#i've seen some stuff and while i agree there might be some biases here and there i assure you

[spacedustmantis]

ok it seems like while i was having fun listening to charlie ramble about politics everyone else got into a fight over actual ccs and shit. i thought we left that behind? what happened? why have we forgotten how to have fun?

[averyintrovertedfangirl]

Me, reading the tags: Hmm, lots of hatred toward Dean and Cas for being... *checks notes* white? and... male. Interesting, these are definitely very strong bases for disliking Destiel. Honestly, whatever. You guys may win this poll, but I still think Destiel wins Tumblr. I'm not going to hate on The Witch From Mercury, I don't know anything about it and I might even like it, but if spn fans were going around yelling YESSS KILL THOSE STUPID ASIAN GIRLS!!! I think that might be called out a lot faster. (I'm really glad people aren't saying that though.)

People seem to be voting against Destiel on principle, whilst admitting they've never seen either show but must do it either "FOR THE LESBIANS!!!" (I've seen a lot of tags saying they're voting sulemio exclusively because they're female - what, and therefore... better??) or "to watch destiel die" (because apparently, a ship from a show you don't watch annoys you that much). What, is it considered cool to hate Supernatural or something? Did Misha Collins kill your dog? Hating it because it was queerbait is one thing, but I think it's the writers you should be hating (and not even all of them, we know which specific ones we hate and which ones did try to give us the gay angel we sought after) and not the characters themselves. I'm definitely not going to say the fandom can't be annoying, cause I'm sure it can, but like. The fandom pushed for them to be queer, and tried to fight against the homophobes. If you hate Destiel because the writers were homophobic, a lot of the spn fandom would probably agree with you! we don't need to argue with each other!

If you read into a lot of scenes (I've seen posts doing it), it looks pretty clear that it wasn't one-sided, 'show don't tell' and all that. I'm not asking any Sulemio fans to bother doing that for a show you don't watch, but at least believe us when we say it maybe?

Now, I don't know how to say this without sounding like a bratty fangirl, but in my opinion Destiel is THE ship of all time. I'm not saying you can't like your own show more, because supernatural can be truly fucking terrible, but nothing will ever be like Destiel. Is it the best? Heavens no. The entire thing was crazy. But just... everything about it, it is iconic. I don't think you could dispute that. Everyone on tumblr knows it, everyone's heard of it (pretty much). I will (and already did) get shit for saying this, but Supernatural is at the foundations of tumblr, it's just an important part of the site.

But this isn't even about Tumblr. It's the AO3 top ships bracket, so all tumblr-heritage crap aside, I personally think Destiel deserves to win for being that popular and well-loved that it became the first ship on AO3 to have 100,000 fics written about it. I know this isn't just about numbers, cause if it was then you could just count up statistics and call it a day. But it reached that milestone for a reason; people love it!!

I know I'm coming from a biased place; I migrated here from Pinterest where my first introduction to Tumblr was screenshots of superwholock and the likes from 2013. Of course I'm gonna think Destiel runs this place. Thankfully, a couple of nice Gundam fans have explained some stuff about the franchise to me, because I'd literally never heard of it before yesterday. And I will say, it does sound very impressive! The popularity of it, and how old it is and how long it's been around as a whole, is pretty cool. I love the idea of married space lesbians. I might actually check it out, they wouldn't be this well-loved if they didn't deserve it.

So while I mean no hate towards The Witch from Mercury, I've gotta say this. Hating Dean and Castiel and insulting them for being white and male is, as far as I know, sexism and racism. I'm not just throwing those terms around to make it sound like voting Sulemio makes you "problematic" or whatever, that's not my point at all. I'm specifically referring to the tags that state that Sulemio is the better ship because they're lesbians whilst Dean and Cas are white men. A lot of people seem to think that you cannot discriminate against white or male people, and call it "reverse racism"/"reverse sexism". It's... not. It goes both ways. Reverse misogyny, sure. But there's a word for that: misandry. And I'm not saying it's ANYWHERE near as bad as women got it, but isn't this still... slowly and subtly recreating the problems feminists and people of colour had to face? and still do have to? Quietly insulting someone like "lol die white men" isn't any better than being like "ugh i hate teenage girls" or "black rappers suck lmao". I'm not saying you can't jest, but joking about stuff allows people to say the same things seriously. And some of you weren't even joking. All I want to say is, if your basis for literally hating a couple of characters is "they're white boys and too many people love them", I think you should reconsider your ideals.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

