#ignoring the multiple books i'm in the middle of should-be-reading

[fictionadventurer]

An underrated benefit of love triangles is that they allow you to have a love story where the ending isn't immediately obvious. In your standard romance, the two leads meet, and then it's just a matter of time until they hit the plot beats that lead to the happily ever after. But the love triangle gives you two plotlines! Two different dynamics! Two valid directions for the plot to veer that will still lead to a romantic happy ending without that ending being a foregone conclusion.

The main character can grow and change in multiple different ways because there are two men on equal standing with her, who can have an influence on her in different ways, giving her multiple different lenses to help her understand who she is and who she really wants to be. When it's done right, the story will be satisfying no matter what the endgame is, because the point is going along on the journey and seeing who the characters become. And the great thing is that you don't know who they'll become because there are two valid options, so the entire story can be surprising, which is so refreshing when so many love stories are so predictable.

[see-arcane]

Be for real, Jonathan/Mina are not 5% as fucked up as Mina with any other characters they put her up with like Dracula, Quatermain, Hyde, etc. Jonathan is human and perfectly good and nice guy, it pretty much ends all possibilities for twisted gothic relationships exploration. Cause people who pair Mina up with all those different male characters do it to explore forbidden or dark or twisted relationships. You can’t do it with Jonathan-there’s nothing twisted or forbidden there.

Hey friend, not sure if this is in earnest or diet trolling, but I'm going to try and lean towards assuming the former.

The three guys you mentioned are just Alan Moore in very thin masks.

Dracula is basically every director and writer's body pillow who they think should Get All the Ladies~ for voluptuous empowerment reasons (ignore the castle harem), but with Quatermain and Hyde specifically in your roster, I've got to assume you're referring to TLoEG Moore-Dracula and company. I won't waste our time going into all the reasons I hate this comic series for what it did to every single classic lit character unlucky enough to show up in it, let alone the especially disgusting treatment Mina gets. There is no version of this where I give that thing a fair chance.

So let's get straight to your point:

Jonathan is human and perfectly good and nice guy, it pretty much ends all possibilities for twisted gothic relationships exploration.

people who pair Mina up with all those different male characters do it to explore forbidden or dark or twisted relationships. You can’t do it with Jonathan-there’s nothing twisted or forbidden there.

I don't know if you've read the book or not. Maybe this is your first year Dracula Dailying, maybe you've already gone through the novel and just didn't hit the brakes like most of us did over certain ominous tell-tale points to examine the implications under some very concerning text. Either way, the novel is objective proof that you're wrong.

As is every adaptation and spinoff to ever come after its publication that 1) Turns Dracula or whoever else into Mina's only possible gothic romantic option and inevitably includes 2) Somehow removing Jonathan Harker from the board due to being played with all the feeling of a broom, getting killed, divorced, or afflicted with sudden-onset-shitty-bastard syndrome.

The thing is, your take on Jonathan--the very human heartwarming do-no-wrong sweetheart--is absolutely right...up until October 3rd. And then allll the way up to the climax in November. Because within that span of time, Jonathan Harker:

(DRACULA SPOILERS EN ROUTE)

Has a literal physical transformation in front of the entire group as Mina describes Dracula's assault. No metaphors here. His hair goes white. His eyes burn. He looks like a corpse. His hands turn cold. By the time of the climax, we find out that he now has a Glare on par with Dracula's basilisk gaze which sends enemies running upon eye contact. This is followed by a surprise dose of super strength ala his hoisting a box that took multiple men to carry even while empty, but now is full of soil and Dracula himself. He hefts it over his head and chucks it. Like nothing. Stoker never says exactly what Jonathan's deal is, but whatever it is by the book's end, It Is Not All Human.

2. Almost guts Dracula in his own house. He lizard fashioned himself out a window specifically to chase after Dracula in order to slaughter him in the middle of a crowded street and was only stopped from doing so because the Count escaped out of range.

3. Has the same determination at the prospect of needing to attack ordinary strangers if they obstruct their pursuit of Dracula. He says he's prepared to hang if need be. Meaning he's prepared to be caught and convicted of murder if it comes down to it.

4. Makes a secret oath. One that neither Mina or the heroes get to know. Namely, that if Mina winds up a vampire, he will not destroy or abandon her, but join her in her new state rather than forsake her. Mina as a human? Mina as a vampire? Mina in any form however saintly or monstrous? Still Mina to him. All other considerations are secondary to keeping with Mina and keeping Mina safe. He is prepared to prey on humanity for and with her if that's what it takes.

5. Keeps that oath secret and refuses to join the others in swearing to slay Mina if she rises as a vampire. Full stop. "It's the right thing to do! They did it for Lucy!" Jonathan Harker could not give less of a fuck. He's sitting there sharpening his kukri, now quietly reconciling with the notion that if Dracula is not put down, he may wind up turning the knife on his allies. Something we don't see in text, but the reader gets to connect the dots on. His silence itself is dangerous.

6. When he is finally forced to part ways with Mina for the sake of the hunt, he leaves her with her own gun. To use as she needs. Keeping in mind that, even if it were loaded with blessed bullets, we never once see a gun be successful in putting down a vampire. Throughout the book, the undead are only ended by beheading and staking. The gun is therefore not meant to save her from a vampire. She is heading off with Van Helsing for company, the guy who led the 'Behead and Impale the Bloofer Lady' party. As an ally, of course. Just as he was Lucy's ally. Once. (This weapon is yours, my love. Use it when you need it. On whoever it must be used on.)

But the most telling thing comes well before all of this. Even before he first swings his kukri at Dracula. One single line:

“I care for nothing now,” he answered hotly, “except to wipe out this brute from the face of creation. I would sell my soul to do it!”

This? This shit that Francis Ford Coppola flat-out stole from Mr. Harker and duct-taped to Oldman Sexyman Dracula for his erotic fanfiction? This is important. Because out of all the characters in the cast, Jonathan Harker knows the danger of the vampires very, very, very up close and personally after two months of psychological torture and exposure to unavoidable proof that demons are real, that they walk the Earth, and that the Powers that make them possible must also be real and gloating in actual factual Hell.

Meaning that Jonathan knew exactly how potent such a promise was. He was not joking. He was not making a hyperbolic gesture. He fucking meant it. Van Helsing, fresh from his library book binge on the subject and therefore rightly panicked, lays out the danger himself:

“Oh, hush, hush, my child!” said Van Helsing. “God does not purchase souls in this wise; and the Devil, though he may purchase, does not keep faith. But God is merciful and just, and knows your pain and your devotion to that dear Madam Mina. Think you, how her pain would be doubled, did she but hear your wild words..."

Jonathan spent his summer in a territory covered in crosses and vampire wards and dutiful prayer, buddy. He knows God is good enough to sting, but not enough to stop the undead fucker from preying on a full pious mountain range's worth of people like his personal feeding trough for 400+ years unhindered. If Jonathan needs the Devil on his side to end him, so be it. If he has to sign on with the undead fucker because Mina went full vampire and the only alternative is letting her be slain, so be that too.

Van Helsing, the suitors, the whole of the human population, his own humanity, even Mina's own martyr-plea for destruction rather than inflicting herself on the world, being kept under Dracula's thrall and luring Jonathan back into the same torment--None of That Matters to Him.

Jonathan Harker's only priority is Mina. Period. Over God, over humankind, over friends and foes and sanity. Mina's existence trumps them all in his mind. And if she were to stop existing, he would fall on his kukri as readily as he once risked death on the cliff or to the waiting wolves.

The end of Dracula allows him and Mina a happy ending. Stoker is a softie in the end and these characters who represent so much of a queer author's hopes--(My partner loves me unto blasphemy. Even if I am wrong, unclean, unfit in the world's eyes, this person loves me so dearly and madly that they will go to unthinkable extremes to protect me, no matter what.)--were due for a well-earned bliss. But he also makes it very clear all the way up to that point that the story could have gone wrong. Horrendously.

And in the hundred unwritten versions of the tale where Dracula got away, where Mina turned, where the good guys were too late? Jonathan Harker would be the sudden shadow at their backs, raising the kukri to strike.

Jonathan Harker cannot be allowed to exist as himself in any of the ~twisted gothic horror romances~ where authors and directors graft Mina into relationships with [INSERT BASTARD], because whether those creators know it or not, they have already fallen short of everything Jonathan Harker is and what he was prepared to do on Mina's behalf in the canon. The young man's immensely Unwell about his wife if you scratch even the thinnest layer of paint off him.

And if Stoker had given him half a reason to prove it, he'd have left a pile of valorous corpses behind in the Transylvanian snow.

tl; dr: Jonathan Harker is both a sweet little guy and a bit fucked up actually. He is not just allowed in the twisted gothic romance potential club, he is the club president. And he's married to the founder.

[back2bluesidex]

To Be Popular - JJK

Patreon Membership Exclusive Series

Pairing: Social Media Influencer! Jungkook X Marketing Manager! Reader ft. Yoongi

Summary: You love everything about social media - apart from the ever-growing number of social media influencers. You don't understand how these people gain followers and admirers just by installing a camera and doing very basic things in front of it. And you despise how some of them can do anything to gain fame, to be popular - even if it includes uploading their bedroom scene in pornsites aka people like Jeon Jungkook.

But when your company launches a new product and your department head tasks you with signing Jeon Jungkook up as an endorsement partner - you have no choice but to chase him like the corporate slave that you are. However, things turn worse when you embroil in a dating rumor with him and have to keep the game going for the sake of everything.

is it really for the worse or things will turn in a way you never expected it to?  

Theme: Strangers to lovers au, fake dating au, kind of enemies to lover au, angst, smut, fluff.

Warnings: Juicy angsty. you can hear reader's heart breaking. uhuhuhu!

Read full Chapter on Patreon

The amount of frustration you have been feeling right now, can't be channeled through any expression. 

It's been twenty minutes and there's no sign of Jungkook. You don't even know where he vanished. You're sitting alone at an event and you don't know a soul here. 

And people staring at you awkwardly makes things even worse. 

“Hey.” An unfamiliar voice sings right beside your ear. 

You startle a little. The man is handsome indeed but it's a face you have never seen before. 

“Hi” you reply, trying not to appear to be antisocial. 

“Do you mind if I sit?” He asks sweetly. You mutter a little ‘sure’ to respond to him. 

“Great. So, are you new here? I haven't seen you at any meets or events before." His immense interest in you makes you a little uncomfortable. 

“Uh. No. I'm a plus one.” You focus on drinking your water. 

“Oh. Whose plus one may I ask?” 

You sigh at his question. 

“I think I should call it a night.” You stand up, ready to leave the place. 

“Hey. Wait. Did I make you uncomfortable? I'm sorry if I did. I just thought you looked alone. My name is Mingyu, by the way.” He rushed to say. 

He is kinda cute. And when he apologized to you, his eyes turned wide, making him look like a puppy. 

“Don't apologize, Mingyu. The person I came with got busy, and I don't really mesh in here. So I'll just go home. Good night. And thank you for trying to give me company. I really appreciate it.” You give him a nod, he smiles. 

As you walk out of the venue, you decide to start staying away from Jungkook. 

Whatever you felt today, be it jealousy or anguish… you are not quite proud of it. 

You need time and sapce to manage your emotions. 

It's past twelve when your phone starts vibrating with another call. 

You were in the middle of reading a book, but as you see the call and the name of the caller, your concentration vanishes in a second. 

It's Jungkook. 

