#i feel like i haven't felt this stuck and stagnant in a while

[interiorlulus]

What a godawful birthday week.

[i-am-a-bad-influence-writes]

P*rn ☆  Chapter 1, a familiar stranger

Masterlist Word count: 1.2 k Sylus x Fem!Reader

Summary: You have been following a spicy content creator by the name of Red Crow for some time now. Nothing could’ve prepared you for what would happen when he moves into the apartment next door.

Warning! This story is meant for mature audiences. It contains sex, swear words, porn, smoking, intimate piercings, mentions of drugs, and other mature themes. Do not engage if you are under 18.

Mature content under the cut. No graphic content yet.

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'Did Rafayel find someone to rent my apartment yet,' Zayne questions as he puts two mugs of tea on your coffee table. You shrug in response. 

'Haven't heard anything yet, but knowing him, it'll probably be soon.' Zayne smiles at your sulking expression. He reaches out to ruffle a hand through your hair. You quickly smack his hand away and stare at him with pretend anger. 

'How have you been holding up without me?' That question is loaded, and he knows it. For the past four years, he has been your neighbor. But he has always been much more than that. 

When he noticed you were living on your own, he would sometimes bring over leftovers. Some days you would come home to a note taped on your door with a request to be quiet because he had a long shift and another even longer shift coming up. You started doing the same, but with notices if you had someone over or were doing something that could cause noise. Eventually, you two got to talking and formed a familial relationship. It always felt like you had a big brother looking out for you. 

Ever since he moved to the next city over to work in another hospital, you have missed him tons. Sometimes it hurts when you realize you can't just walk two steps from your front door and be talking to him. Meeting up is even more strenuous than it was before, and you miss him like crazy. It's not just the proximity though, no, it's also that you don't know everything going on in his life anymore. He's doing amazing things, meeting amazing people, helping to make the world a better place, and you barely know the names of his closest colleagues. 

'I'm fine,' but your voice betrays you, trembling throughout your words. Zayne's eyes look worried, and his hand moves to touch your shoulder to comfort you. 'I'm fine, really. Just getting used to being alone in the city again.' 

'You're not alone anymore. You've got Tara, and you get along alright with that new colleague of yours, right? Jeremiah?' 

'I know, it's just...' He reaches out to pull you into his chest. 

'I understand. I miss you too.' 

'I just hope the next person is nice too,' you mumble against his shirt while he gently rubs your back. All this feels so normal, so nice. You're not sure if you'll ever fully get over not living next to Zayne anymore. It was perfect, and now it's gone. You can't blame him though. This was a very important step for his career and you're glad he did it, it just makes you feel like you're stuck in the same place all over again.  

Everything just feels so stagnant, so normal. Like nothing ever changes. You can only tell that time has passed by your growing fingernails and the dust building up on your windowsill... You should really clean. It's been too long. 

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'This is nice,' Luke awes as he walks into Sylus’ new apartment. The place is completely empty and there's a bit of an echo, but he's right. The place is nice. That doesn't mean Sylus has to be happy about it. In fact, he's not even close to being done groaning and whining about being doxed for the third time. 

Sylus grumbles: 'My last place was nice.' Kieran nudges him over the threshold of the apartment. 

'Stop whining you big baby. Shit happens.' Sylus turns to him with a death glare. Kieran rolls his eyes and holds up his hands in defeat. 'Sorry man. There really isn't much else to say about it.' 

Sylus knows damn well that he's right, he's just not ready to admit it. That last place was a little bit special to him. It was the first place he moved into on his own after a long relationship. He knew his job would always be an obstacle in any relationship, but he thought she had gotten over it. She clearly hadn't.  

When his popularity skyrocketed, she left him. Told him she couldn't keep sharing him, no matter how many times he told her there was no one to share him with. She was part of the reason he started doing solo stuff. He even offered her to stop doing it. It wasn't even a big deal to him. That didn't matter to her. 

Luke and Kieran tried to get him back to who he was, yet even they couldn't ignore the fact that he became a little different. He distanced himself, became harsher, became colder. He wasn't particularly rude or anything, just a bit off-putting if you don't know him. 

