#ie real world people and people from other media

[agapi-kalyptei]

photoshop prompt: Misha Collins whole figure in a Seto folk costume

[fairuzfan]

The thing with news sources and deciding what's trustworthy and what's not is that when you see criticism of Aljazeera (which to be clear is not a great news source about anything other than Palestine) is that they completely neglect to mention that each regional section of Al-Jazeera has different people in charge of it, different contributors, different sources.

By all means, analyze your sources and understand what information you're getting but to say outright that ALL of what AlJazeera reports EVER is wrong is inherently meant to discredit Palestinian journalists in a way that no other journalist who is not Palestinian and NOT directly experiencing the war in Gaza has been discredited. Surprisingly (not really but), a lot of Palestinians in Gaza are employed by AlJazeera because it's difficult for them to find employment elsewhere.

And again, I do not love AlJazeera. I think they do plenty of faulty journalism and reporting and I actively avoid them for most news sources. But RIGHT NOW with everything going on in Gaza, they're probably one of the most trustworthy ones because of their first hand accounts and willingness to publish Palestinian voices, which many, MANY news stations refuse to do. I especially encourage the Arabic version of AlJazeera!

Like Haartz has like... 4 Palestinians on their editorial team max, and they have EVEN LESS people on the ground in Gaza whereas we have dozens of reporters from Gaza on Al-Jazeera, many of which have died. The way to fact check your news is you find how many times they link factual evidence (like videos of experiences, primary accounts, primary quotes) and compare it with circumstance of publishing.

Here are some ways to fact check and questions to ask, even when looking at Al Jazeera:

Is this a first hand account? If not, does it name a person who experienced this first hand?

If they cite/name a person who experienced it first hand, are they a trustworthy person? What are their ties to the situation? Why would they report this, have they reported situations like this in the past?

What would the person reporting gain from reporting this? A Palestinian with an Instagram post about their life in Gaza has much less to gain than an Israeli soldier publishing their experience in Gaza, for example.

In the first hand account, are there actions or evidence that is corroborated? IE: There was a video of an Israeli soldier abducting a blonde Palestinian, and there was a Human Rights Org that reported child abductions from evidence gather by an on the ground reporter. There is less of a chance that this is false, therefore.

If you don't see other news sources reporting this (ie, you don't see CNN/NYT/BBC/Fox/any other western-led media outlet) then ask: Why would they not report it? Does that mean it's false? Maybe not. Many Euro-american sources spend MONTHS before they talk about an issue (think: Washington post article "questioning" the evidence of Hamas in Al-Shifaa hospital more than a month after the raid happened)

Defining "Trustworthy":

What is their history on reporting events? Are they someone who is well known in whatever community they represent?

Think: Ghassan Abu-Sitta, a world renowned doctor. When he reports something with his name attached, he is putting his entire reputation on the line. Therefore, it is more likely he is telling the truth.

Are they someone who has any real, structural power over the situation? Maha Hussaini, for example, cannot change her circumstances because a ceasefire relies on other people separate from her, a journalist. Therefore, she has less of a reason to lie about things happening to her.

For the news source: what are their ties to the situation? CNN, for example, has stated they have their content reviewed by the IDF. Wael Al-Dahdouh, before he was evacuated, was providing first hand accounts of situation, meaning its difficult for him to fake anything or misrepresent.

What else has this person/news source reported? What are their political leanings — not just left/right, but what are their general stances on a variety of issues?

How many people who are part of the community impacted are part of reporting on this (IE: How many Palestinian POVs are shared, how many Israeli POVs are shared, what are the POVs of the people shared in general?).

Can someone I personally trust vouch for this person? If not, can I ask someone I trust to look over this person/agency and tell me their opinion?

There's for sure more I'm forgetting but these are some ways I personally check my facts and information as a quick rundown. And I see this issue of not knowing how to fact check happen ALL OVER the place, on both sides. So I really, highly encourage everyone to engage with sources more honestly!

You'll make mistakes, everyone does! I do as well! But try to be vigilant about these things so we can ensure that we're spreading accurate information and try to correct information when possible! There's no 100% unbiased source so I encourage you to compare/contrast information and your understandings of the world to fully comprehend the situation!

Please use these questions when checking ANY news source, even Al-Jazeera!

[avelera]

So I don’t plan to become a political blog here but I was a poll worker and regularly volunteer as a poll worker at elections in my ward. And I want to push back on two assumptions I see on here, one that is comforting, one that might not be.

First, the perhaps comforting one.

1) Jill Stein did not get any votes. I live in a blue ward in a purple state. Harris got about 2,200 votes, Trump got about 700. The Libertarian candidate got like 24 votes. Jill Stein got 12.

Yes, even in a very blue town, no one was giving their protest vote to Jill Stein in any significant numbers. Obviously I can’t speak to all states, but I think that the shadow of the 2016 third party votes is misapplied here, ie stop yelling at Jill Stein or third party voters for losing this, they don’t exist in any significant numbers.

2) Palestine protest votes were also a negligible percentage during the Primary. Biden wasn’t even on the ballot in my state (NH) but there was a significant write in campaign that netted him some 70k votes I want to say, which was significant since they were all write in. That’s very unusual. He got about 700 in my town and there’s a lot less turnout in an uncontested federal primary. Literally there was no reason to show up except to write him in and a lot of people did.

But we also got protest write in votes for Free Gaza and From the Rivers to the Seas (which I had to explain the meaning of to older Democratic volunteers there) and that number was 22.

Literally nothing was lost to show up and cast this protest vote and it was also a negligible number, despite what you might think from being on social media.

I mention this to bring perspective to how widely held a view can seem online, when you can collect and converse with other like minded people around the world, vs how this manifests even in areas that align with your politics in the real world.

I say this too because I hope it offers some perspective on these percentages we see in elections. Everyone you will ever know and agree with us still a small percentage and not enough to swing an election usually. That’s why big coalitions are needed. That’s why politicians must often appeal to people you don’t agree with, because you’re adding up all those little percentages.

Perhaps this is inherently obvious, but I hoped to offer a sober, statistical view of how what seem like vocal movements online often don’t make any sort of waves in the ballot box, at least not without significant organization efforts, which often take years if not decades to pull together (ie, decades of civil rights or accessibility organizing). This is also not to belittle the Free Gaza movement, not at all, but to offer perspective on how that online vehemence did, or didn’t, manifest at the ballot box.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I don’t know if you’ve already covered this, but I had a question to ask about the VDC in Book 5. To clarify, I understand that RSA needed to win for thematic and character arc purposes, and that in-lore it was an audience vote not a professional one. The story beats line up. But the choice of cutesy and childlike RSA performance over the more refined and professional NRC performance still doesn’t quite click with me. Is there some kind of cultural difference that didn’t translate to explain why one performance was supposed to be understood as preferred over the other? Even if it was an audience vote, the standards should be higher just by virtue of this being a big name competition for teenagers held at a prestigious school.

Very quickly, I want to add a couple other points that help to explain why RSA won over NRC! Book 6 opens early on with Vil noting that NRC was not able to perform as well as they wanted to since they had just come out of a difficult battle against his OB form. (Because of this, he accepts responsibility for their loss.) Thus, the NRC performance may not have actually been as "refined", "professional", or as polished as we imagine it to be.

Additionally, it’s stated in book 5 that RSA’s song choice had universal appeal whereas NRC’s did not. We see this effect on the production crew when Neige and the Seven Dwarves do their practice run; their performance has a refreshing and soothing effect on what appears to be an older audience (as it plays to their nostalgia); we must consider this when evaluating RSA and NRC. For example, I know that I really disliked NRC's performance (sue me/j) because it sounded very oppressive and therefore unrelatable to me. The lyrics are literally about how NRC will dominate their opponents and win 😭 Sure, the music and lyrics for Neige's song aren't complex, but they're at the very least accessible and easy to follow along with. (That's not to say that I prefer RSA's performance though; I'm just explaining why someone might not find NRC's performance appealing.)

Lastly! We as players are looking at the two song + dance numbers from an omniscient perspective. We need to consider our own biases when judging, and accept that it may differ from the characters in-universe view things. Maybe you prefer NRC’s performance. That’s fair! But how much of that is informed by your personal music preferences? And how much of that comes from your attachment to the NRC characters, since you’ve followed their stories up until this point? As Rook points out in book 5, he’s aware of how hard NRC has worked to get here… but he’s also aware of Neige’s hardships too (er, in terms of his lifestyle; ie living with the dwarves and doing chores, etc.). Consider then, would you honestly not have a bias for RSA had Twisted Wonderland’s story centered on them instead of NRC?

It’s also worth noting that how things are seen in Twisted Wonderland may reflect its own unique culture rather than how we in the real world may perceive it. Maybe the people of Twisted Wonderland just prefer a cute, nostalgic performance. This may not necessarily correlate with west or east at all and that has always been a possibility! (While TWST does take inspirations from the real world, it’s not a 1:1 with the real world.)

dkhlbaiyfadvfoad Okay, NOW onto the actual question being pitched!

When you look at media from different countries, there are some stark differences in how the same information is presented. One example is like... any Gordon Ramsay show yes, I am using him as an example. Compare the American cut and the British cuts; there are much more loud sound effects, dramatic music, yelling, and cussing in the American cuts. The British cuts, by comparison, are notably quieter and contemplative, with hardly any cursing. Another example! Looking at variety shows from the east vs the west, they're quite different as well. Eastern variety shows tend to be "cute", usually using various cute sound effects or edits which make the guests appear more bashful (like drawing blush over their cheeks or something). We don't see this in western TV shows, which are louder and more boisterous. I've noticed a similar trend in the music industries of the east vs the west as well, where eastern stars tend to emphasize their youthfulness and playfulness and western stars try to be more "mature" and grown-up. These are just my personal observations and may not reflect reality, especially seeing as I am not involved in music-oriented spaces.

I asked friends and personal contacts in both eastern and western pop music fandom spaces for their own insights (which is also in no way representative of both fandoms, but at least this gives us other perspectives for consideration). To summarize, most of them replied that they did not think cultural differences account for this situation, since equating a preference for a "cute" aesthetic is not the same as RSA performing what is basically a nursery rhyme. There's no real-world equivalent for that (at least none that they can think of), and I agree with all of this. There’s really no point in trying to compare the two.