Tumblr Top Ships Bracket - FINALS

This poll is a celebration of fandom and fandom history; we're aware that there are certain issues with many of the listed pairings and sources, but they are a part of that history. Please do not take this as an endorsement, and refrain from harassment.

[proship-bad-takes]

Proshipper here. I'm quite irritated by the mantra "fiction doesn't affect reality", as it feels like an oversimplification of the issues both pros and antis debate. Fiction affects reality, of course it does! But it simply confirms pre-established societal biases in consumers the creator has willingly or unwittingly included. All fiction has the ability to influence us. That's why education and content warnings are important, to make sure we consume taboo with self-awareness, and with understanding and empathy for those it makes uncomfortable. Unlearning harmful beliefs is so important to enjoying dark content healthily. For example: Women who ship a lot of gay men aren't inherently fetishistic or homophobic, but individuals in that demographic can be. Certain mlm shipping environments can inform your viewpoint of how gay men are irl. It's good to be self-aware of whether you are engaging in this fandom space and the spaces outside of it healthily and respectfully, and whether you might need to step back and look at your biases: are queer couples a guilty, dirty pleasure? Are you uncomfortable with lesbians? Must there be a man and "woman" in the relationship? Same with stuff like consent: I see a lot of unmarked dubcon/noncon on AO3. While I'm sure antis would be pissed either way, I feel like a lot of them are frustrated by the lack of acknowledgement and accountability for the individuals who consume problematic content ignorantly. I wish proshippers would branch out more with the PSAs, alongside the great "do not condone irl abuse or X-philia" ones. I also feel "fiction doesn't affect reality" has some ableist undertones a lot of people don't recognize, as it doesn't take into account those susceptible to unreality (and I've seen some proshippers dismissing individuals who are affected by it). Much like how the antis opposing blanket statement "fiction affects reality" makes out intrusive thoughts or fictives to fully reflect a person's beliefs just as much as dark kinks. I hope we can come up with a more informative slogan, or just drop them entirely and explain our stances. What are your thoughts on this?

I think we mostly agree on this.

I believe fiction affects reality, but not the way antis think it does. I don't believe things like incest and pedophilia can be normalized. Considered "normal" in some spaces, sure, but not by society at large (and a properly tagged drawing/fic sure won't achieve it, that's for sure)

I also have mixed feelings on the fetishization point, though. As a teen, I was the one "fetishizing gay men." I later realized I WAS mlm (also nblm). I don't believe people with a given identity can exactly fetishize themself. So, in that sense, I don't feel comfortable accusing ANYONE of queer fetishization because I have no idea if they fit the label they may be creating/consuming content about. They themselves may not even know yet. I think debating this can fall easily into transphobia and therefore don't like accusing people of things like this

However, I feel that fetishizing things like race are a different conversation, one I can't speak on. Then there's the fetishization of hate groups (such as, say, nazi kinks) that require more consideration as well. I'm not as comfortable speaking on this, since I think there are both valid AND invalid reasons people may enjoy this kink. For example, I believe a jewish person with that kink is pretty different from goyim having said kink. Regardless of the reasons, though, it's frankly not my business to speak on as a goy so I will not do so here

I don't like the phrase "fiction doesn't affect reality" at all, because it's blatantly false. I also hate when people are accused of "not knowing the difference between fiction and reality" because for some people, even proshippers, it's true! Lots of people deal with psychosis, or maybe have fictives, or experience other forms of unreality or dissociation from reality. This can influence our understanding of reality, and I don't think that's exactly harmful in itself. Having a hard time seeing or understanding the difference between fiction and reality DOES NOT mean we suddenly want to police fiction or hurt people who don't see things our way, just because SOME people do. Suggesting as much is ableist, sanist, and I'd argue that it could be considered classist as well

