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casspurrjoybell-17 · 2 years ago

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HEART'S FATE - CHAPTER 31

*Warning: Adult Content*

Skylar West is good at many things but Martin Hunter appreciates some of his skills more than others.

Skylar’s expertise with distraction and deflection for example, Martin could do without.

Every time the single dad tried to bring up what happened at the coast, the art teacher turns Martin’s attention to something else.

A kiss and like some Fairy-tale Prince caught in a spell, Martin forgets what it was he meant to say, a softly spoken word and the older man’s priorities shift.

At the same time, Martin can't help but feel that Skylar grows more distant day by day and by the time the weekend approaches again, it seems the younger man hardly has a moment to spare for him.

Thursday morning, as Martin sees his four children off to school, he hugs himself as a brisk November breeze rattles the few remaining leaves still clinging to the skeletal branches of the trees.

Winter will set in soon, locking the little mountain town in a cycle of snow and ice until the warm breath of spring breathes life into the land again.

Thanksgiving approaches, Ambrose Thorne and Noah Hunter have offered to host it at their place, which is big enough to hold everyone and the winter holidays loom beyond.

In the meantime, though, all Martin can think about is a phone call he hasn't yet received.

"You did say that he was rather old," Skylar points out distractedly when Martin brings the matter up for the fourteenth time.

"Perhaps he simply forgot. You ought to give him a call and check into it."

Martin watches as Skylar packs more art supplies into a large duffel bag.

"You're probably right," the older man says and sighs disconsolately, he doesn't imagine calling a doctor's office is on anyone's list of favorite things to do. "What are you packing for, anyway?"

"There's an art show this weekend down in Sacramento," he says. "Thought I'd go."

"Oh..." Martin rubs the back of his neck and glances around the cozy studio apartment which, a few weeks earlier, was nothing but a barren garage.

"That sounds fun."

Skylar glances up at him.

"I'd have invited you, but the children might find it rather boring."

"The children needn't be invited by default," Martin points out.

Skylar lifts a brow at him.

"Would you leave them, though?"

Martin breaks eye contact and look away.

"I know I'm a little overprotective. I don't want to hover but..."

Rising, Skylar crosses the room and rests his hand on Martin’s shoulder.

"I know. You've good reason to be protective. And I didn't mean it that way. It's only a short trip, far more business than pleasure. If it was the latter, I'd have you with me, for sure."

Martin nods, still not quite able to meet the younger man’s eyes and excuses himself as Skylar resumes packing.

******

Martin decides to put off the call to Dr Howard, until the afternoon, when he had finished his work for the day but before the children get home and in the intervening time, he did his best to concentrate.

He nearly jumps out of his seat when his cell-phone rings around noon, narrowly avoiding a disastrous accident as he knock over his coffee cup and brown liquid spills across his desk like a tiny encroaching tide.

Lifting his laptop to safety, he answer the call with a breathless.

Hello?"

He sags with relief as he hears his agent's voice on the other end of the line.

"Hey, Martin. How are you?" she asks.

"Trish. Hi... um... good. It's good. I mean, I'm good," he says and cringes.

His social skills are far from top tier, especially when unprepared.

"What's up?"

"Good news," she says.

"Sales of your last book are steady and your editor says you've got the next one in the bag. The publisher wants at least two more in this series, with a pretty good advance for your genre, if you can guarantee delivery in six months."

‘Two books in six months?’

He rubs his jaw.

That used to be nothing, I could have done it in his sleep.

Now, just the thought gives him heartburn.

"Two books?" he repeats. "Could you talk them down to one?"

"I tried, Martin," Trish says, suddenly sounding a lot more honest and a lot more tired.

"You're not up and coming anymore, you've got a solid following and a reliable audience for your books but they wouldn't budge. It's a cutthroat business. For every established author, there are hundreds willing to work ten times as hard for a tenth of the pay. You know how it is."

He rolls his eyes.

He does but it doesn't make it any better.

In his head, he does a series of rapid calculations.

Things are different now.

With Skylar's help, his family at his back and the weight of guilt and pain finally beginning to lift from his heart, Martin is in a place where he can say 'yes' to this without fearing it will kill me.

"Okay," he says, hearing the smile in his voice.

"Tell them I'll do it."

"I'll send the contract over," she says, sounding relieved.

"Read it carefully. There are some new stipulations I couldn't worm us out of but overall, I think it's fair... considering."

"Considering what?" he asks, made wary once more by her tone.

"Just... how long it took you to finish the last one," she says apologetically.

"I've been on your editor's ass and I know she's been on yours and the publisher's been on mine. I'm sorry, Martin but this is a big deal, okay? It'll make or break you. Understand?"

Martin Hunter swallows.

"Yeah. I understand, Trish. Thanks."

"Hey," she says, her tone warming.

"You're my friend, Marty. I only want what's best for you, all right?"

"Yeah, me too," he says, his throat tightening at the nickname only his family use for him and ends the call.

******

By 3:00 p.m., he’s sweating.

Martin is both dying to know and afraid that knowing will end him but with an hour before the kids get home, he calls Dr. Braden Howard on the direct line the Doctor had given him.

He answers after five rings, long enough to make Martin wonder if he'd been staring at his number and contemplating whether or not to pick up.

"Dr. Braden Howard speaking," he says, as if he's answering on a two-piece receiver from eighty years ago and not the latest model iPhone Martin knows he has.

"Dr. Howard... it's Martin Hunter," I say. "Umm... I haven't gotten the results yet, and I was wondering..."

"Haven't gotten the results yet," he exclaims, so vehemently that I imagine him in black and white, clapping his hand to his forehead, like a scientist in a Mel Brooks parody.

"I was sure I sent them along to you! Must have slipped my mind."

"Do you have them?" Martin asks.

"Have them? Of course I have them," the single dad hears papers rustling, followed by what sounds like glass breaking and Dr. Howard swearing under his breath.

Martin waits and at last, the Doctor is back on the line.

"Sorry about that, kid," he says, sounding slightly out of breath. "The truth is... Well, the truth is..."

"Doctor Howard, please," Martin says, breaking in.

"Please, just tell me. I need to know. I mean... you understand, this is my life. My... everything."

The single dad shuts up as emotion tightens around his throat like a vice.

For a long moment, there's silence.

Then, Dr. Howard sighs.

"Alright. You know what? Fuck it. I got good news and bad news, kid," he says.

"Congratulations, or maybe consolations, I don't fucking know at this point. Either way, you're a father. 99% sure. Now, I know you're one of a set but your fellow triplets are fraternal, not identical, right? Even if one of them had fucked your wife, the results wouldn't be the same. Unless you got an evil twin somewhere, you're Nico and Rio's biological father, for sure.."

Martin covers his mouth to contain the sob that chokes him and then take a breath.

"Okay, so what's the bad news?" he asks.

Doctor Howard sighs.

"That ex-wife of yours is something else, you know that? She paid me a visit. Threatened me. Told me to destroy the results or change my report. Fortunately, I'd sent everything off to the lab already, once it's out of my hands, it's official record. Nothing I can tamper with."

"Are you okay?" Martin asks him, anxiety triggering a slideshow of horrors to play through his mind.

Dr. Howard chuckles.

"I'm eighty-seven years old, kid," he says, "And entirely human, despite my associations. She scared me, yeah. But what's she gonna threaten me with? Death?" he cackles.

"I'm perfectly fine. It's you I'm concerned about. That bitch wasn't at all pleased when I sent her on her way, though. Best keep an eye on those sweet boys of yours. I got a bad feeling, if you know what I mean."

"Thank you, Doctor Howard," Martin says, resting his face in his palm and breathing a sigh.

"I will. I'm sorry you were dragged into this."

"No worries, kid. I'll make sure the results are stored safely and get you a copy in the mail. Should be there in a day or two. Take care."

The doctor ends the call and Martin Hunter lets the phone fall from his hand and clatter to the floor as he drops to his knees.

The single dad doesn't know what to feel or what he’s feeling but what starts as quiet catches in his breath soon grows into deep, uncontrollable sobs as his mess of emotions overcome him like a sleeper wave, knocking him down and pulling him under hard.

And that's how Skylar West finds him, sometime later, curled in a ball on the kitchen floor.

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mjohnso · 2 years ago

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Promise of Exposure, Reconsidered

Long-time readers are already familiar with my feelings regarding survival shows, but for those that are not, they are simple and soon stated. Survival shows are bad for idols, who often get the worst end of whatever deal they promise. I am skeptical of any change made to the survival show format that claims to make things better for participants. And furthermore, I believe no amount of reform can fix this, short of doing away with survival shows.

Production companies, television networks, and entertainment agencies are not of this same mind. Seven years removed from the premiere of Mnet’s Produce’s first season and three years from the Produce voting scandal, survival shows remain a fixture of the television landscape. Last year almost a dozen different survival shows aired, while this year has already seen the premiere of four shows—Mnet’s Boys Planet, MBC’s Fantasy Boys, JTBC’s Peak Time, and KakaoTV’s Girl’s Re:verse and. This is to say nothing of shows announced but not yet aired like Belift Lab and Mnet’s I-LAND 2.

Survival shows would not have such staying power if trainees and idols had not proven to be such willing participants, but it is hard to fault them for this. To the industry’s many trainees dreaming of debut and idols who have cycled through multiple failed groups or stagnated in their careers, survival shows present a tempting opportunity. If they secure a spot in the final group, they are all but ensured a debut and a chance at success. For everyone else, the show offers the consolation prize of every survival show: "exposure." In theory, "exposure" comes with multiple benefits, as I noted in a 2016 post published on the eve of the premiere of Mnet’s Produce 101:

That is due to the size and reach of their platform, which many of the participating entertainment agencies that skew low and mid-tier could never match, a trainee appearing on the show could hypothetically find fans or catch the attention of the public. In turn, this could lead to offers for endorsement deals and attract investors to her company before, as Mnet stresses, she even debuts.

As for idols that have already debuted, there is the hope that their participation will lead to the kind of career renaissance à la EXID and Brave Girls, both of whom, thanks to “exposure,” were pulled back from the brink of disbandment. Never mind that the attention in both cases arose organically via fan videos, rather than mediated by a television show. But In an industry where success is never guaranteed, would-be and struggling idols are conditioned to seize every opportunity, lest they miss “the one.”

This is not a gift that comes without strings; there is a tradeoff. While participants can receive attention, they have no control over how much they receive or how it looks. Depending on the ratio of contestants to a show's run time, they could receive little or a lot of screen time. During whatever time they get, the show could portray them positively, their best attributes highlighted, or conversely, their scenes edited to highlight or create conflict. Similarly, the show may emphasize scenes of a singing voice cracking or a participant making a misstep while dancing, played on a loop, or accentuated with sound effects.

Such is the risk of potential fame, or at least that is what survival shows would have participants believe. In spite of recent "improvements" intended to make survival shows fairer, this aspect of survival shows remains untouched—until recently. JTBC’s Peak Time and KakaoTV’s Girl’s Re:verse present a corrective. Instead of promising exposure, they offer anonymity. Although both shows’ participants are already debuted idols, they forgo introduction videos and strip all identifying details of them, including their names. In Peak Time, the 24 boy groups are identified by an hour of the day, e.g. 8:00, 13:00, 20:00, etc. In Girl’s Re:verse, virtual avatars representing the female idol participants are referred to by their chosen nicknames: Chonkycat, Dopamine, Rascal, Cheer, Zzaru, and so on.

As with most changes to survival shows, the rhetoric around the switch has framed this as beneficial to participants. For example, the production team of Peak Time has described the show's goal thusly,

“We intend to show solely their skills without the boxes and labels attached to their teams’ names and images. [Through the program], people will be able to evaluate the teams purely by their skills without prior prejudice of their existing image and find new aspects or values of the teams that they did not know before.”

Likewise a New York Times article, “Will the Metaverse Be Entertaining? Ask South Korea.” quotes Girl’s Re:verse producer Son Su-jung, as saying that part of the point of the show was to give them “a break from the industry’s relentless beauty standards, letting them be judged by their talent, not their looks.”

In theory, this sounds good but as I noted above, so too did paying participants in exposure. That is precisely the problem though. As it gives the perception of fixing the problem, it become a useful means of re-branding. Thus the choice of both shows to not reveal their participants' identities is elevated from cheap, oft-used gimmick to a form of 'conscious marketing,' where it is actually helping idols. Tellingly, it is not about sparing them from judgment altogether, as this is still a survival show, but from a certain brand of superficial judgment. That is while they will still be judged by the appointed judges, who by dint of their history in the industry, are supposed to be understood as only delivering constructive criticism, viewers too now vote for participants on the basis of their skill.

Conveniently, nothing about this change requires any major reckoning over the survival show format. Nor does it require soul searching on the part of those who work on the shows behind the scenes, to consider how they themselves may contribute to the problem said show is purported to fix. That would be what is needed to make the real changes they claim to, but it is harder. It also requires giving up power, and also potentially losing power and money. And anyway, there is no guarantee that if it were to happen viewers would even recognize it for what it is if shows did it. After all, they had probably heard it before.

#kpop #survival-shows #produce-101

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ajentmm · 2 years ago

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DEC ‘22 Refine Results + Update

Predictions

Kronya didn't get [Fatal Wounds] but she did get the savage blow and a way to deal more damage to foe's during enemy phase, [Exposure]. It's a great penalty that increases your unit's damage by 10 when fighting that specific foe.

Hubert also inflicts that effect with Atk/Def/Res Ruse/Snag. He got a nifty support tome that's definitely not as overpowered as my "Turn AOE Specials into a [Gravity] inflictor". It's also not as powerful as Rearmed Ophelia's Arcane Eclipse but we'll get to it.

Both Nah's refine and W!Marth's refine change the condition to HP>50% or having a Bonus. This basically means the condition will occur at the most important points, the first fight, and then the Bonus is there for when battle goes on for too long. While everyone is getting useless weapons after getting hit with bolt tower or whatever, these two will still have the effects if their allies still provide bonuses. Through thick and thin.

Nah providing [Special Charge] as a bonuses to allies is great because, if you remember from my refine theorycraft for her, I complained that Infantry Breath was a bad skill that needed a tier 4 version with more lenience. This does that, provide your team with faster special charges. Of course, having her receive in combat stat boost by being near allies with the bonuses she gives, for +14 to all stats, is great.

With Winter Marth, I thought of having enemy phase dive bomb, but instead I imagined that that could have been what Daring fighter 4 can be. I wish I included that side tangent like I did in Beast n Dragon blog, just to give you all how much further in advance I'm thinking. Anyway, Marth now gets a full charged Fire Emblem to counter attacking, and with the unique refine, ranged units that are too slow will get hit once and then get hit with Fire Emblem, before they even lay a finger on Marth. It doesn't matter what his Duo Button does. Give him Bonus Doubler seal. He doesn't need Savvy Fighter (If not for Null-Follow-Up). Marth is a far save vantage tank now, and he knows it.

For Dou! Ephraim, I really think IS made his refine to compete with Brave! Erika. Just the mobility tools alone makes me think he's trying to be a cavalry. Even Tempest, Near Trace, and even removing terrain hindrance, making all trees 1 cost instead of 2. And of course, he can self sustain on any Bonus, with Odd Atk Wave giving Atk bonuses and even turns giving movement bonuses. At this point, his Duo skill is just meant for the first turn to get all you infantry and armors to the middle ground.

