#i especially really love the theme of like where the line between the supernatural and the scientific lies

[blackhholes]

Teen Wolf as Horror Subgenres

Season five A: Body Horror

[mamawasatesttube]

Okay I waited until you were done with WW87 to ask: please share your thoughts on Vanessa and the wild turns her story took? I’ve been really interested to hear your take as my dash’s premier DC Women Expert.

and GOD do i have thoughts on vanessa and the wild turns her story took!!!! i'm still sorting through them but MAN. it really just felt like they did NOT want to give her a break 😭😭😭

i really loved early vanessa's relationship with diana. i think one of the most striking things to me about perez's run was that he did really understand how to write a teenage girl who read like a teenage girl, and her preoccupation with things like comparing herself to her friends or struggling with school and juggling how it felt to be popular bc of her friendship with diana... it all struck a really nice contrast and balance to the supernatural and mythological and whatnot higher stakes stories going on with diana a lot of the time, and i thought the diana-julia-vanessa dynamic was overall really sweet. it's a little funny bc as i was reading, when i got to byrne's run i was actually like "i wonder if cassie and vanessa are ever going to meet, i bet they could have some fun interactions :)" and then. um. well.

overall i feel like silver swan vanessa was a) WHAT? and b) unfortunately rushed and never actually given space for the appropriate gravity and nuance it deserved. val's silver swan era got a lot better buildup and explanation than vanessa's imo. i think vanessa's silver swan era really suffered from having both major arcs with her coincide more or less with dc-wide crossover events starting up, first owaw and then identity crisis into omac stuff into infinite crisis.

because like - the shock of vanessa getting turned into the silver swan against her will could really have been something!!! however, pretty much all of it was offscreen and only really implicit. we see flashbacks and bits and pieces of ballesteros doing some insanely violating and horrifying shit to her, twice over even bc she gets kidnapped from the hospital and when she shows up again she's been horrifically altered with cybernetics grafted onto her body ? ? ?!? ?! ?!?! !! ! but at No Point in any of this do we actually get any more than a line or two about vanessa herself, how this happened to her, or how she's actually feeling under it all. i think that's partly because of the poor timing bc of the events, and partly also just her being used for shock value and more for diana's suffering (and to a lesser extent, julia's) instead of having her own consistent character arc.

i also think the fact that while brainwashed and tortured into being the silver swan, she did kill cassie's friend tammy, kind of got majorly glossed over, especially in her second appearance as the silver swan when people were going "she's a murderer????" and diana was like "well i'm granting her asylum anyways and taking care of her." like - don't get me wrong, i think that's very in character of diana, especially because she feels like she failed vanessa, but i think cassie in particular should've gotten to react to it more. i really liked the bit where cassie said to julia that if this worked out, she'd get her daughter back, but that tammy's mother would never get hers back. i wish cassie having those feelings got explored more - i didn't really like the parallel set up between vanessa vs cassie and ballesteros vs barbara minerva, re: themes of vengeance, because like... vanessa was a victim, but cassie shouldn't have to forgive her for killing her friend. these two concepts can coexist. (frankly, i would have LOVED an actual conversation between cassie and vanessa about this during/after vanessa's recovery.)

it's probably also due to timing stuff, but the plot threads with veronica cale being directly involved in torturing vanessa into the silver swan (and then threatening leslie about it) got Super dropped when identity crisis and the omacs stuff all started happening, and i think that's a shame because that plotline could've been the key to actually explaining what happened and why - it could've actually tied together the "vanessa got tormented by doctor psycho" and "vanessa ended up with ballesteros" bits because like. what. how. that feels like such a big deal to just leave to the background.

so i guess overall it's like... i don't hate it, i think it's a fascinating concept that has a lot of potential, but the execution was so rushed and so focused on diana and not on vanessa herself that it really just felt heavyhanded to me most of the time. (frankly i would also have loved to see val return as a civilian to confront and attempt to talk vanessa down, but that's probably also just personal taste.) i'm very curious what the original plans for her might've been before owaw and infinite crisis diverted them, though.

[hadtochangemyurlquick]

it's really late but here's the fic recs for clextober!!!

Day 1: Spirit Week! 

who are you wearing? by geralehane (@geralehane)

is your classic halloween soulmate au that, thanks to the quality of the writing, hits extremely hard everytime. for a simple concept i have layed awake at night thinking about it.

Day 2: Pumpkin Spice & Everything Nice 

A Bit of Clarity by Aphrodites Law (@aphrodites-law)

is a sweet fall themed supernatural au that I'm sure we all know and love but is always worth giving a shout out. everyone begins to get visions of their past lives and it's a coffee shop au. If you like soulmates, read this asap.

Day 3: Annual Fall Festival 

the river's deep (but I swam it) by isawet (@sunspill)

i love isawet's one shots and this collection of halloween prompt fills written in 2017 is some of my favorite that they've done. highly recommend to anyone who wants to stay in the halloween spirit. mostly modern aus and all absolutely perfectly bite sized while still remaining filling.

Day 4: Magical Nights 

oh where do we begin? (the rubble or our sins) by the_crownless_queen

this is one of those lost in the clexa tag one shots that i always think gets overlooked. i always wished they would continue it, but even as a one shot it is so fantastic to think about and adore, and absolutely worth the read.

Day 5: The Other Side 

breathe into my lips the life i do not have by ur_the_puppy (@ur-the-puppy)

ur_the_puppy's ability to put 40k words into one chapter and still have it be not only coherent but heart wrenching and gorgeous is unparalleled. this one follows clarke in a haunted house, falling in love with her roommate. would highly recommend if you need to cry and also feel joy but in the way zadie smith defines it.

Day 6: Vampires vs. Werewolves 

bleeding love by geralehane (@geralehane)

you know, i try to avoid reccing the same author twice in a rec list, but i could not decide between these two, and i gave up. especially since i'm supposed to be doing a reading rn lol. i can't telly ou how many times ive read this goddamn story and lost my fucking mind. it wouldn't be possible, honestly. young vampire clarke and elder vampire lexa fall in love. trust me.

Day 7: Free Day

Shifters by DreamsAreMyWords (@dreamsaremywords)

damw is fairly (and rightfully) well known in the fandom for specifically their ability with craft in the fantastical genre. I like to pick less well known fics for my free day and i have to say, this one is entirely overlooked. i love a zombie apocalypse and this is a total twist on the genre. the line "birth is always violent" has stayed with me not as just a powerful line but as a mantra to remind myself that becoming will hurt but is worth it. would highly recommend you move it up your marked for later lists.

[rikastrology]

magha + mulan (1998)

spoiler warning! nakshatras as movies i love

Everyone remembers a point in their lives where they saw their fathers as larger than life, supernaturally strong and omniscient. As we grew older, the scales began to fall off our eyes and we saw our father figures as the relatable, complicated, and ultimately vulnerable humans that they really were all along. The karmic route of a Magha seeks to capture the dazzled awe that our ancestors possess. 

The combination of Surya (Ego) and Ketu (Superego) means that the Magha’s ego must be swept aside to fulfil karmic duties. A leader does not doubt. A leader does not flinch. A leader does not buckle. Becoming a figurehead for something larger than the self makes the self larger in turn.

Pitru Dosha comes into importance for all Maghas. According to texts, sins committed by one’s ancestors can leave an imprint, weakening these Leo placements and potentially causing illness or bad luck. I recommend Maghas suffering for Pitru Dosha to chart their family trees and attempt to detect and remedy a common pattern of faults or failures in their ancestor’s lives. A good example is finding that your family has a history of alcoholism, and seeking lifelong sobriety to avoid falling into the same trap.

Furthermore, Magha Nakshatra is inherently tied to things built to last, from another time, like fine porcelain or knightly chivalry. Thus, Maghas are associated with edifying effects of “dharma” or righteousness. Maghas should avoid ignoring their moral compasses and actively speak up and take action regarding themes of justice, fairness, and equality.

Nevertheless, Maghas (especially male Maghas) often struggle with egotism and a superficial relationship with their loved ones, due to prioritising their careers/beliefs. (I find many Maghas received different treatment compared to their siblings; either favoured or neglected with a great amount of pressure. A Magha’s parent often viewed the native as an extension of themself). This blurring of lines between the parent and the child makes it difficult for some Maghas to understand the differences between what has to be done and what they want to be done.

In addition, female Maghas often find themselves in male-dominated professions, organisations, or spaces (E.g. Margaret Thatcher). In this case, they tend to face a great deal of patriarchal pressure, and must wrestle with consternation, infantilization, and unbelievably high standards. Due to this, Magha is still seen as an easier placement for men compared to women. Many Magha women compensated for this in previous generations with internalised misogyny, which is less common in the modern day, but should be avoided at all costs. Looking down on other women denigrates the maternal bloodline and can worsen Pitru Dosha.

To conclude, the boons of Magha are especially difficult to grasp in our modern globalist culture that sees looking to the past as unsound. Nevertheless, these natives must understand more than anyone else the concept that time is a flat circle. Looking to the peaks and troughs of history can help impart deep lessons necessary to build strong foundations for the future.

[noahsbookhoard]

🦇📚September 2024 Book Review (Part 1/4)📚🦇

Today is Halloween so in honor of that I pulled every spooky read from September and put them all together!

The Eyes Are The Best Part by Monika Kim

Ji-won's life has fallen apart since her father left her mother and her mother found a new boyfriend, George, a misogynist, condescending man who eyes out every Asian waitress. Adding to this stress due to her collegue studies and the persistent nice guy who won't take no for an answer, Ji-won starts having wierd dreams, dreams of bright blue, delicious looking eyeballs.

In terms of taboos, cannibalism ranks pretty high. It is deeply uncomfortable to hear stories about it yet it is an interesting question whwne it comes to moral vs survival. Yet I had never read a book that dived into the subject. What is interesting here is that Ji-won's hunger is 1) pretty specialised 2) entirely opportunistic and not driven by a need to survive. There's no point in judging the moral values of a fictional characters and I know that's kinda the point of horror as a genre but Ji-won's action sometimes made me really uncomfortable.

There is also a critique of misogyny and Asian fetishization which is well handled as far as I could tell. The father cheated and left with another woman, George to is cheating but he is even more disturbing than the whole eye eating thing, he is a creep, a cheater, demanding, borderline pedophile and just unsufferable as a person. If I was Ji-won I would have done more than hide is car keys in the fridge.

As for the end, it's wierd, it's just wierd. It's hard so say what was really murderous pulsions because George deserved it and what was Ji-won being sick, what was real and what was supernatural (if any of it was).

Overall it was a pleasant enough read in term of style. As for the theme I don't know if I like it or hate it. Maybe it's also a matter of setting, I usually like my horror a little bit less modern and down to earth but that is a matter of preference.

Ring Shout by P Djeli Clark

Just after World War I in the South of the US, the KKK is everywhere. Most of them are human, except among their ranks are hidden monsters just as dangerous as those men and women. Maryse and a group of resistant are fighting the Klan, through skirmish and sabotage but something more evil than before is brewing in Macon...

It has a really creepy but really cool twist on the Klan: there is still human member who embody the values of the KKK, and that's horrifying; but there are monsters with the same white form but wierd limbs, eyes and teeth. I love the author's way of introducing those supernatural elements: they are the first Klan members we see and it is unsettling to see them pounce on a dog carcass when you were expecting humans in costume. It's interesting to use real historical racist threats (the KKK, Birth of A Nation) and add to it a supernatural element while still maintaining the actual real life danger. It also raised the classic question: where is the line between man and monster?

I am neither American nor black so I can't really comment on the African American cultural aspects but they were really interesting and fitted well in the fantasy aspect of the novella as well as creating a contrast with the white side of Macon.

The characterization is great, I love the characters, Maryse and her comrade Sadie especially but the antagonist really brought the "Love To Hate Them" feeling for me. Also the Aunties, they are just the best.

I really liked it, but I might have appreciated even more with a deeper understanding of the period and the culture (too bad for me). Lots of actions, great characters and a really cool battle at the end, go for it!

What Moves the Dead (Sworn Soldier #1) by T Kingfisher

Alex Easton just arrived in the most rural and isolated part of Galicia at the request of Madeline Usher, a childhood friend. Her brother, Roderick, reveals what has been going on for the last months: Madeline is ill, dying probably. However some things sticks Easton as odd: why is Madeline sleepwalking all of the sudden? What is the white fur like substance growing on her skin? And what does it have to do with local superstition of Witch Hare?

Short but incredibly impactful. Fungi are really a freak of nature that works really well in horror: there's a ton of them, they interact with other living things in wierd ways and they are really hard to classify for non mycologist. The rewriting of Poe's classic short story The House of Usher is good, it keeps the key elements of the plot and characterization but develops everything around it. Roderick and Madeline are pretty much in character and I liked what she added to them. I liked Galicia, the country Kingfisher created for this story a lot: the land sets and atmosphere, it's cold, gray and wet. It also all happens in a very isolated place, ifused with traditions and superstitions that serves as foreshadowing and red herring.

Alex Easton also is a treat. A gender non conforming former soldier with no people skills whatsoever. The Sworn Soldier system is really cool and allows some ambiguity with Easton's gender that I loved. The PTSD is really well treated and adds both to the characterization and to the atmosphere. I also loved Angus and Miss Potter who added some much needed common sense to the cast.

I really loved it. The traditions, legends and history of Galicia are imersive and the way it tied supernatural elements with more natural but just as spooky threats works really well. I have just finished reading What Feat at Night, I heard somewhere that a third novella will be released somewhere in 2025 and I'm really looking forward to that.

The Book of Blood (Vol. 1) by Clive Barker

A series of twisted stories, from a serial killer on the subway in NYC to a theater of undead, not forgetting a monstrous man eating sow.

This was September's blind draw, let's say many of the book club members skipped this one. This is a collection of short stories, they vary a lot on theme, ton and unfortunately the enjoyment I took reading them: some where really good and disturbing, some where forgettable, some still baffle me six weeks later.

"The Book of Blood" is the prologue, and it sets the tone: creepy, characters that are deeply flawed and supernatural gory elements. It is also the shortest. It did well as an introduction but it wasn't very memorable to me.

"The Midnight Meat Train" left me divided: I was sold on the serial killer butchering people in subways. I was interested in the part where the city knew and let it happened. I was mildly disappointed by the supernatural element that fell a bit short after the adrenaline of the subway train scene. Yet it was interesting and well written.

"The Yattering and Jack" didn't left me much memories, except that it was quite funny. It is a Beetlejuice meet the Grinch kind of atmosphere. I liked the twist on the demon haunting that made the main character aware of what was going on but pushing through and frustrating the demon to no end. I never felt any real threat from the demon, though.

"Pig Blood Blues" is the gory twisted tale I was promised in the back cover: ghost, scary animals, possessions, ritual sacrifice and cannibalism; you name it, it's in it! Redwal's as a very down to earth character that you usually see in Stephen King's main character and his discovery of the giant sow who is at the center of human sacrifice rituals is just as satisfying. The sow itself gave me shivers, it is described in an entirely too human way to be comfortable. Lacey, a young boy that starts as the frightened victim scared of ghost and ends up just as monstrous as all the over character perfectly sets the mood. I was really wiered out by Redwall's attitude toward Lacey but his punishment at the end is really satisfying.

"Sex, Death, and Starshine" is my favorite but not the scariest! The living characters takes some time to realise that other are dead but once they do it's all fun and games and playing Twelfth Night in front of a ghost audience before going on a road trip! Just the tiny bit of whimsy, loved it!

"In the Hills, the Cities" is the most disturbing to me because I'm still wondering what the hell that was. Every years two cities straps themselves together to create a giant man shaped structure and they merrily go as a Flesh Transformer to the other city's Flesh Transformer. People die. Not because of the battle but because there assigned place in the comstruct is the sole of the feet. I guess I was supposed to feel some sort of eldritch fear but mainly I was working out the how and why and couldn't focus on the scary parts. Just plain bizarre.

[hologramcowboy]

Hi there!

I enjoy reading your blog as I find you are very balanced, mature, and provide deeper than surface level exploration of the fandom and the actors.

I've been in this fandom for quite a long time and I've noticed out of all fandoms I've ever enjoyed, the parasocial relationships in this one seem to be the highest and, at times, destructive.

Do you have an opinion on why this is?

Sometimes I just come across things that appear very unhealthy among the fans.

Hi! Thank you so much for this thought provoking question. Ever since I started this blog I’ve been exposed to a lot of facets of fandom that can get quite scary and, at the end of the day, the people behind that lack of balance and hatred usually have their love of a celebrity as a main motivator. In other words, they will crush anything that moves if it contradicts the perfect image of their chosen one. So many fandom wars and conflicts have this at the basis. As if there is only one way to think, one way to be and one way to love.

It’s highly dangerous when people over-identify with a celebrity to the point of veering into erotomania is or other related psychological issues. From what I’ve researched on the behavioural psychology side, mania and similar states only happen when we choose to perceive people in a one sided view instead of appreciating the whole of them (flaws and all).

In the Supernatural fandom specifically, the love bond between the brothers transferred as an image unto Jensen and Jared and made them into iconic characters on their own. This is just my humble opinion, based on research I’ve done but most of fandom over-identifies with the two to the point of blurring the lines of reality. I’ve gotten DMs from people suffering from erotomania, for example.

If we look at hellers we see they so badly need people to validate their orientation that they project something that never was unto two characters that were meant to represent agape love through their connection and nothing more. This over-identification leads them warp reality and it also leads some of them to violent, abusive behaviours, not just towards fellow fans but especially towards the actors themselves. They completely ignore Jensen and Misha’s real life persona and push their agenda to the point of it becoming abusive. I don’t want to generalize, because some are able to enjoy their ships without harming others and while being respectful but I just wanted to give an example.

