#i understand that that ^ can be rather ambiguous and subjective but sometimes it’s just sidhehhdejhdjdjdjsdd god .

[ahalliance]

heartbroken: fans of media are engaging in the interpersonal character conflict proposed by the text but they’re mischaracterising your favourite guy in the process

[nicosraf]

Hi sorry if this is incredibly weird and feel free to ignore me… but what is between Lucifer’s legs? Because I am imagining a kind of plant anatomy akin to Vash the Stampede’s fanon plussy, based on the interlude in ABM where it says something like “petals here.” And simply I think that would be very cool for an Angel to have— specifically Lucifer with all his flower imagery.

Would you be willing to shed some light on the subject?

Not a weird question! And the short answer is that he has whatever you want him to. All the angels have whatever you want.

I get this ask in different variations a lot, basically since I first published abm. I know Lucifer says "cock and cunt" but I never actually describe what he means when he says that, and as per A&M, u can see that angels understand "he" differently, so there's a huge possibility that they understand those words to mean different things than they would on a human.

There's a lot of intentional ambiguity because 1. i think angel gender/sex is fun to leave completely incomprehensible to the reader, 2. i ascribe to angels not having one gender over the other (this being the answer for the dual creation of gender in genesis, rather than the Lilith answer, which I mentioned recently), 3. Milton made them bi-gender with the use of he/him and I like to follow him, and 4. it created room for it to be a broader "queer retelling" rather than just a gay or sapphic or trans one. (And there are many more reasons).

SO! I like considering that the angels might have genitals that are extremely alien. Sometimes I consider them having normal "male" genitals (and that having no attachment of gender to them). Sometimes I give them varying genitals in my head. It's purposefully inconsistent and contradictory to allow room for the reader and me to imagine whatever. (And not in a lazy "leave it up to interpretation" way, but very intentionally and with relevance to the plot. I mean, would the Watchers be so freaked out about gender if they had regular genitals? The story changes a little depending on the answer.)

I've never seen Vash the Stampede but that sounds pretty cool tbh, and you're free to consider it canon to ABM in the way that imagining Lucifer with a penis or a vulva or both or neither is also canon. Also I really like the use of the flower imagery that way. I always thought that if ABM was in a visual media then a lot of genitals would be covered with flowers to provide the same room for interpretation that the book does.

[the-monkey-ruler]

There are ancient “sequels” that straight up ignore wukong’s buddhahood and giving him oc kids? Did this author favor taoism too?

I am not too sure about that but I like to think that these are more like the first examples of media that are inspired by Wu Cheng’en's Sun Wukong. Just because there are media out there that has Wukong have children don't mean they are trying to deny Wukong's Buddhist ties or connection that he is the Victorious Flying Buddha, but rather... overlook the idea for the sake of their own narrative purposes. The Supplement can actually fit in “canon” as (spoilers) it is all a dream and Wukongs kids are just a figment of his and the demon's imagination that he accidentally knocked Iron Fan up when he jumped in her stomach. Also, the further that it was a dream was that Red Boy didn’t exist in the dream and Iron Fan only was with Wukong. The author usually explains the tomfoolery by saying “It’s a dream don’t think about it too hard.” Also in Journey to the West After, Sun Luzhen is a stone monkey as well and thus Wukong never went against his vows, simply adopting the stone monkey as his new disciple.

As for Journey to the South, it is more a story about the deity Huaguang dadi as Wukong only makes a guest cameo in the first chapter and the last chapter, the children only being mentioned in the last and even then only Yuebei Xing was the only one with lines and actions. Poor Jidu and Luohou don't even get anything outside of a name-drop. But otherwise, there is also no mention of a wife either. It is left in that territory of... ambiguity where they never really address Wukong having a wife let alone how Wukong got these kids, just that they were his. There is a chance they are adopted but considering he does separate them from his other subjects as he calls his monkey subjects grandchildren, there is a higher chance they are his bio kids. Wukong is addressed by his Great Sage title more often than not but they all acknowledge that he went on the journey is a Buddist disciple under Tang Sanzang as well. So while I do admit it is contradictory I also believe it is one of those cases of "What if"s that is more asking the audience to please give that detail a "suspension of disbelief" treatment rather than trying to make a statement.

I'm not saying that while it would make more sense to keep Wukong as his Buddha title as that is canon in the story, there are a lot of modern media where Wukong does have offspring of some kind for the sake of "what if" cases. Sometimes authors or directors take a lot of leeway with source material for the sake of their own creative ideas and while in most cases I do think that is more for the sake of their narrative purpose than just any religious animosity. I understand that it can be upsetting but Journey to the South does more side-step the idea of Wukong being in a relationship, rather more forced on the idea that Wukong is a father-figure which personally is more of a cute idea that trying to force a romance that is never explored either.

[cabeswaterdrowned]

For the ship game: Aria/Alison and Aria/Alex Drake

Aria x Alison

Whether I ship it or not: I obviously do a lot! They’re one of my favorite pll pairings/dynamics. I’d say they’re my favorite Aria ship rn (sometimes Sparia ties with it depending on my mood) and in my top 2 Alison ships (with Monison).

Why I ship it or not: They’re just a very intriguing relationship, I love anytime pll creates a sort of homoerotic mirroring effect between the girls so things like Aria wearing the red coat, parallels between their home lives (their being groomed by Ezra, their home lives where one of their parents was unfaithful but even though that was Byron for the Montgomery’s and Jessica for the Dilaurentis’ the gendered dynamics in the marriage are similar imo, and both girls are kind of regarded as More Adult (the correlation between that and them being groomed Spencer is also a comparison there rather than Hanna and Emily who have comparatively more stable/supportive guardians but this isn’t about Sparia or Spalison I just had to mention it), and being kind of the vortex of controversy and attention (although those aren’t really positive) while their brothers are kind of sidelined. So in terms of that theirs a lot going on to dig into, and then Alison’s treatment of Aria in the flashbacks is very interesting because she treats her so much more like an equal than the other girls, I mean she does see Spencer as an equal in a way but that’s based on their rivalry and with an understanding that Alison wants the upper hand. With Aria she just seems like she wants her to be there in a way that’s .. simpler isn’t the right word. But I think Alison likes being reflected in Aria vs her conflicted feelings about being reflected in Spencer or Hanna and that’s interesting to me. I also think I enjoy when Aria’s forgiving nature and open mindedness is brought out in her dynamics with morally ambiguous women which I think is why aside from Spencer most of my ships I feel strongly about for her are with more morally duplicitous female chars, Alison Mona Jenna Alex in descending order tbh. (I also find Aria’s sharp edge / parts of her char that conflict with her “sweet/nice” image very interesting and those are also emphasized in these and by her finding Alison so compelling by). And all the liars visions of Alison are very interesting and more than a little gay, but Aria’s “you know why I picked you right” scene is especially ripe for analysis imo.

My opinion on their canon potential (chemistry, canon interactions, etc): Oh I think there’s quite a lot of canon basis for especially Alison’s side of it between the photographs she secretly took while Aria was sleeping, which when we think Jason took them were meant to assume is out of a warped sense of romance and then his words about Alison’s tendencies to hide things really sound like they’re about internalized biphobia and being in the closet, the cosplaying as an Aria look alike and then taking on aspects of an Aria persona with Ezra, a lot of her treatment of Aria being a lot more.. seeing her as an equal rather than a subject or rival. On Ali’s side it’s very easy to make the argument imo. On Aria’s side the relationship is super intriguing and I can read stuff romantically but in the way you can kind of read all the liars as at least a bit in love with Alison / they all kind of talk about her and imagine her in hallucinations in that way. In terms of chemistry I think theirs is good, it’s maybe not the most chemistry in any pairing between the girls like I think if you compared Sasha’s scenes with Janel or Troian with her scenes with Lucy she probably has a higher level of chemistry with the former two (but also that’s a bit unfair because Janel and Troian just have copious amounts of chemistry with like. Everyone (except Keenan in Troian’s case)). But there are plenty of scenes especially in the flashbacks (the first secret is crazy in this regard) where I’m like. Girlfriend behavior, maybe accompanied by close face watch (the scene where they wreck Byron’s office especially + all of the first secret especially).

My opinion on fanon interpretations/fandom around it (Favorite widespread hcs, pet-peeves, etc): Mostly that it’s massively underrated? Attribute that partially to I think a lot of fans are disdainful of Aria and don’t really think of her as a char Alison would be fascinated by or give a lot of thought to that, and Alison’s really polarizing as well, plus the fact the writers didn’t do much with the dynamic after Alison came back with the exception of 7.04. But I don’t remember a take about them I thought was *wrong* I just think they’re underrated/underexplored.

Aria x Alex

Whether I ship it or not: I ship it, not majorly because Alex as a concept isn’t super developed, but the things I like most about her are related to her fixation with Aria and the choices she made regarding her in 7b.

Why I ship it or not: I enjoy Aria’s whole 7b plot a lot and Alex is a contributing factor to it, and also like I said the Aria obsession piece made Alex more interesting to me and the Sparia compare/contrast is fun.

My opinion on their canon potential (chemistry, canon interactions, etc): well they don’t interact on screen a ton but Troian essentially plays Alex like Spencer but very British and more explicitly sapphic, “I’m so evil and skanky and I think I’m kind of gay”, so yeah I think they’re good on the chemistry front. And Alex Drake’s actions really only make sense if she was into Aria because why else would she kidnap Ezra of all people? Rather than idk, Peter Hastings? Too funny

My opinion on fanon interpretations/fandom around it (Favorite widespread hcs, pet-peeves, etc): n / a I haven’t seen that much and what I did see I mostly agreed with.

thank you!

(Send me a ship and I’ll answer these questions about them)

[xarrixii]

I wanted to take a more creative spin than just "overhealing" or "healing the wrong places deliberately." So here I go:

They don't elaborate any further, despite constant prodding. Eyes saddening as they gloss over the patient currently lying on the bed.

The healer drew a magic circle in the air above the unconscious body in front of them, letting the magic fester as they reached for one of the vials in a rack.

"But, you, I don't understand."

"I'll tell you later."

Truth was, they didn't want to talk about it ever. They didn't want to discuss their failures, their experiments that only ended in death. The endless struggle to find better, faster ways to heal people.

It all ended in death.

The healer swirled the green liquid in the vial around, contemplating the use of yet another new formula. They didn't like to use experimental formulas on the worse patients, so simple sicknesses were far better test subjects. Each formula had to go up the steps. When it failed, it got reworked and started over.

They popped the cork and trickled the liquid over the magic circle, turning bright green and beginning to glow.

The best healers always used both potions and circles at once.

This healer was considered the best. People jumped at the chance to get even minor sicknesses cured, to sign contracts saying they accepted the chance their case may be used for a medical trial.

Other members of their party had their kills recorded in the stars for slaying the monsters of the forest. Some people had kills recorded for hunting their next meal. Some for killing others in war. The healer's were told in the stars of monsters, of hunting, and of the citizenry who let the healer take their faith in them and fail.

But they didn't like to talk about their failures.

Their party covered it up for them, gave them places to cry over each death. Sometimes, the counter would rise at random, and they'd known the long-term effects of healing had caught up with someone. They wouldn't know who.

The stars were ambiguous like that.

"It's amazing," the young mage beside the healer said, "How clean your magic is."

"Someday, the academy will have trained your magic to be just as good."

The mage scoffs. "Not if they keep sending me on apprenticeships."

"Ah," the healer laughs as the circle dies out, feeling the patient's head for fever. It was disappearing. "You're either a troublesome one or you're learning much too fast for the scheduled coursework and they're trying to find you something to do. If you would rather get through the coursework faster and do apprenticeships later, you should talk to the Headmaster."

"That's a thing?"

"They don't sign people up for the gifted mage programs if they don't want it."

The young mage takes the rack of potions and strolls over to the next bedridden citizen. The healer follows, quiet and ghostly smooth in their movements.

The healer sweeps two fingers to check the patient's pulse, closing their eyes as they can feel the stars beginning to change the number tally.

