for facilitating this rant 9wing, I’ll get off my soapbox now xxx
yup yup
i think a lot of people are predisposed to blaming karlie and so everything becomes a sort of confirmation bias.. which partially, i would argue, was by design.. so in a sense i do not fault gaylors or others for falling into this hole. but i do sometimes feel like faulting them a tiny bit for those who never climb out of it. there’s plenty of information and clues needed to figure it out and climb out of it.
one thing i don’t like about the whole “let’s not talk about muses” discourse is while the spirit of it is supposed to be “let’s study why these songs sound gay instead of commenting taylor lyrics on these people’s instagram pages,” in practice the phrasing almost is like giving yourself permission to pass judgement on the people in taylor’s story and then never reevaluate them. people often say ~lets not talk muses that’s invasive and gross~ and conveniently refuse to adjust their perception of karlie (for example) based on what taylor is putting out there, while making convenient exceptions for any interpretation they find that works to reinforce their already negative perception of her. and then after bitching about her they’ll cover their timeline in lisa frank dolphins because apparently that’s what paradise is. i dunno. it all feels dystopian to me atp 😆
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forgottenfourr · 1 year ago
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i saw you in a dream - university smau
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chapter twenty two - and you are?
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a/n: ITS HERE!!!! you guys really didn't think i was going to hold it off any more, did you? HEHEHEHEHE
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yn’s pov:
you're running late to meet with chan, as usual, so here you are finding yourself sprinting to the studio at 12:59pm. at this point, you know chan is wholly used to your late arrivals. but you still feel awful about it nonetheless. you tried your best to look presentable today, at least more presentable than you have looked the past week or so. but you're pretty sure by the time you get there, all previous efforts to look nice will be completely out the window.
you didn't need to look nice for chan, but at least put together. he doesn't need to see how awful you've been doing since you ran out on him at the cafe. you are hoping that the nice outfit would distract him from the cavernous dark circles that have formed under your eyes.
you breathe a sigh of relief when you get to the building and don't see a sign of anyone around, giving you time to readjust your hair and smooth out your outfit.
the studio you and chan usually work in's door is wide open which is normally a sign that chan is in there waiting for you.
you stop for a moment a bit away from the room and take a deep breath. you haven't seen chan since you guys talked at the cafe and you've kept texting to a minimum. you're sure he's going to have questions and honestly, you weren't sure how you were going to answer them without making another person think you're insane. and this time it isn't even one of your best friends.
sure you and chan have become friends, but nothing of the sorts where you can just tell him about your recent burdens and what has been making you lose your mind more and more every day for the past 7 months until you finally snapped.
but maybe he won't ask because of that reason. you guys are just friends for convenience. that's it. and maybe he knows where the line lies and that asking anything thing more than "are you okay?" is crossing a boundary that no one has actually previously set.
it's fine. even if he does ask you'll just explain that you were... what would you say? shit. fucking shit.
"it's whatever! it's nothing!" you say to yourself and you continue to walk towards the studio.
you're silently hitting yourself in the face as you walk into the room. gaze drawn down to your hands as you step in the threshold.
"hey chan sorry i'm late," you begin speaking before moving your eyes from your hands. too embarrassed at the fact that he definitely just heard you talking to yourself.
you look up for only a second to realize that it was not in fact chan sitting in the room but someone else.
you're quick to throw your head back down and spin around before even processing anything that you have seen. sputtering out apologies.
"omg! i'm so sorry! normally my friend and i meet in this room and we were supposed to meet here today an-" you can't seem to shut the hell up.
before you can embarrass yourself any further you quickly begin walking running out the door.
you make it just past the studio next to the one you were just in before you feel a hand wrap around your wrist, pulling you to a stop.
by instinct, you whip around, mostly expecting to meet chan's face.
but instead of chan you were met with an all too familiar set of star-filled eyes and heartwarming smile. along with the white blonde hair you grew ever so fond of.
before you can say anything, the man seems to realize what he has done and quickly let go of your wrist and take a couple steps back.
you never thought you were going to see him again.
"do you-" the boy clears his throat and rubs the back of his neck.
in this moment, you can't help but let a few tears well in your eyes as you stand there staring at him with the biggest smile on your face. it was him. really him. and from the looks of it, he knows who you are too.
he looks more amazing in person than he did in your dreams, which you thought was practically impossible.
"you have them too?" you ask, hoping that asking the question would relieve some of the nerves he seems to be choking down.
you didn't think his eyes could shine any brighter, but at your words, they did.
"oh my god. it's you." he says breathlessly, almost as if he seems to think you're just an apparition that formed itself in front of him.
sudden realization seems to hit him as he is taking everything in.
"wait, are you yn?" he asks
you feel your cheeks warm as he asks that. unsure of how he knows your name and slightly terrified of what he knows about you.
you clear your throat, "would it be bad if i said yes?"
he practically jolts at your question. "oh my god no no no no no! it's fine, perfect even!"
you laugh at his state of panic. mentally taking note of how cute he looks when flustered.
"and you are?" you ask, not knowing that his response is about to probably, most definitely be one you would've never expected.
"yang jeongin"
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xoxo, four <3
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the-fallen-blue · 20 days ago
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Reading a lot of video game fanfic recently and there's a really interesting, idk, ludonarrative scale that writers exist on.
