#kevin rants about history with him

[d4rkshad0w]

hc that Kevin and Aaron are best friends.

[kevinsdsy]

I'm genuinely so in love with Kevin like.... conceptually??? as in, I find myself thinking about him so often and so constantly but it isn't in a "i wish he was real so we can date" it's more like "i wish you were real because you're great." if that makes sense?

I'm aware he's lowkey not ideal as a friend (he IS getting better, I'm his lawyer trust.) but I just notice these things that make me love him like how he takes what's given with gratitude, his subtle shows of worry, the trust he has in Jeremy and Jean both, the reliance on Andrew. I love the way that he gained confidence in himself and now is much more comfortable with his life, the way he embraces the title of "Queen" because he knows he's better than R*ko and AUGH I love he's a history nerd, it makes sense for him to enjoy looking at the past and learning from it... even the other day i went shopping for clothes and thought about what he'd look like in them 🧍 I sound crazy as fuck uhm.

oh PLEASE anon if you’re crazy we can be crazy together because i genuinely think about kevin ALL THE TIME!! i surprisingly dont talk as much about him on this blog as i expected i would if i ever became active but TRUST i’m always thinking about him.

like that man has gone through SO MUCH and i feel like people just forget to talk about it— but after all he’s gone through he remains soft (although it’s more hidden in his actions, because his words do not showcase it)

just in general i think he’s so very lovely and i’m quite literally SO obsessed with him it’s insane. like yk how we joke about the everlasting impact kevin has on the people around him?? YEAH I FEEL THAT TOO!!

[electraslight]

What did you think of the mutation Kevin arc in season three of alien force?

I liked a lot of aspects of it. I think it was a good decision to remind people that Kevin has issues beyond being a con man, because season one and two of alien force, while I love them, very much erased kevins long history of mental illness, addiction, and violence, as well as honestly not giving him much of an arc. Plus I think the mutation was a really good way to explore how kevin actually feels about being mutated when not being corrupted. It was a great concept! I just feel like a lot of things around it were flawed. First, I don't like the decision to make a 16 year old boy wear that little clothing for a whole series. Yes, I know he's supposed to look like metamorpho man, but then you think about charmcaster grooming him and that really strange bit in trade off where they tried to imply that the energy transfer was a rape allegory- not a good time to have him almost naked. Second, gwen and ben were AWFUL to him. Gwevin fans idk how you can just gloss over how many times she outright states he's hideous when, let's be real, he's a pretty, muscular boy who's only abnormality is that he's carved out of materials. Ben sucks in general and everyone knows that but no one talks about how much gwen sucked too. I think the resolution was pretty dumb too. Why did destroying the omnitrix affect anything about Kevin's mutation? It wasn't attached to him or constantly feeding him energy, so realistically he would have dropped the transformation within a few days. Dumb shit. You can really notice the change in quality from s1 and 2 and s3. But kevins my waifu and I'll never complain about getting more of him,so I digress. Here's a dumb screenshot redraw, thanks for listening to my rant.

[simpystuff]

A little bit of a rant/essay about smg34

Okay to start, I am a huge smg34 shipper, always has been ever since I started watching during 2018/2019. I've watched most of the classic smg4 episodes, and I'm up to date in the recent ones too.

There is so much speculation as to what smg4 and smg3s relationship is, whether its platonic or romantic/sexual. Despite obvious indications, some people are firm believers that they are just best friends or brothers. So I'm here right now at 4:13am typing out an essay that proves that what they have going on is anything but platonic, and a little bit of a rant at the end too. (please do note that this essay is completely done up on the spot with no previous planning or order, so some things might not make so much sense.)

I'm starting off by analysing smg4 and smg3s characters as a whole and their dynamic. Smg3s character is Tsundere (by definition, "Tsundere meaning is an adjective for a person or character who is usually cold or harsh but sometimes shows a warm or kind side, especially to a love interest") and leading by definition, Smg3 is usually cold hearted, but does occasionally act nice and worries or cares about his friends and particularly smg4. This type of character tends to call their love interest "Baka", which is an insult that can mean "stupid" or other variations that depend. Smg3 calls Smg4 this in many cases, starting around the genesis arc, and continues up to even now. Smg4 is clearly Smg3's love interest, and as that character role, Smg4 teases Smg3 about his behaviour, even calling him a "tsundere" at some point in the internet graveyard.

Related to the subject, Smg3's behaviour is extremely flamboyant, and in the fandom wiki, he is described "he is gay in a stereotypical manner" - and in the Hobo Bros video where Luke and Kevin look at smg3 on the smg4 fandom wiki, neither of them seem to objectify to this statement. (We will also get to the creators views and words later on.) Even though "gay" has many stereotypes and doesn't usually abide by the few we have, the statement is quite frankly true without needing explanation. Like I previously mentioned, in many instances where Smg4 teases Smg3 about his behaviour, Smg3 blushes. That's right, he blushes. Like a Tsundere character would, he blushes, denies, turns away and calls Smg4 a "baka". He does this a lot, even if he doesn't include the "baka" in there, he definitely blushes.

