#because I'm not even allowed to choose my own colours on here apparently

[amiserablepileofwords]

Jester

Jester is too small. Too lightweight. Too weird in her jerry-rigged old combat mech — decommissioned, thankfully — that flirts with the regulations for the sacred game. She might be able to score a three pointer, or even a five pointer, but there was absolutely no way she’d ever be able to hit a thirteen, never mind a twentington, making her useless on the wangball field. So why was she out there for every game?

That was a question head coach Billings of the Dubauer Prowlers asked himself every time he fielded her. There was the fact that she’d come in as a package deal with Dancing Queen, their new star draft pick. If they wanted her, they had to take Jester as well. That had been the one thing she wouldn’t budge on. She needed her, she'd said. He still couldn’t quite understand why a superstar in the making wanted… that on her team, but he’d figured he’d be able to find some way around it, given time.

Unfortunately and more importantly at this late point in the season, he’d been assured by more than one of their own loyal supporters and even his players that if he benched Jester or gods forbid kicked her off the team, very bad things would happen to him, personally. So before every game, Billings grit his teeth, closed his eyes, prayed, and aimed the team’s chaos gremlin in the only somewhat safe direction: at the opposing team.

Read the rest of the story on Dreamwidth

[spurisani]

...I can't believe I'm logging back in again for the first time in like half a decade for this, but apparently I have Opinions on the subject.

I simultaneously emphatically agree and vehemently disagree with this post.

I hate isekai anime. Almost all of it is indeed trash. But I want to love it, because I love the isekai genre.

Allow me to explain.

Basically every single isekai anime out there* started out on free, user-submitted novel sites such as shousetsuka ni narou, kakuyomu or alphapolis**. Think of these sites as more commercial versions (they run on ads, are publisher owned, and/or have other revenue streams) of ao3, but for original fiction.

Normal people*** write whatever the fuck stories they want for people to read for free, and people can bookmark and follow, rate, comment and on some sites write reviews for the story. And if you get popular enough (or you enter your story in one of the periodical themed competitions and get enough votes), you might get a book deal with an actual publisher.

And isekai is one of the biggest genres - if not the biggest genre - on these sites. Hell, isekai was basically born here.

Can you imagine the sort of amazingly wild stories this results in?? isekai is like if someone took a look at Western fantasy and went "...but why is it so serious and shit, though?", and just poured a truckload of crack, fluff and pastel colours all over it. And yes, in a lot of cases also fanservice and/or fucked-up misogynistic shit. Because it's Japan, and the internet, what'd you expect?

But it's easy, feel-good fiction for the tired masses.

You ever see ads for that fish game where you start as a small fish and eat other fish to grow bigger and think "man, this looks like it'd be a great plot for a fantasy novel"? isekai has you covered. (yes, it exists, it's compellingly written and funny af)

You ever wanted to read about a dude who just wants to go NC with his abusive family, live a comfortable life with good food and good friends and maybe try to figure out how to flirt with his genderqueer love interest? Isekai has got your back.

How about a kid gaining the favour of the gods and starting a societal and economical revolution just cause the fantasy world he was in didn't have musical theatre, and he simply could not with that life? isekai is your place to go.

Are you into timid girls who use getting dumped as a chance for self-help, learning that they're actually great and have worth in their own right? Boy, does isekai have like a million stories for you. No, really.

Ever wish Cinderella just went all "fuck this whole suffering meekly thing and waiting for my prince to come, I choose murder"? Isekai, baby.

Are you looking for female protagonists who reject being traditionally feminine and just do whatever they want, telling dirty jokes and not giving a shit about romance? isekai has plenty of that, actually.

Do you wish there was more gay fantasy out there? Oh my god, isekai is so fucking gay.

And let me tell you, publishers love this model. I mean, why wouldn't they, they get to publish novels they know already has an audience and a fanbase. The content already exists, so they can publish super fast with only minor revisions, meaning there's not enough lull that the fanbase loses interest and moves on between releases. (hell, most stories aren't taken down once they get published, and are updated continuously, so there's no real downtime)

The problem is, however, that generally speaking the publisher will want more fanservice for increased mainstream appeal. And then you get even more fanservice for the manga adaptation, and yet more still for the anime adaptation**** (That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime, I'm looking at you).

In addition, between the whole sexist idea that male audience media has universal appeal, while female or other "niche" audience media holds no mainstream (read: male) appeal, and the fact that it's cheaper and easier to do an anime for a simple, by the numbers harem series than a more complex story with a larger ensemble cast with actual personalities (easier to sell merch, too), what makes it to the screen is far from the best of what the genre has to offer.

I get why it's like this, but it still bums me the fuck out. And that's why I hate isekai anime.

And no, I don't know if the stories I linked have English translations available. Some of them definitely do (either published or fan translations), so idk, google it if you care, I guess?

*depends on how you define isekai. There are several older anime predating webnovels that technically qualify, but they were made before the term really became a thing and the genre tropes were "set", so they don't really feel like isekai anime.

**No connection to a/b/o, although the tropes have seeped into Japanese fan culture. why. Don't cross the streams

***For a given value of normal? With some of the plots you see, you have to wonder how the fuck the writer's brain works

****Production values also tend to be shit, since the studios are churning out dozens of these shows

terrified to ask this but i think i need to as someone getting into anime:

what on god's green earth is "isekai" and why are its defenders rabid

So isekai is an anime genre that roughly translates to "in another world." These shows tend to all feature some main character (almost always a teenage boy) who gets transported into another world, usually one which runs on video game logic, and usually one with fantasy/DND aesthetics, (and usually one where he gets to become a hero of sorts [eventually] and wins the attention of 3-6 hot girls with 2-dimensional personalities. You know for wish fulfillment.)

The genre by itself is not the problem. The oversaturation is.

It is what I can only assume vampire fiction was to the teen romance landscape back when Twilight was popular.

And because the isekai formula just Works for the fans, most isekai shows do not have to try at all. They can get away with a terrible plot, terrible world-building, and terrible characters because you don't need any of those to be good to appeal to the core demographic. You JUST need to be an isekai. Make sure it has cute waifus that the whale-fans will shell out $$$ for to own their figurines, and bam, you're set.

And the extreme oversaturation (both of isekai and harem shows) means it's squeezing out most anything interesting, original, or innovative. After all if you were an anime studio why WOULD you take a gamble on something innovative when you can recycle the same isekai plot for the 1,000th time and for a much safer bet at turning a profit?

