#im hoping its helpful for some other people too

[seokmn]

EXPIRATION DATE .𖥔 ݁ ˖

pairing: seokmin x gn!reader wc: 1k words warnings: pure highschool fluff, reader reassures seokmin

“i want to stay with these feelings forever”

the night sky was beautiful, with no clouds to be seen, but countless stars to guide lost people. the night breeze hit your bodies, which caught seokmin’s attention to you, noticing how you were slightly shaking.

“told you to bring a jacket,” he said softly and took off his jacket, wrapping it around your shoulders instead. “here, youll start to feel warm soon.”

seokmin wrapped his arm around you and brought you closer to him, as if he wanted to transfer some of his warmth to you. his hand started to rub against your covered arm in a soothing way.

you turned your head to look at him, hoping you were going to find him looking at you as well, but he was looking at the sky with a small smile on his face. you thought youd be a bit upset with him not looking at you, but instead you felt your heart skip a beat when your eyes landed on his side profile. his eyes moving as he mentally tried to look at all of the stars on display for him, his small smile giving you the feeling of being at home.

when he finally looked at you, you swore there were actual butterflies in your stomach. his smile grew a little and you smiled at him without realizing. “enjoying the night?” you nodded, still fascinated with his face. you couldn’t help but think to yourself how could someone be not only the most handsome guy in this entire world, but also the most kind and heartwarming human being ever?

“what is it?” he touched the tip of your nose. “cat got your tongue?” you could feel your cheeks heating up, you let out a small giggle and shook your head. “no, im just enjoying the view. its breathtaking.”

seokmin chuckled and looked up. “it really is.”

oh silly seokmin, only if he knew you were talking about him. to you, nothing could beat seokmin's beauty, not a sunset by the beach, not a sunny morning, or even a night sky full of stars and full moon.

he turned his gaze towards you again and placed his hand that was on your arm to the back of your head, caressing it with the lightest touch ever. “i see you in my future,” he chuckled. “ah, maybe i shouldn’t have said that. i think i’m going too fast.”

“i see you in my future as well,” you said without any hesitation and you could swear you saw seokmin’s eyes grow bigger for a couple seconds before they became almost too small because of the bright heart shaped grin he gave you. “im not sure what i will do after graduation. i’m not sure about basically anything when it comes to my future, all i can say with 100% certainty is that i see you there.”

he sighed happily and looked back up, but not without taking your hand in his before. “how long do you think these emotions will last?” you tilted your head as you saw his smile faltering. “what do you mean?”

“i mean, for how long will we be in love with each other and what will happen when that passion dies?” the vulnerability and fear were clear in his voice, which got quieter than before in each word that came out of his mouth. he slowly looked back at you, his eyes running through your face as if he wanted to capture it in your mind so he could never forget how you look.

seokmin is a hopeless romantic, but being in love with someone can only take two turns: a happy and long life with the person you fell in love with or a terrible heartbreak. being in love and admitting it means showing the person the most vulnerable side of yours, not knowing what they will do about it and only hoping that they will accept you with open arms and love you in the way you deserve to be loved or even better.

you knew he tended to hold himself back every time he became aware of his true and raw feelings out of nowhere.

“seokmin, im in love with you, not with the idea of being in love. my feelings for you dont have an expiration date, and if they did, there would be no meaning to me living,” you sighed and placed your hand on his cheek, the tip of your fingers in contact with his hair. seokmin leaned into your touch and closed his eyes for a moment, enjoying the feeling of your warm hand on his cold cheek due the weather. “i know being in love is scary, sometimes i am afraid of how strong the feelings i have towards you are. but when i look at you, that fear is gone.”

seokmin smiled and tried his best to not cry, holding back his tears as if his life depended on it. “we’re still young, lets enjoy our time together without thinking about a deadline or anything like that. im sure there won’t be, but still… i want you to stop worrying too much, i’m here and i don’t plan on leaving at all.”

he nodded and placed his hand over yours that was resting on his cheek. “i know, i dont plan on leaving as well. it’s just,” he took a deep breath before continuing. “sometimes its scary. i dont want to stop loving you or stop being loved by you.”

you pouted in response, finding his words endearing and at the same time kinda silly. how could you ever stop loving him? is he aware of how good looking he is? is he aware of the big and kind heart he has? “i wont stop loving you, silly.”

he brought your pulse near his lips and kissed it, making your heart beat so fast you could swear he was able to listen to your heartbeat. he looked at you like a baby looking at its mom after crying for hours because it missed her.

seokmin held a constellation in his eyes. his love for life and for you being so much that it pours out through his eyes, his words and his cute aggressions from time to time.

