#and someone will find a way to misinterpret it or prove you wrong on something

[theeroins]

If I say that I'm not used to people misinterpreting my favorite characters, I'd be lying. But the way they get so many things wrong about Inho's character is kinda pissing me off because you KNOW that most of them do it to cancel out the possibility of InHun being *something* more than what's shown so far. You don't ship them, that's fair, frankly I don't care. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion UNTIL your opinion is wrong.

Let's talk about a couple of things I've seen being talked about on tiktok (🙄)

“Inho joined the games because ilnam said that it'd basically be more fun to play than to watch so he followed his example." loud incorrect buzzer ! Inho has joined the games before, and not only that, he's also a previous winner, so therefore he's very much aware of what it's like to be a part of it, he's experienced them first hand, just like he's experienced the atrocities of it. they've changed him for the worst and possibly caused him a huge trauma —they're the reason he's lost faith in humanity after all— so, why would he crave to relive it just for the thrill of it? i, personally doubt he even enjoys watching the game.

“Inho didn't look at Gihun with love, he likes to watch him suffer” Short answer is no. He doesn't like to watch him suffer, neither he looked at him with love, not the pure kind of love at least. Two things can be true at once. Inho spent half the season staring at Gihun because everything about the man intrigued him; His determination, his stubbornness, his kindness, his hope, his heart that's full of love despite the pain he suffered, even the pain in his eyes every time someone got eliminated in front of him as if it was the first time it had happened, as if the cruelty of it all surprised him every damn time. How can someone, who's been through the same things Inho has been through, be the polar opposite of him?

now, the reason(s) that I think Inho actually joined the games for..

(yes I am an Inhun shipper, does that make my opinion a little biased? maybe. do i still believe I'm right? absofuckinglutely.)

Let me clarify this: Inho is NOT a good man, no matter the redemption arc he might get in s3, he'll continue to be a terrible person because nothing will ever erase the blood he's spilled and the evil men he's worked for. BUT at the same time, he's not ALL bad, not like the VIPS and ilnam. See, Inhun are the average "yin-yang" trope in fictional romance, (which I eat up every time and I find it very interesting when it's done the right way, don't get me wrong) Inho is bad but there's some goodness somewhere deep inside him. And the only person who's brought it to the surface is Gihun. Sure, he does think Gihun is naive, but he's also the only person who's actually challenged him, who's "forced" him to get his stupid head out of the dirt and look around him, even for a short while and Inho definitely liked what he saw. Honestly, it wasn't even that hard for Gihun to do so because the goodness in Inho wanted and waited for someone to pull him out of the dirt, he wished for someone, something to give him hope for humanity or.. anything. Anything that'll help him escape from his misery.

You can definitely argue that he joined the games to befriend Gihun, to gain his trust and stop his plans when the time comes, which is half true. But keep in mind that he needed to justify his choice to join the games. He's not a VIP nor the mastermind to simply get to do that without consequences. He's the frontman, the one who controls and manages everything. He's needed for the games to work and go by smoothly and successfully without unnecessary losses and problems. Gihun would only cause problems, Inho knew that very well and yet he chose to put him in it once again. He recklessly made that choice, risking pretty much everything because of his inner conflict. A part of him wanted Gihun to prove himself to him, that there's indeed good that'll save the world and the rest of him wanted to prove to Gihun that everything he so strongly believes in is merely a fantasy.

Joining the games and befriending Gihun was the only way for Inho to see the real him, without the heroic mask he puts on every time he faces the frontman. I think he believed that someone as extraordinary as Gihun will either break in front of him and he will end up disappointed by the human kind once again, or Gihun will change everything about the way he thinks for the better. But the problem is that Inho hopes for both of those things at the same time.

And that was Inho's arc in season 2. His inner conflict and how it will affect him, the game and Gihun later on.

[evilbihan]

I'm not going to acknowledge that person by name because I have no wish to interact further with her, nor to have others find her and give her any attention. But with Noob Saibot being brought back, I remembered this rancid take they had, quote: "Bi-Han is a man who has time and time again become Noob Saibot, a man whose endings have shown the Netherrealm is where he wanted to be" which is wild af to say.

Because Bi-Han doesn't just 'become" Noob, he is literally made into Noob. Quan Chi resurrected him as a wraith that turned him into Noob Saibot and now Titan Havik tortures him and uses some insane magic even Liu Kang doesn't know, to turn him into Noob. It's not like some magical girl transformation. We're talking awful evil stuff being done to Bi-Han against his will, to warp him into this being known as Noob Saobot, who is stripped of his humanity and almost everything that made Bi-Han who he was.

And Bi-Han never wanted to end up in the Neatherrealm. In the previous timelines he literally had no choice. He was forced into the role of assassin. He was molded into one practically from birth. In Mythologies when he goes into the Neatherrealm he's informed that his soul is already tainted with evil, which is why he can exist there. That's not because he simply woke up one day and decided to kill some Gods for shits and gigs. He had to do what he was ordered to do or be a traitor to the clan and marked for death anyway. It was a lose lose situation. If anything this shows that Bi-Han was never where he wanted to be. His strings were always being pulled by someone else. History is repeating itself now. And leaks even say that Liu Kang doesn't fault him for his desires, but only the ways he goes about achieving his ends. Which further proves Bi-Han doesn't have some nefarious plots in mind with the deliberate intention of landing himself in the Neatherrealm.

She said she doesn't hate Bi-Han, but then this reads as a deep missunderstanding of his character. And at that point, if you can misinterpret his character to that degree, you probably don't like him much either.

Another day, another take so stupid it makes me want to never interact with anything MK related ever again.

Oh, who am I kidding? The trailer already achieved that.

Needless to say, you're 100% correct and this person, whoever they are, is obviously not the sharpest tool in the shed. People who think Bi-Han wanted any of this are either being ignorant on purpose and want to misunderstand his character because they hate him or they're so blatantly stupid they don't understand the very simple fact that Bi-Han being turned into Noob Saibot always happened against his will in every damn timeline.

Does it look like Bi-Han tied himself to that damn wheel we see in the trailer? Does this person have the attention span of a goldfish and just missed the part where he looks terrified out of his mind when those drills/needles approach him?

For goodness' sake, I didn't want to talk about the trailer because watching it made me want to gauge my own eyeballs out. I never felt this sick looking at something in my life (that's coming from someone who plays horror and fighting games on the regular) and yet here we are and I'm talking about it regardless now. I hate it here.

But anyway, you're right. What more can I say? Anyone with even an ounce of common sense would know that. Anyone who has ever played any of the Mortal Kombat games should know that Bi-Han was forcefully turned into Noob Saibot. He was never evil. He was always a neutral character and he's still a neutral character in the New Era.

What more confirmation do you need outside of Liu Kang himself admitting that there's nothing wrong with Bi-Han's ambitions, only with his methods of achieving them? Ashrah says Bi-Han can be redeemed, Bi-Han said only people who don't understand him would mistake him for evil, the Lin Kuei all stand behind Bi-Han and support him... He isn't evil and he never was.

He literally saves Liu Kang's entire stupid trainwreck of a timeline single-handedly in this DLC and people still have the audacity to say he's evil?

I wish he was.

I wish Bi-Han would just sit back and watch Havik destroy Liu Kang's timeline along with all the pitiful hypocrites in it. I wish he'd let all of the fandom's pathetic favorites get torn to shreds and laugh.

But he won't. Because Bi-Han is a good and honorable man deep down.

Disagree and be wrong. It's as simple as that.

PS: Wasn't MK:Mythologies Sub-Zero all about Bi-Han trying to avoid ending up in the Netherrealm? He reacted with shock and concern to being told his soul is tainted with evil by Raiden and he was trying to turn his life around. There's even an ending in one of the older games where he kills Shang Tsung and leaves the Lin Kuei with the prize money from the tournament. Bi-Han never wanted to end up in the Netherrealm. Claiming anything else would be ignoring canon lore.

[ok555ficideas]

A silly little Henren fic "Take me or leave me"

“Hen, come on. You never watch musicals with me,” Karen whined, and Hen had to suppress the urge to roll her eyes. 

She loved her wife with everything she had, but if she could change one thing it would be her love for musicals. To Hen it was boring and completely unnecessary. She wanted to argue further, but the puppy eyes and the pout painted on her beautiful wife’s face made her cave. 

“Fine,” she sighed with defeat. 

The answering blinding smile and the adorable cheer that followed was absolutely worth the torture that she was about to endure. She sat on their sofa and waited for Karen to pick something for them to watch that would have a ridiculous amount of pointless songs in it. 

Karen finally settled on one, and the torture began. Hen had to suppress an urge to yawn, and then something magical happened. The most gorgeous woman appeared on the screen, and Hen couldn’t hear a single word that was uttered or sung after that. The woman looked exactly like Karen when she was younger, and Hen would’ve pointed  that out immediately if not for how speechless she was. 

The movie ended without Hen even noticing the passing time, and Karen looked at her with excitement. There was a glint in her eyes, and Hen knew that her wifewas misinterpreting her expression. Hen opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, incapable of articulating a coherent sentence. 

“I told you you were gonna love it!” Karen said with a smug smile. 

Hen cleared her throat and looked back at the end credits rolling on the TV. She then looked back at Karen with bewilderment and was waiting for the other to state that she was joking. She was waiting for the confirmation that the resemblance was the reason to show her this in the first place. 

“I mean, yeah,” Hen said slowly, ”one of the characters looks like you. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her.” 

“What? Who looks like me?” Karen sounded almost offended. 

“You’re joking, right?” When Karen didn’t say anything, Hen picked up the remote and rewinded the movie. “Look!” she paused at Karen’s doppelgänger. 

Karen looked intensely at the screen. She had her nose scrunched in the way that Hen loved and that was always there when her wife was concentrating extra hard on something. Karen finally took her gaze off the TV and looked back at her. 

“Joanne looks nothing like me,” she stated, and Hen’s jaw dropped to the floor. 

***

On the next shift Hen was still distracted by the previous night. Karen wasn’t happy with Hen finding Joane Jefferson hot, and no amount of telling her that it was only because she looked exactly like her was helping. She sat down at the table to eat breakfast with the rest of the team and was determined to prove that she wasn’t crazy. 

“Have you guys seen Rent?” 

Their answers varied from “obviously” from Chim through a shy nod from Eddie right into “what’s that?” from a very focused on his food Buck. She pulled out her phone and put it down on the table with a picture already pulled out. 

“Does she remind you of someone?” 

Her phone went from hand to hand, and she was only met with shakes of heads. She had half a mind to accuse them of pulling a prank on her, but it would be a ridiculous claim. 

“She looks exactly like Karen,” she said a little too loudly, but the frustration was getting the better of her. 

Her coworkers looked around at each other and exchanged quiet nods and concerned looks.

“Did you tell Karen that?” Bobby was the first to break the weird silence. 

“Yes, and now she’s mad at me because I find the character hot.” 

There were quiet groans, hisses and chuckles all around her, and she had never felt so lost. 

“We’ve all been there,” Chim patted her on the back, “you’ll just have to tell her that you were wrong or joking and hope she moves on.” 

“What do you mean, you’ve all been there?” 

“I once told Athena that I find Ramonda from “Black Panther” attractive because she reminds me of her. She didn’t talk to me for a week.” 

Hen chuckled at the clear exaggeration, but no one else was laughing. Chim grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her around more in his direction so that she could look at him. 

“This is no joke, Hen. I did the same thing with Melinda in “Ghost Whisperer” and Maddie threatened to never sing karaoke with me again.” 

Hen looked away from her best friend and looked back to the other twor men sitting at the table in hopes that they would be more sane. Buck was avoiding the other’s gaze and Eddie was wearing his pissed off expression. 

“Go on, tell Hen what you did,” Eddie encouraged with a tight tone. 

“We were watching this stupid movie “Everybody wants some” and I could have sworn that one of the characters looked exactly like Eddie.” 

“You were staring at his ass every chance you got,” Eddie huffed. 

“It looked exactly like your ass, baby.” 

Eddie didn’t dignify it with a response and turned around a little, still not losing physical contact with Buck. Hen asked them one time why they’re always touching even when one is mad at the other, and Eddie told her that Buck always got sad when they argued, and no matter how mad Eddie was he wasn’t going to take Buck’s comfort away from him. He was a good boyfriend, after all. Hen only rolled her eyes at that and decided not to try to understand their codependent dynamic. 