There are, likely, some good isekai out there. But I'm confident in my assessment that that bad far outnumber the good. Some friends and I do a weekly bad-anime-watch-night and usually we just throw a dart at any isekai on the crunchyroll page and it is almost ALWAYS just JUST awful. And as such, someone who chows down on all isekai as their preferred type of media is going to have nothing in common with me. They would also be mad as hell at me saying that isekai is almost universally garbage.

[mellie1409]

Alohomora (ft. knj) - 5.2k

Badum badum badum

That's the only thing y/n can hear in the deep silence the dinning hall is submerged in. Her own heartbeat marking the rhythm of a frantic and desperate song. This is the moment she had so long been waiting for: the moment she would be chosen a family for her to join. A family that would take care of her and love her as one of their own and protect her at all costs for this one short year she would be spending here, at the most magical and hopeful place on planet Earth, at Hogwarts.

Y/n straigtens her back as the hat is lowered onto her head. A sudden smell to old papyrus surrounding her and becoming more intense as the weight of the hat increases on her head. And when suddenly professor McGonagall lets go of the hat, it unexpectedly starts moving.

'I see' he says turning to the left and then to the right, scanning in the process the room and all his different choices for y/n. 'Hmmm, a golden heart disguised because of fear, high expectations for the future... Interesting, well, I'll put you in a house, where they will push you to reach your full potential, to prepare you for your final decision. But before revealing it, do mark my words: the choice has already been made in your heart, by some achieved courage you'll reach your final destination.'

Those words resonate into the dining hall as if someone had fired a gun, a race gun that gives the queue for everyone to start talking at once. It was normal for the hat to mumble about someone's abilities, but to make a prophecy? That only happens when someone's life was about to take a huge turn. Which secrets is she hiding? Did it have anything to do with her far away origin?

Only when director Dumbledore stands up, does the hall fall back into a heavy, thick silence. 'Sorting hat, please do continue as we can't spend this whole starry night in here.' He speaks with his elderly voice aiming for the enchanted roof that was replicating a night sky full of stars.

'Well then! ' the hat grumbles 'Her house will be...

...Slytherin! '

This time, instead of starting applauding like they would do with every other selected kid, a thick silence covers the room like a mantle. Not even a fly can be heard as she slowly approches Slytherin's table and takes a seat next to the people of her age, the 3rd year.

She sits next to a blackhaired boy, although his hair seems to change color every few minutes by some kind of spell Y/n hasn't heard of before in her life.

As the ceremony continues, the coloured hair guy turns to her with a cheeky smile and whispers: 'Hi! I'm Jimin, nice to meet you, I'll be your guide to this castle and if you want to know how to get to a place, just let me know. I know every corridor and stair in this school' he says while winking his eye.

Y/n doesn't know how to respond after the strange encounter with the sorting hat but she just smiles back awkwardly at him as she turns around to continue watching the sorting ceremony.

┈

The day after, they start their classes. And y/n's first class is also her favourite subject: defense against the dark arts. After breakfast at the dining hall, she takes realizes she has forgotten her pencil case at her room, so she quickly leaves her classmates behind to go grab it.

What she hadn't thought about was the fact that she did not know the school. So as soon as she tries to look for the class she is supposed to be in, she finds herself lost and wandering around corridors and rooms she doesn't know.

At a certain point she distinguishes someone at the other side of the gardens. He looks like Jimin with the colour changing hair, but when she calls his name, the figure ignores it and disappears through a different door.

It takes her 15 more minutes to find her class and by the time she comes in running, the class has already begun. As she notices Snape is writing on the board with his back to the class, she silently tries to get to her sit. That is until a voice makes her stop on her tracks: 'To what do we own the honour of you joining us in this apparently not so interesting class today, Miss y/l/n?

Freak, she thinks to herself. She chooses to remain silent as she knows it's the best choice with a teacher such as Severus Snape.

'Well I do hope that cleaning the potions room this afternoon during your free time will be more interesting than this class for you. And now please tell me, what si the first rule in defense against the dark arts? '

And like this the class starts for y/n with a punishment for being late. What a great start of the school year...

As the clock hits 5 o'clock, y/n leaves Slytherin's common room towards the potions room were Severus is waiting for her. Although when she comes in, she can't find him anywhere. She does find a howler from him there. She opens it carefully: 'MISS Y/N! As you can see, this room hasn't been cleaned since last year's trolls disaster so I expect from you to clean it and sort out all the potions alphabetically. Enjoy! ' and the howler desintegrates in a moment.

Y/n takes a deep breath, says some encouraging words to herself and starts working. She starts by taking away all the dead spiderwebs, no way she is touching the ones that are still being used as she is scared of almost all living creatures on earth.

She then continues by sorting out all the potions' ingredients she can find on the shelves: fluxweed, knottgrass, lacewig flies...

┈

Namjoon is running around the castle like a mad man. He needs to win this game, he wasn't going to be paying next round of butter beers! So he looks frantically for it, not caring about who he was passing by or about the fact that his red and golden tie was half way undone and his shirt untugged.

As he reaches the next door he opens it and asks:' has anyone seen a... '

He doesn't gets to finish the sentence as he sees a strange scenery in front of him. A cute, although he wont admit it, and beautiful girl is sitting on the second to highest shelf of the potions' room holding on for dear life.

'... toad maybe? ' she answers silently looking terrified at the ground. As Namjoon looks down he realizes indeed, there is a toad lying on the floor, staring at the girl like it was wondering what about him was so terrifying.

'Well, well, of it isn't the prophecy girl behaving like a little squirrel right in front of me I wouldn't believe it! ' he says with a ironic voice.

'Ugh great,very witty mister toad, as if I hadn't heard that already. And you are...? '

'Namjoon, Kim Namjoon to be exact. Gryffindor member and 5th year student in Hogwarts. ' he answers quickly. 'Now I recommend you clean this up quickly as I hear your beloved professor Snape walking down this corridor. Good luck miss squirrel!! ' and like that he leaves running with the toad he had just picked up.

┈

A creacking door, thats all it takes y/n to wake up at midnight. 'Who on earth is walking around at this hour?!' y/n thinks to herself. Without hesitating she stands up from her bed trying not to wake up her roommates in the process. She changes her clothes to more appropriate ones and takes off trying to find the source of the sound.

As she spots someone leaving the common room, she decides this is the right time for an adventure. So she takes her shoes from the rack and puts them on as quickly as the leather laces allow it.

As she slowly looks into the corridor she spots someone turning right into some ascending stairs. She follows him and carefully looks at the stairs while staying behind the wall. It's then that she can distinguish who it was thanks to the moon lighting. She holds in a gasp as she recognizes the color changing hair of Jimin, and what surprises her even more is that, there are two color changing heads! How is that possible?