Like on one end, there's stuff that has no justification in-universe, which is purely for the sake of fun gameplay, but it's acknowledged in-universe. Party size is a big one for this. The idea that the protagonist is trying to save the world, cannot afford to take any risks or lose a single fight, has ten skilled fighters sitting at home base, and still just only ever decides on two to three to take to any conflict, is objectively deranged, and there's seldom if ever anything in any of these universes to actually justify it, even something as slim as "only four guys fit in the shuttle." But a lot of games do, nevertheless, reinforce *in the narrative* that if someone's not with you, they genuinely weren't with you, whether it's BG3's "they literally tell you your party is full and whine about staying in camp" or Inquisition's "woUlD HaVe liKeD To haVE beEn tHeRe" from Blackwall if you bring him a Warden widget at base instead of taking him to find it, or simply the mere fact of approval changes only hitting characters who are present.
And consequently, players (and thus writers) sort of internalize this as Just A Thing That Happens in the universe. 90% of Inquisition fics have the Inquisitor taking three people out into the world with them and leaving the rest at Skyhold for absolutely no reason other than that's what happens in the game, even though the only reason it happens in the game is to make combat for the omniscient omnipotent player fun, something that is not at all real for the actual tired, bloody, mortally threatened characters. And while that is arguably quite silly, it also makes perfect sense. The text of the game literally tells us this is happening, whether it makes tactical or real-world sense or not, so it would be unusual for a writer to write that it wasn't.
But on the other end, there's stuff that is not acknowledged in-universe, stuff with absolutely no rational connection to the narrative at all. The enemies come at the characters in consistent, predictable waves, in numbers that make sense for video games but wouldn't in the real world (a hundred wolves ten yards north of a farm, dozens of space assassins on a remote ten person space station, six of a type of demon used as a trash mob that, in lore, requires dozens of highly trained soldiers to stop only one). The character is subject to an attack that would be both impossible and immediately lethal in the real world and the fantasy world alike, five or six times, because the author is describing the exact attack animation of an enemy move; the character retaliates in an exact description of the flashy physically impossible move bound to the right bumper button. The character finds a ring on a 600-year-old corpse that makes that move 10% more effective numerically when worn, described in a way that just barely obscures that the in-game item has actual literal damage numbers on it.
To be clear, there is nothing wrong with this. One should write anywhere along the scale that one desires. If your muse is struck by describing the four implausible conveniently-spaced plant-hangars that Ezio jumps up on his way to climb a trellis in precise detail, if a parkour sequence tickled your id so hard that you had to take it to the page, that is your absolute right, and a lot of your readers will be just as genuinely delighted as you to be like "omg I remember climbing that exact building." The gameplay is part of the story in a video game, and a totally legitimate part of the conversation that we're all having with each other when we read and write fic.
But from a dev perspective, this is a pretty important lesson that the gameplay is part of the story, no matter how sharp or obvious you, the dev who is used to handwaving rings of +10dmg, think the line between mechanics and narrative might be. So, if it is a core premise of the story you're trying to tell that a particular type of demon is a boss fight for a dozen guys, don't make it a trash mob, because to the players who fight six million of the thing over their sixty hours of play, that's the portrayal that will be real. Definitely don't have your characters actively comment about not being present for things in the current game if it will be important for your story in a later game that they have the prestige and knowledge from having been part of the event. And remember, when you add random collectables to weird places, that you have now irrevocably imbued into someone's canon that their Grim Sober Angsty Space Marine is doing weird hops up the side of a light fixture to grab a jar of pink armor paint.
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thewebcomicsreview · 5 months ago
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Oh hey, Hamsteak 2. Looks like Vriska's...back in Alternia? In a dreambubble?
they sent the thief here in search of power; the power to escape the containment i so painstakingly set up for them
Al confirmed as the Candy narrator. Also confirmed that the black hole is "containment" for the dreambubbles and non-canon worlds, and that all the ghosts falling in wasn't an accident of fighting Lord English.
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the black hole could only ever shelter them for so long, and in their haste to shrug off my protection they have opened the door to something far, far hungrier.
This panel is a callback to Karkat about to open the door to the New Universe. Where there were interrupted by Jack Noir. Vriska is interrupted by-
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Yoo! It's Davepeta! Who feel into the black hole and has been conspicuously absent ever since. They're the only Ultimate who is not connected to Dirk, and in some ways the only "true" Ultimate. Interesting that Al considers them such a threat, when Davepeta has never been anything but benevolent.
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Looks like it's all the sprites, in fact. Why...are there two Nannasprites? Oh god, I'm being pushed to the endless limits of my ability to remember Homestuck Lore. Is one of them pre-retcon? I do not remember.
ERISOLSPRITE: wwe'vve been here for liike a miilliion fuckiin 2wweep2. DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < actually we just got here DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < this place didnt even exist until she popped in ERISOLSPRITE: gue22 ii'll fuck my2elf.
It didn't exist until a character arrived, at which point it retroactively existed the whole time, like how a planet works.
DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < does that not sound insane to you fefeta? FEFETASPRITE: 3833 < 383
What? How are Davepeta and Fefeta coexisting? That definitely doesn't make sense.
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Well, logic be damned, it's apparently time for a Vriska training arc.
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Gah! Talksprites! Also, Vriska enters "Hell" on page 666 of Homestuck 2, which is I think the first time this comic has aimed at any kind of Meaningful Number.