“What about you, Eddie?” She wanted to put the focus away from Buck. “Have you ever thought someone looked like Buck?” 

Suddenly, Eddie got red cheeks and looked down at his hands. He started to play with his fingers, and Buck let out an offended sound. The blonde let go of Eddie’s hand and crossed his arms over his chest. 

“You have, haven’t you!” he exclaimed, and Eddie sent Hen a betrayed look. “Who?” Buck demanded. 

Eddie took a deep breath and turned to face Buck with one of his signature smiles. Hen could see some of the anger leaveBuck’s body, and she couldn’t believe how easy he was. 

“Babe, you know there is no one out there for me, besides you,” Eddie leaned a little bit closer to Buck and put a small kiss on his lips. 

Buck’s pout turned into a smile and he grabbed Eddie’s hand back in his. Eddie left out a relieved sigh, and Hen threw her hands in the air in frustration. Ever since they got together they were a pain in her ass. She thought the oblivious pining was infuriating, but it turned out that them knowing they were in love with each other was ten times worse. 

***

She had a plan. She bought flowers and wine. She arranged for Mara and Denny to go to the Han’s house for a sleepover and she was going to woo her wife. She was going to lie and tell her that no woman ever looked or will look like her and that she was wrong. That last part would be the most difficult because Hen was never wrong. 

She was willing to be if it meant making the love of her life happy. She entered her home and went straight to the kitchen to greet her still very much mad wife. She tried to give her a kiss, but was met with refusal. 

“I brought you something.” Hen handed Karen the flowers. 

“You can give those to that Joanne of yours,” Karen replied, not looking at her. 

“Honey, she isn't even a real person.”  

“Her actress is.” 

Hen sighed and took a couple steps closer to her wife, who had her back turned to her. She stood as close as possible without touching the other woman and leaned down so her lips could ghost over Karen’s ear. 

“And she doesn’t even hold a candle to you,” she whispered and took satisfaction in the clear shiver it sent through Karen. 

“I thought she looked exactly like me?” Karen was turning around and Hen could already see her grudge evaporating. 

“I don’t know what I was thinking,” she shook her head and grabbed Karen by the hips to bring her closer, “I must have been tired, because how could I have compared your absolut beauty to anyone else,” she whispered the last words into Karen’s mouth and was quickly rewarded by a passionate kiss. 

Oh, how she had missed it. It has only been a day since she had kissed her wife the last time, but every day that went without a kiss was a wasted one in her opinion. If it was up to her she would do absolutely nothing else aside from kissing her breathtaking wife for the rest of her life. 

Karen pulled back, despite Hen’s whine of protest, and led them to the couch. Hen was hoping for more kisses, but instead Karen put on some old TV show that Hen never saw in her life. The title said “Detroit 1-8-7”, but she couldn’t care less about what was going on. 

They watched it quietly for a couple minutes, but Hen wasn’t paying attention. She wasn’t even looking at the screen, too preoccupied with staring at Karen and thinking about all the things she was going to do to her to take advantage of the empty house.

“Look,” Karen brought her back to the present and pointed to the screen, “Lieutenant Mason looks just like you.” 

“What?!”

[thejudeduarte]

If you're open to questions I wanted to ask something. I'm currently reading TQON and there are some scenes (as well as a few in TWK) where is implied that Cardan has other relations while being with Jude? How that makes him different than Locke? Or I'm misunderstanding something...

Thanks for the ask!! My inbox is always open so feel free to ask away <3. Sorry this took a while, I've been busy lately and never had the time to type it all late (also sorry if I start ranting lol)

These are all the quotes/moments from both twk and tqon where it mentioned this topic and I assume this is where you got slightly confused;

I think the important thing we've all got to understand here is that Jude is an extremely unreliable narrator when it comes to Cardan and romance. She only ever really sees what her brain makes her see, so for example, when Cardan never returned to bed that one night in tqon, her mind almost immediately went to him taking up other lovers when she was gone but that's not necessarily the case. She's trying to convince herself that he hates her and she hates him too but she's entirely wrong. I don't believe he was taking up lovers, I think she only said that as it was the only reason she could think of. Jude also finds Cardan very attractive and beautiful so perhaps she's also misinterpreting these things and she believes that a lot of people would desire to be with him because of his looks and his past behaviours during and pre tcp because of the reputation he built up for himself.

This is one of the reasons that I think the fandom desperately needs tcp rewritten in Cardans' pov as there are so many things that would be explained better were it through his eyes. I'm not dissing Hollys' writing AT ALL. It's just the way that Jude is and she almost cannot fathom the thought of him wanting her in any way so her mind almost always jumps to these false conclusions.

Additionally, you may have noticed that she always describes his hair as messy and as if he's woken up from someone else's bed. Again, he could have just woken up from his own bed that's why his hair is messy but she's making up all these excuses to also try and bury down her own growing feelings for him that she's desperately trying not to feel.

Please can someone else add to this I'm sure that they could explain it far better than I could but this is just my own personal view on this topic. Whereas Locke did take up other relations when he was with Taryn, Cardan has made it clear that he never thought love was a game unlike Locke who did and who revelled in creating his so-called stories. This is also proved as Cardan took his and Nicasias' relationship very seriously when he was with her.

[neilgill]

Wish Defense I: The 'Complaints'

“Be to her virtues very kind, Be to her faults a little blind.” ― Matthew Prior

Disney's Wish was actually great and I'm here to defend it.

I'd like to start by negating most of, if not all, the 'complaints' this film's been getting. Please join me as I do this in 12 brief points:

Asha is a great protagonist. She is not just 'quirky' or one-dimensional: she's caring, strong, beautifully flawed, and doesn't solve every problem on her own; the movie makes a point of every one of these. I never saw her as a clone of someone like Mirabel or Anna. And she does have a character arc: she matures and learns to work hard for what she believes in. She learns that doing the right thing is difficult, but it's necessary. All this makes for a beautifully put-together character that gets through challenges and comes out stronger. Why aren't people talking about how great that is?

Magnifico is a great villain. He's an amalgam of familiar villains like Maleficent, Ursula, and Gaston, done in ways that seem fresh and unique. I've seen a lot of people say his motivation seems to change every few minutes or so, but I disagree. Him using his traumatic past is his excuse for his bad behaviour: that's what narcissists do. Just look at Mother Gothel and all her gaslighting. He was always a self-absorbed jerk who wants everyone under his heel, and whose darkness just got revealed more and more. And his 'villain shtick' is a cool and terrifying one: stripping people of their hopes and dreams to make them docile subjects who depend on him. He takes away their agency, essentially their souls and who they are as people. That is the bad thing he's been doing from Day 1, it's what makes him a villain: the film tells us that. How can people defend him? It's like people defending Gaston all over again. He's a great villain in that he goes against the values the story holds dear, challenges the protagonist in personal ways, is wonderful to hate, and is rightfully depicted as in the wrong for doing bad things. He's the selfish one, not Asha as the 'critics' are claiming. Why aren't people talking about that?

Star is a great secondary character. He is intentionally supposed to be a character that harkens back to those like Jiminy Cricket or Timothy Q. Mouse (I have a very personal connection with Dumbo, so this was important to me). People are REALLY misinterpreting that concept art of them: Star and Asha were never supposed to have a romance because Human Star would look like her grandfather. And 'Starboy' would just be a copy of Peter Pan or Genie, which people would definitely slam, thus I'm glad they changed him. See point 11 for more on Star and why his current form is the one they went with. People just care about having a Jack Frost clone (if they did go that route, they'd probably be slammed for copying Dreamworks, knowing 'critics'). The idea of a mute, magical sidekick, something that we haven't seen since Tinker Bell, is a pretty fun one that feels new and cool. And it's important to note that he never grants anyone's wish: he just helps out, letting Asha and others know that they themselves have to make it come true. Why aren't people talking about that?

I was really worried Valentino was going to be little more than a gag, but he wasn't. He helps out here and there, especially when aiding the Teens in freeing the wishes, proving his importance to the narrative. Plus I did find him pretty funny.

The Teens do stand on their own. I went into the movie knowing they were going to be new versions of the 7 Dwarfs, but each of them felt like their own unique person to me, especially Dahlia and Simon.

The animation is gorgeous: you have to watch it in HD or 4k, which people are doing for other films like Spider-Verse or Nimona, just not this one. It is far from 'lazy' or 'Disney Junior level': it harkens back to art styles Walt Disney himself loved. I can't believe they managed to replicate the feel of classic Disney backgrounds, like Snow White or Sleeping Beauty, so perfectly with modern technology. It looks like a painting, or a tapestry. Disney movies are still beautiful. Why aren't people talking about that?

The music is great: I've caught myself singing every song at least thrice. Each song brings something to the table. 'This is the Thanks I Get' fits Magnifico's character, and is something in the same vein as Gaston's song; you cannot tell me that one rent line is worse than 'nobody spits like Gaston'. I still get chills listening to 'This Wish' and its reprise. I don't know how people online are starting to think it's a bad song, but now others are just jumping on the bandwagon. You can see Asha's love and struggles within the song, and it even has the melody of 'Part of Your World'; how can you hate that? I've seen so many people personally connect with that song, myself included... Why aren't people talking about that?

'At All Costs' was never a love song between Asha and Star: Julia Michaels just wanted a love song (find that Variety article), and now it can be used for all kinds of love. I actually did tear up watching that sequence for the first time, seeing Asha hold her grandfather's wish dearly in her arms. I've seen people say it reminds them of what a parent would sing to their child, like 'You'll Be in My Heart', and I think that's just so wonderful and heartfelt. Why aren't people talking about that?

I don't have the actual post, but I'd like to bring attention back to what an artist on the film said: every 'Easter Egg' is meaningfully placed, a tribute to what has inspired generations. Not one of them felt shoehorned in to me. This movie is a tribute, a love letter, a celebration of what people have loved for 100 years. Why aren't people talking about that?

Magnifico's defeat is far from silly. It makes sense given the rules the world of the film runs on: the fact that 'we are made of stars' is a good Chekov's gun that carries a lot of meaningful importance. Each of us is special, each of us has magic, and each of us has hope. And this is where evil dies and good endures: Magnifico cannot comprehend that anyone but himself is worth anything, thus why he cannot quell this and it is the reason for this downfall. He, the villain, loses because he lacks the virtues the heroes possess. Why aren't people talking about that?

The story of this film is special: as confirmed by the staff, the film is an allegory for Walt Disney's life, and the story of Disney overall. Asha is Walt Disney, Star is Mickey Mouse: a magical force of creativity and inspiration that lights up a dark time. Because of the special nature of this, even though I'm a die-hard Disney fan, I'm fine with there not being any romance in this film (even though I'd like it back someday). This was intentionally made as a simple film à la Snow White, which was meant to be a happy, hope-giving film for people back in the 1930s. Just like this film is supposed to be now. One last time: why aren't people talking about that?

This is the first of a few posts I'll make defending this movie, so for other Wish fans out there, please stick around. I don't care if I get dragged for this: I'd rather stick up for my beliefs and defend myself my way than let online bullies like Schaffrillas, Aldone, or Astor Rhymemaster stop me from loving something I really enjoyed. I really hope this movie gets the Atlantis treatment and becomes a beloved cult classic down the line. Until next time.

[allwormdiet]

Buzz 7.1

Oh boy, some calm, thank goodness, I hope there's no storm that might interrupt this somehow

Oh, Taylor. You've gotta find a better way to score physical intimacy with people than this, you are not going to get what you're looking for

I was already a bit reserved about whether I thought these two would work out and that was before reading the rest of this arc, so...

Does Lisa know that this is going to end the way it does? I can't imagine she would, she wants her team happy and the way things are about to go between these two is not going to be super happy. Maybe she's reading Brian wrong, if what he said is true about not being so good with girls, and her power is misinterpreting the data

Taylor, you both fucked that up last night, don't pin it all on Danny. You could have told him and given him the opportunity to prove you wrong, to give you something better than the worst-case scenario, but you overruled that and left your home out of. Pride? Shame? C'mon girl.

Fucking finally we get the Alec backstory

Fucking creepy power, though I guess the real creep factor is that he's willing to use it and has used it to make a fucking slave army out of brainwashed women

On the one hand, I get pressing Alec for information, because all of a sudden that's something that the rest of them may have to worry about, but I'm not sure threatening him into talking is the way...

I think that's the youngest age we have for a trigger event so far. And it was deliberately induced by Alec's father. Utterly horrifying.

