#i KNOW every person in leadership isn't bad at their jobs. so why do i have such bad luck with leaders who are bad at their jobs

[holyviolence]

it's 8 pm and there are birds chirping outside my window :^)

[othernaut]

"Why Are They Like That?" Scavengers Reign edition:

Chris, Barry, and Terrence show distinct reactions to having all lived through trauma. I recognize my own reactions so keenly through every one of them.

Barry distracts himself. The world is surface-level and wonderful because it's all so incredibly temporary. I read him as being in a practically permanent level of dissociation; I wouldn't be surprised if he's older than he reads. He refuses to think about loss because one little prick in the balloon sends all the rage and pain screeching out. I also read him as autistic, but his childishness seems to me more as an urge to live in a world where the loss isn't, same way you'd hide from a violent home by putting on headphones and playing a video game.

Chris rationalizes the loss, tries to pick it apart, find an explanation. She holds a deep, abiding belief in rituals, mantras, and philosophy, as keeping loss at an intellectual level means the pain is far less acute. Her confidence is an incredibly thick shell, but it's still a shell, and it's grown to the level where she's able to maintain unity in her group but probably won't be able to stand up to a challenge of leadership. That's when she falls apart - when she's proven wrong not by circumstances, but by an argument she can't refute. And she needs that proof to grow - otherwise, well, she gives off very strong cult leader vibes.

Terrence is people- and community-focused. His drive is to acknowledge pain and make sure no one feels the same things he did. This leads to personal recklessness as, well, we've seen. He wants to find a way for everybody to be happy and he will give all of himself that there is in order to make that happen. His weak sense of self won't stand up to a bad call or challenge the status quo, but it will slip in through back doors and cracked windows and offer comfort wherever he can, regardless of deservedness.

It's questionable how much of the Healer Woman was still in there. Likely the same muteness/deafness happened to her husband and his death, given her eventual state, was unnecessary. She likely had the same drives and opinions she did before infection, as the parasite doesn't seem to want to interfere too much in who its hosts are, just what they do to serve it.

Which is why Sam's mania and renewed vigor read as weird. We haven't seen very much of his past, but there's something curiously military in how he interacts with others - specifically, I think his focus on his friends and comrades as well as his decision to work his very dangerous Space Captain job comes from not being able to adjust to civilian life. He's thought about dying; he expects it. What's intolerable to him is the long, slow, banal details of getting groceries and making small talk. It's everyone else's normal life that he finds offputting and unreal.

Which is why it's so precarious, how much Ursula needs him. We know even less of her past than we do of Sam's; she seems more a part of the planet than she is her own life. She, and the Healer Woman (y'now, before) were the only ones who interacted with Vesta like scientists, and I read Ursula's gratitude as much as a need to connect as what it is on the surface. She's also the only cast member I get straight-up depression vibes from. It's an ironic thing, that she'd be best suited to survive Vesta on her own but, also, least likely to be able to stand the solitude.

Azi is the toughest member of the cast, no question, but we see her exceptional adaptation to solitude even on the Demeter. She cares for people - very deeply, in fact - and seems to need to be loved, but is comfortable keeping that love at a far remove, as a fact to be considered in solitude rather than something that needs to be constantly reinforced. This speaks to me as a curiously sci-fi thing - the notion that knowing people are out there, knowing they love you, but being unable to touch them, unable to confirm it. Which is why she was so comfortable seeing Levi as an object; if Levi was a person, then that came with all the complications a person usually does. And why it was so comforting to see her do the right thing once she realized Levi's sentience.

Levi...

I still hold out hope for mold-Levi.

Finally, Kamen. He's a dick, absolutely - but I read his dickishness as stemming more out of pretty much constant panic rather than anything else. You can read it in his movements, in how he speaks, in how even in his few moments of happiness he seems ready to back away and redirect at even the slightest hint of doing the wrong thing. He is in constant, complete terror of losing everything, so much so that his fumbling, destructive actions bring about the loss he's so desperate to avoid. His non-action over the last... Four episodes? Complete shutdown.

I know he doesn't "deserve" it, but I'm honestly hoping for a redemption for Kamen. These kinds of panic disorders rarely get any kind of media play, and when they do, they're either fixed by a pat on the shoulder and a "there there, don't be cry", or just continue on, unsolvable. I want to see what the other side of this looks like. I don't think he should die for his sins - I want him to live with them, to spend many long days in the same room with them. I want him to try to make things right and, when he can't because it's not like pushing a "fix things" button, to keep at it for the rest of his life. This, to me, is punishment.

[obsessive-dumpling]

If you don't mind, can I ask something from My Hero Academia? What do you think are Midoriya and Bakugou's greatest personality strengths and weaknesses? Why? What do you love about their dynamic? Sorry if you've answered these questions before.....

Also, If you don't mind me asking (again), can I also ask your top fav characters and fav moments from the series (BNHA)...? Thanks if you want to answer....

Hello! I'm so sorry, I'm not sure how long this has been sitting in my asks because I don't know about y'all, but mine is a black hole. (For real, I checked today and it said I had 8 asks but I could only see 2 and one of them was one I have been trying to delete for like ten years but it won't budge. So if you send an ask and I don't answer, know that it's due to the black hole. It will give you back to me when the time is right. I hope.) But I am more than happy to answer!

What do /I/ think are Midoriya and Bakugo's greatest personality strengths and weaknesses... There really isn't enough time and space for me to cover all my thoughts but...

Let's start with Baku, shall we? I think that his greatest personality strength is actually his charisma. *Crickets* Wait! Hear me out! Baku throughout the series is often painted into a position of leadership. In the beginning, it is thought that, that is solely based on his strong quirk. But it's not. He exhibits having that leadership quality even before him and Izuku are supposed to get their quirks. During the Licensing Exam Arc (as well as the Kidnapping Arc) Aizawa gives a whole [2] monologue[s] about this. Katsuki is a natural born leader and hero though he presents prickly. And I think the reason why is because the charisma he exudes is authentic and honest to his character and others can see that. He might be perceived as mean but he is trustworthy and he has follow through. Any joint trainings or missions we've seen him in shows that. His teammates may complain, but they don't actually question him. They trust him and his assessment, judgement, and execution of resolving a situation. Though not traditionally "charismatic", we have to give it to the man who has won "favorite character" as many consecutive times as he.

For Deku, it's much less nuanced and much more straightforward. His biggest personality strength is without a doubt his unwaivering belief in people. He truly believes the best in every single person. I don't think I need to expound on that one as much, as it is shown *waves at entire show* countless times.

Before I get into the weaknesses, I would like to point out that these two characteristics put together start to answer one of your other questions: "Why do you love their dynamic?" I love their dynamic for many reasons but when you face these two characteristics in these two different characters (who start out at odds) and make them face each other, something beautiful happens.

Izuku's unwaivering belief in Katsuki to be better, to be THE BEST, and Katsuki's unwaivering resolve to always show up as he is WITH expectation calling him to new heights, and then watching that cycle motivate Izuku to be a better version of his own self is just so....inspiring? The word doesn't feel big enough. They are the personification of an infinity symbol. ♾️ Just constantly pouring back into one another and becoming stronger for it.

It really brings back the meaning of "rivals" and what they should be. I feel like the Shonen genre has a habit of getting caught in its own equation of what makes a Shonen a Shonen and loses the meaning of what the genre was originally created to promote: rising above it all. Bakudeku does a really great job of calling out the bad points of the genre and resetting them back to a worthy messaging. We're all continuously learning and trying and growing to be the very best we can be. And that progress is never supposed to end.

With that said, let's talk about weaknesses.

Baku's is obvious: his pride. The boy ends up having amazing amount of self reflection, but it comes at the cost of having a painful amount of time for self correction. And he's still trying. And I'm certain that it is Horikoshi's vision to have him always trying and learning and growing some more. None of us are perfect, not even Kacchan of the Bakugo's. And that's, again, how it should be. Katsuki is a great character for wearing his flaws so openly on his sleeves from start to finish.

Deku's is less obvious I think: his pride. Yes, I think they both have the same downfall. Izuku's pride and arrogance does not come from the same place as Baku's. His comes from a fearless pit that allows him to throw his body around like it means nothing. Self sacrificial without the awareness. Dangerous combo. Baku has him beat by miles on the self awareness train. A strategic brain without self awareness allows him to overcome virtually all his obstacles without any consideration for the consequences to himself or those who care for him. This is a repeated theme that we see illustrated time and time again by Inko and by the end, all of his friends and Kacchan himself. Izuku's pride is arguably bigger than Katsuki's, which therefore makes it harder to overcome. To be honest, I don't think we've actually really seen this have ANY concrete improvement throughout the series as he regularly reverts to self sacrificing throughout the entire series BUT I do think it will be addressed by the end. He is, as of now, at least aware of his shortcomings.

I could talk about these two for days so obviously they are included in my last answer to your questions: top favs. So these are my favorites outside of our wonder duo (for the record all of my fav moments are bkdk):

-Hawks: I love the duality he lends to the series in bringing the question: how do you form morals you can stand on in a corrupt society? Specifically in a transitional generation (a generation between two times in history like millennials and Gen Z's (in their own rights)) while the world falls apart around you.

-Shoto: As someone who comes from complicated, multigenerational trauma, I really did not want to like Shoto or his story. I tried to get away from being a fan but honestly the ultimate move he developes and the resolution he comes up with for his own families story killed me. A flame that doesn't destroy?! Come on! He literally became peace! I didn't stand a chance!

-Koji Koda & Mezo Shoji with Spinner: Tackling the complexities of racism in modern times where people try to say it doesn't still exist. Holding everyone accountable, as they should. There is so much here.

-Tenya Iida: Define justice for me really quick. This man is trying his ducking best.

-Fat Gum: I'm so glad you're not dead! Sunshine incarnate. He makes me WANT to believe in myself.

-Mount Lady: Turn around of the century for me as a character. I love a "came in shallow but stood firm when everyone else ran" queen.

-Virtually every character in MHA because they all give the same message:

Be.

Better.

Be.

Better!

Be!

Better!

Be Better!

God all of THIS is why I love MHA. Why I love bakudeku. I know I'm going off now and I'm sorry but, it's fucking scary outside right now.

Our world is crumbling.

And I can hear man,

named Kohei Horikoshi,

who had no superpower,

but was an artist,

and used the talent that he did have to create a series,

that allowed him to SHOUT at the world to:

BE BETTER!

He wanted to create a symbol of hope.

And he did it.

And that is my absolute favorite part of My Hero Academia. 💛❤️💙

@dnana-2809-blog thanks for the ask 💛🥟

[senka-mesecine]

Could you write some headcanons for Wolfe? Sfw or nsfw is up to you!

-

SFW:

― Alright, random headcanons that come to mind to kick things off: He's genuinely Jewish, which is precisely why Red's and Barnes's mocking comment on the topic of 'Why? What you're saving up to be? Jewish?' seemingly stung so much and had him leaving the bunker with a acerbic, uncomfortable half-smile.

― Much like Taylor, he had family members serving in every war as far back as WWI or maybe even before, making his own presence in the military and in Vietnam itself something of a well-established tradition with great expectations foisted upon him by sheer default (expectations he has difficulties living up to) which is exactly why he was specifically educated at West Point with the singular goal of serving in the army himself, making Chris and Mark more similar than they initially seem, with the only difference being Wolfe was specifically tutored and groomed for this and Chris wasn't.

― Comes from a very affluent family, possibly having the wealthiest background in his entire platoon. College educated. Part of various brotherhoods and fraternities. Knows warfare solely from books, manuals, instructions and in the theoretical sense where he might've excelled with flying colors but once he was actually stationed on-field and in-country into the heart of an actual conflict all this learned and rehearsed school knowledge started falling short when he needed to demonstrate some practical knowledge and leadership skills. Turns out, you can't learn everything from a book and Wolfe's the poster child of that.

― Was always the popular guy back home...and entirely the most unpopular guy in his respective platoon. He was the charming rich boy in civilization and something of a dweeb in the army, for lack of a better word. Thing is, Mark Wolfe is wholly well-adjusted and even well-liked at home and entirely maladjusted and a subject of regular disdain with his fellow soldiers, which came as a genuine whiplash and surprise even to Wolfe himself who just downright wasn't used to something like this happening to him; a fatal flaw of his situation he constantly tries to rectify by endearing himself to the men under his command and constantly failing too.

― Despite of his shortcomings in his military career he's most likely out of all the boys to actually re-adjust back into civilization the best precisely because he doesn't excel at warfare, giving commands and killing. He's a normal schlub civilian at heart and ironically that's a trait most likely responsible for ensuring he'd have a vaguely normal life post-Vietnam. His existence is set for him back home. He's probably the heir to something big, has a business lined up waiting for him and there's technically nothing he lacks for. Wouldn't surprise that in the chance of him getting married even said marriage was arranged for him. We do come full circle with that; Wolfe didn't fight for a great many things which is precisely the way he is.