I know there’s some solid research out there that, simply through its theme, shows like Supernatural can cause/trigger mental issues. So it is my belief that the theme plus the brotherly bond + the chemistry between the leads created a cult like following. Let’s face it, Supernatural never was directorial or acting gold but what it did portray was a love that overcomes all things and deep emotional traumas people could identify with.

The danger of worshipping/admiring/loving anything to the extreme is that that creates a lack of balance in the brain, we no longer see positive and negative aspects but we cave to fantasies and become enslaved by their promise to the point of aggressively rejecting reality. I’ve seen all facets of fandom do this at some point or the other, even I sometimes view Jensen as too perfect and always rebalance my perceptions. What I’m trying to say is that falling into detrimental mental states within fandom can happen to anyone of us and that it would really help if we would talk about it and be open and showed compassion for one another.

This is the reason why I’ve often made posts about the dangers of fanaticism and how loving a celebrity should, never, ever, ever end up affecting your life or wellbeing. People lose sight of who they are, what they are here to offer the world and their goals because they are busy obsessing about how “hot” Danneel is or Jensen or Misha or whoever. It’s come to a point where Jensen fans viciously tear into each other over the silliest things simply because their one sided views keep them trapped in a fantasy.

People actually send hate messages to Jared asking him to end his life and they do this over a ship or their fav. They lose their humanity over an imaginary link they believe they have with their favorites. While it’s true that this happens in all fandoms it’s definitely more prevalent in the Supernatural fandom and, if I were to link it to anything, it would be precisely to the studies that have determined that shows with horror/supernatural themes are triggering for those with mental issues and may even cause mental issues in those who are balanced. I really wish people would write more in books and studies about the negative side of fandom, to bring it into the light and get to the core of it. I’m no expert and this is just my humble opinion based on my behavioural psychology research but one good exercise is this:

Take the celebrity that most makes you feel out of yourself and write on a piece of paper:

-all the qualities they have that make you go crazy

-now take each of those qualities and ask yourself honestly “where and when have I displayed this quality?” Do not stop until you find examples.

Then, if you are feeling extra brave, take another piece of paper, write all the aspects that annoy you or that you hate about said celebrity.

Next, ask yourself “Where in my life have I displayed this trait?” Don’t stop until you find examples.

It’s an extremely humbling exercise that helps rebalance the perceptions of the brain, it helps us realise that all we love about another also exists within us and the same goes for all we hate. No one is always kind, always perfect, we’re all mean sometimes, though we may not admit it to ourselves but, once we do, we activate the executive function of our brain and are able to truly appreciate people for who they are, flaws and all.

My call to action for you is to talk about the toxic things you notice, to express them and bring awareness because most fans are so caught up in their hatred they can’t see reality, they don’t even realise what they are doing. A good example of this are extremely hateful Jenneel stans who send me hate messages while claiming hating is wrong. They are so blind they can’t see that hatred they try to project hatred on me is actually practised by them through the very messages they send.

Another important aspect is boundaries that actors fail to set with fans, Danneel who pretends she ships Destiel just to encourage such fans despite knowing her husband hates Destiel and has said more than once it never existed, Misha who panders to everyone to the point of endangering his costars. It’s all about boundaries. Even Jensen complaining people talk about his personal life ( through that Cliff post), that’s his failure to set boundaries, if you want to be private BE private. There is absolutely nothing stopping these actors from creating healthy boundaries but most pander to whatever craziness the fans come up with despite feeling miserable about it.

I’ll stop here because this post got a mile long but I adore the conversation you started because it is such an important one and I would really love it if someone would write a book about all the fandom issues and how to stay safe and sane while enjoying fandom. Because fandom should be an excuse for joy, creativity and unity, not divisiveness and hatred.

I really hope others chime in and answer your question because it is a deeply important one. Thank you for asking it! 🧡

[justthegreat1]

The Dead shall Rise: “Evil Dead Rise” Review

Pictured above is the “Evil Dead Rise” poster.

Image Credit: Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema

42 years ago, Sam Raimi would create a little movie that would spark an iconic franchise and 32 years later that franchise would be rebooted by the movie called “Evil Dead” (2013) which was directed by Fede Alvarez, this movie would receive critical acclaim. Now, 10 years later…this franchise would be brought back from the dead (pun intended) with “Evil Dead Rise” (2023) which is directed by Lee Cronin. It currently holds an 84% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes which is shocking considering the content that is inside the movie, now I know the Evil Dead franchise is known for its bloody content but for me I think this might be the bloodiest one yet, this might be even bloodier than the 2013 remake. Alright, let’s bring out our chainsaws, Boomsticks, and Necronomicon’s and go straight to the spoiler-free review.

Evil Dead Rise is a 2023 supernatural horror film directed by Lee Cronin (who also wrote the movie), Produced by Rob Tapert, Sam Raimi, and Bruce Campbell (who starred in the original Evil Dead movies and “Ash vs Evil Dead”). The cast involves Lily Sullivan as Beth, Alyssa Sutherland as Ellie, Morgan Davies as Danny, Gabrielle Echols as Bridget, Nell Fisher as Kassie, Richard Crouchley as Caleb, Mirabai Pease as Teresa, Anna-Maree Thomas as Jessica, Jayden Daniels as Gabriel, Billy Reynolds-McCarthy as Jake, Tai Wano as Scott, and Mark Mitchinson as Mr. Fonda.

The Plot:

A reunion between two estranged sisters gets cut short by the rise of flesh-possessing demons, thrusting them into a primal battle for survival as they face the most nightmarish version of family imaginable.

Positives:

One positive I have about the movie is the tone, I liked how they combine the campy elements of the original movies with the darker elements of the remake (which I prefer…please don’t cancel me). I appreciated how they balanced the dark humor of the original movie while adding the dark and intense moments of the remake to make it not so silly. I loved how unsettling Alyssa Sutherland was in the role of Ellie, especially during the bathtub scene.

Pictured above is Alyssa Sutherland as Ellie

Image Credit: Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema

The second positive I have about this movie was the cast, I really enjoyed the performances of Lily Sullivan and Nell Fisher as Beth and Kassie as their portrayals make you root for them and hope they make it out alive. I also enjoyed the characters in general as they were likeable and made smart decisions.

The third positive I have about this movie is that it was not afraid to embrace its R-Rating, there was tons of blood spilt in this movie with amazing practical effects as Evil Dead is known for that. I’m not going to look at cheese graters the same way again after a certain scene in the movie.

Pictured above is Lily Sullivan as Beth

Image Credit: Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema

Negatives:

The only negative I have is that I wish the movie was just a little bit longer as the ending felt rushed in my opinion, but don’t let that one negative discourage you from checking out “Evil Dead Rise” wherever you can.

My Overall Thoughts:

After watching “Evil Dead Rise”, I can’t wait to see what’s next in the franchise. I really enjoyed the exploration of the theme of motherhood and how it tied into the movie. This movie was disturbing, violent, and as Ash Williams would say…``Groovy.”

Where to watch “Evil Dead Rise”?

“Evil Dead Rise” can be watched in Theaters and through digital retailers now, Blu-Ray and DVD on June 27th.

What did you think about “Evil Dead Rise”?

Feel free to comment on this post and please keep the comments respectful.

Thank you.

[nealcassatiel]

Why was the Prequel announced sooo early? Why is Jared being super dumb? Why might his tweets cause SERIOUS issues for the future of the prequel? Why should Jensen and Dannel be livid and actually quite worried as CEOs?

I see lots of people, Jared being the main one, super confused as to why the Prequel was announced in Deadline when apparently its still just an idea? Surely its further down the road, development-wise, than Deadline and Jensen and Daneel are saying? Surely Jared has been left out of months and months of development of this show??? Well, no. Not really. This is what i think, as someone who works in TV development...

A lot of questions have occurred as to why Jared may not have known about the Ackles’ prequel, and yes it might be because they haven’t talked, but let’s look at this from an industry perspective…

Of course the project may already have NDAs attached to it, and as it seems to be in the incredibly early stages, there may not even be anything to the project right now. Working in TV development, you can have big announcements in the Trade publications (such as Deadline) with just an idea for a project with maybe one high profile talent attached. When the company’s ive worked for announce a project in it’s really early stages, without even a script and just an idea but also with IMPORTANT TALENT ATTACHED, it is for one reason: finance. The prod company and the Trade magazine work together to announce the project and it’s all planed. 

So I would guess that maybe Jensen and Daneel’s prod company are looking for extra financing? That is always why the companies ive worked for have made super early announcements like this, without even a script or an entire treatment written. If you announce a project super early but there is big talent attached, then big industry financiers may read, see the project has legs and has buzz around it already, and plonk in their money early on. 

I know it seems like if Deadline announce a project then that infers that lots has been done to develop the show already, but especially with the pandemic and the industry not doing well from a dev and prod point of view, and especially because Jensen and Daneel’s prod company hasn’t made anything yet (even if it does have a co-production deal with Warner Bros television), they still might need to get financing during the early stages of the project. Anyway, it makes sense that very little has been done on the prequel show, and they just want early buzz for financiers. So they got their PR team to talk to Deadline and Deadline and Warner Bros TV and J&D’s prod company’s PR team set up a date for the article to go out to get optimal buzz in line with when financing needs to get off the ground. 

I don’t know, but I’m sure J&D’s prod company paid a lot for the spin-off rights / general supernatural IP. So that’s a lot of sunken costs already. Also, even with The CW on board, the industry is pretty shaky right now and they still might need early financing from international distributers. 

Anyway, all I’m saying is that lots of times, when a project so early in development gets a Trade publication announcement, it’s to secure financing for the project, or to raise the awareness of a new production company, like J&A’s company. Maybe they have a whole slate of projects and are looking for co-producers, and need some legit PR to play with the other big lads in the industry (however, Chaos Machine could do with like… i mean the bare minimum of a website,, unless anyone can see their website? i cant find one?) Maybe they just want to focus on the SPN prequel. But even so, why do they need money, you ask?

If the CW is involved, and if Warner Bros television is co-producing, then why do the Ackles��s prod company need money? Surely the CW can support them and make the show?! Well… i mean, yes they could. But the Ackles wouldn’t necessarily WANT that. You see, whichever company funds the show, gets most of the creative rights to the show. The big issue with SPN was always that the CW/Warner Bros TV probably had things like ‘the final cut privalege’, and could ALWAYS have the final say on scripts. Having been through that on SPN, Jensen needs his production company to retain creative control over the IP and the rights, and for that to happen is prod co NEEDS to fund a majority of the costs. So the Ackles’ need to secure a heck of a lot of financing as a separate entity to the CW. This will mean they might get financiers, other prod cos, distribution companies, and such on board, just by an early announcement of a big project that already has legs and a buzz around it and YOU CAN HELP GET IT MADE AND GET A SLICE OF THE PROFITS ONCE IT’S MADE. See how great this project is ALREADY? Give us some money to help us retain the creative rights and get it made, then you get whatever percentage of the show’s profits. A great investment right? Look at our willing and lovely fanbase! We’re like a big family! A big, happy, fa — *enter Jared with a bulldozer*

SO. With this PR disaster from Jared’s stupid rage tweets like he’s a child, what’s the situation now? I mean, all press is good press… kind of? 

I expect the announcement has something to do with money. Either the project needs money or J&D’s production company needs money. I expect the Ackles are looking for financing, but now is their lovely PR stunt to try to get the project financially off the ground, or at least the PR stunt to try to make sure THE ACKLES retain creative rights by majorly funding the project in jeopardy? 

It depends. Certainly Jared storming in and destroying the idea of a solid and family-like fanbase is going to hamper things. Jared destroying the brotherly vibe, a central theme of the IP, is going to be an issue, but the statements J&J put out to end the drama, and Deadline’s unbelievably obvious ‘solve the drama PR’ where they wrote about the drama ‘All’s well that ends well. After some Supernatural drama that mobilized the series’ legions of fans Thursday night and Friday morning, showcasing the series’ massive social media reach, the #spnfamily is happily back together after a heart-to-heart between Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki.’ (https://deadline.com/2021/06/jared-padalecki-supernatural-prequel-reaction-bummed-gutted-the-winchesters-jensen-ackles-the-cw-1234781475/) will help. Side note, Deadline writing the announcement article with the Ackles to help them get good PR for a project, then having to write an article to solve the bad PR that was caused by their original ‘this’ll be great PR’ article is pretty hilarious. 

Basically, I don’t know if this’ll really affect the reason for the article: getting the Ackle’s money for the project. Whether it will affect the project or how much creative control the Ackles can keep if the CW does have to step in and fund it, I don’t know. But Jared obviously has no idea about how television development works, and certainly has no idea that shows so early in development have these trade publication announcements for financing (a pretty obvious and known-about thing to anyone who works at a film or tv company). Jared also seemed to think that BECAUSE it was announced in Deadline, THAT MUST MEAN that the project was more than an idea with some creatives attached, which again shows that he doesn’t understand how projects in development work and why they’re so often announced when there isn’t even a proper treatment let alone script. The dude is obviously clueless, and there is J&D trying to run a production company which pulls PR moves like this regularly, as an industry standard.

So, even if this doesn’t jeopardise the projects financing, and therefore the control the Ackle’s prod company has over the project, the personal effect this will have on Jensen could be huge. Jared, with his stupid uninformed idea that he’s been left out of loads of development of a project just because it was announced in a magazine, could be read by Jensen as really putting his baby of a project in danger. The article was about money, and what if Jared’s tweets mean that they won’t be able to fund it? What if the CW does have to majority fund it and therefore keep creative control like they did with SPN? Like, this is Jensen and his wife’s COMPANY. Which they’ve already sunken costs into? Like… this is their FINANCIAL FUTURE Jared has stuck his foot into? That article WAS ABOUT MONEY FOR THEIR COMPANY. OF COURSE IT WAS. And now Jared has put their company, and financial future into question potentially? DUMB IDIOT. 

Anyway, that’s how announcements like this work, this is why they normally happen when a project is so early in its development it seems silly to even ‘announce’ anything. Someone forward this to Jared plz and thanks. xxx

[souichioneshots]

Grim Reaper 【Souichi x Reader】 (Fluff)

Souichi claims he's been cursed. Now everything he touches dies! However, that doesn't stop him from spending time with you. Can you hold back from touching the boy and dying? Let's find out~~~!! ahahaha

(I think this counts as affectionate!reader but idk lol)

Souichi carefully held onto the drink in his hand as he sat back down in between your legs.

Resting his body against your soft chest, you wrapped your arms around his waist. He was completely engulfed by your love. Although he was a bit embarrassed at first by how affectionate you could be, it had become a habit for him to want to be so close to you all the time.

【And now back to ‘DEATH’S ASSISTANT’】

Souichi took a sip of his drink as the show you two had been hooked on recently started back up.

It was a Japanese drama about a Grim Reaper who had been assigned a foreign assistant. Apparently, they fell for one another as soon as their eyes met. Every day they tell each other how much they love one another, but because of Death’s curse, he is unable to touch his love. The show depicts their everyday work lives. Showing how far they would go for one another to prove their love, but never being able to be truly affectionate. Souichi wasn’t really into these types of lovey-dovey dramas, but the supernatural antics that it included drew him in deeper and deeper.

【Assistant, we cant! You know if we touch, you’ll die!】

【I would risk dying a million times just to feel your lips pressed against mine even just once, Death~.】

“Guuuuu!!!!!!!!!!!”

Souichi laughed as you pressed your face into the crook of his neck. The scene was so cheesy and overdone, but you loved it. For a morbid girl, you really were a sucker for love stories.

“You’re gonna miss the show if you don’t look up.” Souichi chuckle and patted your head.

Resting your chin on his shoulder, you continued to watch the last few minutes left of the drama.

“Death really outdid it with his outfit today, huh?” Souichi commented.

In today’s episode, Death had been wearing a bright red suit with a black suit-shirt instead of his usual black suit and black tie.

“I think it really suits him.”

“You think everything suits him.”

“Of course. If you’re handsome, then anything and everything looks good on you.”

Souichi lifted his shoulder up towards his head, squishing your face against him.

“Owwww Owowowow!!”

“What’s so handsome about that old actor?”

Souichi finally released the pressure, allowing you to relax.

Pulling your head away from his body, you rubbed your cheeks.

“Hmm…Well, for one his eyes are absolutely beautiful. Thin, sharp, and the dark circles around them make him look so mysterious. And his dark, wavy hair looks so soft! I just want to run my hands through it as mess it up even more.”

Souichi couldn’t help but let out a small laugh as you described what you found attractive about the ‘dreamy man’ on the television. He honestly felt like you were just describing him. He knew you must have a type, but he didn’t think it would be this similar to him every time. You must have felt like you won the jackpot with him.

“But what I really like is the fact that he’s always wearing a suit.” Wrapping your arms back around his waist, you squeezed him a bit “You can tell his assistant also thinks the same thing because she's always staring at him. She just wants to touch him soooo much. But she knows she'll die if she does! Haa~~ I love it!”

Souichi hummed in amusement as he listened to you speak.

Seeing that he fit all the other conditions you looked for in a guy, Souichi thought of a perfect way he could use this little fantasy you love so much for his amusement.

＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿

When the next night came, Souichi quickly got to preparing himself. He had asked if he could go over to watch a movie tonight.

He usually didn’t pay much attention to what he wore whenever he hung out alone with you. But tonight, he decided to mix things up a bit.

Making sure he had everything he needed in his pockets, Souichi set off to your house.

Creepily excited laughter slipped from the boy’s lips as he walked down the street by himself. He couldn’t wait to see your reaction when you laid your eyes upon him.

Finally reaching your front door, he knocked.

“Good evening~” Souichi greeted as you opened the door.

Before you could greet the boy back, you froze. Your mouth gaped open and your eyes widened as you looked upon your boyfriend.

