#just saying:) be consistent if you want me to believe you that this isn't s lot of self-serving rationalization.

[lucienne-thee-librarian]

Funnily enough these same people suddenly have absolutely no trouble comprehending the idea that how you EXCLUSIVELY repeatedly write your only characters from a certain demographic can say something about how you view that demographic irl...when it comes to characters who are queer/trans/female/neurodivergent/disabled like them.

post: the way you write certain characters can reveal certain things about yourself and the way you view the world. for example, the way you treat your characters of color can correlate to how you view Black and brown people in real life.

addition: nope! stop fandom police! kill the cop inside your head! stop demonizing dark fiction! acab includes fandom police!

[fun-k-board]

Hey, could I request Bi Han/Sub Zero romantic headcannons with a male reader who is his right hand man and childhood friend?

Bi-Han / Sub-Zero with a boyfriend who's his childhood friend

Note(s) : I'm gonna be honest, I don't really like him, but I want to try and be a better writer by writing about characters I don't like. Please, give me critiques on how I wrote him!

First of all, he was incredibly moody as a child already, not exactly of his own volition having a dad like his would ruin any kid, so if you can't handle people who are mean on purpose? You'd have a REALLY hard time getting along with him.

Bi-Han was always brooding, in the corner with a frown, he eats with a frown, sleeps frowning, talks to his brother's frowning, the only time he's ever smiling is either in private or when it's just him and Kuai Liang, but it doesn't happen that often any more after his dad died.

To befriend him, you'd either need to be a part of the Lin Kuei, either born into the clan, maybe the son of one of the lower Lin Kuei members, or found and taken in by the clan, or somehow be involved with one of the Lin Kuei's missions.

It's a long and slow process, but even just talking to him once a day will eventually gain a semblance of trust, it'll be hard to show it, and he mostly does by standing next to you and sometimes agreeing with you, but these things will take time.

By your teenage years, you two began training together, maybe he tends to be a little rougher than other Lin Kuei, and maybe he's broken your nose once, twice, possibly even thrice before, but he did apologise, eventually.

He would confide in you about troubles with his brothers, well, he insists that Smoke isn't a brother and more like a stray even though that's just not true, but Bi-Han would be awkward and reserved about talking with you.

He feels that this isn't your business, and not only that, he feels like you just... Wouldn't get it? While he understands you may have issues of your own, his situation is rather unique.

His troubles mainly consist of Kuai Liang and Tomas upholding tradition, Bi-Han believes that his brothers view tradition higher than him, and even though he's grandmaster, that they don't take his opinions into account.

Of course, this is ludicrous, his brothers follow his every word and typically offer little resistance, though, if you try to tell him that he will just storm off and claim he was right all along and that you don't understand. He'll eventually come to his senses and realise what you said was true, but, won't apologise.

If you agree with him, or at least say you do, he'll murmur a gruff complaint about his brother's and then you'll sit in silence for a while.

By the time MK1 rolls around, he's fairly jaded, he doesn't like talking to his own brothers, he dislikes them a fair amount actually, but he still loves them, or, at least he holds love in his heart for Kuai, he still hates Smoke.

Bi-Han doesn't know exactly what he feels for you, he knows it's not friendship, but at the same time, he's never really had friends before, so, he can't be sure. All he understands is that he values you, and more importantly, your opinion, if you disagree with him it may hurt his pride, but please, stay firm, he comes around eventually, only with you.

He wants to wait for something, that maybe proves you may love him, because when that rolls around, he can fully decide whether to act on his emotions or not.

You most likely accompany the trio to stop Shang Tsung, and you'll most likely be there when Bi-Han betrays the Lin Kuei. Obviously, you choose to stay with him, and, it breaks Smoke and Scorpions heart, they may not have known you too well, but, they knew you were one of the only things that would stop him from going down that path.

In a way, you both failed them that day.

Now, after proving your loyalty to him, you're basically his right hand man and oversee a lot of the clan, you train young and old recruits, you maintain a harsh schedule everybody is expected to follow, you help Bi-Han with whatever he needs, and sometimes need to force him to take a day off.

By the way, he won't let you say his actual name, you always have to either call him Sub-Zero or Grandmaster, depending on if you're on a mission or not, his name is personal to him, a core part of his identity, and, until you're closer, he feels awkward letting you call him Bi-Han.

During this, he becomes even more angry, even more distant, even with you, and it may take pushing, reminding him of your childhood spent together, for him to crack.

He won't come crying into your arms, he doesn't beg for forgiveness or want any, he just sits there, and begins to rant. He rants about how he feels like, if he was a better grandmaster, his brothers would have joined him, if he was a better grandmaster, maybe he wouldn't have joined Shang Tsung, and wouldn't have been tempted by his lies.

You hold a hand to his shoulder, and you confess, you tell him what you think about him, how you feel about his temptation into evil by Shang Tsung, and even though he doesn't want forgiveness, you give it.

And, with permission, you hold his hand. It's a small step, but, it's the most contact you two will have together for a long time.

Now, he gives you small smiles in private, nothing wide, but something so tiny it's hard to differentiate from not having an expression at all, he gives you some time off, more than he gives himself, anyway, and more importantly? He feels himself relaxed around you.

Telling a joke that would once make him scoff and walk away now makes him let out a gruff and amused noise, it's a mix between a laugh and breath of air, and he only does it for you.

Dinners with him are less awkward, when before you would sit in silence, hesitantly taking bites from food. You two now chat quietly about your day, each recruit, and sometimes about each other. You can actually enjoy the food and his presence.

He lets you call him Bi-Han now, not in public, but, when you two are alone, in a hallway, in your rooms, having dinner or breakfast privately, whichever situation calls for you two to be alone, he lets you call him by his name, and, it makes him feel vulnerable. It makes him feel loved.

He's always held your opinion in high regard, but now, it's honestly the only one that matters besides his own, and he does, silently, hope you aren't so tempted by power like he is.

Bi-Han may take longer to kiss or cuddle you than what most would consider normal, he loves you, he knows he does now, but, he's nervous, no, he's afraid. He knows he's a rough man, and he knows how uncaring and even violent he is and can come across as, so, naturally, he tries to avoid the subject. He doesn't want to do anything without your consent, but he's also far too afraid to ask.

It will take you to ask him, you'll need to make the first move, and when you do ask him for that first kiss, he gives you that small, hardly noticeable smile, and you both lean in, closing your eyes...

It's awkward. Maybe you know how to kiss, maybe you don't, but Bi-Han definitely doesn't, and, it shows. He feels slightly embarrassed at how lost he is, but, you two can learn together, and even just telling him, hey, maybe it wasn't the best, but, we can learn together, lifts his spirits an unnatural degree.

For the next week, the schedules become less strict for most Lin Kuei members, and any mess ups are met with less harsh, but still kind of harsh, punishments.

Kissing is basically ingrained into your schedule now, once in the morning on the cheek before breakfast, maybe once at lunch if it's a tough day, and always a peck on the lips at night before bed.

It takes less time to cuddle if you've already kissed before, sure, it still takes a bit long, but, so do most things with this man. Maybe it starts with holding his hand, or, sitting on his bed and talking about things, training gets hard sometimes, so perhaps you're just a bit tired.

You look up at him and quietly ask if you can just lay down for a while, or, maybe you just lay down yourself and wait for any objections, either way, he lets you lay down, and eventually, lays down next to you. Your hands hold each other tightly, your head is resting on his shoulder and it feels strangely perfect, despite how stiff his shoulders are.

This becomes semi natural in your schedule, but only after a long day, cuddling each other until you or him are on the brink of sleep, and then you return to your bed. You two still sleep in separate beds, that's just how he prefers things, no matter how much he trusts you, it's just more comfortable.

I'd recommend cuddling in summer, because, he's insanely cold and the winter is not at all suited for cuddle sessions between you two.

It takes a bit for you two to start calling each other 'boyfriend', not because Bi-Han doesn't consider you his lover, and therefore boyfriend, but because he sort of just assumes that kissing, cuddling, all of that, makes you together automatically, and, he doesn't like announcing his relationships.

It's not like he's embarrassed of you, he seriously isn't, but, you're the only person who sees the vulnerable side of him, and he prefers to keep it that way. None of the other Lin Kuei members, god forbid any one else, deserves to know your relationship with each other.

Dates are rare, extremely rare, you two have major responsibilities within the clan, and, Bi-Han doesn't trust anybody enough for them to run it while you two are away, so, the most date-like thing you'll experience is eating dinner together after every one has had theirs and left.

[hwnglx]

Do you see JK married before the BTS reunion in 2025-2026?

jungkook's thoughts on marriage

based on tarot. i do not know these idols personally. energies are always changing. what i say is NOT straight fact. pls take it with a grain of salt!

7op, 3ow, wh, 5ow&10ow, kiow

(can i just say whenever i read for jk, i get the message immediately. it's actually crazy. he's probably the only idol who i just understand in an instant, very comfortable and easy energy)

so to answer your question, no i don't see him married in the next few years. jungkook seems to sincerely believe in the power of right timing. he's very intuitive and believes the universe will just kinda tell him "now is the time". he will just have this feeling that it's right. but the cards are very clearly telling me that that period is still far away.

i literally get this message every single time i read for him, but he has this very certain and specific image of the man he wants to become. jungkook aims to become someone like the king of wands here, who is not only very mature, powerful, confident and assertive, but also a warm, passionate and loyal protecter and provider. he puts a lot of burden and pressure on himself to continuously strive to get closer to that version of himself, extremely perfectionistic guy. he also connects relationships and especially marriage with a lot of responsibility (ppl are quick to misunderstand him because of his flirty libra venus but.. he's a double virgo and a mars in scorpio.. both fiercely loyal signs. he's very committed once he settles down) he doesn't just wanna rush into it out of love. he wants to make sure he ties the knot at a point where he feels like he gives his s/o the best version of himself that he can be. and yeah, in his eyes he's still far away from it.

he believes there's still many things in his way that he needs to conquer before taking that step. he wants to look his future spouse in the eyes with pride, knowing he can not only tell them about how he wants to give them the entire world (he's definitely the type to say that), but actually genuinely be capable of giving them the world. he wants to stand behind every promise of his, and feel like he isn't giving his loved one anything less than perfection. (i'm getting kinda lost in the poetry of it all, but just see it as jk's libra venus talking through me right now lmao)

it's actually pretty admirable for his mindset to be so consistent.. first time i read for him was at least half a year ago, and his beliefs and views in this regard are still very much the same.

[ashtheketchum]

A new family Part 9

A/N: I sat on this chapter for an incredibly long time because I had to look up all of Vi's text and then type it out completely (Picture from Pinterest!)

Warnings: Mention of death, mention of alcohol, slight panic attack

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8

Masterlist!

_______________________________________

PoV (Y/N):

I just looked at (D/N) confused while she looked at Daryl with tears in her eyes. After thinking for a moment I understood what her problem was and I looked at Daryl too. He was drunk, but didn't behave the same as he did last night. He was aggressive, loud and didn't pay attention to anyone. "Honey…why are you on the floor…?" I then asked her. I placed my hand carefully on her shoulder, but she was still shaking badly. She couldn't say anything, was she in that much shock?

"It's better this way!" I heard Dr. Jenner suddenly speak up. I immediately stood up again and looked at the doctor. Rick spoke to him and asked him what would happen in 28 minutes. But the doctor didn't answer. "Doc, what happens in 28 minutes!" Shane shouted again, but this time the doctor didn't stay silent, he screamed loudly. “Do you actually know what this place is!?” Dr. Jenner looked around, but then his gaze settled on Rick. He had a mild panic attack, screamed loudly and eventually sat weakly on the chair.

We all remained silent for a moment before Jenner spoke again. "In the event of a catastrophic power failure, in a terrorist attack for example, HIT's are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out." That's all he said. "HIT's?" Rick came closer and closer to the doctor. Dr. Jenner remained silent for a moment, his gaze falling before he looked up and sighed quietly. “Vi, define.�� He simply said. The computer voice was heard immediately and we all looked up.

,, HIT´s Definition: High-impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosive consist of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosiveexcept nuclear. The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen between 5.000 and 6.000 degrees and it is usefull when the greates loss of life and damage to structures is desired.“ Vi was finished with her definition.

I immediately pulled (D/N) towards me, she had slowly stood up again and I hugged her tightly. I looked around anxiously to see everyone else's reaction. Carol hugged Sophia tightly, Rick hugged Lori and Carol tightly, and the others stared into nothingness. Nobody knew how to react. "It sets the air on fire…" Murmured Dr. Jenner ultimately. Now I looked at him in shock. (D/N) had wiped away her tears and was now looking up at me. "No pain… a quick and painless death for all…" The doctor added. I couldn't believe what I had just heard. This scientist had lured us into a death trap and we couldn't escape.

Rick, Shane, Tdog, Glenn and Daryl tried to open those doors so we could get out. Lori, Carl, Carol, Sophia, (D/N) and I sat on chairs or the floor and we held each other tightly. However, (D/N) and I sat further away from the others. I wanted to calm her down first because she was still a little in shock. "Honey…please talk to me…" I then murmured quietly. (D/N) just stayed quiet but clutched my top. She had her face buried in my shoulder.

