#jun: and there was this guy that had an attitude problem i ALMOST got into a fight with him............ shit was crazy

[newwayin]

location: out and about, late afternoon. specifically: selin ( @inlustre )

" i just... fell. you know it was crazy on halloween, with... all that happened. " he's dismissive, giving a shrug the question of the bruises that linger on his face and decorate his knuckles. yeah, even the blindest person would know that's not the case. exhaling a deep, deep breath and slouching deep into his seat, just barely peaking over the table. eyes roll deep inside his skull, sitting right back up only seconds later. " whatever. you probably heard of the fight that happened in redstone bar. that was me. if only i remembered my taekwondo lessons from i was younger. " then maybe i would've won, is what he wants to say but keeps quiet. his voice is soft, talking to himslef more - so than selin. " you should see the other guy... "

[whitepawn]

Moshang superhero!au

Shang Qinghua wasn't lucky by common standards. Well there was always the need to dig deeper then it comes to Shang Qinghua. At first he seems like someone who would be envied dy less fortunate: had a really really nice place in Cang Qiong, was gifted with power of changing reality, got to hand out with the coolest people possible. That was the first layer. The second is: a guy with ability that is hard to get the use of, tons of work, no personal life, even in close future. Then comes the third layer: a man of a grate wit, who successfully mastered seemingly lame ability and fully deserved his place among the strongest. Fourth: ah wait he's a nerd and forever alone. Fifth: he has a crush on WHO?

And the list can go on and on. Shang Qinghua was a mistery. Was he a traitor for allying with supervillain Mobei-jun? Was he really all this nerdy? Is he like gay or something?

And here we have Mobei-jun. People don't seem to have problems with reading him. Approximately you'll need about three seconds to understand all you need to know about him. He's dangerous, powerful, brutal, hot (in a cold way) and wouldn't even notice if he crushed you dead. That's basically how he is. But there's always room for more. Even to his own surprise. Mobei-jun is currently on his way of developing into a mature adult, rather than overpowered giant angsty teen. He's soon to find out that he can be caring, patient, thoughtful, protective and even weak.

But now all we have is Shang Qinghua, exhaustedly falling on his soft amazing bed. Or is he? The very moment he expected himself to be buried in his blanket he seemingly just feel right through his bed, blanket wrapping around him like a trash bag. His fall wasn't to long though. He only had time to group himself a little, before his back met the bouncy material. Shang Qinghua started wiggling himself free and after he did, he started with a great shock at Mobei-jun, who was staring back at him. His slightly raised brows were giving away how much he was took off guard. Mobei-jun seemed just to casually sit on his couch with an open laptop, home clothing – really fancy ones – on.

"I.." started Shang Qinghua. "I told you many times to not open portals in my apartment." He saw Mobei-jun furrowing and instantly lost all his attitude. "Am I needed, Dawang?"

Mobei-juns furrow deepened. "Yes." Was all he said, as he opened something on his laptop and gave it over to Shang Qinghua. In reality, he was very much surprised by his power's outburst. He didn't had this random portal opening situations since he was in middle school. Was he dripping so deep in his thoughts it came to thinking about Qinghua and actually summoning him?

"Ugh, I know this is no problem for you, Dawang" whined Shang Qinghua, wrapping himself up with his blanket. His fingers though started typing as he leaned over Mobei's laptop and started working. "I was so close to sleeping my hunger over." He muttered to himself as if didn't even noticing Mobei-jun was paying him all his attention.

It wasn't really late, especially for Shang Qinghua who would easily spend half of the night scrolling through his phone or writing something. The fact that he really was going to sleep meant that today he really wore himself off. Mobei-jun almost felt guilty for taking sleep Shang Qinghua was aiming for away by this embarrassing accident. Maybe he should've send him back. But he didn't want him to leave. The all reason why he mindlessly opened a portal to Shang Qinghuas apartment was because he wanted him to be here. Just to silently admire his presence. But it turned... Exactly like he wanted. Shang Qinghua was here, and Mobei-jun got to just feel good in his company. But Shang Qinghua was exhausted, tired and hungry, probably sleep deprived too.

That's definitely not how Mobei-jun want him to feel. He opened the delivery app on his phone and ordered some noodles Shang Qinghua liked. He then stood up from the couch and went into his bedroom to make a call. Mobei-jun called one of his minions for them to organise the fastest delivery possible, and after ten minutes a really terrified delivery worker was at his door.

Shang Qinghua haven't moved since he started working so, then Mobei-jun placed a plastic bowl of noodles on the table, his head tilted up and his eyes went wide and glowy.

"You should eat." Stated Mobei-jun sitting back on the couch near Shang Qinghua.

"Dawang!" Shouted Shang Qinghua while looking like all life was slowly returning back to him. "Thank you. This lowly one will never forget you kindness."

Mobei-jun let out a quiet grumpy growl wich made Shang Qinghua huff a laugh in amusement as took a mouthful of noodles. Mobei-jun had ordered himself some grilled meat with vegetables so Shang Qinghua wouldn't be embarrassed of being only one who eats. It was fine, Mobei-jun would gladly spend some extra time in the gym tomorrow.

They ate in comforting silence. Mobei-jun was dealing with some usual mess his subordinates would cause in this time of night by sending several messages to the most responsible ones. Shang Qinghua did pretty much the same but he somehow had the ability to get Mobei's men moving even faster. That was one of many reasons why Mobei-jun valued him as ally.

An hour and a half passed as they sat unmoving, to preoccupied with work. Shang Qinghua usually disliked doing something for long time without change, especially work. But he treated ruling mob as a really nice hobby. More of it, having fully concentrated Mobei-jun near him helped steadying Shang Qinghua's wild mind so he could work for that long without being distracted.

For Mobei-jun, who totally preferred actually being on the field than commanding over a bunch of idiots, he tolerated it many times better then Shang Qinghua was beside him. His pure interest in making Mobei's men doing things reminded Mobei-jun that controlling all of them is actually cool and not pain in the ass all the time. He found the feeling flattering. So he was pretty productive this evening until he noticed that something went strange. He lifted his eyes from his phone and noticed that Shang Qinghua seemingly had fallen asleep wrapped up in his blanket, open laptop in his hands.

Mobei-jun looked around himself as if searching for something to tell him what to do now. He helplessly clenched and unclenched his fists while looking at peacefully sleeping Shang Qinghua. He then took his phone and sent new message but in entirely different tone. And to new contact. To Luo Binghe.

'My hero fell asleep on my couch, what do I do?' he typed.

'OMG Mobei go send me a pic NOW' Luo Binghe was as easily hyped about anything that had a slightest connection to Shen Yuan.

'Why?'

'BECAUSE!! You want my advice or no?'

Mobei-jun hesitated for a couple moments before taking an awkward shaky photo of sleeping Shang Qinghua and send it to Luo Binghe feeling his face warming up in response of this act. He then deleted the photo from his phone, letting Luo Binghe do whatever he wanted.

'Awww he's cute. Not as cute as Shizun tho... Anyways look at Shizun!' And Luo Binghe send him about 30 photos of Shen Yuan lying here and there asleep. Mobei-jun rolled his eyes and let out an irritated growl.

'Okay. You seem to be experienced in such things, good, now tell me what to do.'

'Yeah right. So it's all simple, your little guy looks pretty little so just scoop him and tuck him in. Double check if he's comfortable enough and leave a glass of water beside the bed.' Okay that was cheesy.

Mobei-jun just throwed his phone away.

It never was so difficult in the past. When things like this happened to his exes he always was okay with just leaving them where they were. But this wasn't the same. This was Shang Qinghua. His back already was a mess, he complained about it hurting from his office chair all the time. Mobei-jun just couldn't let him sleep like this, so his limbs will be numb then he wake up. Shang Qinghua wasn't like him, he wasn't built for being in uncomfortable position for a long time. He almost was fragile. It was knowledge that get Mobei-jun to long to get, so he made sure he learned it well.

He realised he was staying unmoving, towering over Shang Qinghua, practically starting at him for too long to be appropriate.

Finally he pulled himself together and reached out to take sleeping Shang Qinghua in his hands. As he carefully lifted him up, he noticed a few things. Shang Qinghua was heavy. Well of course he was, Shang Qinghua was a bit overweight, and now sleeping he made a real dead weight of himself. It wasn't like Mobei-jun had a struggle with holding him. Pretty much opposite. Mobei-jun had lifted many thing way heavier, so that wasn't the case. It just felt right to hold him. Shang Qinghua was warm and soft to the touch and actually feeling him in his arms was strangely comforting.

Mobei-jun cut himself on the place and opened a portal in Shang Qinghua's apartment. He didn't tucked him in, but he did make sure a glass of water was standing near his bed.

[ottiliere]

have you mentioned where you think wageslave hospital dirk would work? because I think he'd work at home depot or something like that and the only reason why he doesnt get fired is because hes forklift certified. whenever customers ask him where something is he looks at them weird and walks away. he was hired for millworks but switched over to being a loader when everyone realized he sucks at customer service. (OR. i just thought. perhaps hed be one of the ppl at walmart that collects the stuff for online orders)

hello dear anon from jun 22. the thing about dirk is that I think he often bounces between jobs due to a combination of many different factors, including but not limited to: poor attitude, awful work ethic, no collaborative spirit, arrives late, leaves early, steals odds and ends that he feels he can be making better use of...more than staring and walking away I think he’d get outright aggressive with customers! he's hostile, he's pent up, and he does not like being around anyone. he's best avoided, and people probably try to for the most part. so it’s possible that he worked a job like this before, and then got fired for his attitude or walked out. he does not have the fortitude for staying at one place doing the same thing over and over again for an extended chunk of the calendar year. he gets restless.

anyway here's an awesome fic my dear friend dane @davestriderdeathcult4568 wrote of dirk committing job abandonment after he starts to involuntarily regress at one of his many nightstocker positions.

dane notes directly for once instead of throwing paragraphs into a blender with lucys -> to someone outside of his own perspective, he isn't empathetic or cool or anything like that. he isn't even really properly tragic. he's your asshole coworker who sits in the back and barely finishes his portion of the work, if that. he's starting shit with you constantly for no reason, taking the most bizarre shit way too personal, saying weird things with the obvious specific intention to be making everyone in the room deeply uncomfortable....he sucks and it's a nicer place to be when he's gone.

the big screaming problem being exemplified here of course is that it doesnt matter how much sense shit makes in your head or how justified (by merit of humor pain whatEVA) you feel in saying or doing anything; people will be out here making their own calls on you for it. desire to communicate and interact with the world around you becomes overgrown and tumorous when the ability to meet people on their own terms never fully forms. theres just something wrong with him i guess.

It's 4 am, you're in the freezer, and you're past giving a shit. Beyond it. Beyond beyond it.

On good nights, you realize you're fed up at some point in the middle of the night. On most nights, you're at a breaking point before you clock in.

Lately, you've taken to ducking out before you're even finished putting up your tags. This location is short staffed, so everyone else is obliged to put up with that much more of whatever shit you can hand them before they stop putting you on the schedule. You've got it down to a science at this point; you're not in the habit of sacrificing any more time or energy to these people than you absolutely need to.

Tonight, though, they're doing inventory, and the other overnight guy hasn't shown up yet. You're stuck here, unavoidably, for your entire shift, and it's not a good night. You've been grinding your teeth for at least the last hour and a half and you're starting to feel it.

You considered leaving anyway, but you've only been here a few weeks and they'd almost definitely fire you for it. That doesn't bother you on principle, but you spent the last month and a half between jobs and you've about had your fill of it.

It's cold enough back here to warrant a jacket, but you left yours in the car. Or maybe it's at your apartment? Who knows. You're not going out for that shit. You wouldn't go back for that shit if they had you working in the freezer all night. And maybe you will be. Maybe you'll stay back here. Fuck 'em. Fuck literally everyone in this building.

The bare minimum. That's all. The bare minimum, and then home. Your hands are on your elbows, you're bent forward a little, and it's the sound of your own choppy breathing that brings you back out of your head. Embarrassing, embarrassing, sitting in the dark back of the store bitching and hunching over like some whiny chick, hugging yourself. When you exhale you do it forcefully through your nose, straightening yourself out and turning on your heel sharply, with the conviction you typically exert.

You almost slam into your coworker; he hadn't said anything as he'd entered the room, probably only a second or two ago. Almost twice your size, definitely at least twice your weight. He's looking down at you and he's going to say something; your forehead was only a few inches from colliding with his collarbone.

How hard would it actually be, right now, to claw this asshole's throat out. Like, it can't be that big a deal, right? It can't be. It fucking can't be. You're wound up right now like something you've never seen, coiled back like a snake set to spring like a trap it is literally only a few scant percentages of centimeters preventing you from reaching up releasing all that pressure -

Really, it's not even funny how your night's been going. The lights are buzzing and it's just you and him back here. Big fucking deal. It's nothing. This is nothing. He's nothing. Who gives a shit. You sidestep him before he can get a word out, carrying the motion of your stride in your shoulders, it's nothing, this is nothing, you're beyond giving a shit, and then you hear him make a derisive little noise through his teeth and you don't even think about turning around, it just happens.

"What the fuck do you want from me fucking walking up behind me asshole you're the one fucking sneaking around showing up late bitching about me?! You want shit from me!?"

He's looking down at you with genuine surprise that you are equally genuinely incapable of detecting at the moment. You're drooling.

"You're fucking stupid, fucking actually retarded if you think I'm going to run around fucking whining apologizing to you you're a fucking, fucking, complete asshole, you've got no idea what the hell you're even fucking talking t-about, I -"

Out of breath, not out of steam. You inhale quickly, shallowly, lips pulled back over your gums.

"Fucking shut UP!"

Your shoulders are raised and your fists are balled up, nails digging into your palms as you turn again, quickly, on your heel, and tear out of the freezer.

You only remember to breathe again when you're in the considerably more open area of the main store, and it's about that time that you realize the true extent of just how little you want to be here anymore.

Fuck it. Fuck it. Fuck 'em.

Out the main doors and into the parking lot, you don't even bother to clock out when you go. You're going to punch the dashboard of your car so hard the plastic fucking cracks.

Across the parking lot and up to your car, you fumble with your keys for a second before you get in. You don't even turn the car on when you shut the door. You just sit there.

Your hands, both of them, fly absently to the top of your head, burying your nails in your skin and tugging against it. You're working your jaw against itself still, glasses knocked crooked when you got in the car, when you turned to leave, when you bumped into him; it doesn't matter, really. You feel almost covered by something, some intangible force compressing you into a different shape.

It goes without saying that you're not crying, but you're breathing like you're crying. Shoulders drawn up again, hunched forward, the muscle fibers in your chest and your stomach twitching without your permission, drawing you together like the strings inside a hollow doll. Face pulled back, contorted, you're still showing your teeth as if it's an expression that means anything.

Tilting your body to the side, you can only manage to draw one of your legs around the steering wheel far enough to hold it to your chest. It's instinctive, and it doesn't make you feel any better. You're lightheaded now, wheezing audibly, clear saliva bubbling on your lips, enough of it to drip visibly down onto your shirt as you stare straight ahead, no longer fully capable of making sense of what's in front of you. You're still not crying.

It's so much more quiet out here than in the store, and so much warmer. Hotter, even, hot, even now in the middle of the night. The sun has been down for hours and it's still hot. You've spent so much time packed into hot cars, and if you were only a little less aware of yourself you might be able to mistake that familiarity for some kind of comfort. You can't, though.

You settle without realizing it into the position you're in, closing your mouth and sniffling to clear your nose, wiping it on the bare skin of your forearm when that isn't enough. Staring ahead, you register neither the dark parking lot nor the dashboard in front of you.

