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datingintampafails · 4 years ago

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Chapter 11: Darren*

Disclaimer: a multitude of events/details have been left out of this chapter, both for increased anonymity of myself and the gentleman in question, as well as I started writing this two months after this all happened, so apologies.

Darren* is actually someone that I work with at one of my jobs, of which I have three. Upon starting my position there and meeting him, I was immediately attracted. He is from a Scandinavian country originally and just comes with that natural Scandinavian good looks. He acted a little immature, in a way that is just everything is sexual, a natural flirt. For a few months, I had an innocent little crush on him, purely infatuation.

Often we would say hi in passing and he was always really helpful when it came to patients. He got along with everyone and despite his lewdness, I really enjoyed working with him. There were multiple times that we would walk and talk in the hall, he would express embarrassment to me over him having acne, and would openly announce that he was switching what side he was on because he didn’t want me to see it. I, in my thinking he was out of my league and I was secured in the friend/coworker zone, would be super transparent, and as well complain about my acne, and described in detail the acne patches I would use.

All seemed platonic until one day out of the blue he just leaned in close to me and asked me if he could have my Snapchat. I immediately was like oh yeah of course! From there, we talked throughout the days daily for about a week.

I let him and my coworker in MRI know that I’m gonna bring in food on the weekend since I got a huge crockpot meal from my Home Chef meal kit boxes and wanted to share the love. When really, although I did do that, I was on purpose making sure I did it on a day Darren* was working. I made sure to wear an outfit that would get his attention without trying too hard: well-fitting yoga pants and a tank top. I arrive and I call their department to let them know I’m here with food. Darren* answers the phone and there’s video chat so I also see him. I say “hey I’m here! Chicken tacos in the break room.” He says “Are they hard or soft?” in the innuendo way he does. What he doesn’t know, is he’s met his match since I’m also kind of a perv. I respond “what do you think?” seductively and with a wink. He laughs and just goes “oh alright.” I say “Nah but seriously they’re soft tacos.” He says “my favorite! We’ll be over soon.” The cavalry arrives and everyone eats their food and thanks me. I’m not really getting the quality time I was hoping for but I’m still happy. Finally, everyone starts to kinda make their way out until it’s just Darren* and I. We just chat. This is when somehow or another I find out he has a tattoo in a more rated R area. I laugh. He asks me about my outfit and if I am going to the gym. I say no that I was just trying to be comfortable but still look good enough to be outside of my house. He says he should probably get back to work and will snap me later.

Late that night, I ask him more about his tattoos, and I tell him about mine. I send him photos of a couple of my PG tattoos, he sends me his PG tattoos (yes this does imply we both have rated R tattoos). I think this is a moment that is kind of exposing but could also just be innocent as well.

The next week, we again worked together, and he would come by, a little more than usual, saying hi to me and chatting before returning to work. The last time he stops by before he leaves for the day, he gives me a hug. Now, this hug wasn’t like a normal hug, it was super awkward, incredibly on my part.

You see, I did not expect this to happen and I was sitting down so he approached me for the hug while I was sitting. In attempts to make this less horrible, which backfired, I decided to begin standing up during the hug. Not only did I do this, no that would be still not horrible, but I then put my arms around him diagonally. Yes, that cringy one arm on the shoulder/neck and the other around the waist. At this moment I am well aware of what terrible state I am in, but am surprised and pleased that regardless of how awkward I have positioned myself that he is still holding onto me. He is in fact at this moment squeezing me tightly, comfortably.

Somehow this embrace lasts for probably a good twenty seconds. I’m sure I am red in the face but he says bye talk to you later and leaves. Immediately, I Snapchat him and say “I’m so sorry that was such an awkward hug. I need a do-over please.” His response is something along the lines of, “It’s all good I live for the cringe” with a laughing face emoji. Otherwise, we continue to talk as we were.

I offer him my number, thinking like we are getting along well and are maybe at that point. He says that he actually prefers Snapchat, as his cell service isn’t very good with his provider (which I shall not name), so he communicates a lot more with Snapchat anyway. We somewhere too in this time say we’re going to hang out on Saturday, and I’ll cook him some food.

Oh and now is your first preview of me being sneaky and retrieving Snapchat screenshots via taking pics of my phone screen. Step One, send a thirst trap.

Step Two: He responds to the thirst trap. I remember also saying something after that, despite not having it in the screenshot, where I say, “Is that why you don’t wear a dress to work?” Which is what he is responding to in the third photo.

I’m also still wondering, is he just being a flirt, or is this man interested? Soon I would get my answer.

Now, it is the weekend, Friday night. I mention to him that I’m walking to my friend’s house and I’m going over to drink some wine and eat pasta. I send him Snapchats of my friend on Hinge swiping, and us playing “Tinder March Madness,” a game I saw on Tik Tok and thought was funny. Essentially, you right-swipe on all of the men, no matter what. Give it some time and wait for the matches to roll in. Then there are certain point values that go along with certain dating profile tropes. The person with the most points “wins” each round until the “Ultimate Tinder Guy” is found. Anyway, I send these to him half to be like LOL look at this stupid stuff, half to see if I get a rise out of him/he gets a little bit jealous. He is also with friends, so I don’t necessarily get in-depth answers or quick responses. I do mention to him that I’m leaving my friend’s apartment soon, and will be walking by myself. At this point it is nighttime. We do live in a relatively nice area, but it’s still a little scary to walk by yourself in the dark. I give him a call via Snapchat, he doesn’t answer but I know he’s with his friends, so it’s all good.

I arrive home and almost immediately after I walk through the door, I get a Snapchat call back from him. He asks me if I’m okay and if I got home safely. I am honestly surprised he called me back. I tell him I’m fine. He continues to talk to me on the phone and even puts me on speakerphone. The one part that hurts my soul is he does say that I’m his “friend, Mandy,” but hey, a friend is better than a co-worker. I talk with his friends about gaming, drinking, say I’ll drink some Everclear with them, go really hard. Darren* then says he’s gonna find somewhere more private to talk to me, takes me off speakerphone. We shoot the shit a little more, then he says he had just gone running and is gonna take a shower and will talk to me later. I end the call.

Literally one minute after ending the call, I receive a Snapchat from him. This is a picture Snapchat. It is a photo of him completely naked. Where his package would be is conveniently blocked by the level of the counter in his bathroom. Highly suggestive, though not a complete nude. What is my response? Something along the lines of “oh my!!!!” Any confusion I had was gone. Like alright, this man just sent this photo to you because he is into you. It’s late and I’m going to sleep anyway, so I figure I’ll just message him in the morning to clear things up before we hang out.

Before I can even confront him in the morning, he messages me. I, unfortunately, don’t have a screenshot for this. But he says whereas he isn’t exactly looking for a relationship at this moment, that he wants to see where things go with me and see what happens. I tell him that how I feel is I don’t like to put expectations on anything anyway and that I’m happy to do that and just follow where the vibes go between us. We’ve come to an agreement! With that, he says he is super hungover and is going to take a nap, and will let me know about coming over later. By the early evening, he says he wants to reschedule since he still feels like shit. I’m on call a lot, so we just schedule it tentatively for next Saturday and I see if I can get my call covered another day sooner so we can see each other before then.

I’m able to contact my manager the next day and I let him know I now have Wednesday free for him. I’m on call at our workplace the day I let him know that, and I jokingly tell him he is in charge of calling me in. Of course, I actually do get called in, though it isn’t him that lets me know. I arrive and hang out in the area he works in while I wait for the patient to be ready. He is not there and is off doing other stuff. He comes in and is surprised to see me, which checks out since I did tell him I was coming in, but he hadn’t opened that Snapchat yet. We hug hello, not awkwardly now, and he talks about his hands being cold. Essentially then we are holding hands. While the other coworkers are off tending to patients, we stand close together and chat. My patient arrives, and I ask him to help me move them. I observe him with a patient and he really is a great caregiver, it’s attractive. He helps me then says he’s gonna run back to his department and will be back. When he returns he says he is actually leaving for the night. My patient’s scan is more or less on autopilot, so I position ourselves away from the window that looks into the room. I embrace him and say I’m looking forward to seeing him next time we work together and on Wednesday. I think back and know I probably should have kissed him, but I didn’t, probably the thought of being at work and although no one was there and watching, still felt inappropriate.

I finished my work and returned home. Monday we spoke throughout the day, flirtatious and excited. We worked together Tuesday and when I walked in for the day, I immediately happened upon him in the break room. I sat down next to him and discussed timeframes for our hangout the next day. He is happy and upon another coworker walking in, I briefly say hey and disperse. Darren* comes into my department, as he does often, and is talking with everyone. One of our coworkers mentions to him that they want to talk to him about something. I’m not sure what it is about, but I do get a hit of anxiety wondering if he had told them about me, and it was regarding our relationship. Work goes by and they do go off and talk. Afterward, he is kinda brief in saying goodbye, which makes my anxiety increase.

I send him a message just again mentioning a timeframe for our next day’s plans. An hour or so after he left he responds saying that he is actually starting to talk to someone and didn’t want to do the next day because he didn’t want to jeopardize that, as he thought if he came over the next day he didn’t know what would happen. His phrasing was “is it okay” if we don’t see each other. So I say something like, “well I wouldn’t want to complicate things, I’m not happy about it but I understand.” He also expressed he was worried about work, though, at this point, I was about to start my new job and had told him about this. He mentions not having a “crystal ball” and that he doesn’t know what will happen in the future, blah blah blah. That we could still be with each other someday.

I am beyond confused. Literally three days before this, he had been the one to initiate things and asked for us to see where things go, wasn’t interested in a relationship, when suddenly now he is, albeit with someone else, and is interested enough to be afraid something romantic would happen if we were alone together, but not enough see where it goes.

In response, I give into a TikTok trend where you ask people what your type is. I did this that night. He did not take kindly to it. His response was kind of like, what is this? I was angry and thought this was a good way to have some self-deprecating humor. Essentially “douchebag,” “extroverted gamer,” “emotionally unavailable,” “guys with girlfriends,” and “Trump supporters,” were mentioned in this. Many of those descriptions which could describe Darren* at that moment.

I was still very hurt days afterward and didn’t know what would happen once we saw each other again at work. Come next workday together, he was starting to be on temperature check duty at the hospital. I did not know he was though, and stumbled upon him as I was going out to say hi to another co-worker I knew was out there. It was very awkward at first but we became more on friendly terms. Toward the end of the night, we were alone back inside for a moment. I asked him some questions about his life and such. As the night went on we did embrace a few times and were very close. It was more confusing but he did still seem into me. We left at the same time and he walked me to my car where we lingered and talked and held each other. I did feel pretty bad, as I would sometimes see his phone, see him talking to this other girl, and sometimes I would just happen to see his messages with her and could tell that he did care for her. And in character, it was on Snapchat, so he may have been completely honest regarding using Snapchat as his primary communication method.

Basically a similar scenario continued on for the next four weeks, each time it becomes more and more difficult/intimate. One week we took a walk around the campus and cuddled in the grass, watching the stars. The bugs made us move, but we had a closeness. We just barely kissed one time. He would grab my hips and touch my body when we were alone. Constantly he would resist, I was just as confused as he wasn’t dating this person. Another night, we are walking together doing rounds through the hospital, when one of his close coworkers casually mentions he’s uncircumcised. Which was just some bizarre information. It was funny to see him embarrassed.

Finally, after four weeks of this “what is going on” scenario, I have him call me. I tell him essentially that if he and this woman are still not exclusive, that we should still give this a shot or at least hang outside of work and see what is truly going on. I reiterate his crystal ball thing. I am truly speaking in our both interests, as we have been playing a dangerous game. He says he will talk to her that night and figure out what is going on, as she has been kind of putting off/delaying that conversation. He says he will let me know what she says and will think about it if they don’t become exclusive, as he admits that he doesn’t see the point of staying with her if she doesn’t want to become official. I follow up the next day, asking how it went. He says it didn’t come up and apologizes, though saying he will soon. A few days after that, I find out that they must have had the conversation, because “Darren* is now in a relationship” appears on my Facebook news feed. I message him in Snapchat and congratulate him. I do truly wish them the best, and take the situation as a lesson learned.

A couple of months later, present-day as I write this, I notice a name that looks familiar on a patient’s chart. Casually I bring it up to my coworker, saying “isn’t that Darren*’s girlfriend?” and it is confirmed. I become infuriated and text my friend immediately, explaining the situation I have just uncovered. This new information does add to my displeasure, as I realize that this guy’s now girlfriend also works here and that it is quite possible that he could have been seeing her on any of those days that we had become so close. This disgusted me. I did see him a couple of days later and casually mentioned to him, “I didn’t know your girlfriend worked here.” He hit me with a “yeah she does.” I felt it important to let him know, I know. I try and remain cordial, but it is extremely difficult when I learn more and more about how scummy he is. Later that day that I let him know, he told me it was “good seeing me” and I literally responded with a vomit noise. Even if things don’t work out with his lady, and I’m still single, that “crystal ball” will not do him any favors.

#metinperson #workromance #dating #tampa #stpete #clearwater #tampabay #romance

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kwanisms · 6 years ago

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Noisy Neighbor - lhs

anonymous said: hiiii i love your writing so much! i genuinely enjoy every piece you’ve written so far lol idk if your requests are still open but if you have the time would you mind writing a scenario where monsta x’s wonho lives in the apartment next door and there’s always fighting and disagreements over him being loud when he has “special dates” over but it’s because there’s ignored sexual tension

⤑ genre: smut 𝕊 𝕀 ℕ ⤑ pairing: Hoseok x Reader ⤑ warning: smut galore, like clothing ripping, foul language, mention of alcohol ⤑ summary: (Y/N) loves everything about her apartment― except her neighbor, Hoseok. He’s the definition of annoying and loud neighbor. Despite being told off and (Y/N) threatening to call the police numerous times, Hoseok hosts a particularly loud party at his place, resulting in (Y/N) confronting him. Tension snaps as Hoseok finally kisses her. ⤑ word count: 6.3k

a/n: I loved writing this. This was so much fun and I love this idea so much! Thank you for requesting it! I hope you like it! ~K♡

To say you hated your apartment was a blatant lie. You loved it. The location was right, the rent was well within your budget, and you really loved having a unit on the end of the hall, giving you not only an amazing view, but turning your bedroom into mostly glass windows. It was a beautiful apartment. Light grey walls, dark hardwood floors, and new stainless steel appliances.

It was a two bedroom unit overlooking the downtown area. It had a large front room open to the kitchen and dining room. The outside wall was nearly ceiling to floor glass windows with remote controlled shades. The floors were done in a dark wood to contrast with the walls painted in a soft off white color.

Your bedroom was in the corner of the unit, providing you with two walls of windows. The master bathroom was to die for and not what you would usually find in an apartment. It had an oversized garden tub, dual sinks, a decent sized walk-in shower, and a spacious closet. Even the toilet had it's own little room.

The second bedroom was set up as a guest room with a bed, two nightstands and a dresser. It had its own bathroom and a small closet as well.

The selling factor, was the den. A small room off the living room with double doors. You had set it up as a home office.

The only thing you didn't like about your apartment was your neighbor, Hoseok. He was a very noisy person, throwing parties that lasted until 3 in the morning, inviting girls over and not bothering to keep it down when they were in his bedroom.

You heard a lot more than you bargained for. You never wanted to know what Hoseok sounded like when he came but unfortunately for you, his bed was on the other side of your living room. Luckily, you could escape to your bedroom and it would muffle the sound but it was still difficult to drown out the sound.

Truth be told, you hadn't gotten much sleep since Hoseok moved in next door, despite going over and telling him politely to keep it down. Hoseok promised he would try, yet he never made good on his promises and at this point, you were sure it was on purpose.

Last night had been like every night since Hoseok moved in.

You headed out your front door into the hallway and made sure to lock your door before making your way down the hall to the elevator. You pressed the button and waited patiently for the lift to arrive. The sound of a door opening caught your attention and you turned to see Hoseok stepping out of his apartment in his sweats, boots, and a compression shirt, carrying a trash bag.

Hoseok's eyes met yours and he immediately broke into a grin. You rolled your eyes and turned away from him. You weren't going to play this game. Not today. Hoseok approached quietly and stood next to you as both of you waited for the elevator.

“Morning,” Hoseok said, a slight hint of amusement to his voice. You tried not to grit your teeth or clench your hands. He knew how to rile you up. Hoseok loved pressing your buttons. You were determined to not let him get to you, so you turned to him and nodded. “Morning,” you replied shortly. Hoseok's grin spread.