“love you more than anything,” his voice came out as a loving wisper. he kissed your hair and hugged you. that was when he knew everything was going to be fine, that your love for him was more than true.

[i-am-gun-robot]

This is such a valid post, I hope my addition doesn't come off as dismissive at all because I totally get what you're saying and it is upsetting! Jim's sacrifice hits hard and it hurts.

I do want to add my own two cents though, and it's a little personal (TW for body dysphoria and mental illness) so heads up if you want to skip this one!

Jim gave up a lot during his sacrifice, but I am a firm believer in the idea that he is still himself inside (which you've already stated in your post). He gave up human things, such as what he used to eat, being able to go to school, being in the sunlight - and that is a massive tragedy, and much more. I agree with you in the sense that Jim isn't who he once was, but I do think every trait that made up human Jim is still there as troll Jim, there's just additional traits that overshadow it for us viewers because the trollish aspects are so foreign to us in Jim. I think Jim would feel the same - he gives off major dysphoric vibes with not only his body and its needs, but also the new thoughts and feelings he's experiencing.

And that's where things get exciting for me. Because I've dealt with body dysphoria (not in a gender way, but in a puberty way), and it sucks. I hated my body for a long time, especially as a teen, and for me puberty just exacerbated my mental illnesses, so like Jim, I felt disconnected from my body and mind. I didn't look like "me", I didn't act like "me", all I could do was cling on to what my loved ones told me: that I am still myself, I'm just a newer version, a growing version. Its taken me a long time to feel comfortable as myself, and I still search a lot for 'identity' markers. But the thing is, identity is fluid, and we are all meant to change.

Who we are at heart can stay the same, but very few of us can say we look and act the same as we did when we were 16. Human Jim will always be treasured by his loved ones, that I can say for certain. But you're right, who he becomes will be who they remember him for most, and while that is scary, it's also beautiful - Jim is growing into himself!

I think that's the crux of why I love troll Jim so much - there's so much potential there for growth. Could he have grown as a human? Yes! Was Merlin's potion completely unnecessary? Also yes! But to me Jim's transformation mirrors my own, and I'm sure many others', and that is precious to me.

That said, I do want to circle back and reiterate that Jim's sacrifice still hit me right in the heart, and it's worth mourning. It's okay to mourn what we lose, or rather, who we were before we grow - it's important to. But I think that change is also worth being celebrated, if that resonates with you.

Forgetting Jim...

I just thought of something that really makes me sad…now that Jim is a troll, will they forget what he was like as a human? I know he’s technically both, but let’s face it, there is very very little resemblance to human Jim in his half-and-half form. Even his personality has undergone some understandable changes, though at his heart he is the same.

It’s an established fact that over time, we as humans forget details, even about the ones we love, especially if they’re no longer around. And Merlin blatantly states that “There is no Jim.” Jim as a human? He’s gone for good. He is forever changed, and if he has the lifespan of a troll now…well… 

It’s just really kinda heartbreaking to think that Blinky, Claire, Toby, etc. will start to forget human Jim. Like imagine if one day, for whatever reason, they’re in Arcadia and come across a picture of Jim when he was human. And Claire, or Blinky, or even Jim himself, is just like “Wow, I forgot that’s what I was like.”

They’ll forget what his smile was like. That he used to sound different (though I know that’s the Grave Sand’s doing, not Merlin’s). They’ll forget how skinny his legs were (ha ha). They’ll probably forget what his favorite foods were. There are so many tiny, yet significant things that will be lost to time.

And what really worries me? If enough time were to pass, assuming he can live for centuries, once his human loved ones are gone, what if the trolls forget he ever was human? Like, I’m sure they’ll know it as a fact, but what if they forget the reality of it? What if Jim’s abilities and accomplishments as a troll completely overshadows everything he did before he ever was one? What if they forget the enormity of what he lost, what he sacrificed, in order to save two worlds?