I remember lots of Japanese fans being upset at NRC’s loss too (when book 5’s ending was first put out), so the impression I got was they didn’t prefer the performance of RSA over NRC either. It was not just the international fandom that was disappointed. I don’t believe TWST ever intentionally set out to present “Everyone Yahoo!” as the “superior” song and dance number, or as the performance we’re supposed to like more than the other. It was very much framed as something pathetic and unlikely to win in most of the eyes of the NRC characters. They make fun of RSA’s clumsiness and claim it’ll be easy to win over them. The player most likely is supposed to think this way too—until Vil, the one with an eye for showbiz, realizes his loss. Why? Because it doesn’t matter what we think. What matters is how this clumsy performance will resonate with the common person.

What I think it ultimately comes down to is emotional appeal to the audience, which is more of a personal/individual level thing than a cultural thing. The competition is decided by audience vote. The average person honestly does not care about quality or standards. No one is giving them rules to evaluate by, no one is going to tell them off for not having strict standards. They will pick based on what they like best or whatever makes them feel good. And what will make anyone feel food, regardless of age, sex, race, education, socioeconomic status, etc.? Something cozy and familiar, thoughts of simpler times… Nostalgia.

Something else to think about is what a powerful motivator emotions can be. There are irl idol competition shows that are high stakes and decided by audience vote just like VDC/SDC… and people will still vote for their favorites even if they gave a technically bad performance. This is because fans are so emotionally invested in and attached to the performer. It doesn’t matter how “bad” they are, the performer/performance makes the audience member feel impassioned, and they will then act according to those intense feelings. Think about what you’re like when you’re in a terrible mood vs a good one. You act completely differently, right?

I hope that perspective helps! 🙏 I tried to be as thorough as I could be in this response, but please let me know if I misspoke or maybe missed a point.

P.S. I happen to be responding to this ask after TWST showed us the NRC Tribe’s dance performance in a MMD video. I wonder if this only made the “NRC should have own” crowd double down on that opinion since now we’re seeing just what their performance looks like 🤔 (though we don’t have a complete MMD video of Neige’s group to directly compare, just this which shows part of the dance and not in the same clumsy way that Neige and co. perform it).

[misskattylashes]

Okay, I’m going to do it. I have been holding back and just telling my closest fandom friends my crazy theory, but what the hell. Most of you think I’m batshit anyway.

Here we go.....

What if we have been on the receiving end of a long played out psyop and Louise has been a way to make the public want Milex?

Okay, hear me out...

It’s 2017/8 Alex has abandoned Miles after EYCTE. He has gone to France to write and record TBHC, having realised their little TLSP bubble could never last (see Star Treatment). Without Alex, Miles is a little lost and lonely in LA. His reputation is also at rock bottom after the journalist incident. Miles decides he wants to move back to England, and Alex decides he wants to move back to, as we know they can never be more than a few minutes away from each other

Taylor either wouldn’t or couldn’t leave LA, so she and Alex break up. But they need a new girlfriend to keep up the straight image (especially with the new badly-received album and a world tour about to begin). On the original version of OPP as seen on the AM in Mexico video, over the turtle segment Alex sings ‘One More Year I’ll Call It Quits’ maybe the plan was to give it all up,but he had signed a contract to do another album and tour after TBHC, and with Miles’ reputation so bad, if they were together then they would both be cancelled.

So a European girlfriend is found and this is where the subterfuge begins. We start with old Instagram posts with tags like #alexturnerwillyoumarryme, then we get professionally shot videos of her backstage at AM’s concert (all the time Alex is ‘still with’ Taylor) so as soon as they launch, the first image of Louise the public get is a negative one, as a fangirl who has set out to get Alex, not caring if he cheats in his current girlfriend.

Before I list the reasons why I think she is fake, can I say this idea he has stayed with her as punishment for cheating on Taylor is absolutely ridiculous. Men who are serial cheats aren’t known for wearing hairshirts. Especially when you’re a handsome, wealthy rock star who could easily get another girlfriend.

So, the idea is, Louise is the most unpleasant person who makes Alex miserable, and if most people are honest, they want Alex to be happy..

So, let’s look at the evidence..(where there is a * it means there is a Miles counterside)

Louise doesn’t work. She claims to be a feminist, but her job seems to be being Alex’s girlfriend.

She openly copies selfies posed by previous girlfriends, making her look like she has no personality of her own

She boasts in her IG posts ie the ‘we just fucked’ pic and the panties on the piano.

She claims to be a musician but we rarely see her writing or recording anythjng.*

She writes embarrassing things about itAlex on social media (beautiful dick).*

Openly takes a neutral stance on Palestine.

Claims to wear vintage clothes but they rarely are*

When Alex was ill after the third London show, it is publicised that he leaves the Emirates with his parents, no sign of Louise. She’s too busy taking pics in the hotel with Matt and Amanda

Meanwhile Miles has worked hard on his public image. He has shown he is a hard worker. He rarely mentions Alex on social media and when asked about him in interviews, whilst admitting they are good friends, is insistent they are not working together. Which is good because he has always been accused of riding on Alex’s fame.

He frequently gives updates when he his writing and recording, treating us to little snippets, something Louise never does.

Is it a coincidence that holiday gate is the same as the week One Man Band’s release. Alex looking miserable with Louise Vs Miles being charming and hard working.

Not long after Louise starts going on about her fake vintage, Miles posts a whole real of him going proper vintage shopping so he looks authentic.

Even in Dublin there is no duet with Alex. Miles not using Alex’s,fame,but also those who monitor social media can see how hungry they are for Milex interaction.

The river Mersey comment – another way of guaging public opinion. Finally the legion of doom 😍😍 comment on the NY recent. The fandom went crazy at Milex acknowledgement.

Alex....

His face..Alex is a pro. He has had twenty years of faking smiles after arguments with the other Monkeys, girlfriends, even Miles. He could fake a smile with Louise if we wanted to when they call their friends at Backgrid to take pap pictures. But instead he chooses to look like someone either on the verge of tears or else being held hostage. And in the latest set of pics, Louise looks the same.

The Taylor tattoo....it looks like he thinks so little of her he has kept that tattoo.

‘I don’t wanna be hers, I wanna be yours’ quite often at gigs where Louise is in attendance.

Not one song on the car written about her.

And now of course with the tour over, a lot of people return to watching TLSP videos. Happy, muscly, healthy looking Alex having fun with Miles as opposed to skinny, miserable Alex trapped with Louise.

Apart from Louise’s most ardent fans, most people want to see him away from her and would be overjoyed at a TLSP reunion, and for us Milexers, a declaration of their love.

So, has this been a long game? A way of making the people think they want Milex? I told you it was crazy, but just remember the world of public relations is completely underhand and insane.

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

HCs: Stereotypical Barbie, Beach Ken, & Allan reacting to their S/O dressing up as them for Halloween

Note: Made this a little bit "meta" (and by that I mean the characters are aware that their outfits exist as marketable costumes in the Real World).

........

Stereotypical Barbie

Among the many things she learned (and is still learning) about the Real World, it's that the "glorification of rampant consumerism" went beyond her toyline and made a LOT of sense during Halloween.

She never expected to see her western, jumpsuit, and gingham outfits stuffed into bags when you both visit a Spirit Halloween store (although it was neat seeing an entire section dedicated to Barbie).

And she was especially surprised to learn that "Barbie and Ken" were gonna be one of the most popular couples' costumes this year (it's a little awkward for her since she's not with Ken anymore, but she won't complain much).

Speaking of costumes, she never understood why so many of them had to be bloody and scary--or cute, bloody, and scary all rolled into one.

She'll quickly gloss over them and hurry back to the cute costumes, often tugging you along with her before you can protest.

Compared to Barbieland, Halloween is...definitely celebrated differently here.

She still doesn't get why humans would wanna buy fake severed limbs for decorations, nor why they created such scary lifelike robots.

But she does a total 180 when a girl dressed up in her western outfit passes her by on Halloween night, saying "Hi Barbie" with such a big smile on her face.

Suddenly, she likes this holiday a little bit better, especially after seeing other ladies posting their own Barbie-inspired Halloween costumes on social media.

It's the scariest season, and yet there's so much joy going around as she realizes women are still coming together and lifting each other up!

Her happiness only grows when she arrives at your doorstep with candy, and you surprise her by dressing up as a Barbie yourself!

When she realizes you chose one of her outfits specifically, she can't stop gushing over you.

It's touching, especially since she wasn't really a "remarkable" Barbie doll; you literally could have picked any other doll's outfit to inspire your costume...

And yet out of all of them, you wanted to be her.

It genuinely made her feel special and so so loved.

Beach Ken

Like Barbie, he had very different expectations of Halloween.

He learned men were usually the ones who "protected" their partners from the scary stuff. So he tries his best.

Yet he's always the one curling up in your lap and/or hiding his face whenever a mild jumpscare happens in a movie.

But he loves loves loves dressing up for the holiday and decorating (although at times he forgets and will accidentally scare himself if he bumps into the decor--ie hanging bats).

He insists on being a cowboy this year (toy horse stick included) and reaaaally hopes you'll match with him.

Instead, you have a better idea and surprise him by your costume:

It's him!

Or more specifically one of his outfits (beach, dance party, rollerblade, western, kenough hoodie, etc.) that you either picked up online or handcrafted yourself over the course of several months/weeks.

Regardless, he's gonna cry when he realizes that you chose to dress up as him, of all people.

For the longest time, Ken looked towards other people for inspiration, especially when he first learned about the patriarchy.

But to learn that he's YOUR inspiration???

He feels like the luckiest man/doll alive.

Hell, you wore his outfit better than him somehow.

When you both are walking up and down the street, he's delighted seeing other people dressed in his western or rollerblade outfits (never mind them being so cheaply-made and mass produced), glad that the Real World's starting to appreciate Ken again.

But compared to you?

You were a ten.

Allan

He was sorta adamant towards Halloween, at first.