Now, I wanna talk Rearmed Ophelia. In a previous blog, I predicted that Rearmed would be baddies or "fallen" heroes, but I did kept it vague to say, "anyone who would willing use a cursed weapon" and that's Ophelia. I also predicted that ranged arcane weapons would have 4 effects, with 2 being behind a nested condition. I was wrong. Here is Arcane Eclipse. When thinking of effects that would be on an melee Arcane weapon, this tome has Special Acceleration, +5 all stats, and guaranteed follow-up. Quicken Pulse and Neutralize Atk penalties are two more effects, not as powerful as the other effects we have seen, but nothing to scoff at. This can be combined with Time Pulse, Finishers Skills, and the new Special Spiral 4. Ophelia's 3 cooldown luna becomes 2 with Accelerate Special, she pre-chages it with the tome and Time Pulse, then she gets it right back with Special Special, now with 5 more true damage and nullify damage reduction from passives when that special triggers. Gezus! Give her Quicken Pulse Seal and a AOE Special and she's the menace we fear would come from a refined Missiletainn. And what's more terrifying, all her skills are inheritable. You can build any red mage to be just like her. We when from having no good inheritable red tomes to having one option. The amount of +10 Tharja we'll see is gonna sky rocket. May the goddess have mercy on our souls.

#Fire Emblem heroes #Refines #Ophelia

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taeyamayang · 3 years ago

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HQ AS STUDENTS I MET IN COLLEGE

ㅡdefinitely NOT based on my experience (it is, sorta)

kuroo • kenma • oikawa • osamu • tobio • suna

kuroo

a fucking traitor

I'M TELLING YOU!!

the type of friend you ask if they studied in an exam and they say "no" or "barely" BUT TOPS THE TEST

like.. are you dumb or is he insanely smart??

and the first impression he always gets is someone who is doesn't stand out in terms of academics

he might have taken the leader role in one of the groupings but is never the straight As type

BUT YOU ARE WRONG

he understands the lessons though half of the time he looks spaced out

but would 10/10 pick him on a by pair labortory report

this kid can ace every experiment

like you don't need worry about repeating a step bc he already has it covered

in short, he is the best in group works

but his friendship with the quiet smol boy in computer programming degree has everyone questioning

"how can two opposites be friends?"

kenma

the boy in computer programming class

and why the heck is he friends with the most extroverted boy in chemistry ??

if given a task in class wherein you have to finish it within the given period, he's the type to finish it first

shuffling his way to his professor's desk as he hands over the USB with files in it

he has the hood of his jacket over his head as he looks through his lashes

he mumbles, "i'm done can i leave?" briefly making eye contact with his professor before abruptly pulling it away

and so he leaves the class first and guaranteed he is already on his way to kuroo's classroom

he is the best seatmate tho

when you have questions about the lessons he will gladly teach you

BUT you always have to start the conversation

there are times you might think you're friends with him like the time where he would immediately look at you when you enter the room but will divert his eyes once you smile at him

and you swear, you saw him smile back at you

oikawa

this student can literally blabber himself out a crammed presentation and make it seem like he prepared for it for days

he lures professors with his charming smile and confidence

and his way with words is chef's kiss

but honestly given the luxury of time or when he didn't forget about the report he has to do

he pulls out the BEST powerpoint presentation

and i am talking about about an aesthetic slideshow with full on graphics and animations

he prefers holding the remote of the projector to put drama in his presentations

outside of class, every student in the campus knows him

not only because he plays for their university as a volleyball varsity but he's EVERYWHERE

some may know him as the cute boy at the gym,

the boy who chugged a whole bottle of alcohol that brought tears to his eyes,

the arm wrestling champion's boyfriend *cough* iwa-chan,

or the student who can bullshit their way to graduation

but what's good about him is he's easy to befriend

he's the type to approach you on your first day in college (when you are lost looking for your room) and he makes you feel comfortable around him right off the bat

he is your first college friend

osamu

knows the best food in the cafeteria

he recommends you weird food mixes like porkchop over rice with sour cream sauce and toasted garlic

like?? i honestly would NEVER try that

but at some point he manages to convince you and it turns out the order isn't too bad at all

you come back for more without telling him bc your pride would not admit that the food tastes good after days of jesting how bad his taste is

he also knows the best cheap diner outside campus and his recommends are top tier

he probably plays billiards with his friends during lunch breaks

when someone in campus greets him as "tsumu" he doesn't bother to correct them

so he just nods

but would deny he's twins with atsumu for the sake of causing confusion with his new classmates

also loves to see atsumu be put on the spot

he is definitely the type to open doors when he senses someone behind him and when you thank him he just shrugs

i can also see him by the university's printing area bc he refuses to use their printer's ink (ofc to save money)

ngl he looks tired and bored 100% of the time but he is a whole mood

kageyama

first impression: fire sign

sorry non astrology enthusiast readers/followers

but the moment you see him he literally screams intimidation

like the type of student who would ask tons of questions and assert himself when his opinion differs from the professor's (for the sake of education ofc)

he appears to be someone who has his shit together

i mean... he represents the uni's in volleyball team so he prolly has good grades and he attends class regularly

but as time goes by, your first impression proves you wrong

he's a bit disorganized

and by that i mean he forgets his laptop charger ALL THE TIME

(and umbrella lmao there was a time when you saw him waiting by the sheds and generously offered to share the umbrella with him good thing tho, he took the initiative to hold the umbrella for the two of you)

you are probably convinced at this point that he sat to you next in lecture bc he saw your laptop is the same brand as his'

he feels awkward when his pen rolls to your side of the long lecture hall table

would look at you like he's unsure if it's okay to take his pen back

he basically looks lost, confused, and mad 24/7

or maybe it's just his face and pouted lips

suna

has the best notes in class

not only that it's complete and well-written but it's organized and highlighted in such a way that the terms in the lessons can be easily understood

he probably has a stack of sticky notes and page bookmarks

prefers pastel highlighters than brightly tinted ones

and his handwriting...

IT IS PINTEREST WORTHY

he also has a separate album in his phone for memes

he is a meme hoarder don't fight me on this

his jokes are always based of a meme

but beware of him during nightouts bc he has has phone ready to capture your most humiliating moments

and he shamelessly posts your pictures on instagram story as a birthday greeting

just a quick distress after a long ass week. thank you for reading :) some of the scenarios are based from experience i think 80% of it lol anyways take care and always stay hydrated. rbs and likes are v much appreciated!

Masterlist | HQ Masterlist

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neoculturetravesty · 4 years ago

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We met in online class - Last Part

Image adapted from here.

Pairing: Renjun x Reader Genre: College AU, romance, angst, fluff Warnings: Strong language Word Count: 3.4k

A/N: And so it comes to an end, and let me tell you guys, I am not okay 😔 This is going to be a bit of a longer A/N, so please bear with me. If you’d like to get straight to the story, I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND, so feel free to click Keep Reading!

Lowkey, I had a bit of a meltdown as I typed the final words on this fic because I hadn’t realized how attached I had grown to the characters. This is the first time I wrote three different chapter openers before deciding on one, because I simply couldn’t believe it was goodbye after this.

These mofos had constantly been on my mind for the past two months and a half. I would spend most days thinking about where to take them and then bringing them to life at night, after my entire day was over. When I wasn’t writing, I’d make little notes about thoughts I had into the night about them so that I wouldn’t forget them when morning comes.

This was my first ever (and as of right now, my only) chaptered fic. I had no idea parting with it would be as emotional as it was. When I think back to when I first received the prompt for this, I had never even imagined I could write Renjun, let alone a series. But there was something in the prompt that had gotten my wheels turning. And I am so immensely glad that it did. There were days when I thought “Oh man, what have I gotten myself into.” Some days, the story would just flow. Other days, I’d keep staring at the blinking cursor not knowing what to type. But when I did, I found my emotions so deeply connected with the characters. I was happy when they were happy. I was sad when they were sad. So, parting with them is very hard to say the least.

But through this journey, I got to experience the joy of reading all of your reviews and comments and honestly, it made it all worth it. THANK YOU to every single one of you that read this story and waited on it and laughed and cried with it. You have made my life better in more ways than you can imagine.

In this moment, I want to thank 🍙 anon, because it was their prompt that put me in this mess in the first place. And so, it is only fitting that I dedicate the final part to them 💛

“Oh, we definitely need a picture together. How about here? I think this place would fit everyone.” Kim Doyoung looks about, finding a spot best suited for the photo he wanted.

“I think right there on the platform would be better. We could get everyone in two tiers.” his assistant suggests.

“You’re a genius. Let’s gather everyone. It’s not often that so many NCTU grads and students come to Midnight Arthouse,” Doyoung nods.

“How many of us are here, anyway?” Renjun muses. The assistant looks at her iPad, checking once again.

“I think there’s 23 of you. So, let’s definitely go for the platform.” she nods.

“Okay, then.” Doyoung claps his hands together once, “Gather everyone,” he says to no one in particular and walks ahead with purpose. Renjun and the assistant’s eyes meet and they smirk. Of course this was directed to the both of them. So, they set about to work.

As it would turn out, gathering 23 people from a charity event with art and food and drinks would be a bit of a task. But somehow, they manage to gather all alumni and current students on the platform in three tiers instead of two for a somewhat chaotic picture. There must’ve been something in the water at NCTU because none of it’s students could stand still for very long. They get maybe one decent picture and several in which someone or the other was moving or pulling a face.

His friends aside, looking around at the group, Renjun realized that he recognized nearly all of them. Yangyang and Hendery and the rest of their frat were here. As were the 127s, old and new. Renjun recognized them all, except maybe two boys, who didn’t seem to know a lot of the others either. When the pictures were done and the main events were over and the crowd had started to dissipate, Renjun finally walked over to the artwork to observe it up close.

Honestly speaking, watching the work with his own two eyes left no doubt in his mind that this artist deserved to be spotlighted like this. This work was in a league of its own. Watching it makes Renjun smile; because looking at it makes him think back to a few months ago when he was sitting in Kim Doyoung’s office, thinking of himself as some sort of a big shot. But the truth is, there was no way he had that caliber then, and there is no way he has that caliber now, though he was sure as hell working on it.

“This is the piece I lost the bid on.” Renjun hears a voice and he turns around to see Zhong Chenle’s father observing the art with him. Renjun bows politely and smiles under his mask,

“I mean, this is a remarkable piece. You have good taste.” Renjun acknowledges.

“What about you? Why isn’t any of your artwork displayed here?” he asks and for a while, Renjun smiles a bit nostalgically. He could’ve been here, had he made something for the Annuale. Had he just selfishly taken that shot. Then again, there would’ve been no real guarantees. Because Kim Doyoung was pretty particular in the people he chose, whether they were recommended by his family or not. Working with him closely in the last couple of months had taught Renjun that. It had also taught him how underdeveloped his skill was in the real world context.

“I guess I still have a long way to go.” Renjun replies humbly.

“Don’t we all?” Chenle’s father nods, “Are you working here at this establishment?”

“Um, I… I suppose I am. I am Kim Doyoung’s apprentice. He is my mentor.” Renjun nods.

“So I might see your work here soon enough, eh?” Renjun assumes the kind man is smiling under his mask because his eyes seem to be making the same shape as Chenle’s do when he smiles. So Renjun grins back.

“I mean… if I work really hard, I might get to shoot my shot in the next Midnight Arthouse Annuale.” Renjun fantasizes.

“Or maybe you’d get lucky like this young artist,” he points his chin towards the artwork.

Renjun smiles, “I would credit her luck, too if I hadn’t seen her work. But her talent is… it kinda speaks for itself.”

“Oh, no, you should definitely credit her luck. Talent isn’t enough. The stars have to align. Luck, talent, the right place, the right time. It all has to come together.” he says nodding.

Renjun considers his words. They seem to be coming from the wisdom of experience.

What if Renjun hadn’t received the phone call about his grandma back then? Well, then he probably would’ve made something lackluster and gotten rejected. Working with Kim Doyoung has taught him as much. It didn’t matter who had put a word in for him. At the end of the day, his work had to be outclass.

What if he had received the phone call and then still had enough time to submit something for the Annuale? Then he still probably wouldn’t have because… well, because of you.

What if he had gone ahead, regardless of you or his grandma and just made something and submitted it? Then he still would’ve been rejected. Because the truth of the matter is, he just didn’t have the caliber that artists associated with Midnight Arthouse did.

In that sense, Renjun supposes everything was in fact happening at the right place and right time now. Doyoung was mentoring him and he was getting better by the day. The stars were aligning for him. He knew it in his heart.

“Then I would wish that it all comes together for me, too.” Renjun says.

“When it does, young man, I’ll be the first one to bid on your work.” he says and Renjun doesn’t even have the time to react when he feels a presence breeze in his direction and invade his personal space.

Renjun doesn’t even have to look up to know who it is. He can tell by the way this body fits perfectly into his side. He can tell by how naturally his own body responds and just puts his arm around it’s waist.

“Oh man, I missed all of it, didn’t I?” you lament, as you loop your arms around his neck from the side instead of a hello.

“Not all of it. The guys just left but your brother and his friends are still here. Besides, you had work.” Renjun turns his head and looks into your eyes to reassure you. “Y/N, this is Chenle’s father.”

“Oh, hello!” you say cheerfully and respectfully bow and give you greetings. “It is so nice to meet you. Chenle looks just like you!”

“Yes, I’ve been told I’m a more handsome version of him,” he smiles then turns to Renjun, “And who might this young lady be?”

“This is my girlfriend, Y/N. She goes to NCTU with us.” Renjun introduces you and you bow again. Oh, the thrill he got every time he got to introduce you as his girlfriend. Fuck, he’s pretty sure he’d never tire of it, even if it had just been a few months. The serotonin boost in his veins is strong and he gets the urge to squeeze you and hold you forever.

“Oh, that’s very nice. Come have a meal with us before we have to catch a plane back home, okay?” Chenle’s father invites the two of you.

“Oh, I would love to!” you say in your chipper tone before your eyes start darting around “I’m going to have to excuse myself for a little bit, I just wanna say hi to my brother.” you say and you politely bow before you start moving away.

“Babe, hang on…” Renjun says, holding you back by your hand. He brings his fingers delicately to the bridge of your nose and softly pinches down the mask over it so it sits more snugly on you. “There, it’s much safer now.” Renjun nods and watches the affectionate smile your eyes give before you move away. You looked so pretty today, even if you were just coming back from a four-hour internship. You were easily the most beautiful girl in this room, though Renjun suspected that you’d be the most beautiful girl in any room you entered.

Albeit sometimes, Renjun had to wonder if your talent or your beauty was greater. Because you had become the only junior in NCTU to land an internship at the SMK Trainee Drive. And now that you were a senior, you were somehow managing to keep your grades up alongside it.

Renjun, on the other hand, would find himself struggling with balancing his apprenticeship with his school work. So he knew firsthand how your discipline was something else altogether. Recently though, he had experienced a rise in his grades because you had been taking him on so many study dates that your organizational skills and motivation had started to rub off on him.

Renjun walks around the studio and the party and feels like it’s been too long till you’re finally back by his side.