Idk if anyone else will find this as sad as I do, but human Jim to me was such a wonderful wonderful character. I loved him so much, and it still hurts that he was eradicated. As much as I love new troll Jim, I just don’t think I’ll ever fully be over what we lost.

[krazieka2]

Here's a big old Fire Emblem Search & Find I did for the FE3H Masquerade Zine! Find the Golden Deer, but see if you can't find the rest of the students as well! For the ultimate challenge, see if you can't name every character! (Disclaimer two characters are NPCs with no names)

[einsatzzz]

Happy Holidays!!! ft. HibaKana, YuiHiyo, TsunaRumi and ReboApp 🥰🥰🥰 I wanted to draw something for the holidays and remembered that @butterrdream sent me a wonderful set of art bases a few weeks ago, talked a bit on which of our ships suit which base. Anyway, I thought it was perfect for this bc of the cold weather setting + Christmas being more of a "couples" season in JP 👀✨

Art Base Source: aniforceus (울산 애니포스)

I'll also use this post to thank everyone who supported me and interacted with any of my works this year. And yes, even if it's just once! A lot of stressful things happened to me this year, but I'm still thankful for the year because I got to meet a whole lot of wonderful people who share the similar brainrots for OCs as me, whether ur a friend, mutual, follower, anon or any other user at all. Of course, I'm also thankful for the friends that I also already have from previous years (thank you for still being friends with me ueueueue 😭😭💖✨)

Thank you for interacting/talking with me, for sharing your OCs with me and for being patient with me whenever I'm having irl struggles. I hope ya'll have a wonderful holiday season (or a wonderful next few days if you don't celebrate!) 🥳🥳🥳 Wishing everyone even more bountiful brainrots for each of our interests hehehe

[spaciebabie]

see i absolutely despise jimmy (and curly) as a character(s) but as a literary freak i can appreciate the way hes used as a story device with his relationship to curly. i could type this more eloquently but currently ive had a glass of champagne and i havent drank in like 6 months so my tolerance is low so forgive my writing but. jimmy cannibalizing curly. yeah.

theres multiple messages here, theres the message that jimmy is doing what curly (assumedly) did to get into his position and, employing another metaphor, taking the "dog eat dog world" saying to heart. and literally. devouring his competition. or maybe curly didnt do that. and thats what jimmy thinks curly did and so he aims to do the same. choose whichever one you like more they're both interesting storywise.

theres the message where jimmy "consumes" curly in some twisted expression of love. devouring curly so that he remains a part of him, an expression that he is the gold star captain and something to aspire to. admiration for something he'll never be and so he chooses to consume him in order to potentially absorb some of his skill or become more like him.

and then there is curly sitting there helplessly being devoured. its something he has no say in, not something that he chose to happen to him, its something hes become swept up in. he becomes devoured by jimmy in the literal sense of cannibalism, but also in the sense that he became so absorbed in his friendship w/jimmy he ignored his wrongdoings and ultimately led to anya's assault as well as the death of the whole crew.

curly and jimmy intertwined so that one is always consumed by the other. curly in a literal sense, jimmy in a more psychological one. i mean like its really quite crazy they did the "im consumed with thoughts about this guy and want to be him so i must literally consume him" thing quite well. when examining mouthwashing's narrative you find new things to admire every time. each little story element has a place in creating a wonderfully complex and heartbreaking story. its very well done and honestly something to aspire to from the perspective of someone who enjoys studying/writing literature.

all of this is to say i think that there should be more art of jimmy covered in blood and engaging in this cannibalism like the stupid little leech he is

[donaviolet]

Friendship is the most special thing in the world because no award could be give me bigger happiness than jumping around in my room and smiling because my pookie asked me if I wanted to match pfps

[deus-and-the-machina]

ffxiv garlemald discourse is so funny because people will go "ugh people just cant stand it when things aren't black and white" and then you look at how the empire are portrayed in stormblood and shadowbringers and its like hm. that seems like a pretty intense and accurate display of violent imperialism to me! Wow I wonder why people in this day and age may find it hard to feel sympathy for them or even hate them on principal. god its such a mystery.

the games like 50/50 to me on how it tackles these themes because I actually like the garlemald arc in EW, I think it has a lot of horrific and powerful scenes depicting how self destructive fascist propaganda and beliefs are, but I also think it doesn't go far enough on some fronts. the garleans' xenophobia is most notably and obstacle to getting them to accept the contingent's help, which is what they're there to do,

but there's never an admission of harm from any garleans on the uuuuuuuuh massive amount of war crimes the nations around them are still suffering from they're just kind of like "we misjudged you...but you actually wanted to help us all along" like yeah thats great now can we get you all some deprogramming because you keep talking about returning to your prime and glory days and I think we need to unpack some stuff you really SHOULDNT return to. im not even really talking about EW proper but the patches where things are a bit more chilled out and people are recovering.