If anything, he worries for your sanity (and perhaps humanity's sanity as a whole) after you showed him some classic horror movies.

Poor guy is just baffled as to why anybody would like seeing that kind of stuff...and how it doesn't keep them wide awake at night.

But once you tell Allan about all the other customs and traditions, he partakes in them--although anything involving blood is a no-go for him.

On Halloween night, you both agree to just kick back and hand out candy to trick-or-treaters.

His "costume" is the outfit he usually had on in Barbieland, but he's worried that it pales in comparison to whatever you're planning to wear.

All you said over text was that it's a "big surprise", so he's anxious to see it.

He's well aware of Barbie and Ken having their own costumes, and he tries not to sulk about there being no Allan costumes in this world.

Yet when he opens the door, he nearly drops the candy bowl upon seeing you wearing a similarly striped shirt, shorts, and sandals.

You decided to dress up as him!! As an Allan doll!!

Now he finally realizes why you've spent hours couped up in your room.

There's a good chance he's gonna get all weepy over this (and frantically claim that it's allergies when a few concerned trick-or-treaters come up to the door a minute later).

But now he takes back whatever he said about nobody in the Real World caring about Allan.

Because you cared.

[usaigi]

How @yellowocaballero and I Fixed Daredevil by Headcannoning Him as Mexican

When Daredevil first appeared in 1964, he was a second-generation Irish-American from Hell’s Kitchen, a working-class Irish-immigrant neighborhood. In a time where Irish people weren’t viewed as “white” or “real Americas.” They were a part of the oppressed working class, the bottom of the food chain, who had nothing but their religion, the vehicle of their culture from the old world, to keep them together.

Note: Today, the argument that “Irish people aren’t really white” has been co-opted by white supremacists and has often been used in bad faith against POC. I want it to be clear that what is considered “white” is and has always been a political term with no backing in science. Discrimination against the Irish back in the day was tied to anti-Catholic sentiment in predominately Protestant states, such as England, Scotland, and the United States. Naturally, Anti-Catholic discrimination overlaps with nativist, xenophobic, ethnocentric and/or racist sentiments (ie Anti-Italian, Anti-Polish, Hispanicphonia).

Jack Murdock was a poor boxer with no education or prospects who had to exploit his body to provide for Matt. And recognized that not a way to live and thrive, so he pushed Matt into academics for social mobility. Sound familiar?

At its core, the story of Matt Murdock is an immigrant story. Matt has the immigrant mentality;  immigrants-get-the-job-done type of thing. Gotta hustle and became a lawyer because that’s how he moves up the social and class ladder. And when he does “make it” he chooses to stay and help his neighborhood because he has a cultural connection to it. 

This worked in 1964, I don’t know how much it works now.  

Hell Kitchen isn’t a rough neighborhood primarily occupied by working-class immigrants, it’s another gentrified hipster hellhole. Irish people and people of Irish ancestry in the United States no long face systemic discrimination. 

Therefore, modern-day recontextualizing is to make Matt Mexican. 

Technically, Matt can also be from any other Latin American country or Filipino but I lean towards Mexican since a) this is my post go make your own and b) we get the most discrimination from the mainstream media. Yes, a lot of it is because racists use “Mexican” as a catch-all term for anyone from Latin America but still. Trump made his presidential platform by calling Mexicans illegal rapists and druggies. 

If Matt was actually the son of Jack Murdock*, an undocumented brown immigrant living in a working-class immigrant/POC neighborhood, it gives him the underdog immigrant arc the character is missing in modern-day adaptations. Matt's core is still the same Matt we know and love, he’s still the son of a boxer, whose dad’s pushed him into succeeding academically, who lost his dad to gang violence, and who is extremely Catholic. Someone who wants to fit into middle-class educated (white) society and feels like he has to suppress the "devil" inside until one day he can’t. He's seeing discrimination and poverty and crime and gentrification tear his neighborhood apart and the police turn their back on it since it's predominantly POC. The law has failed them, he's not going to fail them too. 

Meg made the fantastic point that Matt should still be white-passing (and ginger) so he could exist somewhere in between worlds.  And Matt takes advantage of that, as well as his Columbia Law degree to help his community. Matt not using his conditional whiteness and the fancy degree to “escape” his community and instead help it.

[tentative-wanderer]

Recently read these manga and manhwa with gay relationships:

☀️ The Summer Hikaru Died: liked it lots, wish it were complete. The creepy art style took some getting used to, I didn’t like how unnerving even normal people looked at first but I ended up loving how the art fits its genre. Mystery + horror + a sort of love I like, occupying the twilight zone between platonic, romantic and goodness knows what*. The theme of grief is executed well, very moving, and thumbs up for the other complicated feelings the characters wrestle with. From the Chinese words/kanji, I can tell that the title is “The Summer the Light Died”, which makes me go ahhhhh. I’d like to have the reassurance that there will be a happy ending, because I feel like there could be a melancholy one.

* I like amorphous kinds of love. Qijiu from the danmei book SVSSS has that too (don’t look this pair up if you haven’t read SVSSS, it’s spoilery). The phrase that comes to mind is 犹抱琵琶半遮面, ie, (a musician) “covering half their face with the pipa in their arms”. The beauty of things only semi-revealed.

🎥 Twilight Out of Focus and its sister series: enjoyed them. My favourite character is the film director with semi-long hair who’s capable, strong-willed, outspoken, and competitive, tempered by a softer side (the thing he’s loud and passionate about besides filmmaking is BL, of all things. But I didn’t know he swung that way until he got his own manga series. Should have seen that coming). That tends to be a winning combination of physical and personality attributes in my book, I always fall for this type of character, but I’d be on edge if I had to deal with such people in real life because their cut-throat attitude would be, well, cutting.

🧼 Ten Count: can relate to the mysophobia. Interesting premise! Enjoyed it. But I feel like it was dragged down a little by the smut. I have mixed feelings about saying that, because on one hand, smut is always welcome, but on the other hand, I wish there was a greater focus on the process of overcoming the ten mysophobic points beyond the romance and smut. Another downside is pretty-boy same-face syndrome.

🪞 The Black Mirror: there are a number of imperfections but I was hooked because I like mystery.

If anyone has recommendations, I’m all ears! BL manga is new to me (previously, I think I’ve only read the comedy about the guy who realised he’s stuck in a BL world, haha).

***

(Not BL)

Read a number of chapters of Liar Game. I don’t know why the author is drawing manga instead of messing with the stock market or committing fraud or financial world domination. Big-brained stuff. I tend to read comics fast/skim-read so I found it challenging to think deeply about the strategies; even following along is tough. (Edited to add: the ending was really, really bad.)

Caught up with the more recent chapters of Spy x Family and Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan. Loved both. Regarding Spy x Family, I thought I couldn’t love it more but it turns out I could; the recent arc about the old female soldier is wonderful, overturns some gender norms to an extent hardly seen in media. Also, I really like Yuri and Fiona; they’re both capable, good-looking, and—importantly—very funny. Fiona is amazing in the anime, her voice actress adds a special spark of life to the duality of her character.

[yunjardi]

my heart bel♡ngs to daddy [series]

[young sugar daddy jake x fem.reader au]

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[click here for this series's masterlist to read previous chapters, general warnings, and playlist]

[‼️chapter warnings‼️: smut [mdni], DADDY KINK, unprotected sex, finger sucking, fingering, dirty talk, a frat party, smoking weed, alcohol, high sex, being lowkey stalked (???), photographed without permission, rich people media drama] p.s. jeongin is referred to as 'innie' a few times in this chapter

*sorry for any grammar errors

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-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-

chapter 10: all eyes on you

"wow, y/n," yeji sighed out with a concerned giggle, "you are looking rough today." you looked up at her from the page of notes you zoned out on, dark circles visible under your eyes.

"oh, she really does," jeongin blurted out in shock, "sorry, y/n-ie." he sheepishly apologized after.

you took a sip of your drink as you closed your notebook. "is it that obvious?" you asked, pulling out your phone and using your camera as a mirror.

they both let out a string of 'umm's 'uhhh's and 'kinda?'s in attempt to be as nice as possible until they both came to their final answer.

"okay, okay i get it," you said flailing your hands around at them, "i know i look below par right now. i'm just super exhausted lately." you expressed. it wasn't a complete lie, but it wasn't the full reason why you looked a mess.

after crying with jake last night, you'd naturally look a little busted considering how much you cried.

"we should probably get going then," jeongin said, looking at both you and yeji, "we did a lot of work considering that this is our first meetup." he smiled and yeji looked relieved at the mere thought of being able to go home as jeongin began to pack his bag to head home.

jeongin waved to the both of you, and swiftly breezed out the door, eager to get some rest. as soon as the door closed, yeji looked at you with worried eyes, which made you chuckle nervously and ask her what was going on.

"i know that things have been hard with everything that's been being thrown around the media lately, y/n. i just didn't want to mention it when innie was around just in case you weren't comfortable with it and-"

"wait, what?" you asked, and extremely shocked expression immediately plastering itself into your face, "yeji, what are you talking about?" now you were feeling extremely alarmed at this newfound information.

"oh, i-i thought you knew," yeji said with wide yet serious eyes, "here. you've gotta see all this."

yeji scrolled on her phone for a bit before facing it toward you, still scrolling endlessly through pictures and articles. your stomach sank into the earth's core as your eyes scanned what you were seeing on yeji's phone. taking her phone out of her hands to get a closer look was a huge mistake.

"w-what the fuck?" you quietly muttered as you finally clicked on one of the articles filled with pictures, videos, and dramatic theories about what was happening, "when the hell?- yeji, what is happening?!" now that the initial shock wore off, you were fully beginning to soak up the situation.