“Love in the Time of Corona,” you read the title of an art piece displayed in front of you. “That was supposed to be our thing.”

Renjun laughs and has no qualms in looping his arms around your waist and finally pulling you into himself.

“I guess we should’ve realized then how un-novel the idea would become in a few months.” he comments.

“Un-novel is not a word, Huang Renjun.” you narrow your eyes at him.

Renjun laughs. “It is now,” he says and lets out a long exhale, “I missed you today.” he complains, though he looks down at you with warmth.

“Well, you’ve got me now. And you have me for the entire weekend.” you reassure him, your palms on his chest.

“Mhmm.” Renjun smiles and he wants to lean in to kiss you. But Kim Doyoung specifically had people assigned to walk around and make sure that everyone had their masks on when inside. “Also, we already have a thing.” he reminds you and winks.

You laugh, and say “I guess we do,” then let out a happy sigh as your eyes avert from his for a moment, taking in your surroundings. “Our Couple Thing should give you some ideas on what you can make when your work is displayed here in the 2022 Annuale. I won’t be late to that, I promise. I’ll take a day off from everything else in my life.”

Renjun's heart grows warmer still, and he’s sure his eyes reflect what he feels, “How can you be so sure my work will be displayed in the 2022 Annuale?”

“I don’t know, Huang Renjun. I just have a feeling about you.” you say and Renjun can see you smile even if your lips are covered by a mask. Your eyes always smiled before your mouth did, anyway.

“Y/N L/N, I have a feeling about you, too.” he retorts.

“And what feeling would that be?” you raise an eyebrow.

“It’s a secret.” he says, but now he sees your pout, even if he can’t see your mouth because your cheeks have puffed up over the mask. It makes him laugh.

“You’re no fun.” you protest.

“I’ll tell you once we get out of here.” Renjun offers.

“Well, I’m ready to leave.” you jut your chin up. Renjun grins and offers you his arm. You grab it with your entire body and the two of you start walking out together.

You had plans for the weekend, after all. And Renjun was determined to keep you all to himself for once, with no one else demanding your time. Not your internship, not your assignments, not any of your friends, and especially not Lee fucking Donghyuck. He was finally going to take you away where it could just be you and him and nobody else.

This moment felt way too surreal to Renjun.

The campfire had simmered down from a glorious roar to a comfortable burn, giving off just enough heat in the cool of an early winter evening. The sky was in it’s fading moments, where the pink of the light was slowly turning to violets and the violets were slowly merging into darks.

Renjun remembered suggesting to you all that time ago that maybe you could go somewhere together. But now that he was here, he hadn’t imagined that the moment would feel as surreal as it did.

Because now the two of you are sitting in front of your tent by the fire, entwined in one another. You’re sitting between his legs, arms around his neck, nuzzling your cheek inside his padded jacket while he supports your head on his arm and kisses you.

He’s holding you in his arms and kissing you and everything seems so perfect that for a moment, he has to pull away to watch your face and wonder if all of this was real. And though there is a gentle smile on your face, you’re not opening your eyes much. Because you know full well that Renjun’s lips would be back on yours in no time. So you play with his hair as they fall to his forehead and when he kisses you again, you press up into him so he would wrap his arms around you and hold you tighter. He does and he rubs his hands up and down your back and attempts to close his jacket around you.

“Are you cold?” he asks lovingly. You shake your head.

“No. I just want to crawl inside you.” you say, like it’s the most logical thing to be said.

“Creepy.” Renjun remarks but holds you closer still.

“You should be happy you haven’t seen my collection of your hair clippings.” you quip as you nip into the skin of his neck.

“Oh, sweet. That rivals all your used tissues I’ve kept in my shrine at home.”

“Aww, you shouldn’t have.” you coo at him and then lean up to kiss him some more and he laughs. But soon, he pushes the arm that you were using like a pillow up so your face would be closer to his and he could kiss you as deeply as he was truly craving.

The two of you keep kissing like that till the sky is dark. It was an odd sort of trance, being so lost in one another that neither of you cared about what time it was or how long you had been sitting here, wrapped up in one another. Your phones were zipped away in your bags and you hadn’t checked them even once since you had parked your camping van and set up your tent. It was a slow, peaceful sort of bliss, just sitting by the fire and kissing and kissing with nothing else on your minds but being here like this with one another.

“Renjun?” you say, your voice sounding like it was returning from a deep thought.

“Hmm?” Renjun asks as he combs your hair away from your pretty face.

“You know, I learnt today that a cactus can live anywhere between 10 and 200 years.” you tell him, idly tracing the birthmark on the back of his hand.

Renjun leans in and presses long into your lips. “Yeah?” he replies and watches your face. It seemed hazily focused, like it was trying to catch onto a faraway thought.

“I also learnt that it can take up to 30 years for a cactus to bear flowers.” you say in an introspective, wistful tone.

Renjun looks away to hide his smile. Oh God, you were so cute. “Yeah?” he says again, but it’s getting more and more difficult to keep a serious face.

“Sometimes, a cactus doesn’t flower at all.” you say and then you turn your head to look at him like you’ve resurfaced from your thoughts and are now in the moment. Renjun’s grin grows wider. “Renjunnn…” you whine and so he has no choice but to tenderly hold your cheeks in his palms and stroke your hair.

“What?” he chuckles.

“You said you’d think you’re worthy of my forgiveness when the cactus bears flowers.” you whine again and Renjun has to plant a loving kiss to your forehead.

“Is that what I said?” he chuckles some more and then leans in to kiss the anxious realization away from your lips.

“Renjun.” you pout and Renjun laughs and takes his beautiful, whiny, kindhearted girlfriend in his arms and hopes that his hold could chase away all the worries from her pretty, brilliant mind.

He kisses you because his heart can’t bear it any longer. How did he manage to hold a heart like yours in his hand?

Renjun feels an indescribable amount of happiness. Like he wasn’t sure that you were really here with him, in his arms, all for him to hold, with no worry or burden afflicting him. The happiness is so immense and so incredible and so heavy that for a moment, he feels it suffocating him. He wonders if he deserved this kind of happiness.

But right in the next moment, he stops himself. He knew how easy it was to relapse into those tempting, lonesome thoughts. But if there was anything that therapy was teaching him, it was that of course he deserved happiness.

Though right now, holding you in his arms, this happiness was choking him. He felt like his heart was swelling and pressing against his lungs and his chest couldn’t bear it and he could no longer breathe.

“Y/N…” he exhales, holding you back so he can look at your face and you could look up into his. He pauses to gather another breath. Then, he just says it. “I love you.”

And doing so does the trick. He feels his chest slowly getting lighter, because this is what it had been bursting with. Now, he’s told you. Now, it can be unburdened.

You look up at him and there is nothing but a sparkle in your eye, and tenderness in your smile. For a while, you say nothing, just looking upon his eyes like that. “Thank you.” you finally whisper back at him.

Renjun pauses for a moment. But then, he relaxes. This was okay. You didn’t have to say it back right away. Renjun was ready to give you as much time as you needed. So he presses his lips into your forehead once again till he feels you laughing against him. He pulls back in confusion and you grab at the lapel of his parka.

“Huang Renjun…” you say and he looks back at you with uncertainty, “... I love you, too.”

And Renjun can’t help it if he kisses you too hard. He can’t help it that he’s squeezing you too tight. He wouldn’t care if the night brightens back into morning and the morning fades back into night. He was going to hold you just like this for the rest of his life.

So he lays you down and kisses you deeper, like he wanted to make up for all the time he had lost. All the time in his life when he hadn’t known you. All the time he had known you and didn’t let himself have you. He was going to make up for it all. And as he zips the tent up and shields you from the rest of the world, he wonders if he could spend all of his days just like this. Holding you and loving you and knowing that you loved him back; and if he could, today was a damn good day to start.

The fire slows to a simmer till all that’s left are embers that keep being carried away by the breeze. But the two of you remain inside, in your own world, happy that you had found one another, happy that you could finally have one another. Happy that you could hold one another and say that you loved each other and have nothing in the world hold you back, not now, not ever.

You were Y/N and Renjun, Renjun and Y/N, two names that were forever intertwined because that’s how people would call you now. You were the couple that belonged so perfectly with one another that people would wonder if you’d been together for years. And any time someone with a burning curiosity would come up to you and ask,

“So, where did you guys meet?” you would just look at one another, smile and say, “Well, we met in online class.”

~THE END

#renjun fic #renjun fluff #renjun angst #ficscafe #kpopscape #neowritingsnet #dreamwritersnet #huang renjun #renjun #nct fic #nct dream #nct #nct dream fic #nct fluff #nct angst #nct college au #renjun x reader #we met in online class

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gb-patch · 4 years ago

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Ask Answers: April 13th, 2021

And we’re back again with more replies so soon, haha. Thank you for the asks!

Your game literally saved me this hell ass year. Thank you so much for the most perfect piece of art I've ever laid eyes on 😫 ... Do you guys have a rough idea when step 3 DLC will be released? I hope I'm not coming off as rude. I just really really love your game.

I’m sorry for the late reply on this! You might’ve already seen the answer by now, but the Step 3 DLC is coming out on the 16th. We’re almost there :D

This may be a silly question but did Jeremy's parents ever find out that Pran had lied about his age and if so, when/how? :3

Pran came clean to them after a couple of years, when he felt secure enough that it wouldn’t ruin the relationship. The Kings were a little embarrassed, the dad more than the mom, but they’re quite good at brushing past those kind of mistakes so it was all water under the bridge pretty fast.

hi! i know you’ve answered a question about alterations in the our life moments by playing them in different orders, but i was wondering if there was a canon order that the moments for each step happen in? i figure with such a customizable game the “canon” timeline for the moments is whatever order the player completes them in, for example in step 1, i like playing the runaway moment pretty early, since cove trying to run away early in summer makes more sense to me personally. thanks!

Yeah, there’s no canon order we’d insist on. Whatever you like can be the official route for you! And that’s a neat way to look at that event.

What if your character isn’t that into physical contact but still wants to be in a relationship with Cove? Would he be offended if you shy away or something along those lines?

He wouldn’t be. Cove knows how hard that can be and is very understanding. If you set his initiative to low, the game always checks to make sure if you want to be touched or not rather than assuming that you do. And if you do choose that you don’t want to, there’s no stress or drama about it. Cove will just say that’s okay!

Hellu! First off, I want to thank you all for such a wonderful game, it's been the best feel-good game I've ever stumbled upon and I can't express enough how much it has meant to me. Second, I've seen lots of people having trouble with making Cove confess before MC which makes me wonder if people will have the same problem in the dlc when you can propose to him. Is it possible to post a guide for that as well when it no longer could count as a spoiler? Again, thanks for such a beautiful game <3

I’m really happy you had such a nice time with it c:. We’ll answer questions about it on tumblr/in the discord if they come up and, if need be, we’ll find somewhere to upload a guide.

Do we get steam key from buying dlc on itch io?

I’m afraid not. That’d be unfair to those who get it on Steam. Plus, Steam isn’t super cool with giving out thousands of keys to be handed out for free on other sites anymore. They can refuse to give us the keys if they feel we’re trying to take advantage of their system.

hi! so if we reject cove's confession in step 3, can we still have MC and cove get together in step 4?

You can confess to him, yeah. But Cove won’t ever try confessing again if the MC turns him down in Step 3.

What if MC acts like someone Cove doesn't like, like Lizzie or Baxter lol

You can’t do what Lizzie or Baxter does to make Cove dislike them. You can play the game and try, but it doesn’t work out. The MC is just too compatible with Cove if you’re fond/crush/love, haha.

Hi! I absolutely love your game, I love the characters they’re all so amazing, thank you for the game haha

I was wondering if you would get the NSFW DLC no matter what Patreon level you were at, or if you would could get it at any level? :)

What pateron tier do we need to get the 18+ content for Our Life? It's my new favourite game, keep up the good work!

It will eventually be available at the $5 tier and anything above that! Glad you both like OL ^^

On a scale from 1 (being the worst) to 10, how well do the XOXO jerk squad including JB handle horror?

JB: 8

Everett: 5

Nate: 4

Shiloh: 10

Bae: 10

Jeremy: 8 for non-gore horror, 2 for gory horror

Pran: 9

hello!! i was wondering if any of the boys from the Jerksquad would ever wear a skirt/dress?

None of them wear skirts/dresses out of personal preference. But if there was some kind of reason where they had to do it, none would be that bothered.

How does the jerk squad feel about Christmas?

Everett: He fucking loves it. That’s the best time of year.

Nate: Commercialized nonsense.

Shiloh: It’s wonderful! So he claims.

Bae: He likes it quite a bit, but only for the joy it brings children/family. He thinks that’s sweet but is too mature to be whipped up into a festive fervor himself.

Jeremy: It’s awful.

Pran: He hates it.

does cove have any pet allergies? yes I know this is a little weirdly specific

He doesn’t! The lucky boy isn’t allergic to any animal.

Very important question: Would Lee and a musical-theatre loving MC run around belting Into The Unknown from Frozen 2? Because I feel that they would

Probably, haha.

This might seem like a dumb question, so I’m sorry, but with the Derek DLC are we gonna get to hang out with him in person instead of just calling him in step 3?

The Derek DLC adds events in Step 2 and Step 4. It’s part of his story that you don’t really get to be around him in Step 3. But you don’t need to apologize for wondering!

hello! i'd like to ask if it's possible to play the android version of the game with the dlcs after buying the dlcs from steam. i wasn't expecting my android version to have my dlcs since i bought them from steam, but it had my step 2 dlc for some reason. is this a glitch or does the apk actually detect what dlcs you already have on your pc? if so, how come i don't have the step 1 dlc appearing on android? thanks!

That is some kind of glitch. It isn’t possible for the Android DLCs to be unlocked by having them on PC. Maybe in one of the old builds we accidentally didn’t lock the Step 2 DLC properly. Sorry for the confusion!

Does Derek and Baxter have canon sexualities? Will Derek still flirts with the MC regardless of their gender?

They’re both pansexual and can like the MC regardless of what gender they have.

I was wondering if Miranda had a crush on Cove in Step 3? I'm not sure why, but I got those vibes from her?

She thinks of him only as a friend. Cove isn’t her type, haha.

This is probably a dumb hope, but I hope Cliff find someone he loves after Cove is grown up and everything. Or at the very least he has someone he's very close with after Cove leaves.

That’s a really sweet thought to have. Cliff stays single, but he’s graysexual and not-particularly romantically inclined. He only dated when he was really young ‘cause that’s what everyone did. Family and friend relationships are more important to him, and he has plenty of that in his life ^^.

Heya! I was curious if there might be a nickname system in N&F? I kind of pull an Elizabeth when I play and choose a different variation of a name like having Rosie in step one and changing it to Rose in step two, then maybe Rosetta in step three for example, but it also feels a little bit odd being scolded using my nickname hehe. That's all I was wondering about, thank you for your time and the wonderful games!

We are hoping to include the option to go by a nickname in Our Life: Now & Forever. But nothing has been programmed yet, so we can’t 100% guarantee it, haha.

Just curious, what would Liz's and Cove's relationship be if MC wasn't around? I feel like they wouldn't get along as well as they do now, especially during the first and second step

They’d definitely have a lot of friction growing up and they’d likely avoid each other as much as possible. Once they were both older, I imagine they’d be decent neighbor acquaintances. But they still wouldn’t be nearly as close as they are with the MC bringing Cove into things.

