#getting messages where people are interested in the series really helps
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ferrstappen · 1 year ago
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max the wag: caught in the middle l mv1
a/n: so... this isn't the best part of the series but I saw this post on instagram last week and just couldn't resist! hope you enjoy it <3 x
pairing: Max Verstappen x fem reader
genre: fluff
you can find the rest of max the wag here <3
summary: You find Max on a WAGs Instagram page, just not how you'd imagine.
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Mexico Grand Prix, 2023
The only time you left the energy station during race weekends was when Max was crowned the winner of the Grand Prix, making your usual route the back entrance, energy station, parc fermé and then, if people were lucky, would catch a glimpse of Max and you leaving hand in hand, big smiles on your faces even if you always tried to keep your head down.
Sure, this wasn’t always the easiest for you, wanting to be there with Max most time, but in the early stages of your relationship when you first attended a Grind Prix as his girlfriend, you told Max it wasn’t an interest of yours to be known or to have your face plastered on Instagram profiles. Of course, it was inevitable, but both you and Max tried your best to make it work, even if it meant Max would have to begrudgingly answer a question about the relationship to the fans so they wouldn’t start speculating.
Max even made an effort to stop F1TV from broadcasting you, and it cost him an app exclusive interview. 
This never worked to ease the break up rumors always emerging. You were able to put the latest one to rest during Qatar where you were waiting with your arms wide open when he was crowned champion, shortly kissing his lips and forehead during the commotion, everyone trying to get a hold of him. 
Of course, that was the highlight of the weekend even if Max didn’t win the race, but a close second was the appearance of a new WAG, a gossip both you and Max had closely followed since pretty much the beginning of the season, but you never crossed paths with her and were only aware of the confirmation when you were back in the hotel.
Now, you were mindlessly scrolling through Instagram posts, getting ready to watch the race in your apartment in Monaco with Jimmy and Sassy, the F1 app playing on the iPad screen, when a particular post caught your attention. 
It was Max, completely clueless of what was going on behind him: Rebecca and Carlos were easy to spot, absolutely not trying to hide, happy smiles and not trying to hide. 
You didn’t notice the F1 transmission was focusing on Max inside the garage, but the first thing you did was send the post to Max.
MAX BABE, YOU RUINED THE SHOT!!!
The camera kept following Max as he checked his phone for the last time, and this time you were thankful for it since you were able to check his every facial expression as he opened the message. 
What am I looking at, schatz? A terrible picture of me before the race??
Are you trying to help Lando win??
The transmission showed how GP approached Max to go over the strategy, forcing Max to hand over his phone before seeing your answers. 
Babe, she’s Carlos gf! Remember back in Barcelona when we weren’t sure if it was true? WELL IT IS
IT’S THEM IN THE BACK!!!
The gossip was soon forgotten was you watched Max win once again, texting your congratulations while pointing at Max in the TV for Jimmy and Sassy to see, even if you could sense their judgement.
Right after the podium ended the phone vibrated, your favorite part of race day when you weren’t able to be with Max, was the mandatory FaceTime call, showing you his trophy, completely soaked in champagne, giving you his best smile. 
“Congratulations honey! You were incredible, it was a great race, I’m sure you enjoyed it!” You animatedly said to him while wearing one of your own Red Bull jersey with his number on it. 
“Yes, yes
 so, did he really cheat on his ex?” Max asked and you gave him a confused look.
“What are you talking about?”
Max stared at your face in the screen, giving you a look of disbelief. “Carlos! You sent me that post of that horrible picture with them in the back,”
Now that you were caught up, it was impossible not to appreciate your boyfriend right now, with his blue eyes wide open, still holding his trophy, but waiting to be updated on whatever was going on outside the track. “I have no idea if he cheated, you were the one who overheard the Ferrari mechanics!”
“But you are the WAG, schatz!” Max argued. 
You scoffed. “Yes, and I am the worst WAG ever and you know that!”
“Don’t say that about yourself, there’s nothing wrong about wanting to keep your privacy,” Max reassured you, like he always did. 
“Maybe I can put on a show next week and try to find out what people know
” You said to yourself. 
“I’m sure Charles’ ex knows
 what was her name?” Max asked you while trying his best to remember. 
You chuckled before answering. “Charlotte, baby,” you replied and he nodded his head as if he was trying to tell you he always knew, it just slipped his mind. “and yeah, I’m sure she knows but I don’t want to talk to her just to interrogate her, you know? Maybe,” you were going to continue before Max interrupted.
“Schatz, I have to go but I swear I’ll figure out who may know more about this, okay? I love you, can’t wait to see you,”
You hurriedly said an “I love you” before the call ended, knowing Max was going to do his best to gather information he’d be waiting to share once you reunited in Brazil. And maybe, just maybe, you’d consider arrive to the track walking hand in hand, kissing his cheek for good luck, for everyone to see. 
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just-a-ghost00 · 6 days ago
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Pick a kpop song and I'll tell you who is having naughty thoughts of you [18+]
Minors do not interact. This is part 1 of a series of 3 posts. We will try to get a bunch of details that will help us identify this person. This will be a lengthy reading, so I may have to publish several posts. If that's the case, I will write down the link to the other parts so that you don't get lost.
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Slow it down make it bouncy ~
Threads of fate oracle cards | The Void, Underworld, Patience, Fate
This person may be someone you share a very special connection with. One that is very intimate, and that doesn't mean that you necessarily had physical contact with this person. You are very close with this person, closer than you've ever been with anyone else because you know things about each other that no body knows. That's the intimacy I'm talking about. Another thing I am picking up on is linked to the egg represented on the fate card. It reminded me of the drama series "Alchemy of Souls". In the series, Naksu/Mudeok and Jang Uk share a "private joke" about birds and their eggs. Jang Uk compares Mudeok to a fragile egg that was left alone at the top of a tree and that needs to be taken care of and protected at all costs to be able to survive and see the light of day. Thus, he compares himself to a surrogate bird mom charged of watching over that egg until it can soar high in the sky. This comparison may be significant to you and this person. The dynamic of the two characters overall may be similar to the one you share with this person. Jang Uk and Naksu/Mudeok both need each other desperately at first and their relationship is mainly one based on a mutual accord to take advantage of the other's position and skills, as they're aware they have no other option but to cooperate to reach their personal goals. But the more the plot progresses, the closer they get and the more special their bond becomes. With the combination of Void, Underworld and Patience, I really get that vibe of two people that were forced by external circumstances to meet each other and learn to cooperate because they have a common destiny. In doing so, they have to learn patience and to face their shadows while keeping their relationship hidden. This feeling of secrecy comes off very strongly. If you know this person, you may not be in contact with them at the moment and whatever happened between the two of you is a secret that both of you share. I also got the message that either one of you could be a psychic. The purpose of that person then may be to awaken the other's psychic potential. We will get further details with two different decks to see if these intuitions are further confirmed. In terms of zodiac signs, I was mainly picking up on Scorpio but there may be other signs that come up later on in the reading.
White Numen Tarot cards | page of swords, 7 of cups, 2 of cups, page of pentacles, knight of wands, Black Numen, back of the deck Moon
In terms of zodiac signs, we have the following being represented : Scorpio, Cancer, Leo, Pisces, Gemini, Virgo. I am getting a clearer picture of who this person could be and what is going on between you. I am shown that they are close to you in age and in energy. Their path and maturity when it comes to their spirituality is similar to yours. This is a person that tends to mirror you. You could have met this person at a time in your life where you were feeling a bit lost or unsure about your future. This was a turning point in your life and it was also the case for this person. I get a perfect place perfect timing vibe from this spread. You or they may be a student. You learn a lot from each other. Though you are very similar, your differences allow you to grow drastically and question your beliefs. This is a person that you may feel very attracted to on a physical level. This person may have several centers of interest that keep them busy. You may be contacting them a lot using social media. You could have met them through travelling or they could come from a different culture. With the energy of the Moon I get the message that this person may have brought a lot of old stuff to the surface when you met them. Fears you thought you had overcome. Worries about the past and future. They could also be someone you dream about a lot and/or a person you met at night. This person definitely is linked to you through the force of karma. Your souls knew of each other before. As for the type of bond you share, I feel like putting a label on it wouldn't be relevant. What you need to know is that this meeting happened for a reason and that you felt it coming. You knew right away that this person would play an important role in your journey, and they probably felt it too.
Crystals oracle cards | Meteorite, Citrine, Moonstone, back of the deck Tourmalined Quartz
First of all, I feel compelled to mention the colors that were associated with these cards. Soft browns, beige and pastel purples/pinks seem to be relevant. What comes first to mind is how soft this person can be. I will know focus on each card individually as some details on those caught my attention.
Meteorite - Connect to your "star stuff" : this card mentions that meteorite comes in three forms and that people who may need to work with their energy are "children of the stars". The majority of the messages revolved around cosmic and galactic energy. This made me think that this person could spend a lot of time stargazing or looking at the clouds as a way to feel connected with you. And you may be doing the same. The other thing I was picking up on is that maybe your souls come from the same original place. If you believe in concepts such as starseeds, light language and such, this may resonate with you. I also thought of Saint Exupery's The Little Prince.
Citrine - Manifest your masterpiece : this card revolved around dreams and artistic endeavors, of doing everything in your power to manifest your wildest dreams. So you and this person may have a common creative project that you work on, a common goal or dream that you talked about. This may be the secret we were mentioning in the beginning. (I also heard "in the beninging" from that meme lmao so maybe you share a lot of private jokes and memes)
Moonstone - Find your natural rythm : this card mentioned travelling as well as star gazing. So your person may travel a lot in their daily life. It's a stone ment to increase empathy and intuition among other things. So it wouldn't be surprising if this person was a healer in blooming, a natural empath. I also got the message that they were incredibly sensual. Taurus energy came in strongly here.
Tourmalined Quartz - Restore your perfect light : with this card I was told that your person is often surrounded by a lot of people whom may not have the best intentions towards them. A lot of people look up to them but also envy them and wish for them to fail. Your person may be struggling with impostor syndrome as well as social anxiety.
All these cards combined lead me to believe that the person we are talking about is someone that is quite popular and radiates a lot of light and love around them. They have a pure heart and soul, are very loving and generous but may face a lot of backlash and challenges, because their light tends to trigger people's shadows. This may be something that questioned them and made them think they were a bad person, or that maybe they deserved to be treated badly. This may be something that you have struggled with as well. Which would explain why your paths crossed.
In another reading, we may be enquiring about the content of this person's thoughts and maybe why you met them. I hope that this reading was insightful and helped you figure out who this person was. I would be more than happy to get your feedback in the comments. Stay tuned to get the tea about this person ~
Mr. Rover, I'm coming over ~
Threads of fate cards | back of the deck The Void, Death, The Alchemist, The Explorer
This is really interesting. Your energy may be tied to group 1 as well. If you hesitated between the two groups, you may want to check out group 1's reading. With the Void card, I am told that you are not in contact with this person. They likely live at a distance from you. Sometimes, you may feel like you and this person are worlds apart and that there is no way you could understand each other. Yet, you do. You are polar opposites. And everything may look like you wouldn't match. However, this person gets you like no other. With this spread I am picking up on fixed sign energy mainly, especially Scorpio and Aquarius, as well as Pisces. The Alchemist card makes me think that this person could be a tarot reader or at least they are interested in forms of divination. Butterflies and stars seem to be relevant to this connection. The Explorer card denotes an energy of being restless, feeling like you don't belong where you are and wanting to broaden your horizons. Both you and this person may have connected over the feeling of being different from the rest of your community, of feeling like where you are isn't what's meant for you and more is waiting elsewhere. Of feeling like your body is too small for you. Like you are not truly comfortable in your skin and wish you were something or someone else. You both may have struggled with anxiety and severe depression. You both may have gone through a dark night of the soul. You both are good manifesters and have big ambitions. You both tend to uproot belief systems and push yourselves beyond your limits because you have a deep desire and need for expansion. You could have met this person while travelling, this travel could have been an unconscious one. Meaning, you could have met this person in the 5D before you met them in person. For some of you, you don't know this person yet. But you feel them energetically. Especially, if you practice meditation or lucid dreaming. We will get further information with two more decks. Hopefully, this could confirm what we've been talking about for now. I also get the message that both of you could have the capacity to communicate with spirits/ghosts. Another thing that could have brought you together could be the passing of a person. This is very specific, but for some of you I get the message that the spirit of a loved one interfered in your favor to get you to meet this person. They did so with the hope that it would help you cope with their passing.
White Numen Tarot cards | back of the deck High Priestess, Queen of cups, 8 of pentacles, Hierophant, knight of pentacles, 9 of wands, White Numen
Taurus energy is heavily present here, as well as Leo and Scorpio. So fixed sign energy definitely. With the High Priestess, this person is definitely into the occult and likely to have psychic abilities. This is a person that gives off a very mysterious vibe. They are very secretive and closed off, they mind their own business and don't share their secrets with just anyone. They are very protective of their space because they just know how people's envy can sometimes affect the outcome of their manifestations. This person is highly intuitive and sensitive. They are caring and nurturing. A natural healer. They have a lot of feminine energy that they gladly share. They are dedicated, hard working, patient. This is a person that doesn't give up easily. The word "failure" is not a part of their vocabulary. This person is determined to win and learn no matter what. This person is aware that whatever outcome they get, they will always be victorious one way or another. This is a person that is traditional but also very spiritual, they are well educated and incredibly wise. They could be a teacher or a mentor of some sort. They are extremely cautious and may sometimes be slow to act. But you can be sure that whatever this person does, they will reach their goal. They like to create and work with the Universe. They follow their path slowly but surely, one step at a time and make sure that they learn their lesson. This is a person that understands how the Universe works and goes with the flow. They are not afraid to take a turn or face struggles because they know that at the end of the day, they will get what's right for them and meant for them. They have a lot of confidence and inner knowing that allows them to navigate life peacefully. People could say that this person is married to their work because of how dedicated they are. They are loyal to a fault and are not the kind to abandon people out of the blue. They are very respectful of others and always try to include everyone. This person is also naturally beautiful and sensual. They instantly make you feel safe and understood. You may have met this person in a work or educational setting. Again, for this group I am getting a very fated meeting. Your energies were aligning way before you met. And this person may have consciously manifested you into their life.
Crystal oracle cards | back of the deck Epidote, Libyan Gold Tektite, Malachite, Kunzite
Right off the bat I get a very charming, exotic vibe from this person. Most of these stones are mined in hot countries, especially African ones. The colors also felt very sensual. They kinda reminded me of Egypt and Cleopatra specifically. This person could be a history nerd. They could be of African descent. I will focus on each card individually to point out certain details that caught my attention.
Epidote - Upgrade your version of you : this stone is mentioned as the "get what you give" stone. Which highlights this person's spiritual nature and generosity. This is a person that works on themselves a lot, that constantly tries to be better and do better. They have a bit of a workaholic attitude.
Libyan gold tektite - Banish your "blahs" : this stone forms in the Sahara desert. So this person could have North African to Central African origins, especially Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt. This peron is goal oriented and pretty stubborn. When they have something in mind, it's hard to get them to change their point of view. Sometimes this person can exhaust themselves pretty quickly because of how hard they work. They tend to work extremely hard at a high frequency very early on and thus burn their energy very quickly.
Kunzite - Open up your love channel : they have trust issues because of past relationships. They tend to be hard on themselves and blame themselves for past failures when in reality they were not responsible for what happened. They tend to put others' needs first and forget their own. This person is very loving and can sacrifice themselves in the name of love.
Malachite - Claim your success : this person is humble. They may tend to bring themselves down or attribute their success to others because they may feel like they don't deserve recognition. They have a very altruistic nature. They are very creative but have a hard time following through with their ideas. They tend to be all over the place sometimes, especially if they've been giving a lot of their time and energy to others.
With the combined energy of all these cards, I picture a woman with a motherly nature, that tends to be the mom of the group. Someone very discreet and quiet that always encourages others and shows affection through acts of service. Someone that can do benevolant work just for the sake of giving. A person that is very sensitive to people's struggles. The kind of person that would cry seeing an animal being hurt and out in the streets. The kind of person that would give out their clothes and money to a person in need. A person that was raised in a religious household and taught to never look down on people and never forget where they came from. Someone from a modest family that rose up to success through their hard work and strong inner belief. A person that has a strong moral compass and lives according to their principles, regardless of what people may think of them. Someone that, because of this mentality, tends to be alone and has a hard time connecting with other people.