Personally, I like the phrase "fiction ISN'T reality" over all the other phrases I've seen. It's objectively true, and does not carry the weight of ableism and other forms of bigotry like the other phrases do. It's also generally harder for people to despute

TLDR; Fetishization is a complex issue with many variables, tag your shit AND mark your accounts properly, "fiction doesn't affect reality" is a bad phrase, and we as proshippers need to do better

Those are my thoughts

[onewomancitadel]

learning to ignore the people who refuse to engage with the text and instead just whine about how ~bad~ the things i enjoy are was so much better for my mental health. like if you wanna rewrite r//wby into an anime trope fest have at it but i will be here in my corner writing my little stories and drawing my little pictures and having fun talking to my friends ab where i think the show is going 😌😌 (sidenote: following you and letting go of some of my leftover biases against jaune AND cinder from when i was 14 and bitter over pyrrha has been the best part of my 2021 🥰)

Yeah and it's not even really that I refuse to engage. It's that I know they refuse to engage and it's not two-way. Everybody wants to talk about 'criticism' and 'debate' until they can barely fucking manage it themselves. And to be truthful, I don't really want to hold a 'debate' about Cinder. You can read my posts and agree or not, but I'm not budging on the point that Cindemption is the most natural narrative answer.

On that note: when I think of 'contributing to a discourse,' I don't just mean in individual conversation with one other person, but to a greater whole. So, if my posts are out there on Cinder, whether people engage or not is another question. The more substantial answer I think is that 'it exists', and with the way Tumblr works, for instance, it can be seen in the tag and read as an audience response.

That's the thing though, on the note of trope fest, and where I'll admit the show exhibits its weaknesses. V1-2 are not sufficiently on the subversion train yet, as it does so in V3, and that was at least two years where people had an idea of another show in their heads. There was all that debate about 'is R/WBY an anime or isn't it,' and all of that stuff too. I think there's stuff in V1-2 which makes more sense read with V3, and there are things about the show easy to understand as being products of being such an independent production. To be truthful, R/WBY’s independence is one of the things I've always valued about it. Both as a product of art, and in the sense that I can only hope they keep telling the story that they want to tell. The most heartbreaking thing is when it becomes clear outside forces change a story. I think that's why I've always felt a little resentment to people wanting the story to go more commercial - e.g. playing into wish fulfilment anime tropes, refusing to read R/WBY as R/WBY, that type of thing, because the show is actually pretty unique. That's what I most value about it.

Plus, it hits the spot of all of the fairytale magic. >:)

(sidenote: following you and letting go of some of my leftover biases against jaune AND cinder from when i was 14 and bitter over pyrrha has been the best part of my 2021 🥰)

Well on that note, I'm very pleased! It's not really like I go out of my way to change minds, but with this being the case it does make me glad, and also glad to add something positive to this year. I remember when Pyrrha died and there had been the Jaune/Pyrrha kiss, I was really concerned about the fridged-girlfriend route they could have gone, and there was a while there where I was like 'me love drama but me worry', though I had really liked the Cinder and Pyrrha interaction which gave more intrigue to both of their characters. But yeah, for me personally I think they followed through on that well enough, and if they had not I would have been upset. I think one of the things that might change it, sort of in retrospect, is if they do Jaune/Weiss, because it nullifies (to my eyes) the platonic thread of his worry, and Pyrrha, Weiss and Ruby (which by virtue to me sort of changes the possible fridged-girlfriend characterisation in V4-5). Also, Ren says that Jaune has, 'No fear at all,' which is funny because I think he does and I feel like that line was supposed to make you worry lol.

But yes, in conclusion: I am glad you make your art and write your stories, it's very fun to see, and I really like your fic for that matter. I'm not one for 'toxic positivity', just to clarify - I just love the show, warts and all, but sort of the point I want to emphasise again is that like, I win nothing debating somebody who already wants to wilfully undermine me as well as the text. I also think that in the sense of 'me putting out an analysis post', anybody can read that, and that to me is already sort of a dialogue. The vagaries of the Internet, lol.

