#if I had never played it I'd probably have no clue how to draw humans

[wheredidalltheusersgo]

I miss playing tf2

I miss going on public servers, playing as pyro, and lighting those guys up

[cheese-ducks]

TWRP ORIGINS

Chapter 13: New Perspectives

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August 7th, 2007

It's been forever since I've used this thing. I honestly thought I threw it out. Mom bought me this notebook assuming I'd use it for songs and feelings or shit like that. Instead I found my old angsty poetry and a bunch of dick drawings. Why did I expect nothing less? Anyway, Sung is probably the reason I’m writing this down. He seems like the type of nerd to journal. Speaking of Sung, I actually took his advice and started working on No Pants Dance again. It’s actually sounding pretty rad if I do say so myself. I’m still kind of embarrassed about showing it off, though. Mom came in earlier today while I was working on it, and I totally freaked out. Luckily, (I think??) she noticed the random traffic cone Sung had brought home from the Atomic Hawk. He said he needed to "study it further". I just hope the construction guys he took it from didn't notice. He better help me think of an explanation for why I have it. I think Mom is genuinely starting to worry about me, even more than usual.

Ship's log 08-87007

The findings from Mission Atomicawk were a total success. I don’t care if that is not the name of the food place, the human said it was close enough. From my observations humans have stricter social habits than I initially realized. Honoring Stone's request, I did as his brother would do. I stayed silent, and did not speak unless spoken to, or if it wouldn’t listen laughter from the group. It’s strange to me, how those were. The only times the human feels qualified to speak. It continued like that throughout the night. According to Stone that is a common occurrence on earth. Fascinating. I need to conduct additional research and what better subjects than my own bandmates? I will report my findings as ASAP as possible. The human taught me that.

August 11th, 2007

Sung and I are freaking the fuck out at the moment. I mean, changing emotionally is one thing, but we did something NUTS today. Even he was confused. At what he called "musical combat training", it was going pretty well. I was having fun playing, the guys thought I was funny, Stan even complimented me directly, instead of referring to the group and tacking me on at the end. Everything was fine until I went to tuck my hair behind my ear. It was more pointy than usual. I booked it to Andy’s bathroom and sure enough, they were Sung's ears, alright. I had no clue what to do, but luckily Sung reminded me about the disguise from the other night. Thank God I forgot to take it out of my backpack. I put them on and no one noticed until dad picked us up. The second I got in the van he asked about it. I told him I was trying something new, and he didn’t believe that for a second. I should feel more freaked out about this, but honestly, the fact that Sung is nervous about this too, is kind of comforting.

Ship's log 08-81200727

Holy shit, I have a ton of findings to report! First, I inquired about my colleagues pasts which led to interesting results. Lord Phobos informed me he felt a similar way to the human. The key difference being that while his choices were made for him, the human chooses not to make a choice. Both circumstances seem to have left them with profound levels of anxiety and loneliness. Commander Meouch was slightly harder to crack. He wouldn’t tell me anything directly, but I did overhear a conversation between him and Lord Phobos. Apparently, his rough exterior is a defense mechanism developed over his time with those brutish smugglers. To take his words, when the smugglers hit him around, he hit them right back, even harder. Havve's story was quite similar. Deemed unworthy of artificial life, he was tossed aside at the first imperfection. It was strange hearing these stories. My empathetic inclination acted in a way I’d never felt before. I was genuinely sad for them, independent of influence, coming from deep within my being. It was unexpected. Just like the accident at the human's musical combat training. I needed to know why. For the first time in my life I wondered what exactly I was. I didn’t find anything definitive, but I didn’t find a damn close match in a study on ancient galactic beings. I found this description of a being made of star dust and soundwaves, that was traditionally solitary, and could perceive the emotional energies of lifeforms around them. The most damning piece of evidence came from the last sightings of these beings; 13 billion years ago. I read the rest of the study, completely engrossed, finding similarities between myself and the descriptions. Suddenly I found the explanation for the unique incident:

"I theorize that due to their impermanent, genetic makeup, if the species were to take a host for an extended period of time, eventually the two beings would fuse into one. Each retaining half their genetic makeup, but still remaining whole. They would live as a fully new, being, not remembering their separation." - Prof. Rakken Heliat.

I must tell the human at once. As much as I’d love to test the theory, I fear it may be permanent. I couldn’t do that to either of us. I have a mission, a noble purpose. He has a life, a loving family. I couldn’t selfishly take that from either of us. I’ll discuss it nonetheless.

August 19th, 2007

Holy shit, I think they’re onto me!! Mom and dad have noticed for sure!!! Last night while Sung(who has been weirdly quiet recently) and I were trying to sneak out, we heard them talking about me. They heard on the news that if your kid is super distant and weird they're probably on drugs. They don't genuinely believe that shit, RIGHT?? To be fair I am writing this in my room with my disguise on. I somehow woke up with Sung's eyes and ears so I’ve been in here all day. Sung won’t answer me. I KNOW YOU'RE THERE ASSHOL

.........................................................................................

"Hey, pal."

Jack jolted at the sudden sight of his dad, standing in the doorway with the dad look that Jack knew anywhere.