“Sleep well last night?” he asked and you bit the inside of your cheek to keep from snapping back. “Not really,” you replied. Hoseok nodded silently before finally saying, “I'm sorry to hear that.” You held back a scoff, knowing it would mean defeat.

You opted to say nothing, instead bringing your coffee to your lips and taking a sip. Silence surrounded you and you could feel the tension between the two of you rising.

There was always this unaddressed sexual tension between you and your neighbor. If it wasn't for the fact that he kept you up until the crack of dawn fucking a different girl each night, you probably would have given into his flirting before.

Hoseok was an attractive man to say the least. He had an incredible body, everyone knew it. He worked out a lot. You saw him more at the gym in your building than you did outside his apartment. He was definitely a “gym rat.”

The two of you said nothing as you both stepped onto the elevator after it arrived. You took another sip of coffee as the silence continued for the duration of the elevator ride.

The elevator reached lobby and Hoseok stepped put first, allowing you a nice view of his broad shoulders, sculpted back, and his nearly perfect ass as he made his way to the door that led to the building's trash and recycling room. He waved as you headed for the door. “Have a nice day at work!” he called, smirking.

You narrowed your eyes but bit your tongue as you headed out onto the street and made your way to the bus stop. He was such a smug asshole sometimes. He knew he kept you up, why else would he make such remarks? You shook off your annoyance at him and pushed him from your mind; you could deal with it later.

The bus arrived on time and you got on, swiping your pass and taking a seat near the back. With living in the city and traffic as bad as it was sometimes, taking the bus was a much smarter option than driving. You didn't have to try to find a parking space with a bus, so you left your car in your parking space at home.

The ride usually took about 10 minutes and you were at work in no time, greeting the doorman as you approached the tall high rise building that took up a corner of a medical complex. You weren't a nurse or a doctor. You did clerical work in one of the suites, organizing files, running the reception counter, and all the usual duties of a receptionist.

It wasn't what you went to school for but the hours were good, the pay was great, benefits included and it allowed you to continue your online courses until you finished your master's program and moved on to your ‘big girl’ job.

You clocked in, sat down at your desk behind the counter. Stashing your things under the desk and started up your computer. Getting your station set up took little effort and once you were done, you were ready to conquer the day. The doctor you worked for had few appointments today. It was an easy day.

The office opened on time at 9 am and the first patients showed up shortly thereafter for their appointments. You checked them in, passing their information along to one of the three nurses that worked in this suite. After that, you got to sit there and play around on your computer or phone. Your boss was very relaxed.

Time ticked by as more patients for the day came in and checked in with you. The phone barely rang but when it did, you answered it with a professional air, answering questions, putting calls through for the doctor or a nurse, and scheduling appointments for the day. It was a really easy job, all things considered.

Lunch finally rolled around and the office always closed for an hour so you had plenty of time for lunch. You donned your cold weather clothes and grabbed your purse before heading out to go grab a bite to eat at the little deli down the street. They had the best sandwiches and their soups were so delicious.

You got in line and perused the menu, settling on a club sandwich and a cup of potato soup. The girl behind the counter, Melanie, was on a first name basis with you by this point since you visited so often. When you stepped up to the counter she flashed you a bright smile.

“Afternoon, Miss (Y/N). What can I get for you today?” she asked. You placed your order, asking for light mayo instead of the regular and bought a bottle of water as well. As you fished out your wallet, Melanie got a good look at you and inhaled sharply. “Are you not getting any sleep, Miss (Y/N)?” she asked. You let out a wry laugh as you handed your card to her.

“As a matter of fact, I’m not. I had hoped I put on enough concealer to cover it. Guessing I didn't?” you asked as she ran the card, grimacing at you as she did before shaking her head slightly. “No ma’am,” she said before handing you back your card. You sighed lightly and thanked her when she handed you your receipt and a little table marker.

Your food came out swiftly and after finishing it, you headed back to the office to find that the doctor had to close early. He let you go home early as there were no other appointments scheduled and he had something he had to take care of. So you caught the bus back home a whole 2 hours early.

You decided to run some errands. Your fridge and pantry were running low on supplies, you needed new shampoo and your concealer was almost out, and not to mention you needed an outfit for your company's holiday party.

So you went to your favorite beauty supply store and grabbing what you needed, then your go to store for clothes and quickly found a nice but simple outfit, and finally to the store, grabbing the essentials and stocking up before heading home. By the time you reached your building, you had eaten up most of those two hours.

As you waited patiently for the elevator to arrive, your mind wandered back to what Melanie had said. If she had noticed the dark circles through your makeup, who else had?? The realization made your blood boil. You stepped into the elevator seething.

This was all Hoseok's fault. He was keeping you up for days on end with the noise and it was showing on your face. You felt embarrassed and mortified that Melanie pointed it out. She couldn't have been the only one to notice, just the first to say anything to you.

The elevator dinged, the doors sliding open and you were greeted by muffled music playing. Your anger only grew as your stormed to your neighbor's door, raised your fist, and hammered on the door. It didn't take long for Hoseok to answer.

Inside, loud music with heavy bass was playing and there was background noise from some video game. Hoseok was wearing a pair of dark grey sweats, no shirt, and a wireless headset. His eyes lit up when he saw it was you at the door and a smirk settled on his face as he greeted you.

“Afternoon, miss,” he said playfully. You narrowed your eyes, letting all your anger fuel your actions. You chose your next words carefully.

“I hope you're pleased with yourself. You've managed to keep me up for so long that my concealer doesn't even do its job of covering up my exhaustion. The girl at the deli near my work pointed out how tired I am. So thanks again,” you said your voice dripping with sarcasm. Before Hoseok could answer, you turned on your heel and headed for your door.

Once back in the comfort of your apartment, you put away your groceries and decided to hop in the shower before changing into something more comfortable and settling on the couch to catch up on a few of your shows. The sound from Hoseok's apartment had ceased and you were mild surprised. It didn't last though.

Around dinner time, you made yourself something to eat before ending the night with a movie and a few glasses of wine. Around 8 pm, you heard more muffled music and muted the TV. Of course, you thought rolling your eyes and unmuting the television. You turned the volume up to drown out the sound of fast music coming from your neighbors apartment.

The television did help to mask the music for a while but soon you heard voices and laughing. Damn it. You just wanted a quiet night in. You silently cursed the day that Hoseok moved in next door. He and his friends were truly awful specimen.

After a few more minutes of trying to block the sound, you growled and got up from the couch, heading for your door and stepping out into the hallway where the music was easily 10 times louder. You pounded on the door and after a few minutes, Hoseok answered, a red solo cup in his hand. A smile grew on his face when he saw it was you at the door. “Hey, decided to join us?”

You shook your head. “Please try to keep it down, okay? I have to work in the morning.” Hoseok nodded and looked back into the apartment. “Of course. I'll have them out of my place no later than 11,” he said giving you a wink. Liar. You thanked him anyway and made your way back into your apartment.

As 9 drew closer, the music increased, as did the sounds of people shouting and laughing. As beautiful as the apartments were, the walls were extremely thin. You had half a mind to call the developers and chew them out for their shitty blueprints.

10 o'clock came and went and it was now a quarter till 11. You waited to see if Hoseok would make good on his word. As 11 approached, the music and talking dwindled down until it was silent on the other side of the wall. You were shocked. You couldn't believe it. Had he actually listened?

Your victory was cut short however by the subtle moaning coming from behind the wall and you groaned. Ugh fucking prick. You headed for your room, grabbing your trusty earplugs and shut your bedroom door, drowning out the rest of the sound. Hopefully it would stay that way and you could actually get some sleep.

The next few days, Hoseok hosted parties each night but only that one ended at 11. You felt as though he was doing it on purpose at this point. You sat awake in your bed until nearly 3 am each night, unable to sleep due to the loud music traveling into your apartment. The fourth night was when you finally had enough.

Dressed in your pajamas, a sleep shirt, shorts, and your favorite fuzzy socks with paw prints on them, you headed over to your neighbor's apartment and banged on the door. Some girl answered. Her eyes went wide as she saw you. “Can I help you?” she asked but you pushed past her into the apartment.

You searched the crowded room for Hoseok, finding him quickly sitting on his couch with a very pretty brunette perched on his lap. He was smiling as she whispered in his ear but when he saw you standing in his front room, dressed in your pajamas, his smile fell only to be replaced with a smirk as his eyes trailed over you.

“What's the matter?” he asked over the music. You glanced over to where the music was coming from. A simple laptop hooked up to several speakers. You stormed over to it and unplugged the speakers from the laptop, effectively stopping the music. The crowd whined and you slammed the laptop shut before rounding on Hoseok. He had pushed the girl off his lap and stood up.

“What are you-” he started but you help your hand up and silenced him. All eyes were on you but at this point you were so done that you couldn't care less. You were fed up. You needed your sleep and Hoseok was preventing that. He knew exactly what he was doing.

“Look, I put up with a lot of shit from you, Lee Hoseok, but I'm drawing the line here.” You paused for effect before continuing. “I have asked you numerous times, rather politely I might add, to keep the sound down. A simple request, no?” you asked. Hoseok nodded slowly, his eyes not leaving your face as you spoke.

“Then why is it, i ask a simple favor of you, you can't even do that? Are you stupid? Are you deaf? Do my words just go right in one ear and out the other? Clearly that must be the case, since you have no fucking brain. Otherwise, you would be courteous and keep your shit down for once.” Hoseok opened his mouth but you shook your head.

“I'm still fucking talking, so shut up,” you snapped. Several party goers ‘oohed.’ Hoseok looked at them and they stopped at once before he turned his attention back to you. If he thought this was embarrassing, he had no idea what was coming.

“I'm sick of hearing your shitty ass music. It comes through my walls and despite having my bedroom door shut, I can still hear it,” you said, not caring how much of a dick you sounded like. Hoseok needed to know he was in the wrong.

“Same goes for your nightly escapades. I can hear literally everything. I hope they aren't faking it for your sake but I'm gonna be real with you, no girl moans like that. They're exaggerating. Sorry, but you deserve the truth.” Hoseok turned a deep shade of pink. You wanted to hit him where it hurt.

“I have asked nicely too many times and you refuse to honor my wishes so if you can't keep it down, I'm going to call the police. I'm not joking at this point. I work in the morning and I need my fucking sleep. So, this is your final warning. Get all of these assholes,” you said gesturing around the room.

“Get them out of this fucking apartment, now. And I mean everyone goes. Even that skinny little brunette who was sitting on your lap earlier. I don't want to hear one peep from this apartment, am I understood?” you looked him in the eye. His smile was gone and was replaced with a scowl. You didn't care.

He started this. It was his own fault and he brought it on himself.

However mad he may be, Hoseok didn't respond. You turned on your heel and shoved past the ring of people that had form around you and Hoseok. You heard him call out to you but you didn't care. You wanted to go to bed.

You returned to your apartment, locking the door before you headed for your bedroom. You sat in bed waiting for your anger to subside and the adrenaline to go down so you might actually get some sleep tonight. The universe had other plans.

It had only been a few minutes since you returned home that you were interrupted by the sound of knocking. You got up and made your way into the front room where the knocking turned into banging. You unlocked the door and opened it.

Hoseok was on the other side, hand clenched into a fist raised above his head, ready to hit the door again. His eyes narrowed as he caught sight of you and lowered his hand.

“What do you-” you began but he interrupted you.

“Who the hell do you think you are?” he snapped towering over you. His sudden crassness threw you off guard and you struggled to find an answer. Whether or not Hoseok was expecting an answer, he didn't give you time to talk.

“How dare you come into my home and embarrass me in front of my friends. That was low, even for you,” he continued. You suddenly found it in you to speak.

“Excuse you,” you started. “I believe I had asked you numerous times since you moved in to keep the damn noise down. You can't even follow a simple request, so clearly you must not be that smart.” Hoseok opened his mouth but you beat him to it.

“I haven't slept right in weeks. I'm tired, I'm cranky, I'm angry. I just want to fucking sleep for once. I never wanted to be that neighbor who calls the cops but clearly me asking isn't enough incentive so calling them was the next step.”

Hoseok still said nothing so you went on.

“I'm so unbelievably tired. The the music lasting until dawn and the loud sounds of your nightly escapades, it's too much goddamn it.” Your voice cracked as you threw your hands up.

Hoseok pushed his way into your apartment, shutting the door behind him. You backed up, your eyes widening. “What are you doing?” you asked as he advanced on you. You backed into the sofa and were now effectively trapped between him and your couch, Hoseok's eyes never leaving your face.

The two of you were silent, eyeing each other for what felt like eternity. The unaddressed sexual tension you always felt in his presence grew, filling the space around you, almost suffocating you. Finally, you managed to speak.

“What are you waiting for?”

As if waiting for a silent command, Hoseok moved. His hand cupped the back of your neck, the other steadying himself on the back of the couch as he pulled you toward him, his lips crashing against your own. Your hands instinctively grabbed his shirt, pulling him in closer.

Hoseok parted his lips, his tongue darting out allowing the tip to brush against your bottom lip and you answered by letting him in. Your stomach did flips and your heart raced. Blood pounded in your ears as you felt Hoseok's free hand grip your waist.

The two of you parted after a few moments to catch your breath, lips swollen from the heated kiss. Hoseok watched you closely, gauging your reaction. Your eyes were wide, searching his own.

A small smile made itself known on Hoseok's face before he opened his mouth and said in a breathless voice, “finally.”

He picked you up, using the back of your thighs to lift you. Your legs wrapped around his waist, hands holding on to his shoulders as he set you on the back of the couch. He pressed light kisses along your jaw, stopping to nip on the sensitive skin of your neck.

“Do you want this?” you asked in a stained voice. Hoseok chuckled, his breath tickling your skin. “Do you want this?” he repeated your question, pressing his obviously erection into your clothed core. You gasped at the feeling before letting out a shameless, “please, just fuck me already.”

Hoseok let out a laugh before setting you down. He reached up, caressing your cheek as his free hand roamed, sliding into the waistband of your pants. His fingers skimmed past your panties as he delved deeper, his fingertips found the wetness pooling in your underwear. Hoseok chuckled as he pushed a finger past your folds, easily finding your clit. A moan escaped your lips.

Hoseok slowly circled the bundle of nerves, watching your face as he did. He was fascinated by the way your brows knitted together, your eyes shut as he teased you in long drawn out movements.

“Stop teasing me,” you whined grabbing his forearm and pushing his hand deeper in your panties. Hoseok let out another laugh before slipping a finger inside you. Another gasp left you. Hoseok used his free hand to grab your waistband and pulled down your pants, letting them pool around your ankles before you kicked them off.

Hoseok took the opportunity to eye the thin lace material of your panties, sneaking you a devilish grin before he brushed his finger over the cloth. “These are cute,” he mused before looking up and catching your gaze. “Did you wear these for me?” he asked, tilting his head to the side as he continued, slowly pumping his hand, adding a second finger. You gripped the sofa below you, trying to ground yourself.

As he sped up, Hoseok watched you. The way you threw your head back, the small gasps and whines that left your lips were like music to him. He pulled his hand free and brought his fingers to your lips. You took them in your mouth without hesitation.

Hoseok took your hand and pulled you off the couch before leading you around and pushing you on the cushions. “What are you-” you started as Hoseok pushed the coffee table back before settling himself between your legs. He rested your thighs over his shoulders, hooked a thumb under your panties, pulling them to the side before starting an assault on your heat with his tongue.

The wet muscle made contact with your clit and you let out a low moan. Hoseok continued, teasing the sensitive bud with his tongue, alternating between light flicks and long licks. You involuntarily squeezed your thighs causing Hoseok to push them apart, giving him more access.

When his lips wrapped around your clit, you were done for. Your fingers tangled in his hair, tugging gently as his tongue danced against your heat, bringing you closer to your release. You tried to keep still but you couldn't keep your hips from moving slightly. Hoseok noticed this and pulled back.

“Be a good girl and don't move,” he said before resuming. It took all your willpower to not move. Your body tensed under his touch and you wanted so much to find release. “Please,” you panted. Hoseok hummed, the vibrations against you making you cry out.

“Please, I want to come,” you whispered. Hoseok hummed again, pulling back. “How bad do you want to come, baby girl? Tell me,” he said, his fingers slowly circling your slit. “So bad,” you whimpered. Hoseok teased your entrance, dipping his fingers in slightly only to pull them back out. He was really enjoying the way he teased you to the brink of release, only to pull back again.