It feels like they wanted to have their critique of imperialism and also have things end with the beauty of human connection and reaching out and these things just don't mesh well because hey a lot of your modern day audience is not gonna like having to treat people yelling xenophobic things at the cast and your character with kid gloves after you showed them hours and hours of the awful things these people's beliefs have done. especially in the present day hoo boy.

[savage-rhi]

Cue the pink!

[joshuamj]

i am Blind to basically anything I'm not familiar with, so i still don't know anythin about In Stars and Time. Could you give some info on it??? i am looking for games to play rn....

hmmm okay.. I will say, going in blind is best! I went in knowing literally only 3 things. 1) that it was about a timeloop, 2) that it was entirely monochrome, and 3) that this one character I had seen once was in it (Mirabelle, didn't know her name, just that she existed). And going in with such little knowledge was great, I'd highly recommend

But if you want more, then here's a bit more.. (mostly a synopsis of stuff you'll figure out early on, no major spoilers)

Obviously its a story about a timeloop! In the game, your party is a group trying to save the world from someone simply known as "the King" who is freezing the entire country in time. Interestingly, the game takes place at the end of your journey. The entire party has been assembled and have known each other, you've journeyed across the country, collected items that'll allow you to enter where the King awaits. All thats left to do is go through where he's holed up and defeat him. Also interestingly, you don't play as the protagonist of this story I've just mentioned. A girl named Mirabelle is the chosen one, blessed by her god, she is unable to be frozen in time, and has taken it upon herself to save her country. Yet, you aren't playing as her. You're playing as someone named Siffrin, just one of her party members, and one that says that they're only here because "they have nothing better to do." This should be Mirabelle's story, but you quickly realize why it isn't. Not long into the game, Siffrin's life unexpectedly comes to an end, and the fact that there's a timeloop afoot becomes apparent. Nobody but you and one strange mystery person (named "Loop" of all things) are aware of the loops. In the game you'll do all that you can to make it to the King and defeat him and keep your friends safe, no matter how many deaths, no matter how much time. But thing's aren't that simple you'll find!

Also this game is about a timeloop, so as you may guess, there's a lot of death involved so warnings for lots of death (including suicide), and also warnings for Really Bad Mental Health Stuff, as you may also guess, being trapped in a timeloop isn't good for your mental health. Check the warnings for the game if you think you may need to!

[wabblebees]

i feel fucking CRAZY. if yall could send some good vibes out into the universe for me thatd be great bc i think im gonna really need it the next few days lmfao

[saintqueer]

.

[the-force-awakens]

newbie anon is right. to me, you’re the royalty of the poe dameron fan club/defense squad. your word is the law.

lyra

I mean, wouldn't necessarily say that of myself? Fndjdkd I mean, I don't even consider my word law, I'm constantly teasing apart his canon and reconsidering my own perspectives on elements of it and my stances on certain headcanons or how I want to extrapolate from canon — y'all got a pretty good look at my thought process with the bloodburn thing. I went from a hard "oh no" to a "hm wait if I think about this-" in the span of about ten minutes after going to research things. That's just how I operate, I'm constantly just fiddling with my own fictional sandbox.

Honestly, the only thing I really do is just focus on stuff that is reiterated a bunch? Like if it's in the movies, that's canon, and if something goes against it...well it's probably not canon, but with expanded material it gets trickier.

Like, personally, I do not consider anything in the visual dictionaries "canon" besides the little character details like Poe breaking his arm as a kid, just simply because a) the writer for those dictionaries really doesn't seem to like Poe at all, b) the tlj dictionary completely rewrites Poe's storyline to make it seem like fanon's interpretation of his actions in tlj were correct (they're not), and c) despite freefall almost definitely being in development at the time, the tros dictionary cites Poe being with Zorii for way longer than he was.