They're not about to fail in front of the mage apprentice.

The magic circle is drawn above the patient, this time with four more rings than the last with one. They were dying, and they were dying fast.

"If this person survives another day," the healer promises the young mage, "I will tell you how my constellation of death rises faster than my comrades."

The young mage smiles with the challenge, already unclipping their cloak and tossing it to the side. "On it."

man why do i always add levels of lore to these short prompt stories

“You’re a healer. Actually, you’re the best healer in the world… so how do you have more kills than everyone else in your party combined?” “Simple. I heal.”

[whateverthedragonswant]

Some things to note for this blog

I should have put this up sooner but honestly, I didn't think I needed to, until now. Everything below the cut.

GoT

When I post anything GoT-related, I am talking about the showverse only. This is why I do not include "asoiaf" in the tags of each post. While using the same characters and universe that GRRM created in ASOIAF, Game of Thrones is an adaptation. Which is why we don't see characters like Lady Stoneheart, Val, Gryff, or Dacey Mormont. (I know most of us know this already but I feel the point needs to be reiterated for some...certain stan groups in particular) Same goes for House of the Dragon.

I do post about Daenerys (and will continue to) and I can be critical of her but I still love her. She is actually one of my favorite characters in the show. But while I consider myself a fan of hers, I don't stan her blindly and I can see the mistakes she's made. I will call out her bad behavior while still maintaining my love for the character. I appreciate her dark turn because of the fact that she, as a woman, got to have that arc and make her own choices. It's incredible storytelling that was layered in since season 1 (though the execution of it in the end was botched here and there). Same thing goes for the Targaryens. For example, while I might not be a fan of Daemon, I do appreciate his character and Matt Smith's portrayal.

If I see any ridiculous Dany stan or anti Sansa bs in my travels on here, I'm calling it out. Not specifically to the individual(s), I don't do that, but I do respond to ridiculous claims made about characters, their story arcs, the writing, fandom bs, and the show in general.

SPN

I do love SPN but I am very critical of the series finale. But while being critical of it, I can understand why some decisions were made behind the scenes and it is what it is. It doesn't mean I don't hope that a reboot or continuation down the line won't attempt to fix the mistakes that were made (imho Dean's appearance in the finale of The Winchesters already started that ball rolling in a way).

I have been critical of the Wincest pairing in the past but that has been more about some of the behavior of the shippers rather than about the ship itself. I've also listed why I don't feel comfortable with the ship itself but I also have the attitude of ship-and-let-ship. So I'm not attacking the ship but just stating why I don't care for it while also challenging some of the shippers' assertions of how the show was intentionally going that way for the brothers all along as well as their misunderstandings of Dean and Sam's actual familial relationship.

I am anti John Winchester and will forever be. Any posts I make on this subject is not criticism of Jeffrey Dean Morgan or his portrayal of the character. This is not challenging Jeffrey Dean Morgan's or Jensen Ackles' opinions of the character, but sometimes can be a respectful disagreement (meaning I have a different school of thought on the matter for those who aren't able to grasp this everyday life concept). This doesn't mean I don't acknowledge Dean's, Sam's, and Mary's love for John. While I agree with JDM and Jensen that John did the best he could in that time, he absolutely could have done better and had many opportunities to. Not to mention what was implied that was right underneath the surface of the story the whole time and how it was confirmed starting in season 12.

Imho, the idea of Destiel went canon in the show, not the pairing itself. We only saw Cas' confirmation of his feelings and how it all connected back to Cas' own story line over the years. By Dean not having time to respond one way or the other, I believe the show intended to keep that open-ended and ambiguous. So people can still speculate on his feelings should they so choose (personally, I think Cas was extremely important to Dean, more important than antis feel comfortable acknowledging which is why they consistently do their best to undermine the 15x18 moment and attack anyone who asserts that Destiel is canon).

I am very much pro-Dean (not a stan but a huge fan), pro-Winchesters 2.0 (Dean, Sam, Cas & Jack) or TFW 2.0, pro-Jack, pro-Jack and Cas as family to both Sam and Dean. My posts will usually operate from this stance.

If I see any ridiculous anti Dean, anti Destiel bs, pro-toxic codependency bs in my travels on here, I'm calling it out. Not specifically to the individual(s), I don't do that, but I do respond to ridiculous claims made about characters, their story arcs, the writing, fandom bs, and the show in general.

The Winchesters

I am very critical of The Winchesters but it is not personal criticism of Jensen or Danneel Ackles. I am not critical of it for the sake of being critical or fandom drama; I am looking at it through the same critical storytelling eye I look at everything else. I focus on the story and not anything beyond that. Whatever feuds the fandom drama queens believe are going on between Jensen and Jared, Danneel and Genevieve, Jared and Misha, etc, I am not engaging in any of that nor am I going to allow it to taint my perspective as a viewer.

911

While I have been critical of certain relationships for Buck and Eddie (like BuckTaylor, BuckAli, EddieAna, or EddieShannon for example), I am not completely critical of the female characters themselves nor am I anti them (their characters all served a purpose in the story). Except Abby and that was due to her severe mishandling of Buck. But even then, as long as she stays far away from Buck, I'm good with her and hope she finds her own happiness.

I still believe in the possibility of Buddie but I will admit that the season 6 finale left me dumbfounded, even knowing what was happening bts. So I have not posted as much for this pairing or fandom because I'm waiting to see how season 7 will go.

Speaking of which, I am very critical of the writing of the last two episodes of season 6 especially, not just for Buddie but all of the other characters and relationships as well.

Big Sky

I am very critical of the writing of the last season as well as the push the show made for a certain pairing to happen (Beau x Jenny). It is not criticism of Jensen Ackles or of Katheryn Winnick (I am a fan of both), nor is it criticism of the characters Beau Arlen or Jenny Hoyt (I also love both). I honestly believe Jenny's (and Cassie's) character got shafted in the last season as a bid to stay on the air by the showrunner. And I am very critical of that showrunner and some of the decisions he made that I think sunk the show the final inch over the edge into oblivion.

Celebrities/Actors

While I am a fan of Jensen Ackles's career and try to be supportive, this is not a stan blog. I will not be posting about Jensen's personal exploits (outside of FBBC and a social media post here and there possibly), any gossip/rumors surrounding Jensen, anything about his marriage to Danneel, etc.

I will not be posting anything about Danneel Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Misha Collins, etc.

I only post about people I admire and it's usually in relation to their acting and/or portrayals, or directing (like Miguel Sapochnik for example). I appreciate talent where I see it.

[my-darling-boy]

how do you do your photo sessions? is it just you and your camera or is someone else taking photos ? theyre all so cool and im rlly curious as to how you do it !!!!!!

I’m so glad someone finally asked this, I was just talking about this with someone and honestly it is SO funny.

The trick is: as long as you’ve got a camera, luck, and at least one tripod—along with understanding of some basic photography and a good imagination—you can do a LOT. I’m known for having whacky set ups! My sister helps me with them when I can’t do them all myself and let me tell you, we’ve come up with some weird things. I’ve been teaching my sister what I know about photography and film over the years, so she’s been a big help getting my own photos done, and in return I do ones for her.

In most of my photos, I’m in the bathroom. I don’t care what you think you see, I’m probably in the bathroom. Bathrooms have great lighting most of the time, and our bathroom has a skylight which is great natural lighting. If you don’t have access to a lot of professional lighting, setting up rigs in front of windows is great. I love using everyday objects and making them look ambiguous to suit my needs for a different object. My “halo” is literally a paper plate. I’m wearing a pillowcase. I set up the camera, my sister just had to check my positioning and lighting and click the button since I don’t have a remote.

Again, I am in the bathroom. I’m still sitting on top of a counter. This one, we stacked some boxes haphazardly and put our lighting on top, which is usually this really bright survivalist lantern. I also taped a clip lamp to a tripod. My sister was standing on the opposite bathroom counter. It was so hot in there so I was in shorts and thigh highs, but you wouldn’t know that just by the photo

I was in my bedroom for this one! A couple of tripods, an edited background, and a suggestive expression was all I needed to make this look like the Lieutenant and I were having a Good Time in his trench lodgings. If you don’t have an actual historical object like a swagger stick, a wooden spoon with a thimble on the end works too (as I found out). If you get creative enough, there are tons of objects and clothing you can fake. And yes my phone mount for the tripod is literally a macaron box I fashioned to hold my phone

This is a great example of knowing how to frame your subject. We loved the treeline in the back garden because it resembled being out in nature, but we have a rather unattractive space out there surrounding it. To solve this, I got up on a high stool and my sister knelt down below and shot the photo from the nearer the ground. You would never know just out of frame was a garage, a trash heap, a shed, a truck, and other suburban houses.

I’ll let you take a guess as to where I’m at for this one.... yes it’s the bathroom again. This time I’m by this awkward corner on the floor near the tub. We stacked a hamper on top of the tub and rolled some foam into a cone to direct lighting from a phone and lantern at my face. There was no angle to take the photo without running into the tub or shower so my sister had to take it in the tub. My knees and abs were killing me cos I had to half-kneel for the position, and strain my eyes to look up. There was also a low tripod behind me to drape my “mantle” over to keep it from falling flat against my back.

I don’t even know how to explain this one and I couldn’t even fit it all in the drawing. We got in front of the downstairs window, hung the same white bedsheet I use so much from the ceiling, I knelt on a chair, and I set up the tripod just out of frame in that drawing. We basically gathered every lamp we could reasonably put in the window sill and took the shades off two tall lamps or optimal lighting. I taped bee magnets to my skin. The “clouds” are actually just pulled apart cotton balls taped to a straw and held in various positions in front of the lens. Perfect perspective play.

An honourable mention was my audio set up for my October ghost video.

I don’t have professional audio equipment aside from a Yeti mic, so we had to get creative with how we would get the mic close enough to the subject. Yes, that is a tripod duct taped to another tripod and counter weighted by a bag of books. My mic is literally screwed into a socket it’s not supposed to even be in on the end of the tripod and the cord for it wouldn’t reach the couch to my laptop so I had to stack a stool on a chair next to this incredible contraption with the laptop on top so it could reach. How this entire thing did not collapse at any point is beyond me. (Can you tell I love tape and lamps?)

For photo editing programs, I hate editing on the computer and I will eat my own shoes before I give Adobe any of my money, so I use Enlight and Afterlight 2 from the App Store on my phone, and also FaceTune for certain face corrections. Afterlight 2 has a filter called “Himalaya” which is VERY similar to how 1880s-1920s photos looked and the app has plenty of dust overlays to make your photo look old. Enlight I use for broader ranges of image correction and background editing. Some examples of old photos I’ve done with a combination of those apps:

My sister and I are very resourceful and creative whenever we do these things. I don’t have any formal training in photography, I just have a vision of what I want and I try to do what I can to achieve it. I’ve had photographers with masters degrees in photography tell me it’s astounding I’ve been able to achieve photo results that rival their own with what limited resources I had while they had access to everything under the sun at their uni.

In short, all I really do is pull out my camera and some tripods and other makeshift items with a photoset in my mind, and sometimes I burst into my sister’s room standing like “hi welcome to chili’s” if I need some assistance

[a-pop-of-korean]

do you have any stories or books you recommend in korean? also, relating to this, if you do, what are your tips or method for going through a book and what you’ll do when you come across words or grammar structures you aren’t familiar with? i’m not sure if you’ve already answered this question before so if you have, you can just link the original post :)

If you're a beginner, I'd recommend reading children's books, although I, unfortunately, don't have any specific recommendations. If anyone else does though, please leave a comment!

If you're at a higher level, I'm sure you can find some webtoons that are a good match for you. I've been reading webtoons for a while, so I'll let you know my tips!

For webtoons that I feel like I can comfortably get through on my own, I just use Naver Dictionary to translate words that I don't know.