“S…SS..S-Suit..Suitsuitsuit…” You brought your hands up to your face, unsure where to place them. This was the first time you had ever seen him wearing such an outfit before.

Finally bringing your hands out towards Souichi, you tried to touch him.

“Ah!” Souichi quickly jumped back. “You can’t.”

A look of worry and confusion grew on your face as the boy rejected your touch.

“Remember when I called you this morning and said I might have messed up a curse?”

You shook your head yes.

“Well, it turns out that as a side effect, whatever I touch now dies almost immediately.”

Leaning against the doorframe, you looked at the boy with a smile of disbelief.

“You’re just copying ‘Death’s Assistant’ aren’t you.”

Souichi hated how well you could read him. But that didn’t mean he was going to admit that you were right. At least not right now.

“No! I swear.” Sliding one hand into his suit pocket, he leaned down onto the grass that covered your front yard. “Every time I touch something as delicate as a flower…” Pulling out his hand from his pocket, he placed it over a daisy that had been growing for some time. “Well... This happens.” Moving back up, Souichi revealed that the flower he touched had shriveled up and died.

“No way…” You whispered as he allowed the dead flower to trickle onto the palm on your hands.

“Yeah…It’s a bummer.” Placing his foot over the real flower still planted in the ground, he tried to hide the evidence. “But I’m sure this curse will wear off by next week. 2 weeks at most.”

You quickly moved to the side as Souichi let himself into your home.

“What are you doing? Wouldn’t it be dangerous for us to be together right now?”

“I’m sure we’ll be fine. As long as we don’t touch that is.” Giving you a smile, Souichi kicked off his shoes and made his way down to your bedroom.

As the raven-haired boy walked down the hall, he moved his hands close to the wall, just barely coming into contact with the wallpaper. He honestly thought it would be really cool if he could make the wallpaper roll up and crumble into pieces just from touching it. Just like in the drama. Perhaps there really was a curse out there that would give him that ability.

Finally reaching your room, he took ahold of the door handle and gestured for you to go in first. Being in a suit really did make him feel like more of a gentleman. It was kind of fun.

Sitting on your bed, Souichi watched as you set up the DVD player.

He tried to hold back his foolish laughter as he thought about how miserable you were going to be all night from not being able to touch him.

You. The girl who could barely go 5 minutes without at least leaning against his shoulder, was now being forced to keep her hands to herself in order to avoid never waking up again.

This was gonna be hilarious.

“So, lemme ask you.” You pulled the boy out of his own little world as you sat on the bed with him. “Why the suit?”

“The suit? Oh. Umm…” Souichi’s mind froze for a second. He was going to say an excuse that all his other clothes suddenly turn to dust when he touched them, but now that sounded extremely stupid and unbelievable. Especially since he was able to touch your bedsheets with no problem. “…To match the whole ‘death’ theme...”

“Oh~ That makes sense. Always gotta be prepared for a funeral when everything you touch dies, right?”

“Exactly!”

Souichi let out a small sigh of relief as you commented an equally believable reason for the suit. He was glad you were almost always on the same level as him.

Finally dropping the subject, you pressed the button on the remote for the movie to play.

Souichi tapped his finger against the bed in annoyance as you kept a good amount of distance from him. It didn’t seem like you would try to touch him any time soon.

Looks like he needed to take things up a notch if he wanted to have some real fun.

Leaning forward, he swiftly took off his black jacket. You quickly ducked as his hand almost came in contact with your head.

Leaning his arm on your pillow, he relaxed his body. A single nail stayed poking out from between his lips, making it look like he was smoking.

Souichi couldn't help but smile as he saw you take quick glances at him. Your eyes kept moving from his pants to his white suit shirt, and finally to his face. He could see a blush spread across your cheeks as you quickly turned away from him, avoiding his gaze. You looked completely head over heels for him.

Sliding to the side, you leaned ever so close to the boy.

“Does the ‘being killed on the spot’ rule apply even over clothes~?” A blush spread across his pale face as you whispered in his ear, making sure not to come into direct contact with his shoulder. He could see your hand hovering over his suit pants, craving to touch the expensive-looking material.

Did you really not believe him or were you just begging to die?

Moving a bit away from you, he replied. “Probably not a good idea. Haven’t tested that out yet…” He let out a little laugh as he mentioned how awkward it would be for him to have to wake up your family and tell them that he killed you by accident.

Souichi looked from the corner of his eyes as you let out a small sigh and moved back into your own little space. This sudden rule of no touching looked like it was taking a toll on you.

Honestly, he was expecting you to be a bit more excited by this situation. After all, this was one of your favorite fantasies. To love one another, but never be able to touch unless you were willing to die on the spot. You should be spewing cheesy lines like in the drama, not sulking.

Moving the nails against his teeth, he tried to think of a way to fix things. After all, this wouldn’t be fun if you got too sad and decided to stop acting like your usual self halfway through the night.

Moving his arm out towards you, he pulled on the edge of his suit jacket.

“I think it’d be fine if you held onto this though…” He turned his face to the side, trying to hide his blush as you smiled once again.

Throughout the movie, Souichi kept his arm up in the air as you happily held onto his jacket. His body felt oddly unsatisfied from not being properly touched by you. But, this was his own fault for deciding to go through with such a cold prank.

You both stayed surprisingly calm and silent as the movie played on.

Souichi kept the nails in his mouth pressed tightly against his teeth as he kept his eyes on the screen. The movie you chose wasn’t half bad at all. The effects, the props, the acting. All very realistic. To be expected from new foreign movies.

However, this feeling of calmness didn’t last long as an unnecessarily long make-out scene between the main characters had started up again. Another specialty of foreign horror movies. The acting for these scenes just had to be extremely believable as well…

Souichi tensed up a bit as he felt you let go of his jacket, finally allowing him to rest his hand back down near his body.

It wasn’t that he disliked these types of scenes. But something about watching them alone with you always made him feel a bit restless.

Souichi moved his legs closer to his body, trying to get in a more comfortable position. He really regretted starting this whole ‘touch me and you’ll die’ prank now.

Pulling on the black-tie wrapped around his neck, he tried to calm himself down.

“People get really horny right before they die, huh?…”

Souichi noticed you jolt a bit at the sound of his voice. All he got in response from you was a little ‘yeah’ and an awkward laugh.

As the teens on the screen started to undress, Souichi noticed you also start to fidget around in your spot. You looked like you wanted to sit closer to him, but you knew you couldn’t.

Shakily bringing your hand over his leg again, you whispered. “Are you sure I’ll die if I touch you over your clothes?...”

This time he didn’t say anything. Instead, he just moved his leg closer to you, giving you an okay to try and touch him.

He watched as you cautiously placed the tips of your fingers on his knee. You let out a sigh of relief as you realized you were going to die from touching him over his clothes.

Careful not to accidentally touch any part of his body not covered by his clothes, you turned towards his.

Pinching the fabric of his suit jacket, you pulled his hand up. Souichi’s heartbeat sped up as you moved his bare hand to touch your clothed breast.

“Looks like it works both ways. As long as your skin doesn’t come into direct contact with mine, I’ll be just fine.”

Souichi’s eyes followed your hands as they moved back towards his pants once more.

You were really pushing the envelope.

But, if you were gonna play like that, then he saw no harm in playing along as well.

Sliding his hand down from your chest to your waist, he pulled you to come closer to him.

“That means we can’t do anything more than this though…” Souichi whisper as he inched his face closer to yours. “We should stop now before we do something that can’t be undone.” He teased you with lies, practically ordering you to go further.

“You don’t wanna die from one of my curses, do you?”

“It’d be a blessing to die from one of your curses…”

Something within Souichi switched on as he heard you whisper your confession to him. That felt like the most romantic thing you'd ever said to him.

Without saying another word, Souichi pressed his lips against yours. To think he was the one who ended up not being able to hold back from you this time.

Suddenly, pressing your hands against his shoulder, you pushed yourself away from the kiss.

“Agk! My heart!” Holding your hand against your chest, you threw yourself back to lay on the bed. “I…I!!! Gah…”

Souichi couldn’t help but laugh as you pretended to die in an over-exaggerated manner.

You opened one of your eyes, looked at the boy, and then closed it again. Souichi could see you trying your best to hold back a smile as you laid perfectly still.

“You knew I wasn’t cursed the entire time, didn’t you?”

“...Was it that obvious?” You laughed a bit as you finally sat back up.

“When did you figure out I was lying?”

“Hmm~”

You just hummed and swayed your head side to side. Not telling him when you knew for a fact he was not actually cursed.

“If I can be honest, you should have said something more believable for the suit. Then maybe I would have believed you completely." Leaning up against the boy you thought for a second. "Like umm... All your other clothes disintegrated the second you touched them. But because you've worn this suit to a funeral before, it was the only thing that stayed intact."

"Ahh!! I swear I was gonna say that!!"

You let out a hum and looked at the boy once again with a smile of disbelief.

"I swear!"

Getting up from the bed, he put on his suit jacket again.

"Let's restart." He sat back down on the edge of your bed. "Ask me why I'm wearing a suit."

"Okay." You also moved to sit on the edge, next to him. "Hey, Souichi. Why are you--" Unconsciously, your hand brushed up against his. "AGK!" You threw your body back and pretended to die again.

"No!! Y/N!!" He picked you up by your shoulders and forced you to sit back up. "Again."

As his hands moved away from your shoulders, he accidentally touched your neck. Making you jump back again.

"Agggkk!!"

"Stop dying!!" He yelled as you held your hand up to your neck and pretended to choke and die.

Souichi let out a loud groan as you continued to laugh at his frustrated expression.

This prank wasn't as funny as he thought it would be.

[scraps-pile]

A Slightly Pessimistic Look at Stranger Things: This Could be Gayer

okay, I have a big chunk of analytical crap to say about Stranger Things, and specifically why the romances aren't going to work across the board. buckle your seatbelts, cuz it's my post, I'm driving, and we're about to hit all the plot holes.

(or like... that but with narrative themes instead.)

okay, so. I'm gonna say something that sounds obvious, and then I'm gonna talk about it for a very long time. Stranger Things, in general, is a show about the things normal culture fails to acknowledge. and that extends to both the supernatural elements of the show, and true information about the lives and identities of a lot of its characters.

I want to kind of make a case study of the series' main love triangle, Steve, Nancy, and Jonathan, and in particular, I want to talk about why they don't work romantically. starting from baseline season one, I would say all of them are people who suffer under normal culture.

Steve is a popular jock, and to an outside observer, he's got it made. but his friends kind of suck, and they don't seem that close to him. to me, he acts like someone who mostly just wants attention, and he performs behaviors like bullying or bigotry to keep his foothold in the social hierarchy. most prominently, he sets himself up as the kind of jock loverboy archetype... every girl's high school sweetheart. which only further emphasizes that he's mostly doing this for his own gratification, and romance is where he most distinctly finds that. in some way or another, he's searching for companionship. he's just got shitty social skills with which to do that.

meanwhile, Nancy is pigeonholed into this kind of studious prissy perfect good girl role... but at the root of that, she's an achiever. certainly there is a part of her that thinks Steve is cute and wants to date him for that reason, but there's also a part of her that wants to gain a foothold in the same social hierarchy that Steve has already situated himself in. Steve is someone people generally approve of, and gaining him is an achievement of sorts. and she feels like she has to attach herself to him in order to move on up the social ladder. she'll grin and bear the presence of Steve's other shitty friends if it means success in this area... and she's very conscious of her image.

Jonathan is a loner, in part because he genuinely seems to be stand offish and shy, but that could be a byproduct of the fact that he's genuinely not living the same life as most other kids his age. he seems the least concerned with fitting into normal culture, but the way that culture inflicts itself on him anyway is financially. a lack of financial security both pushes him outside the norm, and punishes him for being there. his dad isn't around, his mom doesn't make much money, and he works, and helps look after Will, even though he's still a school-aged kid. he seems torn between not caring about high school social politics, and feeling really bitter towards high schoolers who get to be normal. especially when they judge him with their own heads stuck in the sand.

and the thing about encountering the upside down is, you have to get weirder in response to it, if you're going to confront it effectively. normal culture won't acknowledge this. normal culture doesn't interact with this. you have to step outside of that bubble and put your ability to be perceived as normal on the line... you have to really commit. Joyce paints the alphabet on her walls, and hangs christmas lights, and sits by the phone because she swears she heard her son breathing the last time she picked it up. she looks crazy, and that's distressing to the people who care about her, but she can't care about what people with normal expectations will think. because normal culture will keep ignoring the monster until it's eating them alive, just because it's not supposed to be there. its existence doesn't fit their narrative, and if you opt to fight it in a way that works, you won't fit their narrative either.

so that's when we see who these three teenagers really are. when the bubble breaks, and they feel more at liberty to surpass their scripted societal narratives, and they grow. Steve reveals that his instincts are truly to stick around and help people. Nancy reveals that her instincts are to fight her demons head on. and Jonathan reveals that when he's in over his head, he does want help. and season one goes off without a hitch. but what state does this leave the characters in going forward?

the end of the first season was the beginning of a journey for these three. for Steve's part, he's been developing into someone who slowly starts to subvert masculine conventions. he finds true friendship based on the positive qualities he actually possesses when he gets close to the kids, particularly Dustin, and allows himself to slot really naturally into a nurturing mentorship role. he admits that he likes looking nice, and taking pride in his appearance. he admits that romantic companionship is a real emotional goal of his, independent of popularity or status. he discards the bigotry he used to express, and gains Robin as his best friend. he allows himself to become a force of sensible practicality among people who care for him. and this doesn't mean he won't toss himself into harm's way, trying to be the protector... but he's not afraid to look stupid while doing it (hence the "Steve will grab anything to use as a weapon" gag).

Nancy has quite a lot going on actually. from the very beginning, I think Nancy has wanted, in a broad sense, power. and not in any sort of sinister way... it makes sense for her. whether it means getting good grades and being undeniably smart at the top of her class, or aligning herself with the popular crowd and dating the hottest boy in their school, Nancy seems to be seeking some form of prestige... but back then, it seemed like she just wanted to distinguish herself in a way that validated her worth in the eyes of others. with the death of Barb, I think we see a shift in Nancy, from wanting power for her own sense of self identification and satisfaction, to wanting power sufficient to protect herself and her people from calamity. Nancy starts to subvert feminine expectations, like the notion that she should be sweet, demure, accommodating, vulnerable, and domestic... but the problem with subverting those particular expectations is that, in a healthy relationship, those aren't necessarily negative qualities. it's just that any role can feel like a prison if it's forced. for a her to subvert the notion of being sweet and agreeable, she may also cause herself to become alienated from those who don't understand her vision for herself. and that could mean everyone, if she gives up on making herself accessible or easily understood.

I think Jonathan is mostly struggling to extract himself from the looming shadow of other people's expectations. in the early seasons, this seems all but impossible... his progression is a lot more subtle because the things he does on behalf of his family are generally noble, and that's a genuine impulse of his. he needs to help his mom and brother. and honestly, I think Jonathan feels more like himself from the beginning, because he has at least one parent that he actually wants to emulate. Joyce is a really good mom, and she will sacrifice anything and everything for the sake of her kids. compare that to Steve's largely unmentioned parents... one can assume Steve's persona from the first season is the kind of normal kid they would want, but that's about all the information we get. or compare that to Nancy's parents, who are the prototypical normal culture family that Nancy herself says she doesn't want to be like when she grows up, because she knows they're willingly giving their lives over to mundane façades that make them unhappy. Joyce is frequently broke, overworked, overwhelmed, and struggling... but she's genuine, and committed to her kids at any bizarre new level of difficulty that arises. this is who Jonathan learns from, who he worries for, and who he wants to protect and help. but it's a lot to put on a kid, so once Will is older and more capable of taking care of himself, and once Joyce has a better job and more money coming in, it's no wonder he lets all the plates drop. he's been walking a razor's edge for too long, of course he's letting go when he finally feels like he can.

and finally, getting to the subject of the shipping... I don't think any of the pairs out of these three would be good together. or at least, none of the ones that the show's canonical love triangle has put any effort into developing. Nancy and Steve don't go together at all, and I could just say that what they represent to each other is the exact normative expectations that they're trying to develop out of. a snake would not try to put it's shed skin back on, and these two should not get back together again, simple as that. but also, both of them have changed... character development means they deserve each other now, right? but they've both developed by going down a path of subversion in relation to their initial roles. they're opposites from other sides of the fence now. Steve is very invested in the idea of a future full of cozy domesticity, love, and care... it suits him really well, and he should be able to have that. Nancy seems like she's looking towards a more active and independent future that resists the concept of settling down... if she goes into journalism, she's going to have a lot of work to do. Steve needs someone who can settle in with him. Nancy needs someone who can keep up with her.

and Jonathan needs a break. he and Nancy don't work either because he had to basically be in the mentality of a barely-scraping-by working adult throughout his formative years. I imagine his biggest ambition was putting food on the table at dinner every night, same as Joyce, and even that was probably a lot to handle. at this point, I'd say he's basically relapsing into a second teenager era... one where he actually gets to be immature, and irresponsible, and make dumb decisions, and not worry about heavy obligations all the time. he's not keeping pace with Nancy, or anyone else at this point. and honestly, he's earned it. but I think their relationship was doomed before he even hit this point. he and Nancy seemed like they bonded over both Will and Barb disappearing, but looking at their motives... Nancy was inspired by a guilt-driven need to go above and beyond, addressing something that she identifies as being her mistake. Jonathan is simply continuing a long standing pattern of wearily stepping up to the plate whenever it is required. unfortunately, Nancy sees acquiescing to others as the flaw that led to her mistake with Barb. she was complacent about how others were influencing her when she could've put her foot down. she could've said no to external pressures, and asserted herself. Jonathan is the type of person who would give up everything for the sake of others, but Nancy is done diminishing herself. he is passive, she is active, and that was bound to be a problem at some point.

so what then? all the romance in Stranger Things is rotten to the core, and nothing good will come of it? I mean, realistically, probably... based on what they seem willing to write into canon at this point. but the really funny thing about Stranger Things is that it could solve every bit of this by choosing the gay option for every single one of these characters.