Thank you for liking my blog. (: I look forward to the J/NPR costume post, by the way, if you're still doing that.

[butchdomesticwhore]

As far as I can tell, this person being a provider wasn't a tool they used while talking to the AG about this billing issue. I have yet to talk to the AG about a medical billing issue, but I have otherwise said much of the same that OP describes while discussing billing with hospital reps, their billing departments, my insurance company, and my insurance company's appeal department, and seen success. It may have taken a couple tries and a stupid amount of phone calls, but it still worked. I learned how to how to do this kind of thing not from this post, but rather a few internet articles, the experience of a few friends, and the advice of yes, another medical provider (though in this case, IRL.) If I had seen this post back then, it would have helped me navigate healthcare efficiently sooner, so certainly I am biased in its favor. However.

What's important here I think is not the bit where the OP is a medical provider, but rather the bit where the OP is a medical provider and is therefore familiar with how the billing rules work and is able to give you an inside scoop on what your options are. Which is to say that like--this actually is the truth, man, it's not a restricted possibility for only the medically-licensed.

I now work in healthcare in a customer service/tech-y position, and while I'm very unqualified to give out any kind of medical advice, something that I now know a lot about is stuff related to transferring patients, setting up surgeries or emergency interventions, getting doctors to agree to take on a pt's case, how to get a patient into a hospital sooner and what would work and what wouldn't, etc. I don't have insider approval to make anything happen, I just know the rules of why something would or wouldn't happen. (i.e. why was it decided that you needed to go to a different hospital, why did a doctor refuse to operate on you, etc.)

And you could say, "Well that would only work for you because you work in healthcare!" But no one's checking my badge and scanning it to make sure it's legit before they interact with me. When knowing some healthcare stuff changes how I talk to my doctor and what questions or help I ask for at an appt, my doc doesn't ask for my employee ID # before we can proceed. I've learned some of these tricks and silly but vital details because of how I've seen things work out at my job. OP is just trying to tell you about what some of the rules are, man. I could give examples of times where my knowing about x, y, z healthcare thing meant I could help a friend figure out how to get their insurance to cover something, or which ER to go to, or how to get their mom transferred to the hospital they really want or something, but I feel like that's just too much talking & probably not that helpful.

Basically, apologies for rambling and thank you for your patience/attention, but what I'm trying to say is--when I got mad here because of that other person's quip about the evils of American healthcare, it wasn't because I disagreed with anyone on that or thought different but because--if OP is a provider, then yeah they're probably qualified to tell you about this rule with the AG because they see it come up all the time.

For ex., thinking about a situation I saw the other day where pt needed an emergency surgery but was refusing, concern was that pt might die due to blood loss if he didn't get it, etc., etc. Eventually it was found out that pt was refusing due to insufficient translation and explanation (there was a language barrier), and pt thought he was fine and everyone was over-reacting. They had to go over his lab results and CT scans with him again to try and explain what was going wrong with him & what the dangers were if he didn't get surgery STAT.

But like OP points out, if pt had been given unreasonable, unnecessary, or unwanted treatment, then yeah, being able to say "I wasn't asked for consent before this happened, I never asked for this or wanted it" would be critical in avoiding a bill and/or getting justice for whatever happened to you. The AG is important here because they're a legal authority with more power than any one pt and their family. The AG could cause problems for a hospital in a way that your average person could not, so when the AG comes a-knocking, it's important that a hospital proves it's acting legally and fairly and not doing anything they shouldn't lest, you know, said hospital gets heavily fined, sued, shut down or otherwise punished, etc. Which, in this case, knowing that a hospital could be the one in the wrong for giving you a treatment you didn't consent to would be vital for helping protect yourself and/or, say, getting more back-up from the AG.