Being here is as bad as being anywhere else, but the idea of leaving is something you can't seem to scrape together right now. You dropped your keys when you got in, on the passenger seat next to you they're sitting reflecting headachey orange-tinted parking lot lights. They may as well not be here at all, though; the concept of driving a car is, right now, too foreign to conceptualize as an option. Even getting out of the car, walking back to the store, to the sidewalk, anywhere...all more terrifying, more definitively punishable in the long run than it is to sit here, alone in the cramped heat.

And it will only get hotter. You can feel yourself sweating; it's dripping down your back, your forehead, your hands are shaking still, no longer from the cold. You're waiting for something, you can feel it, you can feel it, you can hear the heel-toe crunching of boots against gravel, can hear voices, that great oppressive, invisible force keeping you still in your seat, keeping you quiet, keeping you still...

They're getting closer. Dirt driveway stepped on in rhythm, one set of footsteps or more, no definitely more, you're priming yourself now to jump out, run around to the backseat before you're even told to, palms sweating as much as the rest of you is, unable to remember if you're even supposed to be in the front seat right now, unable to remember why you're here, the voices of approaching men getting closer, men more than twice your size, more than twice your weight, more, so much more than you...

You hear the doorhandle open and your whole body twitches reflexively to leap out, but there's nowhere to go. The door isn't open; the men outside on the sidewalk pass by your car without so much as a glance. You watch them go by, shaking. Staring out the window, some great tension returns to you, and you grit your teeth again, wiping the slobber away from your mouth and reaching out for your keys in the passenger seat.

Starting the car, you're rewarded with hot air in your face, a nearly two-decade old air conditioning unit fighting another awful sweaty summer. It'll cool down when you get on the road. Not that you care. You're getting out of here.

The headlights come on and you shift gears, step on the gas, stare ahead at the pavement. Fuck 'em. What a waste of time.

[spockandawe]

Hi....If you don't mind me asking, who are your favorite MXTX characters (top 5 from each novel)? And why? I'm sorry if you've answered this question before.

It’s absolutely no problem at all!! I don’t think I’ve been asked this before, but hey, I also have zero object permanence, so it keeps things fresh and new. And it’s interesting to see how my answers change over time! Lemme see, I think I’m going to go in reverse order, because I feel like then I’ll be doing the worst agonizing up front.

TGCF

Fifth favorite: YIN. YU. I know that he’s a minor character and him even making it onto the list is pretty solid performance, but I do feel guilty that he isn’t higher than this. He came out of nowhere in my first reading and punched me in the stomach with emotions. I find his sections so hard to read, and I was DEVASTATED when he died and BEYOND stoked to find out he was still alive in the extras. His story hurts so much! I am weak against characters who have relatively modest goals and still see them snatched away (see also: my next entry) and have to struggle on. I wish wish wish I had a way to see more of how he made his peace with things after being thrown out of heaven, and the nature of the (distant) relationship with Hua Cheng and what happens with Quan Yizhen now that he died in his arms, and still came back anyways, my god!

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Fourth favorite:  He Xuannnnnn. I have a hard time articulating particulars, but. I love him a lot. I love a character with a grudge, with a deep, painful grudge, where the grudge is hurting him almost as much as it’s hurting the people around him, and setting the grudge aside would also hurt, and then what has any of this been for-- I've used this metaphor for other characters, but I don’t care if I’m overusing it, because I love it. He feels like a character caught in a thorn bush, where simply being there... hurts, but trying to escape or move in any ways is going to hurt worse, and there’s no path forward that doesn’t involve pain. And like... I don’t love the way he hurt Shi Qingxuan (who didn’t quite make this list adfasgdafsd I’M SORRY) but I wouldn’t have liked to see him swallow back down all that pain and set aside everything that happened to his family and fiancee either! I’m always, always soft for characters who have no good path forward and who grit their teeth and set out anyways.

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Third favorite: MU QING!!!!!!!!!! I have done... extensive screaming about him. And I love him veryvery much. I can already tell that this list is going to have a lot of mean boys on it, and like... no regrets. Especially since this is one of my FAVORITE flavors, an unapologetic mean boy who is rarely (but sometimes!) soft for the people around him, and who regularly tries to do decently by people, but who consistently gets shat upon and misunderstood and accused of acting in bad faith. I screamed when he and Xie Lian finally got to talk their friendship out in the book. I also screamed when I realized how immediately after Xie Lian’s return he started looking out for him again, and how sincerely, despite his horrible attitude about it. I still want to write more fic for him so badly. I love him so much.

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Second favorite: Xie Lian! What a good boy! The best boy! He’s so sweet and gentle, but also the best fightboy this world has ever seen, and also so gently snarky with the people he loves! I just... really love me some traumatized characters who have trouble recognizing that they can be Loved, and I’m not going to write this whole essay right now, but I think in some ways, he’s the most... passive about his romance, out of all the leads? Shen Qingqiu is aggressively oblivious, but Xie Lian kind of gently shrugs off the idea that he might be Hua Cheng’s special someone, until he finally gets hit with the cluestick. I generally shy away from the idea of a character “earning” love, but he’s maybe the mxtx character who moves me most with ‘you deserve to be loved’

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Most favorite: Hua Cheng. HUA CHENG. Oh my god, gotta love this boy. Gotta love this devotion. I love a mean boy who is soft for one person, and he EMBODIES it. I mean, I love Shen Jiu, but he barely manages to do the soft thing at all, while Hua Cheng is over here like ‘if I could only be the stone beneath your feet--’ It’s hard to talk about him separately from Xie Lian, because they’re a unit in my head more than just about any other characters on this list are. I don’t want to get this list to get out of control, so I’m not going to scream for too long, but... I could just watch him go forever. I want to write him forever, and that’s a huge aspect of what draws me to some characters.

MDZS

Oh god, I think I lied, I think this book is going to be hardest. Making these choices is AGONIZING.

Fifth favorite: .....Lan Wangji. Oh god, I feel bad about how low he is. But this story is just packed SO full of wonderful characters, and I’m already consumed with guilt over all the characters who aren’t going to make it. I don’t love them less! But my love for characters in this particular story is very evenly distributed. And I think that Wang Yibo’s acting is possibly scoring points with me that the book might not have earned all by itself. Microexpressions and subtle body language add SO MUCH to a character with such flat affect, and I would be drawn to such a closed-off character anyways, but it really helps. And I love, like... the combined subtlety and intensity of his relationships. It’s not that subtle once you know what to look for, and the brother/sworn brother network makes for varying degrees of how much other characters understand of the things he chooses not to explicitly express, and it gives a really interesting character to the way he interacts with the people around him. Also, love me a man with intense separation anxiety.

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Fourth favorite: Jiang Yanli? I think it has to be Jiang Yanli, but these rankings are hard. So. I just talked about how much I enjoy the flat affect and closed off nature of Lan Wangji? Well, guess what, I also love it when m’girl is just very GENUINELY AND OPENLY an absolute sweetheart of a person, and I love the contrast between her genuinely kind nature and the uncomfortable pressure that her family’s dynamics put on her to start parenting at a very young age. It’s not necessarily a happy situation, but she adores her brothers so much and they adore her so much! And it’s... a very understated element of the story, but after her parents died, her baby brothers went off to war, and one wreaked havoc as a straightforward commander and one of them disappeared for months and returned as a creepy-ass zombie puppeteer. And she STILL dotes on them like before, despite knowing what they’re capable of. Like, yes, Wei Wuxian just raised an army of corpses and forced a man to eat himself, but I shall still boop him on the nose and feed him Soup. How can I not adore energy like that?

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Third favorite: Wei Wuxian, I think. I do adore him a lot. He gives me some of the same vibes that make me ache most with Xie Lian, where he is trying his best, and is struggling to hold on in the face of lots of suffering, and I find it really interesting that when the suffering peaked, Xie Lian was forced go on because he couldn’t die, while Wei Wuxian... expired. That line about ‘he thought that no matter how large the world was, there was still no place for him’ always sticks with me, and hurts me deeply. Xie Lian had most of his personal attachments stripped away, and was left to wander on his own, while Wei Wuxian still had a number of strong connections left, but abruptly exited life. And that informs their respective trauma so interestingly! The way Wei Wuxian bounces between high energy chaos and drained exhaustion is really fascinating to me, and was the thread that held me attached to the book through a very confusing beginning. And I’m still very drawn to how intensely he loves, whether it’s Xiao Zhan’s fantastic acting, or it’s him busting out with how much he wants Lan Wangji in the middle of the Guanyin Temple scene. He’s a fantastic character, honestly, I don’t think such a convoluted book would have held together very well without a protagonist this strong.

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Second favorite: Xue Yang :X Look, he’s a good boy and I love him. Who among us hasn’t done a few mass murders that we are completely unrepentant about, but that we would really like to keep hidden from our current boyfriend, actually? Anyways, as always, love me an angry boy who makes terrible decisions for understandable reasons. And I do love a character who is consumed by agonized ragrets (see my next entry), but I DO also love me a character who has no regrets at all and doesn’t even have much interest in trying to justify himself to anyone else around him. Just look at that confidence! Look at him go!!

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Most favorite: Jiang... Cheng....... I knew he and Xue Yang were going to be at the top, but those were the only parts of this list that were easy. I mean. Love a self-sabotaging angryboy who is also super super sad and keeps hurting himself in his own confusion. And while I love the romantic thread in all of the mxtx books, the agonized family thread in mdzs is one of my favorite parts, and something that I don’t really see echoed in any of the other stories. I need ten million jc+wwx reconciliations, at LEAST. He’s so sad! And so angry! And I want to see him becoming less of that thing, and for Jin Ling and Wei Wuxian to demonstrate very firmly how much they love him, because they do. I am invested in his happiness in a way that goes far and beyond any of the other non-main characters, haha

SVSSS

Fifth favorite: Tianlang-jun. I think? Oh god, but moshang. THIS IS REALLY HARD, I HATE THIS ;-; But especially since writing my fic, Tianlang-jun has really won me over. And like, he already hurt me good in the novel, just thinking about how he was an innocent young guy, just! Trying to have a girlfriend! And instead got trapped in sensory deprivation, body-rotting-hell for twenty years, when he didn’t do anything wrong!!! He suffered, so much! And I live for his intensely strained relationship with Luo Binghe, because it’s! Perfectly understandable and painful, from both of their perspectives! And he wants to hate humans so badly, but in the end, when he’s told that Su Xiyan never betrayed him, he starts helplessly asking the people around him, ‘really? is it really true?’ and then in the end he loses the only family member he has left who cares about him, and it’s just! Everything is terrible! I have a su xiyan au brewing in my head because I can’t stand it! Someone just give this man a loving partner!!!

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Fourth favorite: Shen Qingqiu. But... moshang??? Goddammit. Anyways, this dumbass. I find him so endearing, in his dumbassery. I sometimes get a bit frustrated with Wei Wuxian for being oblivious, and Shen Qingqiu is just asking for me to react the same way, but I... don’t, for the most part? Because he thinks he has good information, and he’s slow to react to a changing playing field, and I still haven’t read another transmigration novel that strikes the same balance of hypercompetence and intense incompetence :ppp It’s a funny book, and he’s a funny character! And I really vibe with him, in most parts of the story, which covers a pretty darn wide emotional spectrum. Plus, the running internal commentary is choice.

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Third favorite: Liu Qingge. Look, I’m a woman of simple needs, and sometimes I just need a high-quality fightboy who clearly cares deeply and is absolute garbage at expressing his emotions. I can’t articulate it much better than that. I absolutely howl at the succubus extra, when Shen Qingqiu is talking to Madam Meiyin about his future partner, and Liu Qingge is like ‘oh my god, sHE IS CLEARLY DESCRIBING ME’ and Shen Qingqiu is like ‘haha, liu-shidi, i thought you thought this was stuupidddddddd’. They’re both so dumb. I love them so much. But stupidity plus war god fighting energy has a narrow lead over stupidity and internal commentary track.

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Second favorite: SHEN JIU. GOD. I’m still arguing with myself over whether he should go first, but Luo Binghe hurts me consistently through the whole entire story, so I think he wins. Shen Jiu just stabs me in the heart at strategic moments. This is it. My ideal mean boy who is soft for one (1) person, and who BOTH does unconscionable things for terrible reasons (someone just. give him a pile of girls to teach, it will be much more pleasant for everyone involved), and who ALSO gets blamed for things he didn’t do even when he tries to act in good faith. It is the best of all painful worlds. And even at the end, when he has a powerful person who wants desperately to protect him, he still tries his hardest to shove that person away, to keep him safe. I’ve got like four aus where he gets to live. I’m so invested in this character, I love him so much.

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Most favorite: Luo Binghe. He was.... made for me............ Like, the overwhelming amounts of childhood angst were baked in by Shang Qinghua, but the in-story pain and suffering is PRECISELY my jam. I love a character with separation anxiety! I love a character with massive anxieties over being unwanted! Over nobody ever, EVER just choosing him! I love a character struggling with the idea that the person he loves most in the world thinks that he’s intrinsically Disgusting! I love the kind of stubborn determination that leads him to preserve a corpse for five years, desperately hoping for a way to revive it, constantly cooking fresh food, in case, in case he someday wakes up. The way Hua Cheng loves is overpowering, but he’s had time to like... learn to be mellow when he needs to be. Luo Binghe doesn’t have a chill bone in his body, and if he’s acting chill, it’s probably because he’s done some mental math and decided that being more clingy right now will probably get him pushed away harder. I love the combination of manipulative tendencies and a very, very genuine fear of rejection and being unwanted. There is nothing I don’t love about Luo Binghe, including his worst decisions. I love him so so much.

[thenamesseven]

Word count: 4,0k

Warnings: Mentions of sex, blood and violence. There’s also lots of angst.

The sound of soft knocks that started echoing in your dream, disturbed your sleeping form, stealing you away from the peaceful dream that seemed to be soothing all your fear and sadness away. Even if it had only been for a few hours, the rest that Mingyu had allowed you to get had been more than enough for your body and mind to settle down a little bit.

You needed to get out of the mansion, that thought hadn’t changed yet but maybe running around and trying to fight with the guys -who obviously were way more stronger than you- would get you killed before you even have a chance to escape. What if instead of fighting them, you finally became the little obedient pet they seemed to want? Earning their trust wouldn’t be easy but chances were big if the saw you weren’t trying to escape from their grasp every single second. You just had to wait for the perfect moment, the second their eyes weren’t on you anymore you would run away with all your might and strength.

You weren’t dying here, that wasn’t happening.

“Mingyu? (Y/N)? Are you guys in there? I’ve brought food”

The new voice made you stop on your way out of bed for a second, you needed to be careful when encountering and meeting the other brothers. Like you have learned in previous encounters, some of them could be easily triggered and angered like it had happened with Seungkwan, others like Mingyu or Jun were dangerous in their own way. They definitely didn’t feel the need to kill you but they sure as hell made you lose your self control and do things you weren’t supposed to do with them.

“I can hear your breathing so it’s not like you can hide from me”

Your heart stopped beating for a second, whoever was waiting for you to open the door wasn’t going away until you did it. The voice didn’t sound angry or frustrated, there wasn’t any audible hard breathing that could tell you he was getting ready to pound on you the second you opened the door.

Your thoughts were that if the new guy wanted to kill you, he was being really good at hiding it.

“Give me a second” 

You cleared your throat, standing slowly from the bed as you looked at your own reflection on the mirror. Mingyu had made sure to leave some nasty marks in your neck, without any make up there was no way you could cover up those hickeys along with the bite marks that had already started fading. You didn’t need anyone to know you had been stupid enough to have sex with one of them but apparently Mingyu did.