So... Alec doesn't seem to think he has any kind of moral core, and I'm not sure that's true? Lisa is still the only one out of the group who carries a gun, and Taylor is out here with a knife that she's used to take eyes and toes at this point; Alec's got a comparatively nonlethal loadout, so even if he doesn't feel bad about killing, he doesn't put himself in a situation where it's easy to do.

Taylor, hon, I don't think it's on you to judge him, much as you would love to

Like. Was Alec even treated as a person before he got his power? Was he treated as a person after that? None of the adults in his life ever made an effort to raise him, because they were either his monster father or his father's brainwashed slaves who only cared about him, so any "parenting" would've come from older siblings probably about as fucked as him.

You know what? I'm laying it out here now. The fact that Alec is lazy, selfish, and kind of an asshole, who's not great at reading people and prioritizes personal pleasure over most other things? Actually no joke a huge mark in his favor, because that's who he's figured out how to be after spending 12-13 years of his 15-16 years of life in Hell (which, as I've long suspected, is contained within Montreal) and then three years on the run as a career criminal. The worst thing that I can say about him is that he acts like a shitty teenager, and people act like shitty teenagers while coming from normal homes. Congratulations, Alec, you will be getting a trophy for good behavior (given the circumstances) delivered in the mail

This is sweet. Even with this unpleasant surprise, Brian is still reluctant to act like they'd leave Alec to deal with Heartbreaker alone

This is the most obvious downside of the arrangement, setting aside the matter of "can we trust Coil" (hahahaha)

Rachel, fucking bless you for being the voice of reason here

Yes! Bonding time with Rachel! Friendship rank up with Rachel! Upgrade your Social Link with Rachel in order to strength Personas of the Chariot Arcana!

Actually has someone made a read of the Worm cast as Persona S.Links because I feel like you could make some interesting choices there, obviously Taylor fulfills the Fool/Wild Card role

This is smart as fuck actually. She's basically cutting Brian off before he can interject as the head of the team and establishing her own stance within the hierarchy

An explicit bargain, made with rules for Taylor to follow and consequences if Taylor breaks those rules, all slanted in Rachel's favor.

One day you're gonna call her Rachel in your own head, Taylor, and I can't wait for that

Current Thoughts

Main thing with this chapter is that we've gotten all but one Undersider backstory filled in with Alec's ties to Heartbreaker laid out. Lisa's the last holdout, and I suspect she'll remain mum on the subject as long as she can get away with it

I'm still of the position that Alec reads a lot more shallow on the surface than he actually is, but all we have to go off of is what he says and what he does, with the trick that it's filtered through Taylor's own fairly biased perspective (she thinks he's a coldblooded murderer because his father ordered him to kill an enemy gang member, and that's certainly a read of the situation but she's just as likely jumping to conclusions). He's also taken care to not do much when he can help it, save for the Bakuda fight where he worked his ass off keeping them all alive. It's a waiting game to get to the meat of his character, I suspect, same as basically every other Undersider except Rachel.

Speaking of which, really enjoy the next chapters with Rachel. By far the Undersider I'd spend the most time with. We'd hang out with dogs and not talk to each other for hours, it'd be great.

Anyway, after a brief little scare with my entire account getting temporarily dropped from existence, I'm going to start using the alt I made @wormstreetsback as a backup for this one, on the off chance something goes horribly awry again. It's just going to be reblogs of my own stuff so don't follow it yet, unless you're fine with doubled posts.

[maxdibert]

please just start blocking people. you argue with people for having different opinions than you, then twist their words to make them sound like a misogynist, a bully, or an apologist for sa, etc etc. sometimes you are not the target audience for posts, so since you're incapable of scrolling without arguing, please use the block feature. it will make your experience more enjoyable because you won't have to see content you disagree with, and it will mean that people won't be attacked over and over for sharing an opinion on their own blog. nobody's forcing you to respond by the way, that's all you. and if they're clearly not happy with you responding, respect that boundary and stop arguing and making shit up. unless they specifically say they're open for debate, going onto people's blogs and arguing with them for the sake of it is against basic tumblr etiquette. this isn't about anyone in particular (ive seen it happen four times so far just on my own dash so not motivated by any one instance) i just know that it can get tiring to have to constantly defend yourself over blatant misinterpretation about *checks notes* a fictional character in a children's book series so i wanted to let you know. have a great day /gen

But who says I’m having a bad experience? I’m having an amazing time. Honestly, the end of my teenage years and the beginning of my twenties were all about arguing with people because I got a dopamine rush from debating politics or an endorphin high from absolutely demolishing a bunch of guys and crusty old men in any public forum, proving them wrong with solid arguments. At what point would I ever be bothered by calling someone out and demonstrating, with facts and literature on the subject, that defending sexual abuse or bullying is wrong? It doesn’t bother me at all. In fact, I find it entertaining. It’s how I spend my free time for fun.

Let me tell you something: the world is not just you and your little group of friends who all think exactly like you and share the same opinions. That only works if you’re locked in a room with people who are exactly like you. The moment you step outside that bubble, into a public space, and share a shitty opinion with shitty implications that perpetuate shitty stereotypes or shitty behaviors, guess what’s going to happen? People are going to come for you. And this is no different. If you publicly say problematic things—like using insults with misogynistic undertones, blaming bullying victims, or minimizing sexual abuse by saying absurd things like “it’s only abuse if someone wants to stick it in you”—then you’d better expect people to call you out. You’d better expect people to drag you for saying dumb shit. And if you don’t like it, make your account private. Set your posts so no one can reply or reblog them. Make it so only the people you follow and who follow you can engage with your content.

I’m not the one who wants to live in an echo chamber—you are. I’m not the one who gets upset because they post publicly and random people respond—you are. I’m not the one who has to block or restrict people—you are. Because I’m not the one who thinks that being anonymous online gives them impunity to say whatever bullshit they want—you are.

[yuseirra]

Obviously, "Fatal" must be Kamiki's song

Random talk (Akane, Kana, Aqua & Aqua's parents etc)-Analyis

Since I don't have Twitter, I often use this place to unload my thoughts… hehe

I went on in my notes again, I'd love to share it with you all here! I've really been enjoying doing so! :)

Ha… I don’t know why this manga makes me so anxious; I’ve drawn too much fan art for it. I’d feel so embarrassed if I’m wrong. Even so, I pour my heart into it! I’m really serious about my interpretations!

Over-immersion is definitely not good, but this story touches on human psychology in such a way that I can't help but get drawn in. Some of the psychological elements are so intense that they hit me really hard, almost instinctively. But emotions aren’t objective, right? That makes me anxious about being wrong. Even though there’s no need to be…

But no matter how much I say it’s just a manga, I don’t want to defend a serial killer or someone who stalked and murdered their girlfriend (well, at least that does seem to be almost out of the way, isn't it? seeing the direction how it's going, Aqua's motives for taking on the guy has shifted from Ai's revenge to protecting Ruby).

You can definitely like a character for what they are, even if they’re twisted. Characters are characters after all—you can find attraction in villains.

But you see, I’m not liking this particular character for those reasons. I’m drawing them while thinking, “This character doesn’t seem to be that kind of person.”

That's why I’m nervous about misinterpreting everything, even though it wouldn’t be a big deal if I did. But honestly, what’s wrong with seeing the good in a character and thinking, “Couldn’t they actually be a good person?” Even so, I really don’t want to misread things.

Hmm… I think I’m seeing things correctly though. I believe my interpretation of the character is on point. I feel what I see about him would prove to be true.

This manga isn’t devoid of mystery elements, but at some point, I started to speculate from a different angle; like, “What kind of person is this?” and it’s made me so focused on it. I just want a proper, concrete answer already!!

I mean, even if it’s just a manga, defending someone accused of such heinous crimes going “This person couldn’t have done that,”'s pretty anxious, right? Of course, I haven’t exactly drawn them in the context of “they didn’t commit murder,” but the way I’m drawing them feels gentle, doesn’t it? But that’s because I genuinely see them that way.

If this is all there is,

I have a lot to say… I have too many things that bother me.

I never imagined I’d feel this way from reading a manga;;; I wish it would handle things delicately while also wanting it to wrap up quickly so I can feel at ease. It’s unsettling, weighing on my mind. There’s something beneath the surface that seems just out of reach.

Back to the title topic—It’s really obvious that Fatal is Kamiki’s song because,

Though Ai is someone very special and important to Aqua, I think at this point, Ruby is even more precious to him. Aqua still has people around him who are alive, and he has to live for them. Living for the dead is exhausting and hard. There’s so much for him to look forward to (which is, in a way, the essence of what Kamiki says to Aqua in chapter 161). Aqua has Ruby. Ruby is incredibly important to him. He also has Kana and Akane. He’s not at the point where he lives solely for Ai, nor should he be.

Kamiki doesn’t have people like that. Ai is his only reason. To die, to live- whatever he's doing, I feel he's in it for what he THINKS is for her sake.

The Fatale in the song clearly refers to Ai. For him, Ai is everything. He's the one that can become like the song if it's about her. That’s why Kamiki has to be the speaker in Fatal.

When I read this manga, I was like, “Wow, the relationships are so well-crafted.” If someone has lived that kind of life, inevitably, they’d only be able to see Ai. Whether his basic personality is good or bad (and this is what gives the story its flavor, lol, he’s fundamentally a good person, but for Ai, he could completely lose himself and fall apart. He probably kept pushing through a lot of things, even while dying inside the way I see it.) The narrative is constructed so that if Kamiki believes “Ai died because of me,” he’d be willing to risk everything. He really can't bear to live on doing nothing if that happens.

I’ve analyzed the relationship dynamics in this manga many times, right?

If you combine Ruby and Aqua and divide them in half, you can see how they inherit traits from their parents. (Aqua and Ruby are really a blend of both Ai and Kamiki. They resemble both their father and mother.)

The Aqua-Akane and Aqua-Kana dynamics are strikingly similar to Ai-Kamiki when they're combined, but the former are a little less dark. Akane is protective of Aqua to an unusual degree—it goes beyond repaying a debt or liking him a lot. She’s almost at a guardian level, more like a mother at this point than your usual lover. Akane has said that she feels something akin to maternal instincts, and that fits. It’s almost like Ai sent Akane to be Aqua’s guardian angel. There’s a strange, blind devotion there. It’s not just romantic love; it’s something different. Kana’s feelings are romantic, pure and simple. She gets those fluttery feelings. But Akane’s protective instincts are overwhelming, almost agape-like—"I want to protect this person." It’s not a normal high school crush. And when she’s willing to pick up a knife and deal with things for him, it’s beyond normal, right? Akane comes from the most stable family out of all the characters, yet she acts like this, and it’s puzzling… (On the other hand, Kana didn’t come from such a good environment, but her emotions are more typical of a regular high schooler, so she fits better in the everyday slice-of-life aspects.)

Anyway, this kind of protective instinct is a huge part of what Ai felt toward Kamiki. If you combine Kana’s feelings for Aqua with Akane’s protective nature, it’s likely very similar to how Ai felt about Kamiki. Ai, if you look closely, really, really liked him. She treasured him so much.

So, I ended up dissecting the character to figure out why she liked him so much, and the conclusion I came to was, “Wow, this really is a rare personality. He must have been a really good person.”

It’s hard to believe someone like that could be accused of such horrible things… that's what's been getting at me.

He really was a good person. Don’t you think? His personality is just so kind…

If it weren’t for the murder charges, I’d probably like it if someone like him were to be around me. Doesn't have to be in a romantic sense really, but just being near someone like that would be healing. I wish more people like him existed. That’s the feeling I get. Seeing him described as “noble” reassured me that my interpretation was correct. The many comics I drew with him in it? I feel I'd have captured his nature in an accurate sense. I’m confident in that. He’s kind. Really kind.

I’ve always liked these kinds of characters. Ai and Kamiki feel so familiar to me. If my interpretation is right, they’re exactly like the favs I have in every other series. Their environments were awful, which left them broken in some ways, but I believe their innate personalities were good. They’re good people. I love good kids. I just really enjoy portraying characters with lovely nature and I see that in them.

But looking at the plot, I get nervous, wondering if I’m really seeing things correctly. But I think I am.

Returning to Fatal,

If you look at it as if Kana and Akane were one person for Aqua, and there was no one else by his side, and his life was truly miserable, and that person saved him—what meaning would that hold for him? That’s how you explain it. Ai is that person for Kamiki. He would inevitably love her. And he truly did love her.

And she died. So, of course, it wouldn’t be strange for him to want to die too, or give his life away for her sake (Mephisto is saying exactly that).