I mean, getting this observation out of the way now: these kids come into their own by way of embracing "strangeness" and rejecting the vague notion of being normal, and then they end up bonding most closely with others who can know and relate to their abnormal experiences... like, idk, the gay thematic symbolism writes itself in that respect. it almost feels like cheating to mention it. basic shit. what's more interesting is looking at the gay ships that the fans typically land on for these three, and seeing how they solve problems that the straight ships leave on the table.

in particular, I think Eddie is the solution to what Steve is missing from Nancy, Argyle is the solution to what Jonathan is missing from Nancy, and Robin is the solution to what Nancy lacks from her relationships with Steve and Jonathan.

to reiterate, Steve's main struggle has been with the expectations of toxic jock masculinity. and while Steve made a name for himself as a popular kid by embodying a normative stereotype, Eddie made a name for himself as a freak and a weirdo by embodying a counterculture persona. they've both given off the essence of someone unapproachable in order to keep up a certain reputation in the past, but neither is as intimidating as they appear. and in reality, if Steve's biggest aspiration is to be someone protective, caring, and stable, nobody could need that more than the town pariah. the relationship would pivot Steve so far away from the "normal" status quo, continuing the trend of Steve finding himself more at peace the farther away from those standards he is, while at the same time letting him fill a niche that suits him in someone else's life. and it's almost cliché to point out by now, but if Steve wants to co-parent a gaggle of kids with someone... Eddie's been collecting them like easter eggs for the express purpose of validating everything that's weird and unique about them, and telling them to keep being exactly who they are, like, since before Steve even knew his name. both of them are committed to providing safety and security to the people they care about, and those who really need it. and they both need someone to return that kindness to them too.

Robin provides a similar social order shakeup to Nancy, being the nerdy marching band kid to her initial preppy popular girl appearance. Robin, however, has a fully fledged backstory about watching someone who fit the typical narrative getting everything that Robin herself wished she could've had. in a way, she parallels Barb... Barb, who was only invited to be anywhere near the popular kids because she knew Nancy. Barb, who was never really brought into the fold because they didn't value her intrinsic qualities or worth. Barb, who was snubbed. in a way, this is like having another chance. but Robin is also a 100% different personality type. she's energetic, and weird, and sometimes leaves Nancy running to catch up, which is exactly the sort of thing Nancy needs, because that means she's definitely not being underestimated. Nancy can fully believe that Robin thinks she's strong, and capable, and brilliant... and because Nancy doesn't have to worry about trying really hard to look strong because Robin already believes it... that also means that Nancy doesn't have to be afraid of looking weak either. a moment of weakness, faltering, or insecurity isn't going to discredit her. Robin will gladly list off her own weaknesses all day long, but it doesn't keep her from going forth and doing amazing things. it takes all of the pressure off, immediately. and this opens Nancy up to her full range of emotions again. she might even be able to have fun again, like she did back before any of this ever happened.

Argyle probably comes off as the most solidly platonic of these pairs, but I think that's because Jonathan doesn't really need a love interest in order to address his issues. that said, if Jonathan having a love interest was like, required? Argyle would be my first pick out of the existing cast. you can see that Argyle genuinely cares about Jonathan, in whatever way you choose to take that, because he genuinely helps Jonathan strategize with his real goals in mind. if Jonathan's real goal is to come away with as few obligations as possible, that's fine. but it still makes sense for him not to lie to Nancy, because that'll only result in worse stress later on. it's all in an effort to get Jonathan to the place he wants to be, mentally, emotionally, or situationally. and even if Argyle thinks Jonathan is making a bad choice, he can voice that without sounding like he's trying to pressure him. nothing about their friendship is ever at stake because of Jonathan's inaction, Argyle is fine with him staying the way he is, even if he's going through a really stagnant phase.

so like... Eddie has all this energy to put specifically towards all the things Steve says he wants, and he has needs that are compatible with what Steve naturally has to give. Robin echoes what Nancy lost without treading on sacred ground, and Nancy doesn't have to feel the need to over perform her competence in order to prove herself to Robin. Argyle is wise and has good advice, but he's also the exact right kind of chill that lets Jonathan believe he isn't failing him, or failing to meet an expectation, or failing to be enough.

and for all three, this would be a firm step away from normal culture. they've all been struggling to find a safe avenue to reject normal culture all this time, and they've finally found a way forward with someone who can help them in the ways they need most. the real problem is that all of this is happening too late in the game. Stranger Things already has this issue of only showing the canon couples interacting on screen during crisis times, and then skipping all that happens in between. we'll watch them go through like, one really traumatizing week, and then we won't see them again for months. and because all the big dramatic switch-ups (making up, breaking up, etc) have to happen while the audience is watching, it starts looking like these relationships either only thrive when a crisis is happening, or fall apart the moment a crisis occurs.

the problem with Stranger Things is that it feels like any relationship that they've set up on purpose, and would be willing to pull the trigger on canonizing, carries this problem. this is why platonic relationships like Steve and Robin feel hugely more solid and dedicated... there's no dramatic incentive to keep us guessing about how they feel for each other. the biggest irony about Steve and Eddie, Nancy and Robin, or Jonathan and Argyle, is that they have potential because the show hasn't tried to do what it typically does to romances with these pairs. the show isn't yanking them around, they're in its blind spot... and that actually gives the characters a chance to seem like they have genuine chemistry, and actually like each other. they get to be uncomplicated.

but all the existing relationship stuff is already crammed into the gaps between the plot all the time because of how the show is fundamentally structured, and the show didn't/doesn't know or want to be building a romance with these pieces anyway, so to leap into any of it in the last season would feel rushed and premature, and would give us no time for an emotional payoff. Nancy and Robin probably have the best shot out of any of them, but they already gave Robin a girl to crush on and be with, and I'm sure they have intentions with Nancy and Steve. my cynical brain says they're planning on finally suggesting that Steve and Nancy have reached a point where they're perfect for each other, only to kill off one of them (most likely Steve) for the drama. which would absolutely suck, not just because he's a fan favorite, but because it feels like the biggest complete butchering of his character's themes.

in general, I think it's a mistake to feel like killing characters is a necessity in order to legitimize a story's weight... when you do that, you get egregious shit like the death of Eddie, which functions horribly within the context of the story being told. I mean, he's the kids' counterculture mentor. he's the school freak who loudly puts that identity out there on purpose, just so he can gather in kids like Mike and Dustin, and give them a place to belong. he's someone for freaks and weirdos to turn to when they feel like nobody else could accept them. and Eddie died because there was just never gonna be a safe place in all the world for him. the narrative gave up on him, in a way that none of the characters were willing to. and if they found him relatable, looked up to him, or want to embody any part of him in his memory, then a target will end up on them too. maybe they'll survive because they started out living in a house instead of a trailer, or because they got better grades, or because they were... more normal. more palatable to normal culture. better suited to blending in. less trouble to the community that killed Eddie, because honestly, it really was Hawkins that did him in.

Eddie's death leaves me bitter because it feels like the show just executed the character that spoke to its thematic core the very most. and so unceremoniously too... it's such an obvious contrivance to back Eddie into the corner he died in, like, from a script writing perspective, this is pathetic. but he was just introduced that season, and based on the Stranger Things formula, we couldn't have expected better anyway. this is what happens when an obligation to fulfill certain arbitrary writing benchmarks supersedes telling a story with real thematic cohesion. you end up with a show that points to all the kids that don't fit in... Dustin, Mike, Lucas, Max, and even Will and El with their respective troubles fitting in... and it says "there is no safe place for you to exist" before slamming the door and locking it. and sure, maybe they'll rise up against that message, but it's all going to ring pretty hollow now. season four's biggest addition to the character of the world building, is that it makes Hawkins into a community that might not even really deserve saving. it's a community of Angelas, and I'd rather see El go after every single one of them with a roller skate. this is going to make season five feel like an awful chore.

[royallyjoon]

nephilim (trois)

you know where the cred goes 💙

cult au, supernatural au

yandere! ot7 x f! reader

warnings: yandere themes, violent behavior

life away from the kims resumed as normal and you warily readjusted to the boys’ presence in your life. although you gained their company, you also gained a new enemy. you should take extra care not to forget your place, as internal and external forces are constantly at work. the question is: do they work in or against your favor? the hours wind on, and strange occurrences only get stranger. after all, ichabod is most awake in the dark.

-----------------------------------------—————

In your dream, you saw Jimin, but he was not the same person that you had met earlier that day. 

He stood atop Ichabod Chapel, combing through his black hair with his hand and looking down at you with brown eyes. But rather than the warm, twinkling eyes you recognized, his glistened in the moonlight, cold and hardened like topaz. 

Despite the distance, you somehow managed to see him clearly. You could see his smile, warm and affectionate, completely unlike the gaze in his eyes. He looked as though he couldn’t care less about what was happening around him--his sole focus was on you.

He was dressed in pitch black clothes from head to toe, which were soaked in some foreign substance.

 The clothes clung to him in a way that should have been uncomfortable, but he looked as though he couldn’t be bothered to change. In fact, he looked as though he relished in the substance.

Strangest of all were the magnificent black wings that rested on his back, curving their way through the shadows to reach up toward the night sky.

You eyes shot open as you woke with a start. It was still early, early enough that you could have gotten an extra hour or so of sleep, but you decided to just stay awake. Your dream had been much too unsettling...

You played around on your phone, internally debating your response to Jimin before typing something and sending it.

That’s so kind of you. I’m glad we met as well :)

You heard your mother’s knock on the door some time later. With a sigh, you lifted yourself from the warmth and safety of your sheets, getting prepared to brave the day.

--------------------------------------———————

The moment you entered the upperclassmen building, you were yanked to the side and pulled into an empty classroom. You looked up in alarm but relaxed when you saw who it was.

Mana gripped you with something akin to fear, glancing around suspiciously to make sure the coast was clear. Once they were satisfied, they closed the door and hugged you tightly. “(Y/N), you whore! You have no idea how worried I was. How dare you not text me last night? How long did you spend over there? What happened?”

You smiled at your best friend’s antics, their overprotectiveness chipping away at your lingering unease from this morning. 

You recounted your experience at the Kim household, telling them about the beautiful, secluded home in the woods, the brothers’ actions, their graceful talent of a mother, and the demanding presence of their father.

“Honestly, I was a little scared.” you recounted, sliding your bag off your shoulder. “There were so many things to be wary of, but I just spent the whole evening being as polite as possible.” 

They nodded along, engrossed in your story.

“Mayor Kim is seriously intimidating, and Mrs. Kim read my fortune—said something about power and being careful of the people around me--and the library, Mana, you would have loved it-”

“Hold on, girl! Back up.” Mana interrupted. “The mayor’s wife said what?”

“Oh,” you slowed down. “Mrs. Kim touched my palm and said I held a lot of wisdom and power, I guess within me, and that I should be wary of those around me because they may try to take it.”

They gave you a pointed look. “I knew it. The second I saw Jimin look at the empty seat next to you from the front of the classroom, I got a bad feeling. To think the warning would come from his own mother...”

“What does that mean?” You asked, furrowing your brows.

“I think you should just continue to be wary of the Kims...” Mana murmured, crossing their arms. “I know we always play it safe, but the closer to them you get, the more peril you’ll be in.”

You sat down in an empty chair. The possibilities for being hurt in this town were certainly far from rare, after all. But for them to claim the brothers would try to hurt you, even though you did nothing to provoke them...?

“Mana, do you think they might try to do something to me?”

They shrugged. “I’ve said what I felt I needed to say.”

“But steal my ‘power’?” You held up two fingers and scrunched them for air quotations. “What could the most influential people in town possibly want with me or my supposed power? What would they even do with it?”

What power do I have?

Mana looked at you concernedly while you pondered your own question.

Power? To you, it was overrated. Power was nothing but an elite show of force, all over the world but especially in this town. It was used and lorded over others, and ripped families apart. You did not consider yourself very powerful. 

You remembered your obedience toward Mr. Kim in spite of your fear and suspicion, and the way you had to rub your mother’s back as she heaved up everything she ate on the side of the road after leaving their house.

Yeah...power was currently far from your grasp.

You shrugged. You were going to follow Mrs. Kim’s warning either way; after all, nothing good came of being too expressive or open in this town.

Mana turned away from you as you both heard the bell ring for the fifteen minute warning. You picked up your bag as they led the way out the door and up the stairs toward your classroom.

When you stepped into the door, you glimpsed Jimin sitting at his desk with a disturbed frown on his face. The moment he met eyes with you, however, he was all smiles.

“(Y/N)!”

You walked down the other side of the aisle and sat in your seat, turning toward him with a smile. “Morning, Jimin.”

“Good morning! Thanks for replying to my text! How was your rest? I hope you got much more sleep than yesterday night.” His eyes wouldn’t move away from yours, all big and awestruck like a puppy’s.

You nodded. “Of course! Thanks for worrying, though. You didn’t have to.”

“Of course I did. I’ll always be concerned for your safety and well-being, (Y/N). If you feel like you ever need somewhere to go or someone to confide in, feel free to reach out to me, okay?” 

His tone turned strangely serious in comparison to how he greeted you moments before, you thought. Still, you gave him a small smile. 

“Sure, Jimin. I really appreciate your concern and the offer...”

He beamed and nodded, turning to give his greetings to Mana, who seemed surprise that they were being spoken to at all. As they conversed, you reached into your bag and pulled out your materials for the morning lesson.

“Did you end up choosing a mythological creature for your project yet?” Jimin asked.

Their mouth twitched upward. “My partner and I decided to research nymphs...I don’t know too much about them, he pretty much chose our project topic.”

They reached over and ruffled your hair. “You lucked out with (Y/N) here, she really knows her stuff.”

You scoffed and swatted their hand away from your head. “You mean I lucked out by not being partnered with your lazy self? You’re absolutely right.”

Jimin watched the two of you bicker back and forth, fighting the urge to smile.

The teacher entered the room, placing her materials on her desk. You and your peers silenced as you prepared yourself for the long day of classes.

Right here, surrounded by your community, your classmates, and your best friend...yes, this was the time where you felt the most normal. 

Deep down, you knew you wanted to leave Ichabod--without a doubt. But you feared the outside world all the same. 

The people outside wouldn’t be able to understand the things you had went through. They would giggle away your paranoia and reassure you of your safety, having no perception of the actual dangers you faced. 

They didn’t know the things that could set you off, the things that the people around you could understand with the simple exchange of a glance.

But you quieted the thoughts of your precarious future as the teacher began her lesson, falling into the routine once more.

----------------------------------------——————

Before the Kims even stepped foot into town, it was the Augustuses who ruled Ichabod with an iron fist. Their family came from old money. They had lived here for generations upon generations, their stature being crucial to the survival of the town. They oversaw the law enforcement of Ichabod. 

Nearly thirty years ago, when the town was still overrun with violence, miscreants, and chaos, the Augustuses did nothing to keep the peace. They sat from their high horse with other prominent families and watched the middle and lower classes struggle.

The then-head of the family, Rufus Augustus, was especially known for ignoring his duties.

Then Kim Moonsik stepped into town and established his position as mayor and, more importantly, as a servant of the divine Wylynne.

Once he saw how poorly Rufus acted, he fought to remove him from his position.

The man was too proud, too unwilling to give his position and title up to this “holy”, foreign newcomer. 

Mayor Kim had wanted to execute Rufus. It was his son, Aloysius, who had gotten down on both knees and begged for his safety. 

Two months later, both Rufus and his wife were sent to Wylynne as divine warriors, leaving the new head and his family to take his place.

The Augustus family were now the Kims’ right hand men: their enforcers and watchful guards within the walls of their kingdom.

The current head, Aloysius, was the chief of police, his wife, Domitia, a commander of her own squad.

Their daughter was Kim Namjoon’s aide, the vice president of the student body.

While the majority of the citizens of Ichabod feared the Kims, there were those select few who would cross the line between fear and respect. These subjects knew well enough to keep their distance away from that dangerous family, but revered them with an eery obsession.

Aemilia Augustus was one of those select few.

She was raised in luxury and privilege. The luxury of complete ease in her environment and the privilege of knowing that, no matter what she did, no normal citizen in this town was powerful enough to go against her or her parents. 

She grew up adhering to the law. The laws of Ichabod specifically, as they would apply to no other.

Aemilia thought of herself as town royalty. She essentially was, considering her family was only a step down the hierarchy from the Kims. 

Her parents were, in short, bootlickers. They trembled underneath their cloaks every monthly meeting, clutching the sophomore’s arms with grips strong enough to rival coconut crabs as they waited to see which poor, unfortunate soul Mayor Kim would call out next.

But when he called them in the middle of the night, ordering them to dispatch officers to “discipline” yet another citizen, they readily responded as if they were family friends carrying out an old grudge on behalf of the other.

Yet another reason why Aemilia found her parents’ subservience so utterly pathetic. They were subjugated to become nothing more than mindless, fearful followers.

She found her grandfather’s actions absolutely foolish. The opportunity for power and reform was well within his grasp, but his narrow mindedness prevented him from making the proper preparations. 

She did not want her parents’ life for herself, nor did she see it anywhere in her future. 

Aemilia wanted to rule rather than be ruled. She had no intention of leaving Ichabod--rather, she saw herself marrying one of Mayor Kim’s sons, the best son, and ruling beside him as his queen.

All of the students at Ichabod Academy knew her name and prestige. She felt that she had the entire school underneath her beck and call. 

She never had to explicitly say what she wanted, because everyone else was already prepared to grant her wish. After all, who was brave, or stupid, enough to go against her? 