I sighed quietly and closed my eyes. "I don't want to die like this, mom…" But then she finally murmured. I jumped, startled, before wrapping my arms around her tighter. "You're not going to die here, sweetie…" "That's not what I meant…" Confused, I pushed her away slightly to look at her.

Her eyes looked down, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I don't care where I die or how I die… but I don't want to experience Daryl like Dad… I don't want to die with one last picture of him like that…" She finally spoke up. My heart was breaking and I felt tears welling up in me too. (D/N) looked at me slightly angry. "Daryl isn't like Dad… but I saw him like that just now…" My grip around her became a little tighter.

So Daryl had really scared her. Even if it wasn't intentional, I was right. (D/N) saw her old father in Daryl. The smell of alcohol, the bottle of alcohol in his hand, the aggressive behavior, everything. "He didn't mean it… Daryl is just scared…" I then tried to change her mind. But (D/N) looked at me even angrier and stood up.

She walked away, leaving me to sit alone on the floor. She slowly limped to Carl and Lori, who gently hugged her.

What did I just say? What had I done? Did I just defend a man from my daughter? Daryl had scared her, whether he wanted to or not, it wasn't right of him.

Meanwhile, Dr. Jenner is still trying to convince us to let it go. "You know it's for the best… it's a terrible life out there… if you die out there, it's painful…" Dr. Jenner looked at me. "Your husband died, right?" His question hit me and I opened my mouth. But I couldn't get anything out. Tears streamed down my cheeks, so I looked down and stayed quiet. "No." (D/N) suddenly spoke up.

We immediately looked at her in shock. She looked at Dr. Jenner angrily. "We killed my dad… we watched him die." Her words immediately made me jump and I ran towards her. "Don't say something like that, honey…" "But it's true! Dad wasn't good…! He should die, it was right!” Her words shocked me and I trembled violently. The doctor just remained silent before turning to the others. "The world changes us… until death…"

Now Shane and Daryl tried to open the door with axes. But she still didn't move. "These doors were built to withstand a rocket launcher…" Murmured Dr. Jenner briefly. Suddenly Daryl ran towards him, ax in hand. "But not your head!" We immediately saw Daryl swinging the axe. Shane, Dale and Tdog stopped Daryl, but he still fought back.

"Daryl, stop it! He’s the only one who can get us out of here!” I immediately screamed and I ran towards him to take the ax away from him. Daryl looked at me angrily for a moment before pointing to (D/N). “Do ya wan´ ta die here with the lil´ one?” “You don’t have anything to say about my daughter!” I just growled quietly. My words silenced him for a moment before he hissed, took the ax away from me and went back to the door. Breathing heavily, I watched him before turning to the doctor.

"You can't do that…! You can’t do this to us!” Carol whimpered loudly. "My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this!" "But there will be no pain… isn't it much better to hold your lovers while they can pass from this world without pain?" Dr. Jenner asked her then. "No! No it's not!" However, Carol cried out and hugged Sophia tighter.

It was quiet for a moment before we heard a gun being loaded. I immediately looked around in panic, Shane ran towards the doctor and pointed the gun at him. I ran to (D/N) and pushed her away from Shane, behind me. "Shane, don't! Stop it!" Rick and the others wanted to stop him. "Open those damn doors or I'll blow your head off!" Shane growled threateningly. The doctor looked at him unimpressed as the others tried to lure Shane away. Eventually, Shane fired wildly until Rick took the gun away from him and he lay on the ground.

We all stayed quiet again, I hugged (D/N) tightly to me. I breathed heavily and then looked down at (D/N). She just looked at Shane angrily but held onto my top. "Shane is crazy…" I heard her mutter quietly. Before I could react, Rick was talking to the doctor again. The doctor told us about his wife that she had achieved much more. He would have only continued because he promised her he would. "Let's try this as long as we can…" Lori just murmured quietly. The doctor looked at us briefly before walking to a table. "I said the doors would stay closed…" When he muttered this, I had given up all hope.

But suddenly the doors opened and Daryl called out to us. "Come on! Get out!" I immediately picked (D/N) up again and we ran to our rooms to go out. I didn't look behind me, not when people stopped, not when they spoke. I just wanted to get my daughter out of here.

Next Chapter ->

[g0ldgauntlet]

Webtoon Readers Are Very Harsh on Black and Brown Female Leads.

I've had this thought for a while, and I'm likely not the first to voice it, but I do want to talk about it. It's certainly not a coincidence to me after seeing it happen multiple times. For you to understand my frustrations, I'm going to focus on comparing the female leads from 3 comics: Let's Play, Late Bloomer, and Brimstone and Roses.

(Quick Warning: Let's Play did not originally market itself as an 18+ comic at the start of its publishing, but it very much turns into one after Season 1. Please read at your own discretion.)

(Image description is in the alt text)

Here are the 3 leads of each Webtoon:

Let's Play stars Sam Young, a 22-year-old White woman.

Late Bloomer stars Mai Rose, a 26-year-old Black woman. (Mai is pronounced as "May")

Brimstone and Roses stars Beatrice "Bea" Rosario, a 24-year-old Mexican-American woman. (According to the author, Bea can be pronounced as "Bee" or "Bay-uh")

Let's start with Let's Play.

As a former reader of Let's Play (I read through all 3 seasons), I did observe how this story was perceived by others. The White main character was constantly coddled by readers in the comments section. I would argue that Sam has stunted mental and emotional growth because of her upbringing, and this stays relatively consistent throughout the comic. Her dynamic with Charles wasn't healthy, nor did it actually lead to any significant growth for Sam's character, and it took 3 seasons for people to even realize that. Sam is heavily dependent on Charles, who is way too possessive over someone who isn't even his girlfriend. Sam even acknowledges that he's too pushy for her liking.

There's also this:

Which is just a visualized way of saying "I can fix him." It's set up like she thinks that she alone can help unpack all of his problems if she just gives him some of her own love and care.

The author wants her audience to believe that Sam is manipulating Charles during some points of the story, as Charles makes that point twice (Although, one of those moments is honestly just the author speaking through him), but Sam is portrayed similarly to that of a naive child who Charles takes care of at the same time:

(Context: She drank Irish Coffee sometime before this scene. She did not ask the waitress to elaborate on what it was, and for some reason the waitress herself didn't even tell her that either when she asked for coffee, not alcohol. Charles was left taking care of an intoxicated Sam from that point forward, and the question of whether he'd accept her offer to sleep with her was Season 2's cliffhanger.)

Sam is 22 and Charles is 26-30 (Confirmed in "Questions and Answers II"). They're both adults, obviously, but the way they act led me to believe that their mental and emotional maturity gap is significantly large (Meaning that I can more realistically buy Charles being 30 instead of 26). Sam is frustratingly naive, but someone who's been portrayed as having less power and awareness in the dynamic is a person who I have a harder time believing as being manipulative, compared to Charles, who is much more experienced than her and knows better. He admitted earlier in the story that their relationship was unprofessional and questionable, yet continued it anyway when he could have firmly said no.

Sam also is shown to leave her apartment door unlocked twice, despite knowing that a stranger could walk in. The first time Sam did it, she did it because Charles was coming over and she was going to take a shower, so she told him to let himself in once he got there. The second time was also because she expected Charles to show up, and she was relaxing in her bed while she was waiting for him.

Aside from Sam's character consistently being this glorified portrayal of innocence (seen through the lamb symbolism she has and how much Charles fawns over her because of it), she also isn't really relatable, something that the author tried to portray her as (given that she wanted a relatable and realistic story). Sam's dad is the founder and CEO of a software development company called Young Technologies, and her mom is a world-renowned model and actress. Sam herself is supposed to be a struggling game developer, but she also works at her dad's company as Charles's assistant. From a design standpoint, Sam is conventionally attractive just like her two friends, Angela and Vikki, with all three of them (and most of the women in this comic, honestly) having hourglass figures.

I'm not saying that pretty people can't be insecure or have problems, but every trait added together showcases that Sam, in comparison to most of her friends (Especially Dee, for example. Dee is a dark-skinned, plus-sized Black lesbian, and she works at a coffee shop), is insanely privileged. Given that she comes from a rich family that also has a high social status, with a dad who doesn't even take much convincing to do something when asked by his wife or daughter, Sam has no shortage of money to fund her game and can easily find help with marketing it as well (I'm aware that part of the story's conflict is that Sam doesn't want to take over her dad's business and wants to pursue a career in game development instead, but her dad's backbone is so non-existent that I doubt it would be that hard for her or her mom to get him to contribute towards Sam's games).

Next is Late Bloomer.

I read this comic before Let's Play was first published, so seeing the feedback between that comic and this one was like constantly being given whiplash. Mai works at a place called Galivoyage Travel Services. As the comic goes on, readers referred to her as lazy, spoiled, whiny, unsympathetic, desperate, inconsiderate, and horrible at her job (She is actually bad at her job, but I'll get back to that later). She was called shallow in Episode 8 for turning down Zander, a guy who admitted that he got himself arrested for attempted robbery at a pet store because of his fish obsession (she was also accused of hypocrisy for being put off by Zander's habits, since she has a trait that causes a rose bud to grow on her stomach).

Before this, Mai dated a blind guy in episodes 5 and 6. Because of what happened in Episode 6, readers later accused her of having a judgemental streak for turning down both Zander and this blind guy, claiming that she rejected the latter just because he was blind.

That was not the reason why Mai declined on taking the relationship further. The date was a bust, as neither parties were being fully honest with one another (Mai didn't even know that the guy was blind because he kept that information from her). The blind guy took her to a candlelit dinner that was pitch black, and he had his friend coaching him the whole time. Mai picked up on how sketchy he was acting, and things started to escalate. Her outfit caught on fire because the blind guy accidentally knocked over a candle, and Mai was drenched in water that was thrown at her via a bucket to put it out. Mai did not blame the guy for anything and even acknowledged that her friend, Flora, lied about things on Mai's dating profile while creating it. Mai simply wanted to forget that the night happened and hoped all parties would put it all behind them, but as she's leaving, the blind dude reveals his true colors: He's an asshole. He gets mad at her for leaving and insults her appearance, then proceeds to victimize himself by blaming her rejection on his blindness.

Readers were asking for Mai's character development by Episode 10. At the time of when I read this story (2017), I remembered readers also threatening to drop the comic if development didn't happen after this point in the story. Those comments may have been removed by now, but there are still others who say that they find it hard to like the comic with such a frustrating main character.

Onto Brimstone and Roses.

I'll admit that I'm a new reader for this comic. I'd heard that it featured a bisexual woman of color as a main lead, and the story deals with her personal struggles alongside a demon that she summoned. Bea is a very flawed character, and I appreciate that about her. She has flaws that revolve around the career she wanted to pursue, her complicated family life, and her romantic relationships - Aside from her having a demon, there was nothing really out of the ordinary all things considered.

What shocked me was that it only took 8 episodes for the readers to completely turn on Bea (though negative reception already had quickly built up to that point) and call her all types of names. The readers deemed her unlikeable, selfish, petty, stupid, childish, and a pathological liar. One person stated that they were now only reading the comic for Lazareth, the demon that Bea summoned. Others stressed that they wanted to see character development from Bea as soon as possible.

We are 8 episodes into the Webtoon. That was all it took.

Are you seeing the problem yet?

I need to stress that I'm not saying that Mai and Bea are above criticism just because the former is Black and the latter is a brown Hispanic woman. Far from it, actually.

Mai's work ethic is, like I mentioned earlier, not great. She prioritizes dating over her job, and consistently gets bad reviews from her clients. She and Flora are called out on this multiple times, and are both implied to be dragging the rest of their team down.

Bea, on the other hand, is desperate, selfish, and jealous of her ex-girlfriend despite pretending that it's the opposite. Lazareth calls her out on her behavior, and she comes to accept very early on that he is right. Now she has to deal with the consequences of summoning a demon for petty reasons.

These two leads being called out for their actions isn't the issue. The problem is that Sam constantly gets passes from readers despite having glaring flaws and little to no actual character growth, yet she is praised for having an "empowering" and "relatable" story. There is nothing relatable about a daughter of a CEO and model who has three conventionally attractive male love interests, and whose initial story about becoming a game developer is sidelined after Season 1 in favor of her pursuing her horny, BDSM-loving boss (No shade to anyone who likes BDSM, it's not inherently a bad thing. Charles is just very unprofessional and his unhealthy sex habits are part of the reason as to why). Sam's "empowerment" comes from her changing herself to please a man. Everything that Charles tells her, from how she should act to how she should dress (Wearing revealing or skintight clothing does not automatically make you a more confident person), is based on what he personally likes. Sam even bases some of her own choices on what she thinks Charles would like as well, rather than what she likes.

Sam does not learn much of value from Charles despite her initially claiming that he is the only one who's helped her improve. Her development is mostly stagnant until Monica and Marshall are around, as they're the only ones in the comic who give Sam actually decent advice (I'd count Olivia as well, but she hasn't been relevant in so long that I forgot she even existed). Sam's flaws are usually glossed over, and when she is called out, it's not for the right reasons (i.e. victim blaming, as she is somehow the real manipulator and not Charles).