Jungkook has called and texted you multiple times in past hours but you ignored all of it. You are vexed to say the least.

But now, you decide to face it. 

“What?” You spit. You're beyond annoyed at him, at yourself. 

“Open the door.” He says briefly before cutting the call. 

This brat, he didn't even ring the bell. 

“Why did you leave without informing me?” Jungkook screams in your face as soon as he steps into your apartment. 

“Because you were too fucking busy in your business, Jungkook!” You scream back. 

“Oh please, Y/N! I didn't even take that long. I came back to find you gone. Couldn't you have waited a bit longer?” His eyes are ablaze. He reeks of alcohol. His loud voice makes your head spin. 

Pinching the bridge of your nose, you try to calm yourself down, “What was I supposed to do, Jungkook? I didn't even know anyone there. You left me alone and people were looking at me weirdly. I couldn't take it anymore.” You punctuate your sentence with a sigh. 

“Do you know how worried I was? I texted you, called you, everything went unanswered. I even asked people! Showed them your pictures! Then Mingyu said you left!” a part of your heart melts at his words. 

“Proves that you are a good boyfriend.” You shrug, “go home now.” 

You are about to head towards your bedroom but he stops you, pulls you back to him with a tight grip on your wrist. 

“Don't you think you need to be punished?” His eyes drop to your lips. He looked so good tonight. You never knew, only a pair of denim jeans and simple black t-shirt can make anyone look this hot! You lick your lips in anticipation. Fuck! You are really two steps away from forgiving him. 

You breathe quickens but then your gaze falls on the glitter at the corner of his mouth. 

That's…. Lip Gloss. 

“Wait. Did you… did you make out with doona?” No matter how much you try, your voice still weaves. 

Jungkook blinks his eyes multiple times, the spell breaks. 

“Yeah.. I mean.. kinda.” He adds. 

You bite the inside of your cheeks. 

“And now you want to sleep with me? After kissing her? What am I to you? A hole to fill in?”

Your words must have shocked him. He frowns. His beautiful face distorts in a negative expression. 

“What's wrong with you? Why does it matter if I have kissed anyone or not?” He steps away from you. 

“Don't.. don't tell me you have started believing all of these are real! Y/N! This is all an act! We are only fucking for fun! Don't start behaving like a real girlfriend! Oh god! Is that why you left? Because I prioritized Doona over you?” He stares at you with disgust in his eyes. 

For the first time in a while… It hurts. 

Your heart hurts like a bitch. 

When did you start giving so much importance to Jeon Jungkook that his words started hurting you? Why did you even….

Your tears start falling without your notice. 

“Right. I'm sorry. I know I behaved unreasonably. My bad. I apologize. Now please if you are done looking down on me… can you leave? Please?” 

Jungkook stares at you for a long time. And then walks towards the door, leaves without looking behind. 

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[duckies27]

I'm not one to normally interact with drama, but at this point, I have waited way too long to just sit here in silence. There is a creator on this platform named Hamlet Unfortunately, also known as Kenny, and I can’t just stay sitting on this.

I despise this man for multiple reasons, and I'll get into all of them here. In my opinion, it's not fair that he continues to do this sort of thing and just gets away with it, getting love and attention while doing so. All while other people similar to me get 5 to 10 likes on some of our work. I don't want to spend this entire time just completely thrashing him. However, there’s too much evidence to just ignore.

My friend Dork (@zestfeast ) and I are on a server with another Discord friend (who I won't name for their own sake, I don't want to drag them into this whole thing). I met the two of them on the fan-made Stinky Dragon discord, and we bonded pretty quickly over our love of the characters and our love of the cast. The show was something we bonded over and we wanted to spend as much time together by talking about it, without other people getting in the way. So the third party made a server and invited the two of us. We had a great time for the first two and a half weeks. It was a safe space with all the people that I trusted. We are all afab and personally, that makes me more comfortable as someone who is a cis woman. We talked about all sorts of things mainly relating to our enjoyment of the characters, coming up with AUs, and coming up with stories, all of which were pretty fun. At the time of the start of the server, I was personally barely baby 18, while the other two were and are still minors. This may not seem like a problem, but the problem came when. Kenny or Hamlet Unfortunately, as you know him, joined the server.

He was a friend with the third party and both me and Dork were completely comfortable with him joining. It wasn't our place to choose considering it is the third party's actual server. We sat and talked for a little bit, but after joining he didn't say anything. I didn't think anything of it, I'm also pretty shy but he was just awkward. Once again, I didn't think anything of it but then we started talking more. He started talking more. I wasn't a part of this conversation simply because I was at work at the times he was more vocal. I'm super busy, I work from 3:00 to 7:00 every single day right after school and it's too much hands-on work for me to come and check Discord all the time. A lot of the big conversations would happen when I wasn't there, and while I was currently doing things that took my full attention. I am a custodian worker at a middle school, I'm constantly working around kids, I'm constantly working around other people and it makes it hard to be on my phone. I missed the majority of these conversations, but to make sure that this was fully correct, I made sure to read back to all of the things that he said. It's not fair to judge a book by its cover without fully reading the contents. I read over 600 messages all sent over the course of a few weeks and I'll be dead honest, they were pretty terrifying to read back. Especially someone who has been around victims of the jokes he was mentioning. These included sexual content, drug jokes, and stuff that no person should ever joke about, especially not with minors.

It started simple enough. We just were talking about art relating to the characters and I'll be honest, some things weren't exactly always super family-friendly. We try to keep it light and airy the majority of the time within the server, but we had a few dedicated chats for the not-so-family-friendly stuff that includes some maybe more suggestive fan art. Most of the time it was and is pretty clean. We tried our best to censor what wasn't, especially because we had two minors on the server and people could always glance over our shoulders. I was in, particular, very aware of this and made sure that I didn't post anything without censoring first. One of the first things Kenny said to one of our minors on the server was "I'll suck your dick", when talking about fan art that Dork had done. Dork is very young compared to me or possibly him. I don't know how old he is but I just know that this comment made me uncomfortable reading back on it, especially because Dork is like a brother to me. I would protect him with my life if I could. I love this kid and would unironically do anything for him. They continued talking and he was incredibly mean to Dork, often calling him stupid and often acting as if his actions were childish and not as important as Kenny’s actions. When Dork tried to bring up another subject, relating to theater, not only did Kenny call him a fool, but he also said “I don't want to suck your dick anymore" continuing the uncomfortable, NSFW environment that he was starting to form.

As many of you who've read my page know, I like writing angst but I also enjoy writing stuff that's not so family friendly. I like pushing my boundaries and learning how to write, as an adult now, because it's a way of expressing myself that people don't need to see. It was a personal server thing that I kept it censored to protect people who didn't want to see it at that time. At one point I put out a request question saying I would write anything anyone wanted smut, angst, or fluff. I like writing requests and I like writing gifts for friends. It's a personal love language of mine. Kenny stumbled around for a bit, trying to come up with an idea before eventually asking me for Sliqueborg smut. I don't like the ship. It's not my thing, I'm more into BrinkBorg or the canon Lynn Mer and Kyborg. So I asked, “what are your headcanons?” I might as well be proper when I write this story. I don't want to come up with some idea that he didn’t agree with. He went to the headcanon channel and gave me one of the most inappropriate and jarring strings of sentences I have ever heard. Not only did he make our beloved wood elf incredibly abusive, but he also took Slique’s character and destroyed it. It was horrible to listen to and even more horrible to read back. I am 18, a barely illegal adult and the other two are minors on this server. I was terrified to see that he willingly put this down on paper for anyone to see. He only censored the thing because I had personally asked him earlier on.

I already was feeling uncomfortable with this guy. He was being pushy and mean and a lot of his headcanons were hard to swallow, and more and more times he brought up sexual things. I have a personal headcanon for the Groethe crew that relates to the musical instruments they would play. Ella plays violin, Mathilde sings, Barney plays flute, and Chip plays French horn. I thought it was a cute thing because of how Ella and Chip would very well complement each other, but Kenny took the opportunity to make a very inappropriate joke. That made me very uncomfortable because it was about Chip, who I see as a close similarity to my father. Chip acts and says things like my father would, so hearing this very sexual joke automatically took me out of the conversation. I hated it. I hated the idea of it. Not only that but there was one point in time when Dork was opening up about something very personal (which I won't share here) However, I came in at the worst possible time because I was on break. It happened to be insanely out of context, so of course I was like “What the hell?” But I didn't say it in a mean way. I meant it in a kind, confused way, similar to how an older sibling would walk into a conversation that you're having, that happens to be weird. Kenny continued to then look down at Dork, calling them dear and darling as if they didn't understand what I was saying. I came in and I was like “Wow this is kind of weird”, but that was it. I didn't push or prod. I didn't judge them beyond just that it was a weird message to get out of context and went back to work. Kenny belittled Dork for another 20 minutes after I went back to work.

Dork came to me the next day or so, in tears. They were terrified. They felt horrible. Kenny was being such an asshole to him and he couldn't do anything about it. It's a third party’s server and Kenny was a friend to the third party member. We didn't feel comfortable talking right to her right away. So instead the two of us hopped on a 2-hour long call on Discord to talk about our grievances. I helped Dork write a message to Kenny but instead of apologizing in response, he just said that it was his humor, a mask to protect himself. As someone who uses a mask constantly to protect myself from trauma, this pissed me off. His mask was being a jerk, his mask was being mean, and most importantly his mask was being overly sexual when it wasn't required.

Another thing that he often did was make fun of drug culture. Make fun of the “druggies”, including snorting pain pills and other issues that should not be joked about, while talking about his headcanons relating to Slique and Kyborg. He also mentioned rape, which I am completely uncomfortable with as a cis woman who has dealt with uncomfortable situations that deal with my body. I hated this. He came in as a cis male (based on what he said himself) completely invading a comfortable and safe space. Kenny is not the type of person I would leave my drink with at a party. I felt uncomfortable talking to him the majority of the time but I didn't want to bring it up because I didn't want to hurt the third party's feelings. After Dork came to me in tears, I said enough is enough and I reached out to her anyway. Thankfully the third party was kind, kicked him out of the server and I haven't had to interact with him since.

However, I've seen issues within the Tumblr fandom, the fandom that's taken me so warmly and held me to a higher standard than I've held myself for years. I love to see the community interacting with my posts and I love seeing my moots talk to me in such a kind and happy way. However, I know there are multiple people within the community, one who I talked to and wishes not to be named, has had issues with him. Most people see SliqueBorg as a very abusive and toxic ship due to his headcanons. He's ruined a ship, that though I don't agree with, is valid. Not only that, but he also still ships Mudd with multiple characters including Gum Gum (This is just vague posting and suggestive tagging, but it's very easy to see him doing something like this). which is a huge issue on its own. He doesn't care about if someone is a minor and if they would even want to be in a relationship.

During the whole “Mudd Gate '', which is what I'm calling the one actual problem we've ever had within this community, when actual Aro ace people were coming out and talking about how they didn't like how Mudd was being shipped with characters. A lot of people agreed, including me, but Kenny came onto the server and started complaining along with the third party (who will again, stay unnamed). Both of them came with swinging swords, dragging down the entire Tumblr community saying it was unfair for them to completely block out a ship component just because of a canon sexuality given by Jon himself. It took me a little bit to feel comfortable within it as someone who's Demi who was personally was seeing Mudd as Demi. But now I see the issues of my ways. How little aro ace representation there really is in the world, that is untouched by fandoms. Just look at Alstor from Hazbin Hotel. He's constantly shipped with people despite being a canon Aro ace character.