In his mind, she was more important than he was, so he’d give anything, even his life, for her. That’s why the emotions expressed in those songs make sense.

But… it seems like something happened. That’s why he didn’t or couldn’t follow her in death. I think something made him believe that if he did something, he could meet Ai again. That’s the impression I get from the songs.

If Kamiki went insane, it would be because of that, right? But when you look at what he’s doing on screen, he doesn’t seem completely insane. If Ai wants him to be helped, then perhaps there’s still hope. Even if it doesn’t seem like it. They brought that idea in, so I felt that's what would eventually happen. It doesn't make sense for me for that to be left a lost cause.

If Ai chose him, I think he must be a good person. That’s the feeling that hit me… Looking at how meticulously the relationships and character dynamics were set up (the more I see, the more impressed I am; if you merge Ai and Kamiki’s character traits and split them in half, there are so many parallels with the relationships of the other characters), it feels like this was crafted with great care.

It’d be a real waste if this story didn’t go anywhere. There’s clearly so much there. That’s why I keep drawing.

Just look at Mephisto’s lyrics! The speaker is constantly saying, “I’ll give my life if it means you’ll come back.” Isn’t there a lot to unpack from that alone? “I’d give anything because I want to see you again.” This is a project from two romance writers teaming up with each other; how could this not be explored?

It’s fascinating to see a character who was once so gentle and mild-mannered become someone willing to give everything, saying, “I can’t live without you.” If this character had originally been strong-willed, that would be interesting too, but instead, this was a soft-spoken and gentle person who has become so desperate and heartbreakingly eager to see someone again. The narrative is incredibly intense, isn't it? And… from Kamiki's perspective, it plays out exactly like that. He couldn’t help but love Ai that much, and even if the situation hadn’t been that way, he would have still loved her deeply. This character could never harm Ai. To him, Ai was more important than his own life. (And in chapter 161, he does says something like that, though… the phrasing is a bit strange. But in my opinion, that expression was just acting. He's already said something along those lines in 153 and 154 that he's loved her that much too so it's pretty consistent.)

This isn't about Aqua, you know, haha. Aqua has other people, and if you look closely, he’s already moving in a somewhat different direction from those lyrics.

Hmm, I think something will come up within the next 5–6 chapters :)

[goemon-fan]

I lament what Part 1 could have been, and I especially am upset about how fast Goemon's introductory arc was.

Imagine you were making a character who is a "villain" who has been raised and lived their whole life in an abusive environment, who struggles to define their own humanity due to having been reduced to someone else's property, who isn't even a full-blown adult and, depending on the canon, is only 17/18 yet is being forced to kill people to prove their life has value to someone else, but after being shown their worth by someone positive in their life for once they reclaim their identity as an individual, make the bold decision to leave their abusive environment and even kill their abuser, and find themselves among their first real family of people who inherently love them for who they are.

But, you have to do all of this in two episodes.

Also, despite being in a better environment in the present this character has obviously not had time to fully overcome their trauma, but you'll have plenty of time and episodes to tackle their process of healing and see them work on their negative defense mechanisms and thought patterns, right?

Wrong, your show is cancelled after 23 episodes. Also, your show is being rebooted with a different team of writers, and they've decided to age up your young-adult character and make him a grown man yet make him regress into his bad habits developed from his childhood trauma because they think it's totally him, all without the added context of him coming from an abusive environment where he was beaten, talked down to, neglected emotionally, and dehumanized in his day to day life (in fact, his backstory is rewritten entirely). Also, the majority of the fandom now either hates him or fundamentally misinterprets him because this reboot version of him is now the most popular and is considered to be the most accurate version of his character. Also, you know that thing you were trying to do in your show about... I think it was "individuality" or "identity" or "allowing yourself humanity with wants and needs" or something? Well, the new writers thought it'd be better if his character was boiled down to Silly Samurai Adventures™, which is way better because the joke is that he's a samurai and therefore doesn't try anything new and is also a jerk

[ducky-bah]

Greetings !! May we please request a Chili alter pack ( more specifically from pokémon — the game ; black and white , not the show /lhgen ) in the form of the large template , please ?

One Chili coming up! Feel free to change/scrap anything that doesn't fit!

༄~𖦹︎ Name(/s) ➪ Chili, Garnet, Crimson

༄~𖦹︎ Pronouns ➪ He/him, Red/reds, They/them, It/its

༄~𖦹︎ Gender ➪ Masculine, questioning, demi-cassgender, unlabelled

༄~𖦹︎ Orientations ➪ Aroallo, Achillean, Ambiamorous (Polyam preference)

༄~𖦹︎ Age ➪ 16-19

༄~𖦹︎ Species ➪ Human

༄~𖦹︎ Role(/s) ➪ Anger Holder and/or Coltenoir and/or Avenger and/or Intimidator and/or Janusian

༄~𖦹︎ Source or Theme ➪ Chili [Pokémon BW]

༄~𖦹︎ Appearance or Faceclaim ➪

➪ Art Links; 1 & 2

༄~𖦹︎ Likes ➪ Fire, desserts (especially those that aren't too sweet), coffee, dressing nicely / being presentable

༄~𖦹︎ Mixed Feelings ➪ Losing / being outsmarted, being spoken over

༄~𖦹︎ Dislikes ➪ Lies, tea, mochas (they're always too sweet or too bitter), making mistakes/getting things wrong

༄~𖦹︎ Proxy Option ➪ 🔥🍰/☕🔥/🎂🔥

༄~𖦹︎ Personality Traits/Quirks ➪ Courageous, cocky, determined, stubborn, wouldn't back down from things (though would avoid a fight with the mindset that it would be a mercy to the other party), doesn't think highly of himself so-to-speak but does have the mindset that people need to prove themselves / earn recognition/respect (this mindset can aid him as it leads him to work to become stronger though others may misinterpret it as if he thinks lowly of people because of it), tends to prefer it when people are straight to the point and is often to-the-point himself unless with those he is close with, can be blunt, not the kind to lie to make others feel better, losing to someone else (or being outsmarted in some way) is something he will accept though it leads him to want to become stronger/smarter/better so he could win the next time round

༄~𖦹︎ Moodboard ➪

➪ Moodboard Creds; Made by us

༄~𖦹︎ Aesthetics ➪ Acid Design, Abstract Tech

༄~𖦹︎ Fears ➪ Heights, complete darkness (darkness to the point you can't make out the silhouette of the things around you anymore)

༄~𖦹︎ Front Triggers ➪ Dangerous situations, arguments & debates, competitions

༄~𖦹︎ Typing Quirk(/s) ➪ N/A

Fun fact: Pokémon Black [the game] was the first Pokémon media we ever interacted with! When we were six we would stay up all night playing it on our DSLite in bed! We would also always get stuck in Castelia City; it took us two months to find out where the Gym was (we would never read the dialogue and didn't have access to the Internet at that point)... After beating the Gym we got lost in Castelia and couldn't get out onto the next route...

We got the game on an emulator on our laptop and finally escaped that maze of a city a few months ago! (To think it took us eleven years to escape Castelia City....) -Bee

[tobiasdrake]

Going to unpack this mystery. Hopefully it will start to make more sense as we move deeper into the Labyrinth.

Oh cool, Vivia's spiritual awareness allows him to retain his knowledge within the Labyrinth. That means he probably will remember our conversation. He'll know exactly what happened when somebody dies.

Awkward.

If we see weird spirit phantoms of Fubuki and Vivia, we'll know Yakou did it. The phantoms always take the form of people who are obstructing the truth of the case. If our fellow Master Detectives are in here, then they're hiding something about Yakou.

Yomi, I fully expect to see here. His determination to close the case with little regard for accuracy is definitely obstructing.

Okay, our first question is....

Blank. Our first question is blank. There is no question.

Y'know what? Sure. Given what a gigantic WTF this case has been thus far, that makes sense.

That fits, actually. Most cases, we go in and begin looking for answers. But much of this case has been spent wandering in the dark trying to figure out what the questions even are. Before we could find what we don't know, we had to figure out what we don't know.

It naturally follows that before we begin to answer questions, we must first decide what questions to even answer.

This is where we're starting? It's a good place to start. The Most Locked-est Room Ever presents a great deal of question marks to be unwrapped.

It's either Jawline or Yakou. We shouldn't settle on an answer just because it feels right.

Amaterasu insider who was selling company secrets with Huesca either hired Jawline or is Jawline. We don't even know for certain that Fink the Slaughter Artist ever set foot on the premises. The details don't quite match his M.O.

There's some doubt. I think the Fink Knife we found with Yakou was bloodless. But I'm not 100% on that one. We don't have a picture of it in our Solution Keys, so I may have misinterpreted that detail.

Okay, I know Kodaka likes to reference various pieces of popular anime and video games, but that is shamelessly Sephiroth. Not even subtle about it.

So, first challenge of the Labyrinth: Did Yuma kill Dr. Huesca?

Uh. No.

Somebody was in the lab. There is no question about that. The killer knocked Ama Pal over, leaving a shoeprint on its head, so they could get out without being spotted by Ama-Pal's camera.

They then ???. I thought before that they concealed themselves behind the heavy security door. But now I think they sprinted all the way down the hall and threw themselves into an airlock decontamination vent. You can't use it to travel but you can use it to hide.

They remained in there while Yomi and his crew entered the lab. Then, once the coast was clear, snuck out and ran into....

Either they were Jawline and they ran into Yakou or they were Yakou and they ran into Jawline.

Bingo. I thought it seemed like an awfully long jog to make without being seen, but Ama-Pal is so slow that I suppose it would be possible.

That explains how they got out, but not in.

The biggest unsolved question mark is being asked outright. Okay. I do not know the answer, but none of these seem right either. How. Ever.

Okay. So.

"Deactivated security by cutting power." Nope. That's impossible. Inner lab is on its own power grid. The blackout wouldn't have done that.

"Invited in by Doctor." What, to die? Huesca was paranoid that someone was out to get him, specifically someone shady. Absolutely not. Plus, the security log says he never deactivated the system in 90 days.

"Never entered in the first place." That. Seems. What? We just proved he was in the lab.

This is an impossible choice. But I'm going to go with "Never entered". It feels the least wrong. If that makes sense.

I have no idea where Yuma is going with this. Unless we're splitting hairs between Jawline and Yakou, and this is an elaborate way of saying Yakou did it. I dunno.

That is not what Yuma's saying.

...that better not be what Yuma's saying. Walk with me to this pier. The doctor killed himself. Then he kicked over Ama-Pal. Then he hid in the decontamination chamber. A perfect solution!

Oh, is that what we're doing? Not picking the answer that's right but proving why each of the available options is wrong? That makes way more sense.

...or did I simply make bad choices?

No, I do not know why Zeus is flashing us. I can't think about that right now.

Super hard to do that to yourself.

But even harder to posthumously assault the next person who comes through that door.

So that leaves us with "Deactivated security by cutting power" which is wrong and "Invited in by doctor" which is wrong.

Let's try the Deactivated Security door.

No, he did not. Separate power grid. Lab's security system was unaffected by the blackout.

There was a blackout. Jawline was down in the electrical room setting that up. He killed the main power, forcing the system to rely on backup power for a while. But to what end, we have no idea, because it didn't help anyone access the inner lab.

By process of elimination, this means Huesca must have invited the killer into the lab! Except a) he wouldn't, b) he didn't, and c) what?

Not without killing the security measures via the shutoff switch, he wouldn't.

The security measures that haven't been killed in 90 days. If Huesca invited someone in, they would have been gassed, electrocuted, and died. Though Huesca wanted to see that happen so maybe he would, just for funsies.

BZZAT All three answers are as wrong as they appeared to be! Nothing is possible! Of what we have here, anyway.

We have no idea how the killer entered. But we have a highly comprehensive understanding of how they didn't. Too bad we're playing prosecution, not defense.

What do we have this time? It's not the blackout. It's not the shutoff switch. And it's not a suicide. The killer got in somehow.

He had no way to disable security, which only fuels my theory that he didn't. He got gassed and now he's dying. In a room full of his colleagues, while Halara tries to give him CPR.

What. How. What. That's not a thing you can do. Spectral Projection doesn't allow you to touch, be heard, or possess bodies.

Also, if the killer (which in this case would be Vivia) could somehow enter via Spectral Projection, why wouldn't they leave the same way?