“Not searching for a weapon to attack me right? Because it’s not going to work on me”

You bit back the sassy reply that almost slipped out of your lips, something deep in your heart was telling you he wouldn’t take it as fine as Mingyu did, he probably wasn’t a huge fan of sarcasm when it was directed to him. This guy also seemed to be slightly impatient, constantly pushing you to obey the order he just said fast as you could.

Sighing and knowing you didn’t have any other options, you moved away from the mirror and finally opened the door, making the stranger’s eyes meet yours as soon as it opened. Honestly, he wasn’t as tall as his other brothers which made him slightly less intimidating but there was something about his smirk, about how dark his eyes were that told you, you would have to be careful around this one.

“Getting comfortable here, aren’t we?” You didn’t know what he was talking about at first but when you felt his eyes traveling along the marks on your skin you did know what he was referring to.

“It’s not like I have an option, do I?” You fired back. The fact that he seemed dangerous didn’t mean you would let him step all over you.

“Ah, Mingyu always enjoys playing around with food” He totally ignored your words, his eyes still on yours as he made his way into the bedroom. He was carrying a tray that had a sandwich and some orange juice onto it, you didn’t want to seem desperate but you just wanted to rip the tray out of his hands and start devouring the food as soon as you could. “His manners never were that good, I’m afraid”

You knew what he was doing. This guy was testing your limits, he seemed to want to get on your nerves but he wasn’t going to get that, instead he was going to get sassy reply after sassy reply. Poor him.

“Yours aren’t that good either, I haven’t heard your name yet, have I?” You felt the atmosphere in the room change as soon as you said those words and unfortunately, it wasn’t for the better. 

The male placed the tray down onto the bed, moving his eyes away from you before he sat down onto Mingyu’s bed. You kept standing there, on the opposite side of the room not really knowing what to do, should you approach him and start eating? Or should just simply stay there and pray for him to exit the room soon so you could satisfy your hunger?

“Aren’t you hungry?” He asked tilting his head, watching you carefully as he got comfortable on the bed, his body language gave away that he wasn’t leaving.

“Oh Jihoon! You brought her some food” Mingyu’s voice broke the silence between the two of you. 

A sense of relief washed all your worries away when he walked into the room, after all, he and Jun had been the most gentle brothers when it came to you. The had also took advantage of your situation but at least they haven’t tried to kill you. 

Being along with the new guy (whose name apparently was Jihoon) was uneasy enough to make you tense. With Mingyu there, you knew that maybe if this Jihoon guy tried something weird he would be there to watch your back, he did say he would take care of you didn’t he?

“You never knew how to take care of pets, someone had to do it” Jihoon sighed, rolling his eyes a little. You expected Mingyu to say something, to defend you but dissapointment came when he only smirked and shrugged.

“What can I say brother? I’m just that kind of guy” He turned to look at you, smirk still on his face before he motioned towards the bed where Jihoon and the tray were still waiting “Aren’t you hungry kitten?”

“I think I lost my appetite” You only replied, feeling tears filling up your eyes for some weird reason. The fact that Mingyu, a guy you just had sex with, thought of you as a simple and meaningless pet vanished any hopeful feelings you had. Now you knew all his caring words had just been a game to make you destroy your walls, it had all been said just for the sex.

“Well you need to eat, don’t keep me waiting we have things to do” Jihoon said in a bossy tone, making you arch your eyebrow at him.

“You better sit while waiting because I’m not hungry”

“You’re not hungry?” Jihoon asked looking at you, eyebrow even more arched when his eyes met yours. Mingyu kept looking around the room, searching God knows what or maybe it was simply an excuse to ignore your conversation with his brother.

“Nope”

You were about to turn around in an attempt to walk closer to the door when the tray Jihoon had been carrying a few seconds ago flew across the room, landing on the wall besides you. Some of the juice landed on the side of your shirt, glass from the plate and cup caressed your skin as the food went down onto the floor.

What the fuck.

You turned around ready to ask Jihoon what the hell was wrong with him but the looked in his eyes stunned you, it totally froze your entire body. There was something fiery, something way stronger and scarier than anger in those black eyes that scared the shit out of you. Mingyu scoffed besides you, not looking even a little surprised, what made you think this kind of behaviour was quite normal for everybody else, except you, of course.

“You’re cleaning that, right?” Mingyu asked looking at his brother.

“Like hell I will, she’ll clean it later” Jihoon said sighing, standing up from the bed as he headed to the door. “Come on, we’ve got things to do”

Without waiting for you to say something, he started walking out of the room. You glanced at Mingyu slightly alarmed, quietly asking for help. You didn’t want to go with him, you knew just by what had just happened that Jihoon was a dangerous one.

“Do I have to go with him?” You asked looking at him, holding back the urge to grip his shirt like a baby, showing him how truly scared you were.

“It’s his turn so…” He shrugged looking at you with a small smile, almost as if you weren’t talking about a matter of life and death “We shouldn’t be so selfish, huh? Sharing is caring”

“Sharing is…” Your hands closed into fists and for the first time since you were kidnapped by these guys you felt truly dissapointed. You hadn’t expected Mingyu to be an angel but you hadn’t expected him to be such a jerk either after what happened between the two of you.

Although, the more you spoke with him now, the more you thought everything had happened because he just wanted to get laid.

“Maybe when he’s done with you, you can come back to me, I’ll take care of you kitten” He whispered with a smirk, stepping closer to try and wrap his arms around your body.

However you stepped back and put some space between the two of you, not willing to give him what he wanted. Mingyu thought he could have you whenever he wanted right? Well, he was so freaking wrong. Nothing in this world could have been more satisfying than the confused frown that appeared on his face, it gave away that your reaction to his charms was totally unexpected.

“What’s wrong?” He asked looking down at you, running his fingers through his hair.

Exasperated and frustrated with him, you only sighed and rolled your eyes as you turned around, ready to exit the room and follow Jihoon before he came back for you “The attitude you all have, that’s the fucking problem Mingyu” 

As you walked out of the room you unexpectedly ran into Jihoon’s chest thinking he had kept walking instead of waiting for you there. There was no chance for apologizing, Jihoon’s hand was around your throat before you could say something, with all his strength he pushed you up against the wall, banging your head against it so roughly that it was definitely a miracle the fact that your head wasn’t split opened.

“Don’t make me wait ever again, you hear me?” He asked furiously, staring into your eyes as he squeezed your neck even harder. If there hadn’t been enough marks there before, you were now sure Jihoon’s hands would be imprinted on your skin along with the hickeys and bite marks his other brothers had left there.

“Let go” You ordered as coldly as you could, staring into his eyes while your hands went up to his wrists to try and move him away, which was totally useless since his supernatural strength was way stronger than yours.

“Stop acting like a fucking brat and obey me already” He muttered squeezing even harder. The little oxygen that was left in your lungs abandoned them, making you desperately gasp like a fish out of the water.

After a few seconds that seemed eternal to you, Jihoon let your neck go before he started walking down the hall, he wasn’t telling you where he was heading but his body language obviously told he was expecting you to follow him. You leaned back against the wall, letting out a sigh as your hands instantly went up to your neck to rub where his hands had been squeezing. Your heart had never beated any faster and your lungs breathed in and out fast, almost as if they thought they wouldn’t get another chance to breathe after that.

Not willing to make another scene in the middle of the corridor, you forced your weak knees to start walking away from the wall that kept your body up and followed Jihoon into the dark hall. The path looked similar to when Mingyu was guiding you towards the kitchen so you took this chance to look around and try to find details that couldn’t be found the first time you walked around there. You were looking for things to use as weapons, paths that could lead to exits or any phones you could use to ask for help but unfortunately there was anything you could use or anywhere you could go. 

The guys never left you alone to explore and maybe hurting one of them to earn some time could be dangerous, would Jihoon pass out if you hit his head hard enough? Maybe he wouldn’t but the confusion or surprise could distract him enough and win you a few seconds to run away from him or hide.

However, hurting or tricking Jihoon didn’t seemed to be a really good idea fo you because if your plan went wrong there was a huge chance of you ending up dead.

“Where are we going?” 

Your voice sounded quiet and weak despite you wanting it to sound confident and sure about what you were doing, there was no point in hiding your fear though, Jihoon could easily see through any act you might put on. He seemed to like that, you saw how his body visibly relaxed when he sensed your fear.

“To the dining hall, the fact that you’re not hungry doesn’t mean I am not either”

Scoffing you stopped by the door, watching him walk into the room as you tried to calm yourself down. Jihoon was obviously not pleased about your presence, specially, since you refused to be the slave he wanted you to be. He wanted to degrade you, make you feel humiliated and honestly? You’ve encountered too many people like him in your entire life to feel even a little intimidated. You were more affected by Mingyu’s behaviour than by this.

“Sit down” 

You stumbled into the room, tripping over nothing as your eyes scanned your surroundings. It was the typical dining room you would see in movies when rich people’s houses were shown.

The walls were painted in a dark red, getting close to almost turning into black but having enough red pigment in it to see the difference. The ceiling was high enough to fit a giraffe in it which made the room ridiculously enormous, walls were decorated with fancy paintings in gold frames apart from the covered with thick curtains windows. In the middle of the room, there was a big table surrounded by thirteen chairs, you weren’t a expert on furniture but you knew enough to know the wood that table was made of was probably more expensive than all your furniture together. 

Everything looked so antique, so sophisticated and so, so cliche.

Not willing to make him wait anymore, you sat down onto the chair he had pulled back, finding his gentle manners truly ironic after when he had just slammed a tray full of food against the wall just because you hadn’t wanted to eat what he brought you a few seconds ago. 

Sighing as if he was tired by just having to deal with you, Jihoon sat down a few chairs away from you, leaning back against his seat in absolute silence. You looked around feeling slightly uncomfortable since he had his eyes on you the whole time, were you supposed to say or do something? He wasn’t waiting for you to offer yourself to him, right?

“Ah sorry, I forgot you don’t feel specially comfortable when you’re being watched”

You didn’t know what made you feel more uneasy, his words or the smirk on his face. He was ready to play a game you probably didn’t want to play but your chances of escaping were truly small this time. Jihoon seemed to be as dangerous as Seungkwan was but at least, the other brother had been nice to you before looking into his eyes, this one seemed to be triggered just by your entire existence.

“Are you a mysoginist?” It was a stupid question, it was not the smartest thing you could ask at the moment but it was the first thing that popped into your mind to break the silence.

Jihoon scoffed, smiling but you didn’t know if it was because he found your question fun or stupid “Why would I hate women? I actually think they’re one of the best…Creatures in this world” He said calmly, choosing his words carefully “Beautiful, smart, gentle…God made a good choice creating them”

“And you’re being a jerk because…?”

As if tired of your questions, Jihoon snapped his fingers and every single light source in the room died. Like a prey being hunted, your sense hightened to an extreme you thought it was impossible, you couldn’t see now but you could feel your pupils desperately trying to adjust and make out, at least, the shapes of everything. You hadn’t paid attention to any of the scents in the room but now the wooden scent invaded your nose, your ears were listening to every single sound in the room. Your breathing, Jihoon tapping his fingers on the table, his chair scraping against the floor as he stood up….

You knew the smart thing would have been standing up but you were frozen on your spot, darkness was one of your biggest enemies and no matter how old you got, you had always been truly terrified of it. Darkness made you feel lost, alone and ready to be hunted by the monsters that lurked in there.

“Because it is easier to hate than to love” His reply was confusing to say the least, what did he mean by that? What had love to do in this kind of situation?

“Why did you turn off the lights? What are you going to do?” You asked, deciding to leave the love subject apart for now.

“I want you to hate me, I want you to see the monster I am, the monsters we are” 

The sudden touch of his fingers running up your naked arm slowly yet gently scared you. Your breathing froze in your throat while your heart started pumping lots of blood through your veins, your body couldn’t be more tense and your brain actively kept trying to find a way to escape this.

“You are a monster, you and everyone else in this house” You replied shakily, feeling his presence behind you.

“Yet you don’t seem to fight back, you’re not even trying to look for the exit” Jihoon breathed out, lips so closed to your ear that you didn’t even feel it when he tied your hands down to the arms of the chair “You only faced Seungkwan’s fury, you looked him straight in the eyes and after that, your attempts to escape became null…It would have been so easy to just sneak away when you were left alone in Mingyu’s room….But why didn’t you do it?”

“I am waiting for my chance” You answered back, body dull as he crouched down to tie down your legs. Why weren’t you fighting back? What was wrong with you?

“Fate is so much stronger than what we thought, this curse wasn’t a joke” He said standing back up, fingers caressing your knotted up hair “Some of us have simply given up yet nobody has been able to kill you yet”

“I’ve been close to dying since I walked through this doors” Your tried to turn your head and search for him in the dark but Jihoon turned your head away from him.

“Because some of us gave up and unfortunately, hating you is way more easier than loving who you are”

“What are you talking about Jihoon? I really do not understand what is going on and nobody is explaining me”

“Don’t say my name again, do NOT!” He slammed his hand against the table so hard that every source of light in the room came back on, letting your eyes see a terrifying yet beautiful display of needles on the table. They were silvery and had little patterns carved on them, they weren’t regular or cheap for sure.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry”

You now knew what Jihoon was doing, he seemed to be playing around with your fears. First the darkness, then being tied down and totally helpless and now, now he was going to bring out the needles.

“It was all that witch’s fault, we didn’t do anything!” Jihoon roared, voice not angry but full of sadness. There it was again, everyone you’ve met so far didn’t seem to be angry, they all had that kind of sadness, of that nostalgia mixed with pain that seemed to be torturing their souls. 

What had happened to them was still a mistery that you weren’t sure if you wanted to solve.

“Jealousy is such an ugly feeling” He said with a pained smile on his face “Isn’t it (Y/N)?”

“It is” You replied trying to keep yourself as calm as you could “It makes us do stupid things, stuff you’ll regret later”

“She broke our family, she killed us because of it…She cursed us all” By the corner of your hand you watched how Jihoon reached out to grab one of the needles, holding onto it tight as his hand got closer to your skin.

“Jihoon you don’t need to do this, please” You begged, trying to move away from him “I’ll do whatever you want, whatever you ask me to”

“I need to, I need to hurt you” He whispered, voice so lost and shaky that made you think he lost his mind “I can���t love you, I can’t let her win again”

After saying those words, the needle pierced your skin harshly, bringing blood out of your veins to run down your arm. He leaned down and used his tongue to lick the thick, metallic liquid in an attempt to clean you and just while your brain was trying to process what was going on, Jihoon used another needle on you, making more blood run down.

You begged, cried and begged all over again but Jihoon didn’t stop, he was determined to make you hate him, he was determined to hurt you and no cry of pain made him think twice about what he was doing before sticking another needle in. He kept using just two, making little wounds here and there, allowing small trails of blood to run down your skin so he could clean it with his tongue.

You couldn’t believe what was happening, you just simply couldn’t accept this was real. Your entire body was ready to give up, to just shut down and let Jihoon do his thing until he became tired and tossed you away, even your eyes were starting to close so you didn’t have to look at such an awful experience.

But then, as you flinched away from the needles he was using on you, the ropes on your wrists and ankles fell down to the floor.

God himself had heard your cries and gave you the chance you were waiting for.

With all the strength you had in your body, you used your elbow to hit Jihoon straight in the face and without hesitation, you tossed your chair back and started running out of the dining hall. You could hear him swearing and laughing out loud, blaming the curse and the misterious woman once again but you couldn’t hear his steps behind you.

Was he giving you time to run away? That couldn’t be right? Why would he do that?

You needed to hide or find the exit, as long as it kept you away from Jihoon, you would be fine with whatever the result was. 

Your heart beats stumbled when at the end of the hall you saw two huge wooden doors, ones that resembled an entrance. The doors to the rooms were always just one so that had to be the exit, that had to led outside.