I'm the charmer ~
Threads of fate oracle cards | back of the deck Paradox, Love, Self Love, Play
The person we are talking about is someone that may confuse you a lot. With this Paradox card, I get a Star vibe from it, which reminds me of Aquarius. So this person could have Aquarius as one of their main signs. This also tells me that you could have met this person online or if you met in person, your main mean of communication is the Internet. I also get the vibe of someone being a bit popular and very busy with their work and hobbies. This person could be very active on social media and thus investing in many projects with different people. The spread also gives me a feeling of two friends walking on the line of romance. The lines may be blurred with this person. At some moment you may feel like they only perceive you as a friend but other times things they say or do may make you question their feelings for you. And this could actually be because this person is feeling the same toward you. I feel like both of you aren't sure of what the other means to you and what you want out of this connection. This could be a FWB situation or just a mutual crush that both of you kind of ignore for some reason. Peacocks and dolphins may be significant signs. Overall, I get the vibe that you and this person get along very well and have a lot of fun with each other. No matter the distance or the time spent apart, whenever you see this person again or interact again, it always feels like you never really were separated. It's like the last time you spoke was yesterday, even if you may have been in a no contact situation for decades. The affection you have for each other is never dying off. I get a very good vibe from this spread and this person. This is someone who's intensions are pure and loving. I kinda get a starcrossed lovers vibe from this group. But more importantly, I feel like the main reason why this person is special to you is beacause they are a part of your soul tribe. This is someone that uplifts you and supports you no matter what, though you may be complete opposites and have different opinions about the world. This person just respects you deeply and appreciates you for who you are. I pick up on a lot of affection and gratitude for each other. It's like both of you only truly feel at peace with one another. Not only does this person give you love but they also gently nudge you into loving yourself more instead of constantly nurturing others. When both of you are interacting, a lot of healing is happening. One thing that may really help you identify this person, I feel, is that this is someone you share a lot of laughter with. You may have a lot of private jokes, secret codes that only you know of, memories of deep conversations that you couldn't have had with anyone else. Honestly this really gives me a best friends to lovers vibe. I also pick up on Pisces energy.
White Numen tarot cards | back of the deck Judgement, Hierophant, Emperor, 2 of pentacles, 5 of pentacles, 5 of swords, 2 of wands
Before I dive in any further, I wish to point out that while I shuffled the deck cards kept falling in big groups and it felt like the energy was all over the place. This gave me the impression that there may be several people that are thinking of you. So if you were drawn to different piles, this may be a confirmation that this is your case. Also I felt like one person specifically was doing their best not to think of you but it's just something that they can't help. If this person ends up thinking of you despite their resistance, then things get out of control and they feel like they can never get their composure back again. In terms of Zodiac signs, we have Scorpio, Taurus, Aries mainly. For some of you I think your exes could be potentially among the people that think of you. Whether those were just friends or actual lovers. I feel like many people who may not have manifested any sign of attraction for you ar now reminiscing about you and wishing that they had given you a chance. Which to me is further confirmed by the spread. With he Judgement card and the combination of the cards, I am given a message that this person or these people could be coming in and out of your life lately and some of them may be trying to find an opportunity to express their attraction. I particularly pick up on the energy of someone you may have had a fallout with because of external circumstances, that is now realizing how much you mean to them and wanting to come back into your life. This person I feel misses the feeling of being with you and more importantly they feel like their chance was stolen from them. Like something happened that prevented them from truly giving your relationship a chance. Like, for example, let's imagine you moved into a city and met a person. Things were going well and this person developped feelings for you. When they were about to reveal their feelings to you, you announced them that you were moving out of the city because of your work. This kind of feeling. For some, it could even be that you got into a relationship with someone else before they could even confess their feelings to you and they were cut short by that. Out of respect for you, they chose to remain silent but now they just can't hold it in anymore. This is someone that envisioned a future with you and wanted to commit to you, but they may have taken a long time to find the courage to make the necessary adjustments in their life to enable this connection to flourish. Another possibility is that your faith or your family were a main obstacle in your connection, which caused you to separate ways.
Crystals oracle cards | back of the deck Smoky Quartz, Sapphire, Labradorite, Herkimer Diamond
First of all, I picked up on very specific details that may not resonate with everyone. One person may be a smoker. One person may have a pet cat or a pet dog. One person may have blue eyes.
Smoky Quartz - Arm your spiritual warrior : this is a stone that speaks about protecting your energies from energy vampires and people that may stand in your way. So maybe the person we're talking about may have been someone that wasn't always good to you.
Sapphire - Find your tranquil place : this stone speaks about freeing yourself from the judgmental opinions of you others may have as well as grudges you may hold. So this person could have helped you with your self confidence over the years but they could also have hurt you in other ways. This may be a person you have mixed feelings about because of your common past.
Labradorite - Protect your magic : Canada may be significant. Pisces is coming up again with this card. This person may have helped you with reconciling with love and romance. They may also have helped you realize your own worth.
Herkimer diamond - Power wash your energy : this is a cleansing crystal. Despite its name, it is not a diamond. This person may thus have been someone that you mistook for something they were not. People may underestimate or overestimate this person. They could be someone that enjoys travelling or you may have met them while travelling. New York may be significant to some of you.
With all that being said, I feel like many energies are being mixed within this group but the overall vibe seems to be that most of the people we're talking about are people from your past that you may not be in contact with anymore on a daily basis. Some of them you may not even suspect of having such thoughts about you. You may be happy that some of them are not in your life anymore but others you may miss and wonder about.
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abimee · 2 months ago
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hi i can no longer act coy or hope that a job will come in time so im coming to everyone really embarassingly with my issues
in June I attempted to get fired from/left my job after having a really embarassing public meltdown due to having Rapid-Cycling Mixed Bipolar and the unending stress of that job of 3+ years. I've been struggling to get a job afterwards due to being in CA without a vehicle, and i'm currently working on an overdue commission so could not open up any more.
Soon after, my mother's car imploded, and a series of incidents related to a used engine and taking out a loan with a friend has left her both needing to pay back the loan and still needing to get a new car, putting her thousands in the hole.
my mother has allowed me to not worry about paying rent while unemployed, but now the person living with us is moving out, so it will be on me and my mother to pay rent, upping mine from $300 to $500 a month. I am currently job hunting with good prospects, but I am still in need of some assistance.
I DO NOT WANT TO ASK FOR DONATIONS WITHOUT GIVING SOMETHING IN RETURN, I have a very bad time taking help from people without doing something in return because I do not want people to feel like they Have to give me money or help me, I want to Offer something in return for that money, even in a situation like this, because I want everyone to come out on the other end feeling fulfilled, so I'm offering some (slow) cheaper commissions I can work on in between the bigger comm I owe.
My kofi is always open for donation sketches ---- you can donate the minimum amount (or whatever you prefer) and get a drawing like this of anything as long as you put it into the donation message!
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i cant currently take on big commissions as I have one i owe and the commissioner is a very generous person who has been waiting a good few months for me to finish one during this hectic time, but if you're interested in getting something a little higher quality for a donation, a $30-50 USD donation can get you a ''simple commission'' styled drawing --- that is, you give me a prompt and character refferences (ocs or fanart, up to 2-3 characters depending on complexity), and I draw them like below (color complexity depends on price, the higher the amount the more the color).
You wont have access to revisions to make this as fast as possible, so i HIGHLY reccomend only getting fanart comms of these and to make sure you really like my style!!
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this is one of those situations where I DEEPLY reccomend people do not donate unless they want something in return, if you dont wanna ask for a drawing or anything i reccomend going to people in more dire circumstances and helping them out with your donation!!!
but if you want to help me help my mother get out of a bad financial situation and get a little drawing in return, you can do a small dono and att a message of what you want doodled, or you can email me at [email protected] your $30-50 donation reciept and what you would like me to draw, and ill try to get them as soon as I can
thank you so much for checking this post out and keep it real old school!!!!! i promise once this is over and i get a job we'll be back to your regularly scheduled art posting
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[EDIT: PLEASE DO NOT REBLOG THIS VERSION. I AM NO LONGER TAKING THE SIMPLE COMMISSION TIER. REBLOG THE ADDITION TO THIS POST GIVING AN UPDATE]
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flawseer · 2 months ago
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Ok, these time rate me the Jade WInglets
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I've been sitting on this work-in-progress picture for so many months now. Maybe if I post it here, I'll finally sit down and finish it.
Very long post incoming.
Discussing the Jade Winglet
Okay. So, you want me to rate the Jade Winglet group. That’s going to be very easy: I love all of them.
It’s also going to be extraordinarily hard because... well... I love all of them. How am I supposed to put them into an ordered list? It can’t be done. So I guess what I’m going to do is: First I will put them into a tier list, and then I’m going to just talk about each of them individually for a bit.
But on account of aforementioned adoration I have for all of these guys, said tier list is going to be very lopsided. The tiers are going to be “I adore them with the intensity of seven suns”, “I really like them”, and “I very much like them, but...”. You’re going to have to imagine that there are five or so more unused tiers below that.
Let’s unceremoniously get that ranking out of the way first. From top to bottom, the tiers are:
I adore Turtle, Qibli, and Winter.
I really like Moonwatcher, Kinkajou, and Peril.
I very much like Umber and Carnelian.
As for more in-depth commentary, here is a disclaimer: When I think about these guys I mostly consider books 6 (Moon Rising) to 9 (Talons of Power) and the first half of 10 (Darkness of Dragons). The second half of 10... if I’m being honest, I didn’t really enjoy it. I don’t want to go into it too much here, if you really want me to talk about my misgivings with the second arc finale, put a message about it in my inbox (it’s not just the obvious thing; it actually mostly pertains to Winter and the absolute nightmare ending he got saddled with, and some very unfortunate character implications).
Some of my musings are also going to be a bit critical. I just want it to be clear that I make these observations as a fan of the series. It’s a good practice to think critically even about media that you like. It helps you better understand why you like it in the first place. Also, I make no demands to be agreed with. This is just how I see it.
Anyway, enough stalling, let’s get into it. Not in order:
Turtle
CW: Parental abuse
Turtle is the most wonderful thing to ever happen in the history of the universe. I wake up every morning and the first thought in my head is “Ugh, another day in this backwards reality where Turtle is not real! No thanks!!” Then I go right back to sleep disappointed until the next day. Okay, maybe that’s a bit hyperbolic. But I do think that everyone’s lives would be greatly improved if Turtle was real.
Turtle is a very vibrant and insightful character who, much like Winter, is unfortunately cursed with a pair of malicious and incompetent "parents". Some of his scenes really hurt to get through if you’re a parent yourself or have ever had parental feelings. The first scene he is in, when Moon observes him arriving at the academy, his mother makes a passing comment about how Turtle has no value because he cannot inherit the throne. Turtle is within earshot when she does this. And he has no overt reaction to it, which to me hints that Coral asserts this about her male children so frequently that he has accepted her line of thinking and internalized it. He just accepts it as the truth. That is heartbreaking.
And then there is his father, mild-mannered and ostensibly gentle Gill, who killed Turtle’s budding interest in writing as well as the entirety of his self-confidence back when he was a kid, by assigning a little boy a task that was well beyond him (and only to him, even though there were more people present who could have helped), and then made him believe he killed his unborn sister when Turtle inevitably couldn’t do what he was asked. The narrative really tries to make Gill sympathetic in that moment by insisting he’s speaking in anger and doesn’t really mean it, but um, no. I don’t buy it, dude. You just gave a little kid a lifelong guilt complex because you couldn’t think of asking more people for help. Or taking the egg with you while you left the hatchery. Or telling Turtle to take a message to the palace guard so someone who didn’t still have their milk teeth could mount a proper, organized search while interim guards were posted in the hatchery. Or literally any of the thousands of other options that didn’t require traumatizing your own son.
As a result, Turtle became emotionally reclusive. He registers to others as dull, placid, unpassionate, and boring, like he cares about nothing and is content to never strive for or achieve anything in his life. He himself explains that writing used to be something he was into at some point, but then lost interest in. But I don’t think he has. He still loves literature and thinking about stories, he's still doing it in his internal monologue. He just denies it because he subconsciously feels the need to punish himself. I imagine he still gets that drive sometimes, to sit down and start writing again. But every time he thinks about it, or catches himself wanting anything, his father’s voice resurfaces in his mind, telling him that he killed his sister and doesn’t deserve it. And then he self-punishes by depriving himself of everything he loves doing and every positive emotion associated with it. Because he is convinced he is guilty for failing his father, when in actuality, the opposite is true.
The tragedy is that, if Gill had known how much damage he caused and wasn’t in a situation where he needed a flowchart to keep his 30+ sons apart, he probably would have apologized. He doesn’t strike me as malicious, just horribly, horribly incompetent as a parent. But as things played out, Gill is no longer able to fix his mistake. The only person who can now grant Turtle the forgiveness he needs is himself. I hope he will be able to do it.
Turtle truly is an endearing character and a wonderful son undeserved by his parents. If I could adopt him right now I would. In fact, I’m gonna do it. Hold on while I get the papers. Wait, I have to finish? Uh... okay.
Moonwatcher
In a sense, Moonwatcher may be the most interesting character in the entire cast. She certainly had the potential to be my favorite character period. But there are a few points holding her back.
The thing about Moonwatcher is that, more than any other character, she requires meticulous care and attention to detail to be written well. The reason for this is that, when you’re writing for Moon, you also technically write for every character she interacts with. She is written brilliantly in her own book, since the narrative is allowed to focus on her; Moon Rising may thus actually be my favorite book of the second arc. It’s very enrapturing, seeing her navigate the academy’s social dynamics after growing up as, essentially, a feral jungle child, and battling with her own feelings of loneliness and inadequacy.
The thing is though... Wings of Fire has a bit of an odd quirk. Something I’ve noticed with regards to its writing is that, whenever a character is not particularly in focus during a scene, they often get reduced to their most basic traits and will rigidly act according to them regardless of prior context or external factors. I call this phenomenon “Auto-pilot”. If you’ve read my Mail Call #3, this is what I think happened to Tsunami during the second arc—Tsunami’s basic traits are that she is bossy, emotional, and blunt, so she spends the entirety of her page time as a deep-sea-themed wrecking ball who yells at everyone and dismisses everything as “ugh, nightwing powers” and “Peril was bad in book 1 once, I hate her forever”, despite having other, more pressing matters to prioritize.
Whenever Moonwatcher gets set to auto-pilot, it is very depressing. She needs careful, attentive writing to shine, and whenever she doesn’t get it she turns from the most interesting character into a dull brick that recites exposition and occasionally exists to be fawned after by boys. Tragically, the auto-pilot hits her bad after Winter’s book is done, and she never manages to escape it afterwards, save for maybe one or two scenes. There is a particularly egregious example in book 10 that, in my opinion, does permanent, irreversible damage to her character. It’s all a bit soul-crushing if dwelt on.
So yeah, I like Moonwatcher. I really do. I just wish the strong way she was written could have carried through the entire arc.
Winter
CW: Parental abuse
I initially didn’t really know what to make of Winter when I read Moon’s book. He seemed kind of like a buttface who was needlessly hostile and unapproachable. But he really comes into his own in his book, and looking back at his earlier scenes with that new context makes it all make sense. He became one of my stand-out favorites after that.
Winter really has a lot in common with Turtle, so much so that I wish those two actually had some deeper interactions with each other. Like, at one point Turtle saves his life, you’d think they would want to talk about that some time. Where Turtle’s parents are one half malicious, one half incompetent, Winter’s are pure malice AND incompetence. Blessed with three children, they managed to completely ruin one of them, almost ruin the other, and then the third one is kind of out of focus so I don’t know how he is faring, but I doubt there is a lot of love there either.