...well, not necessarily true that it would be Vivia. Yakou might be able to project too, given that weird moment where he talked to us. This still feels... weird, though. It violates the established rules of Spectral Projection. It wouldn't be possible.

Right. The reason this seemed entirely out-of-left-field IMPOSSIBLE is because it's incredibly super-impossible. This was a crack theory and I have no idea why the Labyrinth chucked it at us.

Also, Huesca clearly saw his assailant in the room with him. Ama-Pal felt the assailant exit. There was nothing ghosty about this.

The problem is that we're trying to figure out how the killer beat the traps. But he didn't. He's dying from them as we speak.

...at least in theory. I still don't know how Yakou or Jawline would have made it past the panel room.

It has to be Yakou. The true answer isn't manifesting because, subconsciously, Yuma doesn't want to think about it. He doesn't want to follow that thread to where it leads.

Whoever walked through the gas chamber would be dying right now.

Only someone with access to Fubuki can beat the panel room. She was with us when the murder happened. But maybe she helped Yakou crack it beforehand, then hung around and waited for us to create an alibi.

...but that still doesn't work, because Yakou went the opposite direction from the inner lab when we split up. He had no way to pass by us. That's the fatal flaw in the Yakou Did It theory, which we still haven't answered.

It makes more sense than not that Yakou killed Huesca but it doesn't seem possible.

And then, only using Fubuki's rewind ability. The panel room fries Ama-Pal if it steps on the wrong panel so it's hardly better than going in person.

But Robot Researcher only had one functioning Ama-Pal, and that's the one we used. Whoever used Ama-Pal would need to have learned the trick in adv--

Wait a second. Tick tick tick oh. Robot Researcher can't be Jawline, but he could be Jawline's client. If he's Huesca's co-conspirator then that might explain his intense vitriol.

The reason all of the Ama-Pals aren't functioning could be that Robot Researcher used them to brute-force the panel room passcode. Then passed that information along to Jawline when putting out the hit.

Our one functioning Ama-Pal is simply the one that finally found the right combination.

[crplpunkklavier]

ok i'm not going to make this one rebloggable, i'm not looking to have a discussion or start beef with anyone, especially not on a holiday. i just grow another stomach ulcer every time people on here get psychology so, so wrong. and i need to get this out or i'll explode.

that original original post is so annoying. why are you guys out there trying to one-up and gotcha your therapists. "why do all adults need therapy then?" they dont. they dont!!!! not all adults need therapy. what the fuck are you talking about.

the next one is also annoying. implying that any kid that "seems resilient" is simply repressing trauma to resurface later is so harmful?? what are you doing. some children are resilient!! it doesn't mean they'll never have problems, or never need therapy, or that they aren't still repressing something. even if a child seems resilient, yes of course it should still receive help. but acting like there is no resilience in children is going to just make people misinterpret actual resilient children and offer the wrong help. you'll end up digging for issues where there are none. assuming that every well-adjusted child is just repressing trauma and every adult needs therapy is a pointless doom mindset that helps nobody.

that FUCKING addition. first of all, that person sure seems to reblog from a lot of terfs. secondly, id love to see their sources. because, yes! there HAVE been a lot of studies on child resilience! and yes, if children receive social support after traumatic incidents, they come out more resilient than if they dont. thats.... not all though? what are you talking about, "ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS a result of the support they receive"?? its. its not. science doesnt work with "always," first of all. no serious study is going to claim that child resilience is "always" a result of support. we cant prove "always." nobody can. secondly, that is a GROSS SIMPLIFICATION of a VERY COMPLEX phenomenon, resilience. we still dont fully understand it. we have spent decades researching it, and we still dont think weve uncovered all factors that lead to child resilience. it is in fact still baffling to science just how resilient children can be, so i also honestly dont see why people are harping on a therapist for saying kids are resilient!! a big majority of them are!! and a big majority of children in fact receive social support!! most studies indicate that social support is in fact an important factor for resilience, but never the only one. if your parents dont support you, someone else might, or if your parents do support you, you still might grow up in the worst shithole in the world, and then sometimes you might come out resilient, sometimes you wont, and we dont know why. genetics could play a role. probably in some way they do, but we dont know how big a role it is. what im saying is, resilience can be the result of support kids receive, AMONG OTHER THINGS. i also dont understand what the fuck that person thinks they mean by "true resilience." resilience that isnt just ~hidden trauma~ i guess which apparently ~all adults~ have anyway.

ok. rant almost over. shit like this just gets me, because i know a lot of you are struggling, and i dont want you to get the wrong ideas about what did or didnt happen to you. some of you may have wonderful parents and youre still struggling and you dont feel resilient, and that doesnt necessarily mean that your parents did something horribly wrong. it may mean that something in your genes isnt working in your favor, or that every environmental factor was working against you and your parents.

or, an alternative that i personally find worse because i myself have struggled with it a lot: you may have horrible parents who didnt support you and you may still feel resilient. and if someone comes along and tells you that you can only be ~truly resilient~ if you had the social support, youll start wondering..... are you misremembering? were people supporting you, and youre being a monster by painting them as bad? are you maybe not resilient at all? are you really fucked up and are going to need therapy because all adults do?

you might. you might not. answers to these things are too complex for tumblr posts, and i certainly wouldnt trust people whose blogs are 50% terf reblogs and who claim that science has "proven" anything or that things are "always" a certain way. nothing ever is.

its shabbat and rosh hashanah so im going to only do the bare minimum here but since i was talking about sources earlier, i will say that if you'd like further reading on just how complex and undecided the research on resilience has been, i would point you, for example (there are so many sources), toward masten's papers "competence and resilience in development" (2006) and "resilience in developing systems" (2007), and sameroff & rosenblum's "psychosocial constraints on the development of resilience" (2006). peace and good night.

[radplaidtacofan]

Here's a perfect example of what's wrong with people who try to speak for everyone, spend WAY too much time online, and make the choice to treat others badly for not perfectly fitting into the boxes they've created.

"Friendly reminder that Queer is approved by 72.9% of the people, and the groups who don’t prefer it’s use as an umbrella term are straight people, exclusionists, transmeds, truscums, sex-negative people, and sex work critical people (x)."

That's a particularly important part of this post to make note of. Let's break it down.

"Friendly reminder" This is meant to be obnoxious and infuriating. Guess I'm walking into the trap. Oh well. Congrats on achieving your goal of being an ass? "the groups who don't prefer it's use as an umbrella term are straight people, exclusionists, transmeds, truscum, sex-negative people, and sex work critical people."

This is the OP claiming that anyone who doesn't like to be called queer or use the word queer must fall into these groups, which they have decided and are trying to make you agree are "bad people". The thing is, this means OP and everyone who agrees with them want to apply a label to people by force. If you don't like it then it's because you're a bad person. You will be accused of belonging to one of these groups whether you do or not. If you try to point out that you don't belong to any of these groups you will be drowned out with vitriol, told you doth protest too much and people will comb through every post you've ever made to try to find something that supports their accusations, even if they have to grossly misinterpret something to do it.

You should find all of this troubling even if you are okay with the word queer.

Here's the thing - and keep in mind that I owe you nothing, including an explanation, justification, etc. - I don't like having the word queer applied to me. I just don't. I have labels I like using and other labels I sometimes use since my identity changes. I have never liked having labels applied to me, especially when I have already stated that I don't like them and people insist that my feelings don't matter.

The discourse on Tumblr has, for years, been that people are going to call you queer anyway because you are queer. If you say that you don't like that label being used on you then people will choose (yes, choose) to get offended. I say choose because that's what they're doing - choosing to get offended because someone doesn't like that they're forcing a label on them. It's a choice when you're offended about something stupid that doesn't actually affect you. It makes you no different than the pearl-clutching boomers that choose to get offended by someone wearing a hoodie. It doesn't affect you so you getting offended is ridiculous.

I for one am sick of it. I'm sick of having a label forced on me, sick of being told I'm a bad person because I like using other labels and sick of the vitriol and obnoxious behaviour from people who demand conformity.

Send me hate all you want - you're just proving my point.

Friendly reminder that LGBTQ+, Queer, and LGBT+ are the preferred terms for the community (x).

Friendly reminder that Queer is approved by 72.9% of the people, and the groups who don’t prefer it’s use as an umbrella term are straight people, exclusionists, transmeds, truscums, sex-negative people, and sex work critical people (x).

Friendly reminder that aros and aces are excluded only 9.2% / 8.1% of the time respectively while being included  78.9% / 81.2% of the time (x)

Friendly reminder that exclusionists are in the minority and aro/ace people are included in the LGBTQ+ community by the people within the community.

[j4y-lvr]

SIGNAL143?! … kang taehyun

SYNOPSIS. Headstrong CEO, kang taehyun leads his business venture into the world of dating with his dandy service, 'signal143', and in need of a skilled and driven secretary comes the bright-eyed secretary, passionate to support those finding new love. while the two clash in various ways, bound to each other in pursuit of new beginnings. what were taehyun to do if this metal tough ceo were to match with his new secretary by his dear, handcrafted application?

PAIRING. ceo!taehyun x secretary!fem!reader ft. txt, yunjin from lesserafim and sunwoo from theboyz

GENRE. crack, fluff, pinch of nonexistent angst

WARNINGS. profanity, !!not proofread!!

WORD COUNT. 5.2k

NOTE. no i didn't spend more than a month on this shhhhhh😦 my txtblr debut has arrived i'm pretty proud of the beginning and the attempts at humour🤥 i'm so sawry,, the end was a bit rushed bc i realised my absence from here was far too long so i scurried😤

"what if you matched with someone in the company using the application," yunjin jokes, hitting your arm in the same spot for the nth time, a scowl crossing your face as you turned to her, running down an earful of curses before she sighed and pouted, getting you to suspend your fit.

"why would you even say that," you drop, averting your focus away from the girl and to your watch striking midnight. You usher yunjin to stay the night under one condition that she clean up after herself as you left early for work at signal143.

Signal143 worked to assist others in search of their passionate lover, one true pair, and lifelong soulmate. A company whose product aligned with your best interests as you grew with a single mother who tirelessly slogged to make ends meet.

You'd made her proud, earning a corporate job as none other than the secretary of the booming service. The application checked off all and more of what you could think of, seeing it as a reliable piece and something trustworthy.

You prep your materials for the following day, slide into bed and shut your eyes with a huff. Dreamland didn't seem all too far when yunjins protruding query probed your mind to run a hundred kilometers per hour with varying scenarios that fueled your active thoughts.

Shaking your head, you set to not think about and take things that came your way with no worry as such. Let's be real, the possibility of you matching with someone from your company was less than 5%.

It's not like your luck would cash with that, would it?

Maybe, you should've recalculated the percentage because the probability dinged at first sight of your boss. "signal match 143!" echoed through the hallways of cool toned glass finished walls, goosebumps arising on your skin.

You visibly panic as your boss, taehyun, watches you with curious eyes. "good to know you use the application," mumbled the tall man, clad in a suit, a musing smile tugging on his pink, soft lips.

Observing your orbs dart from him to your phone, you contemplated checking who within the company you had unanimously paired with, "please, have a look," your boss encouraged while your sweat-ridden palms fished your phone from your pocket.

"i'd say you take them on a date and give it a try, and if possible give your personal feedback on your usage of the app,"i don't think dating in a workplace setting is appropriate though," you comment, swiping up and onto the app, the customary ring filling the rather opinionated hallway.

"why not? are you, perhaps, doubting the service?" kang taehyun raised, expected from his nickname, strongheaded-sajjangnim. The lines on his forehead proved his dedication but you felt wronged with the misinterpretation.

You'd be in trouble if you harbored opposing thoughts and didn't get along with this co-worker in specific, being your boss and the ceo, afterall.

"quite bold of you to assume, sir" you pause, fending hurt and continue reading the username you paired with mentally and then verbally, however, it came out sounding like a question, "user terry kang?"

A fellow worker gasped and panned their head towards kang taehyun, whose expression looked lost and if he were in a pickle, per se. "why?" you ask, perturbed by the shocked faces.

"summon that demon child beomgyu to my office right now. and you, follow me," spoke the tall, doe-eyed man, profusely furrowing those eyebrows deeper and deeper downward. What pissed you off was his rude choice of words, respect should be given to those who expect respect.

Maybe it comes with power? You shove the train of thought and sprint to catch up to the ceo, who was almost stomping his way there. Cute of him, you note.

With whoever beomgyu was, sat present in the well maintained office while the tense atmosphere picked at your nerves, making your exterior decay from the anxiety. You remained unaware of what happened nor what was going down.