"do you think innie has seen any of this stuff? you asked with your hand over your mouth in shock. "eh, probably not. he isn't exactly in touch with this kind of media, you know?" you nodded, relieved.

the world of business (or rich people in general) isn't exactly kind when it comes to outsiders, such as yourself, so when a commoner is spotted with someone closely affiliated with a huge international business, such as jake, all hell breaks loose. and it wasn't just a regular spotting of you and jake, no. it was dozens upon dozens of photos and videos of you and jake all over each other; hugging, holding hands, laughing and smiling together, shopping together, having dinner together, and even a few pictures of the two of you kissing each other. but it didn't end there, nope. the real drama was the videos, and not just any kind of videos, no. somehow, presumably because someone hacked his snapchat and got into his 'my eyes only', the explicit videos of you and jake doing 'things' were circulating all throughout these business drama accounts run by people who have nothing better to do than basically spy on these rich people.

you began to feel a bit light-headed at all this information that was just hurdled at you, yeji beginning to rub circles on your back in attempt to help calm you down.

"yeji, what am i gonna do now? there's no way i can go to that party, let alone go into public in general," you groaned with complete distraught, "everyone thinks i'm ruining the reputation of one of the biggest businesses in the country!" at this point, you would've bursted into tears if you weren't in public. "i'm already planning to hide in my room for a good month until this passes," you said dramatically, though that was truly a consideration that you had.

"what? no! fuck what these people think! let's just have fun! i've already got the stuff for your costume, y/n. pleaaaseee?" yeji begged to which you sighed. "but it's so embarrassing when the general public thinks you're a just a whore trying to ruin the reputation of a businessman, yeji," you complained. "y/n," yeji said as she reached for both of your hands, "this bullshit will pass before you know it. let's just party to help you forget it even if it's just for one second." yeji always knew how to sweet talk you into stuff. if she wasn't your best friend, you'd disagree immediately, but you decided to go along with her since she really, really wants you to tag along with her.

"okay fine," you gave in with a sigh, "i'll go." she grinned at your response. "hey! but only because you already prepared everything for it. if it was any other way, it would be a total no."

you couldn't believe that you were actually bold enough to agree to go to this party even after a good 47% of people attending have probably seen videos of jake blowing your back out.

a huge portion of you wanted to hide underneath your duvet and not come out until everyone forgot that you existed, but the tiny sliver of you that wanted to live your life as if no one was watching won the internal debate. you wish it hadn't.

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

a bit later in the evening, you found yourself on jake's couch wrapped in a blanket in his arms, panicking and crying about the media situation as jake continued to swipe and scroll through articles after articles, pictures after pictures, and videos after videos.

"shhh, shhh," jake whispered, putting his phone down, "it's gonna be okay; i won't let anyone hurt or go after you." he reassured you as he helped you dry your tears of worry. you nodded, sniffling for the last time before jake planted a kiss on your hand which made your stomach fill with butterflies.

'why, oh why does he have to act so boyfriend-like?!' you thought to yourself while trying to internally swat the butterflies away.

"here, why don't we do something fun," jake suggested, "shopping, maybe?" your eyes lit up at his proposal, causing you to nod your head up and down excitedly. after all, you hadn’t been spoiled in ages and it was a perfect opportunity for you to put together some pretty designer pieces for your angel costume for the party tomorrow. 

“but,” you sighed and looked down at your hands, “i-i’m kinda scared to go out.” you admitted with slight defeat, disappointed that you were letting the media eat away at you. “hey,” jake said with a calm tone, his accent soothing you further, “i promise i won’t let anyone get to you and if they try, they’ll have to get through me.” jake joked as he flexed his arms and ‘grrr-ed.’ 

he’s so cute. jake is very cute. he’s so sweet. jake is very sweet. you couldn’t help but cheer up a little bit as his attempt to lighten the mood.

“okay fine, tough guy,” you giggled, “i trust you to protect me.” your tone was sarcastic, but you truly meant what you said; you did trust jake, and you knew that he wasn’t gonna let anything bad happen to you.

"look on the bright side," jake started as he looked over at you, "at least now everyone knows you're all mine." he smirked lightly as he usually did whenever he said something cheeky. "of course you have to sneak a little flirtiness in, jake" you smiled, nudging him before squishing your cheek against his upper arm.

"what else can i say? if it's out there in the media that we're fucking, that means you're off limits."

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

once you and jake got dressed to go out, he excitedly put you in his car and began to drive to a high-end shopping centre. even after all this time, you still weren't used to the 'rich life' the way you thought you'd be by now. seeing other shoppers casually wearing burberry, dior, and prada garments, bags, and accessories still shocked you considering the way you lived before leaving your parents' house.

jake was about to open his car door when you grabbed a hold of his designer coat, gently pulling on the fabric the way a child would when trying to get an adult's attention. he immediately looked back and noticed your worried eyes.

"what if," you started, your voice already beginning to break a little, "what if people are watching?" you asked with worry coating your tone as jake placed his hand on your cheek, stroking your soft skin with his thumb to comfort you. "if they're looking at us, just let them enjoy the show," jake chuckled and smiled to lighten the mood. he earned a soft smile from you before exiting his side of the car to open your door as he usually did. "but really, don't worry, princess. if they're staring, let them. i won't let anything happen to you, remember?" you nodded at his reassurance then proceeded to begin looking left and right at all the shops to distract yourself from the fact that you were currently terrified of the public.

you were kinda stuck wondering if this media stuff was affecting jake emotionally, professionally, or otherwise. but since he told you not to worry, you promised yourself you'd do you best to obey him. after all, he is your (sugar) daddy.

jake couldn't help but gush at how cute you looked as you gawked at the designer shops and boutiques that lined the fancily lit streets. "go ahead and look inside the shops," jake said sweetly while he let you lead him around, "don't be shy; you know daddy will get you everything and anything you want, remember?" you nodded your head shyly, again, still not used to this rich lifestyle, though you weren't complaining about your current circumstances.

after a few minutes of window-shopping, a dainty dress store grabbed your attention, causing you to stop and look up at jake to silently signal him to walk you inside because you were still shy to be walking into expensive stores as a 'commoner.'

upon entering the shop, a subtle floral fragrance hit you immediately once jake opened the door for you.

'the store even smells expensive,' you thought to yourself while wandering the perimeter of the shop where all the dresses were neatly displayed.

you remembered that you still needed a full outfit for the halloween party once you spotted a puffy white dress that would look perfect for your angel costume. you kinda stared at it like an idiot for awhile whilst waiting for the employee to stop so blatantly flirting with jake. watching the employee lean closer to him from behind the checkout counter as she spoke to him about whatever topic she pulled out of her ass purely for the sake of talking to a hot guy like jake made you feel an odd sense of discomfort, which jake immediately caught on to. after all, you two spent a great portion of your time together, so he's bound to quickly become aware if something feels off with you.

"are you showing her around the area?" the lady asked, "she kinda looks a bit lost, don't you think?" she said, trying to speak in a quiet tone as if you were 1. stupid and 2. didn't already hear what she said. jake gave her a look of mild disgust at her comment about you as he gently grabbed your hand.

"she's just shy," jake responded, you nodded, "so cute, isn't she?." he gushed which made you genuinely feel timid. it was quite obvious that the employee was holding back on rolling her eyes at the fact that jake ignored her attempts at flirting with him, which made you feel a spike of confidence.

y/n: 1

rich people: 0

"...yeah, of course," she replied after a few seconds of painfully awkward silence, "um anyway... i see you have your eyes on our classic ivory dress. would you like to try it on?"

the atmosphere seemed to get even heavier and awkward with every word that tumbled out of her mouth, so you decided to step up and talk for yourself just to attempt to eliminate the unpleasant vibe of the situation.

"yes, i would love to," you smiled which naturally made jake smile. sighing lightly, the employee led you over to a huge, fancy dressing room after handing you the puffy ivory-colored dress.

she let you step into the dressing room, attempting to close the door before jake could get in. your eyes couldn't help but turn worried at being somewhat 'alone' in a rich people store where you felt severely out of place.

you convinced yourself that if jake wasn't basically glued to you while you were out shopping with him, you were lost.

"are you sure you wanna go in there with her, sir?-"

"yes, i'm sure. i know what my girl likes."

the words 'my girl' echoed loudly in your head as your cheeks began to heat up, a feeling of relief washing over you along with the butterflies that suddenly appeared in your stomach.

reluctantly, the employee let jake step into the dressing room with you before shutting the door behind her, the loud sound her high heels clacking on the wood floor as she walked away.

"sorry about that, princess," jake said with a pout on his face to which you just smiled with a slight chuckle. jake sat down on one of the fancy chairs in the abnormally large dressing room, watching you begin to undress to try on the dainty white garment you had picked out.

he gulped, sucking in a breath at the sight of your smooth skin on display for him.

you began to wonder why he had become so quiet, so you turned your head to check on him only to catch him staring at you. you couldn't help but giggle a little bit at the facial expression he made when he was caught admiring you.

"you're so cute, jake," you chuckled as you pulled the dress up, "here, come zip me up." you requested to which jake excitedly hopped off his chair to help you, happy to be close to you again as if you two aren't always together.

"you look beautiful, y/n," jake said with an amazed breath, "look at yourself." he gently spun you around so that you could look at yourself in the mirror, and you had to admit that the dress looked beautiful on you. a smile subconsciously crept onto your face as you smoothed out the fabric of the skirt part of the dress. jake smiled upon seeing how smiley you were from the fact that you looked and felt pretty.

"i think you’re the cute one in this situation,” jake chuckled, referring to the fact that you called him cute just minutes before which made you bashful for the nth time. “shush,” you whined, shoving him lightly, “now unzip me.”

“you should never ask me to casually unzip your dress for you; you know what i’ll be thinking about,” jake whispered in your ear as he slowly unzipped the dress, “and i know that you’ll be thinking about the same thing, baby.” 

shit.

jake is completely right. 

the feeling jake’s hand running against your back was enough to make you go feral.