Through this all, I just want to say that we should stop supporting him. We should stop giving him a platform. Not only is he a fake fan just with how he characterizes Kyborg but he also has issues with sensitive topics that he will continue to joke about until the very day that he dies. I can tell that he thinks a lot of people are sensitive. Just saying things are offensive for clout or some other reasons, but a lot of the things that he actually says are very offensive and very inappropriate around the people he's been around. His actions almost took Dork away from this fandom. It isn't as bad as some other things that have come up in the past relating to other communities (*cough cough* Wilbur *cough cough*) If you hate me for making this post then I'll just say I don't care. I am planning on blocking him after I finish this post or at least until after he can react. I don't want to just completely block him from seeing his criticism but I will stop supporting any posts I have seen. I will make sure that he is no longer on my dash because he has done things that I am severely uncomfortable with. He does not bring good vibes to this community and he especially should not be allowed to continue being in the fandom if he's going to spread such hate. This is a kind and loving fandom that has taken me and others with open arms in times of struggle and times of pain. He has made it uncomfortable to be in. I cannot support him and I implore the rest of you to do the same after his actions.

[tinkerbelle05]

hi! can you write a miles (1610) x gn/fem pop star s/o? thanks so much!!

My Muse

Characters: 1610!Miles Morales x Black!Fem!reader

Genre: Fluff

Summary: (Requested) Thanks for the reqs, sweets

Warning: none :)

A/N: Did I use this as an excuse to talk about my favorite songs? Maybe lol. Let me know if you have heard of any of these, they are listed below.

Dating someone famous was not for the weak, Miles expected that. You tried to keep your relationship private, knowing how unhinged your fans could be. You loved and appreciated them (well most of them) but they could be a bit much at times.

And because of that your dating life was on standby until you met Miles. He was perfection in every sense of the world. And somehow, when your relationship inevitablely got leaked, he was calm about it. Well of course during first week Miles was the definition of a mess because who wouldn’t be. He was constantly refreshing the comment section of posts and the like.

But after that he went private and kinda moved on. Two months later and it was like the leak never existed. You moved on with your lives and the rest of the world did too.

Miles was hanging out in your room, music playing in the background. You were writing lyrics in your book and he was sketching in his. With the afternoon sun lighting up the room, the scene felt picturesque.

You felt someone watching you, and when you looked up, it was Miles. His face was resting on his palm and he had a lovesick expression on his face.

“You should take a picture, it'll last longer,” you joked and that broke him out of it whatever daydream he was having.

“Oh…oh. Um, was I staring?” He asked sheepishly.

“Yes, you were,” you chuckled. “But it’s cute.”

You leaned over and caught a glimpsed of his sketch book. But only that as he snatched the thing out of your reach. “Hey, hey, you know the deal. You look into my book, and I look into yours.”

You stared at Miles, mulling over the offer in your head, weighing the pros and cons in your head. “Okay, fine.”

You really wanted to see what that boy was so secretive about in there. And you always wanted to stare at the lil sketches he made of you. You exchanged books and went to looking.

You just hoped he wouldn't be a dork (affectionately) about what you written in your book.

But this is Miles we’re talking about here. Being dork is practically his middle name.

He glances up at you and his eyes says it all. Your cheeks were getting hot but thankfully with your complexion, it won't show.

“Can’t stop thinking ‘bout the way you kissed me, under the stars’?” Miles recounts the lyrics you wrote.

You ignored him and continued to look through his sketchbook. Even though you were enjoying his reactions.

It's one of your favorite parts about thing whole singing thing (other than the money obviously), it was how people reacted to your songs. Especially the ones who inspired it.

“Oh, and another one! ‘You’re the water when I’m stuck in the desert. You’re the Tylenol I take when my head hurts. You’re the sunshine of my life.’” He reads the words from the book with a smug smile on his face.

“What you cheesing for?” you asked with a big smile of your own.

Miles sets the book down on his overcrowded night table and comes closer to you, “You know, while reading this book, one would assume that I'm your muse."

He's staring at me with a teasing smirk on his face, “Well, am I?”

Instead of answering you shoved his book in his face and flipped through the multiple drawings that Miles has of you, “And what about this? Does this mean I'm your muse too?"

“Okay, okay you got me. I guess we’re both muses for eachother then?”

You look at him and can't help but smile, “Yea, I guess we are.”

Tags: @butterfi, @somber-dreamz, @jam-skullz, @hoeboat101, @randomhoex, @badbehaviorxx, @gw3ndyswonderland, @midnight-the-shadow-wolf, @eight-cats-in-a-box, @itstooearly-its3am, @sleepdeprivationis4coolkids, @rosebunny, @maypersonne, @yourtsahik, @mur-docs, @sawi-06, @707xn, @andhdi68a, @emgavi, @nagi3seastorm, @ghostsimp000, @cloudstrifefantatic, @vixqn, @ellatienesuscosas, @laylasbunbunny, @minimari415, @im-jisoo-im-okay, @universallypeanutpizzapersona, @avatarl0v3r, @nerdyparker616, @jell0buss-37, @centipider, @keawio, @skullux, @luci1fer, @jazisc00l, @thebestandrealestever, @baneofthemultiverse, @1uvvmi,

Anonlist & Reqs Info & Masterlist & 500 Followers Celebration!! & Taglist

Songs used: ur so pretty - wasia project & best part -HER ft. Daniel Caesar

[chairofchaos]

Evening friend!

You bring chaos to my life so here is a little chaos for you

2, 3, 5, 8, 19, 26

And just for fun because I know it will probably hurt me 40

Feel free to answer what you want and ignore the rest 🤍

GOOD EVENING.

Thank you for letting me bring chaos to your life, and for bringing me some in return. In your honor, I will answer all. Seemed like the most chaotic thing to do. I considered making separate posts for each question but then again that was a lot of work so just... bear with me. This is a long read, but hopefully, you will find it worth it.

2. Anything that you'd like to write but feel like you're unable to?

Yes. I am currently bouncing around multiple Greek/Roman tragedy adaptations of our beloved ACOTAR and TOG characters. I do not feel prepared to write these yet. I want to do them justice. That semester of studying tragic plays of the ancients has stuck with me.

3. How would you describe your writing style?

I don't even know how to answer this, but my best shot is this:

The vibe must be chaotic.

It must be written as fast as possible.

It should be entirely unplanned.

If it is planned, it should be entirely overwhelming and likely a bigger project than I should ever take on *cough cough* LETTERS *cough cough*

It's not a style as much as it is entirely based on my whims. And that's not always great. In fact, it's something I don't really enjoy about myself (comment on this and I will edit it out of this post so fast I SWEAR).

But I enjoy the product. I think there are at least a couple of you that do, too, so hopefully we can all enjoy that little piece of chaos together. If not, I'll just enjoy the pain I create on my own like a good little fanfic writer.

5. What's a tag you never want to use for your works even when it applies?

I don't think such a thing exists. I don't like surprises? Idk, this doesn't really make sense to me. Clearly I have no problem tagging things Dead Dove so we all know what I'm up to lol

8. How slow is a slow burn?

Somewhere between 100 and 100k words. I genuinely do not care. Depends on the medium? The pacing? A slow burn described in a poem is going to look very different than a slow burn in a fic the length of The Iliad and the Odyssey. Or Wheel of Time (that's a long series, right?). I don't care. It's all great. I love slow burns. Haven't written one because I think those characters should be enjoying each other romantically on page 1, but I LOVE reading them.

19. Share a snippet from a wip without giving any context for it.

UNANSWERED STARS YOU BEAUTIFUL HUMAN. Is this what you expect to hurt (I haven't looked ahead at the other questions I'm doing this straight through, no edits, no takebacks. Welcome to Chaos- you get two.).

Eris was no saint, either. Cauldron knew he kept his mate up some nights. But the Cauldron also knew Azriel would get out of bed in the middle of the night and take off into flight, not returning until he knew Eris would also be awake. After the first time, they would rarely talk about where Azriel went or what he did. Instead, Eris would press a mug of overly sweet coffee into his hands and they would sit together in silence on the front porch, Azriel’s head on Eris’ shoulder and their hands clasped together. - {Working Title is Coffee and Psychotherapy. THIS ONE IS ACTUALLY FLUFF YOU CAN THANK DUSK-MUSE AND NINTHCIRCLEOFPRYTHIAN}

And maybe more along the lines of what you were expecting:

Azriel found the most enjoyment in the training and teaching of others. In his time as spymaster, he regularly found time to work with young soldiers, for which many have since thanked him, crediting him with saving their lives by instructing them in his limited spare time. In the years since the war, Azriel enjoyed collecting books from all over the world. The collection he amassed was the instigator for a library to honor his mate. - Death, and All That Follows (This may or may not be a sort of extended epilogue to something I wrote recently.)

26. What would you describe as OOC?

This is possibly a wild take: I don't think I care what is out of character for characters I write. It depends on the fic, sure. But I think perspective forms our understanding of characters, and seeing them in a new light can often bring a different, even "OOC" type attitude to fics which I often enjoy. I am very much an advocate for "Don't Like, Don't Read" not only for plot points but for characterization as well. If you don't enjoy the way someone writes your favorite (or your least-favorite!) character, don't read it. The beautiful thing about being a part of a fandom is the diversity of experiences within it.

I did not read Nesta's journey the same way you did, or the way your friend did, or the way my best friend did. I brought my own perspectives, my own experiences, to my interpretation of her actions, words, and thoughts. I came out of the other side loving her, and loving the way she loves. I recognize myself in her. I know I'm not alone in that. I know that there are a great many who do not like her in the slightest.

ACOSF Nesta was presented very differently to ACOTAR Nesta. (For the purposes of this argument, we are removing the debate about The Author Herself because I simply don't care at the moment and that's a much larger topic.) I don't think that anyone's interpretation of Nesta is "wrong" or "bad" because we all bring a pair of glasses to reading, and that glass is made of our experiences. That's the filter through which you consume the work. My glasses are different from yours. That's okay.

Little tangent while we're on the topic: I don't care if your glasses are different. But if you break those glasses to use the shards of glass for the purpose of hurting other people, that's a problem. I have a problem now, and so do you. Because of the inclusion of the argument above, it needed to be said, and so here it is: Don't hurt others because of your glasses. Theirs are different. Please learn to recognize that, and that it is okay to view pieces of media differently. Tangent over.

So TLDR on OOC: I don't care. If you want to write a piece where character canonically named Bubblegum Sunshine Princess because of her (in-canon) overwhelming joy and love of the outdoors and her kingdom's candy trees is a murderous assassin filled with rage and the destructive flame of a thousand suns, go right ahead. There's a very good chance I would love to read it.

40. Write a 9-word fic.

Title: This is a Thing [REDACTED] Learned. The title will be longer than the fic itself, and that's the beauty of The Thing [REDACTED] Learned. Thanks.

A/N: (Stars. My dearest friend. You expect pain here? Now I want to prove you wrong...)

Pairing: Your OTP. Or my OCs. Or is this about my life? Or yours? Who knows. I'm not currently well lol

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

Knowledge came with no promises, no love, no you.

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

All the love, Stars. You're the best. <3<3<3<3<3

[xxscarletxrosexx]

Addressing Watermarks on Official Merch Scans -- A Post Made to EDUCATE

I never thought this would need to be addressed, but I think to ignore this would do me injustice as someone who works in education. This message, at its core, is to educate, not attack anyone in particular.