Imagine her surprise when she walked into the cafeteria the next day and spotted you, seated with Kim Jimin, Kim Taehyung, and Kim Jungkook, smiling up a storm.

A little nobody doing something no one, not even she, had ever gotten to--she’d never heard your name before, she thought to herself, whispering to one of her friend’s to tell her who you were.

You were driving a nail into her carefully crafted plans.

And if you thought you would get away with it, you clearly had another thing coming.

-------------------------------------———————

Your cheeks were starting to hurt.

All you had wanted to do was go get lunch with Mana and Jimin. You skipped breakfast this morning, as usual, and your stomach was growling throughout the majority of morning classes.

When you had jumped up to run off to the cafeteria, you slammed into Taehyung, who had been waiting for you by the door. He in turn backed up into Jungkook, who was standing silently behind him. 

The long, black haired boy caught his older brother with one hand and prevented you both from falling. 

Apologies spilled out of your mouth and Taehyung grinned his boxy grin, apologizing for scaring you. He pounced on Jimin soon after, wrapping an arm around his shoulder.

“Jimin told me about you guys going to the cafeteria for lunch! I really miss the three of us eating together, and getting to know you yesterday was so much fun, (Y/N)! Would you mind if we joined you...?”

He turned those puppy eyes on you and you found yourself with no reason to refuse. You nodded yes, despite feeling Mana’s laser vision tearing into the back of your skull.

Thus, here you are.

If entering the cafeteria with one Kim yesterday caused some whispers, you knew today would cause full on conversations.

You smiled awkwardly at the brothers with your lunch tray in front of you, suddenly having lost your appetite. Then you clapped your hands together.

“Ah! How rude of me--Taehyung, Jungkook, please meet Mana. They’ve been my best friend since childhood. Mana, this is Jungkook and Taehyung.”

Mana waved in a good natured manner at the boys. You tensed as you watched the interaction. 

Taehyung eyed them suspiciously, and you surmised that he was giving them the same “test” that you received yesterday afternoon. Thankfully, his lips split into that broad grin once more as he leapt across the table to pull them into a hug. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you!” He cheered.

They grunted, sending you a look of bewilderment over his shoulder. “Yeah, you too...?”

Jungkook mumbled out his greetings soon after.

After Jimin finished scolding Taehyung and he calmed down, the conversation took off. It was hard not to feel relaxed around Jimin and Taehyung together, for their exuberant natures made for fun conversations. You even felt Mana lowering their guard a bit, cracking some jokes that had the four of you disappearing underneath the tables in giggles.

Once again, you were almost able to forget what life was like in this town. You slipped into a comfortable sense of normalcy, picturing yourself as five school friends who had recently met.

Nevertheless, you never should have let your guard down. You never should have forgotten your place.

And by the time you did remember, it was far too late.

A cold substance spilling over you shocked you into reality, your vision obscured by a bubbly, brown trail dripping down your back, over your hair, and landing in your lap, staining your skirt.

The cafeteria, once boisterous, went completely silent. 

You heard a stifled snicker from behind you just as someone else began to speak.

“Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry. Are you alright?”

You turned around and spotted none other than Aemilia Augustus, standing there with her spotless uniform and lunch tray held firmly in her hands.

 Behind her were her two best friends, Brooklyn and Constance...one of whom did not have a lunch tray.

It appeared to be on the floor directly behind you, half of its contents spilled over your back and the other half over your head.

“My dear friend wasn’t watching where she was going and ended up tripping.” Aemilia continued, turning around to face one of them. “Constance, why aren’t you apologizing?”

The blonde had one hand over her mouth and another behind her back. She removed her hand from her mouth, which you presumed was meant to hide her smile, and stepped forward. 

She bowed a little. “I’m so sorry. I can get someone to pay for your laundry bill, or I could buy you lunch next time?”

You felt Mana's eyes on you, but surprisingly, the first person you looked at was not Mana or Constance, nor was it Aemilia. 

You met eyes with Jungkook across the table. His dark eyes glinted dangerously, glued onto Constance and her every action. Taehyung and Jimin shared his look, glaring at the blonde. Taehyung’s hand clenched into a fist on the table, crushing the soda can he held in his hand.

The brothers met your gaze, waiting to see what you would do next.

You blinked the brown liquid out of your eyes and turned to her with a politically polite smile. “It’s fine, everyone makes mistakes. I’m pretty clumsy myself. There’s no need to pay for anything, I can just wash my uniform when I get back home. All is forgiven.” 

How extremely like you, the brothers thought. How extremely like you to not draw attention to yourself at the behest of these hags.

The whispers picked back up in the cafeteria and Aemilia sent you a smile right back. She walked over to the table, stepping into the space between you and Jimin. 

She gently set her tray onto the table, picked up the napkins on your tray, and proceeded to wipe some of it off your face.

“I’m glad you forgave Constance for her mistake, but still, sitting in a dirty uniform all day probably won’t be comfortable.” She spoke placatingly. 

You were momentarily frozen, mystified by her treating you like a child. At least you could see clearly again.

She put the napkin down. “Why don’t you come with me to the student council office for now? We can get you a new uniform there.”

“Oh, you don’t have to go that far-”

“She’s right, you don’t want to have to sit in sticky food for the rest of the day. I’ll come with you,” Mana interrupted with a tone that left no room for permission. 

Mana stood, pulling you up with them. They picked up both your bags, kicked the tray back in the blonde’s direction, and followed Aemilia’s lead out the cafeteria and away from the callous whispers.

As you walked out, Constance smirked, squeezing the Pepsi can hidden behind her back. 

After the three of you left, Jimin slowly lifted his gaze, casting it onto Aemilia’s friends.

They scrambled to clean up the mess, bowing multiple times. 

Before Brooklyn and Constance could scurry away, however, Taehyung lifted a hand, pointing his finger at the blonde. He bent it in a “come here” gesture. She inched over, trying and failing to hide her giddy expression. 

She clutched the tray of trash in her hands, her heart pounding in her ears as the younger sophomore leaned toward her. 

He whispered something in her ear, a malicious smile creeping its way onto his face. 

Constance paled and she stilled. The tray she was holding went crashing to the floor. 

Jimin smirked as he looked at the filth, living and non-living, and picked his bag up, swinging it over his shoulder. Jungkook scoffed and glared at them, prompting them to finally leave. 

Brooklyn picked up Aemilia’s tray and pulled at Constance. The blonde managed to unfreeze herself and walked away trembling. What she was trembling from--fear or admiration--no one could tell. 

The brothers looked at each other and nodded. They stood in unison and left the cafeteria.

-----------------------------------------—————

You had thought yesterday was going to be the most eventful day of your life, but clearly, Wylynne had more in store for you than you could ever imagine.

Not only was your uniform left a mess, but your stomach was growling louder than ever, considering you had been too shocked to eat your meal.

You traipsed down the hallway, cringing as you felt the stickiness of the soda travel from your thighs to your socks.

Now that you were no longer in the heat of the moment, you re-examined your response. You seriously doubted just how clean you’d be able to get in the bathroom. You were honestly thankful for Aemilia’s offer and for Mana insisting you take it.

Of course, you could have gone the rest of the day in your soda soaked mess of a uniform out of sheer pride, but now you wouldn’t have to.

Mana kept you right beside them as Aemilia walked ahead, her strawberry blonde pony tail swinging gently with each step she took.

Aemilia Augustus reeked of luxury and privilege. She did so in a way that few could ever come after her for it, you observed.

She exuded grace like Mrs. Kim did, but hers was different. She looked as though she felt she earned everything she got. 

Rather than Mrs. Kim’s gentle elegance, Aemilia was righteous and indifferent. She knew her place, and reveled in it.

“That witch has something to do with this,” Mana harshly and quickly whispered in your ear. “Now you’ve done it. You’ve incurred the wrath of Strawberry Shortcake and her she-devils.”

“It’s fine,” you whispered back. “We know she didn’t do it, and she’s offering to give me a new uniform before class starts. It’s fine.”

You cut Mana off with a look, internally suppressing a rising negative attitude. There were too many eyes on you, too many ears around you.

Aemilia led the two of you to the third floor, walking until she reached a room at the end of the hall. 

She pulled out a key and put it in the door, unlocking it. “Usually, we aren’t supposed to be in here during school hours to ensure that we’re working diligently in classes, but as the student body vice president, I have a key.” She winked and swung open the door.

“Now about that-oh!”

Aemilia stopped short and you walked behind her, peering over her shoulder. 

Several windows lined the room, lighting it up with the midday sun. It was moderately sized, like that of a classroom. A wooden table set up in the middle with black, rolling chairs pushed up against the edge of the table. 

Kim Namjoon sat at the head of the table, several papers spread out around him and glasses perched on his nose. He looked up, peeved at the intrusion.

“Aemilia...to what do I owe the pleasure?”

The strawberry blonde smiled. “Good afternoon, Mr. President. I have a student here who went through a bit of an accident at lunch. We’re just coming to get her a change of clothes.”

Namjoon made no reaction when he spotted you behind Aemilia. He nodded at her, gave his greetings to you and Mana with a small smile, and turned back to the paperwork.

Aemilia waved, implying the two of you could follow her in. The floor was made of a royal blue, lush carpet, and you winced as you dirtied it with your wet shoes. “What are your sizes, (Y/N)?” She questioned.

“I’m a (size) for the shirt and (size) for the skirt.” You quietly stated.

She nodded and walked to the back of the room and disappeared around a corner into what you presumed was an atrium of sorts. You heard a door open and the shuffling of clothes.

Mana entered, sitting on one of the seats lined up against the wall. You stood by one of the walls and peered out of the nearest window.

In the distance, you could see the dark leaves of the forest trees peeking over the tops of buildings and homes. Different students were making their way across the quad, heading back to afternoon classes. You sighed and placed a hand over your stomach.

“Here you are!” Aemilia returned with a uniform shirt and skirt in your size as well as a brand new pack of socks on a hanger. “Usually, the emergency uniforms cost students some additional funds, but you won’t have to worry about paying for it. This one’s on the house.”

You took the hanger gingerly. “Please, you’ve already done so much. The least I can do is pay. I’ll be making it out to the student council?”

Aemilia shook her head. “You really don’t have to, it was Constance’s fault. I’ll do you this favor for her.”

You smiled. “I insist. Please tell me how much is it.”

Aemilia leered at you, her eyes searching for whatever you possessed that made you think you even had the right to challenge her.

This bitch.

“If you insist! It’ll be $30. You can make it out via cash or check to the student council. It’s due by the end of the week.” 

You nodded and gave both students a bow. “I’m so sorry to have disturbed your day. I’ll be going off to class now.”

Aemilia returned your courtesy and Namjoon gave you a small wave.

You locked arms with Mana, left the student council room and headed to the bathroom. 

-----------------------------------------—————

“I’m telling you! There’s something so messed up about that girl!” Mana complained loudly as you stood in the bathroom. You unbuttoned your shirt and proceeded to clean soda residue off your chest, arms, and legs.

Ichabod Academy consisted of three types of bathrooms: men’s restrooms, women’s restrooms, and a gender neutral restroom. There was only one and it was jammed into the basement, and it was your and Mana’s safe space because hardly anyone else ever came down here.

“Even if there is, what am I going to do, call her out on it?” You muttered as you took off your socks, wiping as much of the stickiness as possible off with a warm, wet napkin.

You dried your arms and threw the rest of the napkins away, then went into a stall and took your clothes off completely, changing into the new uniform. “I don’t have the mental energy required to play her mind games today. How much time do I have left?”

“Fifteen minutes.” They said, unlocking and locking their phone. “No, but you seriously haven’t heard of her? Of what she does to people who get too close to the Kims?”

“There’s been someone else getting close to the Kims?” You questioned dryly, pulling the socks on.

“Got, as in past tense, love. Anyone who associates with the Kims excessively, according to her, in any form or fashion has died by her hand.” Mana said. “She practically worships the ground they walk on.”

“She wouldn’t be the only one,” you replied nonchalantly.

“You remember Grace Ster?”

“The girl from our freshman class who left to be homeschooled?” You frowned, buttoning up your shirt.

“Yes! The only reason why she was sent home is because Aemilia blew a fit and ended up tormenting the poor thing until she didn’t want to show up anymore!” Mana said. 

“All Grace did was hold hands with Kim Taehyung. In drama class. For a skit!” You could see them throwing their arms up in disbelief through the crack of the stall door. “That’s why I had you go along with her. If you kept being so stubborn, she might have publicly humiliated you even more in the cafeteria. I wanted to make sure she didn’t get the chance.” 

“Oh...thanks, Mana.” You smiled slightly. 

You walked out the stall and folded your dirty uniform, placing it inside your book bag. You didn’t really have a response, not necessarily shocked by Aemilia’s nature. Something had told you she was different than the persona she made an effort to display.

You washed your hands and slung your bag over your shoulder. “We should just get back before we’re late.”

Mana patted you on the back as you dejectedly walked back to class.

-----------------------------------------—————

When you stepped into the classroom, you got a number of looks and comments, people whispering under their breath about how you dared to anger the queen bee. 

Jimin had, once more, been waiting for you. “(Y/N)! Are you alright?” 

“I’m fine.” You said. “Aemilia gave me a new uniform to change into.”

As you sat down, your stomach growled loudly. 

Jimin’s eyes snapped back up to meet yours. “You didn’t get to eat, did you? She dragged you out before you could even touch your food.”

You shrugged. “I’ll just eat after school. It’s not the first time I’ve gone without eating and I’m sure it won’t be the last.”

Jimin eyed you worriedly as Mrs. Hargrove burst into the room, full of nervous energy as usual. “Good afternoon, students!”

You and your classmates chorused greetings in return. You internally sighed at how long of a day this was turning out to be. 

Jimin continued to fret over you throughout the rest of afternoon classes. You kept reassuring him that you were fine. No, you didn’t need anything from the vending machine, yes you would tell him if you got too hungry.

You reminded yourself that he wasn’t Mana or one of your other classmates--you wouldn’t be able to tell him off, even if you kind of wanted to.

The end of the school day finally arrived and you walked out the double doors between Mana and Jimin.

Jimin pulled you toward him. His brothers stood several feet away from the rest of the student body, watching as Driver Bin pulled up to the corner.

“(Y/N).” Jimin smiled at you, but the look in his eyes was serious. “Remember, you’re much, much stronger than you think you are.” 

He reached his hand down to gently squeeze at yours, and held onto your hand for a bit more before letting it go. “Those petty people are nothing compared to you.”

He let go of your hand and walked toward his four brothers, who began climbing into the vehicle. Hoseok and Taehyung lifted their arms to wave goodbye, and you lifted yours in a half-hearted wave as they pulled away.

You stepped to the side and on one of the benches outside of the school. Mana stood next to you, leaning against a pillar.

You eyed students warily as they linked arms to walk home together in bunches or ran to the curve of the street in front of the school to hop into their parent’s cars. 

A glossy, strawberry blonde ponytail soon caught your attention as it hit the light of the afternoon sun. 

You watched Aemilia walk toward a gray car resting beside the curb, her hair perfect as usual. She waved farewell to her friends and made eye contact with you over their shoulders.

The girl glanced at you. Her eyes were teeming with disgust, but all she did was smile at you as she bent down to sit in the car.

Should I be scared? You thought to yourself as her driver closed the door. They drove away, heading toward the Augustus residence at the center of the city.

Mana popped a bubble of their chewing gum. “(Y/N), your mom’s here.”

You lifted your head and spotted your mother’s familiar car making its way down the pickup line. 

You stood up, brushing off the back of your skit and walked with Mana to the car. When Mana entered the backseat, your mother scoffed with a smile. “What’s this?”

They beamed and blinked rapidly at your mother. “Oh please, Aunty (M/N), won’t you take this poor child home?”

You giggled as your mom rolled her eyes. “Just put your seatbelt on, Manareyyn.”

Mana gasped and hushed her. “Not the full name, Aunty! Am I a complete stranger to you?”

You laughed, feeling relaxed in the presence of your loved ones.

When you got home, you had the interesting combination of leftover takeout and your mother’s cooking for a meal. 

You put both school uniforms in the wash and informed your mother of what happened at school. She prepared the funds for the council and handed the check to you. 

You went upstairs and took a shower, washed your hair, and completed some homework assignments.

Soon enough, you both turned in for the night.

-----------------------------------------—————

Later that evening at the Kim residence, Namjoon stood outside of Jimin’s room. The younger boy had summoned him and the rest of their siblings for some kind of conference, but he wasn’t keen on staying too long.

He sighed and knocked on the door.

“Come in,” Jimin’s voice sounded from the other side. Namjoon twisted the doorknob and pushed it open.

The rest of the brothers were already in the room, he noted, seated on Jimin’s king sized bed.  

He shrugged in response to their irritated gazes and climbed onto the mattress.

“Now that everyone’s here,” Taehyung stated, side-eyeing Namjoon, “we can properly begin our discussion.”

“How long is this going to take?” Hoseok interrupted. “I have several assignments that need to be completed, and dances to choreograph.”

“Yes, and I have stacks of paperwork I need to finish for student council.” Namjoon sighed.

Jimin leaned back. “You don’t necessarily have to be here-”

Hoseok leapt up, walking over to the door. 

“-unless, of course, you wish to know how to help our angel.”

The senior stopped in his tracks and looked over at Jimin, gaze darkening.

“I thought we agreed that we wouldn’t help (Y/N),” Jungkook said, playing a game on his phone. “Namjoon hyung said that she needed to come to us on her own.”

“I still stand by that statement. The more we pressure her, the more she’ll back away.” Namjoon coolly replied. “She’ll come find us, of her own volition, eventually.” 

“Then what are you talking about?” Hoseok asked.

“It appears that people at school are mistaken about who deserves the most respect from them,” Taehyung said. 