If I come across the occasional speech bubble where I really can't make out the meaning, I'll refer to the English translation of the chapter if available or, if not, I'll try using the Papago translator. Even if it's not perfect, I feel like a lot of the times I've used it, it's been at least a little helpful. I wouldn't over-rely on it, but it's a good resource if you need it.

Some webtoons that I've read are a little more advanced and I sometimes misinterpret or have a hard time making sense of things. Other times, there are simply too many words that I don't know to the point where looking up each individual word becomes tedious and takes away from the pleasure of reading it (and sometimes I'm just too lazy lol). I'm reading Lookism right now, which has a lot of colloquialisms and vocabulary related to crimes and gangs and stuff, so I don't expect myself to understand much of it. In these cases, I need there to be an English version and I'll refer to it every time I need to fill in the gaps, even if there's only one word I don't know. The problem with this method is that the vocab doesn't really stick that well. When I take the time and effort to look up a word, I find that I tend to remember it a little better than when I just passively look at the English version. If you come across a word enough times though, this probably won't be a huge problem.

I recommend Googling any unfamiliar grammar structures and just taking a quick skim over whatever you find. This should help you decipher the meaning without you having to study the structure too deeply (unless you want to of course!). If you feel like there are too many unfamiliar grammatical structures and it disrupts your enjoyment of the webtoon, I'd recommend finding one that's easier for you instead. Ultimately, I want you to enjoy reading -- that way you'll stay motivated to stick with it and keep things fun!

You could also just refer to the English translation to give you some idea about the grammar. The problem with that, though, is that those structures don't always translate. In my opinion, I think it's better to just look up the grammar instead since it'll give you a better grasp on it anyways.

Those are my tips! I think an important thing about reading webtoons is finding one at your level. If you're an intermediate learner, I'd recommend starting out with something like True Beauty. I've been reading it for a while now and I never had a massive problem getting through it, even if there was stuff I was unfamiliar with. Lookism, grammatically, is not that bad, although it is more advanced given its colloquialisms. However, it and similar webtoons require that you've been exposed to Korean for a while since some of it can be a little hard to interpret due to things like ambiguous subjects and objects or nuance. This is where the English translation comes in handy since it helps get across the nuance and tone rather than the literal meaning alone. Those, after all, are things you can't find in a dictionary!

I wish I had a longer list of webtoons to share with you all; I used to read more webtoons but now I'm pretty much just reading Lookism and True Beauty. If anyone has any suggestions though, please leave a comment! Thanks for the question -- apologies for the lengthy answer, but I hope it helps! 화이팅!

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Games Workshop declares war on its customers (again)

There’s a difference between a con-artist and a grifter. A con-artist is just a gabby mugger, and when they vanish with your money, you know you’ve been robbed.

A grifter, on the other hand, is someone who can work the law to declare your stuff to be their stuff, which makes you a lawless cur because your pockets are stuffed full of their money and merely handing it over is the least you can do to make up for your sin.

IP trolls are grifters, not con artists, and that’s by design, a feature of the construction of copyright and trademark law.

Progressives may rail at the term “IP” for its imprecision, but truly, it has a very precise meaning: “‘IP’ is any law that lets me control the conduct of my customers, competitors and critics, such that they must arrange their affairs to my benefit.”

https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/

In that regard, it is a perfect grifter’s tool — a way to put you on the wrong side of the line for simply living your life in the way that works best for you, not the grifter.

Now, copyright and trademark’s framers were alive to the possibility that they might become this kind of weapon, and they wrote limitations and exceptions into each doctrine that were meant to safeguard the public’s right to free speech and free action.

But those limitations and exceptions are weirdly self-eviscerating. Both trademark and copyright’s limitations assume that they aren’t being weaponized by immoral sociopaths. Both collapse if they are.

Take copyright. Copyright has a suite of limitations and exceptions under various global legal systems, including US law. US law also contains a specific set of exceptions colloquially called “fair use,” a subject of much mystification for lay people.

Under fair use, someone accused of copyright infringement can ask a judge to find that their use of someone else’s copyrighted work is permissible because to deny it would be socially harmful.

The fair use law sets out four factors that judges MAY consider when considering such a claim. Note that these four factors are neither comprehensive (judges can weigh other factors), nor dispositive (failing to satisfy a factor doesn’t disqualify your use from being fair).

If that sounds confusing to you, don’t worry. It is confusing. As the lawyers say, “fair use is fact-intensive.”

The specifics of a use really matter: who’s making the use, what they’re using, why they’re using it, how they use it, and how much they use.

That’s why anyone who claims that “X is never fair use” (for example, commercial fanfic) are full of shit — as are people who say “X is always fair use”).

Commercial fanfic absolutely can be fair use. No less a body than the Supreme Court says so:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wind_Done_Gone

Despite all this ambiguity and nuance, IP grifters who want to force other people to arrange their affairs to their own benefit are laser focused on the four factors, reasoning correctly that if they show a judge that the factors favor them, they’re more likely to prevail.

Half of the four factors are out of the grifter’s reach. As a rightsholder, you can’t control “the purpose and character of the use,” or “the amount and substantiality of the portion used.”

But the other two factors are more readily within the IP wielder’s remit. As someone seeking control a work, you can frame “to the nature of the copyrighted work” by talking up how much creativity and originality went into it, which judges will weigh in your favor.

More importantly — and disturbingly — is the way that an IP holder can influence the fourth factor: “the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.”

Think about that fourth factor for a moment here: if my use of your work doesn’t cost you any money, then it’s more likely that my use is fair.

The corollary: if you can bully some people into paying for something they’ve always gotten for free, then you can claim that the people who refuse to pay are ripping you off — that there is a “market” for the use, and that their failure to pay weakens that market.

This is effectively what’s happened to music sampling. Seminal albums like “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back” were produced with thousands of uncleared samples — but at the time, no one was clearing samples.

https://memex.craphound.com/2011/07/08/creative-license-how-the-hell-did-sampling-get-so-screwed-up-and-what-the-hell-do-we-do-about-it/

Had the rightsholders to those samples dragged Public Enemy into court, they wouldn’t have had the fourth factor on their side. No one was paying for samples, so a failure to pay for samples had no “effect on the potential market for the copyrighted work.”

However, in the 33 years since Nation of Millions dropped, paying to license samples has become common practice — and the mere existence of paid samples makes not paying for samples more legally risky.

So say a rightsholder decided to aggressively license simple quotations — as the Associated Press did in 2008, when it offered to sell you a license to a 5-word quotation for a mere $12.50.

http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/010341.html

All other things being equal, a short quotation from a news article is likely to be fair use. But if the AP managed to terrorize enough bloggers into coughing up $12.50 for a 5-word quote, it could create a market for 5-word quotations.

That market would change the fair use argument for people who don’t pay — yes, they’re making a transformative, critical use, but they’re also undermining the market for the copyright, and a judge might find this change tips the scales away from fair use.

Even more importantly, the additional uncertainty might stampede more people into paying $12.50 for a 5-word quote rather than risk a $250,000 statutory damages award for copyright infringement.

The more people who pay for 5-word quotes, the sturdier the market becomes and the riskier it is to rely upon fair use.

The fourth factor looks like an escape valve for uses that harm no one.

But it actually rewards to bullies who intimidate others out of money they don’t actually owe — until they do.

Trademark has a similar gotcha. Trademark is very different from copyright. Fundamentally, trademark is about protecting buyers, not sellers. Trademark meant to help buyers avoid being tricked into buying an inferior product because it was deceptively named or styled.

If you buy a can of Coke, you want the true Black Water of American Imperialism, not an inferior brand of dilute battery-acid.

But if your Coke turns out to be a fake, you might shrug off the harm or balk at the expense of punishing the fast operator who mis-sold you.

So trademark empowers Coke — and other vendors — to punish third parties who trick their customers, acting as their customers’ champions. Trademark doesn’t exist to prevent Coke from losing money to a rival — it exists to help Coke drinkers get what they pay for.

Trademarks can be registered with the USPTO, who nominally weigh trademark applications to ensure that they’re distinctive and original. Practically, examiners are busy, sometimes careless, and ideologically inclined to grant, not deny, claims.

https://memex.craphound.com/2018/06/14/son-of-cocky-a-writer-is-trying-to-trademark-dragon-slayer-for-fantasy-novels/

But you don’t have to register a trademark to assert it. You can threaten or pursue legal action on the grounds that someone has violated an unregistered trademark, which is any distinctive graphic or phrase that is associated with your product.

Registered or unregistered, trademark enforcement primarily comes down to whether a “naive consumer” would be mislead by someone else’s use of a mark. That is, when you bought a Coke-branded sack of chicken feet, did you think it was blessed by the Coca-Cola company?

If there’s no likelihood of confusion, trademark holders struggle to enforce their trademarks.

This standard seems reasonable, but, like the fourth factor in fair use, it has a sting in its tail.

One of the ways you can induce confusion in the public is to gain a reputation for being a litigious bully. Say Coke is known far and wide for clobbering anyone that uses its trademarks, no matter how trivial the use and no matter how bad it made them look.

If Coke is truly notorious for its zero-tolerance policy, that will lead to a widespread public understanding that every time you see Coke’s marks, the use was blessed by a Coke lawyer — meaning a use that might not otherwise be found to be confusing can be made confusing.

“If that was any other company’s trademark, I’d assume that they had nothing to do with it — but since I know Coke has an army of baby-eating attack lawyers who destroy anyone who uses a mark without permission, that must be an authorized use.”

Like fair use’s fourth factor, trademark’s confusion standard rewards the most vicious and uncaring businesspeople with new rights that their more reasonable competitors do not enjoy. IP selects for sociopathy.

Now, IP — in the most sinister sense of the phrase — has pervaded every industry, but the contradictions of IP are felt most keenly in its spawning grounds: the culture industry.

Culture is in tension with the control of ideas, because culture is the spread of ideas.

Creators (and execs) are vulnerable to the pirate/admiral fallacy: “When I take from my forebears, that’s legitimate artistic progress. When my successors do it to me, it’s theft.”

This pathology, combined with ready-to-hand IP weapons, incentivizes all manner of wickedness. Remember when Marvel and DC teamed up in a bid to trademark the word “super-hero” so that no one else would be allowed to use it?

https://memex.craphound.com/2006/03/18/marvel-comics-stealing-our-language/

These perverse incentives are made tragic by the inherently participatory nature of culture.

It’s not merely that Marvel and DC wanted to steal the word “super-hero” right out of our mouths.

It’s that super-heroes are culturally important because of how we take and remix them in our lives. Marvel went on to use the law to stop us from pretending to be superheroes online, something Casey Fiesler called “Pretending Without a License.”

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277598023_Pretending_Without_a_License_Intellectual_Property_and_Gender_Implications_in_Online_Games

Which brings me, at last, to Games Workshop, a company that has consistently led the IP bully pack, indiscriminately terrorizing the Warhammer 40k fans who made it a massive commercial success.

Warhammer is a strategy/roleplaying game that is played with miniature creatures that players buy, modify and paint. If you’re not familiar with all this, maybe this sounds a bit like toy soldiers.

It’s a lot more interesting — not just because of the game rules or lore, but because of the incredibly, unbelievable, jaw-dropping virtuosity of Warhammer players when they paint and style those miniatures.

There’s a reason I look forward to Saturday morning’s weekly linkdump from Jonathan Struan of the week’s best Warhammer and other RPG miniatures:

https://www.superpunch.net/search?q=warhammer&max-results=20&by-date=true

and why I follow incredible painters like Aurelie Schick:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/110246635@N06

Warhammer is intrinsically participatory, co-creative and active — it’s not media you consume, it’s media you produce.

Games Workshop has become fantastically rich off of this…and they hate it, and they always have.

For years they’ve pursued fans for producing their own fan-made supplements and additions to the game:

https://www.lumendatabase.org/notices/99301

The more Warhammer players complained about the indiscriminate censorship of their fan media, the harder GW cracked down on them, wiping out whole genres of creative work:

https://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/48933/games-workshop-files-purge-09

GW claimed it was only defending its rights, the grifter’s signature move, making you a crook for having the audacity not to put their shareholders’ interests ahead of your own.