I used to think how silly it was that people used watermarks on pictures and art, but after spending decades in multiple fandom groups, I learned that people are simply too lazy to find the source and credit accordingly and/or want the glory/validation that comes from claiming that particular art/picture as theirs.

I've had a picture stolen once, too. It was a picture of a mannequin that reminded me of Slender Man. I posted it on a public social media app just for laughs, and somehow, that picture ended up becoming a small meme. It WASN'T a huge meme, but it made its way to a niche of Slender Man memes. I haven't received credit for that picture and probably never will. The reason is that this picture was taken over a decade ago, so finding the source would be difficult for me to scroll through the app. Furthermore, I can't show proof that I have the original picture since it was from an old phone that I no longer owned. I had the picture backed up on an external hard drive, but it was deleted when the memory got wiped when I was dealing with a virus. Ultimately, I'm not here to air out my grievance for this picture, but I take it as a lesson to myself that I should be careful next time if I want to post a picture on the internet.

This now brings me to the present-day issue: why did I watermark my scans?

As you read from my previous experience, it's because people DON'T credit or share the source.

I am very much aware that this particular design of the Forgers is very rare to come by. The official art was posted by the official website, but it was never addressed again (I know because I am dying to have acrylic stands of this design). As of today, I tried to look for this specific design and the following images showed up when I spent the past 10 minutes scrolling:

If you were to click the link for the merch (middle image), you would find that the website is unavailable. So, yes, to find this design on a merch was INCREDIBLY lucky on my part. Now, I wasn't expecting to find this at Waku Waku Park, nor was it my mission to find this specific art during the duration of my trip. It just so happened to be at the shop. To my knowledge, other official SxF merch--other than the Waku Waku Park merch--supposedly changes. I compared my experience with two SxF moots who went in December (Ikebukuro/Tokyo location) and 1 week (Osaka location) before me, and they both don't recall finding this design during their visits to Waku Waku Park (I mean, justified because it's been ages ago). As a result, this makes this merch all the more difficult to find.

Technically, I wasn't allowed to take pictures of the merchandise when I was at the shop. I was approached by a store clerk after I had already completed taking pictures of every merch available at the shop. She was limited in her English but crossed her index fingers and told me: "Pictures prohibited." I have not, nor do I plan to, share merch pictures, hence why I edited to the clear file folders to show proof that I was there.

The reason why I am so hell-bent on having my watermark on MY PICTURES and MY SCANS is because of the amount of time, effort, and money I invested into getting it.

Just to give you guys an idea of how expensive it was:

$1,500 was spent on a 9-day round-trip ticket to Japan.

$180 was lost to an overnight night bus from Tokyo to Osaka that I didn't end up riding due to rushing and booking the wrong date. I was not allowed to cancel or refund.

$100 was spent on an airplane ticket from Tokyo to Osaka.

$90 was spent on a shinkansen (bullet train) from Kyoto to Tokyo (we took a fast metro ride from Osaka to Kyoto).

$100 was spent on a last-minute B&B in Osaka.

$50 was spent on Waku Waku Park tickets that came with merchandise (I paid for my friend's ticket as well as my own).

$12 (est.) was spent on purchasing this clear file folder.

Over $350 was spent on purchasing merch from Waku Waku Park alone.

$60 was invested in purchasing a scanner just to scan a high-quality image of this clear file for my friend, and anyone else who'd appreciate seeing this product.

To share how much time and effort it took to get to purchasing this:

My friend and I weren't able to book events for the trip despite purchasing our tickets 2 months in advance. Our jobs and schedules prevented us from meeting up and planning out places where we'd like to visit. As a result, many of our planned trips were booked days before we went, such was the case with Waku Waku Park. We literally bought the tickets the night before.

The flight, night bus, and shinkansen tickets from Tokyo to Osaka and from Kyoto to Tokyo were purchased the day before we bought the tickets, which was during our bus ride trip to Mount Fuji.

When purchasing tickets for Waku Waku Park, my SxF moots recommended I purchase online or at Lawson--I did the latter. For whatever reason, I just couldn't purchase the tickets online, so I went to Lawson and found a machine that sells general tickets to the public. I recall this experience being so frustrating because they did have an English translation option for the homepage ONLY. Once I clicked the platform that sold Waku Waku Park tickets, all text went back to Japanese. I couldn't read it, so I had to contact my SxF moot (who was fortunately still in Japan and went through this experience like me AND could read and speak in Japanese) explain to me what I was looking at. I also used Google Lens to help make sense of whatever I was reading. I probably spent over 10 minutes trying to figure that shit out until the shop clerk finally came over to see if he can help me complete the form and check out my purchase (poor kid didn't know English but we somehow managed).

When my friend and I arrived in Osaka, we had forgotten to book a B&B since we knew that there was a high likelihood that we'd stay overnight. I purchased a 1-day Osaka trip pass, assuming that we'd be able to go to every place offered on the list, but nope, my friend crashed after Waku Waku Park. As a result of booking so early in the morning, we were fortunate to have found a B&B that was ready by 1 PM (?) maybe 3 PM (?). I can't remember other than the fact that when I requested if we could come early, they told me we couldn't come until check-in time. So, we went to ATC Gallery (Waku Waku Park) with our luggages (fortunately, they were light but it was a nuisance to have carried it around). We were also fortunate that ATC Gallery, when arriving to the building via metro station, had a locker that could fit our luggage--so thank goodness we didn't have to carry it during the exhibit.

We learned that once you exit the exhibit--which means you exit the merch shop--you are NOT allowed to come back in. Even, when your companion was still inside, you couldn't go back in. My friend left the merch shop since there were no places for her to sit and wait for me. So she stepped out of the shop. Apparently, there are gates with workers preventing people from re-entering. And so, when I experienced problems with my card, I called my friend to have her lend me her credit card. That's when we experienced that problem. The officer was kind enough to allow my friend to hand me her card so that I could pay for my haul of merch. But imagine, if we both left the shop to go to a store to withdraw money? There was no Lawson store nearby so we'd have to take the metro and find one, buy a ticket, return to the venue, go through the exhibit AGAIN (I probably would have to repeat playing the minigames, collecting stamps, and having my photo taken out of courtesy rather than rushing through the exhibit), and then finally arrive at the merch shop. But considering the time we entered the park around 1:30 PM and spent 2 hours in the park, I believe that it would have ended with a very tight schedule (the park closes at 6:00 PM) and a very unhappy companion.

In conclusion, removing my watermarks means you (the watermark remover) discredit me and disrespect all of my time, effort, and money I invested just to get a high-quality scan of this clear file just for you to enjoy looking at and most likely saving it to your collection of SxF images. You are also a THIEF for not only stealing my scanned image and re-uploading my scan with a horrible cut and my watermarks removed with AI, but also for the fact that you DID NOT pay for a round-trip ticket to Japan, you DID NOT pay for your own ticket to Waku Waku Park, you DID NOT purchase this clear file yourself, and you DID NOT spend money on a scanner to get this high-quality image to post on the internet.

I know that this is MY SCANNED image of the official art because I can see ghost texts of my watermark between Loid and Yor and near Anya's finger and Bond's forehead. I can see the residual cut off of the weird light-blue scan found near Loid's head. The most obvious is that the red leaf between Yor and Loid was horribly "removed" by AI (dear, I use AI to edit out people from my photos, it doesn't take a trained and perfectionist eye to notice something looks fucked up).

Below is an example of me using AI, and this is not how it should look without people. There was a clear pathway behind the people but AI decided to cover it with grass. Keep in mind that to arrive to THIS AI edit, it took me over an hour to repeat the removal process since AI's edit is RANDOM every time. I am an extreme perfectionist, so I tend to waste hours on end to find AI edits that look convincing (I'm not gonna bother putting a watermark on this because my face is there).

Furthermore, as far as I'm aware (at this current time), I know that my scan is the only one that has resurfaced this image. The official merch image of this design is quite difficult to find and reference. I would've sourced it by now if I had already found it, but I've spent 6 hours writing this entire post as is and still couldn't find it.

The person who shared the removal of my watermark on Twitter/X was unaware of the importance for watermarking scans and had been cooperative by taking down her original post. I have provided a post to my scans on Twitter/X here, and a link to the original source found on my Ko-Fi shop. I currently have no beef with her, nor am I attacking her with this post. What she had presented to me was an opportunity to educate.

If you're looking for official merch that do not have watermarks slashed across their products, then your best bet is to find them from official merch websites and/or official merch images. Obviously, they want you to purchase their products. Second, they have the legal rights and trademark (TM) to flex that they own it, so I highly doubt anyone would go out of their way to edit an official work and claim it as their image.

My experience alone confirms that had I not put a watermark on my scan, I would have definitely gotten this scan stolen. As far as I'm aware, my scan is the ONLY ONE (at this current moment) that pops up in Google searches. It pops up via Tumblr from @yumeka-sxf Spy x Family miscellaneous collab scans - part 3 post.

I'm so grateful to have received advice from @yumeka-sxf because she encouraged me to protect my scans having experienced multiple thefts from her oldest scanned images in the past.

TLDR; Don't remove people's watermarks on scanned pictures (especially if they're put on official merch). We have the right to post watermarks on our pictures/scans because we spent ungodly time and effort to find them, spent money to purchase them, scanned/took high-quality pictures of them, and kindly shared our collection(s) FOR FREE for people to enjoy, share the experience, and/or inspire them to purchase one themselves. Unfortunately, the decision to put watermarks over purchased merch is because there are people who are willing to do whatever it takes to edit out credit and watermarks found in corners or in open spaces to claim ownership of the image. I have also seen merchants' product pictures being stolen by other sellers who just happen to have the same product (yes, I'm calling Ebay and Mercari out). That's why there are sellers who take pictures of their products next to their usernames.

If you have read everything until the very end, you have my gratitude. I hope that this post has been educational in helping everyone become aware that watermarks are used to credit people's time, effort, and money to share high-quality scans/pictures of official merch that they purchased. The reason you can see it is because of their efforts to share it.