In a way, you can draw a lot of parallels between Winter and Icicle, and Zuko and Azula from Avatar: The Last Airbender—The unfavorite who tries to do right but constantly fails to live up to his father’s/parents' warped standards, and the prodigy who seemingly has her father’s/parents' approval but secretly suffers from the abusive parenting just as much, but in different ways. Hailstorm then tries to take on the role of Iroh, an older figure that acts as a source of positivity and genuine love, and offers a reprieve from the abuse. But where Iroh is an adult drawing from a lifetime of wisdom, Hailstorm is just the slightly older sibling who comes from the same abusive household battling the same demons, so his effectiveness in countering the toxicity is limited.
Where Zuko pursues honor, Winter strives to be strong. Both his parents and his sister perceive him as weak and label him irrelevant. While this hurts him deeply, I don’t think Winter fully surrendered to his inferiority complex until he heard his brother mirror the same sentiment at him. Winter is repressed and struggles with processing his emotions—Thus he heard the words Hailstorm only said to save his life and took them at face value. Even the person he loves the most, the only source of affection and affirmation in his life, thinks he is weak. This is what drives Winter to feverishly desire strength and thus adopt a persona of the strongest thing he knows: a stoic Icewing warrior.
This is why he acts the way he does in book 6: aloof, threatening, unapproachable, invincible. But all of these traits are diametrically opposed to his actual personality, which is warm, compassionate, and just wanting to be loved for who he is. So whenever Moon reads his mind, he comes across as a confused mess of conflicting emotions. Because he is pretending to be something he isn’t.
The interesting thing here is that Winter actually is genuinely strong. He is just unable to recognize his own worth, due to the toxic way royal Icewings are raised, warping his perception of what strength means. When he meets Foeslayer, who is said to be an ancient enemy of his people, his mind cuts through the veneer of tradition and old bullshit justifications and sees her imprisonment for the cruel injustice that it is. He then undoes that injustice and frees her. It takes an incomprehensible amount of personal integrity and willpower to just casually defy the will of your entire country like that. This is equivalent to treason; by aiding her, Winter risks becoming an enemy of his people on par with Foeslayer herself. And he does it anyway, because it is the right thing to do.
This dissonance in his perception of strength with regards to his Icewing upbringing, and the actual strength he embodies and has embodied all this time, is something I would have liked to see explored more in the finale or something. As it stands now, he got pressured into putting his life on the line in the battle for Jade Mountain, has sworn loyalty to a people that mistreated him and tried to ruin him from a young age, and then got saddled with an existential nightmare of an ending that leaves me baffled to this day.
In terms of personal misfortune, he certainly is the Starflight of his group.
Qibli
CW: Parental abuse
Qibli is a very charming and versatile character. It is easy to imagine him in a variety of different situations and the scenes almost write themselves, especially when there’s another person with him whom he can bounce off of (figuratively, though I wouldn’t put it past him to try to literally bounce off of someone too). The 10th book posits him as some kind of parallel to Darkstalker; the latter even overtly states this and tries to recruit him as a manner of apprentice. It’s interesting because I think they are actually pretty different.
Qibli excels in situations where his options are limited. He is great at thinking on his feet and coming up with solutions to problems within a restricted framework. He'd be great in an escape room. This ability of his is shown throughout the arc, but it is especially visible in Moon Rising, where his presence in a scene often makes Moon stronger, or more adept at solving problems, because his mind is breaking down the situation for her in a way she would be unable to see on her own.
The twist then comes in when you take Qibli out of that limited framework, by giving him power. His pronounced intellect is very peculiar; it needs limitation to be brilliant. When he has unhindered access to all-powerful magic (i.e. doesn’t have to clear his ideas with another person), he turns into a colossal idiot who buries cities in sand and almost blows up inhabited mountains.
It only follows that, if you were to give Qibli what he wants and make him an animus, it would absolutely ruin him. The great intellect he cultivated would wither and, unshackled from the limitations that forced him to think critically and be his most excellent self, he would end up destroying himself, and likely others too.
Another interesting facet of Qibli is how he works as a parallel to Winter and Turtle (and Peril to an extent). All of these characters come from broken homes and have suffered under abusive parental figures. Qibli’s case in particular is interesting because it showcases how your circumstances can make a difference in how well you handle that issue. Qibli suffered under a tyrannical mother and a pair of cruel siblings, but in contrast to his peers, someone from the outside noticed his suffering was able to intervene—Thorn saved him from his hell and became his rescue parent, restoring his confidence and sense of self-worth.
Because of this, when his turn comes to confront his demons, while it is still difficult and painful (because trauma always is), he is able to navigate the confrontation with comparatively more grace and control than the others. The contrast really shows how difficult it is to escape a toxic relationship if you are still mired deeply within it, and how you need to put some distance between yourself and it before you can see where you are and what needs to be done with improved clarity. That is the path to healing.
I could probably keep talking about Qibli for 15 more paragraphs, but I’ll spare you.
Kinkajou
Every protagonist (and a good deal of side characters) in Wings of Fire is broken, usually has some kind of gut-wrenching past (often due to terrible parents), and struggles to find their place in the world. Luckily here is a pink-and-yellow Rainwing who is just happy and everything is fantastic and wholesome, right?
CW: Forced starvation
Nah, Kinkajou had it pretty rough too. The story plays it like it’s a humorous quip when she finds out Moonwatcher is her roommate and bemoans that nobody is taking her “trauma” seriously, but... yeah, it actually is legitimate trauma. She was captured, bound, and trapped on a hell island without sunlight for several weeks. While there, she was not fed, and she helplessly watched people whom she knew from early childhood starve and die. Death by starvation is not pretty, she likely had to witness her friends slowly being driven mad by hunger until they withered away, and couldn’t do anything about it. Then she was rescued and returned to a home that didn’t believe her pain was real, that claimed she made it up for attention, and that some people who she thought of as friends didn’t even notice she was gone. The only one who believed her was a stranger whom she had met maybe a few hours ago.
Personally, if that happened to me and I came home to that, I’d likely have pulled a Chameleon and said “Screw the Rainwings, I’m moving to the desert.”
That Kinkajou is still able to be positive and full of energy after that is a testament to her immense mental fortitude. She might actually be one of the most stable and resilient characters in the story. Some things shake her up for a bit, but nothing can crush her.
Still, I imagine there are some times, after a really bad day maybe, where she wakes up in the middle of the night. And there, for just a moment, she is scared to open her eyes... because she might be back on the Nightwing island and has to watch someone else die.
Peril
Peril is a bit of an odd case in arc 2. She gets grouped with the protagonists of that arc and the ending implies she is integrated into the Jade Winglet as their new Skywing. I have no real problem with that, in fact it’s good on her that she’s made a little less isolated. But to me, Peril always felt like an awkward appendix to that group. Her only real friend in there is Turtle; for the rest of them they feel more like vague acquaintances, like she's tolerated for being Turtle's friend.
To be fair though, that friendship with Turtle is really strong; it’s an exciting and deep character dynamic. But if I was forced to tie Peril to a group of protagonists, my first instinct would be to associate her with the first arc protagonists instead.
This poor girl has been through it. Everyone seems to hate her and wants her to leave, sometimes for understandable reasons and sometimes it just seems bizarre. I already went into Tsunami’s disdain for her in an earlier post, but I also vaguely remember a point in Escaping Peril where she meets Qibli and he gives her a withering glare for some reason. That confused me, to be honest. I thought “What’s YOUR problem with her? Have you ever even met??” Like, I guess the Outclaws were in direct conflict with Burn since they lived in the same country, and Peril was an infamous elite combatant under the command of one of Burn’s allies, so maybe Peril killed people he knew? But then he gets over his disdain really quickly and with no comment, so whatever happened can’t have been a big deal after all.
My favorite part in her book is when everyone--after having learned about Turtle’s powers--chews him out for not having helped his country during the war, and Peril cuts through the tripe by saying something along the lines of “So if he uses the power he was born with to serve his Queen it is honorable, but when I do the same for my Queen I’m a murderer and deserve to have things thrown at me?” I love all of these guys, but they really deserved to be called out for their double standard and feel stupid for a bit.
But yeah, I really enjoy her friendship with Turtle in the end. And since he accidentally made himself virtually indestructible, it means Peril can now get all the friendly hugs she craves.
Umber
Umber is cool. He has a potentially interesting relationship with Turtle, which is implied in the latter’s book when it is mentioned that they sleep with their backs touching to comfort each other about their respective siblings not being there.
Unfortunately he gets written out of the story arc very quickly. I wish I knew more about him.
Carnelian
I like Carnelian. I feel like she had a lot of potential that gets wasted by her death, for not much gain. It is used to give Queen Ruby a reason to come to Jade Mountain and kickstart the events of Peril’s book, but the same could have been accomplished by having her learn that the Academy is housing Peril and going there to demand the extradition of a (in her eyes) dangerous and murderous fugitive.
Same as with Umber, really, I wish I knew more about her. I already said this during my Smaugust drawing session, but I like to pretend that she and Bigtail didn’t die, and instead had a mini arc about recovering from their injuries. It also has the side effect of averting some very unfortunate implications that come with Bigtail’s death.
~~~
I think that’s all of them. Good lord I talk too much. Please don’t throw crocodiles at my face for it. Tumblr is my queen, and--much like the Queen's former champion--I was made to do it.
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splonk-fox · 6 months ago
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The flaws of Jax and Ragatha, and why they matter to Pomni's character arc.
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Within the two episodes of The Amazing Digital Circus that have been released so far as of writing this post, there have been two characters who have been given the most attention and depth out of any of the cast (ignoring Pomni obviously), and those two characters are Ragatha and Jax.
The duo consisting of the kindhearted optimist and the meanspirited pessimist have without a doubt become some of the most interesting characters to analyze within this series so far thanks to how much meaningful screentime and character depth they have been given within the the two episodes that we viewers have been fortunate enough to witness with our very eyes.
But why is this? Why is it that these two have received special attention from the writers so far, and what role do they play in Pomni's character journey? Well I believe I may have found the answer, and it's unfortunately one that does not spell a good future for these characters. But to truly understand where I am coming from, we must first understand who these two characters are and how they relate to our main protagonist.
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To start off with the kindest of the duo, we have already learned quite a lot about Ragatha thanks to the two episodes she has been featured in so far.
Her most prominent character trait is without a doubt her kindness. She is the first person to really be genuinely nice to Pomni upon her entrance to the circus and spends the rest of the episode showing her around the place and trying her best to help her get settled in.
She's also someone who doesn't like to be overly blunt with her responses, such is shown when Pomni asks how they leave the circus, to which Ragatha, instead of just saying that she couldn't, phrases it in a way that makes it sound as if they simply haven't found a way to leave yet, this was obviously done in an attempt to not freak Pomni out too much, though this doesn't really go anywhere thanks to Jax.
Now that's great and all, Ragatha's a nice person, you can easily observe that through casual watches of the show, looking deeper however, you can see that there is a lot more going on with Ragatha than she would like to make you believe.
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Insecurity is another trait that Ragatha has that, while not shown off as prominently as her optimism, is still very important to Ragatha's character.
As we see in episode 2 of the series, one of Ragatha's biggest fears is not being liked. She vents to Kinger about how she feels like Pomni doesn't really like her that much, and that clearly scares her. And why wouldn't it? The end of episode 2 makes it clear that one of the most important things in this show when it comes to keeping the main cast mentally stable, is their sense of community.
They're all in this together, they have each other's backs and will do their best to be there for each other when it's needed. That is what is communicated to us within the second episode through Kaufmo's funeral.
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This segment of the episode, while somber in its tone, is also one that instills hope within Pomni and the viewer. Because it shows that despite everything, the circus members do care about each other. That abstraction is something that affects everyone and it isn't something that is just brushed off immediately, which if you recall, was the crux of Pomni's fears as seen at the beginning of the second episode, the fear of being forgotten, the fear of no one caring.
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"I don't even remember her name honestly" - Dream Jax.
So with how the importance of community has been firmly established within this show's messaging at this point, it should be no surprise that Ragatha's biggest fear is not having that community. Of people not liking you, of people hating you. So how does Ragatha solve this?
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Repression, that's how. Of all of Ragatha's personality traits her tendency to not display her true feelings towards things are without a doubt the most damaging.
The best example of this is how she reacts to Pomni abandoning her for the exit. The pilot would lead you to believe that she was mad at Pomni for doing this, that she didn't trust her anymore because of this selfish act.
And yet, that's all brushed to the side in the following episode. Ragatha is back to her optimistic self and is saying that everything is fine! That it was completely understandable and that there was no bad blood between them. Yet you can tell that isn't the whole truth, that Ragatha really didn't get over what Pomni had done to her that easily.
Now do I think Ragatha hates Pomni or secretly resents her? No, not really. I do think she's being honest when she says that she doesn't hold anything against her for doing this. But that doesn't mean she wasn't hurt by it. We can see clear as day from the pilot that this did affect her, so why does she act like she doesn't?
Because, from her perspective, her feelings do not matter. The only thing that does is to make sure Pomni is able to adjust, to make sure that everyone is happy, that everyone is still somewhat sane within the circus, and so she compromises her emotions in order to do this. Gooseworx has even said it herself that Ragatha often says things she doesn't necessarily mean in order to ease tensions. She doesn't want to cause conflict, she doesn't want people to fight with each other because she understands how important community is to the members of the circus persisting.
Yet in the midst of all of this, what Ragatha fails to realize is that with how she currently handles things, she is paving the way for her own mental break.
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Ragatha, in her attempts to be there for others, has walled herself off from others being there for her. By lying about how she really feels about things, by acting as if she is fine, she is not allowing herself the emotional vulnerability necessary for others to be there for her when she needs it.
The closest thing we have had to this so far is with Kinger, and while having someone she feels comfortable enough to lament her feelings around is a good thing, this is one person, one person who is... not exactly mentally stable, to put it lightly. Is not exactly an end all be all solution to her problems.
Kinger being the only person who Ragatha can rely on is only gonna work for a limited amount of time, the more she represses, the more she hides her true emotions and clear mental instability, the closer she is to meeting a cruel fate, one that no one would be able to save her from because no one even realized there was something wrong with her. For in her pursuit to make everyone else happy, she has sacrificed her own happiness, as a result.
And then there's Jax.
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Jax, in a lot of ways, is pretty much the polar opposite of Ragatha. While her leading trait is kindness, Jax's leading trait is being a complete and utter asshole. And while Ragatha is all about answering things in a roundabout way to ease stress, Jax is all about the blunt answers.
This is best shown to us in the pilot when, in the same scene where Ragatha tries to answer Pomni's question of "how do I leave?" in a way that wouldn't stress her out too heavily, Jax goes straight in with the "you can't". Jax is a pessimist, he has accepted that there is no way out, and is simply riding things as they go by.
Jax's leading character trait is all about causing as much chaos as he can for the sake of his own satisfaction. He doesn't care about how others feel, the only thing he cares about is causing as much chaos as possible simply because he can.
Yet that isn't all that's going on with Jax, there's something deeper here, something more complex.
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When it comes to the scenes everyone points to when saying that Jax has a lot more going on with him than meets the eye, the scene where he reacts to Kaufmo's funeral is the one everyone looks at with an analytical lens, and that's for a good reason.
For I think this little scene might just tell us a lot more about Jax than we think.
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One thing that I've come to notice about Jax's brand of chaos is that it's very reliant on others' reactions. All of the chaos he causes, all of the absurd and awful things he does are for the sake of seeing how others react. From throwing Pomni over the side of a truck and attempting to use her as a human bridge, or literally everything that he does to Gangle, it's all reaction-based, and that made me realize that, despite how selfish and uncaring he acts towards everyone else, community is still the one thing that truly matters most.
He needs the others so that they can react to his hijinx, as they are what give said actions meaning. If he had no crowd to watch as he acts like a shitty person, then he has no reason to do anything. But that is also where Jax's true character flaw comes in, his selfishness.
With how Jax is constantly pushing others around for the sake of his own amusement, Jax is very clearly a self-centered person. He is someone who is in it for himself and no one else. Who cares if others don't like him? Who cares if others despise him? As long as he gets to see funny things happen to people, he is gonna be okay.
But what happens when that method is no longer effective? What happens when the others don't give him the reaction he wants? What happens when he can no longer use chaos as a way to distract from the pointlessness of his reality?
Well, as scary as this may be to think about, Jax won't really have much of anything to fall back on. His cruel actions have wrote him into a corner. No one likes him, that much is obvious. And while Jax seems content with this now? What happens when he is put in the position of needing someone else's help?