"Whatcha up to, bud?"

"J-just writing." He adjusted the sunglasses in case his dad could see the cosmic horror that lie beneath, but it only made him more suspicious.

"Ok, kid. Cut the bull. What's going on with you?"

"Uh, I..." His mind begged for Sung's help, but he still didn't answer. "Come on, man!" He muttered.

"Alright, take off the sunglasses"

"What? I can't!"

"Take em off or I'll take em, your choice, kid." Curt ordered.

"I really can't. You just have to trust me on this one, dad." The panic in his voice was barely hidden. Either he let his parents think he was on drugs or he let his parents think he'd gone insane. Both were terrible options to be fair.

"Please, dad. Trust me."

Curt paused for a moment before backing away from the door.

"Ally!"

"No! Please don't tell mom!"

Ally dashed up the stairs to see her husband and son pulling the bedroom door open and shut, specifically Jack nearly pulling the doorknob off.

"Jack! What is going on?" She scolded.

Jack paused to come up with a plan. He couldn’t lie to his Mom. He couldn’t lie to either of his parents. What was the alternative? Reveal his recent disfigurement and scared of the hell out of them. What would they say? How would they react? The fear he felt while telling Stone was tripled in this moment, he felt paralyzed.

Curt ripped the hat and sunglasses from Jack's head, expecting to find large pupils or red eyes. Both parents screamed upon seeing their son's face. Fortunately, Jack wasn't there to see it.

"The initial state of bewilderment will pass I assure you."

The parents stood in shock, unsure what to make of this situation. Sung sighed as he took a step forward, but the adults recoiled in response.

"Greetings. I did not anticipate we'd meet this way. I sincerely apologize for any terror and apprehension I have caused."

"What the hell have you done to my son?" Ally demanded.

"I was just getting to that. I-"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU KNOW, STANLEY?" Curt shouted into his cellphone.

[parkminijiminie]

Why can't jk just say he ain't banging any of bts members???

For obvious reasons.

Shipping is a part of the idol world. Always has been and always will be. Part of any group's appeal in the K-pop world is the interpersonal relationships, not just the music. Fans have always enjoyed seeing their idols interact with each other. It adds to the fan-idol parasocial relationship because you are not only listening to this person's album, but it feels like you actually know this artist, on a personal level. We as human beings, are inherently curious and nosy creatures and always want to know how "something really is behind the scenes.", "the real this and that. " It's no wonder reality TV shows is so popular, even when we all know it is far from reality.

Entertainment companies know this, of course, and they use it like a powerful tool to draw more attention and engagement from the fans in the form of views, comments, and sales. This is why fan service exists. There are many performarive interactions in the idol world. I'd bet good money there are people who can't stand each other yet play the role of best friends for the camera.

With Bangtan, it isn't like that. They truly care for each other, and the friendships are genuine. Sure, they may amp up the "fan-service" on stage for the entertainment of the fans, but it isn't fake. It's them, but high on adrenaline and trying to keep up the energy during a concert.

Because BTS are actually really close to each other, and it shows, naturally, there are all sorts of shippers in the fandom. I'd go on a limb here and say that probably every other ARMY is a shipper in one form or another. Some are more casual, others more intense. And objectively, there is no bigger ship in this fandom, probably all of K-pop in recent years, than Taekook, neither in numbers of the shippers nor in the size of their delusions. Shipping has always been part of the K-pop world, but it was never intended to be the monster that the Cult had become in recent years. A lot of the people in this fandom are Taekookers. Some are vocal about it, others are in disguise. Even some of the biggest accounts are Taekookers. Jikookers, while marginally less delusional, are in second place in terms of numbers. Both ships are "passionate" in their beliefs, regularly engage with content "looking for clues" for their ship, and pay attention to everything the people they ship do and say.

Unfortunately for Jungkook, this means that a big part of the fan base, particularly *his* fanbase, is made of shippers. Some of them are truly dedicated. These are people who vote, stream, buy, run big accounts, etc. They are not just ingrained in the fandom, they *are* the fandom. Another part are there more for their ship, than anything else. But even if they are not always necessarily true fans, even if they don't stream, vote, or buy as much, they still talk, observe, and engage online a lot.

Like it or not, shippers, as nasty as they can get, significantly contribute to the attention an idol gets, and even bad attention is still a form of engagement. Jungkook knows this , which is why he doesn't care if someone is hating on him because they are still taking their time to pay attention to him.

Directly and undeniably shutting all shippers down and possibly alienating them could affect not only JK's sales and results but the whole of the group's. I doubt HYBE would be very happy about that.

All the members understand this, and that's why not one of them, neither Jungkook nor even Jimin (who undoubtedly have been suffering the most from shipping) have ever come out and outright denied anything shipping related, unless it majorly violated their boundaries. Sometimes shippers get reprimanded and reminded of their place,when they become too much and actually cross the lines directly in front of the idol. Ex. Tae saying "Get out of your imagination," and JK saying "Me? Living with Tae?!" But mostly shippers are left to their own devices. They may get a slap on the wrist or some tough reality check, from time to time, but they will never get the boot out of the fandom and the door shut at their faces.