“Please, please, please” You begged breathless, forcing your body to its limit as you ran the few inches that were left between you and those doors.

With the little strength you still had in your body, you pushed the doors opened and squeezed your poor eyes shut when sunlight blinded you. Closing them behind you, still not seeing anything thanks to the brightness, you couldn’t help but chuckle in pure happiness. Leaning against the door, you stretched out your arms and breathed in the fresh air, letting the warm light caress you…God……Freedom…It felt so freaking good.

“Oh hey, we haven’t met yet”

Your eyes opened so fast when you heard the voice that everything started spinning around uncontrollably.

“Woah, woah, woah easy there” The stranger stretched out his arms to hold onto your body before you could fall down onto the floor.

“Where am I? Who are you now?” Your lower lip started shaking and before you could stop it, tears started falling down your face, wetting and stainning your cheeks. The stranger helped you get closer to a chair that was nearby and gently sat you down, giving you the rest you so much needed

“My name is Xu Minghao” He presented himself with a small, polite smile “Welcome to my favourite place, the mansion’s garden”

[lazyness-alpaca]

Your Reason, My Reason

WangXian Week Day 1

Title                : Your Reason, My Reason

Author           : H.W. Niel

Rating            : Teen

Warnings      : No Warnings

Summary      : An AU where both Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian thoughts about each other when instead of Wei Wuxian reincarnating 16 years after his death, they time travelled to a distant future, where they are married and had a family with A-yuan. Both did not know that they are time travellers and tried their best to take the chances that were given to them.

Link to AO3   :

Prompts         : Family, Chance, Time Travel AU

Lan Wangji

‘Hanguang-Jun!’

You were so happy, so cheerful and so optimistic in everything that I cannot keep up with anything that you came up with. To be honest, I almost envy you in your optimism, but I can never tell you my true feelings because you can never be serious in anything and that made me annoyed with you.

‘Hanguang-jun! Lan Wangji! Lan Zhan!’

Did you know? Why I never answered your calling? Because I wanted you to call my name as much as possible, just so I know that you can never forget about me. And will never leave my side.

‘Who are you to tell me about the matter of my heart?’

Did you know? How heartbroken I was when you refuse my help? That was the first time I wanted to help you from the bottom of my heart and yet you rejected it. I can never show you my weakness, so I can only walk away, not showing you how I exactly feel.

I was happy when I know that you survived, and I was happy that you were still alive. But I know that you changed the moment I laid eyes on you trying to kill the Wen Clan in the name of revenge. I know you wanted justice on your family, on the people that has brought so much pain and sadness in your life, but that is not the way.

‘Lan Zhan!!’

Did you know? It makes me happy when you called me by name again. It makes my heart beat faster and I don’t know how to express this feelings I kept suppressing inside. I never knew I could be so happy seeing you so happy once again. Even though I know that you were still practicing the dark arts, I knew deep down that I would let you continue if that is what makes you happy.

‘This kid? He’s my child’

Did you know? How devastated I was when you told me that he was your kid? My heart pang with jealousy and the fire within me almost made me do something I would regret. But when you told me that the kid was just some kid you were babysitting, my anger settled down. And another thought made my heart flutter with happiness when I saw how you treated the kid, and thought how happy I would be if I could have your child.

‘Lan Zhan, let me go.’

You spoke so softly and so tender, I almost did not hear it. Even if we fall together, I would never release that hand that has once reached out to me without fail. Because I knew, if I let your hand go, I could never be able to meet with you again in this life and that is something I could never imagined would happen without you by my side.

‘Lan Zhan, please, just let me go’

Did you know? What I feel when I found out you were thrown to the Burial Mounds? When I know you could never be by my side ever again? Did you know? How hard I tried to look for you? To have a chance to talk to you again, to see you smiling so happily with every single thing? How could you ask me to let you go when I never would want to experience the same sadness again? How can you be so cruel as to ask me to let you go ever again?

 _______________________________________________________________

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Wei Wuxian

‘Entering the Cloud Recesses after hour is breaking the rules’

Did you know? The first time I saw you, I hated you so much with your cold attitude and the way you treated everyone as if they are inferior to you. However, the first time you spoke to me shook me so much I almost dropped my Emperor’s smile and I almost attacked you with Suibian. But I was happy that you spoke to me first, when you only ignored me at the Cloud Recesses gate and it made my heart flutters with happiness. Deep down I knew what I was feeling, but I would never admit it because I never felt this way before you.

‘Alcohol is forbidden in the Cloud Recesses’

Did you know? The first time you got drunk was so cute that I almost hoped you never got sober. I wanted to tease you all night long, and to tease you every day, just to see those face flame up in shyness. But when you were punished along with me for getting caught drinking, I swear to myself that I would not drag you into my trouble ever again.

‘Wei Ying!!’

Did you know? How happy I am when you called me by my name? Even though it was due to anger, I was happy nonetheless. It was the first time you spoke to me without all those one word answers you always replied me with. And there was a reason I wanted to show you those outrageous book as you called them.

‘Did you know she will remember you forever?’

I was shocked when you asked me that. I know you took the satchel that MianMian has given me and I know that you were jealous. But I deliberately answers with the wrong answers. Just so I can see how you react to my answer.

‘Come back to cloud recesses with me.’

I dragged you to my problems enough times. I can never bring you to solve my problems again. Because if you were hurt because of me again, I can never forgive myself. So I’m sorry Lan Zhan, but I have to decline your invitations. Partly because I’m not going to torture myself with those three thousands rules, but also because I wanted you to be safe.

‘I-I’m not his father…….’

I can see how awkward you were with kids when I saw A-yuan clinging to your legs. It was cute to see you being more human every time we see each other. I wanted so much to tease you that I told you that A-yuan is my kid. What a treat that was when I saw the expressions you have. It rotated between anger and confusion and then disappointment. I immediately told you A-yuan was just a kid I was caring for, because I don’t want you to be disappointed in me.

‘WEI YING!!’

Did you know? I never wanted you to see me in this state. I never wanted to feel sadness because of me. I know that you never thought of me as your soulmate unlike what you said at the Baifeng Mountain. It was just a sweet talk you told me to make me happy and to bring me to the Cloud Recesses. There was no way to save this world from evil, and from the internal war unless I died. Technically, I was supposed to be dead when I was thrown into the Burial mound, but I wanted to see you again and I did. So this is goodbye.

“WEI WUXIAN! YOU SHOULD JUST DIE!”

“Thank you Lan Zhan, and I’m sorry”

“WEI YING!!!”

 _______________________________________________________________

Two males one shorter than the other with a kid walked out of the cinema, each holding the kid’s hand. The kid happily reveled in the hands holding him.

“That was great, wasn’t it Lan Zhan?” the shorter male asked his companion.

“Un” was the reply

“You really should speak more Lan Wangji.” Again, the shorter male spoke.

“Un” the same reply.

Sigh “Why did I even bother to ask you? Right A- yuan?” the shorter male asked the kid holding on tightly to his hand and smile when the kid only looked at him with confusion before he answered.

“Um” was the reply. He beamed at Lan Zhan and was given a small smile in return.

“I swear you guys are just playing with me right?” the shorter was almost red in the face with anger. He sulked and his lips were pouting when they only smile at him, not saying anything.

“Fine. If you wanna play it that way, then I, Wei Wuxian, won’t talk to you guys ever again.” Wei Wuxian released his hands and started to walk away from the teasing duo. Both the kid and Lan Wangji frowned simultaneously when Wei Wuxian walked further away from them.

“Wei Ying.” Lan Wangji called out, but Wei Wuxian only walked faster as if not hearing his calling. Even A-yuan tried calling for him, but was ignored as well. After few seconds of waiting with no reply, A-yuan started crying.

Lan Wangji, not knowing how to calm a crying child, looked on at the back of Wei Wuxian who still did not look back once. He quickly pick A-yuan up hold him in his arm, and started sprinting towards Wei Wuxian. He followed the path Wei Wuxian took, but Lan Wangji did not see him anywhere. Panicked, with A-yuan crying getting louder, and the people around them looking at him with contempt or a weird look, Lan Wangji almost give up looking for Wei Wuxian when said person called out.

“HAHAHAHA, look how out of place you are Lan Zhan!” Lan Wangji turned around at the laugh and release a sigh of relief at seeing Wei Wuxian there, laughing wholeheartedly. Almost immediately A-yuan stopped crying and struggled in Lan Wangji’s arm only to run at full sprint towards Wei Wuxian.

Wei Wuxian scooped A-yuan and calm the kid down. A-yuan was sniffling and muttering words of apologies and begging to Wei Wuxian not to leave him while Wei Wuxian could only laugh at his words.

“I only wanted to buy some snacks for you A-yuan. I could never leave you and Lan Zhan alone.” He assured the small kid. Lan Wangji came up behind him and hug the both of them.

“Don’t ever do that again.” Lan Wangji said in a stern voice. Wei Wuxian looked back at Lan Wangji and nods.

“I would never leave my family alone.” Wei Wuxian promised.

‘Not when I got another chance for us to try again.’ Their thought were left unsaid as they walked back towards their home.

[latin-dr-robotnik]

What went wrong with Classic Sonic’s music in Sonic Forces? (ft. beevean)

The following is a project I’ve been cooking for some weeks, trying to find out some reasons behind the general lackluster feeling that surrounds Classic Sonic’s music in Sonic Forces. As you may have spotted already, this is not a solo project, since I’ve had the opportunity to talk about this very same topic with @beevean and she raised quite a couple of interesting points that I’m going to bring up as we go through. 

Also, Spanish speakers: you can catch the Spanish version of this post here, it’s probably a more polished experience with additional text.

Long post below, so, bring up a ladder and a boombox, I’ll explain along the way. (there’s also a tl;dr at the bottom if you are that type of person)

Sonic Forces stands as a divisive point in the Sonic fandom, that much we all know, and we are not going to discuss the game’s general quality at all on this post. But we are going to take a solid look at Classic Sonic and, most importantly, its music, since I consider that’s the most clear symptom of a bigger problem with Classic Sonic in general, in this post-Generations Modern Sonic world.

A quick look at Classic Sonic

When Classic Sonic debuted in Sonic Generations (2011) as this new-but-also-old Sonic, gaming as a whole was still being bombarded with this “retro-revival movement” that brought back many classic franchises (like classic Mega Man with MM9 and 10 after a decade since MM8), and SEGA itself was in the middle of that train with the recently released Sonic 4: Episode 1 (2010). While Sonic 4 tried to marry Sonic’s current style with classic level tropes and even Genesis-inspired music in a seamless way (showing Sonic’s physical transition from his Sonic 3 days to Sonic Adventure as a smooth one), this new “Classic Sonic” guy in Generations suffered from a mixed message about his origins: is he Sonic from the past, from an alternate universe, or both? Is his music supposed to sound like arrangements of his classic 16-bits tunes or just modern-sounding remixes like the rest of the soundtrack? The fandom still debates about it to this day.

This all led to the introduction of a character that, although considered a “Sonic” like the other “Modern” one, could not establish his own identity beyond Generations’ anniversary-title plot threads. No unique music style, no unique traits, he was just a simpler Sonic.

Major manifestation of the Classic problem.

Fast-forward some years to November 2017, Sonic Forces’ release date. Besides gameplay, story and character criticisms, the music of Forces turned out to be quite controversial for a part of the fandom. Although I personally consider the Avatar songs as top-tier Sonic music, I share similar concerns as the rest about the rest of the game’s music, specially the Classic Sonic level themes. 

With Forces, it seems the composers managed to solve some of Gens’ Classic Sonic music problems, as this time there was a better and more consistent attempt at making Classic’s music sound more at home with the “Genesis days” tunes, but even then the composers fell into other traps that ended up being more damaging to the final product.

Years later after the game’s release, I finally brought up this very same topic during a conversation with beevean (I encourage you that, if you find the following snippets interesting, read the entire conversation), and she had the following thoughts to share as to why Classic Sonic’s music was so... underwhelming:

the classic music in forces is the weakest part of the ost, some tracks are okay while others suck, and the main reason for this is that they hired the wrong people for the job

Okay, that wasn’t a fair cut on my part. She talks a lot more about each and every aspect behind the music, and about the people that composed it, she had the following to say:

Okay, about Forces’ music. First of all, the Classic tracks were handled by two people: Tomoya Ohtani, who also composed pretty much 90% of the OST and has been working solo since 2013 (relevant later), and Naofumi Hataya, one of the two geniuses behind Sonic 2 8-bit’s and Sonic CD’s OSTs (plus some miscellaneous work in Heroes, Colors, Generations, etc.). If you loved tracks like Sky High, Palmtree Panic or Stardust Speedway, you have to thank him.

This is already a reason as to why the Classic music in Forces doesn’t resemble the music in the Genesis games. While I can understand that it would have been impossible to hire Masato Nakamura again, Jun Senoue would have been good for the job, having composed music for Sonic 3 and most importantly Sonic 3D Blast. But apparently Senoue was MIA until 2019, so who knows.

I’d like to point out that Naofumi Hataya’s involvement will play a bigger role later in this post, as we keep searching for what went wrong and we look for a potential solution when adressing Classic Sonic.

Beevean continued with:

There are mainly two problems here:

1) some of the tracks just don’t fit their stage. I already mentioned that Ghost Town sounds way too happy for a city under attack by giant robots. Death Prison sounds vaguely Egyptian and the difference with the original, bass-heavy composition is staggering. Chemical Flow is the most generic thing and would fit everything and nothing, and again comparing it with the original iconic track is just sad. I think the reason Casino Forest and Iron Fortress are my favorite Classic tracks is that they go very well with their respective stages. This is a problem Adventure 2 had as well, associating a particular style to a particular character, and while I think Forces did it better, for me the priority should be fitting a level.

2) Ohtani was once a very versatile composer (the guy could go in one game from Wave Ocean to Crisis City, for example), but since Lost World, the first game in which he had the responsibility of an entire soundtrack, his style quickly became “anime”. Runners’ tracks? “This sounds like an anime opening!”. How do you recognize his only track in TSR? It’s the one that sounds like an anime opening and uses a synth.

And look, I love Ohtani, he has nothing but my respect, and he made some of my absolute favorite tracks in the series. But I do think they’re making him work too much - he’s the best when he can work with at least another person, and has the chance to span a little. I also think his style is incompatible with the Classic music, which was never anime: even at its mellowest in Sonic 1 it always had a little jazzy/new jack swing touch. Basically the only thing they got right in this game is having a wicked bassline :P

It ain’t *only* the composers’ fault

Following beevean’s words, I’d like to add my own take on the problem. You see, I do agree that the composers maybe weren’t up to the task of nailing the classic Genesis tunes’ vibe (Hataya got real close, though), but at the same time I do think they weren’t properly oriented or didn’t have enough time to keep reiterating on the frameworks they were working with. Like beevean said, some of the tracks improve quite a bit after leaving behind that mixed as hell “almost Genesis but not quite” soundfont.

The composers will work on what they were told to make and I have a strong, albeith unconfirmed, feeling that the Classic Sonic composers where asked to “make it sound retro” by someone higher up on the project management chain, and after checking on their progress, simply said “meh, it’s retro enough, no one will notice”.

The “make it sound retro” argument, in my opinion, opens up a big discussion about Sonic music, because there is no easy way to make it “retro” with Sonic. You just can’t pump out a few nostalgic chiptunes and call it a day. Sonic music may have originated back in the 16-bit days of the Sega Genesis, but his identity is so much more than just that Genesis FM sound. I personally believe, similar to another thing beevean point out, that Forces focused too much on sounding “retro enough” instead of fitting each track better to each level theme or even tap into what really made Sonic appealing on the classic days. 