Mai and Bea are much more heavily scrutinized in comparison, and in Mai's case, not all of it is for the right reasons either. As stated before, Mai did not leave her blind date because he was blind, and the guy's friend even calls out his behavior. The friend states that, because of him, Mai nearly received burn injuries and had her entire appearance ruined when the fire was put out. All she wanted was to go home, and she was within her right to do so. Again, Mai also acknowledged that she and her date weren't completely honest with one another about their identities. However, even though what happened was an accident, the blind guy's lies and planning caused more harm towards Mai compared to vice versa.

Mai was also within her right to turn down Zander. There's nothing wrong with him dressing up as a fish if that's an interest of his, but robbery and crimes are a dealbreaker for multiple people in the dating scene. It's not her job to help him through what's clearly a deep-rooted problem - as readers had claimed she should - since they'd only been on the second date thus far. None of this makes her shallow or picky, and it baffles me that the author of Late Bloomer was shamed by readers for writing this.

Sam's arc and initial plot can remain mostly static and many readers won't complain, but they turned on Mai and Bea because their character arcs weren't moving fast enough for them. Why is Sam's character allowed to move so slowly for multiple seasons, while Mai and Bea have a time limit of about 8 to 10 episodes to receive character growth before readers get bored or angry? If their arcs had moved that fast or been completed in that amount of time, their stories would be rushed.

It's explained later on in Late Bloomer that the reason why Mai is bad at her job is because she never received proper training, and Joune (Pronounced as "June"), a manager at a different branch in the company, shows her what's she's supposed to be doing. The audience is also shown that Flora is one of the main reasons why Mai continues to be distracted from her work. Flora is the one who came up with most of the dating plans for Mai, and constantly has her running around with her to go places. Mai obviously can say no to her, but Flora is characterized as being pushy and dragging multiple people into her antics. Readers knew that Flora was a bad influence and still put most of the blame on Mai anyway.

Eprille (Pronounced as "April"), Mai's boss, is one of two characters who chew Mai out for her unprofessionalism and bad work ethic, but he's shown to be a hypocrite throughout the story since he's just as unprofessional as Mai is, if not more. Eprille is insanely petty, using work as a means of getting back at his ex, Marche (Pronounced as "March"). Both Joune and Cloud (Joune and Eprille's friend) call Eprille out on this, and he's also playing favorites with Mai at work. It's later revealed that the reason why he was so interested in Mai, and the only reason why she didn't get fired from her job sooner, is because he's been fetishizing her rose bud. That bud is part of a process that Late Bloomer calls "Botanical Development." Mai's family line on her mother's side has a symbiotic relationship with a plant in their body, which grows more when it detects their destined partner. If the person chooses to sleep with that partner, the fully grown plant will fall off. Eprille knew about people with this trait, and he had been pursuing Mai solely so that he could have sex with her to see if her plant would detach (assuming that he's her chosen partner). By this point in time, Mai had also found out that Eprille had hooked back up with Marche, but Eprille didn't tell her as he had been pursuing her. He then proceeds to blame her for flirting with him despite him leading her on the whole time.

It was also Eprille's responsibility to train his employees, but he never did. The irony of him chastising Mai for not being a good worker is that her being that way is his own fault, because she improves significantly after Joune shows her the ropes.

Eprille is later demoted from his position by his grandmother (the founder of Galivoyage) for his consistently bad management, and Marche is also fired for being irresponsible at work and causing drops in sales.

As for Bea, I've heard plenty about how her character gets better and even more interesting as the story goes on. Although I haven't read much myself, I consider the author to be very talented for being able to get me hooked after 6 episodes while setting up the trajectory of Bea's journey towards healing as a person. That leaves plenty of time to carefully unpack her baggage and tackle her emotional instability instead of rushing through it just to get to an ending.

I focused on just 3 comics for examples, but I could have mentioned more, such as Haxor and Lookism. Some readers of Let's Play have actually referred to Haxor in the comments as a series where you can find "sjws,"-

oh man if you guys wanna find the Tumblr sjws just read big jo or haxor. the comments on the 1st ep of the latter is YIKES

-which I suspect is because of Iso, the comic's Black female lead. The "yikes" comments being referenced were part of a conversation that happened because non-black readers didn't understand why some people were genuinely ecstatic about seeing a Black girl as a main character in a comic. As a result, Black women ended up having to explain to White people why this was personally important to them, and the author himself was glad that Black women were enjoying his comic.

I didn't get very far with Haxor, but from what I did read, the audience would point out that Iso has a huge ego, and that she needed to be humbled. While being too confident is certainly a character flaw that is acknowledged during the story, as I was reading, I couldn't help but wonder if some readers would be this critical if Iso was White, since many White characters who have her traits are praised for being who they are unapologetically. Iso canonically is a young prodigy in the story, and several people depend on her for support. Obviously she isn't perfect, but it's easy to understand where her overconfidence comes from.

Lookism was a completely different case, featuring Park Hyung-Seok - known as "Daniel Park" in English - the comic's light-skinned Korean male lead. Daniel, for all intents and purposes, is a pathetic and unlikeable (though somewhat sympathetic) character when he is introduced to the audience. He disrespected his mom in the very first episode, as well as Episode 2, because he couldn't bring himself to admit to her that he was getting bullied and also prioritized how he was being perceived by his female classmates (who he repeatedly objectifies). Daniel did this while knowing that his mom was working hard at her job to provide for him, and also knowing that she was trying to defend him against his bullies. Despite this, Lookism is one of the most popular Webtoon comics, as many people kept reading and got the chance to see Daniel grow as a person. Daniel is referred to by readers as having a "great personality" (which I agree with, his character development is great).

If these readers have White and light-skinned characters with similar flaws and circumstances to that of some Black and brown characters as their favorites, but they react more negatively to the Black and brown ones, then they need to ask themselves why.

Why did they dismiss Late Bloomer's Black female lead as just lazy without knowing the full story? Why did they shame the comic's Black female author for not having her character settle for the first two men that she went on dates with?

Why is Brimstone and Roses's author not allowed to let Bea take her time to grow? People with her issues don't change in a day, or even a few. Why are readers less patient with her in comparison to White or lighter-skinned Webtoon leads who are just as flawed?

I am asking Webtoon readers to please give these characters the same grace and patience that you would your favorite White and light-skinned characters. If the story or characters aren't for you, that's ok. I've dropped plenty of media that I wasn't interested in after watching a few episodes of a show, or reading a few chapters of a book. However, when it's the very beginning of someone's story, you very well could be missing out on something great if you're disproportionately judging these women of color far too quickly, especially when many of you will sit through Webtoons that contain hundreds of episodes in them (As for the Let's Play fans, many of you guys sat there seeing nothing wrong with what was going on with Sam and Charles's entire dynamic until the second to last episode in Season 3, when Charles searches through her phone when he thinks Sam is asleep).

I'm not even saying that these stories are perfect, either! I had plenty of criticisms surrounding Late Bloomer as I was reading it, but I still love it despite its flaws. I'm saying that if you can enjoy flawed stories with heavily flawed White and light-skinned leads, you can do the same for flawed Black and brown female leads as well.

[aphverse-confessions]

One thing I am still upset at until.tjis day is the one side stories episode where they dressed up as scooby doo characters.

Say what you want about the mlp comparison, but I'll give it as much as it being somewhat accurate. I don't know if I would've picked the same comparisons, but it makes sense. I can understand where it came from.

But this??? This is insane.

Let's start off with the biggest crime of all; Why is Fred AARON?? Listen I know old cartoon Fred has no personality, but Fred in the more recent adaptations (not counting Velma) has consistently been a himbo.

Fred has been reclaimed as an iconic himbo icon. With this characterization comes the fact that he is literally mystreet Garroth.

I have been rewatching mystery and incorporated recently. And with every scene with Fred that I watch, I think to myself, "This is literally Garroth."

It's not just the blonde hair, it's the personality. The energy.

Mystreet season 1 Garroth especially, yes he had the puff out your feathers scene. But he was also shown to be pretty smart when it came to other stuff. Well-meaning and kind but dumb when it comes to feelings and emotions, JUST LIKE FRED. THAT'S LITTERALLY FRED.

Meanwhile that doesn't seem to be Aaron. I am not as big of an Aaron hater as most of you, I blame the age gap on Jason, not Aaron. I really like what mcd Aaron had going on for him. And I find it ridiculous when people get upset at him for "stealing Aphmau away from Garroth (and Laurance)".

But you know what I am upset at? HE STOLE BEING THE FRED FROM GARROTH.

I swear Jess just made Fred Aaron because he is the conventionally attractive male lead. (Meanwhile Garroth is FAR more conventionally attractive then Aaron bffr)

And instead Garroth is SCOOBY. Garroth is the DOG. WHY? And before you say "because Zane was Scrappy". THAT WAS EVEN WORSE. Everyone hates Scrappy! Zane does NOT deserve that slander. Free the guy, all he did was being emo.

This actually perfectly illustrates how Garroth and Zane aren't taken seriously by the other characters. ESPECIALLY ZANE! By the narrative and the other characters, they're(especially Zane) not taken seriously. Like how it's laughed at the very idea of Zane getting a lover. And in minigames, we see things like people laughing at the idea of shipping Garroth with anyone. Because Garroth is obviously too stupid to feel serious love/s. And Zane is obviously to undesirable to ever be loved by anyone/s. Garroth is the good dog, Zane is the bad dog.

I do not CARE how cool that comparison is though. GARROTH SHOULD HAVE BEEN FRED.

Also, Aphmau?? As Velma?? Really? I mean, fine, but it doesn't fit with how Aphmau is (sadly) infantalised in canon. And she is never really shown to be book smart at all. She is shown to struggle in school. Sure, she is shown to have more sense than Garroth, Laurance, Dante, and Travis (which isn't very hard). And sure, this was all before Kim was introduced, and it was when Emmalyn wasn't relevant anymore. However, I don't care, and I still believed it should've been Emmalyn. Maybe the orange would clash, though,,,, maybe Kenmur? I don't know, I just think it should've probably been someone else.

Also, WHERE WAS DAPHNE AT? Why did Lucinda only show up FOR ONE SECOND? They included Scrappy but not Daphne????!! I know Daphne is often portrayed as a little boring, but this is an outrage.

I think Shaggy should've been someone else, too. Laurance doesn't seem like much of a coward. If I were to imagine Garroth, Laurance, Dante, and Travis in a horror movie. And you asked me who would survive, I'd say Laurance. Laurance is either the final girl or a part of the couple that makes out and gets killed while doing that.

It's actually lowkey insane he was Pony assigned Rainbow dash but then assigned SHAGGY from all the scooby doo characters. The only thing consistent between those two is that they both probably smell and don't wash themselves enough.

.

[p3ta]

gotta send Ryoji Mochizuki

Thanks for the ask! Hope your day's going well, fellow Ryoji enjoyer.

Spoilers below for P2, P3, P4, and P5R.

Send me one of these here!

First, I want to give some thoughts on his character as a whole. For the certain type of character he is (doomed, remorseful harbinger), Ryoji Mochizuki is perfect. I don't think there's a better Persona twist than his reveal as the the Appriser/Death, the thirteenth Arcana Shadow. Just because a twist is easy to see coming doesn't make it less impactful, and I particularly enjoy the way Persona 3 distills information to the player in allotments. Even knowing that, Ryoji managed to surprise me with how much more he was. And fittingly, a lot of Ryoji's characterization bounces back to the P3 Hero, and vice versa.

On top of that, Nyx Avatar is my favorite final boss in the entire Persona series and unsettled me out the first time. I'd still say that Nyx Avatar causes me more fear than the Reaper, who I'd comparatively describe as inciting panic rather than fear.

Ryoji is frequently compared to Kaworu from Neon Genesis Evangelion (NGE), and, well. Yeah. I believe I read that in a developer interview that the P3 dev team deliberately took inspiration from NGE but I'm unable to find a source at hand, so don't quote me on that. Between the two, I prefer Ryoji. He is the strongest out of the character type for me.

favorite thing about them

His layers! Ryoji is one of those late game characters who comes in and recontextualizes all the information you've learned thus far. It's why I love watching the Dictionary update throughout a playthrough. I understand why people are put off by the way he's introduced as a serial flirt, but Reload made it much more textually clear that this isn't his true personality, nor his intentions. Ryoji is proto-Teddie (Japanese Teddie, anyway); a fully formed individual who sprang into existence seeking connection. However, where Teddie's isolation and lack of identity are his defining characteristics, Ryoji's are moored in how connected he is with P3 Hero.

Ryoji ultimately only exists because of that connection, that little bit of humanity he's been given, but that's also what prevents him from being fully human. He's had a role to play since his inception, and he can't avoid that even with his newfound connections.

Ryoji's present throughout the entire story. You've got Pharos at the very beginning with the contract running errands for the Velvet Room (I like it more and more that I think about it. Picture Elizabeth or Igor having to explain to this terrifying child what he has to say. Or maybe he knew what to say all along! He has been waiting ten years), Thanatos tearing himself out of Orpheus (by far the best Persona awakening in the series and a textual highlight for what an alien force he is), and a crucial lynchpin event for Yukari's backstory, Mitsuru's backstory, as well as the crucial event for Aigis and P3 Hero.