She decides to find out what is going on and follows them around the castle for what seems like a pretty long time. Until they stop at the kitchen entrance to say some silent words, a password, y/n can't reach to hear. As they get into the kitchen and the door closes back up, y/n approaches the entrance and tries to listen what is going on behind the door.

'... sure no one was following you? ' a voice asks.

'Of course! Who do you think we are?! ' Jimin answers offended.

'Well, I think you guys senses must have been toned down because of the cold, because there is someone listening right behind that door! ' another voice speaks up.

The door opens so suddenly, y/n doesn't even have the chance to turn around to run away.

As she grows accustomed to the lighting of someone's candle, she starts counting the figures standing right in front of her: one, two, three... seven! There are seven of them!

'Miss Squirrel! 'Namjoon exclaims 'what are you doing here? '

'You know her?! ' someone asks.

'What are YOU doing here?! Shouldn't you guys be sleeping? ' she asks angrily after having surpassed her surprise mode.

Namjoon snorts: 'well excuse me if I didn't want to be sleeping like a lame third year student. '

'Hey!' Jimin reacts 'who are you calling... '

'Can we please focus?! We are gonna get caught if we stay here longer! ' a mint haired boy answers. Y/n recognizes him from the common room, a slytherin 5th year student. 'Miss squirrel, or whatever your name is, go back to bed, you shouldn't be here... '

'Eh excuse me, my name is y/n and no way I'm letting you guys go, in fact I think we should all go to bed or we could visit Snape if you prefer that. ' she retorts sarcastically.

It's at that moment they all hear some faint steps coming in their direction. As they all start panicking they jump into action. Someone y/n can't distinguish, grabs her wrist and sturts tugging into the opposite direction of the sound, y/n so scared she doesn't even resist.

They guide her through a small door and a dark corridor lighted only by the candle the first person is carrying. As the adrenaline rises in her blood, y/n doesn't know if what she is hearing are foot steps or her own heart beating in her ears.

The corridor seems endless, but after a left turn, a right one and a left turn again, they find themselves in front of a staircase with a door on top.

A black haired boy that seems to be the oldest instructs them to put the hoods of their capes on and then proceeds to open the door.

The cold air of the night hits y/n like a truck, the air being punched out of her lungs. It's then that she realizes how tired her legs are and how short of breath she is after running what felt like kilometers. Right! They were running because they were being followed!

She turns around with panic written all over her face only to find Namjoon looking strangely at her. God? Had she always been so cute? 'Don't worry miss squirrel, we are safe here. ' he simply comments.

He smoothly passes by her and leaves her jaw dropped behind as they all start walking towards the back entrance of a pub: the Leaky Cauldron.

She collects herself and follows them hesitantly: it was written in the school rules that they weren't allowed to be there after midnight... Also, teachers used to go there to drink! The were gonna get caught!

As if he had read her mind, the other colour haired boy turned to her: ' Don't worry, J-Hope knows the owner and he owns us a favor. We can go through the back entrance and ask for some butter beer to take away. Do you like butter beer? ' he asks casually.

'Yeah...'

'Great! I'm Taehyung by the way, Jimin's younger twin brother, although most people doubt it because he's a Slytherin and I'm a Hufflepuff, but I promise you we were born out of the same womb. In fact... ' he continues talking casually while y/n thoughts go a thousand miles per hour.

So they were twins! That explains a lot! They look alike but at the same time, they are so different. Taehyung is talkative and innocent while Jimin was known for being a little... dirty minded.

' I was always the one to eat second cause...' Y/n snaps back to reality as Taehyung continues narrating his whole infancy to her while they wait for J-Hope to come back out of the pub.

'... and so he was selected for Slytherin while I went to Hufflepuff. A pretty big family drama, but we're okay now so... '

'Omg Taehyung, leave the poor girl alone she is gonna regret not staying with McGonagall in the castle' Jimin says while putting some butter beers down on the wooden table.

They are know in a tree house in the middle of the woods. Sitting around a round table on the floor, very oriental, in y/n's opinion.

As they all acomodate, y/n looks around at the small room the house consists of. It has glass windows to keep the cold outside and even a small stove they use to keep the room warm!

As the last of the boys sit down, the oldest turns to face y/n and starts explaining: ' Hi, I'm Jin and I'm the oldest member of this friend group: the Bangtan boys. We are seven wizards from Korea who moved here to England to study at the best school in the world: Hogwarts. Let me introduce you to the members. The mint haired guy is Yoongi. He is a Slytherin, as you already know. Then it's J-Hope, a 4th year Hufflepuff. And then Namjoon. I'm guessing you already know each other... '

'Yeah... ' you answer shily without looking at him from fear of the redness of your checks getting caught.

'Great! Then there's the twins' he continues' Jimin and Taehyung. And last but not least we got Jungkook, our youngest member. He is a second year student, who is a ravenclaw. And me myself, I'm a Gryffindor. Why don't you introduce yourself to the rest? '

'Well... Hi, I'm y/n. I'm a third year Slytherin student and I'm also from abroad, from Bangladesh to be exact' she tells them while looking at everyone.

'WELL! Cheers to international friends my loves *hiccup* Jungkook screams while lifting his nearly empty pint of butterbeer.

As everyone starts laughing, they all lift their own pints and exclaim: 'Cheers! '

It is then that y/n feels alive again, with a wonderful, new friend group and many stories to tell. Now it is her time to enjoy, and no one was going to ruin it...

┈

Namjoon has been walking around the castle trying to find some new adventures to live for an hour, when he suddely hears a noise. An unusual noise for him to say the least, always used to the laughter that filled his common room, hearing this now made his heart upset. He starts to follow the sound and when he turns into a dead corner he finds himself in front of a sad scenery.

Sitting on the floor is y/n. With her knees between her arms and her nose buried in them. Crying like there was no tomorrow, sounding so desperate Namjoon has to take a deep breath not to instictively give her the tightest hug of her life.

He slowly aproaches her and he speaks out loud, trying to hold back the arrogant tone he, last time, used with her: 'Y/n, I don't know what's up and you don't have to tell me if you don't want, but please let me help you. '

'There is really nothing you can do, Namjoon. But thank you though, I appreciate it. ' she says while sniffing her nose.

A bit amazed, he wonders what it can be that it's making her so upset. From what he knows and has heard, she is a good student and, although many may not see it, she has a big heart for others. Right then, an idea starts taking form in his mind.

'Then take my hand, I wanna show you something. ' He speaks in a soft voice as he opens his left hand for y/n. Indecisively, she accepts it, slowly standing up from the cold, hard floor.