This last point is something that SEGA struggled a lot during the past decade, they introduced Classic Sonic as an entity separated from the current Sonic, yet they simply don’t give Classic Sonic enough development as it’s own character. He’s there because he’s there and we don’t know what to expect from him beyond “he represents the good old days”. But not even SEGA itself knows what that means.

So, what really makes up Classic Sonic’s identity?

For me this is the true heart of the post. Knowing full well what makes Classic Sonic should be the key to every project that features him. 

There are lots of points to make about Classic Sonic’s identity and how to establish him should he return once again on a 3D Sonic title (not even using the “modern” anymore, and I personally wouldn’t like to see him again on a 3D title for another decade, if ever), but seeing as the main topic of this post has been music, I’m going to focus on what music style makes Classic Sonic shine.

I already said that throwing some generic chiptunes won’t work, but I DO think that Genesis-inspired tunes can still work, should they stick to what made the classics so great.

And what is that? Well, you have several options here: you can choose from more J-Pop and jazzy tunes to some sick R&B and New Jack Swing beats, all the way through to late 80′s Acid House and wacky 90′s Dance music, even cinematic-like scores and ambient sounds.

Personally, I think the heavy R&B (with its fair share of New Jack Swing) influences are a constant throughout Sonic’s first years, and that kind of sound is one that goes well with his cool attitude™. Spring Yard Zone has always been referred to as “16-bit Every Little Step”, while Sonic CD... well, and Sonic 3... well... JAM. Even Masa’s demos of Sonic 2 feature some sick basses that aren’t all that different from what I was thinking (Chemical Plant and Metropolis come to mind). Sonic CD (JP, also the work of Naofumi Hataya and Masafumi Ogata) in particular springs up to my mind as the purest representation on everything that Sonic was about on his old days, but “pure” doesn’t necessarily mean “refined”, so I think the Sonic CD style coupled with some more smooth Pop for emotional moments (straight from Nakamura’s school of smoothness) and harder 90′s raves for boss fights (think how iconic Stardust Speedway Bad Future has become) could make up the perfect blend for Classic Sonic to follow in terms of style points, but also considering the general themes of each zone (Wacky Workbench being this Dance-heavy zone was a stroke of genius if you ask me, the same with Spring Yard being a jazzy urbanscape.)

Sonic is a product of the late 80′s and 90′s pop culture, he has the moves of MC Hammer, Bobby Brown, and of course, Michael Jackson (also his shoes). As such, no generic “retro nostalgic” tune will fit with him, unlike many other gaming franchises. By embracing Classic Sonic’s wacky nature gems like Sonic Mania happened, and just like I pointed it out to beevean, if you were there the week that game was first announced, you probably saw how much people were gushing about Studiopolis Act 1 sounding so much like Sonic CD with that funky beat. People instantly knew that was the Classic Sonic music they wanted to hear.

And just to make this section even better, I recently asked beevean about her thoughts on what makes Classic Sonic’s music identity. I now urge you to go and read her full analysis because it’s so deep yet very accessible, as I’ll be collecting just a few parts of her response for this post. Trust me, that post is so useful, go and reblog it now, I’ll wait here.

About Classic Sonic’s music styles, beevean says:

So… which is the style that fits Classic Sonic better?

The big love letter to the Classic series that is Mania used CD as an inspiration, and while Mania’s OST is excellent and one of my favorites… I don’t automatically associate New Jazz Swing with Classic Sonic. Before Mania, it was only in one game, the odd one in the bunch too.

3D Blast is my favorite Genesis soundtrack, and as I said it combines the best of two worlds (plus it’s just full of bangers), but it influenced the next era more than the Classic one. The same could be said for the American OST of CD - and besides, tracks like this are nothing like Sonic anyway.

Sonic 1 is the first one and all, but that mellow style fits that particular game more than Classic as a whole, I think the closest OST to this style was Advance 1, actually - another slow-paced, simple game.

So the choice is narrowed down to the ultra-popular Sonic 2 and the refined Sonic 3 & Knuckles. And I’ll be honest, while I think S3&K has higher “highs” compared to S2… my brain immediately jumps to the latter. When I think of Classic Sonic, I think of Genesis brass (the real deal, not that fake synth they used in Forces), twang basses, a swingy rhythm (too many to choose lol), and tons of energy.

Only one Classic track in Forces came close to this description. The others sound more like either a pale imitation of Sonic 1 or modern tracks with a bad soundfont, and that’s when they’re not a complete insult (no i won’t link to it you know what i’m talking about :V).

Author’s note: it’s been, like, two months and she still refuses to talk about Faded Hills, lol

Author’s note: sorry, beev.

(TL;DR) Closing thoughts.

So, what did go wrong with Classic Sonic’s music in Sonic Forces?

A lack of definition on what Classic Sonic even is about, carried from Generations, made the task of defining his style more difficult.

The composers weren’t up to the task, or they were simply asked to make Classic Sonic “sound retro”, generic sound be damned. 

This also means management of the project wasn’t that interested in the Classic portion, or they ran out of time to make it better. This is something that the entire game seemed to have a problem with as well.

The music didn’t fit the stages, and even if it did, Classic’s identity was all over the place. He was there just to be there, and his music suffered from that (compare it to Mania).

Tomoya Ohtani (often credited as the maker of the arguably worst tracks of Classic Sonic in the game) has experienced a shift on his musical style over the last few years that led to his tracks start sounding very similar to each other, this, coupled with the fact he was working on the other 2/3rds of the game’s OST, caused his Classic tracks in particular to suffer.

Classic Sonic’s tracks didn’t take from the 90′s Pop and R&B influences that plagued the old games, and as such, the current Classic Sonic doesn’t have an identity as strong as the original 90′s Sonic. Beevean’s take on this point involves Classic Sonic tracks that feature strong, legit Genesis brass, with twang basses, swingy rhythm and tons of energy.

Once again, I’d like to thank beevean for providing such insightful information and opinions (you can clearly see we both tend to have different takes on what made Sonic back in the 90′s, but in the end agreed to a similar set of requirements to make good Classic music, like basslines and lots of energy), which helped this post a lot more than you can imagine. I wanted to post this back in late January, but the extra time allowed me to keep thinking, searching and listening, while also opened the door to ask beev again about her opinions. This is probably the first “big” article I’ve written this year, and I hope to return soon enough with more. 

[queenmorgawse]

transmigration for dummies

mdzs scum villain au, chapter two. read chapter one on tumblr. fic on ao3. as always, credits for the og idea to @lee-luca.

Here’s a life lesson from yours truly : if you don’t give yourself time to think about it, you won’t worry about it.

Getting into Gusu Lan’s white robes is so much of a hassle that, as he struggles with the unholy number of layers and conventions, Jingyi has no time at all to mull over the OOC function or how to get rid of it as soon as possible. To think he used to complain when his mother wanted him to wear a dress shirt and a tie to family events — if she could see him now, she’d probably tear a muscle laughing.

Fortunately, Sizhui seems to take it all into stride. Or, more accurately, he thinks Jingyi’s still too out of it to properly function, and therefore sees nothing wrong with having to walk him through the process of putting his own clothes on step by step like he’s a toddler learning about shoelaces for the first time. He imagines the original would feel humiliated, but Jingyi himself is all too glad for a plausible excuse to ask for help to care. The System grants him this one favor, and stays mercifully silent as Sizhui secures his hair into a high ponytail and shows him the proper way to tie his forehead ribbon (I really can’t do it for you, he says, and Jingyi understands. There’s no helping the virginity ribbon.)

Speaking of hair, he’s got to figure out what to do with his. He hasn’t had a chance to look into a mirror yet, but he knows that this body’s hair reaches his waist. From the looks of it, it’s lustrous and well-cared for, but it’s still a huge change from Jingyi’s style, trimmed whenever it threatened to grow past a finger’s length. His head feels heavy.

Right as Sizhui pats a speck of dust off his shoulder and declares him ready to go, the chime of a bell echoes through the Cloud Recesses, which Jingyi guesses means breakfast is served. Oh, well. His hairstyle’s a problem for tomorrow-Jingyi.

Their dorm’s disciples make their way to the common hall in orderly fashion. In Jingyi’s opinion, they look like a row of ducklings toddling after Sizhui, to whom the younger boys cling to like he’s their father, mother and brother all wrapped into the same person. Truly worthy of being the protagonists’ son! Perhaps in someone else, he’d dislike the model student, can-do-no-wrong attitude. In Lan Sizhui, though, it’s endearing — admirable, even.

They reach the dining hall before Jingyi can elaborate on that train of thought. On the doorstep, he has to take a moment. The donghua’s version was gorgeous, but even it pales before the real thing. The hall is all dark wood, draped in blue and white and delicate silver, the cloud patterns of Gusu Lan running across the banners. There’s something engraved on top of the doors, which Jingyi assumes is the sect’s motto, Be righteous.

One of his fellow disciples squints at him and he realizes, belatedly, that the original has probably seen this place a million times before and wouldn’t bat an eye at the scenery, no matter how enchanting. He immediately puts on the most dazed look he can manage, letting his eyes go blank, until the other boy turns away with a shrug.

Damn right, I’m a weirdo! Leave me alone!

The most anyone here seems to open their mouths for is to exchange quiet greetings, and Jingyi’s not quite comfortable enough with his surroundings to attempt it. What if he accidentally offends someone important? That’ll be the end of him for sure. Instead, he busies himself with trying to identify characters among the gathered disciples.

As it turns out, the task isn’t much of a challenge at all. The main branch of the Lan clan sits at the same table, though it does not particularly stand out among the others save for the cloud-patterned banners hanging directly above it. The guy in the middle must be Lan Xichen, Jingyi guesses, if only because of the respect others address him with, obvious even though he can’t hear their voices from where he stands.

From what he can tell, the unsmiling man sitting to Lan Xichen’s right is Lan Wangji, the main love interest. The intuition is further confirmed when Sizhui excuses himself from their group and flits to his side. Father and son barely exchange a few words, their dark heads bent together, but Jingyi could swear he sees Lan Wangji’s eyes soften a little.

He really does look sad. It’s not like Jingyi didn’t know, having read an entire novel about it, but seeing it for himself still makes his heart tighten in his chest a little. Worry not, Hanguang-Jun! he wants to say. Your future husband is coming back real soon! But of course, the System would probably nuke him instantly if he tried to, so Lan Wangji will have to be miserable for a little while longer.

“Come sit with me,” Sizhui’s voice says, and for the second time in less than two hours, Jingyi snaps himself back into reality to come face to face with the other junior’s kindly face.

It’s pretty wild how much effort Sizhui puts into being nice to him. Is it because he was there when Lan Jingyi was hurt? Does he feel responsible for him now? It’s not like the original was exceptionally pleasant to be around. He really does have to do something about it ⎯ or at least, he’ll take care of it when the System’s no longer on his ass about remaining in-character.

When Sizhui doesn’t seem to come to his senses and retract the offer, he hesitantly settles into the seat on the other’s left. Hopefully, everyone will just chalk up the delay in each of his movements to typical post-traumatic event confusion. What even happened on that night-hunt?

The silence that reigns in the dining hall is eerie, only disturbed by the clink of chopsticks against ceramic bowls and the occasional whispered thanks when a dish is passed down the table. It reminds Jingyi of an exam session, which does nothing to help his nerves.

He’s in the middle of his second bowl when the alert chimes in his head.【OOC behavior detected : -10 points. Current balance : 90 points. 】

What the hell? I didn’t do anything!

【The original Lan Jingyi never manages to stay silent during meals, effectively breaking Gusu Lan Sect’s two hundred and fifty-third rule. Points were deducted accordingly. 】

Was this even mentioned? Now you’re just pulling canon out of your ass! When the System doesn’t answer, Jingyi adds, plus, he’s sick, he doesn’t feel up to talking. It’s weird to refer to someone who’s technically himself in third person, but he can’t help it. He and the other guy probably wouldn’t be friends if they met, nevermind body roommates!

【... 】For the first time since Jingyi arrived, the System sounds somewhat irritated.【Objection considered : +5 points. Current balance : 95 points.】

A wide smile worms his way onto his face. So he can negotiate, huh? Jingyi’s always been pretty good at debate ⎯ he verbally wiped the floor with Huan Hua High’s team last competition, okay? He can definitely duke it out with an omniscient AI!

...Put like that, it sounds a little more daunting than before. But if he doesn’t want to end up booted off into a potentially dead body, he doesn’t exactly have a choice either.

Out of sheer spite, Jingyi finishes the third and last bowl of his breakfast in stubborn silence.

-

He shouldn’t have underestimated the soporific effect of a never-ending lecture. God, and he thought two-hour classes were bad. It's been three, and his soul feels like it's going to throw itself out of the reincarnation cycle.

Jingyi steals a mournful glance towards the window. The sun is shining outside, dammit! This is no time to keep children indoors! Yet Lan Qiren drones on, pacing back and forth in front of them and reading from one of too many foot-long scrolls, seemingly oblivious to his students’ boredom.

Why does he even have to be here? He was born a Lan, he’s supposed to know these things already! Jingyi conveniently ignores the fair point his brain raises (how the original must have known, but Jingyi himself could only recite a handful if he tried) in favor of complaining that, if pointless, is at least relaxing.

One of the Jiang guest disciples is dozing, head strategically propped up and brush in hand to give the illusion of attention. Lan Qiren hasn’t noticed yet. God, I wish that were me.

As if to offer convenient narrative contrast, Lan Sizhui and perhaps a couple others are making a valiant effort to stay focused on Jingyi’s other side, dutifully taking notes. Even Sizhui’s eyes have started to glaze over, though, and when their gazes meet (the umpteenth time Jingyi lets his sweep over the room in an attempt to spot something of interest before he bores himself to death), the other boy actually slumps a little before sitting up ramrod-straight again, just in time to look pristine when Lan Qiren’s eyes sweep over him.

It’s kind of reassuring, to see that even the Lan clan’s resident golden boy is a little imperfect.

Just as Jingyi glances down at the dregs of his notes, wondering if it’s worth it to pick them up again, chaos erupts on his right. Random-Jiang-Extra’s steadfast elbow pose has finally failed him, sending him crashing onto the table. Ink spills everywhere, drenching his notes, the lapels of his robes and even the hem of his neighbours’. Jingyi saves his in extremis by scrambling back, almost knocking over his own desk in the process.

The guest disciple blinks, like he doesn’t realize yet the magnitude of Lan Qiren’s wrath about to descend upon him. There’s a rather large smudge of ink on his chin. From a distance, it could pass for Lan Qiren’s goatee.

Jingyi snorts before he can think that decision through.

Beginner’s mistake. Lan Qiren turns towards him, eyes narrowing, and his laughter dies in his throat. “Do not laugh at others’ plight,” their teacher fumes. “Three thousand and fourth rule, Lan Jingyi! I postponed the punishments for your previous offenses on the grounds that you needed time to recover, but since you’re obviously well enough to embarrass our sect again, you won’t need that delay after all!”

I don’t even know what the other guy did! Jingyi almost protests, but since that objection just sounds like it’ll get him hit with another rule about not telling lies or whatnot, he keeps his mouth shut. Instead, he bows his head and says, “Sorry, Teacher. I’ll try my best not to do it again.” Screw his pride! Anything to escape copying rules! Especially not while doing handstands!

Not to the original’s credit, Lan Qiren looks, for a moment, genuinely surprised. Not for the first time, Jingyi feels a small stab of resentment towards Lan Jingyi. He’s been trying not to, given that he has no idea what happened to the guy’s soul and he may be in a worse situation than Jingyi is right now, but why couldn’t he have been a good, well-behaved student like Lan Sizhui?

...In retrospect, maybe it’s just as good that he wasn’t. Jingyi would have gotten way too many points deducted just because he couldn’t sit still in class.