“don’t tease me, jake,” you whined yet again. “or what?” jake taunted you sexily. “or you’ll have to fuck me, and i mean fuck me right now.” he pulled you closer to him as he guided the dress’s fabric down from your shoulders until you could slip it off from your legs. “gladly, princess. but you’ll have to stay quiet for me, okay?” you nodded your head frantically, needily. 

since you already had no clothes on, it gave jake easy access to your bare body. scooping you up, jake brought you over to the chair he was previously sat in, placing you in his lap so that you could feel his hard-on. “we need to make it quick, jakey,” you said nervously. “i know, baby, don’t worry. let daddy take care of you,” jake reassured you with a whisper, lifting you slightly so he could slide his pants and boxers down. his tip leaked precum as you positioned yourself into a spot where you could easily sink down on his length. jake brought his index finger up to his plump lips, motioning for you to remember to be quiet. you nodded, biting down on your bottom lip to control the noises that knocked at your throat, threatening to come out. jake wasn’t having an easy time controlling his moans either, opting to pull you into a kiss so that both of you could remember to be quiet. 

still lost in the kiss, you began to roll your hips against his, not bouncing on him to avoid the sound of your skin slapping against his. you broke the kiss to look into his eyes as his tip perfectly poked at your sweet spot. though you two were both trying to be as quiet as possible, you could tell that it was becoming increasingly difficult to not moan for each other. 

“keep going, princess. you're doing such a good job being quiet for daddy," jake whispered in your ear lustfully, “fuck you’re so hot. i need to cum inside you.”

and at that, you accidentally let out a quiet, almost silent, whimper as you continued to grind your hips down as far as they could possibly go, which jake found cute and sexy at the same time. “that’s a good girl,” jake praised in a whisper, “keep doing exactly that and daddy will fill you up with cum.” the thought of being filled with jake’s seed motivated you to ride him rougher until he finally let loose inside you, letting his cum turn your walls white. it gave your ego a boost to know that you could drive him crazy enough to where he'd cum quick.

he let out a deep breath then smirked sexily at you. "so needy that you couldn't wait until we at least got into the car, huh?" he teased to which you pouted.

"you started it," you huffed as you got off of him to put your original clothes back on.

"and i'm happy that i did," jake chuckled once he straightened out his clothes and opened the fitting room door, letting you walk out before him. fucking you in every dressing room you two walked into together became a budding tradition, and neither of you had a single complaint.

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

it was finally upon you;

the night before halloween.

you were all gussied up for the halloween party, making sure to use your time diligently so that yeji wouldn’t walk into your house and scold you for not being ready. surprisingly, you were already in the ‘putting-on-my-jewelry’ part of getting ready. you selected minimalistic diamond pieces that jake had given you over time to add a touch of fanciness to your already expensive outfit; jake’s impact was really beginning to shine through. you let out a content breath as you spun around to take one last look at your outfit, feeling like a princess whose dress was perfectly tailored to her body. 

your outfit was courtesy of jake from the diamonds on your neck and wrists to the designer shoes on your feet, and the mini designer purse you held.

you really had to stop thinking about jake considering that you’re going to this halloween party to get a break from him and maybe find a new fling?

though if jake was a brand, you’d be his number one ambassador. 

but still, you made sure to text jake and tell him you’d be busy all day and night, ensuring that he was aware that you were occupied. 

you were shaken out of your princess fantasies by a knock on your door, coming from yeji, to scoop you up, toss you in her car, and drag you into the choi frat house. taking a deep breath, you grabbed your purse and opened the door to yeji who was dressed in a skin-tight dark red dress, devil horns, and pretty red stilettos. “woah,” you said with wide eyes, “you look fucking amazing.” yeji, turning red from your compliment, looked away bashfully. “says you; you look literally flawless.” now you were the one looking away due to shyness. “you’re making me blush,” you joked, extending the last syllable of the word for dramatization.

with a few more giggles, yeji pulled you out from inside your house. 

“ready?”

“ready.”

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

“now remember, don’t panic, play it cool, and just have fun, okay?” yeji reassured you in a pep-talk manner as you nodded. “okay, i’ll try,” you sighed as you closed the car door, ready to walk into the frat house as if you actually wanted to be there. you straightened out your angel wings and halo before yeji knocked on the frat house door, the bass of the music already making the room vibrate. soon, the door was opened by yeonjun, one of the members of the choi frat house and aka party’s organizer. 

his vampire costume made him look exceptionally sexy; fake blood dripping from his neck, a blood-stained white button up, and a black cape to pull the whole outfit together. if you had the opportunity, he’d be your next fling. 

“hey, guys! welcome in!” yeonjun said as he held the door wide open for the two of you to sneak in, “drinks are... kinda all over the place, but still, you’ll find some eventually.” he said as he scratched his head with a sheepish laugh. “oh, also,” yeonjun leaned in, his voice becoming softer, “if you want weed, come find me.” your eyes lit up in surprise, not expecting for this party to be like that.

after the brief talk with yeonjun, yeji was off on her own, fully leaving you to sit at the party and do god knows what. 

not wanting to waste your time, you got up off the couch and decided to walk around and explore the oversized frat house. nothing special; just a bunch of college students getting wasted, making out, and doing... other things... behind the closed doors of the rooms. you were beginning to get bored of the party until you spotted a secluded part of the frat house, the strong smell of marijuana drifting through the air, a scent that you hadn’t encountered in what felt like ages.

you stood in place, having an internal debate about whether or not you should smoke since it had been quite a long time since your last smoking experience. you couldn’t lie and say that getting high wasn’t a fun idea so, ‘fuck it,’ you thought to yourself, bravely turning the corner to the secluded section of the frat house where very few people sat relaxed on the couches, passing a few joints. 

“didn’t expect you to be here, y/n,” yeonjun said, acknowledging you once you were in his view, “you know, since you’re the angel in your frienship with yeji.” he pointed out with a chuckle, motioning at your wings and halo, not forgetting to adore your pretty figure in the process. “who says?” you questioned with a chuckle, every guy looking side to side at each other with a smirk. “y/n, we’ve all seen already,” yeonjun boldly stated, referring to the videos of jake fucking you into another dimension, “i wouldn’t have guessed you were that kind of girl; you just seem so... innocent.” you immediately felt your cheeks turn hot due to embarrassment, your stomach beginning to churn nervously before you decided to respond. you figured you should just play it cool considering that they’ve already seen videos of you and jake being intimate.

“you’d be surprised,” you remarked with a shrug, “pass one.” you said, holding your hand out to which yeonjun handed you a generously large blunt, lighting it for you. feeling the smoke fill your lungs felt foreign yet familiar. yeonjun seemed impressed at how well you were able to take the smoke as he watched you blow it out. “your turn,” you smirked over to yeonjun, letting him take the blunt from you. he took a deep inhale, looking to the side to let smoke blow past his pretty lips, while he was looking to the side, you took it upon yourself to sneak two blunts into your purse. you knew they wouldn’t notice considering how many were scattered on the table. weed is expensive and hard to get, so you were gonna take what you could from this frat party you were forced to go to. 

after a hefty amount of time blunt passing, you were beginning to enter the ‘giggly’ stage of being high. you found yourself giggling at anything and everything in a matter of the few minutes you were smoking. 

“it’s kinda funny to see a good girl like you be high as fuck,” yeonjun chuckled as he passed the blunt to you again, “it’s also kinda hot.” 

you let out light giggles again, your mind clouded by marijuana and barely aware of what was going on around you. “you think?” you finally responded, a smirk forming on your face. “very bold and flirty of you, yeonjun. you really think i’m that much of a good girl?” he smiled sexily, scooting closer to you. “mhm,” yeonjun nodded, his vampire costume giving him a boost in his already prominent sexiness, “i love when women with a ‘good girl’ image end up having a naughty side. those videos didn’t lie.” 

the mention of those videos of you and jake were enough to make your cheeks turn hot again, throwing you into a pit of mild embarrassment. 

“heh, i’m getting a little dehydrated from smoking,” you chuckled lightly, trying to play things off, “can i maybe go get something to drink?” yeonjun reached over to the other side of the couch, pulling out a half-full bottle of soju. “is this alright or do you want water?” he asked as he was already preparing a shot for you. you pondered for a second. was taking a shot the best idea considering you were high out of your mind? no. but were you still gonna down it? absolutely.

“cheers,” you said with a smile as you clinked your shot glass against yeonjun’s still empty one before downing all the liquor. you felt your head spin slightly, but overall, you felt pretty light and airy because of the abundance of marijuana in your system. turning back over to yeonjun, you picked up the bottle of soju and poured him a shot the way he did for you. he downed it quickly, a smirk plastering on his face immediately after. 

“you really do have a naughty side, don’t you, good girl?” yeonjun’s tone of voice coated with the lust that you were no stranger to. “mhm,” you nodded, the two of you getting closer to each other with every second that passed, “wanna see?-”

“alrighty, i think someone should go home for the night!” you heard a familiar loud voice come from behind you. you quickly turned your head to see yeji right behind you, startling you. “you don’t have protection, so let’s not make any marijuana-induced decisions,” yeji whispered in your ear. “okay, but what if he does?” you pouted at her. “okay, that’s a highly likely possibility, but aren’t you worried about another “scandal,” y/n?” she seemed to whisper even quieter in a more serious tone, “rumors say that he’s also a big fan of filming his sexual encounters.”

you let out a light sigh because you knew she was right; it would be a bad decision for you to do this. all eyes were already on you because of your relationship with jake, and you didn’t need any more unnecessary drama or attention. “let’s say bye-bye to yeonjun for tonight, okay, y/n?” yeji said as if she was talking to a toddler, also lifting up your hand to make you limply wave at him. yeonjun’s face was plagued with confusion from the moment yeji popped up behind you out of thin air to the moment she was dragging your now-feeling-heavy body over to another area of the frat house.

“phone, now,” yeji said with a stern sounding tone as she stuck her hand out for you to hand her your phone. you followed her request, sifting through your small bag to retrieve your phone and handing it to her. once it was in her hands, she unlocked it and scrolled through your contacts until she found jake’s number, calling it immediately upon stumbling upon it. 

“hello?” yeji said over the phone, “yeah, um, y/n is a little... wacky right now. do you mind picking her up and taking her home?” you heard the muffled sound of his accent over the phone for a few seconds before yeji hung up. “why did you bother jake?” you asked quietly, your words slightly slurred, “i told him i was gonna be busy tonight.” you sulked. “well, no one else was gonna take you home, so i had to turn to him,” she shrugged, “now i’m gonna stay here until jake comes to pick you up, okay?” you nodded, slumping over onto yeji as you waited for jake to show up. “i had fun,” you said quietly, your words still a bit slurred. “good,” yeji smiled down at you, “i’m glad. you even almost had too much fun.” both of you shared a chuckle before yeji glanced over at your phone, seeing a text from jake saying that he was outside. 