As he leads her through corridors and moving stairs, the cold air of the night seems to help y/n settle down. Instead of thinking about her problems, she relies on his hands to guide her and closes her eyes so the only thing she can process is the touch of his gentle, soft hands tugging at her so she keeps up the pace.

After what feels seconds but at the same time hours, she suddenly feels him stop. As he turns around, he realizes her eyes have been closed all the time. Slowly, not wanting to scare her, he whispers: 'y/n, you can look now. '

As she opens her eyes, it takes her some time to get her eyes used to the darkness in this corridor. Nevertheless, as they grow accustomed to the little lighting, she starts to distinguish an old, wooden door carved beautifully but terrifying at the same time. So intrinsic that focussing on the details seems to absorb every last bit of energy in her.

She snaps back to reality when she hears Namjoon speak again. 'Y/n, I've brought you here because I wanted to show you two things... ' he pauses. 'There is a spell that can open all doors, all except for ones. Only you can open the doors to your heart and only by following your heart, you'll reach the right path for you. '

She opens her mouth to speak, words dancing on the tip of her tongue. 'I don't think you'll understand what my situation is. ' she finally answers.

' That's why I brought you here' he replies. 'You are the only one that can open your heart, but in this room there is a window to it. Something that will help you realize what it is that you desire. '

After saying this he gives her a soft, reassuring smile. He stands behind her and instructs her to lift up her magic wand. As she does, he whispers a spell in y/n's ear. So soft only she could understand. A word that sends electric sparks through y/n's spine and as she shivers, she pronounces it out loud with a trembling voice: 'alohomora'.

Like a resort that comes loose, the door opens to the inside revealing a circular room. Marvelled by it, y/n slowly, but steadily walks in. Taking a deep breath she savours the smell of wood and as she looks around she realizes the room is empty except for one covered object.

As she reaches the object, Namjoon has surpassed her and reaches out to take the silk sheet off the tall item. And as if magic, an old, majestuous mirror stands in front of her.

'This is the Mirror of Erised' Namjoon speaks ' it shows us the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts. Go ahead and take a look y/n. This is your window, go look inside. ' he encourages her.

Y/n sets a step back to have a full vision on the image the mirror is displaying. But the only thing she sees is a scared girl clutching her wand for dear life. Until... Until the image starts to change.

She grows older, into her late twenties. Her outfit changes color, it becomes a long, white dress... A wedding dress! And she is looking at someone, she can't distinguish who, his face is so... common, it could be anyone. But she looks in love, she is smiling with her whole body.

Suddenly the image looks at her. As y/n slowly starts to walk to her older self, so does the image and as she elevates her hand to touch the mirror, the image disappears and she is left looking back at her young self.

This whole time Namjoon has been looking at her reactions, trying to read y/n as if she was one more of his books. He couldn't see what she was seeing in the mirror's reflection. But when she suddenly touched the mirror, he knew something was wrong. Like she had cut herself glass she takes her hand back. With wild eyes she gives him one last look. And just like that, she starts running.

Aimlessly she runs and runs around the school hoping to loose Namjoon and finding some quiet place for herself. When her lungs start to feel like they are on fire and her heart threatens to jump out of her chest, she stops on her tracks. She can recognize where she is: the stables where the pegasi sleep. As she approaches an empty stable, she lies on the ground and closes her eyes hoping for the morning to never come as she needs to think about her most difficult life choice.

┈

The next few weeks, y/n spends the time wandering around the castle. She manages to stay hidden from Namjoon, while his words of the last time still stay with her like a splinter in her heart.

She also wants to stay away from the Mirror's room. She is afraid of what she had seen as she knows, one day, she would have to face the truth and fight for her dreams. This all, if she chooses for her own destiny of course, and that is a choice she didn't want to make just yet. But as the end of the school year neared and so her return to her hometown, she is aware her time is coming.

Days pass by and y/n doesn't change her technique: she hides from Namjoon everytime she hears his voice and only talks to the other Bangtan boys when she truly needs some help with her classes.

But one day, after a long class of defense against the dark arts, she finds herself wandering around the castle yet again. Although this time, she chooses a different path, she doesn't knows why, but she feels a driving force that lures her into a very specific place of the castle. It isn't until she is standing in front of that same wooden door that she realizes: the Mirror of Erised is right behind there.

She takes her wand and murmurs that one spell she hadn't forgotten. 'Alohomora' and like that, the door opened once again, to her biggest fear but also her biggest desire.

She walks in and silently closes the door behind her. And she stands again in front of the mirror, but this time, she was facing it alone. As the image starts to change, she distinguishes the same scenario she had once seen: herself in her late twenties, happily getting married to an unknown man.

But after some short time, the image changes. This time she has a few white hairs. She is still with that man, but this time, they are surrounded by three children. A kid, a toddler and a baby she is holding.

She gasps, and takes a step forward and, just like the first time, when she goes to touch the mirror, the image disappears.

She is left alone with her heartbeat and the words that Namjoon once told her that still resonate in her head: You are the only one that can open your heart, but in this room there is a window to it.

Is this what she truly desires? She isn't sure, but one thing is for sure: she would be coming back to look into that mirror.

Like this, the room of the Mirror of Erised continues appearing in front of her as she wanders around the school. Day after day she spends hours watching her happy reflection have a life full of laughter. Never touching the mirror as she is afraid that the image will disappear and so her dreams.

But slowly, the images start to change. That man starts to get charasteristic face features. At first, she doesn't recognize him, but then she slowly starts seeing similarities between the image and someone she knows. Of course she doesn't want to believe it and as time passes by and the image gets clearer she decides the mirror is wrong.

Still, she continues visiting the room. She spends her free hours there, in the sweet silence that accompanies that beautiful life movie she was able to watch and live through the mirror. And even accepts that, maybe it was him the one she desires.

It is that, that she is thinking one day when she suddenly hears a noise behind her. She turns around and watches the door open to let a person in. She can't distinguish him in the darkness at first, but when he comes into the light the mirror reflects, she recognizes the dorky, gryffindor boy that had brought her here for the first time: Kim Namjoon.

He looks surprised at her, not having expected her to be here as he thought he had scared her off the last time he had seen her. She looks pale and tired, as if she hadn't slept a single minute for the last two weeks. And so thin her chubby cute cheeks had disappeared and the only thing remaining where her cheekbones under her beautiful chocolate-coloured eyes.

Y/n quickly recovers and turns around to go back into her reflection, but as she frantically looks into the mirror she realizes it's gone for good. She doesn't know if it's the image having disappeared or if it's her not being alone for the first time in some long weeks that makes her break down.