― Just not hardened enough. Which isn't bad. It's just bad in Vietnam.

-

NSFW-ish:

― I mentioned this before and I'll mention it again, but, praise kink galore. Taking his whole personality and background into consideration, or at least the way I headcanon it was, man likes to know he's done well, that he's doing well so he can proceed doing what he's doing and garner even more praise from it. He hasn't received a lot of that during the war and he's probably received, to contrast it, a lot of back in the world, so taking this stark and sharp polarization into question he's probably starved for the praise. He's tasted it before and then he was left entirely bereft for during a very intense period of his life (Vietnam) so it really only exacerbated this need to the degree it turned into a bit of a fetish. He melts when he's told he's done a good job.

― Hard to tell if he leans more towards submission or dominance because Mark Wolfe wants himself to lean more towards dominance, establishing himself; like, that's what he's reaching out for because he likes feeling in charge and in control, something I envision plausible for someone who lacked said control back in the army, compensating for it through sexuality, which makes it slightly funny because with the right words, the right praise, the right look directed at him he's just as likely to start stuttering, pulling back, crumbling and being overly eager to please, so, really, who's to tell? He's a dominant who envisions himself a dominant all while being a pleaser at heart who's keen on pretending he ain't...until he is.

― Likes being called Lieutenant, whether as flirtation, a tease or in bed while you're both getting down to it. It downright has him wide-eyed because it can both establish him as the party in charge and be used as a coquettish way to play around with him while he's in the stage of making you feel good and actually, dare I say, being submissive? Makes no difference, so long as he's called Lieutenant and being praised for it too the power dynamic can switch back and forth as it pleases because the actual exchange will feel good and affirming enough to the degree he feels empowered to whatever.

[timoswerner]

“it’s his job not to be soft” is crazy when a) what in the toxic masculinity, b) he was yelling at them in the second half, and c) he was brimming with anger in the post match interview saying it was unacceptable … it’s honestly a bit sickening time and time again to see all these micro aggressions against sonny. especially ppl who compare him with kane like why is kane shown so much grace for his bad games and sonny is not lmfao despite being instrumental in possibly our greatest achievement since 2008 (cl run). think we all know why really

like it's fine to say 'cor sonny was shit today' because he was, and it's fine to say if he's on a bad run of form too such as times like last season (not his fault) but this person was also questioning his commitment to club and the team... im sorry but you just cannot ask for more from a player. he's one of the committed players to the club i've ever seen, and even if kane had stayed there was no other candidate for the captaincy in my opinion. it HAD to be sonny. i have never once looked at him and thought he was lacking any effort, not even last season when there was a few players who i wasn't sure were quite putting their all in (understandable, they were playing under conte after all)

and yeah so what if sonny isn't a shouty person? players are allowed to have a 'softer' personalty. we know sonny has such a good relationship with his teams mates on and off the pitch that they'll all run through a brick wall for him. he's the bridge between all the players and language etc... people were also a bit like this with hugo as if he wasnt vocal on the pitch and would be angry when needed in interviews like sonny - people seemed under the impression he never fucking spoke lmao. there's also been some talk around this in how people talk about odegaard and his captaincy too... just because a player doesn't go around CONSTANTLY shouting a la henderson or roy fucking keane like its still the 90s doesn't mean they're not a good leader for being 'soft' it just means they have a different leadership style and personality and there's nothing wrong with that. there's definitely some racism when it comes to people thinking sonny's soft, imo. (it's also funny when you consider that rival fans think that sonny is some horrible dirty player who goes around trying to purposefully injure players because of a spell where he was petulant and got 2 reds and then his foul that lead to aurier breaking gomes' ankle... 2 completely differently views of him lmao)

look, i'll always love kane for all the goals but yeah, he really could do no wrong in a lot of spurs fans eyes. even when he went on strike. like COME ON, no other player would have been forgiven so quickly after that, and no other player wouldnt have it held against them. going back to the commitment thing, sonny would NEVER EVER pull a stunt like that. it's really annoying that people don't see that sonny is just as - if not more- committed to us than harry was. he could have pushed for a move every summer for the past 5 years and hasn't. sonny ALWAYS stepped up in kane's absence (as seen in the champions league that year). can't even say kane was afforded extra grace because he's an academy lad when you look at how our fans have treated other academy players over the years so what does that leave... i don't think people quite realise they're doing it, tbh (same with the 'soft' comments)

[softlyfiercely]

okay! time for my thoughts on Seven Kings Must Die.

under the cut for spoilers and length.

Lots of folks have previously said that the movie really suffers from the shortened length, that it should have been expanded into a sixth season to allow for all the stuff that makes the show so spectacular, and i really strongly agree.

The show is, in many ways, a show about faith. Not just about religious faith and how different attitudes about the afterlife influence people's decisions and leadership. It's also a show about individual faith, with Uhtred at the center of this theme.

People either have faith in Uhtred, or they don't. Trusting Uhtred is almost always depicted as A Very Good Idea, and those who don't have faith in Uhtred typically meet bad ends, giving the audience - if not Uhtred - a nice ToldYaSo moment.

I have to say, I really liked this aspect of the show. I know some people had issues with the way the narrative centers around this brilliant, strategic, unkillable protagonist - but to me, his character is the fulcrum around which the entire show turns. It's sort of like a story told from the POV of the deus ex machina.

and as a person who works in a field where people who are strategic and trustworthy are almost never listened to, and where there is no audience present for the ToldYaSo moments, no validation, no celebration, I really enjoyed the way the show clearly demonstrates that Uhtred is thinking clearly, he's not blinded by ambition or sentiment. Listening to Uhtred is almost always a very good idea. People who trust him are rewarded, and people who don't trust Uhtred suffer as a result, and Uhtred is vindicated at nearly every turn by the narrative.

The show doesn't just tell us this, it shows us, over and over, with the advice Uhtred gives, the thoughtfulness of his decision making, his consistency and sacrifice and skill. We see his plans play out. We see him navigate the faith and mistrust of others. We grow to trust Uhtred too. Even in moments where he makes the 'wrong' choice, we understand why, and where he's coming from.

It's satisfying, and it means that Uhtred fully earns the rewards the narrative gives him, from his 'plot armor' to the endings of both the series and the movie.

The movie doesn't do as good of a job with this. When Uhtred tells Aethelstan about Ingilmundr, Aethelstan doesn't believe Uhtred, but ultimately there isn't much of a a ToldYaSo Moment, and he soon discovers the truth on his own, and the plot moves forward. It's not clear how much would have been different or improved had Aethelstan believed Uhtred right away, nor do things change much after Uhtred is proven right.

It does do this much better at the final battle. The moment where the 'seven kings' say "Something's wrong - we've been turned around!" is such a great moment. We get to see how Uhtred's thinking and strategy AND his leadership in getting his men to execute this plan are ultimately what gives them the victory.

I also liked how the subtleties of Uhtred's wisdom and experience continue to serve him, again, in a more shown than told sort of way. The reveal when he notices that Ingilmundr still believes in the Dane gods and afterlife, and his ability to recognize what's going on between Aethelstan and Ingilmundr, because Uhtred is quite familiar with love and with that sort of forbidden-love situation.

WHERE IS STIORRA, THOUGH???

And Uhtred making Aethelstan promise never to marry and have an heir, I LOVED that. It felt like a subtle but strong way for Uhtred to give Aethelstan the space he needed to live his life as someone who loved men - him never taking a wife would be perceived as a noble sacrifice rather than a scandal. It feels like such an Uhtred thing to do and I don't think it gets enough attention or credit.

I was really disappointed that we didn't get more of Osbert and Edmund, because the show missed another great opportunity to show us what kind of man Uhtred is. Osbert clearly learned from his father how to be a mentor, how to lead and protect and train and support and raise up a young man. And we got hints of this legacy Uhtred is building, in the way Osbert looks after Edmund, but we needed like. Way tons more.

The general plot of the film - just too much in too short time. Too many villains, not much fleshed out, scrambled up stakes, things not really meaning anything, Uhtred in exile, then behind enemy lines, then picked up by Sihtric and Finan - ...okay? I agree with what's already been said that we needed more time with the schemes, the stakes, the motives, the characters, everything.

The deaths - I knew Aldhelm would die early on in the movie, because the show almost kills him in the series finale, and it's kind of unclear to me why it didn't. I was somewhat surprised and disappointed that no important and beloved characters died at the final battle in the show - the stakes and tone pulled hard toward 'lighthearted' right at the end, which I guess was so all the actors would have a shot at being in the movie, but it doesn't fit with the rest of the show.

People die. In the show, people die suddenly, unexpectedly, people die to sacrifice for a larger cause, they die for petty reasons. Throughout the show, Uhtred loses so many people for so many reasons. So the fact that none of the main characters (except the merchant dane whose name escapes me) give their lives for Uhtred to take Bebbanburg rings sort of...poetically unbalanced.

Don't get me wrong, as a person, I wasn't exactly rooting for us to lose Sithric, or Finan, or Hild, or Aldhelm, or Pyrlig, etc. But come on. We've been through this huge journey of loss and sacrifice and death on the way to Bebbanburg, and then we take Bebbanburg with no grief, no sacrifice? Hmm.

Aldhelm was marked by the narrative for death after Bebbanburg, and so the fact that he loses his life to save Uhtred's, not in a blaze of battlefield glory but just as a man ground between the cogs of politics and ambition, made sense.

Ingrith's death also made total sense. When she says "...and the woman you love" TO FINAN as well as to Uhtred, it's sort of like the "...the world will turn to ash" prophecy in the pokemon movie (shut up, it was formative). It was so clearly going to be her. The tomb thing, with the Christian imagery, and it being previously opened for Uhtred to be lured into a trap, and Ingilmundr using the Christian faith to tear the Saxons apart - it gets a C+ from me. Interesting thematic work, not super well executed.

Alfweard's death was...nothing, idk. He wasn't much of a character, and all it did was set up the break between Aethelstan and what he had learned from Uhtred, and establish how corrupted Aethelstan had become.

The prophecy - I didn't really like the way the prophecy was handled. I thought in the first few seasons, the show did a GREAT job of balancing the element of the supernatural. All the characters believe in some form of supernatural, prophecy, curses, miracles, Divine, afterlife, etc. but they are all interpreting things differently.

I appreciated the way the show never really came down on one side or the other, never 'proved' someone right or wrong. The "bridge" Brida sees when Ragnar is going to Valhalla, the "curse" from Skade, the "signs" from God, the 'dead man' trick - the only thing that prickled was the healer saving Edward's life, and that was never really clarified whether she was using some specific healing method for sick infants or what.

But then Brida ends the curse and miraculously is able to bear a child after a lifetime of not being able to, which...there's really no other explanation besides a narrative validation of her faith, which I thought was a bit of a cop-out. (Reign did this too - did an excellent job for a while balancing multiple different faiths and worldviews within the reality of the show, then just went 'fuck it, the Seer is Right and the Visions are Real').

So I wasn't too thrilled with how the show ultimately handled the prophecy. Numbering the kings in their captions was a bit much. But I did like the ambiguity of whether Uhtred 'counted' as a King.

The ending was lovely, though I would have preferred if they just sort of committed to Uhtred going to Valhalla. It's the end of the thing, we know Uhtred will die at some point anyway, having Finan do the voice over - instead of having an 'ambiguous' ending, I wish we'd have gotten to see more of him stepping into Valhalla, the bittersweet ending, the reward, him seeing more of the characters he's lost over the years rather than just the three who were there, etc.

This might be at odds with me not liking when the narrative establishes the reality of someone's beliefs, but it's different here.

Overall I liked the film, was glad to get to spend more time with characters and world I fell in love with over the course of the show, but it really ought to have been a sixth ten episode season rather than a two hour movie. Or it should have been 'zoomed in' to focus specifically on Osbert and Edmund, or Aethelstan and Ingulmundr, or whatever.

[caffeineandsociety]

I think of voting the same way I think of taking medicine. Sometimes it's really, really, really fucking hard to stay motivated to do it when the difference is between "fucking awful" and "slightly less awful" - but I still do it anyway, every time. Why?

Well, sure, as a severely disabled person who can't get a conventional job, there is no politician at a level high enough to make a meaningful change in a reasonable timeframe who will have my best interests at heart (and by extension the interests of those like me). It's great that AVERAGE wages are finally outpacing inflation, and we SHOULD be celebrating that more than we are, but not to the point of forgetting that MINIMUM wage still isn't keeping up except in a small handful of bluer areas at the local level and disability benefits REALLY aren't.