Leading through their history, Smg3 and Smg4 have had a rivalry since Smg3 came around. People at this point were probably already shipping them together from the start, since a rivals to lovers trope is wildly loved and especially in the smg4 fandom. In most of the early smg4 days when smg4 came around, there wasn't much to speculate on - At that point they were rivals and nothing much else. But also mentioning the sm64 blooper "Snow Trapped", this obviously changes with the events that take place. What's good to note as well, is the fact that it's been brought up in WOTFI 2023 in the quiz trivia mission that asked "What happened at exactly 6:50 of the classic smg4 episode: Snow Trapped?" - to of which, the option "let's find out" was most voted for, and we had an audio clip of what had happened (which was them "making love")

Also going a little more into Snow Trapped, some people claimed that they weren't in fact doing the boombayah - and I think that's a load of bollocks /nm. With smg3 and smg4s n64 characters crouching and un-crouching behind and in front of each other and the audio clip that was placed on top, I don't think it was very hard to mistake for something else. And even more proof with that fact that before this clip, Smg4 said that they could forgive each other and "make some love before we die." That's clear indications as to what happened and it's not that hard to understand.

Like I mentioned before, the creators Luke and Kevin, and even James Bailey (the voice actor of smg3) had some words and whatnot about smg3 and smg4's sexuality and/or relationship. When reading the fandom wiki's about smg3 and smg4's sexuality, Luke didn't objectify against anything said - when the wiki had said that Smg4 may be hinted to be gay or bisexual, and when it says that smg3 could also be gay, even saying "I don't know" which could mean that it's indicated or could be speculated their exact sexuality. And with the fact that Kevin wrote Snow Trapped, I think there's a lot of indication that neither of them are straight. James Bailey, during a stream on his twitch, had a question about smg3 and how he'd describe him, to which he replied "imagine Shadow The Hedgehog but Gay." Later in the stream, he received a question asking if Smg3 was gay and he replied "He's not straight, I'll tell you what."

The problem the fandom usually has is the fans who claim they are "classic" smg4 fans but have no knowledge whatsoever on smg3 and smg4's relationship. The biggest they know is that they are rivals, and then claim that they are brothers when they clearly aren't - and assuming they were around for the release of Snow Trapped or had at least seen it, they'd know that isn't the case anyway. Even funnier the fact they claim that smg34 "ruined" smg4, even though that ship has been around probably since the start of their rivalry (I'll speculate on this because I know a lot of people do like a rivals to lovers trope)

That's the end of my essay people, leave a like or comment if there's anything else you'd like me to write smg4 related essays about and I'll give my opinions on it. If you've read up to this point, I love you, hope you have a good day or night.

[rxcyee]

im so wrecked by the fact that out of all the characters kevin had SO MUCH POTENTIAL WITH he ended up dating thea muldani

not that i hate her it’s just it was very random in my opinion…like renee was just talking about how andrew is gay to neil when it was revealed that kevin was “dating” thea

like when i first read that my jaw dropped because like what??? it was such an abrupt thing that just came up and i can never get my head around it. I feel like i wouldve liked their relationship better if we actually got to know thea better. It’s just that both kevin and thea have been seperated for like what…years? and the fact that nora herself said that thea never understood the extent of kevin’s trauma from the moriyamas. LIKE THATS JUST SO SAD because in my opinion if you really devote yourself to someone in a relationship you should really understand and care about the pain and trauma that was once inflicted on them. it also gives me the impression that kevin doesn’t truly trust thea yet

im sorry but like i thought that kevin would actually be dating one of his team members. Every Fox understands kevin’s pain and history (especially Neil, Jean and Andrew) yet kevin doesn’t end up with any of them?? (besides neil and andrew). I know nora mentioned that she did have a draft where kevin/neil/andrew existed and at this point i feel like kevin x anyone in the foxes team would have just worked out better than him and thea imo

like i would even think its more reasonable for kevin to end up with allison

anyways sorry for the rant because im like still not over the fact that kevin’s dating thea x-x

[ashestoashes7]

has no one asked you about Interesting (AFTG Olympics Andrew POV) yet??

One person already has but seeing all the Olympics stuff going around the idea has just gotten stuck in my head. Any scenario of them at the Olympics is just all so intriguing to me—watching? Playing? Any of them really—and I was thinking of Andrew at the time so I decided he gets to go to the Olympics and make it interesting for him (and make history in the process haha).

WIP Game

— Interesting —

Kevin was a liar and not even a good one. He sounded like a broken record, preaching about promises and potential until Renee’s unrealistic optimism had been supplanted. The new first-place contender was as unwilling to be there as Andrew was unwilling to listen to another one of his starry-eyed rants. People like Kevin shouldn’t start looking for things in people like Andrew, disappointment is inevitable.