There is no version of Persona 3 without Ryoji and I'm all the happier for it. Genuinely, if something's confusing with P3's story, there's 90% chance the answer is Ryoji or one of his many numerous forms. The remaining 10% is the Kirijo Group. That said, we don't get a lot of time with Ryoji. Ultimately, he's a part of P3 Hero and you're left to extrapolate exactly how much of each other you believe they've influenced.

Sogabe, the P3 & P4 mangaka, chose to highlight how similar Ryoji and P3 Hero look. I consider it an essential element of their relationship together.

least favorite thing about them

It'd be cheating to say nothing, wouldn't it? I'd say that his design is easy to mock and hard to get right in fanart. Between Ryoji's forehead and very Axel Kingdom Hearts approach towards long limbs – and legs in specific – the movies did not help with this. I've read reviews saying how the higher budget allowed for the characters to be more consistently on model, and thus look better, but I fervently disagree. That boy is mostly leg. Late 00s and early 10s anime art Looked Like That, though. I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a soft spot for some of it.

But I love how Ryoji looks and wouldn't change it for the world. Silly slick-backed hair boy. It is funny how whenever Persona wants a villain with sympathetic qualities, they slick back the protagonist's hair (Philemon and Maruki come to mind).

Reload fixed ("fixed") this anyway but making him much fluffier in his portraits and giving his skin some color! He's achingly soft in that game.

favorite line

There's many iconic ones I could pick but I'm going to go with a new one from Reload:

It's so small, it's so playful! I like that if you choose to start an exchange he finishes the bit. It says a lot about him in such a succinct way.

Even more so when you consider the reason he came here was for Junpei's sake. Being able to balance joking around while keeping a touch of concern endears me beyond belief. Thank you, Reload.

brOTP

Junpei & Ryoji. It's not even close. This was the one element I was hoping Reload would show more and I was not disappointed! The dynamic is good for a variety of reasons, but chief among them is that despite Junpei's Persona being Magician Arcana, he is not the P3 Hero's Magician Social Link. Junpei is not the male protagonist's best friend. He clearly wants to be, but his frustration is palpable. The P3 Hero is cool, charming, and everything that Junpei plays second fiddle to, but he won't even acknowledge him. But what if there were a more likeable version of the Hero?

Instant friendship. Those two are besties from day one, where Ryoji has all the qualities but none of the knowledge, and so their dynamic is a much more even one. To me, it indicates how well Junpei and the P3 Hero might have gotten along had he not carried Death inside him for ten years. It's a brief window into another world.

There's also the fact that Ryoji, Death, befriends Junpei so close to when Takaya shoots him and he perishes. His character arc is defined by change, this act being what radically transforms his soul, and what's one of the meanings of the Death Tarot? It's like universal foreshadowing. It's funny to me too that the Magician Arcana Shadow is the one Thanatos tore to pieces. Growth for Ryoji too.

As an aside, I miss the dynamic movements from the PS2 cutscenes. Junpei being so quick to drown Ryoji is nowhere comparable to him covering Ryoji's mouth.

OTP

Hmm. This might take a second. I wonder what pairing I might like with Ryoji. Here's an unrelated picture of Messiah:

You know, Messiah is one of those Personas that has only grown on me more as time passes. My favorite of the final protagonist ones, due in part to how you have to fuse him yourself. Orpheus, the starting Persona, combined with the power of Thanatos, the penultimate manifestation of the Death Arcana. They compliment each other beautifully, and regardless of if you the player create him, he is always the true final Persona, the final result of the Judgement Arcana.

They are inevitable.

Of course it's Ryoji and P3 Hero. How could it be anything else? These two make me sick with joy. Death has a clear favorite and in the end, gets to keep him forever.

nOTP

It's funny, because I can't think of any serious pairing with Ryoji that I wouldn't view as a crack ship? I can't see any version of Ryoji with anyone but the P3 Hero nor can I take that relationship seriously. The only other being Ryoji has an established relationship with is Aigis, and that ship comes across as black comedy. I mean, there's also Ryoji and the P3 Heroine, who he is undoubtedly head over heels for, but I see her as heavily preferring Aigis. Oops.

Wait, I did remember one! Ryoji and Junpei! I'll admit, maybe it's the sheer "dudebro" vibe of their relationship, but people pairing these two was not an outcome I expected from Reload. I've seen it enough to know those who like it aren't joking, either.

It's funny, because they're both soul-taken at the tail end of their friendship (Ryoji with P3 Hero and Junpei with Chidori) so I guess I wasn't looking for it? Then again I can't see Junpei Iori kissing a man in general. If there's a Ryoji pairing that isn't my thing, these two are the Most not my thing.

random headcanon

Ryoji memory backfill!

I've seen multiple interpretations for how Ryoji's sudden transfer, housing, and parental situations were never questioned. I like exploring this for myself, especially from Ryoji's perspective. Ryoji fully believes himself to be human until 12/2's Dark Hour. So, how does he reconcile his own situation?

This headcanon states that whenever Ryoji is prompted to answer on where he lives, what he likes, or where he went to school before, he'll often "backfill" what memories he think should be there. If it's something he should reasonably know, it'll be there.

In-game you can see a couple instances of Ryoji being stumped at simple questions, like where his class trip was going to be, but excelling at others, such as when he asks Mitsuru out to a restaurant date. According to the headcanon, he failed the class trip question because it wasn't something he anticipated, but he knew a date location because it was essential to his personality. Ryoji Mochizuki is a hearthrob, it wouldn't make sense if he didn't. So he does.

I like to think Reload Ryoji's phone is another example of this backfill, though this one spills over into material items. Ryoji thinks he should have a phone and knows he should ask for others' numbers, but when he reaches for it on his first day it isn't there.

His inconsistencies are fun.

Rapid fire small ones: his favorite color is blue, he likes sunrises but not sunsets, and he's good with children.

unpopular opinion

This may be the most unpopular opinion I have in general, but I don't believe Ryoji is bisexual. Or rather, I don't necessarily believe he must be bisexual. It's not like I'm trying to shirk representation, but I think there are so many fascinating ways that you can analyze orientation for a character. Same with gender.

Ryoji, through my interpretation, is someone who could only love the protagonist. And it doesn't have to be a sexual kind of love. There's an entire spectrum of identities in our culture that we've labeled for what Ryoji's experiences could be. It brings me joy to be able to think about how – even if Ryoji knew about these identities – he'd define himself. On top of that, would how he define himself be accurate? Would he have misunderstandings about his own identity?

There tends to be a large backlash when someone even suggests a different label for a character with one widely agreed upon, which means my gender and sexuality thoughts stay hidden away. I'm more than aware of those that insist any hint of same-sex attraction is obviously platonic and fans are reading too much into things. I'd never want to take away from an individual identifying with a character for what a fandom settles on calling them.

Though one note: it's interesting to me that from the collective opinion I've seen, people have latched onto bisexual as a label rather than pansexual despite them ostensibly meaning the same thing. Something something changing social climate. Anyway. Play around with character gender and sexuality. It's good for you.

song i associate with them

Auld Lang Syne.

For old acquaintance be forgot

And ne'er brought to mind

Should old acquaintance be forgot

In the days of auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear

For auld lang syne

We'll drink a cup of kindness yet

For the sake of auld lang syne

-

It's a traditional New Year's celebration song. Auld Lang Syne essentially means "for old time's sake". It originates from a precursor to Scottish, and exists as a fossil word inside this otherwise Standard English prose. I find it sweet how this little, historic piece gets to survive through something that redefines it.

favorite picture of them

Well, that was a lot. If you have a keen eye, you might've already noticed I've been dropping in pictures so I'll keep this part concise.

My favorite pictures of Ryoji are his portraits:

Sweet. Fluffy. Endlessly endeared by the way his hair flairs out. A much clearer heart shape for his face. Perfection. Special mention to his startled expression. His eyes get small and I get happy, simple as that.

Although, I'll never forgive Reload for dropping his Messiah pose:

There's an element to this portrait that's a little more unearthly, but earnest. Visually, his eyes are also a clearer parallel to Aigis's in this version.

Thank you for reading all the way through! And thank you again for the ask. I'm not sure if you were expecting an essay, but I think that about sums it up.

Have a picture of Ryoji nui + charm!

[michirukaioureincarnate]

Bike Ride on the Sea Side

Haruka Tenoh x Reader Oneshot - cont. in Body Pillow (smut)

Fandom: Sailor Moon Pairing: Haruka Tenoh x reader | Sailor Uranus x reader Genre(s): Fluff 𖹭𖹭𖹭𖹭𖹭 | NSFW 𖹭𖹭 | Angst 𖹭 Theme(s): secure x avoidant | confession | first kiss Warning(s): Swearing Summary: You were under the impression that Haruka enjoyed your company and liked you over the past two dates. The constant texting after you unexpected meet-cute really made you believe things could go somewhere with them. But the two-week dry spell between you two had you believing otherwise. It's a shame because you really, really liked them. Reading Stats: 5000 words | 20 min read Disclaimer: All characters are consenting adults | Aged 21+

─────────────⋆⋅���⋅⋆──────────── A/n: okay the genre and theme is so ??? but GIVE ME A FUMKIN MINUTE I'm trynna make this idea work please fkjahjfskh it's been on my mind for a while now also kinda coping with the drama an avoidant ex-situationship put me in and now she's coming back wanting a shot with me again even though SHE HAS A MONOGAMOUS GF Y'ALL I- 👁️👄👁️ ─────────────⋆⋅☆⋅⋆────────────

⋅ ⛢ ⋅

It's not like you were sitting around waiting for Haruka to text you. You weren't one to chase anyone or anything if reasonable efforts did not yield expected results. One could say you were too logical and unromantic.

"It's about the chase, Y/N!" your best friend insisted. "How is Haruka supposed to know you like them at all?"

You narrowed your eyes at her. "You know me, okay? I'm literally a shameless and open book." A small huff followed as you glared at your phone on the coffee table. "Besides...I asked them last week if everything was okay. They brushed me off, so why bother?"

"Show it to me," she demanded as she crossed her legs on the couch. She held her hand out and gestured for the phone, and you complied. Peering over her shoulder, you watched her read.

Y/N: Hey, it's been a while since we last talked properly. There's no pressure to reply, I'm just checking in to see if you're alright. Been thinking about you. Just let me know if you need space or anything, yeah? I'm not really sure about what to think or feel right now. 8:51 PM

Haruka: Thanks for checking in :) I'm fine, just caught up with work. Text you soon. 8:53 PM

Y/N: Sure thing! 9:00 PM

"They replied fast," she says curiously.

"A week ago."

She grins at you mischievously. "And does that bother the sensible and unromantic Y/N?"

"Pfft," you scoff. "No, I just don't like false expectations. If they don't wanna text me, they should just say it."

"Yeah, well, no one's as brave as you are," she sighed. "This isn't the first time you've been potentially ghosted."

Hearing it out loud kind of stung. It always did, and it would pass in a few hours before. This time, though, it lingered.

You'd never liked anyone like this before.

Still, you couldn't just ignore the lack of open and consistent communication for the chemistry over two dinners. Even though you didn't entirely dismiss the texting, it was still platonic and surface-level compared to in-person hang outs. And now there were barely any texts to go on.

Snatching your phone back, you tossed it into the pillows on the adjacent armchair and grabbed the remote to open up Netflix on the flatscreen TV.

We don't know each other enough, you consoled yourself internally as your friend settled on a horror movie. They're just some random person you bumped into in a bar of all places. You wanted to meet your soulmate in a library.

No sooner had you thought it did another helpless musing begin to haunt you.

They're so fucking hot, though.

It wasn't just the way they looked, although those dark and brooding eyes would hold you captive with a mere glance any day. You'd been around plenty of attractive people in your life and been approach by some of them as well; but the way people looked never fazed you. Instead, it was their energy and aura that drew you in.

The way Haruka carried themselves was admirable. Was it the straight-back posture? The calculating eyes atop an easy-going smile? Or the sense of purpose that surrounded them with every step taken or every spoken word? Haruka always seemed so certain of things and never missed the opportunity to take action, and you liked that.

It would explain why it felt that they were withdrawing from you. Haruka wasn't acting like they were sure about you anymore. It sucked because, for once in your life, you were sure about someone.

In all your past relationships, you'd always entertained uncertainties and potential in hopes of it blossoming eventually. It was enough that you liked them. But this time, you really wanted to take your time and figure Haruka out regardless of attraction.

"Ugh," you muttered softly as the first jump scare snapped you out of the ruminating, and your best friend's deathly clutch upon your arm left no room for your attention to drift away.

⋅ ⛢ ⋅

You woke up to a loud knock from somewhere. The horror movie had long ended, and your best friend was draped over your lap with drool dripping onto your thigh from the corner of her mouth.

She really has no shame, you think endearingly while carefully sliding out from under her. You throw the blanket over her completely, almost about to tuck her in when another louder knock takes you by surprise.

"What the fuck," you muttered, straining your ear for to locate the source. It sounded way too close for comfort. Your 1 + 1 apartment was too small for an intruder to hide in, so the only logical source was the windows.

You didn't want to go near them. Even though you were on the third floor, you didn't underestimate a stalker's ability to scale the wall for something they'd want bad enough.