For ex., let's say that with the pt I mentioned he was terminally ill and had been in pain for a long time, and maybe surgery would help him prolong his life but life was so miserable for him that he was okay with passing on. Maybe the things that would become harder for him post-op were something he didn't want to go through life with. This could be a reason he might refuse surgery. Knowing stuff like "I can report this hospital to the AG for operating on me without my informed consent," would be the kind of thing that could successfully get this guy out of a $20k+ hospital bill after the fact, stop billing departments from hounding him because actually, they're the ones in legal trouble now, etc. Poor people rights, man. Don't let a doctor or hospital charge you for stuff you didn't want.

Not sure how useful this is. Saying it with the hope that this is helpful in some way to you and hopefully not coming off patronizing or egotistical in some way. Apologies if this all felt like unnecessary/useless rambling.

Ok so my kid had an ear infection, right? As kids often do.

The doctor scraped out a bit of earwax to have a better look inside.

I was sent a bill for $200 PER EAR for this 5 second procedure which I did not give permission for them to do.

That was key- they did not ASK me if they could do this "procedure". And, as I OWN a medical practice (it's me. The medical practice is me, sitting in my house on video calls) I knew to call them when this bill came in to be like "You did not obtain informed consent for this procedure, and it was not en emergency procedure. You had full ability to gain my consent and didn't. I'm not paying."

And the massive hospital who owned the bill said "yuh-huh you do have to pay."

And I said "I own a practice. I know these laws. I do not owe you money for this."

And they conducted an "internal review" and SURPRISE! Decided I totally owed them money and they had never done anything wrong ever.

And so I called my state's Attorney General office, and explained the situation because, as I mentioned, I know the law. The AG got in touch within a couple days to say they were taking the case and would send the massive hospital conglomerate a knock it off, guys letter.

Lo and Behold, today I have a letter where said hospital graciously has agreed to forfeit the payment.

"How not to get screwed over by companies" should be part of civics class.

Know your rights and know who to call when they're infringed on. This whole process cost me $0 and honestly less effort than I would have expected.

May this knowledge find its way to someone else who can use it.

[lostinmcyt]

ill tell you right now btw since you brought it up, c!dream apologists and c!techno apologists made it genuinely so hard to enjoy their characters for a good while to me. cus they do that thing too, they flatten their fave, argue why their character is actually in the right always and does not have any flaws or problems what so ever and it is Fucking Infuriating!

But now, I've sat here and actually done some analysis on my own - divorced from Apologizm -, and transcribed dialogue on my own and oh my god. The characters i used to hate? I fucking adore them now. Genuinely, I still hold my stance that they were in the wrong, but I enjoy their characters so much now, and their POV is fascinating, the way they reason intrigues me, there's depths to them i'm only seeing now, and i genuinely am starting to enjoy their characters again.

and i'm now like, what if people with different character biases just actually put their analysis brains together, and put all perspectives together, and worked together to FULLY understand the complete picture of the dream smp, instead of arguing Who Is In The Right, spent their time figuring out WHY conflicts happened, fully understand the greater story together? instead of wasting ur time blindly defending or condemning characters you don't like?

anyway. might make my own post abt it later at some point. but analysis is so fun, especially if you make an effort to analyse characters you didn't think you like, or spent some time criticizing the character you like.

- cube :]

yo thanks for sharing your POV, as I said I'm sure this works many ways, I'm genuinely glad you're enjoying the characters again though! I've seen you go through the vods and do the transcripts and stuff, they're interesting for me too so thanks for that :D

I'll be looking forward to that post if/when you make it! I guess at the end of the day coming to the agreement on who is 'right' and who is 'wrong' will always be a problem mostly because every single one of us consumes fiction through the lens of personal bias/experiences/opinions + now we got the confirmation that the writers are making things gray *on purpose*, so the discussions and differing opinions will always be there. but I agree that trying to understand other POVs improves analysis always :D

[night-unfurls-its-splendour]

MY THOUGHTS ON THE CULLEN CAR PROFILES IN THE GUIDE: PART 1

So I finished reading the Cullen Cars section in the Guide, and guys it is PAINFUL how obviously this was written by, not just a motorhead, but a car nerd.