[goatsandgangsters]

had a very interesting day out where I saved a hypothetical dog's life, aesthetically read in the park, and got in the middle of Strangers Arguing in my temporary new job as Patron Saint of Slackliners

first of all, gorgeous day, low 60s, bright blue sky, warm in the sun but with a refreshingly cool breeze, the trees finally have leaves again, peak Late Spring moment

I stopped at the farmer's market and didn't end up buying anything, but someone at a booth gave me a little sprig of lavender (this is a surprise tool that will help us later!)

passed by a guy squatting on the sidewalk picking up the entire contents of a dropped container of grapes, right as his friend was like "it's fine, just leave it, some dog will come by and take care of it" and I whipped around and went "GRAPES ARE SUPER TOXIC TO DOGS!!!" this is an urban area, people don't have yards, there are So Many dogs on the sidewalks, so my first task set by the universe today was sharing Dog Facts so that none of them die

I arrive at the park. I find a lovely tree to sit under. it is the most vibrantly blue-and-green day imaginable. I have my travel mug of hot tea that is only getting hotter sitting in direct sunlight. I have a sprig of lavender in my pocket. I am wearing—this is important scene setting information—high waisted secondhand wool trousers that definitely once belonged to an old man, a button down, tortoise shell glasses, and (again) a sprig of lavender. I am reading a book of oscar wilde plays. I am a parody of myself, but it's fine because I'm having a great time

and then—The Slackline Drama Begins. two people show up and start setting up a slackline near me and these other two girls who're sitting on the grass. the two girls are in the trajectory of the slackline, so the slackliners ask if they could scoot back a couple feet (or maybe they didn't even, the grass girls were like a little off to the side, so they might've just taken issue with the slacklining happening right next to them—not sure, I hadn't fully clocked into the drama yet)

in either case, the girls refuse to move and take issue with the slackliners, who explain that they're really sorry but they need a certain distance between trees and this is one of the few spots that's good for them to set up. the grass girls are like "well then maybe you should have gotten here earlier :))))))))"

important context: this park is 500 acres. it is not a small park. there is no shortage of grass to sit on. I have gotten lost in this park multiple times. it's vast.

there is a lot of back-and-forth between the slackliners and the grass girls. the one slackliner is getting very upset and angry that the grass girls won't just scoot. slackline girl has been having a rough time and hasn't been able to get outside recently and this is very clearly the final shitty-thing straw. the grass girls are immune to this and using that like...... faux-nice "girl who bullied you in middle school" Meanly Chirpy voice to keep being like "well we were here first so this is Our Spot :))))))) you can't ask people to move in public :)))))"

it has gone on long enough that's impossible to ignore, but my mental math says that jumping in and trying to mediate won't go over well, so instead I just look at upset slackline girl and say—loudly—"I'm on your side." bc I felt like if grass girls with their Faux Polite Tones knew other people were paying attention and were siding with Swearing Slackliner, that would help more

Grass Girls do, finally, get up and leave entirely (instead of just...... scooting over five feet) and they make some snide parting remarks. slackline girl calls them assholes, I loudly agree. Slackline Girl is now sobbing, her friend is comforting her, it's kinda clear she's not gonna be able to have a good time even with grass girls leaving

I go over and I'm like "hey I know you don't know me, but do you want a hug?" and the girl says yes, clings onto me crying, she's being very apologetic about the whole thing and trying to explain, and I'm like "no they were literally just sitting on the grass and there is...... So Much Grass. you are not the asshole. there's so much other grass!" I keep this up with her and the friend until she stops crying, bc like sometimes you do need an outside perspective

I go "hey.......... do you want a sprig of lavender?" and she very tearfully nods and goes "I love lavender"

again, I AM DRESSED LIKE A SNAZZY GRANDFATHER, joining this beef between strangers and doling out random sprigs of lavender

anyway, she's cheering up, so I go back to reading, they get slacklining, they end up needing to tie a line to my tree I'm reading under, I don't have a problem with this because I'm not a dick and we can share the tree, the afternoon passes, eventually it's getting a little chilly so I decide to leave and I'm thinking "okay how can I quickly grab their attention to say goodbye"

but the SECOND they see me stand up and grab my things, they're like BYE THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!! and I'm like "I hope you have a good day!" and she's like "you kinda saved it" I'm full of gooey feelings about it, I genuinely want good things to happen for this person so much, and I'm glad the universe appointed me and my sprig of lavender as her cheerer-upper

in conclusion: I'm enjoying Lady Windermere's Fan so far

[willowedhepatica]

tlou/apocalypse au – avatrice

"Help me up."

Ava is wiggling beside her and Beatrice can only roll her eyes, settle against the wall before cupping her hands in front of her so Ava could use it to reach the window. "Be careful, we don't know if–"

"��this place is infested, I know I know. You say that every time, Bea." Before Beatrice can answer Ava puts a hand on her shoulder, fingers digging into her shirt for grip and it takes everything for her not to squirm. Instead she tenses up, body rigid as she tries to shift her focus on what to do. Which is helping Ava up– right.

Ava hefts herself up with the push of a boot and Beatrice strains her arms, one hand settling on her thigh once she reaches the window. "You got it?"

"Yup." Ava drags herself over the edge of the broken window, arms flexing (remind her again why she had to wear a tank top?) Beatrice mulls it over as she watches, already hearing Ava's answer in her head. 'it's hot, Bea.'

Yes, hot. Like it's the middle of August and they have been walking for hours hot. Not, Beatrice can't help but stare because Ava is more fit than she realised and when she stretches, her shirt pulls up and exposes the skin by her–

The door slams open in front of her and Beatrice jumps back, her hand going down to her gun on instinct. 

"All clear! Told you I could do it." Ava is leaning against the door, a smile playing at her lips before she turns around and walks further into the building. 

Beatrice forces herself to relax, sighs. "Did you check every room?" 

"No, I thought we could do that together. Team-style you know?" 

"Right." Beatrice is slowly following her, gun drawn and the flashlight on her backpack turned on as she scans the room. It's dark, dust layering every surface. She drags the flashlight over the room in practice motion, spotting multiple broken statues and paintings that had been washed away of all its colour. 

“I know I say this for like every place we visit, but you got to agree that this place is freaky as fuck.”

"Language." Beatrice mumbles non-committedly, pointing her light at a larger statue that stood poised by the wall. It was a depiction of a man made of marble that held his head high, only covered in thin sheets that draped over his shoulder and down to his waist. “This was likely a place for storing historical objects, many people came to look at it.” Beatrice had read a lot of books in her years of growing up at the QZ, she tried to sort through her memory of what she had learnt, tried to picture this place before everything fell to bits. When there was life and people and you didn't have to worry about infected by every corner.  “I believe they called it museums.”

Ava came up beside her, nudging their shoulders together and gesturing to the statue with a playful grin. "I bet he got all the ladies. I mean, look at that body. It's rock hard!" 

Beatrice fights back another sigh, tries not to let the amused smile break free as Ava looks at her expectantly. "That's the best you can do?" 

"Come on, I saw that smile. Admit that it was funny." 

"You're ridiculous." 

Ava shakes her head. "I'm hilarious." 

A low rattling sound makes Beatrice shift her attention to the back of the room. 

"Was it so bad that you're leaving me behind?" Ava echoes behind her, clearly still playful. "Damn Bea, I'm wounded." 

Beatrice ignores the sentiment with the pull of her lip, turning around the bookshelf to scan the area behind. The floor is wet and there's paper scattered around but that's not what gets her attention. The metal door further in is ajar, blocked by a cabinet that had fallen to its side and left marks on the ground. 

She puts her gun back in its holster and bends down to move it. They were in need of material. If the furniture hadn't been moved by someone else, it was likely this place hadn't been scavenged in a long time. 

The cabinet is lighter than she expects and Beatrice lifts it with ease. It's far too easy really. So easy that she should have expected the slam of the door the second the barrier was removed.

It is the rush of air that gets her first then a clicker breaks through and is on her in a matter of seconds, staggering her with the impact. It's all sound and fury, flailing limbs and ear-shattering screams that makes her flinch into her very bone. Its jaw snaps close to her face and all she can think of is the rancid smell of its breath, unsettlingly cool and damp as it digs its claws into her arm and tries to tear it off.

Its face is made of fungus. All exploding and ever growing in layers and orderly chaos. It continues to swing widely as Beatrice reaches for her gun, all limbs and movement as it searches for the soft flesh of her throat.

She moves back steadily.

It isn't until her foot catches on a broken floorboard that she's afraid. Really afraid. She's sent to the ground with the clicker on top of her and its hands, all claws and flesh, pins her wrists down onto the floor and makes her unable to move. 

Her body seizes up and there's a flash of pure terror. A desperate, stuttering moment that steals the breath from her lungs and makes her scream– "Ava!"

The loud crack of a revolver responds to her call and makes half of the bony plate of its head explode, so close to her face that she can feel the sting of fractured bone shards against her cheek. 

It still screams, pinning her down, uncaring of the loss of like– half of its face and it isn't until the second shot, loud and shattering, that it splits open, all brown moist and blood that makes it collapse dead, or as dead as those things could be. 

Ava is on her before she can even move. She pushes the clicker off her body, hands going everywhere, checking her over her clothes, eyes frantic and filled with more fear than Beatrice believes she's ever seen from the girl. "Are you okay?! Did it get you?" 

Before Beatrice has a chance to respond, warm hands come up to cradle her face in an attempt to get her attention. Beatrice only seizes up more, the touch going like fire through her body. Oh, hell.

"Bea?" 

Ava's eyes search for hers and Beatrice needs to look away and drag herself up from the floor before she actually passes away – not from a clicker or a wound but some sort of a heart problem because she's sure it's going to beat out of her chest at any moment.

"I'm fine." Her voice wavers, betraying her. She brush off her clothes and checks her gun to keep herself busy from the heat that's steadily rising up her neck and moves away to check the barricaded room.

She can hear Ava following her cautiously, a question on the tip of her tongue. 

"What?" 

"Are you sure you're alright?" 

"Ava."

"Fine, fine." She gets closer, close enough that her hip brushes up against hers. Beatrice forces herself not to react to the touch. "I guess we really gotta stick together or else one of us is going to get mauled by a clicker."

Ava hooks her arm with hers and Beatrice almost drops her gun. She adjusts before responding, her grip tightening around the handle. "Seems highly inefficient."

"Maybe." Ava shrugs, then her eyes land on something on a table further into her room and she releases her arm to run over. Beatrice damns herself for the feeling of loss and is left watching. "Oh my god, Bea! Look at this." 

Ava whips around with multiple carved horses in her hands. "This one almost looks like Halo!" She holds it forward, almost identical to the others except for the splintered ear. "I'm gonna keep it."

"Ava, we're not supposed to–"

"Come on, just this time. It's seriously so small it should be a crime."

Crime– she would never get this girl. Ava is still looking at her, a wide smile splitting her face and brown eyes practically glimmering. Beatrice mouth goes dry and any reservation she previously had leaves her mind. "Fine."

Ava fist bumps the air, draws her into a quick hug and Beatrice doesn't have time to process it before she has moved on to the next engaging thing. 

This is going to be a long, long journey. 

[thegreymoon]

Hi! Thank you for responding to my question about 2ha haters' bad takes. Your answer helped a lot! It's true that some people will simply never shut up when it comes to blindly hating on 2ha. However, I do wonder if meatbun had focused a bit more on ranwan's sexuaI trauma (especially chu wanning. as in making them talk about it at least once maybe in the post canon extras?), would these horrible takes be a somewhat lower in number...? Anyway, thank you for responding!

Hey, anon!

I'm glad you found my reply helpful!

Honestly, I think Meatbun focuses enough on what was done to them both, considering what the focus of this book is to begin with. This is an erotic novel, not a manual on healthy relationships. Again, people who cannot tell the difference really shouldn't be reading this book in the first place.

I don't see how anything would have been improved if Meatbun had stopped in the middle of the text and put up a warning in bright, neon letters saying, "DISCLAIMER: Don't rape people in real life, kids!" Nor do I see the benefit of the two of them sitting down and analysing it in text bit by bit so that a bunch of antis can be satisfied (spoiler alert: they still wouldn't be satisfied and would still nitpick it till kingdom come anyway). As it stands, they do discuss what was done to them both. Primarily in chapter 279, before Mo Ran's death, when Chu Wanning ends it with "I was willing, I am still willing and will be willing in the future too." We see Chu Wanning having nightmares post-canon. We see him and Mo Ran negotiating consent in the extras for one of their kinkier games and how sensitive Mo Ran in his right mind is to what he's done to Chu Wanning before and how important his consent is now. I am sure there are multiple other instances that I can't remember off the top of my head, but again, like I said, none of this matters.