Well, then he'll have no one, and it's ironically for the exact opposite reason to Ragatha. Ragatha's problem is that she is constantly repressing her emotions, despite the fact that she has people who care about her, she doesn't open up to them because in her eyes, her feelings are secondary to others'.
Yet Jax is the opposite, he's honest, he is self-centered, and that's also why he is one of the members who are in this most danger.
In a show that seems to be about how important community is and how important it is to stay together and be there for each other? To have a character who is the complete opposite of that. To have someone who doesn't care about others, who won't be there when someone else is hurting. To have someone who is actively making things harder for everyone... that just spells out demise.
Jax's true weakness is that he does not have a community who will be there for him when he needs it, he was never there for others so why should they be there for him? Meaning that when Jax is at the end of his rope, crying out for help, no one will listen, because as cruel as it sounds, most of the members would probably be happy that he's gone.
While this does admittedly rely a bit on speculation, I think what I've stated above might be the true reason for why Jax looked sad for a moment when the other characters were talking about the funerals held for those who have abstracted. Because in that small moment, he realizes he might not get a funeral of his own when he "dies", or if he did, no one would really have anything nice to say about him.
And that fear, that knowing of how the way you've built yourself up by putting others down has lead to everyone hating you, to everyone not having a single good thing to say about you... that is terrifying. And yet he hides it, he walks away, he refuses to attend the funeral because then he will have to be confronted with the uncomfortable reality of the fact that he won't die as someone who was remembered for doing good things.
The only thing he'll be remembered for, is how much everyone hated him. And all of that brings us right back, to Pomni.
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I said at the beginning of this post, as well as with the title itself, that Ragatha and Jax matter to Pomni's character arc, but why is this? Sure they're both main characters so obviously they're going to influence her journey going forward, but how exactly does any of this matter to Pomni? It's simple really.
Ragatha and Jax represent two extremes, they represent what happens when you lean too far in one direction. In one case, it is caring too much about others and not caring about yourself, and in the other, it's caring too much about yoursef and not caring about others.
Pomni has already shown traits of both Jax and Ragatha. She has shown an empathetic, kindhearted side as seen in her interactions with Gummigoo, and she has shown a selfish side, as seen when she abandoned Ragatha for the "exit" in the pilot.
Pomni has shown herself to be both selfish and selfless. But what part of her matters more? Simple answer, both. It is important to care about others while also taking time to take care of yourself. Ragatha and Jax show what happens when you forget to do one of these things.
By always taking care of others, you're forgetting to take care of yourself, and by always taking care of yourself, you fail to take care of others. To find a healthy balance is to do both. To be aware of your own mental health while also making sure that others are doing okay too. And this is something that Pomni will need to realize if she is going to make it in the circus.
And this is where Jax and Ragatha become important. I believe these two will show Pomni how important it is to keep a balance of things. To not lean too far in one direction, as if you do, it spells bad news for you either way. And how will this be communicated to her and the audience?
Abstraction.
Think about it. If Ragatha and Jax's harmful practices continue without change and they end up abstracing because of it, that will be a wakeup call to Pomni, it will show her the flaws of being too selfless, and too selfish. Is it an extreme way to communicate such message? Sure, but it's also one that can't be ignored.
We, the audience, and Pomni, would see first hand the consequences of leaning too far in either direction, that if you don't find a balance, you will end up like Jax and Ragatha did.
And that's why I think these two in particular have been given so much screentime and attention these past two episodes. Because they are meant to show us the most extreme versions of Pomni's most prominent character traits.
The ability to care about yourself, and the ability to care about others.
Of course, I might be wrong in this assessment. We are far too early in the show's runtime to truly predict any big events like this. But from a narrative standpoint, I believe this interpretation makes the most sense in the way of showing us the audience, and Pomni, what truly matters. It's not just about you, it's not just about others, it's about both.
Thank you for reading.
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libraryraccoon · 8 months ago
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Kk so I am too lazy to write on my own but I have come up with a pretty good day dream scenario that you can write for ( I might also do it but maybe not).
But a police officer with a strong sense of justice goes to hell and starts trying to organize after spawning in one of the worst areas in hell, even the overlords are hesitant to go in there. But as they gain more and more power the area to clean up expands.
Their really not a bad person , one of the only reasons their there is because they had premarital sex . ( They banged someone's wife when drunk).
Was killed by the husband by a shot in the chest. Now resemble a fox because of their wit and inganuty.
( in sry if it's too specific but you can cut out anything u don't want)
Gender : GN
Pronouns : None
Message from Raccoon : I try to write a police officer!reader, but i'm pretty sure it's bad.
TW : Reader is in Hell 2 years before the series, 🟣 (one time mentionned), violence.
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General Headcanon
In your lifetime you were a police officer, and a good one at that.
But unfortunately, one day you died and arrived in hell.
The person you loved was cheating on their partner with you. They didn't like it and killed you.
You are now in Hell.
Hell sorely lacked justice, but it's okay, you will rectify it.. :)
Vox didn't like you. Like, really.
He heard about you after you nearly beat Valentino to death.
Why did you beat Valentino ? Because he was a 🟣, forcing people to prostitute themselves, and more.
You also beat Velvette a bit because she created the love potions.
So yes, he didn't like you.
He start to hate you when you broke his head/tv when you saw him manipulating people..
It's hell ! What did you expect ?! Everyone manipulates !
A violent police officer. This is what you were.
You killed everyone who did things against your morals... in one month you killed more than the exterminators ever did.
Adam sees you as a sort of rival/person on his level.
Alastor find you entertained.
You were the only one in Hell with a moral, so you were interesting.
He also finds it very interesting that you manage to beat 3 Overlords and that 2 Overlords (Carmilla and Zestial) consider you their equal.
He wanted to come talk to you, but he decided not to after seeing you kill a demon with an angelic weapon because they were cannibals.
Compared to what you might think, he have a sense of self-preservation.
When you arrived at the hotel, as part of security, Alastor was a little scared..
Especially when you pointed your gun at his forehead, where the hunter had shot, killing him when he was alived.
Bonus point if you are a dog demon, he is really scared and wonders if you want to reproduce his death.
Husk love you and love the fact that you can scared Alastor, he live for seeing that man being your victim.
Niffty love you, she think you are a real bad boy ! RIP
You and Vaggie get along well, you both know that not everyone can be redeemed (looking at Alastor from a distance) and you know how fucked up Hell is.
But you help Charlie because some still have a chance to redeem themselves (looking discreetly at Sir Pentious).
Sir Pentious was afraid of you at first, but in the end he start to like you.
You always get him out of the worst situations, I can imagine that you saw Vox try to use his power on Sir Pentious when he was a 'spy', and you directly destroyed the watch by throwing a knife at it.
Sir Pentious didn't even notice you were here-
After that, a long conversation followed about why we should not harm the Hotel and its residents and avoid the Vees.
Sir Pentious thanked you very much for that by the way.
After that Vox received a little visit from you..
If it wasn't for Charlie stopping you from killing him, he would have died instead of just being injured/broken.
Vox spent a week in repair/hospital.
Angel Dust adores you.
Every time you accompany him to work, strangely Valentino gives him the day off..
Yeah, he takes you with him whenever you can.
Even if you hate the Overlords, you are one of them.
Overlord D/N (demon name), the Police Officer of Hell.
Carmilla loves it when you are at meetings, the other Overlords (*cough* Vees *coughs*) are always calm when you are here.
You đŸ€ break into Lucifer's house.
Yeah, because well before the hotel, 3 days after your arrival, you break into Lucifer's house.
Why ? Because you found unacceptable that he didn't manage Hell and let the demons do all they want.
You didn't expect to find yourself faced with a depressed father whose wife left 5 years ago and who he no longer really has contact with his daughter.
You had to play therapist and friend.
Literally you were giving him therapy sessions in exchange of him letting you stay at his house.
You don't even have a degree in therapy.
Lucifer considers you as his lifeline. He clings to you for dear life, metaphorically and literally.
Hurt this man and the next day you will find his corpse-
Is this a healthy friendship ? No, but are you going to ignore this fact and pretend everything is normal ? Yes.
You have changed his point of view on demons, in the sense that some, not all but some, can be redeemed.
I headcanon that you repaired Charlie and Lucifer's relationship, and that before the series.
Greatest dad didn't happen, sorry everyone.
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makeste · 6 months ago
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BnHA Chapter 425: New Normal
Previously on BnHA: Everyone was all “and with that we conclude our final battle for better or worse!! We will now commence our slow return to the new normal, beginning with our protagonist and deuteragonist who are miraculously more or less intact, albeit exhausted and mildly traumatized. Also the words ‘more or less’ are kind of doing a lot of heavy lifting there.”
Today on BnHA: The Big 3 and Aoyama are OUT. Shinsou is IN. The Tododrama is PENDING, and the mysterious figure in the shadows is UNIDENTIFIED. Also class 1-A finally becomes class 2-A and it only took them 425 chapters and TEN LONG YEARS. Can you imagine if this series had actually run throughout their high school experience like people once expected. “THE YEAR IS 2044 AND MY HERO ACADEMIA IS FINALLY WINDING TO A CLOSE.” There’s an alternate universe somewhere where this actually happened and we were all so very, very tired.
This is once again a shorter than usual reaction summary post, as opposed to my typical page-by-page liveblog. Not gonna have time to do those for a while yet most likely, but like hell am I gonna miss out on the last days of the series, so here we are.
Once again basing this off of @pikahlua’s spoiler translation summary here!
watching the eighteen inch tall Rat Principal standing at a podium overseeing this graduation ceremony is surreal in the most wonderful way. it’s like receiving your diploma from a sentient Funko Pop
I love how they established that Mic sitting there screaming at the top of his lungs is also a beloved U.A. graduation tradition, and that the senpais just roll with it while everyone else is in varying stages of trying to decide if it’s too late to transfer to another school
ngl sometimes I forget that Ochako and Toga were actually the second canonical f/f ship in this series. shoutout to Hadou and her adorable girlfriend whose name I absolutely cannot recall
absolutely wild that Horikoshi gives credit to Rat Principal for coordinating the entire disaster recovery nationwide. are you serious. the “world-famous” Principal Nezu?? you’re telling me this little capybara is effectively the secret president of Japan now or something. when does he even sleep
“the principal made great contributions to quirk morality education” is also a VERY interesting tidbit that I really want to know more about. “hey guys what if we did a better job at teaching people not to be dicks with their quirks” AND JUST LIKE THAT JAPAN WAS SAVED huzzah
“we lost many things, but we gained nothing” is both HILARIOUS and soundly depressing, but I can see what he’s trying to get at. still an odd choice for a graduation speech though. “our job is all about harm reduction, and we couldn’t even do that this time around, but in the future we hope to balance things out and maybe even get some net positive impact going!” lmao. again it’s all true, and in all honesty it’s spectacular that they managed as well as they did, all things considered. and I guess it would have been disingenuous to just ignore the reality of everything this particular school body has been through and pretend like everything is great right now. but I still can’t help feeling like there was probably a more inspiring way to get this message across lol
regardless of what he says, Aizawa 100% either bribed or threatened Rat Principal behind the scenes in order to stay with his class. and will do so again next year. he can and will keep getting away with it. he is never leaving these kids
and the sheer relief from all of them upon hearing it is all the justification he needs. these kids have four thousand nine hundred and seventeen accumulated traumas among them. they don’t need a four thousand nine hundred and eighteenth. this man is their father ffs. MINA WAS CRYING AND EVERYTHING
Kacchan watched that YouTube video about a dozen times until he managed to tie his tie all on his own with the one hand. and he did an amazing job. he’s such a model citizen now
also it looks to me like he has his right arm hidden in a sling underneath his shirt, which is interesting. if I’m not mistaken (and I very well could be, since it’s been a hot minute since I did any BnHA timeline math), the final battle took place sometime in early May, so this chapter is taking place roughly one month later. the hospital chapter took place about a week after the battle, so it’s been about 3-4 weeks since then. I really want to know what kind of shape Kacchan’s arm is in, but I guess Horikoshi will get to it when he gets to it
also, “we all gotta be together today” was a real wakeup call to me in that it gave me just an absolutely ridiculous amount of feels. just a totally unreasonable amount. and it’s like. listen, self. Kacchan has completed his character growth arc. he’s a team player and a leader who loves all his friends and they all love him in return. we’ve known this for years now. it’s an established fact. you can’t keep bursting into tears or whatever every time he shows it. this is no way to live your life. I need an intervention
anyways later this evening class 2-A is gonna have a celebratory movie night in the common room, and Kacchan is gonna fall asleep two minutes in peacefully surrounded by all his classmates, and they’re all gonna nudge each other and smile fondly and cover him with a blanket and stay up until 2am and Aizawa will have no mercy on them the following morning. it’s gonna be so wholesome you guys
(ETA: I decided to go back and have some more feels about this one tiny Kacchan panel, because apparently the four paragraphs I already wrote about it weren't enough. so the thing is, Sero's wonderment at Katsuki being out of the hospital initially read to me as half bemused awe, and half "oh boy, time to get back into our usual rhythm of antagonizing Kacchan!" but my second time around, I can't help remembering that all of Kacchan's classmates got to watch this kid getting tortured and strangled and stabbed through the heart in 4K. like, even if they were busy with their own fights at the time, there's no way they didn't see the footage later on afterwards.
and that had to have been traumatic for them. their friend literally died and was just lying there so still for so long afterwards. and him getting better and going back to his usual asskicking self later on doesn't just erase those memories, you know? especially with him having lasting, permanent damage afterward. not just his arm, even! like who even knows if his heart is going to be okay long term. when people get organ transplants they have to go on immunosuppressants afterwards because otherwise their body will try to attack the replacement organ. so I wonder how exactly it works when it's still your heart, but it's being held together by various bits and pieces of a spindly little floss man. idk, but I bet you it's still pretty rough.
anyway so long story short, I'm now reading this as one-third bemused awe, one-third joking antagonism, and one-third genuine "no seriously, is it okay for you to be here, please don't do anything to put your health at risk because we seriously cannot handle you dying on us again." and Kacchan's not even disagreeing with him lol, which has to be the most concerning thing of all. "they said it's okay if I rest." even he knows he's pushing it, but it was too important of an occasion to miss. anyway please take it easy kiddo.)