The sight of a small rock knocking off your window-pane confirmed your suspicions, and you grabbed your phone to call the police only to notice that it was dead.

With no choice but to face the situation head on, you mustered the courage to confront whoever was out there. You were mentally prepared to scream bloody murder with no regard for your neighbors if it meant driving away the culprit.

Marching over to the window, you looked down into the front yard of the apartment to find a hooded figure looking up.

Right. At. You.

You threw the window open, fully prepared to screech until a lock of fair hair caught the glint of the moonlight. Your heart skipped a beat, and you watched as the figure pushed the hood off their head.

A pair of warm eyes peered at you, and a nervous lopsided smile accompanied it. You hated the way your heart was practically melting at the sight.

"Hey," Haruka said gently, and the wind carried their tomboyishly deep voice up to you. "Been thinkin' about you."

"Haruka, what the fuck?!"

They grinned up at you in amusement. "You don't sound very happy to see me, sweetheart."

"It's nearly–" you looked around for the clock in your house that you rarely consulted, "five in the morning! Who throws rocks at someone's window at this hour?!"

"I tried calling, but you wouldn't pick up," they said apologetically. "My only choice was to come and see you."

You rubbed away the ache blooming under the bridge of your nose. "Couldn't this wait?"

Deep down, you were screaming with happiness. The fact that they came over just because they couldn't get a hold of you was so nonsensical that you would've told anyone off for it. But this was Haruka, and it was hard to contain the joy tugging at the corners of your lips.

They're so stupid, you sighed internally.

"I wouldn't have come all this way if it could," they said sincerely, putting their hands in the pockets of their red and white race car jacket as a chilly breeze brushed past. Their eyes shimmered up at you, reflecting the stars in the sky. There was a tinge of vulnerability to them that caught you off guard. "Could you come down? And, um...dress warm."

"If it's only for a minute then–"

"It's not," they cut in breathlessly. "Maybe thirty minutes."

You raised a suspicious brow at them before walking away to your wardrobe, changing into a pair of warm sweats before grabbing your keys. Slipping into your shoes, you quietly left the apartment and prayed your best friend wouldn't wake up to find you gone. You knew how worried she'd get otherwise.

Quickly making your way down, you jogged out of the building and found Haruka by the street, waiting on the pavement next to a sleek motorbike.

You stopped. On your second date, they picked you up in a sports car to drive to the restaurant and revealed their love for motorcycles on the way.

"Haruka..." you said quietly. "I thought you didn't share your bike with anyone."

"I know," they replied softly before holding their hand out to you. Though you wished they'd just spill what was going on, you took their hand and let them pull you closer.

Their touch was warm against the cold air of the night, your fingers encased in their palm as their thumbs ran over your knuckles almost affectionately. Heat rose to your neck under their intense gaze that searched your face for something. They guided you onto the back of the motorbike securely before getting on turning the key.

A slow hum ran through the vehicle, and Haruka got seated properly before glancing at you over their shoulder.

"Hold on tight, Y/N."

You could feel your face getting hotter, but you reached forward and clamped your hands on their shoulders. They chuckled, pulling on their gloves and revving the engine before suddenly taking off.

The abrupt jerk of the bike had you clamping your arms around their waist instantly, and you were very aware of how firm their back felt against your soft chest.

"Asshole!" you yelled over the wind, only to catch a light chuckle before Haruka sped up. You had no choice but to curl against her spine, holding onto her tightly as you two zipped under the lamp lights of the empty highway. The cold wind was in your hair, and your fingers were freezing in the fists they'd curled into under their diaphragm.

You felt their gloved hand on yours, prying them apart to guide one of them into her jacket's pocket, and then the other one as well. It was such a sweet gesture that you forgot to pretend to be annoyed at them. Their pockets were warm, and you gave into the pleasure of how they felt against your body when you wrapped yourself around them.

Slowly, you coaxed yourself to look up from their shoulder and take in the views. You weren't sure how far away you two were from the apartment, but you could see the vast ocean that opened to the right, disappearing into the horizon where the stars were beginning to disappear.

The sunrise... you realized breathlessly as Haruka drove on the highway along the edge of the beach. Your gaze was fixed on the sky slowly turning a lighter shade of blue. The stars' twinkling faded in anticipation of the first rays of the sun.

Against your chest, Haruka's warmth kept the wind's chill out of your bones. They smelled nice, although a little unconventional; smokey and spiced, like a blend of cinnamon, roses, and the faint linger of cigarettes. You'd never gotten this close to her before, although you had hoped that they'd finally kiss you when you two eventually had a third date.

Wait... you thought. Is this a date?

No, perhaps not. To you, dates should be communicated and planned and prepared for. You would never be found wearing sweats and without a touch of make-up on a date. You found yourself regretting not dabbing on a bit of concealer and mascara. Even some lip gloss would've sufficed.

The motorbike leaned to the right as Haruka took a turn into a road, and the barricades from the edge disappeared. The beach opened up to you directly, with its sand blowing onto the asphalt and the air sticky with salt. The tops of small and calm waves glimmered as an orange spot appeared on the horizon.

The sun was here.

Haruka parked the bike, and you finally straightened up and pulled your arms off them. The embarrassment of having to cling on like that finally registered, and you quickly got off the bike and faced the sea to avoid their gaze. Haruka climbed off and kicked its stand in place, leaning their hips against the gas tank as they crossed their ankles and arms.

Silence.

You wished they'd tell you why they brought you here, but you were a sucker for sunrises and sunsets. With eyes fixed on the horizon, the two of you quietly watched the colors slowly begin to change. The sky was much lighter now, and the curve of brilliant orange ascended behind a few fluffy clouds, turning their underside pink. The waters took on a beautiful deep hue of turquoise with the passing moments, a color you loved so deeply.

"The sunrise is even more beautiful when the sea's surface is there to reflect its light," Haruka hummed softly. "The sun's brilliant on its own, but I suppose it needs to see its reflection to be reminded of it."

Their words took you by surprise.

"Why would the sun need a reminder?" you asked casually. "It's the sun. It sustains everything."

Haruka shook their head. "It's too far away to see the impact of its existence. But the ocean is vast. It stretches out endlessly and can be seen from where the sun it."

It took you a minute to realize Haruka was trying to tell you something.

"And it's important, the ocean. Without it, the sun would've fried up everything on Earth. No one to witness any nice sunrises without it to make life possible, right?"

You were beginning to feel frustrated and swallowed your nervousness to turn their way. The horizon reflected in their deep blue eyes, pouring light into them like they were lanterns. A gust of wind pushed the stray fair locks off their forehead, and they glanced at you. You weren't sure if you were imagining their ears turning pink.

"Where were you the past two weeks?" you asked as nicely as you could, but the undertone of anxiety seeped in. "I thought you didn't want to see me."

Haruka exhaled sharply and dropped their hands to their pockets.

"I was trying not to see you. Well, not too much anyway. I..." they huffed conflictedly as they closed their eyes. "You know I've got a racing season coming up, right? And I was practicing really hard for it. Everyone kept giving me shit for being reckless or risky on the track or whatever, but that's just how I've always won. It's second nature to me, and I know how to win."

You kept quiet as they caught their breath to collect their thoughts.

"I guess it'll be different this time because I made it into a bigger racing series," they continued. "It came as a surprise to everyone, but my team told me that I'll be competing with racers who are in an entirely different league. If anything, they drive much like I do."

"Haruka, could you get injured?" you demanded gently as worry flooded you.

"I mean, maybe?" they replied nervously as they blinked at the horizon. "But every sport has that risk. That's not the point. The point is that the only way to win is to not be reckless, and that's a huge change in approach to manage overnight. I hate change, and I can't do it without some kind of a constant reminder over my head."

I knew it, you thought with a skip of a heartbeat. They were trying to tell me something.

Your heart raced in you chest as they straightened up.

"I crashed last week."

"WHAT?!" you snapped as you grabbed their arm. "Haruka, what the fuck?!"

"I'm fine, promise." They turned to you and placed a comforting hand over your fingers gripping the sleeve of their jacket. "It was barely anything and it's pretty normal but...I berated myself for it. That was a first. I usually just get up and dust myself off, but I caught myself thinking...how will I see Y/N if I got hurt really badly? How would she feel if she saw me crash like that?"

You were left speechless, and your heart was pounding so hard that it could break through your ribcage and fall into Haruka's hands. They came to stand before you, casting a shadow over your body that contained your attention entirely onto them.

"I ran another lap after that crash and realized that I was different," they continued. "I don't know what exactly changed, but it was like a different part of my brain opened up. I saw different ways, better ways, to conquer the tracks that I never really considered before. More possibilities to prepare for, to keep an eye out for, and...it just felt like you were sitting behind me. I couldn't afford to crash again and injure you, but I also wanted to win."

Their hand slid under your fingers to pull it off their arm, holding your hand securely. With their eyes boring into yours, you held their gaze through the butterflies and tremors racking your body. Their grasp is warm, with soft skin interrupted by the occassional calluses from gripping bike handles.

Your mouth was dry, but you still forced yourself to speak. "That doesn't explain why you avoided me."

"I was scared," they said immediately. "My entire life, I've always been so selfish and self-centered without ever realizing it until that crash. For once, you were my first thought right after. I didn't know what to make of it."

A trembling sigh left them as they reached out for your other hand to grip tightly, pulling them close to their chest clasped within their palms. And suddenly, you felt something in the air between your bodies, as if it had become charged. Your skin tingled, every cell of your being tugged forward by an invisible force with a yearning for the warmth that rolled of Haruka's body.

"I avoided you because I've never, ever wanted to run to someone so badly before," they muttered into the air between the two of you. "I wanted you behind me on that bike because your presence was so...so–gosh, I can't find the word."

Your voice was breathy when you spoke. "Palpable..."

They nodded in relief.

The sun rose behind them, peeking over the top of their head and setting their hair alight and giving them their own halo. You'd never seen a prettier sight until now, basking in the vulnerable glimmer of their irises despite the crack in the strong walls around their heart.

"You were my reminder, Y/N," they said quietly as their cheeks flushed like the underside of the clouds above. "You kept me from getting too heated. From burning up everything around me and crashing senselessly for the sake of victory. You...are my ocean, in which I see that what I do and who I am right now is enough no matter the outcome."

Your heart was going to give out from how fast it was beating, and you quickly blinked away the mist in your eyes. It was the sweetest and most passionate thing you'd ever heard from anyone. Ever.

"Whoa, Y/N, a-are you alright?" Haruka asked worriedly as they stepped in closer to you. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing..." you exhaled sharply, releasing all the anxiety and anticipation that had built up over the week. "I just...wow, um–I don't know what to say..."

Their face fell a little as their grip on your hands loosened. "You don't have to say anything at all. I just...I hoped you felt just as intensely about me, but I know it's too soon and–"

"I was waiting for you," you interjected, embarrassed and a little angry at yourself for how pathetic you sounded. "I never wait for anyone, Haruka, but you...you had me walking around everywhere wondering if you just didn't like me anymore."

Their lips parted in surprise as they stared at you.

"I usually just move on the second I feel like someone doesn't want me," you sighed as you clutched their hands, relishing how nimble thier fingers were. "That's what it means to be a secure person, right? But I've also never liked anyone the way I've liked you."

Their awe slowly turned into a bashful lopsided grin. "Someone as sensible as you likes someone as reckless as me?"

"Next time you ignore me like that, I'd rather you be dead than ghosting me."

"Whoa, okay, um–" they snorted in amusement. "You know what? Yeah. I get it. I'd hate to be ghosted by someone like you too."

Why the fuck did I deflect like that? you scolded yourself. It sounded so needy.

"I'm not all that great, though," you muttered with eyes downcast. "I mean, I like myself plenty as I am, but you...you're a professional racer. Practically a celebrity. I've just got a little writing thing on the side that keeps me comfortable, but nothing major."

You held your breath as Haruka placed your palm over their heart. Their hand slid down the back of yours to your elbow and up to your shoulder with a soft grip, their knuckles trailing up your neck. Their touch carried with it the feathery blooms of pleasure that spread over your skin, and your heart stumbled when they gently held your chin to lift your face. Your skin buzzed with a vehement need to be closer to them, and your fingers clenched around the fabric of their shirt as you felt their heart speed up behind it.

"You've got a grounded personality, Y/N," they whispered with a tentative swipe of their thumb under your lip, and their face felt so much closer than before. "Passionate and self-reliant without needing anyone's approval for it. If anything, I'd love for you to make it big in your career, but you seem perfectly content and grateful with what you have, and I admire it."

They searched your eyes so deeply that you're left stumbling over your tongue. "I–I, um, well, I have more than enough to get by so...you know, I don't–um–"

"Y/N."

"Y–yes?"

They paused, looking down your face until you felt your lips tingle.

"I wish I could tell you how much I missed you," they murmured with a hint of something akin to need.

Desire. Maybe some restraint. It was in the way their palm cupped your jaw as their thumb stroked your cheek, eyes still on your mouth as they let out a soft, shuddering exhale.

You were barely breathing.