Kevin was a liar until he wasn’t. Andrew was fine—fine, he says—drowning himself in certainty and self-destruction but then impossible became a shutter he deployed to shield himself from the blue eyes of the striker Kevin never should have brought. That was the beginning of the end.

Not quite Court, not yet, but the unveiling of something Andrew never expected to have. A deal complete with an unfortunate but survivable side effect—Exy.

Andrew Minyard was never supposed to compete in the Olympics the same way Neil wasn’t meant to stay and Kevin wasn’t meant to reach for anything beyond second place. Assumptions are forever fragile. Press too hard on a crack and it all comes crashing down.

Getting Andrew to the Olympics had been a full frontal assault by the two most determined idiots he ever had the displeasure of meeting.

<—Prev || Next—>

Finished Now

[thekpopgossip]

K-Pop Scandals 2023

This year had a lot of scandals, from serious abuse allegations and harmless dating scandals, to quite a few contract disputes between idols and companies. There were also a lot of news of members leaving their groups, fans being a pain in the ass and sending embarrassing protest trucks for pretty much anything, etc. So, check out my annual list of the most important k-pop scandals of 2023.

IVE “Lip-synced at MBC Gayo Daejeon” BTS RM “Private info leaked by Monk” Block B “Members left Seven Season Entertainment” NCT Haechan “Hiatus due health” TXT Yeonjun & Le Sserafim Yunjin “Dating rumor” ENHYPEN Jay “Insulted Korean history, apologized” SEVENTEEN Vernon “Dating rumor with stylist” VIXX Ravi “Sentenced for draft dodging, left group” GOT7 Jackson “Drunk at concerts, pro-China rants” D1CE “Disbandment” GWSN “Disbandment” NewJeans Danielle “Chinese New Year controversy” Goo Min Chul & Jamie "Cheating scandal, broke up” MOMOLAND “Disbandment” SM Entertainment, Kakao & HYBE “Acquisition” Super Junior Heechul "Misogynistic comments” Brave Girls “Left Brave Entertainment” BLANK2Y Youngbin "Assaulted girlfriend, kicked out of group” ASTRO Rocky “Left group and agency” UP10TION “Disbandment” DONGKIZ Munik “Left group” WJSN “8 members renewed contracts with Starship, 5 left" Nam Taehyun “DUI” DKZ Kyoungyoon “Was a member of the JMS cult, left group” TWICE Chaeyoung "Apologized for wearing swastika shirt” Treasure Haruto “Homophobic comments” TXT Taehyun “Went clubbing with girls” BlackPink Rose & Kang Don Wong “Dating rumor" ASTRO Moonbin “Passed away” Red Velvet Joy “Hiatus due health” BAE173 Nam Do Hyun "Filed lawsuit against PocketDol, won and left the agency” NCT Lucas "Left group" TEEN TOP C.A.P "Left group" ENHYPEN “Fan protest against their choreo with female dancers” BigBang "Everyone left YG Entertainment” EXO CBX “Filed lawsuit against SM Entertainment, resolved” LOONA "All 12 members left Blockberry Creative" MAMAMOO Hwasa “Left RBW Entertainment for P-Nation” HIGHLIGHT Dongwoon "Wedding" GOT7 JB “Flirting with girls on Instagram while serving in the army” BlackPink Lisa & Frédéric Arnault “Dating scandal" NewJeans “Controversy over ETA concept + iPhones on stage” FIFTY FIFTY "Filed lawsuit against their agency ATTRAKT, lost” Choi Yena “”Hate Rodrigo” concept controversy” HYBE “During &TEAM's fansign, staff looked through fans’ underwear” Super Junior Kyuhyun, Eunhyuk and Donghae “Left SM Entertainment” BlackPink Jisoo & Ahn Bo Hyun “Dating scandal, broke up” SEVENTEEN Joshua & Mi Young “Dating scandal” SNSD Sunny “Left SM Entertainment” The Boyz Kevin “Complained about not getting credited on songs” Ciipher Tan, Tag, Dohwan, Won "Left R.A.I.N Company" G-IDLE Soyeon “Dating scandal with influencer” RIIZE Wonbin, Seunghan, Sohee, Anton "Bully and dating rumors" Fantasy Boys Yu Junwon "Contract dispute with PocketDol Studios, left group" Stray Kids Bang Chan "Not allowed to continue his livestream series due to backlash from his “etiquette” comments” BTS RM “Denied allegations of Islamophobia” Loossemble Yeojin and Vivi “Said company threw out all of LOONA’s food and put them on a 'hell' diet” SF9 Rowoon "Left group" ITZY Lia “Hiatus due health” Stray Kids “Members got into a car accident” SHINee "Taemin and Key apologized for colorist remarks towards Minho" BlackPink Lisa “Controversial performance at Crazy Horse, China ban” PENTAGON "Six members left Cube Entertainment" EXO Sehun, Chanyeol, D.O “Left SM Entertainment” ATTRAKT and FIFTY FIFTY "Saena, Sio, and Aran left company, Keena stayed" BTS V's stalker “Handed him a marriage certificate, later apprehended by police” BigBang G-Dragon “Investigated for drug use” VIXX N “Hiatus from group” DKB Teo "Left group after DUI" BTOB “Left Cube Entertainment” Ryu Junyeol & Hyeri "Broke up" RIIZE Seunghan and TXT Soobin "Criticized for leaked Insta video and past comments" ATEEZ Wooyoung & LOONA Hyunjin "Dating rumor after Insta leak" Super Junior Kyuhyun "Attacked by a woman with knife" RIIZE Seunghan "Hiatus" FTISLAND Minhwan & LABOUM Yulhee “Divorce” BlackPink Jennie & BTS V "Broke up" TO1 “Disbandment” BabyMonster “Ahyeon left group and possibly YGE” Fantasy Boys Kim Gyurae "Grooming/dating allegations with older stylist" BOYNEXTDOOR “Bodyguard assaulted a fan at airport” BlackPInk “Members left YGE for solo careers”