Right as she let's goes and falls into the ground, Namjoon catches her and while holding her tight he sits them both on the floor. As he sushes her and rocks her from side to side he just mumbles things to try to calm her, focussing on his tone and not on what he is saying.

They spend hours like this, holding onto each other for dear life, Namjoon whispering sweet nothings into her ears as she cries her heart out onto his chest. And it is his soft whispering that starts to calm y/n down. As she sniffs and looks back up at him, he can see the sadness gathered in the pearls at the corner of her eyes.

It break his heart and his voice trembles when he speaks loud for the first time since he walked into the room: ' y/n, I'm here for you, I want to help you. But I can't do so unless you tell me what it is that it is making you go under like this. Talk to me, tell me what it is that you see on the mirror. '

She is unsure, she knows no one can help her. Her destiny has been decided for her a long time ago. But she has been carrying this secret for way too long. The weight of it making her heart age by the minute. And so she turns around, still in Namjoon's embrace, to look at her reflection once again.

With a shaky voice she starts to talk: 'I see... I can see my life. I am happy, very happy and all of my dreams are becoming true. I marry a man of my choice that I love and have kids with him. We grow old and spend the rest of our lives together. '

As she speaks, Namjoon heart starts to break, he shouldn't have expected nothing, but yet here he was, that's what he was here for. To see if that was what he desired. His hopes started leaving him with every word she pronounced until...

'And the man I'm with... He is the most gorgeous man I've ever seen. With bronzed cheeks and deep, black, dragon eyes... ' she turns around, and as she looks into those same eyes, she speaks up: 'it's you Namjoon, it's you that I can see myself living my life with. You and only you make me happy. I've come to realize that the last few days, but... '

But she can't finish her phrase as suddenly two soft, plump lips are crushing into her, into a sweet but desperate kiss. She is startled, her eyes open as she never would have expected such a response from him. But as he sweetly starts moving his pillow-like lips against her, her eyes fall close and she starts to follow his rhythm. Soft at the beginning, but frantic by the end, trying to connect to each other not only as much as possible at physical levels, but also emotionally. Their tongues dancing to an eccentric song that only them can hear. But as the oxigen starts to desappear and their lungs start to fill with fire they break their kiss to lean onto each other's foreheads.

Breathing heavily, Namjoon speaks up: 'y/n, I love you. I've loved you since the first day I met you, I just didn't know until now. I came here because I was confused by what I was feeling and wanted to look into the mirror. But now I know, I don't need no mirror to tell me you are the most important thing in my life.'

Still short of breath, y/n can't process what she is hearing. So, the life she so much desired was still a possibility? Still her family would never accept it. What was the point of trying then? Softly, with tears wielding in her eyes, she answers: 'Namjoon...oh Namjoon, God knows I love you more than my life and would do anything to be with you. But our love is an impossible love as my destiny has already been chosen for me. '

Namjoon can't believe what he is hearing. What could possibly be her destiny that she wasnt allowed to be with him? Lovingly, he looks at her: 'y/n, I don't care what kind of trouble you are in, I want to help you, but for that, you need to talk to me and tell me about it.'

'I just... Okay, I guess you need to know the truth if I have to hurt you anyways. '

Namjoon wants to speak up to this comment, but he doesn't want to scare her off, so he silently stares at her as she sits back and starts her story.

[shuatoyou]

highschool sweethearts

➵ pairing: jun x reader

➵ genre: fluff, slight angst but it gets better!

➵ warnings: none 

➵ a/n: whew it’s been a while again huh! this one is for all my junhui stans i realised i don’t have much in my masterlist for this angel. enjoy and let me know what you think of it my lovies <3

you walk onto campus right as the bell rings signalling the start of class so you find yourself scrambling to check your timetable. even after an entire semester you still hadn't learnt the damn schedule by heart even after the many times jun had nagged at you to do so. 

once you confirm which lesson you have with the piece of paper you fast walk through the crowd of students to make it to the other side of the campus. you were tired but managed to make it only three minutes late.

jun waits in class looking at the door every few moments anticipating your entrance, he already knew you would be late because you spent more time awake perfecting your assignments instead of sleeping a healthy amount of hours each night.

he watches you catch your breath at the door before quickly throwing your teacher an apology as you stumbled to your desk beside him, wasting no time in putting your bag down beside your chair and leaning your head down onto your arms on the desk. jun frowns at this, peaking at the teacher currently going on with her lesson before poking you with his pen.

“what was that for?” you hiss, turning your head slightly to look at him.

“are you not going to take notes?” he whispers back to which you groan internally. of course you had to take notes for this lesson as it was important but the one hour of sleep you got was your enemy so taking a nap through the lesson was your only priority.

“jun, i'm tired, i'll get the notes off you later.” you say with a hopeful look and jun only frowns at this again before nodding with soft eyes.

you mouth a quick thank you before attempting to travel back to dreamland. jun looks at your hunched figure, worried you would be uncomfortable, which you were, but sleeping in a classroom is never convenient now.

he takes notes for you and him, taking more than usual because he knows how precise you like your notes to be in addition to doing the work set by the teacher, making sure he took two sheets one for you to do later.

“miss y/n!” 

jun jumps quickly looking to his side to see you flinch as you lifted your head off from the desk.

“are you seriously sleeping in my lesson even after you were late?” she exclaims with a look of unbelief on her face. 

you sigh, not wanting to be rude so you could only apologise seeing as you were technically in the wrong.

“sorry, miss” you say quietly, holding onto the end of your desk nervously.

“i’ll see you in detention after school, y/n.” she speaks sternly pointing a finger at you in which jun rolled his eyes whereas you nodded letting the woman go back to teaching.

“i didn't even get to sleep for that long, that annoying witch.” you spit spitefully glaring at your teacher.

“your fault for not sleeping during the night.” 

you roll your eyes at jun’s comment, opening up your own notebook and lazily scribbling a few notes for the rest of the lesson making the other laugh at your untidy notes that he knew for a fact you would complain about later because everything in your life had a certain order to it even if you’d hate to admit it.

when the end to the school day comes around you groan at the sound of the bell because it only notified you of the detention waiting for you. you were tired and just wanted to go home for some well needed sleep after the rough day you had but the universe had other plans for you apparently.

you somewhat manage to drag yourself out of the classroom behind the students that had rushed out seconds ago, to your surprise jun is waiting for you greeting you with a big smile as he walks over to you from the wall he had been leaning against.

“why haven't you gone home, i have detention today remember?” you ask lugging on your backpack onto your back until jun takes it and puts the strap over his free shoulder.