"I missed everything about you," they continued huskily, their eyelids growing heavy with a flutter of their lashes as their gaze darkened. "And I'll be such a goner if I give into how much I like you, because there will be so much more to miss whenever I'm away. But I need you to like me back just as much because this is scary."

Their other hand was still wrapped in yours at their sternum, and you guided it forward to your chest right over your heart. Pressing their palm over it, you shuddered at the warmth that seeped through your shirt and over your skin.

Your heart was practically bursting at the seams, and you looked at them from under your lashes defenselessly, surrendering to your undeniable feelings for them despite the need for caution.

"I think..." you started breathlessly, "I've been waiting for you for much longer than those two weeks. Don't make me wait anymore."

You gulped as you stared into their eyes, your next word sounding barely above a sigh.

"Please."

Haruka's lips fell upon yours so fast that you gasped in surprise, followed by soft moans that erupted into each other's mouths. Their deep grunt rumbled in their chest under your palms as they pulled you in close, their arm clamping around the small of your back. Encased in the warmth of their body, you mewled at the way they cradled the back of your head to kiss you languidly.

You were melting into them, feeling the heat from your bodies intertwining as you gripped onto their shoulders for dear life. Their soft chest pressed against yours with desperation, leaving no room for air between you two as they caged you against the bike. Wrapped in their strong arms, you felt small and safe, left at the mercy of Haruka's unrestrained longing that you doubted there was an escape from.

But you didn't want to anyway.

"Fuck..." they huffed as their lips slid off yours, and you were finally able to gasp for breath. Their hands rested on your waist and back, fingers digging enough to keep you from floating away. Even so, you were lightheaded and almost dizzy, taken back by how passionately Haruka had consumed you within those few seconds.

You wanted them to go on forever.

Tugging at their shoulder, you cradled the nape of their neck and pressed your lips to theirs tenderly, eliciting a soft exhale as you moved to the corner of their mouth to kiss it lightly. You found their cheek, peppering it slowly and gently with all the affection and want that blossomed within you for their existence.

Haruka groaned softly and collected you in their arms, pulling you into a hug as they buried their nose behind your ear. They pecked the sensitive spot under your lobe, making you shudder breathlessly in their firm yet gentle grip. The relief and pleasure of feeling their hand rubbing up and down your spine was indescribable, and you gave into the urge of running your fingers into their soft and wavy hair, scratching their scalp softly with your nails.

They purred, still heaving as they tried to pull themself together in the comfort of your arms.

"This is better than I imagined," they admitted against your skin.

You stilled, wondering if you heard it right. "You were thinking about this?"

"A lot..."

They sounded genuinely embarrassed, and it made you feel giddy and mischievous.

"Didn't know I had such an effect on you," you teased.

They gently pulled away from your shoulder to look down at you with warning, but there was a glint of something playful in their eyes.

"Don't say it like I don't make you feel things either," they said. "You literally got angry when I didn't reach out to you."

"You left me hanging!" you scoffed as the pent-up annoyance crept in through your fingers that dug into their biceps. "Who the hell does that for two weeks, Haruka?!"

They smirked, brows furrowing as a shadow fell over their face that made evident a sinister flame in their pupils.

"You missed me that much, huh?"

You smacked them up the back of their head reflexively, causing them to laugh in surprise. Embarrassed and meek, you felt cornered by their statement, but it was too late to escape the confrontation.

"I did..." you grumbled, looking away from their teasing stare before they leaned in to peck your jaw and down your neck. They chuckled as they did so, unaware of how each kiss triggered an intense bloom of desire in your chest. You were hyperaware of their hands on your ribs, and how the tips of their thumbs rested just under your breasts as your chest flooded with something stronger than bliss.

Arousal.

Haruka's breath brushed down your cleavage as they left a lingering kiss on your collarbone, and your grip on their arms tightened.

"H-Haruka..." you gasped, and they stopped immediately to turn their head away, still leaning into you as one of their hands fell onto the bike to hold themself up.

They let out an agonized breath of restraint, groaning quietly as the palm on your rib slid down to your hip with a gentle pat. "I should take you home, Y/N."

"Already?" you said with a slight whine, wincing at how needy you sounded for a moment. Now that they were finally in front of you after so long, you didn't want to just let them get away.

Haruka cleared their throat and straightened up, looking at you with tenderness as they tucked a strand of your hair behind your ear.

"It's been hard to stay away from you the past two weeks," they said. "I need to take you back while I'm still in control of myself."

You gave them a quizzical look. "In control of yourself? What would you even do to me out here in the open? We're just kissing."

They raised their brows dubiously as their eyelids lowered sensuously, scanning your face with a heavy gaze.

"Don't tempt me, sweetheart," they muttered with a slight raspiness to their voice. "I don't know what I'm capable of if I'm pushed to my limit."

Your lips parted in surprise at the sudden change in their demeanor, but you didn't want to stop. A part of you wanted to challenge them, nudge them to the edge to see what they meant.

But you snapped yourself out of it and nodded, clearing your throat bashfully as you straightened yourself out.

"My best friend is at my place right now," you reasoned with yourself. "I gotta get back before she wakes up and freaks out. My phone's still back there with no battery, so she might even call the police."

Haruka nodded and reached for their gloves to pull them on as you turned your gaze back to the sea. The sun was now shining in its full glory, its light bouncing off the foam and waves of the sea, turning its surface into a rippling mirror. Fluffy white clouds floated lazily against the bright blue sky.

I'm their ocean, you thought wistfully, and they're the sun.

Two things that complemented each other in ways that kept everything on the planet perfectly balanced, and you hoped that the two of you would do the same for each other.

⋅ ⛢ ⋅

─────────────⋆⋅☆⋅⋆──────────── A/n: Honestly, I think Haruka has it in them to fuck you on the beach in broad daylight if it ever came to that lmfao. I was wondering if I should just write it in, but I'm not in the mood for smut atm.

What if I make another one shot focusing on the smut that comes after they drop you home? I could do a prequel one shot of the meet cute as well 🤔 [update: I did it lol]

Eh, we'll see. I'm taking it slowly since it's been a while I wrote anything for leisure. Still very rusty. Hope y'all enjoyed, though. ~ Miki | Myca ✧ ─────────────⋆⋅☆⋅⋆────────────

OH MY GOD MY FIRST REAL POST ON TUMBLR JSDHFKKJASDHFAJKH HAPPY PRIDE MONTH TO MEEE I'VE CELEBRATED WITH A HARUKA TENOH ONESHOT HEHE ENJOY

[melisusthewee]

In my ongoing attempt to convince people to watch this movie (because it is so fucking good you have no idea), I put together this list of reasons why you need to watch this film. Sorry, but I can't be normal about this:

None of the backgrounds or environments are CGI! Those mountains? Those are the Andes! That's the real Valley of Tears! While filming with the actors was done in a different location (I believed they filmed in the Sierra Nevadas?), location photography and filming was done in the Andes and then spliced accordingly into the film.

It's an ensemble piece! Until now, most movies/docs/books have (understandably) focused almost exclusively on Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa because of their 10 day trek through the mountains. But the group was more than just the two of them and this film shows that by emphasizing everyone's importance and roles in their survival.

Having said that, NANDO PARRADO IS THE FUCKING GOAT. This guy fractured his skull during the crash which caused his brain to swell. Everyone thought he was dead at first and only brought him back inside the plane when someone noticed he was still breathing. Even then, he wasn't expected to survive for very long so the others placed him where it was coldest which ended up saving his life as the cold temperature along with dehydration helped bring the swelling in his brain down. He was in a coma for three days, woke up to learn his mother was dead and his sister was dying, and decided, "Fuck this, I am getting off this mountain and you're all doing it with me." AND THEN HE DID, part of which involved hiking for 10 days across the Andes with NO GEAR.

The decision to make Numa Turcatti the narrator was brilliant. I cannot say more due to spoilers but iykyk.

Speaking of other films (looking at you, 1993's "Alive"), this movie cast exclusively Uruguayan (and some Argentinian) actors in order to give it proper authenticity.

This movie does not fuck around, with the crash happening within the first 15 minutes of the movie. And it is horrible in that it is probably one of the most accurate portrayals of a plane crash? I don't like flying, and I was incredibly anxious watching it to the point where I thought initially I might have to turn it off. But despite this, it never feels exploitive or anything. Just... real.

The entire movie was shot chronologically in order to give the make-up team an easier time with getting the actors to look increasingly gaunt and disheveled as well as adding a tighter consistency between shots and scenes. Many of the actors lost upwards of 50 lbs by the time filming was concluded.

For the avalanche scene, the actors were buried under nearly 8 inches of real snow. Because of this, the redness of their skin isn't the work of make-up or special effects but is very real.

Michael Giacchino's score. But even more importantly, his use of silence.

Honestly, this movie feels genuinely cold in a way that most movies and tv shows never quite capture. The sound of frozen clothing crunching, the frost that covers them, the clear impact of cold and frost on hair and skin, the shaking and shivering. It's really hard to describe, but like... it didn't feel like these were just actors on a set walking around. It felt genuinely cold.

The payada (rhyming/rap battle) was entirely improvised by the actors.

Enzo Vogrincic (Numa) looks like a young Adam Driver. You know you want to watch him stare soulfully into the camera for two hours. (But really, the acting in this movie is phenomenal.)

For Cold Boy fanciers, Gustavo Zerbino is basically the group's Goodsir - a cinnamon roll doing his best.

Fito Strauch's homemade sunglasses!

I could write an essay about the way the film confronts and portrays the cannibalism. Since I've rambled on long enough, let me just say here that it feels authentic in the way it's handled and not like you typically expect to see in stories like the Franklin Expedition, the Essex, or the Donner Party. (My only criticism is that it looks like they used raw chicken as the meat? And I unfortunately happen to know that human meat very much does not look like chicken.)

MOST IMPORTANTLY, this movie gives voices to those who didn't survive the mountains. And yes, it is a story about survival (and is a wonderful portrayal of positive masculinity) but it is really a story about love. Love for one's friends. Love for each other. And how love is the only way we survive.

[coraniaid]

Do we see anybody that we knew as a human turned into a vampire after The Harsh Light of Day? Do we see how the others react to that?

(I know we see Sandy from Doppelgangland as a vampire later, but that's not what I have in mind: I'm talking about characters that Buffy or the rest of the Scooby Gang actually knew as people.)

I've complained about this before at least a couple of times (although Tumblr's search feature wants me to believe otherwise), but the way the gang react to finding out that Harmony is a vampire in that episode just feels iike such an abrupt tonal shift. And I'm wondering whether it marks a genuine change in how the show deals with newly sired vampires completely, or if it's just the last time the issue ever comes up.

Yes, Buffy's vampire lore isn't particularly well-developed, but prior to this point the show had been pretty consistent. You don't 'become' a vampire, there is no true continuity of self. You die, and a vampire with your memories takes over your corpse. Yes, that vampire's personality is often based on yours -- even if the show isn't explicit about it until Season 3, that's obvious from the first time we see Jesse become a vampire in The Harvest and continue his obsession with Cordelia, and it's the only reason that can explain why Giles keeps telling people that various vampires were hardened killers even "before" becoming vampires, which he does as early as Season 1's Never Kill A Boy On The First Date -- but the show maintains a clear distinction between the vampire's victim and the newly risen vampire. You do not become a vampire. You are not them, however similar they are to you in appearance and behaviour and desires. You are dead.

So we have Giles talking to Xander about Jesse in Season 1's The Harvest:

"Listen to me. Jesse is dead! You have to remember that when you see him, you're not looking at your friend. You're looking at the thing that killed him."

And Buffy talking to Ford in Season 2's Lie To Me about his plan to "become immortal":

"That's not how it works. You die, and a demon sets up shop in your old house, and it walks, and it talks, and it remembers your life, but it's not you."

Even in Season 3's Doppelgangland [which has the gang treating Willow's vampire alter ago very oddly at the end] everyone's reaction to seeing Willow as a vampire is still to be shocked and saddened and speak about Willow in the past tense.

Here's Angel breaking the bad news:

"Something's happened ... Willow's dead."

And earlier, Buffy blaming herself for her friend's death:

"I-it's [my fault]. She must have gone out and gotten attacked [...] And now my best friend is..."

Or Willow when she walks in on them mourning:

"Jeez, who died?"

As late as the Season 4 opener The Freshman we have Buffy's reaction to finding out what happened to her new friend Eddie:

"I was worried that something had happened to you ... and of course it has, 'cause you're a vampire.  I'm sorry."

Not explicitly saying that Eddie's dead, sure, but certainly acknowledging that something bad happened to him (and completely consistent with the take on vampires that goes all the way back to the beginning of Season 1).

Then we get to The Harsh Light Of Day, just a couple of episodes later, and the collective reaction to finding out that Harmony is a vampire -- Harmony, who Buffy's known for years and the others have known for longer, who it's at least strongly implied was killed during the battle against the Mayor in Graduation Day, meaning that unlike Eddie or Theresa or Jesse or whoever else Harmony's death actually is Buffy's fault, at least a little bit -- and how does Buffy react?

She laughs.

"Harmony's a vampire? She must be dying without a reflection."