What do the customizable eyes look like in the game? Do they look as they are in the creating avatar section? Or do they look different when actually playing the game?

That’s up to you! The doll is just meant to be a general idea. You can apply it to your imagined MC as much or as little as you prefer.

Did Cove go through a "phase" during his adolescence? I don't really wanna headcanon it so I wonder if there's anything (cringy) canon since we missed out on the ages of 14-17 hahaha

Not really, aha. 14-17 Cove is pretty recognizable to his 13 and 18 year old self.

Hello! I'm sorry to bother you, especially with all the messages you get. I was just wondering if the religious wedding venue was exclusive to a church or if there will be different religions of weddings? Also, I love this VN so much, it's so well written and every character is so amazing, thank you for making such a beautiful game.

The church is treated as a historic building rather than anything actively religious, but it’s not the only option like that. There’s a historic synagogue and stuff too! And that’s really nice of you to say <3.

How differently would it play out If MC told their moms about the 20$ deal back when it happened?

They wouldn’t have been happy and would’ve been far more skeptical of Cliff, aha. But they wouldn’t want to keep Cove away from the MC, so it wouldn’t have been too different in the long run.

Hello may I ask what Cove's favorite fudge/ice cream flavor would be? Its alright if its not answered

He appreciates them all, but his top favorites would be the fruit flavored ones and the ones with nuts.

Hi! I really wanted to make mc's house in a game and tried really hard to figure out the floor plan, but I wondered if you have the floor plan of the mc's house so that i can try again with more accuracy?

Thank you a lot for this game, i loved it a lot! (my first play took me 8 hours lol)

I’m really sorry, we don’t have anything like that. But at least you can headcanon that what you did is correct and nothing can prove it wrong, haha.

Hello,I recently started playing lake of voices (I put it off for a long while since I’m usually not very good with horror) and I’m really happy I did!I’m a big fan of your games in general and lake of voices was absolutely great as well.I loved the characters and the dark setting of it,I adored the beautiful art and music and the story was great too,sometimes unsettling and sometimes very sweet.My favorite Route in the game was definitely Lu,I liked his character and was really shocked and distraught by his Route at least two times.I didn’t see the plot twist(s) coming at all!

Besides these ramblings I’ve also wanted to ask if you still remember how to get the lower two CGs on page 5?I seem to always miss them and would appreciate any help.Anyways I hope I wasn’t too much of a bother and I wish the devs a great day!:)

Thank you for all the kind words <3. You get those DLCs by going through the end of the Guide’s character path. You can use the guides on Steam to help you find it/reach the end!

—– —– —– —–

Thank you again for all of these questions :D

We released a new FAQ! It answers common questions and we’ll keep adding more to it. Please check there before sending an ask. FAQ Also, if you prefer to just see the main posts without all the asks/reblogs, feel free to follow our side account instead: GB Patch Updates Blog

#our life #xoxo droplets #lake of voices #ask #Our Life Beginnings & Always #ourlifeba #gb patch #gb patch games

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plokoonsdisapprovingeyebrows · 3 years ago

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fuckit im posting some Cybertronian caste system rambles now. copypasted from discord bc im lazy, names redacted except for mine.

THIS IS THE OLD DIAGRAM. IM GONNA SHIFT SOME SHIT AROUND IN THE NEW VERSION LOL

also note: this is historical worldbuilding, i.e. the shit megatron and optimus got rid of. just wanna make that clear xD

catboy orion pax — Today at 6:50 PM

ok so to start with i wanna get rid of the summary words

theyre like loosely applicable in terms of how social organisation went but there's enough variation that it was never a guarantee

like for example, the guard castes that work around the well of all sparks and at the palace of the primes were more like T3 than T6 and sometimes higher

and sometimes different places had different priorities so you might get a scientist in, like. kaon or some shit who's T4 at best

jhgfgdfds — Today at 6:54 PM

Jazz is a chronicler, right?

catboy orion pax — Today at 6:55 PM

yep, he and orion are both in t4

buuuuuuut the chroniclers rank sliiiightly higher

there are internal ranks within the tiers (but it’s less like a ladder of rank than a vaguely-defined cloud of midges jockeying for position tbh)

my headcanon is the chroniclers are the ppl writing down history and life as it happens, and the archivists - their caste name is 'record-keepers' - are the ones maintaining and working with that data

the hall of records also has a guard clade that rank about t4 bc they have to, and a clade of cleaners/maintenance workers who rank about t6 and dont interact with patrons. both of these are ranked higher than they would otherwise, and are pretty well off compared to castes that do similar jobs in, say, the global undercities, but they still get kind of a shit deal in comparison to everyone around them. it’s all relative.

red alert is somewhere in that general T4 data handlers' area too

i made a joke about, if you're using the Grid (the part of the Datanet that isn't a complete dumpster fire), you have like a 1 in 3 chance of red alert being ur own personal FBI agent meme

hgfdgg — Today at 7:08 PM

so is Prowl lower ranked than the rest, at tier 6?

catboy orion pax — Today at 7:09 PM

i think prowl might be admin caste level, tbh

the enforcers are like, the vast majority of them are t6 because that's all they need to be to interact with tiers 6, 7 and 8, who are most of cybertron

there will be t6 officers and then there's be higher-caste officers

probably local command structures vs regional

in rise, prowl is in a regional commander sort of position, trying to run an anti-cartels unit of sorts, and it isnt going well

ultimately they fall under the ministry of justice, which is headed by T1 mecha

tbh the main thrust of this system, as it applies to my fic, is that it has like bureaucratic bloat out the wazoo

there are a lot of castes that just fuckin exist?

they do the same job as some other caste or few but somehow they ended up in separate castes, with the different legal status and restrictions that implies, and the caste system as a whole just shrugged and moved on because fuck dealing with all that shit

absolutely nothing about my cybertronian government is an efficient system lmfao

jhgfjgdf — Today at 7:14 PM

I blame the quints

catboy orion pax — Today at 7:14 PM

[cackles]

tbh it sort of came from the quints but it wasn't ultimately their fault

there was like... the quintessons tried to take over cybertron and add it to their colonial empire three fuckin times

they failed every time but it was a close run thing that wreaked an apocalyptic level of destruction and disruption on cybertron

the ppl who finally beat the quintessons the third time were scared to shit of them coming back for a fourth go, so they did everything they could to turn cybertron into a unified state for the sake of better defense

previously it had been fragmented, kinda like europe in the middle ages? in theory the kings paid homage to the prime and took his thoughts into account but in practice they mostly got left to their own shit

i want to say there were like five large-scale social reorganization tactics that the empire used to try and make a centralised single state but i can only remember three of them rn

1) enshrinement of caste system (didn't have an 'untouchable' equivalent at the time, that came later); 2) creation of a state religion out of the bits of the previous religions that played nicely w each other, and 3) imposition of a global language of government

oh yeah and there's a thing called rank-exempt

cause sometimes the Govt acknowledges that the caste system just makes shit Kinda Annoying so if ur sufficiently useful the ppl ur useful to can apply to have ur restrictions temporarily or permanently lifted so u can be even more useful to them

but ultimately the system is just Bad For Society in a variety of ways and nobody’s been brave enough to admit it, so it stumbles on with a chokehold around the Empire’s figurative neck.

#tfp headcanons #book of hours worldbuilding

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lovelyirony · 4 years ago

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oh my GOD mechanicfam is god tier just may i present an au where tony adopts harley after his mom and sister die in a car crash (post-mandarin) and so tony's the only person harley knows to go to and harley's the thing that makes rhodey and tony get their HEADS out of their ASSES

Harley keeps the business card that was left on the workshop of his house. He kept it in a kitchen drawer that his mom never used, because it full of the “nice” dish towels that were only taken out come Christmastime.

His fingers shake as he grips the phone, punching in the numbers.

“Can I ask who’s calling?”

“It’s...um. Harley. Keener. From Tennessee.”

There’s a shift on the phone, and Harley feels a bit guilty because it is late, but he doesn’t know where else to turn.

“What’s up, kiddo?”

“Um. I need help.”

“With what?”

And that’s when Harley loses it. He can barely enunciate the words, and he’s trying to furiously wipe away tears as he hears a litany of curses over the other line.

“I’m...I’m sorry, I just didn’t know who else to call and I don’t know what to do, and-”

“Kid, don’t you worry. I’ll be there in...two hours. Hell, maybe one if I can break the sound barrier. You have anything to eat yet?”

“Um, no?”

“Okay, then we stop for food when we get home.”

“Home?”

“...we’ll talk when I get there.”

Tony, in all honesty, does not know what he’s doing. God knows he had two stellar examples of parenting from Howard and Maria.

But he knows that a kid like Harley will get torn apart, and he...he can’t let him do that.

“Are you sure about this?” Rhodey asks.

“Yes,” Tony says. “I’m sure. We’ll...I’ll figure it out. I promise.”

“You act like I’m not going to help you,” Rhodey says. “I’ll be here waiting for you when you get back. You have a way of transporting him back?”

“Already ordered a car to the airport, we’ll be taking a plane back home.”

“Bring him back safe.”

“Always.”

Harley collapses into Tony’s arms when he touches down, armor barely off.

“Please,” he sobs. “Please just get me out of here.”

Tony wasn’t going into the situation blind. He had seen the article from their newspaper about the crash.

Harley said he had been riding his bike. Abbie really wanted to get a burger, and he hadn’t wanted to go.

“They would still be here if I had gone,” Harley says bitterly, and Tony’s heart has a pang of hurt because he understands that feeling all too well. But right now, Harley doesn’t need someone to understand everything, he just needs to be cared for.

Tony sits down with him at a kitchen table and doesn’t miss how Harley stares at the two chairs across from them.

“I want to talk with you,” he says quietly. “I want to know what you want to do.”

Harley looks at him.

“I...I wasn’t really expecting you to come.”

“We’re connected,” Tony says, a soft smile on his face. “I always will, whenever you want. Now, I’m just here to help you figure out what you want.”

“...what are the options?”

Tony’s willing to go through hell and back for this kid. He doesn’t tell him this verbatim, but the sentiment is there. He’d be willing to do anything, so long as he could see Harley safe and happy wherever he was.

Harley sits outside for a moment, breathing.

And then he can’t breathe.

Abbie’s looking up at the night sky, smiling.

“It’ll always be like this, right Harls?”

“Right,” Harley says, smiling nice and easy. “I’m not gonna let anything bad happen to us.”

Except he did.

It was all over the news, and everyone knew about it.

He comes back in, and Tony can probably tell that he’s at his absolute worst.

“I can’t stay here. I-I need to leave. Now.”

“Alright, let’s go.”

Driving in the car is a mostly silent affair. Tony hums along to AC/DC and tells Harley about new projects.

Their first rest stop, Tony goes out with Harley, watching him carefully.

“I’m not gonna break,” Harley snaps.

“Not saying you’re gonna.”

“Well I’m not.”

“Okay. Rhodey’s at the house waiting for us when we get there.”

“He on leave?”

Tony nods. “Three months. Lucky.”

“Yeah.”

Not a lot after that.

At some point, Harley dozes off, leaning his head against the door.

Tony sends a message to Rhodey when they’re boarding the plane. Harley’s still a little groggy, and mostly content to just blearily go and find a seat and pass out.

He sleeps the whole flight home, and Tony is left with his thoughts.

Thought One: Maybe he Should’ve Left This Alone.

Thought Two: He needs to answer Pepper’s email regarding the press conferences and publicity things, get that all worked out.

Thought Three: He hopes Rhodey has some sort of food ready.

Rhodey sees Tony and Harley stumbling in, and he’s struck for a moment by just how similarly they carry themselves, how Harley’s eyes dart around like Tony’s did when he first moved into their dorm.

“Hi,” Rhodey says. “You hungry?”

“Um.”

“We’ll sit down anyways,” Tony says. “Planes are the worst, Harley. They zap all your energy no matter how long you sit on your ass.”

Rhodey sends Tony a look that says “you should probably watch your language.”

Tony sends back a look that says “now’s not the time to discuss my behaviors.”

Harley sleeps.

He’s surprised he does, because he wakes up about nine hours later, and he feels like he doesn’t deserve this long of sleep. He gets slammed with the current news of his life all over again, and his lips tremble as he gets out of a bed that he thinks is too nice for him, and stares into a mirror.

“Mr. Keener?”

Harley jumps.

“...is that you, Jarvis?”

“It is indeed, Mr. Keener. An honor to make your acquaintance, Sir has told me so much about you.”

“Please tell me he didn’t tell you about the potato gun.”

“I can neither confirm nor deny.”

Harley grins up at where the voice emanates.

“Your presence is required for breakfast, if that is alright.”

“That’s...that’s fine.”

He’s not hungry, but Rhodey slides him a plate of toast and eggs.

“Try to eat as much as you can,” he says. “Tony can finish off the rest, if he ever comes down from his bed.”

Harley nods, nibbling on the toast.

“You want jam or anything? We have grape, and...only grape. This peach looks questionable.”

Harley snorts.

“I’m good. Thanks, though.”

“No problem.”

They eat in awkward but companionable silence, and finally Harley speaks.

“Tony said you’re on leave for three months.”

“I got lucky,” Rhodey says, grinning. “I get to stay here with you guys for longer than three weeks. A full guarantee, unless of aliens.”

“They’re that much of a concern?” Harley asks, eyebrows raised.

“Only at high levels,” Rhodey says, giving him a lazy wink. “You didn’t hear it from me.”

“If anything, you would hear it from me,” Tony says, wrapped up in a gaudily-patterned robe. “Hello dearest, hello little one.”

“I’m not little,” Harley grumbles.

“You are shorter than me, you are little.”

“For now. Doc said I’m supposed to be over six feet.”

“Hm, we’ll see,” Tony says. “But enough about that. We have to have a little chat.”

Harley’s heart leaps with anxiety. When adults talk about having a chat, or talking, it’s...well. It’s never a walk in the park. Or a jog for that matter, either.

“What about?”

“How we can help you.”

Harley sighs, burrowing deep in his seat.

“We have to talk about this?”

“Yeah, we do.”

Harley gets set up with a therapist who he’s not sure he likes yet, but so far she’s been pretty nice. A bit of a mess, because she comes into their second session late and with iced coffee.

“Oh shit, I should’ve asked you if you wanted something,” Joan says, fretting. “Um, hi Harley. How are we doing?”

“Um, fine? I guess? For someone who’s dealing with a lot of change?”

“Oh, that’s great to hear. Do you mind...?” She breathes for a minute. “There was a really cute girl in the elevator for the dentist office above me, and I had to avoid her so that I wouldn’t talk about things and ruin things, so I took the stairs. Do you mind if I just drink my coffee for a moment?”

“...knock yourself out.”

So they sit there for a few moments, while Joan catches her breath and Harley wonders if he can text her his coffee order later.

“Alright, let’s talk you, Harley.”

Therapy goes well. As well as it can go, honestly.

And Harley? Well, he settles.

And he notices things.

Rhodey is still with them, two months and three weeks in. This is his last week, and Tony is miserable although he won’t say anything.