[detectivebambam]

should i write the Kevin x Avery fic?

for those of you who don't know, Avery is a lil oc of mine, he's in Kevin's history class and has no fucking clue who Kevin is. he tried to start talking to Kevi but he "wasn't in the mood for fans". obviously Avery has no idea who Kevin is so this sounded super bitchy yk

but he asks Kevin to study with him so Kevi does it and realizes that Avery either

A. has no clue who he is

or B. is just super respectful of his personhood

so anyway

i will probably revlog this with more info but are we interested in the fic or do i just keep ranting to @letthesunburnyourskin about it

[starsandgutters]

Hellooo there my fav kevaaron writer! Hope you are well! May i request for amnesia prompt for kevaaron pretty plsss! I don't think I've come across one with this theme before. TIA! 💋

Surprise, I'm still working my way through these. 🤗

Awh hello 🥹💞 You can! This got too long for tumblr so I've just posted it on ao3

5. Amnesia

Like Being Known | T | 19.1k

“Did you like who I was?” Aaron flicks through the few memories he has of Kevin in recent years. Kicking at each other under the table at Christmas dinner in Andrew’s house, teaming up against him and Neil, Nicky and Erik in charades. Kevin finding Aaron in the crowd and giving him a subtle nod at his last Chicago game. Having dinner afterwards, and the conversation a little stilted to start, awkward in the way it is when they don’t see each other for six months, but melting into the old rhythms after a few drinks. Kevin the time he came to the hospital, crouched down to talk to the kids, statue still as two of them climbed on his shoulders because he was so scared of hurting them accidentally. Frantic eyes seeking Aaron out. Kevin in Palmetto, in the library with Aaron, hand moving around enthusiastically as he ranted on about something from one of his history classes. Shoulder to shoulder with him in the back of Andrew’s car. A presence he had resented when he swanned in and dominated his brother’s attention, but the closest thing to a friend he had been allowed under Andrew’s deal. Spending more time together when Neil came around. Kevin drinking less, Aaron less angry at the world now that he and Katelyn no longer had to hide, and maybe the closest they’d ever really been to friends. Until now. Until here. Until Kevin possibly having to start over from scratch and Aaron the figure he’s imprinted duckling-like onto in this new consciousness. The thought he might never get the Kevin he knew back again. The unexpected ache of that settling behind his ribs. “Yeah, Kev.” There’s a slight catch in Aaron’s voice. “I liked who you were.”

[peaceoutofthepieces]

4 + kandreil for the ask game ? hope you’re doing well <33

you could not have chosen better tysm

4. Shut-Up Kiss

Andrew berates Neil endlessly for running his mouth, but Neil has never known anyone to rant as pointlessly and frequently as Kevin. Sometimes it's almost charming; Kevin's love for history sends him on tangents of fascination every now and again, especially with a drink or two loosening his tongue, and his genuine respect and fanboy adoration for the Trojans—and Jeremy Knox—is almost sweet. Sometimes it's concerning; Kevin's breathing turns ragged and his eyes grow foggy when his mind returns to the Nest, and sometimes, now, commentary will come with it, the knowledge that Riko can't touch him anymore allowing Kevin to tell some of the stories that have refused to die with Riko, at least when Andrew and Neil are the only ones around to hear it.

Other times, it's annoying as shit. In these instances, Neil cannot help thinking Kevin's tattoo is glaringly accurate.

Kevin is nothing if not a drama queen.

"You have been doing this drill for two years," Kevin rants now, eyes full of thundery frustration as he looks down at Neil. "You should have long perfected it, even without the addition of your captaincy, and soon I will not be here to pick up your slack. I do not understand how you expect to–"

The thing about Kevin's ranting now is that it's annoying as shit, but the angrier Neil is at Kevin these days the more he wants him. Neil doesn't—will never—find Kevin's scoldings endearing or amusing or anything of the sort, too short of temper as he is, but he has always found a pull in response to Kevin's fire because of how terribly it matches his own.

The thing about Kevin's ranting now is that Neil can still fantasise about punching him while kissing him instead.