“Your subordinate stepped out of line today, Namjoon hyung.” Jimin followed.

The older boy shifted his gaze onto his younger brothers. He thought back to today’s lunch period when (Y/N) and her friend entered the student council room. The girl had shifted uncomfortably where she stood, and he thought he’d heard the faint sound of a stomach growling.

Hoseok scoffed at his silence and turned to look at him. “Don’t tell me it was the Augustus bitch. I told you to throw her away ages ago.”

“No, it was one of her underlings,” Namjoon stated, recalling the girls’ conversation. “The blonde airhead in love with Taehyung, Constance. She must have ‘accidentally’ spilled her lunch all over (Y/N), no doubt directed by Aemilia herself.”

Taehyung glowered at the reminder. When he leaned over to whisper into Constance’s ear, the idiot was smiling as if it was the best day of her life. The acrid smell of her perfume made him gag. It nearly suffocated him. 

It was nothing like (Y/N)’s. Her scent caressed him from afar and washed over him when they were close, promising warmth and consolation.

Her scent was probably ruined by the stunt that scum pulled in the cafeteria.

When he saw Constance holding the soda can, he’d wanted to reach his hand around her neck and-

“Ah, I see.” Namjoon smiled, his realization coming full force. “So, you want to prepare a lesson of sorts.”

Jimin nodded. “People need to be well aware of how to treat (Y/N) before and especially after she takes her place by our side. This can a good teaching moment.”

“Okay,” Hoseok hummed. “And how are you going to go about doing that?”

“Like Namjoon hyung said, we can’t directly interfere without it being too obvious.” Taehyung said. “But-”

“-there’s no reason as to why we can’t distribute due punishment.” Jungkook finished, his lips twitching into a smile.

Namjoon grinned, nodding. “How about the three of you tell me everything you saw in the cafeteria this afternoon...spare no details.”

-----------------------------------------—————

Chance Pierre was a quiet kid. He never bothered anybody and preferred to focus on his studies.

Students often found him tutoring a classmate in between classes or reading in the library, and they nicknamed him the freshmen class’ Kim Namjoon. Not that they could say it so loudly around the guy’s younger brother, Kim Jungkook.

Chance Pierre dreamed of becoming rich and influential enough to come back to the town, save the people inside, and burn the Kims to the ground.

He wanted to find a way out of Ichabod using his intellect. He would appeal to Mayor Kim, explain how he hoped to bring excellence to the town by pursuing his academic career and spreading the word about Wylynne and all of the moon’s grace.

Surely, the mayor would let him take his intellectual influence outside. And he would be able to escape the hellish nightmare that was this town.

Thankfully, he and Jungkook were not in the same class. Even though Chance was at the top of his specific class, if he wanted to place first in the entire freshman class, he would eventually have to confront the youngest of the Kims. A conflict he’d been readily avoiding.

Still, despite his academic prestige, he was still what high schoolers would call a “nerd”. He was bullied by his peers, the same peers that he wanted to spare. They mocked him for his financial status, for his intellect. The goddess forbid he ever share his dream of leaving Ichabod, for they would mock him for that as well.

Chance entered his home and it was quiet, as usual. His parents worked late hours and he often had no one to talk to. The spirits in the walls were his friends, he liked to joke.

He took his shoes off and just as he was about to turn to go upstairs, something was thrown over his head. 

His vision went dark and he immediately began to struggle. He kicked and fought, his breaths rapidly increasing. The inside of the material was coated in what smelled like bleach and alcohol.

Chloroform.

Chance tried to hold his breath, cursing himself for struggling earlier, but he only delayed the inevitable. The boy’s movements slowed and his assailant pulled the bag around his head tighter and tighter until he blacked out.

Hours later, the police station was visited by his mother in the early morning, the woman hysterically crying and clutching onto Chance’s discarded book bag as she reported her son’s abduction.

-----------------------------------------—————

You were awoken by your mother entering your room. You looked up at her inquisitively, trying to blink the sleep out of your eyes. 

You both had several hours of rest left, so why...?

She wordlessly approached your bed and lifted the covers, and you scooted backward to give her space. She lay down next to you, slipping her arm under your head.

You felt her press a kiss to your forehead. She started playing with your hair and humming a little, like she used to do when you were little. You drifted back to sleep in the comfort of her arms.

Yet in the morning, she was gone again, off to work an early shift at the hospital. 

It was a gray, rainy day today. 

Mana’s dad had been the one to take you to school that morning, and both he and his child chuckled as they saw you running out the door with a clothing bag and your book bag in the rain. You had entered the car squealing from the cold water droplets.

When you walked into the building, you had almost expected another horrible, suspicious “accident”.

If only that had been the case.

You and Mana entered the lobby to find your classmates gathering around the school bulletin board, where another missing poster had been put up.

A freshman. He’d been taken sometime last night, you gathered from the horde of students in front of you. 

The boy looked slightly familiar to you; he was probably someone you were accustomed to passing in the halls.

You sighed, your heart falling in your chest. That was probably why your mother was clinging to you in your sleep this morning...

You met eyes with Mana’s, whose own flashed with sadness and anger. 

There was no telling where this kid was going to show up again. If he was lucky, he would make it back to his family in one piece. If not...

The double doors opened again, bringing in an icy breeze with them, and the halls instantly silenced. You turned away from the crowd and watched as the Kim brothers walked in. 

Jungkook strolled along with his head held high and headphones in his ears, indifferent to all the stares. 

Namjoon walked through the students, smirking as they parted for him with Hoseok, calm as can be, a couple of feet behind him. 

Contrary to yesterday’s kind and bubbly energy, Taehyung had a dangerous glower on his face. Jimin was expressionless, his eyes glued forward as the brothers made their way to their respective buildings.

If they noted the amount of students surrounding the bulletin board, they certainly did not show it. There was no sign of concern, or pain anywhere in their expression.

This was why the Kims, while so close, felt so distant from the rest of the student body. 

It’s one thing to live in a town like Ichabod and experience the horrible things that happen here. It’s another thing to refuse to look deeper and question everything around you.

It’s another thing to live here and think that these types of occurrences are alright. 

You shivered. Yes, you remind yourself. This is the atmosphere. This is the place I am in.

You were not in a normal high school or a normal town. The law of your land simply could not compare with that of anywhere else.

Never far behind them, Aemilia Augustus entered, her posse at her back. She followed the Kims, a serene, pleased smile on her face. 

No doubt she had knowledge of what had happened to that freshman, but she would never tell.

She passed by you and Mana, looking you up and down.

That one glance told you more than anything you had gathered in your conversation yesterday.

This is the difference between us, it proclaimed. I am safe on the inside, while you are disposable on the outside. 

You are nothing. 

Aemilia walked past the two of you, continuing on her way to class. Brooklyn and Constance followed behind her, staring dead ahead. 

The blonde was far from her usual picture perfect attire--her uniform was wrinkled, she was dragging her feet, and her eyes were red and puffy. She made no move to look at you or Mana, seemingly caught up in her thoughts.

Soon after they left, movement in the halls returned to normal as students walked to their classes. At some point, you finally forced yourself to move. 

The chill from the rain and wind settled in your bones and you shivered on your way to class.

The teacher had not arrived yet, as usual. Your classmates didn’t even have the heart to discuss rumors or joke around. Every movement seemed to break the silence.

You walked down the aisle and sat next to Jimin, waving at him in greeting. He gave you a small smile in return. You silently took your books out your bag, not wanting to bother him anymore after this morning’s display.

The cold couldn’t seem to leave you alone. Your shivers persisted and within a few moments, you were shaking so badly you couldn’t hold your pencil straight.

Mana sent you a concerned look but you waved them off, circling your finger to tell them to turn back around.

You put your writing utensil down and tried to hold your own hand still when you felt Jimin shift next to you.

He caught sight of your trembling fingers and he removed his school cardigan, handing it to you. 

You tried to refuse his offer, pushing the fabric back into his hold, but he spread it out, draped it over your shoulder, and lifted your hand to slip one of your arms through.

What is it with people thinking I don’t know how to take care of myself? You thought as you gently pulled your arms from his hand, slipping them into the cardigan and pulled it closed. 

He watched with a satisfied smile as it draped down your sides and shifted in his seat to resume his staring ahead.

You thought back to the other night. 

His gaze was just as caring, just as frigid as the one from your dream. 

You shivered again, hiding it by shifting in your seat. The class sat in silence until your first period teacher walked in. Without another word, she quickly began her lesson.

------------------------------------------------------

During lunch, Mana had to go to a meeting with one of the teachers, and Jimin and his brothers were nowhere to be found (not that you were dying to sit with them), so you took the opportunity to clear your debt with the student council.

You walked up to the third floor and went to the end of the hallway, fiddling with the paper and clothing bag in your hands. As you approached the door, you tentatively turned the knob and found that it was still locked.

You were contemplating sliding the envelope under the door when a voice sounded out from behind you. 

“What have we here?”

You turned and found Kim Namjoon leaning against the wall behind you. He didn’t have his glasses on today, but wore a playful and righteous look on his face. 

“(Y/N) ah, it’s wonderful to see you. I see Jiminie is still making sure to take good care of you.” He smiled in a good natured manner and you flushed, remembering the sweater your classmate practically dressed you in himself.

“Yeah...it’s been really chilly,” you muttered. You bowed slightly in greeting. “Good morning.”

“How have you been?”

“I’m alright. I didn’t want to bother, I just have the uniform I borrowed yesterday and the money I owe the council.”

Namjoon put his leg down, gently kicking off the wall and approached you. He flicked his hand toward the door. “Oh, is that so? Why didn’t you come in?”

“The door was locked-” You watched in surprise as Namjoon opened the door easily, without having pulled out a key. “...or not, I suppose.”

I must not have twisted the door hard enough because of all the stuff in my hands...

“Come on in.”

You entered the room cautiously. Namjoon took his place at the head of the table, placing his bag at his feet. “The uniforms go in the closet in the atrium, around that corner.”

You nodded and walked the same way Aemilia went yesterday. 

There didn’t appear to be much in the atrium--there were two restrooms, a vending machine, a place to hang coats and bags, and the supply closet. 

“Speaking of clothes, I apologize for not being able to assist you yesterday. I was terribly behind in some student council matters and worked all night to finish it all.” The student council president stated from behind the other section of the wall.

You hung the wardrobe up and walked back out, sliding the check in front of Namjoon on the table. “It’s completely fine, it wasn’t anything important.”

“I don’t think so,” He gestured for you to take a seat in the chair to his right. “Would you mind telling me what happened in the cafeteria?”

You hesitated, prepared to brush it all under the rug, but boy’s gaze sharpened and you found yourself taking a seat.

“It was an accident,” you began. “Someone tripped and spilled their food on me at lunch.”

Namjoon hummed. “Who was it?”

“A friend of Aemilia’s. I was sitting with Mana, Jimin, Taehyung, and Jungkook at lunch and we were talking, and then I felt something cold run down my face and back.” You looked down at your lap, folding and unfolding your fingers.

Namjoon rested his chin in his fist as he looked at you. “I take it that it was Constance, as Aemilia said yesterday, correct?” 

You nodded.

“So, Constance managed to trip and splatter her food all over you, and only you, as you sat at your lunch table, which is fairly out of the way of the center of the cafeteria. A table that had plenty of room for people to walk around.”

“How did you know where I was sitting?” You asked.

“Jimin informed me of the basic details, but I wanted to hear the story from your perspective.” He reasoned with a smile. “This...accident...also occurred well into the meal, when everyone else was already seated.”

You frowned. “It doesn’t sound like you think it was an accident.”

“It sounds as though she were targeting you, (Y/N).” Namjoon said, removing some papers and textbooks from his bag. “I’m simply speculating off of what I know. I’d advise you to be careful of Aemilia and her ‘acquaintances’.” He said, smiling a bit worriedly. 

You looked away, thoughts racing rapidly in your head.

You were already wary of the girl because of her status and the things you’d heard from Mana, but you found something incredibly unsettling about being warned about her from Kim Namjoon himself. 

He’s one to talk.

Namjoon asked you to spend the rest of the lunch hour with him, as he felt he needed some company to complete the rest of his documents. 

He offered to purchase snacks for the two of you, and after that you could hardly refuse. You pulled out some assignments of your own and worked in tandem.

Hazel eyes peered through a crack in the doorway of the student council room. They saw you and the student council president, sitting together as though you were the best of friends, discussing certain books or classes with an intermittent joke placed every now and then into the conversation.

Hazel eyes saw nothing but a repulsive wench taking what was supposed to be her place. Speaking to her future husband, her future king. The longer she gazed upon the heinous sight, the angrier it made her. 

She made a move to swing open the door and announce her presence, but dark brown eyes met hers through the crack and Aemilia stilled. 

She was not surprised that he had managed to sense and spot her, as she had been able to tell long ago that the president was a master of perception. Yet the usual polite warmth that she so loved was gone. It was replaced by unyielding anger. 

His eyes were alight with purple fire.

He was angry because she almost interrupted him being with you.

Aemilia let go of the handle to the student council room, letting the door click closed. She shoved past the shoulders of her minions friends, raging down the hallway until she reached an empty classroom. 

Once inside, she locked herself in there and began throwing around the desks, chairs, anything within her arms’ reach.

After she quelled her rage, she pressed her nails into her palm and decided:  no, she would not be going out like this. She would not allow that pretentious shrew to chip away and what she so carefully built, what she strove for.

(Y/N) (L/N) would soon experience hell on earth. Aemilia Augustus would make that happen. She swore it on her family name.

(Y/N) (L/N) would never return to the school in one piece, of body or of mind, as long as she could help it.

-----------------------------------------—————

~taglist~

@melaninkpops​ @loserwithapen​ @hellaspookystudent​ @ecillartto​ @omgsuperstarg​ @ace-angel-judas​ @jjamsbangtan​ @lovinggalaxies​ @lovesick-heart0​ @ksxmpoison​ @girlmeetsliv3​ @thedarkwinterrose​ @purpuravm​ @oneweirdbean​ @hopelessfountainjoonie​ @mazmaz30​ @enigmaticlove-03​ @uppiespuppy​ @queenceline22​ @kokofikats​ @taeyohonic​ @creatorspalace​

[ggukkieland]

📕CURRENT READS (2020 October)

🌹 Fics I’ve enjoyed reading this October, with some few unread ones (still have 4 to 5 days to finish!). Waah I have read a lot 😲 I can’t believe I’m almost complete with this list 🥳. Usually when I post and organize the list, half of it are still on #toread status. I thought of curating Halloween-themed fics 🎃 but I ended up reading any genre anyway😁.

Again, credit goes to these awesome writers! Sending them lots of love and virtual hugs 🥰🤗💜🥰🤗💜🥰🤗 .

✅ -  done reading   | S (smut) F (fluff) A (angst) 

🥕[Ongoing Series - to check weekly] 

Still reading the ongoing series from last month’s reading list, whenever there is an update 😊

I Feel You in my Heart by @purpletaecup - MYG |  exes au, second chances, some chapters have smau elements | A, S, F (really good story development 😭)

[7/?] nearly 2 months after their divorce, yoongi and y/n wade through the aftermath of the fallout by themselves. yoongi is moving on with someone else while y/n finds herself stuck in waves of anxiety and depression. soon enough, they are brought together again by an unfortunate accident

If it Harms None, Do What You Will by purpletaecup - JJK | smau, comedy, supernatural au, fantasy au, witch!reader, demon!jungkook | F, S  🎃

[6/?] it’s the beginning of October and green witch y/n has been preparing for all of the spooky activities she needs to do for all hallow’s eve. one of her older friends gives her a ritual candle for protection. a couple of drops of blood and a wonky magic circle later, there is a high level demon sitting on the floor of her living room.

We Live with a Ghost by @smaubts - JJK | smau, comedy, ghost au, roommates au | F  🎃

[6/13] when jungkook convinces his roommate, y/n, that their house is haunted by an evil ghost, they decide their best option is to contact with it and make it leave but end up summoning an actual ghost by accident.

Swan Black by CharWrites [AO3] - JJK | fantasy, supernatural, enemies to lovers, dark fantasy, apocalypse, Fae!Jungkook, Fae!Yoongi, Fae!Taehyung,  LOTR/Mortal Instruments/Labyrinth vibes | A, S (I love this! It’s like watching LOTR 😍)  🎃

[10/?] So's twin brother, Jimin, has been kissed by darkness: an evil that has spread across the land and has claimed many souls. They only have weeks until the darkness consumes him. Once consumed, he will be governed by the unsullied: a powerful race of Dark Fae that has overtaken the world.

So seeks out a rogue Fae Prince, Kook, who is her only hope, if she can survive his deadly charms and irresistible lure especially when he is much more interested in possessing her, mind body and soul.

Third Wheeling by @taetaewonderland - MYG |  strangers to lovers au, ceo!yoongi | A, F, S 🥰

[1/?] Min Yoongi is a strict man. Time is money to the CEO of Kisung Connected. He isn’t interested in conventional things or wastes of time. He’s an asshole. But, you didn’t realize until it was too late. Until you met him at the club and it changed your life forever.  

Bad Friends by @hollyxqx- MYG | friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, neighbor au, college au, fwb au | A, S, F (what a good angst 😥)

[1/3] hooking up with your childhood best friend was never your plan, but neither was falling in love with him either. he’s troubled but his heart is gold. when you move away for college, things start to take a turn.

House of Lilies by @suqakoo​ - JJK | mafia au, arranged marriage au | A, F, S

[3/?] Jeon Jungkook is the only heir to Dal Gurimja. He is the poster child for mafia bosses. He’s a feared hit-man among the underground world, and a successful CEO among the socialites of Seoul. Pair him with a castaway girl who’s been out of society for twelve years, and… what do you get?