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God, we are full on visual novel here. I didn't know Ren'Py could export to web, but I guess it shouldn't surprise me. I presume/hope the save option is default and won't be needed here, it's 1:30am.
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Tavros is here and, much more oddly, alive. I suddenly understand jack shit.
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I have no memory of Tavros ever forgiving Vriska for anything...or, for that matter, Vriska even being aware she did anything that needed to be forgiven. I presume she's just lying here, though.
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This line combined with this pose is the essence of Vriska
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So, Vriska's being forced to "grow as a person" and her big idea to finish her character arc is to atone for her sins by getting Tavros to take revenge on her. Vriska thinks that the secret to gaining power is getting Tavros to kill her.
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I wonder where she got that idea.
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But that time she refused to mind control Tavros into killing her, she wanted him to grow from it, too. Now we're past that.
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I felt smart for remembering the K8LL ME bit but we're being really obvious about it now so I guess they just assumed everyone would and I'm not special :(
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Oh shit. Erisol wasn't kidding.
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Davepeta roleplaying being a cat who dies horribly is kind of the perfect synthesis of Dave and Nepeta. What is this music. It's very toot-y.
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Oh hey a text log. How convenient. So we're trapped in a time loop, then, explicitly recreating Groundhog Day. I guess that explains the infinity hourglass on the Plot Point machine.
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Vriska's having a bad couple of years.
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Davepeta is "countless" cool dudes and kitty girls, which I think is the first explicit confirmation they're an Ultimate Self, though that was pretty strongly implied at least. The only Ultimate to do so without Dirk's involvement.
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Stop letting me intuit things and then immediately making them clear! I don't care if it's good writing, it's making my liveblog bad!
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It's so weird to compare this Davepeta to the one in Homestuck OG. There Davepeta was presented as this wise sage mentor figure who'd achieved enlightenment, and here they're much more of "Dave + Nepeta's combined silliness as one character". It's a subtle difference, but go back and read Davepeta giving this same kind of talk to Jade back in Homestuck 1. I guess that's the difficulty of a character with so little screentime in the original, they're either very limited or they feel slightly off.
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Oh my fucking god, a to-be-continued select screen. Shit, that takes me back in an unexpected way.
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Also, from the associated news update, "the big flash" is apparently several months away (10/25?), and I have to say they might want to be careful about overhyping it, if they have small flashes and now Ren'Py novels that are just preludes. If it's anything less than a Cascade after months and months of hype it could fall flat where a surprise [S] Enter would've popped the fanbase hard.
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twstunes · 1 year ago
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okay this isn't a tierlist it's more of a groupings list
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BORING DRESS SHOES CONTAINMENT ZONE
[ Trey, Deuce, Jack, Azul, Jade, Malleus, Silver, Sebek, Trein ]
There's not much to say about most of these except that I don't like them. Yes yes they're functional and fit the personalities of those wearing them. I'll still die on the hill that plain dress shoes are more boring than they are classy >:/
Trey, Deuce, Jack, and Silver all have on penny loafers, which are about as casual as you can get while still counting as formalwear-appropriate. Azul and Jade appear to both have on plain-toe oxfords, which I'm sure they coordinated on. Malleus and Trein also seem to have some variety of oxfords, though Trein might be wearing derbies?
Sebek's in here bc I'm not quite sure what's going on with his shoes. Considering that rectangular portion on the interior sides & the fact he's in Equestrian Club, I wouldn't be surprised if they were jodhpurs? They accomplish the same visual effect as basic dress shoes, though, so in the containment zone he stays.
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ZESTY DRESS SHOES
[ Riddle, Floyd, Lilia, Crowley, Crewel, Sam ]
Floyd, Lilia, and Sam make up the milder end of the zest spectrum. Floyd made his own shoes and thus gets a cool-by-default technicality. Lilia's shoes are fairly basic loafers, but the bat engraving and large golden heels are enough to nudge them under the "interesting" umbrella. Sam's shoes aren't really visible under his spats, but he remembered the crucial aesthetic detail of matching his spats w/ his gloves, so he gets a pass.
Riddle's shoes have heart-shaped cap toes and heels so chunky they might as well be wedges; both of these details perfectly fit his heart-themed and undersized ass. Crowley appears to have on derbies w/ extensive lace-patterned embellishments, which feels in-line with his love of fancy little baubles. I'd assumed Crewel was wearing saddle shoes at first glance, but now that I'm looking at them…those are full brogues, I'm pretty sure? (Good walking shoes, thus a good pick for a dog owner.)
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BOOT CORNER
[ Rook, Epel ]
Rook is a hunter, and hunters need sturdy shoes that can hold up to long treks through the wilderness (or across campus). These are literally boots you could pick up at any given Tractor Supply. I personally believe Vil hates these shoes but cannot do anything to stop Rook from wearing them. He balances them out with his fancy hat, though, so maybe that's enough to placate Vil?
Epel grew up in Harveston, where I don't think it's possible to wear anything less than boots without getting frostbite most months of the year. Epel's probably been stomping around in these bad boys for A While; the tartan pattern is just unique enough to make it feel more like a hand-me-down than something Vil would buy for him.