Kevin makes a noise against Neil's mouth, indignant and pissed off and wanting, and the fire in Neil's veins stokes higher, burns hotter. He curls a hand around Kevin's neck and draws him down, down, satisfied only when Kevin's arms fall to his waist and pull him up in response.

They only startle apart when a ball thwacks the floor a few inches from their feet, both breathing hard. Neil feels a savage smile curl his lips at the sight of Kevin's hooded eyes, his lips parted and silent.

Then he looks over at Andrew, who appears as bored as ever to anyone who knows him less, but to Neil is amused and annoyed and interested all at once, if only for how his gaze bores into them. He raises an eyebrow at Neil, and Neil is shrugging before he has even consciously decoded the expression, agreeing yes, alright, I'm stealing your moves now.

"Thanks for the show," Andrew says, dryly, and Kevin makes another wordless noise somewhere between dismissive and craving. "Are you done yet?"

To give credit where credit is due, in the past few months of embedding himself more deeply in them than ever before, Kevin had found the remainder of his spine and has been learning to recover himself remarkably quickly. He presses his palm to the dip of Neil's spine and meets Andrew's eyes to return, "Eager to get back to the dorms?"

Andrew flicks his gaze over to Neil, and Neil obliges; Andrew is not quite close enough, but Neil is more than happy to kiss Kevin quiet again.

send me a number + ship

[shuutingstar]

it’s so sad to think that the reason Kevin only talks about Exy (save for the fact that he loves the sport) us because no one has ever been willing to listen to him talk about his interests. Like, he’s a nerd at heart and probably has so many opinions on history or whatever — but he just never says anything because he’s so accustomed to being shut down if he ever brought up anything besides Exy so now he just never brings anything else up as a conversation starter. Let this boy go on a long rant about the Renaissance or the history of Egypt or something (and let him know he’s being listened to, being heard, and that you’re actually interested in what he’s saying. Don’t tune him out, don’t belittle his interests.)

[dustedmagazine]

Tyvek — Overground (Gingko)

Tyvek’s antic bash and rant has been rattling on for nearly two decades now, with some variation in line-up but very little in intensity or overall sound. Indeed, all but one of these songs would sound very much at home on the 2009 self-titled, brash, tangled, literate and full of angst.

Kevin Boyer, at the center of things, still slashes the strings and spatter paints the walls with words. His current pack of collaborators — Alex Glendening on bass, Emily Roll on sax, Shelley Salant on guitar and Fred Thomas on drums — match him easily in a blunt force rush of chaotic sound, a mesh of stinging guitar snaps, thumping, cymbal-shimmering percussion and the honking, slurring anarchy of sax. “What! Were! We thinking!” Boyer asks repeatedly, in the song of the same name, and he’s agitated about it, as if it really matters. Still the question, as always, is the answer: who the hell knows?

The music that blows up all the time, at a consistent rate and under some form of control like a combustion engine. Decant the words from that, and you find a steady stream of mundane details that sometimes coalesce into profundity. “Return to Form” stutter steps to attention on a stop-start riff, then kicks it up into a furious racket. Boyer is barely keeping up, as he natters on about future dinosaurs and driving away (possibly a fossil fuel theme?). A chaotic guitar finally flares right at the end, and it’s over before you have a chance to get acclimated. “What Were We Thinking?” is somewhat more legible, tossing a fevered “genocide is just an average day” into the spate of imagery.  You get the sense that there’s smart commentary going on just under the ruckus, but it’s hard to pin it down.

That all changes in the disc’s final, very different track, “Overground,” a dreamy mélange of sax, languid guitar and murmured poetry. The cut ranges all over its dystopic landscape, considering capitalism’s chokehold on creativity (“we live in a state of ersatz quality, brain-dead on karaoke, every opportunity to revel in stupidity, keep everything clean, avoid the mess of creativity”), the systematic perversion of history (“In school there was a map that said We Own All of This but where do you think the word Michigan came from anyway?”) and the possibility of collective action. Sonically subdued, but lyrically bracing, the cut gives a hint at what we might have been missing all these years, the mind behind the chaotic clatter. 

Not that there’s anything wrong with the clatter. 

Jennifer Kelly

[sllhouettedreams]

Do u ever just think about wymack, having missed out on raising kevin, kinda taking it upon himself to teach neil things? Like. Imagine neil like. Starts growing a beard (now that he's got a reliable source of proper nutrition, growing older, etc.) and he goes to practice with razor burn and bumps and cuts and wymack notices and teaches him to shave with care (wymack may have looked up some products and is now taking care of his own skin better)(bc toxic masculinity can get fUCKED in my fanon) and anyways wymack acts all inconvenienced (even tho he secretly loves being a dad we all know this) when he has to also teach him how to do laundry after noticing all his socks are orange tinted from putting them in w his new exy uniform and then its changing oil and brakes and tires on the car he eventually gets and how to PROPERLY cook a steak he takes him to a bank to open a checking account with his newly legal name and ID and its everything he didnt get with kevin but it doesnt detract from wymack getting closer to kevin no in fact it brings him closer to kevin because while he's teaching neil the practical stuff he can still take kevin on spontaneous trips to professional exy games, he can eat the steaks neil cooked with kevin, he can listen to kevin rant about history or watch documentaries with him and idk just like the idea that kevin AND neil get a proper father figure with actual Dad™️ experiences out of wymack even in adulthood