This section, obviously, was written by Meyer's brother, Jacob. And the end-result was exactly what I was afraid of: each one reads like it was copy-pasted from the promotion pamphlets.

The entries on the more day-to-day cars are full of car-jargon like "lateral acceleration" and "front-biased weight distribution", without telling the reader in any fun way or layman's terms what any of that means, common sense aside. We've all had to listen to a car buff drone at some point and this is that. These entries are just slightly overly technical and don't actually say much about the cars' personalities.

He calls the Porsche "seemingly less race[ing]-inspired" than more expensive super cars, but one of the biggest ways Porsche made a name for themselves was with the original 911's and it was on EUROPEAN RACING STAGES. WTH!!!

WORST OF ALL, THOUGH, are the entries on Edward's Aston Martin and Bella's Ferrari. These are full of goo-goo eyed, rose tinted drivel. It is telling, to me, that these more highly engineered cars don't get much of an info dump about their suspension or advanced technology or any of the stuff we got with the daily drivers. With Edward's Aston we get things like

"... a car that has the looks, performance and competence of a true sports car, while offering enough luxury to call into into question its sporting nature."

And

"While technically (Dude. what? "Technically"? I'm sorry?) a sports car, the British-made Aston is the proper gentleman of the group... made in true British style, every ounce of this car alludes to old-world money, power and manners."

He also calls it merely "competent on racetrack and says its better as a high-performance cruiser when, like, no bro. This was supposed to be the shouty racer and the DB9 is the high performance luxury GT (Grand Tour) car. You utter pillock.

Now I'm not gonna argue any of the praise for the Ferrari because I feel more confident in that, from the testimony of people who've owned one. It was at the time (And may still be, if you aren't that dazzled by the 458) the best car in the world.

That said look at this:

"The car's beautifully designed lines and curves remind the viewer more of classical Italian sculpture than anything related to transportation."

LOL. Now don't get me wrong the Ferrari F430 is a very pretty car.

Not everyone thinks so (and to be fair, once you see the "Smile" in the front end, you can't unsee it), but I do. BUT EVEN I, AN ADMIRER OF THE FANCY CARS, do not think that is, in any way, more related to art than driving. PUH-LEASE. That is a very beautiful car, but it is still just a car. If you want to talk about a car being more closely related to Italian sculpture that transportation, then go find an Alfa Romeo fawn over. Because that really is all they're good for.

Because the thing is, Ferrari are kind of like... how do I wanna put this. Okay well let's say Ferrari are the Gryffindor of the car world. Everyone wants to be a Ferrari owner. They have a long pedigree and they, historically and presently make great cars with all the latest advancements and technology. They're like a black dress or a red rose - no one will argue with the classics. But to me at least, they kind of lack... well, personality. It's kind of taken for granted that a Ferrari is gonna be the best car in any given line-up, without anyone ever actually explaining why. It might be, I think, that Ferrari have become a bit overrated. That's not to say that Ferrari shouldn't be given due respect, especially for something like the F430, but here's where I have an issue.

In my Cullen Car post about Bella's Ferrari, I posed the question: was the Ferrari chosen for Bella because it both captures how Edward has always seen Bella, even before she was strong and beautiful in her own estimation, and because it's user friendly, easy to get the best out of it, and actually, surprisingly, suits her personality pretty well As flashy as the F430 seems at first glance, in it's sleek, low-slung, super car way, it still looks purposeful. It's not ostentatious, other than that it's red. It doesn't over-do it in the way, say, a Lamborghini does. It's not out to grab attention, it's here to do what it loves and is good at and that's driving.

Unfortunately, it turns out my concern was justified, because what Jacob's profile on the F430 has confirmed for me is that Bella's Ferrari was chosen simply because it was the prettiest, most impressive "best" car on the market at the time. Had Breaking Dawn taken place in 2010, it would have been a 458, and that's sad - because that truly wouldn't have suited Bella at all.

Look at it.