Aoyama leaving makes me sad but it makes total sense for his character after what he’s been through. he needs time to sort things out and continue down his own personal honor-regaining journey. respect
also glad to hear that it was his own choice and that both Rat Principal and Nao would have supported him if he stayed. I still to this day do not understand Naomasa’s actual level of authority lol. like, he’s supposedly a detective, and yet he seems to be personally in charge of every single important police operation, on like a national level. and he has the authority to make decisions like letting Aoyama go free. he is the law, literally
Aoyama trying to feed Deku some farewell cheese also took me out. like he just walked in there and was all “sorry everyone, I’m leaving, but I’ll still aim for the path of a hero and will one day return, don’t you worry!” and at some point in the midst of this tearful speech he made a beeline directly to Izuku and tried to give him some cheese that he apparently just had in his pocket or something. and Izuku was all “YEAH!” all solemnly but HE DIDN’T EVEN TOUCH THAT POCKET CHEESE. like he loves you and accepts you for who you are Yuuga but COME ON
at this point in the chapter it also became clear to me that Aizawa has his hair up in some sort of loosely assembled messy bun and that’s why it looks so especially flowing and gorgeous today. this is great cinema
and then AT LONG LAST, the admission of Shinsou into class 2-A. they tried everything they could to keep him out, BUT NOT EVEN THE END OF THE WORLD COULD STOP HIM. his rightful place
Ojiro’s scandalized response to hearing Fuwa refer to Aizawa as “Era-sen”, and then Fuwa subsequently revealing all of Aizawa’s secrets and Aizawa getting flustered and kicking her out, was one of the most delightful sequences I’ve read. “nooooo don’t tell them that, what the hell am I gonna threaten them with now”
Izuku has not even attempted to crack a smile since the final battle, aside from when he was frantically trying to reassure Kacchan in the hospital. I’m worried about him but also loving this a little bit, ngl. I am content to wait for you to eventually have a proper breakdown, mister Greatest Hero
also I singled him out on the whole not-smiling thing, but really this is true for just about all of them. my heart aches :(
were there really so many people freaking out over Izuku’s hair that Horikoshi felt compelled to throw in that “HEY DEKU-KUN, YOU SHAVED YOUR HAIR LIKE THAT DUE TO AN INJURY, RIGHT? BUT IT’LL GROW BACK, RIGHT!?” line in there lol. the hilarious thing is that this chapter was already in the books before 424 was released, so it means that Horikoshi anticipated the backlash ahead of time. the man knows his audience
and now for this mysterious little barefoot man randomly emerging from some rubble somewhere. who are you. fandom already thinks you’re everyone from Tenko to Hisashi lol. my personal theory is that he’s just a random citizen who’s hurt and traumatized and needs help. and unlike what happened with baby Tenko once upon a time, this young man actually will be helped by a hero in his moment of need, and it’ll be all hopeful and stuff because SOCIETY IS CHANGING FOR THE BETTER NOW HOORAY
or maybe he really is Tenko, idk. what do I know lol. don’t listen to me
lastly, Shouto out here immediately leaving U.A. after class and ruining my dreams of a class 2-A movie night. FINE THEN. GO AND BE WITH YOUR FAMILY my precious little life preserver. and I’m actually really, really excited to see what their endgame is actually, so yes, Horikoshi, bring it on please and thank you
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callmelola111 · 1 year ago
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guilty conscience ☆ part one
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⭑ part 2 , part 3 , part 4 , part 5 →
synopsis: it’s your first year at college and you’re 1,500 miles away from home. you’d feel completely alone if it wasn't for your attractive roommate ellie. will this attraction complicate the already uncharted territory? or will she be the answer to all your problems?
      |✯| pairing & wc: college!ellie williams x roommate!reader. wc: 1.4k
      |✯| cw (by part): 18+ themes (MDNI), fem reader, modern au!ellie, feelings of angst, sexual themes on like the verge of smut, some swearing
a/n: hey lovelies!!!! this my first time posting a fic so plz enjoy. feedback is appreciated as long as it is constructive. im new to all of this, and still learning. i plan on making this into a series so expect more coming soon. sorry if this chapter is very reader-centric. once reader gets to know ellie better, i’ll write more about her perspective. this will be a slow burn despite part 1 already having sexual themes (lol sorry, couldn't help it), but do expect eventual real smut <3 <3 (p.s: lets b mutuals, message me!!)
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As you packed the last of your belongings into your parents' 2008 Toyota, excitement was the last thing you were feeling. When speaking about college, most people explained this coming of age experience with phrases like “change”, “hard work”, and “no sleep”. These pessimistic descriptions made the big move that much harder. Unlike your friends from high school, you were crossing multiple states to attend your dream school. You would’ve been stuck in your home state too if it wasn’t for your impressive art portfolio which earned you a full-ride. Art school is where you know you’re meant to be, but the anxiety of doing it alone lingered.
Of course you were happy to be escaping the grapples of your small Republican town, but you couldn’t help but wonder if 1,500+ miles would really be the solution to all your problems.
                                          ★,ïœĄïœ„:*:ïœ„ïŸŸâ˜†ïœĄïœ„:*:★
“God where is she??” you grunt to yourself. The brown swivel chair provided as dorm furniture was your only source of entertainment. You spun around in circles, checking your phone every few minutes. You were anticipating a text from Ellie Williams. Through the cracked screen your phone read 11:03pm and the notification wall was empty.
Ellie is supposed to be your roommate. The two of you had met through the university's online roommate matching system. Your interactions were limited to the few texts sent back and forth about move-in times and who’s bringing what. Ellie was supposed to show up 5 hours ago to move in her stuff but she never arrived. You consider messaging her to check-in but Ellie’s previous texts wreaked of un-interest so you thought it best to leave her alone. You knew nothing about the girl, or even what she looked like, but with her stand-offish demeanor and your overthinking, a friendship didn’t seem in the cards.
Another half-hour passes before the sound of keys rattling pulls you out of your trance. Realizing you’re about to be face-to-face with your new college roommate, you snap up from your slouched position and push your hair behind your ears in preparation.
The slender door lazily swings open and your gaze quickly shifts to the faux wood floors. There was a sense of hesitancy, like you weren’t ready to see your fate just yet. A pair of dirty, black converse covered in writing sulk into your line of sight, triggering you to look up. As you did, your eyes were met with the most jaw-droppingly beautiful girl you’ve ever seen. Peeking through her messy auburn locks were piercing jade green eyes and an angular nose scattered with freckles.
It was Ellie Williams, and she was the epitome of “cool girl". Your head spun with all kinds of thoughts as your physical body went idle. You sat before Ellie gawking until she broke the awkward silence that had gone unnoticed by you. 
“Uh, hi
 I’m sorry for coming in so late
 some stuff came up. But uh, I’m Ellie Williams.” She held her right hand out towards you to shake it. It took you a second, but you snapped out of her spell and quickly shook her hand in return.
“Shit- Ellie, hey, it’s uh, nice to finally meet you.” You stumbled through your words as nerves overpowered your usual confidence.  There was an obvious awkward tension between the two of you. A typical feeling when moving in with a complete stranger.
Silence loomed in the air as Ellie took a stationary tour around the small, 12 x 20 ft. dorm. She surveyed your side of the room, taking note of any items that could hint towards who you are as a person. Her eyes stopped on a band poster you had hung up just hours ago. 
“You listen to Sleater-Kinney?” she inquired. 
“Hell yeah, they’re one of my favorite bands. Honestly anything in the riot grrrl music scene is right up my alley. Do you listen?” you replied with more enthusiasm and less nerves than before. 
“Yeah, yeah I do,” Ellie answered nonchalantly. You took note of her answer realizing what it could mean. Sleater-Kinney was like the gayest band ever, and Ellie definitely knew that. Maybe she just likes them for their music, but it's possible she also found the lyrics laced with sapphic pining to be relatable. Selfishly, you were dying to know her sexual orientation. Ellie seemed like too much of a stranger to ask her outright and so the game of reading between the lines began. Little did you know, Ellie was wondering the exact same thing about you. 
It was getting late and Ellie decided to save unpacking for the morning when she wasn’t so tired. You climbed onto your stiff dorm mattress and fluffed your pillows for sleep. Ellie did the same in her bed. 
“Is it cool if I turn out the lights now?” you asked, still navigating the new social dynamic as roommates. Ellie replied with a gentle hum and you hit the switch turning the room pitch black. As you lay in bed all you can think of is Ellie and the future. You didn’t know what it was, but you knew she was special, and you yearned to understand her. With these thoughts in mind, your eyes slowly begin to droop and you slip into a deep slumber. 
The next thing you know Ellie is sitting at the foot of your bed staring straight into your soul. Her beautiful green eyes felt especially intense as the rest of her face was shadowed from the dark room. 
“Ellie- I-” you could barely get out 2 words as you sat up from bed flustered. You felt like prey and she was the hunter
 and you liked it. Ellie slowly inched her way toward you, crawling on hands and knees. She didn’t have to say anything, you knew what she wanted.
Your plush thighs sat between her knees and her crotch hovered over yours, heat being exchanged. You wanted her so bad. You needed her. Ellie took your chin in her hand and pulled you in close. You exchanged breaths as her lips brushed up against yours. She couldn’t wait any longer and pressed her face into yours, capturing your lips which she so longingly desired for. You fell back onto your pillows and she followed intently.
Her body lay pressed against yours and she desperately shoved her wet tongue into your supple mouth. It was ravenous and you wanted more. You knew she did too as you began to feel the rotation of her hips digging into your pelvis. The heavy breaths coming from her swollen lips were in sync with the fervent grinding. You bucked your hips towards her in a frenzy. Ellie took her veiny hand and ran it along your waistband. As she began to slip it into your pants... you woke up to discover your own hands cupping the heat below and Ellie nowhere to be found. 
“What the fuck.” is all you could say. You pulled your hand from your pants and stared at the slick spider-webbing between your fingers. God this was humiliating. You climbed out of bed to wash your hands and glanced at the clock. It was 7:15am and Ellie was already gone. That seemed kinda odd for a 19 year old college student. You wondered where she had disappeared to so early in the morning.
Soon, the over-thinker took over and you began to grapple with the possibility that you said something out loud during your naughty wet dream. What if Ellie heard you? God what if you moaned her name?? What would you even say if she brought it up? Before you could formulate a hypothetical response, Ellie walked right through the door.
“AHh-” you yelped, startled by her presence. Ellie backed into the doorway holding a coffee in each hand. 
“God, sorry, you scared me.” you explained. Ellie shuffled back inside, twiddling her thumbs trying to decide what to say.
“Sorry, I just left to grab some coffee early this morning. I couldn’t sleep.” She continued, “I brought you one too. As an apology, for any trouble I might have caused by showing up at almost midnight to move in
”. Your cheeks flushed with color and you hoped she didn’t notice.
“Oh, thanks Ellie, that's nice. I promise there was no harm done.” you answered, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. Seemingly enough, this news meant she was awake while you were, ya know... dreaming. Ellie definitely wouldn’t bring a pervert coffee though. Right? Either way, you knew one thing for sure, you've got to have her.
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  ← masterlist ⭑ part 2 →
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merrybloomwrites · 8 days ago
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Something Great (Larry x Bandmember Reader)
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Summary: When you find yourself the sole girl in a band with five boys, of course your main focus is the band. But the boys? Well, they also have your attention. Navigating relationships is hard, but if you're lucky, that work can be worth it in the end.
Word Count: 2.5K
AN: Thank you to the anon who requested Louis x Harry x bandmember reader ages ago! Thanks both for the request, and the patience as I dealt with some major writers block on this one.
This isn't going to be a series so much as a little universe where I add random stories to it. So this is the getting together story to create the universe. I have a few ideas so far, but if there's anything specific you'd like to see feel free to send a message or leave a comment!
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Singing has always been a passion of yours. Your mom had put you in the children’s choir at church when you were little, and you’ve been singing ever since.
When your friends heard about auditions for the X-Factor they had all encouraged you to go. Or well, basically forced you. Even when you said it was silly, that you weren’t that good, they still told you that you had to at least try.
You never thought you’d make it, and when you didn’t get accepted after your audition you figured you’d been right. But then you and five boys all got called back and were put together in a band. 
Next thing you know you’re competing, spending all of your time with these five boys to practice and do interviews. You thought this would be short lived, that it would end once you lost the competition, but the opposite had happened. You’d all quickly rose to fame, becoming loved by people all over the world.
It’s a busy job, and doesn’t leave time for much else.
Except you’re a teenage girl, now sharing a tour bus and effectively living with five teenage boys. Five boys who have somehow quickly tamed their fluffy hair from messes into attractive styles. Five boys who are more open and vulnerable about their feelings with each other than anyone you’ve ever met. Five boys who are silly, and protective, and kind.
So yea, of course you can’t help but develop crushes on them. However, while your attention definitely cycles through all of them, you find yourself focusing mostly on Harry and Louis. 
Harry, well you’ve had a crush on him since day one. But you watched the way he was with Louis, the looks and touches they shared. This puts two conflicting thoughts in your mind. The first being that Harry is probably not interested in you, or girls for that matter, because, I mean, look at him with Louis. There’s no doubt that he has feelings for him. On the other hand, it made you pay even more attention to Louis, thus deepening your crush for him as well.
You’d find yourself switching between daydreams about being with Harry and then daydreams about being with Louis. So really it was only a matter of time until that all blended together. Without you even realizing it, you were now daydreaming about it being the three of you. 
Admitting to yourself that you want a relationship with both of them was difficult. Because you knew that it could never happen. So you tried to bury those dreams deep down until they would eventually go away.
It worked for a while. Things got even busier and your focus turned fully to the music.
And then you walked in on a sight you should have expected. But still, seeing Harry and Louis kissing was somehow a shock. One that left you feeling so sad, and lonely, and somehow rejected. 
They didn’t know you caught them, so you had backed away and let them continue their moment in private.
But it was clear that a shift had occurred in the dynamic. The boys kept their secret for another week before telling the rest of you that they were together. You watched as Liam, Niall, and Zayn congratulated them on finally figuring out their feelings. You joined in, hoping your enthusiasm matched the rest. 
Weeks pass, and you’re constantly having to watch Harry and Louis together. They have to hide the relationship from the outside world, which means they’re practically attached at the hip whenever they can find privacy. And apparently that includes times when you, Niall, Liam, and Zayn are there. 
They never get too over the top, but when it’s just the band, they’re always touching in some way, or sharing the occasional kiss. 
It should be sweet, and it is, and you’re happy for them, truly. But jealousy is an ugly thing. And the more you have to watch them being so cute together, the more your jealousy rages. 
You’ve had to start distancing yourself from them, worried that you’d do or say something that you’d later regret. They picked up on this of course, and one day they come to confront you about it while you’re all waiting backstage between sound check and a show. 
“Do you have a problem with us being together?” Louis asks. He’s holding Harry’s hand, and the sight of him running his thumb gently along the back has you almost crying. You wish you were in their position, either of their positions. But no, you’re alone.
“I don’t have a problem,” you reply.
“Really? Because you’ve been avoiding us for weeks now,” Harry says. “Is it because we’re two boys?”
That shocks you, and you say, “Of course not! I can’t believe you’d accuse me of being homophobic! That you’d think so little of me that I’d be bothered by that!”
“Well you’re clearly bothered by something! And we know it has to do with me and Harry being in a relationship,” Louis retorts. 
“I don’t have a problem with you two being in a relationship! I just-” you throw your arms up and turn to step away. Harry reaches out and his hand wraps around your wrist as he says, “Please don’t walk away! Not until we figure this out. I don’t want us drifting apart like we have been.”
Your breath catches, both at his touch and his pleading words. You pause for a moment before finally turning back. Harry drops his hand and your skin feels cold in his absence. 
“What is it, Y/N?” Louis asks calmly. You can tell by his expression that he wants to fix this, that he wants to help you. But you have no idea how to explain the problem without admitting your feelings for them. 
“I guess I’m just feeling lonely. And watching the two of you be so happy together makes that worse. Also-” you cut yourself off once more, not wanting to let anything slip.
“Also?” Louis prompts.
“I guess that as the only girl in the band I thought that if anyone would be in a relationship with a bandmate, it would be me. But I didn’t want to complicate things so I just, you know, squished my feelings down so they’d go away.”
Harry quickly says, “But I mean, you still can. We can even help you! Who is it? Liam? You two would be so cute together! Or is it Z, or Niall?” 
Harry doesn’t notice your expressions he speaks, but Louis does. He immediately understands what Harry hasn’t and says, “Is it one of us?”
Your face flushes and you want so desperately to hide in embarrassment at being called out like this. But you just reply, “I mean, yes and no.”
They both look at you confused before putting the pieces together. “You like both of us,” Harry states. You nod yes. “Did you want to be with one of us?” he asks. You shrug, not really knowing how to reply. “Did you want to be with both of us?” he finally asks. 
You know you can’t lie, that they’ve cornered you and now you have to admit this. “Fine, yes! Okay, yes, I like both of you and I wanted to be with both of you but I knew that wasn’t an option and now you’re together so neither of you are options and I just have to deal with that. You know the truth now, so I’m going to go hide in shame for a little while.”
This time you don’t let them stop you, walking away swiftly and hiding in a nearby girls bathroom where they can’t follow you. 
Things are awkward for the rest of the day but everyone does their best to put on a good show. You wake up the next morning in your hotel room and quickly check twitter to make sure there were no negative comments. Seeing nothing, you’re relieved that the fans didn’t pick up on the tension between you, Harry, and Louis.
You get up and make a cup of tea, and just as you go to take a sip there’s a knock at the door. Never a moment of peace, you think to yourself. That thought gets emphasized when you look through the peephole and see who’s on the other side. 
Somewhat grudgingly, you open the door to let Harry and Louis in.
It’s awkward as you share good mornings. It’s a small room, so the only sitting option is the bed. Knowing this is likely about to be a sit down conversation, you wordlessly turn and sit cross legged on the bed, your back against the headboard. Louis and Harry both perch at the end of the bed, leaving space between them.
For a second you feel guilt, wondering if the conversation yesterday caused a rift between the two boys. But then they share a look and you know that’s not the case. 