Whipping out his phone, taehyun beckons beomgyu over, "what is this?" he retorted, calmly, unlike his brows meeting the depths of hell fire with the amount he scowled. Beomgyu jumped on sight and squealed, applauding the ceo, "isn't that great?!"

"no, you dumbass- i mean, you idiot, what have you programmed it to do," he halts, giving you a look and whispers in a hush manner, causing the man next to him to slowly pan his head towards you like those haunted emotional support dolls from horror movies the possessed hauled around.

"HER?"

A whack to the back of his head sent beomgyu wailing, "THIS IS VIOLENCE—" he exclaimed, getting cut off by what seemed like his close friend that boss, taehyun, "do you want to risk your pay," he stooped octaves lower with the question, a menacing look shining in his eyes, gazing up and into your orbs, almost daringly.

You weren't slow (for once), you put the pieces together and informed yourself in manner, tactfully planning your next move. Mirroring the menacing look, mockingly, one could say. You stride forward, your hardened footwear clacking against the marbled touched floor, "are still up for the date, ceo terry kang?"

Taehyun straightens his back, amused with your words, beomgyu giggling, "you still think its a malfunction, sir" he states, mockingly, gapping for air and continuing, "she seems like your match if you ask me." — The frown that settled on his face as he pondered over the simple incident left you in a fit of your little laughter, evident of your chuckling. "well, let's get to it, shall we?" taehyun set, turning to you with a charming grin that exuded other intentions than sweet. 

"hm?" you replied, asking what out of the number of things he could be implying. "work. today's your first day, isn't it, miss secretary,"

Oh this man is vile, cutting to the boring part already but without much of a fight, you had points to prove and marks to make even though one might say take it easy the first day. Not only was your hopeful relationship with your boss kindling but your chances of recognition in the hierarchy.

"i want these papers briefed by noon," you opened your mouth to quiz if he required anything else but he dove straight in, "oh and a cup of coffee will do, thank you very much." You inadvertently complied, handing the warm cup over to him with an unfazed expression, work was work and there's no denying it. 

"not your ideal picture of a first date, hm" taehyun commented, cautious watching the way your front turned from calm to exasperation, "first date, sir?" you grumble, enunciating the sir a bit pressed off your tongue. A dry laugh leaves his parted mouth, "you seem like the type to never been on a date,"

You clench the papers assigned to you in hand and muster a marvelling smile, firming your stance. Taehyuns eyes flicker from the tight grip on the papers to your menacing eyes, then to your coral stained lips parting with calculated breaths, "glad to see we agree in something, sir."

The satisfaction you felt as his face morphed to offence had you seeing stars of your own. He clicked in his tongue in distaste, "it's going to be a long while working with each other, i see,"

"i agree. i'll take my leave, i've paperwork to get behind," You conclude, giving his deep brown orbs one lasting gaze. 

A complementary grin accompanied your impactful greet to your boss. He was just as hard headed as the rumours state, the beauty the gods themselves sculpted but it was too bad you'd have a sour taste at his retorts in opinion and opposition. 

Though, the only things you both could settle on were being lonely asses and vision for the venture that inevitably matched and brought your two lonesome vessels together. — Weeks passed and your differences only became apparent to those around. DUring a small party taehyun decided to host for app ranking 4th on charts, the ice cream stand had many flavours to offer on such short notice, including your favourite, mint choco. 

This, however, seemed to bother him, as he stood beside you, picking up his custom cherry flavoured ice cream. The gasp that left him as you chose mint choco let a lasting impression on you, “it tastes like toothpaste. how could you possibly—”

“sir, you have a cup of cherry flavoured ice cream in hand, is that not a tad too plain?” “i like to keep things simple,”

And the other he spotted you at your desk munching away at the original style pocky, he inhaled that very irking gasp that made your head turn faster than lighting, “don’t even—”

“HOW COULD YOU CHOSE THE ORIGINAL,THE MOST BASIC, THE INFAMOUS POCKY!?” “that’s quite rich coming from someone who likes to keep it simple,”

you sneer, your bold statement followed by gasps from the myriad of employees seated at their desk out your office as taehyun bit at his tongue, retreating to his den.

This left you with your current situation, “sir, i finished reviewing and marking these documents but are you sure the conversion will follow through smoothly?”

“why the doubt, miss,” “yn would be fine, though this is a workplace setting, we have other premises to imply”

A nod prompted you to continue, “conversion from a service-based business to a hybrid business is quite the challenge given our potential partner expertising in green tea that supposedly promotes weight loss, tying us with non body positive image,”

“as much as you have a point, we’re running short on funds with the hefty loan process being dragged out and our service update has been pending for a month now. Either way, other companies are flocking to strike a deal,”

“but sir, can't we start with another product first? I feel like beginning with green tea will attract negative views,” you paused, thinking of seizing the opportunity to plug in a personal situation here, “if you want to promote the service we'll have to start fanservice."

"what." "don't act like you don't know about all the teenage girls you've bagged for being their prince,"

"and you're suggesting that I hold a fansign?! do i look like an idol to you?” "yeah, you do so make use of that handsome face, terry"

He flashed you an insane glance, sighing, “too late, they're here for the meeting,” taehyun announced, foot to heel and strode down his office, off to the door where he greeted them with a warm smile, “shall we?”

However, one of the men who stood much closer to taehyuns office than the rest frowned, sending a glare your way that had your stomach turning, “i don’t think it’ll work out though,” — The scowl present on taehyun’s face as he exited the conference room had you shitting yourself as he shot knives down towards you, glaring at you and motioning to his office merely with his recent fuelled orbs.

QUivering inside out, you step shortly after him, gulping down the massive lump in your throat, the carpeted monotonous grey flooring garnering your interest than the man that rubbed his temple hastily.

“guess one of them overheard our little banter, miss,”

Your void of a reply sent him approaching you with heavy footsteps, harshly tugging down the knot of tie, the furrow deepening beyond observed capability. All till the curve of your back hit the hard wood table, your hands scraping to the table.

“w-what do you mean,” you muster despite the frantic panic you were waging inside, his arms once limp by his side came to front you as he cracked his knuckles, his neck craning to the side to do the same. You’d be lying if you said you weren’t intimidated by his demeanour.

“oh, i don’t know, from where the conversion took a head down non body positivity image and how starting with a different product first would be better?”

The chills that ran down your spine as he repeated your previous words had you spinning a hurl of your own. Though you still stood by your words, you could’ve just blown the deal off with it as well. 

That depends, however, since you weren’t informed whether the deal was called off in the first place. You held no blame as of yet. You straightened your back and lifted your gaze to his, taking a step forward, a formidable gap present.

“well, did we strike a deal?” you attempted to sound as aloof as possible, hoping for an affirmation from taehyun. He smiled, a stark contrast between his furrow and grin.

He bent down to match your height, his hand cupping your cheek with a caress which you would have fend off but couldn’t given your arising crisis, “how cute,” he uttered and paused, the smile dripping off along his lips pressing to a line, “but, no,”

And just with that you had turned into granite staring down the eyes of a striking sculpture known as kang taehyun. “Leave,” and you did, taking to the door with such haste you hadn’t seen yeonjun, the assistant secretary ahead, crashing into the man with a thump. 

“are you okay?” quizzed yeonjun, watching you with curious orbs as to your hastened exit and your shaken exterior, “you look like you’ve seen a ghost, you should take a break,” he commented further, chuckling.

Taehyun observed the ordeal, opting to sit in his seat and front his desktop instead, having twice the amount of work to get another company onboard. It would be an understatement to say he resented you right now.

You bid a rushed goodbye and fled the scene out the building, restocking on fresh air and a clear mind on how to apologize, though an apology wouldn’t do much. — Silence was scarier on the man than you could imagine though he wasn't one for many words, the stiffness present in the air as you'd discretely set your work by his table while he bore his eyes into the desktop screen, his hand gripping the edge of any paper within reach.

After the fall through, he lacked words for you particularly, conveying messages through the assistant manager, yeonjun who said he despised the ordeal and further urged you to make amends. But that didn't sound as easy as said. 

That left you in this picture, panning open his office door a few hours past work hours as you had a report on user engagement to finish and the reasons for it's margin of customers dropping. The dimmed lights and the glare of the desktops display blaring through the jet atmosphere led your orbs to the slumped figure, his fingers resting in his hair as he laid on his crossed arms.

Your boss had fallen asleep.

You set your print on his table and moved a few others to the side, stacking them up as well. Should you wake him up or let him be? Either way his posture would surely cause spinal ache, so it'd be better to wake him.

Right? His secretary that totally blew the company a huge deal and an inclined decrease in expected funds would unsuspectingly awake him up when he retreated to slumber from exhaustion over the same deal with no clear advance?

Oh well, you weren't fired yet.

"sir," you uttered, your palm reaching for his shoulder, giving it a light shake. Taehyun lifted his head, hair messily parted, cocking his head to the side as he took in your stance in front of him.

"what's the time?" he stated, sitting up straight and off his arms, glancing at you lazily.

"11pm, sir," you replied albeit the chill that sprang down your spine as he spoke octaves lower and for the first time in around two weeks.

"why are you still at work, go home yn,"

"i thought i'd finish the report on user engagement—"

A sigh parted from his chapped lips, "i know you said you had no experience but c'mon you should really go out and meet new people," he mumbled, his hand rubbing the back of his neck, reaching for his lower drawer and pulling out his car keys.

"but sir, why would I go out and meet other people when you're my match," you responded, watching his face controt from surprise to guilt and back to his blank expression.

"i'll give you a ride home," he dismissed, loosening his tie and to his feet, waiting for you by his door to lock it up. — You took him up on the request and found yourself in the passenger's seat, sitting next to an oddly silent taehyun. "address?"

"why,"

"how do I drop you home, huh," he deadpanned and you promptly recited your address and he took to the wheel.

The blanket of stillness was anything but pleasant as his lack of response earlier ate you alive bone by bone. Feeling the tense air and the rather long way home, taehyun quipped a quick glance toward you, "whats your view in soulmates,"

"not exactly, life's not a fairytale like they narrate, per se," "why the negative tone?" he questioned further.

"my parents split not long ago, stating they 'fell out of love,' and i was heading back and forth between france and germany to meet them simultaneously, to not let either be unhappy. then i decided i was through and packed to south korea and applied for the job."

"that's one situation," "you?"

"i'd be oversharing," "it's fine, sir"

"call me taehyun, please," "right, taehyun, continue."

"realistically, no. like you said, life is no fairytale," "how is that oversharing,"

"it's sensitive info considering i run a head service to find your true love, yn, don't be conventionally controversial in this car," "mhm" you dragged, barely managing Ato mask your scoff.

The thick atmosphere was cut through the line of his ringtone, receiving the call at the red light and pulling over, "yes," he calmly spoke followed by the very violent,"WHAT?! NO!" 

You missed a smile despite the information you gathered ere, watching as he bickered with someone in the other line, the exasperated expression a fit for his adorable face. He hung up and pursed his lips turning to you with his jaw open slightly.

"will you go out with me," he paused— "WHAT?!" "no let me finish—"

"WHY WOULD YOU ASK ME OUT AFTER SAYING I WAS BEING CONVENTIONALLY CONTROVERSIAL AND TREATING ME LIKE SHI—" you halted, reading his amused mask and remembering he's the reason you get paid on a monthly basis, "you were saying, sir– taehyun,"

He liked the way his name rolled off your tongue and he'd convince himself in denial that it ended there but he'd bury for as long as possible. "I never said anything about denying soulmates, nope not a peep," he clarified, continuing to matter at hand, "there's an event this Friday night, would you be interested in joining me?"

Okay this reaction of yours bypassed the intense masking and your jaw hung open as you measly meagred, "why me," sounding shaky and your voice cracking at the lather and your parched throat. 

He searched for something by his door and handed you a bottle of water, looking at you straight in the eyes, giving you the most gorgeous,rich smile you'd ever seen, "because, you're my match, yn,"

To say you choked on your spit was an understatement. The chuckle that left him and he told you to look up and let your throat settle before drinking the water he handed you. — Friday came with you waking up queasy and all jittery, still pondering over what to wear, mentally noting to ask taehyun what he was going to wear. That Tuesday he gave you a ride home and unintentionally made you a walking mess of emotions in front of him, causing little to no changes at work.

To your disappoint— for the better, you grit and smile at your coworkers, holding small conversations and exchanging words of notice. Then came your summary to Taehyun and casually strolled in and recited the following with which meeting at what time, handing him the clipboard you gripper to briefly.