Your Eyes Tell  by @njkbangtan - JJK | soulmate au, enemies to lovers au, roommates au, sugar baby (but not really), slow burn | A, F

[5/?] You live in a world where people see in black and white. The solution to finally see the colors? It’s simple. You need to meet your soulmate and look at him in the eyes, but what if the person bound to you is already contented with the monochromatic world? What if…Jeongguk, your soulmate, is already in love with someone else?  

I hate u, I love u by @bbangpanmen - JJK | fwb au, friends to lovers au, smau | A

[17/23] he uses you to forget her; you let him because you love him.

Puzzle by @kimvvantae - JJK | fwb au, friends to lovers au, college au | A, S, F (I’ve read this before, around 2018-19 and I thought it was discontinued. Glad there’s an update ^_^)

[7/?] the line between friendship and something more has never been crossed  - but that changes after a break up and a drunken night, when you not-so-accidentally cross this line to something much more. what happens when after this accident your non-matching puzzle pieces seem to match in a way you’ve never imagined?

The Lesson/Min Boy by @adventuresinwonderlust - MYG | bad boy!yoongi, dom-sub elements, enemies to lovers, brat!reader | S, A, F

[6/8] No summary provided but it’s the twisted story between bad boy Yoongi with angsty backstory and this brat/rich kid. I really liked how it was written though.  I made a mistake of reading part 4:  Two Months Too Long, which should’ve been the 6th story to read if you follow the author’s sequence. 

Popular-ish by @hansolmates - JJK | popular!jungkook, college au, fwb to lovers, shy!oc | F, S, A

[9/?] drabble series: you are way out of jungkook’s league. Or is it the other way around?

Date Me by @latetaektalk - JJK | enemies to lovers, fake dating au, rich kid au | A, F,

[prologue + 1/?] when obnoxiously rich and spoiled frat boy jeon jungkook comes up to you one day and asks you to fake date him for money, you definitely should have said no. because before you knew it, you were going on insta dates with him and having lunch with his equally obnoxiously rich and spoiled friends.

All Over You by @zibermuda - JJK | enemies to lovers, nerd!jk, fuckgirl!reader | S, F 

[2/?] you don’t usually go for the quiet, nerdy type, but Jungkook’s by far the best looking guy in your year. You just can’t help yourself. You have to have him. Small hiccup; he hates you

Effortlessly by @gyukult - JJK | friends to lovers, neighbors au, 

[8/?] “Reciprocate feelings?” Jungkook crosses his arms before he continues, “They should know that you’re the only girl in my life.“ Jungkook has been your best friend and neighbor since you could remember, but what you can’t recall is when your feelings began develop for him. 

HEI$T: A JJK Fic by lucidly [AO3] - JJK | heist au, action, bangtan are thieves, vigilante au | A, S

[3/?] Six years after being thrown into the world of forgery, espionage, and heists, Mona and her team face competition like never before: The Bulletproof Boy Scouts, a fabled Korean gang of thieves that everybody seems to know, but no one has seen. When she comes face to face with all 7 of them, Mona knows: they're real, and this job won't be like the others. For years she has followed the money, but could it be time that she follow her heart instead?

🥕[Completed AUs/Series-  to read]

✅  - done reading (also there seems to be a lot of JJK fics)

Creep @xjoonchildx - MYG | S, pwp, yandere ✅

Guilty @xjoonchildx - KNJ | A, S, mafia au, second part of Guarded AU (an awesome JHS series) 

Chapter One: How Odd  Chapter Two: Incheon Mall Tube Tops  Final Chapter: Is Something Burning?  Epilogue: Better Than Okay

Paddle with Me @yoongs-jeontae - JJK | A, S, enemies to lovers, camp counselor au, pwp   ✅

Hate Me @themfchase - JJK | S, collegel!au, enemies to lovers au, fuckboy!jk, pwp  ✅

Devil in a Blue Suit @yeojaa - JJK | F, S, idiots to lovers, established au, good boy!jungkook  

main story  ✅ + drabbles  ✅

Sweetest Crush @minjoonalist - JHS | F, S, brother’s best friend au 

Fake Love @aquaminwrites - JHS | F, S, A, fake dating au, enemies to lovers  ✅

Faded Love @jamaisjoons - PJM | A, S, marriage au, infidelity ✅

Brown-Eyed Baby @vinterjeon - JJK | A, S, F, exes to lovers, single dad!jk 

01 02  ✅

Why We Got Married @ktheist - KTH | F, S, arranged marriage au, slow burn ✅

Lonely Hearts Club @dovechim - JJK | S, F, enemies to lovers, wedding au  ✅

Come to Me @jeonsweetpea - JJK | S, A, F ,friends to lovers, college au  ✅

Satan on the Strip @noir0neko - JJK | S, A, demon!jungkook  ✅  🎃

No Face @seokoloqy - MYG | A, S, F, demon au, supernatural au  ✅  🎃

Take a Chance @crystaljins - JJK | A, Hanahaki au, co-workers, very angsty but Seokjin provides comic relief

01 02 03 04 05 06 07  ✅

The Lottery Offering @skswriting - JJK | A, F, S, werewolf au, sort-of arranged marriage au  ✅

A Beautiful Epiphany @onherwings - JJK | A, S, F, friends to lovers, unrequited love, artist!jungkook  ✅

Au Naturel (sequel) - drabble, established au  ✅

Broken Dreams @ddaenysus - JJK | A, soulmate au, unrequited  ✅

And Mended Hearts (sequel) - A, S, soulmate au, college au   ✅

Coin Toss @yoondoze - JJK | A, mafia au, detective au, exes au, plot twist 👀  ✅

I Knew It Was You @hoseokmylovesworld - JJK | S, F, werewolf au, college au  ✅ 🎃

Little Blue @pars-ley - JJK | F, S, friends to lovers, college au, with TW   ✅

Little Blue Pill @dreamescapeswriting  - JJK | S, pwp, friends to lovers ✅ 

Smitten @megahwn - JJK | F, S, arranged marriage au, strangers to lovers au   ✅

Hit Me with Your Best Shot @namfine - JJK | S, pwp, martial arts, friends to lovers  ✅

Slow and Steady @yoonia - JJK | S, A, artist!jungkook, infidelity, established au   ✅

Cockblocked @mercurygguk - JJK | A, S, F, friends to lovers, roommates au  ✅

 everything I ever wanted (drabble) - morning after  ✅

What are you Afraid Of? @cupofteaguk - JJK | F, avatar the last bender au 

Part 2 (prompt: if you keep looking at me like that we won’t make it to a bed) - avatar au, F, S

demon-etized @jungkxook - KNJ | S, youtube au, ghost hunter au  🎃

Spellbound @jeonseok - JJK |  F, slight S, demon au, crack, romcom  ✅ 🎃

Raising Demons (sequel) - fluffy, smut, established au, crack  ✅ 🎃

What’s in a Name? @minsimagines - JJK | A, F, demon au, soul selling scenario, romance  

01 02 03 ✅  🎃

The Big Yellow School Bus  [15k] fringesofsanity [AO3] - JJK | S, A, F, noona, fwb au  ✅

once bitten, twice shy [5.6k] obiwrites [AO3] - JJK | A, F, implied S, exes au, parents au   ✅

Lose Somebody [26k] @kooala - JJK | A, F, slight S, exes au, camping au  ✅

Oh What a World [100k] @taestybae - PJM | A, S, F, fake marriage au, fallen idol au (been wanting to read this since July (!), will finally get to reading this 🥰)

series masterlist [18 chapters + epilogue]

🥕[Drabbles]

okay I just realized they’re all JJK drabbles 😅

Incandesce @eunoiabliss - 544 words | JJK | fantasy au, fluff  ✅

Forgetful Confession  @suhdays - 991 words | JJK |  fluff, slight angst, college au, friends to ???  ✅

Club @taleasnewastime - 2k | JJK | fluff, bestfriends  ✅

JJK Reincarnation drabble @ktheist - 571 words | JJK | F, reincarnation (?) | love love this 🥰  ✅

Pup @whipped-for-kpop-fics​ - 1.5k | JJK | F, humour, werewolf au, established au | this is cute and funny 🤣  ✅

A Line Crossed @underthejoon - 723 words | JJK | A, bodyguard au ✅

Rousing Rendezvous @rookiegukie - 1.5k | JJK |  smut, frenemies with benefits, modern royalty au  ✅

[tyrantisterror]

The ATOM Create a Kaiju Contest 3-D: Entry Roundup

You’ve been patiently waiting for the results of the ATOM Create a Kaiju Contest 3-D, and now... you have to wait a bit longer, but at least you’ve got an entry roundup with lots of sketches and a good bit of feedback for all the entrants!  My goal is to get the finalists illustrated in a week or two, and after that, the grand prize winner will be announced.  But, for now, the official entry roundup!  After the cut:

I should note that while I sketched these in the order they were submitted, my scanner saved the documents with random names, so they’re a bit jumbled.  You know, just in case you’re like me and would get confused noticing that it’s almost in chronological order but with some entries jumbled around.

@bugcthulhu’s Obsideban was designed as a counterpart to Rohobaron - the Black King to Rohobaron’s Red King, if you will.  Or, well, Black Queen in this case, as Obsideban also takes her personality from the “delinquent girl” archetype in Japanese media.  Bug’s designs always ooze personality, and I had a lot of fun translating this big, gnarly retrosaur into my own style.

@toothlessloveshiccup‘s Argonox is the first - but far from the last - monster in this breakdown that brings in a bit of fantasy influence to ATOM’s roster.  A golden-fleeced ram with a vicious streak, this sheep is both treasure and dragon at once.  And while it wasn’t written in the monster’s profile, given the Yamaneon-rich nature of its wool, Argonox might be able to replicate the healing power of the golden fleece too!  A very fun mammalian kaiju and excellent entry.

@highly-radioactive-nerd submitted Gunmetal Jeeves, a robot butler who can gigantomax temporarily create a holographic/hard light version of himself to fight kaiju.  That detail was a late revision added to the entry before the contest’s deadline, made after the creator realized that ATOM allows for some truly ludicrous bullshit, which is something everyone should exploit when making entries for this in my opinion.  Also, this is a robot butler who can size shift.  Revel in its awesome absurdity!

Ultranerd submitted Rajasaurus, a dimetrodon-like synapsid kaiju with electric powers.  His origin specifies that the electric powers are a result of the volatile nature of the Yamaneon deposits he mutated under, which is an interesting idea.  That’s another theme that cropped up a lot in this contest’s entries, actually - people really wanted to play with what Yamaneon can do.

Case in point, @polygonfighter’s Yamaneolith takes the Monolith Monsters homage at the heart of Yamaneon even more apparent.  I like the implication that there is a second mineral-based lifeform at the root of this Yamaneon cluster’s anomalous behavior - a parasite, perhaps?  It brings up some interesting possibilities.

@ariccio50 submitted Kukulkuzana, and damn is this a cool spin on the body plan of my martians.  I made a few changes here and there (splitting its tail into two is probably the biggest one), but tried to keep true to the original design, because holy hell is it gorgeous.  The idea that this is a mountain-dwelling creature is really intriguing to me, as it looks like a sea creature, but at the same time, that flexible and low-slung build WOULD work pretty well in mountains, and it’s just the right mix of plausible weirdness that makes for a fun alien design.

@akitymh submitted Aramzados, a Venusian monster that’s basically an organic hot rod car.  I like the idea of organic machinery being the gimmick for Venusian kaiju, and Aramzado’s does it subtly enough to not feel like that gimmick is the sole thing going for it.  I especially love this monster’s stange, apparently mouth-less blade-beaked face.

@virovac submitted Rurzar and Zar Rider, a Beyonder kaiju and mecha (respecitvely) that were both modified and repurposed by humans reverse engineering Beyonder technology to make, like, a motorcycle-saurus essentially.  It is a delightfully absurd concept, and a very, very detailed one (13 pages of description).  There’s a dark undercurrent beneath the sillyness, though, as this pair show that humanity might still be following the same path as the Beyonders before them.

@dinosaurana brings us Krangor, a humanoid monstrosity of living kelp!  The goal here was to create a Jack Kirby-esque monster dude, complete with the gibberish name and all.  He’s also made out of kelp, which feels very classic 1950′s monster-y despite me not being able to think of any monsters that were explicitly made of kelp.  I love him.

@kiryuthechimera submitted Genkakurah, a psychic retrosaur with some draconic features.  Though his substantial powerset is probably the biggest distinguishing feature of this kaiju (given that most ATOM kaiju pretty much have the same standard powers), what really draws me to him is that reptilian pseudo-beard.  It’s just a fun detail!

@glarnboudin submits Tiratola, and see, there’s that fantasy influence again!  Even more explicitly dragon-y than Kraydi, Tiratola still manages to toe the line between sci-fi and fantasy enough to fit ATOM as is while still cementing its ties to my own slice of fantasy fiction.  Man it’s good I’m doing a Midgaheim book next, huh?

@dragonzzilla submitted Scuttlebutt/Argonautilus, a hermit crab kaiju who lives in/with a hollowed out mecha.  That’s a twist I can’t recall ever hearing before, and the idea of a kaiju and a mecha having an equal partnership that doesn’t involve one being grafted to the other is really intriguing to me.  A very unique concept!

@evolutionsvoid submitted Fleagor, an enormous flea who has no idea what to do with itself now that there’s no creature large enough for it to parasitize.  I love that concept - it takes the core idea of the giant bug kaiju archetype (i.e. unsettling the audience by showing how terrifying small, “insignificant” creatures would be if our sizes were reversed) and really turns it on its head.  The name also plays on the Universal Monsters, who were a huge part of 1950′s pop culture thanks to their movies being re-released in that era, so all and all this one is very on brand for ATOM!

@skarmorysilver submitted Lilacorn, another entry that plays up that Midgaheim/ATOM connection.  Reinterpreting the mythological unicorn as an Cenozoic wooly rhinoceros-inspired monster gives it a very unique look, both in ATOM and in the general world of unicorns, and she has a bad-girl with a heart of gold personality to boot!

dracosaurus-rex submitted Florasaura, a two-headed plant/retrosaur hybrid monster.  I love me some plant monsters, I love me some retrosaurs, and I love me some rhyming the word “flora” with other words that contain similar vowell sounds, so this one has me written all over it!

@downtofragglerock submitted Sauroguana, a delightfully odd flying retrosaur.  There’s a great deal of charm to the original illustration that this sketch doesn’t quite capture - it’s a deceptively simple design with a lot of personality in it, and with those unique leg-wings it really doesn’t need a whole lot of frills to stand out.

Draxi submitted Brakan, an unimpressive burrowing retrosaur kaiju whose mastery of illusions allows it to convince other kaiju it’s actually a big, super-powerful badass that’s the ultimate fighter in the universe.  It’s a delightful parody of the concept of a fan self-insert god-mode character, with a really fun story built into it to boot!

@quinnred submitted O.N.I.A.C., a mysterious cocooned kaiju whose chrysalis has been turned into an organic computer of sorts by the people studying it, and seems to possess a fairly advanced intelligence for a kaiju.  It’s a really bizarre and ominous idea, with built in intrigue given how vague its nature is.  Is it just a kaijufied butterfly/moth who got stuck mid transformation?  A relative of the Mothmanuds?  Something else, perhaps equally alien?  Good story potential here.

shadyserpent submitted Vespilitor, a bat/retrosaur hybrid made by the nefarious Spooks Organization.  A mercurial prankster whose tendency to stir up trouble never crosses the line into maliciousness, he’s the kind of monster who would make a great foil to a lot of ATOM’s cast.  I’d especially like to see him in a prank off with Ahuul - it’d be like Bugs Bunny fighting Daffy Duck, but on a kaiju scale.

@multiversefan submitted the Yamaneon King, a nomadic kaiju whose refusal to settle down causes problems as he stirs up trouble at kaiju sanctuaries all over the globe by showing up unannounced and stirring up the locals.  He was basically designed to be a monster that the kaiju sanctuary initiative would struggle to deal with, which is a good idea for a post-ATOM Volume 2 story conflict.

Sir K submitted Jadeera, a kirin kaiju that can actually forcibly convert most of its body to Yamaneon to enter a dormant, statue-like state in a loose homage to King Shisa.  Though the fantasy elements are far more present than I usually prefer for ATOM kaiju, I think it should be noted they’re pushed that far for a purpose - a theme in Jadeera’s entry, which continues where its creator left off with their submission to the previous ATOM create a kaiju contest (Yokaigon), is that the world of kaiju is more complicated and challenging than many are willing to accept, which is a theme in ATOM itself.  Yokaigon’s more supernatural/occult powers are based on the ghost parascience of my setting, which ATOM has delved into a bit (Pathogen being the big example), so it’s not as out of left field as some might think.

@cerothenull​ brings us our final entry (unless some got lost thanks to tumblr’s shitty tagging system), the flying spider Naeranti.  She’s a kaiju spider who uses silk to make complicate hot-air balloons, more or less, and that’s just delightful.  ATOM could always use more spider-monsters, and with a really unique gimmick backing up a wonderfully distinct look, Naeranti is sure to stand out among her fellow giant arachnids.

Well, that’s the roundup!  In a week (or two, depending on how much my hand cramps) we’ll have the five finalists, and sometime after that, the grand prize winner!

[interact-if]

Day 10, 2/2 of the A/PI Heritage Month featured authors interview! For our final entry, we have the amazing Shai!

Shai, author of Hollowed Minds 

A/PI Heritage Month Feature Author

“You will play as a disgraced detective, entangled in webs of conspiracies and betrayal as your character engages in a suspicious probation - with a whole lot of enigmatic hallucinations and explosions to deal with. It will be up to you to shape your detective’s (or Ripper’s, if you prefer to call them that) perception and motivations. After all, Gaile City is a place full of secrets - some of them belonging to your own character’s family - and you’ll have the freedom how to act accordingly.”