But it's so much worse under conservative policies that won't let ANY of the working class stay afloat - even for me personally; at least this way my limited independent work has customers - and the fact that bluer areas have a middle class again and are raising local minimum wages is not exactly meaningless.

American foreign policy is ALWAYS trash. Always has been. I work, I petition, I call my representatives, and hell when I have the physical capacity to I even protest to make it less so, but as long as it's been so dogshit or even worse I do sadly fear that the best I may be able to do in my time on earth is make it a LITTLE less dogshit.

But it's easier to work under leadership that's LESS enthusiastic about criminalizing protest - at least I'm less likely to die at a blockade - and it's more likely to be effective under leadership that's just greedily sucking off military contractor companies for money than under leadership where killing as many people as possible is the point.

I live in California, home of State-Level Homonationalism. I fucking despise how much we act like the fact that we love Amazon-sponsored Pride parades makes us immune to invading privacy and "save the children" rhetoric, never mind a truly disgusting level of classism and smugness about red states as if they're not rigged to shit. I complain about this a lot. My representatives probably know me by name and go "oh boy not this guy again" every time I email them about some anti-privacy bill that they think SURELY won't be used to prosecute people for just not being cishet because come onnn, maaaannn, we LOVE the gays here~!

But I still try to get friends from out of state in with my doctors and offer my couch while they get their shit done, because I know that we'll likely always be one of the last holdouts no matter how bad the national anti-queer backlash gets - if nothing else, I believe these naive dumbasses' claims that they'll (TRY to) always be a sanctuary state even if other states are frothing at the mouth to prosecute me over whatever's in those records, because they've lived up to it before, and in the VERY worst case scenario that policy buys me time to flee.

It's hard to see how much worse things can be when they already suck, just like it's hard to see the motive to take a horse-choking pill when the consequence of not doing it feels theoretical but the disgust of how stale the pill tastes to result in still feeling like crap feels very, very real.

But here's the situation. We have a presidential election coming up in, at the time of this writing, just over 5 months. One of two candidates WILL win. One of them is a doddering old man who's done pretty damned good things for the American working middle class, some people with certain very specific common disabilities, and very few other people, who just like any other politician at his level, is in bed with US weapons manufacturers because it pleases The Line. The other is an omnicidal fascist dictator wannabe, or maybe a less openly rabid but, terrifyingly, more competent understudy for him, depending on how a series of criminal proceedings go. This will not only decide the next 4 years, but thanks to the balance of powers and namely how the Supreme Court is structured, have knock-on effects that may last for generations.

I do not have ANY confidence that "sacrificing ourselves" to "punish" the former into being better will work, particularly because there is no universe in which replacing a guy who's in bed with weapons manufacturers with a guy who explicitly WANTS to escalate our imperialist bullshit, the-cruelty-is-the-point style, says "Americans want more compassionate foreign policy". Historically, they've typically compromised WORSE to regain lost votes, not put their foot down for better, because it implies the "kill everyone" policies are the more popular ones - and also, I don't consent to being fucking sacrificed! It's not just you, personally, who will suffer!

Similarly, I do not have any confidence that we will be able to start, fight, and win, a sweeping revolution - a.k.a. a fucking civil war - in 5 months to get a third option. Not only that, but even in the long term, I fully recognize that as a high cost, high risk option, and therefore want outright warfare to be doing as little of the heavy lifting as is reasonably possible.

So I vote for the same reason I take my fucking disgusting-ass pills every morning - because of the options I am given, I would rather be sick but semi-functional than bedbound, hospitalized, or dead.

[zolusbian]

would you ever be motivated to make a "why nacho isn't just jesse 2.0" masterpost i'm looking at the tag and feel like we'll need it

people are grieving nacho's character and so i get the urge to make him into something a little better than he was, esp. considering all the jesus imagery that nacho has gone through, but yeah, he's still not jesse.

breaking bad and better call saul are very, very smart shows and they do not reuse character types. hector is not comparable to juan bolsa is not comparable to lalo is not comparable to don eladio is not comparable to gus, for example. when people say that nacho is the jesse of better call saul, i think what they're trying to say is that nacho is some sort of moral center, but that is not true narratively, contextually or to his character. what is true is that jesse and nacho are both sympathetic characters: young men (though nacho is older) who are caught up as pawns in a war that they have no choice in fighting.

the difference is that nacho was okay with, like, being in the reserves. we do not know how nacho got started with crime, but season 1 and 2 nacho enjoys being a criminal, enjoys working with tuco, and really does not show remorse. he puts tuco away because tuco is unstable, not because he wants to get out of the drug business. it was very much a power move. a badly predicted one, but a power move nonetheless. jesse gets in over his head fast, but nacho has been building up to this for years, and is coming to this without the addiction problems jesse has (this is not a knock against jesse's addiction; this is something that is different between the characters). nacho does not object to being a criminal or a bad guy. nacho objects to the salamancas. yes, he wants out, but that is because he realizes that he is pretty much bound to the salamancas. also, you know, his father. but again: nacho was happily duping his father for years. the only thing that changed is the leadership.

they are both sympathetic characters that tug on the audience's heartstrings. nacho is humanized through his love for his father. but only through his love for his father. again, nacho has no problem with the drug trade, deaths, and arrests that happen in this business, until it becomes personal and too much for him. nacho is selfish. his father is an extension of himself. his father is the one thing he has that he holds onto humanity through. it is a selfless motivation in that it is for something outside of himself, but it is selfish in that, in the end, it only serves himself. we are shown that his father has a good life that he enjoys living, but nacho wants to take him away from that. presumably for his safety, yes, and to avoid getting his father bound to the salamancas as well, but still. nacho lies to his father in the early seasons about his job--notice how he wears different clothes and no jewelry around his father, how he says he's been working for the salamancas "again." i'm not saying that nacho doesn't love or care about his father, but i am saying that i think the love and care for his father became something for nacho to obsess over in light of a stressful situation and that he does not completely, wholly love his father because there is a lack of understanding on nacho's part.

meanwhile, jesse overflows with love, guilt, empathy. jesse agonizes over every part of the drug business, over the deaths he causes and witnesses, the harm, the effects. when you peel back jesse's s1 persona you get a raw bleeding heart. when you pull back nacho's persona you get more more nacho. you get anger and disappointment and a feeling of being cheated.

narratively, too, they are opposites. jesse’s salvation is the hard-won reward for a brutal tragedy, the one good thing in a sea of bad. nacho is what sets the events of breaking bad in motion, in a sense; the show cannot exist without his death. he makes jimmy saul goodman. he cripples the salamanca empire. he prevents gus's intentions from being found out too soon. he forces gus and mike on equal footing. he sets juan bolsa up for the position and alignments he has in breaking bad. and, of course, he primes mike for sympathy towards jesse. but didn't matty prime mike for sympathy towards nacho and jesse? it is not necessarily that jesse and nacho are similar beyond the fact that they are young men, but that they are young men that mike feels he can somehow protect as atonement for what happened to his own son.

now, the jesus imagery. nacho is not christ. the way they use the imagery shows us that nacho is not christ. his baptism is in oil. he raises from the dead in a steel coffin in a drug trafficking truck. he inflicts the stigmata on himself. most of all, he dies for his own sins, not for ours or anybody else's. we can debate the morality and intention behind his sins--the betrayal of the salamancas and more--but the fact is, he dies so that a group of bad men can go on living a good life and so that he can try to redeem what he knows is irredeemable: his soul. he is a sacrificial lamb.

it doesn't work. nacho's last stand is not moral or ethical or pure. it is angry and vitriolic and scummy. he's right in many regards, but it's still true. it is petty. the only undoubtedly moral thing he does is save mike the act of killing him himself.

all this being said, i love and adore nacho and i love and adore his storyline. but he is not jesse and never will be jesse beyond the surface qualities of "young pretty man in the drug trade that gets in over his head that mike takes a fatherly affection towards."

and like i said in the beginning, yeah, some of the reactions i think miss the mark a little bit, some people are hyping nacho up for things that he's not, etc. that's okay. it's a television show! a very good one, a very smart one, but a television show nonetheless. people can have different interpretations and react in different ways. the "nacho is the jesse of bcs" is a pet peeve of mine, but esp in light of 6x03, i'm letting it slide for now.

[crossdressingdeath]

Another annoying thing about Cassandra overruling you about Cullen is that, based on the messenger conversations, she actually isn't happy with the job he is doing with the troops. She doesn't seem to think he should doing a good job. And Cullen keeps ignoring her. So, we have a guy who you don't think is doing a good job and you refuse to replace him when the opportunity arises?

It actually makes it seem it's more about her ego than anything else. Cassandra recruited Cullen all on her own. She listened to Varric's story about his awful job as a templad and decided "yes, this guy should get promoted." And the game can't even give a realistic reason for why he is there!

It would've been interesting to learn that Cassandra picked Cullen because of his anti-mage views. Because she did want to bring back the Inquisition of old or something like that. As is she just comes across as an idiot who recruited the first guy she saw and then refuses to admit it was a mistake and let him go despite not liking his work.

Honestly just in general the fact that Cassandra is set up as the Person In Charge and especially with how she initially has so much power over Quiz as their captor, it's... kind of uncomfortable how clearly pro-Templar she is. Especially if you're playing a mage. And yeah, either she picked Cullen as commander first—knowing he was basically the de facto face of the atrocities that happened in the Gallows with Meredith dead as her right-hand man—and hearing the details of what he did from Varric didn't change her mind on him being a good fit, or she heard Varric's stories first and thought "Oh yeah, that's the guy we want leading our army". Either way she heard about everything Cullen did and believed and still decided he was the right pick. ...Which is especially bad when you consider that her initial plan was to tap Hawke as Inquisitor, and she only decided on our Quiz because of the Anchor; given how a pro-mage Hawke has every reason to hate Cullen and literally zero reason to like him beyond a last-second side switch, I have no idea why she thought that could possibly be a good idea. Sure, deliberately hire a guy you know your Inquisitor of choice hates, what could possibly go wrong?

And yeah, having finally gotten around to tracking down a list of the messenger conversations (side note, stop being nice to him Cole, he doesn't deserve you) Cassandra seems partly worried about Cullen's health and partly displeased with his performance, which... seems like two very good reasons to agree to nominating a new commander. But instead she refuses, and insists his performance is fine despite clearly thinking it's not? Meanwhile Leliana's pick is the best person in the Inquisition's leadership, Josie is a gem and the world's best ambassador and we do not deserve her. So Leliana chose right... meanwhile Cassandra's pick is at best a diplomatic disaster and at worst actively screwing up being the commander, the one thing he's there to do. Which does make Cassandra's refusal to pick a new commander feel like an act based entirely in her own ego; to pick a new commander would mean admitting she chose wrong the first time, which would be especially difficult given it would've been obvious from the start (Meredith's second-in-command. My god why would Cassandra think making him commander was anything approaching a good idea). She'd have to admit she made a mistake! And she's not gonna do that.

[waheelawhisperer]

Why Team RWBY is Right

Yes, I know, another RWBY post. This one focuses on the situation at the end of Volume 7, so I'm going to be dropping the Read More link sooner rather than later. The reddit posts I link here and here are recommended reading, and I'll be drawing from both of them, as well as adding my own analysis.

First of all, I think the way the end of Volume 7 was written was fantastic, perhaps the best content that CRWBY's ever written in this show. If you paid attention to fan reaction at the time, you'll know that this generated a lot of discussion and engagement, across multiple platforms. The two threads I linked are examples of that. Even now, there are still people (hi, I'm people!) arguing over whether Ironwood or Team RWBY was right and/or lionizing/vilifying one or both groups. The end of Volume 7 set up a difficult and interesting moral dilemma (is it better to save what we can or is it worth risking it all to save all of the people that we, as Huntsmen and Huntresses, have an obligation to protect?) and set groups of characters that have been working more or less together for the whole Volume against each other. Ironwood thinks that the right call is to flee Mantle, to save what he can and prevent Salem from obtaining the Relics, while Team RWBY thinks that they should instead stand and fight. Ironwood presents his argument as pragmatic: he's making the hard choices that give humanity a chance of survival. His army cannot win a fight, and so Mantle must be abandoned. Team RWBY's argument is framed at least partly from a moral perspective: Huntsmen and Huntresses abandoning the people they swore to protect is wrong, a betrayal of the promises they made when they accepted the job. From a practical standpoint, they point out that he has more options/allies than he's considered: Mantle/Robyn are on their side and the Amity project could potentially allow them to call for reinforcements.