“Tell me how bad you want to come,” he said, the smirk on his face present in his voice. “Please Hoseok,” you whimpered. “Make me come. Make me come and I'm all yours.” Hoseok hummed in response, his fingers sliding into your walls. His tongue flattened against your clit before he sped up.

Your walls tightened as your orgasm approached. “Ah~! shit,” you moaned. “I'm so close.”

Before your climax washed over you, Hoseok stopped and withdrew. You whined in response. “What the hell, Hoseok,” you hissed looking up. He had removed his shirt and was unbuttoning his pants.

“I’m going to enjoy this,” he said reaching down to remove your panties. Whatever you had been expecting, it wasn’t this as he flexed and ripped your panties with ease. Your jaw dropped as he held up the mangled remains of your underwear, shrugged, giving you a sheepish smile before he threw them to the side with a nonchalant, ‘oops.”

“Lee Hoseok!!” you managed to squeak as he leaned in, hovering over you, his lips brushing against your neck. “I hope those weren’t expensive,” he breathed in your ear. You wanted to hit him. Those panties were in fact very expensive and came as a set with the bralette you were wearing under your sleep shirt. “As a matter of fact,” you said, your voice shaking as Hoseok tormented you with light kisses and nips along your neck. “They were part of a very expensive set,” you finished.

Hoseok let out a breathy chuckle before murmuring, “well, I guess I just have to give the other piece the same treatment,” he said as his hand slipped under your shirt. His fingertips danced their way up your torso before finding the same lace material of your bralette. “Let’s get this off,” he said taking the hem of your shirt in his hands and pulling it up over your head.

His eyes skimmed over every inch of your body, admiring it. “God,” he said in a growl as he leaned in, pressing small, wet kisses over the newly exposed skin. “I can’t believe this is what I’ve been missing out on,” he said trailing back up to meet your lips. His fingers slipped under your bralette, his hand cupping your breast. You moaned, arching your back into his touch. “Fucking hell, you sound so hot.”

You whined as he removed his hand before he repeated the same brash actions and ripped the lace of your bralette open, freeing your chest before discarding the destroyed garment. His lips were on your chest in a matter of seconds, his tongue slipping out to drag over the sensitive skin around your nipple. “Hoseok,” you breathed and he pulled back, eyes finding yours.

“What is it?” he asked. “Please,” you whispered. A smile spread over his face. “Please what?” he replied, cocking his head to the side again, playfully. “I need you,” you answered. “Need me where?” Hoseok replied flirtatiously. “Inside me, jesus fucking christ, Hoseok. Put your cock inside me,” you snapped and Hoseok let out a loud laugh before he stood up straight.

“As you wish,” he said as he finished unzipping his pants and let them fall to the floor, leaving him in his boxer briefs, exposing the toned muscles in his thighs. “Where do you keep the condoms?” he asked. You pointed to the bathroom. “In the top drawer on the left,” you said hastily. Hoseok disappeared and reappeared with the small foil packet.

“If I wasn’t so eager to fuck you, I’d make you choke on my dick but another time,” he said as he lifted the foil to his mouth to tear it open. Before he could, you sat up and pulled down his boxers, allowing his member to spring free. You wasted no time, ignoring his questions, as you wrapped your hand around the base of his shaft and took him in your mouth.

Hoseok let out a strangled moan as you moved, working the tip with your tongue and the base with your hand. His hand tangled in your hair as you took him deeper in your mouth. “Holy shit,” he hissed. You pulled back and looked up at him. His hand left your hair, moving to caress your cheek.

“You’re fucking beautiful, you know?” he said softly. A light pink flushed your cheeks as you felt completely exposed. “I’m going to enjoy wrecking you,” he said before ripping open the condom and rolling it on.

“Turn around,” he ordered and you scrambled to do so, resting your forearms on the back of the sofa. You felt Hoseok’s hand run gently over your backside before you felt a quick smack to your bottom. A stinging ran over your skin and you inhaled sharply. “You like that?” Hoseok asked in a low voice, rubbing his hand over the spot he just hit before repeating the action a little harder.

A small whimper left your lips. “You really do like that, huh?” You cried out when his hand made contact with your ass again. “Goddamn,” he said as you whined, shaking your ass slightly, enticing him to fill.

“You really want this cock that bad?” he asked, brushing the tip of his length against your entrance. You moaned in response. “You have to say it,” he said, his free hand on your hip. You tried pushing back on him, eager for him to fill you. “No,” he said backing away. “You have to say that you want me,” he said. You peered over your shoulder at him.

He was watching you, waiting patiently. You almost moaned at the sight of his hand wrapped around his dick, slowly stroking himself. You were normally very stubborn but you just wanted to get off at this point. “I want your cock,” you said softly. Hoseok brought his free hand up to his ear.

“What was that? I couldn’t hear you.” You groaned. “Goddamnit, Hoseok,” you hissed. “I want your fucking cock inside me right now!” Hoseok’s smirk spread and he positioned himself at your entrance.

“Say it again,” he said pushing ever so slightly, barely entering. You looked back at him as he waited for you to say the words he wanted to hear.

“I want you to bury your dick in my pussy and fuck me until I can’t walk,” you breathed.

Without any further encouragement, Hoseok pushed himself inside you slowly. The stretch felt amazing as it had been sometime since you were filled like this. Hoseok didn’t stop until he bottomed out, his length buried deep in your walls. You waited a moment as you adjusted before you nodded and breathlessly stated, “I’m ready.”

Hoseok pulled out a few inches before pushing back in slowly. You dropped your head to rest it on your arms. “God,” you moaned as he picked up the pace, driving into your wet heat. You could hear his erratic breathing as he thrust into you faster. “Fuck,” he said, gripping your hips as he pounded into you, hitting a spot deep inside. “You feel fucking fantastic.”

A moan left your lips in response, egging Hoseok on. You felt one of his hands slide up your back until it reached the base of your neck. His fingers intertwined in your hair before he pulled, jerking your head back. “Don’t keep it in,” he said as he fucked into you harder, a slew of curses leaving your mouth, mixed with high pitched moans. “Let me hear how good I make you feel.”

Your walls tightened around him as your climax approached. You didn’t want this to end. You wanted him to fuck you forever. “Ah~! Please,” you said in a whine. “Harder.” Hoseok tugged your hair again. “What? Harder?” he asked. You tried to nod but with his hand in your hair it was impossible so you moaned out a, “yes. Please fuck me harder.” Hoseok obliged, his hips hitting your ass and filling the room with the sound of skin against skin.

Your knees were starting to feel the effects of his thrusts and your legs started to shake. “Shit,” Hoseok said his hand leaving your hair and moving back to your hip as he gripped you harder. “Right there,” you moaned. “Don’t stop.” Hoseok chuckled, the sound ending in a moan.

“I’m close,” he said leaning over your back, his lips pressed against your shoulder.

This new angle let him hit you in all the right places, his cock brushing against your sweet spot. “Are you close?” he whispered in your ear. You shook your head. “Not yet,” you said. Hoseok reached around, his fingers finding your clit and massaging quickly. You cried out, clenching around him. You could feel the coil in your stomach tighten as Hoseok hammered into you, surely leaving bruises where his hips made contact with your backside.

“That’s it, (Y/N),” he said as he felt you tighten around him, squeezing his cock just right. “Come for me. Come on my cock like a good girl.” His words sent heat straight to your core as it tightened, threatening to spring loose at any moment and wash over you. “I’m gonna-” you said before letting out a cry as Hoseok sank his teeth into your shoulder.

Your orgasm hit you hard, heat exploding inside sending warmth rushing throughout your body. Your grip on the couch hardened, your knuckles turning white as your toes curled in bliss. Pure, raw pleasure coursed through your veins as Hoseok continued to thrust, chasing his own release as he helped you ride out yours. With a deep, guttural moan, Hoseok came inside the condom. His hips slowed until they faltered and he stayed motionless, waiting for his breath and sanity to return.

Finally, he pulled out of you and sat on the couch next to you, pulling off the condom and tying the end. He turned to look at you, a fucked out expression on his face.

“You okay?” he asked, noticing you hadn’t moved. You nodded slowly as your breathing returned to normal. “I can’t move my legs just yet,” you admitted with a sheepish grin. Hoseok smirked up at you.

“Well, you did ask me to fuck you until you couldn’t walk,” he said smugly. You swatted at him lazily and he laughed standing up and reached down, lifting you gently off the sofa. “I guess I’ll just have to carry you to the shower,” he said as he made his way to the bathroom. “I don’t think I can stand either,” you said as he flipped the light on.

“A bath it is,” he said setting you on the toilet as he started running a bath. Once it was drawn up, Hoseok lifted you from the toilet and dipped you in the water before getting in himself, settling behind your back. The two of you were silent for a moment before he finally spoke.

“So,” he said as he trailed his fingers over your skin. “Do you still think they were faking it?” he asked in your ear. You softly elbowed him. “No. I don’t,” you admitted. Hoseok smiled against your shoulder. “But one more thing,” you said turning your head to look at him. He smiled at you. “What?” he asked.

“Don’t talk about other girls anymore. You don’t need them anymore,” you said before turning your head to look away. Hoseok pressed a soft kiss to your cheek. “Fair enough,” he replied. “I just need you.” The two of you sat in the hot water, a comfortable silence filled the air before you sat up and turned to face him. “I’m still not letting you off the hook. If you don’t keep the sound down, I’m not fucking you ever again.” Hoseok grimaced and nodded. “Deal.”

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gukseuphoria · 6 years ago

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a response to fluffyjhs

Alternative title - Exposing Luna: A Receipt-Filled Thread

Disclaimer 1: I didn’t want to do this, I never wanted to make this a public affair but she has been harassing my friends and I’m DONE, officially. She’s been self-victimizing for months and obsessing and stalking my friend and I’m not having it. And now she’s “exposed” us on tumblr. Enough is enough.

Disclaimer 2: obviously, for my friends’ safety, I will be censoring the names and handles of those who do not want to be mentioned, but who still wanted their part of the story to be included. But y’all can come at me all you want.

I’ll put this under a cut to save peoples’ dashes, but PLEASE read it if you are in ANY WAY involved with Alice/fluffyjhs. Thank you.

So.

Our group of friends knew her as “Luna”, but she’s known currently as Alice, and her current blog handle is “fluffyjhs”. Just because I personally knew her during her time as Luna, I’m going to address her as so, although I doubt it is her real name.

Luna joined our network I think in mid-October 2018 along with a wave of other new members. At first, everything seemed relatively normal: she talked with other members and made friends. It should be known that one of the members of the network - Phi, @guksdimple - was taking time off of the chat for personal reasons.

The first thing that weirded me out was that Luna was acting as if she knew Phi personally. I didn’t think too much of it, I figured they were mutuals. I’m personally close with Phi and so I asked her if she wanted me to say hi to Luna for her. She then told me that she didn’t follow Luna before nor did she know her until now. (I know this sounds random but it will be important for later points.)

Minor issue. Amongst her other habits, it was weird, but not too off-putting.

(Other habits include: leaving the chat randomly only to ask to join back a little later; jumping into any conversation Hoseok-related in a retrospectively possessive manner; whining when one of her messages was ignored (in a very busy, approximately 30-person group chat).)

Luna didn’t start truly off-putting members until another member - whom I will call Chloe - came to the admins of the network (Phi, Bri @starjeon and I) to confess that she felt ignored and even looked down upon by Luna. Chloe and Luna had made contact before being members of the network and it was awkward to say the least. Chloe wanted to be friends with Luna but Luna was very cold with her. Regardless, Chloe tried to be friendly with Luna until it was obvious that it would not be reciprocated.

Here are some screenshots of conversation snippets between Chloe and Luna. While not directly rude, you can see the passive-aggressiveness present. (sorry for the weird format. Blame Chloe, dsibfsf)

(in case you can’t read it: “you really have a lot of love to show right? lol”)

(Chloe only sent 3 pictures and Luna asked her not to “spam”, despite sending MULTIPLE messages at a time in the past herself)

Until then, the admins had decided to simply keep an eye on the situation to avoid drama, as while it seemed passive-aggressive, there was no proof of her intentions, and Chloe agreed. However, this all changed when Chloe received an anon message.

I could go into a deep analysis as to how we concluded that this message was from Luna - typing habits, mostly (notice the over-excessive use of commas and run-on sentences) - but the biggest proof is possibly this message she sent before leaving the network chat, suspiciously around the same time the ask was sent.

Now I’m no detective, but these are the things Luna and this “anon” have in common: 1) the excessive comma use and run on sentences 2) calling Chloe an attention-seeker 3) the ask also parallels Luna’s earlier behaviour about her self-given superiority about being an ARMY for 4 years (”everyone saw the things you keep droping aren’t like everyone is new to the fandom”) - as opposed to Chloe’s 2 months and 4) commenting on Chloe’s eagerness and cheery attitude.

After Luna left - of her own volition and out of annoyance towards Chloe - us network admins felt the need to inform the other members on the situation because of the ask. Following this, many members soft blocked/unfollowed Luna because of this.

Luna noticed this really quickly and immediately dm’d almost every. single. member. that unfollowed her. Here are just two for length’s sake, but many members received similar messages.

This, of course, sparked a minor panic within the network. It’s like Luna was waiting for the fallout to happen, keeping an eye on her mutual status with the members of the network.

And so, as a mod of the network - and to spare Phi the drama considering her own issues - I decided to confront her on behalf of everyone. (As you can see, I’m doing the same thing now, lol.) I’ll include the most interesting parts of my own conversation with Luna. I’m known for being aggressive-aggressive when it comes to defending and protecting my friends, and it shows here. (The contact name is “(Unknown)” because Luna blocked me at the end of this conversation and eventually deleted this kkt id)

Following my conversation with her - which, as you can see, has NO MENTION of Chloe - Chloe receives messages from Luna. NO ONE has told Luna that Chloe was the one who received hate mail, or that Chloe was the one who felt harassed by her.

It’s with these messages that, in my point of view, Luna traps herself. She proves that she sent the ask and that she was PURPOSEFULLY being passive aggressive to Chloe. With that, she was officially banned from the network, and many members of the network blocked her as a precaution to avoid being harassed by her for “answers”.

It should be said that NONE of the members sent hate to, or bullied Luna. The closest thing that could be considered hate were MY messages confronting her and calling her out. She’s claiming we were bullying her but really we just unfollowed her. That’s the worst any other member had done.

Chloe was also in another network with Luna, and so Phi decided to contact the admin of this network simply to warn her that trouble might surface between those two and offered a few screenshots as context. (Chloe later left the other network because she couldn’t handle seeing Luna acting all friendly with others in there, in fear that she would use them to turn on her.)

With that, we thought that the situation was finished.

However, it wasn’t.

Luna continued to send messages to Phi overtime even AFTER she was kicked from the network. This is where my earlier passage about her weird “friendship” with Phi comes in.

Luna persistently tried to form a friendship with Phi despite Phi not really engaging with her. Phi, who was already going through personal issues at the time, did not wish to confront Luna and deal with her drama, and instead tried to slowly separate herself from her. When Luna came to her about having a panic attack, all Phi told her was to “breathe”. Not long after, Phi received these “anonymous” messages (note, once again, the comma usage).

Small occurrences continued like this, and Phi continued to ignore or give very little response to them.

However, Phi changed her mind about her separation technique when Luna sent a vaguely aggressive message about Phi’s friendship choices - essentially, shading the fact that Phi was still friends with Chloe.

I can’t find a screenshot of Phi’s response, but it went along the sentiment of “I’m friends with who I want, and if you can’t handle that, that’s your problem.” It was very dry and to the point, but in no way aggressive. She made her point: she wanted Luna to leave her alone.

With that, Phi thought the situation would be over. However, Luna still tagged her in posts, sent her loving messages that Phi didn’t particularly respond to, and overall stalked her, essentially.

The last straw was when Phi received an anon about not replying to mutuals. Due to, once again, typing habits (and her overall obsession with Phi replying to her), Phi guessed it might be Luna.

And so, after answering it, Phi decided to block that anon.

Not so surprisingly, Phi was right. It is around that time that Luna remade her blog, with the excuse that it was bugging out.

Not too long after, she sent this to Phi:

It should be noted that “some things I saw” were, in fact, Phi interacting with Chloe on her blog and tagging her in posts. It should also be noted that Luna is thanking Phi for essentially just, telling her to breathe and calm down. That’s it.