Author's Kofi

(INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT UNDER THE CUT!)

To put it simply, Hollowed Minds is a long quest on morality and relationships. You'll start as a disgraced detective, once a favored hero of the city until this one unfortunate mistake, and now you're forced into a suspicious probation that you shouldn't even be in. There would be a lot of challenges and suffering along the way, and you can either help your character maintain their heroic ideals or succumb to the darkness that the future brings.

Q1: First of all, introduce us to your project! What is it about?

There are a lot of things to uncover in the story, but the main issues in the first book would be the mysterious hallucinations that people are suffering from and the explosions that would shake the fundamentals of the society. There would be several approaches to choose from as you go forward, some of which may be quite outside the law, and you could opt to use a certain ‘talent’—one with accompanying repercussions—to learn more secrets. You would also have the choice to cultivate your relationships with the people you trust the most and have your interactions with them matter in the long run.

As it is, you'd have a large target on your back, owing to a sinister group with a very sinister plan—something that might be worse than death.

Q2: If it’s not too spoilery, what are you most excited about your project?

First of all, the reputation system. You can manipulate how the general public would see you, either as the hero they once saw you as, or a corrupted personality that everyone would loathe. Best thing about it? You can hide your real intentions. This would have a lot of interesting consequences, especially if your character's actions tend to be the opposite of what they're perceived as.

Second, the most awaited reunion. People who have read the available demo would know what this refers to, and well, it's about to happen soon, so I'm very excited about the idea of writing the whole scene!

Then there's this one big chapter that I know would be torturous to write and code. Basically, you'll be choosing how to 'infiltrate' this certain location, the person whom you'd be with most of the time, a decision between accomplishing what you came there for or sacrificing it for something else, how you'd get out, and where you'd go to after the whole thing. It will be a wild ride of twists and emotions, and it's not even the endgame. A lot may change with this chapter alone, and it's one of those things I think about a lot before going to sleep.

Lastly, the customization of the main character. The motivations, blame mechanic, alcoholic/non-alcoholic option, and relationships (romantic or not). Those little details would change a lot of content in the narrative and maybe in the plot itself. Whether you want to build a character who's kind to a fault or an anti-hero who wouldn't hesitate to make questionable decisions, the journey would be entirely yours.

Q3: What inspired the current project you’re working on?

It was based from a short story of mine that won a small competition back in 2018. They share similar themes, but the short story was a lot darker than I could ever put in a game that I plan to get published.

I initially thought of starting my IF writing attempts with the supernatural genre—it does seem to be a successful area—but that short story was probably the first piece of mine that I've come to appreciate, and I wanted to at least honor that. The writing style that I adopted, the evocative tone I learned to use, and the plot pieces that I've managed to be good at crafting—they all started with that story.

Looking back, there aren't much similarities anymore between the two, maybe aside from the appearance of certain characters, but the themes are still the same.

It will definitely be a huge challenge to implement what I have on mind, but I do hope people would love what's to come.

Q4: Do you pull from your own identity for inspiration? How has that been reflected in your work?

I grew up in a troublesome neighborhood, along with people who continue to fight against the struggles. That's both good and bad, I suppose. Philippines has a lot of corruption deep in its roots, I won't deny that, but there are also people working hard for the changes they want. That's one of the biggest influences I've got in this story.

As we delve into the plot, the readers would discover more questionable decisions that some characters may have made or would make. It's parallel to how I witnessed people having differing reactions to injustice and the way they make changes in their lives as a response. Adding to that, I personally know the feeling of grief, and I’ve seen how the people around me deal with it themselves.

There are also moral choices to be had in the game, and when I speak of that, it's not going to be just around choosing between saving/killing people. It's about the main character's intentions and emotions, and how the revelations might slowly change their views. It would be a story that will steadily define your character’s perceptions amid the threats.

Q5: What’s been your experience so far? With writing, with the if community...

It's been great. I appreciate the people who have reached out in various ways to share their love for my work and to give meaningful feedback that are continuously helping me shape the story in a better way. And honestly, I'm so overwhelmed with excitement for all the support I'm getting. I didn't even expect a lot of people to like the story this early. That's why I'm so thankful!

There's also a great IF author whom I've been occasionally getting advice from, and they've been a huge reason as to why I even managed to make the first steps. Interacting with other writers is something that I never really expected myself to do, but I’m quite glad I did it.

Q6: Do you have any future projects in the works?

There are three more interactive fiction stories I've already thought of, though I won't be actively working on them until I finish the Hollowed Minds series, which would take a long while. Their temporary titles are respectively "Corrupted Legacies" (fantasy), "The Remnant's Keeper" (supernatural horror), and "A Hero's Touch" (superhero story with a twist).

Aside from that, I'm also looking forward to finishing my fantasy novel, one that I've been delaying for years, literally, as soon as I finish the first book of Hollowed Minds.

Q7: Finally, what piece of advice would you give to fellow authors?

Write what you want to write. I know that you're all probably tired of hearing this, but it is still very important. During the planning stages, you'd most likely be excited to show the readers what you've got in store. You'd be proud of it, and you'd believe that it's one of the most brilliant ideas out there. Then a few days after you finish planning, you'll realize it may not attract as much readers as you may have expected initially. Then you'll get tempted to change your visions for the story and adopt the plot lines that the famous works have.

Do not abandon your own vision.

It's your work. It's your masterpiece. Listen to feedback, sure, and let them guide you into becoming a better writer, but do not let go of the things that made your work your own. Some way or another, there will be people who would love your story, and they'd deeply appreciate that you made it the way it is.

So don't hesitate. Is it weird? Is it unconventional? Does it belong to a genre that's not as popular as the others? It doesn't matter. Write it, polish it, and show it to the world.

People will love it as long as you do.

[mittensmorgul]

Hello!

I‘m a new „fan“ who has watched Supernatural over the last few months and have since read through a lot of posts (which was delightful) and I have a question on your opinion on how „Carry On Wayward Son“ influenced 15.20.

After thinking way too much about the show including the finale, I listened to „Carry On Wayward Son“ again and had that thought that the finale felt like a music video for that song. (I mean, it obviously doesn’t feel that way but that was my thought at hearing the lyrics after having finished the show).

It’s just that even while hearing it the previous times, I thought: ‚Hmm, peace is not really what they are striving for…‘ I mean, no one does not want peace but they have been spending the whole 15th season fighting for freedom, peace vs freedom was a Huge theme for season 4/5, in season 11, it’s reinforced again that eternal peace (or something like that) is not something that „we“ (especially Dean) want.

And then there’s the „surely Heaven waits for you“ thing. And also „but I flew too high“. That doesn’t apply to 15.20 but it still fits the vibe.

The thing that confused me the most, even right after the end, was how they did such an 180 degree to welcoming peace and heaven when these have been antagonists the whole time. And it just coincidentally features in the song. That was played twice in the episode. And inspires the name of the episode.

I just wondered how much the theme song influenced the writing decision unconsciously and I‘ve been searching and have found no posts regarding this, so I figured I‘d try to ask you if you have an opinion regarding this. :)

(I love that song by the way - I‘m not blaming it for that ending :))

Thanks for taking the time! (And for everything else on your blog - it’s amazing! The analyses etc.)

p.s. This is my first time doing anything active on tumblr, so I apologise if I got a policy wrong..

Hi there! I know it's been like a month since you sent this, and I'm sorry it took so long to answer (between gish and then catching back up on life post-gish), but I didn't want to half-ass a reply. You did fine with your question! And I only hope my delay in answering didn't give you the wrong impression. <3

The one thing I would add to your observations above that I think makes the finale fail on every level for me personally is the fact that in the end, what the characters were left with wasn't what they themselves would've defined as their ideal of peace OR freedom.

I will always go back and point to Dean's angry speech to Cas in 4.22 that pushed Cas into his first conscious and complete act of rebellion against the script:

CASTIEL: Try to understand -- this is long foretold. This is your...

DEAN: Destiny? Don't give me that "holy" crap. Destiny, God's plan... It's all a bunch of lies, you poor, stupid son of a bitch! It's just a way for your bosses to keep me and keep you in line! You know what's real? People, families -- that's real. And you're gonna watch them all burn?

CASTIEL: What is so worth saving? I see nothing but pain here. I see inside you. I see your guilt, your anger, confusion. In paradise, all is forgiven. You'll be at peace. Even with Sam.

DEAN: You can take your peace... and shove it up your lily-white ass. 'Cause I'll take the pain and the guilt. I'll even take Sam as is. It's a lot better than being some Stepford bitch in paradise. This is simple, Cas! No more crap about being a good soldier. There is a right and there is a wrong here, and you know it.

What did Dean get in the end? Stepford bitch in paradise.

He never got true freedom. Cas got the freedom to make his own choice and it got him eternal nothingness tinged with regret. Sam got a depressing half-life raising Replacement!Dean with a faceless woman and a bad wig.

After years of building up to each of them answering the question: "If you could truly choose your own LIFE, what would you do?" NONE of them got to really choose in the end. Death is the end of free will and freedom, even in the remodeled version of heaven where you can make new memories. You can't have both peace and freedom, there is always compromise. The show has been hammering that in since s1. Then all of that just... evaporates in the finale. It's like once the characters had true freedom and Chuck lost his power to meddle, we still had to watch Chuck's final entry into the story because he had no more power to "write their actual lives for them." It's easy for me to disregard the final episode based on that alone. We in our universe lost our window into their universe the moment Chuck was defeated, and everything that came after was Chuck's terrible writing and not what really happened.

At least... that's how I've internalized it so the final 45 minutes of the series or so wouldn't destroy my love for all the rest of it, and burn my understanding of these characters, their hopes and dreams and wants and happiness, entirely to the ground.

Chuck was never about freedom. He thought they should have peace when they were done, but his concept of what that would mean to these beings who actually DO have free will outside the confines of his story is just... so entirely off the mark as to be laughable to me.

[rpg-elf-girl]

Shadows House

I have a lot of thoughts surrounding this particular show, both good & bad.

Allow me to give a quick summary for anyone who hasn't seen/read it!

Shadows House is about 'a faceless family of nobles who all live within this giant manor, the Shadows House.

When a Shadow comes of age they receive a 'Living Doll' to both serve as their face and to clean the soot they emit from their bodies.

The most important rule of the living dolls is "don't fret over trivial matters"

A task which is difficult for the ever curious doll Emiliko.

Watch this tale unfold as Emiliko & her mistress Kate navigate this ever mysterious Manor together.'

For a fan of slow burn thrillers, horror, slice of life, supernatural & mystery series' this has been an absolute blast!

It's not quite the combination of genres you'd expect from a show, but it works really well here!

In fact I was so into the anime that this is actually the first show where I broke down and read the manga!

Unfortunately there's no official English release, but at least there are some people translating the series!

As much as I'd like to go on about the manga, this post is meant to be more so about the anime so I'll (try to) leave it at that.

Though i feel obligated to warn anime onlys I'll likely refer the manga a lot in a spoiler section latter in this post I'll try to be vague but I can't guarantee anything. For anyone worried about that I'll lable it do you can read on until then.

Everything from the animation to the music was amazing & completely fit the mood of the story! I remember a couple scenes where I actually teared up because of this!

The Ending theme is an absolute banger! I've listened to that on repeat ever since I first heard it! And the Opening is also great! It's cool for it to be an instrumental, stuff like that is pretty rare! I also heard the song in the op as a motif in the music throughout the show! It really sets the right mood in each scene it's in! It's amazing for getting into each episode!

In terms of adaptation almost everything from the beginning to the end of the Debut arc was done amazingly well!

Even with the stuff they cut it still holds true to the spirit of its source.

The main important part that was cut is something that could easily be introduced latter if they decide to go for a second season, so I'm not too mad about that.

However! Everything after the debut is a bit of a different story.

There was a lot I liked about the last couple episodes but there were some parts that were immersion breaking for me.

I've been being vague up until this point l, but I'm planning on going into spoiler territory for both the anime and manga after this. So I'll make a quick spoiler free summary of my thoughts before moving onto that.

I really really loved this show but in my opinion the last 3 episodes were the weakest of them all. They went anime only for the ending. I don't mind that on it's own, but it was rushed and the writing was sloppy at times.

Now I'm not telling you to not watch the show! Most of It's really really good, and I can still see people enjoying the parts I'm talking about if they want to give the anime a try. Overall I've fallen in love with this series and I could never recommend it enough.

If what I'm saying is giving you bad vibes the manga is available and doesn't have the issues I've mentioned. You can look for a translation online, it didn't take me long to find one so don't worry too much about that.

Also! if you're an anime only who's finished the series and want to know where to pick up the Manga I'd recommend at least skiming through the beginning. I know it might not be what you're looking for but there were a bunch of small scenes that either got cut or were merged for adaptation purposes that I think are super cute & give more context to different aspects of the setting. However! Pay close attention during the "night watchers part" something important got cut .

~~~Now for spoilers!!!!~~~

I don't want to make it sound like I'm some manga purist who hates the very thought of the slightest change from the source. I'm anime only for a lot of different shows and I've always despised it when that type of manga reader reared it's ugly head.

While I'll admit some changes did bother me I won't make a fuss about the smaller stuff.

With that said!

I hinted earlier in this post that I didn't have a big problem with Robe-same being cut. That was because without them there it does make for a more complete story if they only get one season to work with.

If there is another season they can easily be introduced latter on. Like maybe Emiliko & Shaun can meet them when the Debutant class reunion is going on before they talk on the roof (or right after that) I actually think that would be the perfect time to introduce them (other than the time they were supposed to appear, but I digress)

Louise teaming up & being friendly with Kate can be explained with some dialogue changes at the first Debutant Class Reunion. Louise can say she was just trying to show off or that she just wanted to get back at Edward and that she isn't interested in helping Kate with her problems. Things can then go on as they did in the manga.

Kates being reckless & telling everything to John can be explained by her being extremely panicked when Emiliko went missing, as long as there are some lines of dialogue adressing this it's fine. Though I do wish she tried to keep some stuff a secret but couldn't because Shaun tries to interfer because he's still brainwashed, or something along those lines. It felt a bit weird after she just told Emiliko to keep that stuff between them. Still that could be explained by how panicked she was.

There are other things, but I don't want to drag the post on too long. Most of the issues can be fixed with little changes here & there.

I never had a problem with the idea of them going in an anime only direction. I just want to have a good time with the show.

Unfortunately I can't 100% vouche for the direction the show went in. There were elements that I can't excuse, even viewing it as it's own entity instead of an adaptation.

My main complaint with it is how they handled the brainwashing of Ricky & Lou. They didn't say a word when the Debutants were talking badly about Edward & even went along with a plan to go against him. It makes absolutely no sense!

Shaun freaked out when John only suggested that he didn't have to be loyal to the house. These guys were flat out rebelling against an adult! It felt like Ricky & Lou didn't have a purpose & were just there to be there.

The whole point of the coffee is to influence shadows against doing stuff like this. It makes the coffee seem pointless and the adults seem dumb for relying on it to control the kids.

I haven't even brought up the fact that both of their brainwashings were broken by something as simple as a few kind words. It straight up contradicts the rules established by both the Anime and Manga.

This becomes very apparent when you consider all the trouble John & Kate went through to free Shaun & Emiliko.

This was my biggest complaint, but I have some other issues as well.

The next big one is how they handled Edward.

1. Why on earth would he even consider kidnapping Emiliko when he had complete control of the childrens wing? Before this point he was depicted as being a lot more crafty than this. He could easily have Kate monitored or something.

2. Why didn't he use his powers to stop them like what he did to Maryrose & Rosemary when they fought back being taken to the adults wing? He's already shown off his power at this point, why not?

3. Why did he reveal his soot powers at all!? Especially while using his face in front of the kids! The whole unification thing is one of the biggest secrets of the house for good reason! There's no way he wouldn't get in huge trouble for exposing it to children!

Here are some other related questions.

Why didn't Kate, Emiliko, & John react to Edward using soot powers? They shouldn't know about unification yet so why didn't they act shocked, or say anything about it?

Is Edward being banished even an option in the Shadows House? Wouldn't the third floor lords just dispose of him rather than risk letting him leave?

How did John even get a veiled dolls outfit? Louise had to use her powers to get Kate one & she left a long time ago.

I can't think of much else at the moment, but I think you get my point.

Please don't take this as me saying that I hate the show because of these episodes. Even if I consider them the weakest of the series I still found a lot of parts to be very enjoyable!

Like I thought it was adorable When Edward was attempting to interrogate Emiliko & she kept being her sunshine self pretending to eat & falling asleep.

Barbara getting to tell off Edward for breaking the rules was great!

I loved seeing Shaun hatch the plan to get Kate into the adults wing to save Emiliko.

Seeing John (attempt to) sneak around the adults wing had me rolling!

The ending scene of Shaun, Ricky, & Lou singing gave me the chills.

(Though I wonder how they'd handle Shaun & Emiliko being brainwashed again since they already used the scenes where they're freed)

Kate & Emilico being propelled by John back to the children's wing was absolutely amazing! I found Shaun & Ricky running over to catch them to be super sweet! (Not to mention the way that scene was animated was absolutely gorgeous!)

Getting hints to what was supposed to come after the debut was nice, at least the groundwork is there in case this gets a season 2!

To (try to) wrap this all up while there were a lot of things I loved and disliked about this show I still had a really fun time watching it!

I kinda hope there's a season two just to see if they can tidy up the mess that the last few episodes created.

Regardless of whether that happens or not I came out of this with a series I absolutely adore.

Heck I could make a whole other post about the manga. (Hopefully one that's less ranty)

Anyway! I won't take any more of your time.

I hope you all have a wonderful day/night! And I hope to see you in my next post!

(Sorry if this one was a bit of a mess!)