“i’ll join you in detention. i kinda don't want to be alone” he smiles facing forward as you look at him in confusion.

“who the hell goes to detention willingly”

“i would for you.” he says nonchalantly and his words make you blush slightly as you thank the gods above he wasn't looking at you but much to your dismay jun already knew the effects of his words on you.

“you can't just say stuff like that jun” you roll your eyes, cheeks still red while pulling your bag away from the others grip as you walk into detention with him following you closely.

“y/n, i'm surprised you showed up.” your teacher remarks as rudely as she could.

not surprised she expected the worst from you as usual, you mumbled a quick “yeah me too” under your breath before sitting down at the desk furthest away from the teachers.

“jun? how come you’re here too?” she asks and you look up at the boy who already had his gaze on you.

“didn't want to leave y/n alone.” he shrugs. your teacher shook her head at both of you before turning back to the computer screen.

“jun seriously just go.” you hiss at the boy currently sat there making paper planes.

“i'm not leaving you here alone, that's boring and you know it.” he whispers in response with a wink shutting you up because truthfully you would be more bored with jun not present in the room since he always carried some sort of crazy energy around with him.

so the two of you sit in detention talking by passing notes after being shushed numerous times and also being threatened to get kicked out which made you laugh a bit. when the two of you finally finished the full forty five minutes of detention you both left the classroom laughing.

“see! me being there made it a hundred times more fun you just don't wanna admit it y/n.” he laughed nudging you.

“fine, i'll admit it, i think i would've died under that old bat's glare if you weren't there.” you roll your eyes jokingly not wanting to boost his ego anymore than it had already been by himself.

“wanna go get some food now?” 

you nod and he takes a hold of your hand dragging you over to the little cafe by the school, a place you two would rinse out on the daily with how much you came in for a little snack or sometimes a whole meal.

you look down at your hand that was now in jun’s, eyes wide as you look back up to him with the same expression. he seemed unaffected so the best you could do was fan away the warmth from your cheeks. 

“what the hell” your mind raced with thoughts at the same pace as your heart now.

once the two of you are sitting down at your usual booth your mind goes everywhere but that exact moment in time and it doesn't take that long to notice.

“y/n?” he waves a hand in front of your face pulling you out your daze.

“huh?” 

“you were kinda out of it but anyways what do you wanna eat? it's on me?”

“no no it's okay i’ll pay” you object to getting up but jun pulls you back to your seat.

“just tell me what you want” he sighs brushing his hand through his hair “you’re being weird anyways we’ll talk in a second”

“the usual i guess.” you mutter knowing the boy will figure out your idea of usual which always consisted of a strawberry milkshake and a grilled cheese sandwich. lots of dairy and he always complained about your crazy dairy intake but this time without a comment he walked off to order.

until he came back you took this time to compose yourself almost worried about what you two would speak about. 

“now can you please explain why you’re being so weird” jun practically begs

“i'm not being weird, you are.” 

“how?” he retorts

“you agreed to take my notes for me, you came to my detention and you paid for my food. weird.”

“how about the part where i held your hand?” he questions casually, taking a sip of his own drink

“huh?”

“isn't me holding your hand weird too or did you enjoy that?” he smirks as your expression changes as well as the colour of your cheeks.

“shut up” you spit. you were in denial whether you liked it or not?

“fine” jun sighs but his face lights up as another idea comes to his head. “do you wanna go out this saturday?”

“why?”

“mmm why not? it can be a date.” he hums

“jun we’re friends, w-why would we go on a date?” your voice comes out in a slight stutter causing you to mentally facepalm.

“you’re right, why would we go on a date?” he answers harshly before going back to his meal. 

the two of you ate silently for the rest of your meal, you occasionally glanced at jun but his eyes were everywhere except on you.

he finished first and wasted no time in getting up and mumbling a quick bye before walking away, you stumbled to your feet grabbing your bag and going after the boy despite not finishing your food, other customers looked at you fast walk your way out.

“jun wait up” you call out but he doesnt turn around and just keeps walking in a direction that wasn't even the way to his house.

“jun.” you call out one last time once you reach him and grab his arms to turn him around.

“why did you just walk off? did i say something wrong?” you speak with clear worry in your tone.

“y/n tell me something.” 

you nod waiting for him to continue.

“do you like me?” he asks, a serious look on his face that you weren't at all used to. a lot of the time the two of you would joke around about anything except a goofy smile would be plastered on his face but this time you knew he was serious.

“i don’t know.” your voice came out small.

“then forget it y/n it's fine. i’ll just see you to-”

“but i'm willing to find out jun, i'm just confused like you start acting this way out of nowhere and i don’t hate it but i'm not sure either.” you look up and meet his eyes that were softening as they also met your soft ones.

“then let me take you out on saturday.” he softly whispers, stepping closer to you.

“okay fine. but i choose where we go.”

“you got it” he promises with a chuckle, reaching to hold your hand again and turning around. “until then, i'm allowed to do this right?” he asks with a cheeky smile swinging your intertwined hands back and forth making you laugh.

[lizzybeth1986]

Quick Thoughts on Book 3, Chapter 14

• Apologies for the delay, guys. Still recovering.

• It's time for our Ball! YAY.

• ...and for Hana's parents. Not so yay.

• Every LI in the group has at least one not-very-ideal parent. For Liam and Maxwell it's their dads (though Bartalemy seems to be the best of the four) and for Drake and Hana it's their mums.

• Title: Welcome, One and All!

• Alternate Titles should include This Chapter Is Brought To You By Jeffery.

• For those who don't remember the TRR pre-release interviews, Jeffery is the dude who loves hats:

I'm pretty sure this chapter is his baby.

• So technically Xinghai and Lorelai have not kept in touch with Hana since her fight with Xinghai in Shanghai (that rhymes). There is a hint that she might have tried to reach out to them before the tour if you were getting engaged to her (she asks Ana de Luca to send the copies of her shoot to an address, which I presume was her home in Shanghai).

•

You bet I slammed that last option.

• There's also not a lot of difference in this scene between the Hana playthrough and the non-Hana one, and there should have been. The dynamics of this discussion will - should - be different if you're Hana's fiancée. They have Lorelai and Hana's dialogues change if you're marrying her at the end, but technically that's unavoidable. There should have been an obvious difference in dialogue here as well.

• Bertrand has returned. Again.

• AND HE'S LATE. Apparently because his son needs to be coached on proper cutlery placement through the babysitter.

• We have a brief tete-a-tete about Savannah and Bartie before moving on to our OOTD:

Tbh I think I'm okay with both. I had my reservations about the neck but I also like capes so I will take it. The traditional dove one makes you look like Red Riding Hood.