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ACTUAL SENSIBLE SHOES
[ Cater, Ace, Ruggie, Jamil, Idia, Vargas ]
Cater goes with some stylish slip-ons. They're comfy, they're convenient, and they go with most outfits. This dude would definitely wear the checkered Vans if he could.
I fully believe Ace picked out his shoes based entirely on how they looked. It worked out well in the end tho, bc they're perfect for how active he is. He and Idia are the only ones who don't change into different shoes for PE.
Ruggie, Jamil, and Vargas all have on practical, comfy sneakers, which makes sense considering they're some of the most active people on campus—Ruggie and Jamil are constantly running errands, and Vargas teaches PE all day. I like that Jamil's actually seem a little faded from use, though chances are that's just how they're supposed to look.
Idia, despite being a shut-in, at least has the good sense to put on what appear to be velcro shoes when he goes out. (Choosing velcro over laces is also maybe a safety thing? Easy to get on and off, no laces to come undone and trip over. Very important in a dorm with a lot of expensive tech!)
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OUTLIERS
[ Leona, Kalim, Vil, Ortho ]
Leona is well-aware of the standard level of chaos that happens every day at NRC, but that isn't going to stop him from wearing sandals instead of something more protective. Dude wants to be comfy above all else, and frankly, I respect it. Either Crewel hasn't noticed Leona's lack of lab-safe footwear or he's given up on getting the guy to wear closed-toe shoes.
Kalim has on juttis w/ the classic curled/pointed tips. Iirc, curled, pointed tips are startlingly good at reducing the amount of sand that gets into shoes! Seeing as both his home and dorm are in desert environments, these make perfect sense for Kalim's go-to footwear.
Someone at this school full of prettyboys had to put on the heels, and Vil is the only baddie committed to fashion enough to follow through. This pair is undoubtedly custom-made—not just because that's the kind of person Vil is, but because they specifically feature Pomefiore's dorm colors.
Ortho doesn't wear shoes. That's just his body. He also doesn't walk in these bc, according to Idia, "walking is for normies." This foot design is present in all of Ortho's bodies except for his athletic gear, seeing as his athletic gear is the only one meant for walking instead of floating. (Since they're shaped kinda like pincers, I wonder if he can use them for picking things up?)
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stephofromcabin12 · 5 months ago
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Any art tips for artists just starting out? I’m struggling big time to find my style 😀
Sure.
It got kinda long. Bc when have I ever been a person of few words?
There is no trick to finding your style other than drawing a lot, and setting a, more or less, loose goal. When I was young it was old school Disney and Don Bluth. That was my holy grail, ideal style. But it evolved to be something else, because that's how style works. You'll put your own twist on things, in time. But first focus on practicing and don't narrow yourself down to just one thing. You'll also probably develop multiple styles out of convenience. Sometimes I prefer the cartoony, simpified stuff. Sometimes I'm more into fully rendered pieces.
Experiment. Make bad art a lot. The more you expose yourself to the inherent let-down of sucking at something, the less it stings. The key is asking yourself why something didn't turn out right.
You can't get good at All Art at once. Start with something you're most interested in learning. Maybe it's anatomy, or gestures, or expressions, or colors. Start with that one thing and practice is with a specific goal in mind. Fx: "I want to get better at drawing faces and expressions, so I'm going to do an expression sheet of a character once a week, and do a little practice every day if I can" – That sorta thing. Everyone is different, though. My old music teacher used to say 30 minutes a day. If we couldn't do 30; 15 mins. So on. As long as you do a lil doodling every day that's still progress.
Learning art is sometimes frustratingly non-linear. Somedays I still 'forget' how to draw a certain thing I've had down since I was 14. Other days I bang out something I've always struggled with on the first try, then fail the next day. It's not a linear progression, it's a damn roller coaster. Best you can do is throw your hands up and try to enjoy the ride. The pipe line for me is usually: First attempt (sucks ass but I've learned to laugh at this stage, just throw ideas at the wall) -> getting comfortable (this is where you think to yourself you have a concept down but you really don't) -> Getting good (you start to draw with more ease, you're not having to 'remember' how you wanted something to look, it's just muscle memory by now) -> Actually having it down (and still having more growth to go. But this is where you get to look back on the comfortable phase and go: 'wow I really had a long way to go')
In fact, having fun is by far the thing that's made me progress. More than tutorials, more than fancy equipment. If I'm not having fun, I have no motivation to keep going. If it's not fun, try and make it so.
Get into the habit of stepping back (whether physically or more metaphorically) and really looking at your art often while you draw. When you add a line, or color, or background element etc. Ask yourself "Does this work?" And adjust accordingly. It seems like a lot of work at first, but eventually it becomes a natural part of the process. I don't really realise I'm doing it but most of the patreon screen recordings I have show the way I zoom in and out of the canvas constantly lol.
Make the things you want to make. Even the most self-indulgent stuff. We have a million artists already doing their thing, but we don't have you yet. Show us what you got! There's room for everything.
Get used to people expressing mild envy/annoyance when you're drawing near them. I've gotten the 'wow I wish I could draw, I can't even do a stick figure!' comment from waitresses, cabin crews, classmates I'd previously never spoken to, teachers, strangers on trainstations, etc etc etc. But! Learn to say 'Thank you' when people compliment your art.
Don't ask for critique if you don't really want it. Don't let people critique you if you didn't ask for it.