【OOC behavior detected : -10 points. Current balance : 85 points. 】

Ouch. Must be for the apology. Well, if it saves him from the dreaded handstand copying, he can make up for the loss later.

Against all odds, it works. Lan Qiren rubs the bridge of his nose, stifling what Jingyi is fairly sure is meant to be a long-suffering sigh. “One copy of our sect rules, to be done in the Library Pavilion. Lan Sizhui will supervise you...after his guqin lesson, is that right?”

“Yes, Teacher.” If Sizhui’s annoyed to have to take time out of an assumedly free evening to watch him butcher calligraphy, he doesn’t show it. From the look in his eyes, though, it may not be the first time.

Jingyi tunes out of Lan Qiren’s next tirade, directed at the hapless Jiang boy, who’s still staring at his ruined notes as his martial brothers make sympathetic noises. Can’t say this day started out all that well, but it’s not that bad for a beginning. It definitely could have been worse.

Then Lan Sizhui gives him a tiny smile that carves a dimple into his right cheek, and maybe today really is going to be a pretty good day after all.

strolls in with starbucks almost a month later,,, hello, i haven’t abandoned this fic, mini exam period just punched me harder than expected. i hope this chapter wasn’t boring - i’m trying to set things up before the actual mdzs plot kicks in, but we’re in for some zhuiyi fluffTM. also, i made a twitter! feel free to follow me over there for random au ideas (but mostly crying). still taking questions + prompts, both here and there. and finally, would you guys read a more serious / plotty / angsty fic with ljy x jl as the main ship (though romance would probably take a backseat to the plot)? i wrote a small premise over here, but i crave feedback and validation.

[svtskneecaps]

that damn need to please

Group/Member: Seventeen’s Wen Junhui

Words: 1558

Hogwarts AU

ok admittedly i’m not super super confident in this one but in my defense the request was just ‘Slytherin!Jun x Hufflepuff!reader’ and this is what happened. creative liberties and all that. it’s a one shot so understandably there’s not much buildup. sorry, probably a disappointment, but hey it’s long enough to meet the word count for a Written Assignment so now i can hate myself for being able to crank this out in two sittings but the other thing took like a decade and a half.

@letsseehowhappyyouare

sorry in advance here we go

Main Masterlist

You were tired.

Tired with a capital T, tired with a ™. Just- so tired.

It was the need to please, you decided. That damn need to please. And that damn Slytherin.

You were no fool. Stereotypes didn’t mean shit, you were an example. Hufflepuffs were supposed to be like the good Christian kids with a plate of cookies or whatever. Like Santa’s elves or something. Rosy cheeked and bright eyed. Meanwhile you slung curse words and downed energy drinks like you’d die if you didn’t get another sip with eye bags deep enough to carry groceries and a great death stare. That was the Ravenclaw archetype.

But this Slytherin?

Maybe you just didn’t know him well enough, but he purported like the stereotype that everyone had latched onto in the 1980s or whatever. Latched onto hardcore. You’re talking smirking, the vaguely holier-than-thou brand of confidence, the works. If you added a bit of a blood purity complex then the only thing keeping him from being the next Draco Malfoy would be the fact that he actually looked hot as a platinum blond but if anyone asked you’d immediately deny ever thinking it.

And maybe it was the damn need to please that made you so fluttery and frustrated. The damn need to please that said you should befriend the guy, who’d made it very clear that he was very much satisfied with his current crew and didn’t want jack from anybody, friendship at the forefront.

You’d noticed a commonality in your problems and almost all of them stemmed from your need to please. You were gonna throw that out, you swore.

“Why are you giving your chicken a death stare?” Soonyoung teased.

“It offended me,” you deadpanned, jabbing at it with a fork and missing, the prongs hitting the plate with an angry screech.

“No really.”

You dropped the fork, tangling your hands in your hair. “We got assigned new patrol routes this morning. I got one of the real late routes, starting tonight.”

Wonwoo clicked his tongue. “This is why I didn’t want to be a prefect.”

“It can’t be that bad,” Seokmin said optimistically. “You always say you’re a night owl.”

“Yeah but I do my homework at that time of night.” You sighed. “But that’s not all. I do part of the route with Junhui.”

“He’s not that bad.” Wonwoo rolled his eyes.

“The problem isn’t what he is, it’s what he acts like.” You dropped your head onto the table, narrowly missing a plate of mashed potatoes. “He could be the nicest damn guy on the planet underneath all the snark, but that’s still beneath the snark and I swear to god I don’t have the mental energy for the snark or for digging through the snark.”

“So don’t talk to him.”

“I also don’t have the mental energy for that.” You picked your head up a little and slammed it back down, making the silverware jump.

“How does not talking to someone take mental energy?”

“Cause then I’ll start dwelling on how quiet it is and how I’m obviously not doing my job because one hundred percent I took the whole beginning school welcoming thing way too serious and now I’m in too deep with the helpful Hufflepuff attitude.”

“You could say,” Hansol started, leaning in with a sly grin, “that the helpful Hufflepuff is harmful.”

You didn’t even look up.

The crack of fucking dawn came before you knew it. You were doing your homework in the Hufflepuff Common Room by the dying fire when the alarm you’d set for yourself went off. Loudly.

You fell out of your chair trying to shut it off.

Still lacing up your shoes you all but fell out the entrance, the barrel lid closing behind you. You probably looked like a mess, since you’d requested a neck breather to keep you on task and Soonyoung’s methods of getting you on track involved throwing things, or as he called it, practicing for his OWLs. You were pretty sure using the Banishing Charm to throw pillows and occasionally you across the room wasn’t actually going to be on the OWLs, but you digress.

Jun was waiting at the entrance to the Great Hall, none too patiently. Well, good for him. You were celebrating the little victories. Maybe you weren’t quite on time but you hadn’t tripped on the way up the stairs, so hey, that was a win in your book.

“Glad you decided to show up,” he said. Honestly, you were kind of surprised by the inflection. You were expecting Sharpay Evans but. . . you were pretty sure there was a hint of sincerity in there. Somewhere.

“Wouldn’t miss it,” you answered, a bit more stiff than you intended, but whatever.

He quirked an eyebrow. “That’s a tone and a half.”

“Thought it was high time I joined the club.” You shoved your hands into your pockets. “You have a tone issue, I’ve got a tone issue, even the score board.”

You caught him smiling, though he was obviously trying to suppress it. “That didn’t make a bit of sense.”

“Guess we know why I’m not a Ravenclaw,” you joked.

Silence fell, and you dragged your shoe awkwardly across the tiles.

“We gonna do this or wait until the sun comes up?” Jun finally asked.

“I don’t know, sunrise sounds good to me,” you deadpanned, but started walking anyway.

And patrols kind of. . . continued like that. You’d be lowkey flustered and awkward (because that damn need to please) and he’d act all collected, until somehow purely by accident you’d wear him down and suddenly he’d be cracking up at you. Like the time you were walking the Charms corridor and Peeves knocked something over and you emitted a very unflattering squeak and blew the classroom door open, completely on accident. Apparently Jun found that hilarious, and adorable, in his words even you blushed for the next thirty minutes. Every patrol he got softer faster and stayed that way longer and honestly you had no idea how you’d even been alive before seeing this boy in a laughing fit. You weren’t sure how you were alive after either..

But the weird part was, he stayed the same during the day. He didn’t say hi in the halls, or class, or the library, or in the Great Hall. You’d make eye contact and he’d just look away. Like okay Junie B, two can play at that game, and you could respect his boundaries. If he’d prefer to keep the friendship (if that was what it was) under wraps, you were cool with that.

Kind of.

You were cool with it but that didn’t mean you weren’t curious.

“Hey Jun,” you started, finally getting up your nerve like a month later, “we’re cool, right?”

He glanced at you. “What do you mean? Course we’re cool. Why?”

You shrugged, trying not to let on your blazing insecurity. “I dunno. Just, you never talk to me outside of the routes. I mean, I totally get if it’s just a convenience friendship, but- I dunno.”

“No, no way, it’s not that,” he promised, without hesitation. “Just-” He stopped. It took a couple corridors for him to find the thought, but he got it. “My friends would tease you,” he said. “And trust me, you don’t want that.”

You snorted. “Why do I find it hard to believe that anyone can tease me worse than BooSeokSoon.”

“Trust me, you’ve never seen Yoon Jeonghan when faced with romantic tension.” Jun rolled his eyes with a laugh. “He pestered Mingyu nonstop for months.”

“Romantic tension?” You got stuck on that part. Probably it would be safer to just go down the path of Mingyu’s relationship, but you were also going to eat yourself for every meal for the next month if you didn’t investigate the first bit, so whatever.

He looked like he suddenly registered what he’d said. “Um- yeah.”

“We have romantic tension,” you repeated, processing.

He sighed. “Okay I wanted to admit this in a better way, but- I have a massive crush on you.” He lifted his hands and stepped away. You suddenly registered you’d stopped walking. “There. I said it.”

You squinted at him. “How are you so at ease admitting that.”

He shrugged, somewhat awkwardly. “Been stewing over a confession for awhile?” he admitted.

“No really,” you said. “How. Because I’ve had a crush on you for like- a while and not once did I imagine any confession coming out of my mouth that sounds as graceful as that one.”

He got this cute little smile. “Really?”

“Yeah, I’m a mess.” You ran your hands through your hair in agitation, before glancing up. “Oh wait, you meant the crush bit.”

He nodded, still with that same little smile.

“Not the confession delivery bit.”

He nodded.

You fought the urge to charm yourself and run for it. It was a convincing option. Literally the one thing keeping you there was the fact that he’d gone first. And. . . it was requited.

Holy shit, it was requited!

“So,” Jun said, abruptly snapping you back, “there’s a Hogsmeade trip this weekend. Should we make it a date?”

You beamed. “Sure thing.”

You could weather the teasing if it meant you saw his smile more often.

[joshpup]

To Love or Not to Love // Pt. 3

Intro // Pt. 1 // Pt. 2 // Pt. 3 // Pt. 4 // Pt. 5 // Pt. 6 // Pt. 7 // Pt. 8 // Pt. 9 // Pt. 10 // Pt. 11 // Pt. 12 // Pt. 13 // Pt. 14 // Pt. 15 // Pt. 16 // Pt. 17 Word Count: 2,033 Genre: Svt Mafia Au Member: Mingyu TW: Angst, Violence, mention of blood, there will be fluff eventually i promise. idk about tw if there is one i should add pls let me know im bad at them

Joshua may have been much nicer to you to then you had expected, but that still didn't change the fact you were their prisoner. After Joshua had finished putting everything away, he took you back to the oh so plain room and locked you in once more. You weren’t as bitter and angry when you first were locked away, but that didn’t mean you were happy. You were far from happy, just a little more comfortable. You walked back to the corner of the room and settled yourself against the two walls, and just as you were drifting off to sleep, you hear quite a racket off people, which you could only assume were the others getting back from whatever “business” they had been attending too.

You woke up to a knock on the door, and not long after Joshua walked through with another tray of food. You stood up and met him halfway.

“Good morning.” Joshua said, placing the tray of food on the edge of the bed again.

“Well, I wouldn’t say ‘good,’ but anyways… Morning.” You said bitterly as you looked down at the food, just like last time, the food looked pretty appetizing. Minus the fact you were locked in a room, you didn’t feel too much like a prisoner. Joshua chuckled a little and there was a moment of silence.

“Did everyone come back last night?” You questioned.

“Everyone except Hansol and Seungcheol.” Joshua answered. Of course, you had no idea who those names belonged too, so you just nodded slightly, a slightly confused expression on your face.

“Ah, Hansol is our guy that stays up to date with everything, and Seungcheol is the boss.” Joshua explained, noticing your confused look.

“So, does Seungcheol know I’m here yet?”

“Unless Hansol’s told him, I don’t think he does know.” Joshua said, fiddling with the edge of the tray a little. You nodded once more, watching Joshua.

“Mingyu said that he’d come up and see you soon.” Joshua said after a moment of silence.

“Tell him not too. I don’t want to talk to him.” You stated bluntly. Joshua nodded, an understanding expression on his face.

“I have a feeling no matter what I tell Mingyu, it’s not going to stop him, but I’ll let him know.” Joshua said, turning towards the door, “make sure you actually eat something this time.” and with that, the door was closed. You weren’t sure if you heard the door lock this time, but honestly you didn’t have a desire to go out of the room now. It was quiet and no one was there to bother you. You picked at the food for a bit, eating a tiny bit but not much of it. You didn’t have an appetite anymore. The thought of having to face Mingyu was enough to rid you of your appetite.

You stared at the food for a while, then got up and walked around the room aimlessly. To say the least you were bored, and really just wanted to take a shower and freshen up. You were tired of being locked up in the room, if they planned on keeping you there forever they might as well let you out. It felt like years before the door opened again. You quickly stood up from where you sat on the foot of the bed as the doorknob turned and the door was pushed open. You had expected to see Joshua again, but this time it was Mingyu. He poked his head through the small opening he had made opening the door and looked at you. You had never felt so many different emotions flood your body at one time. Your first reaction upon seeing his face was to quickly walk towards the door. He looked taken aback when you rushed towards him, but that only made it easier for you to push him out of the room and slam the door shut, planting yourself firmly in front of it to keep him from opening the door again. He pushed at the door a few times but you were holding it in place as if your life depended on it.

“Oh, come on (y/n)!” You heard Mingyu whine from the other side of the door.

“Leave me alone!” You shouted back. There was a moment of silence and then footsteps sounded getting softer with each step. You hadn’t expected him to leave so easily… You stayed blocking the door just in case he came back, but after a few minutes and no sign of anyone in the halls, let alone trying to get to your room you finally let the door be. You walked back to the bed and stared at it for a while. Why did I just trap myself in this room? You thought to yourself. I should have tried to get out… You shrugged your shoulders, it was too late anyways, no use beating yourself up over it.

When the door opened for the third time that day, you were on high alert. Pleasantly (or as pleasant as it can get being held hostage), this time it was Joshua again.

“Mingyu came down in such a bad mood, what did you do to him?” Joshua questioned as he walked into the room. You shrugged your shoulders. Joshua ran his fingers through his hair and let out a sigh.

“Is there anything you need?” Joshua asked after a moment of silence.

“To get out of this room.” you said after thinking for a while.

“You might see Mingyu. And I can’t guarantee the other members will be nice to you. Most of them don’t want you here.” Joshua stated.

“Yah, a few of them did try to kill me, I think I know I’m not to welcome.” You said, rolling your eyes slightly.

“Alright… Don’t try to leave the house if I let you out, you’ll be killed for sure.” Joshua said, his voice much more stern than you’d ever heard it. You nodded and followed him out of the room. You were honestly so happy to be out of that room and be able to look out a window and see sunlight that you didn’t care you’d see Mingyu, or the guys who almost killed you a few days ago. You followed Joshua down the hall and towards the stairs. As you passed the many doors, you could hear music softly playing behind one of the walls, but you passed too quickly to figure out exactly which room it was coming from. You followed closely behind Joshua as you walked down the stairs and towards the kitchen like the night before. The sunlight filled the house beautifully. Honestly, how such awful people could have such a nice house like this made you puzzled… maybe they weren’t as bad as you thought. You shook your head slightly. Don’t think like that (y/n), they kidnapped you!

The two of you walked through the kitchen and into another connecting room that you hadn’t noticed the night before. The room, which you would call the living room (but it's debatable), had a few couches, and a TV mounted on the wall. In one corner of the room stood a wrack with clothes hanging from it, and beside that was a table piled with various things, from more clothes to an umbrella and even some pots and pans. There were even rolls of papers that at first glance looked like maps too you and knowing these people, it was probably blueprints to some poor person’s store.