“We wanted to talk about what you said yesterday,” Louis begins. 
“Well, actually we talked to each other about it quite a lot last night,” Harry adds. “So now we wanted to include you.”
“I've said everything I have to say,” you state, tired of having this conversation again. 
“Yea but we haven’t,” Harry answers. “You were honest and vulnerable last night. Now it’s our turn.”
There’s a small spark in you, a spark of hope that you try to tamp down in case this doesn’t go your way. 
Louis speaks next, “Harry and I were talking last night and we learned that on top of our feelings for each other, we both have feelings for you as well.”
“You're just saying that now that I’ve said it,” you reply defensively. 
“We’re not! I promise!” Harry interjects. “You can call our mums, they’ll tell you that we’ve called them to talk about how we both have crushes on two band members and don’t know what to do.” 
It’s clear he’s telling the truth, and it makes your mind spin. These two boys, whom you like, both like you as well. But they also like each other. And are in a relationship. So where does that leave you?
“Ok, so we all like each other,” you say. “What now? Does anything change or do I just have to live with this information?”
“We’d like if things would change,” Louis says. “We discussed it last night, and we both want you to be a part of our relationship. If you want to, that is.”
You almost ask for time to think about it. But you’re tired of thinking. “I want to. I want to be with both of you.”
You know it will be difficult to navigate a three person relationship, especially when you’re all under such high levels of scrutiny at all times, but right now you don’t care. Right now, you’re getting everything you’ve ever dreamed of. 
“Will you go on a date with us? Tonight?” Harry asks, his cherubic face full of hope. 
“But we’re not allowed to leave the hotel,” you say. 
“Who cares?” Louis adds. “We’ll get takeaway and eat together in my room. It’s completely clean, l’m staying in Harry’s anyway.” 
“Will you have dinner with us?” 
“Okay. Yes, I’ll have dinner with you guys tonight,” you answer. 
“It’s a date,” Louis says with a smile. “Room 328, 6pm.”
“I’ll be there.”
The three of you stand and walk over to the door. Harry leans in for a bruising hug, holding you tight. Louis is next, and it feels so right to be tucked into his arms. They say goodbye and promise to see you later. 
You spend the rest of the day on cloud nine. Each time you go to do something you pause and think about Harry and Louis, and your heart fills with joy. 
You take a long relaxing shower and dress in a nice pair of jeans and a comfy sweater. It’s not often that you put on makeup and style your own hair but you do so today, wanting to look nice for the boys. 
They each greet you with a kiss on the cheek, and you feel heat rush to your face at the gesture while butterflies flutter in your stomach. You have a lovely time, getting to know Harry and Louis even more. 
When you’ve all finished eating you sit together on the bed to watch a movie. You’re sandwiched between the two boys, and overwhelmed by the feeling of comfort that provides. Halfway through the movie, Harry places his hand gently on your thigh. Minutes later, Louis does the same on your other leg. It feels so good and drives you completely crazy at the same time. 
Nothing more happens during the movie. But there’s a certain energy when it ends, and you can’t help but wonder what might happen next. 
In the soft glow of the TV screen you watch Harry and Louis share a glance, followed by a head nod. Harry squeezes the hand that’s resting on your right thigh, then brings his free hand up to cup your check. He gently turns your head to look at him and you watch as his soft eyes dart to look at your lips. 
Your breath catches as you realize what’s happening. Time seems to freeze as Harry slowly leans closer. You try to memorize every moment of this, knowing it’s the start of so much more. Harry’s thumb caresses your face and finally, his lips brush against yours. 
He pulls back a centimeter and takes a deep breath before firmly connecting his lips to yours. The kiss doesn’t last long, but it fills you with warmth from head to toe. 
Harry has the brightest smile, his eyes sparkling with joy. 
“Lou’s turn?” He asks and you happily shift to face Louis now. 
He bites his bottom lip, and you wish he wouldn’t. You’d much rather do that for him. He releases it and his tongue darts out to lick it. Again you can’t wait until you’re able to do it instead. 
His hand goes to your waist and he moves close. You breathe the same air and then, he’s kissing you. This lasts a little longer, his lips sliding against yours for a moment before he pulls away and places one more kiss just at the edge of your mouth. 
You rest your head on Louis' shoulder and lace your fingers with Harry’s. The three of you relax like that until you start to doze off. 
The boys walk you back to your room, but not before each giving you a good night kiss. 
You lay in bed reflecting on the past two days. You know this won’t be easy, navigating a relationship like this. But you know it will be worth it. 
This is clearly the start of something great.
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AN: Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed and I'm looking forward to sharing more about this little trio!
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ecogirl2759 · 11 months ago
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THE MOMENT WE'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!!!!
Here it is, guys!
The Kiyotaka Ishimaru Mastermind comic from 4コマ KINGS Vol. 4!
SPECIFICALLY CITING THIS SO THAT OTHERS KNOW WHERE TO FIND THIS COMIC!!!
Huge, HUUUUGE thanks to @panicuriprince!!! They helped me with clearing the text, rewording panels and putting everything together! Pages 4, 5, and 6 are her doing! PLEEEASE go send her some love, they REALLY helped me get this done and I literally couldn't have done this without her :D
There's a document below the break with more literal translations for the comic, as well as translation notes, a link to a Google Drive folder with ALL of the pages, and other interesting tidbits! Please give it a read!
The Japanese pages will also be below the break! (As well as a little spiel of mine. It's quite long, so be careful!)
(also please forgive how many tags there are here-)
Remember to read right to left <3
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As promised, here are the Japanese panels:
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AND HERE'S THE DOCUMENT!
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✹ WOW ✹
I can't begin to describe to you all how AMAZING this feels!
I've spent the past 2 years on what felt like a wild goose chase, desperately searching for this one comic that I wasn't even sure existed.
This all started with me finding a photo on Tumblr of this comic and spiraling into this deep dive. First I didn't know if this was even real, then I found out that this comic series had ceased printing, then I couldn't be sure which book it was actually in.
There is literally almost no information out there about the fourth volume of this anthology series. I've said this before and I'll say it again, volumes 1 and 2 both have full translations that you can download off of other websites, and while 3 doesn't seem to have that, there are a lot of separately translated comics floating around out there, namely on Pinterest.
The 4th volume had NOTHING! No matter how hard I searched or how many links I clicked, no one has really said ANYTHING about this book, which was why this specific comic was so hard for me to find.
But I have all of the books now, so I definitely want to do this again for all of them so that people have easy access to these translations. I'll start with book 4 though haha.
Also, I'm not sure who it was, but HUUUUGE thanks to the kind stranger on Ebay who was willing to sent me the whole series!! I literally don't know where I would be right now if these books weren't with me, so thank you <3
Also, thank you to all of my Japanese teachers that I've had throughout the years. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have been able to understand the comic, haha! One even helped me out in the early stages of this process, so extra thanks to him <3
I feel really passionate about accessible media. I think that everyone should be able to read and find whatever they want. That's part of the reason that I've endeavored on this project. I want everyone to be able to seek out and find these comics if they really want to. And, of course, I want everyone to be able to understand them, too.
So please enjoy this comic! If you'd like to repost it, I'd appreciate being credited just so that others know where they can go to find the full comic.
This one-man project isn't so one-man anymore, and I seriously can't thank everyone who's helped me enough!!! I'm honestly so glad I didn't have to go through this alone <33
ALSO
If you see anything, LITERALLY ANYTHING, that you think I could change/improve (like formatting or different interpretations of the Japanese text), PLEASE shoot me a message!! I want to make sure this comic is as good as it can be, and I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Even if you don't have a suggestion and would just like to reach out to ask a question or something, PLEASE don't be afraid to do that! I know I get really cold feet when sending people asks, so I'm going to reassure everyone who needs to hear it now: You're never going to be a bother to me! I love getting asks! Whenever anyone sends me something, I get really excited <3
So ask questions! Tell me I did a horrible job and got none of the text right! Ask why Ishimaru literally cannot be evil! I don't know the answer, either!
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Thank you all so much for the support and the kind words you've been giving me ever since I first announced I was translating this comic! Your support has been extremely motivating to me! Also, you guys are hilarious with your tags!
Seriously, thank you so much! Words literally can't express how I feel right now, but I guess the best way I could describe it is cathartic. I'm REALLY happy that I finally get to share 2 years worth of work with you guys! You've all been a massive help to me in more ways than one <333
KEEP BEING AWESOME <3
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jozor-johai · 5 months ago
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Understading Sansa: how Songs make Culture in Westeros
Or: Life is not a Song, Sansa & Littlefinger, Part 0.
I'm working on something about Sansa and Littlefinger, but I realized: before we even start talking about Sansa, we have to understand where she's starting from. So this is sort of a prologue to that post (or posts), but this really stands alone as its own idea, so I'm doing something unusual for myself and sharing this before I finish the rest of it.
This examination of song could be a series in its own right, and maybe it should be, and perhaps even this is too quick an overview. Nevertheless, understanding Sansa requires at least a brief exploration into the place of songs in Westerosi culture. Besides Mordane’s intentional training, Sansa, like all people, is also surrounded by passive societal training which describes the roles she is supposed to play in life, even when not explicitly. This is culture, and the songs of Westeros all collectively build it, establishing expectations and defining what is “normal.” 
long-ish post so rest is under the cut
Tyrion even notes the way that children’s media helps form and reinforce cultural knowledge, though not directly in regard to song. He points out that the game “Come-into-my-Castle” is one way to passively introduce social lessons and cultural information into children's lives:
Come-into-my-castle was a game for highborn children, one meant to teach them courtesy, heraldry, and a thing or two about their lord father's friends and foes. (ADWD Tyrion IX)
But this is happening constantly, and even when the lessons are not being intentionally considered.
The Dornishman's Wife
The Dornishman’s Wife, for example, contains the encoded information that a man would kill another man for kissing his wife; therefore the song builds on the idea that wives are expected to be physically loyal to their lord husbands. Also, that for some reason (likely their status as effectively property), a woman's lack of perceived agency means they lack culpability, and that such infidelity is therefore justly punished through the killing of the other man involved—and so normalcy is regained and the story concluded. We might even say that because the characters are only the “Dornishman” and the undescribed protagonist, that the song is based on the idea of an otherized “Dornish.” (ASOS Jon I)
Off to Gulltown
Off to Gulltown tells a similar tale about women’s agency: it describes a man who will visit “Gulltown to see a fair maid” from whom he will “steal a kiss with the point of my blade” and then he will “make her my love.” (ASOS Arya II) All of these, again, are demands of the man in forming relations with a woman, and once again, this song explicitly combines the threat of violence with that of love. Here, there is no other man—the subject of the man’s violence is the woman herself. So, this song teaches that a man will threaten a woman with violence in order to get what he wants, and offers no information whatsoever about the intentions of the woman. The desires of the woman in this story are effectively irrelevant, which is messaging in itself: the man wants what he wants, and the woman comes with.
Knights
The preoccupation with knights in song similarly comes with this implicit threat of violence—knights carry swords, and when swords are not busy standing in as metaphoric phalluses, swords are... swords, and anyone around them need beware.
Any story of a knight that rescues a maiden carries with it the combined messaging of the previous two songs. On one hand, any sword and any knight potentially provides protection against other men, keeping the maiden from other, future violent advances. In practice, as in song, this is more for the man’s interest than the woman’s, as evident in The Dornishman’s Wife, which also makes no mention of the woman’s desires (though the protagonist of that tale certainly believes she was asking for it). On the other hand, that same sword can be used against that woman, as is the case in Off to Gulltown, and so that ‘rescue’ may not be so safe after all (much like Sansa's own trip to the Vale... hmm...) The songs reinforce the truth of the world. For men, knights make for great stories if you can be a knight. For women, the lesson is what to expect: being with a knight means accepting certain realities. 
Which perhaps creates a void to be filled by songs that reinforce “normal” by recounting the abnormal.
Florian and Jonquil
We don’t get any text from the tale of Florian and Jonquil, but the distinctive thing about that tale is that while Florian is a knight, but he is also a fool, first. This contradiction, in being a contradiction, also reinforces the “normal” state of things: if it is special that Florian is a fool, then the default circumstances are for knights to be
 well, simply knights. Here, it’s significant the ways in which Florian is less than the average knight: he is not of noble birth, he dresses in iron motley. This affects how he is perceived as a knight. He perhaps seems less threatening—but is that a bad thing, for his perceived reduced ability to protect? Or is that a good thing, for his perceived reduced capacity (or reduced desire) to harm Jonquil after saving her? Of course, his magic sword probably helps too—no matter whether that’s a magic sword or a magic sword (wink wink). Florian is a different kind of man: he is as chivalric as a knight, with all the associated honor, but perhaps without the same menacing air of presumed violence.
The Bear and the Maiden Fair
Similarly, The Bear and the Maiden Fair helps shape the narrative of “normal” by describing a situation which is anything butl:
Foremost, The Bear and the Maiden Fair stands out as a particularly unusual song by the standards of Westeros because the end of the song is told from the maiden’s point of view—and the female gaze in Westerosi stories is a rare thing indeed. In this son, the maiden explicitly explains what is normal what isn't: “I called for a knight, but you're a bear!” (ASOS Sansa I).
This song is built on—and in being retold, further reinforces—the idea of a maiden who must normally want a knight... and yet knights come with swords, and so come with risks as well as rewards. The Bear, like Florian, is not the usual kind of savior, but in the opposite way as Florian: the Bear has taken no knightly vows of chivalry, and is bound by no code of honor. In fact, the Bear appears is in every way more violent than we might expect a knight to be, not just for his lack of knightly code but also for his
 animal tendencies.
Considering that, it’s paramount that here we’ve been given—for once—the insight into the Maiden’s perspective: by the end of the encounter, she comes to trust the Bear, despite her initial misgivings, and goes with him willingly. This factor alone makes the story of the Bear stand out against any stories we’ve heard about men with swords, and the sexual undertone of this song is no less an essential factor of this scenario than it is in Off to Gulltown. The Bear does not need to have a sword, metaphorical or otherwise. (This is why Brienne makes for such a good Bear to Jaime, too). The Bear is powerful enough to protect the Maiden
 and, despite lacking a sword, is capable enough to please her, too. Rather than ending in penetration, this song ends in cunnilingus: 
She kicked and wailed, the maid so fair / But he licked the honey from her hair / Her hair! Her hair! /He licked the honey from her hair! / Then she sighed and squealed and kicked the air! / My bear! She sang. My bear so fair! / And off they went, from here to there
Which is both an assertion that the Bear can provide in every way that a knight could, sword or no, and is also a willing act of deference, rather than demand: the Bear wins over the Maiden by giving, rather than taking—a far cry from Off to Gulltown, where the man "steals" a kiss at knifepoint. But again, because the Bear is so expressly not a knight, and because the Maiden asked for a knight, this is not the “normal” expectation for a maiden.  
The Mother
Finally, in in another field entirely from these tales of knights and maidens, Sansa herself provides the song that encodes the expectation and desires of a Mother:
Gentle Mother, font of mercy, save our sons from war, we pray, stay the swords and stay the arrows, let them know a better day. Gentle Mother, strength of women, help our daughters through this fray, soothe the wrath and tame the fury, teach us all a kinder way.
This song in particular comes at a significant moment for Sansa, but even without that context this corroborates our expectations from the other songs about men—this song too is helping to build the total unified culture for Westeros to be learned and understood by those who live within it.  
Mothers have the “strength of women”—a strength that this song clearly delineates as separate from war, and rather of peace and the promise of something “better.” In the second verse, this is also the strength of mentorship, because this still will not change, nor does the song expect it to. Part of the Mother’s task is to teach her daughters how to exist amidst the “fray” of life.
While it is a noble and strong pursuit to “how to live a kinder way,” the fact that half the song is dedicated to relaying this skill to the next generation implicitly signals and admits that despite the Mother aiming for a “better day" and despite the Mother’s desire to “stay the swords,” the daughters are inevitably also going to have the same exact task when they themselves become Mothers. Like all of the other cultural touchstones I’ve discussed, this is a song which maintains the status quo; this is the eternal task of Mothers, and it will be the future for their daughters.