This whole discussion reminds me of a tragic event some years ago at Yellowstone National Park where a group of people ignored a clear warning, crossed a barrier, went to take a picture too close to the edge of a waterfall, fell in and died. Later, a journalist asked a ranger if they were going to put up more signs and the ranger replied, "No." Rightfully so, because there were plenty of warnings and common sense should tell you that this is dangerous, but if you choose to ignore all that for a cute selfie, then whatever happens afterwards is on you. No matter how many warnings there are, stupid people are going to be stupid, ignore them all and get hurt.

The same principle goes for smaller things, like deciding whether or not to read 2ha. I feel like people have done plenty by spreading warnings far and wide that this book contains non-con. The book itself is labelled as being for adult readers only. Reasonable people understand what kinky erotica is, do not equate fiction with reality and do not get butthurt when two fictional dudes in ancient fantasy China don't have a detailed manifesto in-text about their opinions on the evils of rape. This book is for people looking for erotic fantasy (with a dash of having their neurons rearranged by the story on the side). It is not and never will be a guidebook on safe, sane and consensual sex.

In any case, nonny, my advice remains the same! Block and ignore all antis and bad faith takes. You cannot win this argument and you shouldn't try. Just block, block, block and block some more. You will be much happier, I promise!

^_^

[literaticat]

I’ve been querying a MG fantasy lately and I have had some success with requests and pitch party likes but I got a personalized rejection the other day (from an agent who did have MG fantasy on their accepted genres list which is an important point to add here) that said they liked my query and my writing but the middle grade market is “weird” and “too hard to sell in.” Usually I’m pretty good at ignoring rejection letters and moving on to the next one, but I have heard that MG grade is brutal right now and a rejection that read very much like “Your book is fine but you should just give up because the age doesn’t sell anymore” is kinda messing with my head. Can you please confirm or deny if it really is near impossible to sell middle grade? Should I just sit on this story for a while and hope the market changes?

I have answered a lot of "IS MG BRUTAL" questions in the past couple of months, including a couple in the past week, like here and here.

MG is brutal at this moment, yes. AND YET. As I've said multiple times on multiple posts in the very recent past: That does not mean zero MG books are getting through.

(I've gone on submission with MG books this year that have gotten crickets in response. But I've also SOLD MG books this year. My colleagues would likely say the same. Publishers keep putting out new ones and I'm sure they will continue to do so, these books didn't materialize from the ether! Somebody submitted them, and somebody bought them!)

So if you feel your book is ready, the best it possibly can be, and all that stuff -- I see no reason why you shouldn't try? Like, what's the harm in trying?

Will some agents say no because MG is tough right now? Probably, though that won't be the ONLY reason. If "the market" is the reason given, I'd bet they already rep MG that they haven't sold, and are feeling discouraged / exhausted by the idea of adding MORE to the mix when they still have those unsold books on their plate. You can't control that.

Might there be an agent who loves the book and thinks they CAN sell it and wants to try? Very possibly!

Will the market change? Certainly.

When? Sorry, couldn't tell you. The only thing I know for sure is that change is inevitable, and different categories go through different upward and downward patches, and that's literally just how it is. Like how flared jeans or crop tops re-emerge every now and then for no particular reason. Maybe it will all be different in two weeks. Maybe in two months. Or two years. Or TEN. I have no idea.

Should you "sit on this story"? If you want? But I really don't see a problem with trying, since you're ready. Meanwhile, write something different. If this ms doesn't go, don't BURN IT or anything -- hang on to it and revisit at a later date.

[trash-monkey]

Joining the dead but still...alive

I humm to myself as I walk through the crowded mall on my day off of work as I spend what money I have saved but a store I never noticed before sits in a corner of the mall which interest me so I walk in, a small bell rings as I walk through the door and surprisingly a pretty man is sitting at the counter reading a book but he ignores me to return his eyes back to his book. I give him a small smile before cruising around the book store, I see many books I've never knew that existed but what really caught my eye was a weird version of Harry Potter books which are in a bundle and it had every book of the series. With a smirk I grab them and take it to the counter where the man had put his book away when seeing me coming.

"Is this all?" His voice sounds like silk if the fabric had a sound, I give a nod and give him the 100 he asked for.

"I must warn you! Once you open them you'll get an experience you'll never forget!" He calls after me which I turn back to him when I'm at the door to see him smirking at me and he opens his book again, I blink a few time before walking through the door and head home. Later in the day I cuddle myself up on the couch with a blanket and a cup of coffee before undoing the ribbon around the books which I set aside except the first one, all the books covers are hard and in the color black with their titles on the books spine. Without any more stalling I open the book only to find that its pages are blank which I hissed in anger when seeing the others are like that, I set the others where I had them before sipping at my coffee and with a head shake I place the book on the other end of my couch without knowing it stayed open. I go to stand up from the couch right as the open book shines brightly from its pages, before I could do anything I'm sucked in and the book closes itself as it stays laying on the couch.

I slowly sit myself up onto my hands and knees with a groan before opening my eyes to see stone flooring but my apartment doesn't have stone flooring as it has wood, I look up to see my surrounding had changed which made me remember what happened before blacking out. That book I had bought earlier that day had transported me somewhere many people wish they could be, I'm in the Great Hall of Hogwarts.

'but is it the real Hogwarts or just the stage for the movie'

I questioned myself as I climbed onto my feet and get a closer look at things in the hall but as I want to touch the table I go right through it and hit the floor which slightly knocked the air out of me, with a pained groan I stand back onto my feet right in the middle of the table.

"The hell is happening!" I mumbled to myself before suddenly losing my balance causing me to fall through the stone floor of the Great Hall and hit the rooms floor below it which actually knock the air out of me this time before realizing for some strange reason that I don't need air. So I lay on the floor not moving an inch in fear I'll go through another floor, I pant.

"I went through a table and then the fucking floor! What did that book done to me!" I grumble before figuring out that I'm actually in the real Hogwarts as the stage wouldn't have another room, I slowly roll to my stomach only to finally notice what's wrong with me.

'There's only a a few things in Hogwarts that are transparent and that's are the ghosts, that book made me a ghost of Hogwarts!'

I thought with widen eyes after noticing my hands are transparent when getting up, my breathing quickens in panic as I'm a ghost runs through my mind multiple times. My balance tips off again as I fall through a wall and into an empty classroom, with the small shock I get from going through solid things jerks me back into breathing normally which I'm glad for as it stops my panicking. For the third time in two or three minutes I stand up again but luckily I managed to not fall through the hard flooring again.

'ok, I'm a ghost in Hogwarts! I should be able to do ghost things like floating......wait one minute I'm still me!'

I look at my body to see nothing as change about me except the transparency but the PJs I was wearing are changed into my usual clothing, I'm glad I didn't switch bodies so I put that out of my mind as I got other things to figure out.

'Now, how to float!'

Smirking to myself after an hour or so later I finally got the hang of floating and going through solid surfaces so I returned to the Great Hall only to a disposable person walking by the open double doors, professor Quirrell!

'So it's some time before plot starts but is it the book or the movie?'

I asked myself as I didn't see professor Quirrell only for a second and it was enough to realize it's him but not if it's him from the book or movie. Suddenly my head start hurting but it passes in a minute or two only leaving information I might be needing in the future, with concentration I'm able to take a seat at a long table and sort through the info that's important as of right now like my backstory/background.

'Ok, I'm (Y/N) of the (L/N) small pure blood family but only a half blood as I'm a unwanted child from a affair and (Y/F/N) wanted to keep our actual relationship a secret so he tells his family that I'm a long distant cousin that just become orphaned and now in his care as a cover story, like the Blacks bloodline of having multiple creatures in the family the (L/N) bloodline is similar which I'm born with Metamorphmagus. Sorted into the Slytherin house only to figure out I have a green thumb for most subjects which helped me became talented in nonverbal spellcasting although my emotions do affect my spellcasting, like negative emotions cause the spellcasting to become powerful and pricing. I attend Hogwarts the same year as Tom Riddle but like Myrtle I also got killed by him when I got too close to figuring out what he was doing, after the people that knew me had left Hogwarts I started calling myself Atticus when I started making appears around the Castle which Dumbledore and the professors that remembers me kept who I am a secret as I wished. And last but not least I'm friendly to all no matter what house they're in although many doesn't like me in return for that I'm wearing muggle clothing.'

With a sigh at my backstory I stand up from the table right as professor McGonagall strolls in.

"I've been looking for you, Atticus! Dumbledore wishes to see you!" She looks at me over her glasses.

"Of course, professor McGonagall! I'll see him right away!" With that I leave her in the Great Hall alone and fly through the walls until I arrive at Dumbledore's office.

"You wished to see me, Headmaster!" I called as I walked through the wall to see him sitting at his desk with the sorting hat.

"Thank you for coming on short notice, Atticus! Has you may know a new year is starting in two days but the hat tells me it won't be singing before the sorting like usual and wants you to have the task!" My eyebrows come together in confusion at the request.

"But Headmaster! The hat always sings before the sorting!" I try to reason to get out of the task I didn't even know another person can have.

"I know but it refuses to do so and the students will miss the songs! Please Atticus!" I sighed with a nod as I can clearly see I have lost this fight.

"Ok Headmaster, I'll think of something to sing before the sorting!" After that I left the office to think and walked through the halls until I find myself in the library so I take a random seat in a random corner.

'I've been given a task I didn't think was possible to have in the Harry Potter world! The hat might have know that I know what's to come and so it gives me the task of warning everyone! That's just makes things complicated as everyone knows that the hat do not lie about it's predictions of the school year! They'll think I'm lying and pranking them!'

I rub my face with both hands in frustration along with messing up my hair without knowing.

'Fuck it I say! If they don't believe me then it's their fault when it's too late! So, what song can I think of that's similar to the song the hat was going to sing!'

I started thinking about all the songs I can remember of the top of my head which I quickly figured out before I remember what I was thinking about before being called to the Headmaster's office.

'It seems like it's mix of the books and movies which will cause a problem......at these I didn't die to get here.'

My thoughts trail off as I start wondering around the Castle, talking to some paintings here and there just to busy myself.

'How can I change anything as a ghost! Especially when I can't leave the school grounds!'

I huffed as I lean against a staircase railing before I realized something.

'Maybe I don't need to change anything major of the plot! Just something small can make a big difference! Like helping Neville becoming the Gryffindor he's meant to be, be a guide for the golden trio, or try to turn Draco's view but that won't be even possible until Voldemort rises again!'

I chew on my bottom lips as I walk along the moving staircases which one start moving right as I step into it so I wait until it stops at a large dancing troll painting which caused my eyes to widen as I remember the Room of Requirement.

'This will be crucial part of any plans I'll make but will it still work for me as a ghost?'

I walk pass the painting three times while thinking of a room filled with lost things and with soundless snap a door appears in the painting, walking through it like the ghost I am to see a large room filled to the ceiling of what the students of Hogwarts had lost over the generations which I can just spend countless hours in here and still won't be able to see everything. With two days to spear before the plot start I decided to see what I can of the Room of Lost Things while thinking of plans.

_______________________________________________

[headcannonballs]

I might elaborate on these individual incidents on later posts but upon multiple viewings I can finally put words to why I hated the characterizations of multiple characters in the LotR movie trilogy.

It is because PJ & Co. 's favourite method of storytelling is to pull down side characters to build up their own heroes.

And I'm talking about the 'holy' trinity of Sam, Aragorn and Thorin.

Frankly, book readers should've seen it coming from a mile away.

So let's start with Sam. Raise your hand if you've ever seen any fan trumpeting that Sam is the 'real' hero. And nine out of ten, these fans were introduced into LotR through the movies. Congratulations Pete, you've succeeded!