Harley notices how Tony will automatically move closer to Rhodey, and Rhodey welcomes him into his space as if it’s the most natural thing in the world.

They bicker at each other, but Rhodey slides scrambled eggs onto Tony’s plate as he argues, and Tony leans over and grabs the coffee mug that Rhodey favors.

Apparently, they’re not together.

This leaves Harley very confused.

Tony gets all flustered and in denial when he asks about it.

“Why would...why would he...why would he be with me?” Tony asks, moving around the kitchen. “He has more to life than that. Now come on, get your shopping list together, kiddo. I’m not gonna hear you complain for another week that we didn’t get your pumpkin-carving-coffee-creamer-whatever.”

“It’s pumpkin spice, and you would know that because you pretend like you don’t use it.”

“We’ll get two bottles this time,” Rhodey says, only coming in on the tail-end of the conversation. “Tony, babe, remember to get the provolone slices when we’re there for the deli sandwiches.”

“Got it, honey.”

Harley stares.

They’re so...domestic.

Harley hasn’t seen that often. Certainly didn’t see it with his parents before his dad left, and his mother...she didn’t get to have that with anyone else afterwards. And his sister, oh god-

“Kiddo, you okay?” Rhodey asks. His hand is on Harley’s shoulder, eyes full of concern. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

“Just...just thinking about my mom. And my sister.”

Rhodey brings him into a hug.

Harley breathes in and out for a moment, absorbing the clean smell of Rhodey’s shirt and focusing on the touch.

“Okay. Okay. I’ll be fine. Let’s go, before Tony gets to choose the car and we have to fit fifteen bags into a Maserati.”

“Then we’ll have to leave you at the store,” Rhodey teases. “Let’s see if we can get a rational car.”

Grocery shopping is...it’s nice. It’s one of Harley’s favorite things to do, as boring and uninteresting as that may be.

He mostly just likes watching Tony and Rhodey do it. It’s entertainment, and they’re so practiced together.

Harley isn’t sure if his mom and his sister are still looking on, but he always gets their favorite snacks, just in case. He puts a bag of hot fries and a carton of strawberries into the cart, and then he grins as he finds Tony and Rhodey still arguing over whether or not they should get two bundles of green onions for the Wednesday dinner or not.

“Come on dad,” Harley says, throwing the extra bundle into the cart. “It’ll be good, and we can probably make some sort of soup garnish for the end.”

He moves the cart, and he doesn’t even see how Tony and Rhodey stare after him.

“So obviously, I’m dad,” Tony says. “That’s me.”

“Or is it?” Rhodey asks, faking suspicion. “We don’t know until a full investigation is launched.”

“Oh full investigation my ass,” Tony says. “Come on, before he leaves us in the dust and ends up getting far too many packages of candy.”

“Like you minded, heathen.”

Tony pushes off the grocery cart, and Rhodey has to smile for a moment.

He’s going to miss this. He only has a few days left, and then he’s back and he’s alone, and he’s not alone, but he...

Rhodey always misses Tony. He’s tried to convince himself over the years that it’s just what best friends do, but he doesn’t think that best friends think of each other in the way that he thinks of Tony.

And now there’s Harley.

Harley, who is so much like Tony, and so good. He smiles, and he jokes, and Rhodey now can’t imagine life without him.

He doesn’t want to miss out on a thing, honestly. They’ve already joked about teaching him to drive in New York traffic.

And he wants to come home. He has his own place in New York, honest to god doesn’t know why he pays rent on it since Tony usually has him stay over anyways. He should sub-let or rent it or sell it. That’d be common sense.

Dinner goes well. Both Rhodey and Harley have a good rhythm in the kitchen, even with Harley’s questionable music taste and Rhodey’s inability to follow a recipe.

“People who follow recipes are chumps,” Rhodey says, dumping more garlic powder into the mixture. “Never follow a recipe.”

“We can call your mother and ask about the blueberry crumble incident of 1997,” Tony says innocently. “If you want to rehash how well that advice went for you. I recall a nearly-burned-down-house?”

Rhodey scowls, turning to Harley.

“Don’t listen to a word this man has ever said, he is an unlovable scamp.”

“Oh really?” Harley says. “Seems to suit you just fine, right?”

Rhodey momentarily pauses, and then grins.

“I suppose you’re right.”

All too right.

They eat dinner, and Tony as well as Rhodey make no mention of what’s going to happen come Saturday morning.

At least, until Harley does, because Harley does things like ask questions.

“So. When are you going for your next mission?” Harley asks. “And where?”

“Classified, and seven a.m. bright and early Saturday morning,” Rhodey states. “You gonna get out of bed in time to see me off?”

“Mm, we’ll think about it,” Tony says, biting into the pasta. “The beds are awfully comfy...”

“Aw shut up,” Rhodey whines. “Just for that, I get to choose the movie, and I’m choosing the not-movie. I’m choosing the BBC Pride and Prejudice.”

“You suck,” Tony groans. “If you weren’t a gorgeous man, I would have kicked you out decades earlier.”

“You make us sound ancient.”

“That’s because you two geezers are,” Harley says, taking his dish to the sink. “Come on, I totally dibs on getting the mint candies.”

“Absolutely not, you stole them all last, at least let us portion them out,” Tony says.

“Do we not live as a family? Can we no longer share things?” Harley cries out dramatically, draping his body across the couch. “Am I reduced to nothing but a pretty face?”

“I don’t know where you get your dramatics from,” Rhodey deadpans. “Truly, I don’t.”

Harley pokes his tongue out, and gestures for them to come over.

“We can wash dishes later, we need to see if Mr. Darcy comes back,” Harley says.

“You know he does,” Tony says, looking over at Rhodey. “He always will.”

It means...something. They’re not sure what, and they’re not going to ask each other while Harley is busy commandeering the couch and wiggling his way into getting the best blanket.

Tony on one side, Rhodey on the other, although the latter is busy popping popcorn and thinking.

He doesn’t even really want to go. He signed up for this tour, and he wasn’t honestly thinking it was going to be his last, but with Harley now, and with how life is going...would it be a bad thing?

Tony’s always wanted him to do at least consulting work for SI, and he could semi-retire comfortably...

“Honey-darling!” Tony calls, “the ETA on popcorn? I’m getting desperate!”

Harley sends Tony a sneaky look, and looks back towards the movie.

“You should remind Rhodey to get chocolate chips,” Harley says. “You know he likes them.”

“Of course I know that, how do you know that?”

“You usually get the popcorn,” Harley says with a shrug. “I know what you know about him. And you know a lot, don’t you?”

“I...I suppose,” Tony says, getting up.

Harley settles into his spot on the couch.

Tony comes up to Rhodey.

“Remember your chocolate chips,” Tony says.

Rhodey looks surprised.

“I thought you hated how sticky they got your hands.”

“That’s what napkins were invented for,” he says with a laugh. “I’ve been dealing with your chocolate chips for years, haven’t I?”

“I guess,” Rhodey says. “Just like I’ve been dealing with the fact that you pretend like you don’t like it, but you steal all of it.”

“Lies and slander, dearest,” Tony says, and Rhodey grins smoothly.

“Get back to the kid, sweetheart. I’ll be there when all of this is done.”

And it sounds so goddamned domestic. As if it’s real, as if they’ve been doing this song and dance for years. And they have, but it’s never been...

It’s never been real. Sure, they’ve waited on each other when Rhodey leaves or Tony travels, and they fall in together in a nice and easy rhythm.

But Tony...he’s a Stark. He needs a good reputation, and while most wouldn’t say his reputation is exactly good, there’s a lot that the public can forgive. Rhodey is not part of that.

Tony thinks that Rhodey deserves someone better. He knows it, knows it in the way that Rhodey smiles and it’s the best damned thing he’s ever seen, knows it in the way how his eyes track people who need help the most.

Harley knows virtually none of this. The only thing he knows is that his guardians are the stupidest people on the planet, and now he has a side project besides school and by god it’ll be fun.

But first, Rhodey is being sent off. Tony’s hands are wandering all over the place, as Harley’s noticed they do when he’s nervous. His do the same. Tony is talking about everything and joking about changes, and Rhodey smiles and nods and they both know what is going to happen.

Harley, for his part, mostly just tries not to doze off because it’s too early for any of this but also he wants to remember this.

Rhodey will be gone for one month and three weeks. According to Tony, this isn’t the longest he’s ever been away, but usually he’s not gone for this long. The older he gets, the shorter the missions or projects get. But they need his expertise with rookies.

Tony, for his part, has packed about three extra bags for Rhodey under the guise of them being “goodie bags” or the army to peruse after Rhodey.

“I won’t need all of these fancy pieces,” Rhodey says, rolling his eyes. “I’m not even leaving the US this time, cupcake.”

“You saying you can’t be in danger when you’re here?” Tony asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Take the stuff dad,” Harley says exasperated.

“Ha!” Rhodey teases. “So I’m dad!”

“You both are,” Harley says. “You’re both dad.”

They grin at each other, at least until Tony furrows his brow.

“Then how will we know which one you’re talking to?”

“I’ll come up with a different name then,” Harley says. “I don’t know. Let’s not talk about this while you’re supposed to be boarding a jet.”

Rhodey shrugs, leaning in for a hug from Harley, and facing Tony. There’s something in his eyes.

“Stay safe,” Tony says. “Promise me that.”

“I don’t make promises,” Rhodey says, a smile playing at his lips.

“For anyone else,” Tony finishes, grinning. He brings him into a hug, probably holding on for a touch longer than necessary. But he’s leaving, so you can’t fault him for it.

Harley is smiling to himself as Rhodey whispers something in Tony’s ear, which causes him to widen his eyes in delight.

“Seriously? You’re serious.”

“As a heart attack.”

Tony cheers for a moment, before they hear a shout across the tarmac. Rhodey gives a lazy salute.

“Until one month and three weeks.”

“Until then, nerd,” Harley shouts.

Tony blows a kiss, and Rhodey “catches” it and puts it in his pocket.

Harley sends Tony a look as they’re driving home.

“So. What did Rhodey whisper in your ear?”

“He’s going to move in,” Tony says, grinning.

“He doesn’t actually live at our home?” Harley asks, absolutely flabbergasted. “There’s no fucking way-”

“Language!”

“You said ‘shit’ during breakfast, if anything this is just leveling the playing field-”

“Don’t care, you’re a small child. What would the public say if they knew I was teaching my boy curse words?” Tony says dramatically.

“They’d probably not be surprised,” Harley answers. “Didn’t you tell the paparazzi to ‘get fucked’ when they ambushed our dinner last month?”

“Not the point.”

“Or is it?”

“You’re detracting from the fact that you get to help me get rid of all of Rhodey’s ugly furniture in his apartment.”

“Seriously?” Harley whines. “No, I’m...doing something.”

“Doing what? Eating hot fries on my couch and getting it stained with spicy cheese dust?”

“...no.”

“Hm, thought so. You’re coming with me.”

Rhodey isn’t expecting to miss home as fiercely as he does this time around. He’s irritable, but he finds comfort in talking with some of the other members of the crew about kids.

“Didn’t know you had a kid,” Hicks mentions. “When did that happen?”

“About six months ago,” Rhodey answers. “Kid needed a guardian, Tony stepped up to the plate. He’s a real neat kid, really a genius. Just like Tony, in that way.”

“You live with Tony, finally?” Thompson asks. “Or do you still have that dinky bachelor pad?”

“I’m selling it,” Rhodey said. “I told Tony I’d help out with Harley, and that’s what I’m doing. Figure since I’m always over there anyways, might as well move in.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t move in sooner, what with you and Stark anyways,” Thompson remarks.

“What do you mean?” Rhodey asks.

“You’re...not together?”

Rhodey looks away, a bit sheepish.

“Uh...no. We’re not.”

“But you wanna be,” Owens teases from her corner, eating her sandwich. “You stupid lover-boy.”

“Aw shut up,” Rhodey fires back. “As if you aren’t all over your husband when you get back.”

“But I, my dear old man, am married,” Owens says. “Put a ring on it! God knows you should’ve, like, eight years ago. Have you even asked him on a date?”

“He has other options, and a life outside of me,” Rhodey says.

“Bullshit,” the team crows, laughing. Rhodey just shakes his head, and bites into his sandwich.

He misses them.

Harley and Tony miss him equally as much. Tony is down in the dumps, sulking in his lab while Harley attempts to rebuild a projectile weapon.

“Do you have a permit for that?”

“Do I need one?” Harley asks. “I’m not gonna take it anywhere, except maybe when I’m in trouble.”

“When will you be in trouble?”

“...you’ll know.”

“Please tell me you’re not going to be on national news.”

“Just on regional, don’t worry.”

Tony sighs.

“Rhodey is going to want to witness that, so can you wait?”

“...potentially.”

Rhodey gets letters from the two of them. He thinks it’s Harley’s idea: after all, Tony would simply just hijack the internet feed and yell at people until Rhodey was called for.

He gets two pages from Tony with his elegant writing, the writing that almost never comes out because he remembers that Tony was taught how to write in blocky, all-caps letters that he was fond of now.

Harley writes in chicken-scratch that is barely legible, although he mentions that he’s been learning about lettering from Tony.

Tony misses you a lot, by the way, Harley writes, he’s been playing all of your favorite songs, and I didn’t know that you liked Three Dog Night. Interesting.

It’s not surprising that Tony knows and plays his music, not really. But Rhodey is still pleasantly surprised that even when he isn’t physically present, Tony keeps a piece of him around.

Similarly, Tony writes about Harley.

The kid misses you, honey. He’s been compiling a list of things he wants to do when you get back. You’re better at hugging him, by the way. Today (well, Wednesday for you) we had a good cry session. Wish you were there, but we made do with what we had. Why did you take your sweatshirt, by the way? Stupid man, now I can’t wear it and drape myself across couches like a scorned widow. Honestly...

Rhodey comes back on a Tuesday morning. Harley’s allowed to miss school for it, which he’s very happy about.

“That doesn’t mean you get to sleep in,” Tony says. “We’re picking him up at eight.”

“Why must I be punished for all time,” Harley moans. “Eight? Seriously? Doesn’t the army know that noon exists?”

“They made up the early rule because of me,” Tony jokes. “But I promise that Rhodey will most likely want an actual breakfast, which means we get diner breakfast.”

“Yes!” Harley says, pumping his fist. “Waking up early just became worth it.”

“Yeah sure, just look at the emails your teachers sent you about missing homework and be sure to text Peter and Ned about the classes you missed,” Tony says.

Harley nods, walking out of the kitchen before pausing and turning back.

“You should wear that Black Sabbath shirt that Rhodey likes tomorrow,” he says. “It’ll be nice for him to see.”

Tony raises an eyebrow.

“And since when did you know what Rhodey likes to see?”

“Since I was born with vision,” Harley deadpans. “He always picks that shirt out for you when you come back after a business meeting overseas.”

Waking up at eight a.m. is worth it for a hug from Rhodey. Honest to god, that man gives the best hugs Harley’s ever had, short of Abbie and mom.

Tony is asking a million questions a minute, and then telling Rhodey about the results of the apartment. A Stark Industries employee is renting it, and Tony managed to save some of the mugs, and chastised Rhodey for stealing a colander, apparently.

“It was our good one! Why did you leave it in your apartment?”