You! Don't! Need! Fancy! Equipment! Save your money and get the version of a medium that's affordable and comfortable for you. Look at Stardew Valley's creator's old setup. It's really not about how the tools are set up or the price of them. It's how you make use of them. Didn't FNAF's creator build the models in a moving car on a laptop?
Art takes time. There is no short cut to make it take less time. But the more fun you have the more it'll feel like it's faster. If you're miserable the time will drag on and on and on.
Look at a lot of art. Take in and analyse. I wish I could go back a few years and tell myself to analyse paintings I liked, rather than just going "Oh I like that! Nice!" and then moving on. Why is it good? Why does it move you? What captured your attention? Be the person at a museum leaning forwards to see the paintstrokes, you learn more that way.
Don't feel ashamed if you want to take inspiration from others. Everyone takes inspiration from somewhere. If you see something cool another artist is doing with their rendering or lighting or whatever, try and do a drawing or two emulating it! Maybe you'll discover a new favorite technique, or you'll not really jam with it. Either is good. Both teach you something.
You'll go through more eras than Taylor Swift. Sometimes you gotta do a lil Eras Tour of your own and go back through the catalogue. I'm currently working on reviving several projects I made when I was 13-14. Keep everything. Don't delete; archive.
Get good storage. Like, seriously, wish for a harddrive your next birthday or christmas or whatever. If you're working traditionally wish for some good ringbinders and the good plastic sleeves. Much nicer than running out of storage and having to delete things. Never delete!
You are already an artist. You became one the second you picked up a pen and put it to paper, and then decided to keep going with that. So don't compare yourself. When you find yourself jealous of someone, it's because they have something you want. Figure out what it is, and make it for yourself.
Deadass? Tracing helps so much with learning forms. But it's only helpful when you also practice drawing the same things freehand.
The trick to coloring is just that everything looks good shaded with purple set to multiply, and that if you're ever in doubt go in an L shape on color wheel. Down in brightness, inwards in saturation.
People who say you can never use white or black in drawings are jerks and you should not listen to them. You can do literally everything you want. Sure, experiment with other ways of using white and black. But art advice is just that: It's an option, not gospel. As a wise prophet of our time, Justin Bieber, once said: Never say never.
People will say you should be your own biggest critic. But fuck that. Be your own biggest cheerleader. Love what you make, even when you hate it, find something that works. That stepping back I mentioned in point 6? Sometimes that's zooming out and saying "Damn! That looks really good!" – People will often make art out to be something that should be suffering and painstaking. It's not though. In my honest experience, I've made just as much good art when I was happy and content, as I did when I had severe depression and anxiety and burnout. You're not an artist because you suffer. You're an artist because you can't just sit in that suffering all the time. You know there's beauty besides your pain, and so you'll remind yourself in the act of creation that there is always something more.
Once you realise you have the power to draw truly anything, you'll start having a lot more fun. "Oh but I've never done it before" or "Oh I tried and it just didn't work" Okay. So?
In case of frustration to the point of throwing your art supplies out the window: Take a breath. Go for a walk. Sometimes it's just not your day. Sometimes the rollercoaster gets stuck in the middle of a loop or right at the top of a hill. Wait it out. Try again.
You have absolutely got this. Let me know if there's anything else I can help with.
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deadzonedenizen · 5 months ago
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Any fun facts about Bell,Alix,Rasmus,and Gibby?
I'm shaking rn, why didn't I see this earlier-
Okayokayokay-
*clears throat*
Bell:
-His name is short for Bellamy. (Rasmus' idea) The nickname came first. (Tang's idea)
-The stuff he consumes is...questionable. MK and Mei constantly bet on what Bell drinks that morning, and whether or not it's matcha or battery acid.
-Bell lives with Sandy, so the others joke about him being a feral stray Sandy added into his collection of therapy cats. (Even though it's him that needs therapy)
-Despite his own questionable food cravings, Bell is a pretty good cook and baker. Unlike Pigsy though, he doesn't perform as well in a professional setting. Bell does it purely to unwind. Also he's a fan of Chang'e, no surprises there.
-Bell likes exploring abandoned places! It's been something he had been doing ever since he was young. He'd even pack his bag full of convenience store snacks for the trip. Sometimes he finds papers of family recipes in some decrepit houses, and would try to replicate them himself.
-Bell has this weird tendency that makes him unable to go anywhere without wearing something with pockets. Either his hands are in the pockets, or they're holding something like Gibby's flutes. He feels weird if his hands are just dangling out. Similarly, he feels weird walking barefoot inside (how un-Asian of him!) and walk with socks on instead.
-If he can't keep his hands occupied, he'd try to shake it off by crocheting little clowns for Gibby, carving linoleum stamps to fill space on his sketchbook with, or whatever creative outlet he can use with the materials available. (He prefers painting, but cleaning the resulting goliath of a mess isn't worth it, so he only does it in whatever abandoned place is nearest.)
-He usually makes Ronghua flowers instead, since it just so happens that silk and metal wires are the cheapest things he can buy in the handicraft store. Not like he can garden actual flowers without them dying anyway. So many chia pets have lost their lives to him.
-Recent events have left him physically allergic to the word 'd*stiny'. Instead, he refers to it as 'the D-slur'.