Then Games Workshop claimed a trademark on “space marine,” a generic term that had been widely used in science fiction for decades, including, notably, in Heinlein’s classic “Starship Troopers” (1959).

https://web.archive.org/web/20130207002144/http://mcahogarth.org/?p=10593

They didn’t just go after RPGs that used the phrase — they used trademark claims to remove novels from Amazon for having the phrase in their titles.

“Space marine” is a generic phrase, but GW was betting if they were sufficiently, spectacularly brutal in their enforcement, they could create a proprietary interest: “Now, I know GW destroys anyone who uses ‘space marine,’ so this ‘space marine’ must be endorsed by GW.”

GW just launched a new set of terms of service, including: “individuals must not create fan films or animations based on our settings and characters. These are only to be created under licence from Games Workshop.”

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-WW/Intellectual-Property-Guidelines

Now, this isn’t how copyright works. There are many ways in which a fan film or animation could be fair use, no matter whether GW forbids or permits their production. But this isn’t mere overreach: it’s a direct play against the fourth factor in fair use.

If GW can establish that all animations and vids are produced under paid license, then any fanvid that doesn’t pay for a license has a weaker fair use case, because the fourth factor protects existing licensing markets.

Indeed, as Rob Beschizza points out on Boing Boing, GW timed the terms of service change to coincide with the announcement that they’re launching a subscription service including “cartoons, in-house hobby videos, access to a vault of ebooks and mags.”

https://www.pcgamer.com/now-even-warhammer-has-a-subscription-service/

This is bullying with a business-model, in other words. Fans have figured out how to have fun with each other for free, and GW wants them to stop and pay the company for its in-house version of that fun.

Warhammer creators are demoralized and disheartened. The creator of the hugely successful Oculus Imperia Youtube series posted a heart-rending message of surrender.

https://twitter.com/OculusImperia/status/1421136444437970949

Oculus Imperia also edits “If The Emperor Had A Text To Speech Device,” (TTS) another beloved Warhammer fan series. Alfabusa from TTS posted his own absolutely demoralized goodbye to his work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXljeaktnDA

Ironically, both channels would have a stronger fair use case if they mocked and criticized Warhammer, rather than celebrating it, as fair use tips favorably towards critical uses.

The fact is, they love their hobby and its community and they want to improve it, not tear it down.

Neither wants to get dragged into a brutal copyright case against a deep-pocketed corporation. Even people with great fair use cases balk at that:

https://waxy.org/2011/06/kind_of_screwed/

Now, some people might be thinking, what’s the big deal? Why don’t these creators just make up their own stories instead of remixing the ones that come from Games Workshop?

Those people are assholes.

*All* stories are fanfic of some kind or another. Every mystery novel is a remix of Poe’s Murders In the Rue Morgue. Games Workshop’s stories are the thrice-brewed teabags of many sf writers (remember “space marines?”).

Tolkien straight up ripped off his characters from the 1000-year-old Norse poem “Elder Edda,” which features dwarves named “Thorin, Balin, Dwalin, Fili, Kili, Oin, Gloin, Nori, Dori, Ori, Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur.”

https://musingsofatolkienist.blogspot.com/2015/07/hobbit-origins-catalog-of-dwarves.html

Culture is made of other culture.

GW made something wonderful with Warhammer — by plundering the stories that preceded it.

The sin isn’t in the taking, it’s in the pretense that it never happened, and the vicious grifting that punishes anyone who does unto GW as they did unto everyone else.

[maxwell-grant]

Is it weird that your article on the Grand Guignol (sp?) made me think of that Peter Chushing quote about how, he doesn't think of the films he's famous for as horror, but rather as fantasy, and that he tends to see crime and war movies as more deserving of the moniker?

Strangely, I wasn't aware of this before, so I'm pasting some of the quotes he's had to say on this below so others can read them in full as well:

“It isn’t that I object to it. I just feel it’s the wrong adjective as applied to the films I do. Because horror to me is, say, a film like The Godfather. Or anything to do with war, which is real and can happen, and unfortunately, no doubt, will happen again some time. But the films that dear Christopher Lee and I do are really fantasy. And I think fantasy is a better adjective to use. I don’t object to the term horror, it’s just the wrong adjective!”

“I don’t really care for the adjective “horror”. I think the films are fantasy as much as anything. Horror is concentration camps, war, murder, real things. It’s car accidents and plane crashes.”

[regarding the fan mail he was getting] “What they say in their letters is that the horror films of today, they repel you and you’re sickened. And the Hammer ones that we did make you shiver and shake and cuddle each other to feel comforted, but they never repelled.

And that is, I think, frightfully interesting coming from young people who must be so immune now to seeing these terrible things on the news – football fights and Ireland and South Africa – it’s just dreadful, isn’t it. One has become so used to that as part of everyday life that I think watching a Dracula picture made 25 years ago must be rather like watching Noddy in Toyland.”

I think this is an interesting example of how sometimes opposite truths can exist at the same time. I have questioned myself quite a bit on just how much "horror" does a fantasy narrative need to have before it changes it's genre label from "fantasy" to "horror". And I've come to learn a lot recently just how fluid, ambiguous and debatable the very concept of "genre" is and how it's hardly even consistent within itself globally or historically.

On one hand, obviously the films Mr Cushing's been a part of are called horror films because they are part of the horror genre as it's been defined, and I don't think anyone's going to stop calling Dracula a horror story anytime soon, and of course horror and fantasy are not mutually exclusives. A horror story doesn't stop being a horror story just because you are not affected by what it's depicting, just as a comedy doesn't stop being a comedy because you don't find it funny. Mary and Max and Texas Chainsaw Massacre are two incredibly different movies that both shook me deeply on a first watch, and Mary and Max's material affected me much more deeply, but that doesn't mean I'm going to call it a horror film even if it did horrify me much more than Texas Chainsaw (Mary and Max is a genuinely incredible film, to be clear, but I never want to see it again)

But on the other hand, horror is a catch-all label that frays and tears at the seams the more you look at it, and he's right that the label in itself is just an adjective often tacked to pretty straightforward fantasy stories that happen to revolve around monsters and murderers and whatnot. And he's absolutely right that there's a world of difference between horror in fiction through fantasy, and horror in fiction through depictions of real, stark things we can call "horrors", and that this separation is incredibly important.

I'm thinking back to Bogleech's review of It: Chapter Two where he briefly touched on why the film's usage of homophobia for a scare was crude and misguided and tonally at odds with what the rest of the film, and the horror genre, strives for:

Some people with innocent enough intention will say that the shock and horror of the sequence is a good thing; that the audience should be disgusted by what they see happen here, which is certainly true. They might also point out that being horrified is exactly what you pay for when you go to see a horror movie, and that the scene gives context to the nature of a town possessed by pure evil.

There is, however, a very big difference between a spooky, imaginary boogiemonster and a regular, realistic hate crime. The boogiemonster is an entertaining, exciting kind of horror because it isn't real. The hate crime is something that could really happen to someone walking in and out of that same movie theater that same night, which is not the fun, entertaining or cool kind of scary. Killing off gay people is also nothing new to the horror genre at all, and there's a point at which it stops feeling like a social message and starts feeling more like a cheap prop, like the dog or cat you know is only present so we'll get to see how mean the villain really is.

Don't get me wrong, there have been horror narratives that explored the subject of hatred quite well, but it ISN'T ever explored any further here. In fact, it's never mentioned again and leaves no impact on the storyline other than the fact that it is how Mike discovers that IT has returned. Almost anything could have served this purpose, and the scene is even stripped of additional context and relevance it had in the novel. Ultimately, it just feels poorly handled, overshadows the rest of the film's horror, and didn't do much to really move the narrative forward.

And I can speak from experience that I've definitely seen and met way too often people who don't quite know how to tell the difference and it shows, it really shows in a way that doesn't just cheapens the works they are making but also makes them more, I guess the word I'd use is "childish", like it's coming from a deep lack of understanding or reference point or even a desire to further understand what exactly the things being depicted are or why they are terrible or why they affect people so deeply, the kind of stuff that, if you've lived through or seen or bonded with people who've been through them, kinda bleeds through your art even when you don't intentionally set out to portray them.

And to an extent I think that's where Peter Cushing's coming from, as someone who did indeed experience great horror and tragedy, who lived through the Great Depression and both World Wars and the Korean War and lost the love of his life when he was 48, and made a career playing villains, of course he's gonna look at the word "horror" applied to what he's doing and think that it's not at all horror, that's not what horror looks like to him.

But, to an extent, that's also a big part of what horror is supposed to do in the first place, as a distraction from the horrors of reality, a mirror upon said horrors, and an outlet for the experiencing of emotions attached to tragedy and horror, but nobody's getting hurt and you can get something out of it without having to live through it. It's a deeply, deeply important thing regardless of what you call it.

And I'm starting to wonder if, in the future, labels like "horror", "fantasy", "pulp" and "superhero" aren't going to fray and lose meaning further and further until we have to start coming up with new ones to retroactively define history through, something we already do, and even myself am guilty of.

So I guess it's not impossible that Cushing's going to have been ultimately right in his assessment.

[aspecpplarebeautiful]

everytime i repeatedly come to the (temporary) conclusion that yes i am ace (ish) and i don't have to question it anymore! it feels so unsatisfying? like it doesn't change anything and i feel like there should be some big moment but no one knows and it just exists inside this little ambiguous bubble in my brain and it never feels real or solidified. and of course there's never proof because you can't prove that you don't feel something that you don't understand. so it's just very unrewarding when i feel like it should be an exciting relieving moment to feel like i understand something at least for a while. i don't know what i expect you to respond it's mostly just a rant haha but if you have thoughts i'd appreciate them.

Yeah it's very hard to define an absence. Because no matter how hard you look, there's always that possibility you missed it, or it may show up later. There is a really great comic about this (asexual turtle comic) and I think a lot of people find it helpful. I think another thing some people find helpful is looking at identity in a more subjective way. I think there's this idea that orientation is this truth we have to uncover, but in actuality our experiences and personality play huge roles in what labels we choose and what's useful for us. And orientation is complex and what's useful is a lot more important than what's the most accurate. I think sometimes we can fall into this cycle where we're always testing and not sure and I think it does take a bit of a leap of faith to get out of it. But thinking more in terms of 'is this label working for me' rather than 'is this label right' can definitely help. It's also OK to have some doubts, it's OK to not be 100% sure. It doesn't mean you can't use the label, in fact trying it on and just seeing how that goes can give some insights too. Sometimes a label can be a bit like clothes, trying them on is the easiest way to see if they fit, match your style or feel comfortable, and if any of those things ever stop being true it's OK to discard them.

Another thing that may help it feel more solid or more real may be getting more involved in the ace community, reading/following blogs by aces or getting into ace media, like books, or shows, or podcasts. And sometimes just seeing other people with similar experiences can make it feel like a more concrete thing that you share with others. All the best, Anon!

[domesticblisss]

I Must Be Stupid

El Phantasmo x Female Reader Requested Prompts: can we get a fluff and angst with elp, maybe a hint of jealousy, can reader also be a wrestler pls 🙏🏽, maybe you work for a company that’s far away from elp and you’re in a story line that with a wrestler (any promotion and wrestler) and he gets jealous, and you guys argue next time you guys see each other, i hope that makes sense! Rating: PG-13 Word Count: 1545 Warnings: Fluff, angst and well, jealousy. Summary: ELP isn't a fan of your storyline with LA Knight. A/N: Y'all really wanna see this lanky fuck being jealous, huh. First time writing Phanta, hope I did him justice. Also, this is the song I mention in the fic.

Riley and I met years ago, when we were both starving upcoming wrestlers on the indies.

I remember the day we met perfectly. I sat backstage on Defiant’s first ever episode of Loaded, talking to Walter, one of my best friends and trainer, when he arrived. Loud and obnoxious, the first thing he said to me was “Wanna be my baby momma?”