After that (which happened in November 2018), Luna did not do much, nor did she directly engage with Phi. Luna started going by Winter (and many other names). With that, we thought it was over. She moved blogs and was leaving us alone. She needed a fresh start, and we could respect that.

Of course, the admins - especially me - kept an eye on her to make sure she wouldn’t start drama or confront Chloe again (who was, and still is, emotionally distraught from Luna’s behaviour), but everything was fine. comfyhobi went through many changes and eventually became fluffyjhs, and she eventually took the name Alice. We still knew she was Luna, but nothing dramatic had happened.

We did NOT engage with her. We did NOT send her hate. We did NOT make an expose post despite all she had already done. We let her live on her blog, and I simply kept an eye on her to make sure she wouldn’t name drop us and start drama on Tumblr.

We thought we were finally in the clear, that Luna had moved on and that Phi and Chloe were safe from her harassment.

Until she came back a few weeks ago, in February 2019. She tried tagging Phi in posts again, acting like she didn’t know her and that she was a different person. And not long after, she tried applying to the network again under the name Alice and with her new blog.

One of the admins (Bri) confronted her, reminding her that she was banned from the network, but she completely denied being Luna. However, she still had the same typing habits, and we had made sure to track her well.

Some things to note: 1) tinyjhs is one of Luna’s old URLs and did eventually “deactivate”. 2) Bri never mentioned that she deactivated, simply that she was blocked from the network, yet Luna mentioned it herself. 3) the “5 year hiatus” line is exactly the same as her comments when she originally joined the network, how she had not been active on the internet in over, I think 4 years? (Sadly, I don’t have receipts for that, I didn’t think it would ever be relevant, we’re talking about 4 months ago and I can’t find them, but it is an interesting parallel). 4) she’s awfully compassionate and insightful of the feelings of someone that we accused of causing drama.

Anyways, as you can see, she threw a temper tantrum and blocked the network blog from communicating with her. With that, we hoped it was finally done. She tried to get back in, and she failed. She knew that we knew she was Luna.

But, this brings us to Luna’s open letter on her own blog a few days later.

The original post was made yesterday, WITHOUT our blogs’ URLs in the tags. After deliberating between admins, we decided not to engage and to let her have her drama, as no one was explicitly mentioned (yet), and we desperately wanted it to be over. We figured that maybe she would finally stop after maybe getting some attention from some of her mutuals, or that she would truly leave tumblr for good. (Clearly, we haven’t learned.) We didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of replying to her attack.

So why, you might ask, am I replying to it now?

TWO THINGS.

First. Because of this ask Phi received.

Second. Because she finally mentioned us directly.

Luna finally mentioned us directly, publicly on Tumblr, a place where we never wanted to take this argument. All the aspects of her post PROVE that she is not “Jacqueline” as she claimed a few days ago, but VERY CLEARLY Luna. She did this in hopes of getting other people involved, to hate on us, to ruin Phi’s reputation especially, I assume. Most of all, she did this to get the attention from Phi she so desperately wanted, and the sympathy of others along the way.

We didn’t want to “expose” her. We didn’t want to make this drama bigger than it already is. But she chose to do that herself.

And so that gives me, in my opinion, the justification to finally post this response and expose thread.

This has gone far enough. Luna is manipulative, toxic and downright psychotic. She’s obsessive, with the situation, with the network, and with Phi. She thinks she’s clever enough to move blogs and rename herself in order to sneak back into the network and do god knows what. And when we don’t give her what she wants, she brings up her many private mental illnesses, blaming us for her tw// suicidal thoughts and self harm, when we have done NOTHING but try to end this situation since November 2018. It’s February 2019, and she keeps coming back.

I have a theory that Luna desperately needs attention, which is why she kisses up to so many “big blogs” in order to try and befriend them and become a big blog herself. Many of her posts, as well as her attitude towards Phi - and towards Phi ONLY (the “biggest” blog of the network) out of all of the members of the network - seem to hint towards that. Her obsession with being rejected from the network and her neediness for every single of her messages to be acknowledged also indicate this.

REGARDLESS, while this is a post to inform the general public of the fandom (and to hopefully clear our names from her drama), it is also a callout post to Luna SPECIFICALLY.

Leave Phi alone. Leave ‘Chloe’ alone. Leave ALL OF US alone. We’re no longer tolerating your bat-shit crazy attempt at getting attention from us. We’re done.

EDIT: since Phi wrote her quick response while I was writing out this post - which you can find here - she has received many messages from people who have undergone similar treatment from Luna. Here’s a screenshot we’ve been permitted to use:

Our network is not alone. I now realize that maybe my fear of bringing this onto Tumblr has brought pain and drama to OTHER people that Luna has tried to “befriend” and eventually cause drama with. I’m sorry. I hope that you all can find relief in this thread, to know that you guys aren’t alone, too.

#things for ts #*fluffyjhs #please read it if you are in any way related to her #whether it be as co-members of a network #or as mutuals #etc

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bananajams · 5 years ago

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@a-book-dragon thanks for the tag!

Rules: tag 20 people you’d like to know better and wrangle them into answering the questions below.

Nickname: jams online or jami in real life. jami is a shortened version of my real first name, which i will not reveal online.

Gender: i mark female on official stuff (like for school) even when it’s anonymous bc i’m paranoid but truthfully i identify as gender fluid.

Star sign: scorpio >:]

Height: 5′1″

Hogwarts house: okay when i took the official pottermore test i got ravenclaw but anyone who knows me knows i can’t handle the idea of being just one thing. i think i’m a little slytherin too and maybe just a tiiiny bit hufflepuff.

Favorite animal: oh man i have a lot of favorite animals lol. i mean, i’m a biology major; i’m fascinated by so many different forms of life, but i’ll try and list just a few. i usually say dolphins when i have to pick just one bc that was probably my first favorite; my other strong favorites since childhood are frogs and giraffes. i also really like hedgehogs, snakes, coelacanths, sting rays, sharks, turtles, lizards, butterflies, beetles, crabs, and horseshoe crabs. i like a lot of marine animals as well as reptiles (either marine or terrestrial), as you can probably tell lol. i also looove shiny insects/bugs and other arthropods (don’t always have to be shiny but i’m always wowed by colorful animals). oh boy that was not “just a few” aaa

Number of blankets: at my dorm i have two since i don’t live there full-time; at home the number changes. right now it’s 2 and they’re both queen sized comforters even though my bed is twin sized, so it’s nice and heavy and warm. in winter i put a thick, fuzzy (also queen sized) blanket on top.

Where I’m from: i was born in the philippines but we moved to new york when i was really small, but we only lived there for a short time and i don’t remember almost any of that. i’ve lived most of my life in alabama.

When I started this account: due to the fact that i have essentially restarted this blog multiple times (having done just about everything throughout the years short of fully deleting it and starting a new one), the specific date i created this blog is unclear lol. however, one of my first mutuals has been my mutual for 4 years so it’s at least that old. i think i started this blog in middle school so it might be even older (6 or 7 years).

Why I started this account: despite having undergone numerous renovations throughout its lifetime, this blog is my main account and i’m pretty sure i originally started it bc i had just gotten into the anime haikyuu!! and i wanted to see fanart for it. (a lot of stuff happened in between but i made a separate fandom blog and now this is just my personal account for things that don’t really revolve around fandom stuff.)

i’m not gonna tag 20 people bc that kind of thing gives me stress but i will tag @nyadami, @samioli, @10-dutchies-12-bicycles, and @alamari-chibi. if tag games stress you out, don’t feel obligated, but if you like them, have fun!

#tumblr tag game

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yeswevegotavideo · 5 years ago

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Hi, my name’s (basically) Mercury

So @thegrandwilde asked me a question about my internet name, and I realized I’ve never actually explained the entire story of my name in context. Then I realized that, with context, it was an extremely long story, so I thought, “Why not make a whole post about it?”

It is a long post. I don’t know if it’s an interesting post. It’s interesting to me, at any rate.

If you’re curious, or if you have any interest in etymology, especially the etymology of names, and of the reasons people name themselves, then read on, because I’m about to give a comprehensive account of why I’ve been Mercury on the internet for so long that, for quite a while now, I’ve honestly thought of it as my “real” name in a lot of ways.

So, I was a goth in 8th grade, a grunge-goth really. I was in 8th grade in '95/'96 so like...I basically didn't have a choice in being FUCKING OBSESSED with grunge and alternative rock in general. And I was really into Courtney Love’s whole aesthetic at the time, so I sometimes did your standard, Riot Grrrl-style babydoll dresses with combat boots look, but also like, cut the hem off of my black hamper bag and wore it over a black slip and called it a skirt because fuck you, society, that’s why.

But the main reason I was a goth in 8th grade, is because in 8th grade, I had an enormous crush on Tara.

Tara was a goth girl who made friends with me just before summer break between 7th & 8th grade. We spent the summer hanging out, and she was kind, and friendly, and beautiful, and very protective of her friends (and especially of me) and within a month, I had a gargantuan crush on her.

I had known I was bi since I was 11, when I basically came out to my mom (who, despite being kinda’ the worst in a lot of ways, was extremely liberal, and very accepting of my and my brother’s queerness, and of the gay community as a whole. Seriously, my mom was so liberal that my form of teenage political rebellion was being a centrist. God I’m glad I grew out of that shit. Anyway). But Western culture being what it was/is, I had little-to-no understanding of how to talk to, flirt with, or otherwise romantically interact with, girls I liked. That had not changed by 8th grade (honestly, in the ways that count, it has not changed, period). So I spent all of 8th grade pining over Tara, and Tara was the de-facto leader of the rocker girl clique (in the Sacramento suburbs in the 90s, you were either a “rocker” or a “rapper", and rockers did not associate with rappers and vice-versa, because the capital of California, one of the most (and for a few years running, THE most) diverse and integrated cities in the United States, was, and is, a racist, conservative hellscape, and I had way too much internalized racism to even look at rap music so...), and I was in her favor and under her protection. (Looking back, I’m fairly sure Tara had a crush on me too, so it really was your standard wlw standing around confusedly pining for each other in silence sort of situation.)

Which is why, when I came to school after missing a day, and she informed me that, “we all picked nicknames yesterday and there’s only two left, you can either be Mercury or Star,” I was not offended by her providing me with a list of approved nicknames that had been essentially picked clean already. I was, in fact, rather honored that I got to be one of the people who got a nickname at all. I associated Star with the character from the movie The Lost Boys, who I (rather misogynistically, I think now) found to be incredibly irritating.

So I chose Mercury.

That’s not the end of the story. That’s the beginning of the story. So like, buckle up lol.

So to rewind a bit, in 7th grade, I discovered Paganism.

I was ostensibly raised atheist, but with an understanding that my spiritual beliefs were my own goddamn business and my parents weren’t going to make that kind of a decision for me (again, SUPER LIBERAL parents. To be clear, also SUPER ABUSIVE parents, but like, SUPER LIBERAL about it. Which like, growing up being taught that emotional expression is valid and anti-authoritarianism is cool, but also being punished for being a person with independent thoughts and emotions is...a whole other story. ANYWAY).

I tried on Christianity for like, half a second, went to church with friends a couple of times, and 7-8 year old me was immediately like, “this is fuckin’ stupid, why did God kill Jesus, he’s God, he’s fucking omnipotent, he could just choose to forgive everybody at like, any time, nobody had to die, what a dick” and decided it wasn’t for me.

But I feel an inherent need for spirituality in-general, a kinship to it. When I played in the mud as a child, I was 100% one of the little girls mixing mud & grass & mint leaves with hose water and “making potions”. For hours.

And when I met a girl in 7th grade whose entire family was Wiccan, I was fascinated. So, it being 1994, I picked up a couple Silver Ravenwolf books and some Scott Cunningham and got to studying. (I know. I KNOW!!! I was 12, there was barely an Internet, it’s hyper-cringy, I get it, don’t judge me.)

The Wiccanism didn’t stick, but the Paganism sure did. (My “official” spiritual descriptor is, “Eclectic, non-denominational kitchen witch”. I worship no gods, but am happy to work with those who don’t require sustained devotion, and I’m pretty into fae lore. There’s also a bunch of personal spiritual belief stuff involving conceptual quantum and molecular physics, like, String Theory and the Multiverse Theory, and anthropological concepts about the power of language and story in human development involved, too. And I’m also very much a skeptic, it’s complicated. “I am vast. I contain multitudes.")

And around Freshman year, while still figuring stuff out, I came upon the concept of having a magickal name. A secret name that one shares only with the gods or spirits when doing magickal work. And I already had Mercury, a name which was granted and then almost immediately forgotten, because we were 13 and had no fucking attention spans, and Tara moved away, and most of us didn’t even talk to each other anymore and...the name was, therefore, kinda’ perfect.

So I chose it for my ritual work. And then I noticed some weird coincidences. Like, I had a pagan calendar that listed stuff like moon phases and planetary motion, and it associated different planets with different days of the week. And the planet Mercury was associated with Wednesday, which has been my favorite day of the week for most of my life (oh wait, do you...not have a favorite day of the week? Is that just me? Anyway). And when I was in maybe 5th grade, I read this book that was pretty stupid and I didn’t even really enjoy, and I don’t even remember the title of, but it repeatedly used a symbol for “the mark of the devil” in its dumb ghost mystery or whatever, and as much as I disliked the book, I was instantly attracted to the symbol. It looked like this: ☿ I would draw it on things all the time, it was one of my go-to doodles. Guess what the alchemical symbol for Mercury turned out to be?

So in 1999, when I got a computer that came with an Earthlink subscription, and I was really, truly introduced to the Internet for the first time (and not just like, AOL), there was really only one online handle I could see myself using. After all, I was anonymous, it wasn’t “really” telling people my magickal name if they didn’t know who I was, right? (And honestly, by that point I’d kind-of left that concept behind.) So I used Mercury. And whenever that was already taken, I’d use a combination of those nickname choices from 8th grade: Mercury Star, or Mercurystar. And that eventually evolved into Mercury Starlight. And that’s me! :D

It became my fanfic pseudonym (like almost immediately, because I discovered fanfic in the year 2000 and never looked back), and then on message boards or in forums, people would just, like, call me that. And over time, I really started to like it.

I’ve never liked or felt particularly connected to my given, IRL name. And I actually have a bunch of identity and dissociation issues tied up in it (whole other story, yet again), so like, sometimes hearing people use it makes me really fucking uncomfortable. Like, that’s not really a strong enough word for it. Like, I’ve honestly sometimes wondered if name dysphoria is a thing, like similar to gender dysphoria but like, for your name. I mean, though we most frequently associate the two, dysphoria isn’t actually unique to gender identity. It’s a somewhat generic psychological concept, actually. And names are pretty innately tied to identity and sense of self, and having a name that feels so incongruous with who I am that sometimes when people use it I literally feel physically ill, or depressed, or panicky, or get like, instantly turned off if somebody uses it during sex, like...honestly, that certainly sounds like a type of dysphoria to me. I don’t know.

But every single time somebody online calls me Mercury, I just...I absolutely love it. I light up. I feel seen. It’s...it’s just my fucking name, now, man.

Buuut, I don’t really have the guts to legally change it IRL. Not yet, anyway. We’ll see what the future holds. I don’t know, I think about even just casually asking friends to call me Mercury and just...cringe right the fuck up. It’s scary. What if people think it’s stupid? That I’m being silly? Lose respect for me? I know people change their names all the time, but like, that’s them. But for me? Scaaaary.

Anyway, that’s the story, and if you made it all the way to the end, like, thank you for listening?

#personal #my name #that was a really long way to say 'because a friend gave it to me and it stuck'

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freshginandtonic · 5 years ago

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State of Play (and the state of Australia’s press freedom)

This week I got to thinking (insert Carrie Bradshaw voice here) about one of my favourite television shows, ‘State of Play’. I try to rewatch it every three to six months, scheduling it in like a dental check-up. There is in fact a big screen adaptation of the same story, starring a then-hot Ben Affleck and Eternal Queen of the World Rachel McAdams that came out in 2009, but I’m here to talk about the BBC originale.

I’ll skimp on the plot bc it twists and turns more than my stomach after I’ve had full dairy milk, but here’s the main thrust: a young kid gets shot on the streets of London the same morning as a young political researcher falls (or gets pushed hmmm) under a train. They’re connected by a single phone call. The researcher is discovered to be having an affair with her boss, who happens to be an MP. A conspiracy is introduced that may involve all of them, the British govt and a shady oil company. Enter stage left the scruffy maverick journalist and his team trying to find the truth. Have I whetted your appetite yet?