-The first time Wukong met him, he called him Blue Son. MK and Mei never stopped teasing him with that name ever since. But if we're talking about the first person he met in Megapolis in general, then it's Mei, who then proceeded to knock him out by throwing a pair of pliers straight to his face.
-Bell is pretty much the back-up hero by day, but is the one patrolling at night. Unlike MK or Mei, he keeps his identity a secret for privacy's sake. He does enjoy seeing people lose their minds on the internet when it comes to theorizing about his identity, and even spread false rumors from alt-accounts just to further stir the pot.
-Don't let Bell drive. Don't ever let Bell drive. It should be illegal to leave him unattended in a room with anything that has wheels without supervision from a responsible adult. (Tang does not qualify as a responsible adult.)
-Bell can't sleep without a pillow to cling on. He is touch-starved, your honor.
-He's deathly scared of bigger birds like eagles and owls (lmao Peng). The only exceptions are pelicans because of how goofy they are. Pelicans have Bell's upmost respect.
-Bell is a theater kid, specifically the musical breed. He can't actually act out non-song dialogue onstage because he's prone to forgetting his lines. Lyrics are just easier to memorize than spoken dialogue for him, so he doesn't have any interest in actual acting. He's good at ad-libbing though, and can definitely sing, while knowing how to play Gibby's flutes and the piano to boot.
Alix:
-Alix' thing is makeup, but more specifically sfx makeup. It all started when one of her brothers used to jumpscare her, so she practiced using sfx gore makeup to jumpscare him back. (She still does that)
-Being a makeup artist isn't her exact main goal. Really, she wants to be a horror movie director one day. She already has an analog horror series in the works, even though it still needs some polishing.
-She also has a podcast channel about true crime, urban legends, and lost media, surprise surprise. Though she prefers to stay anonymous by wearing a fox mask.
-Her birthday is in Halloween, so she likes spooks in general! It gives her an excuse to dress up in costumes and look like a cosplayer without seeming out of place. She was definitely a creepypasta kid.
-Biologically, Alix is more Huli Jing. But she inherited more of her abilities from her mother's side. Lots of butterflies.
-Alix is recovering from a crippling bubblegum addiction. Most of her childhood and teen years was spent on her chewing gum. Occasionally, she'd experience bubblegum relapses and end up taking a piece without even realizing...until the vendor yells at her for not paying.
-She's somewhat interested in candy making in general. Once, she made a lollipop that would stain someone's lips for a long enough time that it made for a lip tint substitute. It became popular in her old elementary because of students being banned from actual lip tint. But when it comes to snacks in general, she's a sucker for tanghulu. Her handle is literally Tanghulu_Queen.
-She has a little online side gig with custom phone cases and keychains! She doesn't have that many people ordering, but it's decent enough for a side gig.
-She was in the commentary community before, but left after realizing that the toxicity wasn't worth it. It sometimes still shows when she's criticizing something.
-Her commentary phase was a byproduct of her mean girl era. Her old school's overall competitiveness fed into that, which Alix grew out of after graduating. She still tries to apologize to any of her old classmates that she come across.
-Alix doesn't just use makeup to make fake wounds, but also hide real ones as well. Bruises anyway, makeup on open wounds aren't a good idea. It's not the proudest thing she does, but sometimes a villain attack in the city ends up with her getting some bruises, and she doesn't want her parents to go back to having a bodyguard stalk her all of the time.
-Alix is the living example of a person's aesthetic not matching her playlist. Her playlist mostly consists of Sabaton.
-Alix also had a sporty streak in gymnastics, but quit after another competitor sabotaged her equipment during a competition, resulting in a leg injury that required her to be hospitalized.
-She likes koi. Growing up, she loved going to places with koi ponds. But ever since her parents caught her with a koi fish in her mouth, they never let her near a koi pond unsupervised ever since.
-She's a huge workaholic, to the point that she works to distract herself from anything bothering her. That usually comes with good results with her efforts, but also the added pressure to keep it that way.
Rasmus:
-His real name is Rashmil Ranganathan. Erasmus and Rasmus are both just nicknames he got from his social media handle, Raspberry_Mousse. His Chinese name is Lan Muyang for convenience, but Megapolitans call him Rasmus anyway.
-He's Indian, but his mother's side of the family is part of the ten percent Indian population in Martinique! It's his father's side who's actually from India. He favors his mom's side of the family over his dad's though. Anyone would, if the latter constantly talked about them lagging behind while being compared to their cousins.
-His host family in his gap year in China is actually Bai He's, and she is the reason why Rasmus has memorized the extensive lore of Studio Ghibli films and the magical girl genre. So he basically doubles as her babysitter. Bai He would stir up all sorts of trouble, and Rasmus would just wave it off as a typical child's behavior.
-When designing an outfit, he tends to gravitate towards more traditional wear with a modern touch. It's why he takes cultural research seriously, to avoid appropriating any with his works. He takes advantage of his role as a junior photojournalist to consult artisans from those cultures, while also photographing their works to share it to the world. Whether in his socials, or the magazine he works for.
-It was actually something he did before he aimed for the fashion industry! His investigative streak had to come from somewhere. He was the former head editor of his school magazine, in an international school full of students from different backgrounds. It was actually how he met Alix who was an exchange student at the time, for a Chinese section of the magazine.