Of course it left me fuming, leaving poor Walter with the job of calming me down. The highlight of that night was seeing him getting his ass handed to him by Ridgeway and Walter.

God, how I loathed him.

Our paths crossed several times after that, all over the world. He apologised to me on our second encounter, mentioning how he gets weird around new people, how he loses his filter when he’s nervous, and how he was not so happy about getting chopped by Walter. We shook it off and started anew.

Turns out he was the coolest guy ever. Funny, quick witted and yeah, still very much annoying, but also very respectful and did everything to make me feel comfortable. Our friendship grew, we would share hotel rooms and ride together if we got booked on the same promotions, share meals and even train.

ELP asked me out after his deathmatch with Schadenfreude against Team Fight Club PRO. It was a sight I would never forget: a beaten, blood soaked and with thumbtacks stuck everywhere Riley stood before me, right after the gorilla’s entrance, with a dead look on his eyes and said “Do you wanna go on a date with me?” to which I could only nod, and got a “not today though. Today I’m a little… meh.” back.

He was so out of it that I had to grab him from his dressing room so we could head back to the hotel. The drive was made in silence, except from the occasional wince from him and a mumbled “I’m sorry” from me.

We ordered room service and shared a bed that night (since the hotel booked it wrongly), he said he meant the “date thing” as he hugged me while we watched some old rerun of Geordie Shore.

To me, that was our first date. He refuses to accept it, and says it happened a few days later, when he took me out for a picnic and a ride on the London Eye. Either way, both days were incredible in their own way.

See, everyday with him is incredible. Riley is attentive, we communicate well and he’s, surprisingly, an empath. We never fight, and when something bothers us, we sit down and talk it out.

So when I told him that I got an NXT contract, it was a week full of celebrations.

I was terrified of how it would go, with the fact that we would barely see each other and how we would handle it.

He reassured me daily that things would stay the same, that we had the means to talk daily and that we would visit each other whenever we had the time.

And it did stay the same. We had daily FaceTime calls, sometimes more than one, he would come over when he was in the US, I went to Canada when I had some free time and so on. Things got a little harder after he got in on the Bullet Club, the time zone was a little tricky, but nothing that bothered us.

Both of our careers have been going amazing. ELP is now a junior tag team champion, I’m in a storyline with LA Knight where I’m his manager, and I still get to wrestle (I’m the #1 contender for the NXT Women’s Championship, by the way!).

LA is the best co-worker I could ask for. He’s an incredible wrestler and an even better talker, which makes my job so much easier. Our on screen relationship is rather… ambiguous, we like to play around, leaving it open to the public to decide if it’s strictly business or if there’s something more.

Of course, it is all a play, as the both of us are in loving relationships.

As of right now, I’m on an early flight back to Canada. Last night I got involved in LA’s match against Thatcher, which earned me a sprained wrist and a broken nose for him. Hunter took pity on us, and knowing our work ethic, he gave us a week off, just to let us cool down. And since Riley just got home from Japan, I decided to surprise him.

I knock on his door with his favourite Tim Horton’s order in hand.

Riley opens it and says “Hey.”

Hey. Just hey. He usually tackles me down and takes me straight to the bedroom.

“Surprise?”

He looks at me like he has never had before, with what feels like disappointment in his eyes, and when I tried to kiss him, he turned away and sighed. My lips landed on his cheek.

“Riley, what’s going on?” I asked, worried.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing? Riley, there’s definitely something going on for you to act all weird with me. Talk to me. Please.”

He sighed again, looking down to his feet. The hold he had on the back of his living room chair was so hard, it turned his knuckles white.

“What is going on between you and Knight?”

My first reaction was to laugh. His face got darker and darker as I laughed.

“Are you serious?” The look he gave me said he was dead serious.

“There is nothing going on between LA and I–“

“I don’t know, you two look so cozy together.” he cut me off. I could feel the sarcasm dripping off his voice.

I should have known something was going on in his mind. Ever since the storyline started, Riley had gotten a little off. He never asked about how work was going anymore, and when I started talking about it, he would change the subject completely.

“I am doing my JOB, P. What the fuck?!”

“You sure look very happy doing it.”

“I don’t know what you are trying to insinuate, but I have nothing with him.”

It was his turn to laugh. He ran his hands on his head, making his unruly hair even messier. I cut him off when he started talking again.

“Do you think I like seeing you with Pieter on your lap all the time? No! But I know that’s your job and I trust you and I trust her! I know you and the guys go out all the time in Japan, should I throw a fit every time? Should I be suspicious of anything?”

”Baby, I’m–“ he tried to hold my hand and I stepped away.

“Do you think that if I had anything with him, I would have hopped on the first flight here to be with you? You know what? This was a mistake, I’m leaving.” I sat the Tim Hortons’ bag on his coffee table and grabbed my suitcase. “It’s your favourite, hope you have a nice breakfast.”

I called an Uber and went straight to the nearest hotel. I spent the whole ride trying to hold my tears, finally letting them fall when I got to my room.

I can’t even begin to understand what happened. We have never fought, Riley was always so understanding, what has gotten to him?

I fell asleep crying.

A few hours later, I woke up with a heavy thud on my bedroom door, and the faint sound of someone singing

“Soy un perdedor, I'm a loser, baby, so why don't you kill me?”. I knew that voice anywhere. We would sing that song to each other whenever we fucked up.

When I opened the door, P sat by it on the floor, with a bouquet of all of my favourite flowers.

“I’m so sorry, babe.” he said, looking up at me.

“How did you know I was here?”

“Tama.”

“Of course.” Tama had called me when I was still inside the Uber. He started talking about a bunch of things at the same time, his way of persuading people into spilling things out. “Get inside.” I told Riley as I left the door opened and went further into the room.

I could hear him quickly getting up and closing the door. He hugged me from behind, making me stop in the middle of the corridor. Holding me tightly, he kissed my head and went down to my neck and shoulder, repeatedly whispering “I’m sorry” between kisses.

We stood like that for a couple of minutes, silence eventually falling between us.

I grabbed the hand that held my waist and turned him around.

“Next time, we talk about it like we always did.”

“Okay, yes… yes. Again, I’m sorry. I don’t know what went on in my head.”

“It’s fine, just don’t question my loyalty and my love for you again.

“I won’t, I love you.” he hugged me again, this time resting his forehead on mine.

“Love you too.”

“Sooo, this is a really nice bedroom, huh?” he said, looking around. “The bed looks really comfortable.”

“It really is. Wanna try it?”

“God yes.” he said, grabbing me by my waist and leading me to the bed.

[eisforeidolon]

I have to be honest, it bothers me a bit how much the anti faction of the fandom seems to focus on the "unrequited" angle. For Wincest shippers and non-shippers who've been burned by the Hellers and want no part of their corner of fandom, there's nothing to lose by saying Cas is in romantic love with Dean but Dean doesn't feel the same way. But those of us who are on the same side as y'all but ship Cas with someone else get caught in the crossfire there. It's not canon that Cas loved Dean romantically, and I don't think we should make it any easier for Hellers to claim it is.

I can understand that viewpoint.  I think it probably comes down to not wanting to argue over something that I have a hard time as seeing as anything but intentionally ambiguous?

Berens went out of his way to write that scene with Cas dismissing his other relationships in favor of tongue-bathing Dean.  I mean, I like Dean getting praise as much as the next Dean girl, but man, not when it comes out of fucking nowhere and is grossly contradicted by the characters’ shown relationship.  Now, I do think it was nothing more than a pathetically dumb and doomed attempt to throw those shippers a bone to try and keep them from tantruming over the finale that the general audience and the rest of us could easily ignore.  But I can legitimately see it as intentional for a given value of intent to placate those shippers.  However, Cas does say just “love” yet again rather than the far less ambiguous “in love”.  As Jensen purportedly said, he is an angel whose emotions may not necessarily fit within the same confines of what a human’s experiences of emotions are.  What “true happiness” he “can’t have”?  It could be the opportunity to live a life with those individuals and the world he cares about not in constant danger of destruction, perhaps even happy for once!  It could be a platonic relationship like the one Sam & Dean have with each other that is so all-encompassing it has no room for anyone else at the same level and is so unbreakable despite everything they’ve been through together and sometimes even put each other through.  It could be any number of other things he discovered it was possible to want through meeting and working with Dean and subsequently breaking free of heaven’s cycle of brainwashing him into compliance.  So no, Castiel’s speech is intentionally not canonically romantic, because if they wanted it to be unambiguously canon, it literally would have taken nothing more than that one extra word of “in”.

Arguing that back and forth, when it will inevitably get into territory like the intent of hacks like Berens and commentary from trolling baiters like MIsha, though?  It easily becomes pretty circular and muddy.  On the other hand, there is really no legitimate room to argue that even if Cas’ intent WAS romantic?  That doesn’t make it a canon relationship, because Dean doesn’t reciprocate (not onscreen and explicitly not in the script directions).  So I get why it’s become an accepted shortcut, as well as why that is annoying to fans who would prefer no one cede even theoretical ground on the subject.

[thexanwillshine]

internal travesties | levihan

pairing: levi x hange ; minor: eren x mikasa 

genre: romance/ fluff / slight angst

warnings: contains spoilers for chapters 105, 115. and 132

chapters: 1. 2. 3 (final).  

words: 4,648

summary: 

Levi felt his eye twitch in annoyance. She didn't look particularly special, but she entered (no, infiltrated) his cafe with bright eyes and all smiles, making him feel things that he never even felt before. Which was, in his opinion, completely unacceptable. Levi Ackerman hated feeling out of control. 

[Reincarnation! AU] [Levihan] [Minor Eremika]

crosspostings: AO3. 

note: i hope you guys enjoy ehehe <3 thank u for reading and i hope to see u all again very soon.

His memories feel like a travesty. 

Ever since he was young, Levi couldn’t help but feel as if there was something missing in his life. 

His brushes with insomnia gave him headaches no painkiller could cure. It was on those days that Levi’s mind went wild and his thoughts plagued him, ridding him of the sweet drug called sleep. Lonely nights like that made the man feel tired, as his brain was constantly exhausting itself in its search for answers he didn’t even know the questions to. 

On this particular cold night, he gives in to need, and chooses to contemplate his life. 

Levi could say that he had a fairly normal childhood. Even with his sweet darling of a mother, an invisible father, and his gloomy, sort-of sister, it had been rather uneventful. Technically, Mikasa was his cousin, but since they had grown up together she might as well have been his younger sister. Mikasa’s mother (his aunt) had asked if Mikasa could stay with his family when she turned ten so that the young girl could get a good school in the city. His mother, saint that she was, obviously agreed. 

He could remember a time when the young girl would always drag him to supervise her and her friends (all of whom were taller than Levi now, much to his chagrin) to pacify the concerns of Levi’s mother. As Mikasa matured, the young girl stopped making him constantly accompany her, since his mother trusted Mikasa enough to take care of herself at this point. In fact, Levi thought she would probably go out of her way just to get him not to come. Except when he would drive her. That darned girl thinks that he’s her own personal chauffeur.

While the two had their grievances, they maintained an understanding between them. Levi inherited his mother’s cafe called The Underground, and Mikasa went on to continue her parents’ legacy in the field of biology, choosing to major in botany like her mother. Sometimes, whenever Mikasa didn’t have midterms or finals or any exam that could potentially ruin her future, he would allow her to help out in the cafe once in a while. That way, she could technically say that she had experience working. It also gave Levi a good excuse to have extra hands. For Mikasa, it was a good way to earn money even though she didn’t really need to; Levi would give her cash whenever she would ask. 

Contrary to popular belief, Levi did have friends. There was Eld, the assistant manager he knew he could rely on because of his leadership skills. Oruo, who worked better as a cashier because of his case of Constant Threat of Tongue-Biting Which Could Lead To Bleeding . As much as possible, Levi wanted to keep him away from food. Gunther, who’s speed in the kitchen was god-tier. Then there was Petra, a young, budding barista whose skills were definitely commendable. 