What I do count as canon is the stuff that gets backed up frequently by other bits of material. I consider the novelizations - even if I don't personally vibe with the tlj or tros ones - to be far more canon than, say, the last two arcs of the Poe comics just because they're more closely tied to the movies + you have the sequence of events in the tfa novel reiterated in the flight log, and the book that shall not be named is closely tied to those last two arcs of the comics, and the rise of skywalker + star wars.com has retconned it. twice.

There's still plenty of things I don't get about him! Sometimes my friends will just point out an angle I had never considered before (such as @/dameronalone who is a Poe expert - poexpert? - in her own right and gets him on a level that is simply just 😘🤌 amazing and showstopping, just to give one example) and it makes me reconsider things!

Mostly, I just like gathering facts abt him because I like tucking away information on things (or people) I love, and I like making sure I stay on top of things + read all his stuff because back in 2018-2020 sections of the fandom had a nasty habit of taking scenes of his out of context to make it seem like they were ruining his character, and after believing that for about a year just to find out it wasn't true fhdjdkddk left me determined to make sure I knew absolutely everything abt him so I wasn't duped again lmfao.

[tiredlinguist]

save me 3 hours of making a dr who edit and eating a stroopwafel

[oddogoblino]

The winter's call is cruel. We were made to rest more these times, but since we don't, our minds call for us to rest the only way it knows how. To make us feel unloved, take away what drives us to stay awake. Go rest. Go rest. No one is searching. But it's not true. There's always someone you care about looking. But I'm just so tired. And no one is here.

[jonesypiercedme]

I cannot post much right now due to physical issues, but I made a writing/poetry wordpress called ioleandros too on the side so I can process that better. Once I pass this pain we will see what happens to my body!! Thank you all for being so patient. I cnanot donate, but I hope my making posts makes others see you too (and I will help make posts soon! I judt get a lot of message which I am happy to receive, I just probably wont open them all but I am trying!! So keep spreading your requests for help!! Because other people are trying too and I am very grateful for that right now, and you deserve to be heard and to yell and make people listen and watch and feel everything you do. Idc if no one blieved iwas in pain and it evenetually turns out i am a stressed hypochondriac and it IS all in my head: I hope all of you have your campaigns listened to seriously!!!!! You are sick and fighting and in pain and suffering or need debts paid and you are fighting to survive so you can LIVE and thrive!! So thank you for reaching out and messaging me even if I cant always respond, and I pray others see and are responding too. No one deserves to be alone during this

(PS: ignore my spelling mistakes, my hands are shaking from passing pain (?) and i forgot I turned off autocorrect because it corrected me too often and I got mad lol)

[thoughts-and-all-that]

literally had to quietly turn off asks on my main because in the last line 2 weeks ive gotten probably 50 asks about that whole situation asking for money. how about no.

i 1. dont have money 2. live in fucking missouri usa 3. dont have any influence nor reach online and 4. refuse to post about that topic on my main blog EVER. because i like my main staying as light hearted as possible.

i am the last person these people should be sending asks to about this.

hell, there was even one that started with 'youre our last hope!!!' no the fuck im not. you probably sent that ask to 100 people. i am no ones last hope.

also apparently im r@cist for thinking that at least a few of these are scams. because there totally couldnt be people taking advantage of this situation to be greedy and awful and scam people. it wouldnt be the first time, nor the last.

it was also just annoying. i never get people talking to me online anymore so when i get asks its usually so exciting... but now it was just dreadful. 'whos gonna try and guilt trip me today?'

seriously, most of them started guilt trippy. at least some of them started polite though.

i know its a huge tragedy and w@r and all that but i dont know why i need to have any part of it. there is nothing i can do about it, and all it would do is make me upset, especially because theres nothing i can do.

and people can tell me all they want 'but there IS something you can do!!' but like... if people are getting killed, i doubt me signing a petition is gonna make them go 'oh, i guess i was wrong to kill people, sorry' like...

and like i said, i dont have reach or influence online. plus, thousands if not millions of people are already posting about this topic CONSTANTLY and saying everything better than i could, and having more reach than i ever will. i think me not posting about it will be fine.