If you choose the phoenix gown, you also get to don a humongous hat, and you get the option to take it off anytime.

Esther loves hats. She's a happy happy camper xD She may not have said those 'fancy hat's comments to Regina in Book 1 but you bet she was thinking them! So Esther - and I as Esther's creator - feel validated and vindicated and all other sorts of v words 😄

• Also yes, Esther, I'm pretty sure that hat ate every other hat in Cordonia before making its way to your head.

• It's now time for our Ball, and our LIs are waiting for us to make our entrance. Liam calls you 'a heroine of myth and song', Maxwell tells you you're 'on fire', Drake asks him if you're trying to give him a heart attack, and Hana settles for a very simple 'you look gorgeous'.

• Okay yadda yadda announcements, yadda yadda speech, yadda yadda complimentes from guests esp if you chose the phoenix decor, yadda accolades all around.

• Basically the main conversations taking place at the Ball are with Madeleine, Kiara, Regina, Mara and Olivia.

- Madeleine: Mainly to close the main loop of Madeleine's role as press secretary. The previous conversation with Liam/Drake at the Lythikos Ball is implied when you choose to call her a snake, even though she sees that as a compliment.

- Kiara: You get to either call her brave, or to ask her about her well-being. Thankfully, she is able to at least sleep at night now. They're definitely wrapping up Kiara's story here. Which is okay, I'm pretty certain it wasn't meant to be manifested in the first place and I suppose I'm expected to be grateful she got some attention. But I won't be, because she deserved this - and perhaps better. I couldn't care less for her brother and would rather not see him again but at least they had the decency to wrap up her storyline first this time rather than ignore it in favour of him completely.

- One of my favourite sequences is the one with Regina. She's clearly affected by Constantine's death and still hasn't recovered enough to get used to the idea of attending a Ball without his presence yet. But you also see her struggling with the stoicism she's been brought up on, and chastising herself because she can't. You have the choice of either asking her what Constantine would have told her if he were alive (like hell I'll choose that option!) or telling her she should allow herself to grieve. I thought her parting words in this conversation were beautiful.

- Mara: From Mara we learn that the Nevrakis family had connections with the Sons of Earth, and that in fact Anton is the son of the leader of that group. I've seen some interesting theories around this, one of which is (I believe this one is @alicars theory) that he is Francesco's son. Which...would make that first meeting in Italy quite interesting, as well as the reveal that Francesco was friends with Liam's mother. Will Liam's mother's background be brought up in future chapters??

- Olivia: So this is what all our efforts to win Olivia over culminates into! I have such Diavolos vibes with this scene (not the betrayal bit, but the winning their trust bit. Olivia I think sticks by Liam's side whether she likes you or not), because if you look at the TCaTF ally chart in Book 3, Diavolos' name is the last on the list of people to join you, even though he has spent time with you as an ally and been part of the rescue mission to save Mind Control!Dom. In a lot of ways, while Olivia has a huge connection to Liam and becomes your ally on that score, it requires effort and some ice-breaking to get her to fully support you.

• Say hello to my new pets y'all!

As of now Esther has a horse named Celestia, a corgi names Joy, a visiting hawk named Tiberius, a black panther named Cava and two red pandas she has named Hansel and Gretel.

• I wonder if you have the ensuing group scene if you don't choose to accept the red pandas (I'd see for myself but the red pandas have really adorable sad faces).

• The group scene is alright, it's a lot like the one in Shanghai with the pandas. Liam is adorable and holds them like a pro, Maxwell is super super SUPER excited, Hana is shocked by their lack of manners (Hana they're animals!) in comparison to pandas and Drake is a mean meanie. You have Zeke on the side giving us factual animal info.

• We're now back at the estate, and Hana's folks have arrived.

• TO TAKE HANA BACK???

• Hana puts up a good fight against her mum (let's be honest, Xinghai hardly seems to have a say in this. He looks sad about this and barely gets in a sentence. This show is all Lorelai's), and refuses to come with them, at which point Lorelai insists on taking her belongings away since they belong to the Lee family, and she isn't a Lee anymore.

• You know what I want Hana to say?

"FINE KEEP THE CRUMMY LUGGAGE MOM LETS SEE IF YOU CAN MAKE ANOTHER WHOLEASS CHILD OUT OF THAT"

• Please tell me she gets to kick Lorelai's ass this chapter. Please.

• So the Ball and festival will continue this chapter, and I'm guessing that any drama might happen later on in the Capitol if we go by the trajectory of the previous books. The places most closely connected to the MC - Ramsford, New York, Valtoria - are usually where you forget briefly the tension in the books, before being plunged into complete and total chaos.

• I still think there's a LOT we have left to find out. A LOT.

• There is a possibility that Hana will get a diamond scene post her confrontation with her parents. And as far as I can see it, this is the culmination of her entire journey, her entire struggle. This is the last shot the writers have at doing justice to her character, and giving her a good scene. If Hana doesn't get an extremely fulfilling, nuanced scene - one that has a marked difference between her as a fiancee and her as a friend - then I doubt she will get another one. They will have lost their chance to be fair to this character.

• And if they fail to do justice to this character...I'm afraid that will be the end for me. I may be chapter reviews and essays, I may still write stuff inspired by this book...but whatever love I still have for TRR will be lost for good.

• Because you know what you're telling me, a brown woman with an upbringing not entirely unlike Hana's? Who loves this character and has to now try to relate to her because her own writers didn't give me enough material? You're telling me that you don't think stories like Hana's - stories like mine - are worth attention, worth nuance, worth telling properly, worth telling with heart. You're telling me women like Hana are alright as tokens, but not important enough as characters. You're telling me you want the accolades that go with using women of colour in your stories, but don't want to put in the work. In fact...you're already telling me that. You've been telling me that for the last two books.

• I'm sincerely hoping this will change with the chapter I will play now, and that I and other Hana stans don't walk away from this chapter disappointed. I really, really do. It won't completely make up for the lack of care they have given this character...but it will be SOMETHING.

• With that, I'm going to go into this week's chapter, folks. Seeya!

[sominbiased]

hi, did jennie wear a bindi in the dddd mv? i heard it was just decorative crystals, but i'm not desi so i wanted to make sure

Hi love! Thank you for this question, since I have a feeling it’s a confusion a lot of non desi people have regarding Jennie’s styling. I’m assuming by making a distinction between “decorative/ fashion crystal” and “bindi” there’s some confusion as to a) what a bindi looks like and b) how the bindi is used by desi people (e.g, its only used for religious ceremonies or marriages versus being used as a fashion accessory). I’m not an expert on this subject by any means, but with the academic reading I’ve done and my own experiences growing up in India, I’d like to explain, best I can, how imo this distinction really isn’t as valid or important as the manner in which its worn.  Also that being said, I want to state upfront that this is nowhere the most offensive/racist thing done to desi people, and that people who want to cancel her over it are just trying to seem woke themselves. 