'Anyway, I'm going to let your neighbor know we're moving you in this week,' Kieran states and quickly leaves the apartment. Luke gives Sylus a look. 

'What,' Sylus snaps at him. 

'Shouldn't you join him?' Sylus raises an eyebrow and crosses his arms. Suddenly, he looks a lot bigger and a lot more intimidating. 

'I just got doxed. Why would I go around introducing myself to everyone?' 

Luke just shrugs. Sylus antics don't do much to him anymore after knowing him so long. 'Fair enough.' 

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The doorbell buzzes. It's ever so slightly longer than the average person would press a doorbell, and so ever so slightly more annoying. Mayorly more annoying because you were just dozing off cuddled up to Zayne on the couch. It has been a long time since that happened. 

You groan and shift, but Zayne tightens his grip. 'Don't go.' His voice is gravelly, tired, a little strained. For a little while you're considering it, but then the bell buzzes a second time. Longer this time. 

'It's just for a second,' you whisper back. He nods and his grip loosens. You get off his chest and quickly shuffle to the front door. When you open it, you have to take a few seconds to digest the picture in front of you. 'Kieran? Why are you here? Does Tara need something?' 

It seems his head short-circuits just like yours has as he takes a few seconds to answer. 'Eh, no. I didn't know you live here. I'm just... I'm helping a friend move in. I'm doing a round to warn people about the noise.' 

'Oh, good to know. Thank you. Who's your friend?' 

'His name is Sylus but he's a pretty private person, so I can't promise you he'll stop by to introduce himself.' 

'Fair enough,' you respond while you think back to how Zayne used to be. It was a similar situation. Took more than half a year before you two would even greet each other when passing in the hallway. 'Well, give Tara my best. I'll probably see you soon.' 

'I will. See ya.' 

'Who was that,' Zayne asks from the couch. 

'Friend of the new neighbor. He's moving in this week.' You grab your phone from the coffee table to check if Rafayel send anything about a new tenant, instead you see a notification from Red Crow's socials. A new post. 

"No smutty chapter this Friday. I have a busy week.   Maybe if you beg, I'll record myself getting off." 

Previous - Next

[yocalio]

I’ve been loving the show so far. It’s been a breath of fresh air in recent television. I haven’t read the books (but plan to!!!) but yah episode 7 felt so stagnant. I don’t need constant action but it feels like nothing really happened. And I’m mourning the passion Mariko and John had, even in just glances. It’s like they were never even interested in each other :/

While the show is still brilliant in many respects, I'm really missing the pacing of the first 4-5 episodes. Ever since episode 5, we've just been stuck in Ajiro and all the characters either want to die or are miserable. A few, specifically Blackthorne, have been stagnant in their development. He's stalled out completely. There's so much that happens to him there and he's still just standing around yelling about his ship.

John and Mariko. It's clear to me now that the showrunners really wanted to subdue the romance between them to focus on other things. It's a creative choice for sure, but I personally think it takes a lot of the heart out of the story Clavell wrote and cheapens and undercuts the meaning of it's ending if it does indeed end the way the book ends that is. It's unfortunate that they are portraying them this way now after we had such wonderful development in the first four episodes. And to do it to give more time to a non-existent love triangle in the eyes of Mariko is really annoying. They're are spending WAY too much time on Buntaro's constant whining, which makes zero sense since they haven't done this for any other subplot in the book.

"I dOn'T LiKe ThE wAy hE lOoKs At mY wIfE."

Shut up. 🙄

[anonymousredactedconfessions]

Is anyone else sick of the Shaw pack characters? Especially David. Eric puts them into so many audios, and they feel so stale now. I really like werewolf ASMR but I feel cheated, because the fact that they are even werewolves at all hasn't been relevant for ages. When's the last time any of them shifted, or even talked about shifting? At what point do we treat his "werewolf" audios as false advertising? Because I haven't seen any wolves here in a hot minute.

It's really a let down because when I look back at the Inversion era it felt like they were a really interesting pack of werewolves that were part of this big supernatural drama, while also having their own personal lives and relationships outside of it. Now they're a bunch of normal guys living completely average lives. Their personalities are blending together too, especially after David lost all his edge.