-Speaking of Alix, while under the apprenticeship of her parent Mx. Zixin, Rasmus is currently more of a tailor than a designer. So it's part of the job to take measurements from usually high profile personalities, given they can afford a custom outfit straight from the brand. This also means he sometimes ends up eavesdropping on private conversations that he wouldn't have heard otherwise.
-He's one of those types of people that like putting whatever herbs he can in his ice cubes. Mostly just because he can. It's not even for drinks most of the time, he just straight up munches on them.
-He has something called maladaptive daydreaming. Basically he daydreams a lot that he tends to tune out reality to the point of it being a hindrance in his day-to-day life. His triggers especially include music and the fantasy novels he reads. He can't guarantee that he'll read every book recommended to him though. He has an unread stack of shame that he keeps hidden for a reason.
-Rasmus sometimes pulls out the 'it's part of our culture back home' card whenever he does some questionable stuff. Alix can see through that, but gave up trying to stop him. She knows that he just wanted to mess with people. Yes, even his accent is somewhat fake. Well, the accent is real, but the speech patterns aren't.
-He's not just knowledgeable in a lot of health facts, but is incredibly good at first aid, and the necessary procedures needed for most emergency situations. His mom may be a surgeon, but if he had to be in the med field, he's better suited as a paramedic.
-When he came out as pansexual to his parents, they pretended to be surprised.
-Magpies love him. His hair is their nest. At first, it annoyed him because of how much time he puts on keeping his hair neat, and had to result to using citrus oil to repel them... only to find out it's too strong for his nose as well.
-He has this tendency to silently approach someone from behind, catching the person off-guard as if he just teleported. Everyone agrees that someone needs to put a bell on him.
-Rasmus is also pretty good at floriography, or the language of flowers. He can give someone a bouquet to insult them and their ancestors and they would never know.
-Rasmus doesn't have many strong opinions. But prepare for an hour long rant about fast fashion, toxic trends, and unethical practices when you bring up Shein and the like.
Gibby:
-Her full name, Long-armed Gibbon, isn't really a lie. There's just some shapeshifting shenanigans involved.
-Gibby hatched from a pearl! Once, she was but a pearl in an oyster sitting on the seafloor. There's more to Gibby's birth than that, but that'll have to stay under the wraps for now.
-Her gimmick is sand/stardust. Her clones are made of the stuff, after all. Anyone that inhales it immediately falls asleep. This is... also probably a good time to mention she can travel through dreams.
-Remember the secret base Sandy made out of pillows? It didn't go to waste, don't worry. It's been moved inside, where it is now Gibby territory. Her most frequent visitor is a Siamese kitten named Gibby Jr.
-She gets the zoomies at times, which means the gang has to deal with what is basically a comet bouncing off the walls. Not fun for anyone involved. She does make a squeaky noise every impact though.
-One of Gibby's biggest gripes with being tethered to Bell is that she can't write shipping charts and dirty fanfics about her friends. Bear in mind that her definition of dirty is holding hands.
-She hates hats. But really, that's only because they stop her from perching herself on someone's head.
-She loves durian! Although the smell might be hard to ignore, but she couldn't care less. It's better than that one time she ate a kidney stone (Don't ask). She hates jackfruit though, seeing it as the lesser durian.
-She hates it when immortals, demon or celestial, make comments about her wasting her potential. She couldn't grapple their reasoning that she should make a huge name for herself just because she was born powerful. She just wants to have fun, and having all of those responsibilities sound boring.
-She likes chalk! Drawing with them, and eating them. She's envious of her friends' drawing abilities, Wukong and MK's especially, but she doesn't realize how good she is at chalk, not understanding that it's an art medium too.
-Statues, mannequins, wax figurines, and the likes scare her to death. She couldn't understand how a non-living thing can resemble a living person so much, and it scares her to think that it can move whenever she's not looking.
-Gibby actually had a mentor in the past, in the form of Nezha's brother, Muzha. Long story short, Gibby lost control of her powers. But before the Celestial Realm could punish her, Guanyin instead offered to have one of her disciples train her to better control them.
-Where Wukong is See No Evil, and Macaque is Hear No Evil, Gibby is Speak No Evil. One ability she has allows her to mimic a past conversation that took place in the area she's in, with the accuracy down to voice. She's also a horrible liar, and uses technical truths if confronted by an enemy.
-Gibby is talented in many instruments. Just some of them include her flutes, the pipa, the accordion, the pan pipes, and the kalimba. But no matter the instrument, wild animals tend to be attracted to the music she makes.
-She likes animals, but especially bugs. She once went into a pet store with Bell and was completely fixated on an ant farm the entire time. Though if she had to pick a favorite, it's definitely fireflies. Her earliest memories on the Mortal Realm include chasing fireflies in a field.
Bonus facts!
-Bell, Alix, and Rasmus' trio name is the Lush Berry Trio! Why? Let's just say, Lush Berry Jungle is an important location in THE LORE™️.
-Bell and Gibby's duo name is the SeaMonkey duo! I know Gibby's an ape, but shush. I have my reasons.
-Rasmus and Alix's duo name is the Cosmopolitan duo, like the magazine. The blanks fill themselves lmao.
-Bell and Alix sometimes trade each other's unused clothes. They started doing it after finding out they're the same size when Rasmus was taking their measurements.