There are a number of things we need to talk about to put the situation in context. First is that Cinder is a very smart manipulator who just hit Ironwood's trauma button with a People's Elbow from the top rope and followed it up with a Stone Cold Stunner, grinning maniacally the entire time. Ironwood is in the middle of a PTSD-induced breakdown because Cinder has just ripped open every single wound associated with his various psychological issues and traumas at once. He's hurt, terrified, exhausted, and making bad decisions at least partly because of that. His trauma does not excuse his actions, but it does allow the audience to see where they come from. As one of the reddit commenters put it, "he's like this for a reason, but that reason doesn't mean what he's doing is right".

Frankly, Ironwood should not be in command at this point. He is not in any condition to be making decisions and realistically ought to be in the infirmary, if anything, but instead he's standing at his desk, deciding the fate of millions. Unfortunately, as I mentioned in my post about how the Atlesian military sucks at its job, it doesn't seem like there's anyone who could step into his shoes in the upper echelons of military leadership. To be fair, Ironwood isn't exactly the type to relinquish control regardless, but given how much of his personal struggles and character arc are about his belief that he lacks people he can trust and his difficulties learning to reach out to and trust others (on his terms and when he is in control, and only ever then), it's not out of the realm of possibility that he could've stepped down long enough to get some proper rest and medical attention if he'd had a bit more structural support. He's partly to blame for the Atlesian military's incompetence, given that he's in charge of the damn organization, but that doesn't change the fact that the way it's set up isn't exactly doing him any favors in this situation.

This is at least in part why Ironwood makes what I consider his most egregious mistake in this situation: refusing to send out scouts. Information is key in warfare, and the protagonists don't have enough of it at this point. Their strategies all hinge upon the belief that Salem is approaching, but no one has bothered to confirm that. Ironwood should have sent out drones or scout ships in order to be sure that the arrival of an enemy army was, in fact, imminent and immediately begun planning and preparing for all realistic contingencies.

Still, as viewers, we know that Salem is on her way, so we can skip the confirmation stage and move on toward determining what should be done. Let's examine the strategic and tactical realities: Salem is coming, immediately, with an army in tow. She's after the Relics, and the Maiden because the Maiden can access the Relics. All three of Salem's objectives are in Atlas, and thus Atlas must be kept safe somehow. Ironwood's army is exhausted and spread thin after defending Mantle, while Salem's troops are presumably fresh. Taking all of this into account, retreating seems logical, right?

Well, not quite. In fact, retreating is incredibly stupid, for a number of reasons. It's a knee-jerk reaction informed by Ironwood's fear and paranoia, and it makes long-term victory damn near impossible.

Now, let me be clear, I am not arguing this from a moral or ethical perspective. When the very survival of humanity is at stake, I don't really give a shit about morals or ethics. I am arguing on a purely pragmatic basis that Ironwood's plan is stupid and ineffective.

I'm well aware that "there is no victory in strength" is a major theme in RWBY, but this is an action show, which means that while the ultimate victory does not come from strength, beating up bad guys is still very much a part of the show's composition. Temporary victory in strength is absolutely on the table, especially if you define "victory" as "not getting ripped to shreds by an enemy that fundamentally hates you for daring to exist and cannot be reasoned with in any way", and is in fact an essential component of ultimate victory. All that means that humanity requires some kind of functioning fighting force, whether that be Remnant's Huntsmen or Atlas's army. The anti-military messaging of the Atlas Volumes has always fallen flat to me, to be honest, because Remnant is a world where having a military makes total sense. Humanity faces an existential threat. That threat cannot be reasoned with, bribed, or otherwise deterred without the use of force, especially given that only a few people know that Salem exists. There are three ways to stop the Grimm from wiping out settlements: defenses so strong that the Grimm cannot penetrate them, some kind of armed force capable of repelling them, or the complete suppression of negativity, such that the Grimm are never drawn to a settlement to attack it. We see that the first and the third have repeatedly failed. Mountain Glenn was destroyed because it lacked the natural defenses of Vale, and even Vale suffered when Cinder's plan brought about the Fall of Beacon. We saw during Volume 3 that events can be orchestrated to create a sufficient spike of negative emotion to attract the Grimm, and Mantle and Mistral failed to suppress widespread negative emotion prior to and during the Great War. That leaves fighting back, and a military is very useful in this context. Huntsmen are difficult and expensive to train (the Academies do not seem to have particularly large classes, the training takes four years at the Academies in addition to any preparatory training, and each Huntsman requires special, personalized equipment) and there don't seem to be very many of them, which means they run into difficulties covering the wide swaths of territory that many of the Kingdoms control. By contrast, US Army basic training (which I am using as a rough equivalent for Atlesian military training because I have no idea what the actual in-universe training looks like) lasts less than three months, which means producing a soldier is much easier than producing a Huntsman. More soldiers means more area you can cover, which means more territory you can control and defend. Realistically, any remotely organized political entity on Remnant ought to have a military, but evidently the Great War left a whole lot of collective societal trauma.

Okay, tangent over with. I'll get into why Ironwood's plan is stupid now. We have established that a functioning fighting force is necessary to defend Remnant. Well, that fighting force becomes a lot less functional when it runs out of food, ammunition, clothing, medical supplies, vehicles, and everything else a modern army requires to fight. We see in Volume 7 that the Kingdom of Atlas's industrial base is in Mantle. The city of Mantle is full of factories and Dust refineries. Atlas has an agricultural district, which the Grimm trample in Volume 8, but it's too small to produce the food required by the population of one city and the refugees from another unless Plant Dust can do some really wild stuff, and the series never really explores that. Also, as far as I could tell from what we saw on screen, the only crop it grew is wheat, which is not a balanced diet on its own. Raw materials like ore, Dust, and timber are found on the ground. Food crops and livestock are grown and raised on the ground. Ironwood fleeing to the upper atmosphere both condemns his people to strict rationing and dooms his war machine if he stays there long-term. Eventually, he will reach the point where he cannot feed his people, supply his soldiers, or keep either of them healthy. By abandoning Mantle, he abandons the infrastructure Atlas depends on to survive, and he has no allies to provide that infrastructure: Vale is in bad shape after the attack on Beacon, Mistral is barely holding on post-Haven, and Vacuo is both lacking in the type of infrastructure Atlas needs and outright hates Atlas for years of exploitation. The only hope of retaining the long-term viability of the Atlesian war machine is by defending the infrastructure that supports it. From a strategic standpoint, Mantle cannot fall.

If Ironwood had done his damn job properly, Mantle would also be a fortress, meaning that fleeing actually would have made fighting a defensive battle harder, but he didn't, so it's kind of a moot point. Even so, with advance warning, Ironwood could have evacuated the city to Atlas and then seeded the streets with mines, created temporary barricades, and prepared his forces to meet the enemy advance. We don't see the big airships do anything during the fight for Mantle, so I'm assuming they've expended limited resources and taken minimal damage prior to Salem's arrival. If I'm correct, Ironwood could have concentrated his fleet once he'd determined Salem's approach vector and massed the power of 40 airships against her forces.

These are all simple measures that could have been taken in the brief time between the conversation in Ironwood's office and Salem's arrival. A defensive battle is still a viable option at this time, especially with proper use of the air fleet to break the back of any enemy advance before it reaches either city. With Robyn allied with Ironwood, Mantle would have supported the war effort wholeheartedly. The holes in Mantle's defenses could have been exploited to create killing fields and the refugees could have been pressed into service performing task like providing medical support or preparing food to free up the soldiers for the upcoming battle.

I've seen some people argue that Ironwood's plan is just a tactical retreat, but it's never presented that way in the series. Ironwood ascending to the upper atmosphere solves the immediate problem, and only the immediate problem. He still has nowhere to safely land and resupply and nowhere from which to safely stage an attack, unless he intends to let his army rest and restock for a few days and then immediately retake Mantle, but this is, again, never brought up in the narrative, and the clear indication the story is giving is that he's fleeing in fear without considering the long-term consequences and justifying it by claiming he's making the hard choices.

On top of all that, the sky isn't even safe. Cutting off the evacuations and fleeing doesn't chance the fact that Cinder has already infiltrated Atlas. She's free to strike at strategic targets or just murder refugees at will. Raising the city might keep Ironwood ahead of Salem's army, but Salem is immortal. She can wait as long as she needs to to starve him out. All she has to do is task some Grimm to shadow the city from below while it moves through the upper atmosphere in which they can't survive and then task her forces to attack it whenever it descends to resupply, and all of this isn't even considering the tensions between Atlas and Mantle, human and Faunus, military and civilian (who may well be justifiably upset that their Kingdom's vaunted military is running instead of fighting), rich and poor, or whatever disparate groups you can think of. Add in potential rationing and repressive curfews/restrictions and riots aren't just likely, they're damn near inevitable, and every bullet Ironwood's troops have to spend suppressing rebellions is a bullet they can't use against Salem and can't easily replace. Follow Ironwood's plan and Atlas will tear itself apart without Salem having to lift a finger.

People like to say that Team RWBY just whines instead of offering solutions, but this is not the case. Ruby brings up the possibility of completing the Amity Tower and calling for help. While this plan has potential problems of its own, it is, in fact, an alternative, and they had, like, two minutes to come up with anything before Ironwood wanted to throw them in jail. Weiss still manages to point out that Ironwood has Mantle on his side (meaning he can work with a capable leader in Robyn) and Blake attempts to encourage Ironwood to work collaboratively. Ironwood's the one shutting down dialogue here, and everyone plays into Salem's hands as a result.

As an aside, I always find the negative reaction to Ironwood declaring martial law, both in- and out-of-universe, to be extremely amusing, because this is exactly the kind of situation for which martial law is intended. An invading enemy force is on home soil, civilian forces and systems are overwhelmed, and the survival of the Kingdom depends on the effectiveness of the military response. The response really should have been "yeah, makes sense, how do we blow up the giant whale?" rather than the kind of outrage we see from both Team RWBY and the Council.

To sum things up, Ironwood attempts to exercise command when he's clearly unfit to do so, completely misreads both the tactical and strategic situation, and attempts to implement a stupid plan that is emblematic of the Atlesian military's institutional incompetence. I think it comes back to the Atlesian military's lack of institutional experience, to be honest. They don't know how to deal with situations like this and don't have training or doctrinal guidance to fall back on, so we see a failure on every level to anticipate and plan for an invasion. Modern real-world militaries have contingency plans for everything from nuclear war to some drunk dipshit trying to rob a munitions depot because real-world nations are constantly fighting each other, but Atlas hasn't had the incentive to develop that kind of intelligence infrastructure, so they repeatedly get caught flat-footed when they encounter new situations. Team RWBY was right about defending Mantle, though I think they were arguing mostly from the wrong perspective, and I think both sides failed to present their arguments in a way that would incite compliance from the other. Ironwood fails to make a convincing case that the option he chose is the most viable option available and Team RWBY fails to couch their arguments in the cold pragmatism that might have gotten through to him.

To be clear, this is a shit situation where there is no good answer. Ironwood's solution might well have been the best answer if he'd addressed the issues listed above and provided a viable location to which to retreat and a way to recreate the necessary infrastructure, while fighting for Mantle is enormously risky, and losing the battle might well have doomed humanity as a whole. Volume 7 did a great job of setting up this conflict between Ironwood and the other protagonists, and while I'm not super happy with the way Volume 8 resolved it for a number of reasons, I think it stands as one of the high points of RWBY's writing.

I've got a few other post ideas bouncing around in my head, but the next one is probably going to be an explanation of why Team RWBY was... not right, necessarily, from a purely utilitarian perspective, in the sense that it led to the most optimal outcome, but absolutely justified in not trusting Ironwood, so be on the lookout for that one hopefully sometime in the next few days. As always, there's probably something I missed or forgot somewhere in here, but I'm always open to feedback and so on. Shoutouts to the, like, 4 people who listen to me ramble, you guys rock.