"wait, is the timing marked wrong for this meeting,"

"let me see," you mumbled and made your way by his chair, placing a hand on his table to lean over. "yeah, no it's," you paused, gripping your lower lip into the chambers of your once parted mouth.

Taehyun took that with the nod of his head, his orbs drifting to yours trained in the clipboard, a face strands of hair unintendedly covering your face and your lip held captive. The scent of your lavender perfume invading his nostrils, the trance cut short with your response, "actually, taehyun, hold on a second," you complete, your eyebrows furrowing deeper as your lip frees itself.

"taehyun?" he quired, picking at his raised brow, questioning you. You scoff and roll your eyes, "pick one, sir" you reply sarcastically, emphasising the sir at the end though you began to wonder how his name just rolled off. "and keep the date tentative, i'll check in again, either way it's not till next friday, sir,"

"taehyun," he corrected with small grin, his hand hovering to your cheek and giving it a light tap watching the way you managed to push his fingertips off and stare somewhat discreetly at his now focused face, albeit the close proximity of you two as you'd yet to stand straight l.

Beomgyu, uninvitedly barged through shouting for taehyun in a whiny tone, catching you in your little stare. Beomgyu advanced with a sprint and landed beside taehyun, who looked unbothered as the two and three others were friends from middle school.

He gave taehyun a bombastic side eye and sent a very obvious thumbs up to you, motioning to your boss who watched with a quirky smile, almost teasing you without words. You huff and retreat from his den, leaving the best friends turned coworkers to their fun. — "time to clock," uttered a voice from behind as you stilled slumped on your desk, lazily working on yet another report on the total gross margin and remaining fund. "hm?" you whiz not paying mind to them till a hand lands on your shoulder that sent you panning toward taehyun.

Your mouth parted with an 'O' springing to your soles, a few minutes left to actually clock out, "we'll have to stop by nearby to pick up clothes," he conveyed, watching casually pack up and shut off the system, some shooting your nasty looks for stealing their fantasy husband away.

Ignoring the onlookers you follow behind him, waving beomgyu bye as he excitedly cheered you on from his quarters with taehyun sighing at his antics.

The car ride to the venue was nothing noteworthy after you dazzled in an outfit that fit with your personal preference a bit too much, not revealing much and topped snow white charm with the flowy frill checks on your mental list. 

His silence left you to look out the window of the passenger seat as taehyun handled the wheel, focusing on the road ahead. 

“why’d you join signal143,” taehyun abruptly spoke amidst the stillness, gaining your lost focus, “cupid was my favourite childhood story,” you replied nonchalantly, eyes drifting to the seemingly fast paced surroundings, avoiding his curious orbs that lasted a second.

“maybe it's because i craved for something or someone to be my stability in my then feeble life and cupid would happen help me achieve that when my parents were out and about with their love life in shambles,”

“so from personal experience,” “yes, i guess you could say that. what inspired you to upbring the venture?”

“the 5 of us, high school friends, happened to think of the idea as a joke to make our pitiful lonely asses feel better, and the rest is history. it sounds insignificant, i know,” “everyone has their callings,”

With that the conversation fell flat and you remained in your thoughts of the past, “we’re almost there,”

“hm,” you responded, lacking any real reply to him, your thoughts having shifted from the past to the recent past, when you matched with your boss at work to which he simply ignored much to your distaste.

“sir,” “don’t,”

“we have to talk, i can’t play dumb anymore it's agitating,” “about what, exactly,” he asked, pulling into a stop at the venue, hand reaching to unbuckle his belt and panning to front you, perceiving the irked expression written all over.

“we matched with your application and literally refuse to address it,” you rush, in an exclamatory tone, breathing heavily with furrowed brows. His poker face remained while his gaze dropped to his wristwatch, “is that all, we’re getting late.”

Tears clouded your vision as he stepped and walked over to the passengers seat and clicked the door open, and extended his arm to you. You grimaced at his palm,"is that really you had to say," you let out slowly, attempting to blink back your threatening tears.

He initiative held your hand and pulled you up, your footing unstable as you fell forward and onto him, beside you for support. The fabric of his dress shirt scrunched up in your clenched fists. A hand travelled to your cheek and tilted towards the adoring eyes of the man that'd somewhat broke your alluding vision of true love.

"don't ruin the makeup by crying over nothing," he paused, mustering the courage to utter his next few words carefully, the knot in his throat tightening to release the word out his grip, "love," he added shakely, the latter coming out jna whisper but to be heard in the reverbs of your ear.

The gaso that overwhelmed had shock written all over you and with expectancy you listened as he remained agape. "why do you think I went as far as to bring you here as my date, yn,"

So he wasn't playing you, nor was he breaking your perception of true love but giving it a shot.

Now the thought slapped a small but hopeful grin on your front and you gazed into his beautiful sparkling eyes while he rushed to address even further, "doesn't mean I'm not angry at you for blowing the deal off," he muttered, trying to sneer at you and scoffing with little to no real meaning.

You burst into hearty laughter at his shy acts, striding into the venue, clutching his much larger hand in yours, "we have a party to attend, taehyun," you pressed, jolly filling you full as you skipped and partially hopped your way to the entrance hand in hand with the last person you expected to.

Life was fickle yet fun and full of surprises.

Taehyun spoke words of boredom to others attending as you put on a pretty smile and joined in occasionally and eventually zoned out, taking that as a chance to slip away from him and to the refreshments served.

You unsuspectingly stood among the masses, sipping on the non alcoholic drink, your eyes naturally drewp towards taehyun, resting them in him as he charmed many with his words, some infatuated with his looks and that darn cute smile he flashed.

"yn?"

You turned to your right, perceiving the man you'd swore to never see after years, "sunwoo?"

The old feelings of youth overjoyed your sober mind and the thundering clouds brought with your foresought tears and sentiments to do with him.

"you? here?"

"..." you dwelled in your daze, knocked out of it with no response to him after a long delay, he waved a hand in front of you, successful garnering your attention as an unfamiliar yet comforting hand rested on your waist and clung you to them.

"oh sunwoo! great crowd, great people, great host, of course,"

"...taehyun!" he greeted, examining his hand attached to your waist, the close proximity of the two and plastered a grin.

"how's the brand launch going?"

"the usual rookie stuff, you'd know better,"

Small talk continued and you watched motionless, your nerve ridden self picking at your nails, only glancing at either of the two rarely. As their tiresome chatter drew to a close you mustered the will to smile faintly st sunwoo and turn towards your date, Kang taehyun and flash a genuine beaming grin at him, ushering about something that crossed your mind.

Sunwoo noted the look and how you didn't turn back to see if he was looking at you for longer like you once had, the day it rained from the skies and from your very own eyes.

Dragging him out the venue you huffed and puffed in relaxation, opting to lean to the wall behind as relief filled you, "you know him?" taehyun queried, the slight amount of irritation sending massive signals your way as he raised a brow.

"i gave the same expression to any of the other guests you chatted with," you replied, to milk a further reaction from him.

"the way you stared at him looked different, like that of a sour grape.

"so you've been observing the way I gaze at people when you were supposed to pay your mind to the conversation?"

"well—"

Another dramatic gasp parted from your mouth, "so you have, and yes, he's my ex." "and not that i mind," you interjected, falling into him as you chuckled while he wrapped his own arms around you voluntarily. "you're not so annoying, i guess" he commented, faking a daddy eye roll your way.

"you're still annoying," "HEY—" "love live laugh beomgyu and his programming skills," you completed sending him furious as he whined to you about his sole position in the mess.

Love exists in many forms and this one was all thanks to signal143(and the honourable, almighty intellect beomgyu along your fortune telling star stellar friend huh yunjin).

[yurissweettooth]

Tired of every single day seeing 29583995 posts about how you are supposed to engage in fandom and how everyone who engages differently is wrong and bad and not allowed to do this and that.

Literally do not understand why people are so pressed about what other people are doing for fun.

Do I find the way people interpret/misinterpret some characters to be annoying and baffling at times? Yes! I think everyone does. But that doesn't mean the person who is over there having a fun time not hurting anyone is at fault for it. You can block them and move on and say nothing.

This was inspired by a screenshot of someone saying something to the tune of "normalize mischaracterizing your comfort characters. I dont care whether or not they would canonically do something." And someone retweeted (to a seemingly large audience) telling them that they must not actually like the character. Which feels pretty mean-spirited to an innocuous post about how someone chooses to engage with something that comforts them.

And I honestly think the original person had a point. Normalizing it does not mean YOU have to do it or YOU have to like people's interpretations, it means that people will be allowed to engage in harmless fun without everyone getting up and arms and making assumptions about them or QRTing their post to thousands of people calling them a fake fan.

Everyone has a different idea of what fun and comfort is and for some people that's making wacky AUs or exaggerating traits and playing dollhouse and for others that meticulously researching and nailing down every canon detail in their works. Some people like tiktok and incorrect quote edits and some like meta and deepdives into and it's all okay and fine!

Someone doesn't HAVE to make an OC. If they want their quick fix of comfort and catharsis by just tacking traits on to a pre-made character that they don't have to expend extra energy on then who cares?

Also lots of neurodivergent people (like myself) and kids get caught in the crossfire as well, but really I think EVERYONE should have the right to do what they want. This feels like another extension if cringe culture which should be dead an buried by now.

And I say all this as a person who PREFERS to engage in fandom in a canon-compliant, lore-friendly way and yet has also been the victim of this.

I have had bad/mean fandom experiences over presenting evidenced, well-sourced, and canon compliant material that just happens to contradict popular fanon. I have also received backlash for putting a character through 10+ years of canon-compliant, well researched, and carefully constructed character development which led them to do things differently in the future than they did in canon.

But I don't always feel like giving a 20+ paragraph disclaimer on every single doodle, edit, or short fic to prove to you exactly how they got here and why it's canon compliant (although I unfortunately DO tend to do this to avoid repeats of past hate :/) because it really shouldn't matter. Blocking me outright or blocking my tags should suffice.

I will never understand this mentality of "Only I do things correctly, everyone else is wrong and bad and ruining everything and I have to shame people doing harmless things so everyone sees how right I am" and I feel like I've been seeing it more and more every day lately and it's frustrating. This is a big part of why I left twitter but it's getting popular here too now.

This is honestly a big part of why I don't post the majority of my fanart and fics anymore. I no longer post meta or silly edits, I no longer reach out to people to discuss ideas, I rarely share my thoughts on any characters publicly, etc.

I live a very stressful life and I engage in fandom to relax and have fun but that has been very difficult for me due to people who always feel the need to be hateful over innocuous things. I feel more and more like I need to walk on eggshells so I do not accidentally incite another ✨️incident✨️ because I dared to post a silly headcanon or edit. And that sort of hate and "umm, actually..." response STILL happens to me, even in recent days because god forbid I post an AU I enjoyed and wished to share with people who might also enjoy it!! It's so frustrating.

And this, of course, is NOT referring to people who try to force/shame others into their interpretations (regardless of if they are compliant or not). This is also NOT about bigoted material. Turning characters into harmful stereotypes (making a black woman who is not sassy sassy, for example), using them to spread hateful messages, and erasing their identities/whitewashed their designs. That is a separate issue. But someone making a character you like say something they wouldn't say in canon? Making them act a little silly? Ignoring parts of canon to make an idea they have work? It's not hurting anyone!!!

[racxnteur]

Hey! Not the asker, but I have hearing loss. It probably averages to about 'moderate,' and is primarily present in the higher frequencies. Like OP, I was tested at a young age, at least once or twice--public schooling, at least in my area, brings around a mobile unit to give all children hearing tests in the primary grades. Like OP, the hearing loss was observed/diagnosed by a young age in this testing. I have a fervent response to this query; for lengthiness reasoning, I will nest the rest under the cut.

(This is long, so I've tried to bold some of the main points that should relate to OP's story.)

In my case, HFHL (high-frequency hearing loss) is congenital to my family; my parent passed it down to me via their genetic code, so this result was not unexpected. Said parent did not consider their hearing loss to be disabling, and so along with the condition, they passed these expectations along to me as well. I was told more than once receiving hearing tests that "They will probably find/tell you that you have some high frequency hearing loss; it doesn't mean anything. This doesn't affect your life. You basically hear as normal." I absorbed this and treated it as true, as instructed.