[itsshellybitch]

New oneshot! Spoilers for the new special under the cut

********

I have long headcanoned that Shelly has had body image issues. Another headcanon of mine is that after the Lorde incident, her girl friends distanced themselves and Kevin remained her only friend. Last night's special officially contradicts those (though I still think that she has body image issues to an extent), so here's my attempt to bridge those two headcanons with canon.

********

Shelly was still getting used to having female friends again.

She had resigned herself to being alone after Kelly and Stacy drifted away. If her two closest girl friends couldn't handle the fact that her dad was Lorde, then how would anyone else? She had burned her bridges with the rest of her peers a long time ago.

She still had Kevin, of course. He was dependable and always tolerated her rants and raves over the years. But there were some things that she just couldn't do with him.

Shelly missed sleepovers. She missed talking about boys and watching chick flicks. She even missed trailing after her friends at the mall while they tried on outfits that she wouldn't be caught dead in.

Shelly had long embraced her loneliness when Melissa transferred in from Middle Park.

She had completely written the girl off at first. As far as she was concerned, she was just as vapid as the rest and yet another girl who was prettier than she was, with her flawless caramel skin, curly hair, and cute, trendy outfits. She already had more friends at school than Shelly had in her entire life.

Shelly had inwardly groaned when Melissa was assigned to be her partner for their history project. The last thing she needed was a reminder of how ugly and alone she truly was.

Despite everything, Shelly found herself liking Melissa. She was naturally friendly and unlike the rest of their grade, she was unaware of her reputation. Before long, they started texting and following each other on social media. Melissa even reintroduced her to Jamie and Mandy, two girls that she hadn't interacted with since the fifth grade. Like everyone else, they were terrified of her, but as the weeks dragged on, they started warming up. Before long, the foursome was eating lunch together and hanging out after school. Saturdays were spent at the mall or the movies.

Of course, there was one drawback...

********

Shelly felt a sense of deja vu as she boredly looked at the sales rack at Forever 16. She didn't enjoy watching Kelly and Stacy shopping for clothes that she would look disgusting in and she didn't enjoy watching her new friends doing the same.

"Shelly, this is so you!" Melissa exclaimed, as she held up a dusty rose crop top.

"Very funny," Shelly muttered. She knew that this friendship was too good to be true. Melissa and her goon squad were clearly setting her up for humiliation.

Confusion clouded Melissa's face. "That color would look amazing on you! What's your deal?"

"In case you haven't noticed, I don't exactly have the body to wear something like that!" Shelly spat.

Her friends exchanged incredulous glances.

"I've seen you in the locker room. You have an awesome stomach, Shelly!" Jamie exclaimed. "Not-not like I was looking or anything," she stammered, wilting under Shelly's death glare."

"Yeah, show it off!" Melissa encouraged.

"Shut up, one person already called me fat!" Shelly grumbled. "I'm not falling for it!"

"Who? Who called you fat?" Mandy questioned.

Shelly wasn't about to tell them that it was her dad. Even if the insult was inadvertent, it still hurt like hell. "Just some guy from North Park, okay! I fucked him up and now he has to eat through a straw," she lied.

Melissa patted her shoulder. "Fuck that guy. He doesn't know what he's talking about. You would look so hot in this too." She thrust a lacy white cropped tank into Shelly's hands.

Shelly narrowed her eyes at the girls, scanning for ridicule, but she found nothing but sincerity radiating from her new friends.

Melissa grinned devilishly. "And it would totally piss your dad off."

Shelly examined the top. It was kind of cute...

"Okay, I'll try it," she sighed.

[orioo]

Update: New Ideas and Changes to the Already Existing!

lots of time has passed since i updated this project - and to the ones that were let down by my negligence, i apologise. life happened.

but i’m back now! and, after reading a whole lot of books, i’m back with tons of new ideas that i wish to cover in this post. i will spare you the rest of my rants; let’s begin!

1. Name Changes

as scary as this may sound, it’s in fact true that i’ve been thinking of changes to the main6, especially to their individual characterization. i realized that i spent a lot of my creativity on their dynamics as a group and less on their idiosyncrasies, which isn’t right!

first of all, the names of the main cast seemed a bit uninspired to me, despite all the effort i put into finding fitting names for them. some of are an aquired taste - such as Milo and Piper. they can stay.

Shreya i think is the most fitting name i have for now. Phala as well, although if i suddenly get sick of it, i might rethink it a little. (in the midst of writing this, i got sick of it. read more to find out!)