“I thought I stored it where we put the pans!” Rhodey defended. “How was I supposed to know that it was at that apartment?”

“Quit arguing and start moving,” Harley says. “We have breakfast to get to.”

“Our boy is growing,” Tony says, sighing. “Soon he’ll eat us out of house and home.”

“We live in a gigantic tower in New York, I think you’re gonna be fine,” Rhodey says. “Although let’s get on it before there’s too much of a wait.”

“It’s a Tuesday, darling,” Tony says. “No wait. And they know us.”

Harley enjoys witnessing breakfast. Basically because Tony and Rhodey fall into their respective rhythms as if no one had ever left. Rhodey is fighting about the hash browns, and Tony is reaching all the way across the table for the hot sauce.

Harley has honestly and truly missed them all together like this.

Even if Rhodey nabs a sausage from his plate.

“I’m the growing teen here!” Harley says, gesturing with his fork. “Why steal from your poor, innocent charge? Was it not enough to leave for a month and three weeks?”

“And three weeks! Honestly honey,” Tony says, distracting Harley enough to steal the other sausage off of his plate. “You should’ve been here sooner, we could’ve eaten more of these!”

“You both are criminals,” Harley says. “Criminals who I have to live with. This is unforgivable. I’ll waste away into nothing...”

Rhodey laughs, and he catches Tony’s eyes.

Yeah. It’s good to be back.

Living with Tony and Harley isn’t really an adjustment at all. Rhodey had barely used his apartment before, and now is no different. He just gets to decorate his room a little bit more, and contribute more to groceries.

He’s also around for more of Harley which is...interesting.

The kid knows something, that’s for sure.

He is also sneakily good at making sure that Tony and Rhodey get alone time, whether that be last-minute-ditching plans with Pepper or “forgetting” that he was supposed to be going to Ned’s for a video-game championship. (Harley was good at lying, but Tony and Rhodey have had years of practice.)

Rhodey has a sneaking suspicion that he knows why.

Harley isn’t a stupid boy, not by a long shot.

He’s caught on to Rhodey’s stares, the way that Tony and Rhodey have something, but neither really want to acknowledge.

To acknowledge means to know, and knowing is something that is far more terrifying than most people give it credit.

Harley eventually has help.

After all, he and Pepper didn’t just go their separate ways when he ditched his guardians to give them quality dates, and he didn’t just talk about video game strategy with Peter, Ned, and MJ.

He was planning. Figured it would fit with a life plan, honestly.

Pepper is quite potentially even more tired than he is, and has agreed to help set up a nice date.

She’s made deals she never expected to.

She owes the god of mischief a bottle of wine. It’s ridiculous.

Peter and Ned have been elected with getting the “aesthetic” right, and MJ has been “helpfully” suggesting where lights go.

“MJ, if I move them any more left they’ll fall off the building and become a hazard,” Harley grunts.

“Exactly. Nothing says romance like dangerous situations,” she says with a shrug. “But put them in the tree, and we can link the extension cord behind. It’ll look nice. All Pinterest-y and shit.”

“Why can’t you help and then joke?”

“I never joke. You just always like my second plan better.”

“I don’t know whether to be terrified or alarmed!” Peter calls from his spot of building the cheese-board.

“They’re synonyms,” MJ says. “When are we going home, by the way?”

“As soon as Rhodey finishes up with his afternoon run, and Tony realizes that dinner is still a social concept,” Harley says.

“Time, then?”

“...five-thirty.”

“Perfect.”

“I’ll call my mom about the pizza,” Ned says. “We still thinking one pepperoni and one veggie?”

“Sounds great,” Peter says. “What movie are we watching tonight?”

“Twitter polls said Clueless over the Leonardo DiCaprio version of Romeo and Juliet. Sorry Ned, looks like your choice will be next week.”

“My heart hurts, but it understands,” Ned says sagely, placing a hand over his heart. “I will see Mercutio soon enough.”

Tony was not aware that their rooftop had lights. He doesn’t remember putting them there.

He was also pretty sure that Harley had a question about the flight patterns of birds in relation to GPS technology in drones, and it was weird that it was outside, but-

There’s a cheese-board. And now he gets why Pepper made him change shirts. He knew that his shirt wasn’t ugly!

Rhodey is standing across the way, looking at the dinner set-up and the tealights flickering gently from their placement.

“Is this...did you do this, Tony?”

“I don’t have this much of a creative eye,” Tony says, eyeing the intimate table placement. “Maybe Pepper?”

“She doesn’t do lights...”

“Harley,” they both say in unison, laughing.

There’s a note at the table, written in the same near-illegible handwriting:

Either get together or I get to make a Twitter thread. Your call.

Tony snorts as he looks at the placement of everything.

“Well...it’d be a shame for it to go to waste.”

“Is that you saying you’re flattered, but no thanks?” Rhodey asks.

“No,” Tony says, looking at Rhodey. “It’s not that at all, if you-”

“You mean-?”

“What? Is this what’s happening?” Tony asks. His breathing speeds up. He’s quite embarrassed that he can feel his cheeks turn red. He thought he got rid of blushing in ‘96.

“I...damn it, Tony. I love you!”

Tony stares. He just stares, and for a moment it doesn’t process, until it does. He flings himself into Rhodey’s arms, and laughs.

“Holy shit, that’s a relief.”

Rhodey spins him around, taking a brief moment to kiss him gently on the cheek.

“Oh, you owe me more than that, soldier.”

“I think I’m a little bit higher ranked than that.”

“Oh, and what would that be?”

“Boyfriend, for one.”

Tony rolls his eyes.

“We’re, like, a minute into this and you’re already the cheesy one.”

“Well one of us has to be, and I’m going to beat you to the punch.”

Harley gets one text at four in the morning from Rhodey:

no twitter thread for us. and you need to figure out what to call tony because i’m claiming “dad.”

Harley cackles, grinning.

got it, he’ll be pops then.

Tony texts Harley a minute later.

if you call me ‘pops’ there will be a mutiny! a mutiny!!

Harley laughs again, tapping a message back.

wotever.

Tony doesn’t respond, choosing instead to roll back over and sling an arm around his significant other. It’s too early to be nitpicking your kid’s grammar.

#lovelyirony writes #tony stark #harley keener #ironhusbands #rhodey #war machine #iron man #harley #pepper potts #mj watson #ned leeds #peter parker #anyways!!! yeah #death tw #tony and rhodye are STUPID. STUPID STUPID STUPID.#luckily harley has decided it's going to be his side proejct to get his two guardians together

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razieltwelve · 3 years ago

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Real Girl (Final Rose)

Real Girl is the Semblance of Penny Polendina. It is considered an EX Tier Semblance, and it can be thought of as combining aspects of the Semblances of Hope Estheim and Oerba Dia Vanille. In particular, it combines an immunity to external influence with reality manipulation, albeit in a fairly unconventional way.

In simple terms, Real Girl enforces Penny’s self-image on herself to the point that it can deny or rewrite reality as it pertains to Penny. Its name comes from the fact that she first awakened it when fighting Averia during the Vytal Festival. During that fight, she finally came to think of herself as a ‘real girl’, and in doing so awakened her Semblance for the first time.

So what does this actually mean?

One of the most fundamental parts of Penny’s self-image is the idea that she was created to protect and defend others and that she is the culmination of Remnant’s greatest minds to create the ultimate weapon. When activated, Real Girl allows her to basically ignore most forms of damage because she believes she should be able to. Likewise, Real Girl allows her weapons to ignore most forms of defences and do far more damage than normal because that’s how she sees herself - as someone whose weaponry and defences are without equal. In other words, her self-image as the ultimate weapon is so strong that it becomes reality.

As Penny continues to master her Semblance, this ability grows increasingly powerful. For example, at full mastery, completely destroying Penny would not actually kill her. Penny’s Semblance would restore her because she simply cannot imagine a universe where the combined efforts of her creators, the most gifted minds in Remnant’s history, are not enough to guarantee victory. Likewise, attempting to ambush her or evade her sensors becomes basically impossible because she believes that her sensors are the best in existence and should be able to detect any ambush and overcome any stealth protocols.

This Semblance can also be used out of combat to do other things. For instance, having studied as much as possible in how to care for a human or Faunus infant, she will find herself capable of providing incredibly good child care if she integrates that idea into her self-image.

When Penny’s Semblance is active, the only effective ways to do damage her are to use a Semblance of a sufficiently high tier to puncture through the defences (e.g., Pyrrha’s Semblance is sufficiently high tier that it cannot be completely negated), or to use a Semblance that can warp reality on a larger scale (e.g., Lucky Fox or Saviour). Penny’s Semblance can basically just ignore the effects of all lesser Semblances and all conventional weaponry, so dropping a nuke on her accomplishes precisely nothing. In fact, you could drop a hundred nukes, and her Semblance wouldn’t give a damn because her self-image as an invincible weapon is that strong.

The downside to Penny’s Semblance is that it is extremely Aura intensive to use. Even with her gigantic reserves, it’s not something she can just spam continuously. She will instead typically use it as strategic moments in a fight to weather her opponent’s strongest attack or to ensure that one of her attacks connects and does damage (after all, she views her weaponry as peerless, capable of damaging anything and never missing).

At a sufficiently high level, it can actually transform Penny herself... turning her into a real girl, at least temporarily.

X X X

Author’s Notes

This is Penny’s Semblance. For someone who has struggled with self-image for most of her existence, it’s only fitting that she get a Semblance that takes advantage of the strength of her self-image once she finally realises that she is a real girl. Much of what is known about Penny’s Semblance comes from Saviour since Penny deployed it against Averia. Averia won, but she was forced to activate Saviour to deal with it, which speaks volumes of how powerful Real Girl is. Precisely two people in that tournament required Averia to activate her Semblance: Pyrrha (who she beat in the finals) and Penny (who she met in the semi-finals). She beat everyone else without using her Semblance. Instead, she used was able to win using her own skill and Aura techniques.

If you’re interested in my thoughts on writing and other topics, you can find those here.

I also write original fiction, which you can find on Amazon here or on Audible here.

#final rose #final codex #fanfiction #penny polendina

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starshavegoneastray · 3 years ago

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For Glory

Gladiator AU // b.c.

CW // blood, excessive bleading, death/dying, impaling, open wounds, violence, weapons, death as entertainment, animal skins

2,132 Words

SEVEN foot tall, menacing grin, and a sword underneath a strong grip.

THE battle was expected to be another bloodbath, at least that’s what Felix had in mind. Hyunjin eyed the excited younger boy sitting next to him on the cubiculum seats, a knuckle against his cheek. He couldn’t make sense as to why Felix would be this thrilled for one more gladiator fight that would guarantee an obvious result. Even before the match began, Hyunjin had already considered dozing off and waking up with The Secutor — the gigantic seven-foot-tall fighter in rustic chainmail and slightly oxidized bronze helmet — as the winner of today’s unethical battle.

“Don’t sleep on me this time too,” Felix chirped in the midst of the noisy crowd filling up the arena. “I want you to actually watch this one.”

Watch? Another absolute win? Hyunjin lifted his head, heaving slowly as he did so. “You’re bringing a mere human into his death.” Hyunjin spoke bluntly, confidence tainted his voice so, and was sure of the outcome anyhow it might go. “Let me ask, why are you so persistent that this person you managed to bribe over 100 silvers could even match The Secutor?”

Felix stayed silent; his lips pursed tight as he turned to look at the arena down below. “Bang Chan isn’t just some person.” There was an emphasis on the first two words, it rubbed Hyunjin in a way he didn’t like too much, yet he kept calm and let his royal friend have faith on this Bang Chan.

Hyunjin rolled his eyes, crossing his arms underneath the velvet cape that blanketed his left shoulder. “If this person was indeed more capable than that of mere soldiers, how come I’ve never heard of him?”

Felix’s reply was a simple shrug, before facing towards the silver-locked Hyunjin with a confident smirk. His golden flower circlet tilted to the side as he did so before the horns blew an entrance for the challenger.

ONE-EYED, an outcast, and an unregistered regalia sheathed behind his back.

THIS person came in like an ant in the eyes of the viewers on their seats. His hair was a bloody mess, but still allowed the scar over his left eye to see the guests that flooded the arena. A dark leather garment wrapped underneath a layer of wolf’s fur hanging on one side of his shoulder. He appeared to be an experienced fighter from the marks that color his bare arm. And amongst the roaring crowd and threatening gaze of The Secutor before him, Bang Chan seemed very relaxed.

“Interesting fashion.” Commented Hyunjin, as he took a peek at Felix’s hopeful expression before exhaling silently under his breath, almost scoffing at how easy for this mere human flesh and bones to get squashed by an average warrior that towers almost twice his own size.

Bang Chan started to move closer towards the giant. Striding two, and then three, and then four steps ever so casually, stopping just as The Secutor swung the tip of his weapon to warn the little man. Crowds began to cheer and shout, some mocking their way over to the new challenger’s way. Almost half of them made fun of how this match seemed unfair to begin with, and wouldn’t bet their precious silver and gold on something unsatisfying.

“Go home!” someone from Hyunjin’s far left, perhaps, shouted in the midst of the hectic viewers. While a group on the other side of the stadium began to choir an incoherent boo chorus, which almost received Hyunjin’s small chuckles.

But despite the never-ending protests of the guests, it didn’t stop the two men in their white tunics seated on the lowest tier of the referee’s chair to blow their horns, signaling the start of the futile battle this summer.

The Secutor strides along the outskirts of the field, keeping a hunting gaze under that rusty helmet at the daring young man. His frown deepened as Bang Chan did the same, only this time his right arm reached up before clutching onto a leather-bound handle of his sword then pulling it out in one swift move.

A clean blade, one that slightly curved at the tip with a sharp point kissing the sandy grounds. The golden square guard on its hilt was engraved with various shapes that all seemed familiar for Hyunjin, though witnessed from afar. Dark leather grip hidden underneath Chan’s hold, and an emerald pommel crested just below his fist. At a glance, anyone could mistake it for a common blade of another kingdom, but Hyunjin had suspected something else. It was no ordinary blade, at least these items couldn’t possibly be owned by any ordinary people.

There was no fear in any of Chan’s movements, not even when he began stepping forth again, dragging a thin line across the floor before The Secutor lunged a bigger step towards him. A humongous dagger on The Secutor’s hand looked more like a sword in everyone’s eyes. Chan leaped back, dodging another danger zone as the gigantic enemy roared forward, swinging his sword right where Chan’s nose would cut through, but the latter ducked and tackled the large blade with his.

The Secutor quickly belted his sword the opposite direction, Chan swung as well, their two metals clashed as another attack failed to scratch the younger man. But Chan was too focused on the blade to dodge a sudden kick to his stomach, sending him off and crashing the wall like a gust of wind.

The crowds began to cheer again, Hyunjin leaned back onto his chair, raising an eyebrow.

It didn’t take long for Chan to get back on his feet, knuckles turning white as his grip tightened around his regalia. Not once has his facial expression changed, not even when the giant pulled a spear from a broken crate next to him; probably the result of yesterday’s fight. Chan tried to approach again, but returned to his previous spot when The Secutor aimed the spear at his feet then rushed at full speed. He was trying to corner Chan.