Now before touching the Tolkien letter 'supporting' this idea (where if you read the full letter you'll understand Sam is only more of a chief hero when compared to a very specific character and that character is not Frodo *coughAragorncough*), I would like to draw attention to one simple fact - is there any other major character in the trilogy that has more of his flaws ignored, covered-up or outright repurposed to become a good quality? Because I come up with nothing.

Sam is the quintessential hobbit. He represents all their best traits - that assured loyalty, the steadfast friendship, the simple appreciation for nature. But he is also a representative of all of their worst traits - the closed-mindedness, the blind adherence to hierarchy and the prejudice against the lowly and the unknown.

But Sam does none of that!

Yeah, you'd be correct - if you only watched the movies. That is precisely the point.

The absolute heart of LotR is Frodo's journey, but Frodo is a 'terrible' male lead for a Fantasy themed action adventure film. He is a middle-aged man who sets out on a selfless journey to save the world (but not for himself). He doesn't have a dramatic character arc, majority of his battles are internal and require monologues, and the only visible sign of his burden is completely up to the polish of the individual actor's performance. For the epic type of film PJ planned, Frodo is a nightmare.

But there is an easy solution for this - Frodo is accompanied by Sam throughout the entire journey. Sam, unlike Frodo, has underdog written all over him. It is easy to make a character arc about a nobody becoming a somebody. He has a major battle one-to-one against a giant spider. He is allowed a large variety of emotions that don't require depth (excepting key moments) because he is meant to be simple-minded.

So what does PJ & Co. do?

They make Sam the main lead, of course. The beginning chapters are understandably condensed, but Sam still gets his 'dropping eaves on Mr. Frodo' part of the story untouched, whereas all of Frodo's planning, all of Merry's intelligence, and Pippin and Fatty's contributions were all cut out.

We soon meet Strider, and immediately Sam's foolhardiness is front and centre in the book. He looks down upon this lowly ranger and almost interrogates him only to have Strider illustrate how such behaviour could have easily gotten Sam and Frodo killed. It is Frodo who speaks with wisdom and questions Strider in a more moderate way.

And this entire farce of speaking out of turn happens again when they meet Faramir. Sam is not only not wise, his is foolish enough to make the exact same mistake twice. And similarly Faramir reprimands him and tells him not to speak before Frodo has spoken.

But instead of highlighting these incidents as a flaw Sam should learn to grow from, both times in the movies PJ instead frames the incidents as Sam being justified in his words and defence of Frodo. His bravado is praised as being a loyal friend, instead of the foolish actions they are.

But even with erasing Sam's faults, there is still a problem - Frodo. Frodo's relationship with Sam has become closer than master/servant, but there is still an inate imbalance (more due to Frodo's age and wisdom than anything else) to frame it as just simple friendship.

Personally I feel it is like Sam views Frodo as his senpai, his leading light. And Frodo wishes to guide Sam to learn new things, because Sam's presence as a quintessential hobbit is so much like home that he remains a constant comfort to Frodo no matter the burden of the One Ring.

But Frodo and Sam having a senpai-kouhai relationship is troublesome, because Frodo never leaves. He is the one Sam consistently depends on to lead him, and book!Sam's most major growth actually occurs after Frodo has left for the Undying Lands and Sam grows to become a capable Mayor.

So naturally Frodo has to be weakened to let Sam shine. Firstly, the age difference is removed completely, even going in the opposite direction - Sam is now older than Frodo and cares for him like an elder brother or butler. When faced with dangerous situations like the Nazgul or the troll, Sam is the fearless one instead of Frodo. Sam's wariness is always affirmed by the narrative and Frodo's wisdom in discerning people is putdown as blind kindness.

Nowhere is this more obvious than the Frodo-Sam-Gollum relationship.

In the book, Sam's wariness towards Gollum stems from both the creature's poor reputation, but also from petty jealousy. The threat of betrayal from Gollum is real, yes, but throughout the book Frodo has it under control. He never trusts Gollum more than he needed to, and in fact was winning Gollum's trust with his wisdom, kindness and fair-minded treatment.

But Sam had different ideas. Before Gollum, Sam had always been the closest to Mr. Frodo, not only because of their close relationship, but also because Sam sees himself as the most useful to Frodo. Sure, Merry and Pippin and friends, but neither can serve Mr. Frodo the way he can. Until Gollum.

Gollum is brought in as an indispensable guide and Sam immediately feels threatened. He doesn't actually physically threaten Gollum, but instead resorts to childish name-calling to put Gollum down. He constantly wished to assert dominance over Gollum, to show he is closer to Frodo no matter how good a job Gollum does. Sam basically just wants to 'put him in his lowly place'.

It is this relentless bullying that ends up destroying Gollum's redemption (something also in a Tolkien letter, but Sam fans won't bring this one up), and forces the destruction of the ring to be 'an act of God' instead of Gollum's own will.

This is the biggest flaw in Sam - that he is quick to judge and slow to pity, a trait highly unsuitable for a ringbearer, much less the 'main' hero. This is also the main reason for Frodo's character change and the dynamics change in the relationship between all three.

It is extremely difficult to just cut out all the antagonistic actions Sam has taken against Gollum, so instead the path PJ & Co. took is to 'make Sam right'.

Instead of Frodo being in control and trying to make Sam and Gollum get along, make it that Frodo is the helpless one and being pulled in two different directions. Sam, being the hero, is correct. And Gollum naturally has to be wrong. Frodo, because of the 'evil influence of the Ring' chooses wrongly and believes Gollum, giving rise to the infamous "Sam, go home" scene.

This change of the relationship dynamics both strengthens Sam's moral position as well as weakens Frodo's wisdom. And to PJ & Co. that is a good thing, because now Sam is truly the main lead.

I'll think I continue Aragorn and Thorin another day, but you can be assured that PJ & Co. just uses the same tricks again *coughFaramirandThranduilcough*.

[international-kpopfan]

When he compares you to his ex - Ateez reaction (A)

Summary |  Members reaction to comparing the reader to his ex.

Genre | angst, idol! boyfriend.

Warnings |  It's angsty.

Pairing | Reader x Ateez members.

WC | Around 2K.

Note | I will be on holiday from the 12th of January till the 1st of February. I won't post anything during these days, but I will of course try to write as much as possible for you guys in my notebook. Please be patient if you have any requests.

Note | E/N is ex name.

Note | Requested by @littleunicornia

Original request |  When he compares you to his ex.

READ PART TWO HERE

Masterlist / Request Rules / Upcoming

Hongjoong sits down at his desk after having a quick break, which ended up being longer than he expected it to be. He grabs his phone out of his pocket, the screen lights up with a picture of you both from last year. A smile forms on his face as he remembers that day.

As he is working on some songs, he notices his screen lighting up multiple times. Normally he doesn't care, but today he just wants to finish this song so he can go home.

After a few minutes of ignoring the messages and even phone calls, he picks up his phone, sighing in the process as he leans back in his chair. Your name pops when he wants to call you back.

''Hey babe'', he hears you say in a joyful tone. He doesn't waste any second before saying something that he is going to regret for the rest of his life.

''Can you please stop calling?'', he asks with a bitter tone in his voice. Your eyes grow wide at the tone he is using, not familiar with the harshness of it because he never used it.

''I-.. I just called....''.

''E/N would never call me this often'', he mutters, not realizing the words he just let out of his mouth causing more harm. You stand still in front of your house, keys juggling in your hands as you clench your fist around them. You just wanted to let him know that you got a new job, that's all.

''Then maybe you should go back to her''.

You hang up on him, turning off your phone as you enter your apartment. Hongjoong knows he messed up the moment those words left his mouth, and you turning off your phone means he needs to get creative to get you to talk to him again.

When Seonghwa texted you a few minutes ago that he couldn't make it because of his schedule, you threw your phone on the bed which was filled with clothes you tried on for your planned date with your boyfriend.

Seonghwa promised, literally promised with his manager standing next to him, that he would take you on a date tonight. And he promised this two months ago.

You didn't even bother to text him back, you cleaned up all your clothes, put on something comfortable, and landed yourself on the couch with a few snacks.

Around 22:30 the door opens and an exhausted Seonghwa enters your apartment. He mumbles a hello before disappearing into the bathroom. After a few minutes, he takes place next to you on the couch, but you ignore him. Seonghwa tabs your legs, signaling to put them on his lap.

''Are you that mad?'', he asks, almost surprised at the fact that you are indeed mad.

''You promised, that is all I'm going to say''.

Seonghwa sighs as he stands up, turning as he stands in the middle of the room.

''You know, E/N never made a problem of this, never''.

You glare at him as you get up from the couch, ready to do whatever it takes to make him leave. You can't believe he gets his ex into the situation, not even while you are fighting, but he mentioned his ex as casually as possible.

''Seriously, are you going to throw the ex bomb at me?. Fine, do it. But after you're done, get out''.

It wasn't really that big of an issue, but still, it made you both angry at each other. You are someone that enjoys the peaceful silence of not having to look at your phone, social media, or whatever people do on a tablet or computer. Sometimes you just turn everything off, ignore a lot of people and sit down in the most comfortable chair you have with a book and a cup of tea.

Yunho knows this, and still, he manages to get on your nerves sometimes by literally calling you every time he gets the chance. You always let him know when you want your alone time. Always.

''Am I not important enough?'', Yunho asks, his hands resting on his hips as he stands in your doorway. You frown, not knowing what he was talking about.

''Every damn time you shut yourself off, I'm worried, I know you need that time but come on, you can talk to me right?. I'm your boyfriend after all''.

You lean against the door, sighing as you notice the pleading look on your boyfriend's face.

''Babe, I explained this to you when we had our first date, and you accepted it, you respected it. And now you are suddenly coming back from those statements?''.

He rubs his forehead with his hand, already frustrated enough by the whole situation which blew up out of nothing he managed to mumble a few words under his breath.

''E/N wasn't that weird''.

But you heard him, loud and clear.

''You know what Yunho, come back to me when you stop thinking I'm weird'', you whisper, holding back your tears as you closed the door, and he didn't even stop you from doing so.

Yeosang isn't a talker. He sometimes prefers to be quiet or he observes people rather than communicate with them. You, on the other hand, have a bubbly personality, talkative and sometimes you have too much energy. The boys even said you are the female version of Wooyoung.

You respected Yeosang, you accepted the way he is and why he doesn't talk that much. But sometimes you wish that he would say whatever is on his mind, especially when you notice something is bothering him.

''You sure everything is okay?'', you ask him, holding his hand as you both sit on the couch. Yeosang came home with a light headache, exhausted from practice and he collapsed on the couch.

''Yeah...''. You notice a slight change in his posture as if he wants to move away from you to avoid having you ask him all those questions.

''I hear a but....''.

''You heard that wrong'', he mutters angrily, his voice deeper than normal and he pushes your hand away. He stands up and walks into the kitchen to grab his keys, wallet, and phone.

''Where are you going?''.

You stand up from the couch, not trying to stop him from whatever plan is on his mind. You lean against the counter as you watch him put on his shoes.

''To the boys''.

''Alright, maybe you should talk to them''.

Yeosang whispers something, but loud enough for you to make your heart clench at the thought of him thinking about it.

''E/N would leave me be''.

''Maybe that is why she cheated on you'', you mumble before giving him a glare, knowing that Yeosang would come around in a few hours, but you would never forgive him for what he just said.