Kaji seems uninspired. so does Filip. especially Filip.

let’s take the whole crew of characters we know so far and (/re)name them.

Filip will now be known as Ailmar

Filip is too boring a name for a prince, let’s be honest. in my humble view, Ailmar does way better justice to his actual strenght - both physical, as he’s not a lithe guy, and mental, with his seer capabilities and all that. he’s an avid reader and especially passioned by mythology and history - of course he’s smart as a result.

Kaji will now be known as Kavi

not as big of a change as the previous one, but one just as important (at least to me). Kaji felt fitting in a way, i guess. possibly the syllable Ka. fun little fact, which i will have tons of fun writing around when the time comes, his full name is Kavinder. this will absolutely become a subject of attempted teasing and good fun in the future.

(i know the syllables in Kavinder are Ka-vin-der, and his nickname should grammatically be Kavin, but it sounds way too much like Kevin, which in now way am i allowing to happen. sorry not sorry, he’s now to be known as Kavi alone.)

Shreya will continue to be known as Shreya 

Milo will continue to be known as Milo

Piper will continue to be known as Piper

Phala will now be known as Ophelia

while i quite like the name Phala, i feel as if it is a bit lackluster. it feels too empty to be deserving of a goddess, thus it’s now to be known as Ophelia! the roots (ph and la) are still there, so hopefully so is the familiarity. 

Unnamed older brother of Ailmar will now be known as Neldor

Neldor is the crown prince and several years older than Ailmar. i originally planned to have him named Julio or Julian... or something along this line. however, as with Filip, the name just felt too basic and real-world for me to use into a light fantasy story. more about him will be written about later - i thought plenty on his character!

Maple will continue to be known as Maple

Maple is Piper’s older sister. she is a witch and lives with a small group of witches hidden away from the eyes of the Kingdom. she will also become Shreya’s love interest later on. more on her to be written.

EM will now be known as Farkas

EM stands for Enemy Man and was the temporary way i chose to call one of the main “villains” of the main6. from now on though, his name is Farkas. more to be disclosed on him later.

EW will now be known as Lethene

EW stands for Enemy Woman and, just like EM, was her temporary given name. she is the other villain in this story, partner of Farkas. more about these two will be talked about later.

2. Character Improvements

as i already said, i got carried away at first by the influx of new ideas for a project that i neglected a very important aspect of any story - it’s characters and their individuality. while plot can be just as important, i personally place a lot of the enjoyment of reading a book on the characters and their development throughout their adventures. i like seeing what they are like from their debut and compare it to what they become in their last appearance. i like seeing how their views change - or don’t, and the reasonings for it. i like already established dynamics between charactes, but enjoy a whole lot more to see how they grow from there on, or how they start off vs. how they end up. i like seeing the journey of each character, both in terms of their personal development as well as their social growth.

all that said, the first obvious amendment to be done is to Ailmar.

as the 2nd royal child, he is treated with less strictness than Neldor. Neldor was brought up being constantly reminded that he is to inherit the throne and shoulder all the responsabilities that come with ruling a kingdom, thus he was pressured into learning the ways of ruling and fighting. as a result, the king and the queen paid more attention to Neldor’s upbringing.

Ailmar was affected by his parents’ neglicence of his childhood, and often withdrew from social and political gatherings (family dinners) to indulge in his passions instead - reading on the Kingdom’s history, myths, folktales and fairytales. he never strayed away from the taboo subject of magic, rather dwelled in the fantastical books and educated himself on it’s peculiarity.

While Neldor was brough up to become a ruler, Ailmer was brough up to become a loyal guardian - both of the palace and it’s king, and of his kingdom. his teacher’s persistence on learning him various ways to fight were fruitful at first - he was quite the expert in the art of the sword. however, as soon as he turned 18 years of age, his first vision manifested itself and the stir it caused had it repercussions: word spread in the castle that he was of magical blood and should be cast out of the kindgom, if not beheaded. his royal blood was his defence, and, by the king’s word, was spared from that fate. instead, he was to retire from his studies and training, as to not further enhance his abilities in case he strayed from the kingdom.

Ailmer grew faintly physically ill because of his visions, as well as the sudden  marginalization he faced from his peers. due to his determination to prove himself unguilty of anything treachery -expect housing magic in his blood- he continued to train himself and expand his knowledge in all fields.

at 15 years of age was when Ailmar first met Kavi, the 10 year old.