Now here’s the reason this particular series was floating around in my subconscious. On Monday multiple Australian newspapers ran redacted articles and documents on their covers, as part of a campaign called Your Right To Know. They were all heavily edited and asking the same question: ’When government keeps the truth from you, what are they covering up?’, as well as my personal favourite ‘News restrictions. Secrecy. Jail terms for journalists and whistleblowers. It couldn’t happen in Australia? It’s happening now.’ This exact same thing happens in State of Play. Now this isn’t by any means a political website (lol, blog) and I’m not here to make it one, but hopefully we can all agree that press suppression is Bad, and holding the govt to account, plus questioning their decision-making and actions is Good. We all know the govt (and practically all govts around the world) do some Questionable Things. Things that we don’t, and probably won’t know about for a number of years, if ever. Despite whatever political beliefs you subscribe to, when it comes to govt cover ups I dare u to try watching the masterpiece of cinema ‘Enemy of the State’ and come out of it not being slightly paranoid and mad about the unknown powers our or any political authority may have.

But getting back to the current issue. Since 2002, there have been 75 pieces of federal legislation have been introduced, intending to protect the public from national security threats but their purpose is essentially to stop the public from knowing what the Federal Government is doing. Journalists are being targeted, raided and silenced. We all know press suppression always starts before the really bad shit hits the fan.

To cap off the dystopian nightmare our country is falling into, new research has revealed 87 per cent of Australians value a free and transparent democracy only 37 per cent believe this is happening in Australia today. Love!! this!! for!! us!!

The issue of press freedom is constantly raised in State of Play, over 15 years ago. Fortunately British reporters are more protected than they are here in Australia where they have no constitutional safeguards, while in the UK journos are protected under the Human Rights Act. They're not perfect but it’s a more than our own country has done.

A scene plays out in State of Play which is what I’m sure (I mean, hopefully) went down in the newsrooms of the Sydney Morning Herald, Daily Telegraph and countless others earlier this week - an editor runs a redacted front page calling attention to a huge issue - in this case Bill Nighy’s superb Cameron Foster is targeting the UK govt over their dealings w an oil company. He runs the headline ‘The story we can’t show you. Because Westminster have gagged us. Ask U-Ex Oil why. Ask your MP why.’ It’s a deafening threat to their foes in Westminster and basically a declaration: whether you try to bury the story or not, there’s no way it’s not getting out. Later we see the final story being printed and delivered, uncensored to readers - a victory for the fourth estate’s triumph over government might.

The show was written by Paul Abbott, who has his own fascinating and tragic backstory and directed by the man who helmed the last four Harry Potter films (and two spin-offs), David Yates.

Beyond the plot, the series tackles issues of class, race (a black kid is killed in the opening scene and subsequently profiled as a drug user despite there being no evidence to support the theory), and adultery, (don’t get me goddamn started on this sub-plot) while examining the personal repercussions that come with reporters - or anyone finding a story and sticking to their guns on it. That’s not to mention characters becoming completely desensitised to the death and destruction that follow them. One of the most fascinating exchanges in the series is between a police officer and a reporter. One refers to the events around them as a case, with real lives and people involved, the other a story that has a deadline, damn the consequences. It’s clear then the price for exposing the worst of humanity is to lose some of your own.

John Simm is our leading man, the aforementioned scruffy journalist Cal McAffrey. Boardwalk Empire’s - or Nanny McPhee and Trainspotting depending on your vintage - Kelly McDonald is his fellow lead reporter Della, seemingly the everywoman among the occasional madness, and she has a special place in my heart due to her large number of denim jackets.

I’d like to also acknowledge to the excellent supporting characters beginning w James McAvoy who gives a spectacularly smarmy yet hot - despite a terrible wardrobe - performance as a journo working for a rival paper who then joins the team. Amelia Bullmore and Benedict Wong round out the main gang of reporters as Westminster correspondents Helen Prager and Pete Cheng. David Morrissey plays the perpetually sad and wounded politician Stephen Collins who is an absolute puzzle. Special mention to Bill Nighy as their editor-in-chief who says things like ‘I’m the sceptical one, so don’t push it Tonto’ and ‘bring us a bottle of red and four glasses’ when confronted with a piece of incriminating evidence. Another shining star is Liz the newsroom intern who is too good to describe here but is possibly the best part of the entire series and gets away with the best lines (excluding ‘ole Bill).

I kept an article that talked about State of Play and other smilier films and series on my cork board for about seven years, till the paper got yellowed and fragile. It described the tactics the journos in State of Play use as ’..Like a road map of the horrors of modern British journalism: phone-tapping, withholding evidence, more lies than the News of the World. And these are done by the good guys; the people they go after are murderers.’

In short: I’m never going to be able to describe all the ways I love this show, but for now I say: watch it. Watch it for six hours of absolutely cracking television, the character arcs, the terrible 2003 fashion choices, for Bill Nighy, for young James McAvoy. But most of all watch it bc you’ll see what’s going on right now reflected in every action and every scene. When characters are arrested in their newsroom, intimidated by both politician and policemen alike think of what’s going on rn in our dang country. When Cal protects his anonymous sources remember that Australia’s shield laws are still quite limited the it comes to preventing journalists from being charged over naming confidential informants. And most of all when the team are pressured into dropping the story by the higher-ups, think of the blacked out papers we all picked up on Monday morning when our press agencies decided to ask ‘what are they covering up?’

As Cameron says ‘Big day. Big story. Big hitters.’

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koszmar-zycie · 5 years ago

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Yes, she's a savior for committing genocide and plunging a world into a war that very few wanted. Sylvanas has always wanted one thing, whatever is best for herself. Now /your/ lore, pleb

lol Anonymous. Surprise, surprise.

First, genocide is inapplicable. She attacked military targets, with no intent of species eradication. It wasn’t “to kill the Night Elves”. It was to capture, and after Saurfang’s failure to complete his own plan, changed into “raze the city”. The Alliance had advance warning, but didn’t evacuate until the tree was literally under siege and on fire. That strikes me as an arrogant and failed preparation by the Alliance. If I heard the Horde was attacking my city, I’d evacuate all civilians. - So no, there was no genocide, actually. However, the Alliance’s previous attempt to eradicate the Blood Elves (including Jaina’s rash decision based on the actions of a rogue cell) actually constitutes a better example of genocide.

Secondly, we do know that the Alliance was fully ready and willing to extend and complete the faction war, despite their uneasy peace after Legion’s end. Again, you can see this in the books, where Genn Greymane (yes, I like his character despite my issues with him) is specifically outlined as being driven solely by darkness. He’s clearly and unapologetically laid out as a racist and warmonger that rivals anything Sylvanas has ever done or thought. In fact, in Before the Storm, Greymane was seeking to reignite the war against the Horde BEFORE Sylvanas wanted to.

So check this out. There’s a thing called books, right? And people called authors write them so that they can either record, inform, explain, or tell stories. Among other things.

And Blizzard, long long ago, decided to expand on their stories from the games, with additional information and entertainment based in the format of books, audio stories, comics, and more.

If you were to read these, then you’d see that - as I explained, as well as a number of youtubers - Sylvanas is essentially a perpetual victim. She has essentially turbo PTSD on a scale nobody IRL can even comprehend. Which means, yes. She’s tortured and lashes out. But she’s not ‘evil’. And yet, despite this, she prioritizes her people first, Horde second, and the world third.

As I mentioned - as everyone else has as well - she has zero qualms about being cold, ruthless, and vicious. If you’re here to try to argue that I’m saying she’s nice, then you’re foolish and fighting a debate that’s not even going on. Because I never said such a thing.

What is absolutely clear is that out of the three sisters, she was canonically the last of the three to take hostile action against the others. It’s also clear that she has done everything regarding the BFA incidents in order to unite the Horde and Alliance both. Pay attention, and you’ll find that everything has made everyone stronger. Both as a whole and individually.

No, it wasn’t pleasant. Yes, many people died. But as that video said at the end, if you don’t want death in a series called Warcraft, then maybe you should leave the series be? It will only really stop when they decide to finish the series as a whole.

Now, additionally, we’re given frequent examples of her brutality being used in order to establish unity and commitment. More often than not - and pretty much the deciding factor in MANY, if not most or even all major conflicts - a lack of commitment, conviction, or mental willpower has been the key to the rise and fall of evil and other destructive forces.

All of Sylvanas’ action have brought the Horde together, brought the Alliance together, and now there’s ANOTHER bridge between the Horde and Alliance as seen by Thrall and Jaina’s reunion.

We know that if Sylvanas wanted Baine or Saurfang or someone like that dead - they would be.

Because for as warmongering and vicious as Sylvanas is; you only have to pay attention to the written, audio, and in-game lore to see that she’s forging the armies of Azeroth into one that will be capable of dealing with things such as Azshara, N’zoth, and other equally insanely scaled threats.

For most, there is no pleasing them. They just refuse to admit that they were wrong, even if it’s only a little. And there’s nothing wrong with that. I (albeit half thought out as it was before the first patch lol) had conceived a theory regarding Bwonsamdi and Sylvanas, which turned out to be totally off. And you know what? I admit that it wasn’t true. There’s a lot of canon lore than got flushed out after the fact, and I subsequently filled in the gaps to realign my view on the (literally) World of Warcraft.

I’m not saying Sylvanas is a savior. I’m saying she’s fighting to forge Azeroth for a bigger threat.

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trans-girl-sora · 6 years ago

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Hey, tell me more about those kickass fan kids!

Ah yes, an anonymous ask that absolutely wasn’t sent by me at myself for an excuse to talk about the fan kids I came up with. Perfect.

SO!

Sorikai have two kids: their daughter Hama (Japanese for “shore” - i.e., where the land meets the sea) and Jack (Sora named Jack and refused to tell anyone where he came up with the name, but he likes to call him “Cap’n” sometimes).

Jack is Sora and Kairi’s biological child, and Kairi delivered him herself when the trio was about 21. Hama is Riku and Kairi’s biological child, conceived through IVF, and Naminé actually delivered her. They were expected to be delivered within the same month, but they actually ended up being born on the same day! What are the odds lmao

Kelley is Naminé’s adopted daughter! For a while Naminé sort of dated around, but after helping Sorikai have Hama, she decided that she was done with romance and relationships and decided she just wanted to have her own family, so about two years after Jack and Hama were born, she adopted Kelley, who’s a year older than the twins.

Callisto is the IsaLea baby, and she’s MUCH older than the others. They adopted her essentially RIGHT after everything settled down, and kinda raised her alongside raising Xion and Roxas, so they view her almost as a younger sister. (Fun fact: She was named Aidan up until she was 10! :o That’s a scene I’m gonna write at some point lol)

Oleander is the Rokushi baby. They had him when they were about 19 - Callisto was maybe 4 - because damn it, they’re adults now and they want a baby too! “Lea’s probably about the same maturity level as us anyway, so we’ll be at least just as good at parenting as him, if not better” (they were :p). Despite the best efforts from both parents, Ollie is an incredibly quiet and timid boy, who tries not to start trouble or let his friends get into any danger. Kelley - who’s a year younger than him - helps to get him out of the house and actually DO stuff, and they’re good at balancing each other.

Hoo boy uhhhh. So.

The Terraqua baby Valentina (though that changes to Vincent when he’s 15). Vincent’s actually a fairly new baby, two years younger than the Sorikai twins, and second youngest of the bunch. When Vincent was born, Terra and Aqua were FLOORED - the mix of brown and blue hair making it almost black, his brown eyes and her blue somehow mixing to an almost yellow-green hazel. For years they worried, raising him with as much love as they could, and he turned out… just fine. More than fine, actually, he’s sort of a brown-noser. A child of TERRA and AQUA means this Vincent views rules and laws as unbreakable bonds, and he’s kind of a narc honestly lmao. The others rope him into doing dangerous and stupid shit and he’s not HAPPY about it, but he figures if they’re breaking the rules he’d better be there to protect them and make sure they don’t get hurt.

Last is an OC x canon baby because I can’t control myself and also my friend Rox made me lmfao. (If you don’t know who Seren is go check out my Stellar Wind series on AO3) So Ventus and his partner Seren have a child named Astra! She’s the youngest of the group, 3 years younger than the Hama and Jack and NINE years younger than Callisto. She’s definitely got some of Ven’s seriousness, and despite being the youngest still oftentimes finds herself leading the pack. While she has some of Ven’s seriousness, she has a LOT of Seren’s goofiness and really just is a big dork like all the time. She likes to play pranks and tease the other kids. She’s definitely an “I’ll follow the rules unless they’re stupid” kind of girl.

And that’s them! The “Seven New Lights” fdjsakldasfjds. Part of me wants to make 13 Organization fankids but thankfully I only MOSTLY hate myself.

I’m hoping to make my friend draw at least Hama and Jack but we will see……

Shoutout to me for sending myself that good anon so I could ramble on about these dumb fankids, I’m the real MVP 💋

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artswaps · 6 years ago

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I don't ship kallurance but I LOVE being nosy about other people's projects. Whatchu got in the works 👀

I’m really mad cos I tried writing a long-ass response to this twice already!!! But my browser crashed the first time and then windows hit me with a surprise update the second lol. I had torewrite it so I’m sorry for the late reply :(

Kinda long so I put it under a cut:

Here’s an old summary for the superhero au fic (Title is almost definitely gonna change):

tbh I’m not greatat writing romance and I don’t find it particularly fun to write?? So more like kallurance-leaning slightly-shippy gen but w/ever not important OKAY SO first the backstory and oh boy it’s very convoluted and doesn’t make much sense right now so strap in:

I was thinking the story would be set in acyperpunk-style AU, wherein Voltron is a team of underground heroes trying totake down the Galra- a sinister corporation who have essentially taken oppressive controlof the city through widespread use of their technology.

Back when the GalraCorporation were just coming into power, team Voltron was first employed byAltea Industries- Galra’s rival company- as a heroic task-force charged withprotecting the citizens of the city. Before the story begins an “accident”happens at Altea Industries (obviously a deliberate attack organised byGalra) that left the founder of the company dead and his daughter Allura, heirto Altea industries and member of the Voltron force, in a coma she’s yet towake up from. This is two years before the story begins.

For a short time afterthe incident, the four remaining members of Voltron (Keith, Lance, Pidge and Hunk) tried to keep the teamtogether and continue their work as vigilante heroes. They officially split upafter Keith leaves the group to look for his best-friend-slash-psuedo-brother Shiro, who went missing and isbelieved to have been taken by the Galra. Keith’s decision to leave caused anargument between him and Lance, which led to a rift in the team and the othermembers drifting away for their own reasons.

Keith was captured by theGalra in his attempts to find Shiro, and has spent a year imprisoned and subjectedto the torture of having his powers being experimented on. It’s revealed at somepoint that Keith let himself be captured deliberately so he could look forShiro on the inside- while he was there he discovered that Shiro has beenbrainwashed by the Galra and is working as one of their law enforcers. He doesn’t recognise Keith at all, and Keith realises that without Shiro’s help he’s stuck as the Galra’s prisoner.

After the other three split, Lance is left as the soleactive member of Voltron, and has spent the two years prior to the start of thestory working to undermine the Galra and protect the city as much as he’s able,turning himself into a wanted fugitive in the process and living isolated inhiding. He’s the only one still in contact with Coran, who is protecting Allura while she’s in a coma, and they both spend the years watching over her and never losing hope that she’ll wake up.

I had some complicated plot stuff planned where Altea, before it was attacked, was in the middle of producing a piece of super-tech that would allow them to take down the Galra and restore freedom to the city. The tech shared the name “Voltron” with their team of heroes, and worked as a power-augmentation device that would allow the team to mentally connect with one another and boost their powers. The attack on Altea industries doubled as an attempt by the Galra to steal it, but somehow when she was caught in the firefight Allura used her astral projection ability to merge her consciousness with the Voltron device. The real reason she won’t wake up in present-day is that she’s still mentally connected to Voltron, which is locked away deep in a Galra facility, miles away.

So that’s where everyone’s at! The story revolves around Lance trying to resurrect team Voltron- finding and reconnecting with his old teammates and convincing them to take another shot at the Galra- while also dealing with everyone’s separate trauma and the fact that poor Shiro is still mind-controlled and basically acting as the main villain for the entire first act.

The story begins withPidge contacting Lance for the first time since Voltron’s disbandment, claimingthat she’s been sent information from an anonymous source containing Keith’swhereabouts, and instructions on how to break him out.