[cavehags]

excellent conversation with rob, charlotte and jessie from mythic quest on the learning lots podcast today. i really liked the following exchange:

charlotte: mythic quest as a show is about leadership. like if you look at every single character, you do get to see these different archetypes. like jo... jo is the personification of how power and leadership are two different things. like she doesn't want to be a leader, she wants to have power.

jessie: yeah, definitely. my character, we've established in the first season, has this addiction to power. and in season two we get to kind of explore what happens when she ditches the baby aspirin that is david brittlesbee and she gets turned onto the hard stuff, which she finds in brad bakshi. and we get to watch what happens to her when she taps into that main vein of power. and it's really fun getting to follow her through this addiction cycle. and it really has nothing to do with leadership. i think she's drawn to really great leaders, but i don't think she herself is a leader, i don't think she understands that power instills leadership into people. all she wants is the opportunity to be in charge. but i don't think she would know what to do if she were in charge.

charlotte: and then ashly burch plays rachel, and she's been fighting for some form of leadership, and then when she gets given that opportunity she doesn't know what to do with it. and then on the other side of the spectrum you have imani hakim's character dana, who isn't necessarily seeking leadership but does know what she wants to do. and rob's character ian is a good leader. he inspires people. he can't make a video game on his own though; he doesn't have those skills. whereas poppy in a way is the opposite. she has all the skills she needs to do the technical side of her job but then when she's given the power to actually lead a group, it brings out the worst qualities in her. and i don't know how much i've seen that in film and television--like the bad girlboss?

jessie: yeah, i love that. i find it really refreshing.

charlotte: i honestly hadn't thought of poppy as a girlboss before. because we do attribute such specific things to that trope. often when we're talking about women in leadership, we expect certain things of them, and one of them is that they're always likable and they're always competent. we have much higher expectations for women in leadership roles than we do for men.

jessie: mhm.

charlotte: the role models that a lot of women have are male leaders. and for poppy, in our story, her role model for a leader was ian, who had very masculine ways that he led, and so she's trying to mimic a lot of it. and it's not authentic to the way that she would work if she didn't feel like she had to exist in particular structures. she expects that everyone should just respect her because she's the boss.

jessie: right.

charlotte: which is what we do with men, right? i mean not to get up on a soapbox about it, but it is! we see a man in charge and we go, "oh yeah, you belong there, i'll listen to whatever you have to say." whereas when you see a woman in charge, you're often like, "alright, prove yourself."

jessie: which is where we get terms like girlboss!

charlotte: yes!

jessie: which like immediately cuts down - if you are the boss of a company and you're being called a girlboss...

[...]

charlotte: and i think that's part of what makes the second season of mythic quest, the story of poppy so interesting, is because she is uncertain, she does fail, she is imperfect, and a lot of the time she's very unlikable. so much of her frustration stems from "well why aren't people just doing what i say?" and there's like a line in one of the earlier episodes of the season where she's like, "i just want a group of people that, like, look up to me with fear and awe and don't question anything that i have to say."

jessie: right.

charlotte: that's ridiculous! that's not what being a boss is, that's not what leadership is. but up until this point, that's how she sees what being a boss is, 'cause she sees everyone revert to whatever ian has to say and ignore her, and she's assumed that it's because he's the boss and she's not. but now she's the boss and she's like "why [are] people still not listening to me?" and it turns her into a bit of an arsehole. and so it makes you ask those questions of "well how much opportunity do you give a person to figure out how to lead?"

[lochnessies]

I mean to be fair to edelgard, if I found out the popes/president were actually one guy who lived basically forever, I'd probably at the very least question thus popeident's leadership skills. Especially if I found out that a good portions of this hypothetical popes religion was fake and that also this pope was basically jesus. Granted, that'd mostly because of a lack of context since this hypothetical immortal popes motives are largely unknown.

Like without the context of her motives, Rhea CAN seen in a pretty negative light. She suddenly goes from a mother/grandmother/wife/daughter who's got issues and is trying to protect her relatives and fodlann with her position while trying to turn some homuncili into her mom, to a dragon lady who's been in head of a major religion that she made up for centuries who actively stiffled/slowed down fodlann's scientific/academic growth for unknown reasons.

Like if you didn't know about Rhea's whole deal, she'd look pretty suspiscious. This isn't me saying "edelgard completely right church bad! Rhea is evil!".

I'm more trying to say Edelgard was SORT of right in being suspiscious of everyones favorite lizard pope, but jumped to WAY too fast onto the conclusion of "The church is definitely evil, because crest=bad and crest=blessings of the goddess, therefore church=bad!"

Rhea WORST 'crime' at most as leader of the church is that she was pretty passive as leader of the church. Like, apart from trying to keep the peace as a whole and hiding technology for a while until she decided (maybe arbitrarily maybe not) that humanity was ready for it, she seemed *largely* content with the state of things as a whole. Granted, that strikes me less as her not giving a shit and more just her not knowing about some if the bad shit going on behind the scenes in Fodlann, and her going "Okay yeah thats bad. Buuuut when mom's back she'll be a way better leader and she'll make everything way better than I ever could. Back to studying and researching homunculi children so I can maybe shove my moms soul into one."

That's my take anyway. Basically if Rhea and the lords had a group therapy session a lot of tragedy could have been avoided. Alas therapists don't exist in fire emblem, just look at the various characters with underlying trauma that they havent dealt with.

I mean to be fair to edelgard, if I found out the popes/president were actually one guy who lived basically forever, I'd probably at the very least question thus popeident's leadership skills.

why? wouldn’t their longevity make them better leaders? they have much more experience and know how the world works. i mean, agree with the woman or not, rhea’s results are hard to argue with. 1000 years is an extremely long time to help mitigate peace. our world can’t seem to avoid conflict every half decade it would seem. so it’s not like rhea is doing a bad job of it.

Especially if I found out that a good portions of this hypothetical popes religion was fake and that also this pope was basically jesus. Granted, that'd mostly because of a lack of context since this hypothetical immortal popes motives are largely unknown.

that’s when you have a nice little sit down and have a chat. and also, rhea didn’t make up the religion. it already existed before the war of heroes. all she did was change a couple of details to hide the fact that nabeteans existed and the fact that the elites were mad murderers to keep their descendants safe.

Like without the context of her motives, Rhea CAN seen in a pretty negative light. She suddenly goes from a mother/grandmother/wife/daughter who's got issues and is trying to protect her relatives and fodlann with her position while trying to turn some homuncili into her mom, to a dragon lady who's been in head of a major religion that she made up for centuries who actively stiffled/slowed down fodlann's scientific/academic growth for unknown reasons.

as for the tech thing, i mean, we see most of the tech inside garreg mach itself and nobody acknowledges any bans so it clearly was an extremely long time ago that they were taken down. also, edelgard never mentions these things as her reasons for war (or at all) so i don’t even think she’s aware of them so how could they color her view? like edel canonically doesn’t know about the homunculi so why would she find it sus?

Like if you didn't know about Rhea's whole deal, she'd look pretty suspiscious. This isn't me saying "edelgard completely right church bad! Rhea is evil!".

like i said above, all of rhea’s more suspicious behavior is never mentioned by edelgard. and everybody else in the game seems to like rhea well enough and not find her suspicious and all the crimes edelgard espouses are lies so what even is there that would turn her off from the archbishop other than the ‘beasts hiding in human skin’ thing.

the only character that has real legitimate reasons to not trust rhea due to personal experience and rhea’s extremely suspicious behavior is jeralt which he talks about in his journal. but that’s noting war worthy.

I'm more trying to say Edelgard was SORT of right in being suspiscious of everyones favorite lizard pope, but jumped to WAY too fast onto the conclusion of "The church is definitely evil, because crest=bad and crest=blessings of the goddess, therefore church=bad!"

i’m sure ionius had a hand in this since edel talks about how she has information about the church from him that’s been passed down from emperor to emperor (basically a centuries old game of telephone). what was told? who fucking know. she never says.

Rhea WORST 'crime' at most as leader of the church is that she was pretty passive as leader of the church.

is that the worst crime though? i mean, it’s a damned if you do and a damned if you don’t situation. rhea isn’t a queen, she isn’t an emperor, she’s a spiritual leader. she can’t force people to do anything outside of her staff at garreg mach. hell, she has no presence in adrestia, the western church hates her, and the eastern tries to help in the alliance but the nobles don’t listen to them.

the alternative is for her to grab actual political power and involve herself in the politics of the other nations and make laws that you have to follow the church’s teachings which is… uh… bad. thank goodness she doesn’t bc i wouldn’t be able to defend that lol

Like, apart from trying to keep the peace as a whole and hiding technology for a while until she decided (maybe arbitrarily maybe not) that humanity was ready for it, she seemed *largely* content with the state of things as a whole.

but she isn’t though. that’s why she’s trying to revive sothis in the first place. she isn’t satisfied with how things are and she’s actively trying to being back fodlan’s golden age through sothis.

Granted, that strikes me less as her not giving a shit and more just her not knowing about some if the bad shit going on behind the scenes in Fodlann, and her going "Okay yeah thats bad. Buuuut when mom's back she'll be a way better leader and she'll make everything way better than I ever could. Back to studying and researching homunculi children so I can maybe shove my moms soul into one."

yeah. when it comes to twsitd and them fucking shit up in the background she isn’t aware that it’s them. after the war of heroes the church had tried to uncover who helped nemesis since the church is suspicious of the fact that a simple bandit was able to commit so much horror on his own. they believed that he had accomplices who helped him, and with good reason. however, no matter how hard they looked they never discovered the puppet masters behind everything since twsitd covered their tracks and nobody knows they exist. the church eventually gave up the search in favor of helping the people and tried their best to put the incident behind them. and by the time of the game it’s been over a thousand years so i’m pretty sure that rhea believes them to be dead lol

then like you said at some point rhea starts her plan to fix fodlan through sothis again.

That's my take anyway. Basically if Rhea and the lords had a group therapy session a lot of tragedy could have been avoided. Alas therapists don't exist in fire emblem, just look at the various characters with underlying trauma that they havent dealt with.

very true.

[phantaloon-books]

(some) Riordanverse characters (bc I never read TKC) and which Hogwarts House I think they would be in

Warning: this is a long one

Nico: the dude is definitely Gryffindor without a doubt. Like Sorting isn't about some traits and some characteristics, it's about core personality. He may have gone through some of the roughest stuff when he was 10-12, and he was resentful and bitter, but he was brave and bold af throughout everything he did. From learning about his powers, to using them relentlessly despite knowing how exhausted he is afterwards, to his willingness to do whatever is necessary to do what has to be done, because it has to be done. You can't change my mind that he's Gryffindor lol.

Grover: Do I even need to explain why he's Gryffindor? He's a satyr, and even if we're shown strong satyrs, they're not really supposed to be brave fighters. Yet he is one of the strongest, bravest nature spirits we've ever encountered in the Riordanverse, and one of the bravest in general. Like he's so passionate about doing what is good, he's a hero, and the only thing he doesn't match with common Gryffindors is that he's humble and as far from arrogant as could be possible, but it doesn't take his courage away.

Hazel: She's Gryffindor, and core personality-wise, she and Nico are very much alike. They don't ever think about themselves, like Hazel really always does what has to be done, no matter the cost, I mean she literally died preventing Gaea to rise the first time, and she freed Thanatos while believing he would take her back to the Underworld. She's brave af, and she has one of the most strong willpower we've seen in the Riordanverse. She's a passionate hero, and she's the closest thing to a real knight in shining armor.

Lester: I'm gonna place him in Gryffindor because I don't think he fits in in the other houses lmao. That said, as Apollo he's very shitty, but as Lester, he's one of the most courageous people. He's grown so much, he's so willing to actually do stuff now, and sacrifice everything to do what's right, including his life, even if he doesn't know he's gonna survive. Hell, he really went most of TTT with an incredibly painful wound that nearly turned him undead, and he cared more for the future of Camp Jupiter than his own life. Additionally, he's a bit arrogant and cocky, but he truly means well, I love Lester so much.

Clarisse: Look look, all I have to say is that no one could have pulled off less than half the stuff Clarisse has done, she's so Gryffindor it hurts. She's reckless and impulsive, but she's driven by her passion to do good, even if she's the daughter of war, and was bullied by her own father. She's daring, she's bold and she is the hero. She's also arrogant and thinks she can solve everything by herself, something characteristic more of the canon Gryffindors in the books, rather than what the fans have shaped. In fact, she's very much like Gryffindors in the books, who are actually very rude to other houses and think they're the best. Still, at heart, she's in this house.

Alex: I'm in a huge dilemma about where to put them, but I reckon they'd fit pretty fine in Gryffindor. Not only are they daring and courageous, they're proud of who they are, but not in a too full of themselves kind of way, rather in a 'I am who I am, and if you can't accept me, fuck off' kind of way. They can get carried away rather easily though, and very arrogant, thinking they don't need anyone else, when they do in fact need some company. They are one of the kindest and at the same time most ambitious characters we've met, but they are brave beyond understanding in a very personal way, thus, Gryffindor.

Percy: I think it's fair to say he'd be Hufflepuff, because loyalty is literally his fucking fatal flaw, and he is the kindest sweetheart to all those who deserve it, he goes out of his way to help those who need help, whether that be mortals, halfbloods, gods, magical creatures or even his own enemies. He's too good for this world, and even if he's grown a bit bitter, he always looks to fight justly for what is right, and never loses faith in others. That, and the fact that he turned down immortality so that the olympians were more inclusive of minor gods, and their children were treated better. He's just a lovely soul, he's like 80% Hufflepuff so that's enough for me. All that and he's stubborn as hell.