Granted, all his friends were people who worked for him in the restaurant. There were several kids who worked for him part-time but they were more his responsibility rather than friends. Most of them were Mikasa’s friends, so at least there was someone accountable for them. Although, he had to admit they were very reliable.  

There’s also that one lawyer who had taken it upon himself to consistently come every morning to the cafe. He said his name was Erwin, and Levi would be lying if he told himself he wasn’t weirded out by the man. The blonde had stared him down on several occasions, as if waiting for him to say something. Once, when Levi couldn’t take it anymore, he asked him directly. 

“Any particular reason why you’re always staring openly at me?” Levi had asked rudely, scrunching his eyebrows at the man in confusion. 

Erwin shook his head in response before introducing himself, even handing the coffee owner a business card. Levi stared at the business card, wondering why in the world he would need a lawyer (god forbid he ever needs one, he’d rather not go to court over anything, really). Erwin Smith, the card had read. “You’ll see me here often since my father works close by.” 

After that, Erwin had frequented the cafe and even made friends with his employees. Petra says he tips very generously. Oruo thinks Erwin can do better. Levi doesn’t necessarily give a flying fuck, but he can’t help but feel as if he’d met or at least seen Erwin somewhere before. 

Levi goes on with his somewhat boring life. Once in a while, whenever he was feeling particularly sociable, he would agree to a cup of tea with Erwin and engage in random conversations about his job and his life. The man was not a pain to talk to. In fact, the entire time they talked, Levi was nagged by a certain familiarity he couldn’t quite place. He felt as if he knew the blond on a much deeper level than he was aware of. He shrugs it off. 

Sometimes, Levi would accompany his friends for drinks (but would never drink any, he hated the taste of alcohol with a passion). Apart from his sudden bouts of social energy,  the man thought his life to be ritualistic, monotone, and organized. He wasn’t complaining, of course; this is exactly what Levi wanted. Sometimes, however, whenever he would be driving home alone with the silence nagging his ears . . . Levi would feel an emptiness emerging from the back of his mind, clouding his thoughts until dawn.

His mind flew back to Erwin as he remembered the lawyer asking him a question in passing on a particularly slow work day. He had been clearing the table beside the blond when Erwin spoke. “Don’t you ever feel as if all your life, you’ve been waiting for something to happen? Like all these good things come to you but nothing really ever feels enough?”

Levi had glared at him, because yes , he definitely has . That every waking moment of his life he could never feel truly satisfied . He chose to maintain his silence. 

To Erwin’s credit, he dropped the subject and smiled softly, as if he could sense Levi’s discomfort. “Sorry,” Erwin said, chuckling. The man waved a wad of papers in his hand. “This case has been particularly mind-provoking, so I’ve been randomly spouting out philosophical questions to anyone who would be willing to listen.” 

“Good luck,” Levi replied shortly, taking the tray of empty cups in his hands and walking towards the staff room. 

Many a time, Levi had wondered how much of him was an open book. He liked to think that he was a pretty closed-off, ambiguous kind of guy. But Erwin had pretty much hit the mark—Levi had indeed settled, but he wasn’t sure if he was satisfied. 

Unfortunately, Erwin wasn’t the only blond who spouted weird questions out of the blue.

Levi had known Armin Arlert since he was a young boy. He remembers glaring at bullies who would tease and mock the poor child, before taking Mikasa and her rowdy group of troublemakers to another playground. Levi knew Mikasa was a reserved child, but it seemed as if her maternal instincts kicked in whenever she could sense Armin was in danger. While the young girl’s other friends were strong enough to defend themselves from the bullies whenever they were the target, Mikasa had long established that people shouldn’t even dare cross her (or her even scarier big “brother”). 

When Armin turned fifteen, his gait changed. Gone was the boy who would whimper as quiet as possible whenever he felt threatened. He still maintained his love for reading, but Armin suddenly adopted a mature mindset that seemed as if he possessed knowledge well-beyond his years. For a time, Mikasa would express her worry for the teenager in her and Levi’s rare conversations. Apparently, Armin had cried and launched himself on both Mikasa and Eren, holding them close to him as if the three of them had spent years apart from each other . . . when in fact, it was the middle of the day. 

Levi was no stranger to Armin’s inquisitive questions about topics the dark-haired man knew nothing of (and didn’t bother to care about). Hence, he thought that the young blond’s strange inquiries couldn’t get any stranger. 

Obviously, Levi was wrong. 

“Levi, do you ever feel as if this life was a second chance? Like, as if right now, you’re you, but not really. Like, there was once a past you, who was different from you now, but the you now is still you. So reincarnation, basically. Or maybe we’re in a different dimension and there are others out there who’re living a different life from us. That I’m just one Armin out of multiple Armins in the universe.” Armin’s questions and speculations came in rapid-fire as he leaned on the counter. “What do you think?”

“I think you need to stop reading science fiction ‘cos it messes with your brain,” Levi responded as he finished counting the coins in the cash register. “Unlike you, I don’t bother with the intricacies of life, brat.” Armin’s inquisitive expression fell into one of dismay as he frowned. 

Levi sighed inwardly as he closed the cash register. “I think the idea of reincarnation makes more sense compared to multiple universes though.”

Armin immediately brightened up when he looked at Levi, before diverting his gaze at Mikasa in what seemed like triumph. “I told you so!” he chirped gleefully. Thanks Levi.” 

Mikasa didn’t reply, but her scalding glare told Levi everything she wanted to say:  ‘Don’t encourage him!’ Levi rolled his eyes and went back to the kitchen, shutting out Eren’s excited questions (“Do you really think we had past lives? Do you think I was cool? Oh my god, what if I was a knight! Or a dinosaur? Or a giant hu—”) effectively by closing the door. 

Levi did give Armin’s questions some thought. There were indeed days wherein he felt out of place in his own skin, like he was living a life meant for someone else. There were also days when he would feel as if he was grasping at threads, trying to figure out what in his life wasn’t in place. However, the concept of reincarnation was something that seemed implausible to him especially because he didn’t believe in the divine. 

The dark-haired man closed his eyes, placing his arm on his forehead as he shifted underneath the  covers. The clock read 15:06, which meant that he had already been awake for a grand total of 23 hours. At four in the morning, he would need to take over the night shift, which Eld was currently in charge of. 

Once again, he is faced with a dilemma: (1) try to get some sleep so that he can get a bit of rest and risk giving Eld overtime, or (2) suck it up and accept the fact that this day was going to be another one of his 48-hour days.

The answer was obvious. Levi was not the type of person to let others suffer for his mistakes. So he grit his teeth, pushed himself out of bed, and headed to his bathroom to take a hot shower.

He really needs to get some rest. 

When Levi exited the bathroom thirty minutes later, dressed and ready for work, someone was knocking on his door. Levi scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. It was nearly four in the morning. With his mother in Sina for a conference and Mikasa due to wake at six in the morning, there should be no one in the house to bother him at the ungodly hour. 

He opened the door and was proven wrong when his sight was greeted by Mikasa. She had puffy eyes, tear-streaked cheeks, and shivering lips. The poor girl held her black scarf close to herself as if it would help ease whatever pain she was feeling. Levi blinked at the sight, unsure of what to say. He tried anyway. 

“What’s wrong, brat? Mosquito get stuck in your ear again?” Mikasa shook her head . Levi sighed as he noted that she didn’t give him her traditional glare. “Need to talk about it?” 

She opened her mouth and closed it again in response. She does this thrice before Levi interrupts her. 

“ Oi, fishface, is it a yes or a no?” 

Mikasa shook her head a second time. 

“Well, brat, how do you expect me to help you?” Levi pushed his door open and let his cousin in. Mikasa entered clumsily (different from her usual composed self, he noted) and sat at the edge of his bed. 

Levi glanced at his glowing clock before choosing to text Eld. He’s going to be late and Eld would have to work overtime. Levi wasn’t entirely sure if he’d make it to the cafe by four (even though it was just a five minute drive) given the status of his crying sister. 

Mikasa rarely cried, and even if she did, she wouldn’t go to him of all people. She’d most likely sneak out to go visit Eren or Armin, which is nothing the young girl hadn’t done before. So, Levi decided, just for today, he would ask Eld for this one favor in order to offer his own personal brand of comfort to his cousin and exist with her as she lamented (not like he can say much to comfort her, anyway). 

He successfully got a reply from Eld, who had agreed to cover the overtime. The assistant manager relayed a bit of concern from Petra, who mentioned that it was very “unlike boss” to show up to work late. Levi was about to send a message informing the two of his personal matters when Mikasa spoke up. 

“You don’t . . . remember anything, do you Captain?” 

“Hah?” Levi asked, half his focus on his phone as he tapped the send button. “Remember what?” 

Mikasa glared at the floor as if begging it to swallow her whole. She wiped her tears with the sleeve of her shirt, and buried half of her face behind the dark scarf she was sporting. Offhandedly, Levi wondered when was the last time she washed that thing. He should probably remind Mikasa after her breakdown. 

“Armin wasn’t lying, you know.”

Confused as ever, he raised an eyebrow. Is she going through a phase? Levi wondered, his mouth set in a grim line. “About what?”

She spoke to the floor and not really at him. “About the past. The past lives, I mean. Reincarnation, and all that.” 

If Levi had been confused before, he was even more confused now. 

“I can’t talk to you about it,” Mikasa continued, holding her arms closer to her. “No matter how much I try, the words don’t—no, won’t come out.” She let out a sigh, before looking up at Levi, who was already feeling kind of guilty as he wasn’t able to give her much help. 

“Then don’t force yourself to talk if it’s hard for you to, you can just go over it next time,” Levi offered, crossing his arms over his chest and glancing at the clock. I really am bad at this , he thought. 

 Mikasa shook her head for the third time that night. “It’s much harder than you think.” She paused and straightened up, inhaling sharply through her nose and exhaling through her mouth. “It seems it doesn’t work like that. I need to talk to Armin. Can you drive me?”

Levi had no idea what in the world it was and why it doesn’t work like that . Given the complexity of the situation—mostly due to the fact that he was complete shit at giving her help, advice, or anything she needed emotionally, really—he made no attempts to complain about her request to chauffeur her. 

The young girl asked him nicely after all . Maybe she really wasn’t feeling well. 

He nodded. “Don’t you want to get dressed first? You look like a mess.” He scrunched his nose at her scarf, “Also, when’s the last time you washed that thing? That might be really dir—” 

Levi didn’t get to finish the rest of his sentence because Mikasa had thrown the scarf straight up to his face. His eye twitched in annoyance as he plucked the scarf out of his head. He shoved it in Mikasa’s hands. She was lucky the scarf didn’t smell bad, otherwise he would’ve definitely confiscated it and thrown it in the washing machine. “Damn it, brat, learn how to wash your clothes. I’m telling mom.” 

“Blabbermouth, squealer, mama’s boy, ” Mikasa retorted, standing up. 

Levi rolled his eyes before grabbing his keys from his bedside table and turning off his lamp. Mikasa had already stepped outside, her black scarf wrapped around her neck. Levi closed his door when he exited, moving in step with the younger woman. She was already calling Armin, and Levi knew that the blond would be ready to accept company when he heard Armin’s sleepy voice respond from the other line. Levi didn’t bother listening, and instead chose to open the car door and wait inside the vehicle (a black four-seater that his invisible father had left him) as Mikasa conversed with Armin. 

She entered after about ten minutes, slamming the car door shut. Levi pulled out of their driveway smoothly. 

“Drop by the cafe if you and Armin need to eat,” Levi said shortly as Mikasa put on her seatbelt. 

“Is it on the house?” 

“Of course, I’ll dock it from your pay.”

“Some definition of ‘on the house'   you have.” 

The ride takes about twenty minutes without traffic, since Armin lived a bit further away. The two Ackermans sat without conversing, both of them listening to the soft sound of music from the radio. 