I just wish he'd satisfyingly wrap their stories up and move on to something new because all of the Shaw pack content is so stagnant. I don't think he ever will though, because those characters bring him too many views and the fandom would probably riot so I guess we're stuck with them. I know I sound dumb because I could just move on to another ASMRtist that delivers what I want, but I just feel like I'm still holding out hope because I got so invested in these characters 1-2 years ago. - Green Anon

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[rainbowolfe]

A Less Stupidly Detailed Analysis on Shamura's Theme

Here it is if you haven't heard it, the whole OSTs a bop though. Not a single miss. For context to what I'm going to say, every supporting-lead character has a unique "lead vocalist" in their theme, so when I refer to that character that's what I mean.

Link to the full analysis with all the observations

General

Shamura's voice is very hissy/airy, much like it is in-game. Kallamar and Narinder both have very high voices, but while Narinder's has a lot of "body", Kallamar's doesn't. Heket's voice is mid-range but very distorted. Leshy's voice is mid-to-high range, but has a softer feel to it. And The One Who Waits(TOWW) voice is the alto of all altos lol

Chorus 1

I have two ideas for the voice that creates Shamura's Melody. It's either Vephar's (which would imply that Shamura is following the lead of their followers) or Heket's (which would imply that Shamura is following Heket's lead). Either way, Shamura's beliefs are not their own. They're someone else's ideas that they are repeating and upholding. And Shamura and Heket are on the same page about it.

This could be applied to Shamura's origin with the crown. By donning the Purple Crown, they were made apart of someone else's religion/cult and thus upholding beliefs, doctrines, etc that were already established by another.

"In my silk, I snared a Crown… to their faith, irrevocably bound…"

For the case of it being Heket, TOWW and Narinder do have separate voices despite being the same person (physically anyways). This clearer voice could be Heket before her injury, or it could be that Heket also has two sides to her as well—a good and a corrupt side. While her ideas may have been good/come from a good place, the Heket she is now (the Heket that agrees with Shamura) is warped and corrupt.

Shamura skipping notes in certain measures could be a marker for how they felt about their siblings at that moment. Four measures for four younger siblings.

Based on Bishop Order, this would mark some level of disagreement with Heket, Leshy, and Narinder. Based on age order, the disagreement would be with Leshy, Narinder, and Kallamar.

"He of havoc, he of blight; she of hunger, they of might. Five becomes four becomes three becomes two becomes one becomes nothing."

Oh. The separation between Kallamar and Heket (with the ';') aligns with the two "sides" shown in this song. Cool when things work out like that.

Verse 1

This splits the family into two sides: Leshy, Narinder, and Kallamar vs Heket and Shamura.

The use of TOWWs melody could have a literal meaning, representing Narinder's beliefs and ideas. Perhaps the "new" ideas that got him locked up in the void. Leshy and Narinder share a few connections, but the most obvious one is the camelias. Not surprising that these two hold the same/similar beliefs, especially with Leshy being a God of Chaos. Kallamar being part of this group is most interesting because he (and Heket) are the stagnant parts of the Old Faith.

I've always wondered why Narinder opted to start calling himself The One Who Waits, when that clearly isn't what he wants to be. He doesn't want to wait. He doesn't want to be the God of Death the way all the others have been. So, an alternative:

TOWWs melody in this piece represents what they have to be as gods and as Bishops of the Old Faith. Leshy lives by it, Kallamar reluctantly lives by it, and Narinder lives by it reluctantly as well... until he doesn't. He tries to sing a different tune.

The siblings opting not to sing at certain parts kind of stuck out to me, so I'll explore it whenever it comes up. I'll stick to age order, since that aligned well in chorus 1.

Leshy sings all four measures, so he's cool with everyone. Narinder shows disagreement with Leshy and Kallamar. Kallamar shows disagreement w/ Leshy and Heket, but he's coming around on her.

Chorus 2 + Interlude

Without the third voice leading the song, both Shamura and Heket are louder and more confident. Shamura shows agreement with all their siblings, so whatever was wrong resolved? And yet both sides are still singing different melodies, and now Narinder is absent. Based on the two options discussed above, Kallamar is now the one who is either discontent with his role or suggesting new ideas of change. Leshy being less vocal here compared to the last verse could signify a lack of belief in Kallamar, even if their ideas are the same. His absence on the third measure would also mean strife with Kallamar.