And I know none of the gang like Harmony -- I know Harmony was very hard to like -- but isn't this just remarkably callous? Harmony isn't "dying" -- she died months ago, helping them all fight against the Mayor's Ascension. She didn't decide to "become" a vampire on some fickle whim. She died saving the world. The Gang could at least pretend to be sad about that for five seconds.

[sophieinwonderland]

https://www.reddit.com/r/SystemsCringe/s/MXrwyBfjJk

Anti endos really dont know how to read huh???

They really dont understand that plurality =/= only did/osdd/other dissoiative ones i may be forgetting

This! It's genuinely mind-boggling how people can have such strong opinions with absolutely zero understanding of anything they're talking about.

I'm gonna dive right into this post, because it's just so terrible!

I'm endogenic. I'm a tulpa. We do not have DID or OSDD or any other dissociative disorder. We have never claimed to.

I believe that DID is almost always caused by trauma. And that more research needs to be done on different presentations of OSDD to determine how strong its association with trauma is.

I can't understand why these facts are so hard for their brains to process.

I'm not a huge fan of insulting people's intelligence but gods, these people just make it really difficult not to.

I have literally always said I was endogenic!

This hasn't changed!

I'm also not saying that only trauma can cause DID. I think there definitely is a possibility that there could be rare non-traumagenic forms of DID. But being open to this possibility is VERY different from claiming, as the Satanic Temple's Grey Faction has, that DID is typically iatrogenic.

The Grey Faction does not believe DID is caused by trauma.

And this hate subreddit is using them as a source for their anti-RAMCOA rhetoric!

On the topic of gaslighting, Grace is correct that Grace did not say the words "religious alters only existed after Hazbin Hotel." (I didn't say they said those words either.)

Here is what Grace has said though!

Remember in the below screenshots that the black at the top are the posts Grace is responding to and the light grey at the bottom are Grace's words.

Grace assuming that Hell in headspace is from Hazbin Hotel:

Grace saying there wasn't a slew of religious alters before Hazbin Hotel:

(Anyone who has been in the system community knows that religious headmates were very common since long before Hazing Hotel was a released.)

Grace assuming a biblical angel alter is from Hazbin Hotel:

Grace assuming ANOTHER angel is from Hazbin Hotel:

This is despite the fact that this person is obviously confused about why they have an angel there and probably wouldn't be confused if they had an introject from Hazbin Hotel.

Grace assuming a God alter is from Hazing Hotel:

And as a reminder GOD ISN'T even in the show!!!!!!!!

This doesn't even make sense!

There's a very consistent theme in these posts. You know, since I'm already reusing the screenshots, might as well reuse the meme as well.

Back to this post though...

Oh...

Yeah, I'm just going to refer back to everything above!

Grace!

Where does this post mention DID???

Even though I do believe it is theoretically possible to have DID without trauma, this post doesn't say that!!!

How is this whole subreddit this bad at basic reading comprehension???

Right... You guys just have a mod-approved hit list of acceptable targets to name to focus attacks on said targets. A list that I'm on, by the way.

Why would I censor usernames of people on your subreddit if you don't censor mine, and have me on your list of approved targets?

Now in fairness, I screenshotted users from this subreddit without censoring names before they put me on their hit list, and I will continue to do so even if I'm removed from that list because yes, it's an ableist hate sub and I have no desire to hide the names of people participating in spreading hate against systems.

But I still want to call out the hypocrisy of a post that names my blog complaining about me not censoring the names of the people I respond to.

[batsplat]

so i’m kinda new to motogp, i started watching it from this season and your account has been very helpful. i have a question, i’ve seen a post on insta where they were comparing marc and pedro results from the first race to the fifth races (i think?) in their rookie year. and a lot of people in the comments where talking about the fact that you cannot compare their results because they’re two whole different situations. but are they? ‘cause at the start of the season everybody was calling pedro the next marquez and a lot of motogp legends were talking about how talented he’s. which i’m not entitled to discuss. but if you compare the results, i wouldn’t say pedro’s season is disappointing (because it’s still early and he has two podiums), but i think it’s pehraps underwhelming compared to marc’s. so what i’m trying to understand is why are their situations considered different and why some people kind of “discredit” marc rookie season when they compare it to acosta’s? (like i thought that winning a title in you rookie year was the most impressive thing you could do)

welcome to the sport, and that's really nice to hear!!

so, I did do my 'comparing between eras is impossible' thing here, but obviously this isn't particularly useful. I'll get over myself and give you a proper answer, but fwiw I still believe that direct parallels can only ever be of limited use. here's a few things to keep in mind when comparing the two:

factory vs satellite: factory teams will always have at least a little bit of an advantage over the satellite squads. even if it's not in equipment... it's also just about the amount of resources that are being mobilised to help you get your results, the experience of your team, etc etc. now, I put this first because I don't think this is a massive factor here. ktm's whole thing is that they want to essentially run four factory bikes, see the rebrand next year, and obviously they're very motivated to help pedro out. I'm sure he's getting a lot of backing - in terms of historical comparisons, it's a bit more valentino 2000 than it is casey 2006

bike quality: the honda in 2013 was the best bike on the grid. pedro's ktm is... well it's certainly not in the top four. after that, the pecking order does get a little tricky, but it's certainly not decisively clear of either the aprilias or the gp23's. we do know pedro basically has equal machinery to the other ktm's. now, those are the first riders he has to beat... and he's beating them! going into this year, binder was getting top three rider on the grid shouts and pretty much everyone thought he'd be outscoring acosta at least in the first year (not me tho <3). I think these acosta performances have sparked a bit of a debate over 'was the ktm better than we thought all along and the riders were just being overrated, or is acosta just that good'... makes it kinda easy to forget how people talked about binder last year. but crucially even people who rated pedro very highly generally didn't think he'd have the upper hand this soon. pedro is p5 in the standings (behind three gp24's and marc marquez), versus the other ktm's at p7, p...16? jesus. and p17. marc's teammate in 2013 was p3. now, yes, nobody is saying binder is as good as dani pedrosa and he's been having a very rocky season - but at least some of binder's issues seem to be bike-related... definitely a bike that seems to have some serious gremlins and pedro needs to be credited for mitigating those. also, this is an era in which the bikes are more complicated than ever and generally considered to be even trickier to adapt to than in times past, which makes pedro's immediate consistent pace pretty much everywhere, every session particularly noteworthy

spread of field: related to the previous point - not only is pedro's bike worse, but the field as a whole is more competitive. in 2013, if you weren't on one of four bikes, it was going to be really hard for you to fight for wins. in 2024, there are a lot of bikes capable of fighting for wins, and you see that in how mixed up the order is race to race. it's just a different era... from around 2007 to 2015, there was a clear disparity between a few bikes and the rest, enabled both through technical regulations and other external factors (e.g. the impact of the financial crisis and smaller teams struggling as a result). the average level of the field is also higher nowadays, there's a lot of very strong riders - which means if you're having a slightly rougher weekend, your floor is considerably lower and you will have to accept you might not be in the podium fight at all. the margins are smaller now in both qualifying and in races... small swings of performance in both bike and rider can have way more dramatic repercussions

the eye test: for obvious reasons this one's a bit harder to put words to. but... pedro just passes it, with flying colours. it's the way he throws himself around on the bike, the obscene amounts of lean angle, the ridiculously late braking and the way he somehow still gets the bike turned, how he keeps taking lines that nobody else is taking, how it's allowing him to fight his way through the field (notoriously tough in motogp these days)... in the same way in which marc in 2013 was clearly just riding differently to all the other riders that preceded him, you see this stuff with pedro, you see he's the next step. you can tell he's just got that special something that allows him to do stuff with his bike that nobody else can. also, this isn't quite the same as rating his rookie season, but obviously everyone already knew what a hyped prospect pedro was headed into this year. he hasn't shown any sign whatsoever of succumbing to the hype/pressure and letting it get to him, which is also a great sign for the future

how good his results are: so, obviously he hasn't won a race yet - even though he's now secured multiple podiums. but again, unlike with marc''s 2013 there is no single weekend in which the ktm has been the strongest bike. sometimes it's been a bit closer and sometimes it's a little further away... yes, pedro has started making a couple of mistakes, but also that may just be the result of putting the bike in places it doesn't really belong. marc only had one race crash in the rookie season, but he also knew he couldn't afford to make mistakes - he was in the title fight. pedro is playing around with a worse bike and if he thinks he has the pace to win, it makes sense for him to just push that little bit extra, come what may. it's now been quite a few weekends since pedro hasn't decisively been the best ktm on pace - and, really, what more can you ask for? unless binder's suddenly forgotten how to ride a bike, it's reasonably likely that the ktm is at least a little worse than it was last year, which makes these results even more impressive

the rookie title question: yes, a rookie title is uniquely impressive! it's a particularly tricky situation to deal with... marc really had to be operating on a very high very consistent level that entire year, and in no way should it be diminished what kind of performances he had to put in week to week to claim that title. (though, of course, marc did get a little bit lucky that year, in particular with his rivals' injuries.) the thing is, we'll never know if pedro would manage the pressures and travails and ebbs and flows of a title fight in his rookie season as well as marc did... because he hasn't had the opportunity to fight for it. we just don't know! which makes it a bit hard to penalise pedro for not being able to match that... you just have to find a happy middle ground where you acknowledge how impressive marc's title was, while also allowing that on pure performance pedro might be shaping up as every bit as impressive

marc is very marmite in most online motogp fan spaces, whether those detractors are partisan valentino fans or think he's too aggressive for their tastes or don't particularly fondly remember his dominance or just don't like his vibe... so I'm sure there's plenty of people on instagram who would like to discredit him!! but I don't think calling pedro's rookie season comparable should in any way be used to discredit marc - the only point is that if you look at his current performances, it's completely plausible to believe he can match/surpass marc in the future. what he's doing right now is really impressive! it's not quite the same headline numbers, but there's weekends where he's quite plausibly on. like. the joint 12th best bike or something. so it really is all very tight and he is doing very well! but also you can't compare eras and all of these comparisons easily break down and sometimes you can just treat two things as separately impressive without attempting to definitively determine which is 'better', especially in motorsports where so much isn't determined by the actual athlete themselves and instead by factors they have zero control over

[justastrugglinghotchocolate]

In regards to the post I made about Henry earlier, here’s the headcanon 'theory' I have based on all of this:

Basil and Henry had a wonderful romance in college. It was a defining situationship for both of them, perhaps a genuine queer awakening for Henry (as he had toyed with the idea before, but had always seen it as a more ‘edgy way’ to generate outrage, Basil was the first person he genuinely fell in love with) and a validation of interest for Basil (“oh wow, a man really loves me! Neat!”). Regardless, there was certainly a romance between them.

I personally think Henry fucked it up because of commitment issues (Remember, while he complains about marriage, the real criticism is towards commitment as a whole. Being a bachelor gives you options, having to marry them away. He also consistently says 'eternity' scares him. Also Basil points to Henry being unable to understand his love for Dorian because Henry "change[s] too often") which then contributed to the breakdown of their relationship. But still, on Henry’s end, there was an egotistic belief that Basil would never find anyone as good as him (Henry) and therefore Basil was still and would always be his. Thus the violets: he might be in mourning for the nature of their relationship before, but he is faithful to the love they had. (“My dear old Basil, you are much more than an acquaintance.”)

And then Basil finds Dorian.

There’s an interesting thing that happens in the first chapter of the book where Henry never dismisses anything Basil says. In fact he goes out of his way to acknowledge them and expand upon them, even reassuring Basil at certain points. To me, it’s almost like Henry doesn’t grasp the depth of Basil’s love for Dorian. Basil seems to want to keep it that way, while also struggling to do so.

I think Basil's hesitancy is mostly out of guilt: Basil cares about Henry and feels that in some way this is partly a betrayal of their relationship (whatever that is to the both of them). I think it's also partly out of (justified) fear of how Henry will react.

Throughout the first chapter, Basil keeps confessing how much he likes Dorian ‘but only artistically!’, then backtracks hard, the moment Henry shows any interest in meeting Dorian (because that would prove Basil isn't telling the whole truth).

Henry keeps entertaining Basil’s little ‘it’s artistic only, i swear—” until this exchange:

““I am very glad you didn’t, Harry.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want you to meet him.”

“You don’t want me to meet him?”

“No.””

The repeat of Basil's words is extremely important, it points to a double take (literarily!). I believe this is the moment when Henry realizes that Basil’s interest isn’t artistic in any way. And this also marks the moment every action Henry takes towards Basil grows cruel and spiteful. After Parker announces Dorian’s arrival and they head, Henry, for the first time in the intro, fully dismisses what Basil says to him. Dismissing Basil becomes a repeated action through out the rest of the novel.

“Then he looked at Lord Henry. “Dorian Gray is my dearest friend,” he said. “He has a simple and a beautiful nature. Your aunt was quite right in what she said of him. Don’t spoil him. Don’t try to influence him. Your influence would be bad. The world is wide, and has many marvellous people in it. Don’t take away from me the one person who gives to my art whatever charm it possesses: my life as an artist depends on him. Mind, Harry, I trust you.” He spoke very slowly, and the words seemed wrung out of him almost against his will.

“What nonsense you talk!” said Lord Henry, smiling, and taking Hallward by the arm, he almost led him into the house.”