“y/n, get up,” she said as she softly rocked your shoulder, shaking you, “jake’s outside-”

“i’m here!” you heard a familiar aussie accent from a few walls down.

yeji motioned over at him with a wave to come over to the couch where she had sat you down. “she’s okay. she’s just a little... you know,” she sheepishly chuckled, knowing it was partially her fault that you got high considering she was the one who dragged you to the party in the first place. you looked up and raised an eyebrow at his drastic change in appearance. 

“my jake doesn’t have black hair,” you remarked as you rested your cheek on the arm of the couch, “last time i checked, he had golden retriever puppy hair.” jake giggled slightly as he blushed at the cute sight of you being all giggly and looking a little sleepy. “well, baby, your jake spent the day dyeing it since you told me you’d be busy all day and i had nothing to do. i wanted it to be a surprise,” he chuckled at you sweetly as you reached out to touch his soft, now black, hair, “come on, let’s go now.” slowly nodding, jake helped you sit up. 

“it’s the man himself,” you heard another familiar voice from somewhere nearby, looking up to see who it was. you snapped your head up to see yeonjun and jake looking at each other, “fuck her good on my behalf.” yeonjun laughed cockily, nudging jake’s upper arm with his elbow. jake, feeling slightly jealous at the fact that you may have been flirting with him during the party, faced back over to you and put his big hand on your shoulder, his thumb caressing the exposed skin. “on that note, let’s go, y/n,” jake tried not to scoff jealously as he held onto you and led you out of the door and to his car,

“you’re adorable,” jake said sweetly with a giggle as he put you in the back seat, “go ahead and get some rest. we’ll be home soon.”

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

contrary to your expectation, you ended up at jake’s house instead of your own though you didn’t mind. 

he sat you down on the couch in his main living area, similar to the way yeji did to you at the frat house. “stay here,” jake ordered, “i’m gonna get you some water, okay?” you hummed in response, slumping over the arm of the couch. you faintly heard ice clink into a glass cup and before you could possibly process any other sounds, jake was already by your side, offering you the ice water.

you took a few small sips before placing it down on a coaster as jake walked over to sit next to you.

“need anything else, princess?” jake asked, pecking you on the cheek. “hmm...” you pretended to think out loud before climbing on top of him, straddling him. jake sighed while running his fingers through your hair. “baby,” he said with a whiney yet stern tone, “don’t you think you’re a little to high? you should really get some rest; we can do it tomorrow.” his statement was enough to make you pouty as you planted your head against his chest, inhaling the scent of his cologne which only made you more aroused. “no, i’m not,” you pouted, extending the last word of your sentence. you reached for one of his hands, separating his middle and ring finger and bringing them up to your mouth, sucking on them because you knew that always got him going. 

he let out an audible groan, letting his head fall back as he bit down on his bottom lip. he’d be lying if he said that you didn’t know everything that made him aroused, because you literally did, but he was surprised that you remembered finger sucking was a huge turn on for him. 

“okay, fine,” jake let out a satisfied sigh to which you pulled his fingers out of your mouth, “we’ll make it quick.” humming in satisfaction, you reached over to get something in your bag. 

“i don’t have to be the only one who’s high,” you mentioned as you pulled one of the blunts (that you took from the party) out of your bag, “only if you want to, though.” jake’s eyes widened in surprise from the unexpected turn in events. “i don’t mind,” jake shrugged, “let me go find a lighter.” he said as he gently lifted you off him before going off to find a lighter. 

your stomach churned with excitement; you were super eager to see how jake acted when he was high. before you knew it, jake was coming back with a lighter, ready to start smoking. 

“have you done this before?” you asked jake with pure curiosity as he lit the blunt. he nodded. “multiple times, actually,” jake chuckled before inhaling the smoke then letting it blow out past his plump lips. watching jake smoke so effortlessly was only wetting your panties even more. “want me to shotgun you?” jake asked with a smirk. you nodded, practically drooling at the sight of him with the blunt in his mouth. you were pleasantly surprised at how well he was handling his weed; you didn’t think he was into weed, let alone smoking it.

he took a long hit of the blunt, proceeding to grab your face and blow the smoke into your mouth. the shotgun turned into an intimate make-out, the two of you giggling and smiling into the kiss. jake broke the kiss, beginning to take your halo headband and angel wings. 

“these need to come off,” jake stated, placing the parts of your costume aside, “nothing about what we did and are about to do is holy or angelic.”

his slick words made your pussy clench against nothing. you were already so turned on by his voice, so him dirty-talking to you only made things more intense.

swiftly, jake removed his and your clothes, preparing to please you as much as he possibly could. he sat you between his legs, spreading them apart so he could touch you with ease. his long fingers circled your clit so slowly that it was almost painful. “please?” you begged quietly, reaching around so you could push his hand down further, hoping that he would follow your lead and push his fingers in. jake smiled against your neck, placing a wet kiss on it while easing his middle and ring finger into your wet pussy. you whined as you held onto his wrist, which jake found cute; he loved when you’d grip onto him to stay put while you’re overstimulated. 

“so cute,” jake cooed as he pumped his fingers in and out of you, “you really love daddy’s fingers, don’t you? whimpering, you nodded your head. “mhm, feels so good,” you managed to respond. his fingers seemed to feel ten times better when you were high. wanting to please him too, you positioned yourself between his legs so that his throbbing hard cock was right in front of you. you wasted no time putting his length in your mouth, licking the precum that oozed out of his swollen tip which made jake let out a loud groan and grab a fistful of your pretty hair.

"that's a good girl," jake lowly and sexily muttered while you continued to tease him with your tongue, "you make daddy feel so good." you hummed against his cock in response to him, his thighs beginning to twitch.

"fuck, princess, get up," jake commanded once you released his cock from your mouth, "i need to fuck you."

you giggled and kissed his nose, jake playing with your boobs with one hand while the he used his other hand to guide his cock into your needy pussy. his tip pushed past your tight walls along with every other inch of him as you jaw fell open, moaning out for him.

"jake," you mewled out breathlessly, "i wanna cum so bad." you not-so-subtly begged as he began to thrust in and out of you. "i know, princess, i know," jake breathed out against your neck, "daddy's gonna fuck you good." you slowly nodded your head in approval as he picked up his pace.

roughly, he pulled his dripping wet cock out of you and proceeded to bend you over the arm of the couch. not wasting any time, he pushed his hard member into you, your walls immediately reacting by pulsing around his thick cock. "mmm, right there," you moaned out breathily, "d-don't stop." jake slapped your ass harshly as he continued to slam into your g-spot, confident knowing that you were being driven insane by his dick.

"my good little girl," jake praised as you began to push your ass back into his hips, fucking yourself on his cock, "fucking yourself on my cock like that. mmm yeah, you're my little slut, aren't you?" jake chuckled lowly and sexily while simultaneously pulling you close to him, your back now against his chest. "daddy's good slut," you moaned in agreement as he kissed from your jaw down to your neck. "i know you are, baby," jake smiled sweetly and gently while fucking you roughly, "are you gonna keep being a good girl and cum for me?" moans spilled from your lips uncontrollably, which basically answered jake's question. in your defense, jake fucks you so hard while expecting you to articulate a full sentence, so this time you decided to let your moans do the talking for you.

"such an angel," jake chuckled lightly.

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

you woke up the next morning to the feeling of being walked on by a four-legged creature of some sort; whatever it was seemed to enjoy walking all over your legs, which was fine because whatever the thing was, it wasn't that heavy.

"hey! come here! don't walk on her, sweetheart, she's still sleeping." you heard jake whisper-yelling next to you as the thing that was stepping all over you moved over to him.

originally, you were just gonna go back to sleep and wait until later to find out what the thing was, but your body felt heavy, your back was sore, and your tummy was grumbling because you hadn't eaten. figuring that you probably weren't gonna fall asleep again, you decided to turn over to jake and take a look at what was going on.

you were greeted by the charming sight of a happy-looking, fluffy dog that was lying comfortably in jake's lap. your eyes immediately lit up with delight and excitement from simply waking up to a dog being in your face.

oddly enough, you couldn't help but think that jake and his cute little dog resembled each other in a way that you couldn't explain.

"i'm sorry, princess, did she accidentally wake you?" jake asked sweetly once he finally noticed that your eyes were opened and staring at his dog. "mm mm," you shook your head, "it's okay; i don't think that there's a better way to be woken up than with a dog right in front of your face and being the first thing you see."

the two of you shared a laugh before jake finally introduced you to his dog.

"y/n, this is layla, and layla, this is y/n," he smiled down at layla as he watched her sniff your hand, "my parents stopped by earlier while you were still asleep and dropped her off here because the kids who come trick-or-treating love to pet and play with her after getting candy from me." your heart grew warm at hearing him talk about his little halloween tradition that he had with layla, which made you feel a bit excited thinking about being able to pass out candy with jake with layla alongside you two.

you'd honestly forgot that today was actual halloween considering that you went to a halloween party the night before, but this was your type of halloween; not a huge frat party, but a small intimate moment that can be as tiny as just giving candy to kids.

"so cute," you cooed as you looked up at jake while gently petting layla, "should we get up and start getting ready for kids to start ringing the doorbell?" you suggested to which jake smiled and nodded, prompting him to let layla jump off his lap before standing up from the bed.

you quickly washed up and brushed your teeth before wandering into the kitchen where jake was preparing bowls of candy, layla sitting by his side and hoping that something would tumble off the countertop for her to munch on.

"you can go ahead and sit and relax, princess," jake said sweetly after you wrapped your arms around his torso from behind, a bit of post-sex clinginess still left in your body. you hummed against his back in response as you went to go sit down on the couch, layla following behind you.

"oh by the way," jake started before you were too far to hear what he was saying, "the boys are probably gonna stop by for a little since i was supposed to go to one of their little hangouts. i told them that i wanted to stay here, take care of you, and pass out candy, so they agreed that they'd just slide over when they're ready." you turned around to look at him with a pouty face.