Pidge and Hunk reluctantly agree to team up once again for the sake of rescuing Keith, and they break into the Galra research facility he’s being held in.

During his time as a prisoner Keith learnt that Voltron is being kept in the same facility as him and the Galra are running tests on in. Mid break-out he convinces the others to find and retrieve it.

They rescue Keith, and when they reconvene at Coran’s hideout and bring the device within her range, Allura manages to separate her consciousness from it and finally wakes up. Yay! Everyone is confused and horrified by this revelation!! Allura, you’ve been a brain-ghost infused with a piece of stolen technology this whole time?? And the Galra have been messing with Voltron without realising you were hitching a ride?? That’s gotta have consequences, right??

Probably. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

AND NOW THE SUPERPOWERS:because that’s the most fun part of superhero aus obviously

I wanted to try and be abit more creative with the powers and stay away fromelemental/bending type ones lol. The only one I’m pretty set on is Allura, the others’ powers are things I’m still working out and would love some help with if anyone has any cool ideas! I’m totally okay with everyone having more than one superpower. Here’s what I’ve got so far:

Allura:

One of the world’s most powerfultelepaths/psychics. Can communicate telepathically, “astral project” herconsciousness to other locations within a certain perimeter, and read minds.

Perhaps has some of her VLD-canon Altean powers eg. can communicate withanimals.

She can also manipulate other people’s thoughts and perceptions to createillusions. Can’t physically shapeshift but can create the illusion that she looks different.

As well as abilitiesof the mind, she has a strong connection with spirit/essence; eg. can senseother’s whereabouts or tell when they’re being influenced by an externalsource. Cannot heal physical injuries but has some sway over ailments of thespirit and mind.

Power augmentation through a conduit: Being connected to Voltron for so long merged her essence with it, so now she can wield it as a conduit to boost people’s power, or like,,, direct and control Voltron’s innate power-boosting abilities at will via her telepathy (tbh I’m bullshitting a bit here while I throw ideas around lol)

Keith:

If anyone in this AU is gonna have element-based powers it’sgonna be Keith- either he has fire affinity (can create and control fire +heat) or I could ramp up the angst and have him go full-on Jean Grey Phoenixmode ehehehe.

The other main idea I had was power negation- upon physical contact he can cancel other people’spowers out. This would be interesting if it’s something he doesn’t havefull control over, and I reckon it’s something the Galra would take a lot ofinterest in using to their own advantage- would also be an interesting oppositeto Allura’s power augmentation ability.

The other things I had listed aspossibilities for Keith are all endurance/enhancement-based powers eg. Enhancedspeed, dexterity and agility, night vision, regenerative/accelerated healingetc. All of these could be innate or they could be powers given to him by theGalra in an attempt to turn him into a weapon like they did Shiro.

Lance:

Also not settledon anything for Lance but I did want him in part to have more compulsion andcharisma-based powers that fit his more sociable personality. He hascharmspeaking, a hypnotic ability that lets him influence the thoughts and actionsof the person he’s talking to. Even when he’s not using the ability he has away with persuasion.

I also like the idea of him having omniligualism (thepower to speak all languages) or a similar variant that allows him to be easilyunderstood by and communicate with anyone despite language barriers.

I had an earlier ideathat everyone’s powers, where applicable, would be based on their original lion’spowers in vld canon? I’ve mostly scrapped that at this point but I do stilllike the idea of Lance having a sort of echolocation type of thing- maybe morelike he can feel the vibrations of structures around him and instantly puttogether a mental-map of the area. If he knocks against the outside wall of abuilding then he can feel out the layout of the interior, along those lines.Think Toph Beifong.

I also wanna give him low-level telekinesis because I think he’d had fun with that lol.

Shiro:

I actually likethe idea of Shiro not having any powers originally; the Galra imbued him withsome abilities through his prosthetic arm that he wasn’t born with. The worst one isthe power to manipulate and deconstruct organic matter; the Galra intended forhim to use it to destroy and kill, but I had a thought I liked a lot where Shiro takesownership of it after they save him from the brainwashing, and he eventuallylearns to use it to heal and becomes the team’s go-to doctor.

I might scrap the idea ofhim not originally having any powers, depends if I can come up with anything.Maybe I can go back to my they-have-their-og-lion’s-powers idea and give himteleportation, and he eventually learns how to do it mentally and can astralproject.

Okay actually NightCrawler is my favourite superhero and I’m gonna fuckin let Shiro nightcrawl,fight me.

Pidge:

Technopathy,obviously!!! She can do pretty much anything with technology, and I wasthinking that similar to VLD canon where Pidge adds her own modifications to herlion to give it new powers, in this AU she makes a lot of devices of her ownthrough her technopathy that give her access to a lot of manufactured superpowers eg. Invisibility/cloaking,electricity manipulation, some other cool stuff idk yet.

She also has eideticmemory and low-level telekinesis which she mostly just uses to help herretrieve objects in her lab when she’s hyperfocused and doesn’t wanna get up.

Hunk:

Hunk is an empath, which makes him goodat intelligence gathering because he can detect when people are lying throughtheir emotions.

Also had animation/”life spark” down as a possibility, which isthe ability to bring inanimate objects temporarily to life; his creationsfollow his directions but their sentience levels are very low and they have noemotional intelligence. E.g he could hypothetically create an army out ofshopping mall dummies to fight for him, which probably wouldn’t do much physical damagebut would work as a good distraction while he hightails it outta there. Alsowould be a very good intimidation tactic cos that would be a terrifying sightahaha

Idk I don’t have a lot ofother good ideas for Hunk someone help me

Coran:

Enhanced memory, though not photographic or near-infalliable like Pidge’s is, and he’s kinda useless with it (mostly just usesit to subject people to long-winded anecdotes about his crazy life)

Omnilingualism. Thinks this makes him a gooddiplomat but historically it’s just gotten him into trouble with more people.

He’s spent the entire time since Voltron’sdisbandment guarding Allura while she’s asleep, protecting her from assassinationattempts, so it’d be cool if he had some other kind of power that allowed himto do this easily? Not anything flashy, an ability that a lot of people wouldunderestimate or dismiss as harmless, but something that’s let him keep themboth safe while she’s so vulnerable.

AND THAT’S ALL I’VE GOT FOR NOW I hope it sounds interesting??? It’s kinda a complicated mess atm but I have fun thinking about this AU and I’d like to do something with it soon.

It’d be a mess of cheesy sci-fi drama and angst and found family so like,,, all good things. Thank you for asking about it I love to rant about my projects lmao

#post #words #wip #superhero au #voltron #glow--squid #asks

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lightsandlostbells · 6 years ago

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Skam Italia season 2, episode 1 reaction

Hello, how’s everybody doing? We survived the first week of a S3 remake. I wrote a little (a lot) about it.

Just to be clear: I completely understand if people just want to hang on and enjoy the ride because it’s S3 again, we love it, it’s an important story for many people! But so far there are aspects of Skam Italia S2 that I am positive about, and there are areas where I have criticisms. Don’t read if you don’t want to hear some comments that are not 100% enthusiasm. For real, I’m not trying to be a buzz kill, like I’m fine with posting these to crickets, lmao, because it’s a fun exercise for me to analyze the remakes even if I’m essentially talking to myself.

Thank you so much to everyone translating this show! Imagine if no one was translating this season. The fandom would lose its goddamn mind. You are literally saving the planet from destruction, thank you for your service.

At the risk of sounding pretentious, I’m going to put additional disclaimers here, because people have strong feelings about Skam S3, and people also have strong feelings about Skam Italia, and there is already drama when those feelings bump up against each other:

The reason why I started doing reactions to the remakes was to compare the versions of Skam and analyze what worked and what didn’t in the adaptation process. This was a clever change to fit this culture, this was awkward and didn’t work, etc. While I do want to judge S2 of Skam Italia on its own merits, I’m not going to leave the original series out of it and look at this season as something that exists in a Skamless void, because that’s not my aim with these recaps. So if you are really not interested in comparisons to the original show (positive, negative, or neutral) then perhaps don’t read further.

I’m also taking into account this is a different culture than the original show and noting how that might affect this story, and that it’s a big deal to have an LGBT Italian lead in a series and Italian fans are very excited. So I’m keeping that in mind! But I also think that, should Skam Italia bungle something, it’s okay to call it out, it doesn’t get a free pass. We criticized parts of the original series while praising it where it succeeded. Sana’s season, for example, is extremely progressive as a concept (a Muslim girl lead is extremely rare) but had numerous aspects where it stumbled, and as a fandom there was no shortage of criticism. This goes for both the social justice and educational aspects of Skam as well as writing, directing, acting, and other basic storytelling stuff.

Okay? Okay.

Episode 1

Clip 1 - GET OUT OF THE FUCKING TUB, LOSERS

Right away, I loved the voicemails. They sound like real accounts of homophobia, and I don’t know if these are actors recreating them or real people sharing their own experiences, but it was a powerful intro to the season.

I also like zooming in over the city while these voicemails played, over all these dark apartment buildings, because it felt like those voices could be coming from anywhere. They were anonymous. Your neighbor could be gay, the woman who lives downstairs could be a lesbian, and you might never know because they’re in the closet. You might never know how much they’d suffered due to homophobia. But they’re also everywhere. Despite their treatment in society, LGBT people aren’t “the other” but can be anyone you know. That’s why it zooms into the party, to link these anonymous voices to a face that we we do know.

I saw some people suggesting that maybe these have to do with Martino’s involvement in the radio station, and that this will be some part of a project that he does, and while I think it’d be awesome if the radio station came into play with his personal development, I’m ehhhhh about these turning out to be part of Martino’s project all along because it doesn’t seem like it goes with the real time format, and IDK, it seems too literal. But I’d be OK with it these were more of a thematic device and Martino has a literal confession along these lines later on.

Rainbow logo 🌈🌈🌈

...who’s that blue-haired girl?

I feel like Edoardo being immediately on screen was to reassure any OG Skam viewers and Incantava fans who hadn’t yet gotten the message that EDOARDO IS DEFINITELY NOT GOING ANYWHERE THIS SEASON DO NOT PANIC.

Silvia is watching some girls dance and for a hot second I hoped they were finally hinting at the lesbian Vilde story we deserve, but it seems like she is watching them because of their slim figures, because she reconsiders the piece of cake she was going to eat. Silvia, no.

Silvia is very upset about the hotties at the party and Sana says there only would have been four people there and reassures her that she’s beautiful, awwww. But Silvia is upset about some Argentinean girl, who I assume is an apex hottie that she fears will outshine her, perhaps?

Silvia waves at Edoardo, who ignores her. You know, Edoardo’s apology to Silvia would feel more genuine if he acted like a baseline decent human being toward her instead of refraining from basic politeness because OH NO he has to shake her off his back (except when he can exploit her interest for his own gain).

It’s Italian Eskild! He says that Edoardo’s hair is indeed shit, suggesting Eleonora has told him all about it (something for the Incantava shippers) and I mean, I support him giving Silvia a boost, and I support any dragging of Edoardo, except Edoardo’s hair is like the one thing about him that is not shit.

He takes Silvia to dance and comments about checking her boobs to see if she is a virgin, so this is filling in for S2’s “It’s Britney bitch” moment. I guess they’re going to incorporate some Skam S2 material into this season in order to accommodate for the switch in storylines.

Hey, you know what I could have strongly done without? Filippo grabbing Silvia’s tit out of nowhere. There’s sometimes a tendency for gay men to grope women and get away with it because it’s obviously not sexual, so what’s the problem? Except the problem is that men, no matter what their sexuality, feel like they have unfettered access to women’s bodies. I’m not saying HE’S CANCELED or anything, but it irritated me that they threw in such a small moment that wasn’t needed, especially because this is our introduction to this character. Thanks, I want casual groping to be my initial impression of this guy. (Just to be clear, this dialogue happens in the original, but there is no unauthorized tit-grabbing from Eskild.)

And the fact that this moment went so unremarked upon is a sign of how normalized this behavior is, frankly. But they played it off as a funny moment so it’s okay!! Lol Filippo, you’re supposed to be gay!!!

Incantava shippers get a morsel before Eleonora leaves for London as she and Edoardo share a ~glance.

So Filo is Eleonora’s brother, which is a good way to incorporate his character considering it’s unlikely for Martino or Eleonora to live with a random roommate instead of their families, and they hadn’t set up the Filo character in S2 so his appearance in Martino’s life is going to need to be established quickly. So that makes both the Eleonora-Filo and Martino-Filo relationships more plausible in this culture.

Although lmao, imagine some of Eskild’s S2 scenes now that he and the Noora character are related. I’m sure Eleonora will need to bleach her eyeballs if she walks in on her brother getting his dick sucked to Circle of Life.

Eva catches up to Martino in the kitchen, and the flirtatious vibes are there right away, you know this isn’t going anywhere good. She tries to kiss him, so this is basically that scene from S2 where Eva tries to make out with Isak at a party, except way more awkward because this Eva actually manages to get a few kisses on Martino. Yikes.

Of course he’s not into it, and she’s just like yeah, go to your friends. Go find Gio. She knows where his real interests like.

Martino answering some random landline is pretty endearing, especially when he has cans of beer he needs to balance to do so.

Him being like “I am not the owner.” Lmao, he’s a sweetie. I suppose this was maybe a neighbor or someone wondering about the noise level and activity at the party, and that was why the police show up later? But I like to imagine that they were filming in this building, the phone rang randomly, and they were like, eh, throw it in.

So now we’re moving into the OG S3 content, with Martino entering the bathroom and sitting in the tub with his friends drinking and getting high.

Elia is the second person to mention the Argentinean girl, so I guess she must be a stone cold babe. Are we ever going to see her? Or will her hotness exist only in legends?

They do the whole song and dance where Martino pretends like these girls aren’t hot enough for him, while the other dudes are not having it. Well, to be fair, he really isn’t into them. I’m not sure what to make of his reactions, because Isak was very performative, and Martino just seems indifferent.

The boys claim to have gotten Fede a present, I wonder what it was? Probably just booze or something?

Lmao I was wondering why this girl would use this random out-of-the-way bathroom, but apparently two dudes are fucking in the other one (what are the odds it’s Filo).

What assholes, get out of the fucking tub for two minutes and let the girl pee in peace! I guess they’re just lazy and stoned, but JFC.

Instead of saying the girl looks like Eleven from Stranger Things, Martino tells her she looks like a frog… I kind of see it? But she’s also a babe, soooo.

Not gonna lie, I really did not like how they adapted this scene. “We’ll leave you alone to pee but you have to hook up with one of us” is not … cute … like it takes it out of negging teenage asshole territory and gets creepy. Maybe because of the hellscape that has been RL politics for the past few weeks, but I’m not in the mood for any of this boys-will-be-boys shit.

We know that one new dude must be Magnus because he is instantly rejected.

Martino gives the boys the thumbs up once Italian Emma starts making out with him and they’re leaving.

Martino didn’t actually do anything to win over this girl, really? With Isak it was a performance: Emma came in and he made a determined effort to flirt with her, he negged her, he complimented her, he got out of the tub and was more active in his pursuit. All of that was because he was trying to seem straight in front of his friends. Martino, on the other hand, was far more passive. He made the frog comment but that seems less like negging when all four of them are sitting there being dicks to this girl, rather than him alone, and she just happened to choose him out of the four. Isak was putting some effort into it and pretending to be interested until the boys left and things got steamier, but Martino just plain is not trying. He ain’t feeling it.

This is one of the disadvantages of writing recaps episode by episode as they air and not when you can look at the full season, though. Because on the one hand, making Martino more of a passive participant in his fake heterosexuality is fine, but on the other hand, if that’s not their intent - if they’re more or less going to follow Isak’s character arc for him - then I think they missed a big point of this scene in not making Martino pursue this girl more actively. But we don’t know exactly if this is a thoughtful, deliberate choice or an oversight. (For example, in S1 of Skam Italia, several of Eva’s key moments of “who are you?” were eliminated, Gio’s skate park speech was rewritten with a different focus, etc. which made me wonder about her character arc. It could have worked if they had intentionally made these changes to arrive at a different conclusion, but in the end Eva’s final speech to Gio is the same, the arc is supposed to be the same even though crucial points have been left out, and it didn’t feel as strong. So it’s hard to say whether Martino’s character is supposed to be written with subtle differences that change his characterization, or if they don’t realize how small edits can affect the perception of this character.)