The Secutor stepped forth, Chan stepped back. Their blades struck over and over to tire him out, enough for the bigger enemy to graze his dagger on Chan’s left shoulder. Throwing the furry coat he had in the process. The Secutor kept swinging his blade left then right, Chan seemed to follow. But not for long until the giant carved another graze on his right thigh.

“He’s going to die.” The statement sounded casual coming from Hyunjin’s lips, as if it were to provoke Felix’s poor choice on selecting a champion. The method seemed to work as the young prince began to scrutinize the arena, gripping hard at the stone wall until the tips of his fingers turned red and his face wrinkled with determination. Yet, Felix stayed silent.

Hyunjin averted his gaze from The Secutor towards the messy Chan. His bicep and knee trickled with blood, a bruise to his cheek just under his grey eye, and a tight hold wrapping the leather grip of his stupid regalia. It wouldn’t be long before the winner’s announcement, Hyunjin was convinced, training his eyes back towards the giant gladiator as he brought his blood-painted sword closer to the small Bang Chan. The second Hyunjin blinked, suddenly The Secutor stumbled backwards.

Dirt covered Chan’s palm and a cloud of dust hung midair just in between him and The Secutor, whose cuss and grunts echoed loudly whilst trying to remove something from his sight. Chan sheathed the sword on his back and went for the spear that once attacked him a few minutes ago, running towards the giant then slashed the length of the giant’s arms using the sharp tip. The Secutor started bleeding too now, his eyes red from the dirt Chan threw mixed with outrage, as he ran with the sword above his head. Chan casually ran his left palm on the ground, gathering another handful of dirt before speeding forward, stepping onto a wooden crate, jumped and bombed another cloud of brown sand and blood on The Secutor’s face. Instinctively, he shielded himself, but the defense bought Chan enough time to whack his spear upwards. Another scar now painting the opponent's forearm and chin up to his lower lip.

Chan jabbed forward, The Secutor moved backward. The humongous dagger flung side to side, eventually snapping the wooden spear off its tip. But Chan held onto the weapon, his left bloody arm reached back for his regalia and pursued the opposing corner.

When the regalia struck, it hit the giant’s sword, and Chan was sent flying backwards, centered on the field. Suddenly, a shadow casted upon him, and The Secutor was above ground, landing right where Chan stood with a thud and dirt flying around his feet.

Hyunjin didn’t realize he’d been holding his breath all this time. He didn’t expect the spear would backfire on The Secutor, nor scratch him to begin with; count Bang Chan’s dirt play. The suspense dropped a weight down his stomach when the giant warrior didn’t move. Had he killed Bang Chan, he would have stood tall and revealed the man in broken bones and shredded skin, thus claiming victory.

A crowd down below the lower tiers choired a gasp, pointing their fingers at the thinning sandy ashes. And as the dusty powder subsided, Hyunjin couldn’t believe what he’s witnessing.

Bang Chan was on the ground, holding the wooden spear on leverage where its broken end punctured The Secutor right on the gut. The gigantic dagger barely missed, leaving only a small cut on the little man’s right temple. The bigger man staggered, the wood still caught on his stomach and blood seeping out of his rusty chainmail. Eventually, he fell onto his knee, holding onto the wood in an attempt to pull it out of his gut. But a series of quick steps followed by Chan’s grip at the end of the wooden stick took him by surprise.

A mischievous grin tugged at Chan’s lips, before he forced the wood deeper into The Secutor’s abdomen. The sharp end pierced into his stomach, he started coughing blood. Any deeper and his eyes would start popping out of their sockets crying red tears. So, Chan twisted as he pushed, The Secutor hollered in pain when the wood was halfway in, and ruptured through his spine.

At this point the crowd had gone ballistic and chaotic, and the referees should have stopped the match as one fighter had been severely injured. But no horns were blown and the viewers demanded an encore.

Bang Chan quietly took in the noises that filled the arena. People who once spat his name, telling him to go home; they were praising him now, jumping and cheering out loud, glorifying the way he took down the giant like it was the work of an incredible sorcery.

A mere human, perhaps a divine outcast from a far land, foreign to the ways of an average gladiator, took down a warrior almost double his size. The Secutor had been known as a massive killer with no mercy in the battlegrounds. But that day marked the end of his decade-long title, as Chan raised the regalia over his head, striking a curved blow from above across The Secutor’s esophagus, an area free from a helmet’s protection.

He gurgled, coughed, then choked as he bled uncontrollably from his throat. Red liquid gushed rapidly, staining the area where it pooled beneath the giant until he eventually fell to his demise on a puddle of pitiless crimson fluid.

Victory had never reeked like iron as much; this stench only came from someone who scavenged for more than just winning, or a golden flower crown on the head.

The horns blew aloud, the crowd hailed victory songs, waving their tunics, throwing their wreaths and flower petals his way. Pay little attention to the dead man in the middle of the yellow field, instead triumphing over this stranger’s unbelievable achievement.

Glory.

Felix dropped to his seat with the loudest sigh he could give, before jumping back up punching the air. “Yes! What I tell you!” But it all blurred away from Hyunjin’s attention span as he leaned forward the stone wall, lips pursed and brows knitting together with only one thought in his mind.

As if he could hear them, Chan turned to face the cubiculum seats above, eyes meeting with Hyunjin’s astonished ones. A healing scar sitting across his greying orb, the other one a bright haunting shade of blue that sent shivers down Hyunjin’s spine. Hyunjin chuckled, and if his eyes weren’t deceiving him, Chan’s bloodied lip tucked sideways on a smirk before walking away with the sheathed sword behind his broad back.

“Who are you, Bang Chan?”

#stray kids #skz bang chan #lee know #seo changbin #hwang hyunjin #han jisung #lee felix #kim seungmin #yang jeongin #stray kids fanfic #stray kids imagines #imagines #i need sleeeeeeeeep

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therappundit · 4 years ago

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Top 10 Rappers of 2020

The finish line of this long, surreal year is finally upon us...which means that it’s time for me to throw down the gauntlet in the ‘Best of 2020’ frivolous list race! 🙌

*Just to be clear*: this is a list of MCs who I believe turned in the best overall performances in 2020. ***This is NOT a list of the my top 10 favorite MCs***, or even who I believe to be the best MCs in the world at the moment...these are simply dope artists that put forth the strongest, most consistently interesting and important (to the genre) high-quality work in the perilous year that was 2020.

If you think your favorite MC was slighted....well, Michael Jordan is the greatest to ever play the game of basketball but even he didn’t win MVP every year, right? I encourage you to write your own list - it’s a cool way to dap artists that are too often overlooked by industry websites, and share the music you enjoy with others that may not have given the record a spin otherwise.

Even if 2020 didn’t bring you the “instant classic” you had been hoping for, I think it’s hard to deny that this year really had impressive depth when it came to showcasing some of the most diverse music that the genre has to offer. I can’t speak for music in general - sadly I’m just The Rap Pundit, not The Music Pundit - but I can say that it has been an impossible task to keep a playlist less than 500 songs deep at a time, because for every truly great release in 2020 there seemed to be 30 very good releases. 👌

So how did I come about these 10 MCs (and Honorable Mentions)? Before you get huffy about who I snubbed (and that is pointed directly at my jury of older head peers that consider themselves tastemakers, but also haven’t opened their minds up to any new takes on rap styles since the year 2000)...here are the five chief pieces of criteria that I put into finalizing my list:

- quality (whatever lane you’re in, how often did you ‘own it’?)

- quantity (at least 10 very good-to-great songs released, and 3-4 verses that stand out as a ‘must-hear’ for any rap music fan)

- consistency (not just 4-5 great features and a few forgettable solo tracks, will I want to keep at least 7 or 8 of your own new songs released in 2020 in my rotation for 2021?)

- impact (are you so vital to the type of rap music you make that if you stopped rapping tomorrow, there’s no one else in the game that could fill that void?)

- “it” factor (are you carried by a co-sign or an elite production team, or did you bring a style/talent to the table that could carry a record in and of itself?)

Got it? Then here we go...

1. Conway the Machine

I hope 2020 was the type of year that Conway the Machine had been hoping for since he first began his journey with rap music. After years of scraping and hustling towards music industry recognition (and not just cult figure status), at year’s end we see Griselda’s top Lieutenant holding down a rare balancing act: champion of underground hip-hop, and most requested feature by any mainstream rap star looking to add some tough-talking muscle to their album.

While much of Conway’s content has always been driven by surviving an attempt on his life in 2012, much like 50 Cent, Conway’s way with words and perspective manage to elevate the quality of his material to a higher tier than most. And where - at least in his heyday - 50 Cent benefited from an indestructible super-villain persona, Conway’s success can be greatly attributed to a larger-than-life heart. With every braggadocious act of gunplay, there are moments of gratefulness to still being alive to share success with his brethren, as well as a painful longing to be with close allies that are no longer with him (at least not in the physical form).

Above all else, in 2020 Conway the Machine did what he has always done throughout his career: delivered well written, passionate bars about coming up in an impossibly challenging environment and coping with loss...only now his craftsmanship and understanding of how to channel all of those feelings into a more polished final product have yielded the most well-rounded solo project of his career in From King to a God. Progress is a slow process, but the long and winding road has finally taken Conway a step closer to that G.O.A.T. status he will hopefully continue to reach for...

Best Evidence: FKTG, and a countless number of scene-stealing verses alongside rap acts ranging from deep underground to household names

2. Freddie Gibbs

I don't use the word "sauce" all too often (this may actually be the first time), but if there was any MC guaranteed to bring sauce to any rap record right now, it's Freddie Gibbs.

Forever existing somewhere between gritty gangsta and syrupy old soul, the flavor that Freddie brings to every verse is malleable enough to work on virtually any type of record, which was certainly proven in 2020. Anyone foresee a Gibbs & Alchemist Grammy nomination heading into 2020? It’s a testament to how high quality work, through consistent reliability and dues paid, can elevate a project from underground niche following to critical acclaim. While his work with Alchemist may not reach the lofty levels of his heralded collaborations with Madlib, Alfredo represents the best that “quarantine music” can offer...two talented friends saying one day, “hey we should finally drop a full tape together, why not?” - and then BOOM, it happens.

Too many fail to remember that Gibbs already has a long accomplished body of work behind him...so the fact that he may just be entering his prime now, is scary.

Best Evidence: Alfredo, Machinedrum’s “Kane Train”

3. Boldy James

Comeback MC of the year, and no it is not close (but big shout-out to Grafh, another dope MC who had an amazing year).

I'm old enough to remember when folks like Roc Marciano and Ka were seen as sleepy, monotone rappers with little hope of reaching permanent rap icon status (flash-forward to today, and they are widely consider geniuses). For some, the quieter, less hook-dependent approach to making rap songs, was....well, not great rap music. They were wrong then and they’re wrong now, but similar to how the coolest, smartest cat in the room is rarely the loudest, it can take some time and patience before everyone learns what’s what. Time is what is required to appreciate Detroit’s Boldy James, a veteran that has been through it - both in terms of the ups and downs of the music business, as well as the streets through which he draws his stories and inspiration.

Boldy makes it seem all too easy, rapping his verses with the cool, casual tone of telling old stories to a close friend over drinks. Dropping multiple projects (with one still to come) in one year can often lead to over-saturation. Even the most dedicated fans/stans can begin to feel less enthusiastic about new releases when they have already received a healthy portion of more of the same...but most rap fans are not necessarily Boldy James fans. Boldy fans (much like Roc Marciano and Ka fans) are already aware that knowing what type of material to expect from your favorite MC can be a blessing if that MC takes pride in the execution of the final product, rather than the noise leading up to it.

The beauty of his collaboration with The Alchemist (big year for that guy, huh?), The Price of Tea in China, is that it celebrates the more subtle nuances of boom-bap, proving that great MC and producer chemistry can trump the “shock & awe” of more uptempo rap music. The shock in Boldy James’ lyrics sits within the detailed descriptions of the cold world he grew up in...so monotone or not, how can any music could be more gripping than that?

Best Evidence: TPOTIC, Manger On McNichols, a long list of consistently perfect feature verses

4. 42 Dugg

I would say this is more of a longterm investment rather than the celebration of a rapper already within rap’s inner circle, but 42 Dugg didn’t just steal the show on every feature this year, he also displayed maturity in his ability to craft well-rounded, high quality rap singles. I’m talking joints that work just as well on the street tape level as they would at the radio level. That is especially rare to see from a rapper that is still relatively new to national conversations.

So much more than just a co-sign of Lil Baby and Yo Gotti, the Detroit eastsider has already proven that he can craft a full solo album with the swagger of a far more seasoned MC. 42 Dugg combines a Boosie-esque, "oh you think you’re better than me??” chip on his shoulder with the unpredictable bombast of Lil Wayne. What he may lack in punchlines he makes up for in musicianship, his voice bringing one of the most nimble touches to trap music that I have heard in a long time. 42 Dugg music is hard and soulful, with the natural hunger of a rapper that knows me might be one smash away from superstardom. By this time next year, I’m betting he will be.

Best Evidence: Young & Turnt 2 (Deluxe), features on high profile records like Lil Baby’s “Grace” and “We Paid”, and a growing stream of attention grabbing solo loosies

5. Rome Streetz

In 2020 it was almost impossible to be an underground MC with a great project unless you landed a Rome Streetz verse.

Rome has been bubbling for a while now, but in 2020 he unleashed an onslaught on the game. At times he seemed like the hardest working MC in underground circles, busting his ass to not only make as many appearances as possible, but also to own any song he guested on. He raps like every verse might be “the one” that gets him a huge contract, and that’s a level of hunger and consistency that will likely land him more than one huge contract someday. In spite of that laundry list of strong features, the young Brooklyn MC still managed to release multiple dope solo projects, all flashing a rap style that feels at once a throwback and the fresh voice NYC rap needs.

Rome is clearly from the same school as many of the New York City greats, because he has the capacity to deliver dark, potent bars with the sharp intellect of a Harvard lecture (think AZ before “Sugar Hill”). While he sounds most at home when he’s rhyming over instrumentals that run more coldblooded than a horror flick, it’s easy to picture him popping up in more places in 2021...if that’s even possible.

Best Evidence: Noise Kandy 4, Kontraband, The Residue, and at least 50 incredible features with a who’s-who of the underground’s finest

6. Stove God Cook$

No one saw this coming....well, maybe Roc Marciano, Lord Jamar, Busta Rhymes and a few more NYC heads in the know - but I guarantee you, no one else saw the Stove God coming!

Bar for bar, no MC owned more rewind-worthy rap quotables in 2020 than Stove God Cook$. Dropping a solo debut with VERY little fanfare and zero features (apart from the steady, reliable guidance of Roc Marciano - low key one of hip-hop’s most reliable producers), a slow bubbling word of mouth campaign on social media eventually got Stove God verses exposed to more and more high profile ears. Such a grass roots campaign is rarely seen...I mean, a rap album slowly becoming a critical darling simply off the strength of more and more random folks discovering the music and Tweeting about it, as opposed to the buzz being calculated before the product??? It feels almost too good to be true these days, as early reviews of Reasonable Drought typically lead with something along the lines of, “hey, have you heard of this album? I have no idea who this is, but it is 🔥🔥🔥”

It has often been said that Roc Marciano has a lot of “sons” in the game, implying that Roc Marci gave birth to a style that a whole generation of underground MCs run with today. So it’s ironic (or perhaps highly appropriate?) that the next level of progression for Roc might be to have a protege, a young Jedi to carry on the tradition on Roc’s own terms, and become the next new star to be embraced by the old heads. But Stove God isn’t a clone of Roc, or anyone else, he’s simply one of the most exciting artists to hit the NYC underground in a generation. Everything from his word choice, to his fresh references and sense of humor, to his delivery and the way he structures his verses, feels like a collection of “firsts”, there’s simply no one sounding like him. And if his work in 2020 is any indication, he will continue to be in a league of his own for years to come.