Jason: Hufflepuff. Just, undoubtedly Hufflepuff. Like he seems to be this cold and self centered hero with a superiority complex (bc of all the son of Jupiter stuff) but he's the softest guy there is. Not only is he hardworking, open minded and kind, he appreciates justice but he doesn't seek for revenge or anything, he makes sure people are treated fairly and wants everyone to be accepted. Proof of that is how he continued Percy's job of including more gods, and made sure Nico felt comfortable with who he was. He truly has a heart of gold. (He deserved better btw)

Meg: God I can't decide between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, but I think I'll go with the former. She's so strong, my baby, she's faced so much wrong, but she's still so kind and understanding of others, especially those who deserve kindness. She puts up such a hard facade, but she's so patient and warm and inclusive. She's brave and strong (as strong as the big three kids, if not stronger), but she's also so loyal to her beliefs despite how she was forced someone else's beliefs for years, so I'll keep her in Hufflepuff. Also, she's stubborn af, and she can be lazy, so that settles it.

Will: I KNOW some people will say Will could be in other houses that are not Hufflepuff, BUT I won't have it any other way. Will is literally the warmest person ever. He is kind and sympathetic and enthusiastic and patient and inclusive. Like Helga Hufflepuff would take one look at him and lose her shit screaming "mine". He's the guy who saw the son of Hades so many people were scared of and immediately grabbed his hand and transfered him some warmth and didn't let him go ahead and get himself killed. He's also the one who everyone loves and likes, so much that Clarisse gets along with him and he can calm her down. He's the ideal Hufflepuff, you can't change my mind.

Magnus: I mean, what else can you expect from the son of the god of summer? He's literally a guy who heals others with warmth. He's also the guy who spent years on the street with the most difficult situations, and accepts every single person the way they are. He's inclusive af, and tolerant of everything. He's the guy who's closest include a deaf elf, a Muslim valkyrie, and a black dwarf, and he's dating a genderfluid person. Yes he's brave, and he's kinda smart, and he's ambitious, BUT none of those qualities overpower his Hufflepuff nature.

Piper: Kinda debated whether Gryffindor or Ravenclaw fits more, but in the end I went with Ravenclaw. Even though she isn't a fighter, she's very very brave, yet her bravery isn't compared to her wits. Like others in the PJOverse, she wins her fights by outsmarting her opponents, but unlike others that's one of her strongest traits. She's witty and creative and a little on the negative side, she really struggled to work in a group rather than by herself. On another note, she's able to keep calm in crazy situations and come up with the craziest most unthinkable solutions (I'm talking borderline ridiculous) that always somehow work. She's not booksmart, but she knows so much about everything, and she's lifesmart you know?

Reyna: Why are some of these so hard? Deeply debating whether she'd be Ravenclaw or Slytherin. In the end I'd go more for Ravenclaw though. Reyna's smart as hell, she's strong and sharp, and she always sees the best way out of a situation. She's witty and observant, being able to keep her cool in battle and lead others in the best direction. She's always looking to grow, and she prefers to do things on her own, but she's a great leader. She has some Slytherin qualities, and she's not learning as learning oriented as others, but she's definitely Ravenclaw.

Sam: Let's face it, Sam has the only active neurons in all of MCGA, she's definitely Ravenclaw. I'm gonna be honest though, I've only read MCGA once, so I can't remember much of their personalities, but Sam is witty and clever, pretty much the only one who can come up with competent plans, while the others rely mostly on luck and whatever plan they can cook up in 5 seconds. She's loyal and true to who she is, and she's extremely courageous and proud of who she is, but her sharpness is what she stands out for me, which is why I put her in Ravenclaw.

Annabeth: I know the obvious option is Ravenclaw, but I genuinely think she's also Slytherin. Yes she is booksmart and wise like Ravenclaw, but her personality matches Slytherins' ambitious, cunning and resourceful nature. She's smart as fuck, but she's calculative, she always finds a way to end up winning, and while she does so by outsmarting her opponents, she wouldn't need to outsmart them if she weren't so competitive. I feel like there's this 40/60 odds on Slytherin rather than Ravenclaw, but it's that small difference that counts. Plus her leadership skills are so powerful that people don't ask, they just know she's the boss.

(Also just picture the sweet and loyal Hufflepuff boy with the strong and cunning Slytherin girl, like it should be as opposite as it is with Poseidon and Athena, but they're so cute)

Leo: Idk what you can expect that's not Slytherin. This boy is the embodiment of ambition and determination. Reminder that not all Slytherins are bad btw (I'm slytherin myself), but like he's life smart and cunning, and he can analyze situations faster than anyone else. He's charismatic and talented, and there's no one to stop him from triumphing. I don't have much to say, I just know he'd be in Slytherin.

Rachel: She's kinda a difficult one, and I struggle between Gryffindor and Slytherin, and tbh I'm still not sure. But I think I'd place her in Slytherin, because even if she's brave af (especially since she was a mortal fighting in a war out of her power), her main trait is her determination. When she's set on something, she gets it done. You can't tell her she can't do something, because she will find a way to do it. She's kind, and she's only a mortal, but she still has incredible power unlike any other. I don't think I can really name it, but I think she'd be put on Slytherin with much difficulty from the Sorting Hat.

Luke: Where else could Luke possibly go? On the meaner side Slytherins have created themselves, Luke would be part of those misled by who preceded them, by those who want to take advantage of their mistreatment (bc let's face it, Slytherins are mistreated by both students and Hogwarts staff), and turn them cold and bitter. Luke is ambitious and manipulative, being manipulated himself, and it comes easily because of his natural charisma and talent. He's very freaking determined and cunning too. He'd fit right into Slytherin, but he'd be viewed as one of the rotten lot.

Thalia: I don't have much to say about this, but Thalia is the girl whose fatal flaw is their desire for power (or smth along those lines), just like most Slytherins. She's ambitious, she's smart, she's truly talented, she stands out between the rest, and she knows it, and she actually kinda likes it.

(Also I put Annabeth, Thalia and Luke in the same house because they're all kinda similar, even if their beliefs and postures are different.

Frank: Ngl I'm having more difficulty with Frank than anyone else. I'm kinda torn between Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. I literally can't choose. He'd fit perfectly in any of them lmao, I just can't decide where he'd go. You decide this one yourself.

Please keep in mind, this is my personal opinion and my take on the characters, and not all of you will agree, and that's fine! You can let me know what you think (kindly please, don't come at me), and if you want to, send me an ask on a character you want me to do the same as these (as long as it's not TKC, I'M SORRY I haven't read those) go ahead, don't be shy!

[welcome-to-afterlife]

Wannabe Challenge Kpop AU Headcanons

I know that no one requested this, but I had this idea stuck in my head for a while now. It took quite some time to get down, but I'm finally done!

Role: Leader, Main Vocalist, Center

Taehee was the first member of the group to be recruited by ST Entertainment. He had a charismatic yet soft aura that drew all the girls on audition day. Immediately, the entertainment company knew that Taehee would become part of their label.

However, it took him a good 5 years before the company decided that he was ready for debut. It was within this time that he learned how to avoid the entertainment industry's sleazy business practices, develop a strong image, and maintain constant motivation for debut. You could say he subconsciously preparing to he a leader by trying to himself afloat for 5 years.

Once he finally got to debut, Taehee was chosen to be the leader of the group. Although Hansol seemed like the more obvious choice, Hansol thought that Taehee would be a better fit since Taehee already knew a lot about the entertainment industry due to his experience. Besides, he was the only one who was mature and emotionally-equipped to lead a group.

As for Taehee's abilities, his strongest suit is his singing. While he wasn't the strongest singer at the start of his training, he ended up become one of the best vocalists in the company. His voice has a unique color that radiates smoothness with a hint of attitude. He's able to hit high notes, but he's a lot better at belting -- especially when he's feeling emotional.

Perhaps this is the reason that Taehee excels in elegant concepts. His graceful movements along with his princely facial expressions make him the star on the stage. Think of songs such as "I'm in Trouble" by NU'EST, "Blue Flame" by ASTRO, and "Not By the Moon" by GOT7. It's like he belongs on an icy throne in a golden palace.

Surprise, surprise: he gets the most lines in their songs. Usually it's not by a lot, but sometimes ST gives some of Biho's lines to Taehee (much to the everyone's dismay). He's never comfortable singing those lines and tries to negotiate to give Biho more lines, but it doesn't always work. He gets quite the backlash for it, but unfortunately it's out of his control.

When interacting with fans, Taehee is usually very warm and kind. He's constantly asking about everyone's health and well-being, nagging fans to keep themselves at top priority. He doesn't want fans to ruin their lives because of their love for him and his group. He's also very earnest and mature, almost like a guardian angel to his fans. Wherever they go, his heart is always with them.

In the group, he's basically the dad. He's always looking out for the other members (yes, even Yooha). Just like his fans, his members' well-being is top priority. In lives, you'll probably see him in the background cooking food, cleaning dorms, and or scolding the other members for doing dumb things (that last reason is why he's also very likely to appear in crack videos).

However, he appears most often in "sassy moment compilations" because of his reactions. Taehee has even gone viral because he just straight up rolled his eyes at a variety show when they asked him uncomfortable questions and threw not-so-subtle shade. From then on, he's been dubbed as the "sassy king".

For side projects, his main path is acting. Taehee is a really good actor who played the main male lead in a critically acclaimed K-Drama. He played the sly but sweet love interest in a historical drama. The audience are always amazed at his ability to adapt to the time period so accurately.... it's almost as if he's lived there himself?

Role: Main Rapper, Lead Dancer, Vocalist

Originally, Yooha has started off as a model. However, staff from ST Entertainment saw Yooha and thought that his visuals would be perfect for the kpop business. They offered their business card to him and he decided to try out for fun. Fortunately, he nailed his audition and was admitted as a trainee immediately.

Yooha was the last person to join the company and had the shortest training time (1 year). His sudden arrival and decision to debut with the group created a rift between him and the other members. Taehee thought it was unfair that Yooha could debut with minimal training while Hansol was worried that Yooha's addition would affect the group's dynamic (in areas like line distribution, dance formation, etc).

However, he and the other members were forced to resolve their issues when he became Taehee's roommate at their dorm. Since it was Taehee's job to lead the group (including Yooha), the two had no choice but to bond.

Now before y'all yell at me that Yooha isn't main rapper material, just know that I had to give the position to someone. Secondly, Yooha has an alluring and deep voice voice that was perfect for rap. Also, he is really good at rapping in various beats and experiments with different flows. While he can do fast raps, he prefers to make ones that have a distinct rhythm and leave a lasting impact on the audience.

However, Yooha hadn't planned to debut as the group's rapper. His original role being the main dancer, but he jokingly rapped in an pre-debut interview and everyone fell in love with his voice. From that, ST Entertainment thought it would be best to make Yooha the rapper instead.

In fan interactions, Yooha is very slick and flirty. Whether it's in fanmeet, lives, or concerts, Yooha knows exactly how to steal the hearts of his fans. Just one wink is enough to make the entire stadium swoon over him.

However, he's also the crackhead of the group. If you search for the group's "crackhead moment compilations", 80% of the video will involve Yooha somehow. In fact, it's these moments that really boost his popularity within the group and skyrocket him to the 2nd most popular member in the group.

Sometimes, he manages to pull one over Taehee and becomes the most popular member. How does this happen? Well, whenever the group has a "bad boy"/sexy concept comeback, Yooha absolutely dominates the stage. Think of songs such as "Want" by Taemin, "7th Sense" by NCT U, and "Love Killa" by Monsta X. The sexy concept was made for him, so it's no surprise when everyone in the comments section thirsts over him. It's just enough to put him over the edge against Taehee in fan voting.

He also has the most risque outfits. Yooha has an amazing body and he knows it, so why keep it hidden? His wardrobe is filled with experimental pieces that show of his abs, forearms, and everything in between. It's the reason why he's voted "Best Dressed" on every voting app.

Yooha is also a smooth dancer. His fluidity and confidence amplifies his sex appeal on stage, which often causes fans to confuse him as the group's main dancer. He's also has killer facial expressions that maintain his striking stage presence, making it impossible to keep your eyes off of him.

When Yooha isn't rocking the stage, you'll probably see him on magazines and commercial shoots. Photographers just can't get enough of his visuals, so they constantly bring him back for more modeling. He'll even dabble his feet in web dramas, but it doesn't last for long due to the scheduling conflicts between the web dramas and his music career.