Chorus 3

The back and forth between the two melodies show the different "ideas", but the way Shamura's Melody completely overpowers and drowns out TOWWs Melody would point to those ideas not exactly living in harmony. This is emphasized by how, in the bridge, the two melodies are no longer in sync. Without Narinder/TOWW to back those ideas, they fade away and the "same" continues with Heket taking the lead, even if only for a short time. During this period, Heket gained mixed feelings about Leshy, and a lowered opinion of Narinder.

When Shamura takes the lead position again, they and Heket begin to drift apart ideologically. Maybe it's the changes Heket has subtly made. They're upset with Narinder, and their opinion of Kallamar has lowered. But Heket's opinion of Shamura has gone up, even as she refuses to return to her supporting role. She wants to lead. With Shamura? or in their place?

Kallamar is consistent throughout this section, but Leshy shows strife with Shamura when Heket is in the lead, and strife with Heket and Narinder when Shamura is in the lead.

Bridge

The Bishops hit a point where none of them are willing to unify. The family's broken. None of them sing. And there's nothing left but TOWWs influence following the tempo Shamura set, two things that are wholly incompatible. But then Leshy's influence unifies with what remains of Shamura's. Maybe it's less influence in the sense of power, but their love for each other. Leshy's instrument plays to Shamura's beat, and the result is the family's reunification.

It's Leshy who starts it, making amends with Kallamar through TOWWs Melody. The two of them make amends with Narinder, and they make the change they've desired from the beginning. (Or they break free of the roles assigned to them)

Alternatively, Leshy forgives all. Kallamar forgives all but Leshy. Narinder forgives only Kallamar and Shamura. But maybe further forgiveness will come later, because....

Final Chorus

Shamura finally sings a different melody, in harmony, with Narinder and Leshy. One that is hopeful and bright, and honestly led by Narinder IMO. Kallamar is late to join this final chorus, which could be because he still had unresolved tension with both Shamura and Leshy. But it could also be because he doesn't pay attention (he enters late on his own theme song too lmao).

Heket's part in this is so fascinating. She's there by Shamura's side the entire time, supporting their ideals, their beliefs. Never once straying to the 'other side'. She's characterized as someone vicious, whose words are hurtful and toxic. But also as someone who cares a lot about her family. And yet, it would seem that she may have attempted to usurp Shamura's position as either the head of the Old Faith or the head of the family. Which wouldn't work.

This family seems bound by their love for Shamura. Leshy potentially loves and cares for all of them, but theres clear divides for the rest. Heket loves Shamura and Leshy. She might love Kallamar as a brother, but she certainly doesn't like him. Kallamar loves Shamura (even though he threw them under the bus) and possibly loved Narinder before his fear of death/the Red Crown took priority. And Narinder loves Leshy, Kallamar, and Shamura.

What seems like a happy ending is achieved, but without Heket.

[jadedbirch]

Happy New Year, friends! 🥳

As 2022 winds down over here on the West Coast, I wanted to take a moment to remember the good things that happened, even though so many terrible, awful things happened and are still happening (fuck you, Putler!) across the world.

This was actually a really good year for me and my wife! We spent a lot of time together in San Francisco, Canada, and Italy this year, and Amy and our Daughter are living with me as of December 13! 🎉 Please admire our somft bebby:

I got a new job this year! And I had no idea I could be so happy at work 💕💕💕 My boss is so nice and really appreciates and respects my expertise and is just an all around non-douchebag. All my colleagues are a delight. I'm having so much growth and I feel so invigorated and actually excited about the work and the science that my colleagues are doing!

We finally figured out a drug combo I can take to manage my chronic pain and fatigue and I've been doing a lot better! Hooray for being able to get out of bed 👍

Our trip to Italy was amazing! We saw many friends and did lots is great shit and ate ALL the incredible food. And I got certified as an energy healer while I was in Italy and that too has made a huge difference in helping me deal with my flare ups - very exciting!