Best Evidence: Reasonable Drought, spotlight snatching features alongside Roc Marciano and Griselda’s finest

7. Lil Baby

Once viewed by some as just another “Lil”, Lil Baby had been rollin’ coming into 2020, but by the end of 2020 it’s clear that he has arrived at the forefront of rap music’s most reliable hitmakers right now.

A must-have feature on any rap album reaching for max exposure, Lil Baby’s dexterous flow, charisma, and pen that is significantly sharper than early reports indicated, made him one of the few shining stars in 2020 to consistently deliver good rap music to what in any other year would have been considered smash hits in any club.

What makes Lil Baby’s music standout is that he could easily be a “cookie cutter” MC, phoning in verse after verse just to get another check, but instead he continues to bring it - trying to squeeze in an extra catchy lyric, maybe flow in a way that breaks up a verse to make it stand out from the pack a little more - and even when he is featured over cookie cutter beats that sound like every other trap inspired beats that came before it, Baby seems eager to prove something. I think that’s what I like about him - he’s on a short list of mainstream-bred Young Thug disciples that seem to really want to put the work in to becoming one of the greats.

Best Evidence: I mean...did any rap star have more songs in circulation this year? Dude was everywhere, but “The Bigger Picture” got his name officially into the lyricist conversation (even though personally I don’t even think it’s one of his more impressive records - at least not stylistically)

8. Westside Gunn

No one denies that the Griselda Records team had a banner year, yet somehow the vocal leader of the group managed to drop a handful of dope projects without receiving credit for being a great MC in his own right. Great artist, great album curator, great business man - sure, but great MC?? That credit is rarely given to the FLYGOD. He might not even understand how natural he is as a solo MC, waxing unpredictable flows and half-bars that stick in your mind in place of catchy hooks or predictable song structure. He might call himself an artist first, but I still call him one of the most prolific rappers today (regardless of whether he retires after the ball drops).

I can’t believe I have to tell rap fans this in the year 2020...but......you all know that message and punchlines are just part of the art of rapping, right...and not the only thing that defines who is a dope MC and who isn’t?? Play any solo cut from Westside Gunn and filter out the “doot-doot-doots” and stream of conscious hooks and what you are left with is one of the most distinctive voices in rap music, attempting off-kilter flows and phrases over some of the most impressive production in rap music today, and to me that sounds like my kind of rap music. What the Buffalo floor general lacks in diversity of subject matter he makes up for with a relentless imagination.

That’s why it’s not all that surprising to me that Westside Gunn enjoyed more mainstream attention in 2020 than he ever has before. All he needed was a window of exposure and he certainly capitalized on it, pitching his sound and his vision in all the right places, without compromising his style or vacating his lane. So strictly as a MC, I would consider him the Young Thug of the east coast underground scene, and if 2020 does turn out to be his final year of recording solo projects, I am thankful that he already has a long list of quality projects with high replay value to revisit again and again. But don’t wait - give this man his flowers now.

Best Evidence: “Euro Step”, “Rebirth”, “327″, “Shawn vs. Flair”, “Michael Irvin”, and YES he even had a more than worthy verse on “$500 Ounces” alongside Freddie Gibbs and Roc Marciano

9. Benny the Butcher

Who else is more reliable to deliver a dope feature verse than Benny?

By now you must be muttering at least a few things about me, so let me just make two points: YES, I am a big fan of Griselda records, but NO I do not consider that an unreasonable bias because even on paper according to a large variety of sources, it’s clear that Conway, Boldy James, Westside Gunn and Benny are true specialists when it comes to the quality of the work they distribute. Its not a fluke or a trend, they’re just that good at what they do...I have been saying this for almost 5 years now, but in 2020 the rest of you sleepy heads finally just stopped hitting snooze.

Benny the Butcher already possesses the writing capacity, attention to detail, and skills of observation/personal reflection to put himself within special company as one of the nicest pens in the business today. But in 2020, he dialed things up even higher...or perhaps word of mouth just finally caught up with the rest of his peers? The tribute to the classic Roc-A-Fella era that was his Burden of Proof project with Hit-Boy helped expose Benny to a much larger audience, and it has been beautiful to see so many more folks quoting and sharing his lyrics on Twitter, because I recall when he had about the same amount of Followers that I do, because it wasn’t all that long ago (I just hope they go back to experience all of his prior work - I’m still partial to his incredible verses on “Shower Shoe Lords” and “Pissy Work”)!

In my not so humble opinion, I do think some of the more dramatic pomp and circumstance on the BOP album was more suited to a Rick Ross or Meek Mill than Benny, so I’m actually more excited to hear what Benny has in store for 2021. He truly sounds at his best over more minimalistic production that lets his lyrics fill the spotlight...but still, tracks like “Timeless” and “Legend” do remind me of some of my favorite moments from old JAY-Z albums...blasphemous, maybe, but true.

A shot to the leg last month seems to have done nothing to slow his momentum, so if you didn’t board the bandwagon by now, you are inexcusably late.

Best Evidence: Burden of Proof, mercilessly slaughtering every verse on every Griselda projects, and a ton of show-stealing features

10. Drakeo the Ruler

What a journey it's been for the L.A. rising star.

Flexing a penchant for placing local slang into his music and delivering dark verses with a clear sense of humor, it's easy to see the appeal of Drakeo's style. If Thank You For Using GTL was an inspiring attempt to do anything possible to keep his buzz going (in that case, recording his verses over a prison phone), the quick release of We Know The Truth shortly after he regained his freedom seems to have given him a 50 Cent-esque teflon aura at the moment.

But this is about more than just Drakeo himself, it’s about what he represented before incarceration, and what he represents now. As one of the more visible forces in a new generation of west coast hip-hop, Drakeo was a few key features away from exploding onto the national scene. Now after surviving his ordeal, likely with a great deal more to write about, his ceiling has only been raised - and along with his growth potential, so rises the potential for the current rap scene out in L.A. right now. Mark my words: by this time next year Drakeo’s flow will be one of the most flagrantly jacked flows in rap music coast to coast.

A sincere welcome home from the rap world, Drakeo the Ruler. Hopefully the worst is now behind you. 🙏

Best Evidence: We Know The Truth, Free Drakeo, Thank You For Using GTL

*Honorable Mentions*:

Che Noir, Ka, Ransom, Billy Woods, Royce Da 5′9″, Jay Electronica, Fly Anakin, Curren$y, Lil Uzi Vert, Roc Marciano, Skyzoo, Black Thought, Tee Grizzley, Your Old Droog, Flee Lord, Lil Wayne

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dherzogblog · 3 years ago

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The Birth of The Daily Show: 25 Years of Fake News and Moments of Zen

It was July of 1995 and I had left MTV to become President of Comedy Central. It was the basic cable equivalent of going from the NY Yankees to an expansion team. I was on the job just two weeks when I received a call from Brillstein Grey the high powered managers of Bill Maher, host of one of the networks few original programs, "Politically Incorrect". We were informed Bill and his show would leave the network when his contract expired in 12 months. It was a done deal. Bill wanted to take his show to the "big leagues" at ABC where he would follow Night Line. Comedy Central was left jilted. Terrible news for a network still trying to establish itself. We had a year to figure out how to replace him and the clock was ticking. So began the path to The Daily Show.

It was very much a fledgling Comedy Central I joined, available in barely 35 million homes, desperately seeking an identity and an audience. It was just over three years old, born into a shot gun wedding that joined two struggling and competing comedy networks, HBO’s Comedy Channel and Viacom’s HA!, Watching them both stumble out of the gate, the cable operators forced them to merge, telling them: "We only need one comedy channel, you guys figure it out”. After some contentious negotiations the new channel was born and the red headed step child of MTV and HBO set out to find the pop culture zeitgeist its parents had already expertly navigated. The network had yet to define itself. The programming consisted mainly of old stand up specials from the likes of Gallagher (never underestimate the appeal of a man smashing watermelons), a hodgepodge of licensed movies (“The God’s Must be Crazy and The Cheech and Chong trilogy were mainstays) and Benny Hill reruns. The networks biggest hit by far was the UK import “Absolutely Fabulous”, better know as “AbFab”. Comedy Central boasted a handful of original shows, including the wonderfully sublime "SquiggleVision" of “Dr. Katz”, the sketch comedy "Exit 57" (starring the then unknown Amy Sedaris and Stephen Colbert) and of course Maher’s "Politically Incorrect". In retrospect I don’t think Bill got enough credit for pioneering the idea of political comedy on mainstream TV. Back then he was the only one doing it.

Politically Incorrect performed just fine, but got more critical attention than ratings. It was a panel show, and I had something a bit different in mind to replace it. I knew we needed a flagship, a network home base, something akin to ESPN's Sports Center where viewers could go at the end of a the day for our comedic take on everything that happened in the last 24 hours….."a daily show". I had broad idea for it in my head. I would describe it as part "Weekend Update", part Howard Stern, with a dash of "The Today Show" on drugs complete with a bare boned format to keep costs low so we could actually afford to produce it. We could open with the headlines covering the day's events (our version of a monologue), followed by a guest segment (we wouldn't need to write jokes...only questions!), and finish with a taped piece. Simple, right? We just needed someone to help flesh out our vision.

Comedy Central was a a second tier cable channel then and considered a bit of a joke (no pun intended). It had minuscule ratings, no heat and even less money to spend. Producers were not lining up to work with there. Eileen Katz ran programming for the channel and the two of us began pitching this idea to every producer who would listen. One of the first people we approached was Madeleine Smithberg, an ex Letterman producer and had overseen "The Jon Stewart Show" for us at MTV. We thought she was perfect for the role. “You can’t do this, you can’t afford this, you don't have the stomach for this, it will never work ” Madeliene said when we met with her. We could not convince her to take the gig. Ok then....we moved on. The problem was we heard that same refrain from everybody. No one wanted the job. So after weeks being turned down by literally EVERYONE, I said to Eileen: “We have to go back to Madeleine and convince her to do this with us"!

Part our pitch to her was we would go directly to series. There would be no pilot. The show was guaranteed to go on air. We had decided this show was our to be our destiny and we had to figure it out come hell or high water. As a 24 hour comedy channel, if we couldn't figure out a way to be funny and fresh every day...what good were we? We told Madeliene we were committed to putting the show on the air and keeping it there till we got it right (for at least a year anyway). That, plus some gentle arm twisting got her to sign on. Shortly after that, Lizz Winstead did too.

Madleiene and Lizz very quickly landed on their inspired notion of developing the show and format as a news parody. It brought an immediate focus and a point of view to the process . All of the sudden things started to take shape and coming to life. Great ideas started flowing fast and furious while an amazing collection of funny and talented began to come on board. Madeliene and Lizz were off to the races. Now all we needed was a host.

The prime time version of ESPN's Sports Center was hosted by Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann back then and it was must see cable TV. But I had recently started to notice another guy hosting the show's late night edition. He was funny, with a snarky delivery reminiscent of Dennis Miller. His name was Craig Kilborn. On the phone with CAA agent Jeff Jacobs one day, I asked if he knew happened to know who repped him? “I do" he said. "We just signed him”. Within days he was in my office along with Madeleine, Lizz, and Eileen who were all a bit skeptical about the tall blond guy with the frat boy vibes sitting across from them. After opening the meeting with a few off color comments that would probably get him cancelled today (an early warning sign fo sure), Craig ultimately won them over and we had our host.

FUN FAC#1: Minutes after the news of Craig's hiring went public, Keith Olberman's agent called me directly to ask why we hadn't considered hiring him?

Ok, we had a host and producers...but what to call it? After sifting through dozens of ideas for a title, Madeleine called me one day and said, "I think we should just call it what we've been calling it all along...."The Daily Show". As we approached our launch date we taped practice shows and took them out to focus groups to get real life feedback. The groups hated it.... I mean with a red hot hate. They hated Craig, the format, the jokes, everything. We were crushed and dejectedly looked around at the room at one another. "Now what?" “Either they’re wrong, or we are". I said I think they are...but it doesn’t matter, we're doing this!" We never looked back.

The show took off quickly garnering some quick buzz and attention, we felt like we had crashed the party. Well, sort of. We had no shortage of fun, growing pains and drama along the way. The Daily Show version 1.0 was about to unravel. In a December 1997 magazine interview Craig made some truly offensive and inappropriate remarks about Lizz and female members of the staff. Whether it was poor attempt at humor or just plain misogynist (or both) is beyond the point. It was all wrong, very wrong. Craig was suspended for a week without pay. Lizz left the show. In the moment I chose to protect the show and its talent more so than Lizz. That was wrong too. It's more than cringe worthy looking back now, and I regret not making some better decisions then. My loyalty to our host was later "rewarded" when in the Spring of 1998 Kilborn's team, a la Bill Maher, unceremoniously informed us he had signed a deal to follow Letterman on CBS when his contract expired at the end of the year. No discussion, a done deal. Comedy Central jilted again. Like Maher, Kilborn wanted his shot at the network big leagues and we had a little over six months to figure out how to replace him. We all know how that chapter ended. That search would eventually reunite us with Jon Stewart who along with The Daily Show took Comedy Central and basic cable to the "the big leagues" on their own terms, redefining late night comedy in the process The rest, as they say, is "Fake News" history.

Fun Fact #2: before approaching Jon (who I did not originally think would be interested) I initially offered the job to a chunkier, largely unknown Jimmy Kimmel, fresh off his co hosting duties on "Win Ben Stein's Money" ...only to have him turn us down.

My fascination with late night began as a kid. I remember how exciting it was to stay up to sneak a peek at the Carson monologue and watch him do spit takes with his chummy Hollywood guests. Later on I also loved the heady adult conversation Dick Cavett would have with everyone from Sly Stone to Groucho Marx. But it was the comedic revolution of Saturday night Live in 1975, followed by Letterman's game changing show in 1981 that truly established late night as the coolest place on the television landscape. I could only dream of one day being part of it.

25 years on, I couldn’t be more proud of The Daily Show and its legacy. Those days helping build it alongside Madeleine, Lizz, Eileen and the team were among the most satisfying (and fun) experiences I have ever had. It was thrilling to take a shot at the late night landscape and try and make our mark, especially when no one thought we could.

I am prouder still of what Trevor Noah and his staff have achieved since they took the hand off from Jon, evolving and growing the show through a new voice and lens. I think my personal "Moment Of Zen" will last as long as Trevor remains behind the desk, allowing me to selfishly boast of having hired every host this award winning and culture defining franchise has ever had.

25 years later. it remains as relevant as ever, a bona fide late night institution, standing shoulder to shoulder with all the great shows that inspired us to start.

#the daily show #jon stewart #trevor noah #comedy central

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