"aww, you didn't have to stay here with me," you cooed shyly, "so sweet, puppy." jake blushed upon hearing you say puppy, while layla wagged her tail thinking that you were talking to her.

you sat down on jake's comfy couch, layla jumping up to sit next to. you continued to get acquainted with her; petting her and gushing about how adorable she is. you swore that her fur was so thick that it made your hand disappear every time you would pet her.

jake placed the bowls of candy on the coffee table along with a tiny witch hat which you presumed was layla's little halloween costume.

"look over here, sweetheart," jake called to her in a gentle tone, "let's put this on, yeah?" he said with a super cute smile on his face as he gently adjusted the elastic band that held the hat onto her little head. "so cute!" you squeed, layla wagging her tail with the same excitement that you were experiencing.

just then, you all heard the first doorbell-ring of the evening, jake excitedly picking up one of the candy bowls off the table while also pulling your hand so that you were trailing behind him.

jake opened up the door to a few kids, accompanied by their father, wearing adorable homemade costumes who looked excited as ever to be receiving their first bits of candy on halloween night.

the kids didn't forget to give layla a few gentle pats on the head before moving on to the next house.

"aww, they were so sweet," you gushed, putting your hand on your chest as you looked at jake. "i know, right?" jake agreed with a warm smile, "i wonder what it'll be like when i have my own kids, you know? letting them choose their costumes, taking them around the neighborhood to get candy, stuff like that."

jake mentioning having kids of his own one day gave you an odd mix of emotions that you weren't expecting; why did you seem to care? you couldn't pinpoint the exact emotions that were running throughout your body, so you decided to shake it off and let it go.

another ring of the doorbell, thankfully, snapped you out of your thoughts. without hesitation, jake opened up the door and was about to hand out candy when he realized his friends were out there, not kids. he laughed sheepishly, putting his hand at the nape of his neck before placing the candy bowl aside. you nervously hid behind jake as if you were a little kid hiding from strangers as he talked to his friends.

"oh yeah," jake said while scooting aside so his friends could see you, "this is y/n. it's about time you guys met her." jake chuckled, looking down at you then back up at his friends. you finally worked up the courage to lift you head up.

you thought it was just a hallucination of some sort; you couldn't believe your eyes.

a familiar face stood before you: pale skin, a mole on his nose, and raven black hair.

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

a/n: yeah i'm hella behind on this series guys i'm so sorry

taglist: @axartia @jjhmk @valiantwastelanddelusion @jayroseyy @ayohahaha @asaheyow @lhsng @i-dalso @bunhoons @red-xherry @duolingofanaccount @lix-freckle3 @l0st-h0p3s @leeis @muffinminnie @green-orangeade @imbaeksbae @sunghoonmybeloved @sjakewrld @markleeisdabestdrug @futuremodeldiary @jeondolly @lil-iva @lalalalawon @noirgray @jckeplanet @teddy-lhj @meinapricity @jjkshies @bubbleseo @cherryunie @mqndnolia @bently-baby @fluffypiesstuff @ihrtk1ve @wonkiluvr @teti-menchon0604 @lovienikitty @rjsmochii @omgjwon @sunshine-skz @wy1999t @lv4rin @oceanyocean @jakeswhore @nyfwyeonjun @mxshimoo @multifandombtvh

©yunjardi on tumblr

[theophagie-remade]

I've been kind of following the Gundam lesbians vs Bandai controversy from the sidelines (ie: the main characters got married (offscreen) at the end of the series and the production team is supportive; Bandai censored the explicit mentions of marriage in a recent magazine and then said that everything is up to interpretation) and. In general it's a really good example of how oftentimes it's not authors who should mainly be blamed for the lack of unapologetic queerness in anime and manga (or anywhere else, for that matter), but those companies that they work for

Which leads me to

And as a side note I want to reiterate this but anyone who calls them "queerbait", "yuribait", etc is a stupid dickhead because Toga is bisexual and in love with Uraraka. THE QUEER IS THERE

At this point it no longer makes much sense to wonder whether the romantic undertones to Uraraka and Toga's relationship are accidental or not. I won't claim that they will definitely end up together together (although I've seen enough Japanese fans go crazy for how proposal-esque Uraraka got to, like, at least entertain the thought lol), but what I want to say is. Everything that happened between them is deliberately meant to be read as queer, romantic, and mutual. Uraraka may have not said "I love you" back to Toga in these same terms, but through her actions and words she has reciprocated her feelings. Yes, even if Those Assholes say that she's just lying, that anything that isn't spoon-fed explicitly confirmed is just a "delusional interpretation"

Even then, the supposed line between text and subtext is... a bit eyebrow raising, innit. Toga being bisexual and having feelings for Uraraka is text. Exchanging blood being equal to kissing to her is text. Her insecurities are text......... Uraraka wanting to give Toga her blood, thinking that her smile is beautiful, and that she's the cutest in the whole world is text. I feel like that strongly suggests something at minimum, no. And. Can we really call it subtext, or even coding, when characters do everything short of dramatically shouting "I gay-love you!" to each other? These are more of my personal feelings, and I know that this happens because We Live In A Society, so we tend to feel like things like these must be outright defined so that our queer interpretations can gain validity and the right to exist in the eyes of the majority (= the cishet audience), but... I do find this way of engaging with media rather stifling, especially because... people who hate us to begin with won't care if two manga girls declare their love to each other. Chances are that they will get angrier, actually, or that they will look for excuses to deny their love ("the author was pressured by crazy shippers", "akchually the wording is ambiguous", "the degenerate West is corrupting the purity of the East", you name it)

Still, I know. I know that there's a lot of hunger for undeniably canonical queer relationships (for obvious reasons! understable reasons!), but to circle back to the beginning of this post, pushing back against the system is hard. Bnha's ending is still a ways off, and no one can predict the future. We don't know if Horikoshi plans to stress even further/more bluntly within the manga that Oh, They 👭🏳️‍🌈, we don't know if Jump would allow him to, we don't know if such a thing would be met with opposition elsewhere/afterwards (see: what Bandai is trying to do now, after everything has been said and done).

Regardless, sought after explicit confirmation or not, they do have something, something that is very much there to anyone who's willing to embrace it for what it is: mutual, queer love. And they're sooo real 🩷💛

[unpoeticpoison]

sworn on the stars ~ prologue - genshin impact // sagau // imposter au

01 02

summary: to know the one protected by the stars is to know the blessings of the very world we traverse on. to betray them is to turn our backs on the very notion peace.

ie. they say that with every terrible storm comes a rainbow infinitely more beautiful than the trials that one leaves behind. let’s test that theory, shall we?

————————————

You were tired of it all.

Perhaps you had used up all of your fortune in another life, or the universe simply held some sort of grudge against your soul. Either way, you found yourself sick and tired of everything that had happened in the last few years.

First came the death of your beloved parents. The ones who had tried to raise you with so much love until they were cruelly taken away by the hands of death. They’d left you with enough fortune to sustain yourself for the rest of your days.

Then came the new ones. The ones who had turned your life into a real Cinderella story, though this peasant would never meet their prince. The ones who had subjected you to so much abuse that you had nearly become numb to it all.

You’d moved from household to household throughout most of your life. The ones who were kind to you always met misfortune, and the ones who were cruel always seemed to have gotten caught far too late.

Five years ago, you became so dreadfully ill that no other family was willing to take you in, not even if you had offered them money to do so. It felt as though the world was rejecting your very being, like it had finally had enough of you being around. Your body gradually shut down, despite your youth. The doctors could not diagnose you, for there was nothing that seemed to be wrong.

Except everything was wrong. You could feel your life fading, though you were never one to care much about the prospect of death. You’d just assumed it would’ve come later.

In the worst moments of your life, you’d come across a game called Genshin Impact. You’d come across it just before it’s official release: the new and hyped up game from Mihoyo that would soon have its’ players entranced.

Perhaps you were desperate for another outlet. You were a smart child, yet there never seemed to be enough media in this world to properly stimulate your mind. Storybooks had stopped bringing new adventure into your life. In the world of academics, you had studied nearly everything that you could possibly get your hands on up until the end of secondary school.

You wanted to immerse yourself in a world where you could be free to walk and run and perhaps find something of interest. To finally reacquire that spark in you that had been lost so long ago.

‘An open-world game, huh? Might as well give it a shot.’

And so you did. And you’d fallen in love for the first time in your life. With the characters and the story, for they always did bring excitement into your dreary days. But most of all, it was with the world you had explored. There was always something new to catch your interest when you were in Teyvat, and you’d gradually grown fond of the characters behind the screen. They were life your family.

Sometimes, the people of your world would forget about your existence. You’d started as an anomaly of the medical world, but as the years passed you became nothing more than a forgotten presence that once had meaning; a myth.

As the game updated each time, you were always eager to indulge for the characters with the money you knew you’d never be able to use otherwise. When you wear Teyvat, all felt right with the world, as if a dirty fog had been cleared from your mind.

Those days, when you were left alone in your very own hospital room, you’d pull up the character’s voice lines and speak back to them, or absentmindedly run throughout the regions.

Sometimes you imagined being able to comfort Zhongli and Xiao, old souls that had gone through so much throughout their long lives. You dreamed about exploring the vast seas with Beidou and her crew. Wishing about visiting the city of freedom and feeling the wind on your face as Amber instructs you on how to use a glider. Wanting to visit the beautiful city of Inazuma and bring relief to all those that had needed it.

But those were merely the dreams- perhaps even delusions- of a person nearing the end of their life. The years had passed, and many regions had become unlocked since you had begun. But now, you could barely stand to open your eyes, let alone admire the beautiful scenery in Teyvat.

‘Soon I’ll be gone from this sorry room, I guess. I just wish I could be in that world one last time.’

You silently thanked the stars for the last few years, dreadful as they were.

And so the young soul was taken too soon. Their body was taken by death, but their soul? Their soul was taken by another world entirely.

But perhaps this world isn’t so new as one might think. Maybe, just maybe, the world would help you solve the mysteries of your life, just as you had helped build it up from the very beginning.