I think all of this is because, and this is just speculation, but I'll be willing to bet that Jacob's never actually driven any of these cars. The way it goes with most car enthusiasts, I think, is that we see these super fancy, beautiful cars (these in the pantheon of Super/Hyper half-million dollar cars) and we treat them like celebrities. We form opinions based on their looks, we read reviews of them in Car and Driver and things like that, and from the makers themselves - all venues designed, at the end of the day, to sell them.

I've admitted that a lot of my opinions are formed from watching Top Gear and maybe that doesn't make me any better, but what I like about the reviews done by people like Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond is that they don't skimp on pointing out faults as well as favors, even on cars they love and respect, and they always do it in an entertaining way that holds my attention and gives a sense of personality beyond the car's looks and what their manufacturers say they can do. I can't say I would totally agree with their opinions if I ever did get a chance to drive any of these cars, but I at least I can feel some trust in their experience; and they do discuss all these cars in comparison to other contemporaries, and a lot of the time they disagree too, and that gives me more perspective to work with.

Because, like celebrities, even Ferraris have faults. Just because it's a hugely respected brand, like Aston Martin, doesn't mean that every aspect of that car is gonna be faultless and brilliant. Jacob never mentions the Vanquish's shitty gearbox because Jacob has probably never had to deal with it. Neither have I, but I think a certain degree of circumspection is warranted.

I've spiraled a bit here, I didn't intend to be so long winded, but I'm passionate about this. I'm gonna cut off here and do a part 2.

[johobi]

Ok ok ok so this is way overdue but I was in a little denial yesterday and got caught up in some work. But! I am here now to theorize. So I've seen some of the other theories floating around on your blog and I have to say that whole having an arranged marriage that Jungkook wanted no part of thing seems really interesting but I find a couple problems with that. One being, why would he continue to see his fiance if he didn't want anything to do with it? Also considering he has a terse -SK (1/?)

relationship with his parents why would he agree to the marriage at all? The second problem I see is that when OC caught JK and mystery gal (I’m gonna refer to her as MG for now) canoodling JK apparently was smiling at her in a loving manner? He seems to love her just as mush as he loves the OC. And yes I do believe he loves them both (not sure about equally though). I think it’s plausible considering at one point OC was really in love with Tae but at the same time liked JK. Damn this -SK (2/?)

a long ass theory and I haven’t even touched the tip of the iceberg?? This?? Is what you do to me?? Seriously though here’s a brief intermission to praise your writing skills because OH MAN HOLY SHIT is it good. I legitimately felt emotional pain when I read that ending. I haven’t been this invested in fictional characters in a while now. Anyways I digress. Even if JK loves OC what he did was shit. No way around that. Keeping your fucking engagement a secret is a hella no. Honestly I -SK (4/?)

team JK in the beginning and now. i just. I’m on neither team? I think OC just needs a little time by herself. If she tries to rebound with Tae she could feel the same way she did when she began dating JK? And like i guess she probably wouldn’t wanna be reminded of the traitor bc she’s hurting? And I’m afraid her self-esteem may have taken a hit during this whole debacle which is like shitty bc she was literally just saying how JK made her feel confident and sexy? OK hold up I just -SK (5/?)

of something. Assuming JK and MG are like most couples wouldn’t JK have an engagement ring? Maybe not because not ALL couples have engagement rings must MOST do. Why has OC never seen it? Honestly the more i think about the more i start rooting for Tae. Maybe I’m biased because lying is my #1 pet peeve and Tae is no saint but at least he gave OC space. And when he kissed her he seemed like he wanted to tell her something but instead asked if she liked JK. Did he maybe want to tell her -SK(6/?)

that the kiss meant more to him but seeing as OC was genuinely happy he let her have that peace? Is that why he broke it off with Tara? Am I thinking about everything too much? Also I saw on your Ask My Muse post you have two unidentified characters under WYLEI? ASDFGHJ is MG Candy or Dorothy?? Did I miss something or do you really have another character we’ve yet to meet in the story? also WHY IS DOROTHY IN QUOTATION MARKS!! What does it all mean?? I feel like I’m really all over the -SK (7/?)