San likes to exercise (we appreciate it), and unfortunately for him, you don't. The only exercise you normally get is from the bed to the couch and once in a while to the kitchen and the toilet on a day off.

He knows it, he loves you for who you are and you do the same. It doesn't matter but lately, San has been spending more time in the gym than ever before.

Every time he comes home, he is covered in sweat, exhausted from working and exercising and he just falls asleep once his head touches the pillow.

''Can you skip the gym for one time?'', you ask him with a pout and batting your eyelashes.

San chuckles but shakes his head. ''No baby, I need to be in shape, look..''. He pulls up his shirt, revealing his abs smiling proudly at his achievement.

''You know I don't care about that right?'', you ask him while chuckling, pushing his shirt down again and you notice him clench his jaws.

''Yeah but I do''.

You sigh and lean against his shoulder. ''I know, but you can maintain your abs by training two or three days instead of four or five, I mean...''.

San stands up while shaking his head in disbelief. ''You just don't get it, do you?'', he asks while he grabs his bag. ''You know who does?''. You don't even get time to answer.

''E/N''. You chuckle at him, letting the words sink in before replying.

''If she does, why don't go to her and show her your abs?. Maybe she will like them now, don't forget she dumped you because you didn't have them''.

Mingi is having the time of his life being an idol. You on the other hand are having the time of your life being a student. I mean, those times at college or university are memories you'll never forget.

While you are studying, you managed to make a lot of friends. Friends who studied in the same department but also people from other departments were part of your social ring.

You know dating an idol comes with packed schedules, not having much alone time but also not having the free will to spend some time together. And every time Mingi would be working or being late, you spend your free time with friends. What you didn't know was that Mingi hated the fact that you spend more time with your friend than him, but he also knows that he is a part of the problem.

''Again?'', he asks as you give him a quick kiss on the lips. You visited the boys at the dorm before they had to work and you made some plans with a few friends to go have lunch and study some more.

''Yeah? is that a problem?''.

Mingi shakes his head. ''What about me?''.

''You are busy today babe, what do you expect me to do?. Stay home and do nothing?''.

He bites his lip, hands in his pockets as he paces around the living room. ''E/N would do that for me''.

You look at Mingi with a confused and shocked look on your face. You never expected him to get his ex involved in your relationship.

''And I won't. So you can choose...let me know when you have the answer''.

Wooyoung is loud (we love him for it) and sometimes his overactive behavior gets on your nerves. You shrug it off most of the time because it's his personality and you fell for it when you met him a few years ago.

But even when you fell for it, it sometimes gets annoying. Wooyoung tries to keep himself calm and quiet around you when you are having a bad day, but the fact that he isn't able to be his true self is getting on his nerves.

''Am I too loud again?'', he asks while cleaning up the table after dinner. You shake your head. ''No babe, stop saying that''.

Wooyoung notices your eye roll, not knowing if it's intentional or not he slams his hands on the counter, startling you as you sit down on the couch.

''What the...''.

''I saw that eye roll, don't lie to me. You think I'm being too loud''.

You sigh as you stand up from the couch, walking towards the kitchen to confront your boyfriend about this.

''No, I told you already. I just don't understand that you keep asking it''.

Wooyoung leans against the counter, arms folded in front of his chest as he watches you lean against the fridge, a concerning look covering your face. He shakes his head as he walks to the hallway to grab his coat and put on his shoes.

''Where are you going?. Why are you leaving all of the sudden?''.

He stops in front of the door, turns around, and looks at you with the most disappointed look on his face.

''Because E/N would never, ever make me feel uncomfortable or the fact that I need to change because you can't handle. Make a choice, you either accept me for who I am, or you let me go and find a man that is quiet enough for your liking''.

And with that he slammed the door shut behind him, leaving you unable to move or even think in your apartment.

Jongho is a busy man. You are a busy woman with your own packed schedules. You sometimes just see each other for five minutes during the day and then one of you is off to work or whatever that is planned during the day.

You needed your sleep, some people just need five hours, some need nine hours and you are one of them. Otherwise, your body is not functioning during the day.

Jongho sometimes gets annoyed when you go to bed early. He just wants to spend time with you while you can.

''I'm going to bed, I have to get up at 5'', you whisper as you press a kiss on his lips. He just nods, making it clear to you that there is something wrong.

''What's wrong?'', you ask him, standing in front of him, putting your hands on his shoulders.

''Nothing, just go to bed'', he says and he removes your hands from his shoulders.

''Are you angry at me for going to bed early?'', you ask again, slowly sitting down next to him on the couch. ''If you are, please do tell me why?''.

''Because every damn minute I'm free I want to spend time with you. Including evenings and nights, is that so hard to believe?''.

You look down at your feet. He's got a point, but also he needs to consider that both of you have busy jobs, and sleep is something you both desire.

''You know what, E/N would never go to bed before 12'', he says as he leans back against the couch, grabbing the remote control to turn on the tv. Your heart clenches at the thought of his ex, knowing that their breakup was messy and for him to mention his ex, makes it clear that he is truly disappointed in you. But you, on the other hand, it doesn't give him the right to even get mad or disappointed about it. Out of all people, he should know that sleep is something you don't get too often when you are an idol.

''Then why...''. You pause to look at the clock hanging on the wall. ''are you still here?. Go and spend some time with her because apparently, that's what's on your mind''.

You stand up without even looking at him and you shut your bedroom door. Jongho knew he fucked up.

[fantasywriter19]

My Voldemort's Daughter

Melody Thomasina Riddle

I feel like, in general, there are three versions of Voldemort's daughter. The one that's pure evil like her father (ahem - Delphini), the one that's pure good (for some odd reason), and the one that starts off evil but becomes good for love (er, cliché).

I created one of my own ten years ago... and I'm still working with her 😅. Her name is Melody Riddle, and I did my very best to make her more unique than her various counterparts online. She is a more gray character than anything else - an anti-hero that acts mainly on what she believes will benefit her.

Over the years I'd been told she was a Mary Sue, and I think that in part was what made me lose my inspiration for her in the middle of my work. Because some people believed that she is too smart for her own good, and much too powerful for her age. However, in terms of Voldemort being her father, he was why I made her that way. It made the most sense to me that if he was that clever and powerful as a teen, then she should be as well.

By the time 2020 came around, I'd spent enough time away from her storyline to go back and look at her with fresh eyes. From the beginning, I edited and rewrote everything I'd ever done from Sorcerer's Stone to where I'd left off at in Order of the Phoenix. She is still a powerful individual in her own rights, but I was finally proud of every bit of her journey. I even finally finished that very fifth book in January of this year (2022).

ANYWAY, I'm partially getting off track here.

Melody is a bookworm with a sarcastic sense of humor, one she generally uses to ignore her feelings when they become too much for her. Her worries about not feeling or deserving love come later from interacting with Voldemort, and hearing his perspective that love is useless. She was raised in America to her British mother and a Muggle father she learns is not her real father. After discussing her signs of magic (save for admitting her purposeful actions of reading other people's minds), her mother Orele sends for Dumbledore who wants to take her to Hogwarts before the year even begins while Orele ties up loose ends in America.

Why does Dumbledore want her at Hogwarts so far ahead of time? Well, it's never actually explained to Melody in the books, but the underlying point was for him to keep her under close observation. As many Harry Potter fans know from rereading the books multiple times, Dumbledore had met Tom Riddle when he was eleven years old. He admitted to Harry that, though there were certainly red flags in his actions as a mere child, he could have never foreseen what he would become. In my perspective, Dumbledore would of course make sure he not make that same mistake with the man's own daughter.

The difference between Voldemort and Melody, though, is that other than her peering into other people's thoughts, she shows no other signs of being a psychotic person. She keeps her head down, respects her elders, and strives to make some real friends - all at the behest of her mother (a dynamic to be further explored in Half Blood Prince).

Did I mention that Orele's maiden name is Ollivander? Another thing that made Melody unique was my research into the wandmaker's family, finding that good ole Garrick Ollivander had two children - a son and a daughter, but neither with a name or face. SOOOOO in came the creations of siblings Orele and Gerald Ollivander. Thus creating an interesting family dynamic and a special knowledge of wands being passed on to Melody.

As it pertains to Orele, I almost worried she had very nearly been a simple background mother - something that definitely seems to happen in most fics. BUT I'm proud to say she's just as unique in her own right, not there to just simply exist and be dead from the first book on as many others. I figured, if Voldemort were to be interested in anyone, they'd have to be an individual with nearly as much power and cruelty as him.

Basically there's a reason for everything.. although SPOILER....... ***Orele does die. Just not so early on***

That's about it for this post, I suppose. Any questions, comments, or the like and I'll offer my eyes and replies. Until next post!

[snotsloth]

It's frustrating that the discourse around Huck Finn has boiled down to "bad racist words vs. the actual message of the book" because even that lacks a bit of nuance. Yes, it has an anti-racist, anti-slavery message at a time where that was still radical. HOWEVER, it is still a novel written by a white man from a white person's perspective.

Now, of course, this was written at a time where the "white savior" trope had not been established and even having a white character that acknowledged that black people are PEOPLE was progressive. Plus there was a profound lack of opportunity for black authors to get their works published, and none of them would have received the level of market saturation that Twain did. But we now live in an era where we have learned that centering an "anti-racist" narrative on the experience of a white person is, in its own way, racist.

So how do you teach that level of nuance to teenagers who likely don't give a shit about books written by dead white guys? Specifically, how do you teach a book like this to a group of racially diverse students? A white kid who grew up, until now, kind of ignorant of the institutional racism that makes their life so much easier than everyone else will react to Huck Finn quite a bit differently than a black kid who grew up painfully aware of how the deck is stacked against them.

I'm not a teacher, but some of my college friends were English Education majors instead of straight up English Lit majors, and I did learn a bit about constructing a literature class curriculum from them. You can bring out more nuance like this in a book like Huck Finn when you construct a larger curriculum around anti-slavery and anti-racist American Literature. I think, when taught in tandem with autobiographical books from enslaved people, fiction written by black Americans from the same period as Twain and into the 20th century, students can get a better perspective on the context Huck Finn exists within.

This isn't a question of should Huck Finn still be taught in schools. The English Lit cannon is made up and the opinions of dead white men don't really matter when selecting books for a middle or highschool lit class these days. The actual question should be, IF you are teaching Huck Finn, what are you hoping your students get from it? How are you going to teach the literary and historical context the book exists within? Are you going to also assign anti-racist books written by black people that center black lived experience? Setting aside name recognition and "tradition" is there another book from around this period that is of a similar reading difficulty and written by a black American?

Ultimately, Literature classes should be about two things; exposing kids to multiple styles of literature and educating them on the conventional forms of narrative writing, AND broadening their perspective on the kaleidoscope of human experiences that can be shared through the written word. If a teacher can use Huck Finn to do both of those things in a modern, anti-racist way, then they should go for it. If they think they can do better by featuring a different book in its place, then they should. But the fact that so many people walked away from a Huck Finn reading assignment thinking, "Well, that was fucked up and racist!" means that the book wasn't taught with the proper context. (Or the student wasn't paying close enough attention. It's not my HS Lit teacher's fault that I didn't get Frankenstein on first read because I just found Victor annoying and pathetic and I didn't understand that was INTENTIONAL.) Reading or teaching a particular book is not a morally charged act. But it is important to process the message of a book and understand the cultural context it exists in. That's the truth for Huck Finn and for any book we read both inside and outside the classroom.