 First things first, there’s no particular style or shape that seperates a “real” bindi from just a fashion sticker. Forehead markings of all styles and shapes exist across a variety of Asian cultures. They do, however, descend from India, so I’m sure some right wing orthodox assholes will immediately jump on this by arguing because it’s from one particular Hindu tradition therefore a single red dot makes a “real bindi” (Here’s an example of the original bindi which wikipedia explains pretty well) and that therefore what we see on Jennie isn’t a true bindi, but this ignores the actual reality in India.

One, actual scholars are very clear that the historical origins of a tradition actually have very little bearing on what the cultural significance of a tradition will eventually become*, and secondly because unlike the tilaka, kumkum bindi (which are the markings used exclusively by Hindu women during marraige) and the sindoor, the bindi was never intended to be used exclusively for a particular formal occasion, nor denote a particular social class. Instead, it’s everyday wear for Hindu women, and like some some Indian accessories its also partially migrated to other communities (e.g, wearing the maang tikka is now a must for Muslim weddings as well), though that is notably less common. And because ethnic fashion is a huge industry making everyday wear for millions of Indian women, bindis are everywhere in India: on magazine covers, bollywood stars, in movies, as part of traditional dances, etc, and they are sold in a HUGE variety of styles, often very cheaply, in packs of twenty, so that you can match them to your clothes and accessories (which by the way, used to be the It Thing during primary school for me. My classmates and I all used to go to the store together and compete to get the best looking bindis askfhks). Below is Jennie’s promotional image, and a very popular style of crystal bindis; as you can see, they’re similiar and could have been bought from the same company. The only reason they’re referred to as fashion stickers now is because retailers don’t want to get into trouble after prominent Hindu groups raised objections

The issue desi people have with the popularity of the bindi overseas is not that it is worn but how it’s worn in the west versus in India and what the implications of that are. India is literally one of the most diverse countries in the world, with probably countless number of traditions and styles, so what’s remarkable that all these years the bindi, like (mehendi/henna) has remained a symbol of traditional womanhood, by which I mean its still attached to piety, respect for tradition, conventional/traditional marraige and so on. Spirituality and religion are very very important for many Hindu women, and to many of us, our fashion doesn’t mean compromising our faith (and often, values like social conservatism); another example would be the conservative but fashionable forward outfit styles many Indian Muslim women wear.

On the other hand, the bindi first became popular in the West thanks to “an exotic look” by Madonna, who among other things, is famous for being provocative and pushing the boundaries of sexuality. Now, its associated with wild, often skimpy fashions like Kendall Jenner’s “teeny tiny bra and shorts during Coachella” or “edgier, exotic” images such as G(IDLE) and Blackpink (more on that later). The issue with how these women have chosen to wear and accessorize these bindis is not that there’s anything wrong with presenting yourself in a more sexual way, but because while they might claim to be “celebrating Indian culture” if pressed, its clear from their actions that they genuinely have no idea what bindis actually represent. Foreign celebrities will ONLY make bindis integral to their  edgy/exotic looks, like Jennie wearing a bindi for a “girl crush/edgy” hip hop inspired song, and then immediately discarding it for a “classy/lady like” look while modelling for chanel. This is the opposite of how bindis are actually worn lmao (similiarly, in my post on G(IDLE), I touched on how their usage of mehendi made zero sense and was probably inspired my misconceptions about traditional desi styles). 

A similiar anology to this kind of attitude would be if I only wore round framed glasses with skimpy partying wear and then called it “an exotic look celebrating Korean culture and Korean women” while its obvious from a simple google search that glasses are not exotic accessories, are exclusively worn with casual outfits in Korea and I have no idea what the fuck I’m talking about**.  

It’s difficult to fit a variety of racist beliefs/actions into a single paragraph, but the way I choose to explain it, on a global scale the majority of the world knows nothing about what India’s actually like and tends to buy into one of two stereotypes about the country: desi people, especially women, are either dirty (e.g, we eat with our hands and have more body hair, which apparently makes us gross), backward, hypersexual (e.g, the popularity of the kama sutra and “tantric sex” which is by the way, not a real thing) and even violent, which alot of East Asian countries like Korea tend to buy into because of their colourist beliefs regarding darker skin, or b) we’re simple minded, incredibly backward people overly obessed with our traditions who might speak English but will never assimilate because of our background (e/g racist caricatures such as that one Indian guy on the Big Bang Theory). One of the weirdest aspects of the second attitude is that its now acceptable to just assume Indian traditions live in a vacuum, and we don’t have complex practices and beliefs built on a coherent set of values like everyone else in the world; the attitude that alot of foreigners have when they adopt the bindi or selectively talk about hinduism, if applied to Korea would be things like “Koreans lay out food for their deceased relatives every Chausok because they’re too simple minded and cultural to realise that dead people don’t need food” while happily ignoring the massive economy and high levels of education among the Korean population.

I think its pretty fair to say Jennie’s styling does sort of buy a little bit into both sterotypes, and it’s also fair to say that she’s in no way shown to be actively racist, and this at most is passive ignorance. Desi women have been reclaiming the bindi for years, and they deserve the same love and support foreign celebrities get. Right now though,  Indians have bigger problems to worry about than the popularity of “fashion stickers”, which is why I side eye people who make a huge fuss about this but do nothing to help desi people.  The purpose of this post is not to give people ammunition to “cancel her” which only serves to make yourself look good, but rather to say that when a situation like this occurs our first instinct should be to educate ourselves, because the more extreme forms of these attitudes allow for racism and harm towards people of colour; for instance, most Westerners have woobified Hinduism so much as a religion of peace and mystical spirituality and demonised Islam so much that the proto-fascist radical Hindu government now feels free to allow lynchings and attacks on the Muslim minorities knowing that the Western world won’t raise serious objections. It’s only when we go out to learn with what resources we have (which can be as simple as Wikipedia, like most the links in this post are) that we end up becoming more aware of the world around us, and the different ways we celebrate that as people.

Also on that note, if anyone has any money to spare, both Nagaland and Kerala, two states in India that often get ignored by the Central govt since it doesn’t benefit their Hindu extremism agenda, have experienced natural disasters this year. Feel free to donate here and here (additional info is attached) if you have any spare money.