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piganatur · 2 years ago
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THE EIGHTH SENSE EP 4
The repetitive and varying emotions prior to a relationship are always sour or sweet (不问三九)
oh boy, soooo ep 4 huh? We start to deep dive into the nitty-gritty of the leads’ minds and I’m all for it.
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Jaewon tackling his feelings at his therapy session? Openly and candidly saying all his concerns while his therapist tells him you don’t have to be loved by everyone? The sheer force of this shot with the triangle of the fish tank behind him, the reflections of the metal balls before him and the sculpture of a head with its eyes and ears covered at his side? majestic Jaewon is teetering on the border of his fears and the truth all the while the outside world won’t notice or listen (no one knows this Jaewon, the one sitting on the couch in the office) but thanks to the reflection of the balls on the table he can see all three sides (also, out of the three balls one is glass, so it’s transparent, something that won't remind him, that lets him off the hook, something that he could fill with whatever he wants)
I’m ecstatic that most interactions that propel our leads to go forward, that affirm and reinforce the truths they have to hear and accept, are coming from women. Women have a crucial part in the eighth sense. They aren’t in the show just to be annoying or to be the punchline to some stereotype (I also love that none of them is related to the leads, yet they’re handled with care). All these female characters are fleshed-out individuals, integrated into the plot so deeply and seamlessly. I could sing odes about Yoonwon, or sajangnim or Aeri but let’s take Eunji for example, she’s not bitchy because she’s a woman but because she’s the ex (and also a brat). Jaewon was right, she really needs to learn some basic manners, I was waiting for the moment the two girls accompanying her to the bar would just stand up and leave that mess lmao. I also feel like Jaewon not only does what’s expected of him but what seems the most convenient bc at this point I honestly can’t get my head around why else he’d ever date Eunji. (Jaewon said they dated for about 2 years while the mandatory enlistment service is between 18-22 months. If they broke up around the middle of Jaewon’s service so at least 9 months(?) after he enlisted, and they had a period of some (썸 fling) before officially dating, then how long were they actually in a relationship?)
Now that I’m already rambling about Eunji, let’s take a look at the restaurant scene. I’ve seen people say that Jihyun should’ve stood up for himself there, but realistically speaking, there was nothing he could have done in that situation. Eunji’s not only a customer of the bar, but she’s also his sunbae in the surfing club. Did she act extremely rudely? Yes. Could’ve Jihyun done anything else but bear it? No. Even being as straightforward (or rude) as Yoonwon wouldn’t cut it, he’d have to be as rude as Shim Woojoo (shoutout to Call it love). His boss (sajangnim ily ♡) could defend Jihyun exactly because she’s the owner and she’s older, what she said can’t be considered rude. And look at that, Eunji didn’t back down even knowing these things (more proof that she’s a brat). Jihyun acting any other way than he did would’ve been out of line big time, only stoking the fire (I’m pretty sure Eunji, being as petty as she is, somewhat anticipated just that). His strength thus lies in his kindness and patience and the fact he didn’t let Eunnji’s bullshit about Jaewon affect their relationship (Jihyun-ah my beloved)
The blossoming relationship between Jihyun and Jaewon is a category of its own. I’ve already mentioned (in this post) the concept of being seen in the eighth sense and that goes hand in hand with showing. Jihyun doesn’t show a lot but it’s always sincere while Jaewon seemingly shows a ton but it’s a facade, something attractive but empty. This contrast, the way it gets a reaction out of them, the seeing and showing, the influence they have on e/o can be found in all of their interactions. One does or says a thing and it impacts the other to react to it, to correct their attitude or behaviour. Their run-in after Jihyun’s terrible shift is a great example. Jaewon first lies about the business he has near the dorms but nonetheless feels the need to be there for Jihyun so comforts him with his touch (his actions speak the truth) and Jihyun spills about his feelings (his words speak the truth). Jihyun’s sincerity once again demands for Jaewon to be, in turn, sincere (and he is, with his words this time). Every contact, the constant back and forth (verbal or nonverbal), the shared intimacy to be in their own world is masterful and so authentic. The two of them cloaked under the night, not as something others see during the day but as something they get to decide, the casual touches that are anything but casual bc they are a force in their own right, a wordless pull. It’s beautiful.
I won’t even try to tackle that moment in the library where for Jaewon, Jihyun is the sole source of light bc I’m unknowing and unworthy to put it into words but fortunately there are ppl out there who are knowing and worthy so read @mare-sanguis post and feel blessed (but I’m sure you already have)
One more thing and I’ll stop this long ass rambling pretending to be a review(?) analysis(?) who knows? It’s about the portrayal of romance because in so many stories of the romance genre one party does all the initiating, the chasing, and the other party is kind of passive idk? They feel good about the developments of course, but they don’t reciprocate that much, more like only accepting the advances? In the eighth sense, both parties put in the work to make this happen. However tentative, however unsure at times their participation is, they’re actively trying to romance each other. The way Jaewon is forward with his actions, Jihyun is forward with his words. It’s a give and take, testing of how well will this go? How far they can go? There’s an exchange in their shared scenes both emotionally and physically, and it makes both of their hearts flutter. Jaewon is bold yet Jihyun can make his breath stop and his head spin with one (1) art lesson by the Han River? Jaewon teases and flirts yet Jihyun asks the real questions, steering the topic to dating and defining relationships? It’s a dance where they take turns to lead depending on the situation because they both want this, because they feed into each other’s happiness.
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