There were several people in the room, some on the couch, some laying on the floor or leaning against the wall, doing their own things. Some on their phones, one person reading, another person writing something down, but as soon as you and Joshua walked into the room their heads turned and soon all eyes were on you.

“Josh, why’d you let them out?” someone you had never seen before questioned, standing up to reveal just how short he was compared to the others in the group.

“Don’t worry Jihoon, (y/n) not going to go anywhere. Do you think she could really leave this house?” Joshua asked, waving his hands a little to gesture to the house. Jihoon gave Joshua a look that could kill.

“I won’t take my eyes off them.” Joshua assured.

“Mingyu should be the one watching over them, not you…” Minghao, looking over from where he sat on the couch.

“I’d rather die than have to spend time with Mingyu.” You blurted out.

“We can arrange that.” Jun said, glaring at you. You glared back at him. If the tension in the room wasn’t already high, it was now. Everyone was silent, and no one moved. You didn’t dare move, let alone breath. You felt as if you made one wrong move you’d die right there on the spot. Was this how everyone normally acted, or is everyone stressed for some reason? You didn’t know, but you could hope this wasn’t their normal way of acting.

“Why is everyone so quiet?” A voice called from in the kitchen. You turned around to see Mingyu walking towards the living room, which also meant towards you. For some reason, your first instinct was to move behind Joshua, out of Mingyu’s reach. This action not only earned you a glare from Mingyu, but Joshua also got a good bit of Mingyu’s attitude. He brushed passed the two of you and threw himself down on the couch next to Minghao and Jun.

“Why aren’t you watching over (y/n)? You said you would…” Minghao said once again.

“(Y/n) won’t let me get near them.” Mingyu stated.

“Well that’s your issue.” a guy with longish hair spoke up for the first time since you entered the room. “You said you’d take care of them, don’t push your job off on Joshua. He’s got his own things I need him to do.”

“Hey, I only asked him to watch over them last night while we were gone. And Josh’s not some person you can boss around anymore, Jeonghan.”

“I shouldn’t have left my room…” Your whispered, barely audibly to your own ears, let alone anyone else.

“Look Mingyu, I don’t have a problem watching over (y/n), but when the boss comes home it’s all on you. Don’t push this onto me.” Joshua finally spoke up.

“Sounds good, plus if anyone would know how to take care of (y/n) it’s you.” Mingyu said with a shrug of his shoulders. Before you could even blink there was a pillow being smacked in Mingyu’s face and a loud grunt from Jeonghan. Joshua shifted from foot to foot awkwardly while the others expressions changed from frustration to a look you couldn’t quite pinpoint. Joshua cleared his throat.

“Well, once the boss gets back I have to go out for a few days with Jeonghan so you better learn Mingyu.” Joshua said before turning to leave the room, you close behind him.

When the two of you had made it far enough away to go unheard, Joshua laughed a bit.

“That was dramatic.” You nodded. You had expected to be under fire, but not quite like that. You followed Joshua around the for a bit as he showed around the house. At first glance, you didn’t think it would be that big, but it was actually really big. Then again, they are part of the mafia, so it’s not like they wouldn’t have money. They had a huge exercise room, the boss's room (which no one but the boss was allowed in unless summoned), all the rooms upstairs, the kitchen and living room which you’d already seen, a dance room for some reason and then a few rooms Joshua said he couldn’t show you. You guessed they had something to do with their line of work, so you didn’t ask, partly for your own safety, and partly because you didn’t want to know what type of terrible things they are doing.

After Joshua had shown you every part of the house he could, he turned to you.

“Anything else you want to know?” He questioned.

“Yah,” you started, “When can I take a shower?”

Next...

[caratcorner]

DK: Cynosure

Anon said: “can i please get a highschool!au w Dk where he falls inlove w the reader whos a foreign exchange student and sorta a "bad" girl and basically its a "love at first sight" kinda thing ? and he does what he can to get her attention & be her friend & spend time w her and stuff of that sort (w like cute ending) ((also even tho shes supposed to be bad could she not be like sad/mad or mean, just a class clown always gettin in trouble typa bad)) hope this is enough detail & tysm!!❤️🍋”

Word count: 3,000+

Summary: It wasn't possible, was it? Lee Seokmin would have never guessed he would fall in love with such a crazy but amazing girl.

Genre: Fluff, AU!HighSchool, Romance, Comedy(?); Female reader

A/N: (Cynosure: something that strongly attracts attention by its brilliance, interest, etc.) I'm so SO sorry for the ultra long time, I had the worst writer's block ever and I’m not even sure how the end turned out but I don’t want to make you wait any longer so ya, but hope you enjoy this! Since you said "bad girl" I made it with a female Y/N ^^

-Admin Haruna (& admin Syrup editing, thank u!)

Why were you like this to him? He tried to stop his heart from trying to jump out of his chest every time he heard your voice. Was it something normal? He would have never guessed these feelings would come up the day you were introduced to everyone in the classroom.

It was your first day in your new school, which just so happened to be in a new country. You were nervous but at the same time excited because it felt nice to get a fresh start. The first thing you noticed when you walked in was the strange guy doing a horse impression to his friends, which made you laugh a bit. “Please introduce yourself,” was what the teacher told you. He was kind of grumpy because his important history class was being interrupted but you didn’t care as you smiled happily and got up to your seat, then you put your feet on your chair and stood up in it, making all the students gasp and the history teacher almost have a heart attack. “Everyone, I’m Y/N Y/L/N! Hope we all can get along nicely! I’m going to have fun this year with y’all so nice to meet y’all.” Your accent was strong, and not only your looks, but also the way you talked was way too different from the other girls who tried hard to keep their calm and act all “feminine and cute.” While some of the girls started to gossip with each other, the guys seemed to like your carefree attitude; more in the way that they would like to be friends with you as you seemed nice and brave enough to do that in front of the history teacher. Everyone but... Lee Seokmin. 

You were beautiful, someone that he could only look at and wonder how you were real. Your smile brightened up the usually quiet classroom and he couldn’t believe how much his heart swelled when he only knew your name. “Ahem... Miss Y/N, please SIT down. I need to start my class and you’re new but you still make more noise than all the guys there.” Everyone laughed, and different from being embarrassed you laughed while letting yourself get comfy on your seat, without knowing that someone in the classroom was still staring at you.

Different from what usually a transfer student would do, in the first hour you already had made some friends and the history teacher lectured you already 20 times, and everyone was still amused about how you always had an answer for everything. “Y/N Y/L/N, you’re new but you’re quite confident already, aren’t you?” the teacher sighed but you immediately answered, “Well yeah, I've been changing schools for a lot of times and traveled way more than all the people you talk about, so ya.” The teacher furrowed his eyebrows and put his fingers on his forehead, as if your answer had made him mad enough to give him a headache. Your classmates, though, laughed a lot so you just shrugged your shoulders and laughed with them.

The first time he got the guts to talk with you, he kind of stumbled over his feet and fell on his butt, but he put on a funny face to which you laughed and lent him a hand to help him get up, which was different from how you always showed a funny and strong personality. Your hand was soft and tiny in his, and he blushed hard from that, but you just assumed it was because he was embarrassed from having fallen in front of someone. That day Dokyeom told all his friends about his feelings for you. He was sure now that he was over heels for you. When he told everyone, they all got silent and Woozi spat his juice while gasping. “Y/N??? The classroom’s clown?” he asked, completely surprised.

Jeonghan giggled, “But I think she’s Dokyeom’s style, isn't she?” Jeonghan looked at Joshua who just shrugged. 

“I guess, she’s kinda nice so why don’t you try talking with her?” Joshua put his hand on Seokmin’s shoulder and then Jun spoke. 

“That’s true, though... Why haven’t you talked with her? She’s like talking with Seungkwan.” 

Seungkwan gasped at Jun’s words and screamed, “BUT I’M BETTER QUALITY THAN HER!” and everyone laughed. They were having a nice time like every other day, but they didn’t know a girl with a jealous expression was eavesdropping on their talk and making an evil plan in her head.

The days quickly transformed into weeks and after some weeks it had been already a month and 15 days since you entered school; your name was known in every classroom as every teacher always told something about you to all the students and how ‘they should be quiet and calm and not follow your example.’ For you it was quite normal, you were okay with being the way you were, it was the real you and it was nice to make everyone have fun so they would never forget you. At first, girls didn’t seem to like you because even on the first day, you were surrounded by guys, but then you told all the girls that it was because you seemed like a male friend for them and then somehow they all relaxed and started to talk more with you.

It was all perfect, even though you were always having problems, you made sure it wasn’t that bad because after all you still had a bit of a sense of responsibility to yourself. One day while you were in the classroom with your hands up as a punishment and giggling (because you kind of put a pail full of water in the door so when the teacher opened it fell in his head and soaked him) someone entered the classroom. You thought it was the teacher and gazed up, only to meet one of the boys in your group of male friends. “Oh, Lee Seokmin is heeeere~” you said jokingly. If you had to be honest, everyone in the classroom was your friend... Everyone was pretty close to you, and so was Seokmin... But for some reason, he seemed kind of distant and you wondered why. He was a bit like you; he made the classroom light up by saying funny things, but he was a bit more cautious than you because he didn’t want to get in trouble. You remembered the first day you two got to meet...

*Flashback*

Even though you were pretty popular, you still liked some time alone so while everyone was having their lunch at the cafeteria you decided to sneak your way to the rooftop, where you knew no one was going to be. Pretty cheesy and cliché right? You sat down on a table that was up there. You didn’t know why no one wanted to be up there when the air was so fresh and you enjoyed every bit of it. You closed your eyes and suddenly someone spoke to you, to which you flinched a bit. “Can I sit with you?” a boy asked, even though he had already begun to set down his lunch and bag.

You really wouldn’t mind a bit of company even though you were trying to avoid the noise a bit. As the boy sat down all you could make out was that his name was Seokmin before he went completely off, telling you joke after joke, making you laugh until your stomach hurt. It didn’t even matter if you were loud or hyper now because you were loud and hyper together. That day was amazing because, usually, you were the one who would make the people laugh, but that time Seokmin rewarded you for doing so by making you laugh like it was the last day of your life. After that, you were going to thank him but lunch had finished and he went back to his friends and you left for your last lesson; even though you couldn’t thank him with words, you thanked him with a smile and your heart. What you didn’t know was that that day you stole Seokmin’s heart completely.

*End flashback*

Different from how he was with his friends and how he was with you that day, he seemed more shy than usual with you and that made you a little uncomfortable if you had to say the truth. He seemed like someone really funny, so why was he shy with you? He showed you his most funny side when you two were alone but after that, you hadn’t gotten time to be alone with him or ask him anything, so this was now your opportunity. “What are you doing here?" you asked him with a smile, and he laughed a bit because you still had your arms up. 

“The teacher was kinda mean, right?” he said nonchalantly and grabbed the seat in front of you to sit down. “I... I was searching for my things... I think I forgot my money for lunch," he sighed and you giggled and he mimicked your expression. 

“I also forget these things easily.” You started to move your hands in the air, feeling a bit tired of having your arms up. It was already 10 minutes since you’d been like this and you already wanted to lower your arms, but the teacher told you that if you did he would make you have your arms like that until classes were finished. Seokmin noticed your tired gaze and suddenly took your arms with his hands. Not expecting him to do that all of sudden, you blushed a bit. “W-What is it?” you asked him and he gave you a full smile that made your heart jump. 

“You're tired, aren’t you? I know you can’t put your arms down now but I’ll help you hold them up.” 

You laughed and let your arms rest a bit on his hands. They felt warm against your skin. “But are you okay being here? I thought the teacher told everyone not to enter the classroom because I was going to be here.” 

He shook his head slightly, then avoided your gaze. “I kind of... Told the teacher that I forgot my money there...” 

You nodded at his words. “Then you have to leave quickly, right?” 

He seemed to hesitate but then he nodded again. “But you know, isn’t this a funny scene?” He laughed, it was true, the way you two looked right now was something that would make everyone laugh if they saw. “Seokmin, this is all of a sudden, but why are you usually not like this when there are other people around?” 

He seemed to think a bit; sincerely he himself didn’t know why he was like that, but the reality was simple: it was because he had a crush on you. “Y/N... You should know why...” he said seriously, and you tilted your head. 

“But I don't really know...” you told him honestly, and then he suddenly started to get closer to you still holding your arms, and you blushed hard but were unable to stop him; he stopped right in front of your face and... 

“Can you imagine two noisy people together? If you're already suffering from this punishment, imagine the punishment the teachers would give us two...” 

You snorted and he did too. “But I guess it’d be more entertaining to have these punishments with someone rather than alone.” He nodded and now you noticed his eye-smile, wow, it was cute. 

“Of course, then I’ll... Never leave your side from now on so be prepared for that.” Even though he had a funny face while saying so, his words sounded way too cool for you, like he meant more than what he was saying. 

Suddenly you both flinched when the school bell rang and you sighed gladly. “Oh finally, I’ll be able to put my arms down.” Seokmin left after that, not before saying ‘good luck’ to you of course.

Everyone started to enter the classroom. Finally, your teacher told you it was okay to put your arms down and when you did it felt amazingly good and you couldn’t help but let out a sigh that everyone could hear and they all laughed. Class started, but the whole time you felt a pair of eyes on you, but instead of feeling flustered, you felt like those eyes didn’t mean any good. Suddenly, there was a big crash sound and everyone flinched. When you looked next to you, you found out that the window by your side had fallen off and luckily for you, it ended up falling onto the other side. Suddenly a girl screamed, “Hey! Y/N, what are you doing!? That's dangerous!” 

You stared at her in disbelief with your mouth open. “W-What? Why are you yelling at me?” She mirrored your expression as if telling you with her eyes that you were an idiot for asking that. 

“You’re the one who did that, weren’t you?” 

You denied it quickly, because how could you do such a thing? You liked to play pranks and to have fun, but you definitely wouldn’t do something that would put people in danger. 

“How can you lie? You were the only one who was here the whole time! You did this to pull a prank on everyone just to have fun, but you could have hurt someone!” The girl continued yelling at you so you got up from your seat. 

“No, I didn’t! I won’t put anyone in danger for a freaking prank! Also, yes I was the only one here but I had my hands up the whole time and didn’t move at all!” 

The teacher suddenly yelled at you two and the classroom got quiet... a bit, because now everyone was whispering things to each other. You still could hear everyone, though: “Wow, can’t believe it...” “She’s really something, how could she?” “It’s dangerous... I know she likes to have fun but...” “Scary, better not get close to her...” “It was obviously her, there was no one but her in the classroom earlier...”

You didn’t like that.

“G-Guys... I swear, I didn’t do that... I-” The teacher made you shut up with a glare and you could see a little smirk forming on the girl’s face. 

“Y/N... How could you? You know that the school can expel you for this, right?” 

You sighed and put your fingers on your forehead. “Teacher, you too? You don’t have any proof that I was the one who did it, how can you just doubt me like this?” The teacher stared at the girl and then at you and grew silent. 

“She didn’t do that,” you heard a boy suddenly talking and then you saw Seokmin looking more serious than ever. “I was here at lunch time and she didn’t move at all. You can check the cameras if you’re still doubting her, but I was here the whole time too and she did nothing.” 

Suddenly, another boy put his hand up, it was Lee Chan. “I stayed in front of the classroom at lunch time on the table... And I didn’t see her doing anything strange.” 

Now another boy, Seungcheol. “Honestly, I wasn’t nearby at lunch time, but I don’t think Y/N will do something that dangerous... She does think of everyone even if she acts the way she acts.” And suddenly everyone was putting their hands up, saying how you were a nice person and not even in your weirdest dreams you would do something like that. 

“Ok, I understand... This was probably an accident, so I’m going to check the cameras. Everyone calm down now.” The teacher finally got out of the classroom to check the cameras. You saw the girl that made everyone doubt you. 