I am a little alarmed that the girl goes for the blowjob like immediately after choosing Martino? Isak was hardcore flirting with Emma so it made more sense she was trying to do that with him. With this girl, she’s just trying to pee and some random guy’s like “Hook up with one of us and we’ll leave you be” and she’s like, “Sounds like a plan!” Damn girl, didn’t you need to really use the toilet? But you’re going to stop to blow him? Okay.

Eva is stumped by seeing that Martino was in the bathroom with a girl, probably moreso because he just rejected her upstairs. Well, this girl isn’t his best friend’s ex, sooooo it makes a smidge more sense, Martino’s sexuality aside.

Incantava moment: Edoardo brings up the deal with the apology to Silvia, so that made it into this remake. Part of the deal was to erase the wall of conquests - smart of Eleonora - and I guess Edo did that, hopefully, but he also reminds her that she agreed to a date.

What a power move of Eleonora to go to England to avoid this date.

At least Edo was not pursuing her prior to this, apparently. It would be a shame if they suddenly had him pressure her into a date in Eleonora’s season.

Okay, I realize that Martino didn’t appear to have the best options to hide his weed, but he’s really just gonna put it in a box on the railing where it could easily get knocked over the balcony or blown away or something? Lmao.

The scene of the boys running away from the cops was cute and had that “reckless youth enjoying the night” vibe.

So Martino clearly still has Giovanni feelings, and Giovanni is going to be crashing at his place tonight. Look at that hand on Martino’s shoulder, probably burning through his shirt. I like perhaps acknowledging the idea that all this casual affection between guys in this culture can take on a hidden toll for a closeted gay kid.

Martino mentions that his mom is freaking out, so they’re openly acknowledging Martino’s mom situation in front of the other guys (when Isak was less open about it) and Giovanni gives him a hug that fucks Martino up. It seemed like Martino didn’t want Giovanni to come over, probably both because of his crush and because of his mom situation.

Clip 2 - Sad boy slumber party

Martino wakes up and stares at Giovanni, who’s still sleeping. Martino is not on the bed, but on the floor, ostensibly because Giovanni threw him off the bed but really because he doesn’t want to be so close to Giovanni. He pointedly turns down Giovanni’s invitation to get back in the bed. This is a really delicate situation; this is such a casual thing for Giovanni that he doesn’t even think about it, but for Martino it’s this extremely loaded scenario that comes with dangers, so better not risk it.

Eva calls and wants to talk to Martino, but he can’t since he’s with Giovanni. Giovanni says that he’s been trying to get back together with Eva, and making a fool out of himself, so Martino is certainly not enjoying about this reminder that Giovanni likes girls, Giovanni loved (loves?) Eva, it will never be Giovanni and Martino in the way he wants. Also, awkward of course because Eva tried to kiss Martino, which says a lot about how she thinks of Giovanni - probably not keen to get back with him if she can make a move on his best friend, even when drunk.

Okay, I have a deeply unpopular opinion and that is: while Skam Italia’s cinematography is often visually impressive, at times it does not work with the material it’s supposed to be conveying. It’s not style over substance, but style against substance. There are several examples, but to go into one now: why the fuck is the lighting so dark in certain moments. Whyyyyyy.

And before you tell me, I do know why the director is perhaps doing this. It’s supposed to reflect Martino’s state of mind, it’s supposed to make things seem bleak, it’s supposed to contrast with the sunnier scenes such as later in the episode with Niccolò, etc. etc. The problem is that I do not think it is effective for the format of this show. Here’s the thing: we are supposed to be in Martino’s POV for a reason. His reactions should not be hidden from us, this audience, and to me the lighting is a barrier from getting closer to him and getting fully into his mindset. Like, the camera should be eating this shit up! Give me all the microexpressions! Federico Cesari is doing a nice job of acting so far and it bugs me that the lighting is obscuring some of his facial expressions. Now it makes sense for ambiguity on the part of say, Niccolò, who will be keeping secrets for most of the season (based on Even’s role) but this is Martino’s season, and we as the audience should be deep into his head every step of the way. This is supposed to be an immersive experience. There is zero reason to obscure Martino’s reactions from the audience. Martino may have a barrier between him and his friends, his family, his schoolmates, society at large - but not us, the viewers. (And not just the lighting, but for example, that his face is shot in profile for part of this scene, which again doesn’t give us a full range of Martino’s reactions, or the amount of distance between the camera and Martino at times. Even if you can assume what Martino is thinking and feeling enough that you don’t need really clear reaction shots, it’s like there’s a gap and we’re not supposed to get too close.)

Like obviously this cinematography is working for people, and if it is for you, great! If this were a different show, I could be fine with it. But not with a series that is supposed to put me fully into this character’s head, not keep me at a distance.

Covitti is the girl from the bathroom? She’s followed Martino on IG. I feel like, if they’re doing a repeat of Emma’s involvement, then it doesn’t work as well as to why she’d suddenly be interested in Martino. With Isak, there was something karmic about it, because he blatantly pursued when he met her, and it’s like he reaped what he sowed, you know? Don’t get me wrong, he absolutely did not deserve the much later repercussions with Emma outing him, but the immediate aftermath of him flirting with Emma showed that his actions had consequences. He couldn’t just make out with this girl for the benefit of an audience and then drop her. With Martino, he was so much more passive with Covitti, that it feels less earned. I mean he’s very cute, but him being doggedly pursued by her doesn’t have as much to do with his characterization, unless the point is that he refuses to put his foot down and reject her. (A valid characterization choice! But hopefully an intentional one.)

We get to see Martino’s mom and on the one hand, it’s pretty cool that she’s around in this version, but on the other hand, goddamn am I apprehensive about how they will depict her.

Martino really does not want to eat lunch with her. Apparently they have chicken and potatoes four times a week. Credit to Giovanni, he acts normal and is polite to Martino’s mom and is eager to eat with her.

Eva apologizes for trying to kiss Martino. So Giovanni is trying to get back with Eva and Eva made a move on Martino. Awkward! Eva is also probably dying to bring up the topic of that girl in the bathroom with Martino, let’s be real.

Giovanni chides Martino for being an asshole and says if he didn’t treat his mom like shit, maybe he would help her! Hey, no offense, Giovanni, but fuck off. I agree that Martino was not nice to his mom, I agree that he should treat her better. But Giovanni is a visitor. He is a guest in this household. He doesn’t know shit about what it’s like to live there or what’s the best course of action. No, actually it’s not as easy being kind to someone and it’ll fix their mental illness.

If I sound weirdly pissed about this, it’s because I am speaking as someone who has been a caretaker to a mentally ill parent. One of the most frustrating things was when people who were completely outside of my situation told me how to deal with it. It’s fucking easy to think you have the answers when you don’t live in this situation, when you have the freedom to go back to your own home when shit gets really rough. When you likely haven’t seen a loved one at their worst.

To clarify, this isn’t necessarily a flaw of the show, just an area where I think a character is flawed. But I would hate for Giovanni’s POV to be validated. Of course Martino should not treat his mother poorly, but he needs to do that on his own, not because some outsider who has no idea what is going on in this house thinks so.

Anyway. Shut the fuck up, Gio.

Eva also doesn’t want Martino to tell Gio, so you know Gio is going to find out at some point. Here’s the thing: if this drama is more along the lines of ~ooo Eva kissed Martino and he didn’t tell Gio and Gio feels BETRAYED when he finds out~ then it sounds tedious and exactly the kind of drama I don’t want. It’s not necessary, it’s honestly a very low-stakes situation. However, if it’s more of a lead-in to S1’s drama being revealed, and Gio learns about what happened with Martino ratting out Eva, that would be interesting. I’d be very interested in seeing where it goes. I think the writers have to know that this would be the most compelling aspect, so here’s hoping.

Not gonna lie, one thing I liked about S3 was the lack of heterosexual relationship drama (other than what directly serviced Isak and Even’s relationship), and I don’t want this season to stray too far into Eva/Gio stuff. Though I realize that by switching S2 and S3, they probably feel like they have to account for their relationship.

In S2 of the original, we saw the remnants of Eva/Jonas more on Eva’s side, through Noora’s eyes. Eva told herself she was over Jonas and they were just friends, but we could see that wasn’t totally true. With this season, though, we’ll probably see Eva/Giovanni more through Giovanni’s eyes, because even if Martino is Eva’s friend, he’s Giovanni’s best friend.

Clip 3 - The Phantom Clitoris

Lmao, Luca being like “Guess what happened to me” and Gio being like “Did you put an egg in the microwave again?” (I mean, you can cook eggs in a microwave even if it’s not the best way!)

Luca hooked up with a girl! If we believe him. She didn’t have a clitoris! Except he didn’t know what it was called. I don’t know whether to think that if it he didn’t know what it was called, he probably didn’t know how to look for one, or that he’s straight up lying. But this is interesting because Jonas was the one who went down on girls in the original and had this dialogue, and then Magnus was the virgin seeking wisdom from Isak, and here apparently Luca is already banging girls? Or he’s pretending to.

Martino sees Niccolò for the first time! Niccolò is adorable. He’s got the Even denim jacket and a nice smile. Sana and Silvia are shown going up to him while he’s talking to another dude.

Luca is like, I watched a 20-minute porn tutorial of how to eat a girl out. No offense bro, but I doubt you were in a very studious mindset during that. Or maybe he was! Maybe he made flashcards.

Martino gets a text from his dad about having dinner “with us” and I’m guessing that his dad has a new girlfriend or something, because it’s kinda weird to text your kid “have dinner with us?” about both his parents when his dad left his mom.

Silvia and Sana come up, Elia brings up the girl with no clitoris to them (why was that the first thing out of your mouth, dude), and Silvia mentions that she and Sana are now in charge of the radio. So this is our kosegruppa! I wonder if the radio itself will have more plot relevance for the season.

The guys are conveniently too busy to help on Thursday! But Sana thinks they’ll be helping soon enough.

For a moment I thought Luca was frightened by Silvia and saw that as a point toward Luca/Silvia happening, since it would be in line with Magnus’ sado-Vilde dreams, but then I was like, oh right, he probably means Sana, lol. (Silvia is way less intimidating than Vilde. Silvia is cheerful, Vilde was sugar layered over a core of menace when she pitched kosegruppa to the guys.)

Martino checks out Niccolò again, because who wouldn’t, and Niccolò is talking to the other guy … maybe Niccolò is flirting with that guy?

The boys suggest smoking a joint but Martino didn’t get the weed back yet, so the boys are bummed, but Gio keeps his disappointment restrained to a few jovial throttles of Martino’s neck. Martino dies inside and tries not to develop a choking kink.

Niccolò did not look at Martino in this clip, there’s no evidence he saw him in this scene, and he was in fact preoccupied with conversation with another dude. So ... has Niccolo seen Martino yet? In an “I saw you the first day of school” way? Because with that knowledge in mind, in the original we could look back at Even’s first appearance in the cafeteria and see that he had obviously grabbed a seat with a good view of Isak and was sitting there alone, possibly sketching him. I guess you could say that Niccolò was standing there to get Martino’s attention, maybe even trying to make him jealous by talking to another guy, but that seems .... really convoluted. If they do include the “I saw you the first day of school” line, they should have had Niccolò look at Martino for even a brief moment. It didn’t even need to be eye contact! Like you could show Niccolò looking toward Martino when he’s out of focus, as a background event, a little Easter egg for the eagle-eyed viewer.

This is one of those original clip comparisons, so hold on to your butts. In the original clip, the way the scene is shot and acted combines multiple details to demonstrate Isak’s alienation from the other boys. Tarjei’s acting shows that he is disconnected from this conversation - he’s picking at his sandwich, checking his phone, he’s not really engaged with the cat tongue/clitoris talk. He has a few mild smiles but his facial expressions and body language show he’s checked out. He doesn't participate in that conversation at all, actually, other than a look or two. There’s no dialogue from him. And the camera contributes to this impression that he’s withdrawn: it’s often just on Isak with the conversation coming from off screen, rather than showing him in the shots with the guys. It shows him alone instead of showing him connected to the group. When it does show him with the group, he’s not reacting to them much. So when he hears a boy's laugh, it seems plausible that it would get attention as the boys’ conversation is not holding his interest.

With this clip, Martino might make a comment like "Oh no, don't tell us your dirty story" but he is otherwise very engaged in this conversation. He leans into it, he's listening, his face makes him seem eager. He's frequently shown in the shot with the other guys, part of the group rather than isolated. Gio repeatedly looks back at him and shares looks with him so there’s something reciprocal happening. Martino speaks to Luca and he high fives him. He's just a definite participant in this conversation, so there isn't much of a feel of alienation here. I mean, we know he's gay, and maybe we can assume that his participation in this conversation is forced or half-hearted, but that's not coming through in how it's portrayed. And I like Federico, I think he's one of the better actors on the show, but I also think he's playing it too comfortably, though I blame Bessegatto more for that since his direction is what guides the performance. It seems like Martino's a nice guy with some friends, who doesn't seem too detached this conversation and who seems totally fine with looking at a cute guy over there. Not much of an internal struggle. Not much of an external struggle either, really.

It felt like there were missed opportunities. For example, when Martino says he doesn’t want Luca’s TMI, and Gio is like, “Yes we do, don’t listen to him,” we don’t even get a reaction shot from Martino to see how that affects him? We could have seen him annoyed, or exasperated, or uninterested in this conversation. We could have seen him drifting and doing something with his body language to indicate he’s not comfortable, and then THAT is when he sees Niccolò, because his mind is already wandering. Not when he’s engaged in this conversation. Or keep in Luca asking Martino about going girls and wanting to know how Martino finds the clitoris, and Martino having to struggle to answer that when the boys are all looking at him.

I mean, again, it makes me wonder what they’re going to do with Martino’s characterization because they’re playing up his struggles with his attraction to Gio, but he does not seem to be struggling as much with the public performance of liking girls. Or even perhaps the internal conflict of liking boys. And that would be fine except it seems like it should be. Martino was the one who introduced the idea of liking Eva back in S1, before Eva had even suggested it herself. He was definitely on the defense then, so what’s going on now?

Also, Isak glanced at Even and Even looked back, which made Isak look away. Julie pointedly did not show Even again in that clip because Isak was clamping down on his attraction and forcing himself not to look. Martino allows himself a second glance. It frames the scene way more comfortably.

Clip 4 - Fede almost had it all

12:12 ...it begins...

Martino sees Fede and Sana, so he approaches them. He calls them “rays of sunshine,” which is cute! Though he’s totally doing it to butter them up so he gets his stash back.

LMAO I love the part where Federica is like, I found a drill, who brings a drill to a party? (Someone you pray to God remains sober.)

He asks if he can come over and Federica chokes on her drink. She’s really cute in this scene. Honestly, she didn’t make a ton of impression on me in S1 compared to other girl Chrises from the remakes, but I enjoyed her here a lot, she’s sweet.

They can “study” together in the living room because Fede’s parents are gone. Oh babe, I think you’ll be disappointed at the amount of actual learnin’ that would take place were such a study session to take place.

Sana sits there texting Martino that she has his weed while he’s right there next to her. I guess Fede was just really excited by the prospect of having Martino in her house, but did she really not notice that Sana was texting and Martino just so happened to receive a text at the same time?

Sana saying that it’s “a friend of her brother’s” who has Martino’s “necklace.” Is that an actual nod toward Niccolò or just a coincidence? If she means Niccolò, then why is she bringing him up?

Like I know people like this theory, but I don’t think it makes sense that Sana was trying to hook up Isak and Even all along (or Martino and Niccolò if the circumstances are the same), because how does that explain her reactions to being asked about Islam’s view of homosexuality, or to Isak being outed? Of course they could be going for a diferent approach in this remake.

Federica is really adorable freaking out over how she ALMOST had Martino within her grasp. Poor girl, I’m sorry to tell you that your day is never coming. (Lmao, I guess one day a remake could swap out Emma for Isak hooking up with the Chris character? I mean Chris >>>>> Emma, but then I’d feel so bad for her.)

Clip 5 - Here we gooooooooo

So the carrot cake (made by Silvia) suuuuucks. Martino’s disgusted face is pretty good.

The girl squad is trying to Skype with Eleonora. Meanwhile Martino sits there by himself, not having a great time. As a contrast to the girl squad who are laughing and having fun, Martino is on his own because his dumbass friends ditched him.

Sana wants Martino to let them use his Internet connection to continue the Skype call, he’s like lmao, she’s ditching you guys on purpose. Gonna go out on a limb and say that he’s projecting.