It’s Levi who broke the silence. “Oi, brat, this isn’t necessarily my business, but shouldn’t you also be calling your other snot-nosed friend?”

The reply came quicker than he had anticipated. “No.” 

She doesn’t elaborate, so Levi left it at that. Perhaps, he thought, they fought, and that's why the dark-haired woman was acting weird. Either way, he knew it was none of his business. 

They arrive at Armin’s house at about five minutes ‘till five in the morning. Mikasa opened the door, muttering a sincere “thank you” as she left. She closed the door behind her softly, enough to lock it but not loud enough to wake the neighbors. Mikasa gave her older cousin a brief wave and turned around swiftly to Armin’s doorstep before he could even nod in acknowledgement. 

At least he wasn’t the only Ackerman who was bad at showing emotions. 

Armin waves enthusiastically from the doorway, and Levi (unenthusiastically) raises his hand in reply. He then pulled back from the driveway and headed to his cafe. 

The drive towards The Underground  is short and uneventful. He had already texted Eld in advance that he would be arriving. He brought his car into the parking lot and headed to his designated parking spot, beside the PWD parking near the entrance. To his surprise, there was a car already in his spot. It was a blue pick-up truck that looked worse for wear. 

Levi’s eye twitched in mild annoyance. 

He knew he couldn’t do anything about it since there was no sign that that specific spot was for him (he really, really should do that). Since dawn was normally for students cramming their papers, all of whom didn’t need cars since the university was just walking distance from the cafe, Levi had assumed he wouldn’t need the sign anymore. Clearly, he was wrong. 

Levi sighed before deciding to park two spots beside the pick-up truck. 

Upon entering the cafe, he noticed that there were only about three customers. One was a regular: a blonde girl whose drinks were surrounded by a pile of papers. Her highlighting was careless and panicky. Beside her sat an auburn-haired girl, who was the second customer. Compared to the blonde, she was already lost in sleep.  

The third customer was someone he never really encountered in his shop before. From where he entered, Levi could see that she was wearing a thick pair of glasses, and that her hands were shoved in a tan coat. She was incredibly tall, and sported dark boots and leggings. The woman was currently standing in front of the counter, her eyes focused on the menu splayed out on the bright screens above the coffee machines. 

Levi passed her without giving it much thought, swiftly entering the staff room. Eld grinned at him when he entered, removing his apron and placing it on the rack. “Good morning boss,” he greeted, as Levi grabbed his own apron and swung it over his head. 

“There’s a customer outside,” Levi said nonchalantly. 

Eld nodded in recognition. “Yeah, she comes here every three a.m. on the dot. Leaves before you arrive, so I understand why you’re not familiar with her. Don’t worry though, she looks like she’s thinking now, but she’s going to order the same thing. Make sure to get her a large, sweet cream cold brew nitro.” 

Levi nodded as Eld checked out, bidding him goodbye. Levi dumped his car keys in his locker before he heard the bell ring from outside. That tall girl was probably ready to order her americano. 

He exited the door, standing in front of her and checking to see if Eld properly set the cashier for his shift. Levi nodded to himself in approval, as Eld had done his job spectacularly (as always). In about an hour, Jean Kirchstein and Marco Bott would be taking over the cashier while he cleaned the store. He barely glanced at the customer as he mechanically tapped his fingers rhythmically on the register, letting out the practiced “May I take your order?” 

“Good morning! Could I please have a large sweet cream cold brew nitro? To-go, please!” 

Something about her voice made Levi’s blood run cold. He raised his head to look at her. She was smiling at him, her eyes shining with excitement. Her bangs are parted in the middle of her forehead and the rest of her hair is tied in a lazy half-bun. By the greasy state of her auburn hair, it looked like she hadn’t bothered bathing. 

For a reason Levi couldn’t explain (he would later argue that it was because he was so surprised to see that someone could live their life while having hair so dirty ), his body grew stiff as he stared at her, transfixed. 

The girl tilted her head to the side in confusion. “Is something wrong?” she asked, looking at him. “Is my order not available? That’s okay, you know, I can just order something else—” 

Levi interrupted her tirade as he regained control over his body once again, swallowing the odd feeling gnawing at his gut. “Name?” he managed to choke out, trying his best to appear calm. For some strange reason, his heart decided that now was the time for palpitations. 

“Oh!” the girl said in surprise, “right, I haven’t seen you here at this hour before! Just put in Hange!”

His hands moved automatically to input her order. There really is something so . . . familiar about her, but Levi just couldn’t seem to put his finger on it. It reminded him of when he had first met Erwin. He felt like he had seen her from a dream long forgotten in the recesses of his mind, begging to be released and remembered. 

There’s just one problem: he knows he’s never seen this girl in his life before. After all, someone who never washed their hair would make a very distinct impression on him. 

“That’ll be four dollars,” Levi said through grit teeth, annoyed at himself for failing to maintain his own composure. Hange nodded fervently as she placed her five dollar bill on the counter. 

“Keep the change!” she declared enthusiastically, before peering at him in concern. “You’re okay, right?” Hange asked. “Sorry, early mornings really aren’t for everyone, huh?”

He remained silent, placing the bill inside the cash register and shutting it close. Levi didn’t bother answering her question as he allowed his mind to get lost in thought. He continued the patterns of service he had long since memorized, his body on autopilot. 

Levi was always in control of his mind, his body, his spirit . . . so why?  There were a million questions racing through his head. ‘ Who the fuck is this girl? Damn, my heart feels like it’s going to pop out of my chest. This isn’t normal.’ 

He stole a glance at her lanky form, hoping that she wasn’t at the counter anymore and had taken a seat somewhere in the cafe. To his disappointment, she was still standing there, watching him make the drink. When she saw him look at her, she gave him a tiny wave. 

Levi felt his eye twitch in annoyance. She didn’t look particularly special, but she entered (no, infiltrated) his cafe with bright eyes and all smiles, making him feel things that he never even felt before. 

Which was, in his opinion, completely unacceptable. Levi Ackerman hated feeling out of control. 

He poured the drink into a tall cup expertly before placing it on top of the counter. “Hange,” he called, her name escaping his lips smoothly, as if he had said the syllables a million times before. 

Levi frowned, sensing the beginnings of a migraine in the middle of his eyebrows, so he pinches the area gently, as if the action could relieve some of the pain. 

Hange walked over to the counter, looking a bit concerned. “Hey, Levi,” she started, and the man visibly flinched. Why did the sound of his name from her voice trigger a barrage of emotions he’s never even bothered to feel before?

Levi dug his nails into the palms of his hands. He was almost about to ask ‘how the fuck do you know me’ and ‘do I fucking know you’ before the rational part of his brain interjected that she had probably seen his name tag. 

His silence gave Hange permission to speak again, so she continued. “Do you have a headache?” Without waiting for him to respond, she smiled. “I got just the thing! I’ll leave you this gift as my thanks for your service!” And with those words, she placed a painkiller on the counter as she gently took her drink. “Take it so you can have a good morning, okay? 

Levi watched her actions cautiously. 

She winked. “Oh, and don’t take it with tea.”  

Levi’s eyes narrowed in suspicion at this point. The words Do I know you? burst in his mind and died at the edges of his lips. Instead, he muttered a clipped “thank you” to her small token of appreciation. 

She grinned. “Take care, Levi!” 

And with those words, she left, leaving Levi to wonder out loud, “what the fuck just happened?” 

The body remembers what the mind has forgotten.  

[delvalentine]

Hello! Can I have a romantic matchup for tears of themis please?

Appearance : 5'4 ace/heteromantic girl ambivert.Dark brown hair/eyes (I wear glasses but they are also sun glasses because bright lights give me a headache) a little chubby/muscled and pale skin+permanent smirk/smile/ neutral face. Plump lips. My style varies a lot (always comfy) but I never wear dresses heels/makeup. I love to imagine outfits with symbols from fandoms or my own drawings so I have a rather unique style (most of the time I wear a NASA jacket and leather boots/sneakers, I also love sleeveless turtleneck) who changes a lot. I have malleable cheeks and tiny hands/fingers/wrist.

MBTI: INTP-T and chaotic neutral/good

Zodiac: Gemini

Personality : .Sarcastic,a little naive but I have a backbone (don't bother flirting with me and if you feel that I am flirting with you which happens a lot then it's just my personality and on the rare occasion I notice they have to confess or I won't believe it) ,calculative,protective,creative,expressive,manipulative,a devil's advocate,prideful,charismatic, smartass, bookworm, daydreamer, a little insensitive/blunt because I'm more on the logical side ,vengeful, mischievous, a huge tease, open minded, very curious, gets annoyed easily, impatient (unless it's in drawing because I am a perfectionist there) so kind of a bad temper, observant but not romantically,sadistic to a point but my conscience prevents me from doing these acts. Indifferent to many things, morally ambiguous as my moral compass is on the neutral side I don't believe in absolute evil/good, y'all better thank my conscience they work too well I never have fun.

With my friends I am either laughing, goofing around or annoyed. I love to give bad puns or cursed ideas who are gore/weird and saying I know y all love me. Those who don't talk to me see me as a nerd aggressive smart and blunt person ( even prideful) and strangers as polite and kind. I notice a lot of details because I don't let my guard down even if I daydream plus I have a photographic + sound memory and they work very well in all situations which can be a bother when I try to concentrate which is difficult for me because I get distracted easily. Also I have very weird reflexes so...anyone who approaches me by surprise gets hit, any sudden movement and I already have my leg/arm going their way which got me into a lot of trouble.

Dislikes: I fight for my beliefs. I have trust issues so I never talk about my problems and will use humor when confronted. Bright lights. Cooking. Slow things or people. When I get teased in a mean way (otherwise I actually like being teased it's a fun fight after). People who change side easily and hypocrites. Overly serious people. I tend to be aggressive and expose an annoyed face easily (I am moody), plus I hate orders and love pressing buttons it's funny(in a fun way rarely in a mean one) unless it's a sensitive subject. When I feel that I am unwanted or someone insults me or take me for granted I become very cold and distance myself and the relationship becomes strained the more they take time to ask for forgiveness, something I might give but will never forget.

Likes: I love cats/laughter/sweets/pranks/dark humour/ a true crime and Supernatural enthusiast and I love science especially concerning space, chemistry, robotic and psychology. Books, sleep, drawing and video games too. Cherries. Sushi.Oh and debates I love them. Surprises too I hate routine and runs away from it. I like making character analysis which I often get right but never show to the people around me because I know they will trust me less.

Hobbits : Reading, getting lost in a book, drawing, learning, debating, daydreaming, sports (I practice karate and shooting), art (piano/drawing/writing especially poetry) and video games

I have some bad habits like biting my nails (I just got rid of it by painting them black)/lips and moving my leg up and down because I am always nervous, disorganized room/sleep and eating schedule plus I am lazy. Also I might try to hide it but I am very competitive and a sore loser

Fun fact : I dream a lot and write my dreams. I don't mind nightmares on the contrary I welcome them because I find them to be a nice experience and they give me ideas plus the amount of emotions you can feel is amazing. I also tend to curse while talking.

When I get hurt, none takes me seriously because I start laughing uncontrollably even if it hurts a lot. Which means if I get stabbed, I am not dying of blood lost, nooo I am dying of laughter.

I rarely get motivated but when I do I give a very good work and put my soul in it, if I don't reach my goal I feel down for a while and become very snappy.

I am a lazy student (hell if I don't feel like writting I don't especially exercises that I understood) but also at top of my class so none says anything (i can befriend people easily if I want to, teachers included). My projects are often done last minute or just improvisation but I get a good mark at them which means that yes sometimes I can become arrogant and I don't really know what it feels like to study really hard and fail sorry. But I know it will bite me later. I often argue my way out of a situation with anyone : I know the exercise why should I write it? If I told you the answer then I know how I got it and you know it too no need for me to write the correction. Mum the brain is a muscle too so I am in fact exercising.