She was now a panicking mess and biting her nails. You slowly made your way closer to her. “You... Were the one who did that, right?”

She glanced at you. “W-What the fuck are you talking about?” Her suddenly swearing made you jump a bit, but you just shrugged. 

“I think it’s better if you apologize to everyone and tell the teacher before he sees the cameras. You can say it was an accident and they won’t expel you...”

Her hand was in the air suddenly and she was going to hit you but Seokmin appeared out of nowhere and stopped her. “You were the one who did that?” he gasped a bit, she shook his grip off. “I can’t believe you did that and put all the blame on Y/N...” 

The teacher returned and you all ran to your seats. The teacher didn’t enter the classroom, but instead he just spoke. “Han Ji-a, come to the Principal's office.” Now everyone was staring at the girl who started everything and she just ran away quickly so no one could see how red her face was. The teacher followed her so she wouldn’t just skip class.

You got up from your seat and slowly made your way to Seokmin. When he saw you coming to him, he motioned with his head for you to go out of the classroom. You followed him, and you two sat down on the table that was right in front of your classroom. “Thank you... And thank you again.” 

He laughed, how cute. “Why?? Double thanks?”

It was now your time to laugh. “Well, I mean, you made the teacher open his eyes about the window issue... And you stopped Ji-a from hitting me... So yeah, double thanks~” you exaggerated the words and you saw his eyes shining while staring at you in a way you couldn’t describe. You felt your cheeks burning so you lowered your gaze. 

“Well... I need to protect the girl I like so it’s just normal.” He smiled shamelessly and you widened your eyes. The girl he liked? W-What? Who...?

“Me!?” you pointed at yourself and he poked your nose with his index finger. You could swear you felt a spark running through your body from the place he touched. You blushed and put your hands on your cheeks without noticing it.

“You and only you~” he said while winking and then laughing. 

You punched his arm playfully and sighed. “Why you gotta be like this?” 

He then stared right into your eyes. “I’m going to show you a better side of me... So I can be the guy you like too...” Your heart jumped, his words seeming like they were caressing you. “Would you... Give me an answer when that happens?” 

And with your hand on your heart, you nodded. “I will...”

[takerfoxx]

“Fires of the Sun, Part 4″ Thoughts

I really need to go back and re-edit IM one of these days. Just rereading Fires of the Sun is making me cringe by how many mistakes there are. No, it's not a Deep Within scene! Why does it begin with a Deep Within?

Anyway, if I recall, that opening bit with Rumia was intended as a touch-base sort of thing. I had noticed that once Rin had let her go, she had started to fade into the background, and given her importance before that, I didn't want her to just slip off completely. I think her bit with getting threatened by Sakuya was partially created to at least give her something to do, even if it was more as a prop than anything. But it's been months so I don't really remember. At least it helped remind everyone of those bugs Wriggle sent out for help, so it's not like it was completely filler.

Funny thing about writing crises though: you kinda need them to keep going until you've hit that climatic finish. Which means any solution that would solve the crisis for the characters prematurely needs to be denied in some manner. That's honestly what that conversation between Sakuya and her allies was at least in part about: them reviewing any possible path that would cause the readers to go, "Wait, why don't they just do such-and-such?" and come up with a reason why they can't. Or have them try one workable idea only to slam the door in their face. Characters are annoyingly tenacious at times, and on occasion you do have to go the extra mile to herd them. Though if I recall, Kurumi did present some issues in that her vampiric needs had to be addressed frequently. Can't go into sunlight? Okay, that makes for a good reason for them not to flee through a window. But she's probably blood starved and I do not want her jumping onto one of the other kids and sucking them dry. Well, Sakuya probably came with some blood prepared, and she's likely to be empathetic toward vampire children, so that solves that. But yeah, part of writing these big scenes with lots of moving parts is foreseeing issues that'll get in the way and counter them ahead of time.

If I recall, I was constantly annoyed by the Dragon battles, and only went back to find some new way to keep them at bay. And I'll admit, it did get a little sloppy at times. I don't know what it says about me that I found writing a gigantic battle between Dragons and plant monsters to be tedious. I guess I just like my violence up close and personal.

Fortunately, Rin and Yuuka provided plenty of that. Rin's thoughts in that first clash mirrored my own, in that it felt so gratifying to pound Yuuka's face into pulp. I swear to God, the problems I've had with that character. To use a pro wrestling metaphor, she's that big star that's a huge draw and will guarantee sell-outs for your venue, but is just a whiny, spotlight stealing diva behind the scenes that you almost hate yourself for giving into them all the time, and yet you keep bringing them back because they sell tickets and try to make them look great. But then you finally get some leverage and don't need them anymore, trick them into a match that makes them look like a chump, and smirk from behind the curtain when your new top guy roughs them up. That's what that whole bit felt like. Yuuka really did help put this story on the map. She was by far the easiest character to write for, and any scene with her in it just felt…bigger. But oh my God, it drove me nuts the degree in which she would take on a life of her own and dominate the whole damn story. That kerfuffle with the robots was definitely the most egregious example, but there were others. I do feel I was able to get her character under control in the latter half of the Retaliation arc. Her breakdown after Marisa's death definitely helped. But even so, and even though I'm not yet done with her, this felt good.

I will admit to one bit of lazy writing though. According to my own rules, you can't send messages through magic when the Sirens are around. So…how did Rin control her duplicates? I did acknowledge this problem, but couldn't come up with a good reason and sort of brushed it off. Nobody really cared, but if I'm going to do a full look back, I might as well nitpick.

That gloriously pompous fly (I think I copied his speech patterns from the Helmacrons from Animorphs) though, that was another investment paying off. That whole thing with Wriggle's bug buddies came about because I had preplanned that tense scene with Elly trying to cut Wriggle's hair a way's back, didn't get a chance to use it, and wanted to stick it in before it was too late. The bugs crawling out her hair happened because I thought it was funny, then later, when Yuuka had captured them, I remembered them and figured I could do something with them. So, the bugs were out there, and I kept that (along with about a hundred other loose ends), and when the time came to spice up that garden battle, I remembered them and decided to pull the trigger. Downside? Dragons are fucking useless, okay!

After that was when I really cut loose with Yuuka lovecraftian roots. Like I mentioned in that chapter, I was playing a lot of the Dragonborn DLC for Skyrim around that time, and loved the eldritch scenes with Apocrypha, and decided to have Yuuka take some direct inspiration. So, slime, eyes, and tentacles. I swear to God, I don't know why eyes are such a recurring motif for me. I mean, I chose my avatar because I like Elfen Lied and it looks cool! I swear I'm not actually thinking about people's eyeballs day and night, they just keep popping up!

Illuminati confirm…

Righty then.

Anyhoo, Jun being a dog became unexpectedly handy. I got curious and looked up wolf behavior to see if they practice infanticide the same way lions do. Turns out, nope! Alphas protect the pack, the cubs, and the only infighting issues are usually with upstart young males! So, whenever Sakuya cracked a little more and wanted to get rid of the kids, it made sense for him to be uncharacteristically unselfish and step in. Having a big, hulking mass of angry muscle is useful for deterring murderous maids with slowly deteriorating mental states.

I…can't really remember if this was the point I had decided to have Sakuya threaten Rumia's life, if I had already decided that, or just have her take notice of Rumia as a way of making another investment, but regardless, that was where that scene started taking shape. I'm pretty sure it was something I had already committed to at that point thought, and was then planning on ways to relieve them of the kids and get rid of the rest of her team, allowing her to go completely rogue.

I did want the battle to end with Rin using Flandre's power to blow Yuuka to bits from the beginning though. So, what better way to pull that off than for Flandre to suggest it, thus planting it as a possibility, Rin to try and find it not working, only to bring it back when it was time? Because it's one thing to blow shit up. It's another to chuck bombs at shit, have them not go off, only to explode them later at a more suitably dramatic time.

For the four Yuuka scene though, I think the initial plan was actually for Rin to fight ten of them, grievously wound one for Elly to find later, and then just kyuu the rest to end the thing. It was cut down to four to simplify things a bit. Besides, it's been established that Yuuka gets weaker with each division, and Rin would probably have torn through ten with little difficulty. Besides, it lent itself to some symmetry, given that Rin was already using Four of a Kind, which I got a tremendous kick out of by having it time out like Touhou spellcards do. After all that distinctly non-Touhou-esque violence, it just tickled me to reintroduce the classic rules in the middle of a fight and have them be an inconvenience.

What? It made me laugh. Sue me.

Bringing back Kaguya and Mokou was a hoot as well. I really do miss those guys and all their bickering. And in my grand tradition in breaking up something horrifying with something silly, we have Rin's constant use of Phoenix Fire giving Mokou an itch. Though I think I brought them up here mainly because their later cameo in the next chapter was preplanned from way back and I didn't want their appearance then to be too out of left field.

And then I got to make up for my previous sacrilege by having all of those religious icons turn on Yuuka and burn her crispy. Like I've mentioned a few times before, my personal relationship with religion is a little complicated at this point. Regardless, I've never much cared for militant anti-religious attitudes, so this scene was sort of to make up for having those symbols perverted and destroyed earlier, as well as Yukari's previous trash talking of the Judeo-Christian faith in general. Having Remilia's spear (or Odin's. Whatever) be the first made for a nice bit of symbolism as well. Though it might have been stronger without Sariel directly commenting on it and offer an explanation as to why all those gods were suddenly taking notice just now. A little mystery goes a long way, after all.

Though I think at one point I was going to have Rin skewer the burnt Yuuka with Remilia's spear before dropping her into that hole. And maybe also sticking her into that broken crystal out of revenge. Can't remember why I didn't go through with it though. Hell, whatever happened to that spear anyway?

[fightingforfreedomblr]

MCC-An unofficial front company for governments (2)!

Since America government has been dragged down by Singapore government (on the same boat), the only way out for America government is cover-up and does some remedies. Homeless plan did not work well, it has second beautiful plan-MCC plan-forcing me to date those substantial abusers, criminals and bad-creditors. Who have such capability to do that? No problem, Sherman, Mariann (The biggest witch in MCC who deliberated cutting her hair short to look like a man one or two months ago if people do not look her whole body) and Douglas can do that because they have broken puppets, such as Kim, Sue and Karen and many students. How? Implementing comprehensive abject coercion plan as follows:

1) Lecturing me through classes: One is “Power of Now”. The instructor named Mariann teaches students from a book (?): “If you do not change your attitude, your situation is not going to change and your pain will last forever. The question is ‘Power of Now.’” So, what attitude should I change? I must keep silence by inhuman misconducts done by Singapore government and American government (maybe more). The next is “What’s the Power of Now?” Dating those students. Another is “Eat that frog” hosts by another instructor named John (Tall and slim guy. I do not know his last name and am not interested in knowing). He also borrows another book (?) and teaches: “If you see two frogs, eat that big and ugly frog first.” There are two hidden meanings here: 1st is “If you do not cooperate to play nonsense low-life games arranged by two evil governments, you will like the cooking frog-dying gradually; 2nd is for Singapore government because Singapore government hates America government to handle my case with reason of America government favors Canada government to grant me “Withholding from Singapore not Canada” but does not have courage to criticize America government. So, it uses this metaphor “big and ugly” to criticize America government hidden and asks me to eat that. Can I eat that “big and ugly” frog?

2) Turning the clock back: Why they arrange me to room #126 (formally I did not disclose to the public but now Ok because…)? Because room #124 is a man and room # 128 is a woman. Next why? Because they want me to “turn the clock back”. If I date a woman, I can get rich; if I date a man, I must die. Hell no! Since I came out in S.F 10 years ago, I never turn the clock back, now and forever. Moreover, I said clearly at the beginning to my case manager “Hell no to date your student!”  And that’s why Douglas ended my meal on Jun/12/2017 because it is the date of one year anniversary of “Orlando mass killings.”  One more, Kim and her allies has posted a tag on every computer and deliberates reminding every user “You must log off at 4:25PM” to threaten me hidden.

Not ironically? California State governor Jerry Brown had his 15th State Union Address on Jan/24/2017 with title “California never turns back, now and forever!”  to defy Donald Trump with three issues of “Immigration, Medi-care and Climate change.”  What a hypocrisy!

3) Life audit: They spy me all the time as one way of life audit through home invasion, computer activities, phone activities and so on because they have broad evil networks. Another life audit is through my case manager-Matt through every week appointment. Not only my life audit but my family audit (really outrageous). To be honest, I felt very uncomfortable with those offensive questions, such as, “What your parents did and when they died?” “What your brother and sisters do?” On the contrary, I want to ask simple question to America government: What’s your conclusion about me?

4) Food poison, home invasion and spy: The next is food/drink. I have got food poison almost every meal. Why those cookers (Tim, Alan and Philip) and servers (Mark poisoned me couple times, ex-room #122 and current room # 122 poisoned me many times, 1708-103 poisoned me countless times and others I do not know but I remember their faces forever even they are burnt into ashes but God knows and Karan and Mariann know) can run so wild and so rampant? The management has spread the word in dark: “Do whatever you want because local Police is not going to investigate.” Moreover, “it is hard for him to prove those ‘mysterious medical problems.’” Well, in open, Sue lectured me that “Your room is not private, anyone can enter your room to check.” That’s why I have countless times of “Home invasion” because I have “no proof”. The horrible thing is: They can enter my room to molest/rape me when I sleep because I have “no proof” too. This one they need doctor(s)/pharmacist(s) help to make me unconsciousness. Another is comprehensive spy in MCC. I walk anywhere they appear anywhere. Well, what I can do just smile thinly and keep distance.

Hurry, harm me as more as possible to get petty cash from your masters because the time is running out. 

5) Hate: How to motivate some students to harm me with minimum cost? Hate.  Next how? Demonizing me because some students are not so thoughtful.

6) Innovation (I would say shit): Because they spy my writing all the time, so they have alternatives or substitutes through cookers/servers, such as Tim as a cooker and Mark as a server. Why? Because I comments in my journal that “I am proud of current CEO of Apple-Tim Cook” with reasons: 1st, Apple ex-CEO-Steve Jobs has philosophy of humanity for his success; 2nd, I have many similarities with Tim Cook, such as, Engineering degree, MBA, Engineer, Executive, Businessman, Gay, Christian, and Mobile of Alabama. Another is FB CEO-Mark Zuckerberg because he has computer talent and business talent even I criticize sometimes because sometimes I have been blocked temp by it without sound reasons but politics. So, they arranged Mark as a server who poisoned me some times. Moreover, his partial number of car plate is 6xxx684 which sometimes parks in front of my room or closes to my room.

7) Fabricating problems: Kim and her allies have used computer lab to do another abject coercion. How? Fabricating computer problems either with word, email, printer or Internet-then I must ask for help (different broken puppets to see what and how); if no working-arranging someone sitting beside me immediately to observe my reaction after I sit down on one computer; if not working-arranging someone sits on different computer to see which computer I want to use.

8) Lousy shows and hidden coercion: Another one is “Toastmaster” which gives some students to tell their stories to let me know them. Who cares? And observing me through seating from other classes.

9) Sleep: The room # 226 disturbs my sleep almost every night, either by making noise of TV, shower, tap, coughs or floor-hitting, plus his allies making noises of car-door slamming and car-engine from outside.

10) Evil networks: This comprehensive abject coercion is implemented  not only in MCC but also in whole Sacramento County, such as, SAC-PL, RT and Loaves &Fishes.

  Note: 1) Why my F.S and Medi-Cal are on/off? Those were shallow plot or prank conspired by John Kelly (DHS)-Mariann-Student(S) with 99% possibility; 2) I called the Director of MCC-Sherman 3 times and left voicemails with two issues of “My security in MCC and oppression from his staffs”, he just ignores me.