Tbh I do think it’s odd that they wrote out Eleonora so much if they didn’t need to. Like I know people think they switched S2 and S3 for dramatic, important reasons, but I get the feeling it was just a matter of actor availability. I could be wrong!

That random curly-haired dude at the meeting is the true star of this clip. He was INTO everything that was happening.

SIlvia says it took forever to make her cake. And it still sucks, apparently. Good thing that the girls never seemed to get her pineapple cake from S1? Was Silvia behind the Jell-O disaster, too?

She doesn’t want another piece, which might be another hint at her ED, but the cake is garbage soooo maybe she just has taste buds and a self-preservation instinct, IDK.

It’s actually intriguing that Silvia seems to be baking cakes for people and yet she monitors her own eating so closely.

Lmao at there being dead noise when Martino sees Niccolò enter the room. Everything fades except this smiley hottie. (For a second I was like “is he flat-lining?”)

Niccolò walked in with some other people, including Covetti. He sits on the table beside Martino. Martino keeps glancing at him but Niccolò will NOT glance at Martino. Again, if they’re going to go with “I saw you the first day of school,” I don’t think they set it up that well. It’s fine if they don’t, but there are really no fun “extras” you get from these scenes with that reveal. In both of his scenes Niccolò has been hanging out with other people, he’s not glancing at Martino. There’s no foreshadowing. You can be like oh, Niccolò positioned himself outside the school for Martino to see, he DELIBERATELY didn’t look at Martino for reasons! But that’s not very enjoyable on a rewatch.

The way Martino begrudgingly greets that Uglydoll or whatever is the best part of the episode.

Covitti notices Martino looking over at Niccolo, by the way.

Okay, WHO IS THAT BLUE-HAIRED GIRL. Like it seems as if she would make a good Sonja, she reminds me a little of Theresa.

Covitti whispers something to Martino but we don’t know what.

“Bad story about Chicco Rodi” Who was that? I vaguely remember the name from S1? Oh wait, was he the guy who got the award for worst attendance? I hope that “tutorial” is foreshadowing for Martino and Niccolò breaking into the school at some point.

Silvia comes across as positively chill compared to Vilde. It must be Osvaldo’s influence.

Why is Covitti even there, since she’s not interested in what Silvia’s saying? To stalk Martino? How did she know he would be there? Emma knew Isak was going to be there because of signups, were there signups for this? (This is nitpicky and I’m sure that’s what they meant, it’s just that they’re skipping over some parts where her motivations become clear.)

Martino: Sorry I have to take this totally real and not at all imaginary call!!!!!

Wow, no finesse, just like our man Isak.

Martino’s fake phone call is pretty funny, like he lets it go on way longer than necessary.

He plops down in a chair in the radio room and then he starts talking to himself and pretending to be on the radio. I really do like the idea of Martino finding his voice through the radio, literally and metaphorically. And actually, when he starts speaking by himself, he sounds pretty good to me! Confident, composed, his voice sounds good, the words come easy. So maybe this is a move from him being passive to speaking up for himself.

That shot of Martino, fractured in the glass, when Niccolò turns on the light is fabulous. Showing how Niccolò’s introduction is going to break apart Martino’s sense of self. And Niccolò‘s image is clear and whole so Martino perhaps sees him as this cool, confident dude who’s got his shit together. So he thinks. (Plus Niccolò literally turns on the light on and all.)

Niccolò says it’s a shame Martino stopped talking, basically, and they laugh about Silvia’s dry-ass cake.

Niccolò has a shitty ancient phone? Would that play into his avoidance of social media because of his manic episode? Since you can’t post to IG/FB/any apps from one of those. Or is he just a hipster who hates technology? Or something else?

Lol, I didn’t have to wait long before the “breaking into the school” prophecy was fulfilled. They end up climbing into a part of the school that’s closed.

Beautiful view on the roof, obviously. I guess for O Helga Natt, Martino is going to run and find Niccolò here, maybe? And then he’ll be in the radio room instead? Will they stare at each other from behind the glass?

Niccolò asks if Martino knows Silvia, and he says no, she’s a friend of a friend. Niccolò asks which one, so he’s probably wondering if Martino is good pals with Sana.

Niccolò notes that Martino doesn’t seem happy to be there, and neither does Niccolò. Taking him at his word, he’s doing this as part of school-work interchange. So I guess he didn’t show up just to meet Martino? Again, I have no problem with that changing that (I loved it with Evak but I’m fine with them not repeating it), I just want them to do a good job of foreshadowing if they do go with that.

We get the conversation about Niccolò being from a different school, but there’s no line (as in the original) where Isak notes with some incredulity that he transferred during his last year, so there isn’t as much of a hint that something happened to Niccolò, provided they are still keeping in his backstory. (I think he’s still in his final year?)

The camera gets very close up in the boys’ faces as they talk about more personal topics, THANK GOD. Like I do think the coldness and distance in other clips is intentional, I just don’t think it works with this show, but at least we can get warmer, closer scenes when necessary.

Covitti (whose first name is Emma, by the way) shows up and literally comes between them. They do the whole thing where Martino “introduces” Niccolò to Emma, except they’re not trying to pretend they’re already partners to avoid her.

“Fares” means horseman or knight in Arabic, so I guess Niccolò is going to be Martino’s knight in shining armor? Or fight for him? That would explain his flipbook in the trailer with stick figure Niccotino on a horse.

Covitti isn’t very awkward as a person. She and Niccolò have a polite, maybe even flirty conversation when filtered through certain jealous ears; it’s Martino who suddenly feels like a third wheel. Covitti is still making eyes at Martino, though. Niccolò says he and Martino will stay back and smoke, which pleases Martino, but she invites herself to smoke with them. It’s awkward but way less so that with Isak, Even, and Emma, in my opinion, maybe because Covitti seems like she’s enjoying herself even if the boys aren’t.

The poppy indie song at the end of the clip feels out of place. Like if they wanted to emphasize the awkwardness, they should have just ended in a stranger song or complete silence to drive home how Martino did not want her there. If they wanted to use this song to emphasize Martino’s crush, show closeups of Martino glancing at Niccolò with the sunlight bouncing off his face without including Covitti in there.

Oh god. Don’t kill me for this. Okay. So we have Niccolò’s introduction in this clip, obviously, and I like him in the sense that he's a friendly guy with an utterly beautiful smile. But I felt like they made him just like ... a really nice, smiley guy, in a way that was one-note. And I’m NOT criticizing the actor’s abilities, because I’ve seen his acting clips from other projects and I think he could do justice to the character. This is more about directorial decisions.

Part of the reason I love Even is because he’s fucking strange. Sure, he’s Isak’s dream boy with his denim jacket and styled hair, and he’s got a smile like the sun, and he just feels cool, but he’s also a bouncy, twitchy weirdo coursing with energy. In his first clip he makes a HELL of an impression and it’s by pulling a bizarre stunt in the bathroom with paper towels and then by making a blowjob joke as one of his first lines to Isak. Now I don’t think every Even of the remakes need to do that, not at all, but Even felt like a really specific character to me, someone who was weird and strongly himself and presented in a way that made us fall for him piece by piece. And one fear I have about the remakes is that they’ll remove some of his weirdness to make him more of a general artsy hipster type who gets along with the Isak. (Or maybe him an artsy hipster asshole, but that’s another story.)

I feel bad because I do actually want to love Niccolò I think the actor is tremendously adorable and enthusiastic about is role, and I think he can make Niccolò into someone specific and memorable. But the way this scene was directed and performed, it felt like Bessegatto told Rocco to be charming by smiling a lot. And I mean, he DOES have a great smile, but Niccolò has the same amused, benign friendliness the whooooole clip, and my gut feeling was that they were trying too hard to make us like him and eliminating anything that might make the character off-putting, which is unfortunately some of what makes the character compelling, especially this early on as he should be something of a mystery both for Martino and the audience.

Where this approach would have worked more for me is if Niccolò was this unstoppable force of sunshine against Martino’s constant grumpy iciness, and he couldn’t help but melt in the face of it. But the thing is, Martino isn’t a constant grump who’s freezing people out. He’s actually pretty friendly to people. So it was like radiant sunshine against slightly less radiant sunshine, and there wasn’t a lot like I felt I could mull over, IDK.

And yes yes I know this is only the first clip. Niccolò has tons of time to make himself into a distinctive, memorable character. I’m aware of that. But I don’t want to lie about my reaction.

General Comments/Social Media:

Continuing with Martino’s crush on Giovanni makes sense considering only a few months have passed. Though it should be said that I never thought Isak getting over Jonas from S1 to S3 without any elaboration was like .. a flaw of the show? It depends on how deep you think Isak’s feelings were. Personally I never saw him as in love with Jonas, I saw it as an intense crush, compounded by Isak’s bad home life so that Jonas, his best friend who was always there for him, was someone who really made his life better at the time, and whose attention he craved.

There was almost a year between the end of S1 and the start of S3, and during that time, Isak had seen Jonas go from Eva to other girls, so I’m sure it sunk in that Jonas wasn’t suddenly going to go for him just because Eva was out of the picture. And Isak had moved out of his parents’ home so there was less of an immediately chaotic situation where he was more dependent on Jonas for support. I mean he’s clearly not in a great place at the start of S3, but he was able to get some independence and distance from his parents. I think his life was more stable on a day-to-day basis. So it’s not hard to see how Isak’s crush would have faded with those factors in mind. Martino, on the other hand, has had less time to get over Giovanni, Giovanni perhaps has not moved on to other girls since he’s still trying to get with Eva, and Martino is still probably depending on him for more emotional support since he has to deal with a more directly stressful environment at home.

In the texts, Giovanni refers to Sana as “Sana Escobar” in reference to her taking the weed. Pablo Escobar is obviously extremely well-known on his own, but I do think it’s a nod to all the Narcos/Escobar mentions in Isak’s season. Or at least they took inspiration there.

Elia is apparently one hell of a dumbass according to an essay he wrote that showed up on IG.

I wonder if they’re going to swap out the Grindr clip with Eskild for the first meeting with Filippo. I really do wonder how that relationship will come across, because I know people are excited about seeing them meet (and I am too) but the thing is, a big part of what made Isak and Eskild’s relationship in S3 meaningful was that they had months of trust to be established between them. Eskild saw Isak repressing his sexuality for months, and when Isak finally came out to him, there was pride in seeing this kid’s long journey to acceptance. We also got plenty of little scenes between them so the dynamic wasn’t just a big dramatic thing, we saw the casual side of their relationship. So I’m not sure how they can replicate that with a relationship that cannot help but have less buildup.

Niccolò is a pianist and there’s a video of him playing on YouTube! I’m really glad they incorporated the actor’s talents into the character and gave him his own artistic skill to make him a little different from Even. I assume that Martino will find the piano video and watch that endlessly. And it’ll be fun if Martino is all convinced Niccolò is a serious classical music snob but then Niccolò is like, “YES, this is my JAM” over a cheesy pop song.

One big problem I have is that it feels like a lot of potential for conflict or tension (both internal and external) is being minimized across various relationships, in multiple situations. It just feels safer for Martino despite him still going through some major problems that Isak was not at this point, and so it really shouldn’t. And that makes it harder to get involved in his POV or to immerse ourselves in his struggles. For example:

The boy squad isn't angry or annoyed with Martino for losing the weed, they're just kind of like lol, get it back.

Sana and Martino don't clash with as much tension, and does Sana even explain why she’s holding onto Martino’s weed instead of giving it back? Sana B. was disgusted that Isak left the weed in Eva’s house where Eva could get in trouble if it was found; Sana A. is just doing it to be sassy, so far? Knowing that she found Isak’s actions distasteful upped the animosity of the Sana-Isak relationship, whereas Sana-Martino doesn’t have that element. I mean it’s certainly a reasonable inference that Sana is mad at him for potentially getting Fede in trouble, but it’s not a clear motivation. Martino doesn’t know why she’s randomly holding on to his weed. Does he think she’s doing it because she’s Muslim and disapproves? Because she wants it for herself? Just to torment him?

Italian Emma comes across way more of a chill, tolerable girl than Nowegian Emma and less of a persistent nuisance causing him stress just by existing.

Martino is less alienated and uncomfortable and more like a chill dude who likes to look at guys. The boys talking about going down on girls doesn’t make him uninterested and detached from the situation, he just mildly protests about TMI but continues to engage. He can look at Niccolò without having to make himself look away. He puts up less of a show to perform heterosexuality than Isak.

Martino doesn’t want to get involved in the radio show, except when he’s left alone he starts talking into a mic and pretending he’s on the radio, suggesting that it is of interest to him even if he’s not into Silvia’s leadership or whatever (as opposed to Isak who just didn’t want to deal with kosegruppa).

Even the Martino and Niccolò meeting had them bantering right away, practically as soon as they spoke, rather than encountering any moments of uncertainty or confusion, no time where they had to find their groove. And people are going to be like “They got along right away when Isak and Even didn’t!” when the reason Isak and Even were a little awkward at first was not because they clashed but because they were attracted to each other. Isak was shy about talking to a cute boy and taken aback by Even’s approach; Even was overwhelmed about talking to the boy he’d liked for weeks. It’s also a mark of how genuine Isak’s interest was: with Emma he was all slick and insincere, with Even he was real and tongue-tied. I mean, think about episode 2 and what a great moment it is when Isak runs into Even on the tram and they fumble for words at first. It’s so good! It’s human and real. It’s vulnerable, especially from Isak’s POV since we know how hard he has been pining over the last week, but also from Even’s POV especially when you know he’s liked Isak for a long time. The thing with Martino and Niccolò is that they settle into conversation so instantly, without any bumps, that I don’t think I would buy a moment like that happening. It’s not like I expect them to immediately become best friends but it would feel strange after this scene. And personally, it’s not like this relationship needs to develop the same as Isak/Even, but it’s good to leave some room for build-up from a narrative perspective. That’s why it’s so satisfying when Isak goes from barely being able to speak to Even to getting so comfortable with him that he can joke around and laugh with him. Like, let Martino say the wrong thing, or not know what to say, or make a mistake, so he can earn that more comfortable place with Niccolò, or so we can savor the moments that show him as vulnerable. (I mean, did people not enjoy Isak and Even being shy around each other? Because the awkwardness, the long silent pauses, the fumbling for what to say ... I ate that shit up. I loved it.)

Now on their own, it’s not wrong for any of these plot threads or scenes to go more smoothly. But do you see how cumulatively, they don’t contribute that much to creating a stressful internal and external climate for Martino? He’s just so much milder about everything, and the people around him are milder to him, and from a dramatic perspective it’s not as engaging.

I mean fandom does this thing where it’s like “These characters get along better! Things are Softer! Cinnamon rolls!! It’s an improvement!!!” but that’s not ... actually great from a narrative standpoint. We’re at the beginning of Martino’s story and it makes more sense to emphasize what a shit place he’s in so we can build him up over the season.

The conflict that IS there, and felt like it had more of a presence on screen when it was addressed, is Martino still having feelings for Giovanni and Martino’s issues with his parents. I’m not sure how much farther they’ll take Martino’s crush on Gio, since now Niccolò is in the picture, but they’ll likely have Martino keeping secrets from Giovanni that are Eva-related. And we have Martino living with his mother and dealing with her problems, but I felt like that should have been more emphasized in this premiere episode and not just one clip, since it’s really fucking huge. It’s not a problem he can kind of repress like Isak because Isak can just ignore his mom’s texts. Martino has to go home and deal with it every day. (Like I would have put the radio/weed stuff for episode 1 and kick off with Martino’s parental problems and meeting Filippo, since that should set sooo much of the stage for this season, emotionally.)

I’ve also seen the idea that this season will focus more on Martino dealing with external homophobia than internalized homophobia, and that’s certainly a good idea, but then they really should have hit the ground running with that theme. Show the boy squad making casually homophobic comments, show him fearing what his mom will say. Show some random assholes making gay jokes about Filippo at the party and Martino overhears.

I think they’re doing the meeting with Filippo in episode 2, so hopefully we get more meat to Martino’s conflicts.

I sound like I’m being negative, probably, but I’m aware this is only episode 1, and there’s plenty more to come. There are things that I do like, such as Filippo being Eleonora’s brother and the introduction of the radio. I think those could be really cool for the season. And I’m still intrigued by everything else, because this is S3 and of course I’m wondering how they’ll adapt it!

Please feel free to correct me if I missed or misinterpreted anything!

If you got this far, thank you for reading! Especially if you disagreed with me, lol.

#skamit reactions #skam italia reactions

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