With that interpretation, there is also a subtle message about a woman’s ability to enact change in the world: they will "pray" for their sons to stop fighting but "help" their daughters to last through it anyway. The men, ultimately, are not beholden to the wishes of the mother—these are just prayers—and the daughters must be prepared to practice the same mercy as their mothers, because the men will never learn it from them.
Olenna Tyrell has lived long enough to know the truth of it:
All these kings would do a deal better if they would put down their swords and listen to their mothers. (ASOS Sansa I) 
But Catelyn understands the futility of this:
He wants me gone, Catelyn thought wearily. Kings are not supposed to have mothers, it would seem, and I tell him things he does not want to hear. (ACOK Catelyn I)
Kings are not supposed to have mothers... because the idea of Kingship has already been encoded and disseminated across the kingdom in the form of song and story. No king in song can have a mother, because it's tantamount to the institution of monarchy that the cultural perception of a King is omnipotent with no need to heed to anyone. Here, this cultural understanding of what a king is supposed to be supersedes the actual, lived reality of Catelyn and her son: despite being mother to Robb, it is impossible for either of them overcome the culturally enforced impossibility of being mother to a king.
Conclusions
It's not only Catelyn who struggles against the inability to cope with the fact that her lived experience is being altered by the perception of what is supposed to happen. Cultural expectations of "normal" work for some and not others. Those underrepresented in song are undescribed, and as a result, not understood. Sansa, who does identify with the songs and culture of Westeros, has no foundation for understanding Arya, who has always existed outside of those cultural expectations. 
This struggle to exist against the collective mythologies that constitute culture remains omnipresent throughout the books. It is a factor in everyone’s story, and though most songs give men agency where women have none, men are no more able to escape the limitations of song than women are.
Jon and Robb experiment with the future ramifications of their differing status through the legendary roles they adopt in play—Jon can’t be Lord of Winterfell, neither in make-believe nor in reality. Bran, now unable to walk, is therefore unable to meet his own expectations that he believed possible based on the stories he was told, and these stories of knighthood are such an integral driving force in his real life that he travels north of the Wall for the express purpose of regaining his legs so he can be a knight. Brienne lives the worst of both worlds—she does not believe she can be a traditional mother, but no more can she replace Galladan, her perfect brother made perfect by never truly existing except as his perfect namesake, the knight of song. These are not the only examples of characters struggling against the expectations that common culture has dictated for them, and several characters in ASOIAF parse their ability or inability to relate to these expectations through the lens of song. The list goes on—Victarion and his reaving songs; Euron and his pastiche of piracy; Sam, who sings to Gilly, fighting against his father's ideas; the impossible weight of the legendary predecessors to Jaime, Barristan, and Arys.
Sansa
The only thing setting Sansa apart from everyone else in this regard is the intensity of her belief in the actual truth of these songs and the degree to which these songs and stories guide her actions and expectations. In this way, though, Sansa is not unique in her belief in the power of songs, she is simply the story's quintessential explorer of this theme.
All of this analysis of song is just context for Sansa's world when she meets Sandor Clegane and Littlefinger in the early chapters of AGOT. For rest of her story, Sansa goes on to interpret King’s Landing—and her place in it—through her knowledge of songs, and these songs are so familiar to her that she “knows all of the words,” as Sandor says. From the very start, though, she knows what to say, how to act, and even more importantly: what to want. 
And yet Littlefinger tells her “life is not a song.” How could that possibly be, after all this? These songs may be a misinterpretation of life in some ways, but at the same time, life is made by songs.
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Limelight Series - Chapter 4
Happy Monday Everyone! Here is chapter 4 of the limelight series! If you haven't read chapter three, click here to read it and then come back to read chapter 4.
This series came way of a message/ask from @hobby27 she asked:
"I would love something with Jensen and reader. He sees her when he’s at a convention and he’s bonkers for her. She isn’t so interested in a relationship with him because of the fame. So he has to woo her. Make her understand that he’s not a typical movie/tv star. Slow burn."
So I give you the Limelight series- It's a Jensen x reader (plus size, curvy girl) story, Jensen meets the reader in a bar, he falls fist, she is reluctant of course, but secretly she fell for him the second he walked through the door. So can a small town girl and a celebrity make it work?
Warnings for the whole series: language, multi-pov and switching between the pov mid chapters (sorry I can't help it), Jensen coming off aggressive for a hot second but then cooling off. Some douche side characters and some lovable ones, body shaming, angst, fluff, swoon, Jared is there and Micha is mention.
This story takes place an AU where Jensen is not married but Jared is and has kids.
This chapter is 2K+. Feedback, likes and reblogs are always welcomed. Please don't post as your own work, this is my work. If you would like to be added to my tag list, just ask, I am always happy to add you.
Thanks!
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Next Day
"Hey, Jensen," you answer. 
Trying to keep yourself calm, you keep repeating to yourself, He's just a guy, you get up from your chair and start pacing around your living room, needing to do anything to channel this nervous energy somewhere other than your voice.
"Hi, Y/N. How are you?" He asks, his voice low, almost to a whisper level. 
You can hear a bit of commotion in the background. "I am good. Sounds like you're in the middle of something, though? " You ask, wondering why he is calling you and if he is working.
"Oh, no, sorry. Give me a second, " he replies, pulling the phone away from him. You hear him talking to someone quickly, and then the sound of him walking and a door opening and shutting behind him.
"Sorry about that. I just finished my last panel for the day with Jared, and I couldn't wait to hear your voice."
You feel your cheeks redden, and you're grinning from ear to ear. "I am glad you called. I like to hear your voice, too," you reply, hoping it doesn't sound too desperate. God, you wish you could be more confident. 
"How about dinner again tonight?" He asks, hoping that you will give him another chance. What happened last night with the fans wouldn't scare you off, and being with him would be worth it.
"Umm
I don't know, Jensen
" you start to reply, remembering the mess that was last night. Besides, the night starts off with his adoring fans at the hotel. Once you two left the restaurant and planned on walking back without your chaperones, a mob was waiting for you around the corner. Fans and paparazzi—it was horrible. 
"Did you see what was posted this morning about you? I can't imagine you didn't get a few questions about it?" You ask. Hoping that reminding him of that disaster last night would put in perspective that he and you won't work. Knowing full well that fans did not favor their favorite eye candy being seen with a woman and a plus size at that.
"The tabloids will print anything to sell their rag magazines. As for the fans
yeah, I had a few questions, but I diverted the questions like a pro." His confidence is loud and clear through the phone. 
You can imagine him in a nondescript hotel room, puffing out his chest like the superhero that he is. Confident in his ability to quell your worries. Now you're wondering what he said and what Jensen thought about you. 
"So what did you tell people?"
"The truth. That it was a first date and that I really liked her
I mean you." He clarified, ensuring you knew that he was talking about you.
"I am sure they didn't like to hear that." Fiddling with a pen, you start to doodle.
"Actually, they were excited to see me with someone; for some reason, they were concerned that I hadn't been seen with anyone for a while. But enough about them, so dinner? I will pick you up at 8?" He directs the conversation back to his original question. He wants to get off the subject of his fame and the task at hand, spending time with you.
Shit, he really wants to go through with this. "I am not in the city today." You reply, hoping that the idea of him driving out to Haven, two hours away, is a deterrent.
"That's fine. Text me your address, and I can leave now, " he replies, keys jingling in the background.
"I don't have anything in the house; I am serious, Jensen; I don't want you to waste your time. I am sure Evan and Quinn don't want to slum it out in the sticks again." You joke, wanting to keep it somewhat light and give him an out. It's easier for you to reject yourself before he can.
"Oh, I am not bringing those two. I can drive myself, you know, " he jokes. The sound of the door opening and closing again and his walking is apparent.
"Now, text me your address, and I will pick something up. I won't ask again." He's playful but slightly serious at the end.
You know that fighting with him on this is a losing battle, even if you have only known him for two days.
"Fine," you reply, open your text thread with him, and send your address. "I just sent it."
Jensen waits for a second, checking to make sure it came through. 
"Perfect, see you soon, " he says, then hangs up the phone. 
****
Panic really starts to set in now. Jensen Ackles will be at your place in two hours! What the fuck are you going to wear! You have to clean! You start to panic and go into turbo mode, stashing everything embarrassing in every drawer or closet you can and making yourself presentable.
At precisely the two-hour mark, your house is passable, and you are as well. You settle for comfortable jeans and a T-shirt with your good bra on. You double-check yourself in the mirror when you hear the doorbell ring. 
Taking a breath, you walk a short distance and open the door. 
Jensen stands with a takeout bag from your favorite diner, looking like perfection.
"Hey," he replies, giving you that smile that makes all girls melt and blush. He is also dressed casually: jeans and a red Henley. He is definitely dressed for a night in.
"Hey," you reply, stepping aside to let him pass. You shut the door behind him.
"You made perfect time. Hope it wasn't too much trouble." Knowing that your place is a bit out of Haven's city limits, he could have easily gotten turned around since he's not used to the area.
Jensen takes in your home, looking around at all your artwork. The space's coziness is, so you.
"No trouble at all." He replies, turning back to face you. "I hope you like burgers. I was craving just some good local food."
You give him a nod. "Absolutely, and you can't go wrong with Rosie's, the best diner food in all of Haven." You say, walking towards the kitchen. He follows, setting the bag on the counter while you grab some plates. 
Jensen starts to unpack the food, "so, how was your day?" He questions.
You turn back, handing a plate for him to use. "Fine, I got some work done between the calls and texts I was getting from family and everyone in town wanting to know the details between you and me." You casually say, trying your best to not let your annoyance show through or blame Jensen for any of it. It's not his doing; he didn't plan for it.
"Want a beer?" you question. Turning back to grab a couple of bottles out of the fridge.
"Sure." He replies, taking a seat on the kitchen island with his food and taking your plate with him to sit next to him.
"So it was that bad for you? I am so sorry, Y/N. I promise it's not always like this." He's a wreck over how much his celebrity life is getting in the way of him getting to know this amazing woman sitting next to him. 
You cross the room and take a seat next to Jensen. You place the beer before him and take a much-needed drink before responding. You can tell he's worried; the sparkle in his eyes when you open the door is slightly dimmed. Damn, you hate that you did that.
"It really wasn't that bad. I am sure I am just blowing it out of proportion. Let's just forget it." You say, wanting to put it behind you, at least for now.
Jensen gives you a nod. And you both start eating. 
****
"I still can't believe you did that to Jared!" you reply, still shocked by all the behind-the-scenes and on-set antics that Jensen has been developing for you all night. 
After dinner, you moved from the kitchen to the living room. Curling up on the couch, facing him, a few empty bottles on the coffee table, you both felt relaxed and comfortable with each other.
"We need to pass the time somehow; shooting can take forever." Jensen tries to justify his actions. “Besides, Jared and Micha got me back good, so don't feel sorry for those two, " he replies, finishing his beer and setting it on the table. 
You compose yourself, "OK, spill, what did they do?" you question, leaning your head against your hand propped up on the back of the couch. You love this; being with him is comfortable, like breathing.
"Oh, no, I will not tell you that part." He shakes his head, gets up from the couch, and grabs the empty bottles. 
"You want another one?" he questions as he approaches the kitchen.
You shake your head. "I think that was the last one. Sorry." You reply, wishing you had more in the house.
"That's fine. I am good with water. Do you want some?" He questions, not that he needed alcohol. You're like his own personal drink of choice. 
"Sure." Watching him walk away, damn, does he have a great ass or what! Feeling the butterflies start to swarm and you are reduced by the thoughts of him and his assets, you're caught mid-dirty thought.
"What's gotten you all smiley all of a sudden?" Jensen questions, pulling you back to reality. 
Oh fuck, you start to panic; taking the glass of water from him, you lie, "Nothing." You smirk and know he's not buying it.
Jensen rolls his eyes. "OK, keep your secrets, but then I won't share this with you, " he states, bringing his hand from behind his back, a small takeout container from Rosie's.
You know exactly what's in a small box like that. "Oh, please tell me you brought pie, " you say, knowing he did since Rosie's has the best homemade pies in the county. 
Jensen gives you a nod. "I mean, I couldn't forget the pie, " he says, sitting down and opening the box. There sat a slice of the perfect Apple crumble pie. 
"Awe! And you got my favorite! You could have gotten any piece of pie, and it's my favorite." You exclaim with excitement. You reach for one of the forks in his hand but quickly pull them and a pie back. 
"What!" You say, giving him a confused look.
"Yeah, no, I am not sharing until you tell me where your mind was at when I returned to the room. I have to know what got you all distracted," he teases.
"Not fair!" you pout, "if I had known that you were going to withhold pie from me, I would have kept my wits about me." You joke. Wanting nothing more than to keep your dirty thoughts to yourself. 
This was all still new, and who's to say he even thought about you that way. You telling him all about your thoughts of him naked could derail and end everything.
Jensen grabs a piece of pie and brings the fork up between you, too, "I mean, I am fine with eating this all myself. It looks like a damn good pie." He says matter of fact. His voice is slightly low, and somehow he makes it so damn sexy! 
Slowly bringing the fork to his lips, he slides the fork in between his lips. Swallowing, "Mmm, that's good."
He goes for another bite, but you stop him. "Fine! I thought you have a great ass, OK!" you blurt out, and before he can reply, you lean in and steal the bite from his fork.
Jensen didn't reply right away. Stunned by what you said and your closeness and ability to steal that bite of pie. You were inches from him, so close that if he had been prepared, he would have dipped his head slightly and kissed you right there.
 "So I have a good ass, hmm? Anything else of mine you like, Y/N?" He questions. Feeling his boldness come back around. 
You can feel yourself start to get self-conscious, but then you look at him, his eyes lock with yours. Starting you down, and not a hint of cringe or discus is to be had. No, what you see is his lust-blown eyes; he seems very much intrigued and invested. Fuck it, you've come this far. 
"Your lips, I've always thought they seem very kissable. I am sure you've heard that before."
Jensen sets down the pie, wanting to get it out of the way. "I have, but for some reason, hearing it come from you, it's so much more sexy." He replies, reaching for your waist; he pulls you closer to him. 
Inches separate you two, and your breath mingles with his. 
"Want to see if your thoughts live up to reality?" he questions. Leaning in slightly, his lips graze yours, but he doesn't kiss you. He wants you to close the gap. 
You nod and lean in, letting your lips mold to his. They are perfect, soft, and supple. Jensen is tender; no rushing is involved. Moving with you, it's perfect. Feeling the need to breathe, you pull back slightly and take in the oxygen you both need.
"So?" he questions breathly. 
"Perfection, " you reply. Leaning your forehead against his, you let your fingers play with his shirt and wish you weren't in such an awkward sitting position. 
As if he can read your mind, Jensen grabs your hips and manhandles you to straddle his lap. Putting himself more in the middle of the couch.
 "Fuck, Jensen, no, I am going to crush you!" You yelp, being handled like you weigh nothing.
Jensen gives an audible pash at this. 
"Please, I am fine. Besides, isn't this more comfortable?" Running a hand up and down your back, his other pulls your face closer to his. His lips find yours again; his tongue darts out and asks for passage to explore you more. You graciously accept and let his tongue dance with yours.
Taking more of him, the taste of pie's and beer, the sweetness mix with the feeling of him close to you, and your senses are in overdrive. You card your fingers through his short locks and try your best but fail to rock up against his incredible body. God, you haven't had anyone like this in a long time; you've never had anyone make you feel so complete and wanted as Jensen has made you in the past two days. 
You pull away slightly, letting your forehead rest against his, as you take a much-needed breath. Is it just the intensity of him and his lips making your head spin, or is it the realization that you're falling for someone you know you can't have? 
"Wow, " you breathy say, unsure if your brain can form more eloquent words.
Jensen gives you a cheeky smile at this, his dimples on full display. "Yeah
same
" he breathily replies, leaning in to start peppering kisses down your neck.
To Be Continued......
Tag List:
@ladysparkles78 @smoothdogsgirl @n-o-p-e-never @stoneyggirl2 @lmhf1 @kr804573 @deansimpalababy @livingdeadblondequeen @winchesterwild78
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celestie0 · 9 months ago
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notes on kickoff ch.7
hellooo if you're here thank you for taking the interest! i just had some creative notes i wanted to get off my chest with the release of ch.7 lol i felt compelled to do so with this one i'm basically journaling here. you can read this after reading ch7 here!