(This is a photo from Hadrian's Villa)

I read 40 books! Which is honestly pretty amazing because usually I only read this much when I'm super sick and I haven't been. And even though I haven't written anything since this summer, I still managed to write over 158K words in 2022, which yay!

Overall, it's just felt like the first time in a very long time that I don't feel stagnant and frustrated. Amy and I are finally moving forward together and while we're still waiting on the US government to get their shit together and give her a green card, we're planning on selling my tiny condo soon so we can get a bigger place together that would allow us both to work remotely and not be on top on each other as we have been during this transitional time. It's gonna be so chaotic, so wish us luck!

I'm thankful for all of you who have stuck with me even though I haven't been very active on social media. I love you guys and hope only wonderful things come your way in the new year 💜💜💜

[onwriting-hrarby]

ahh I haven’t talked kpop in so long bc I don’t like engaging with the fandoms 😭 sorry if I’m taking up your time!

but I really do agree with u about itzy! they lack a musicality to them that becomes more prevalent with each release. personally I would go as far to say they’re one of the most competent groups when it comes to live stages/performances in general but the music just doesn’t match up, be it the fault of the company or the girls themselves. i really do hope their next cb is amazing though! i heard it was their favorite so far and I trust them but jyp groups tend to be overworked so I hope it isn’t too much :,)

i actually really like aespa and the kwangna mess 😭 while all their releases have sorta melded into one entity in my mind, I strangely don’t mind it? I do expect something a little different in the next cb though bc the black mamba thing is over. I’d love if they played into sifi fairy sorta stuff haha!

new jeans 😭 they’re a little messy for no fault of their own but I’m really excited about them. I hope they continue on this path. omg tragic about Ive though! I just saw their new teaser like 10 min ago and I’m hyped idjwoskwk.

blackpink is so tragic for me too 😭 I loved them all the way up until as if it’s your last, they really changed the kpop game no matter what anyone else says, they were truly the trend setters up until then but I guess things happen. they’ve also gone stagnant with their music and is it tragic to say that I think they girls aren’t truly all in it either <\3 I know they are very appreciative and caring to their fans but I also think they’re comfortable with how things are now. Like this new doesn’t even feel like a new era 😔 regardless I’ll support lol!

ugh and just to bring us to red velvet bc I adore them so. i love their “fairytale” feel all the while bringing so many different things to the table. they’ve really stuck to their brand and if there’s one thing I can appreciate about sm is that they do maintain these really fun concepts.

You're not taking up my time! I'd love to talk more about kpop but I was once on kpop twitter and I had enough so I just share with my close ones now, hehe!

I love Itzy and I think they are all talented (although I'm not a fan of Jyp's vocal training), so I hope their music keeps on bringing something new to the table. I really liked "MAFIA", actually! I felt like the concept suited them VERY much, and not a lot of gg could pull a concept like that. I completely agree with Aespa's! Actually, I dislike a little the Kwangya thing (I don't really understand it and I don't watch MVs much) but I do like their music, and the Savage EP I had it on repeat, truly! And the last pre-release single (Life's Too Short), damn that was iNCREDIBLE so I wish they can move their style a little bit around without losing their concept...

100% agree with Blackpink. I don't think they'll renew so that's why I am going to this world tour :') I need to see them before they disband, which I think would be a smart move for all of them because I don't feel like YG cares a lot about them and I think Jennie and Rosé would like to make more original music, Lisa would have so much more opportunities, and don't get me started on the treatment towards Jisoo.

About RV, completely. I am forever grateful to SM to not destroy their concept or try to make them sound wacky or nothing like RV. I feel like SM has done an incredible job with RV's music (you know? I am all for the underrated tts! Like RBB and Zimzalabim and Dumb Dumb Dumb might be my most favourite --dumbdumb is not underrated but the other ones--) but I am a little angry at their management, how they could have KILLED it in numbers and fame and they haven't because SM doesn't know how to push them. They still don't have a partnership with an American agency even though the ceo of Capitol Records (i Think) told the press she wanted to work with Red Velvet. While the bg of SM and Aespa (deserved for the girls) are getting so much more push.