When dealing with an emotional person I don't know what to do I will try to give them words to keep going, it succeed but I am rather harsh plus I try to make jokes to cheer them up.But if a friend breaks down before me I will do my best to cheer them up (ahem jokes and reminding them of all the success they achieved) and if I am comfortable and they want a hug I will give it. I hate people who denies that others helped them.

My love language is gifts, quality time, a little act of service and affection in private if comfortable. I also love to send memes saying it reminds me of us/you and holding pinkies.

I am stubborn, moody (one day I can be really cold/snappy to the person because I am in a bad mood but I apologize after). I speak Arabic, french and English (in that order) and trying to learn italian. I am also an only child.

Thank you!

vyn richter

vyn has an ambiguous moral compass that would allow the two of you to be more compatible than with the others who are more goody two-shoes type. he has an extensive understanding of the human psyche and doesn't need you to explain yourself; he just gets you.

he finds your dream log fascinating, and also respects that you don't fear nightmares. often times the two of you might get together for tea and discuss the meanings, having actual conversations instead of just "how are you" "good" and letting it die there.

vyn is an academic and would welcome debate with you. instead of getting hostile or making it seem like fighting, the debates would be properly intellectual. he would quietly try to motivate you as well, perhaps baking your favourite treat, and being cruel enough to withhold them until you get something done. in turn, he needs to you balance out his seriousness, introducing him to new standards of life he dismissed earlier.

[mbti-mom]

Myers Briggs Cognitive Functions (How To Figure Out Your Myers Briggs Type)

It’s been awhile since I posted on here, but I wanted to post something that would be helpful. Often on the internet I see a lot of misconceptions about the Jungian cognitive functions, so I wanted to try and create more compact summaries of the functions as Jung described them. I’m currently waiting for my WikiHow article on how to figure out your cognitive functions to get approved (if it ever will), so for now I’ll just write out what I wrote for the article here.

I also added some extra notes for beginners on the bottom if you are completely new to typology and confused about what any of this means.

Without further ado, I’ll now get into the summaries.

Introverted Feeling. Jung describes introverted feelers as 'Still waters run deep' type of people. They are quite silent and inaccessible, and can be rather difficult to understand. They often act childishly or banal, and sometimes quite melancholic. They don't tend to shine, and rather keep a type of concealed air about themselves. They don't wish to change others or affect others and don't care to impress. People see them as having a sense of indifference or coldness to their behaviors. They prefer not to be emotional, but their emotions often end up infiltrating their unconscious mind. People may see them and not think that they are feeling, but their feelings are intensive rather than extensive. They develop into their depth. When they try to express sympathy, it often looks like coldness despite their intentions, due to it doing nothing visibly. They may express their aim in inconspicuous ways, preferring to put their passions into things silently. Due to this, this type may often be drawn to the arts. This type of person may particularly draw in extraverted types of people. When they are unhealthy, they may become mischievously cruel or unscrupulous in their ambition.

Extraverted Feeling. Jung describes extraverted feelers as people who follow the guiding lines of their feeling. Their personality often adjusts to external conditions, such as the people that they are talking to. Their feelings correspond with objective situations and generalized values. They often have requirements for the people that they tend to date, and these tend to be things that can be measured on an external level. People who value this function highly often repress their logic to make room for their feelings. This does not mean that this person does not think logically at all, and they could easily think a great deal. They just prefer to use their feelings as a guideline and use their logic to back up what they feel. This type of person would be described in the phrase "I cannot think what I don't feel."  When this individual is unhealthy, they tend to become a servant to their feelings. These people may have the most obsessive and hideous thoughts during this time, which breeds even further doubt in them therefore furthering the control of emotions onto them.

Introverted Thinking. Jung describes introverted thinking types as being influenced by their subjective logical ideas. They will follow their ideas internally, seeking to understand their logic with intensity. This person may have a distinct feeling that they only matter in a negative way. They often will have an indifference to objective sources and prefer to stick to their subjective ideas. With this person, everything about them externally remains concealed. Their judgment appears cold, obstinate, arbitrary, and inconsiderate, simply because they are less interested in the objective reality than the subjective thoughts. Courtesy, amiability, and friendliness may be present in their behaviors, but they often display this with uneasiness. When it comes time for them to transplant their ideas into the world, they merely expose them and are annoyed when their ideas fail to thrive in objective reality. This person often lacks practical ability, and may even have an aversion to practical matters. If in their eyes their idea seems subjectively correct and true, it must also be in practice, and others have to bow to that truth. Hardly will they ever go out of their way to win anyone's appreciation of their ideas, especially if it be anyone of influence. At their unhealthiest, they may allow themselves to be exploited in negative ways if it means that they can continue their internal pursuit of ideas. Their convictions may become rigid and unbending, and they may become incredibly isolated and dependent on their internal world.

Extraverted Thinking. Jung describes extraverted thinkers as people whose constant aim is to bring their total life activities into relation with their intellectual conclusions. These intellectual conclusions are always oriented by objective facts or generally valid ideas. This type of person gives the deciding voice to objective reality, not only to themselves but to people around them as well. They determine good and evil through this measurement, as well as beauty and ugliness. All is right that corresponds with this formula, and all is wrong that contradicts it, and everything that is neutral to it is purely accidental. The person who refuses to obey this law is unreasonable or immoral in their eyes, and without a doubt has no conscience. Purely ethical aims may lead these individuals into critical situations, which sometimes have more than a semblance of being decided by quite other than ethical motives. These people may find themselves in deplorably compromising situations, or in dire need of rescue in this case. Their resolve to save often leads to them employing means which only tend to precipitate what they most desire to avoid. At their unhealthiest points, their desire to advance the salvation of man is so consuming that they will not shrink from any lying and dishonest means in pursuit of their ideal. They may neglect their health in pursuit of their ideals, even neglecting their family or the people that they care about. They may also become incredibly dogmatic, to a rigid extent.

Introverted Sensing. Jung describes introverted sensing as a type characterized by their peculiarities. They are an irrational type, as they are guided simply by what happens to them. They may stand out by the calmness and passivity of their demeanor, or by their rational self-control. They may have an illusory conception of reality, and in the worst-case scenario may even reach a complete inability to discriminate between reality and their subjective perception of reality. Due to their lack of knowledge of objective reality, they can often appear quite strange and odd in character due to their differing perception from objective reality. When others treat them badly, they may prefer to take a position of stubbornness and resistance than to full out aggressiveness. At their unhealthiest, they are incredibly aware of every ambiguous, gloomy, and dangerous possibility in their reality.

Extraverted Sensing. Jung describes extraverted sensing as a type characterized by their attentiveness to reality. Their sense of objective facts is extraordinarily developed. Their life is an accumulation of actual experience with concrete reality. This person does not believe themselves to be subject to sensation. They would actually ridicule that statement as being inconclusive since, from their standpoint, sensation is the concrete manifestation of life. Their aim is concrete enjoyment in objective reality, and their morality is similarly orientated. For in their eyes, true enjoyment has its own special morality, its own moderation and lawfulness, its own unselfishness and devotedness. This person may have little tendency for either reflection or commanding purpose. When they wish to create in objective reality, they do so aiming to fill their senses. They may be incredibly good at putting together aesthetics, or creating great sensational experiences. At their unhealthiest, they become crude pleasure-seekers or unscrupulous hedonists. They don't see reality as a beautiful thing anymore, but rather something to use to solely feed the endless need for new sensations. They may become incredibly jealous individuals running off of high anxiety. They may even turn morbidly primitive, or extremists in behavior.

Introverted Intuition. Jung describes introverted intuition as producing a peculiar type of person. This person may be a mystical dreamer and seer on one hand, and a fantastical crank and artist on the other. There is a general tendency of this type to confine themselves into the perceptive character of intuition. The intensification of their intuition naturally often results in an extraordinary aloofness of the individual from tangible reality, they may even be a complete enigma to their own immediate social circle. If they are an artist, they reveal extraordinary, remote things in their art. Their art may be lovely and grotesque, or whimsical and sublime. They may have visions, where they think to themselves "What does this thought mean for me and the world? What emerges from this vision for me and the world?" The pure intuitive who represses judgment will never meet this question fundamentally, because their only problem is the how of perception. They concern themselves with the meanings of their visions, and troubles less about its further aesthetic possibilities than about the possible moral effects which emerge from its intrinsic significance. At their unhealthiest, they may become quite impulsive, and struggle with unrestraint. They may also have issues talking to people about their visions, as they are often arguments without convincing reason.

Extraverted Intuition. Jung describes extraverted intuition as producing a person who is always aware where possibilities exist. They have a keen nose for things that have a promising future. They can never exist in stable, long-established conditions because they are always looking for new possibilities. Stable conditions often feel suffocating to them. They take on new subjects with extreme enthusiasm and intensity, only to abandon them cold-bloodedly and seemingly out of nowhere. As long as a possibility exists, this person feels bound to it. They have their own characteristic morality, which consists in a loyalty to their intuitive view of things. At their unhealthiest, they may rely entirely upon a perception of chance and possibilities. They may become incredibly attuned to hazards in their life. They may also become a hypochondriac as their fears and phobias increase.

What do I do now?

Order your functions. You will now need to order your functions from most used to least used. You will want to choose one thinking function, one feeling function, one sensing function, and one intuition function. Then order these based on the amount that you use each of them, from most to least.

In Jungian cognitive functions, there is a rule that each function in your stack has an opposite opposing it.

These opposing functions are thinking & feeling and sensing & intuition. Each person will have one of each function, and they can only have two introverted functions and two extraverted functions. You can't have two extraverted opposing functions, nor can you have two introverted opposing functions. You also can't have two extraverted functions paired right next to each other, or two introverted functions paired next to each other.

An example of this would be the function stack of ISTJ: They lead with introverted sensing, then their auxiliary function is extraverted thinking, then their tertiary function is introverted feeling, then finally their inferior function is extraverted intuition.

Another example is the function stack of ENFP. They lead with extraverted intuition, then their auxiliary function is introverted feeling, their tertiary function is extraverted thinking, and their inferior function is introverted sensing.

Remember that lesser valued functions will not be as apparent in your life. A high introverted thinking user may not relate to the extraverted feeling description of preferring emotion over logic, and that is to be expected. The function you value less is often suppressed for the greater function until you learn to use them in harmony.

Know the names of the cognitive functions.

Each function has a name as well as an abbreviation that is commonly used.

Introverted Feeling, also commonly referred to as Fi.

Extroverted Feeling, also commonly referred to as Fe.

Introverted Thinking, also commonly referred to as Ti.

Extroverted Thinking, also commonly referred to as Te.

Introverted Sensing, also commonly referred to as Si.

Extroverted Sensing, also commonly referred to as Se.

Introverted Intuition, also commonly referred to as Ni.

Extroverted Intuition, also commonly referred to as Ne.

The Types:

ISTJ - Si-Te-Fi-Ne

ISFJ - Si-Fe-Ti-Ne

ESTJ - Te-Si-Ne-Fi

ESFJ - Fe-Si-Ne-Ti

ISTP - Ti-Se-Ni-Fe

ISFP - Fi-Se-Ni-Te

ESTP - Se-Ti-Fe-Ni

ESFP - Se-Fi-Te-Ni

INTJ - Ni-Te-Fi-Se

INFJ - Ni-Fe-Ti-Se

ENTJ - Te-Ni-Se-Fi

ENFJ - Fe-Ni-Se-Ti

INTP - Ti-Ne-Si-Fe

INFP - Fi-Ne-Si-Te

ENTP - Ne-Ti-Fe-Si

ENFP - Ne-Fi-Te-Si

Learning how to narrow types. If you find that you have a function stack that is oddly laid out, such as Ni-Ti-Fe-Se, determine the closest likely type. In the case of those functions, the closest match would be INFJ. In the case where you relate to two extraverted functions of opposing function groups, you must determine which of the two you relate to more. For example, if you relate to both Te and Fe, try to narrow down which you think describes you better and choose the introverted function for the other one.

If you need any further help, feel free to shoot me an ask at any time.