Position: Main Dancer, Main Vocalist, Producer, Face of the Group

Hansol started his music journey long before ST Entertainment. He had been creating music as early as elementary school (mainly him bashing wooden sticks on the table and strumming rubber bands). However, he really got to develop his passion on high school-- where he dedicated his time towards music production and music theory.

Thus, Hansol had his own YouTube channel where he created covers of different artists and snippets of songs that he created on his own. From that, he amassed a small following of 25K subscribers. This audience attracted ST Entertainment, who took a liking to his videos and asked him whether he wanted to be a trainee. Hansol gladly took the offer.

Hansol was the 2nd member to join ST and trained for 3 years. Although the company had given him the opportunity to debut immediately, Hansol wanted to wait until he reached his full potential.

While Hansol originally was the leader of the group (since he already had a fairly stable music presence), he had to product all their music. This ate up leadership time, which Hansol was having difficulty in managing. Besides, he thought that Taehee was more mature than him and thought Taehee would do a better job as a leader. Hansol ended up handing the leader role to Taehee before debut.

Hansol's production has been praised by critics, fans, and other producers. His vision for the song helps the group distinguish themselves from the other acts in the entertainment industry and create their own identities as a group. Sometimes he writes songs with Biho (or by himself) to better convey his emotions onto their group's album.

Hansol is the group's ace: he can sing, dance, and even rap. He's equally talented at singing and dancing, so he decided to take main positions for both skills. In his singing, Hansol has a high-pitched voice that makes it easy for him to hit high notes and belt to his heart's content. In fact, many of his lines in the songs are his adlibs (which give the song that extra spice).

Hansol's dancing style is sharp and energetic. There's a lot of power in his movements with playful facial expressions (in contrast to Yooha's powerful, sexy style). This allows him to steal the spotlight when the group has a playful and upbeat comback (think "Energetic" by Wanna One, "Sha La La" by Pentagon, and "BBUSYEO" by ONEUS). His bright grin is enough to light up the entire stadium while keeping fans engaged throughout the performance.

The group's debut turned out pretty successful thanks the Hansol's YouTube fanbase. With his enlarged presence, Hansol is the "Face of the Group"-- the most recognizable member to the general public. While he isn't the most popular within his group's fans, Hansol is the most liked across the general public.

Hansol's personality around fans is very bubbly. He loves playing up his cute, boyish charms to win over the fans (especially when they drool over Yooha). There's a lot of winking, heart signs, pouting, and hugs whenever Hansol interacts with his fans.

Within the group, Hansol is the baby. Although he isn't the youngest, he acts the most immature. He's always nagging the other members and trying to prove his manliness, but it's more like a puppy trying to intimidate a pack of wolves.

For side projects, Hansol would have a solo debut. He'd produce all the music on his album while collaborating with Biho for songwriting. Since it's his solo career, Hansol would have much more creative control-- allowing him to fully explore every corner of his artistry. He plans to continues his solo career long after the group disbands too.

Position: Lead Vocalist, Rapper, Songwriter, Visual, Maknae

Biho was the 3rd member to join ST Entertainment. Out of the 4, he was the only one who submitted a formal audition tape to ST Entertainment and got accepted through the traditional audtion process. What made his audtion special was that he performed his own song-- a love song to his future lover. The judges absolutely loved his vibe and voice, so they couldn't pass this opportunity.

When Biho became a trainee, he always felt insecure about his skills. Even though he was talented, Biho was training with the likes of Taehee and Hansol, who were already experienced and seasoned professionals. Biho thought he'd be holding his group back, but the other members assured him that his presence made a significant impact on the group.

And honestly, it really did because Biho wrote most of their songs. His lyrics were both thought-provoking and poetic. He was never afraid of writing music about the things on his mind (whether it was love, fear, anger, or sadness). However, editing the lyrics took a lot of time as Biho only wanted to make the best content for his fans. Sometimes he lets Hansol write music with him.

Biho's strength lies in his singing (like most of the other members). His voice is soft and breathy, almost like a lullaby wrapping you in a soft blanket. No matter how you're feeling, Biho's voice is guaranteed to calm your nerves and take to your safe place.

Biho is also known for his looks. Although Yooha is the group's top model, Biho's face is the perfect canvas for all types of makeup styles. Although he doesn't realize it, fans love the duality between his soft persona and his darker one. Many are surprised that Biho is able to make the switch for sexier concepts and absolutely die when he does.

However, Biho shines the most with soft boy concepts. It's the image that he's had for the longest and is most comfortable with. Besides, the more thoughtful and heartfelt songs are where his lyrics get to shine through-- making him extra happy. For reference, the best examples of soft boy songs that suits Biho would be "Spring Day" by BTS, "Don't Wanna Cry" by SEVENTEEN, "Blue Hour" by TXT.

In fan interactions, Biho is extremely warm and a tad bit shy. He's always blushing when fans compliment him and showers his fans with a bunch of love in return. He likes to take his fans' hands and sincerely thank them for their support because his group would be nothing without them.

In fact, Biho is the most likely to get emotional while performing. The fact that there are so many people who are willing to listen to his music and his message is something that he could barely dream of. He will be forever indebted to their kindness, which is why he tries go provide his fans with all a lot of content (lives, Q+As, pop-up fansigns).

In the group, Biho isn't much different. In fact, he's the member whose idol persona matches his real personality the most. He's always cheering hisnother members from the side and gushing about how amazing they are. Sometimes he likes to throw an occasional jab at Yooha though (especially when Yooha is feeling himself too much).

For side projects, Biho is working on a book! He already has a collect of poems that was published, which has recieved high praise from critics and other poets. He also spends time writing songs for other groups, especially ones that come from small, poor companies.

[cowboyjen68]

Hi Jen!! Thank you so much for your blog and the hope you give!! I'm 17 and I'm from a small conservative town in the South. I'm a lesbian and being out to more than 3-4 people is not at all a possibility for me right now. Thankfully I've been able to cultivate a small circle of fellow queer people, but I always struggle with the sense that in some way I am the most 'knowledgable' or 'eldest' queer person there. This isn't true! I often feel hopeless and directionless holding my identity so close to my chest and not being able to express myself or have the same teenage experiences as my straight peers. I carry a lot of fear about being outed. But I don't want to let my friends down or make them think that being queer is a sorrowful thing. How do I balance this and be both a good friend and genuine to my feelings?

every time i see lesbians in media there’s always a part of me that’s like they’ll end up liking men eventually' not always because of how the characters are written. I’m pretty sure this is a sign of internalized homophobia and still seeing lesbianism as a phase. do u have any tips do dealing with this? it makes it hard to genuinely enjoy lesbian media :/

Answer:  You highlight a lot of complex feelings that we, as lesbians (and many LGBT+) young people feel. Often we are the “token” gay in our friend group, or the most secure in our sexuality,  and we take on that pressure to represent “our people”.  But the fact is, it is not our job to be the perfect shining example of a lesbian, especially when doing so can endanger our us. 

It is possible your friends look to you because you have natural leadership and charisma or a calming way of existing that gives them hope for happiness in a world where LGBT+ people are often told that life is going to be lonely and miserable simply because of their natural state of attraction. You can be positive and still have bad day and Still be a proud lesbian and not shout it from the roof tops (that moment will come..just not now). 

The beauty of being a lesbian is we exist in a vacuum. If we are in a forest alone we are still attracted solely to women and not outside opinion, perception or validation is required. We just are. So you can be exactly as you are and be true to who you are even if only you know it. Having a few friends to be out to is a gift and I am glad you have it. They likely understand many of the same emotions you have so never be afraid to admit  that existing as a lesbian in a culture that fetishizes us, calls us names and demeans our attraction as benign or a phase is not always easy because the fact that you are doing so is a testament to your strength.

 Sometimes we can’t clap our hands in celebration of ourselves because we are too busy dusting ourselves off from being knocked down. Others see that and recognize the power you hold. 

As to media.. for SURE!  I spent a childhood being exposed to characters that behaved and felt in every way like a lesbians and with no exception they ended up with a boy (or man). I even shot a Tiktok about it. We soon become conditioned to the idea that no matter her appearance or her energy.. the woman always ends up happiest with the man. After a while it can sink in and make us mistrust our own feelings. “Will I out grow it”?   “Is it a phase?”  The good news.. There are many examples of real life lesbians who are out and happy and ended up with the girl!  Find them. Look to lesbians living off screen and in the world. 

This is why I encourage older lesbians to remember to be visible. It is easy to settle into domestic life and forget that other generations need to see “us”. 

[minbobs]

Bad Guy

SUMMARY — you were the best recruit they had on the team, and they decided you were finally ready for your first job as an official officer, but your heart was bigger than your brain and ruined it all for you.

TYPE — criminal / officer au

PAIRING — lee jeno x reader

WARNINGS — jeno being an annoying little shit , robbery , idk bad shit , kinda sexual tbh

WORD COUNT — 4k

A/N — i apologise if there’s any mistakes, i haven’t read over and will probably forget to later.

you'd been training for this day for almost three years now, and you felt as if you were ready for it. you'd spent majority of your time learning the different procedures and techniques of law enforcement, what it meant to have leadership and how to show it, the defensive tactics you needed and many other things that took time and practice to completely understand and perfect. the amount of time you'd spent at the academy led to you slowly losing friends, only leaving mina, the other girl at the academy. however, the loss of friends didn't affect you, in a bad way at least. it motivated you to carry on, because it didn't matter about others, it was for you and you only.

when talking to other recruits, taeyong always used you as the prime example of what the perfect student at the academy should act like and look like; it may have caused people to somewhat dislike you for being so 'perfect', but if taeyong liked you then they also had to like you, because they'd get a lecture on how it's bad to despise your peers.

it was a wednesday morning, around eight thirty am when you'd received a phone call from the academy. you weren't supposed to be there that day, so you were still fast asleep in your warm, comfortable bed — the one thing that could possibly stop you from wanting to leave the house for training.

when the ringing started, you opened your eyes and sat up, stretching as far as possible to stretch every muscle to the point where it was satisfying. eyeing up the phone, you wondered if you should even pick it up, when you could really just lie down and go back to sleep, because you were asleep and it was a perfect excuse.

despite that thought, you yawned and grabbed the phone.

"hello?" you spoke sleepily, putting your head back down on your fluffy pillow, resting your eyes. you were so uninterested in the phone call already, that you almost fell asleep until you heard the voice on the other side.

"hello? this is y/n l/n isn't it?" the voice of taeyong asked, and you quickly rose from your bed and was immediately wide awake.

"uh, yes it is!" you spoke almost too enthusiastically, making you cringe. that'd definitely be on your mind later.

"i just called to say that we'd like you to come down the the station at around twelve pm. we have some important news to speak to you about, we hope to see you there." before you could get any words out, the call ended abruptly.

was it good news? was it bad news? the possibility could go from you getting your first mission on the team to getting kicked out. not to be too vain, but you could see it leaning more towards your first mission.

you had time, but you were way too excited to go back to sleep. finally, you left your bed with a small groan because you really didn't want to leave it, but there was really no point of you being in it so you should do something productive.

that's if you call mixing different cereals together in a bowl and eating it while watching the umbrella academy for the second time productive.

eventually, it reached eleven am, meaning you should probably get moving. so at that, you got up finally and changed into the uniform the academy had given you and grabbed your keys from the side. you'd only just gotten your drivers license, so you were still wary about driving. you didn’t actually want a car when you could just get mina to drive you places because she’s always free, but it was part of the job.

"we've decided that you're ready for your first job. we've been tracking down a group of young boys that have been going around to different stores and stealing a different assortment of items. they've even been caught on cctv threatening the store owners for the money in the tills. we have an idea about where abouts they are, and we need your help to find them." taeyong took a seat in his chair, and yours eyes widened from what he said.

"are you sure? what if i completely mess it up and don't find anything?" you asked and he gave a small smile.

"don't worry, this isn't like school y/n. you won't get in trouble for it. as your first job it'll make it much easier for jaehyun and i to give you pointers on what to do next time." you nodded, you felt less nervous from that. "but as officers, you get jobs whatever time, whenever. so unfortunately for you, you don't have enough time to prepare. the job is starting right now." he spoke and you almost felt like shouting at him — the nerves had one hundred percent come back.

all you did was say 'ok', before standing up to walk out of the door, going to one of the meeting rooms. before you had a chance to leave, taeyong spoke up.

"just, don't worry ok? we don't know if it's their actually hide out, so please don't feel upset with yourself if you don't find anything.

now you were in a car, of which mina was driving. she was basically your designated driver, you really didn't trust anyone else to drive you places; not even yourself yet.