Kavi had a rough upbringing - from the very beginning, all he could remember was his journey of being passed on from foster home to foster home, not one stay longer than 1 year at most. homelessness was not a strange notion to him.

all the families that had cared and loved him, then abandoned him without as much as a goodbye were the catalyst to his attachment issues. he varried between the two extemes - either loving too much and bearing the heartbreak that came with abandonment, or being too aloof and detached in order to save himself the inevitable heartache. one more often that the other was his indifference, which got him into multiple one sided arguements and even fights from attention-starved kids.

after one such fight, he had been injured more gravely than the usual scraps - a kid got his hands on a real blade and attempted to best him in front of his older peers, hoping to impress. as much as he forestalled an injury, it was imminent; thus the birth of his infamous cheek scar. 

before it scarred, however, it bled. and it bled a lot. that was the moment fate introduced him to Prince Ailmar; although young Kavi didn’t know of him at that time. Ailmar was out in the city, under the guidance of one of his fighting teachers, hoping to find some refreshments to indulge in after a successful class. he did not expect in the slightest to stumble upon a gathering of citizens that were murmuring between themselves. upon further inspection, he found the subject of their attention - two young kids, one with a bloodied blade and another with a bloodied cheek. 

adults had intervened between them and grabbed the assailant away from the victim, but none had the guts to help that poor, injured kid up. Ailmar did.

untrusting, Kavi only believed Ailmar helped him so he would be sung praises left and right for his bravery. after being illuminated to Ailmar’s identity as a Prince, his next though was that he did what he did to maintain his public stainless image.

only after Ailmar grew to learn of Kavi’s background did he suggest Kavi should come with him to the palace - to heal, nothing more. pity brough on Ailmar sudden affection for the kid, brotherly, as he so wished to get from Neldor. but Neldor was too busy to indulge in brother-to-brother bonding activities, so maybe Ailmar was meant to do it in his stead.

thus Kavi became the victim of Ailmar’s brotherly affection and guidance. not having much of a choice, as any other alternative either did not exist or was significantly worse, Kavi stayed with Ailmar at the palace. they trained together, they ate together, they played together. Kavi, once again subject of his attachment issues, fell victim to one of the extremes: he got himself immensely attached to Ailmar.

when Ailmar started experiencing visions, Kavi was his biggest support. after three whole years spent together (Ailmar now 18 and Kavi 13), Kavi familiarized himself with the notions Ailmar liked studying - such as magic, so he was no stranger to the actual aspects of magic, as well as the unexplainable fear people garnered for it.

people’s ideas about magic were born out fear of what they could not understand* after all, and they could not understand Ailmar’s ability.

* = “Ideas about magic were born of fear of what they could not understand.” - quote taken from ‘The Priory of the Orange Tree’, by Samantha Shannon.

[imabillyami]

Do you still like Jey and his story?

Hey anon! Thank you for asking!

I'm sorry in advance if I go off topic at some point in my reply & I hope you don't mind me using this as a way to let everyone asking - including the unkind people talking trash in my inbox (I see you, I just choose to not interact with you) - know:

Yes, I still very much like Jey. I still like all of them. Sami, Jey, Jimmy, Kevin, Solo, Roman, Paul and so on - everyone. But especially Jey & Sami as individuals and/or together.

Jey's story, well - I like that they're going for a redemption arc with him. I like that he's allowed to be a star and shine bright far away from the rest of his family. At least for a while. I like that he's not automatically everyone's best friend just because he turned babyface. I like that they're including Kevin and Sami and even Drew and others he has history with in his story. I don't even mind Cody being there (which is huge - cause y'all know my opinion on Cody). I think that speaks for how much I like and support Jey's single's run.

The only thing I really don't enjoy is the whole TJD being involved thing and Jey losing twice in a row. Jey is the biggest babyface and TJD is the biggest heel faction on Raw currently, so of course it's probably good for business if Jey appears on screen with them. Doesn't mean I have to like it.

I like every single individual member of TJD, i really really do, I'm just extremely tired of them as a group and have been for a while now. I was a fan for a while, but they got extremely stale to me. And before anyone argues, it's not the same as it was with The Bloodline, cause there's two very obvious things that TJD doesn't have, and it's the two things that kept (and are keeping) the Bloodline afloat and working well for so long: (1) Deep, meaningful, layered characters & (2) an intriguing story to tell. (Istg if I never have to see a 6-man-tag match involving TJD again it'll still be too soon.)

I'm tired of the people in charge just constantly feeding the top talent to them, doesn't matter if it's Seth or Kevin or Sami or Jey or anyone else. I get that they're heels, they're not supposed to play clean and fair all the time and you're supposed to dislike them and their actions, sure. But there's a difference between disliking someone's actions and being downright tired and annoyed to the point where you switch off the TV mid-segment. If you're a TJD fan I'm happy for y'all, I truly am. But I'm tired.

I've been keeping up with all my boys and girls, but with TJD being pretty much around and dominant and constantly involved in all 3 shows, I haven't been extremely enthusiastic about it lately.

Sorry, this turned into a bit of a rant.

The point is: I love Jey, I'll always love Jey, I'll always keep up with his storylines and everything, I just need a minute or two to catch a breather, cause lately I find myself not enjoying the parts I want to be enjoying, so I hope a little distance and casually keeping up with everything will get me to the point where I can be happily and fully invested again.

That being said, I'm still here, I'm still reading and replying to messages most of the time and just generally enjoying life and good things and writing and all that rn, but if you don't see me as active and around all that much, don't be surprised and also don't think for a second that I stopped liking or supporting my boys and girls. <3