place with these asks so I’m sorry for that. Your brain must hurt from the constant subject change. Speaking of subject change I just skimmed through chp. 9 and I see that when talking about his relationship with his parents, his parents pressured him into “business stuff.” And while I don’t think this is the case, such a scenario could mean that JK’s parents tried to force him into marrying MG? Anyways that’s really all I have for now (lol ALL). I’d just like to say I really like your -SK (7/?)

inclusion of background characters in the story. I feel like most writers forget that there is a world and life outside of the main characters. Also I’m living for Sope. I’m hyped for what’s to come but will be patient until you feel the time is right. I think most people feel the same way lol. Don’t stress yourself hun. You’re an amazing writer and deserve rest. Anyways I’m really sorry this was so long and messy. Im p sure I messed up the numbering at some point.Take care! -SK (8/8)

Hi SK!! This is probably the longest ask I’ve ever received and y’know what, I was so freakin happy reading each message as it came in. ^^ I loved hearing you go from confusion, to doubt, to revelation and everything in between LOL. 

I’ll answer what I’m able to and probably only confuse/frustrate you more with the stuff I can’t really answer yet.😂😂

Everything you mention at the beginning are, indeed, notable discrepancies if we’re to go with the ‘Jungkook has a fiance that’s been forced on him’ theory. So either there are details about that that will come to the surface and explain these contradictions, or it’s not correct. Or I’ve come up with something with a million plot holes. Which I can (hopefully) confidently say isn’t the case, considering I made this completely unnecessary beast of a mind map just to ensure the explanations behind what just happened are all accounted for: 

You’re actually the first person to suggest that Jungkook is also in love with his fiance, as well as Y/N. This is a really cool angle! Like you said, it’s totally possible, considering Y/N is also struggling with the love for two men (though the longer she’s with Kook, the more Tae’s diminishes).

What is a popular thought, though, is that Y/N shouldn’t be with either of them right now. She’s pretty damn damaged and could probably do with a holiday with Yoonseok somewhere sunny and sandy lol. Thing is, because she’s fleeing like a prey animal now and her emotions are all over the place, Y/N is going to be quite volatile. She’s never really been pushed into this place before. She’s fallen for someone before, obviously, but not had that rejected in such a humiliating and traumatising manner. So her behaviour in the next chapter is going to reflect how she deals with it.

Good spot on the engagement ring thing. Maybe Jungkook doesn’t have one. Maybe he does, but doesn’t wear it. Maybe he wears it only when he meets with his fiance? Maybe she isn’t his fiance at all? After all, we only ever heard that word from the woman’s lips, not his. 

You’re definitely not thinking about things too much. These things were all woven into the story to get your cogs turning. ^^ Tae hesitated when Y/N asked why he kissed her (or something along those lines) and instead answered her with another question: “Are you happy with Jungkook?” And that is, perhaps, the most important line he’s had so far, as to revealing his inner workings. If you can come to a conclusion as to why he would ask that, his succeeding actions will begin to make sense.

Haha, Candy is actually Jimin’s girlfriend from chapter 4, she’s not a huge character but I thought some people might want to ask her questions of the more humorous variety, especially about Jimin (who will be back for ch. 12) ^^ ‘Dorothy’ is in quotation marks because it’s all we have to identify Jungkook’s ‘fiance’, or MG as you call her, so far. It’s what Y/N coined her in the elevator.

Yes, the ‘business stuff’ is central to many things where Jungkook is concerned. Like, all of it. You’ll find out more about that in 12, too. 

And thank you!!!!! I wanted the background characters to have life, too. I mean, they’re the protags of their own stories, too, and that’s why I wanted it to feel like things happened even when Y/N wasn’t in the picture. Yoonseok began something with each other, but you don’t know when or how it happened; it’s their business, and you find out with Y/N as you would with any of your other friends. Like, this stuff doesn’t just not happen, or only around Y/N. 

Don’t apologise for your asks tho!! They were so interesting to read through and consider, you got me thinking more about the next chapter, too!! Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me!