"i don't understand why you're so nervous, taeyong told you not to worry and it's your first time doing something like this. if it makes you feel any better, i overheard taeyong and jaehyun and they said not even yuta could catch them. apparently they're really smart kids, i think they're around your age too." mina spoke, and you gave a sigh. yuta was the best at his job, and the idea of him not being able to catch a bunch of sixteen to twenty year olds.

when you arrived on the 'site', jaehyun, taeyong, yuta and a few others were already there.

"ah y/n! we're going to send you off with jaehyun down that way. you'll go down the right side of the building and he'll go down the left side. if you need help, use this." taeyong passed you a walkie, then walked off only leaving you with jaehyun and mina.

"remember what i said, you'll do good y/n i promise." mina whispered in your ear before walking off back to her car. being reassured by mina was nice and something you needed. all through your life since you've known her she's always reassured you and it's brought you to be who you are today; strongly disliked by most people, but it didn't hurt you in any way.

"come on, let's go." jaehyun said and you followed him to the building. it was quite small, not as big as all the others ones in the abandoned place. it was all wrecked, parts of the walls had collapsed and it seemed really unstable and unsafe to go inside — it was probably why they were only letting you go around the outside. "if you need anything, use the walkie. it's connected to mine and taeyong's." jaehyun walked off to his side of the building, leaving you by your used and with a fast beating heart.

you had completely forgotten these were actually criminals, these people had actually committed crimes and you'd only just remembered that. you'd left your thoughts finally, and had a feeling you had eyes on you, you thought that maybe jaehyun was still here secretly, but when you looked the person standing around the corner definitely wasn't jaehyun. when they noticed you saw them, they quickly went back around the corner.

you breathed in deeply and closed your eyes, replaying everything you'd learnt in your head, every single piece of information you remembered, you felt ready. so you walked with a hand on your gun in your pocket just in case. the closer you got to the corner, you were starting to think about backing out, and just saying you didn't find anything. but you knew that was wrong, and you couldn't do it.

as you turned the corner of the building, you were pressed up against the wall, and a hand over your mouth; your arms were pressed behind your hands so you could reach for the walkie to even get anyone's attention. the person in front of you had black hair parted in the middle — you couldn't lie by saying he wasn't the most beautiful human being you'd ever seen.

"please, please don't tell them you found us. please, i'm begging you." he whimpered, his eyes beginning to water. you started to become less tense, and you were starting to feel some sort of sympathy. he removed his hand off you mouth, and you gave him a glare.

"why shouldn't i? you've been stealing from stores and threatening people. you should be in jail." you tried to push his arms off you, but he was clearly much stronger than you, and you were starting to feel fear.

"we only do it because we don't have anything else, just leave us be. i promise that if you ever find us again, we'll let you take us." he was breathing heavily, and his eyes were becoming teary. he was a criminal, and he shouldn't be forgiven, but you had a weak heart and you were starting to realise, maybe you just weren't fit for this job.

"go." you spoke almost emotionally, and you looked down in guilt thinking about how taeyong would feel if he found about this — his best student let him down, on purpose. you didn't even try hard.

"thank you so much." he mumbled, then ran off down the side of the building. i sighed, wiping the sweat from my forehead, that wasn't even the worst something could have been.

"did she fall for it? dude, if she did i'm signing you up as an actor, because you just tricked a cop into having sympathy for you." jaemin jumped over the ripped up couch they had in what they would call a living room. jaemin was one of the boys that usually stayed put, he would be the one flirting with the store owner while some of the others stole whatever they needed.

"of course she did, i really deserve an oscar, i even fake cried. it was quite easy to be honest, because it wasn't leader boy taeyong or their 'best cop' yuta, what cop doesn't know how to chase down a bunch of teens? i think she was new, i haven't seen her before." the boys had been in trouble with the police on multiple occasions, at this point they were now the main criminals the police were after.

a bunch of young boys they just wanted to spend their life in the most adventurous way.

"you probably scared the poor girl to death, you really could've just pretended you were a random guy walking around, this place isn't blocked off. because now she knows what you look like, well done." renjun rolled his eyes, eating a packet of doritos that they'd recently stolen from one of the stores. 

renjun didn't really do much to do with the boys, he just took care of them all. he cooked for them with the help of jaemin, he made sure they felt safe where they were. all because he was scared of losing them.

"they're invading our privacy, i'd just say were six, innocent boys that got kicked out of our parents houses because they didn't care about us." renjun rolled his eyes at donghyuck's response, the orange haired boy looked like the fluffiest person alive, but he really wasn't — he was the most dangerous one of the group, the one who was treated the worst. he wasn't scared to go up to someone and threaten them, hurt them. and that scared the others too.

"renjun where are the other doritos, i swear we took more than one packet." jisung walked into the room, smiling when he finally saw jeno was back. jisung was a lookout, he stayed at their, well home, watching out for any people and jeno was the first to leave to lead them away when jisung was worrying over the police outside.

honestly, jeno really could not care less if he went to prison, but there was no way he could leave his friends behind and be split from them because it would have broke him.

"i ate it, sorry." chenle giggled, running away as jisung ran after him shouting over the face he claimed that packet.

"i kinda feel bad about it you know? it was easy to get rid of her, but she was new clearly and probably trained for that shit for years, and i just ruined it for her." he mumbled, taking a seat and taking a deep breath. jaemin patted his back with a smile on his face.

"well you did it buddy, we're proud of you." renjun stood up whispering 'it was a stupid decision' under his breath. renjun really hated the way they did things, but he knew it was the way they survived, and he was already in a bad mood today after jaemin and donghyuck had a bad argument of which he had to spend time sorting out.

"i guess i'll just have to hope i don't have to do that again."

when you got back, you told taeyong you hadn't found anything and the whole place was abandoned, that one comment had threw off the whole job because they decided to search in other places on the other side of town, where the group of boys weren't set.

it had been a couple of days since then, and everything was starting to get messy for you. you couldn't concentrate nor could you sleep at night thinking about the boy you'd encountered. you'd learnt so much about how important it was to check people's body language, but you hadn't once looked at him below his face because he scared you. you weren't fit to go against criminals.

one night, you decided to just go on a little walk in hope that it would calm you down a little bit. grabbing your coat, you walked outside and breathed in the fresh air. it was late at night, maybe around eleven pm. when you still lived with your parents, you used to sneak out a lot when you were younger for these types of walks. you used to go to the same park every time but you moved farm far away from there and it saddened you that you couldn't go there now — you would've been a lot calmer there instead of walking down the streets walking past closing shops, making it become slightly darker as the light from the shops were off.

behind you, light footsteps were heard and you swallowed the lump in your throat, starting to walk faster. looking around, you looked for any signs of open shops you could go in but there was nothing. everything was closed. you brought up the courage to turn around, and noticed an extremely tall man behind you.

"are you following me?" you asked and he gave a small smirk, yeah, he was definitely following you. "are you going to answer or not? i don't have time for this."

"i just couldn't help myself, you just looked so delicious." you gagged at his words, you almost laughed. it was disguising, he looked disgusting, his teeth were pure yellow and his clothes were ripped, his hair was extremely greasy.

"i'd appreciate it if you left me alone, i've got things to do and you're interrupting it." you didn't know where this sudden confidence in yourself had come from, but you liked it. he reached in to grab your arm, and you tried to move from his grip but he was much stronger than you. "get  your hands off me, in work at a police station and i could get you sent down right now with one push of a button. now get the fuck of me." you scowled, but the man continued to drag you into the alley way right next to you, how convenient for him.

pushing you up against the wall, his face was getting closer and closer to you, then you remember, he has a dick. so, you lifted your knee up high and used all of the energy you had to knee him, causing him to groan in pain and pull away from you. you tried running, but it didn't work as he grabbed you leg, pulling you back and pushing you down on the floor.

"i like the ones who try to get away." he whispered in your ear, dragging his lips from your ear down to your neck and you whimpered, you were absolutely terrified. that was until the man was ripped away, but your vision had gotten blurry so you had no idea who it was and could only hear the voices of others.

"jeno, get off him you're killing him!"

"no,no i'm enjoying watching this, this dick deserves to die. i swear we've come across him about five times doing the same thing, i think we should let him kill him this time."

"jae, we'll get in trouble. jeno will be in deep shit do you want that?"

"yah, i didn't think of that... hyuck pick up the girl, we can't just leave her here."

you felt arms wrap around your waist and you wanted to fight back but slowly, you were passing out. and everything was black.

when you finally opened your eyes, you were in a somewhat familiar place. it felt like you'd been there before. it was kind of bright so your eyes were hurting, but you sat up quickly to the smell of food.

"oh, she's awake. hi, i'm chenle!" a blonde haired boy appeared in front of you causing you to fall off the couch you were on and let out a small squeak. "woah, are you ok?"

"am i ok? i have no idea where i am!" you shouted, making the blonde haired boy flinch. you felt sort of bad, he seemed innocent enough, and you'd basically scared the crap out of him.

"jesus fucking christ could you be any loude- oh, that wasn't chenle making all the noise this time." another boy appeared from behind the couch and you were official in complete confusion. you remembered everything that happened last night, but you don't remember being in an abandoned building. and it hit you, these were the boys you were supposed to be searching for. "i'm jaemin, do whatever you want with that information i guess."

"i have food!" and now more people were walking into the room, and you recognised one right off the bat.

"it's you! you're the one that i almost arrested but didn't!" you shouted as you stood up, and the dark haired boy rolled his eyes and groaned.

"and you're the one that almost got me in shit when i was doing nothing wrong." he spoke and you placed your hands in your face.

"do you realise how much trouble i could get in for being here? i could get fired and i've hardly even started yet. i need to go-" you stood up and grabbed your stuff which was placed next to the couch, your coat was folded nicely and your phone, credit card and things like that were placed on the table in front of it.

you were sort of confused of why they didn't steal from you, put parts of your brain were telling you it was rude to assume they stole from everyone.

"no, before you go, promise you won't say anything about us." one of them grabbed your arm, and he looked slightly more petite then the others, less stronger, but strong non the less.

you sighed and looked at them all, "i promise i won't say anything about you."

and from that day on, you became the six boys favourite person. you become good friends with them despite it being a sin to your job, but they were the cutest things alive, you wouldn't think they'd be going around stealing, you really couldn't get over it.

something unusual had developed between you and jeno to which you didn't understand, it was like you disliked each other but we're the closest in the group at the same time. despite that, everything was getting better for them because of you. you'd helped them furnish the place a bit better, with the money you were getting from your job as an officer — ironic.

"y/n! donghyuck keeps hitting me again! i swear i didn't take your pillow, why in the fuck would i take your pillow?" jaemin shouted from across the room and you almost had ripped donghyuck's hair. today had been ten times harder to cope with them all.

"i'll take care of it, don't worry. maybe you should go take a nap or something, you seem really tired today." renjun smiled and placed a hand on my shoulder, i nodded my head and walked to one of the back rooms where the beds were. there were only six beds, so you just jumped on the first one you set eyes on.

after a few minutes, you heard a small chuckle, "what are you doing in my bed?" jeno asked and you felt the bed dip when he sat down.

"i'm tired, hyuck and jaemin won't shut up, jisung and chenle are being hype and it seems like you and renjun are the only sane ones around here." you mumbled, turning around to face him.

the more you turned up here, the more you realised how pretty each and every feature of jeno was, and just looking at him made you happy.

"why are you staring at me?” he asked, you quickly looked away and you could feel him smirking at you, he knew exactly what you were thinking. “hey, look at me.” you turned your head, and soon enough jeno’s hands were on your waist with your hands around his neck and his lips on top of yours.

even just from that, you were scared. it reminded you of that night all those weeks ago. you trusted jeno wholeheartedly, but even just his hands going under your shirt, making your burning hot skin freezing cold whenever he moved them.

“j-jeno...” you moaned lightly as his hands moved from your lips down your neck.

“it’s okay.” he mumbled on your skin, his hands were slowly moving to the waistband of your pants, but the mood was quickly interrupted when jaemin had burst into the room.

“guys, renjun made us food an- oh my god i knew this was going to happen but jesus, i didn’t want it to happen in front of me. i’ll just tell renjun to put your food i-” jaemin was rambling, and his face was slowly becoming redder and redder at the sight.

“could you, like, leave jaemin.” jeno asked and jaemin nodded, and shut the door.

you and jeno looked at each other, and immediately burst out laughing. there was no way the mood was going to go back to how it was before jaemin burst into the room.

“i was thinking, maybe i should leave the dream of being a police officer behind.” you lay next to each other, but jeno quickly sat up to look at you with a shocked face.

“what? why? when you first started coming here often you’d talk about all the things you did, how long you spent working for it.” he asked and you shrugged.

“i like you guys more than i like my job, i like you a lot more than my job.” she smiled, as his lips placed on yours again.

“i like you a lot too.”