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I. on gojo's feelings
as for why didn't gojo just tell reader how he felt at the end of the chapter, and instead only says what he does. i think i rewrote this ending like five different times, he was never supposed to tell her at this point based on my story planning, but i did explore the idea of a dramatic confession here regardless, and it didn't fit for lots of different reasons for one, i think he's finally able to put himself in reader's shoes. it's true he's pretty dense and obviously has commitment issues/valid fears that keep him from opening up, but that still doesn't mean he hasn't hurt reader in a lot of different ways already. he realizes, whether intentionally or not, he's led her on and to do a complete turnaround within a few hours while she's already trying to process rejection as she is clearly withdrawn from him i believed would've been selfish on his part, and could possibly cause even more hurt over the fact that he could come off ingenuine. gojo is finally emotionally aware of her enough to recognize it, but he's not a perfect person so it still slips through that he's distraught at the thought of never seeing her again. in general i'm of the opinion that if someone asks for space, you respect that unless they say otherwise of note, just because he realizes that he has these feelings, doesn't necessary change his fears, as no single moment can undo years of trauma, so i think that's why he bites his tongue too. i'm not keen on making this a "woman fixes man" story but i moreso want to embrace the sentiment that you don't need to resolve every single bad thing that's ever happened to you in order to embrace love or happiness.
II. on gojo's commitment issues
i know it was brought up in the first gojo pov that he has issues committing to just one woman, but i wanted this chapter to reveal that it's really just his fear of opening up to people due to the still raw loss he feels of losing someone he loved. i aim with his pov to be more of a stream of his own consciousness rather than from an omniscient observer, which may explain the ambiguity. he's not sure if he's able to open up to a person in a way he knows is normal and healthy, so he settles on shallow connections instead. just wanted to clear this up, and say that it won't be any sort of plot point in which he struggles to be sincere or faithful when he seriously wants to commit to someone as he has no issues with that if he truly wants to be with them (unlike the whore he's been so far in the series lmao)
III. on strawberry vanilla soda
btw i've never had this flavor of soda i'm not even sure where i came up w it loool or if it even exists. i was kind of toying with the idea of gojo seeing reader's message on the can during the match, and that would maybe help him get more focused on the field (sooo sports romance cliche but i still love it haha) but i settled on him seeing it afterwards to kinda parallel the clumsiness he's had with reader so far. for some reason, the universe just doesn't want him to get his timing right with her lol
IV. on angst/conflict
i know ch7 was a bit differentttt less gojo x reader and more just gojo lmfao, it was also a bit angsty. it definitely won't stay angsty throughout the remaining chapters. this was just gojo's lore drop chapter LOL. there will still obviously be angst here and there, but i've got a lot of fun, cute, tense, silly, passionate, messy scenes still planned similar to ch5&6 because i prefer writing those kinds of scenes haha. ultimately this story was always meant to be a full-circle romance, so ch7 was to lay some of the emotional groundwork that gets brought up as the story builds to its climax
that's all i have to saayyy if you actually read this whole thing i love you?? lol. ch7 really emotionally resonated with me as i wrote it, both as someone who understands how gojo feels but also as someone who understands how reader feels, and if it resonated with you too then that makes me very happy and that's ultimately every writer's dream haha. was very cathartic to share these thoughts. i hope to see you in the next oneeee <3 have a wonderful rest of your day!
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cloudykaii · 2 years ago
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little scenarios
pairing: txt x 6th!member, platonic
warnings: nothing too bad i think, maybe some cursing and crying
this is like an extendeed version of my little things series! just instead of bullet points it's little scenarios. for comparable work, check out care, on my bts masterlist
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When you first joined the group there was a bit of controversy about it. Granted, you had joined them as the last member to be added, but you had still debuted with them. It was what attracted the most attention to your debut. Five tall guys and one short girl? You were also the youngest, so you were still a minor at debut. It took a while in order to get to the point where people seemed to be genuinely interested in your talent instead of how crazy or ridiculous it was for you to be in such a group.
         Unlike the general public, the guys never really seemed to care. When you were added, there was a few days of panic. Were you all going to share a dorm? Would you even be comfortable that? Then, when you moved in, that changed to the topic of how to not accidentally walk in on you and what to do.
         You had been nervous, too. You had worked as hard as you possibly could and then some in order to make this happen. You just got handed the opportunity of a lifetime and what if they didn’t recognize how hard you had worked in order to prove that you had the talent and the backbone to handle this opportunity?
         But then you actually started working together, and everything seemed to fall into place,
         Debut performances made anyone nervous, anything could go wrong, and what if you secretly weren’t as good as you thought? But you were nervous for a different reason about your debut. You didn’t mind being the only one given a skirt while the guys were in suits on some sort, and you didn’t mind the shoes they gave you to make you a little taller and to monopolize on the cute look you were supposed to have
 but the skirt was really short, and the shoes only seemed to magnify that.
         During the little interview beforehand, you had been given a jacket to lay over your lap. You were grateful for that but now that you were going over the moves in front of the mirror before you had to actually perform, you couldn’t help but notice that while your outfit was cute, the last thing it was is functional. When you practically flashed yourself in the mirror you decided enough was enough and shyly moved to find Soobin.
         He was talking to someone that looked like a staff member for the show you were performing on, and you stood by him, anxiously clasping your hands together as you waited. You tried to hold out until he could give you his attention all by himself but knowing that time until the stage was closing in, you finally reached out and anxiously tugged on his sleeve. He looked down at you finally, eyes widening slightly as if he was surprised to see you there.  He must have seen the anxious look on your face because the first thing he asked was, “What’s going on?”
         “Uhm.” You began. “I could probably tough it out if it’s an issue, but is there any way I could borrow someone’s jacket or something?” Your little voice was practically a whisper and he had to lean down a little to hear it, but he got the message. He pulled away a little to look down at you and his jaw dropped when he realized just how much of you he could see. He moved to cover you a little, slipping his hand into yours.
         “Let’s go find your stylist.” His cheeks burned with a blush as he kept his eyes straight ahead, looking for the woman in question. When he found her going through her makeup supplies, he immediately started in. “Can we get a better skirt? Honestly, change the whole outfit if you have to, but she cannot perform in that.”
         She looked at him, confused. “But.. she looks fine, and she wore it for the interview, so if she’s the only one who changes outfits then it could spread rumors about her being a diva..”
         Soobin stared at her, face blank. “I don’t care. Respectfully, she is not only a minor, but she’ll flash the whole audience if she goes out there dancing in that.” He was trying to be as respectful as possible but he was just getting the vibe that she just didn’t want to go through the effort of changing the outfit, and you looked so scared behind him, he felt something surge in his chest. He was ushered out the door so you could change finally.
         When you came back out only minutes before the performance in a longer skirt and with a much more comfortable look on your face, he was satisfied. When you gave him that big, happy smile and went, “Thank you,” all shyly, he felt his chest swell with pride for helping you as a person and as your leader. “Any time,” he said softly. “Now, you ready to go blow the world away?”
Sure, not all of the moments shared were happy, especially in the beginning.
If there was one thing Taehyun liked doing, it was fucking with you- sometimes, at the expense of others. The entire dorm was woken up at seven in the morning to the sound of your screaming. It was alarming in itself, but when you were the only one with your own room, it became an emergency. However, when they went to open the door, and all they saw was you on top of Taehyun and hitting him with one of your textbooks while he laughed uncontrollably, they didn’t know what to do at first. Finally, Beomgyu moved to tug you off of the younger boy, taking away the book.
         “What is going on?” Soobin asked sleepily, but Taehyun was still cackling. “Oh, you should have seen it! She screamed so loud!”
         A sarcastic comment like “We heard,” was about to leave Yeonjun when you huffed. “Every day this week, Taehyun has found some way to mess with me. All I want to do is sleep in, so that I can wake up and focus on getting all of my assignments done so that I can practice more for the performance this weekend!” You looked exhausted, Yeonjun was the first to notice.
         You were pale, there were dark circles under your eyes and more than mad at anyone, you looked like you were about to cry. Taehyun stuck his tongue out at you, and you lunged at him again. Yeonjun had an inkling of what was going on, judging by the way things were strewn across your room. He knew you were under a lot of stress, but he didn’t really know how bad it was. Between classes and working on your Korean and performing and any other social aspect, you felt like you were drowning.
         Figuring you probably wouldn’t want to be seen crying, Yeonjun pulled you with him out of the room. “Hey, what’s going on, little shark?”
         You sniffled a little at the familiar nickname before mumbling. “I just wanted to sleep.” His heart broke when you broke down in tears, and he rubbed your back softly. He saw Taehyun’s sheepish face and moved to shut the bedroom door with his foot, shaking his head as if to say not now. “Have you not been sleeping?” he asked you softly, and you just sniffled. “No.. I’ve been trying to do as much homework as possible so I don’t have to do it whenever we have something big! And I’ve been trying to practice my Korean and my dances and I’m scared because what if I’m not any good at it and I’m so tired,” you cried and he just soothed you for a second. No one was judging you for being so upset. Hell, they had all felt like that since their career started, and worse than that, you were so young.
         You were giving up everything to chase your dreams, and that took a lot of guts- Yeonjun figured you had more than enough bravery to match the pressure you were under. He gently pushed you away from him to lay you down. “No, I need-“
“What you need to do,” he interrupted, “is get a few hours of real sleep. This is the quietest, and coldest room here, so just close your eyes for a bit.” Yeonjun brushed some of your curls out of your face. “You can rest now, it’s okay.” It was hard to remain noble against him and insist that you needed to work when he could see your eyes were already droopy. He just made sure that you were tucked in and asleep. And, to Taehyun’s credit, he did apologize. He hadn’t really understood the amount of pressure you were under; after all, you never really talked about it and you managed to make everything seem so easy.
But that was just how it was sometimes, sometimes you needed someone to realize you were drowning and reach out to help you, and that was exactly what they were there for.
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itsbansheebitch · 7 months ago
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More thoughts
I get both sides, but I feel a little confused they couldn't find four people in their +25 employees
Data analyst (Are you seriously telling me you couldn't personally email or even just HIRE matpat's team who do data analytics as part of Theorist Media to help??? The man would be overjoyed to help???)
Editor (Put the first $6 towards a can of coffee grounds, dude)
PR Team (Even, like, a single person, please, for the love of god)
Business Major (Or literally anyone that has taken a home ec/budgeting/personal finance class)
First, the Dish Granted series was started when gold leaf burgers were novel, now it's seen as tone deaf (for obvious reasons) it should have shifted to something like interviews with people who make that kind of food or local businesses (like parmesan cheese shops in Parma, Italy) or the history of food (like talking about the history of modern Native American slavery on Californian wine vinyards). Not to mention the untapped potential of Food Fraud topics. Either shift it, or scrap it. Any data analyst or chronically online person could tell you that.
Second, why did you keep "anyone can afford $6 a month" in? Are the editors asleep at the wheel? Are they overworked? What is going on? You know damn well to not make generalizations about what people can afford. That's NEVER a good idea, especially when you KNOW (because YT gives you analytics) that most of your viewers are young (16/18-30/35 range, I'd guess) who probably, either 1, are still in school and either arent paid well/dont have jobs OR 2, arent paid well and tired of people's shit, like people who own businesses talking about "tough financial decisions." To them, Watcher isn't going to look different from the other people talking like that, because this was so sudden, with no input from fans, and in the video you hear shit like "anyone can afford [X]." To be frank, it wouldn't really matter what the amount is, because that generalization goes against the message they have stood by for years. THAT is a slap in the face.
Third, what are yall doing with the budgeting? Every artist has a right to make art that they are proud of. Every artist deserves to have their work seen if they so choose. Every artist deserves to make a living. HOWEVER, there are MANY options online when it comes to making money, especially on YT. You could get into marketing, data analysis, expanding your demographic, looking at what people are interested in right now VS what will stand the test of time (not gold leaf burgers), etc.
You have to either have these skills, develop these skills, or hire someone to do it for you. It's understandable that you would want a team behind the production, but I find +25 employees to be WAY too many people, especially in LA. Bailey Sarian has a Dark History section on her YT (and Spotify podcast) where she has hired historians to help make sure her episodes are as accurate as possible. You've caught heat before from Puppet History's missing & incorrect info, you should do the same. She has about three (3) "intermissions" per episode for ad breaks. I never see anyone complain. People WOULD listen to yall talk for that long (+1 hour videos), tbh, though that's not necessary.
Why are yall out here with Teslas, expensive food, new gear, scripts (where there weren't scripts before, PH is different, that makes sense), and "better than TV" level sets??? I need to put your accountant in this week's church prayer list what the actual hell??? Ya'll, this video is literally the meme:
Guys help me budget:
LA Rent: 2K per month
Videos: 100K per vid
+25 Employees: God only knows
New stuff for videos: Don't get me started
Like, are you serious?
You have a right to do whatever you want with your art. You have a right to charge whatever you'd like for that art. You have a right to make a living from your art and you have a right to ask your fans for money.
Your fans have a right to be angry when they've been supporting yall for, what, almost 10 years? They have a right to choose when and where to spend their money even when you've made an impact. They have a right to feel betrayed, especially when there are better options (like Nebula or consulting with Theorist Media).
Fans DO NOT have a right to be racist to any members of Watcher, now that they have made a decision they do not agree with.
I personally, think this is a really silly decision and could have been solved (haha solved) with a simple YT poll, but apparently we had to get... this. I respect their decision, I just don't think it was a smart one. I wish them the best, and I hope they find a better solution. Any further comment from me will depend on what steps they take next.
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keline11 · 8 months ago
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This day just doesn't end.
(Another long post this one is funny)
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Time to sleep. pt. 1
MIssa: “Ok son, I’ll tell you the story of
*sees the potato in the wall* did they already tell you the story of the potatoes?... yes, right? they already did, ok
 I’ll tell you the story of an ogre, this was an ogre that lived in a swamp *Laughs* oh! wait son, you can’t go to bed without dinner, you have to eat, and eat good, wait
”
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Missa: “I have to prepare you a spectacular dinner, how did I forget that!...*looking at how to craft the food* interesting... milk, Where do I get milk? water, Where do I get water? bottle! Where do I get a bottle? bucket!! Where do I get a bucket??”
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Missa: *gives him food* “Chayanne I have for you a delicious dessert to sleep well with a full belly”
They start to run to get hungry
Missa: ”That’s it, that’s it, let’s run to get tired, *chayanne jumps from a tree* that works too... I can’t get tired ether” 
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Quackity appeared to talk
Quackity: “I heard that your kid is accusing my child of stealing his bike”
Missa: “what are you saying? what bike?”
Chay: “I never say that”
Missa: “see he is telling you that”
Quackity: “really?"
Missa: “First of all, listen to me
” *pushes him off the wall*
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Missa tries to do a water drop but failed so they are both down
Missa: “Look what you did quackity!”
Quackity: “You did it! tell chayanne to come help us!”
Missa: ”I came to help you and you didn’t catch me!”
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Quackity: “Say you are sorry”
Missa: ”Quackity, you have to keep something in mind, you have a chainsaw... but I have chayanne”
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Quackity explodes
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Missa: "Chayanne is the protector of good and bad people"
Quackity in a sign: Take good care of you child
Missa: "I'll do it, dummy"
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Missa: “Good job son, good job”
Chay: “I defend good people”
Missa: “that’s right”
...
MIssa: "He is going to take us out of the series"
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Time to sleep. pt. 2
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Quackity send him some "good night" messages (the second image is a picture of the singer Chayanne)
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Missa: "Ok let's tell you a story"
After a long story that ends with a duck exploding.
Missa: ”Oh my god I have to make you food! I have 4 more foods to make for the mission wait"
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Missa: “Corn! WA-A-A-A-A-A!!!”
He keept giving him food and running back to make another food.
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Missa: ”Son, I also prepared this with lots of love, only for you, I hope you like it”
Chayanne: “To grow strong, thank you pa”
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Time to sleep. pt. 3 final
Another long story of a kid that wanted to make good content for youtube. (pipipipipi <tres)
Missa: "Good night Chayanne, sweet dreams."
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Missa: "That is my egg"
End (8
(I MISS THEM SO MUCH, I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE)
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