Later when they meet with Dorian. There is an extremely interesting change from the 1890 ver.

1891 ver: “No wonder Basil Hallward worshipped him.”

1890: “No wonder Basil Hallward worshipped him. He was made to be worshipped.”

Upon laying eyes on Dorian, Henry realizes he cannot compare at all. Basil didn’t just replace him, Basil sought someone who was nothing like him and far superior to what Henry stood for. What better way to announce you’ve moved on than falling in love with someone completely different and even 'better' than your ex? 

After this, Henry forces Basil to ask him to stay. He makes an excuse when Dorian asks and plays coy until Basil finally says : “Stay, Harry, to oblige Dorian, and to oblige me.” 

By the way, Basil already asked Henry to stay on Dorian’s behalf (“If Dorian wishes it, of course you must stay. Dorian’s whims are laws to everybody, except himself.”), but Henry wanted Basil to say “I want you to stay. I want you to stay for me, Harry.”

[neon-jackal]

Why The Twist In CoC is umm uhhh umm

Each underland chronicles book gets it's own big twist, all with varying levels of quality, but today I want to focus on the twist in Code of Claw, and why (in my humble opinion) it doesn't really work. I actually really like Code of Claw, it's my second favorite in the series behind MoS, but this is by far my least favorite part of it, and probably my least favorite part of the whole series. So why is it so... not good?

First, let's talk about what makes a twist work. I think this really comes down to 4 main factors

Does it make in-universe sense? Pretty self explanatory. It's always good to keep writing consistent with the world building & lore of the series.

Does it fit with the characterization? Beyond it making logical sense, does it fit with the writing of the story? Is it foreshadowed at all? Does it feel like something the character(s) would do? Essentially, does the audience buy it?

Does it further/change the story? Also pretty self explanatory. A twist should have impacts on future event in the series, or re-frame previous events in a new way.

Does it work with the stories' themes? This is especially important for a series like TUC. This is a series with some strong messages, so it's important not to undercut them.

Now let's look at the big twist in CoC. For any who've forgotten, the reveal in this book is that Sandwiches' prophecies are fake. Ripred tells Gregor he doesn't believe in them 5 seconds before the final battle, and Gregor decides he's probably right. So how does this do as a twist?

Does it make in-universe sense? Hard no. Sure, the prophecies can be vague, and a lot of things can be left up to interpretation, but they describe way too many things way too accurately to just be coincidence. You're telling me that a super rare plague starts going around, and they need the help of the one guy that does all the stuff, and the cure for the plague is developed in it's place of origin, and Sandwich just got a lucky guess predicting all of that to a tee? Fuck off. This just feels like such a bizarre and rushed thing to throw into the series, and it feels like something that was thought of well after most of the other books had been written.

Does it fit with the characterization? Not really. CoC establishes that Sandwich isn't a great dude, so him faking a bunch of prophecies does feel believable for him, but like I said before, all the other books treat their prophecies as legit, so this feels kinda out of place. It also feels weirdly cynical? Gregor makes tangible progress on his quests, and sees really sacrifice too, and CoC is essentially saying "all of that was for nothing". Again, this ties into my personal belief that the other 4 books weren't written with this in mind.

Does it further/change the story? Again, no, not really. Even if you do buy the twist, all of the other quests were successful, so like, what's the point? It does set up Gregor surviving the final battle, but I feel like there just would've been much better ways of doing that.

Does it work with the stories' themes? Actually, kinda, yeah. It ties into Regalia's shady government and the ways they keep order, and fits the 'forced into a destiny you don't want' thing Gregor and Bane have going on. The whole "Sandwich can't be a prophet, he's evil!" thing the book tries to do is pretty dumb though, and I feel like there were so many more interesting ideas the book could've done with this.

Now let's compare this to arguably the best twist in the series, in CotW. Does it make in-universe sense? Absolutely. It fits into the prophecy perfectly. Does if fit with the characterization? Fuck yeah! The Regalians are evil bitches, so this is 100% in character for them. Solovet especially works so well as an evil-CIA type figure. It expands really well on her talk of wanting to 'punish' the rats in PoB. Does it further/change the story? Yes on both counts! Not only does it completely re-frame the entirety of CotW, it also sets up the humans' general shittyness, which we already kinda see in PoB, but really kicks into high gear in CoC. Does it work with the stories' themes? My guy. It IS the stories' themes! It so perfectly encapsulates the gray morality and overall pointlessness of war, the shady actions of government behind the scenes, and everything else these books are trying to say, and it gets expanded on even more in the next 2 books.

Wow this post post kinda got out of hand uhh if you're still reading this thank you for listening to my ramblings and point out anything I missed in the notes. If you think I'm wrong about anything, feel free to start a giant argument in the comments.

TL;DR: CoC is very good but the twist in it is not great and CotW does it much better.

[bones4thecats]

Hi can I have seperate scenarios in this request where Captain Ginyu, Burter, and Cui, just so happen to meet Emo! F! Human! Reader in the Namek Saga while she's with Bulma and the gang or even somehow gets seperated with the group on accident. If you still have the time when you see this request.

(Hope that the request isn't too much for you.)

DBZ w/ F-Emo-Human! S/O Headcanons

Characters: Captain Ginyu, Burter, and Cui Requester: @silkyshulks A/N: I decided to just do this with them having an S/O that was a powerful human (and emo) that also served with Frieza as one of his highest-ranking helpers (specifically a Regent, or a right-hand). It just made more sense to me. That and I haven't watched the Namek Saga in quite a while and need to re-watch DBZ here soon... But anyways, hope you like this and have a glamorous rest of your day/night, Silkyshulks! ⚠️ Spoilers/Trigger Warnings for: Mentions of possibly child abuse (nothing to bad though) and fighting (??) ⚠️

What I based the Reader's appearance on: Outfit - Makeup - Marks

╔══════════════════════════════════════════╗

╚═════ Captain Ginyu ═══════════════════════════╝

💟 When Ginyu first met you, he was surprised with how powerful you were within Frieza's army. Despite being a mere human, you had a lot of power, enough that prompted the tyrant to promote you to his Regent, in other words his main second-in-command

💟 You held your position highly, using it against any other soldier who tried to put you down. And it didn't help that you always looked emotionless and cold whenever you walked around

💟 Ginyu and you had a surprisingly healthy bond, and that always shined when you served together. He would be busy getting his team to practice their poses and train whilst you were delivering orders to them from Frieza, much of it being their schedule and where they were needed

💟 While he normally gets busy, he does enjoy having some time to relax with you. It mainly consists of you silently sitting on his lap as you would draw on his skin with your temporary markers, he did have a reputation after all

💟 Ginyu also gets confused when you would spend quite a bit of time perfecting your makeup for that day, though it normally was the same eyeliner, and how you would make sure your outfit was perfected. But, he was a warrior, so who was he to judge?

💟 Unlike what many other members of the Frieza Force believe, Ginyu is a very good partner, whether you're married or not. He always finds time for you and he listens, even as he trains, his ears are open for your meek rants

💟 He has offered you a place in the Ginyu Force, but you just turned him down, saying your place belonged delivering news and defending your fearsome Lord. And while Ginyu was dead-set on getting you to join, when he saw you smoke another powerful fighter, he lightened up

💟 Not because he feared you... psh! Why would he fear his S/O? It's a lie, he fears your anger like he fears Frieza's

╔══════════════════════════════════════════╗

╚═════ Burter ════════════════════════════════╝

🌀 You two had a rockier start than the others. Burter is literally described as 'very arrogant, boastful, and tends to talk down to his opponents', and when he saw how blank you looked, he made his thoughts on you obvious

🌀 As a fellow strong warrior, though you stayed out of the field for quite a while, you merely raised your hand, showing off your spider-web markings. He cocked his head as you blasted him, resulting in him flying backwards and into the wall, making a dent as the now-dazed fighter groaned in pain

🌀 Unfortunately for you, Frieza needed your skills of manipulation and physical attacks to take over another planet, so he sent you and Burter together while the rest of the Ginyu Force went to another part of the planet - despite their annoyance of not being able to do their poses correctly -

🌀 It was after that mission that the Blue Hurricane then began to seek you out more, wanting to train. You would just roll your eyes before walking away to find Zarbon to speak too. And that was how his emotions emerged, watching you speak to Zarbon happily while you would naturally stare into Burter's soul before leaving

🌀 While it took a while, and when I say a while I mean a while, to finally ask you out, he was surprised with how different you were in private. You always seemed so done with everyone and cold, but you really cared about the few close-individuals you had, including this certain blue alien

🌀 Burter doesn't seem like he would, but I can see him enjoying watching you gather your outfits, whether they were formal-looking or not, and seeing you put on your makeup and basically style yourself up. It was kind of like a therapy for him in a way

╔══════════════════════════════════════════╗

╚═════ Cui ══════════════════════════════════╝

🐟 Cui and you met early on in your services under Frieza, and he was extremely jealous that you, a mere human, a being he could squash with one blast, was promoted to be the Emperor's right-hand!

🐟 And, in all honesty, he was intimidated by you as much as the next soldier. The way you looked just scared him. You always looked so glum and ready to kill, and the way you would dress and decorate your face freaked him out. He was used to others looking odd, but this was a level he had never encountered in his life!

🐟 The only reason he had ever spoke to you was because Frieza had demanded Cui to deliver a message to you and get the findings you came up with. And while he was acting like a pissed-off child who was just told they couldn't get a lollipop by their parents at first, he did eventually begin to see how gentle you truly were underneath your dark-look

🐟 You proved that true when, instead of insulting or yelling at the tiny-and-very-young alien who brought you files, you just pat them on their head and told them to go to your chambers and grab themselves a plush from your bottom drawer. He watched the child run off with a gleeful smile on their face while you continued typing an encrypted message to Frieza's father, King Cold

🐟 Cui called your name and couldn't help but ask you a question that nagged at him for the past few minutes of silence;

"Why were you so kind to that child? Normally higher-ranked authorities just push them around."

"I condemn those who would offend a lower-ranked soldier, nonetheless a child, for no reason. It's a show of how pathetic and weak they truly are, regardless of placements in this hierarchy."

🐟 Cui just nodded and grabbed the finished files you handed him before rushing out of the room and towards the main office of your leader. One question nagging in his mind; why was his stomach churning at the thought of you treating a child... especially one that looked like both of you... so kindly?

🐟 He was going to need to speak to the medic afterwards

[pttucker]

"I shall end you right away if you prove to be a burden to this group even for a second." Yoo Joonghyuk discarded my wrist like trash and stood up from the spot. "…We've wasted precious elixirs." Yoo Joonghyuk strode away and settled down on a nearby boulder to polish the [Black Heavenly Demon Sword] again. It had been broken once before, so its durability must've fallen by a quite lot now. Lee Jihye, watching that, spoke to me. "My Master, no wait, my Senior Brother is really cool, isn't he? Even though he's saying that, he was the first person to recommend using elixirs on you." …That Yoo Joonghyuk did? I couldn't understand no matter how hard I thought about it. Even if I was 'Kim Dokja' and not the 'Watcher of Light and Darkness', he wouldn't have… – He's not as cold-blooded as you think. I heard the dumpling [999]'s voice quietly enter my ear. ⸢"Do you still believe that you can understand someone through just a few lines of text in a couple of chapters?"⸥ [999] told me that not too long ago. He was right. Even though I knew his words were correct, I kept forgetting them over and over again.

Mmmhmm sure Joonghyuk. You'll definitely end him. Riiiight.

"Even if I was 'Kim Dokja' and not the 'Watcher of Light and Darkness', he wouldn't have…"

YES HE WOULD HAVE DOKJA!

Ugh, I both love and hate that Dokja seems to constantly misinterpret his companions and how he does seem to consistently forget things that he knows.

Like, it's frustrating (though it makes for great angst and hurt/comfort material so secretly I love it) but also it's pretty established that Dokja has had serious, ongoing trauma in his past and that likely makes it so that even if he logically knows something, that doesn't necessarily mean he can actively put it into practice by following the thought through to its conclusion, i.e. that Joonghyuk is actually not really all that cold-blooded, especially when it comes to him.

Actually, I feel that the fact that most of Joonghyuk's caring attention has been directed at him actually has had a detrimental affect on Dokja recognizing that Joonghyuk is not the bastard that he thinks he is because Dokja thinks everyone who directs caring attention towards him has some ulterior motive and doesn't just, you know, care for him. They're not there to help him, they're there for shares of the story, etc.

Also, for at least Joonghyuk himself, it probably is hard for Dokja to reconcile the person that he's "known" for ten years via only the cold-blooded persona Joonghyuk has been forcing himself into since the beginning of TWSA with the guy that he is underneath it all, let alone the guy that he is now (who Dokja actively helped blossom).

So while I love this little conversation Dokja has with tiny Joonghyuk and Dokja openly acknowledging that Joonghyuk's always been trying to protect his companions this whole time, even if he doesn't want to be particularly close to them for his own emotional well-being (I mean, even just look at Secretive Plotter...) that's actually something Dokja has literally known since the beginning of ORV and he still falls into the mental trap of thinking Joonghyuk don't care so I won't be terribly surprised if he ends up having this "realization" a couple more times before the end of the novel. 😅