'Unrelatedly,' throughout my youth, I also had a lot of conflict with my parents and family. Like OP, a lot of this ended up involving issues like "You don't listen," or penalizing me for being 'forgetful'/'ignoring' them/'not paying attention,' so on and so forth. At times, I would be accused of lying about not having heard something or not remembering being told something. (As a bonus, it was also known to them that AD/HD runs in the family, as my elder sibling had been long-diagnosed; I was never considered as possibly having this same condition as well, until a relationship partner insisted that I did, and I brought it up to my therapist for judgment. Surprise surprise, an assessment proved that I did in fact have that as well.) Over and over again I have been scolded for being a 'bad listener,' enough that I simply included this trait into my understanding of Facts About Myself: bad at listening; forgetful; bad at paying attention. Specifically, these were treated as character & behavioral flaws, never as symptoms.

Many of my issues, as is common, escalated as I advanced to middle and high school education. It was common for me to miss things, or mishear or misinterpret; as a coping mechanism, I also learned to 'fill in the gaps,' so to speak--to guess at the most probable content of whatever someone had been saying to me, if I couldn't comprehend it just by hearing it once. This can be perfectly useful in general social scenarios and small talk, mostly. It can also be a hell of a trap when you "guess" wrong, act (or fail to act) upon the perceived interpretation, and ultimately end up derided or punished for disobedience, uncooperativeness, and all of the associated failures of character that I've already outlined above. By adolescence it had long since been established that in my parents' eyes, I could not be trusted; I was often prodded or reminded more frequently of anything I hadn't yet done, disbelieved when I proclaimed my own abilities or my incapabilities, kept a heavily suspicious eye on, pushed, and labeled as having a "bad attitude"--especially if I didn't respond gracefully to any of these measures.

To be fair, I did not respond gracefully to those measures. I have intrinsically, for as long as I can remember being treated in such a manner, rejected and protested to the ways my parents would manage me. I felt deeply that it was unfair, and that I was being treated harshly and/or misunderstood, and I hated the everpresent notions of supervision, suspicion, and control. Still, as much malignancy as I could assign to them, I had little ability to justify the inverse: I clearly struggled with their expectations and regularly proved to fail the tasks expected of me, but I had no idea why. I couldn't conjure any reason to constantly be missing things and falling short, particularly when at every turn, and should I ever insist that something was "too hard" or that I "couldn't," this was unequivocally shut down and told "Yes, you can" or "You're not trying hard enough" or, most often, "Don't say you will; just do it." It was put to me time and time again not only in the form of statements but in desperate, frustrated, vexed questions: "Why won't you? I know you can." I did not have an answer.

Even without my later ADHD diagnosis, it never would have occurred to me that hearing loss could be playing a role in my difficulties with retaining or following instructions. I had been told from a very young age that, while I might technically have a form of hearing loss, it was not one that had any practical impact; I could hear fine. I just wasn't listening. Either I was willfully defiant, or intrinsically bad at it. Because this was established as fact very early on, any route of interpretation open to me was established with a foundation that included that concept as True. Any reasoning had an invisibly assigned prefix: "Given that you can hear, ___[x]___"; or "Given that you do not have a hearing disability, ___[y]___". What's left as excuses? Not anything that passed muster.

When I was twenty-two years old, I sought out an auditory processing disorder specialist. I had been diagnosed with ADHD mid-high school, and various other conditions after that--I was, by that time, aware and accepting of being chronically ill and neuro-atypical. Still, my various attempts at schooling had yet to succeed in a four-year degree. I'd tried for an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) in high school after my first diagnosis, but was turned away by the counselor I spoke to. It wasn't until four further failures at post-compulsory education that I re-encountered the idea of disability accommodations, and, with that notion, had determined to try full-time schooling again. During this time, I put a lot of effort into being proactive and aware of my own issues and shortcomings. I wanted to foresee my problems and preempt them from screwing me over. Still, a couple years into college, thoroughly medicated and well familiar with the SSD (Services for Students with Disabilities) office at my campus, one thing I did continue to notice--which I found inexplicable--was trouble hearing, retaining, processing, or correctly understanding things that were verbally said.

Still! Still, in this scenario, I was working under the assumption that I did not have functionally disruptive hearing loss. My tests were consistent: yes, there was loss, chartable, observable, in the high frequencies. But my history, my experiences, my visit to my parent's ENT specialist--all of these affirmed the working assumption that I could hear 'well enough.' I have been getting by, after all, for twenty-two years with the range relatively unchanged. I'm articulate, verbose, and perform eloquently in conversation; I've landed roles and won competitions based on speaking performance and articulation. I had never been fitted for hearing aids or told to seek help on this issue. Sometimes on finite occasions I could even hear better than others, it seemed--getting words someone else had missed, playing music, or identifying someone's specific vocal tone. So that Couldn't™ be the problem. But I was well-enough versed in illness and disability to at least feel firm now that there was some problem.

The closest match I could find by research (excluding, of course, all results for "hearing loss") was auditory processing disorder. [--Perhaps of note, I was in a bad unofficial relationship about this time with someone who would constantly tease or mock or judge me for mishearing a statement or joke bandied about among our friends. This was what pushed me to finally be compelled to actually do something about it, rather than just suck it up and 'try harder,' or rather, mask better. Not a delightful motivation, but it did spur me.] I researched how to get diagnosed, and was told to deal with an APD specialist. The nearest one was roughly two hours away. The only appointment I could get was at the start of their opening hours; with traffic and city parking considered, I would have to leave at about 3 to 4am to get there in time... and, since that's within about an hour of my usual bedtime, I would have to take the day off classes as well. I did both.

When I finally got to the office later that morning, exhausted to all end but dead-set on answers, I learned the specialist would not be able to see me. They weren't in the office at all; in fact, they'd just called out sick. You can imagine the misery that struck me in response. "Just for records, and because you're already here," they said, "we can at least give you a baseline hearing test." Sure. Why not. I took it. Another clinician met with me after to discuss the results. "You have some hearing loss in the high frequencies," she said. I told her I knew, and had been thoroughly assured it wasn't a problem. She asked for elaboration and I once again explained why I was seeking input on the possibility of having auditory processing difficulties, and she listened, and nodded, and heard me out as I laid before her my symptoms and struggles and the question I'd come to get answered--needing to figure out the cause of the problem, if indeed there was one. She said, "What you're describing to me sounds like the symptoms of hearing loss."

I was puzzled at this point and pointed out again my history, the other doctor's input, my family history, and the test before her that showed I only had loss in the higher frequencies anyway. Did she have access to my previous records? I queried. Was this test showing a difference compared to my history? (Internally: had I taken it wrong? Was I taking too many liberties by not pressing the button if I thought there might have been a beep, but wasn't completely sure that I'd actually heard one?) But this wasn't the case, and she asked me to look over the chart with her. I did, and it was nothing I hadn't seen before. Then she brought out another chart--not a records result, more of a low-tech clip-art amalgamation superimposed over the basic frequency and decibel axes that are used on an audiogram printout. She called it the "speech banana."

I'll save you the in-depth transcript here, because I've already extended this explanation with more detail than strictly necessary to get my point across. The sum of it is, speech sounds used to comprise the verbal use of the English language occur at different pitches/intonations. When charted like a scatter plot, the array of each phonetic distinction follows a generally curved shape, like a banana. A minor portion of all of these speech sounds falls into the frequencies that I have hearing loss in. The majority were still well within range for me to hear and comprehend clearly. But unlike anyone else I'd spoken to previously, this doctor broke this down for me with examples--how many of the consonant sounds I would be missing or having trouble distinguishing could completely change the audibility of a word. Two partial rhymes that to an ordinary speaker are obviously distinct might end in a consonant sound that was a bit out of range for me and become misinterpret-able. Even if I was missing just 5 or 10% of maybe just consonant sounds or syllabic endings, my ears (and brain) would have to work that much harder to cross-reference the context and known possible words (my own 'filling in the gaps') and come up with a complete statement to process and understand.

It takes cognitive labor. It splits attention. It increases mental fatigue. And it will, inevitably, result in mistakes, mishearings, and generally missed sounds or fragments of speech, all of which can be attributable to that seemingly negligible decline in that apparently insignificant range of hearing that I had been told my whole life didn't make any difference at all. It can make other cognitive symptoms worse, exacerbating the issue. All that is to say--my 'meaningless,' 'unnoticeable,' partial range of moderate-ish hearing loss in fact did mean something, did have an impact, and did matter.

To say this blew my mind... Well, I can't be certain that I was really convinced at first, actually, to be honest: this wasn't the APD specialist, after all, and everyone else had said it wasn't enough to be considered a problem, and there was a lot of overlap in symptoms, and it's not like no one had ever seen my chart before; why wouldn't anyone else have come to this conclusion? But fuck if the idea that I could have an issue that, as it turns out, hearing aids (properly programmed) would actually improve wasn't enticing.

I got measured back where I lived for school, was recommended a certain model ...and then redid the process at Costco because as it turns out, ear machines are all kinds of expensive. But when the tubing was all hooked up and the tech adjusted and I tried them on, well, THAT, no contest, absolutely blew my damn mind.

Because I had been hearing "perfectly fine". I had speech, I had hearing, I could hold conversations and comprehend most spoken communications. By the numbers it is wholly arguable that I have never really been missing that much, auditorially speaking. But I was. I was missing shit. And, side note: I'm trying not to paint this too much like a story that ultimately reads, "hearing aids are the world's savior and now that I'm fixed I'm soooo much happier"--that's not where it's at, and now, being at a place where I have dipped a toe in the d/Deaf&HOH communities, I am doubly ready to go to town on anyone advocating for the eradication of Deaf culture or coercive/mandatory speech 'correction' or cochlear implants, for instance. But that's a digression. All this is to come to a point where I want to point back to OP's experience as described, because my actual response is this -

Your parents are lying, or they are wrong.

You are not at fault, and you are not the guilty party who should be "making more of an effort." People who respond to another person's symptoms by shaming them for "using [it] as an excuse" are full of shit, ableist, and wrong. What you are told about disability and what 'counts' and the idea that you don't count if you haven't been (presumably externally and without prompting) assigned a need for a prescribed accessibility device are all wrong. Most likely the whole idea that you even have regarding what is an "accessibility aid" is wrong.

You know what I've learned in my experience in upper education--with the context of needing, using, receiving, not receiving, and also ultimately working to provide for others 'disability accommodations'? They can be fucking anything. When you ask your parents to repeat what they've said, because the chance to hear it again benefits your ability to process and understand it: that's an accommodation. Giving you an extra second or three for your brain to put together the sounds it has heard into a sentence that makes cognitive sense: that's an accommodation.

I can hear footsteps creak from another place in the house, but I didn't know until the morning after I got my devices that there were birds tweeting, loudly, every morning, outside my window. I could hear the refrigerator hum before I put any hearing aids on; but once I did, even though they are programmed to be adjusted to my specific altered frequencies, the hum was louder--because it had been happening at multiple pitches all along, and I'd only been hearing half of them. When you hear a door open or a knife on the cutting board but you can't tell that someone ten feet away is or isn't talking to you, that's not crockery or failure. That's how hearing loss works.

I don't know what the specific nature of OP's HL is, or if it's gotten worse, or what they're missing, or the intents of anyone around them. But I do know that any amount makes some kind of difference, whether you need a hearing device or not, whether you are classed as disabled or not. Fuck the assholes who tell you that your experiences are wrong; they're not. They literally can't be: they're what you're experiencing, whatever the reason for it. So, no, OP, you are not the asshole. Take it from someone who knows. /end rant.

AITA for not hearing my parents?

so i have hearing loss, not so severely i'd be considered deaf or need hearing aids or anything, but enough for me to have to focus on what someone's saying to hear a coherent sentence

my parents know this, i got a hearing test when i was very young according to them (like baby-toddler age, i don't know exactly how old) and the result came out that i do have hearing loss, and while i haven't gotten another test since then it's very likely that it's just gotten worse over the years. they still get annoyed at me when i don't immediately respond to them or need them to repeat something for me to understand

they say they get mad because i hear the other noises they make but i don't know if they know the difference between me hearing a noise like opening a door or chopping vegetables on a cutting board and me hearing a noise like speaking but not being able to discern the specific words, especially since i can't just magically know if they're talking to me or someone else

but idk what to do here or what i'm doing wrong? is it rude for me to not respond? am i supposed to be making more of an effort here? am i missing something? am i just using my hearing loss as an excuse because i don't seem to need any accessibility aid in daily life?

What are these acronyms?