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

I mean, could you imagine the kind of trajectory Meghan could've had as an influencer if she showed up to the Baby2Baby Gala or the Gloria Steinem award in something like this or this or this?

Can't she just rent some from Harry Winston like the rest of the celebs do for gala events? Or would she have to merch them as part of the rental deal and shatter the illusion that she's rich enough to buy them outright?

Celebs aren’t renting jewelry. They’re actually brand partnerships being paid to wear the jeweler.

The larger jewelers with the more valuable pieces (Harry Winston, Tiffany’s, Cartier, etc.) are paying the actresses huge fees to wear their jewelry, six or seven figures for each wearing. They’re also paying for security and transportation - not for the actress, but for the jewelry. Which happens to be on the body of the actress/celebrity so she gets it too.

Because it’s merching, these companies want women who will make sales for them. They’re looking for brand ambassadors who are generally well-liked, noncontroversial, of the moment, and again, who can and will make sales for them.

Meghan doesn’t meet the criteria. She doesn’t attend the glam events that people pay attention to, so she’s not going to get Harry Winston his spotlight. She isn’t generally liked, she’s too controversial and not in a good way, people aren’t paying attention to her, she doesn’t have social media, and her merching record is the sales rack - she doesn’t move product (neither clothes nor magazine covers). She also can’t hold her own against other, more high-wattage celebs; in celebrity PR at events like this, Meghan is essentially one step up above a seat-filler. She’s easily and always outshined by someone else and that’s not what Harry Winston wants. Harry Winston wants their jewelry front and center and that’s why they pay the big bucks to the Emma Stones and Julia Robertses of the world.

Sure, Meghan would be an economical deal - ie her fees would probably be less than someone with actual talent and real fame (she had more notoriety than fame these days, I’d argue). But why save on a Meghan, who can’t even sustain a headline by herself, when for just a little bit extra you can get Taylor Swift bestie and opening act Sabrina Carpenter, who’s got Gen Z and the Alphas eating out of her hand and who’s a guaranteed ROI?

I’d bet Meghan can’t even get Harry Winston to take her calls and that’s why she wears the small indie jewelry brands, like Tobey Maguire’s ex’s company and all these one-off brands. Because they’re the only ones who’ll pay her because the only places she goes to are the Baby2Baby galas, which barely get coverage. Meghan probably thinks she’s doing them favors and tries to squeeze them for more money than she’s worth but those brands are happy to pay her because they want the attention she’ll bring them from Sussex Squad.

[xenosagaepisodeone]

as a child, movie monsters scare you because they inhabit the same kind of all-dominating realm as adults. even putting the matter of being too young to be able to discern reality from fiction aside, it doesn't matter if you know logically that jason voorhees couldn't fit under your bed or in your closet, because adults already navigate the world in ways you don't quite understand and already impose their will upon you without reproach. the idea that jason voorhees would kill you if he saw you is enough to make him real in the mind of a child, all because of that tacit understanding that your safety is entirely subject to the whims of others.

adults are usually frightened by movie monsters for superficially similar reasons- ie the feeling of loss of control. this is sometimes entwined with the larger cultural anxieties evoked in a work of fiction to punctuate some kind of feeling of realness, but any anxiety elicited from these types of movies normally wears off over a short period of time. nobody's jumped you while in an underground parking garage and nothings popped out of your basement. the vulnerability you are feeling is situational. life goes on. recent years have seen an increase horror media that attempts to capture loss of control as an antagonizing force, largely in the form of ambiently hostile space. the rise of interest in liminal spaces (when its not just being done by kids who are fascinated by the parts of fast food joints they arent allowed to be in), the backrooms, neo-lovecraftian cosmic horror(+the whole "lovecraft would be pissed if he saw what were doing with his ideas >:)" genre), the renewed interest in cold 70s sci-fi, and even analog horror to extent embody this curiosity. enemies that can't be seen or even understood, but are definitely felt. people at large are interested in experiencing a total loss of control; physically, socially and sensory-wise.

anyways, this is why I believe that this means culturally, the people are interested in a new kind of sex. slashers and monsters have existed for so long that they have ceded that murky unknowability compelling one to fear strangers to the spectacle of popular culture. the danger has been excavated and demystified from both the canon and fandom perspective, allowing more people than before to feel comfortable recognizing "i kind of want to suck it off" as a response to their fear of ghostface or jason voorhees, and playing with what that would entail. honestly any director in the genre worth their salt understands this, which is why clive barker is the goat. but what would be the normative sexual response in circumstances like that of skinamarink be? would jacking off in the backrooms exerting control over your circumstances or would abstaining be (and would not jacking off be the hornier option?)? discuss.

[relatableblorbopoll]

Welcome to the relatable blorbo poll!

A tourney where blorbos will fight to see who's the most relatable of them all

When the tournament starts, you'll be asked to vote for the character you relate to the most!

Please read the submission rules and the voting rules before submitting your blorbos

Submission Rules:

You can submit as many characters as you want, but please refrain from submitting the same character multiple times

Mcrp characters allowed as long as you can provide an explanation of why the character and the content creator are different people

No Harry Potter characters allowed

I reserve the right to turn down any character/piece of media that personally makes me uncomfortable

Anti-propaganda is accepted as long as it's not disrespectful or insulting of the character/piece of media/submitter

Any disrespectful comments towards other people, pieces of media included or characters included will get deleted. Depending on the nature of the comment you could also be blocked (any racist comments and hateful comments about the lgbtqia+ community will get blocked immediately)

Please refrain from submitting characters you're supposed to project onto (ie: visual novel protagonists with little to no distinctive personality traits) or characters whose character trait is being average. This rule is here in order to make things interesting

No real people

No OCs

Voting Rules:

If you don't know either character in a poll you can base your decision on the propaganda submitted for them or vibes alone

If you only know one character on a poll, it is advised to read the propaganda submitted for the other character before voting

We're voting for the relatability of their personality, not of their actions or circumstances

Unrealistic / fantastical elements that a chatacter or their world may possess should not affect their relatability (if you think the character's reaction to these elements might resemble what you would do/say in their situation)

Unusual circumstances / struggles a character might go through should not affect their relatability

Tag list:

@tournamentdirectory @meanpurplepoll @top-teacher-tourney @jerktournament @blond-jerk-tourney @cringefaillosersummit @retirement-home-rumble @redandyellowbracket @moon-swag-tourney @autisticswagbracket @qprsmackdown @best-bff-brawl @generic-anime-boy-bracket @masked-character-competition @princess-polls

[masqueradetourney]

Welcome to the Masquerade!

Surrounded by charming strangers, identities who will Tumblr choose?

Is your Blorbo niche and underappreciated? Or from something that’s so obscure no one’s ever heard of? Or do you simply wish to know if your blorbo would still be popular without that precious name recognition and beautiful character design? This tourney is for you!

THIS POLL WILL BE ANONYMOUS! Your character will be given a code name and join the party, aiming to win the heart of Tumblr on their own merits. Because of this, all propaganda must be submitted secretly along with the submission forms! Once scrubbed of all identifying markers, they will be presented on their own merits, the information used to make an argument against their opponents by yours truly.

Now, every sensible competition has to have rules! So let’s get that settled, shall we?

1. No real people! This should go without saying, but this is a competition for fictional characters ONLY. This includes Minecraft Youtubers.

2. No characters from overly bigoted/controversial media! Ie. South Park, Harry Potter, ect. If it causes real world harm, it’s best to be avoided.

3. When submitting, fill out the form to the best of your ability. The stronger the argument you make, the more likely your character is to get in.

4. Hatred, vitrol, and fighting is not tolerated at the masquerade! Be mindful of your fellow partygoers, and keep things polite and good-spirited. This tourney is for FUN. Don’t take it too seriously.

5. Characters of all popularity levels are allowed, but lesser-appreciated characters will be prioritized.

6. Guessing identities is allowed and encouraged, but try not to spoil the surprise for others!

With all of that out of the way...

Sumbit your characters HERE!

This tourney is heavily inspired by @mysterycharactercontest and @squimbusfrommypolls, as well as other ones like @autismswagsummit, @weirdgirlshowdown, @eldest-sibling-tournament, @shittycartoonmomshowdown

[utilitycaster]

It's interesting to see people think that your posts are bad faith takes. In my opinion it's good faith that Marisha and Laura are both highly talented people who have created nuanced, multidimensional characters who invite us to muse about their flaws and where they shine and what things drive them.

Basically I love Imogen and Laudna both as characters for the same reason I love pretty much every character in the bells hells: because they're not perfect! All of them have so much trauma and each of them copes with it differently and in their own maladaptive ways! I love it because I think media needs more characters who aren't the "acceptable trauma survivors," because those people exist yes but so do people who cope poorly.

All this to say I don't understand labeling your takes as bad faith because it seems to me (correct me if I'm wrong) that you enjoy the same things about them, the way they are crafted to make people think.

Hey anon,

Thanks! Like, I have been pretty hard on some aspects of Laudna's concept, but I do not think undeservedly so, and I've definitely been harsher on other individual characters. But also, for example, Imogen is maybe one of the first ever telepathic characters who I think has actually delved into why that trope is one I usually really dislike, and as a result while I would have no patience with Imogen were I to be a random Exandrian, I have an immense amount of respect for what Laura is doing. I think being a telepath would make you Like That! I don't think it's actively a generous position, but I don't think it's in bad faith; it's just an honest response.

Anyway, to be honest there's not a whole lot to understand. If you hold a fandom opinion on the internet (ie, not one that has like, serious real-world implications) and enough people see it and someone comes at you and say I DON'T LIKE THIS and you say "ok cool I guess we feel different ways" some people will interpret your refusal to magically change your mind when you receive any pushback or your lack of investment in whether or not they like you as a malicious and bad faith attack. I also think there are a lot of people who identify very strongly with Imogen and Laudna (among other characters, too; I feel this was an issue with the Ashton discourse as well, and I've talked about this being a thing with some Caleb fans too) and who find it difficult for whatever reason to separate someone saying "I don't agree with Imogen's actions" from someone saying they don't like them as a person, even though that's not the intent.